”Well, that’s a relief!” Wulfric declares cheerily when the swamp gives way to dry ground. He stops to let Falric down and quickly adds, ”not that I mind carrying you, light as you are, but we’ll all be able t’move faster without slogging through that mud.”
With darkness fast approaching, he quickly works to build a fire. ”Let’s get this lobster-thing’s bits roasted before dark and then while we’re eating we can decide whether t’risk keeping the fire lit over night, and figure out who’s on which watch?”
With the night approaching, Bruce uses some left-over spells to fully heal Falric.
"I'd prefer an early watch. I have so many spells to help me left..."
Falric hops off the dwarf's shoulders, wincing in pain from the injuries on his abdomen. Later that night, he shakes Bruce's hand, "Thanks for the healing, brother. That creature got me good!" As he sits down to eat around the camp fire, Falric recalls, "We're a day away from the Fort. We'll be covering ground with little cover. Do we want to arrive by nightfall, when the orcs stationed there have advantage with their ability to see in darkness? Do we delay to arrive in the morning? We must also be wary of patrols."
”Most orcs don’t see too well in the light, so attacking at midday’s probly our best plan,” Wulfric offers as he chomps on some roast lobster-monster. ”Shame we don’t got any butter. But, patrols’re good... every orc we kill outside the fort’s one less orc t’kill once we get in. Really, it might not be a bad idea t’spend a day circling the fort and killing patrols when we get there... second day they’ll likely send out extra patrols t’find us. We ignore those ones and attack th’fort while it’s under-manned. Between the orcs we killed plus those out hunting for us, it’ll be easier t’get to th’giant...”
He wipes some swampy lobster-monster juice from around his mouth then adds, ”and if all goes well, when we’re done we could wait for th’patrols t’come back and ambush them too.”
|
"I see in the dark better than any orc." Tyrek offers, "But midday may be best anyway. Or early in the morning when the sun is low. Any orcs up all night will be tired, and the ones sleeping will not be very awake."
He pauses for a few moments. "It is not honorable, but could someone examine the camp in disguise? It sounds like your friends Falric were caught because they didn't know what was coming. If we send in a... scout, then perhaps we could avoid that?"
He seems uncomfortable with the word 'spy'.
At first it seemed as if Bruce was metnally absent from the tactical discussion. But he was only consultating the spirits, while still listening with the other ear.
"I can make someone invisible for a few minutes if someone can fly fast. I was also thinking of covering our approach with some magical fog..." Bruce thinks out loud.
”It’s not just about who sees better in th’dark, Tyrek,” Wulfric points out, ”most orcs have trouble seeing in the bright daylight sun, so that’ll be an advantage for us. Some of them’re even nocturnal, so we might catch them sleeping, if we’re lucky.”
”Falric, you hid from some of them before, you think you could sneak in and get a look around if Bruce made you invisible?”
"Aye, Wulfric, I can make myself invisible as well. But I am not a good climber at all. It's why I didn't scale the fort the first time, when I followed the fire giant and his hounds. If you have some magic to assist in that, I will gladly accept and scout as much as I can."
Bruce jumps up from the trunk he was sitting on and sprints to his backpack. While searching through it, the contents fly away and spread in a 5 foot radius around his backpack. After he finally found what he was looking for, it took him another minute to collect everything. It was as if someone was deliberately working against him.
"I've got this!" He holds up a scroll and when unfolded it reads strange arcane letters. "Took it from an orc sorcerer I crossed a few days ago."
Equipped with a plan and a scroll, the party sets out for the Keep, pacing their travel to arrive in the morning of the next day. The trip is uneventful as you cross various plains with the Mindspin Moutains as your guide. You stop for lunch and rest and continue soon after. Near sundown, as you travel on the wide open plains, you see a scouting party crest a nearby hill and you both spot each other at the same time! The enemy's hunting party consists of a male hill giant and 4 orcs, two walking on each side of him. You are at a distance of 100 feet from each other.
Bruce, even while distracted, reacts the fastest. He sees the big bruisers and schemes a demonic plan. He brings forth a piece of flint and a pinch of silver dust and shoots a ray of light at the middle of the group.
if evil
After that he moves into cover.
Edit: cover = hides behind Tyrek
The spell fills the area with a blinding light and when the light fades away, three enemies are harmed and one orc is blinded.
Urram stays back and moves in front of Bruce, flaring his wings out and hissing loudly. It's clearly a threat display... just not a very good one.
Wulfric touches his holy symbol and mutters a brief prayer to the Forge Fire.
Then he clutches his longhammer in both hands and rumbles forward to meet the patrol.
Falric pulls out his wand of mage armor and casts it on himself for a period of 3 hours.
Round 1: Enemies
The three non-blinded orcs, gripping their falchions in 1 hand, move 30' closer to the party and launch their javelins at Wulfric, who is 50' away from them now. Two of the javelins land harmless to either side, but the one of the javelins catches the dwarf in the shoulder, opening a wound.
Attacks:
...miss
...threat
Confirmation: ..no
Damage:
..miss
The angry giant, burned by Bruce's spell, pulls a rock out and launches it at Urram, but thankfully, at the last second, the drake evades the deadly rock, that explodes into pieces as it skids across the ground, the force behind it quite evident!
...miss
”This way, boys!” Wulfric cries as he rushes forward. With his longhammer raised at the ready he charges the injured orc who stands a few feet from its comrades. The head of his hammer bursts into flames as he moves and when he draws near he swings it down hard at his foe...
fire
Behind the light cover of Urram's wings Bruce giggles and disappears. Suddenly, about 20 feet further into the battle field, everyone hears the halfling shout out a loud Battle Cry. "Aghagha!! Take 'em and leave no bone where it was!"
Falric casts Shield on himself and moves 30' toward the orcs.
Wulfric's weapon plows into the injured orc, killing it. Tyrek's blow bashes the fresh orc, staggering it, and would have killed it, but for orc ferocity.
Round 2: Enemies
The staggered orc swings at Tyrek, but misses wildly in his bloody state!
A fresh orc also attacks Tyrek, but the paladin easily deflects the blow.
The hill giant charges Wulfric, stopping 10' away and attacking from reach with his greatclub, bashing his shoulder!
..hit
Damage:
Hil Giant AC: 19 after charging
Nobody knows where Bruce is exactly. He storms towards Wulfric...
Falric moves up and slices at the wounded orc fighting Tyrek with his flaming scimitar.
Wulfric can't help but grunt as the crude tree trunk slams into his shoulder. Not one to be shown up by a filthy hill giant, he grits his teeth, shrouds his longhammer in flame , and swings it hard at the oaf, twice .
Urram scurrys closer to the fight, but stays back for now. The giant is too large for him to fight... yet!
Falric's scimitar burns the staggered orc to death.
Tyrek's two blows kill the orc warrior attacking him.
Wulfric's blows severely damage the giant.
Round 3: Enemies
The giant screams in pain and tries to finish off the dwarf in 2 blows, but Wulfric's training saves him from the first blow and the second is easily deflected. The giant looks in horror to see the dwarf unharmed, as it knows it cannot survive two more blows from the dwarf...
Attack: ..miss because of power attack
Attack: ...miss
Wulfric grins in the soft red light of the flames flickering around his hammer . Gripping his weapon tightly he swings hard at the giant again.
Thanks to Wulfric's awkward first attack, the giant still lives...barely!
Right behind Wulfric people can hear strange muttering.
Something warm touches Wulfric's hip.
Tyrek gets his arm busted as he closes in on the giant, but his hammer ruptures the giant's spleen, killing it!
AoO vs. Tyrek:
Damage:
Falric dispatches the blind orc and combat is over, with two party members wounded. Combat over.
"Great job, you two." Falric congratulates Wulfric and Tyrek, as he wipes the orc blood from his blade. "That sucker looked big and tough."
”Thanks,” Wulfric replies with a grin, ”giants are my specialty. But, uh, I wouldn’t say no t’one more of those healing spells...”
"Well, that was easy" Bruce's voice says, still coming from nowhere.
"Here you are..."
Wulfric stretches and sighs contentedly. ”Ahh, that’s th’stuff! Thanks, Brucie.”
Looking around and then at his companions he asks, ”So... see if we can find another patrol t’take out?”
"Yeah, let's keep going and make for the Keep" After the healing, Falric continues in the lead.
The party continues its trek through the plains toward the Keep. The rest of the day passes without incident as does the night. By morning or mid-day, however, you wish to plan it, you see the reddish Keep in the distance.
Built from reddish stone (which also contributed to its name), Redlake Fort was originally surrounded by a water-filled moat fed by a nameless tributary of the River Esk. However, the water eventually evaporated, leaving the fort sitting atop a rocky outcrop 20 feet above a wide, dry trench. The bottom of this dry moat is 15 feet below the level of the surrounding land, encircled by a 10-foot-high wooden palisade constructed of 2-foot-thick logs lashed together. The outer wall of the fort itself is 15 feet high.
A large stone fortification, perched atop a small rocky island above a deep trench surrounding the entire stronghold, guards the approach to the fort’s gatehouse.
”So, what’s th’plan, Falric?” Wulfric asks as he surveys the keep, ”is there some kind of water inlet t’sneak in, or an escape tunnel under th’wall we can come through?”
”And, what about other patrols,” he adds looking to Bruce and Tyrek, ”Do we try t’get in t’morrow, or spend a day killing patrols first?”
"I would love kill some more patrols. I don't know, if we're in a hurry." He looks askingly at Falric.
"I can turn invisible, climb the wall with your scroll, and do some scouting and we can take it from there."
”Not a bad idea,” Wulfric nods, ”get th’lay of th’land... if there’s a plain weakness we attack right away, otherwise we look for another patrol or two today and can plan th’right spells for t’morrow...”