Sobok leads the party to the old stone temple, now claimed by the so-called Bastards of Erebus. You pause amid the ruins some distance away, to scope the place out, before approaching any closer. The small bell tower rising from the south-eastern corner of the building is easily the tallest point in the immediate area, and commands an unobstructed view over the surrounding ruins. A large, bronze bell hangs still and silent atop the tower, engraved with a bow and arrow motif, which you would recognise as being the holy symbol of Erastil (god of family & hunting).
The bottom 3ft of the temple walls are mortared stone, the rest is old wood, covered by a clay tile roof. There are several tall, narrow windows approximately 4ft of the ground. Those that aren't broken are too grimy to see through. The sturdy front door is made of wood, carved with rustic scenes of hunters, elk and rolling farmland. The door is currently closed.
Oh, and there's also a lookout stationed in the bell tower.
Sobok looks around as they go.
Noticing some strange hounds he says, "Something is off about how those dogs are acting.". Sobok wonders if some magic is controlling them or if they are drugged in some way.
Fliss doesn't really have much business in the Rego Cader and rarely enters it. Not that you'd know that from the way she swaggers in like she owns the place. She nods as Sobok points out the doggies. "Right. Right. If you look closer, not that I'd advise that, you'll see that they're skellies. Someone's been working the old necro-whatsit on them. Oh yeah, and there's a lookout up there. No, in the bell tower. Let's all try and stay out of sight, yeah?"
"Eh, good eye, Fliss. We need ta not spook them skelly dogs. If'n we do, that lookout will have lots o' warning time for whoever they are ta prep fer us."
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As Dominic finishes speaking to Fliss, he realises that she has buggered off! A moment later, he spots a small, red-headed figure creeping up to the base of the bell tower.
Fliss is too used to opertating by herself, and big folk are loud. She pulls up the hood of her cloak and moves away even as Dom is still talking. Her eyses are fixed on the target at the top of teh bell tower. If they shout an alarm, everthing just gets that bit more difficult. She looks up at the tower. No sweat. She can do this. She's done toughter than this. Hand over hand, she starts her climb up...
"skellie dogs, skellie dogs, what are they feeding you? She hums the tune faintly under her breath, to keep her spirits up and her midn off the fact that it's a looong way to fall.
Hand over hand over hand, she speeds up the side of the tower. There are lots of handholds if you knwo where to look and don't weigh that much. She gest up to the roof easily, and keeps climbing...
"skellie dogs, skellie dogs, it's not your fault..."
Here it's less easy going, but still a comparative doddle. She gets to the top, arms a bit stiff but hardly out of breath, a wide grin on her face. She creeps twoards the guard on her bare feet...
Damn, she's good, she humbly admits to herself. The skellie dogs below are makeing more noise than she is.
Arms aching, Fliss reaches the top of the bell tower. A solitary tiefling thug stands watch, a loaded crossbow nestled in the crook of her arm, as her keen eyes roam the neighbouring rooftops for suspicious activity. She seems restless and changes position every few minutes. She is wearing light leather armour, and a studded bludgeon hangs from a hook on her belt. The large bell is rocked gently by the wind, the supporting ropes groaning under the weight. Glancing down, Fliss can see a flight of wooden stairs spiralling down the inside of the tower.
"Ah... the youth today. So impetuous... I should prolly go after her..."
He starts that way...
Catching movement in her peripheral vision, the tiefling lookout atop the bell tower looks down from her vantage point and spots an old, grey haired human breaking from cover amid the surrounding ruins.
"The f$%% is this clown doing?" she mutters grimly, stepping up to the edge of the walkway and sighting down the length of her crossbow. Technically, she has orders to ring the bell as soon as she spots anything untoward, but this is just one old man with a deathwish. She'll try to maim him with a shot to the leg, then wait for the boss' skeletal wolves to return and tear the old fool apart.
Fliss (qiuetly) facepalms as she sees Dom break cover. Bigfoklk just don't get stealth, she decides. The sound of the crossbow being cocked changes things. Fliss isn't a mruderer. She's killed before, but only people who were trying to kill her back. Her plan was to knock this sentry out, stop her from raising the alrm. But now she's pointing a crossbow, all bets are off.
She creeps closer, utnil she's almost standing next to her victim. But her choice of weapoin is not a knife, or the rapier than hangs from her belt. She raises both her hands and mutters some words in Infernal. Her eyes breifly glow with hellish light as a black, barbed metal thorn appears from nowhere and streaks towards her target. A second or two later, another one follows.
So I'm taking 2 actions here which gives me -2 to the roll, but I get +2 to the roll for surprise. using spellcasting to cast bolt twice (1 PP each). Giving each bolt AP 2 because the target is wearing armour (1 PP per bolt). Spengind 4 PP total.
(Fell free to check my working btw, I'm new to this!)
FRIST ACTION
4 is a hit, I think.
Blech. Using a Benny to reroll damage
So taht's 4 to hit, and a 7 for damage (AP 2)
SECOND ACTIN
So taht's a 5 to hit, and a 12 for Damage (AP 2)
MWG is startled by the impetuous actions of her comrades, but sighing to herself, she follows after Dominic.
