Jillian helps Selde up after the thing goes down and puts her blade away for the time being. Looking at their options she notes "Looks like we will need to get the other key to open these doors. Just... let's go slow and make sure there aren't traps like the last one after I took the key. Do we want to check this crypt first though?" She looks to the others and then notes "I mean, are we all ok to continue? Emil's healing fixed up my injuries."
Emil offers more healing to any still wounded.
"Check everything for traps. These rangers did a good job protecting the stash. Wouldn't surprise me if we haven't sprung them all yet. Then maybe we fetch Cireiao if he wants to see the vault when we open it."
Caspan wipes his bloody knuckles off, though that's the worst of his injuries.
He nods at the priest's words. "Yes, don't want to leave anything behind us. We probably should check out the crypt, make sure no apparatuses jump out behind us," he says, shuddering slightly at the idea of such ghostly undead.
Jillian gives a nod to the others "Let's check the hall for traps, grab the other key, come check the crypt and then try the doors. Sound like a plan?"
Selde grasped Jillian's hand as she rose unsteadily. Blood still seeped from the wound on her head, and the room seemed wobly. "Going slow sounds good."
Emil converts 1st and 2nd level spells into healing energy until Selde is whole again. "All better. Blessed be."
The room settled as Selde's wounds knit themselves together. The half-elf threw her arms around the elderly priest. "Thank you grandfather...uh Father Emil!" Selde quickly corrected herself as unscarred cheak flushed in embarrassment. Pulling her hood up, Selde spun in place and took a keen interest in the stone work. "I had better search for additional traps!"
”Those golems were awful! Hopefully we won’t see any more of them,” Wren says, stepping carefully once the pit went away.
Moving north only as far she necessary to see the alcove to the north, Selde finds what she expected to find, a large bronze key hanging from an iron hook in the center of the hallway’s northern end. She doesn't spot any traps between her and the key.
Emil hugs Selde heartily and watches with concern as she checks the area of the second key for traps. His heart aches from the near constant concern for people he watched (and helped) grow up constantly in harm's way.
When Selde reports no traps, Emil looks to others in the area. "The trap in the other alcove was very hard to spot. I'd recommend fer the sake o' whoever retrieves that key that we get a second or third opinion on the all clear judgement. No offense to Selde's excellent eye fer such things."
Jillian nods and moves up next to Selde trying to help her look.
Caspan looks too.
"This wasn't ever my job in Canorate, but figure I learned something watching others," he mutters.
The extra pairs of eyes helps afterall. Just like on the other side, the path leading up to the key appears to be trapped. The entire hallway leading north to the key appears to be set to drop and fall below into who knows what.
When Selde tells them about the hall Jillian just shakes her head and smiles "Well... I am glad we went down the other hall instead! Can you disable it so we can get the key safely?"
Selde nods and goes to work on the trap. When she thinks she has it disabled, she gives the signal to Jillian to advance. The paladin moves cautiously, noting their mediocre success with disarming these tricky traps in htis place. She reaches the end of the corridor and grabs the key and walks back to the group without a problem.
Key secured, you make your way towards the crypt. A low stone wall bisects half of this large chamber. To either side of the wall rests a stone sarcophagus. The southern sarcophagus is carved with the image of a stout male dwarf holding two crossed handaxes. The northern sarcophagus bears the image of a sharp-faced human woman holding a longbow. Near each sarcophagus, an iron lever juts from a panel in the wall.
You surmise that the levers activate and disable the traps which you have already bypassed. Caspan slides the lids of the sarcophagus with help from Jillian.
The southern sarcophagus contains the moldering remains of a stout dwarven male who’s wearing a masterwork breastplate and holding a
masterwork handaxe and a +1 handaxe. Around his neck is a locket worth 300 gp containing an exquisitely carved image of what was likely his wife.
The northern sarcophagus contains the remains of a female human. Her masterwork studded leather armor is intact, but her longbow is broken in half—evidence of the ferocity of her final battle. Her efficient quiver contains six +1 human-bane arrows, each carved with the words “One Less Molthuni.”
Caspan frowns as he looks over the arrows and the other contents of the second sarcophogus.
"Think this is the stuff the halfling wanted us to nick?" he asks the others.
Selde ran her fingers across the items as she admired the quality of their craftsmanship. "No. It is quality equipment but nothing meant for dragons."
Emil rubs his chin and looks around the area, looking for places to insert the large keys. "These are honored dead. I doubt their armor and weapons can be considered a cache, even assumin' we don't mind robbin' tombs. I think there is somethin' yet to be opened with these keys."
