"Rrrggg. The Lady's safety is more important that the capture of a few bandits at the moment. Let them go for now then. If they return to a life of banditry there won't be any question about what to do with them next time. ggggerrrr.
"I agree, letting them go will be fine. Lets head to the lodge the lady is our priority."
"I concur.
Gavinia stomps back over to the two men and speaks as she starts freeing them
"Alseta, my goddess watches over boundaries. The boundaries between two nations, the boundaries between inside and outside, between day and night, between the seasons, between life and death, even between living life one way and living it another. May she watch over you now as you go to live a better way."
With the men free, she returns to in front of them.
"Now, you can keep your swords and armor, the woods are still dangerous, especially if you meet any fairies who suspect you are no longer allies.
And I trust that should we run into each other again, you will be living the better life."
"You are so very generous. I forgot people can pay you kindness. I assure you, if we do meet again, I won't be in banditry."
After watching the (former?) bandits disappear into the heavy snow, Garrasay turns back to the direction of the lodge and starts trudging forward.
Petal creeps back and forth across his shaggy shoulders and neck trying to brush the snow off of his mane, however it accumulates almost as fast as it can be removed.
"gggggrrrrr. One blessing of this damnable snow is that it will mask our approach on the cabin. rrRRRrrg.
"Stein should go first to see if there are any guards."
The date is 4713 AR on Fireday, 20th Earstus at 10:30 am - current moon cycle: first quarter
The Location - The High Sentinel Lodge
After climbing at least a hundred feet into the hills, the snowy trail finally levels off. In a clearing among the trees you see a large wooden lodge. Smoke rises from the lodge's two snow-covered chimneys, and large woodpile is stacked against the outer wall. A small outbuilding stands east of the lodge, and a stone well nearly blanketed by snow is barely recognizable to the north. Several tracks lead southwest.
"Well, someone is home. Steinolf, can you scout ahead to see who's inside. We should have the element of surprise, so it would be best to use it to full advantage. Here, let me bless you first."
Gavinia lays a hand on Steinolf and murmurs a spell, casting Guidance.
She also draws her dagger, in preparation for upcoming hostilities.
"hrrrrr. Should we go up to the front door first, or have a look around the grounds?" Garrasay asks as he brushes more snow off himself "There is probably a back door to a place this big. If we are careful enough the snow will hide us from any lookouts. rrrrh"
"lets go look for a back door. I agree."
Gathering up his cloak, and pulling out the bow in case there is any issues, he hurries along the side of the building.
Garrasay keeps his distance, but follows Mordred. As they pass the side of the building, Garrasay peeks in one of the windows to see if he can spot anyone inside.
Gavinia remains where she us, waiting for the others to report back, or for sounds of combat.
Shuffling through the snow Mordred makes his way to the window, looking inside he tries to see what there is.
The windows are not open and are blacked out from curtains. You can tell there is light inside from perhaps from the fire place.
Garrasay whispers, a low growling sound rrrr"Someone is home.ggrrr"
He continues to follow Mordred at a distance.
I already have some recruits on the way. I'm sorry but I may not have room for the friend but I'll let you know once I get all the tables filled back up.
"Doesn't look like they can see out - we'd best stick together." Gavinia says, leading Steinolf and Yuki after the others. She pauses at the well to glance down it.
"Probably frozen in this weather. I suppose they'll be melting snow for water instead."
"Stein, can you get this window open without causing a sound?"
Gavinia continues along the wall and peeks around the corner.
Gavinia looks around the corner. You can see where a chimney for perhaps a stove might be, in fact you're confident because you can smell the aroma of a beef stew cooking beyond that wall. You see the edge of the building rounds around a corner and beyond that you think is a cliff that goes down and you can hear rushing water in the distance.
Coming from the direction your party arrived, you can hear foot steps crunching in the snow. You see two beings arriving and looking around.
One of the two is a petite person, dressed in plain grey cold weather gear with a hood, showing no real indication of who or what it is. It's hard to tell much about it at all with all the layers, but it seems that it might be female.
Seeing that they've been noticed by the group creeping around the lodge and peeking in the windows, she stops, motions to the person with her to stop as well, and waits to see what these rather suspicious people will do.
Even under the heavy cold weather gear, the other figure seems thin. When the feminine figure motions to him, he stops. Those looking closely may catch the flash of fiery, golden-orange eyes that seem to glow with inner light.
The tangle of vines on the gnoll's shoulders tugs at his ear to get his attention. He turns around and then taps on Mordred's shoulder, bringing his attention to the newcomers.
He lets out s quiet, but grumbly sigh as he asked his companions "Hhhhhhrrrggggg. So, do we try yet again to resolve this peacefully and likely get attacked once more, or just take the initiative. Gmmrrrrrrr."
The short, slate-skinned warpriest pushes back through the snow to see the newcomers. Glancing up at the gnoll, she answers
"They don't seem to be bandits - and they're too dressed to be the fey that Sam described. Let's see if we're more fortunate this time."
Approaching the two newcomers, she says, "Hello. Are you with the Lodge? I'm afraid it's currently occupied by bandits."
Seeing that the gnoll is eyeing her as suspiciously as she is eyeing him, Kishai approaches slowly with her empty hands showing.
