Benedict will drop his warhammer, draw a Tanglefoot bag, and throw it at the messenger.
Benedict's throw is decent, but the hobgoblin's ineptitude when he's hit with the glue bomb is a thing to behold. Somehow equating getting hit with glue with getting set on fire, he tries to drop and roll.
It doesn't go well for him.
The hobgoblin stuck to the floor shouts an alarm in Goblin, telling whoever inside the tower to "warn Jang."
William moves to the door and says in Mintan, "Seems a bit of waste of an arrow. Can you finish him off? I'll shoot him if he manages to move. He did just warn anyone else in here."
”Grum, silence him. He shouted a warning, but didn’t say what was happening, so they don’t know what the problem actually is yet.”
"We heard there were more prisoners in this tower. Let's find them."
Benedict picks up his warhammer and starts moving through the rubble to search this floor, staying alert for sounds of reinforcements coming.
Further inside the tower, the stink becomes apparent. Two large sows root around in a stinking privy at one end of the lowest chamber. Water dribbles steadily down the staircase to the north. A sturdy door at the far end is barred and locked.
One of the keys on the hobgoblin captain's ring opens it, revealing over a dozen prisoners in various stages of malnourishment. They blink in near disbelief at the unexpected rescue.
"Easy, Grum. I think these are Chernasardo Rangers. Who else would have been in this fort?
So I imagine they can forage, but yes, an army - which we are building - consists of mouths to feed."
Benedict addresses the freed prisoners. "We are survivors of the attack on Phaendar, and we have more survivors with us. They are gathered in the forge along with Ageep and Milla. If you can get there, and bring the arms and armor from the various dead hobgoblins in the courtyard, you should be relatively safe.
What forces do the hobgoblins have in this tower? We know Izbariak is the black dragon. Who is Jang?"
Aerel starts moving among the prisoners to free them, but only after studying them for a moment to make sure they seem to be who they expect - no imposters, please and thank you.
A brief glance is all it takes to convince Aerel these captives are legitimate. None are hobgoblins, all are malnourished and bearing the signs of beatings and abuse, so either they all are imposters or none are (since the rest of them would easily be able to point out a plant).
One steps forth, showing the stance of someone who once held some authority. "I'm Cobb Greenleaf, former subcommander of the Rangers. Welcome to Fort Trevalay. It's good to hear Ageep and Milla are still alive."
The group of prisoners start helping each other out of the small cell, since none were shackled to the walls -- apparently the Legion opted for keeping the prisoners malnourished and weak as the principal means of control.
"Sad to hear about Phaendar. I liked the place. Anyway, up the tower, there's an old troll. Jang is some wild hobgoblin; I'd peg her as a druid. Has a pet cougar, and a couple bodyguards. Not sure what else is here in the fort. But since you mention dead hobgoblins in the courtyard, can I hope that you've dealt with them?" He gives Benedict a tired, but hopeful smile.
With a slight smirk and a mean twinkle in his eye, Aerel replies, ”We’ve only killed the ones we’ve seen, sir.”
"We cleared the forge and the barracks. I don't know about the other buildings but we have a decently-sized band holding the forge. If any more troops come after them, you'll have allies.
Aerel, Grum, William, Amkarang - should we press on here?"
Cobb nods, giving everyone a look of respect. As they talk about heading up, he looks grave. "The dragon... is a beast. I wish you all the luck of the gods, if you press on. Perhaps, though, we could fall back to one of our other forts, if they stand?"
William checks the hobgoblin body for gear, especially arrows. "We should probably check that area there before we head up the main stairs." He says pointing to the short staircase.
”Let’s clear out this tower and then hole up for as long as we can.”
Amkarang scowls and shakes his head when the ranger asks about the other forts, ”All taken. One’s controlled by fey, the other ruined by a clan of trolls.”
"We do have a place to fall back to, but I think we can win the day here."
"Let's check this one here and then head on up."
The messenger had one potion on him along with his other gear. It appears to be a potion of cure moderate wounds.
"Should I scout ahead?"
Most of the interior walls on this level have been knocked out and the resulting debris has been hauled away, leaving only a small room to the north. A stream of water pours steadily from the ascending staircase in the south end of the room to the descending stairs to the west. The only items here now are a few stools, an open chest containing raw meat, and a few coiled whips and spiked collars hanging on wall hooks.
