If you are wanting to scout roll me a perception check and a stealth check, then let me know if you go North, South, or across the ford.
"They may be able to make us out if we go across the river. The Fort is probably 4 or 500ft in a straight line from the river crossing. The road through town is perhaps a quarter mile walk to get to the Fort. We would also have to get through the dead animals and crows feasting on them in the center of the village."
"Perhaps we can use the buildings in town as cover from the Fort's eyes. I will send Iodren to circle around the edge of the village and remain unseen from the fort." She speaks to her tiger to remain hidden on the edge of the village as they move forward and only come forward if she calls or he finds something out of the ordinary.
When making a plan and helping with the map she informs them of any weapons she saw the giants and spriggans wielding (if any).
She returns to her humanoid form when Quince offers the clothes. She turns down the clothes, preferring her own but happily dons a cloak. "Not really my style but if it keeps me alive it will do." she says humourously.
He smiles, "No worries. The clothes are not as important as the cloak. Some magic can twist the mind and turn you on your allies." His face tells a hint of guilt.
The elf examines the clothing laid out and picks out the cloak knowing this to be the most valuable among everything he has had seen.
For the explorer gear? It was similar to his except his was designed more with ambush in mind.
Seeing that Quince was about to examine the pelts, he joins in as well.
"Being able to tell how long ago might help us determine when these other folks moved in."
"I shall point out that, while it isn't great, few think much of creatures that are not in the humanoid perspective." Cleonora pointed out as she watched Quince and Lykan look over the skins.
"Mortals are very thoughtless when it comes to the lives of others." She added. "Believe me, I should know."
The centaur pelts are at least several weeks old, in fact nearly a month old.
"Those on the other side of the ford are likely to be hostile. But this can't stand either."
"Oh that's gross. That's really really gross. I think I'm going to throw up."
Sindri gags in a corner, and comes back a couple of minutes later.
"Yeah, mind-twisters are the worst. And wow! This cloak is way higher end than the one that I had commissioned for myself! There is some sentimental value there, but practicality must come first. The irony of the city gnome in his fancy silk ceremonial armor saying such a thing is completely lost on him.
"So... is it fireball time?"
As he talks with Delilah, "You mentioned crows and lots of rats in the food. Where is the food stores and where were the crows?"
Quince looks up with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "That would likely scare off the crows for a time. It certainly would let those in the towers know we are here."
Dinenen thanks Quince for the gift, donning the cloak for now and carrying the rest.
Then he goes on a "quick" scouting trip himself. He knows the limits of his skills, though, and tries to avoid tempting fate by getting to close to the entrenched opposition. Distance will help him avoid being spotted better than skill will.
edit:
St. John looks at the offer clothes and nods, "Thank you. I'll borrow one of these houses and change." He then moves off and switches clothes and comes back. "With that fort being up on the hill they can probably see us from the keep that overlooks the town. They certainly have a view of the other side of town. If we approach from town they will know we are coming from a long way off."
The elf eyes narrows in rage once more as he sees that the centaur pelts weren't recent. He turns away.
"I'll scout the area and return with news.." he growls as he stalks off.
Taking cover from the houses and their line of sight, he scouts further to observe the crows and beyond them.
She walks over to her tiger, the colour and style of the cloak appearing to change slightly, to be lighter and without fur. She crouches down and runs a hand through his dark orange-coat. "Skirt the edges of the village and stay hidden unless I call. Or unless you find something out of the ordinary. For this village that is. Then come find me." She goes with the others to continue scouting. This time she turns into a crow. "I'll be the one not feeding on the carcasses. Do not shoot me." She heads over the river into the village to scout and blend in.
"Well we have some buildings here lets figure out which one we want to use for shelter and make some defenses. Looks like the brewery will work it has a second story and faces the ford."
He moves to the brewery and up to the second story and looks out over the ford toward the town. He pulls from his pack near the top a lyre. The shape is less lyrical and more square then other lyres you have seen. It is chased with designs of dwarves working.
"You mind if I stick with you Quince? I'm not really cut out for sneaking or scouting really." Sindri sounds apologetic as he admits this failing on his part. Sindri casts see invisibility on himself, it will last for the next hour. "Burning my foes and healing my friends is more my game."
Looking out the window of the brewery he starts to strum the lyre in the rhythm of a dwarven work shanty. He opens his mouth to sing, "What the?" He looks off in the distance and notices a flash of sunlight in the direction of Dinenen's spell. "What's that light there."
