Redelia's Ironfang Invasion (Inactive)

Game Master Redelia

Alaka looks at Trinket and says

I think she (or he)? said "Mf mrfl mmrbl mafn mrbl!" ... Maybe it is some obscure kobold dialect?

"Thank. You." a feminine voice bites out as she holds out her wrists. "Thank you for the rescue and would someone please untie me before I do something really dangerous that could get some of you hurt?"

The dragonette dusts herself off and peers at the hobgoblin, kicking it once for good measure.

"Petrahk Jadetalon. I was heading to Druma to hire out as a mercenary in case the hobgoblins got that far south. Got jumped by this one and we were running around in the woods for a few days. Is it time to sleep yet?" the coppery kobold inquires as her eyes droop a bit.

"No, the gag wasn't clothes, I'm dragon-blooded and this one tried to keep me from casting."

Poxy cuts any ropes still binding Petrahk.

"Hobogobos? We is already on a quest to stop them. But doubtful Poxy thinks we don't need any mercy naries. When we finds the hobogobos, stabby Poxy is going to stab them. Or burn them. Not mercy them."

The dragonette rubs her wrists and ankles to get some circulation back into them.

"Thank you, Poxy."

There's a bit of a pause.

"I'm not adverse to a little bit of payback after that... after I take a nap... but... why are all of you... I mean... aren't goblins -- no offense -- normally part of hobgoblin forces, usually pushed in front of their armies as... oooohhh. Sorry... did I mention I haven't really slept in two days?"

She wobbles on her feet a bit.

"Poor, Petrahk Jadetalon, Shiniest of Victims with the very Sleepy Eyes! But, fear not!" Trinket suddenly leaps to her feet and poses with one hand on her hips and the other pointing to the sky, "For we, Greatest of Heroes, we will watch over you if you need to sleep! Now HUSH! And rest!"

After only a moment, Trinket says to the other quite loudly.

"SHHHHH! SHE NEEDS TO SLEEP!"

She's quiet again for a moment....

And then she starts to sing a lullaby.

"Oh, sad and sleepy victim,
So saaaaaaaad and so sleepyyyyyyyy....
Heroes always help yoooooooooou,
So go to nighty nightyyyyyyyyy...."

Perform Song: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Unfortunately, she's singing too loud, and it's very difficult to get any sleep.

I just have to run with this!

Fort Save(DC 15) to stay awake: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

Trinket may or may not have realized it, but apparently her tone hits the right level of pitch or volume or droning and very shortly after the dragonette is snoring up a storm!

Xakroo tries to answer the dragonette some questions, but immediately Trinket puts her to sleep.

Well...that was idiotic he said bluntly.

The dragonette snores some more (which may explain how she was caught) looking very peaceful and relaxed.

Tranquil, even.

Let's go. Trinket gets to carry the snoring guy.

Once he's finished scouting the trail, Kryptyk returns to follow these creatures wherever they are headed to make sure they remain safe from raiders.

"Noooooo, do not worryyyyyyyyy,
Sleeeeeeeepy, snoooooooore-yyyyyyyy, snoooooooooooze!" Trinket sings happily.

When the others get up and insist they get moving, Trinket sings,

"Yeeeeees! Great Hero Trinket will carry herrrrrrr,
Get her up on my baaaaaaaaaack,
Give her a ride while she takes a naaaaaaap!
Hero-y, Hero-y, Hero's DOOOOO!!!
Anything they need to, to Hero-ooooo!"

Trinket attempts to give Shiny Victim a piggy back while she sleeps. All the while singing her a lullaby.

Stealth: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (3) + 17 = 20
Strength: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

I'll totally give you a piggy back ride to the fort! Haha.

Jynjunn shakes her head sadly "Looks like there's competition for the sneakiest kobold around now. I took my eyes off him for one second and he's gone. At least the other seems to be easier to keep eyes on."

As if to emphasize Jyn's point, Petrahk snores a bit more loudly as she is carried along by Trinket. She must not have been kidding about not sleeping for days.

Xakroo pats Jynnjun's shoulder. There there, he said confidently, Who says you can't be sneakiest kobolds together?

Cirreo seems to be not quite sure what to make of your oddness, but still leads you to the location of the fort. A wide river has carved a gorge fifty feet deep through the forest. The gorge splits around a pillar of dark rock three hundred feet long and over a hundred feet wide. Sprawling atop this pillar is a compound consisting of several stone buildings and a few partially assembled war machines, all enclosed by twelve-foot-high walls ringing the plateau. A tall, wide tower with small windows looms to the northeast. Water pours steadily from a massive hole smashed through an upper wall.

Three bridges made of thick ropes and heavy planks span the gorge: one to the north side of the gorge, a second to the west, and third to the south. These bridges lead to gaps in the stone wall surrounding the fort.

Since we've added some new players, I want to point out to you the map link in the campaign header above.

