"Reach for my hand Master Valorian! Just let me..."
Vidar strains his entire body, trying to reach Kerrec for just a brief touch.
Camillo holds on to the cleric grimly. His voice somewhat muffled by the rocks against his face, he says, "I have no rope. Do one of you?"
"Just hurry up," Rullis yells down the cliff edge, "We can't hold on much longer!" He pulls as hard as he can, hoping the others don't let go.
Hearing Camillo's inquiry, Rullis yells back over his shoulder somehow managing a hint of sarcasm in this tense situation, "Yeah, it's that coiled thing hanging from my pack. Grab it! You just have to undo the strap."
As he holds on, he glances out across the cliff where the double-crossing druid and his buddies would be standing.
"Ha ha, very funny. Your weight is dragging my face into the stone, my friend. My eyes are closed to keep the granite out."
"Kithian, do you have Rullis? I can take the rope and tie it to the post that's not breaking."
A deep rumble comes from the half-orc building into a roar as Kithian's muscles buldge and strain against the weight of his friends and the bridge.
Strength check:
I don't know how you wan to describe that and I like your narratives, so I thought I would pitch Camillo's idea to you and let you describe what takes place.
No, this is not what I described above, but Camillo is not only always talking, he's always second-guessing himself, and this seems a better plan.
Toshio has an idea, and relays it to the others on his turn. Camillo, if you can get to that rope, tie it to the saddle and Pharlap can pull the others up with ease, they only need hold on
Pharlap, hold boy.
Kerrec reaches to grasp Vidar's hand.
It happens.Days to think between posts. ;)
The rain falls faster and faster as an unseasonable rain cascades from the sky. Rullis struggles in the dirt and granite to reposition but the lack of proper footing and the ever odd position find the cleric struggling in vain to change his situation. Looking out across the chasm, Rullis sees only the dull flat grey of falling rain, the opposite cliff shrouded by the sudden downpour.
A cry breaks through the din of the rain.
Kithian finds grip against the stone and despite his precarious lean forward, he is able to channel his rage and rise back to his feet, torso and arms creaking as much as the rope as the half-orc pulls Rullis back onto his ass and wraps the bridge rope in his hand, holding the weight that had previously caused so much trouble. Camillo practically falls over given the sudden shift.
Seeing that Kithian has the situation in hand Camillo scrabbles forward and scoops the rope off Rullis' back. Rising to his feet and tying a hitching knot on the rope Camillo approaches Pharlap and Toshio. The horse, sensing the turn, releases the samurai who thuds gently to the ground.
Toshio, sensing that Kithian can hold the line for the moment, paws against the ground to meet Camillo as he lunges towards the horse and takes the rope in hand, precious seconds counting as the rain beats upon the stone and dirt. Toshio rises and hitches the rope to his steed while throwing the other end off the cliff face. A mere brush of his hand against Pharlap's face and the horse snorts in understanding and moves forward to let the rope descend.
Below the change is dramatic. Where one side of the bridge had been set at a terrible lean, the rope pulls taught and the bridge arranges itself not unlike a ladder against the cliff face. A moment later a rope falls over the side, hanging is the rain and wind as an invitation to escape what once seemed certain doom.
Vidar and Kerrec grasp at the rope, careful to keep hand wrapped on the bridge until they are ready and careful to keep their weapons on their arms where they stashed them before the fall. Braced against the wall but buffeted by the wind and rain the wizard and paladin climb onto the rope which responds with immediate upward pull.
Above, Rullis and Camillo look over the cliff, signaling back to Toshio and Pharlap when to pull and when to pause as the wind makes the task more complicated. Kithian, properly braced, hold the bridge with ease and though his muscles begin to burn with the constant strain, it is nothing compared with the games of his people or the exploits of his youth and he continues with no issue.
In the span on but a few seconds Kerrec and Vidar reach the top of the cliff and Kithian is able to release the bridge safely. In the din of rain and wind thunder cracks and so too does the other post of the bridge, as the wood and planks descend to the surf below.
The party stands, bedraggled and rain sodden before Thistletop, the double doors of the fort closed and presumably barred. Despite the chaos of the last few minutes the sudden storm does seem to have one blessing; as far as you can tell your presence has gone unnoticed.
Cursing the unnatural rain, Rullis wishes that he had paid more attention to his studies. He gives a quick prayer to Gozreh, but that druid is too powerful. He leans back against the cliff wall and looks towards the closed gate. Yelling loud enough to be heard over the wind, "Only one way to go. Any ideas?" He carefully makes his way to Kerrec and Vidar and yells into the wind again, "Are you guys okay?"
Camillo starts examining the wall and gates to see if they can be climbed or opened from this side.
