Isabella shouts "What's going on!? as a flash explosion ahead startles her. "Are they in trouble?!" she says as Orri takes off. She digs in and runs ahead as fast as she can to get to the battlefield.
As he finds himself nearly falling unconscious, Chief Sootscale takes a step to try and get out of harms way, and then drinks a potion. Though one zombie can still try and stop him!
Isabella shouts "FOR SILVERHOLD!" and tries to embolden her allies and rushes ahead to save Sophie.
As she pulls up next to her she shouts "Sophie! Get out of here, I've got this!" she bumps into a zombie and tries to draw its attention as she steps back.
He swings and she knocks his strike away, and buries her blade in its body!
Sophiel, battered and bloody, takes punishment from the enemies, but keeps Chrysa from being eaten alive. Nodding at Bella, she steps back and tries to grab one of the nearby zombies with her flaming fist, fighting defensively.
Negative Effects: None
HP: 5/23
AC: 20 (Base 18, fighting defensively)
Special Attacks raging song 5 rounds/day (inspired rage) 0/5 Used
Skald (Battle Scion) Spells Known (CL 2nd; concentration +4)
. . 1st (2/day)—chastise, grease
. . 0 (at will)—dancing lights, detect magic, oath of anonymity, prestidigitation
Druid (Menhir Savant, Progenitor) Spells Prepared (CL 3rd; concentration +5)
. . 1st—faerie fire
. . 0 (at will)—create water, grasp, guidance, mending
Orri steps back from the zombie that bit him, and weaves some magic to help the group. A patch of greasy fluid appears beneath two of the nearest zombies to Sophiel and Isabella, causing the closest one to slip and fall!
The zombies continue to attack mindlessly. A couple more slip and fall in the grease patch, while only one manages to land another blow against Orri!
Initiative:
Sophiel (Round 4 Action)
Chrysa (Unconscious, Stable)
Zombies
Isabella
Orri
Sootscale
Sophiel pants desperately after managing to down one of the zombies, and she steps back and conjures some more grease, hoping to knock down more of the enemies.
Negative Effects: None
HP: 5/23
AC: 20 (Base 18, fighting defensively)
Special Attacks raging song 5 rounds/day (inspired rage) 0/5 Used
Skald (Battle Scion) Spells Known (CL 2nd; concentration +4)
. . 1st (2/day)—chastise, grease
. . 0 (at will)—dancing lights, detect magic, oath of anonymity, prestidigitation
Druid (Menhir Savant, Progenitor) Spells Prepared (CL 3rd; concentration +5)
. . 1st—faerie fire
. . 0 (at will)—create water, grasp, guidance, mending
Chief Sootscale steps back from the horde of oncoming zombies. Deciding to strike cautiously, he targets not the zombies but rather the grease beneath their feet!
Orri steps back again, pulling out his whip and swinging it toward the zombies feet that had been attacking him in an attempt to pull its feet out from under it.
Successfully in front of Sophie now, Bella keeps herself positioned between the wounded woman and the abomination before her. She continues to rally on her teammates and as she lashes out at the enemy in front of her. "Stay behind me!" she shouts, moving south after her attack to and keep the masses to the south positioned in front of her.
The zombie horde flounders in the grease and goo holding them in place, while those near enough continue clawing and biting at anyone within reach, but fail to strike anyone for now.
Then, from the darkness, the sound of hooves and feet precede the appearance into the edge of your light two men on horse back and another on foot! They swing wide and encircle your group, taking care to avoid the zombies by a wide berth. "Well well well...what have we here?" one of the mounted men asks the other.
"Ey! Kench! 5 gold the dead men kill 'em all!" the other horserider calls out.
The man on foot sneers deviously and studies the beleaguered nobles and replies, "Yer on, Jeb!"
The sound of more footsteps approaching in the darkness can be heard over the groans and snarls of the undead around you...
Isabella shouts, starting to get winded now. Breathing heavily she slices into the zombie to her south, sending it to the ground. Groaning with exertion with each swing.
She turns her back on the one behind her and walks south. She feels that the foe is about to strike her, so she spins and swings to deflect its blow but mistimes it and gets slashes across the chest instead. She grunts loudly in pain, spitting out blood and pushing south towards the next grouping.
She pouts and then throws a puff of flame at one of the zombies not in melee, gesturing at the monster and looking at the mounted guy. ”Come on!”
Sophie puts on the air of someone indignant and aggrieved, ”some welcome. The undead! How rude of you! Why didn’t you put out notice of this!?”
”Here we are, new residents of the area, trying to come and pay tribute and there are a bunch of monsters! How is a king supposed to receive visitors if the visitors get ambushed? How terrifically uncouth!” She looks genuinely offended. ”Help us, or do you want the lord to be upset?”
Several of the men look between themselves, but the man in in black leathers and tattoos on the horse just folds his hands calmly on the horn of his saddle. ”Well, can’t fault us for taking advantage of natural defenses in these woods, an you? Besides, if we just posted signs, then they wouldn’t be much for defenses then, would they? You’ll be fine...besides, a friend of Chrysa is a friend of ours...” he says sincerely, but they still take no action to intervene.
Orri tries again to trip the one near him, but can’t seem to wrap it up meaningfully as decayed flesh slips away. The zombie doesn’t even seem to notice.
Sootscale lobs another bomb into the mix of the zombies, dropping one and burning/ensnaring another.
Then the zombies continue their attack. The one to the north moves to attack Sophiel, a solid blow dropping her to the ground! The one to the southeast moves to attack Isabella, but fails to strike. It is enough to distract her from the one on the other side of her to bite her calf hard, though!
The remaining zombies struggle against the goo from Chief Sootscale’s bombs, only one of which manages to escape.
”I tell ya what. You lot drop your weapons and surrender now, and the boys and I here will save your sorry hides and bring ya inside...what do you say to that?” the man in black leather armor on the horse asks as another man arrives from the fort...
Sophie breathes peacefully, ignoring the chaos of the world above her.
Chief Sootscale pretends not to understand the humans calling for them to drop their weapons. His priority was to kill the zombies himself and save Chrysa. He throws another bomb into the ground close to Isabella.
;
He then engages one of the zombies by Isabella, potentially distracting it.
Orri! DO SOMETHING! They're dying!" she shouts over her shoulder, unsure what the f#%! her brother was actually doing back there.
When Sophiel goes down too, Bella screams in ragged spurts "NO! Gods be. Damm-AAHHH!" she is interrupted when her calf gets bitten into, he words turning into a painful scream. Looking over her shoulder she sees one is behind her now and attacking the Chief.
Chest heaving, she looks at the one who bit her on the ground and moves north trying to lure it to opening itself up to an attack. When it comes, she thrusts her blade forward into her skull before sticking her boot on its crunched body and pulling her blade back to her.
Orri shakes his head at the man's suggestion "We got this!"
Orri begins casting another spell at the injured zombie he motions like he is yelling at it, but no one other than the zombie hears anything.
He then moves up next to Bella to assist her.
The zombie appears minimally affected by Orri's spell, and a few more of the undead fall as the fight goes on. When Orri replies to the horse-rider, the man shrugs and smirks and leans back on the saddle to watch.
Thundering footsteps can be heard approaching as suddenly, perhaps the largest man any of you have ever seen comes running into the torchlight of the fight! He has a look of childlike glee on his face as he rushes the nearest zombie, chuckling like he was having the time of his life! He lifts a simple board with several nails sticking into the end and brings it crashing down on the zombie's head, splattering it like a melon!
"Ox! Get back you idiot!" the apparent leader of this troop shouts, which causes the big man to look around, sad and confused.
__________
The two standing nobles and the Chief manage to finish off the remaining ensnared zombies. When the last one falls, the black leather clad horse rider claps his hands, soon followed by the large man over-enthusiastically joining him.
"Well done!" he says. "But now...I'm going to have to ask you to drop your damned weapons and not try anything funny. Try to work some magic," he says looking at Orri, "You die. Try to throw one of them bombs, lizard man...you die. And try to get fancy with that sword? You. Die." He leans forward on the horn of his saddle again and adds "We got men in the turrets trained on you with bows, and you're outnumbered and damn near dead already. Not to mention your friends there bleeding into the dirt. You surely realize you don't have any real choice here, eh?"
Chief Sootscale certainly knew he was in trouble. He still doesn't say anything, though. Better to not reveal yet that he understood their language. Instead, he just holds up his hands, and utters a silent prayer to the dragon gods that he will survive.
Orri puts away his whip, he motions for cheif to stand down and looks to Bella. Seeing her hesitate he gives her an insistent nod to put the weapon away before he turns to look at the leader "Can I administer some healing to my companion?"
The man in charge wags his finger. He points to the whip and other weapons and says "On the ground...we'll talk healing once we are inside..."
Orri nods and drops his whip waiting for the others to do the same, he notes to the leader "Going to be hard to help you all out without any weapons though..."
The three men on foot give their companions concerned looks, but the two on horseback just look at one another and smirk. "Horse shit. You wouldn't have been sneaking around out here if you weren't up to no good."
He then turns his eye to Isabella, who is still standing in a combat ready pose and breathing heavily from the zombie fight.
Bella drops two more zombies and turns to face her brother, her breathing labored and ragged. Covered in blood, looks at him in disbelief when he gives her a nod to drop her weapons. To him she whispers "Are you out of your gods-damned mind, Orri? What do you think happens if I put this thing on the ground?"
When Bella whispers to him he shots her back a glare "What do you think happens if you don't surrender and they attack. You want everyone to die? Put it down so we can deal with this and try to keep everyone alive..."
Isabella looks back at the fallen bodies of Chrysa and Sophie. She turns back to Orri, frustrated he wants to surrender. "Orri we can't. Just give up! What do you think. Happens next? They are. Going to take us. Prisoner and do who knows. What to us! I can. Take them!" her labored breathing forcing her to pause unnaturally while speaking.
Tilting her head back and screaming in frustration, she throws her blade to with great effort as it bounces away from her upon hitting the ground. Frustration and anger are clearly evident in her actions and voice when she says "You better be right. About this."
The leader on the horse smiles and says "Glad you have some some sense about you, darlin'," before turning to the men on the ground and nodding.
The three men move forward and one collects the weapons and hands them to Jeb while the other ties your hands. The leader says "Ox! Pick up their friends on the ground and bring them with us."
The big guy nods and chuckles and picks up first Sophiel and then Chrysa with such ease its like they are toys to him. As he picks her up, he gets an excited look on his face and cries out "Look Dovan! Horny Lady!" which causes the rest of the men to snicker.
"I see, buddy. I see," their leader, Dovan, says with a sinister smile.
Once you are bound and your weapons collected, they lead you inside the fort proper. There, you see several more men waiting. On the turrets above, bows in hand, are a couple of men looking through windows at you. One is an older Varisian man and the other a soft featured Chelaxian. On the ground level are two more large men. One is a very rotund fellow who is holding the drumstick of a turkey, which he actively eats as you are led inside. The other is a man in very well made chainmail and very well groomed beard and hair.
Dovan, the man on the horse who had been leading things outside, gives the man in chainmail a derisive look as he dismounts and looks to the men who was with him. "Tie them up over there," he says as he points to the wall. "Ox! Bring Ms. Chrysa along with us to the Old Man."
Several of the other bandits shudder at the mention of "Old Man," but go about doing as they were asked. As Dovan and Auchs pass the man in chainmail, Dovan says "The man is some sort of spellcaster. Claims he could heal the others. The kobold was throwing bombs, and the blonde is good with a sword. Think you can handle from here, Akiros?"
Akiros glares at Dovan and asks "What of these two?" pointing to the unconscious ones.
Dovan replied, pointing to Sophiel, "She was doing some magic too. This one...she's an old friend...she was the one that killed Harpy back in the day."
Akiros looks at Chrysa and says "Go get her healed then bring her back. Understood?"
Dovan narrows his eyes at Akiros, but makes no reply as he and Ox disappear into the run down fort.
Akiros and the rest of the bandits step over and appraise their captives. Akiros turns to one and says "Topper. Untie him," pointing to Orri as he draws his sword, whose blade glows white. He looks at Orri and says "Dovan said you can heal. Heal your friend, then return to your place."
Once done, Sophiel's eyes flutter open and she can see the situation she is in. She and the rest are tied to a wall, hands over their heads, their bindings through a series of metal rings hammered into the logs of the wall a few feet above. Chrysa is not present when she comes to.
Akiros steps forward and says "I am Akiros Ismort," in introduction, his Stag Lord pendant dangling from his neck. "I am going to ask the questions, and you are going to answer them truthfully. Understood? What are your names?"
Your eyes slowly open and you begin to take in your surroundings. You are bound, hands behind your back, and you feel someone's greasy hands on the skin of your neck and midsection. As you look you see an old man whose face is broken and healed up in unnatural ways, giving him a very grotesque appearance. His hands are cold and greasy.
As you squirm to get away, however, you hear an unsettling giggle that you recognize, and sends a chill down your spine. Turning your head, you see the familiar faces of Auchs standing just behind you, giggling at your discomfort. And behind him, holding a torch and leaning against the muddy earthen doorframe, is Dovan.
Orri speaks up to the man trying to somehow turn the situation to their advantage. "I am Orri, this is Bella, that is Chief and that is Sophy." He nods to each of his companions in turn. With a smile he continues "There is no need to keep us bound. As you see we are cooperating and I'm sure we can get this all sorted out without much difficulty."
”We can sort this out just as easily with you bound, at zero risk to ourselves. If you prove sincere, you can then be released,” Akiros replies.
”Where are you from, and what are you doing here snooping around the fort in the middle of the night?”
Sophie weakly coughs up a bit of blood and the smiles at Orri. She coughs and mutters something to herself, then speaks up, not resisting the chain, but clearly uncomfortable. ”Sophie, or Soph if you’d like. This is my merry band of brigands and naer-do-wells.” She smiles a bloody smile and spits out a bit of her own innards, doing her best to avoid her captors’ feet. ”We came to parlay with the Stag Lord - we want to figure out the deal and maybe join his lordship’s crew. Solving problems he may not be able to resolve on his own. We’re quite resourceful, when we aren’t being mobbed by dozens of undead. Which is a nasty trick... just up our alley, mind you... but nasty. We’re more use to him alive than dead, and we can prove it.” She gestures towards the others, ”That lot? I gathered what folks I could from the area, folks who had no home and no holdings.” She juts her chin in their direction, ”even that kobold, a useful chap. We want to fight and kill, and maybe for the Stag Lord - we heard that we should head here to do so. Nice welcome, as I said before. Hope you don’t get chewed out over almost letting us die.” She raises her eyebrows and grins again. Sophie’s demeanor and accent have changed, and she has much more swagger and bravado.
She coughs again and points at her bindings, ”mind letting me out? I couldn’t fight my way out of a wet bag - you have nothing to fear from me, and I’d like to look presentable, you know, so I don’t offend his lordship. We wouldn’t want that, would we?” Sophie is notably extremely weak, and genuinely does not seem to pose a threat. She bats her eyes demurely, and then looks up at Akiros.
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Orri is about to speak up, but Sophiel beats him to it and what she said is just about what he had planned to say, but with a lot more lying then he intended. Either way, he stayed quiet to see how the men took her words.
When they take her blade, Isabella watches carefully to see which man carries it. "I'll be getting that back soon, try not to cut yourself on it."
Once inside, Bella speaks out of turn as she struggels against her bindings and talks over Orri and Sophie's attempts at diplomacy. "Where did you take Chrysa! I demand to see her immediately!. What have you done with her?! I swear to the Gods, if you so much as touch one hair on her body!" she shouts, still struggling.
Akiros appeared to be listening politely to Sophiel, or at least trying to, when Isabella begins her tirade. The man who had been on the other horse outside, Jeb, steps up and backhands Isabella and shouts ”Quiet, you!”
Akiros folds his arms across his chest and motions Jeb back with a turn of his head. ”I will relay this to the Stag Lord in the morning. Let him make his own decision about you lot. But she,” he says looking at Isabella, ”isn’t helping your case.”
He turns and looks to a couple of the men, ”Topper. Nory. Keep watch on them,” and then looks up at the man in the turret above, ”You too, Sneeg.”
Nory’s jaw drops and he says in protest ”But Boss! What about my dinner!?!?” Akiros gives the larger man a stern look that causes the fat man to whither and drop his argument, instead taking a greasy bite of the drumstick in his hand.
Akiros and the others then head inside.
Sophie shoots a look at Isabella.
”Whatever Chrysa is up to, we can’t help her now.”
Isabella spits the blood from her mouth on the floor of the man that backhanded her. She bites her tongue for the remainder of the engagement, her face pounding along with the other wounds on her body.
Bealla catches Sophie's look and then turns away, looking at the floor out of frustration. "We can't just sit here and do nothing. You heard the way they talked about her outside!" Not she didn't Isabella, Sophie was dying on the ground too.
Without much else to do, she struggles against the rope some more.
After about ten minutes, Dovan and Auchs return, a weary Chrysa in the big man’s arms. Her left horn has been broken roughly off. They tie her up to the wall with you all, and Auchs taps her broken horn with a giggle, eliciting a pained wince from Chrysa as the sensitive inner tissue cries out in protest. He then pulls the broken horn from his belt loop and Holden it to his forehead as he walks off giggling.
Dovan then leans over and takes all of your packs and heads off inside...
"I hate those two" the broken and bloodied woman whispers to whoever is tied up next to her.
As soon as Bella sees the broken horn, she loses it. ”You motherf+%~ers! I’m going to stab each and every one of you through your hearts! “ As they walk away laughing, she shouts
She turns to glare at her brother for this stupid plan before turning to Chrysa. ”Hey. Hey, it’s okay now. Your back with us. I won’t let them take you again. Everything is going to be fine. RIGHT ORRI?”. Repeat glare at brother.
Chrysa just shakes her head, almost too weary to raise it. "I know them... knew them. Both are horrible. There was an old man, he kept... healing me... while they..." she stops, just for a second "A spellcaster, we'll have to watch out for him..." looking up finally, she'll take in her surroundings.
Sophie notices Chrysa, and comments sympathetically, ”looks like you had it worse, I’ve told them why we’re here- I’m sure the Stag Lord wouldn’t want to toff up his chances for more mercenaries like us.” But when Isabella starts screaming, powerless and struggling, Sophie closes her eyes and deflates, ”Dammit, Bella.”
Isabella grinds her teeth through a clenched jaw, unable to push the horrible thoughts out of her mind as Chyrsa talked. Eventually the anger passes and turns to sadness however, thoughts going back to her earlier promise ”I said I would keep you safe and that no one would touch your horns and I did not. I am sorry Chrysa, I failed you.”
The fight and bravery now gone from her voice, she looks to Sophie and hangs her head, apologizes too. I’m sorry Sophie.. I failed you all. I could not keep any of us safe.”
"no worries, they'll grow back, they always do." Chrysa manages a tug at the corner of her mouth. Taking a deep breath she looked at the guards watching them, then turns to Sophie "They know me, so it is a start." talking about the mercenary mentioning "Our packs are missing..." she shakes her head.
Sophie grows angry, stewing in her own emotions, and sneers at Bella, and shouts "fat lot of good, you were. All that coin that I paid you down the drain! Some bravo you are... you said that even though you abandoned your countrymen that you knew how to fight!" She spits towards Bella, glaring. And she turns to Chrysa, "and you, you told me that you were 'eager to work for the Stag Lord' because you respected him, and knew him, and here, you don't even know about his zombie trap!? What was I even paying you for? If I wanted to get tied up for fun I'd have stayed in Riddleport..." She frowns, seemingly upset at her companions.
If you have a better idea, let me know. This is all I got!
The night passes without further event. The heroes have a harsh night sleeping in a light drizzling rain will hike being bound to a wall. As the dawn slowly begins to try to creep over the horizon, Akiros makes his way around the corner. He looks to the very sleepy Nory and says ”Go. You are relieved.”
He and Topper start to leave, but Akiros stops Topper and gives him a meaningful look, and the other man stops and waits. Once it is just the two of them and the captive heroes, he pulls a rolled collection of parchments from his back pocket and holds it up. You all immediately recognize it as your charters.
”Is this true? Were you tasked with killing the Stag Lord?” he asks quietly.
Sophie stares at the man, exhausted, and not having slept well while hanging from her arms. Blearily she says, "before any of us answer the question, could I ask why? Keep in mind - you lot tortured one of my minions, so both of us" she gestures at Akiros. "are working with less than stellar credibility, right?"
She watches his face for a reaction.
Chief Sootscale seems thoroughly defeated and humiliated. He maintains a dour silence, looking down in shame, or else lost in thought. How was this possible? How did I get myself ambushed by an army of zombies? To be bested by a trap invading the Stag Lord's fortress. The irony was not lost on him. Do I stay allied with the humans who are now captured, or do I try and change sides? My debt is paid, I fought the Stag Lord. And we lost.
When Chrysa returns, however, with her broken horn, the thought of trying to ally with the Stag Lord becomes repulsive to Chief. To him, the others were just mercenaries--fighters for a convenient alliance. But Chrysa he had come to respect, because she had respected him.
Only when Chrysa returns does Chief state his first words, in Draconic.
"Chrysa, these men, do they speak Draconic? If not, do not reveal that I can speak Common. Instead, you can claim to translate for me, while we can speak openly. It will be our own secret, hidden in plain sight. Perhaps we can still escape. Or perhaps we can exchange our death for the death of the Stag Lord."
When he realizes the charters have been found, he knows that he is the only one without definitive orders to kill the Stag Lord. "If they trust me, I may work with these bandits. If the others feel betrayed, do not correct their error. Better that they all truly believe I have changed sides. Though obviously I'll need to reveal that I speak Common after all to communicate with them."
Akiros appears to get angry at Sophiel’s lack of a direct answer. ”Damnit, we don’t have ti-,” he stops as he hears people approaching. He tucks the charter away under his armor moments before the other bandits make their way out.
And at the end of the procession, a man with a hideous skull mask blended with a dear skull, complete with antlers, makes his way out. He wears no armor above the waist, and his muscles torso is littered with what seem to be burn scars. He carries a heavy looking composite bow and a well made longsword.
”So...these are the ones who caused the damned uproar last night?” he asks.
”Yes Sir,” Akiros replies.
”And they claim to wish to join up” the Stag Lord asks Dovan.
”Aye, Sir. But that one there, with the horn, she’s the one I told ya about,” Dovan answers, gesturing to Chrysa.
The Stag Lord walks over to her and takes her face by the chin, lifting her eyes up to look into his through the skull mask. He studies her a moment before saying rhetorically ”So...you’re the one who killed The Harpy, huh?” before releasing her face forcefully, tossing it to the side in half disgust.
He turns to the group and looks them over. ”And where is the spirited one?”
Dovan smirks and points to Isabella.
The Stag Lord steps over and looks her in the eyes. He then turns to Akiros and points to Orri, saying ”Release him, so he can heal her.”
Akiros steps over and unties Orri’s hands, and as his arms fall, the ache from being tied up like that burns through his arms as he is walked over to Isabella.
It took all Orri could muster not to scream at his sister for being an idiot. At least, for now, they didn't know they were related. He would do what he could to save everyone but if it came down to it, he knew in his heart that he would sacrifice the others to save his sister. Through the night he prayed it wouldn't come to that. He kept quiet as the others spoke trying to work out a plan.
When the true leader arrived and asked for Orri to heal Bella he nodded and moved over to the woman, as he worked on casting the spell he leaned in close to his sister and whispered "No matter what happens you have to keep your cool, this isn't a sprint it is a marathon, we have to find the right time or else your going to get yourself killed, or worse everyone else. We'll get through this, but not if you can't keep your emotions in check..."
He finishes casting the spell and heals her.
He looks to the man with the skull mask as he stands back up and places himself between the thugs and his sister as he notes "See, we can be useful, just give us a chance. Pay her no mind, she is just protective of the others and can get carried away."