Cleo gives Aggah a squeeze. "Yes, we berry." to Furnok she says "The place is overrun with ogres, and we... well we might not make it. I'd rather him be placed to rest in the woods, safely, then rest him becoming a meal, or worse." she'll look to the rangers. He was their comrade, so their decision.
looks like there's a lot of danger around the fort. Best we lay him to rest here in the woods where he belongs
Kemras looks at the two Black Arrows. "It is up to you both. You knew him better than us." He pulls out a bone-white wand, looking at it sadly. "If I'd gotten to him sooner, maybe I could've healed him..." He sighs. No use mourning what wasn't.
With that, he taps himself a few times with the wand, uttering its command phrase.
"Does anyone want some of this healing? I have plenty of charges left in this." The scholar waves the wand lightly.
Grimly, Jakardros says "A shallow grave with a metal arrow marking the site. That was custom, ever since the crypt filled up. One-Shot didn't have family to return to."
After burying One-Shot, the group travel to another location to camp. Furnok and Jakardros make sure their trail is difficult to travel, and they head downwind in an effort to reduce the smell. The new campsite does not have a fire.
Morning comes far too early for the Cobbled Shield, and members groan and move sluggishly as they try to convince their bodies to wake up.
A red sun rises, barely breaking through the cloud cover. A light layer of frost coats the grass, but it will melt away soon enough. Though certainly winter time, this morning does not feel too cold.
Kaven and Jakardros look quite tired, and still very sick. That being said, Jakardros spends his morning talking with the rest of the party about Ogres and Fort Rannick. Though he believes that everyone will die, he might as well pass enough information along to take a few Ogres with them.
Physical Characteristics:
- Sexual dimorphism. Male Ogres and Female Ogres are different enough that their stats are different.
- Large sized creatures. Male Ogres are roughly 12-14 feet tall, while Female Ogres are much smaller at 9-11 feet. Female Ogres are still large, but they suffer a penalty with large-sized weapons and tend towards medium sized weaponry. They don't have reach.
- Ability Scores. Male Ogres are big and strong (Str 20-22ish). They aren't very nimble (Dex 7-12). They're surprisingly athletic and durable (Con 14-18). They don't care about complex problem solving or special information (Int 6-10). They are brash and reckless (Wis 8-10). They are social creatures, and family is quite important to them (Cha 10-14). Female Ogres aren't quite as strong, but they are on average hardier and generally smarter.
- DR and Armour. Ogres do not possess natural armour, but they do have some other protections. Ogres have layers and layers of skin and fat granting them protection from bludgeoning impacts. Weapons such as daggers and other short weapons rarely have the depth to inflict mortal wounds, but they might make the Ogre bleed. (Ogres have DR 5/piercing or slashing. They also have a damage threshold of 10. Damage threshold means that you have to deal a minimum of 10 damage (including DR) in order to actually wound the Ogre. This means if you deal 10 damage, the Ogre takes 10 damage, but if you deal 9 damage, it isn't enough. If the attack doesn't deal enough damage, it instead inflicts 1 point of bleed damage. Ogres can make a Con check (DC10+bleed damage) as a free action each round to automatically staunch the bleeding.
- Movement. Ogres normally have a movespeed of 30 feet. However, if they run or hustle, their speed increases incrementally each round up to 80 feet. If they're moving faster that 30 feet and either trip or run into something, they deal damage to themselves and any target. This means that if an Ogre is chasing you, it's very beneficial to trip it up or go through difficult terrain.
- Sight. Ogres have lowlight vision, not darkvision. They are active during twilight hours, as the sun rises and as the sun sets. They sleep during noon and midnight. They have light sensitivity.
- Age. Ogres reach sexual maturity around the age of 10, and are physically fully grown by the age of 15. Ogres rarely live past the age of 30 due to their brutal lifestyle, but could theoretically live up to 70.
Social/Cultural Information:
- Social creatures. Ogres care about family. An Ogre from another tribe who's now an ally isn't important, but a family member is very meaningful. They are capable of doing all sorts of horrendous things, but the idea of backstabbing a family member is repulsive.
- Morality. Ogres find genuine joy in inflicting pain and suffering on others. They actively refuse to cooperate with non-family members, and in such cases are very much out for their own interests. For this reason, Ogres are considered Chaotic Evil.