"Before we go lootin' coffins, allow me time to prepare a spell to speak with these fallen heroes an' find out if they approve o' us takin' their fine weapons an' armor. We should also bring Cirieo in as well. He might know more."
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Caspan nods but looks to Jillian. He's not sure she'll approve of that kind of necrophilia that the old man is suggested. Even if it's just talking, even he knows that can be dark magic.
Jillian nods to Emil's words and asks Caspan to help seal the tombs once again for now "I agree, we should check with Cirieo on this and leave them be for now. Let's check this door and finish clearing the place so we can go and get him."
She moves to the door with the two keys ready to open it when the others are.
"Open the tomb, close the tomb," Caspan grumbles, though there's little real heat in the complaints.
Selde knocked an arrow and got in to position behind Jillian.
Wren stayed toward the back of the group. Last thing she needed was another of those golems to come to life and smack the stuffing out of her.
This passage ends to the east at a wall-to-wall iron door with
no handle or hinges. The stone wall to the north of the door
is inset with a pair of large keyholes. You insert the the steel key the bronze key from into the keyholes and tun it. The massive iron door swings open and the vault is revealed. Most of the shelves and chests are empty, likely commandeered by various Chernasardo Ranger agents in their ongoing conflicts—but a few useful treasures remain.
Tidily arranged boxes, chests, and sacks line the shelves of this low, stone room, while armor dummies and a weapon rack claim the floor space. A mural on the eastern wall depicts a host of green-and-gray-cloaked archers turning back a motley army of Molthuni soldiers, giants, and greenscaled dragons.
A dozen longswords, two dozen short swords, three dozen spears, a masterwork greataxe, and two masterwork longspears fill the weapon racks, while the armor stands are dressed in two suits of masterwork hide armor, a suit of +1 leather armor, and a suit of green dragonhide banded mail. The shelves contain 300 days’ worth of trail rations, a small lockbox with 400 gp, an iron pot containing four flasks’ worth of unguent of timelessness, a +1 adaptive composite longbow, and a green-stained box decorated with dragon’s teeth (worth 200 gp) containing four potions of remove fear, a minor ring of energy resistance (acid), and 10 +1 dragon bane arrows.
Jillian is surprised at the cache they have found. She was expecting maybe a couple of things, but this was enough they could likely arm their entire group just in case. Either was she notes "Seems we have found what Cirieo had mentioned. Since it doesn't appear there are any further threats, maybe we go and get him, make sure we aren't missing anything and ask about the tombs? We will probably need the help of some of the survivors too to lug this stuff all out of here."
Perception
”Oooo, don’t forget about this. It looks like it’s made of some strange metal,” Wren says as she grabs the adamantine Starknife and shows it to the group.
"Yeah," Caspan agrees, eyes roaming over all the stuff. "We can provenance everyone who's following us around with this stuff! A whole army!"
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Thael make special note of all the magic items, again remaining fascinated by the variety of things they had found, even in the wild.
"I anticipate that the potions to withstand their fear effects could prove quite useful, as well as this potion to resist its breath weapon. Selde will put these arrows to good use, I am confident."
Emil looks over the weapons and armor but sees nothing he personally would use until he spots the enchanted composite bow. "This bow is a little better than either of the one's I've been usin'. But Selde kin put it ta better use if it's better than her bow."
Regarding the stash as a whole, he says, "I worry a bit trying to transport all this. We don't know if the last fort is in enemy hands or broken like these other two. Protecting all this with our rag-tag 'army' will be difficult if we encounter a large group. Still, this place is of no use as a fort, so I guess we have to continue."
Cirieo is informed of your trip to the vault and nods with satisfaction. "Well done. I know I should be, but I'm impressed you did so well."
When you explain the crypts, he scratches his chin in thought. "I'm not one for looting graves, but the Fort is in shambles and all vault is being cleaned out now. Without the rangers here to protect it, anyone cam stumble in here and steal their belongings.
No. It may be best to see what they have and take it with out for safe keeping. Perhaps when we are done killing all of those f@~*ers we can return it back and add to their legacy."
Selde gently picked up the longbow. It was exquisite, easily the finest bow she had ever seen, let alone held. Despite being locked in the vault for Erastil knew how long, the string felt as if it had been freshly waxed. It hummed with magic as Selde tested the draw. The grip was some kind of leather Selde couldn't identify, but she guessed dragon given the other equipment in the vault. The limbs were made of bloodwood, a dark red wood found deep in the Fangwood, composited with darkwood for extra strength.