"Aha!" Trinket exclaims, accidentally waking up her new Shiny Victm friend. She points happily at the Fort. "There it is!"

Suddenly her face scrunches up in confusion. "Hey! What's with that hole in the wall?" She giggles. "Those sillies! Walls are supposed to be finished! Somebody got laaaaazyyyyyy! "

"Yeah, or something," Kryptyk joins in. Approaching a fortified building usually meant hiding really wasn't an option.

"You know, you never did mention why you were going to this fort in the first place."

"We're heroes." Trinket replies sagely with a triumphant 'looking off into the distance' pose.

"Mrrmlll whaha no jus five mo-UYRK" the dragonette murmurs as she's startled to wakefulness, blinking a few times and wiping a bit of drool that must have been everyone's imagination away from her face.

"I... think those holes are supposed to be there, but is this place supposed to be under seige or something? If so, why are all the bridges down?"

Alaka goes up to the edge of the bridge to see if it is safe to cross.

Perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (6) + 19 = 25

"We're too late to ask the rangers here for aid but we might not be too late to give it. Cirreo, is there anything we should know about places where your friends might be hiding if they lost the battle here?" Jynnjun asks.

The small squares on the map are 5' across, right?

Yes, the squares are 5 feet. Your tokens are very badly oversized right now, but I wanted them to be easy to find on that giant map. Once I know which bridge you want to be near, I can shrink them down.

While Alaka is still a distance from the bridge, she sees Ironfang soldiers guarding it from the far side.

Xakroo tenses up. He looks to the newcomers and says sternly, Keep your guard up. Zarvak gets the faint trace of hobgoblins on her nose, and she begins to hiss, her feathers starting to stand up.

The dragonette dusts herself off and makes a few arcane gestures as a super-imposed boundary of force manifests around her, looking like a dragon, even.

She gives Yakroo a nod and her demeanor shifts from tired/almost foppish to 'war mode', which is almost jarring.

Petrahk casts Mage Armor on herself. Current AC 24/16/20

Her next action, if she has time to prepare, is to cast Shield on herself, which would go AC 28/16/24

"How many of them are there? Do they have any formations or units in there, can you see?"

I think there might be a more sheltered approach over there, Kryptyk whispers pointing towards the western bridge. Let's scout that a bit before charging in.

Kryptyk quietly creeps... Stealth: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (11) + 21 = 32
while looking for tracks to gauge how much hobgoblin activity is in the area... Survival: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24
as well as for other danger. Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

"Sneaky Poxy will follow new Crypty friend and take a sneaky peek inside."

Poxy follows Kryptyk and sees what he can spot.

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34

"Agreed!" Trinket exclaims, pointing her rapier to the sky. "HERO VANISH!"

Stealth: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (7) + 17 = 24
Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10 Or 8 if it's based on sight.

Unfortunately, although Trinket's relatively quiet, she's not very helpful...

Xakroo and Zarvak sneak along with them.

Xakroo's Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28
Xakroo's Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (16) + 18 = 34
Zarvak's Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Zarvak's Stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

Alaka keeps going on the Eastern side while the others go around to the West. If she saw them, they probably saw her, and maybe she can distract them a little. She starts to cross the bridge, and calls out to the soldiers.

Hey guys, you want to buy some torches? I make great torches. They last a long time. Really cheap. In fact, no money at all. I'm just hungry. How about torches for a little food?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

@ Alaka: I would favourite that post twice if I could!

Petrahk, you may assume you had time to cast your other protective spell, since your team decided when to start things.

Poxy whispiers quietly to those nearby "Peeking Poxy thinks he sees a trap on the bridge. We should sneak in soon since sounds like something happening on the other side now. Careful Poxy will poke the trap carefully."

Poxy drinks an extract of alchemical allocation. Then he drinks a potion of invisibility and vanishes from sight. But everyone can see a strange sight as the bottle reappears and refills itself when Poxy spits it back out. Poxy tucks it away in his invisible bag and it is once again unseen.

Poxy moves carefully to disable the trap.

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 + 20 ⇒ (8) + 11 + 20 = 39
Disable Device: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27

Poxie is confident he has made the bridge safe.

Alaka keeps a smile on her face as she says

Sure, I can make torches for all of you guys, but you have to feed me, okay? Okay? And don't hit me too hard or I won't be able to think straight, which messes up the torches.

... I'll come with you and do whatever you say. You don't have to be mean, okay? Just give me a little bit of food. I don't eat much. Just some scraps, maybe? I'm really hungry. Here. Free samples.

She starts handing out torches to everyone, trying to distract them from grabbing her.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17

You probably shouldn't test them right now though, because it isn't dark at all, and we don't want to use them up yet.

Bluff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

Whoops thinks Alaka, maybe that bluff was too good. I hope somebody wants to test them.

Once the bridge is safe, Poxy returns to tap Trinket and Kryptyk on the shoulder and whispers "Is safe now."

