The Crucible of Freya (Inactive)

Game Master Grimmy

Well my suggestion was for Sam and myself. Kev would also work but she's fairly durable as is.

Sam moves as silently as he can towards the keep after descending the rope. He looks to see if Jerrid is coming.

stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24
perception up to 3 if needed: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
perception up to 3 if needed: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19
perception up to 3 if needed: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Sam is moving slowly (10' speed) to keep quiet and hidden.

Leoven cast barkskin on damien and samduc -It will last half an hour

May Thyr watch your steps-Leoven say before Sam start descending.

Ok, I am back online. Let's fire this thing up again. What do you guys want to do next? You are round the back of the keep now.

"Indeed, and Freya's grace protect us all." Kevezyat intones, laying a hand on Samduc's shoulder.

She then waits for him to toss down the rope, preparing to steady it for the others.

Damien presses his back to the wall, watching for any movement in the treeline. As Sam sets to ascend, he sets up a message spell between Sam, Jerrid and himself, "Front and back back, keep your eyes peeled you two. We don't need any surprises..."

+4 Climb taking 10 if possible
Sam climbs the rope, taking his time not to fall.

There's no rope yet Sam. I had thought you were taking it up? For some reason I'd thought your climb was higher. Probably best to let Vhillish go first instead.

Ok, with a little reconfiguration this should work! Damien will actually hit Jerrid, and Vhillish with the message spell, re-apply if necessary.

Damien instead passes the grapling hook to the good deputy. As Vhillish begins his climb, Damien steps back from the wall slightly and does his best to advise the former general through the message spell, "Looks like a few uneven stones off to your left and then a missing one, head over about three feet and you should be golden. Keep it simple, just edge your way up..." Use inspire Competence +2.

There, if the climb is DC 20 like the tower was you should even be able to take 10 on it Vhill. Should take 2 rounds for you to reach the top.

I think Vhillish has magical support for climbing, a ring?

No climbing expert, Jerrid watches and listens, hoping to gain a few pointers for his attempt.

Damn, it is the same type of bonus... I guess you'll just have to roll it.

DC 20 is correct, straight out of the module! I guess it is supposed to be pretty sheer.

What we need here is the same drill as the way you guys got up the tower. Best climber ascends, drops rope for others. I'll have a look at Vhillish's profile and find his climb and stealth bonuses, I'm quite sure he doesn't mind going first.

Taking a look around to make sure the coast is clear, Vhillish approaches the curtain wall with a length of rope slung over his shoulder.

Climb: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Stealth: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 27

Taking care not to noisily dislodge any debris, the gnome picks his way up the back side of the keep to the donjon roof.

Vhillish doesn't see any sign of sentries on the roof, or hear any sound from within the donjon, even as he passes two arrow slits on the north wall of the donjon. If he didn't know better he would think it was totally unoccupied. Reaching the top, he sees that sure enough, the absence of crenulations from the donjon roof was due to incomplete construction. As Damien and Firean had surmised, there is a hatch in the donjon roof just like the one on the watchtower roof. Entry into the donjon is not going to be so difficult after all.

One of the bandit sentries on the watchtower roof waves to Vhillish excitedly, before Firean gives the man a sharp jab in the ribs for his indiscrete behavior.

Down in the courtyard, the cockatrices are now both in the cage, and it is being raised.

Waiting a count of five after the Deputy's feet disappear from sight, Damien whispers up, "All clear Deputy? Lets have that rope, we've been down here playing with ourselves long enough..."

Sortie completed Vhillish dutifully secures the rope up top, then lowers in down to the waiting reinforcements below, whispering his intention as he does so;

"Alls well sah. Rope incoming... mind how you all go... Smooth is slow and slow is quick eh-whot."

Hoping Vhillish's successful climb and general wall intel will assist the others in their ascent up the rope? If so (Aid Another - Climb??); 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Damien nods for Sam to begin his ascent before turning to the others to pass along the Deputy's sentiments, "Take it slow and steady. We're more concerned with noise that speed here."

