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13 rounds
Barnabas:
10
13
Setting the scene
The dwarvan foreman gives Albrekt a hard look, "Sounds like you're challenging a dwarf to see who can handle his drink better. Don't be daft boy, but if you're paying, I show you the errors of your ways."
The rest of the dwarven crew let out a cheer and huddle around their boss. The ale is brought and round by round the empty cups pile up and tumble to the floor. The ale tastes of ashes to Albrekt, but the fire still burns in his belly and over time the drink takes its toll.
"No pissing or puking, lad!" The dwarf jeers, to the cheers and laughter of his companions. But for all his bravado, the drink also seems to working on him. His eyes get a glassy sheen and he begins to sweat profusely. It seems like it could go either way, until the 13th round. The foreman finishes his drink and totters, but manages to keep it together. Albrekt, for his part manages to get the drink down, and keep it down, but the room begins to swim and with agonizing slowness, he topples over and is unconscious before he hits the floor.
The dwarves erupt into ear-splitting cheers and their champion jumps up on the table, 14th drink in hand. He quaffs it in one gulp and the cheering grows louder. The dwarf's grinn is immense as he topples forward and hits the ground with a thud. His crew grow quiet and the silence is pierced by a rumbling snore. Erupting back into celebration, they toast their fallen champion.
Upstairs, Xanos and Ember break into the dwarf's room. The place is a mess and smells like a dirty dwarf. With focused determination, the search the room for anything of interest. The dwarf seems to have little concern for security and tucked into the front pocket of his work smock, you find a hand drawn sketch of the keep. With the raucous noise from downstairs keeping you appraised of the situation, you quickly make a rough copy.
Ember looks around searching for anything that they could use against the dwarfs.
"Do you see anything we can use to incriminate them?" she asks Xanos, remembering he was the one that suggested we might incriminate the drinking bunch.
"I brought what we need to leave behind here." Xanos said quietly pulling out a simple scroll case.
He tucked the scroll case into the bottom of a small chest of tools. Then he found a file from among the tools, making sure it was distinctive enough in design to be clearly dwarven.
He wrapped it in a cloth to muffle the sound, and brought a mallet down on it to snap it off at the handle.
Then he put the handle back in the toolbox, slipping the broken file into his pocket.
"Done."
Without need to delay the dwarves further Vank joins them in there celebrations "You won, I think we owe you. Batman a round for everyone please." taking his mug he salutes the fallen champions before drinking.
"You won, I think we owe you. Batman a round for everyone please." taking his mug he salutes the fallen champions before drinking.
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Kaynen continued to play to the dwarves' personal preferences, allowing them to revel in their victory over Albrekt. After a few more songs, he opted to pose a question to the audience.
"So, in a properly fair contest which pits dwarf against dwarf, which one of you is most able to hold his or her drink? "
Winking, he added.
"I wouldn't to exclude the ladies, of course."
"Zzzzzzzzzz... (snort)... zzzzzzzz"
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The dwarves continue to drink and celebrate, but aren't goaded into drinking them all into unconsciousness. During the loud carousing, Ember and Xanos come down to the common room, their skullduggery successful.
Vank spends some time pouring over the map at time making a grunt of approval. "The bunks are at bottom we can probably lock every one in with a couple of those magic spikes. I can't tell where the secret passage come out but should east enough to sneak in and get our bearings before the attack. The Ravens are at the top of the tower right?"
"The secret passage let to some sort of Basement." Ember says warning the others. "Is there anything similar in the map?"
--
She turn to the others and continues
"That's three captains down. I think it's more than time to deploy the poison food and infiltrate the place. If we take down the gates, the rockery doesn’t even need to be destroyed. I doubt that any bird sent would prevent Sakkarot from taking the place."
Nursing his thumping head, Albrέkt stands silent, listening to the plotting whilst wearing a grimace.
At Ember's words, the brute nods slowly;
"Ja. Der krähenhorst... "rookery" schould send vurd of our threat... Infamy und fear are mächtig... potent... veapons... Let der realm fear und hate Der Knotten und Schakkarot..."
Haruk, back to his devilishly handsome self, raises a counter to leaving the rookery intact "While it might be true that no bird sent could prevent our allies from taking the city(town? fort?), what about after? Is it not possible that an army could be raised to retake Balentyne? Unless of course we have no desire to hold this keep beyond a few days."
"I agree, winning the battle is not the same as winning the war. Even if stopping the word getting out isn't essential it is certainly desirable. Besides I thought the plan was to kill the ravens earlier and frame the dwarves?"
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With one swift movement, Kaynen pulls three vials from somewhere on his person and his lithe elven fingers make them "dance" as they spin and transition to and from various positions in his grip.
"Poison, is it? Just say the word and the guards will find their next meals a bit more seasoned than they are used to..."
Haruk, back to his devilishly handsome self, raises a counter to leaving the rookery intact "While it might be true that no bird sent could prevent our allies from taking the city(town? fort?), what about after? Is it not possible that an army could be raised to retake Balentyne? Unless of course we have no desire to hold this keep beyond a few days."
"You are forgetting your place Haruk!" Ember says with zeal in her voice.
