|
Aerent; the ranger runs straight into your trident. He shudders and shakes, then starts smoking, as Furcas claims his soul.
Letho moves to L and throws a bomb of fire directly at O.
for
4 splash damage on Varning, who now looks rather well done - he won't be able to keep this up for much longer.
4 splash damage on Varlet (Varning's mount), who collapses.
|
Varning screams in both pain and frustration when he is shaken from the saddle by the dying horse.
"What the - Varlet!!!"
By then, he already knows he can't win, but he won't go down without a fight! "CURSE YOU, FOOLS! COME HERE, IF YOU DARE, AND FIGHT LIKE PROPER MEN!"
He fidgets around the saddlebags, and finds (and drinks) a potion
|
|
"Master Martin? We're coming in!"
A key turns in the lock of the heavy door that leads to the stairwell.
from behind the door, you hear "Stand well back, men! If there's trouble, get backup, don't worry about me."
The door slowly opens, and a guard cautiously sticks his head inside the room. This guard must indeed be some distance ahead of his colleagues, because they whisper "well?! tell us! what do you see??"
Of course, the very first thing he lays his eyes on, is the torched corpse of Mad Martin, the person he was looking for; but as if that wasn't enough evidence, the carnage of a few dozen mutilated ravens makes it clear that someone has been busy destroying the rookery.
He does not seem to mind, however. In fact, if anything, he relaxes his shoulders.
"For Light's sake...! Men - There's not a thing wrong here. Now quickly, go down, back to the infirmary. There's plenty of real work to be done there. I'll handle this false alarm myself."
The guard steps in, and closes the door behind him. Footsteps of his men running down the stairs again echo through the tower.
Then, the guard looks at Talon, and speaks again.
"Ah, master Martin. I'm sure, when you were given this horn, you were told to refrain from sounding the alarm in vain. You should Remember Your Lessons. Do not call us up again for nothing, hmm?"
Originally when the guards approach he looks at the ravens still flying around, and brings his weapon up in preparation. But when the guard sends the others away he tilts his head, confused, and whispers "Why would you help me?"
I can imagine this BBEG who's pulling all the strings just crying in the fetal position about his incompetant minions lol
Originally when the guards approach he looks at the ravens still flying around, and brings his weapon up in preparation. But when the guard sends the others away he tilts his head, confused, and whispers "Why would you help me?"
A familiar smile curls on the lip of the guard. Looking over his shoulder, he makes sure that no one is listening. When satisfied the coast is clear, the guard returns his attention to Talon.
"Why would I help you? Well, we couldn't have you blowing our cover or getting yourself capture, could we?"
Using his right hand, he slowly removes the chain coif from his head. Once the coif clears his head, it morphs into an iron circlet as does the rest of his apparel. The bulky soldier suddenly appears suddenly far more lithe, attractive, and to Talon's pleasure... not human. The cool and neutral expression is instantly familiar to the Strix warrior.
Walking past him, Caladwhen runs her hand lightly across his chest and murmurs quietly "You are far to noisy Talon; I think this whole stealth business might not be to your particular talents."
While observing the rookery, Caladwhen summons Lars to her side telepathically. Turning back towards Talon, Caladwhen raises an eyebrow inquisitively "Are all the ravens dealt with Talon? If so, we should dispose of Martin's body and be done with this place. We can simply fly out; you'll remember that I said someday I would be able to... that day has come."
Talon grins as he sees the elven face, and even more so as he feels her light touch "Perhaps, but subtlety has never been my strong suit, I prefer a more direct approach" he picks up Martin's body and puts it on his shoulder, perching up on the windowsill. He turns and offers a hand to Cala "Ladies first"
Aerent moves forward and attacks the second rider who was attempting to flee back to Balantyne!
|
|
Rider F is down.
Horse F flees west, if Aerent lets it get away.
H is as yet uninjured.
Rider at H tries to flee, by trampling Aerent.
Which ends abruptly as the horse bolts and stops right in front of Aerent. The Overrun attempt provokes an AoO.
O has some minor burns, and shoots an arrow at Letho, who has the tactical benefit of higher ground (cover)
and
The arrow goes high and wide.
Varning quickly looks around him, trying to come up with an escape. He only sees one way out of this misery, which is to climb out on Letho's side, to O3:
but his burns make it extremely difficult and painful to climb up a sandy slope.
T fires an arrow at Oret, straight at his heart.
and
confirm:
and
but Oret manages to dodge in the last second, so the arrow only digs into his shoulder.
And finally, the Ranger who charged Sindran in the previous round (S11)
Wow. They really suck....
Oret sees Varning attempting to escape, and attempts to close the distance between himself and the Captain. He's unable to bring down the nearest ranger, however.
Sindran easily steps away from the path of the scout's sword.
"You should know when you're outmatched," Sindran tells the scout offhandedly, in a kind, condescending tone. He doesn't even bother to turn his head to look at the man. "If you surrender now, I'll make sure your death is painless. Might even let you live longer."