= 9
Dominic and MWG cover the open ground to the temple facade. The wolf skeletons are not presently in view, but it's only a matter of time before their patrol route brings them back around. You've already witnessed Fliss scale the exterior wall of the bell tower , although there may well be alternate means to enter the Bastard's lair.
Sobok heads after the others.
Sobok is stealthy as he gets to the wall and looks to try and climb.
Sobok's claws gouge deep furrows in the crumbling mortar, but he successfully hauls himself up onto the clay tile roof of the old temple.
Sobok completes his climb to the top of the tower.
At teh last minute - last *second* - Fliss changes her mind, and the barbed metal shafts that would hav taekn this luckless setrie's life materialse instead with blunt ends. They still strike with bone-crushing force, the first crakcing ribs and teh second one knocking her out. Without wasting time, Fliss hurries frowards and uses the tiefling's oen belt to tie her up as she loots any valuables (hey, finders keepers, amirite?). She looks over the top of the bell towar down at the otehrs, waving them to come up. An attack from up here is the last thing they'll be expecting, she hopes.
When teh sentry wakes up a bit later, Fliss has her dagger at the woman's throat. "Make too much noise an it'll be tthe last thing yer do, get it? Good. So why not tell me a bit about waht I'll find down there?
"I'll talk. Easy with the blade, alright? There are another four guys in the room beneath us. Since the wolves patrol outside, they'll most likely be slacking off. The boss will be below, in the crypt. I've not been down there. I swear, that's all I know! "
"Well, up we a go..."
He's a little clumsy but makes his way up.
FLiss nods. The info is better tahn nothing, even if it's not complete. "Ok, fair's fair. When we're done here I'll come back and let yer go. But, one girl to anonther, make better choices, will yer?"
She grins at Sobok and Dom as they clibmb up to join her. "Took yer tiem, I almost wnet in without yer!"" She jerks her tubm back to the prisnor. "She says there's four dwon there, plus the boss. Should be easy."
MWG looks up the tall tower and sighs again...
= 9
= 8
The party regroup at the top of the bell tower. You have a clear, panoramic view of the Rego Cader, a desolate grey sprawl of crumbling ruins, enclosed on three sides by a long, unbroken wall. The eastern edge of the district borders the bank of the Dhaenflow river and is quite badly flooded. Sobok would know there is a small community of lizardfolk living amid the waterlogged wreckage.
The sun is beginning to dip toward the western horizon. It took longer navigating the labyrinthine streets than you would have liked. Better get this done quick, the last thing you need is to be caught out after dark, when the shadow beasts come out to play....
Dom glances up. "Best hurry, or we'll be spendin' da night here.."
He will start (hopefully stealthily) down....
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Creaky wooden steps descend 40ft from the belfry, to a small, square room with a single exit (wooden door, closed, unlocked) into the temple itself. As Dom creeps down the stairs, he hears (loud, slurred) voices drifting from beyond the closed door.
"Did you hear what happened to Vethmer?"
"No. Why, did something happen?"
"I just said it did, didn't I? By Mammon's balls, why don't you listen?!"
"So what happened?"
"The boss sent him and Ostengo to rob some dwarven weaponsmith in the Rego Laina. Only, they ain't so quiet and they wake up the owner. Down he comes, still in his dressing gown, swinging a great f@+$-off axe, right into the side of Vethmer's skull!"
"You shitting me right now?! Vethmer's dead?!"
"Dead as f@#$ing Aroden, but listen, cos it gets better. So there's Vethmer, with his head all hacked up like a grapefruit, and Ostengo sees this and goes f+#&ing mental. I mean, Vethmer was his brother, right? So he grabs this dwarf by the beard and drags him over to the forge, holds the guy's head down against the anvil and smashes it apart with his own bloody hammer!"
"Ha! Classic Ostengo! Wish I could have seen that."
"Are you two gonna' gab all day, or are you gonna' deal?"
"Yeah, alright, alright...." (followed by sound of cards being shuffled and wooden tokens being moved around)
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Fliss narrows her eyes as she listsens to them joke about murder. She gieves a one=shoulder shrug. "Oh well. Tehre goes mercy" she remakrs to nobody in particular. She walks into the room like she owns it and stabs the closest enemy with her rapier. "So killings funny, is it? Laughing now, are yer?"
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The door opens into what was once the main worship room, a large rectangular space taking up the entire ground floor of the temple. Long wooden pews have been pushed aside to make room for several wooden tables and a dozen matching chairs. Steps behind the altar lead down into the catacombs beneath the ground. Four tiefling thugs are seated around one of these tables, playing cards to kill some time before their next robbery/homicide. They look up in surprise as Fliss bursts into the room and starts stabbing the dealer in the back, over and over... and over again. He slumps forward across the table (very dead!), spilling bloodstained cards and wooden chips across the floor. The remaining three tieflings push away from the table and draw their weapons! Simultaneously, a small, vicious dog rises from its bed of smelly rags beside the door, and starts snapping at Fliss' ankles!