”We are just a part of a bigger plan! Do you remember the Elise and her band? Dad tasked them with elimination of head of military. His plans are perfect for no mere bird can raise an army, if there’s no one to command!”
"I agree, winning the battle is not the same as winning the war. Even if stopping the word getting out isn't essential it is certainly desirable. Besides I thought the plan was to kill the ravens earlier and frame the dwarves?"
"This was my understanding as well. The next step was to be wiping out the rookery. Poisoning the soldiers tonight would be good, but it is not something we prepared for or discussed. If we had done so, we could have planted poison in the dwarves rooms as well." Xanos said in a neutral tone. "Ember, your penchant for changing the plan is making our task more difficult."
Haruk's eyes glow red and there's a faint smell of sulfur when he talks. "My place? Petulant child, you may worship the Pit, but I have its power running through my very veins. My place is where I decide it. While there may indeed be another group tasked with the removal of military leaders, what if they fail? Or only partially succeed? We sack the rookery as further insurance *all* goes accordingly. I see no reason to rely on others when such a task is easily within our capabilities. Unless you doubt this Knot's ability to get the job done?" He asks this last quietly, daring her to challenge the whole group.
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Ember rolls her eyes at the self-proclaimed abyss born sorcerer.
He who talks too much, can do nothing. She thinks but refrain from smiling. This was no time to antagonize any of them, even if she was right to do so.
”You mistake me Haruk. I’m the one that has full confidence in our knot, and you are the one doubting its efficacy.” she says as a matter of fact.
”If we can take the gates, we don’t need to take the rookery.” she points out what she had said before. ”There’s no way that a bird sent to cities weeks away from here will be able to stop Sakkarot from taking the fort, and this in an invasion army, I doubt they will stay here for long.”
She raises from where she is sitting and walk closer to the infernal sorcerer ”But from what you said, you do not believe we can take the gates, and that’s why we should waste our trump card, the secret passage, to destroy the rookery, while it would be best used to infiltrate the fort and kill the lord.” she stops again, look at the man and says ”It’s a sound plan, I applaud.” she says clapping her hands.
--
"Ember, your penchant for changing the plan is making our task more difficult."
Her face a blank mask, she walks over to Albrέkt, the seemingly only ally her had in this nest of snakes. She sits downs on his lap, while resting her head against his chest.
”I haven’t changed anything…” and one could hear the unspoken ‘yet’. ”We are still following the plan. The captains have been partially taken care of; from what I remember only Kaynen was in favor of using the theatre as distraction. We already have set up the poison, we already have the map. I don’t see why we have to wait.”Without getting up, she rest her other hand in Albrέkt chest, closes her eyes and continues ”The only thing that has been making our task more difficult is this endless talk, and all this backtracking of what we had already discussed.” she opens her eyes looking at no one in particular and says softly ”It almost seems it was meant to turn us against each other…”
"You are mistaking the 'goal' and the 'plan.'" Xanos said with a hind of exasperation. "Our goal is consistent. How we achieve that goal, so far, has been a series of lucky improvisations. When we have attempted to enact a plan it seems to quickly be disregarded. I had hoped that our success in a well orchestrated plan this evening regarding the theft of the map would be the beginning of a new trend, but it seems I was wrong."
"So, since planning is clearly unreasonable, I too will improvise. What will we do next then?"
”I don’t know…” she says pretending to be to be confused them she smiles and says ”Oh well, improvise!” she giggles resting her head again against Albrέkt chest.
She waits some moments and if no one else offers any option she says finally ”Maybe we can use the theatre as cover to infiltrate the place and sabotage the rookery.”
Kaynen smiles at Ember's proposal.
"Agreed! That's a plan I can get behind."
Vank nods to Ember "You are right we shouldn't blow the passage if we can avoid it. May after slaughter of birds someone can cast an illusion of a dwarf slipping over the wall so it looks like they used that way in and out."
"But I am happy with any plan. If you want to just attack once, we can just target the bird first then kill everyone else. Doesn't worry me boss."
Somewhat taken aback my Ember's forthright behaviour, the
"Ja Fraulin Thorn. Ve schuld make haste und ekzekute der mekanisationz. To furzur der knotten und to bring death to zhis place..."
The brutal knight cradles Ember's head with a uncharacteristic gentleness;
"Ve must remember der kommen plan must be first... Zhen ve can pursue our own agendz Ja?"
Finally, after much patient waiting, the Bard of Barrington and his merry men arrive to stage their play. Their colourful travelling wagons make quite the sight as they meander through town on their way to the keep. They make no secret that the will be performing “The Fall of Amberlyn” a rousing tale of how love and greed brought down a great city state. So discrete probing among the off-duty guards reveals the time of the start of the play and that every off duty guard will be in attendance.
That day you each manage to sneak into the inn's cellar and into the secret tunnel and by the time the play is set to begin you find yourselves in the storeroom of the keep, kitted out in surplus guard uniforms. A trapdoor in the ceiling leads out and into what turns out to be the keep's forge. The furnace is banked and the room is empty, several bits of weaponry and armour lie about the room in various stages of construction and repair. A single door leads out into the keep and a staircase winds up the tower.
