Thak grins ferociously. "Attack now, I say. Now be the time for strikin' quick while they try ta remember their defensive plans. Twa many advantages be lost by waitin'. And it be a single tower; if we wait and scout fa all o'tha buildin's we encounter, we'll never be home by winterfast. We be a strong group."
"I like teleporting plan." Seila sits up grinning maliciously.
Xon rumbles in its deep monotone as it put aside the skewered and cooked venison. And then Xon turns back to Thak.
"I certainly don't like 'teleporting plans', no intention to get half stuck in a rock or something...
But about probing defenses, abducting patrols and so on, I don't think we have time for that. Every minute we wait, reinforcements could arrive." He pauses for a moment, thinking. "Yet 600 is a rather impressive number, I'm rather more adept at disposing of smaller forces." He sharply looks at the resident casters "But isn't that kind of wanton slaughter right up you casters alley? A few fireballs, poisonous clouds and maybe the release of one or two deadly disease and nothing will remain living inside...." He can't completely hide the contempt in his voice.
"Still dumb not to case place." Seila says. "Maybe just tower full of soldiers. Maybe house of mage who get pissed cause we get blood on carpet so does all the fireballs, poisonous clouds, and maybe disease or two like he want." She shrugged leaning back against the wall. "No, you go in knowing what can know even if it take a day. Or die with surprise expression on your face while big monster do bad things to your orifices."
"I can fly also. For lengthy times or just long enough to reach the tower if need be. Though I think I would do more damage from the ground. I need a large space to charge and trample."
Beast looks up at the mention of flying, shaking his head subtly as though he wasn't fond of the idea.
Something three feet tall and weighing no more than a sack of grain, standing in a darkened cave amongst burly troops and bulky equipment, is all but invisible.
As the newly-arrived soldiers realise that they have no immediate orders, they disperse throughout the cave, and the 'funny little person', as mentioned by Lieutenant Sarn, is revealed. Whatever-it-is doesn't stand still long enough for observers to get a good look; instead, it moves off to explore the cavern, sticking close to the walls as it goes.
Returning to the area containing the brazier, the creature stops, giving those present a chance to see it more clearly in the light of the fire. The features are feminine; a small mouth and nose sit below the small, almond-shaped dark pools that serve as eyes. Her expression is neutral. Several delicate sleepers of various materials pierce small, gently-pointed ears; her hair - originating solely from the top of her head and tied in a braid that reaches her waist - is the colour of coal. Her skin is the same colour as the surrounding rock and bears the smoothness of youth. The clothing she wears is durable and practical: sturdy boots, dark pants, a dark top, numerous pouches, a well-used dagger at her waist.
She sits in silence, her attention divided between examining the contents of a small clay pot and discreetly scrutinising the people that she's been tasked to work with.
Nawarld shrugs. "If there are a few mages in there, then they will also have to die. Better while they don't have any defensive spells up, instead of when they are prepared because someone kept disturbing their perimeter. Right now, the defenders here are, hopefully, all still surprised that there was ANY attack on their home turf. If we delay now, then they can rally troops beyond comparison and we might as well abort the whole invasion.
Remember: If we could just slowly beat their forces in a fair fight, then we would have never had to invade their homeplane through the backdoor at all. Our only chance to win this war is to quickly advance and cut of the beasts head."
He takes a deep breath.
"So, sure, waiting one, two maybe three days for an opening might]/i] make [i]this battle slightly easier, but until then the war is probably lost.
The Halfling jumps up with renewed excitement:
"Oh! Cal, could you just hide us all with an illusion? We send a group for a direct attack on the tower, and have another group invisibly teleport in behind their defenses while they are distracted!"
Rose excitedly scribbles her plan in the dirt as she continues rambling on about the importance of tactics and how it relates to the joys of breakfast in a nonsensical story that soon gets off topic, but the central point of her plan is clear.
"And if the tower is wooden, we can always have our spell casters create another diversion by setting it aflame."
Quite pleased with herself and heavily distracted by the finished deer, she grabs a large portion and ravenously devours it.
"I fear not, Mistress Rose," replies the Dreamer. "Here is my only illusion of the day," he says, indicating the wall. "But I can hide all of us in an invisibility sphere and teleport us to the tower."
Thak nods in satisfaction. "Good. D'we go now? Any more prep a-needed?"