- Social hierarchy. Ogres in family units are relatively equal, mainly because keeping track of who is a mother, a sister, a cousin, is very difficult due to constant incest. Men are considered more important than women, unless there is a woman who is especially powerful and capable of keeping the men under her influence. Ogres outside of family units are organized by the strongest and most brutal, with the men on top.
- Work and Entertainment. Ogres of the lowest hierarchy are usually in charge of crafting equipment and shelters. These crafts are never of significant quality, and in many cases are using improvised materials. Ogres entertain themselves with song, dance, fighting, torture, food, sex, and alcohol. Many of these activities are intertwined.
- Religion. Ogres usually worship Haggakal, the Biggest Pappy of Ogres. Other gods include Lamashtu, Rovagug, Urgathoa, and Gorum. A number of Orc gods might also be included if they have frequent contact. Worship is usually a family affair, where an entire family worships a single deity. War leaders with a religious bent might force Ogres to pay lip service to the leader's deity.
- Smaller creatures are ridiculous. Ogres do not take creatures like humans or halflings seriously. A human wielding a sword looks to an Ogre like a child threatening them with a toothpick. Ogres like to keep goblins around as entertainers, but other races usually get eaten.
Final notes:
Common classes for Ogres include (but are not limited to) brawlers, barbarians, fighters, skalds, bloodragers, slayers, sorcerers, or oracles. Spellcasting classes are much rarer than melee fighters.
Ogre Magi. An Ogre Magi is an Ogre born with extremely heightened mental abilities. This Ogre grows up to be some sort of powerful spellcaster, and typically ends up as an advisor if not the leader of the tribe. Ogre Magi are considered a sign that an age of glory is fast approaching.
Wabbit was topped off by the first channel
Bacon looks much less tenderized.
Entrances:
- The front gates. There are two "front" entrances, both of which stand in front of draw bridges overtop of a stream. The stream isn't quick, so it's pretty easy to swim through. The tall iron gates are heavily reinforced, though the Ogres did significant damage to the Eastern one. The group would either need to bash the gates down (a daunting task), or climb over the walls. Climbing has a bit of a chance to remain stealthy, but bashing down the gate will almost certainly raise some sort of alarm.
- The sluice gate. There is a little gate that opens to allow refuse and other waste to slip out of the fort and into the stream. It's far too small for an Ogre to get through, as even a human would need to crawl through single-file. The other side of the gate leads into a relatively open area, with the new barracks nearby.
- The waterfall caves. There is a hidden entrance into the fort, using a cave 10 feet above ground, behind the waterfall. The caves happened during construction of the Fort, and since it was impossible for Ogres to get through, were just left as-is. The caves here lead to an emergency armoury and storeroom, and have secret doors to lead into the fort.
- Underground tunnels. There's a cave system that starts in the southern mountains and makes its way into the lower portions of the fort. The caves are inhabited by a flail snail, which ended up being a significant pain to dislodge, and was instead just kept around as a guardian. The Black Arrows never used this passage, so much of it is unknown.
Tactics:
- Given the number of Ogres, Goblins, and Wargs present, it would be wise to hit and run. Though unaware at the time and with their leader missing, nearly two-thirds of an entire order of Ogre hunters were wiped out in their own lair. The best time to strike would be when the Ogres are sleeping (which is noon and midnight).
- The group will want a campsite to nurse their wounds at, and reinforcing it with defences (stakes to stop charges, traps, camouflage, and other interesting ideas) might not be a bad idea in case the Ogres seek reprisal.
- Sabotage. There are some areas in the Fort that could be used to the group's advantage. Fire, Food, and Flood. Three buildings called the barracks are susceptible to fire, and setting these buildings aflame while Ogres or other creatures are inside could seriously weaken, if not outright kill them. For food, it's well known that both Ogres and Goblins have voracious appetites. They are probably subsisting on human flesh and the storerooms right now, and putrefying these stores could help starve them out. They might turn on each other, or be forced to leave to hunt. Both options are favourable. The last one is flood. It would be possible to mine through a portion of the underground tunnels to reach the waterfall, and doing so would flood the tunnels. This could force the flail snail to bash their way through the fort's basement, and distract them. It's possible that given time, the entire basement could flood.
