"Sorry Omari - I am not ok with that. There is no reason to arrest him" - Roryx shrugs - "As far as we can tell, he has done nothing wrong"
"I have seen more clean rats" comments Ohrmizd as he finishes inspecting Dashki "Although I have started to suspect Kurrelak is stealing oils and perfume from Haleen"
"Well, I can guess we can throw him into a cell for him to sober up. Here is no place for him to stay" the Keleshite softly kicks the unconscious gnoll-expert "I do like your idea about rewarding him with extra drinks once he recovers consciousness", he adds with a tilted smile.
"Anyway, are we convinced now to rush to the Pale Mountain? Or you do trust Dashki is right about what is going on with the gnoll tribes and you prefer to wait here and continue with our daily stuff" Ohrmizd checks his travel supplies, giving the idea he prefers to make the way to the House of the Beast.
"Throw him into a cell why? He has caused absolutely no trouble" - Roryx insists.
"Anyway, are we convinced now to rush to the Pale Mountain? Or you do trust Dashki is right about what is going on with the gnoll tribes and you prefer to wait here and continue with our daily stuff" Ohrmizd checks his travel supplies, giving the idea he prefers to make the way to the House of the Beast.
"I guess you are right Ohrmizd" - the half-orc nods - "I would not say rush, but yes, seems it is time to go"
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"I dont Think it is a question of him having done something wrong, but about the safety of Kelmarane."
"Dashki has told us himself that he is send here to make sure we stay at Kelmarane. You might be right and ut meant nothing, but if you are wrong we will be on the back of the pale mountain with a pack of gnolls looking for us."
"And I do not believe what we offer is a really bad deal for Dashki."
"Just to protect him from someone stealing him all his belongings, or for him acting violently on some stuff when he wakes up" Ohrmizd kicks again the reeking body.
"Ohrmzid, quit kicking the unconscious guy - you wouldn't like it if it was you on the floor, and what goes around comes around."
Omari turns to Roryx and continues "That said Roryx, the words drunk and disorderly do come to mind. Arrest is better than what would happen to you in Katapesh , getting passed out drunk like this, you'd be lucky to find yourself press-ganged as a galley slave."
"Guys" - Roryx looks around, adamant - "I will not put Dashki under arrest with fall pretenses" - he grunts - "But you are right, we will not just leave him passed out in the middle of the street. So I will get the guards to get him to prison until he is sober. And will let them know he has a tab at the bar from us. Good enough?"
Ohrmizd looks down at the body and shrugs, avoiding to kick it again.
"That seems like a good compromise Roryx. Good for me" the man will help collect Dashki if needed "We can get ourselves in our way like we were before the gnoll-expert made his appearance"
It was an odd spectacle to witness, but in the end Heshan merely shrugged.
"What is clear is that we need information regarding the gnoll tribes' intentions more than anything. We will see which story is true in the end."
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Dashki is placed in an unlocked cell, with the guards instructed how to take care of Dashki. Kurrelak gets orders, to make sure Dashki doesn't run dry.
Then the group leaves town as per the original plan. The travel to pale mountrain takes two days. Along the river the path is level and walking is easy. taking care not to make too much noise in the valleys where every shout would echo off the mountains you avoid drawing unwanted attention. For the night you set camp in a group of large bushes and without a fire. This way you arrive undisturbed at the House of the Beast in the late afternoon of the second day.
Like a child’s sandcastle carelessly placed before hungry waves that lap against shore, the forgotten temple rests, nestled in the crags of the Pale Mountain. Its crumbling spires and domes bask in the pale grayish glow of the alien twilight of the mountain skies. The scope of such a creation seems implausible in such a remote location, yet it isn’t hard to question why one might choose such a spectacular setting. Indeed, it seems unlikely that there exists another so close to the realm of the gods.
Among the broken stones and empty fountains, dry thorny shrubs poke through packed clay soil sprinkled with shards of bone. The temple would almost appear deserted if not for the ominous feeling of dread and the few dozen gory warnings hung upon the outer walls; headless bodies thick with swarms of black flies.
Ohrmizd passes the nights on trip trying to avoid snoring too loud, for fear of his friends more than a gnoll attack. Every morning, he will wake up at daybreak to observe silently the first rays of the Sun breaking the outline of the mountains, and there knelt he praises for Sarenrae's forgiveness "I know I am far from a perfect follower. Please give me temperance, both for my enemies as much as for my friends"
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Observing impressed both the tall peak of the Pale Mountain and the ruined domes of the House of the Beast, Ohrmizd whistles impressed "Wow, no surprise the gods are doing their stuff in this side of Katapesh"
"The place seems as dry as an old cloister nun. But we better advance with caution" Ohrmizd will make a far away assessment of the defenses and most frequented paths of the temple.
As you approach the structure Ohrmizd notices another group doing so from a different direction. A large gnoll accompanied by four normal sized gnolls, coming towards the ruins.
It an impressive site to say the least. Heshan spent some time to marvel it all before Ohrmizd responded. "It truly is nice and all. Although a little more rain here wouldn't hurt much."
