Caspan shakes his head.
"If you want to be the advance man ... er, girl ... it's your hide," Caspan says. "That's the hardest part, since one mistake and you're snatched. And this lot isn't going to just throw you into a cell."
"Selde's probably right. Are a couple rangers who might be in there really going to be the difference between getting the Hobs out of Phaendar or getting away with our skins or whatever?"
|
Thael considers what the others have said and offers his own counsel.
"If any rangers come back to this place as a refuge, they could also be ambushed here. Furthermore, I loathe having this fortress something that these monsters can use to harass the countryside from. We should take the chance to cripple them here, as we have attempted in the past."
He peers at the creatures with the hobgoblins curiously, trying to determine what they might be.
Selde spoke a few words in druidic and cast a spell before gracefully pulling herself in to Nur's saddle. "I'll Scout the perimeter." Selde said softly before she chirped and sung to Hunter in Sylvan.
Emil agrees to meet Abby to watch the sunrise. He makes a point to not spoil the peace and beauty of the moment by talking or listening to the voices from his teenager self that he should be romantic, to escalate the relationship. Instead, he absorbs what grace he can from the time, letting it heal his aching heart and sooth his jangled nerves.
As the sun gets high enough that it cannot be looked at safely, he wraps an arm behind Abby and pulls her toward him for a moment, a half-hug. He gives her a smile and stands. "May Erastil and Master Cailean gives us the strength an' courage ta see such a dawn over our nation at peace." He makes eye contact and feels a quiver of affection for her deep caring eyes before he abruptly looks back at the sun and says, "I think I smell some bacon an' coffee."
At the fort, Emil feels the same initial sense of being faced with a task beyond the small band's abilities. But he considers how far they all have come and what daunting odds they have already won in spite of and feels like it is worth attempting to take the fort.
"Doesn't sound like that many hobs ta deal with topside. We can keep an eye on 'em ta see how many more may be indoors or out on patrol, but doesn't sound like so many we couldn't take 'em. But we'd do best to take 'em by surprise an' I doubt we kin do that just running at one o' the bridges ready for bear. We looked at what's above the fort, but we should also scout the area around the bottom o' the gorge where the river runs."
"One o' the verses of Erastil says, 'Erastil's favorite weapon is not the hardest thing but the softest thing: water. The softest thing in the world can break the hardest.' I take that to mean that where water flows constantly, it wears the rock away. What're the odds that over the eons, it didn't work its way inta that plug o' hard rock. Selde, see what's down along the water's edge next scoutin' ya do."
"We should also keep a watch fer that dragon. It might not be here but if it is, we should learn its habits an' when it's around and when it's not."
"There are four buildings and one large tower with a broken wall on the top floor. If there is a dragon here, it's a fair bet that is where it is nesting. There were also two other monsters in the garden, if we can get the jump on them I could cause the plants to attack and entangle them. There were 4 hobgoblins in the courtyard, each with some kind of flying creature, and two guarding the Northwest and Southeast bridges. None on the southwest bridge, which makes me suspicious. I didn't encounter any patrols but we can't rule them out. If we are going to assault this fort, I say we spend the night coming up with a plan then tailoring our magic to that plan."
Jillian considers there options and then notes "All things considered, perhaps I could use my magic to draw one of the sets of bridge guards away so we have one way to enter? I could try and get them to help me 'capture' you all. Run up to one of the bridge and call for their help. Say I escaped from you and that with their help we might be able to capture you all?"
She looks to everyone questioningly, wondering if anyone had a better idea.
”The only problem I see with that, is we might draw more than just a few of the hobgoblins. We could easily get swarmed. But honestly, I don’t see a better plan. If we start getting overwhelmed, we can simply run away. Hopefully, they are just here to defend the keep and won’t follow us too far,” Wren shrugs.
Selde nodded along as she listened. "That could be a good way to lure them to an ambush."
Caspan shrugs. He doesn't like the idea of alerting the guards -- keeping the authorities in the dark was always a key part of the plan back in Canorate -- but he doesn't have any better ideas if they can't get in through the water, as Father Emil suggests.
