If Joanos has kept clear line of sight on Bose.
Joanos knotches an arrow and aims at the door. He curses himself under his breath for not staying within range to heal his comrades.
Else
Jaonos hears a slight scrapping sound in the quiet night coming from the tower Lalandar and Bose had gone to. He draws an arrow from his quiver and moves to try and find a good vantage point.
Frenhir remains close to Joanos. He sniffs at the air constantly.
If he has to move to stay with Joanos
Initiatives for surprise round
As the party tenses up outside the watchtower, prepared for battle, it seems to take an eternity for the door to unlatch and begin to swing open.
As the door begins to swing in, and before the man behind the door has even had a chance to peer through the gap, Ferrum enters his bloodrage, growing significantly in size, and leaps across his prone partner to hit the door with several hundred pounds of half-orc.
The ploy works. Not only does the over-sized half-orc prevent the closing of the door, but he shoves the man behind it into the room and Ferrum is now just inside (note: he's occupying a 10x10 square because of his size).
Lalandar will see the cross bow and close the distance. Blade drawn and the magic aura around him, he will step into range to attack but stop with blade out.
Bose will roll back to his feet and onto the stairs quick drawing his bow to cover the CrossBow holder.
Good Evening Gentlemen. I do apologize for my friend's exuberant knock. he can be a bit heavy handed
The cleric and his faithful canine companion move up to the door to assess the situation. Seeing that things appear to be well in hand, he turns and places his back to the wall so he can listen to the battle and watch the courtyard for surprises.
The two men are dishevelled and clad in dirty studded armor. Each has a flail at his belt. A second crossbow lies on a table in the southeastern corner of the room along with a small case of quarrels.
The unarmed fellow reaches for his flail, but glances around the room and scowls, raising his hands slightly in near-surrender. Almost under his breath, he mutters, "Gorum's spiked codpiece, now we're in it."
The fellow with the crossbow is clearly shocked by the sudden onslaught and being so quickly surrounded. A slow grin forms, displaying discolored teeth, and he carefully tips the crossbow up so it no longer threatens anyone. "Say, you fellas are good. If yer tryin' ta prove yer up fer the job, ya got my vote. What say we all put our weapons down and talk peaceful, hey?"
The other man's head whips around, "What're you about? Shoot 'em! Shoot the dirty half-breed!" He gives Ferrum a hateful look.
Ferrum's eyes narrow. He reaches out with a massive clawed hand and grabs the man by the throat before reaching down to pluck the flail from his belt with his free hand.
"Oh! Hey, no need for that, we can all be friends here, mate! Adhearn's just tired, we've been on guard near the full day. M'name's Conn. Yer gonna need t' talk t' the boss 'r Cullen fer th' job." He jerks his head upward as he finishes.
Evening Conn. We are glad to hear sense from one of you. What can you tell us about this job?
BTW, what are you guarding all day? No offense, but there doesn't look to be much around here to look after.
Conn visibly relaxes at the pleasant reply. "Well, it's not my place t' offer ya th' job or nuthin' like that. Ye should talk t' the boss. She's probably in her quarters, upstairs."
He licks his lips and looks at the door, still standing open. "Er, d'ye mind if I close the door? It's gettin' dark and that's when they start to get frisky, y'know."
Giving an easy grin, Bose replies with
Feel free, but I have to ask, who is they? We didn't come across anyone on the way other a couple little fellas on the road, but they didn't hang around long.
are you referring to the goblins? Wait, were you here a month ago?
With things seeming more peaceful, Ferrum lets his rage subside, but he keeps a narrowed gaze on the second man as he steps away toward the table where the second crossbow lays.
Conn moves toward the door as he replies, "Yeah, well, those little fellas 'r a vicious lot. If ya get enough of them, they'll even bring down your big friend there," he seems a bit surprised to see Ferrum a much more normal size when he glances over. "Ah, anyway, they don't take kindly to sharing the keep with us and we don't particularly like them back, y'know?"
