Auriona shuffles quickly into the washroom, and even more quickly into her assigned room. She collapses with a small thud, sighing comfortably.
Lyall dismisses his claws and goes back into what the others might consider a more natural form before following cleaning up and folowing the man to his quarters.
Kareta takes her time washing off, enjoying the feel of water that isn't cloudy, smelly, and containing floating things of dubious quality and origin. The others may have been able to hurry, but she had to wade though that gunk for stretches at a time. Not to mention the Ooze Bugs...
Speaking of which, She leaned over at the quietly squirming bag still hanging from her belt lying on the floor. That had been a surprise. But, when it was just one, and not it and a dozen of it's brothers and sister falling onto her from the ceiling, the little blob that had somehow wormed it's way into there was kinda cute. Now, she just had to find a more suitable container for it.
Once her soak was finished, she got dressed and headed to her own bedding for the night.
As morning dawns over the city, you awake to the sounds of an argument in progress. When you come out into the common area, there are just over a dozen people alternately talking, cajoling, and shouting at each other. The gist of the argument seems to be a name for the group. Among the names you hear being bandied about are "Knights of Westcrown," "Scions of Aroden," and "Guardians of Cheliax." The one that seems to have the most people under its sway, though, is "Children of Westcrown." As you come into the room, Janiven beckons you over and draws you into the discussion, inviting you to weigh in on ideas for the group name. Including Janiven and Morosino, the group appears to currently be 11 humans, a halfling, and a gnome.
"Why do we need a name exactly?" Lyall asks, before adding, "Wouldn't it make it easier for the hellknights to find us if we were to have a group name? If they know learn who to look for that could complicate things."
"As I mentioned when we met before, we hope to take this city back for its people. Giving the group a name gives the people a way to identify us, and to tie us to the things that we do for them, without tying it to our names. That way, we can have relative anonymity during our normal lives, and we can take credit for what we do and disparage things done by other rebel groups that we don't approve of, like arson or murder."
"Well, I would say the name should be something positive and local, nothing too highminded, as the common people have to feel that we belong, that every one of us is one of them."
"What about The People's Republic of Westcrown?" Lyall asks, not realizing it sounds more like the name of a nation rather then an organization.
"I like the Children of Westcrown personally..." Auriona states flatly. "It's not too conspicuous and it can be coded well."
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Kareta shrugs. It sounds as good a name as any. But with that done... She turns towards the other gathered people. I think a few introductions are in order.
"A name means little. Our actions shall echo through the streets and will be our calling card."
"Yeah, unless one of you comes with something bette, I would say Cildren of Westcrown sounds good enough. It fits the bill."
Then hee looks around the room. "As my companion here said, introduction are not a bad idea. Allow me to start. My name is Harkon Dormun, recently of Andoran. I have come to this fine city to investigate the dark deeds happening recently."
"Well, the Children of Westcrown we shall be, then. And, in a way, aren't we all Westcrown's children now? Even those of us who were born elsewhere have come here and taken this place to be our own. But, to introductions. You all know me, and Morosino here." The boy waves shyly, then ducks down as if embarrassed.
Janiven goes around the room, introducing the other members of the cabal one at a time, along with very brief biographical information on each.
Harkon grins at Janiven as she decides the name of the group.
After the introduction... "I am honored to meet you all and I am looking forward to working with you.
Now that I think about it, we probably didn't want the name to be too aggressive-sounding, anyway. People might get the wrong ideas about us. So, now that we're all here and rested, I believe we had a problem on our hands? she casts a significant look towards Janiven.
"We do, in fact, have a problem people. Quiet down over there." A pebble flies out to strike neatly between Yakopulio's eyes, and the gnome falls silent. "Morosino, tell us what you saw yesterday."
Morosino relates the story of how the dottari had captured Arael, and upon bringing him to the city jail, a dispute had ensued between the dottari and the Hellknights of the Rack over who had jurisdiction and who should have custody. They were still arguing when he ran to find Janiven. He then reveals that he had gone out early this morning, and had heard that the dispute was resolved in favor of the Order of the Rack. They would probably try to move Arael to Citadel Rivad sometime this afternoon.
"We need to rescue him. If they get Arael to the Citadel, there's no way of getting him back, even if we all did our best. So we need to come up with something sneaky to get him back. Thoughts?" Janiven turns to the PCs.
"Well, I am new to this city, so maybe my questions may seem unnecessary. Do we know what route they will take. If so, is there any place suitable for an ambush along the way?. Furthermore, what is the usual procedure with moving prisoners to the citadel? How many Hellknights accompany him?"
"These hellknights are human yes? Perhaps we should try to recover Arael under cover of darkness?" Lyall suggests, knowing it may inconvenience some of the group, but hoping it would inconvenience the hellknights more.
"Morosino, you are adept at finding ways through this city. Do you know of any secret ways to get around, or of an ambush point where we can stop the hellknights? Is there a bridge or some narrow gap we could use a pincer movement?" Auriona glances at the rest of the group. "We would be wise to hurry if he knows something." She says to everyone.
