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Armand ponders Selena's question for a moment. "If that is the case, I don't believe we broke enough of them to have released whatever it is that shouldn't have been released. I've not heard anything attempting to escape the tower and we have so far passed through the entirety of 3 full floors. Not that something couldn't have slipped past us, mind you, but I certainly haven't heard anything big or loud making it's way out of the tower." Thinking for a bit more he continues. "The worst thing we've encountered here so far, by far, is that demon baboon thing down on second floor. We started breaking mirrors down there, yet it didn't seem to try to escape, it was more interested in hunting us down and attacking. Evidence seems to suggest that since the worst thing we've found wasn't interested in escaping, that either we've not done enough damage to allow whatever it is to escape, or the mirrors aren't there to hold something IN."
Armand thinks for a second before he says "I absolutely believe that these shards are intentionally placed where they are, and by something intelligent. Given the locations of some of these pieces of glass I think it's a safe guess to say they were placed here after the tower was deserted. Take the shard of glass in this room for example. It would be in the way of anyone using the bed. We've seen glass balanced on chairs on tops of tables, on edges of grain bins, etc...these aren't "natural" places to put things, and many of these shards are placed so precariously that I would assume any group of people moving around a busy tower would end up knocking them over or at least moving them to more out of the way locations." "I absolutely believe that the order of operations here was something attacked the tower, the occupants fled or died, and then the mirror pieces were brought in and placed...by the look of it, in every room in the tower. The mirrors provide something someone...I just don't know what yet."
"So far, I have yet to see anything we can't handle. Lets continue and see what we can see. The storm outside is not yet abated enough for us to consider leaving the tower and continuing our treck north to Speclarium. The more time we give our trail to cool, the less easy it will be for those searching for us to find us anyway. We seem to have an abundance of time on our hands for once...lets make good use of it."
Armand listens intently to the conversation between Selena and Thantos. "The only thing living we've found in this tower have been creatures, most of which are non-magical. The baboon on first floor definitely has the capability of moving objects like a mirror around, but not really the intelligence...I would expect to have found the mirror laying broken somewhere, or the baboon having been sucked into it. In either case I would doubt a common ape enough intelligence to move a mirror like that from this room to somewhere else with the kind of precaution it would take not to get trapped itself." "The ooze we ran into certainly couldn't do much with it...not only could it not "carry" the mirror around, it may even have damaged it...or as likely gotten trapped itself." Thinking a bit he continues "Actually, I'm going to say nothing short of something with at least average intelligence would or could have moved whatever the device is without ensnaring itself." "That leaves whatever that demon baboon creature was on second floor. I know little about what that thing was, but it certainly didn't strike me as intelligent enough to go about moving a mirror around the tower. It was obviously aggressive and hunting us, not trying to protect something. While it may have the ability, I"m not sure it had the motive to move a device like that." Looking concerned Armand turns to Thantos and continues "Given what we've found so far, I would have to assume the mirror was moved by whatever cleaned up the tower after the initial slaughter...and that would have been days ago. As stated, an aura lingering that long would identify an item of immense power, much more powerful than perhaps just a normal mirror of life trapping." "Whatever Halia and Retamerion ended up dealing with, they were WAY in over their heads. And I'm starting to wonder if we're not getting there ourselves."
Armand raises an eyebrow at Selena's statement. "Transportation? An interesting theory. Certainly Selena has a point about the mirror glass shards being perpetually pointed at the entryways into the room...at least most of them." "Certainly one thing is clear, these shards have been placed into these rooms by someone or something. They are no accident, and that alone makes me leery about leaving them behind. Certainly that Baboon Demon we fought downstairs had some way of moving between rooms...and a way we have yet to have found for ourselves despite the searching we've done. Obviously I cannot rule out a more normal means of transportation, such as a secret door we failed to find ourselves, but with each room having a mirror shard in it, it is interesting to consider transportation as being a possible use for the mirrors." "Thantos, I know you've been studying these mirrors magically in each room we've encountered them in, have you seen any residual spell effects on these mirrors? Is it possible for that creature to have been using these mirrors for transportation through the tower?"
Armand stays silent a moment on the shards, pondering. "I agree with Thantos that the noise from breaking the mirror shards is definitely giving away our movement through the halls of this tower...not that we've seen anything other than that demon baboon thing that would care...and it obviously didn't need us breaking mirrors to know where we were." "On the other hand, I agree with Selena that these shards are being "placed" with intelligence for a reason we do not yet understand. I'm not sure I agree that these mirrored shards of glass we keep running across don't have some connection with the creatures in this tower, or at least with the demon baboon creature we ran into a floor below us." "Something should be done with the glass...what that 'Something' is I leave up to the rest of you, I do not know which is worse...smashing our way through the tower setting ourselves up for ambush by announcing our presence, or leaving a potential problem we do not yet understand at our backs."