"Everyone use your circlet to make your self look like guards, the uniforms are here for you to model it on. Also make sure your weapons appear to be regular issue. At a distance it will fool them and if a guard gets too close and recognizes we aren't guards, I'll cast silence and everyone gangs up." Vank says adjusting his own circlet and appearing to a regulation guard. "Or we could disguise ourselves as the dwarves?"
Vank will spend the next couple of moments checking everyone else uniforms to make sure they look as correct as possible.
Albrέkt assumes the skin of a guardsman;
"Zhis vill suvice ja?"
The brute guard nods toward the stairs;
"Der Krähenhorst?"
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Xanos nods and assumes the identity of a guard.
Kaynen bows like a performer having already completed his performance.
"Shall we?"
Gesturing to the door beyond, he adds, "we should have about three hours, “The Fall of Amberlyn” is quite the show. It's almost a pit we have to miss it this evening."
Kaynen hesitates ever briefly, considering how such a performance could be improved with some incendiary effects.
Vank nods as he looks over people's disguises. "If we have three hours we have time to to quickly practice our walk. A guard who on a long duty, particularly one where he is missing out of something better will walk something like this' Vank demonstrates "And if they think they are being observed by a superior they will change to this" Again Vank demonstrates "Now everyone try"
Once satisfied they they would pass a glance "When we get to the rookery I plan to silence the area around me and charge in, if you are going to cast anything you'll need to be atleast 7 yards away." Whith that he leads them up.
Ember hadn’t seen any female soldier until now and she doubt there would be one.
Knowing the limits of the spell, and knowing that appearing to be the opposite gender would be troublesome, she opts for a simpler disguise.
Using the circlet, she changes her set of clothes to of a simple serving girl. The hair takes a less lively color and her otherworldly features are damped; she couldn’t not pretend to be human but that wasn’t the goal, looking from afar, someone might not notice it immediately and she would adopt a submissive attitude, keeping her face looking to the ground, her hair hiding her face.
Even wearing the illusion of another skin Albrέkt's boredom at being drilled on movement and and military bearing is clear.
He listens stoically before adding a callous reply to Vank's instructions;
"Ja. Ja. Ve know... Tell me how kommen un neidrig zuch az you knows more of der movement of men... Zan men zemthelves?"
Heading up the stairs, you reach the next floor of the tower. The walls of this room are covered in flags. The banners and honours of the garrison are proudly displayed and a pair of honour guards stand at attention. Their eyes flick over to you as the group enters, but they don't say anything yet. Another flight of stairs leads up to the next level.
Ember looks at the guards and then shyly to the ground, as if admitting doing something wrong.
She tugs at Albrέkt shirt and says in an embarrassed low voice but enough to be heard by the two sentries ”What did you guys wanted to show me in the tower…?”
That's a straight line if I've ever heard one "Come on up and you'll see us come up." Vank replies with slight leer in his voice.
Albrέkt-guard smiles and nods, bidding the Amber serving girl follow the leering guard...
As they exit, he waves the honour guardsmen fellow them...
Haruk flashes the guards a grin "This young lass has promised us a night of fun, and according to her, the more the merrier. Care to join us?"
Kaynen does a quick count of the men and women.
"Oh, gentlemen, I could always fetch a few more of her friends from outside if the party is going to be that large this evening."
Xanos, to his credit, did not roll his eyes. Instead he stoically followed the others into their debaucherous lie.
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Ember blushes even more as the other state their intent and follow up by taking Albrέkt and leading him upstairs…
The guards don't see anything unusual in the situation, though why you wouldn't want someplace a little more private is beyond them...
Continuing up the tower your reach the next level. This tier of the tower is is a key archer’s strongpoint. Arrow slits adorn its entire outer wall. Wooden racks contain the watchtower’s store of arrows. Several thousand arrows are in arranged in bundles in the racks and several long bows are near at hand, waiting to be strung. The stairs continue up to the next level.
Albrέkt flashes a smile in his guard-skin at Kaynen's proclamation;
Ja. Bring more to ze schlaughter...
The big man nods toward the arrow bundles
"Ve schuld deztroy zhem..."
"Yes but not yet, tomorrow." Vank says then continues up the stairs.
Kaynen hesitates as he scans the supplies here.
Shrugging, he continues up the stairs behind Vank.
Ember is disappointed when the soldiers refuse to follow. It’s almost like a personal affront to her. Wasn’t she good enough to seduce some lowly peon? She is fuming and almost has a mind to return and confront if they are real man or not. Almost.
But that would have to way, while she was fuming about things, the others decided to move further up and she follows, plotting how to better kill the lowly scum at the base of the tower. They would need to die very slowly to pay for that affront…
You come to the top of the stairs and find yourselves in a small room with a pair of heavy iron bound doors.
The door is locked and the raucous cawing of ravens can be heard beyond them.
Embers point to the door and prepare to cast burning hands spells as soon she can; figures that burning the birds ought to do the trick.
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Xanos waited at the back for their scouts to pick the lock, and then for Vank to cast silence before the breach.