Kemras awakens refreshed and energized, looking to his companions as he prepares his spells for the day. "So, how long will we need to get there, and what will our plan of assault be?" The half-elf frowns down at the religious icons spread out before him.
Jakardros shrugs and replies "From here, maybe an hour's hike."
Before they get to the place, Cleo concentrates her magic on some of her companions.
I suggest the caves
Wabbit needs more sleep...
is there a rough idea of the total number of ogres and goblins in the fort?
Kemras frowns in thought. "Ogres can see in the dark, while none of us save Aggah can do that. Sneaking in by night is unadvisable. I think we should either go by the caves or the tunnels at noon. Midnight is too risky for us."
Jakardros, still aching from sickness and the remnants of starvation, replies "I don't know. At least a dozen. It's more than a family, it's a whole tribe, maybe even a warband."
"Securing the caves sounds like a good start. The secret doors will allow us to strike and disappear. At least for a time or two."
We need coffee!
I think we should wait to assault the fort till everyone has had a goodnights sleep. Maybe we could rest in the waterfall cave. That might be safer than camping close to the fort
Bacon sniffs Cleo's backpack for the precious brew.
"Yes, Bacon I can make some, soon." Cleo agrees, to going to the caves and letting some of them rest.
"Getting some rest will be good for all of us, I think." Kemras says - not exactly lying. "But if you want, I can go scout out the caves before the rest of you. I'm rather stealthy, if I do say so myself. I promise to run away as soon as I can if I'm spotted, for that matter."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The group decides to settle down and sleep some more to remove their fatigue. Kemras does a little scout of the area, and sees that the Kreegwoods gradually disperse into grassy hills to the North. Far in the distance, he sees Fort Rannick, a dreary-looking castle built into the mountainside. With the aid his elven heritage, he manages to hear a very faint, high-pitch clink every few seconds. It's almost rhythmic, but not quite. Being downwind, Kemras also smells all sorts of nasty scents, but the scent of death and decay are certainly part of it.
At camp, despite the group's best efforts to remain hidden, something has managed to notice their arrival. A small white horse, only a few hands taller than the average pony walks at a slow and graceful pace, staring at the party with a sideways glance. The horse has a long ivory horn sprouting from the center of its head, and a short white goatee from its chin. Obvious to all, the unicorn approaches the group calmly and with supernatural grace. Aggah's knees wobble in fear of the spikey warhorse, but Cleo feels nothing but ease and serenity.
Cleo doesn't exactly hear a voice, but rather simply gains an understanding of what the unicorn wants. Intuitively, she understands that the unicorn feels evil spreading across the woods and hillside. It wishes to cleanse the wood of evil, but cannot do so by itself. If Cleo is willing to champion the cause, the unicorn will aid Cleo by healing the sick and wounded, warning her of danger, and keeping her pony safe.
Stealth (take 10)
Furnok is 12
Bacon is 11
Cleo is 18
Aggah is 26
Kemras is 25
Wabbit is 22
Jakardros is 16
Kaven is 13
"Of course we'll help" she immediately exclaims, awe and wonder filling her voice and eyes. More than a little of her cheeks are bright red, knowing what she knows about WHY the unicorn can communicate with her. "While your help is appreciated and welcome, we can use all we can get. But even without it, I'd do all I can, please know that."
She'll lead her fleckled pony to the unicorn "This is Flour, Mam. And... Aggah... oh dear, excuse me." she shuffles away and help her friend. "It is okay, No she is not going to do THAT with her horn to you, I don't even know if that is... doesn't matter. You are a hero Aggah, remember that. Heroes have nothing to fear from good creatures, even horned horse good creatures."
Then she'll introduce the others to the majestic unicorn.
"So they weren't rumours after all..." Jakardros whispers, mainly to himself.
The unicorn nods to Cleo, then to each of her companions. Most of her companions elicit no specific response beyond this courteous nod of acknowledgement and respect. Upon meeting Jakardros, it gently taps him on the head with its horn. His complexion improves significantly, though his body will still need time to heal.
When the unicorn meets Kaven, it snorts aggressively and stamps its hooves, before backing away. It veers around to meet with Cleo and Flour, and Cleo understands. Kaven possesses some sort of taint, and the unicorn refuses to heal him.
