Zelligar speaks up.
"If you are going to scout the enemy camp, Iris and I will escort these folks back to Drellin's Ferry. We'll also get our orders in on any scrolls or potions you want us to ask for.
Let's weaken the bridge as Tal'ariel suggested. Iris and I can come back tomorrow, and I can prepare a Stone Shape spell to cause a total collapse on a moment's notice if needed. The bridge won't go unwatched for very long.
I have faith you will make it back, but I'll be here to ensure the bridge falls if you fail to return."
Bran puts down his tools after some time thinking and working away, walking back up to the two halflings.
"It has been a hell of a ride Zelligar, Iris. I don't know what the world would have been like without you two but one thing I know for sure is that I would be dead." He offers a large hand out to the two of them, "Take care of Drellin's Ferry, there seems to be a lot of good folk there and I would be remiss to see them in dire straights when we return." He emphasizes the words and gives a grin.
"You still owe me that footrace Iris, and you I owe uh..." He thinks a little of something that would match the many wounds that the halfling had closed and comes up with something, "You Nethyians like drinks and magic right? I'll bring you back whatever interesting magical trinkets we uncover from this Red Hand and we can talk over a nice large mead and turkey or something."
He gives one solid firm nod and starts toward his pack and the others. "I'll be getting ready to head out, have some practice to get in quick."
Shishka really doesn't know these guys very well so her good-byes are pretty much ok, bye
as they all say their farewell's Shishka looks over the weak spots for herself to see how much powder it will take to blast the bridge apart.
"We couldn't have won this battle without the both of you. Be well, and warn the town of the danger that approaches. We can only hope by the time we return that the townsfolk will make haste to evacuate." Tal'ariel says her goodbyes for now, but she does not believe for long.
"Let's all work quickly to deal with this bridge so we can scout ahead."
Shishka won't necessarily need any powder; Bran can actually do enough damage with his Any-Tool's pick in a minute to collapse the bridge. With all the Knowledge (Engineering) experts you can keep him from striking the final blows. What will take a bit longer is rigging up some rope and wood braces to hold the bridge so it doesn't collapse under your weight, but would collapse under a larger group. It takes a while, but you all get that done.
A grenade could also target a key brace if you return with the enemy in hot pursuit.
Zelligar nods and says "We will see each other again." He and Iris start down the road with Alice, Greg, and Jenk, heading towards the Ferry.
Shishka waves bye as the others leave, Bye Jenk, try not to swindle anyone along the way...
Bran gives the gnome a curious look, "I'd like to know a little more about the people fighting at my side. If you don't mind what is that all about?" He gives his head a shake in Jenk's direction.
"By the way, I'll take the point unless anyone has any objections."
Looking up to the big warrior, Name is Shishka, owner of “Shishka’s Gadgets Galore Emporium” in Terrelton. and that Jenk fellow, well, he's part of the Merchant council there. he has objected to my inclusion in the council for several years. it has come to my attention, via a paladin friend of mine that Jenk has been makin friendly with local brigands. which would explain why my windows were busted twice in a month.
anyway, when I started losing business and less and less adventuring types were stopping by my Emporium, I suspected Jenk had a hand in that. so when he went out to do whatever he was doing, I followed. hoping to get some real evidence of his misdeeds, but I ended up being captured by those goblin types. long story short, I ended up where you guys found me.[/b]
as Bran offers to take point, ok. I can be real sneaky like when I want to be. and I have this grappling hook. she pulls out her grappling hook gun to show him.
"Well then, if you feel more confident up front I'm more than willing to help defend the flanks. But I'm not going to just ask y'know, seems to be an unfair burden even with that..." Looking a little puzzled, "Grappling hook gun? What in Elysium is a gun?" He shakes his head and takes a moment to think, "Sorry to hear about your windows and store, that doesn't seem mighty nice of him. I can assure you that we're a lot better than that, they're good folk."
Mikhail watches as her fellow captives head back to the Ferry. She had not really had the chance to get to know any of them, having been gaged and tied up, but she did wish them a safe and speedy journey.
As you can see, Koth's map shows a flag at Cinder Hill with the note "All tribes muster here under Kharn." Cinder Hill is about a day's march from the bridge.
The Battle of Skull Gorge Bridge took place in the early afternoon. The searching and the bridge sabotage took some more time. It's mid-afternoon now. You can move until the evening, camp, and then get to Cinder Hill by mid-day tomorrow (or in late evening if you choose a more stealthy approach).
Would you be going on the road (the Dawn Way, going through more of the Witchwood)? This would be the fastest way.
Or going parallel to the road 50-100 yards off to the side? This would be slower but less likely to run into any hobgoblins (though other things live in the woods...)