"We need to stay out of sight" - Roryx moves behind a boulder, calling Swiper to him.
"We have found it! Let us be cautious here. The blessings that Erastil has given me are for scouting and travelling, not assault. Instead, let us circle the temple at a distance, and see what we can spot for sentries. Then we can make a hidden camp and assault with the dawn."
Omari (and Kheldron!) join Roryx behind the boulder. Omari cast an anxious glance back at the temple, to see if any sentries are observing the action.
5 ranks +2 wis +2 racial
"Well, it looks like Dakshi was onto something about the Carrion King making bigger, stronger gnolls - that one's a brute!"
He put an arrow on the string, and prepares to send Kheldron into battle for the first time. "We should take them now, defeat in detail!"
"Hide, quickly, the sentries will see a battle!"
Ohrmizd raises a hand and points towards the approaching gnolls "Look, there is a group approaching from there. That gnoll is a brute"
Sheathing the scimitar and loading the sling, Ohrmizd hides behind the stones of the Pale Mountain as well "Do you have any resource that might block them from running towards the temple once we start the attack?"
"Even if not, I think there is more to gain from attacking hard now and without delay. Even if we fail to attack hard enough to drop them before they can alarm the temple, any of them we can remove now is one less to face once we start to go into the ruins..." Ohrmizd makes a pause and remarks "For whatever we do, at some moment we will have to face the temple and we will know we are here. Having a few less gnolls to fight can only be good"
The Keleshite casts guidance on himself "Sarenrae, guide my judgement"
”You are joking, right Ohrmizd? IF they realize they are being attacked somehow and decide to encroach, we will never enter the place at all”
"What do we do then? We just wait here and lose the opportunity?" Ohrmizd stands, sling at hand, tense "Every second we doubt is a second more they approach to the defense of those walls"
The mountain range is far and wide and the gnolls are some hundred yards away and won't cross the path with the group at all. The built structures are still some fifty yards away.
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Letting his gaze flow over the ruined temple and its grisly decorations Manuun remarks: "Looks like they are not interested in welcoming visitors any time soon."
[ooc]Obviously I dont see more than Ohrmizd.
"I see wjhy you want to defeat them now, but we will not be able to do so, without the people in the temple noticing. Maybe they wont be looking, but if they are we have put us in the middle between both forces, which sounds very unpleasant place to be."
[ooc]Manuun is torn between both possible plans.
"I don't know how you can live with having the right spells for the job," Heshan shook his head at Omari.
When things were getting tense, he stepped up to intervene. "I have invisibility. We can sneak up there without the threat of being caught to see their strength. Then we can decide whether to attack or not."
Confirming the unwillingness of the group, Ohrmizd relaxes the grip on the sling and sits behind the boulder "Well, I can obviously not do this alone"
There, he sits to see how the gnolls arrive to the protection of the temple "I guess the plan is to wait here for a few days to gather patrol patterns, etc. But even if Heshan makes us invisible all, they will have similar chances to notice us after the first strike, whichever it is. At one time or another, we will have to take the risk and be bold"
"We should start by scouting out the exterior of the place - perhaps there are side tunnels, or avenues of ingress less exposed, less protected, or even less used" - Roryx points out - "One of those can be a better way to gain access"
The gnolls move on to the premises and go straight to the largest structure and enter the building.
"Good. Let's try out" Ohrmizd tries to help the group figure out where to start exploring for side alleys "We should probably stick together for safety"
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You sneak up to the premises, carefully looking not to be caught. At the corner you enter two small minarets guard the entrance of a low stone structure topped with the ruins of a small dome. Centuries of mountain winds have sand-blasted the western faces of the minarets to a smooth, polished finish, while the eastern sides facing the temple walls still bear illegible traces of ancient icons and calligraphy.
Some humans in rags are 'hiding' in the tower. They are not very good at it though.
As we are taking our time to plan here, and neither Omari nor Khedron is stealthy, he stays under cover behind the boulder and carefully and thoroughly observes the outer wall locations for sentries...
"Huh? I was too busy noticing how wonderful those writings look."
At least the people were easier to spot, and he gave them a warm smile.
"In addition, what is your opinion on them?"
Currently there is one gnoll patrol erratically moving over and around the premise. It consists of five gnolls - none of the giant kind.
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Inside the tower - Most duck away some more, but one speaks up "We are slaves that managed to flee from the gnolls. But we can't get away, because they are searching for us."
Roryx keeps an eye out for the patrol of gnolls running around the place.
"How many are they, and how did they manage to escape?" - he nods at Manuun, regarding the slaves.
Swiper senses the hushed tones all around, and stands huddled close to the half-orc.
"We are five here. But there are much more slaves that didn't escape. There is a tribe of Troglodytes here that had a fight with the gnolls. In the commotion we were able to escape."
Now that sounded interesting and his hand reached his chin in response.
"Do you know why those two tribes are feuding at the moment?"
"No. I don't speak gnoll, or troglodyte."
"First, If we eliminated the roving patrol, do you think your group could make it's way down the river to Kelmarane? Second, what do you know about this complex? Anything you can tell us might be useful..."