When he gets to the door, he motions Jaonos to come on in, but Frenhir's hackles get up a bit and the wolf growls. "Ha! Bet he smells ol' Fang on me. He was down here sniffing around for treats earlier. They might not get along too well, come to think about it. Might need to keep 'em apart. But I wouldn't leave man nor beast out there when the sun sets. C'mon in!"
He looks over at the question. ”Yeah, goblins and the like. A month ago? Nah, I was unavoidably detained until a week or two ago,” he smirks.
smiling, Bose says?
Oh yeah, where were your accomodations? I've visited a few interesting locales myself
”Heh, well, I woke up in the hold of the The Sultan’s Bride after a night of too much ale. It took a while, but I eventually earned enough trust to get to go ashore. And ran like Gorum’s hellhounds were on my trail. Naturally, I’m not too fond of jobs near the water right now.”
After Jaonos and Frenhir come in, Conn closes and bars the door. Even a casual glance tells you the door will take some punishment before it gives way.
Conn looks at the stairs, then at Adhearn, and pauses. ”I think I’ll go tell the boss you’re here. What did you say your group’s name is?”
Noting your pause as you look at each other, Conn's eyes light up in understanding. "Ah, gotcha. I figured you guys were professionals. No problem. I'll be right back. Come on, Adhearn." The second man graces the party with a sour look as he rubs his neck and follows Conn.
You hear a murmur from up the stairs.
The cleric looks ill-at-ease. "The second man - the one with the scowl - he's trying to tell someone they should just kill the lot of us. He doesn't seem to be having much success, but we definitely can't trust him."
You hear steps receding further up the stairs. You have the ground floor to yourselves.
Lalandar starts prowling the room, examining to get an idea what these people really are.
This room is relatively bare. There is debris of the type you get when people are cooped up in a place for a long period of time and don’t clean it. A pair of rough metal plates are on the floor near the stairs. The stairs, both up and down, have dust along the edges but not in the middle where you would expect people to step as they proceed up or down.
The only decoration in the room is the furniture; a pair of sturdy chairs and a rough-hewn table, mentioned earlier. The surface of the table is marked, presumably by the tip of a knife, some marks fairly deep.
As you proceed with your examination, a gravelly voice asks, ”Find what yer lookin’ for, ears?” Another man, dressed much like Conn and Adhearn, stands at the top of the stairs, loaded crossbow casually laid across his arm. ”Conn’s a trusting soul, sees the best in most people he meets, but we can’t leave strangers in the guard room alone without the boss’ leave.” He moves a couple steps down into the room. ”What brings you to the Folly? Not many folk with any sense want to be this far into the woods around here.”
Myself, I needed a break from Sasserine, so I went walk about. My friend and I, nodding to Ferrum, came across these fellows back down the road.
The man nods. ”Conn mebbe right. The lot of you might be just what the boss is looking for. She’ll be down when she’s ready. Get you some grub?”
That would be appreciated. So I was at the folly a few months back, I barely got out alive, why would ya'll be camped out here?
The man regards you for a moment, then says, ”I’ll see about getting you some grub.”
He turns and heads back up the stairs.
in a whisper Are playing this straight or do we feed them a line when they come back
Responding in a whisper, after my last encounter, I treat everything in the place with my blade in my hand. That being said, if they are honest with us, I'm willing to allow them to help us.
Resting his hands on the hilt of a couple of his daggers, Bose responds with
You have a better opinion of human nature that I do my friend, but I we can agree on the first point
The party hears footsteps on the stairs, along with the sounds of disagreement. An angry voice, almost growling in its gruffness, and another, not quite pleading, trying to reason with the first. The words are indistinct and are suddenly cut off as they get closer.
After a couple more minutes, a figure comes around the curve of the stairs, a fat half-orc woman wearing stained scale mail and carrying a tray with something steaming on it. She scowls at the party, saying nothing, and continues down the stairs. Shortly thereafter, she comes back up, loosely carrying the tray. She looks at each of you, appraisingly, before noticing Frenhir. Her face relaxes just slightly as she fishes into a pocket and produces something that she tosses on the ground near the wolf. As the animal sniffs at the offering carefully, she sniffs at the rest of you and heads up the stairs.