With Flour behind the unicorn, it neighs to Cleo, letting her understand that should she need the unicorn or Flour, to sing a Kulning for them. Then the unicorn and the pony prance their way through the forest, leaving without a trace.
Kemras looks at the unicorn with a smile. How beautiful. His smile fades slightly. Shame I won't be able to get that close... He nods in turn, before looking at Jakardos. Interesting...
At its refusal to touch Kaven, he frowns. "What's wrong?" Kemras asks, sucking on his teeth as an unpleasant intuition settles upon him. Is it just being too judgmental? Or is there something more to it?
Cleo's blissful smile wavered, her brown eyes shifting from Kemras to Kaven "She thinks you hold a taint of some sort. Not the fever like Jakardos had. Did something happen, Kaven?"
Well getting some help is certainly a load off of us. Not sure why they got all grumpy.
"Taint?" Kemras looks at Kaven, eyes narrowing slightly. Now what does that mean? It doesn't sound like it's just any sort of moral vice...
"Hey, why d'you think I have anything to do with it? It's the one who's being an ass and not healing me. I'm still sick." Kaven protests.
Jakardros snarks at Kaven, saying "Maybe it's because you're a damned pleasure barge rider. We all saw your tattoo when we were captured. Were you using Black Arrow money to fund your night?"
Kaven's face twists in hatred. "How DARE you accuse me! After all we've had to go through!? I don't care if you're second in command, Jakardros I'd beat the s%*% out of you for that!" But he bowls over and hacks out a lung (figuratively) before spitting out a green snotball. Jakardros laughs bitterly.
Wabbit grows concerned at the unicorns rebuke of Kaven and in response to his outburst begins examining the man (evil-dar) not bothering to hide it
Wabbit focuses his evil-dar on Kaven while he's busy coughing. Wabbit comes upon something he's never experienced before. An earie, gray cloud hovering around Kaven. Normally his ability sees an aura of evil of a certain intensity, but this is different. Wabbit does not know enough about religion and the abilities of paladins to fully grasp what he's looking at.
Wabbit talks to the group completely ignoring Kavens presence now that he's examined him.
There's something OFF about this one. Normally the taint off evil is pretty recognizable but this guy's aura is cloudy. Somethings going on. But I don't know what it means
Kemras takes a deep breath, divorcing himself from his defensiveness of his friend to think clearly. "The sihedron tattoo is designed to harvest the souls of those who bear it... but that alone wouldn't explain it. Turtleback Ferry's clergy are so paranoid they scan everyone who comes in for evil. With the number of people who had it in the town, they would have noticed it sooner if it had done whatever it is you say it's doing, Wabbit."
He inhales deeply again, letting it out in a sigh. "But..." If they're so paranoid, why would they not scan him? Unless he's been sneaking onto the - oh. That gambling hall was a boat. Running a hand through his hair, he tightens his scarf about his neck. Dammit, Kaven, I really don't want to lose a friend. I don't have many of them already.
"Would simple economic corruption be enough?" He muses, looking from Jakardos to Kaven. "There's something more going on here. Sorry, Kaven. Might be you're possessed or something." He keeps his voice carefully under control.
Someone put a curse on him?
With what Wabbit and Kemras said, Cleo thinks.
Kemras has no idea about this religious stuff, and even less about religious magic stuff.
Cleo may not be a paladin, but Erastil frequently has paladins in His service. Cleo thinks this gray cloud is similar to what she and Wabbit have gone through in the past. Performing an action that is terribly evil, yet out of one's normal character. For Cleo and Wabbit, this was eating the brains of an undead while praying to Urgathoa, in a misplaced belief that it would be for the greater good. If there was a paladin out there capable of detecting evil, they might have seen gray clouds around Cleo and Wabbit.
Kaven says "Hey! Don't force your religion down my throat. I don't want to hear about this evil taint s+&#. You're all freaking me out. I'm the victim here."
Jakardros laughs bitterly and replies "D'you remember how many lashes it was for stealing money from the Black Arrows? One less than death." Kaven looks horrified. "Haven't I already paid for that, with the Ogres?? Don't you think we've suffered enough!?" But Jakardros says "One-Shot and I took more than our share in that cage, while you whimpered in the back and let us suffer for you. I think you ought to pay your debt."