Kerrec looks at the others calmly. "Thank you for that. I owe each of you my life....... (His voice rises at this point) "And THAT is why negotiating with creatures such as those is problematic. Their word means next to nothing. I'm assuming he thinks we are trapped here now and his goblin-kin will slaughter us, perhaps his plan all along. I would not doubt that he has alerted his friends in Thistletop that we were coming as well, leaving them to deal with us instead of him. Much smarter to let others do the dirty work."
Kerrec looks over the side of the cliff and then quickly loads a new bolt in his crossbow. "That was an expensive bolt."
Agreed, Kerric, and the action nearly cost us dearly. We shall return to the druid and repay the favor. We are fortunate however, because we have achieved what we wanted. Bypassed the druid's tribe without injury and for know we cannot be attacked from THAT direction. Take some comfort that we know all our enemies lie to the front.
"Oh no..." Vidar hisses with cold rage in his voice.
"The little goblin is no fool; he has a use for us yet, oh yes!
He wants to take over the tribe, and use US to do it for him. He hopes we will kill the "defilers", by which I think he means any non goblins there.
And when we have done that and died in the process, someone or something named Malefshankar will welcome him back and make the tribes his.
I do not think Malefshankar is the chief of the tribe, so he must be some kind of powerful thing lurking behind the throne.
Well, I say we wipe out the whole blasted lot of them, every one.
He had all to gain and nothing to lose, and he still did this, we can't trust them...so let's wipe them out!"
"Let's go collect us some goblin ears..." Rullis' voice trails off as he turns toward the front gate, examining it.
While most of the so called "fort" is made from a variety of planks and reclaimed wood from a number of sources the double doors that mark the entrance to Thistletop fit the more classical iron bound wooden door motif used by various groups for ages.
Unlike the disciplined upkeep by armies and militias however, this door has seen better days. The rain falls heavily on the group and the day takes a dark grey cast but despite this as Rullis steps forward to inspect the doors the cleric notes that there are gaps here and there in the seams and binding; enough so that Rullis can tell that the door, though moved to be closed by the exiting goblins earlier, was obviously not pulled flush...and by extension is probably not barred.
Camillo starts examining the wall and gates to see if they can be climbed or opened from this side.
1d20 + 5
"Hmmph! Goblins are incapable not only of building, but also of caring for buildings they might steal from more civilized creatures.
And they have virtually no sense of self preservation, something we saw amply at the festival.
Had they not been so fertile as a race, we would have seen the last of them centuries ago."
|
Camillo starts examining the wall and gates to see if they can be climbed or opened from this side.
1d20 + 5
See the beginning of the map Here [ooc]Not the best but it conveys the point. The two dark dots are the former posts for the bridge.[/oc]
Camillo confirms the door is unlocked, unbarred and not even technically fully closed. Soft torchlight is evident from within.
Climbing on the slick wood seems less than ideal but with a slight boost any of you can see that there seems to be a roof of sorts over most of the building. One could get up there and root around but it remains questionable as to how stable such footing would be.
The island narrows to the east and west with thick trees and brush pushing against the fort walls. It may be that other avenues of entrance are available but some bushwacking in the scrub would be necessary to get through the tangles mess. (Undoubtedly the druid kept things that way much like the other side of the bridge to deter intruders.)
Camillo says to the others, "The druid may be setting us up, but he appears to want us to succeed, too. The door is not even latched, but we'd best move quickly to make sure someone doesn't come along and remedy that." He looks at the two that went down with the bridge. "Is everyone able to go? Any specific plans? I'm thinking it's in our interest to stay together, to find Shalelu, and to find Orik, but that's really not a plan..."
"If not a plan, then at least goals, and around goals a plan can be constructed."
"Hypothesis: The Druid wants to take over the tribe, and to do that I believe he expects us to remove the current chief."
"Addendum: That would not be enough unless we also take out the power behind the throne."
"Summary: To get to the true threat we may or may not have to fight our way through a tribe of vicious goblins, possibly while also trying to keep former hostages safe.
Did I miss anything?"
Vidar frowns a little as he realizes how he sounds.
"I am beginning to sound like my teacher AND my mentor. He would clarify each sentence before speaking it, and she would become overly verbose in combat or during stressful situations."
If we're going indoors then Pharlap will be unable to follow. Hopefully with the way behind blocked and Goblins to our front, he'll be safe here. He has some room to run and his hooves are a match for any goblin.
Reluctantly, Toshio grabs what he needs from the saddle, shows Pharlap his reins and ties them behind the bridle. The horse whinnies, knowing he can roam and his master is leaving.
He will remain here unless danger drives him off, I'll not suffer anything to escape behind us.
Rullis holds his spear tightly as he glances at the unlocked and warped gate. Glancing back, "Definitely stay together in this place. Keep together and don't let them flank us." Seeing Toshio leaving his horse. "We'd better clear out whatever is behind this front door then" His attention turns back towards the door, fearing whatever may reside behind it.
If anything is behind this front door, it dies.
Toshio draws his Katana and nods to Rullis.
If the building allows, I'll bring him as far as I can
He bends down and picks up some grass/dirt and gives the horse a good smell, he then pockets the material. He then looks the animal in the eye and says "Guard"
Kithian stretches his back and shoulders then takes a few practice swings with this falchion to limber up his arms. "Let us bring the word of The Lord in Iron to these vermine." He turns and smiles at the others before continueing towards the doors, "That word is die. Come on, let me preach on it."
Kerrec nods his head at the others, concentrating on his channel with Abadar.
Camillo will ready his shield and move up to the door. Looking to see that the others are ready, he says, "Give me a count of twenty before the next one enters, OK?" and will ease it open just enough to slip through and move to the side while his eyes adjust.
"As long as another word is also "live". That one being extended to the hostages. I want to end the goblin threat as well, but not at the expense of lives..."
Vidar readies his bow to give Camillo covering fire in case he comes out again..
As he watches Camillo slip through the door, his attention is drawn to Vidar's comment. "Hostages? After what they have done to my town and the knife they just shoved in our backs, they don't deserve to live. I plan on collecting as many ears as I can." His attention returns to the gate, mentally counting to 20.
Vidar frowns at Rullis, unsure if there has been a misscommunication.
"No...I meant the hostages they goblins have taken master Stillman, I would not sacrifice the lives of them to slay a few goblins.
Outside of that, I am more than willing to wipe this tribe out if it should come to that."
Map Here!
The floor of this room is hard-packed soil, as if the builders either ran out of lumber after building the walls and roof, or as if they simply never thought about building a floor. A number of poorly preserved horse and dog heads are mounted along the eastern wall, while along the southern wall hangs a pair of large batlike wings tacked to the wall with daggers.
Double doors mark passages east (1) and north (3), while single width doors lead onward in three places to the north (2,4,5) and one final single width door to the west (6). A half dozen or so rusting sconces have been crudely hammered into place, nursing acrid smelling torches that sputter. Occasionally water drips down onto the dirt, the ceiling obviously not built to withstand the torrential downpour that has marked your arrival to the fort.
Camillo is able to slip in undetected and notes that the space is relatively confined but unoccupied.
Camillo steps back across the gap in the doors, still looking into the keep, and uses his free hand to wave the others into the area before moving slowly toward the hallway .
Stealth
Perception
Toshio accepts the nod and blade ready, attempts to enter Behind Camillo, a quick whisper to Rullis and Vidar as he passes, Trust the Horse to guard the door behind.
Toshio manages to move like a cat, despite his armor but the concentration on being quiet has him too inward focused to notice anything
Rullis carefully follows the Samurai through the opening in the gate...
Kerrec will follow Rullis, crossbow in hand. He tries to be quiet, although it is not his strong suit.
Kithian moves in following Camillo.
Stealth:
Perception:
And bringing up the rear, Vidar moves in.
Sadly, while a hunter, Vidar has never had to rely on stealth to creep up on prey before and thus does not do a very good job.
Kithian, Vidar, Camillo and Rullis are able to point out the sound of snoring behind the last door on the right on the north wall. Additionally it does not escape the groups notice that of the daggers that pin the batwings to the wall, one is quite elaborate in its construction.
Thunder and rain rattle the fort and probably for the best as some of the groups attempts at stealth fall far short of perfect. The scrapping, clamboring and rattling of the group does nothing to disrupt the snoring however and you are able to enter this makeshift trophy room/entrance with no alarms.
Vidar moves over to have a closer look at the dagger while the others decide on where to go next.
Vidar attempts to discern if he can remove the dagger and put the batwings down without raising a clamour to give the group away.
Too large to be a common bat, I wonder if this is a trophy with some actually WORTH attached to it?
Once Camillo has waved the others in, he will sneak up to the corner where the hall joins this main room to listen and peek to see if anyone is visible or doors might be open. As he moves, he draws his longsword.
Toshio, keen to get started and mindful of his promise to his sister reguarding Camillo, moves to back him up and stands on the other side of the door frame
Camillo find the hall ends in a doorway while the snoring resumes, unabated, from the door on the north wall before the end of the hall. All the doors look closed.
Camillo looks to the samurai and shrugs his shoulders. He points at the door where snoring issues from with a questioning look on his face.
Camillo looks to the samurai and shrugs his shoulders. He points at the door where snoring issues from with a questioning look on his face.
Toshio nods,I'm with you