Armand smiles at Thantos. "I wouldn't begrudge you a home anywhere you chose my friend, but should I regain our kingdom, I believe I can promise you a better life than a lost and haunted tower in the middle of some southern duchy." Winking at Thantos and smiling Armand continues. "Though I know you wizards can be secretive and reclusive at times, perhaps, given some of the stories I've heard of wizards and their magical exploits, fifteen hundred miles away from my kingdom isn't such a bad place to re-establish your brethren's work?" Armand's eyes glitter with mischief for a few moments and then dull slightly. "That, of course, assumes we ever MAKE it to my kingdom with all of the known assassins in the lands of Norwold beating down our door to slit my throat." Regaining a hint of his previous smile he says "Oh well, a King's life is never boring. At least all of those long hours being trained in military life as a kid weren't wasted hey?"
Armand shakes his head sadly at Selena's Suggestion. "Alas My Dear, the power to detect the ills of this world is not one my Goddess has granted me yet." "The creature obviously intends us harm, it seems, so it would make sense for it to be a being of evil, however, given we cannot see it, nor hear it, it is either very good at being silent as our friend Lash here is, or the creature is not actually here right now." "Stay prepared as we search and we will so find out which of those two it is."
Chuckling at Thantos, Armand touches the holy symbol on his chest, the symbol dedicated to Saenrae. "Well, my friend, that might be a tall order to come by, I am, afterall, a priest of the Sun Goddess...fire is actually my domain, not water..." Watching Thantos's eyes get large as he sees the table and nearby chairs catch and definitely start to burn, the flames licking higher toward the ceiling he adds. "But there may be something I can do..." Even despite the situation, you all get a chuckle at Thantos' obvious discomfort as you glance sideways at Armand an see him give a wink with a wry smile set on his face.
Armand moves over to Selena, moving behind her, partially to examine the wounds on her shoulder, partially to cover her back in case of another attack. "The gouges aren't deep, but will take a while to cure without this." Armand snaps off a short chant like prayer, clapping his hands together and placing them directly over the oozing wound. Flinching at the pain as the healing light flows through her, Selena immediately feels a warm light penetrate her shoulder.
As if they were never there in the first place, the wounds close over completely, not even the slightest cut remains. The only reminder of the attack being the shredded clothing exposing Selena's right shoulder. Smiling to Selena in a fatherly way, Armand turns back toward the rest of the group, though you all notice, his mace remains in his hand.
Monsters, bandits, assassins, could be almost anything, though I would assume whatever it was was not concerned with the noise or mess it made. The blood here is still at least marginally fresh, probably no more than a few days old. However, whether it killed some random beggar using an abandoned tower in the woods to get out of the cold, or the actual owners of this abode, I'm not sure we can say. Looking around with a critical eye, Armand continues: I doubt the answer to this mystery is in this room alone. I recommend we continue, but carefully, there is no sign that whatever was here has actually left. Be on your guards.
Armand looks at Lash for a few minutes and then quietly asks: "Tis heavy the head that wears the crown?" Grinning and then chuckling Armand adds, slightly more seriously. "The situation is as you state Lash, but hope is not lost. We can clear our names assuming we can get an audience with the Duke...and when that happens at least half of our problems, and probably the most immediate of them, go away. If I know the Duke, the moment this gets cleared up he'll have an army on march for Kiren's Keep and that part of our responsibility will be taken care of for us." "The white hand will continue to hound us. We need to figure out how to keep an attack like tonight from happening again, but as you said they die like everyone else. Hopefully the death of their assassins will give the organization pause. Too, they're fighting as handicapped as we are: Secrecy is their rule, they cannot expose themselves. While the brotherhood could send an army after us, the white hand cannot risk an open attack for fear of revealing their existence. Vigilance will be our key against that organization." "And that leaves the brotherhood. Ever have they been a thorn in my side and a threat to my kingdom. Their attacks and their plots, however, are revealed. When we were stationary in Kirin's keep they had a way to plot against us, to scheme and turn others to their will. On the move, as we are now, we limit their ability to do much more than come at us straight up. We've beaten some of the best of them already and we will continue to do so." "The road will not be easy, but by the light of Saenrae, and the strength of friendship, each of you will see your homeland again, of that I am certain." "It is late, and we must be off early to avoid the patrols."
