Noticing the Good Captain making mincemeat of his minions, Agrippa retrieves a scroll and casts Blindness/Deafness on the Captain.
Fort DC 17 or be blinded.
Father Sidious praises his Master for his protection and reaching up to touch his holy symbol. channels Evil in a 30' radius.
He then 5' steps and re-activates Copycat. Meanwhile his Fiendish Eagles move in to both block and attack. They do little but get in the man's way.
Round 5
Eldred moves into the shack and grabs his bow and quiver.
x Channel
The powers of evil do not seem enough to quell the captain fury.
x Scroll
But in a moment of bad luck, he caught by surprise by the Mage spell.
Fet Rnd 4
Fet pulls a vial of viscous black sludge from his belt and downs in to one fluid gulp. Seconds later he grimaces and vomits forth an impossible deludge of tiny crawling spiders that undulate forward to envelop the blinded captain, crawling all over and into his armor.
The poor captain, alone and blind.
Eldred returns to his previous attempt and tackle down the man. He is soon joined by a very strong and muscular Sidious. In some instants, Johan wakes to find his allies struggling to keep the captain retrained and he too joins the fray.
And the captain found more than his match on you.
Now bound, blind and gagged. That however, is not enough to quell your anger.
Johan steps near the helpless man and hits him with his weapon.
The captain shut his mount and doesn’t let a sound out, while Johan continues.
==/==
Magical Gear
- +1 greatsword
- +1 breastplate (Big shinny sun symbol on it)
Mundane Gear
- 5 heavy steel shield
- masterwork heavy mace
- silver holy symbol
- keys (two with the priest, one with the captain, one with each soldier)
- 5 dagger
- sap
- masterwork full plate
- 4 breastplate
- 4 longsword
- 4 heavycrossbow
- 40 bolts
- 2 signal horn
- 4d6 gold pieces.
Johan regains consciousness just in time to help the others subdue the big Sam Barhold. Once he is bound and lying in the blood soaked dirt Johan begins to pace around him, fury in his eyes. That armor of yours works pretty well. Looks like a pretty good fit too. Crusted blood stained his own ruined armor where the captain's sword had cleaved through it like so much paper and sack cloth. He fought through the pain of the still oozing wound and scowled down at their prisoner. Since you've sullied mine, I think I'll wear it when I murder your brother and burn his family in their beds. Barhold's eyes blaze with fear and rage but before he can respond Johan spins his spear around with a flourish and drives it straight down through the man's thigh, splintering bone and pinning him to the ground.
Johan stands there watching the man bleed out into the dirt and slip into unconsciousness. It is only with Eldred's urging that he grudgingly casts a prayer of stabilization to save Barhold's life at the last possible moment, then drags him into the farmhouse's cellar.
Once back outside Johan rummages about the carnage. The heady power of Sidious's blessings have left him. His fury is spent. Outwardly he is stoic, but his thoughts are a tumult of self doubt. That was too close. That captain struck me down as if I was nothing. All my training, all I have suffered, all my devotion...counted for nothing. What does the dark prince want from me? What must I do to prove I am worthy of his gifts? Mitra has mighty champions - I must not let myself be blind to the lions hiding amongst the sheep.
The man of Balantyne Tower stirs - Alive! He must have been revived by that dark priest!
In the room he can see Johan kicking and beating a young man before leaving the room with the priest. The young man groans, rolls over and faces him. He is a mess, his fingers are swollen as if broken, and he moves stiffly as if nursing an entire body of hurt.
I... I know... you, the young man in pain in weariness. I think... Oh, I have suffered so much, he sniffles.
I am Timeon... have you seen Sir Balin?
Agrippa takes a little time to inspect the various magically enchanted items.
The good captain look at you then he says ”Try your best boy. Maybe in 10 years you’ll be able to fool someone.” after that. He keep his mouth shut.
Johan stomped back down to the basement sporting his new armor (He hadn't bothered to clean Sam's blood off the puncture mark in the left leg. He beamed as he flexed his arms to adjust the fit. Gotta say Sam, this is a pretty good fit. He takes in the scene between Eldred and the captain and gave a mock frown. Well, it looks like you've decided not to play along and do things the easy way. That's okay, I'm a big believer that if something doesn't require a little hard work its not worth doing.
Johan is not a subtle man, nor particularly imaginative. Mostly he found he was good at breaking thing...and people...and parts of people...
Father Sidious will be there talking about the fact that it matters little if he does not talk while he is alive, because he will not be able to resist the necromantic magics and will certainly speak when dead. He will imply he is looking for a reason to kill the man.
The metal clad villain about to interrogate the captain strides into his cell.
“And now, captain,” he announces, “we will discuss the secrets of your beloved watchtower...”
The screen darkens while he strides into the room, carrying with him some fearsome things, things that will probably cause a lot of pain…
“His resistance to torture was considerable,” our villain was forced to admit. ”But in the end, no one is able to resist our Dark Father.”
What does the leadership think is happening? What do they suspect?