Damien will follow Sam up the rope once the halfling nears the top. (Taking 10 for 11)

I'd suggest you follow, Janna, Leo, Kev and finally Jerrid. Make your rolls if you need. DC is only 5 with the rope so most of you should be able to take 10.

Leoven can take 10, but seeing how he did last time he prefer to go last.

I think what we determined last time back at the watchtower was that everyone can make it up the rope with a take ten as long as they go slow. So you only have to roll if you end up needing to go up or down in a hurry or while distracted.

Nothing disturbs the party as they follow Vhillish up the rope. Once on the rooftop, Sam carefully lifts the hatch for all to peer into the chamber below. Light shines in through one of the windows the party had considered using to gain entry if there had not turned out to be a roof hatch.

What was once an opulent bedchamber is now a shattered wreck. Dust lies thickly and scorched, broken furniture is scattered about.

interior of donjon added to map

The "t" marker is not a trap, it is the trapdoor up to the roof. You are looking down into room d12.

Sam itches to go down, but waits till everyone is up the rope before exploring the interior. He motions to Jerrid to look, as he cannot see in the dark as well. Nonetheless, Sam listens intently as he waits for the others to come up the rope.

Take 20 on perception till others are up for 29

Sam slips down to investigate carefully when all are near.
stealth: 1d10 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

Damien is clearly on edge as he waits for the last of the group to reach the roof. He waits crouched by the trapdoor, staining to pick up any sounds of discovery from within.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

He breathes a sigh of relief as Jerrid brings up the rear without incident. Turning towards the tower, he waves to Firean to make her move. Scowling, he whispers to Vhillish, "Now we see if you're right about trusting in bloody bandits..."

As Sam begins to slip through the trapdoor, Damien hisses after the halfling, "Not beyond the first room! We need Firean to draw them out before we're discovered..."

"Sam and me will be fine, Damien."

Jerrid slips past and goes to look before following Sam into the ruined chamber.

Perception 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27, Stealth 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (8) + 15 = 23

Jerrid then calls on his innate ability and casts blur on himself while things happen above. If Sam tries the door, Jerrid does not say anything against it.

Scouts work best without the lumps above making so much noise.

Vhillish shoots his former CO with that concerned look as Sam and Jerrid slink off again;

"Should I chaperone that pair sah? Keep 'em out of trouble like whot?

Should Damien give him the green-light the diminutive veteran will follow the troublesome two through the rabbit-hole: Stealth - 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21

Leoven strap his shield and see how his smaller companions venture into the danger, the young priest murmurs a short pray to Thyr to for their safety and wait.

Damien stares into the blackness for a long moment before giving the slightest nod of his head, "Try to keep 'em close until Firean makes her move. We'll be down shortly after."

The ruined bedchamber appears to have once been occupied by a couple, judging by the size of the bed and the type of furniture. Perhaps this is where Eralion and Gethrame lived.

As Sam and Jerrid pass through the door out of the bedchamber they find themselves in a room with a spiral stairwell descending to the ground floor, as well as two other doors leading to adjoining rooms.

One of the doors, the one to the room in the northwest corner, has a well worn welcome mat, and a decorative border around the door that suggests the room beyond is an audience chamber for welcoming visitors. D13

The other room is adjacent to the bedchamber. D11

There are no sounds coming from either room, or from downstairs. There are no signs of the orcs.

Vhillish nods and gives a quick salute

"Right you are sah."

The Serjeant-Depute then follows the shifty duo in the dark

Use the stealth roll above, Vhillish will keep an overwatch on the scouts - ideally providing covering fire should they need to retreat in a rush

What's Firean up to? How did she respond to the signal?

Kevezyat crouches at the side of the hatch, gazing down into the ruin of the former bedchamber..."Interesting that the orcs do not use these upper floors, we should be wary...."

Damien scowls into the darkness below, "They could have just done a sweep when they moved in and decided to stick close. But aye, I don't like it either... "

What's Firean up to? How did she respond to the signal?

