"Thinking too small, green genes," Isabella says. "We got these worthy heroes here, an' the Rangers need new recruits. Arpellion, how'd you an' yours like to join banners with ours against the Hobs? They're no good for the forest, them."
"Now, now, I meant no offence," Garrivek assures the fey. [b]"This is your home."
Garrivek nods at Isabella. "I agree. The forest is in need of protection from those hobgoblins. What say you, Arpellion? Will you and yours protect the forest from them with us?"
The atomies leap to -- drunken -- attention at your request.
"YES!" Arpellion declares. "We will lead you to glorious victory!"
"Onward, Gorumite soldiers," Dart cries, right behind him. "Shows us where these hobgoblins are, and we shall vanquish them!"
"If you prove yourselves, you shall be honorary fey," Brooten promises. "We shall revel afterward like none has reveled before!"
If there are more places to see, they check them out, then go upstairs with their traps to rest (or rest first if folks would rather). Also if we haven’t already done so, we track down a map of the area or have our ranger friend draw one, and find out where other Ranger forts could be.
"Onward, to glory, friends! I look forward to it."
Cirieo is more than happy to draw a map to the other forts. "But I can just show you too, unless you're of a mind to leave me behind," he says. "But if you do that, it might be a bit tougher to find the stash at Nunder, eh?"
He explains the Chernasardo Rangers battled a trio of vicious green dragons for nearly a decade two generations ago, and if they still have any dragon-hunting supplies -- "in case that brute comes for my other leg!" -- they are sure to be stored in Nunder’s vault.
The atomies immediately burst out that they should have first dibs on any weapons, and let you know you don't need to worry about the dragon, because they will certainly be happy to take care of it for you. "A simple duel!" Arpellion boasts.
Once you've gotten them settled back down from their plan to immediately dash out after the dastardly beast, you find yourselves a place to rest. Reflecting back on your near death experiences in the fort, you feel like maybe next time you'll be more ready to handle problems like those you encountered here.
Dregg laughs loudly at Arpellion’s cry of a duel against a dragon, the image of the brash atomie squaring off only to be swallowed in a single gulp proving to be too much for half-orc. Eventually, his laughter begins to subside and he wipes tears from one eye as he sighs, ”Heh heh. Heh. A duel. Heh. If only!” He then looks at Cirieo and hooks a thumb back to Arpellion, ”Maybe pipsqueak here could get your one leg back!” He bursts into laughter again, this time imagining Arpellion stumbling out of a dragon’s gullet with a halfling’s leg in tow.
"Dragons don't duel anyone but other dragons, my Gram said," Isabella remarks as she finds comfortable spot to bed down. "They step on other folks. So ye don't challenge a dragon to a duel, just snipe and stab and kill 'em any way that works."
Garrivek nods at Cirieo. "Yeah, we'd appreciate the help, Cirieo. You're certainly welcome to join us if you want to."
"I've no doubt you'll best a dragon one day, Arpellion, but this time let's work together. Against such a fearsome foe, we all deserve a chance to earn glory, yes?"
"Of course, Cirieo. We'd love to have you with us."
Arpellion and the others nod at Garrivek's comment.
"Yes, we shall all show that dragon what-for! We are no varlets to demand all the glory for ourselves," he says.
After that, discussion continues on for a bit, before eventually falling off, and sleep taking you. The night passes uneventfully, other than some sleep shouting from the atomies, who are clearly covering themselves in glory in their dreams. As you keep watch, you also note Ciriero startle awake several times, wiping sweat from his head before rolling over to go back to sleep.
Still, morning comes, leaving you refreshed and ready to take on what awaits.
"Let's look for whatever's left in the place before we go," Isabella says after breakfast. "No sense in leaving anything for the beardos or any returning hobs to pick over."
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Upon everybody waking, Arryn’s bedroll is empty. After a few frantic calls, a rather sleepy Arryn’s voice grumbles from the empty air, ”I’m up, I’m up!” and his bedroll begins packing itself up. ”I had the weirdest dream last night. Some voice was telling me how to use my powers to bend light itself so that nobody could see me.”
Seeing startled glances, he asks, ”What? Do I have something on my face?”
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"Dunno. Turn visible again so's we can see it an' I'll tell ya," Isabella deadpans.
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”Visible? What are you—I can’t see my hands! Ack! Can’t see my legs!”
You hear a slap. ”My face is still there, and hey my hands are still there. Let me see...head? Check! Arms? Check! Chest? Check! Legs? Check... ... Check!” He sounds extra relieved with the last one...whatever it was.
