Sounds reasonable. The half orc says while going back inside to hunt for a bed.
Eudonius will wake up one hour earlier than agreed, find himself a table at a quiet corner and assemble his portable lab to brew a new mutagen.
Hmmm, maybe if I reduce the dosage of adrenal... Just a couple more drops of mwangi iguana's blood... wispering to himself.
"Truth be told it would be good to rest for a bit before pushing out" Jun follows Eudonis to look for a bed, though is asleep until it is time to go.
Harwell comes down and sets up cots in the dining area for the party, since the merchants took all his available rooms upstairs.
"I'll stay up with birdie -- do you have a name by the way? -- and then we can leave on time. That will give us time to chat. What are you drinking, birdie?"
"Thanks very much, Cinnamon. If you stay up so we can rest while the storm's really going, we can still probably get the drop on the folks at the cave - assuming I can find it in the dark. Anyway, this seems like the best plan. Wake us a bit after midnight, alright?"
The Tengu chuckles, "I thought you were all self-absorbed that you thought to never ask my name. I am Palo. I am drinking nothing with my arms manacled and I am not lapping any drink up like a dog."
The night passes with the Tengu hearing Cin's stories of Sarenrae, but she feels Palo is just being polite listening to her, for fear of what she would if he ignored her. But it is clear his loyalty lies with his roost in Korvosa and with Blackfeather and he's not changing anytime soon.
Eudonius gets up early and do his brewing.
It will take one hour for me to finish this. the half orc says pointing his flasks and tools. I can watch him while doing it so you rest Cinnamon. One hour is still better then noone.
He cant remember if anyone actually searched the surviving tengu so he proceeds to do so meticulously.
Eudo searches the Tengu and finds nothing of value on him other than the items previously retrieved from his body. 3:00 am arrives and the party is awoken and those who rested look refreshed. The storm has passed and it is no longer raining freezing sleet, though the weather has dropped considerably into the teens. You dress warmly, leaving Palo in Harwell's care. Luc looks to Gyllan and Eudo, "Guide us right, men. Amber's life depends on how quickly we can get to her!"
"I think I've got a pretty good sense of how to get there, Luc, and I'll do my best. Eudonius, you've spent some time in this country - do you know a quick way around that big canyon that cuts in from the sea a few miles east of here?"
Yes, the rock near the shore can be easily climbed. There are natural rock steps that can be used to go up and down. The canyon wall can be used as a stairway in that area, a lot of silex in that ground. No need to go around, there is a trail.
Cinnamon gratefully grabs a quick catnap while Eudonius plays with his ingredients. When they leave an hour later, she is quieter than usual. I've been in plenty of fights before, but never an actual assault. It feels weird to go looking for trouble on purpose.
The skies are clear but cold and the night is dark, though there is a crescent moon out that illuminates a little of the road. With Eudo's darkvision and Gyllan's lore skills, you navigate the way to the smuggler's cave without much hassle, as your guides quickly point out the major landmarks used so travelers won't get lost. The trip is quiet with little complaining about the cold, as Luc tries to keep up a brave face. However, none of you know what awaits you and you hope to be able to tell the tale to your children one day of how you saved the Seneschal's daughter. The road is sloppy and muddy due to the sleet that fell during the storm but you are able to keep your footing and no one suffers any major injury.
Four and a half hours later, Gyllan recognizes the beach cave in the distance and you see a torch light emanating from inside. You are currently 100' from the cave entrance. The wind coming off the sea is chilling your bones. There is no cover between you and the entrance, though there doesn't appear to be anyone guarding the entrance to the cave.
Well there it is. I can't imagine it being unguarded unless they have already left. I'm afraid I can't close in on the entrance with any speed. I can cover perhaps with my crossbow." Jun offers some idea of a way to help.
"Thank the gods we're here at last! And it looks like there's still someone here, that's good news!" says Gyllan quietly, as they take stock of the situation.
"It looks like we have a couple of ways we can approach this," he continues eagerly. "We can try to approach from the water side, to the left of the cave, and sneak along that wall up towards the entrance. Are any of you particularly adept at sneaking like that? Or we could try to get above the cave, and surprise anyone who comes out. My concern would be that no one will come out until Bones comes for Amber, and then we'll have the tengu and Bones to fight, as well as anyone Bones has brought along."
Gyllan considers the terrain and the options before them, and concludes, "Unless someone has a better idea, I say we go down by the water, come up along the wall to the left while it's still pretty dark, and try to take them by surprise. We advance as quietly as we can, taking out tengu, until the alarm is given, and then we charge making as much noise as we can."
Suddenly aware that he may sound like he's taking charge and issuing orders, Gyllan looks sheepish for a moment, then adds softly "That is, unless Luc or anyone else has a different plan?"
"Sneak or rush? If we charge we might make it there before they have a chance to react. If we're sneaking I'd say cut over to the waterline then head for the cliff. That gets us out of direct line of sight." Cinnamon yawns.
"Or I could wander over there and talk to anyone in the entrance. Pretend I'm lost and looking for shelter. Then the rest of you could sneak up while they gut me."
She yawns again, hard enough to shake her whole body. "Whatever else we decide, I think it's about time for my pick-me-up."
Cinnamon mimes downing a cup of tea and mumbles something about cappercheenow. Afterwards she looks much more alert.
Edit:
"Or instead of Cinnamon going there I could walk up and claim to be injured, should be easy to pull off with my leg. Meanwhile they are focus on me while you all move quickly to close."
With what Gylann says, "It would be best to get as close as we can without them knowing. I am not sneaky at all so I may not be a big help there. But I agree to take the fight to them."