The ravens are all over L8 and L9.
The rats are in L14.
Dinenen, I need some directions of where you are going... As no one is giving me directions of where they are going, I am going to assume you are all going into town and trying to stay hidden in the undergrowth.
The only watch towers are on the fort. You could climb on top of a building.
Dinenen does indeed get chased by the ravens as he runs back he drops a daylight spell alerting your entire group to his presence and likely anything sentient in the area.
Dinenen you got too close to the ravens... and failed your stealth check...
Lykàn sees the burst of light and sprints towards what he thinks are trees.
Upon spotting the ravens, he stays hidden to study them as much as possible.
There has to be a reason why they have gathered in such numbers.
L4 is the brewery.
Then going to a greensward which occupies the center of town. A few trees grow around an unoccupied pillory, and a well has been dug at the
southern end.
Although the 20-foot-deep well once held good drinking
water, it currently contains the decaying body of a naked
spriggan.
Lykan hides behind a tree at L7. Lykan you know that the ravens have collected for seeing it before and what Delilah said; the stables were closed and thus the animals died. Those rotting carcasses have drawn the hundreds if not thousands of ravens here.
Sure some of the ravens fly off but as the swarm builds up they chase Dinenen. Once he hits the water he is fine.
Also if you go by L6, you would notice the pit trap there. Within is Layla who is a bit out of sorts, literally stuck in the spiked pit trap.
"Well I think its safe to say that they know someone is here." He calls out. "look ready." He reaches into his pack and pulls forth a wand. He looks about to use the wand. "Not sure where all our scouts are. Though that change of light and the birds is gonna call attention." He lowers the wand as the birds drift off back to the carrion. He keeps his eyes on the towers of the fort where the sprigans and others are at.
"Hey boss, you want a distraction, we gnomes know how to make a grade A genuine distraction. Just say the word and phoom!" Sindri pantomimes an explosion, putting his whole body into the effort of it. He is obviously very excited at the prospect of learning what happened here, but the allure of exploding things in the name of Ateria was calling to his very soul.
"I was thinking of blowing up that group of crows. But I only know where Dinenen is. And I didn't want to make a bigger scene. Yet."
Most of you see Dinenen jump into the ford as the ravens chased him. As the birds left him in the water and returned to their mates and food, he slowly stood. Then he began to skirt the village, following the outer edge in a clockwise fashion. At least until you couldn't see him anymore.
Jorne knows he could be out scouting but is choosing to stay beside Cleo. He walks around with her thus also with Quince. At Quince's order he pulls another arrow from his quiver and lines it up to his bow...
Time passes, rounds, minutes. "Lord Commander, I still don't see anything."
Oh, Layla! I forgot about her and the descriptive piece of her falling into a pit. Just to prove I'm not perfect, I guess.
Spotting her, Dinenen will ask "Are you free, or are you stuck? I can get a rope down there, but I need to know whether I'm climbing down or simply helping you up.? If he's climbing down, he'll need to anchor a rope somewhere nearby (knotted rope and climber's kit in pack, so he should have the tools handy, if there's a spot to do the securing . . .). If she's climbing up on her own, he'll set himself up to belay. I THINK he's going to have to climb down, cautiously (16 with a take 10), to try to help her free herself from the spikes, without impaling himself, of course.
Quince nods, "Hopefully whatever is at the fort there on the far side of town didn't see the light and didn't think much of the crows."
Quince puts the wand he had drawn out away and picks up the square angled lyre. "Let's get settled here. Keep eyes on the village on the other side of the ford if any of our scouts run into more trouble we might need to respond." He starts to strum on the lyre. "Knowing we might have hostiles over there I am going to set some defenses." He continues to strum on the Lyre in the style of a dwarven work shanty. He lets out a blast of tenor, "Hiiiiii Hooooooo. . . " Just when those gathered with him in the second floor of the brewery watching across the ford think his behavior out of sorts there is an answer to his song in the deep timbre of dwarves, "Hiiiiiii Hooooo" the sound of large group of dwarves singing and working in the space before the brewery. At certain angles you glimpse the subtle notion of a shoulder, beard or swinging pickaxe moving about the area. A nigh invisible team of phantom dwarves starts to make an earthwork rise before the brewery leaving a gap where the trail from the brewery leads to the main road through town.