"Greetings. I'm not sure what you all are up to, but I suspect from your actions you are not associated with the folks inside. We are not friendly with them, and here to investigate something." She stops a few paces away, still speaking calmly, now addressing the warpriest. "I have no wish to interfere with whatever you are planning, but there is a chance that we might be of assistance to each other if you are planning some kind of action against them."
Looking at the two of them, Mordred Looks them in the eyes when talking to them trying to determine their reason for being here. After a few moments liking what he sees he turns towards the window.
" Do any of you think you can get open this window? there doesn't seem to be anyone inside, and I would prefer to be out of this damn Cold before having this conversation."
"Ummm...I can take a look at it and see, I can't promise anything though"
Very surprised at how quickly this group is asking to work together, Kishai decides to help, after a quick aside with Cnut. "Although it is nice that they are being this friendly, please keep on eye on them until we get a chance to talk further"
Kishai takes a long look at Mordred to try and gauge if he is being upfront or if this is a trap ( ) and feeling a little more comfortable she takes a look at the window.
"Stay here, I'll try to be both quick and quiet about it." She moves quietly up to the indicated window and sees if she is able to open it. If she can she'll peek through the curtains to see if the room is occupied before proceeding.
( if it is locked)
"We would welcome any assistance. What is it you are investigating? We are tracking down a kidnapped noblewoman. We interrogated a couple of the bandits and they told us she was here. They also told us that the other rank and file bandits are not really invested in their higher ups' plans, so an impressive display of force should help comvince them to flee rather than fight. We are just scouting now, to find the best way to surprise them."
Kishai disables the locked window and opens it as quietly as she can.
This room is dark and there is a curtain concealing it's contents.
"Odd. We are also tracking someone down. If you're speaking of Lady Argentea then we have the same goal. We were sent by the council of Heldren to bring her back."
She motions everyone back while she opens the window
"They did mention another group that had headed out before us but has been out of contact for a while. By any chance is that you guys?" She puts her fingers to her lips and shushes everyone. "Hold on, we can discuss that later. Let me look in here first."
She slowly pulls the curtain to the side and tries to peek in to see if the room is empty.
A bed and chest sit across from one another in this small room. Two doors serve as exits, and a window looks out on the north side of the lodge.
You do not see anyone in this room and there is no light other than the dim light you are letting in from the curtain, which is little due to the non-stop snowing.
Kishai backs away from the window and returns to brief the group. "Got the window unlocked and open. The room is empty, seems to be a bedroom. Two closed doors and the window are the only points of access. We could try and get the group inside and move from there, but there's no way of knowing what's on the other side of those doors unless we scout more."
"You've been tracking these guys longer than we have. I don't like the idea of putting us in a small room where we are all grouped up and could be overrun easily, but I'll bow to your judgement."
"we had a terrible run in with a Elemental or creature of some sort that none of us could identify. he greatly stalled us in the pursuit of the Lady."
Climbing through the window; Mordred starts taking off his Cold weather outfit. trying to be a quite as possible.
whispering through the window, and drawing his Great axe.
" Smaller numbers favor us against larger if we happen to pull back into this room, personally I would rather like a fight out of the snow, if has been causing all sorts of issues.
Looking back at, Stien and the Witch. "You stay out here and gaurd our backs. let us know if anyone comes at us from behind."
Never one to let someone risk themselves without her, Kishai follows Mordred right back through the window, and takes her gloves and jacket off to free up her movement and bare her claws. She sidles up to the two doors and takes a listen at each.
Gavinia approaches the window. In a low voice, she says "The bandit leader is upstairs - he is some sort of necromancer, we believe - we fought off some zombies where they ambushed the lady. The lady herself is in the cellar - she is being watched over by a half-orc named Penny. There is also a fey somewhere that is apparently performing some ritual - most of the bandits have been forbidden to talk to him, so they are most likely holed up in a room. I am hoping we'll just find the worker bandits in the common areas on this level. If we can, I'd like to surprise the bandits on two flanks, but I'll settle for just surprise."
"What if we had a couple people approach the main door from the outside, and once they had the bandits occupied, the rest of us came from behind them out of this room?"
While you're all having a conversation while climbing into the building, some of you might hear some voices inside the building.
"Well get them out, I don't want them taking my stuff." You hear a deep womans voice, followed by a "Shhhhhhh" and then silence.
Garrasay looks at the window dubiously, it was going to take some effort to get his large frame through that window and it was unlikely going to be quiet. "Rrrrrr. If we need a distraction, I can have Petal knock on the front door to draw the occupants to the front, if that is our intention. ggggrrrrr"
Kishai immediately stops whispering as she hears the woman's voice, waves the others to be quiet, and concentrates to try and identify which direction it came from.
Cnut follows the others through the window, but remains quiet as Kishai waves for silence.
"If someone knocks on the door even if its a distraction, that will alert them, I say we simply go out and see what happens."
Morde shrugs. and gets ready to charge through a door.
"ok, someone open the door, and ill run in. Hopefully that will be enough to spook someone." looking at Gnut. "Do you mind?"
"Easily done." Cnut says, before stepping to the door. He looks back, meeting everyone's eyes to ensure they're ready, then opens the door.