"Uh..sure, either plan sounds good to me. I will make a ton of noise in my chain mail armor as well as being slowed by it, so stealth is not an option for me. If you want to go up, I can cover you with Jun, if needed, with my crossbow." Luc pats the light crossbow hanging on his side.
We are at a beach, the wave's noises should cover us until the entrance of the cave. If there is ten of them like the tengu said we should not split up, single targets can be focused on by large numbers to devasteting effects. Eudonius says with his axe in one hand and drawing a flask with the other.
Gyllan nods as Eudonius speaks, then says, "You know, Eudo, I'm glad you said that. I think you're right, it would be good to stay together. Let's all go down by the water right now, while it's still a bit dark, and come at the cave from that side. The wave noise should help us a lot as we approach the cave mouth. I think I'm the quietest one among us, so maybe I can sneak the last 10 or 20 feet and take a look around the corner there. If the coast seems clear to me, then Eudonius or Cinn can come up and look too, since they can see in the dark, right?"
Looking around at his companions, Gyllan says "Sound okay, any ideas we should add to this plan?"
Kind of embaressed Eudonius mumbles. Y-yes I can see in the dark. looking at his feet. But it wont be necessary, there is light inside the cave. pointing at the torch light emanating from inside. Overall it looks like a good plan.
"Yes, there's torch light coming from inside the cave. But if they're smart, they'll post a guard in the dark outside. That's who will be watching for us, and that's who you'll be looking for. Hopefully they're not smart, or at least not smarter than us, eh?"
"That sounds like a fine plan. I can see in the dark, but I don't always notice a whole lot."
Gyllan leads the group down to the water's edge and along the surfline to the rock wall. With longsword in hand, and Luc and Jun keeping well behind, he leads the party toward the cave mouth. He keeps his eyes peeled for sentries and moves as quietly as he is able toward the corner before the cave opening.
Cinnamon nods at Gyllan's whispered suggestion, then strokes her chin in thought. Finally she waves him forward, and pantomimes a rhythmic clapping of her cupped hands.
Soon they hear the muffled hoofbeats of two horses approaching the cave from the other direction, then milling about for a half minute, swishing their tails, than retreating back from where they came. The sound is not particularly loud, but it is exactly the sort of thing that a guard might be listening for.
As the trio of adventurers make their way sneakily to the cave entrance, Gyllan makes out some bird squawking between two Tengu, similar to the manner in which Palo and Aguila communicated, during the fight. Unfortunately, he is too concentrated in trying to decipher what they are saying that he does not notice his scabbard scrape against the rock wall. The squawking stops and the noise of horses is suddenly heard. One Tengu seems to raise his voice to the other but the other Tengu does not seem to pay him mind and comes outside looking toward the east and logically, the source of the noise. The other Tengu remains inside the cave.
Eudonius drinks the elixir in his hand, his body immediately starts to grow.
Cinnamon watches the Tengu exit the cave and peer towards where the 'horses' are located. As soon as he stops moving she makes a circular motion with her left hand and sucks in air to make a sharp swooshing sound.
The Tengu is surprised when he sees the party and resists Cin's magic!
As Cinnamon begins her casting, Gyllan looks back to Luc and Jun, waving them forward. Turning his eyes back to the cave mouth, he thinks By the gods, this is actually happening! It seemed a sort of story, rescuing Luc and talking about Amber's kidnapping by mysterious bird-men. But now we're about to fight our way into their cave and try to rescue the daughter of one of the most powerful men in Korvosa! Well, the tengu doesn't seem affected by Cinn's magic - nothing for it but to charge him now!
Gyllan moves at the tengu, as quietly as he can, hoping to land a decisive blow before the guard can call out.
Gyllan tries to sneak up to the Tengu, but the rogue easily hears him and turns toward him, weapon in hand!
Initiative Order Round 1:
Cin
Jun
Luc
Tengu
Gyllan
Eduo
Cinnamon sighs in exasperation.
That's twice now. Are Tengu just immune? I guess it's worth another try.
She tries to daze the annoying birdman again, then tries to sneak closer to the fight.
The Tengu stands there mouth agape.
Luc moves up 20' and shoots the dazed Tengu in the forearm with his light crossbow, despite the fact that Gyllan is in the way:
You hear loud squawking coming from inside the beach cave, as the other Tengu rushes outside to AF8 with a rapier in his hand, charging at Gyllan and piercing his gut, causing the warrior to scream out in pain!
Gyllan swings back, inflicting a deep wound on the non-dazed Tengu, which leaves him barely standing, with his guts almost hanging out.
Jun would like to use his immediate action to twist fate and use misfortune revelation on the tengu to re-roll the 19 potential crit against Gyllen
With his enlarged frame Eudonius steps forward moving to a flanking position and hack at the tengu who just came out. Unfortunatly his axe misses.
"Oh Gyllan. I suppose now you need me to run in and save you."
CInnamon runs forward and then hooks around to get the drop on the original Tengu as it starts to come back to its senses. She rakes at it ineffectively with the claws of her right hand.
Jun will fire his crossbow clumsily at the tengu who came out then will move to AH7. Hang in there Gyllan I am coming
Light Crossbow
Damage
With too many bodies in the way, Luc moves 20' closer and reloads his crossbow.
Round 2: Tengus' Turn
The previously dazed Tengu moves 5' south to AH10 into a flank and attacks Gyllan, but the wounded warrior knows this trick too well and parries the attack away!
The wounded Tengu tries to attack the distracted Gyllan and runs his rapier through the warrior piercing the blade out of his chest, and the human collapses to the ground, his gurgled scream sounding in your ears! The Tengu smiles at the rest of the party and squawks something at his companion before collapsing himself!