"Understand, the information you are about to receive is possibly as closely guarded of secrets as there ever have been. Receiving this information marks you each for death, and providing you this information breaks hundreds of years of tradition and secrecy and marks me for the same." A shudder runs down each of your backs as you hear this. While you have all faced death hundreds of times in your lives, there seems to be something more...sinister...about this. "This cannot be helped. Weeks ago I asked each of you if you would follow me, I gave you the option to walk away and live your lives in peace, I even warned each of you that we were likely walking into death's waiting embrace. You all told me you would follow me, and so you have. This, now, however, seals that deal. After hearing this, you cannot go back. Regardless of whether you leave my side or stay with me through to the end, this secret will follow you to your grave, and likely will cause that grave to yawn open before you earlier than expected. Without this knowledge, however, each of you are doomed." "I ramble, let me correct this by starting from the beginning." "Over 600 years ago, when this land of Norwold was first inhabited, seventeen families from foreign lands left and sailed to the shores of this continent. Those 17 families landed on this continent and founded what is today the capital city of Alpha. Realizing they needed a governmental structure, these families selected one of their own to start the Emperorship of this land. Newly elected as emperor, his first act was to promote the other sixteen heads of each family as a high noble of Norwold and to establish laws and rules by which we live today. The high council of nobles was established with the power to depose and replace the Emperor or re-elect a new ruling family should none of the Emperor's blood remain." "Over the next 50 years, the families lived within the City of Alpha that they were building...mostly peacefully. Yet, they were now Nobility, and many of them felt they wanted kingdoms of their own. To a family, they petitioned the Emperor for the right to leave Alpha and find their own place in Norwold, their own lands, their own kingdoms. The wise Emperor, realizing it was this or war with his own people, allowed each of the 16 noble families to find their own lands under the conditions that each of those lands was still ruled by the Emperor himself, that no kingdom would attack Alpha or the Emperor, and that no noble family was allowed to harm another member of the noble family upon pain of death or banishment for the ENTIRE family bloodline." "Understand this: The agreement was that if any member of a noble family were caught causing harm to any other member of a noble family the offending family would be WIPED OUT entirely. All blood related members, legitimate, illegitimate, or otherwise would be either banished or put to death." "The nobles agreed, and within the first 100 years of the establishment of Norwold as an empire the 16 noble families and many friends and other migrants from other lands established a large portion of the Norwold we know today." "As time went on the various kingdoms established by the noble families and other kingdoms established by more minor families who came over and were granted land by the Emperor started to 'clash', first with the native barbarian tribes of this land and then with each other over borders. As humans are want to do, we are never content with what we have and always want more. And so many of the nobility started skirmishing and warring with each other over land rights and kingdom sizes. And there came a time when one of the original 16 noble families decided to wipe out another of the original 16 over the current war and land dispute between them. The surviving members of the diposed noble family made their way to Alpha and petitioned the Emperor to intervene...and so he did." "Within the next 5 years every member of the offending family were rounded up and brought for punnishment to Alpha. All of the women and children were packed onto a single ship and sent to sea, banished from the empire of Norwold, while every male member over the age of 13 was beheaded on the steps of the Castle of Alpha as a public example. When all was done, only 15 noble families existed." "While this is all history, available to each of you as you grew up, the story does not end there as you are given to believe by the histories." "The story from here becomes intentionally fuzzy and the details lost by design. It is said that one of the more powerful noble families decided, at that point, that they needed a way to rid themselves of rivals without incurring the wrath of the Emperor or breaking the treaty of the lands as it was to become known. A young member of that family, with a penitent for murder and sadism, presented a plan to the head of his family to solve the issue. The family would pronounce the Son "dead" and the son would create a secret organization to allow the family the ability to assassinate other nobles. While the histories have little to no information about who this is or about what the organization is, they are very clear about the string of violent noble deaths that followed...the mysteries behind which were never solved." "What you don't know, and no one else other than the heads of the sixteen original noble families know, is that after a few assassinations for his own family, the boy and his organization realized that there was more power working for themselves than for a specific family. What few ties there existed were severed completely and the organization known as the White Hand came into existence. A representative of the hand contacted each of the sixteen noble families and offered their secret services to each of the nobles. These services, too, came with restriction on who could be assassinated, when, how and under what circumstances. The rules and the deals are many and varied and complicated, but there was one overarching rule: Namely that only the head of each noble family and that head's direct heir would ever know this organization exists...and that its existence would be kept secret from all others upon pain of death...of not only the noble but any of his or her family and anyone who is told." "As you might guess, Kethlenica's rulers ascend directly back to one of the original sixteen noble families, and I am of that bloodline. While I have never met any of the white hand, nor to my knowledge have any of my descendent's ever called upon the organization for services, we know it exists." "Obviously, by me telling you this, I have