"Maybe we should send everyone else away a bit," he suggests. "That way if they all come spilling out when we kick the molehill, at least we don't have to get them all out of here too."
Father Emil rubs his chin. "They've got flying creatures, so they pro'lly patrol from the air more'an on foot. That means we've got to act fast. Our community will be easy to spot from the air an' that'll draw the dragon. Seems we should rest, prepare an attack strategy and execute it at first light. I like the idea o' tryin' ta draw a bridge guard unit out. We either deal with the guards away from the help o' their allies or rush inta the fort ta attack the remnants, forcin' the first group ta get back in."
"Let's git back ta make sure the community is aware o' what we're dealin' with an' get 'em situated as safely as we can. We kin rest up an' replenish our magic resources. Then we need ta find a place that's close enough ta the fort that we kin advance ta help Jillian if her deception is detected an' the guards attack, but far enough away that we can dispatch the first group without the second group necessarily knowin' what's up."
With the refugees sufficiently moved away, the group devises a plan to ambush the two guards if Jillian is able to lure them off their post. She equips herself with some of the hobgoblin gear they've picked up in the past and shifts at the edge of the forest, knowing she only have a few minutes of this form.
Walking out of the forest, she approaches the bridge and immediately she draws the attention of two blue-skinned Ironfang soldiers on the far side of the bridge wielding longbows who are firing on wildlife on the perimeter of the forest. They look at each other, trying to recall who was out on patrol, unable to place her. One of them calls out to her for identification, and she hastily calls back "Come quick! I've captured Scabvistin's murderers, the one the reward is for!"
As she moves onto the bridge and begins to cross, she takes note that it is constructed of a stout shroud-laid rope and thick planks, and the bridge is sturdy enough to support the weight of a fully loaded cart. A metal mechanism with a lever and crank is built into the wall of the fort near the bridge, out of view from the far side.
The pair immediately think of the prestige associated with being responsible for bringing in the killers of Scabvistin and move to accompany Jillian back into the woods.
She leads them about 75' back into the forest, out of sight of the fort and far enough away that their demise should be quiet. Two makeshift bodies lay on the ground behind a nearby try and she points to them and asks for their help carrying them.
As they bend down to pick up the legs, the party leaps out from their hiding spots and take the two down before they can even realize what happened.
Each solider has a potion of cure moderate wounds, mwk breastplate, mwk light steel shield, composite longbow (+2 Str) with 20 arrows, glaive, mwk battleaxe, cloak of resistance +1, backpack, bedroll,
signal whistle, waterskin.
"Come on, let's go!" Caspan urges the others, heading over the bridge they just lured the guards away from. He downs a pair of potions just before entering, and does his best to keep out of sight.
Emil and Pila are ready to move. "I'm prepared to give everyone some resistance ta acid, which'll last 'bout 10 minutes. I gotta touch ya ta protect ya, so the first sign the dragon is joinin' the fight, git over ta me so's I can give ya Erastil's protection. Blessed be an' may this fight put an end ta these beasts' dominion over our sacred forest."
For a moment, he holds the memory of bidding Abby farewell, the look of concern on her face. He sighs and makes eye contact with Pila, pets her fur and heads for the fort.
Emil: , Stealth Synergy
Pila:
Wren snatches up one of the curative potions from the hobgoblin. ”I expect these hobbies will be tougher. It looks like their gear is getting better, too,” she whispers to the group.
Once the storming of the keep began, Wren uses another charge off her mage armor wand.
"They probably sent better ones here. You put the ones you don't care about where they're gonna get snatched," Caspan notes, a bit of bitterness in his voice.
With the guardians of the first bridge dispatched, the group follows Selde up to the edge of the forest. She climbs a tree and peers out to make sure there immediate coast is clear before dropping back down and giving the signal to cross the bridge.
There twenty-five feet of open space before the bridge coupled with the twenty-five foot bridge is nerved racking to cross, knowing that you are completely exposed and vulnerable at this moment.