As she admired the bow, memories began to flash through her mind. Memories of her early childhood, of her mother first teaching her to shoot. Tears began to well in her amber eye, causing her to quickly rub them away. "This...is a fine bow, I would be honored to wield it."
Protecting all this with our rag-tag 'army' will be difficult if we encounter a large group. Still, this place is of no use as a fort, so I guess we have to continue."
"We can properly equip those we have trained, and now we have the equipment to train the rest as well. I agree we can't hold this location, but it will make for a good camp for a night or two."
Caspan shrugs, happy to stay here and rest, if only for a couple of days.
"Then, what? There's another fort too, right? Maybe that one's good enough to stay in?"
Once the group is settled in, he heads to find Selde.
"Hey, Kining wants some liquor. I think she told me to ask you, though who knows. She might've been talking about something she sold. Can't understand that damn dwarf..."
"Hey, Kining wants some liquor. I think she told me to ask you, though who knows. She might've been talking about something she sold. Can't understand that damn dwarf..."
"Oh right, well let me pray and prepare my magic. Could you get some empty barrels?"
Caspan smiles, happily, thinking this might be a nice couple days here.
"So, that's enough for me and Kining. Don't you think anyone else is gonna want any? Or are you all practicing ostentation now?"
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Thael can't help but find logic in taking the magical items from the tombs.
"Better to arm our own force, rather than reinforce the enemy's armory," he muses.
He eyes the bow in the hands of his half-sister. "You will put that to good use, I am sure. It reminds me of Mother's bow--or one I saw her with once."
Wren was glad to finally get to all the goodies to help the group and their friends. ”The Rangers were super clever to leave these goodies behind. Hopefully this will make us strong enough to take on a dragon,” Wren said, her voice trailing off to a whisper As she realized she was talking about an actual dragon. Green Mother, please help us, she thought as she closed her eyes.
Once it is decided that the gear of the deceased Chernasardo rangers may be removed and used, Emil looks over the dwarf's breastplate and decides it will give him better protection than the enchanted armored coat he's been wearing, so he makes his old armor available to someone else and fits the breastplate to his chest. "This is good quality an' it can be enchanted once I get a spell with a forge to work the magic. It's a lot bulkier, though. Harder to be stealthy or do much jumpin' around, but I guess I don't do much o' that anyway."
Once the decision is made to stay at the remains of the old fort, Emil mingles with the community and chats with Abby. "Have you seen anythin' surprising since regaining yer sight?"
You make several trips to clean out as much gear from the fallen fort and use it to better equip everyone. While not ready to take on the legion directly, you are certainly better prepared to handle the daunting road ahead.
Kining reacts welcomes the barrel of alcohol with eagerness. She's quick to claim an entire barrel as her own, stating that it's just payment for all of the laborious efforts she has to undertake in repairing your weapons and armor. At least that's what you think she says, one is never quite sure.
Abby remarks that seeing the most remarkable thing she's seen is the sun setting and dawning, having forgotten how beautiful those are and how easy it is to take them for granted. She asks Emil to watch the next sunset with her, if he's interested.
Resting for the night, you decide to set out for Fort Trevalay in the morning. Cirieo remarks that he's only been to Trevalay twice and it was awhile back, but from what he recalls it was the most defensible of the Chernasardo Ranger forts.
"The Sixjaws River flows through a series of high hills made of soft limestone, long ago cutting a deep gorge around a column of denser rock. This freestanding rock pillar is difficult to access, as the gorge surrounds it on all sides, and they saw it as an ideal defensive position.
Thirty years ago, they constructed a wooden bridge out to the pillar, then built several low stone buildings on its surface. Over time, they expanded the largest building upward to form a tower, encircled the complex with a stone wall around the edge of the pillar, and added two more bridges that could be collapsed and dropped into the gorge to discourage invasion."
For the next several days your group travels through the woods to the third and final fort. Eventually you come to a wide river that has carved a gorge fifty feet deep through the forest. The gorge splits around a pillar of dark rock three hundred feet long and over a hundred feet wide. Sprawling atop this pillar is a compound consisting of several stone buildings and a few partially assembled war machines, all enclosed by twelve-foot-high walls ringing the plateau. A tall, wide tower with small windows looms to the northeast. Water pours steadily from a massive hole smashed through an upper wall.
Three bridges made of thick ropes and heavy planks span the gorge: one to the north side of the gorge, a second to the west, and third to the south. These bridges lead to gaps in the stone wall surrounding the fort.
"This is it." Cirieo comments, "Welcome to Fort Trevalay."
Perception
Wren points to the north and south bridges. ”Look, those punks have beat us here. Hobgoblins everywhere...except over there,” she said as she pointed to the apparently unguarded western bridge.