Then he sneaks across the bridge, still invisible, to see what's going on inside.

Sneak: 1d20 + 11 + 20 ⇒ (7) + 11 + 20 = 38
Peek: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32

Cirreo tells Jynnjun "They would have gone to one of the other forts. I have no idea where they would have ended up if all the forts fell."

The hobgoblins grinning at Alaka relax. They like slaves who are smart and willing. "She should be much more useful than those stupid rangers we have as slaves now!" one of them remarks to the other. They then order Alaka to follow them and start to move inside.

At this point, I need to know what Jynnjun and Petrahk are doing about getting inside.

"Okay, now that I'm armored up we can--" the dragonette begins to say even as they realize that the rest of the party has moved on ahead with little to no warning. REALLY? GRRRR. FINE!

Subtlety is not Petrahk's strong point.

The blood of dragons flows in her veins.

She's also not stupid enough to think that she can take this place by herself and there's possible allies already attempting an infiltration.

Calling upon a bit more of her blood she lofts herself into the air Casting Fly on self and makes a loop around the fortress, trying to keep about a hundred feet away and about seventy feet 'up' from the top of the walls.

She'll ride thermals and be casual about her path... but not TOO casual as she tries to get an overview of the fortress from outside the typical range of ranged weaponry.

Fly(Fly Spell): 1d20 + 3 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 3 + 5 = 18 If necessary

Perception(Dazzled condition if applicable): 1d20 + 9 - 1 ⇒ (9) + 9 - 1 = 17

Attempting to find a good access point from the upper levels that isn't too guarded, or failing that, disposition of defensive forces should a frontal assault or hit-and-run tactics be required as a distraction.

Trinket utters some amazing 'Hero Pronouncements'....

"Ready, fellow heroes... They won't know what hit them!"

Then her form shifts and shimmers for a moment, before vanishing completely from sight.

Casting blur and then vanish on herself.

Trinket sneaks across the bridge, drawing her rapier as she goes, and quietly sneaks up on the hobgoblins who are leading Alaka away.

Stealth: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (17) + 17 = 34

Note: Trinket has every intention of stabbing these hobgoblins to free her great friend Alaka with her next turn (whenever that happens to be, haha. She already took quite a few actions).

Jynnjun follows Trinket with similar means and intentions, though there are rather less pronouncements and her shape multiplies rather than blurring before disappearing.

Mirror image & invisibility sphere.

# of images: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Stealth: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (18) + 24 = 42

There's a lot going on here, both your actions and the adventure. I'm going to take extra time to figure out how this is all going to happen, so please be patient if my post takes a bit longer than usual. I mean an extra day, not a lot of time.

As no one had mentioned any plan, Kryptyk heads straight for the Alaka and the hobgoblins.

Petrahk notices three birds roosting near the courtyard. I have put all the Ironfang soldiers and of you can see one the map. They have not yet noticed any of you but Alaka. Please make sure you have put yourself where you want to be on the map, because this could change to combat at any time.

Kryptyk will move toward the corner of the building near the middle of the courtyard.

Stealth: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (20) + 21 = 41 (if applicable)

Taking advantage of her invisibility, Jynnjun moves silently to a place with the best visibility for her - the middle of the northern courtyard, in front of Alaka and her escorts/captors/victims.

Are there any fires around? Alaka would want to position herself (if possible) with her guards between her and any fire within 60 feet, so that she can use her Call Fire ability.

Can we eat first, guys? Just a little. And then on to torch-making! ... Please? I'm SO hungry...

Invisible Poxy hides among the catapults, thinking a few smoke bombs may be able to divide the battlefield against hobgoblin arrows.

Despite her intentions to go help Alaka, the sight of three other hobgoblins on the way causes Trinket to get distracted. She sneaks up behind the hobgoblin in the dashing orange scarf, ready to stab him in the back!

Placed!

Xakroo moves and hides next to Kryptyk, while Zarvak sneaks by and hides behind the catapults, next to Poxy.

Placed!

One of Alaka's hobgoblin captors laughs at her plea. "Chains and word first, then food, you stupid goblin!" The other looks at her for a moment. "Nah, she's only going to be useful if we take care of her. I'll take her to the campfire for something to eat."

You get the sense that the second of Alaka's captors is a little less evil than the rest of the hobbogobbos around here.

With those monstrous stealth roles, I would say you guys can just put yourselves wherever you want, as long as you're at least 15 feet way from any hobgoblin. If you're hiding behind something, that restriction doesn't even apply.

The adventure doesn't mention a fire anywhere, but I think it's reasonable they would have a cooking fire in the middle of the courtyard.

Okay, I threw a campfire in there. Feel free to move it wherever you were thinking if it isn't in a good place. I just need to know where it is during the upcoming fight. Should Yellow be Larry the "less-evil" Hobbo?

Thanks! Alaka beams at the less-evil Hobgoblin, and goes along with him to get some food.