Considering their options for moving forward, Tal'ariel says, "I prefer we travel on the road. If we see any hobgoblins heading in the opposite direction, we will need to dispatch them anyway before they arrive at the bridge and realize what has happened."
ok then, I'll go on ahead. It'll be fun. and Shishka moves to head Across the bridge.
"Lets keep on the road for now, once we start seeing some tracks for carts or boots then we can move off to the side. No need to run through brush when we're far from our destination." He shouts a little at the skipping gnome, "If you have any trouble I'll be there in a flash!"
Mikail joins the others as they cross the bridge and head out to see where this force may be.
You make good time on your journey. The rest of the day passes uneventfully, and camping off the trail at night poses no difficulty.
The following day, somewhat before noon, you reach Cinder Hill.
The trail you're following crests a rugged ridge, sparsely covered with wind-twisted pine trees. From the ridge you find yourselves looking across a broad vale, with a knob-like hill or small mountain on the opposite side. The Dawn Way cuts through the valley, a ribbon of pale stone leading past the towering heights of the hill. The valley is filled with a great encampment. Hundreds of crude tents dot the valley floor, interspersed with bulky siege engines, groups of wagons, and pens for draft beasts. You can easily make out hundreds of warriors in view at any given time. Bands of goblin worg riders patrol the camp's outskirts, battalions of fierce hobgoblins engage in mock battles with martial shouts and the clang of steel on steel, hulking giants plod from place to place, and you even see a red dragon lazily circling overhead.
This is the camp of an army numbering in the thousands.
Tal'ariel was fully expecting an army, and yet seeing it assembled here sent shivers down her spine. "Unbelievable, another dragon in support of a massive hobgoblin army! The danger is very, very real."
"By the Inheritor! I did not know. How could such a warband be assembled without anyone knowing? I..I must join you to destroy these monsters before they can harm the unknowing people of the vale!"
Shishka tries to get the best view possible. pulling out a piece of parchment and inkpen, she starts taking notes of all that she can see in the encampment.
whispering to the group, There must be some new king uniting all of these guys, I doubt they are smart enough to gather together like this on their own.
"Look I love your zeal, but there's no way we can take this fight as is. I agree with Shishka, there must be something uniting them." Bran gives a quick eye around, "See anything that looks like this?" He draws a symbol of Tiamat in the dirt near them, remembering it from what seemed like months ago. "Thats her symbol, maybe it might lead us to whatever it is they're doing here."
You don't see the symbol of Tiamat at the moment. You do, however, see the Red Hand banner displayed prominently in many places, most notably over a large circular tent near the middle of the encampment.
After watching for a while, you can tell that guarding each entrance to this tent are black-scaled horned dragon-men.
You have heard rumors of these things. They match the description of Blackspawn Raiders, a type of Spawn of Tiamat. (That is a broader category of half-dragon creatures only recently seen on Golarion.) From the story of a battle near Alkenstar, you know that they can breathe acid, and while they aren't all that strong, they are very tough for being only human-sized. A squad of musketeers hit one of these creatures a dozen times before it fell.
"Seems like that is where our foe's leadership lies." He points out the obvious tent, "Where is their food coming from? Any ideas?" He looks grim for a moment, I really hope it doesn't involve shackles and fine folk like those at the Ferry.
He remains quiet and takes a look around.
"Right now more than ever I'm hoping those rumours of giants are true. We're going to need more than a ragtag group of guerrillas like us here. Those stories of the elves across the river... We need to go to someone; myth or not." He doesn't look that disheartened considering, and instead clenches his fist and stamps out the symbol he drew on the floor.
Tal'Ariel has picked up quite a bit of her people's history - she knows that, before the starfall, Rhestlin was a magnificent elven city, a number of grand spires built where the forest met the lake. The land wasn't called the Elsir Vale or Isger then, of course, but the position is just about right. Warriors from Rhestlin rode into battle on the back of giant owls, and that deadly cavalry was renowned across the old world. (the elves say)
She's also heard of the reports that the reclaimers sent back to Kyonin. Apparantly, the city has fallen into ruin, more than just partially sunk into the swamp that now lies in place of the forest.
The elves that went to live there after they returned to Golarion are little more than swamp-nomads now, although they've managed to befriend some of the giant owls that still live in the area.
It took a moment before Tal'ariel realized what elves Bran was referring to. "I don't know how much help these elves will be, although if we can gain their giant owls as mounts, we'll have the advantage of mobility in spreading the word about what is happening. On the other hand, we would be losing time trying to find these elves. . ."
Tal considers how feasible Bran's idea seems.