"You being dumb. Fight like dog who throw self at tiger." Seila stands up and stretches. "You want easy killing. Most are human. You go at night. Kill in sleep while blind and fumbling in dark thinking dirty thoughts about girl at home. Give rest of day for wizard and gnoll to scout good area to teleport to. Go now, everyone awake and laugh at you for being amateur while kill you."
Xon speks up looking up from its odd reverie at watching the paldin simply devour the meat it just cooked.
The Halfling jumps to her feet (not a very menacing sight given her stature) and stares down the mysterious woman:
"But the longer we wait here, the more troops who came with us die! They could be getting slaughtered out there! We have to do something!"
Rosie's voice came off more squeaky and desperate than fierce and menacing as she stood on her tippy toes, but she soon relaxed and sank down to a more natural posture:
"Although teleporting in at night does seem like a better strategy..."
"You don't want to understand it, do you? Every minute we wait we risk that they get reinforcements, that they notice us and prepare or attack us on their terms and, most of all, that our freaking armies get routed elsewhere.
Stop seeing this all only from the narrow point of this squad. Our mission is to secure a foothold. Not in a month, not tomorrow, not this night, but now.
If we loose some men doing so, then that is quite unfortunate, but if it saves a few hundred on other battlefields or helps win the war quickly, then it is our duty to at least try.
He shakes his head.
"Besides, I highly doubt we have to kill everyone in there. They probably didn't post the elite of the elite to secure some backwaters watchtower and normal armies usually rout or surrender once you decimate them.
Seila calmly turns to the soldiers and states simply. "Ok, you go then. You be brave dog. All I hear is barking and not better plan."
"And you have a specific plan?" asks Calithilon. "I should be intrigued to hear it."
Rolling her eyes in frustration she growls with irritation muttering for a second in some bad sounding speech (abyssal) before answering. "You want to teleport at tower but not know where to go. You find out now. Then we go at night while soldiers sleeping. We cause fear and panic and maybe soldiers run with less work. Maybe more people die while we wait for night. Maybe we die like dog and make no difference."
"And how do you propose to find out?" asks the elf, patiently. "Neither scrying nor arcane eye will work in this instance. We must in fact send someone there in order to learn these things. Now or later. Do you propose that later will be safer than now, when they are in chaos? Why?"
B'auw stands up after minutes of quiet observation, giving an annoyed hyuk hyuk sound in his throat. "Elf mage, put your invisible circle spell on me. I'll go search their defenses. Just tell me what information you need to get us in when the sun goes down, and I'll find it."
He pats his dire hyena, "Or you can put the incantation on Arau here. She can bear me and one other as we scout… more eyes can help on a hunt. I get the lay of this enemy's lair while everyone prepares for a hunt tonight." His maw clicks shut with an audible CLACK that seems to give the idea some finality.
"I will go."
The girl's voice was almost inaudible - getting lost in the echoes of the cavern - and curiously musical, evident even when speaking a language that is obviously not her first tongue.
Still leaning against the cave wall, she'd stopped poking around in her clay pot and had been listening intently to the ideas being proposed.
Her gaze flicks between the individual members of the hastily-formed group as she patiently awaits a response.
"I'll take the snack," B'auw half-jokes with a gesture to the small thing. "Didn't even realize she was here, so we know she can stay out of sight."
The slender elf looks up at the hulking brute and considers. "Can you cover the distance between here and there in ten minutes?" he asks. "Because the spell will last no longer."
B'auw looks back out the cave entrance, mentally checking the distance.
The slender elf looks up at the hulking brute and considers. "Can you cover the distance between here and there in ten minutes?" he asks. "Because the spell will last no longer."
"Why cast here? Me, short girl with bow, and others be out there for nearly an hour without problem. Why not wait till it matter?"
"Short Girl with Bow" perks up interjecting herself into the sentence:
"Hi! I'm Rose. We've already met..." before realizing it was likely intentionally on the part of the scary woman.
B'auw turns back, "I could make it there and back before 10 minutes is up. We three go," He points to himself, Arau, and the little snack , ".. and we be back to make plans."
Calithilon turns to regard Seila for any objections to that plan.
Seila shrugs not having anything else to say.
The Dreamer nods, rising from his seated position and walks towards the huge gnoll. "It is the best we are likely to do," he agrees. "And a workable plan now is far better than the perfect plan when it is too late. I shall accept the suggestion of Xon's Mistress and walk with you a ways. I am not so stealthy as she is, but I doubt our foes will detect me among the rock-strewn slopes below this place. If that buys you an extra few minutes, it will be worth the risk. Come, then."