Looking at Captain Varning, the half-orc frowns when he sees the man trying to escape. "Can't have that."
He moves the flaming sphere away for a moment, jerking his hands to the right. The sphere rolls away, waiting ominously near the captain.
He moves his hands, breaking the position they were in to hold them towards the Captain Varning in a cupped manner. Water starts condensing above the man and Sindran speaks a single word, "Vatna," then uncups his hands, the water falling down in a large downpour that muddies the earth, splashing over the man and the ground.
Sindran rolls the flaming sphere back to Captain Varning when the downpour of water is finished, his hands resuming their earlier pose and focusing on the man.
With a nod at Talon, Caladwhen looks to her the ground. Kneeling down a moment, Cala picks up a raven feather from the ground. Standing again, she holds it gently in her hand, and speaks quietly in her native tongue.
"Nae i' menel." Suddenly a gust of air blows from beneath her feet and upward, blowing her hair and cloak all about her. Letting go of the feather, the wind takes it from her hand and into the sky where it seemingly disintegrates.
Lifting slowly off the ground, Caladwhen looks skyward. In a rare show of emotion, it seems to Talon that Cala is actually smiling genuinely, enjoying the thrill of flight. Though to the Strix flight is commonplace, soaring in the skies is only a dream for most others. Nevertheless, the smile is gone in seconds, leaving as quickly as it came.
Looking over to Talon, the airborn elf nods "Let's be done with this place then."
Talon takes a moment to look at Cala "It's exhilarating isn't it?"
Aerent wildly stabs out at the fleeing horse as battle lust overtakes him!
"Face my wrath, infidels! Blood for the Knight! Souls for The First!" Aerent screams as he continues his assault by leaping into melee with another soldier!
|
|
Oret's last ranger, barely escaping a lethal blow, attempts to flee east (towards the keep).
Oret gets an attack of opportunity, and another three chances in his next round.
If he does get free, he'll run for 4x his mount's speed = 200ft per round. If you can somehow keep up with that, by all means, kill him.
|
|
Aerent kills the last ranger to the west, and is now staring straight at the furious captain Varning, who is grimacing as he attemps to brush the mud off his burnt body. Unpleasant, to say the least.
The fire strikes again, and the look on his face is one of surrender. He drops his weapons, raises his arms, and shouts:
"Hold! I'll surrender, if you'd but let my men go?"
He looks like he could fall with a single blow
When you approach him, he takes a long, hard look at each of you. The fear in his eyes is obvious, as he only now fully understands what you are capable of, and he can no longer prevent Balentyne from falling.
"Who... ARE you people..?"
Realizing that they have all but won, Oret attempts to dispatch the last ranger.
With the last ranger dead, Oret walks up to Varning. "Your failure has doomed your entire country. Even now, an army stands ready to invade from the north. You could have stopped us - in fact, you were their last hope. Too bad for them."
Sindran turns his attention to the ranger next to him now that Captain Varning has surrendered.
"Still going to try to resist?" He quirks an eyebrow. "Don't try to run. It'll just make it more painful for you."
Oret lets his comment sink in, waiting until he sees the man's head hang in shame...or until he gets tired of wasting more time on this waste of life.
With nobody else stepping forward to take the captain's life, Oret stands calmly and centers himself, savoring the moment. Then, with a burst of movement, he brings his foot up and kicks the captain square in the chest. You hear bones shatter behind the force, and the captain's body is launched backwards to land five feet away.
With their task finished, Oret turns to leave. "Let's go finish our preparations and check on the others."
The scout, upon seeing his Captain die and all his comrades in similar states of unliving, begins to run away.
Sindram sighs and raises a finger, pointing it at the man. He seems to focus on something before uttering a single word. "Solbruni."
A bright red ray of fire lances out from his finger, hitting the man in the back.
"Didn't I say it'll just make it more painful?" Sindran says to himself, barely audible over the soldier's screaming. "Ah, well. And someone carry the Captain's body. I'm sure Caladwhen will find some use for it."
|
|
At the end of Sindran's fiery leash, the scout goes up like a torch. A few minutes go by, but then the screaming ends, and so does the ranger.
each of the rangers has a mundane chain shirt, steel shield, dagger, and composite shortbow (+2 str) and a few arrows. When you empty their pockets, the result is a small pile of coins worth 66 gold.
However, Varning himself was better equipped : He leaves you a +1 heavy steel shield with his personal heraldry painted on; with some effort and a strong horse brush, the emblem will rub off easily.
He also had a masterwork composite shortbow (+3 str) and a masterwork shortsword.
And finally, his pockets contain a keyring with 3 keys labeled "quarters", "armory" and "stables".
To get things moving again - am I correct in thinking that you're ready for the final assault? Do you need anything from me, or do you want anything?
|
|
It's tuesday night.