”So invisible? No idea how to stop it. You really can’t see me at all? This has lots of possibilities...”
Dregg feels a tug and his trousers drop. Unfortunately for Arryn, the “attack” ends his invisibility, leaving him caught red-handed.
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Aramis shakes her head. "What is with you and de-pantsing the guy?" Aramis asks as she shakes her head. "Even invisible that's the best you can think of?"
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”I’m juvenile. It’s part of my charm.”
Then, conscious of being visible and within arms’ reach of Dregg, he squeezes his eyes shut, muttering, ”Go invisible. Go invisible” over and over again, to no avail.
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"Yeah, I see something on yer face now. Egg."
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After hauling his trousers back up, Dregg saws his jaw back and forth a few times as he watches Arryn fail to turn invisible. ”Heh. You know what they say about payback, Scarf.“ He then snatches up an uncracked egg Garrivek had out to cook and smashes it on the crown of Arryn’s head. ”Hah! Goggles wasn’t kidding! Heh heh.”
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"'Course. I'm clairvoyant," Isabella snarks.
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Arryn watches as egg drips down his face and chuckles ruefully. ”I definitely deserved that. I’ll have to try to remember that dream so I can make it happen again. I sure hope the other dream I had last night doesn’t come true, though,” he finishes as he manages to look very guilty and abashed as he decidedly doesn’t make eye contact with Aramis or Isabella.
He goes off to clean himself, then with a bit of focus, manages to cloak himself again.
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Isabella raises an eyebrow at Arryn.
"You're not my type," is all she says. "Better keep it in your dreams."
"Hey, that was a perfectly good egg!" Garrivek exclaims. "...Was..." He continues cooked breakfast, chuckling at their banter. "If you can figure out how to do that again, Arryn, that'd be mighty handy."
It takes him a bit of work, but he figures out how to cloak himself and then how to undo it without first having to pants someone.
Then he starts to experiment with the power to learn its limits, and what causes it to end, by pestering Dregg. Attacking in any way nullifies it, but he can levitate objects without ending it.
He also has to practice moving while invisible, since he can’t see his feet to know where he’s putting them. He also practices retrieving gear, like his ammo, while invisible. By the time breakfast is ready, he’s figured out the basics.
When Garrivek's done cooking, Aramis serves it out to everyone, splitting the food evenly between the four of her companions, with small helpings for each of the fey. Notably, she doesn't take any for herself. While the others eat she finds her way to a window and a patch of sunshine, and soaks up a bit of warmth.
”You’re not eating, Red? Beltbuckle’s got a knack for breakfasts. And if you want some of mine, there’ll be less for me to smash into Scarf’s face the next time he tries to flick me in the ear.”
A plate of food hovers nearby as a forkful of eggs hesitantly moves about. The eggs eventually disappear and the fork returns to the plate for more.
”You’re safe. Eventually, you’re going to stop hitting me with food and just pound me. The eggs are good, though. It might be worthwhile trying just one more time.” Despite that, the fork never wavers from its unsteady journey from plate to invisible-mouth and back.
Aramis shakes her head. "I'm not hungry." She looks with longing out the window. "Tired of being cooped up in here, though. I'll be happy when we're done with this place."
”We’ve all changed so much since the night the hobs attacked, haven't we?” Arryn asks as he finishes his eggs. Then he smirks.
”So it’s good to keep some things the same!”
He levitates over Dregg’s half-finished plate, then goes invisible with the plate and dashes away.
"Changed...?" Isabella seems to give that statement some thought, but in the end she just shrugs. "Grown a little stronger, I have."
The atomies are grateful for the food, though they point out it's hardly very chivalrous, or brave, to steal eggs from chickens.
"Now, eggs from cockatrices," Brooten says, "Those are delicious!"
"They taste like danger," Dart agrees.
After a few bites, they look at each other. "What this needs is some fine beer, something to get the day started right," Gulber observes.
Once you're ready, you head out to the front of the fort, moving carefully not to wake the drunken korreds in the courtyard.
You try the northern tower first, but the door seems to be barred.
The door to the southern tower, however, opens without any problem. Several training dummies and archery targets stand scattered around this room, which has an ascending staircase to the north and an iron-bound wooden door leading to the east . A bench with four evenly spaced holes sits against the southern wall, partially visible behind a canvas curtain.
"Looks like they kept the garderobe, at least," Cirieo says, pointing to the bench.
Garrivek quietly opens the tower door and looks around for anything of use.