"Who the heck is this then?" one of the thugs asks, gesturing toward Fliss with his knife, "Oh my god, she killed Kenny! You'll pay for that, you little b$%**!"
Sobok calls upon his powers to protect himself and then moves into the room and walks up to the thief with the mace.
Dom curses. "This one's going to be a problem.." He charges in, axe and shield ready. Unless he is behind the others Dom goes for the crossbow guy. If he is, he'll go for the closest one.
I plan to always go DC 5 for the improved armor.
"She's not alone!" yells tiefling-with-crossbow, as Sobok and Dom charge into the fray, "Someone warn the B-urk!!"
Tiefling-with-crossbow grunts as Dominic slashes him across the chest, cutting through his light armour . Tiefling-with-knife takes a step back, glancing over his shoulder to the stairs leading down into the crypt.
"I can see we're going to have to have a talk about planning our attacks..." MWG thinks to herself.
MWG will run if needed to get to the doorway leading to the stairs :
And attack the nearest foe :
If that hits :
= 11
The closest opponent happens to be tiefling-with-crossbow. The thug is already reeling from Dom's attack, and MWG is able to finish him while he is still shaken.
Fliss effortlesly swishes her rapier through the air like a conductor's baton, flicking the blood off the blade. She stares at the knife-teifling who seems to be having second thought. "Going somewhere?" Her eyes seeem to glow with an infernal red for a moment, as a burst of hellfire flashes in front of his face, dazing him.
Tiefling-with-mace swings his studded club at Sobok, as the armoured lizardman draws near.
Tiefling-with-knife is Shaken and Vulnerable following Fliss' threat.
Tiefling-with-knife stumbles backward, tripping over his own feet and steadying himself against the altar. He keeps his (trembling) dagger pointed at Fliss, as though trying to ward of an evil spirit.
"You've got no idea who you're messing with!" he cries, his gaze fluttering between Fliss' glowing eyes and the steps down into the crypt, "The Boss is connected! You've got no idea who you're picking a fight with!"
Meanwhile, the small, vicious dog seizes this opportunity to bite Fliss.
Fliss smirks at the tiefling's boast. "Yeah? Connected how? Tell me more, Mr Knifeman who's running away scared." She frowns in annoyance as the dog keeps nipping at her. "STOP that, will yer?!" Without taking her eyes off the teifling, she swats at the animal with the flat of her blade, hoping to drive it off.
Only it doesn't quite work out like that.
"Well, sh-"
Since Fliss is pointedly not looking down at the small, vicious dog, she doesn't see it jump up and sink its teeth into the side of her hand, hard enough to draw blood. She definitely feels it though, and the rapier slips from her fingers and clatters away across the floor.
Sobok swings his warhammer at the fellow in front of him.
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MWG, who's been guarding the doorway to the stairs, decides to take care of Tiefling-with-dagger before he reaches her, by throwing a shuriken :
Doing
= 25
Which hits him in the head and *explodes*, leaving the headless body to slump to the floor.
She hisses to everyone "Someone kill that d**n dog!"
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Fliss swears in a misture of Halfling and Infernal as the damn dog bites her. She stops only to put her arm up in front of her face to sheild it from the splatter of gore that her new best freind has caused.
Best freinds because, you *don't* want soemone who can do that to be your enemy.
Not seeing anymore standing thugs Dom heads to help Fliss out.
"Ah hate hurting animals..."
He tries to thwack it with the flat of his axe...
But his heart just isn't in it...
Tiefling-with-mace is still reeling, after being smashed with Sobok's hammer.
Emboldened by his apparent martial prowess, the small, vicious dog snaps at Dom with heightened ferocity.
"Oh, fer crying out luoud!" Fliss cursres sharply in Infernal, and two jagged black metal thorns appear in mid-air, flying towards the only tieflyign still standing, and his little dog too.
She watches with a certain satssifaction as the vicous mutt is impaled with extreme prejudice against the oppostite wall. "Fetch THAT."
30 seconds after entering the room, the temple is now an abbatoir. A dying tiefling (and his little dog) are impaled to the wall above the altar, leaking blood from the black iron spikes driven through their bodies by Fliss' magic. The corpse of a headless tiefling has fallen near MWG, and another two bodies are sprawled out nearby.
Sobok feints and swings his warhammer around to strike from the other side.
So great is Sobok's fury with the ring thieves, that he continues to smash up the room, even after the combat is concluded!!
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"Sobok, stop! They're all dead!"
MWG pauses to gather the coins.
"Anybody have any idea where to go now, besides downstairs? And I would like to caution *everyone* about leaping into situations blindly..."
MWG pauses to gather the coins.
Sobok shakes his head and looks at the little thorns. "Huh...where did that come from." He then begins searching through the belongings and the area for any sign of the ring. Inside he is pretty sure that the leader has it, but it doesn't hurt to check. "Do you see any rings?" he calls out to his allies just in case.