"Dashi do you know if it is the Kulldis tribe that is in the town now? I'm not even a real knight yet, so it seems too soon to take on the king. But, it is good to know where he is."
"Almost certainly! The howl proves it! But why would you know where the king is? They are calling to the kings men, not the king. The king is somewhere up on the mountain."
"Almost certainly! The howl proves it! But why would you know where the king is? They are calling to the kings men, not the king. The king is somewhere up on the mountain."
"Why have they suddenly entered this region?"
"I just meant the king is over there as if we avoid the mountains we likely avoid the king for the time being. Know what territory belongs to the wolves and which is the bears are valuable information."
Dashki is purplexed by Casper's statement. "Suddenly? What do you mean? The town has been occupied for some time now and the king has been in the mountains even longer."
To Lupe he responds, "Avoiding the Carrion King is a good idea. Just be glad he ISN'T in the town."
Almah chimes in with, "So you think the town is takable?"
Daski gives her a smarmy grin and replies, "With your magnificent leadership, I'm sure you will. I'm sure these heroes will get the job done."
though you suspect that Dashki thinks of it as a win/win situation whether you succeed or die trying.
Vulpina thumbs her chin. ”Routing an occupied town is an interesting concept. We will need as good a scout as we can get. I dare say we haven’t the numerical advantage, so it will be important to make sure we select our battles carefully—and retreat from any we did not pick ourselves, if the odds are against us.”
She ponders. ”Have we any preliminary idea of their numbers?”
Almah informs the group that "No idea yet. Other than the lights and howling, we know nothing. I think it would be prudent to scout and conduct raids rather than an all out assault until you have the measure of the place."
"Dashki, do they send groups out on raids? If so we can grab one a question them."
The howling overnight didn't really bother Rahella, she'd heard far worse sounds at night growing up so the howling was nothing by comparison, leaving her to sleep very well. When she awoke the next morning she went through her normal routine of preparing her spells and when that was complete she headed up to eat something and then joined the planning meeting for retaking the town.
"I agree, we need more information on what we will be facing and how many of them there are." Rahella looked at Almah and asked, "Do we have a map of the town? I know it will likely be out of date but it would be better than nothing."
Almah replies to Rahella with "No, no map, but that would be a good idea, if any of you have the skill. You can see the town from a ways off so you should be able to make one if you know what you are doing."
Dashki just snorts at Lupe's question and rolls his eyes. When Almah gives him a questioning look, he sobers up and answers authoritatively, "Undoubtable. Gnolls like slaves and loot and showing superiority to other less... physical races. If they think they can get away with it and see an opportunity, they would definitely raid. Though out here there isn't much in the way of pickings."
A slow smile spreads across Vulpina’s face.
”It just so happens that we have a high-value target available for just such ruffians.”
The whole table looks at Lady Vulpina expectantly, waiting for the shoe to drop. Graravel eyes her suspiciously, after glancing at Almah. He looks ready to squash any idea she might have in using Almah as bait.
Vulpina, with slight exasperation, gestures toward her own fine clothes.
”We have done this once before, with some success—and gnolls are likely to get closer. I simply pretend to have twisted my ankle, wail, and when the creatures come close, I fire at them from a pistol hidden beneath my person,” she explains.
"Oh."
Sarona blinks. "I suspected you would nominate me for the role."
Vulpina offers another shrug. ”How is your acting?”
"It was not a question of acting ability I was concerned with, but expendability." Sarona replies, her tone flat.
Vulpina, with slight exasperation, gestures toward her own fine clothes.
”We have done this once before, with some success—and gnolls are likely to get closer. I simply pretend to have twisted my ankle, wail, and when the creatures come close, I fire at them from a pistol hidden beneath my person,” she explains.
"That sounds like a good plan. Let us know how it turns out, why don't you?"
”Ideally, you should be waiting nearby, ready to attack,” she states, ”but I had assumed that part obvious. It would not be the first time we executed this, after all!”
Garavel watches as your team produces a plan by committee. He is obviously perplexed by the way your team operates. Finally, he decides to offer some 'helpful' advice.
"You should assign a leader and let him or her make the decision."
At Almah's suggestion of drawing a map of the town Rahella considered and then said, "I could try but I can't guarantee it would be any good."
Rahella's attention was pulled to the discussion of luring out the gnolls and the sage considered the idea of using Vulpina s bait. She was an attractive target and would be devastating with her gun. If they were nearby it could work out alright. There was another possibility though, one they hadn't yet considered, and Rahella asked, "What about trying to free one of the slaves when they are brought out to work or scouting the outskirts of the town before we do something as risky as use one of us as bait?"
At Garavel's suggestion of choosing a leader Rahella nodded and said, "That seems like a good idea but I don't think I would be a good choice."
Garavel grows more interested in the planning once he stops thinking they might want to use Almah as bait. "Well, before you can do that, you will need to do a bit of scouting. If they do bring slaves out we would need to know when and where."
Note that there are enough hills in the area that you could find a decent vantage place and observer the routine of the place with a slim chance of being seen.
*nudge*
Garavel grows more interested in the planning once he stops thinking they might want to use Almah as bait. "Well, before you can do that, you will need to do a bit of scouting. If they do bring slaves out we would need to know when and where."
Note that there are enough hills in the area that you could find a decent vantage place and observer the routine of the place with a slim chance of being seen.
Casper offers,
"I possess some skill in sleuthing, and would be willing to attempt to reconnoiter the premises of our next expedition. Does anyone else in this company possess any aptitude for such arts, and a desire to accompany me in this endeavour?"