Hopefully this will be your last night in the town of Aldencross. Hopefully this was your last mediocre meal in the town's inn. After the dreadfully predictable "mutton surprise", you contemplate the future: If everything goes as planned, at this time tomorrow, hordes of bugbears will be enjoying the inn's ale supply, sacking the residential areas, and torching the temples. You idly wonder which area will go up in smoke first.
Then, Sindran coughs gently, and your mind stops wandering. He speaks to Aerent, knowing that you're all near and listening in, as he discusses his final preparations.
|
|
The barracks(9) are full of sickened soldiers, moaning and slowly perishing.
Acolytes, dressed in their distinctive violet robes, are constantly running back and forth between the sickened and the occasionally going into the Vestiary(14) to fetch more blessed water from the Father.
A few guards pass, but there are too few remaining to run their patrols as thoroughly as they'd like.
"Sindran, I won't be much help with anything social and I think Letho is a fair bit of muscle, so if I had to guess I'd say you don't need me but tell me if otherwise. I'm not exactly a stealthy killer but I can keep it fairly discreet"
"I believe where I'll be needed is the main gate, and that is so we can open it. We're going to need quite a bit of force once the *bleep* hits the fan, and that's what I'm pretty good at. Plus flying will make me an good tactical coordinator and an emergency force since I'll be able to see the battle from a birds eye view as well as being able to swoop down if a spot needs help. I think Cala would be a good companion since she can keep up with me as well as offering some magical backup" he folds his hands "So in short, we help to open the gate and than we fly around on overlook and help any attack against a too well defended target"
Sindran will wait until after midnight, getting some beauty sleep in the meantime.
When the time comes, he enters from the hidden passage, heading to the Vestiary in the guise of a servant. He looks in a hurry, as if he had some important business to conduct.
|
|
Just after midnight, a couple of servants emerge from the armory. For some reason, they look around, scanning if anyone has seen them. Then, they pick up some small boxes and a few folded bedsheets, and suddenly they look as if they belong here.
Sindran and whoever came along, you can open the door (near rooms 2,3,4,5) that leads from the small hallway to the main corridor(8), but there are guards posted in (8), one on each end of the corridor.
That's a bonus, since normally there'd be 2 guards on each end.
The rooms directly in front are the acolytes' sleeping cells, and at night, the Father is undoubtedly in his private chambers. His chambers are just ahead, accessible through the barracks.
So, guys....Where to?
If you're doing anything that could cause a guard to want to ask questions, please post a bluff roll.
Sindran enters into the main corridor, carrying some folded bedsheets. He enters the barracks, looking like he's off to change the sheets.
If any of them asks, he explains that, "'m off to change the sheets."
Talon spends an hour or so when its dark out to fly over the land, getting a good layout for the impending battle
|
|
14 : Vestiary
Here Father Donnagin and his acolytes don their vestments when they prepare to conduct the mass on Sundays. Their holy regalia (8 sets worth 250gp in total) are stored in an ornate closet with glass windows.
A ladder leads up (to the church in the castle courtyard)
15 : Acolyte cells
the door of the west-most of these five cells is open, and it's clear that the cells are simple bed chambers with little or no luxury.
There are no visible living things in 14.
From four of the cells a gentle snoring can be heard clearly.
Behind the door leading from 14 to 16, someone is mumbling prayers to Sarenrae. The words suggest that the person praying is expecting this prayer will aid in curing the current plague amongst the good men of Balentyne.
(tsk.)
|
|
To the east of the gatehouse, on the Taldor side of the river, a path leads from Balentyne into a dense forest.
From the gatehouse, the first 200ft or so are kept free of trees to give a good view from the gatehouse over the surrounding area. This means that an army emerging from the forest would be spotted well before the army could pose a threat to the gatehouse.
Most of the battle will be fought before the gatehouse (if you fail to open the gate at 19),
if the gates are open, the battle will happen on the bridge (18 / 24) and the main corridor of the fortress (8) and from there on, the bugbears will stream into town doing what they do best : looting, raping and pillaging.
By my count, these significant NPC's remain: (correct me if I'm wrong!)
Father Donnagin,
Captain Barhold,
Lord Havelyn,
the dwarves.
there's a small bunch of soldiers able to fight, but as you've seen before, they hardly pose a threat.
Sindran looks around, peering briefly at the holy vestments. Seeing no one, he drops the sheets on a nearby table and switches his disguise from a servant to that of Timaeus looking like he's headed off on a journey.
|
|
In the last split second, aerent puts a finger to his lips and Sindran hears a familiar voice on the other side of the door. Father Donnagin is finishing a prayer to his light-goddess.
You hear him standing up and stretching his tired limbs, and finally you hear a door open and close quietly.
Father D is now in his private quarters.
Sindran nods then closes the door to the Acolyte cells, hopefully muffling any noise they make. He enters the room where Donnagin was, making sure Aerent is with him before closing it once again.