What protections are on the mages room and the lord of the tower, what guards etc? What can he tell us about either of them and any other leadership there may be?
What passwords/watchwords are in place? when do they expire? word of the day or word of the week?
Is there a stash of cash/treasury? Where? What protections? How can we neutralise them?
What does the leadership think is happening?
Someone or something is targeting the watchtower.
What do they suspect?
A group of people staying at the Lords. They arrived about two weeks ago.
What protections are on the mages room and the lord of the tower, what guards etc?
The mage has his own strange protection. Nothing he shared with anyone but the lord.
What can he tell us about either of them and any other leadership there may be?
The Magister is a fire adept wizard, the Lord is a Mitran Paladin.
What passwords/watchwords are in place? When do they expire? Word of the day or word of the week?
This week Password is Amberlyn Fall’s. It resets at Monday.
Is there a stash of cash/treasury?
Yes.
Where?
The Lords personal Chamber.
What protections?
The Lord.
How can we neutralise them?
Beat the Lord. (At this point, he smiles and die)
What are your intentions now?
Lets conceal the bodies and head back - also, worth noting that while our friends are arriving in a day or two, nothing says we have to be ready ON the day of arrival - they can be patient if it means getting our selves into a good position.
Seems our staying at the Inn isn't the best idea. Maybe we can charm someone into staying at their house as long lost relatives? Use that as a temporary base of operations while we do a bit of fun... I think we need a night time assassination - We head into Inn as guards of the Tower at night, take aside the Innkeeper, use the passage and wait until after midnight, then make our way to the Paladins room. Sufficient invisibility spells should be available for those going who may stick out. We hit any guards outside the doors with a spell of silence, I pick the lock and then we just kill the guy in his sleep. We should be able to repeat the procedure with the mage.
Stew time needs to happen first though. Lets make that happen first.
You are a delightfully wicked man Master Crofter, a peasant but a most resourceful one. I will prepare the relevant magicks.
Time to bring you into the greater plan Father, Eldred says turning to Father Sidious.
The Dark Lord of Contracts wants the North open and this keep is the key. We need to throw open the gates. We've, one way or the other, gotten rid of a lot of their key leadership. We're going to totally decapitate it. We're also going to weaken the body - we're planning to do something that should take out a large chunk of their troops. We need you to help out as does your God. Stealth, misdirection, sabotage, assassination are our methods.
Sidious nods. I too shall prepare. It is good to know the mage focuses on fire. I shall prepare protections for our inevitable fight with him.
Johan nods at Eldred's planning. Agreed, staying at the Lord's Daliance any longer seems foolish. But we do need to pay it one more visit to deal with the dwarves. The tunnel below it also seems to still be a secret. I say we relocate there. Its almost a mile long - no one will be able to sneak up on us and we couldn't ask for a better launch point to invade the fortress.
We return to the inn, bar the doors and windows, retreat to the tunnel and burn the place to the ground behind us. The dwarves die in the fire, the wreckage further conceals the tunnel.
Perhaps we even stage our own deaths there. If Lord Thomas is on to Pious John and his crew, then we return to the in in those disguises. The heroic dwarves uncover our plot - in the ensuing conflict the inn burns down and everybody dies. We spend the next 48 hours launching assassination and sabotage raids within the fortress. It means abandoning the poisoned stew plan, but adequately supplied, I think we could do just as much damage if not more.
Its arsenic from all that I've been told - that's not a case of the trots Johan - if Fett can do the work, let's stick with the plan, it's half a day investment in time but for the rest of it? Yes, tunnels sound good, says the wannabe poisoner.
It is if its quantity enough to kill one man and we split it seventy ways. We haven't even acquired it yet, we don't know how much we have to work with. Fet, what do you think? How much damage can we do with this stuff? What's our plan for getting it? We going to burn another building to the ground and hope no one notices that it was the one place in town to get lethal poison? I feel we are stretching our luck to the breaking point.
Fet said he'd have large quantities - large enough, not a single dose.
"There's enough there to poison the entire garrison, Arsenic however is not a potent poison. It’s a good one, I expect some to die, but it should disable more than it kills."
Disguising yourself as with something different, you return to town, to find it almost a gossip town.
Fran Mottz was executed in the town square, personally by the lord. People are wondering where the Donnagin and ‘Iron Sam’ are. Soon after that, a fight almost broke at the Lords, when some locals, accused the dwarfs from stealing.
People are afraid; they don’t know what’s happening. Aldencross was a peaceful town, and now, peace seems to be a distant joke.
You head to one house that you deem far enough but not way too secluded, and call at the door.
An old matron opens the door, and before she can do anything, Johan takes over, frightening the woman into submission.
He orders the woman to gather everyone in the house one single place, and interrogate her about who else is missing.
She has a daughter that works at the watchtower, due to get back later that day.