Shishka finishes her notes, tucking her notes away, elves or not, we need to get this info to somebody. then we can see about these elves. oh, and blow up that bridge also.
It doesn't look like the camp has been here that long -- the fortifications are minimal, and the surrounding hills have not been cleared of firewood. They also don't seem to be striking camp just yet.
"How did you discover this invasion? What brought you to the bridge? I am not a native of this land but is there someone who is in command of the area...a king or something? We need to rally as many in the vale against this army as soon as we can!"
The other-worldly being looks around with a look of determination on her face as she asks her many questions.
"There have been raids ongoing throughout the Vale. We got a great tip that their leadership was camped out in a ruined castle, and we launched a successful attack. Obviously it's unlikely they were the true leaders, but they had a copy of their invasion plans with them."
Tal'ariel shows or arranges with others to show Mikail the battle plans.
"As you can see, they mean to take the entire Vale."
"So we should stop them at every turn. We can't afford to fight them head on, but if we stop their plans in advance... We just need to follow the map." He points at the nearest note. "I say we cut off the dwarf bridge and then proceed to search for some allies."
"Right, so that means falling back to Drellin's Ferry? I think we've seen enough to confirm our worst fears. We take out bridges to slow them down and warn the townspeople so we can prepare a response to this invasion."
With her eyes still wide in shock at the number and variety of creatures in the army, Mikail nods grimly. She says a few words in the angelic language of her people before turning from the scene and readying to depart with the others.
Your trip back to Skull Gorge Bridge is uneventful. You arrive after the sun has set but while it is still dusk. Zelligar and Iris haven't made it back yet -- presumably they are dealing with things in Drellin's Ferry -- but if you wish to take down the bridge at this time you can. Well, not quite yet.
A short distance south of the bridge -- where Ozzyrandion's carcass lies -- three GIANT WASPS are feasting! As you come past the tower, you see them. The wasps are Large, and flying, so the dragon's corpse does not provide any cover if you wish to engage them at range.
And they see you.
Round 1
Lavinia delays.
Party is up!
Then wasps.
Effects active: None
"Oh just our luck. I'm going in, give me a hand yeah?"
Mikail moves forward and unsheathes her sword. A shining starburst in the shape of Iomedae's holy symbol flares into existence, shining with the light of a torch. The warrior-priest moves towards the giant insects, halting 30 or so feet from her foe.
Bran eyes the bees and their stingers, hoping to learn something of their breed.
He moves up toward Mikail and draws his longsword, readying himself against the attack; turning to her quickly before "I'm excited to see what you can do!"
AHHHHH! Big Bugs! this is a job for.... she says as she advances closer pulling out her special gun.
A Grappling hook! she announces with confidence in her masterful abilities.
firing the hook ahead of her it lands with a plop on the ground next to Mikail. [b]they must have some magical displacement effect that makes them look closer than they really are!
An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.
"Drat, they saw us!"
Tal'ariel moves forward while a wand springs into her hand. She uses it, and a shield of force appears around her.
Bran takes his readied attack as the first one closes in!
While his sword strikes true, the massive insect survives and tries to sting him.
With his buckler hand on the sword, that gets through a gap in his armor. While the stinger goes deep, Bran resists the poison.
Another one has to move past him to get to a place to attack. Bran gets a swing at it as it passes.
Bran hits it!
It triggers Mikail's readied attack -- the Aasimar swings her glowing longsword!
However, she just misses.
This one tries to sting Bran as well, to no effect.
The third one flies in and it too tries to sting Bran. You are pretty sure there's no tactical coordination here, he's just the closest intruder. The sting fails to penetrate Bran's armor.
Party is up!
Tal'ariel ducks underneath the stairs and attempts to stab one of the wasps while it's busy fighting Bran.
Unfortunately, she completely misjudges how to fight these flying enemies!
The bees fly closer, They can grow in Size too. she yells pulling another gun from her bandoleer.
She fires at the one closest to Mikail.
Bran twirls out of the way of two of the wasps but the third slides under his arm, dealing a significant blow but thankfully feels his body fight off its venom. "Don't let these things get a hold of you, who knows what nasty venom they have in their stingers."
He sees that the swordmage has moved into position and despite the wasp's intelligence, he uses the flank to his advantage.
Shishka and Bran both hit!
Mikail is up.
Mikail swings at the giant bug presented before her.
Attack:
Damage:
One wasp flees!
The remaining two continue to attack Bran.
One stings him, but again he resists the venom.
Lavinia moves up to heal Bran.
Attack: 19
Damage: 8
Party is up!
Mikail again stabs at the bug with her sword.
Attack:
Damage: