Ansgar nods at everyone's words. "It sounds like we at least have some way to move forward now." Turning as Cael walks in, and seeing all the finery, Ansgar has an idea.
"Cael, could you go around town and recruit anyone willing to fight? Skill with a sling or bow is all that's needed and they can fall back as soon as they fear injury, but having as many people to help with the defense as possible would be ideal. And you look the part to get people to sign up with all your shiny new equipment."
"ABSOLUTELY!" Cael says grinning. "What should I tell people though? Should I just send them here?"
After receiving his instructions Cael rushes out and mounts up. Then he begins going through town alternating between blowing his whistle and crying.
"We need to make sure not to spook the general population though as they will cause more issues than we need." Quiary says listening to their plan
Quiary will go with Ansgar to secure the defenses, making sure there are lot of arrows and other thrown and shot weapons on the gate and in strategic spots throughout town.
With a loose plan ready to happen, Ansgar heads out to speak with the mayor. On the way he says to Quiary, "Let's see if the Mayor can help us organize weapons for the militia. If not we will just have to find what we can."
Cael, now knowing what he should say, calls for any in the town willing to join the militia's archers and slingmen.
Norm will go with Cael, helping with his recruiting in any way he can, taking names, giving directions on where to go, supporting Cael in his arguments and cheering where it is (mostly) appropriate.
Unsure where she can best help, Zelinda makes her way back to the Sheriff to see if there were anywhere that she could be put to work.
You spend about a week bolstering the town's defenses.
Caeldren and Normornigan's call for militiamen finds nearly twenty volunteers, increasing the town's overall military to fifteen full time guards and eighty militia.
Ansgar, Quiary and Zelinda help the Sheriff with securing weapons and gear for the incoming defense, the town is heavily undersupplied for a large scale battle, and Savah, the resident blacksmith, gets to work immediately.
At some point in the afternoon, Shalelu arrives into the city, a quick meeting is called at the city council to hear her report.
"I've been watching the goblin tribes, and they have fallen back to their usual bickering. It seems they don't have much direction without Nualia's leadership, the tribes are now fighting over Thistletop. While being cautious is never bad, I don't think the plans for a big attack on Sandpoint will become a reality anytime soon."
"It seems our efforts were unnecessary, then.", the Sheriff says. "Though I'm perfectly happy to prepare for a battle that never comes."
Quiary eventually feels a bit of relief, his shoulder shagging after having been running and living on pure adrenline while preparing the town for an assault.
"That is good then, Sand point is saved and we can move on to other things again?" Quiary looks at the others with him.
"That's great news! If we'd actually been attacked people would have died, no way around it. As it is we can chock this up to an excellent drill.
As for what's next, hmmm. Any great thoughts Stoneface?"
Well... I'm glad that's over...
"The preparations are likely to come in handy in the future, if not for protecting the town then for helping to keep the goblins out of the surrounding hinterlands." Ansgar says. "If they're fighting over Thistletop, we may want to leave them to it for a while. The longer they're distracted the better."
Ansgar thinks for a moment, "Sheriff, unless you can think of something better for us to do, I think I may journey to Magnimar with the remains of Nualia as we spoke about before. We need to ensure she can't be resurrected as she said she could."
Hearing that the predicted battle wasn't coming, Zelinda feels both relieved and energized. "Really?! That's amazing! Wow... I'm not sure what to do with myself. Maybe I should go run Uma for a while. Burn off some energy for both of us."
She looks around the room at the others, "Unless there's anything else that needs doing around here."
"That sounds like fun. Do you mind if Shadowmist and I join you? I need to practice my riding skills."
Zelinda turns to Cael, her expression changing from excitement to a playful grin. "You can try, choirboy."
"I will go with you Ansgar, I have things I need to do in Magnimar." Quiary says looking at Norm.
Beaming Cael laughs. With a face full of mock affront he says, "Choirboy?! I thought we'd all decided I should limit my singing to only very drunk audiences. Storytelling, that's what I'm good at. Either way, you're on!"
"I think that is the best course of action, too.", the sheriff says.
Ansgar nods at the Sheriff then turns to his companions. "I appreciate the offer, Quiary, and welcome you along. Speaking of accompanying me... I would appreciate it if the rest of you would make the journey as well. The roads are dangerous and I don't want to risk losing Nualia's remains." Ansgar says, a bit hurriedly and maybe a bit gruff sounding.
Their company would be nice as well... But enough of that...
"What? Oh of course, I thought that was assumed. I still gotta make that stone face of yours crack"
Zelinda nods in agreement to Ansgar. "We wouldn't let you go on your own to take care of such a grizzly task. We're companions. We stick together."
Norm smiles at Ansgar
"You want be able to leave without us. We would just have to come rescue you from something, like with Shalelu. And It would be good to see Magnimar again. A long time since I've been there!
When should we leave? Tomorrow?"
Ansgar nods at the group, "Thank you all for coming. And yes tomorrow seems like a good idea. I've some business to finish today."
Ansgar will bid everyone a good day, then slowly make his way to the cathedral.
Well... we did it... the town is safe...
When Ansgar arrives at the cathedral, he makes his way to Denlar's grave. [smaller]"We did it, Denlar. Nualia has been brought to justice, and Sandpoint is safe for a little while longer. Your sacrifice was not in vain." Ansgar prays at the grave for a few minutes, then continues "It seems a few of us have banded together for now, and that can only bode well. Hopefully the townsfolk will visit and remember you, for I do not know when my path will come this way again."
Ansgar will walk back to the inn, and spend the rest of the day resting and taking care of his gear unless someone suggests something else.
Norm will spend the rest of the day walking around town, doing a little shopping and saying goodbye to the people he has gotten to know while in Sandpoint.
He'll take Cliff out for some exercise, just having a relaxing day before travel tomorrow.
He'll wake up early, getting everything packed and ready to go. He'll wait for the others, sitting outside the inn enjoying a smoke in the sun.
You take a day to rest and prepare, then head out for Magnimar in the next morning. The city is generally ten hours away from Sandpoint by foot, though most travelers split the travel into two days. The road is well traveled, but not always safe.
You're more than halfway through the journey when Quiary and Zelinda notice some trees rustling. A few seconds later, a large cloud of black birds bursts out of the trees and begins flying over your heads, descending closer at every second.
Normornigan <- Can act
Carrionstorm
Quiary, Caeldren, Zelinda, Ansgar
"Should we be worried?"Cael asks while shifting nervously in his saddle
"It looks like they are coming right at us." Quiary says
"These are Carrionstorm, a flock of carrion birds that died from eating undead flesh, thus becoming undead themselves. They're particularly vulnerable to channeled positive energy."
"That doesn't sound good"
I cast mage armour on myself and move behind Cliff.
Cliff will ready an attack for when they are within range.
The Carrionstorm swoop down, clawing and biting at every bit of flesh they can find.
Carrionstorm
Quiary, Caeldren, Zelinda, Ansgar, Normornigan <- Can act
Cael moves to strike back at the swarm, but the stentch causes him to wretch horribly. All he manages to do is draw his sword.
Ansgar calls out in a booming voice whilst presenting his holy symbol, "Ragathiel, grant me your power to purge these undead creatures from this land!"
Quiary keeps his lunch in his stomach, moving back as he drawn an arrow and fires.
Cliff AoO
If the readied full attack is relevant
Zelinda manages to maintain her composure as the smell of rotting flesh threatens to overwhelm her. Instead, she quickly pulls out the familiar reagents from her pouch, combining them with deft, practiced hands, and throws the result at the swarm, yelling to her companions, "Heads up!"
While Norm is puking his guts out, trying to get out to the side, Cliff attacks the birds
Quiary steps back and fires at the birds, his arrow scattering some of them. Zelinda then quickly assembles and lobs a bomb at the undead birds, the bomb explodes and burns the first flock of birds.
Ansgar prays to Ragathiel and channels a wave of positive energy.
Despite resisting the positive energy, the flock is still heavily damaged as many of the carrion birds either fall to ground or scatter away. The few remaining birds are destroyed or scattered by Cliff's fangs and claws.
As the fight is finished you notice you have been traveling for over seven hours at this point. There is still enough sunlight that you could probably make it to Magnimar before noon, but you'd have to undertake a forced march.
"Well that was interesting, never seen birds like that before. Do we push on or do we rest now?" Quiary asks as he scans the area for anything further coming to attack them.
Cael sheepishly sheathes his sword and wipes his mouth on his sleeve. "Ugh, sorry I wasn't more help, the smell..." he pauses gaging again. With a light tap of his heels he spurs Shadowmist forward. A ways ahead he draws a deep breath, "that's better. I'm fine pressing on. I'd rather sleep in a bed than on the side of the road if we can."
"If you'd like to continue onward we can Cael, but I think it would be a good idea for us to investigate the area the flock came from. These birds are only spawned by something eating the flash of the dead. If there are undead around here it would be a good idea to deliver the news to Magnimar with more evidence than we currently have." Ansgar will say to the group.
Ansgar will then pull out some scraps of cloth and wrap one of the birds in it, tying it to his pack. "If we can't find anything else, then we can at least bring one with us as evidence. Or if we decide to head on without looking it works as well."
Zelinda nods in agreement with Ansgar. "If there is a reason for this attack, it's best that we know as much as possible. Besides," she adds, smirking at Cael, "There's nothing wrong with sleeping under the stars. Nothing quite like it, in fact."
Norm still looks a little queasy as he walks over to the others
"I would much prefer to spend the night in a bed, but unfortunately, Ansgar makes a lot of sense. I’m not sure if we can track them, as they were flying, but we can at least go a little in that direction and see what we can find”
He says, indication the trees the birds came from.