More bodies in the cellar, Johan thinks as he tromps back up to the main floor of the house, cleaning bits of bone and hair from the flanges of Father Donnagain's mace. He reflected that the weapon might never have been swung in anger before, let alone used to actually take a life. Well, it was truly baptised now. And, its a kinder fate than they would have had at the hands of the bugbears.
He brews himself a strong drink and settles into an old chair to await the return of the daughter while the others plan out how to obtain the arsenic in the kitchen. It was probably going to be another midnight sneak - they likely wouldn't need him along. This daughter apparently worked in the watchtower. She might know something useful, but they already had all the pieces they needed to move against the tower - a map, keys from the captains and the priest, a secret way in. There might be a reason to keep her alive, but Johan doubted it...
I'm going out for a while... Agrippa says to the group.
He uses his circlet to appear as an older gentlemen of refined taste. His disguise complete with long flowing beard and conical hat.
He makes his way to the market he found before and attempts to purchase scrolls of
Haste 375GP
Fly 375GP
Invisibility Sphere 375GP
Total GP spent 1125
Eldred secures the people very very securely. He ties them tightly and gags them.
You'll survive this IF you do EXACTLY what we say and above all - we have no need to kill you or hurt you, he lies. But it will be our great delight to rape and murder you if you give us the least cause, he tells them in all honesty.
He takes the mothers form and waits for the daughter to return to secure the young woman and put her in with her family.
He waits for Agrippas return and an opportunity to return to the Inn while Fet makes his own preparations for the grand 'Feast'.
Fet finishes his preparations, and then he leaves your hiding place, meaning to perform his part in the things to come.
The day passes, the daughter returns. She is a pretty thing. Some years out of teenager, afraid, she does not try to resist when you tie her with the family.
The day passes in a blur. The city is in panic. Captain Samaul and father Donnagin, along an entire family of farmers where found, dead, murdered.
The watchtower is on lockdown. All soldiers were called inside. No one goes out, no one goes in.
In this situation, it may not be that easy to pull of the stew plan.
Agrippa happily busies himself with copying the new spells into his spellbook.
And he fails to copy the Haste spell....so he must wait one week. Too bad this town doesn't have that long.
Father Sidious is content with waiting and begins to hold daily services for his master. He makes it clear that everyone's attendance is expected. He does not have the circlet that lets other disguises themselves so does not go out, or borrows one from someone if he needs to. He will ask Agrippa to pick him up some black onyx if he can find any. Not too much as it may be noticed. It is well known that the stone is a material component for animating corpses.
Sunday night, after staying low for the whole day, you are ready to hit the inn.
The family suffered whatever fate you had planned for them.
You are now at the back entrance of the Lords, the door is locked, and you cannot hear anything more inside. All the local patrons already went home; this is the time of sleep.
Eldred unlocks the door, but do not open it.
Shall we go in under the cover of magic? Agrippa asks, ready to cloak the group in magical invisibility.
Yes, Eldred whispers.
Agrippa says the arcane words and mutters the incantations to produce an Invisibility Sphere centered on himself.
Stay close, and you will be invisible to all who look.
Join hands in a chain. Eldred opens the door and slips in yanking at Agrippas sleeve to signal him to follow.
You enter the familiar place, in the dim light, you notice that there’s one of the barmaid’s sleeping in the kitchen. You know that Bellan live in the house just outside the Inn. The girl is there, in case and costumer wants something late at night. As you walk around, you see her stirring in her sleep. You are invisible, but some of you, Johan and Sidious, are really noisy with all their metal.
The place consists in huge room, with several tables. There’s a double half-door, leading to the kitchen, where you saw the sleeping girl.
You are already used to the stairs, leading to the upper floor, where the bedrooms are.
Eldred taps Agrippa to stop moving, and hisses quietly... hopefully passing it on.
Then step by step, tapping and tugging Agrippa each time the group moves, literally a step then pause, step than pause, closer to the serving girl and the passage down stairs.
Knowing it will make him visable, but believing he has the stealth necessary he moves beyond the group to the girl, grapples her while stopping her mouth and chokes her out... then strangles her until the popping of bones signals her death.
Set the alchemical fire and other flammables - use the imp if you have to, he whispers, picking up the body and carrying it with cat like steps down to the cellar and its secret passage.
Without any complication, Eldred snaps the girl neck.
Before dying, she looks at you with bulging eyes, as if she could not believe that was happening. Trying desperately to free herself, with her nails she clawed Eldred all over.
Then he instructs the others to set up the fire, while he carries the body into the cellar.
Once the fire is ready to be set? I'll take the girl up to the kitchen (last thing we need is a rotting corpse in the tunnels with us) and carefully bring in some pots and their covers (we need something to excrete into) and finally splash cooking oil and fat around to make sure the fire burns hot and well, hopefully leading to the building collapsing into this room.
Once that is done and the imp has placed alchemical fires around? He'll break them one by one on his way back and down to the kitchen and set the kitchen ablaze and then join us in the tunnel while we shut the door.
Agrippa follows Eldred's lead, grimacing slightly at the slaying of the servant girl.