Also,
5 ranks +3 trained +2 wis
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"There are gnolls everywhere in the mountains, and we have only these rags and no weapons. We can't go alone." the man explains.
"The big building in the center has two large entrances, but the one to the south is never used and rusted shut. The western entrance is guarded and something is wrong with the strairs. One of ours stepped through a stair into something painful. No one saw what exaclty it was."
"Past that is a ring around the centre, whatever there is, and a stair down into a large dome, that connects many of the underground areas. North of it is the area where the slaves are held."
"Below that dome is some ceremony chamber and the Carrion Kings throne in a chamber to the west."
"The other buildings are the lopsided tower over there, with horrible looking stonestatues that come to life. Then the outer gatehouse with the troglodytes. The three minarettes, where that horrible huge spider lives. The east gate, where gnolls on mutant hyenas guard the passage. And a giant snake in the domed building. You see: We can't go anywhere. There is only death waiting for us. You have to lead us out of here." the man begs.
Ohrmizd approaches the slaves and tries to calm their pain with at least some basic treatments "Do not worry, the Dawnflower is giving you a second chance, and we will not let you down"
"You talked about a war between gnolls and troglodytes... did you understand who won? Or if the war is still going on?" the Keleshite starts to bandage the man that was injured in the stairs while looking at their eyes.
"Another thing... where are those stairs taking?" Ohrmizd points down to the partially buried stairs in the tower.
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"The big building in the center has two large entrances , ...
"The other buildings are the lopsided tower over there ... Then the outer gatehouse with the troglodytes. The three minarettes, ... The east gate, ... the domed building ...
"Do the troglodytes and/or the gnolls check on the other buildings and creaturs in this ruin from time to time? How long have you escaped slaves been able to hide here, for example?"
"It's not a war. They are both here as long as I know. But now they don't talk anymore."
"The gnolls don't care much about the other buildings. Most are inhabited and some of those inhabitants would fur sure eat a gnoll if they got one."
"We're here the second day."
"The stairs could end in the gnoll dungeon. It is bigger than the building you see above ground. But I can't tell where."
"Eat a gnoll? Just how many other kind of creatures are there in this place," Heshan asked, slightly astonished.
"If that is the case we can probably ignore the buildings where there are no gnolls, and focus on the ones where they live" Ohrmizd smiles looking at the group "The stairs seem promising. On the current state it seems like the gnolls do not know of their existence. That means they either finish at a dead end, or they reach a concealed place of the dungeon. Which might give us the opportunity to go down, strike, then retreat without they knowing where we came from"
"What do you think? Would you like to explore where the stairs lead?" Ohrmizd mainly looks at Omari, knowing he is the one who comes more often with strategic plans.
"If that is the case we can probably ignore the buildings where there are no gnolls, and focus on the ones where they live" Ohrmizd smiles looking at the group "The stairs seem promising. On the current state it seems like the gnolls do not know of their existence. That means they either finish at a dead end, or they reach a concealed place of the dungeon. Which might give us the opportunity to go down, strike, then retreat without they knowing where we came from"
"What do you think? Would you like to explore where the stairs lead?" Ohrmizd mainly looks at Omari, knowing he is the one who comes more often with strategic plans.
[dice=K. local (to know what languages speak local troglodytes)]1d20+1
"Sounds a lot easier to deal with than the previous group," Heshan grinned.
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" I think if we are careful about the roving patrol, we could hit the spider, the "statues" (which I suspect are gargoyles), and/or the snake without alerting the gnolls and have a safe place to rest in the lair afterwards, because no-one bugs them."
"I think thats a great idea. We only need to be sure to avoid the Patrol.
Which leave the question, where we want to go. Gargoyles are flying enemies, but otherwise we should be able to hurt them.Snakes and spider can be anything, I am a bit hesitant when the gnolls are afraid of them they might be even bigger than that cobra we defeated in Kelmarane."
"My vote is to start the underground exploration" - Roryx pipes in - "We would automatically be out of sight, which is an immediate advantage"
To the escaped slaves he adds with a whisper - "Do you have any food or water? Our exploration of the area may take us a few days... Do you have any means to aid your subsistence?"
"I was thinking of going after the spider for we dealt nice with them at Nethys temple, and we have strong archers among us" Ohrmizd smiles at Manuun and Omari "But the statues seems as a good starting plan all the same"
"I do agree with Roryx, we should start the underground exploration with this stairs as soon as possible, but getting that safe resting spot place seems as a good way to go"
Omari addresses both the refugees and the party : "Is this place more active at night? What do we know about these troglodytes and about gnolls? Are they nocturnal?"
Turning to the tactical discussion, he says "I hesitate to rush down these stairs. If we are tracked retreating back up, we lead our enemies directly to the refugees here... Thus, retreat becomes much less of an option.
It appears the gnolls are quite sloppy about patrolling, so we are unlikely to get caught if we raid the out-buildings during daylight, if we can keep the noise down. Then perhaps see if we can negotiate with the troglodytes this evening - perhaps offering them a dead giant snake for food and control of the complex here after the gnolls are defeated. But that does come back to what we know about the troglodytes? Do we even know how to speak to them?"