Sarona shakes her head. "No. On both counts."
"I have already recommended our knight for the mission," reminds Vulpina, "as his size and ability to retreat from an unfriendly situation is most becoming."
"I am afraid that I have little skill in stealth nor am I that great at spotting things." Rahella looked at Lupe a moment, "I agree taht Lupe, while maybe not the sneakiest of us, is certainly the most mobile in the open."
"I'm small and fast on Wolf's back we are pretty good at not being seen."
"Then we have a plan." Sarona gets up to leave. "We should go."
Lupe, do you go scout? Do any of you set up a watch over the town? who and where (not specifically, just describe the kind of place you want to watch from).
Vulpina thinks.
"Let us create a map, first."
That sounds good. Lupe is ready to head out.
A group of you finds a place a little closer than the monastery to lurk where you can keep an eye on the town without being seen. As you leave you notice that some of the guards have been posted in the rafters of the chapel to keep watch to the north. You also notice that they have piled the mattresses from the deanery (baboon room, A15) in the nave (A1) and set them on fire. They were rather spoiled and smelly and did need to be dealt with, though the pugwampi that Dashki has attached to his staff as a battle trophy is starting to replace the foul odors being gotten rid of.
You are able to make a half decent map (see link to Ruins of Kelmarne above). You are also able to observe the following goings ons:
Lupe is not able to find out much more than that without entering the town, which would be quite dangerous. He is able to circle the town and verify that there is not much going on outside. There are old pesh fields to the north of the town and further north of that there is an old fort where the lights were coming from the night before.
Lupe grabs any material he can scavenge from the church that is basically sand color to use a makeshift ghillie suit (Circumstantial bouns?). He leaves Wolf on the backside of the closest hill and moves up the rest of the way himself. Praying for guidance as he goes.
Looking at the B1,6,7 and the bridge area.
Pick one location per stealth roll.
I'm thinking the stealth skill includes using the environment, wearing clothes that blend, and other tricks. So no bonus for using a makeshift ghillie suit. Though that is certainly good role-play to illustrate your skills in sneaking.
You slip in close enough to B1 to observe the feeding of a massive and irritable boar. It snarls at the hobgoblins, but it seems to know what side of the trough it east from, so to speak, and does not molest them.
bump
Sarona waits for Lupe to return from scouting.
No take 10 for this kind of situation.
B6: There are some large feathers around the building.
As you get closer to investigate a head pops up over the walls and stares right at you. It has the head of a slavering wolf with a rack of sharp antlers on its brow. It howls menacingly and looks poised to attack.
The rest of the party on observation duty see this play out, though the details will be pretty fuzzy due to distance and there is no way for you to intervene unless you have a way of covering a kilometer in a hurry.
I'd say about 100'. there is no direct charge lane because there are walls to the building and it is poking it's head out through the roofless top. And it looks too dangerous to take on by yourself.
Lupe jogs away trying to keep one eye on the creature once at Wolf he hops on and rides home. Once there he conveys everything he saw to anyone that will listen.
When they worked on the map Rahella provided what assistance to Vulpina that she could but wasn't able to contribute a lot to it. Mapping wasn't her thing. Once they had that finished and Lupe returned from his scouting Rahella considered what he had seen.
"Well done Lupe, thank you." Rahella looked at the group and said, "The boar and the antlered wolf disturb me. The two things that might be most helpful are the patrols, and the waterwheel." She held up one finger as she said, "It might be possible to ambush the patrols on their rounds. If we can find a good spot to wait and attack swiftly enough we may be able to kill one patrol and then retreat whittling them down a little at a time. " Rahella began to tap her lips with her finger as she thought of the water wheel and when her hand dropped said, "The water wheel is interesting and might be worth investigating. It obviously works but why and what are they using it for?"
The group gathers for a pow-wow from their vantage point overlooking the town, probably happy he did not meet the dangerous thing out in the open instead of defending it's nest. Ugly looking thing too.
While you are all discussing the findings your discussion is cut short as you are joined by the beast who does a couple of fly overs at about 300' high. As it does, it's shadow passes over Lupe and a strange sense of foreboding fills him.
This creature has a stag’s body, a hawk’s wings and talons, and the head of a slavering wolf with a rack of sharp antlers on its brow. It is 4 feet in length with a wingspan of 11 feet. It weighs 250 pounds. for more info make me a knowledge arcana roll.
Vulpina stares up at it and frowns.
"I do not suppose there was a longbow I could requisition down in that weapon repository?"
"One that will not splinter into a thousand pieces when I pull the string, I mean, of course."
You do remember seeing such weapons down there. The bowstaff should be usable, but you would need to find some strings elsewhere.
"Enemy approaching. Everyone prepare for combat." Sarona looks up into the sky to see if she can identify the beast.
Vulpina considers. "I shall return before long."
Rather than going for the rotting weapons, she goes to ask the guards/mercs.
"Might any of you have a bow I could borrow for a few moments? I was trained with a daikyu, but a Taldane longbow should do just as well."
@Sarona
You get to ask 2 questions for that roll. For what kind of questions you can ask, refer to the Knowledge Skill Success Topics slide. I put a link to this at the top of the Campaign too.
@Lady Vulpina
We are taking this in rounds for the moment. For now you may take 2 rounds of actions before I tell you whether the thing attacks or not. If it does not break out into fighting, I know what your immediate goal is!