A troll with deep green skin and small tusks stands in the middle of the room with two snarling dire weasels. The troll speaks in a rumbling tone.
"So this is what that mewling whelp was shouting about. What brings you to my tower?"
William says to the group in Mintan, "Get him!" He then calls out in giant, ""Your death!"
The troll was ready, and with a single word of power says in Giant, "Approach!"
William smiles at the troll and says to him in giant "My arrows shall APPROACH!" He then launches three arrows at the troll.
Aerel knows that Grum is going to be devastating up close with the troll and his arrows will have a more lasting effect once the half-orc's flaming blade does its work, so he fires at the weasel most likely to get in Grum's way.
-----------------------
Two of William's arrows sink deep in the rubbery flesh of the troll.
Aerel's first two shots drop the weasel on everyone's left, and his last shot strikes the remaining one.
A troll who actually wanted to talk?
Benedict was somewhat curious about this troll, but joins in the attack.
Leery of the troll's reach he moves up and attacks a weasel.
Amkarang advances, trying to swing at the troll with his meteor hammer from a distance. He misses exceptionally badly.
The troll snaps at Grum as he closes the distance.
The troll's jaws clamp down hard on the orcish warrior before he reaches it. Grum's flaming sword cuts deep, causing a sizzling rent in the green flesh that doesn't start healing right away.
Benedict hits the already wounded dire weasel hard, but it stays alive long enough to bite at the clever warrior. It's eyes go wide and its mouth froths, as it goes into some kind of frenzy at being injured.
The dire weasel bites Benedict and its jaws lock down on him. Blood starts flowing freely from the bite wound.
The troll recoils only briefly from Grum's savage strike, but it remembers the taste of his blood. It focuses all its attacks on Grum.
"Damn it!"
Benedict tries to smash his hammer into the weasel. His first swing is wild, distracted by the blood flowing from his arm, but the second is much more on target.
With Grum in the troll’s face now, Aerel steps to the east and showers the creature with arrows.
Amkarang steps in, shifting his grip on his hammer before swinging at the troll, though several of his attacks go wide.
A pair of arrows, a slash from Grum and a nasty bludgeoning from Amkarang bring the troll crashing to the ground.
William sees the troll fall and fires at the remaining weasel quickly.
William's first arrow strikes the giant weasel, severing its spine. Benedict feels its bite relax as its whole massive body goes limp and slumps to the floor.
Benedict gasps. "Gods, that hurts."
He kicks the weasel.
Then he goes to look for anything of value on the troll or in the room.
"I think we try to heal and press on... I don't know."
A quick look around (and with a use of detect magic) discovers a magical headband and a wand on the troll, and a magical whip hanging with three other mundane whips. The troll also wore padded armor, had four animal calls, some harnesses for animals and a veterinarian's kit.
William looks at Benedict, "I'd heal up as best you can. We might wand to check the corpse of the one in charge and the other corpses in the courtyard to see if they have anything of use as well. At least for now, nothing is coming for us."
|
Grum took out his only wand and spent a minute healing the worst of Benedict’s wound. Then he turned the wand on himself. It worked amazingly! It seemed like nothing would go wrong! And then...it stopped working. The magic was still there, but it was deactivated.
”That’s all this is going to do for us for the day...”
"Well, let's press on."
Weakened by blood loss, Benedict still felt able to continue.
"You guys focus on preparing for what's to come. I will go see if I can find out what it is."
Aerel sneaks up the next set of stairs, bow ready but not planning to use it. Yet.
Aerel makes his way stealthily up the stairs to the next level. This floor's walls have not been knocked down, and the elf comes to a hallway. The stream of water continues to run through the wide hall to the stairway that he just came up.
Aerel sees two sets of doors on the northwestern wall and double doors on the southeastern side of the hallway. All doors are shut.
William examines the magical items while Benedict is being healed.
The headband is a headband of alluring charisma, the wand carries 27 charges of charm animal, and the whip is a +1 magical beast-bane whip.
Aerel pauses at the stairs and listens carefully for a short time before returning back to the others.