"Kaven" Cleo confronts the man with patience and understanding "Almost everyone has done things they regret. Things they thought were right, or at least thought wouldn't harm anyone else. I have as well. Despite being a priestess to a benevolent god and someone who should have known better, I still did something truly foul." she moves to him, looking up at him, and holding out her hands "I know from experience that the only way to start recovering is to confront what you did. It doesn't have to be with us, but it has to be with someone. And soon, before it eats you alive."
Cleo's excellent counselling just barely convinces Kaven to reveal part of what's eating him. He asks Cleo to talk with him away from the others, where they aren't in earshot.
Kaven whispers, still fearful that others might try to eavesdrop. With a deep sigh of resignation, he says
"I ran supply runs for the Black Arrows in Turtleback. While I was there, I came upon a woman so beautiful that I fell in love with her at first sight. Her name's Lucretia, and she runs the pleasure barge Paradise. She liked me so much that she let me into Paradise for free, which was amazing. She loaned me some coin so I could play, and I made a lot of money. More money than I've ever made before. With only a few setbacks, I made 94,000 gold pieces there, and became a record holder. Lucretia said that if I got 100,000, that she'd spend the night with me. I started losing more and more money, so I took some from the Black Arrows treasury bit by bit to deal with the losses. Eventually I got the 100k, and she gave me these tattoos and made love to me. I think about her every single day. But she asked me a lot of questions about my work, and I told her things like when my next scouting trip was. I'm worried that somehow, what I told her leaked out, and the Ogres had a spy or something to take advantage of it."
Kemras looks concernedly at Kaven as he leaves. "I suppose he changed less than I would have hoped, then." He muses aloud, before turning to Jakardos. "What was he like, at the Fort? Before it fell, I mean."
Jakardros replies "Hmm well he was still new. We knew he was a scoundrel kind of person, which is pretty normal. Most recruits used to be bandits and whatever. We break them into the order like a wild horse. I think we messed up by letting him keep his rapier. He passed a combat trial to prove he knew how to fight, but I think it let him believe he didn't need to change."
He closes his eyes to help him think a bit more.
"Wouldn't follow orders, slept in, messy bed, pretty normal stuff for new recruits. But he was a loud mouth and acted tough even though he was really a wimp. He picked fights since he's a duelist, and yeah he was trouble. But I can't think of anything that was a really big problem. He's not mentally deranged like a serial killer or anything. Just a dumbass kid with a rebellious streak and some decent sword skills. A few more months and he'd probably have be broken in fine. Stealing money's a brutal offense, with a brutal punishment, but he'd heal up and get another shot."
A lot has happened recently, leaving the poor halflings minds all over the place, but she knows there is more to the story.
"Go on." she says in a soft voice.
"What do you mean, go on?" Kaven says defensively. "I went on the scouting mission, and then all this mess happened."
Cleo knows Kaven is still refusing to tell the whole truth.
Kemras nods slightly, sighing. "Well, that's him in a nutshell." He sucks on his teeth. "And I thought I was the one that was slow to grow up." Shaking his head in resignation, he settles in to wait.
"Sir... I am from a large family, lots of brothers. All of who did more things they thought best not to share by just midday than most people did their whole lives. So I know when the tail is just peaking out, and there is a whole whale still under the water." she gives him a smile "It will feel better to get it off your chest. At least it will allow you to move forward again."
"That's the thing about the Black Arrows." Jakardros says. "If you don't grow up, you die. Ogres don't care how mature you are."
"She asked me to do things like sabotage the gate and delay the scouting mission. Which... yeah. I don't know how she knows the Ogres, or why, but she passed all that information to them. And now here we are." He sighs deeply and sucks his teeth just like Kemras. "The Black Arrows would kill me. Literally."
Cleo looks sad and is silent for a few minutes. When she talks her voice is steady but still soft "You betrayed people who counted on you. And they died, if they were lucky." she pauses, not pulling her punch on that. "You did that, and cannot undo it."
She looks into his eyes "All you can do now is to try and atone for it."
"There might be people still alive. But even if there isn't, She and the Ogres are here for a reason. Innocent people, including children, live too close to here for their own safety. I know it is bone-chillingly terrifying to face them, but we will because there is no one else to stop them. Are you with us?"