Once across the bridge, you're able to see an extremely wide-opened courtyard that contains a pair of partially constructed trebuchets to the southwest and a stone well to the northeast. A wide, tall tower to the northeast dominates the courtyard. To the northwest, two low buildings flank an overgrown garden. A building to the southwest emits a rank, animal smell, and a double door provides access to a large building to the southeast. Wooden bridges exit the courtyard to the north, west, and south, spanning the gorge that surrounds the fort.
Three hobgoblins are in this courtyard on the opposite side down on the southern section of the fort . They appear to be training or working with three medium-sized hooked beak flying creatures and do not currently see you as you tuck yourselves close to the wall and remain out of sight as much as possible.
|
|
Thael surveys the open courtyard with hesitation. "I was hoping we might encounter their forces piecemeal, rather than all at once. It seems that upon entering, we will be spotted and bring them all down on us once the alarm is set," he observes quietly.
He tries to determine what the hooked beak creature might be.
"Indeed, we should strike fast and hard." Selde replied to her brother.
Thael can't identify the birds, but Selde does. Seh identifies the flying creatures as Rocs. Those these are very young, rocs are terrifying, legendary birds renowned for their ability to carry off elephants and other big animals. A typical roc is 30 feet long from beak to tail, with an 80-foot wingspan and weight of up to 8,000 pounds.
"We know there're animals in that garden an' we gotta pass that to git to that bunch o' hobs with the birds. I might be able to manage the animals in the garden a'fore we hafta fight 'em. Let's work our way toward the garden first."
While Emil makes this suggestion, he is open to other plans.
"What?" Caspan looks at the others like they've grown another head.
Stupid yetis and their two heads!
"We managed to sneak in here, so we don't need to let everyone know we're in here!" he hisses at them. "Let's get inside and start there!"
Pushing forward to the door, the brawler opens it up and looks inside. He finds that this building clearly once served as an armory, but its hooks and weapon racks are empty and its long tables now hold boxes of soil sprouting several varieties of mushrooms and molds. One box at the rear of the room is covered with a sheet of canvas held down with bricks. A sour, earthy smell fills the air. A swinging door leads out to the southwest and a door in an alcove to the southeast leads out to the courtyard . A small ledge lies on the floor underneath one of the tables and a fine gem dangling from a long, silver chain rest on top of the table.
Wren agreeswith Caspan and makes a sprint for the door. She casts Detect magic on that nifty gem.
The nifty gem does detect as magic. Thael is able to identify this item as a periapt of placebos .
Caspan gags a couple times at the horrible smell, before finally deciding to pinch his nose closed.
He ignores the ledger and even the gem for the moment as Wren focuses on it, and heads for the sheet of canvas.
"Probably nothing good under here," he says, waiting to make sure his favorite ass-mar and Jillian are ready, and then pulling the cover off.
Emil is happy to explore the building first, but he expects before long something will alert the base and a fight will break out with whomever is about, including the animals spotted while scouting. He only wanted to alert the group to what he brought to the table when that time comes.
After the room is inspected, with no monsters evident, he says softly, "I'd leave the contents of this room alone. We can search it later."
Once everyone is ready, Caspan yanks the cover off and sends the contents of the box exploding into the air as a cloud of poisonous spores fly all around him.
With the spores in the air, Thael is quick to place their identity - yellow mold!
Caspan looks back at Emil, considering.
"Don't want to leave any threats in here to leap out behind us," he mutters.
He looks toward the other door, which opens into the garden, wondering if they want to head there or try to sneak further in, to the building across the way
Selde was able to hold her breath and cover her mouth, but unfortunately Nur inhaled a lungful. The elk had a fit of coughing as Selde lead him out of the cloud of spores.
Fort save
Fort save
Fort save
Fort save
Fort save
Wren wasn’t at all prepared for the initial burst of yellow spores. She quickly recovered her sense, but it had a significant effect on her.
Con damage
"Hack hack! Cough! Gag!"