Whole day through
To dig dig dig dig dig dig dig is what we really like to do"
Slowly over the next stretch of time a trench and then a rise behind it stretches from the river Southwest of the Brewery in a horseshoe around the brewery back to the river Northeast of the Brewery with a gap that the trail from the brewery to the main road crosses through.
"It ain't no trick to get rich quick
If you dig dig dig with a shovel or a pick
In a mine! In a mine! In a mine! In a mine!
Where a million diamonds shine!"
Materials from fencing and even the other buildings starts to be dismantled and stuck into the earthworks logs and beams cut to points making a rudimentary defensive wall.
Some of the material starts to form a gate across the road. Little more than a heavy farm gate but the spikes on the outward edge give it an imposing aire.
"We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night
We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight
We dig up diamonds by the score
A thousand rubies, sometimes more
But we don't know what we dig 'em for
We dig dig dig a-dig dig
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho"
An area on the second floor in the Brewery becomes a scene of work as well. A stair starts to rise in the corner up to the ceiling then the parts of the ceiling are cleared away and lead up through the ceiling. On the topside of the trap door at the top of the stairs is a ten by ten landing built into the structure of the brewery giving limited cover and a place to shoot arrows from.
Spotting her, Dinenen will ask "Are you free, or are you stuck? I can get a rope down there, but I need to know whether I'm climbing down or simply helping you up.? If he's climbing down, he'll need to anchor a rope somewhere nearby (knotted rope and climber's kit in pack, so he should have the tools handy, if there's a spot to do the securing . . .). If she's climbing up on her own, he'll set himself up to belay. I THINK he's going to have to climb down, cautiously (16 with a take 10), to try to help her free herself from the spikes, without impaling himself, of course.
Dinenen, does indeed need to go help her get free. He does not fall in, though the spikes did a doozie on her, at least two of them impaled her. It takes a good 15 minutes for Dinenen to do it all on his own.
St. John watches Quince perform for a bit and then gets back to keeping watch on the other half of the town, trying to ignore the magic going on.
When the swarm of crows chase Dinenen she follows to make sure he gets away safely, ready to aid if necessary, but things turn out ok.
She also tells him of Lilya and goes with him to the pit trap to help Lilya. Lilya, it is Delilah. We will get you free. Try not to move."
"Dinenen, if you lift her, I will see that her wounds close over so she doesn't bleed out." She will cast as Dinenen lifts her off the spikes.
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Sindri loudly and energetically adds his voice to Quince's tune!
He's a little flat, but he has the spirit.
...Diggy diggy hole, Digging a hooooolee!"
Sindri loudly and energetically adds his voice to Quince's tune!
[dice=Aid another perform]1d20+5 He's a little flat, but he has the spirit....Diggy diggy hole, Digging a hooooolee!"
Over the next half hour, a trench is formed around the brewery.
Dinenen and Delialah help Lilya from the pit trap and get her to the brewery. Jorne and Cleonora meet you at the brewery door and help get the wounded woman into the building.
Then Dinenen heads out again to begin scouting...
Lycan and Dinenen return soon after the trench is built. They report just a few individuals in the fort. One small one in the main tower, one in the watch tower over the gate, the large one with four wolves. Likely there is more but neither of them entered the fort.
Lykàn heads back to report and then informs the rest of his intention to further scout the area.
"We'll need to see if there's another approach. I'll check to see if we can hit the fort from another angle and show those destroyers the anger of nature!"
When Layla comes in Quince looks concerned. "What happened?"
Quince smiles at Lykan's approach, "Sounds good, So help me fill in the gaps." He points to his map laid out on a table in the brewery. He listens and makes some notes and adds detail to the map.
After Layla is taken care of she flies back over the river and has a closer look inside some of the buildings.
She moans out and says, "I found the pit trap and disarmed it with my body!" The sarcasm is likely lost at the moment. She just lies where they put her down on the floor. "Its not as bad as it looks, I should be able to sleep it off." Blood is welled up and stains most of her clothes. Though no blood wells up below her.
If you take a moment to check her, her wounds are closed but are still very red. She is hurt pretty badly but you don't think she will die at least from those wounds.
A two-story inn stands just off the village commons. A sign
above the door depicts a rider clinging to the back of a madly
galloping horse with a green mane and a fish’s tail extending
from its hindquarters. The inn’s walls are painted a cheerful
shade of yellow to complement the red shutters.