Before going down the hatch Damien saw Firean acknowledge his signal, and five bandits crept out of the door at the bottom of the watchtower and started crossing the courtyard.

Up top, Cullen is at the ready to lower the cockatrice cage to help their retreat if necessary.

Up till now the majority of us haven't gone down the hatch yet. That said...

Seeing Firean's men start across the courtyard, Damien breathes a small sigh of relief, "Honor among thieves after all..."

Nodding to Kevezyat the veteran swings his feet over down onto the ladder and disappears below, whispering to Vhillish and Jerrid through the message spell, "Firean's good to her word so far. We're coming down. Meet us at the stairs to the main floor. As soon as they take notice of Firean's men you head down. Pull back as soon as you locate hostiles."

Leoven will descend last fearing his clumsiness could betray him now.

man where have I been, guess not much to say really. oh well I am still here

its been a long time since Janna did this kind of sneaking about. but back then she was on the run usually, or after some fat merchant's store of food.

she used to be alone back then, this time it felt different. she had people with her this time, people she could trust. that was something new.

Janna stays by Leo's side. hoping to keep his confidence up, and his healing wasn't bad either.

stealth: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Jerrid moves to the doorway next to Sam and sneaks out to listen for the sounds from below. His blurry steps are slow and careful. His aim to not ruin the surprise for Firean.

Listen below 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23

All is quiet below on the ground floor of the keep as Jerrid listens from the stair. Before long though, his sharp ears can hear the sound of the bandits gathering outside the donjon door.

Sam signs back and his signal is improvised. Either someone is throwing a surprise party and the door is about to open, or the bandits are near the door and the door is about to open.

Damien holds up a hand to the others to wait. They'd soon see if the orcs let Firean's men break down the door unmolested or not.

After a short wait, the bandits outside burst into the donjon through the door with a battle cry.

Their entrance is met with momentary silence... then a low guttural roar like the peel of thunder resounds from deeper below, and slow heaving footsteps can be heard ascending a different stair.

Added ground floor to the map. The spiral stair only goes down to the ground floor. The bandits have just entered through the double door shown on the map. This is the same door the orcs used to re-enter the donjon when Vhillish was firing at them from the watchtower roof last night. The footsteps coming up to meet the bandits now sound like they are coming from the stair to the basement described by Cullen. It's the straight stair shown on the map.

Sam waves everyone forward and descends the stairs to help the bandits.

At the roar from downstairs, Kevezyat drops down into the bedchamber and hurries after Samduc....

Damien hisses after Sam and Kev, "They're supposed to get the bloody thing's attention!", ...but the through and paladin are already gone. The veteran sighs, "That's that then. Let's go..."

Gritting his teeth, he readies his hammer and plunges down the stairs.

I can't edit the map from my phone but could someone move me down to the large room at the bottom of the stairs? Kev and Sam too. Damien would stay beside the paladin facing a large opponent.

Damien, I moved you down the stairs, also I put Janna where I think she was supposed to be at

As the rest of the less Stealthy members of the group arrive, Vhillish shoots Damien a hard look;

"See you've all come to join in the fun whot? Sounds like the Gorger is coming our way sah... Didn't get a chance to turn its head..."

The veterans arbalest is loaded and readied in overwatch...

"When it arrives... pepper the big bugger with missile and magic, then let Mistress Faen and the Lieutenant bring their heavy weapons to bear... If we're lucky we'll take minimal casualties in dropping the brute!"

I've moved Sam, Jerrid and Kevezyat to a rough position. I hope its okay?

Jerrid follows Damien a little with pursed lips the only indication that the party are about to lose the element of surprise.

"Lets kill an ogre!", he whispers loud enough for the officer to hear.

Leoven knees start trembling with the mention of an ogre and causalities. He an only think in defense, defense and defense. If possible I will ready a deflection Aura for a +2 to AC for everyone in 20 ft in case an ogre or an horde of orc attack us now

Janna stays by leo