As Caspan and Kining argued about who would get all of the booze, Selde filled her canteen with wine and went to find Mia. Selde's usual grace of movement was gone, replaced with a stiff gait. Though Father Emil's magic had mostly healed her wounds, numerous painful bruises remained. Bruises that were swiftly forgotten when Selde spotted a crooked nose and a tangled mess of dark curls. Running forward, Selde locked her lips with her lover's. "We'll have some privacy tonight." Selde said with a smile when she finally came up for air.
-----
"Down!" Selde harshly whispered as she noticed the Hobgoblin guards. Selde repeated some elvish curses she learned from her grandfather, her anger clear on her face.
"Well what now!?"
"The open one's probably a trap," Caspan says. "You don't lock up two of your doors and then leave the third one open for the thieves."
He scratches his head with one meaty finger and then points at the big hole.
"That always been there?" he asks Cirieo. "Or they make that themselves?"
He waits for an answer, thinking their best bet is probably just to leave this place alone, but suspects everyone else won't like that idea. If not, drawing the enemy out makes the most sense. Why attack them when their in a place that's meant to not be attacked.
"You're sure there ain't no other way in? A little subtle-fuge might work best here."
”Maybe the dragon is over there on the western bridge. Maybe that’s the part of the place they’ve taken,” Wren says, scratching her head.
”Maybe we can scout this place out to find a weakness in the defenses.”
Jillian adds to the suggestions "I could also use my magic to approach and try and find out more of what is going on. It's risky as I'm not a great liar but if we can come up with a good story that doesn't involve lying I'm sure I can pass it off. Maybe something about surviving the fey at the first fort we visited, which isn't a lie because we did in fact survive our encounter with them."
She looks to the others for thoughts on her idea.
"How's that explain the rest of us, though? It's one thing if there're just four hobs, but you against the fort when we're not nearby to help you out seems a little brass."
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Thael sighs and rubs his short dark beard.
"They are everywhere. It seems that the rangers will not be our salvation, after all."
He considers their options. "I can't help but agree that this is likely a trap. Scouting ahead to determine their defenses seems the best option, especially if those defenses include a dragon."
"Should we bother? The fort has been taken, even if we could take it back, how long do you think we could hold it? We are well stocked on equipment and supplies. I say we we give this fallen fort a wide birth and keep going deeper into the Fangwood. Either we find shelter there or we take a wide path to the Northwest. Hopefully the Northern territories won't have fallen by the time we get there."
”What if there are more rangers being tortured inside? I hate to just abandon them to whatever evil the gobl8ns have planned for the,...”
Jillian nods to Wren's words "I fear this may be the case. However, with the enemy still here perhaps there will be more we can save this time as compared to the other fort."
Turning to Caspan and Thael she notes "I'm not looking to go in there and start a fight, but if I can get past the guards on the bridge and they don't suspect anything then perhaps I can scout out the place and report back with no one being the wiser and we will know whether it is worth us trying to take this fort back. Do we have any potions or anything to make me invisible if things went horribly wrong?"
She pauses and then looks to Selde before noting "Unless you think you could find a way to stealthily get in there?"
"I have a magic sensor prepared that I could scout with, if we want to wait a day I can prepare more magic to assist with it. I'd rather Hunter and I scout first before you try to move in."
Mia thoroughly enjoyed her reunion with Selde, making sure to treat this night, just like every night, as if it were there last together.
----
Cirieo agrees with Caspan "It seems unlikely they left one open by chance. I would avoid that path unless you find no other approach viable."
The ranger stares at the holes and shakes his head, "No, it doesn't look familiar nor have I heard about damage to the Fort. I can only imagine that was a result of the battle in which they took the fort. But that wouldn't explain why it looks like it's covered in moss and vines?" he says, peering closely. "That hole is big enough though, perhaps you could try to enter there and work your way down? Though-", he pauses in thought, "Perhaps it was the dragon that punched it through the wall and it resides in there."
A bird-eye view of the fort reveals four buildings and one large, four-story tower with a broken wall in the top floor on the east side. In between the two buildings on the west side, a is a garden which has two creatures inside of it. The first is a squat, reptilian monster that has eight legs, bony spurs jutting from its back, and eyes that glow with pale green fire. The second is a snarling, canine beast that pads forward on all fours, its slender front limbs looking more like hands than a wolf’s paws.
In between the buildings is a large courtyard that has four hobgoblins, each accompanied by a medium-sized flying companion.
The Nortwest and southeast bridges both have two soldiers guarding them, the southwest has none you can see.