In his heart, Calithilon is relieved that he did not have to send Athaniel, his familiar. He values the little Celestial far too highly. This sort of work is what predators like B'auw are good at, after all, he tells himself.
Calithilon leads B'auw, Arau and Phynn through the illusory wall and down the slope. When he judges that he can go no further without exposing them all to observation, he spreads his arms over them as though throwing a net. All slip from sight.
"Go swiftly now," he urges. "Ten minutes is all you have."
B'auw pats his massive mount on the head before the spell is cast, ordering her to stay back in the sheltering cover in a series of yips, barks, and growls. When he feels the elf's magic slip over his fur like a second skin, he grins – a gruesome display of yellowed teeth – and picks up the tiny Phynn.
"Hold on tight, Little Snack. We stalk, not fight. But if we get caught… we run like the desert wind… you won't want to fall." With a final nod to the elf magic-maker, he trots out onto the plain and towards the tower and its blanket of warriors.
Easily done. Each two score of troops (40 men) have an officer of some sort wearing decorative armor. It seems that they report to other officers, of which there are around two dozen. You can't make out a clear leader.
.
Crenelations at multiple floors and murder holes. Ballistas are stationed at the tower's base. The eastern wall seems to bear a slight seam which may be more easily scaled.
.
Good idea there. You don't note anyone at the base, but around the soliders you notice cadres of robed figures. No one seems to be seeking invisible units. In fact, no one seems particularly on high alert.
.
The roof would work. A small hillock on the western side could also provide cover and is only 100 feet or so away from the tower.
Main entrance and roof.
The halfing paces impatiently the whole time the gnoll is gone.
"Cal, can you scry though him? What's going on? Is he alive still? ....Ugh! I hate waiting!"
Calithilon places a gentle, reassuring hand on Rose's armored shoulder. "I am worried, too, Mistress Rose," he says. "And yes, I could do that. But it would do us no good. By the time I had finished ritual, B'auw would be back. If he is coming back. I fear it would be too late to aid him. He is a mighty hunter and we must trust that he and Phynn know their business."
"And now we know the human's business, too."
From the cave entrance, B'auw's disembodied voice gives his usual chortle before becoming serious, "This is useful magics, elf... how do i remove it?"
He quickly debriefs the group on his scoutings, nodding when Phynn quietly interrupts to fill in what B'auw missed or forgot.
"So we could sneak to that cliff overlook then somehow fly, jump, or..." he looks over at the elf Mage with a massive shrug, "... magic our way onto the tower's top. We kill them in their tall stone lair while they sleep, then hold it against them."
With a gesture, the Dreamer unweaves the arcane web that bends light around B'auw and his companions. They reappear while the big gnoll is still speaking.
B'auw considers the group. "Our talents are wasted on the weaklings out there. The dangerous prey – if it exists here – is in the big stone lair. Killing those welps outside only gives away our position and strength."
He looks at Calithilon, "I say you take yourself and a small strike force... the slower of us." His mis-matched eyes settle on Nawarld with understanding amusement. "It may mean putting your dislike of the elf's magics aside. I doubt you can cover as much ground as Arau or these other mounts. Plus, you look to be comfortable with those weapons."
He looks to the other mounted members of the party, "The rest of us can rush across the plain towards the keep. When we get the attention, the elf magic-maker can take you all directly into the tower itself... either on the roof or through the main entrance. They should be too busy preparing for our charge to be ready for your surprise entry. The elf's group can wreak havoc in the tower. The diversion group will wreak havoc in that army... killing officers as we can, but always moving towards the castle. We'll meet you there. Just see if you can make sure the front door is open for us... I don't like the idea of us getting crushed between the walls of that stone lair and a wave of angry welps."
He looks at the group, "It lets us hit them now and do so in a way they won't expect. This is my vote."
"This is also my sentiment," says Calithilon, surprised to find himself in agreement with a gnoll. He has yet to take the measure of the fiery Ifrit.
"What do you think, Mistress Rose?
"Finally! We get to do something!" the halfling says already in the process of checking the rigging for Durin's saddle and hefting herself onto the massive griffin.
"We will gladly lead the diversion party. With speed, strength, and the grace of the gods on our side, we shall not disappoint. Just be quick with the tower because I don't think Durin wants to be harpooned with a ballista bolt..."