When he's done his search, his gestures at the stairs. "Up we go?"
As Garrivek looks around, he notices something in the muck of the garderobe! It looks like there might be some weapons that were tossed down there. Unfortunately, they seem to be covered in ... let's call it dirt .
Before the group departs, Dregg regards the atomies and asks, ”Say, are there any other fey holed up in the fort you know about? Or things that aren’t fey that might cause us some trouble, like ghosts or maybe big angry cats?“
——
Dregg frowns at the stash as Garrivek points it out. ”That stuff’s been someplace terrible.” He then elbows Arryn, ”Think you can get that stuff loose without making any of us dirty?
”So long as Aramis is ready with her cleaning spell,” he replies and floats the things up.
As the weapons come up, Garrivek casts detect magic and examines them, curious if this would be worth the effort.
Lip curled up at the stinky package, Aramis waves her hand through the air, and the weapons get a little cleaner. It takes a few applications before they're clean enough to touch.
"Enjoy."
She makes no move to touch them herself.
The items aren't magical, but they do appear to be valuable nonetheless, as each is no ordinary weapon! In total, once clean, you ralize you have a masterwork cold iron greatsword, a cold iron short sword, an alchemical silver dagger, and 17 cold iron crossbow bolts.
Stairs lead upward higher into the tower.
”I’m guessing the korreds did this and not the hobs.”
Up we go!
"Yup, I was wondering why someone would toss good weapons down there. Makes sense." Garrivek heads upstairs with his weapon in hand.
As they go up, Arryn fades from view. The effect even muffles his footsteps.
The atomies note there are redcaps -- mean, nasty, jerks! -- in the fort, but they assure you there are no cats or ghosts that they know of. They would have been sure to rid this place of such fairy-hating vermin had there been any here.
"Probably they heard we were coming and fled!" Dart boasts.
--
Unfortunately, as you head up the stairs, Dregg slips slightly. He thought it was just a misstep until he glances down realizes the step itself moved and there a number of small wires under it. He's about to let out a cry of alarm when shrapnel explodes from within the training dummies, cutting through each of you
Upstairs, several small casks are stacked around this room, each of them open and empty. Stairs lead further up on the northern wall, and arrow slits pierce the southern and western walls.
Arryn and Dregg both notice three small humanoids with pointed ears, green eyes, and a wicked grin hiding behind the casks. Before they can react, however, the three creatures step out and spray bright lights toward you .
They're leprechauns, small, fun-loving fey that love playing tricks on unknowing passersby—almost as much as they love a fine bottle of wine and a plateful of hot food in their bellies.
Isabella suddenly goes rigid.
Invisarryn is stunned.
After they get clear, Garrivek pulls out the wand and uses it on everyone he can, wanting to save his spells for the redcaps.
"Busted knuckles!" he curses, placing the empty wand in his pack. Then he uses a few healing spells of his own.
Garrivek grunts and stands stunned.
Aramis casts a healing spell on herself.
Before heading further up the stairs, Aramis casts false life, baksskin, and mage amor on herself.
Ignoring the lights, Aramis narrows her eyes. She casts out her arms, causing her veins to flare with a green, writhing glow. A trio of green magical bolts bursts from her hands and soars at the giggling tricksters, one slamming into each.
Arryn: 21
Garrivek: 21
Isabella: 21
Aramis: 19
Dregg: 7
Antagonist: 23
As the spells catch you unawares, only Aramis and Dregg manage to avoid looking fully into the sprays, and both leap into action. Aramis blasts one of the little creatures, while Dregg pulls his axe and goes after another, catching it with a blow -- that seems to immediately close slightly .
"Murderers!" the uninjured one calls, disappearing, as the two others retreat slightly and follow suit, turning invisible. "This is our ale!"
L1: 9
L3: 5
Arryn readies a blast for when one of them reappears.
x 1.5 = 43
Of course, he also reappears after delivering the blast, but what can you do?
HP: 57/59
AC: 16 (12 T / 15 FF)
CMD: 21
F/R/W: +8/+5/+4
Rage rounds used: 0/10
Spell slots used
Level 1: 0/3
Bless (bead): 0/1
Cure serious wounds, remove blindness/deafness, or remove disease (bead): 0/1
-Ongoing Effects-
Danger Sense: +1 AC, +1 Ref vs traps
Focus: +2 Str
Rage: +2 to hit, +2 damage, +2 Will, -2 AC, +12 temp HP
Accurate stance: +1 to hit