The first thing you notice upon approaching
the front door of the inn is a single word hastily
scratched into the wood of the front door in
Common—“NOMEN.”
The inn is simple but well kept. Its first
floor consists of a common room (whose tables are still set
with rotting plates of food), a kitchen, a bathing chamber,
and stores, along with a wing for likely a family. The
second floor consists of six guest rooms, all of which save
one were unoccupied at the time the population vanished.
Perhaps the most unusual feature of
the Waterhorse is its sole, doomed
occupant—a giant-sized spriggan
that stands, silent and perfectly
still, facing a paper-strewn table
in the corner of the common room,
one hand clutching a book. The back
of the spriggan’s skull is a shattered
mess of blood and bone, though his
face betrays no notice of this mortal
wound. A shimmering nimbus of amber
surrounds the spriggan’s unmoving form.
Book in its hand: Secrets of the Rashalka Mounds, by Ernst Gavinport
Books, papers, ink, and inkpens remain
on the table in the corner; they include several books with
titles like Iobarian Prehistory, The Centaur Skyles of Central
Casmaron, The Untold Heritage of the Taldan Armies of
Exploration, and the aforementioned Secrets of the Rashalka
Mounds. Among these works is an incomplete ethnography
of the indigenous tribes of the Iobarian steppes—Pendrod
was working on a section on the Rashalka centaurs and
speculated that a local tribe called the Nomens is an
offshoot of the greater Rashalka population that broke
away and relocated to the area of Varnhold at some time
in the distant past. Mixed in with the books are a number
of charcoal sketches of a heavy jade bracelet
bearing peculiar markings that Maestro Pendrod has attributed to the pre- migration Nomen centaurs.
At the bottom of the stack sits a letter
dated 2 months ago from Maegar Varn
and addressed to Maestro Pendrod. This
letter describes Willas’s discovery of the
jade “bracelet” on the banks of a “river of
local provenance” and requests Pendrod’s
presence for further study of the artifact.
The “bracelet” itself, however, is nowhere
to be found.
A search of the inn’s guest rooms reveals
that only one of them was inhabited at the
time of the vanishing. An investigation of
the personal effects that remain indicate its
occupant was Ervil Pendrod. Among the more mundane
possessions in his travel trunk is a small library of further
reference works. These tomes seem to be of less immediate
relevance to his current work,
The name “Vordakai” is a difficult one to recognize,
but a DC 40 Knowledge (history) check is enough to recall!
-----
The inn’s till holds 37 gp, 52 sp, and 114 cp.
Maestro Pendrod’s collection of books could be sold to a bookdealer, returned to the Kitharodian Academy, kept for research,
His masterwork viola, recognizable as the work of the master craftsman
Azores of Wispil, can be found beneath his bed.
"Yes, Layla, you did, sadly enough."
After a moment he'll turn to Quince. "I should report. Didn't see anything new about the structures, but we're in some luck. On the whole, the guards are bored. They are in place, but have been watching the same undisturbed scene for long enough they no longer fear something unexpected. Sneaking up will be easier than it should. Didn't really see anything else of note. Did find their rubbish heap, and it is possible there's something useful within, but it is awfully close to those damnable birds."
"I think birds will be easy to deal with but dealing with them without the enemy knowing that might be a problem. I think the earlier run in with the birds and the flash of light might have tipped them off. Though you think they are bored so maybe not. So have we any idea of what might have happened. Any sign that the spriggans are responsible for the missing folk, signs of prisoners?"
He looks around, "Well we need to keep an eye on things. Which is why I added the roof top access. And it does no good to have a gate if no one mans it. We should set up a rotation." He points to the added stairs and trap door in the Brewery that leads to roof top deck in the corner of the building facing the town. "Is Katrina still around . . . was she going to cook up some of that boar? That's not the only thing we have to eat but we don't want it to go to waste. Unless we don't want to risk a fire? Once all the scouts make it back we can make more concrete plans.
Over the next little while Quince finds the kitchen in the brewery or raids some of the houses for dishes and such. He sets up a cauldron in the main room of the brewery. The pot gets warm without a fire and he pours a little in a few bowls. He takes them to anyone keeping look out or watching the gate first. And then to everyone else. [b]"Its simple faire at least till we get the boar cooked."