The third man, the one with the crossbow, meets her on the steps, but gets to once side to allow her past. "Bareli," he jerks his head toward the half-orc woman's retreating back, "Bareli will get your grub." He takes up a position on the stairs where he can see each of you, but seems to be paying the post attention to the door.
Frenhir, deciding the morsel is edible, snaps it up and makes quick work of it.
so, you seem worried about what is out there. Last time I was here, we had goblins but there only rely a problem when they overwhelm you in huge numbers. With the entryway and crossbow galore, you shouldn't have a hard time holding them off. So what are you actually concerned with? with that, Lalandar will turn his body to watch the door and our de facto guard.
He snorts. ”You’ve been outta the trees too long, ears, if you really believe it’s that easy. They’re like roaches - if you see one, there’s fifteen others. And we’re deep in goblin lands, so they don’t stop coming. I’ve seen good men go down under a tide of those little trash-eaters. Don’t underestimate the little buggers. And remember; they’re not all little, either.”
Jaonos shifts his weight to subtly allow his right hand to rest near his dagger.
Ferocious creatures goblins are indeed. What they lack in intelligence they make up for in bloodlust. But even goblins need motivation. Do you know why they would take social interest in this keep?
He sucks on his lip for a moment, then shakes his head. "Nah. I mean, the man that built her, he did it on a dead horde of gobbos and orcs. The story is that his crew almost wiped out two whole tribes by themselves."
He scratches under his jaw with his free hand. "Maybe they are still paying him back for what he did to them. Maybe it is because they're too stupid to build their own."
Up the stairs, you hear an woman's raised voice, impatience clear. "Well!? Where are they?" A less distinct voice responds and she answers, "So why are you standing here? MOVE!"
The unnamed guard looks up before moving down and out of the way, just in time to avoid Adhearn, who comes down the stairs hastily, looking over his shoulder. Conn is not far behind, but stumbles and falls against the wall before catching his balance and continuing his descent with some semblance of control.
Behind him is a man with greasy black hair, high cheekbones, and a narrowed gaze at the party. Close at his heel is a large dog with a shaggy black and gray coat. It stops on the curve of the stairs on sight of the wolf and lets out a low growl. Frenhir responds likewise, his hackles rising.
Immediately behind the dog is a woman in armor. When the dog stops, she plants a boot in its butt and shoves. It wheels around and bites at her, but clearly as a threat and not an attack. "CULLEN! Control your mutt before I put it out of our collective misery!"
The fellow with the greasy black hair turns, "FANG! GET DOWN HERE!" The dog tucks his tail between his legs and runs down to Cullen, where he stands, quietly snarling at the new canine.
The woman continues coming down the stairs, but stops two from the bottom and studies the group. Assuming you study her in return, you see a muscular and attractive half-elf woman wearing fitted half-plate and carrying a large flail at her belt. Dark brown eyes look at each of you appraisingly before moving to the next. She regards Frenhir last, a ghost of a smile playing upon her lips that she quickly squelches. "Welcome to my domain. I am Firean Maiethil and I intend to retake this fort from the savages that destroyed the original owner and his family and his men decades ago. The idiot over there tells me you have the skills to help with that. Do you?"
Conn is staring at his shoes as she speaks. He cringes a bit at the insult, but doesn't look up. Adhearn has found something fascinating in the air above Bose' head and is carefully not looking anyone, but he appears a bit smug at the moment.
Thank you for your hospitality. As for whether we can help...I dont imagine we could hurt your cause any. Why do you care about this set of ruins?
"Hurt our cause? That depends on whether you succeed or just rile them up. I shared my name with you - should I share my hopes and dreams with someone that won't even share his name?" She looks at him, then at each member of the party.