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Ignatius coughs delicately into one hand,
"While violence does seem to be the consensus method of rescue. We could probably just bribe this prisoner free. It is one of the perks of living in such a corruptible society."
Kareta snorts. Bribing a HELLKNIGHT? We may as well turn ourselves in for that mess in the sewers! it'll achieve pretty much the same thing!
Janiven snorts. "If the dottari had him, I'd say you might be right, Ignatius. But the Hellknights would probably kill us for suggesting it. I like this idea of an ambush, though. They would probably take the main road to Citadel Rivad. Most of it is across open plains, but there are a couple of spots that might work. There's a small bridge over the Athua, and there are some spots where the tree cover might help us." She sketches out a map of the road, and indicates with Xs the places where an ambush might be suitable. She sends several of the others out to see if they can find more details on what the transport group will be like, but groups in the past have used armored carriages to transport prisoners and had troop reinforcements before and behind.
"If we can, I'd like to set this up so we keep as many of them alive as possible. That keeps our reputation clean and it will embarrass the hell out of them. The Order of the Rack is the oldest Hellknight order. They have an arrogance about them. Let's play on that."
"We should definitely strike from multiple sides, maybe even sending in a decoy to attack first and then rescuing Arael while they are distracted, that could result in a large amount of embarrassment out of them. Actually, if we do it right, we wouldn't even have to attack." Lyall adds another suggestion, thinking to himself if only I could unlock the cage.
"We should stick together or at least find some volunteers to help make the diversion more successful. I am sure that we will succeed in rescue if there are more who can at least fend off some of these bastards."
"I can't believe I am still helping these people. They seem so disorganized but have a go get them spirit. I need to try to take advantage of this. "
Auriona grins, as if she remembered a funny punchline.
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As the discussion of tactics continues, several of those sent out to gather further information return and bring the report that the caravan taking Arael to Citadel Rivad will be somewhat smaller than normal expeditions of this type. 10 armigers who were part of the capture, led by a gifted young Hellknight Signifier named Shanwen, will be setting out for the Citadel in two hours.
"Looks like this whole operation was a training exercise to them. Arrogant bastards. They should pay us for the opportunity. I like this idea of a feint to draw off some of their forces. I'll lead the diversion group with a few volunteers. We'll need to move fast if we want to get ahead of them and set up our ambush. Do you have horses? Gorvio, go talk to your uncle Jacovo and get some horses for these people. We'll borrow them and return them in the same condition. You lot. Are we going to attack at the bridge, or do we want tree cover instead?"
"Hmm... If they are bunched together on the bridge, I might be able to incapacitate most of them with magic. If the diversion thins their number, we might be able to box them in on the bridge so they don't escape. We wanted non-lethal methods, correct?"
Lyall nods, "Nonlethal would likely serve our purposes best, and cause them the most embarrassment."
The ones we take down now might want to come after us for payback later, Kareta muses, but it's better than the rest of the order hunting us to avenge their deaths. With that in mind, we'll probably need restraints. Anyone else got some rope?
"Well, I have some rope, but could we not just restrain them in the restraints of their own captives?"
Good point. Kareta conceded. Some tanglefoot bags would be nice, to help the distraction team keep ahead and slow their pursuers down.
"I like the idea of binding them in the restraints of their own prisoners. Trapping them on the bridge will be good, too. Arael will be trapped in an armored carriage, and probably chained in, so the longer we can keep them pinned, the better. If you need to purchase any supplies, now would be the time. Here, something to help out." Janiven tosses you a pouch clinking with several coins.
"So lets summarise the plan:
Janiven will lead a faint to drow some forces away from the carriage.
We will be waiting by the bridge - shall we be all on one side, or will we divide into two groups? Two groups should be better, but it depends on the possibility of cover near the bridge.
Once they are on the bridge, we will try to immobilise them using spells, tanglefoot bags etc.
Then we approach, open the carrige, destroy or open Arael's chains (how?) and leave.
Someone has to stand guard while others are taking Arael out of the carriage. Then we will have to take him to horses (How close can they be placed so as not to attract attention?)
Or we could just take the carriage, drive it to some sheltered place close by, where we will have horses ready.
Did I get it right?"
Janiven indicates that your summary is essentially correct. She then tells you that if you're going to get to the bridge ahead of the Hellknights, now's the time to leave. She punctuates this by grabbing the volunteers who are part of the diversion group and heading out, presumably to retrieve horses and depart. Gorvio has returned by this point with the horses borrowed from his uncle.
As you arrive at the bridge, you estimate that you have about half an hour to set up your ambush and discuss final tactics.
Lyall will jump into the nearest tree and hide himself.
"So, how exactly shall we proceed?" Harkon asks. "I am no tactician."
Simple, Kareta replied. Hide, throw thunderstones, hit them really hard. At least, that's the basic outline.
Ignatius hunkers down behind Lyalls tree with the scroll of sleep at the ready.
Auriona moves under the bridge and lays flat on the ground, making sure to set herself with a good viewpoint for ambush.
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