broken the covenant, and we are now all marked for death, as are any remaining members of my own family. However, given that the White Hand just showed up on our doorstep, and that my family is likely long dead, I see no reason to hide this any longer." "What we know of the white hand is little, the organization is steeped in secrecy. No one has ever proven that the organization exists...bodies like those over there turn up from time to time, but are always written off as "copycat" pretenders who've read one too many fantasy stories." "Their symbol, however, has meaning. The three fingers and thumb denote four separate organizations, the space between them denotes the separation that the leadership of the white hand keeps between each organization to ensure that each of the 4 "fingers" of the hand are autonomous from each other. The missing middle finger, then, denotes the target...it is meant as a reminder to the members of the organization that the target is always central to their thoughts and to remind the target that a missing finger is forever, just as the contract on the target is forever." "If the white hand showed up here, it means one of us, at least, has been marked for death by the hand. Someone out there wants at least one of us dead, if not all of us...taking part in harboring a target of the white hand results in an immediate contract on the part of the harboring party so whether it was one or all of us matters not now." "Contracts exist for either the life of the target, or the life of the contractor. So long as the person who paid for our deaths lives, we will be hounded by the hand till we are dead. If any member of the hand ever finds out any of you know of the existence of the organization, the contract on your life will exist till your death...or the white hand itself is no more...pray this conversation is secret...and take that secret to your graves." "As of now, the Brotherhood is not our only concern. If they are one of the fingers of the White Hand, then our mission doesn't change. If they are not, they're just one more roadblock in our way. This encounter changes nothing: We continue on toward Speclarium where we will clear our names of the deaths in Kiren's Keep, and then on to Kethlenica where we will avenge my family and fix whatever wrongs we find with our nation." "Know, however, that we are marked, and for any of us to live a normal life we will also, now, have to find out who wants us dead, and make them retract the contract...or kill them." "I am happy to answer any questions I can, but morning approaches and we could all use some rest."
Mird: "When we get nearer Kethlenica, we most certainly want to try to contact the hunter's society, they'll have the best information on what the situation in the kingdom is. Until then, you've accomplished your mission, you've found who you were looking for. Be proud of your training and your ability. You and the rest of the hunters will be integral to overcoming whatever obstacle is in our way in Kethlenica." "Regarding whether we have traitors in the kingdom, or in the hunters specifically, I almost guarantee we do. I have faith that we'll find them and root them out. Once bitten, twice shy, we won't get trapped like we did in the keep again."
Armand nods at your comment. "The landscape is dotted with minor nobility, and it is not uncommon for those nobles to travel the countryside, with guard, to periodically visit a town they either haven't seen before or have visited in the past. Your story will of necessity need to identify a name for which to attach your noble past, and a place to hail from." "Here, you have two options. The primary option is to hail from Speclarium itself, on the way to the Estates of Penhaligon or some other larger area of this Duchy. The benefit here is that there are any number of minor nobles in Speclarium that are mostly unheard of. Unfortunately, the downside is that there are any number of more major nobles who you SHOULD have heard of and know about...under question you'll be pressed for details of the court at Speclarium which you may not have information on." "The second option is to hail from a smaller town of the region. The downside is, the smaller the town the more likely someone knows the nobles of that town personally. The upside, however, is if they don't personally know the town or the nobility in that town, there's almost no way to verify your claim."
Armand visibly relaxes as Selena relinquishes her hold on the sword. "Glad to see all is well Selena." Armand's smile as he turns his gaze from Selena to look around the room is genuine. "We have all made it through this with our lives intact and we've ridded this land of a huge evil. That sword you now carry Selena is a historical artifact of destruction to this land, a harbinger of evil and an item feared by those who understand it's significance. The sooner we can find some dark hole to drop that down the better we'll all be." "I know not what happens from here, the brotherhood is obviously active and alive in this region, but I do not know that this is my focus. I would love nothing more than to obliterate the Brotherhood from these and all lands, but I do not know that we have the resources for that." "I believe we should travel north from here to the Duke's lands, inform him of the Brotherhood's presence, and allow his troops to bring balance to the region while we proceed forward in pursuit of our goal of taking back Kethlenica. We'll let Commander Alalar know so he can keep Kiren's Keep on alert. Between him and Captain Garelson they'll hold the Brotherhood back till the Duke sends troops, I have the utmost faith in the two of them to weather any storm." "But first, we need to figure out how we're going to escape this keep with our skins intact."
Armand turns to Selena. "You are not looking yourself, and you zoned out there for a moment after touching the sword my child. Tell us what has happened." Looking concerned Armand detaches part of the dead priest's robe and lays it out. Making a strange motion with his hand he stars straight at Selena and says "Place the sword on the cloak and wrap it so you do not have direct contact with the blade." Armand then steps back, staring at Selena in a very tense manor. While waiting for Selena to perform as instructed he says "We are not out of this yet my friends. Above us is still the keep and with as much trouble as we had breaking in, we may still need to fight our way out. Let us scour these chambers for whatever we can find and figure out a plan for getting out of this evil castle." "Besides", he says wryly, "I'm feeling a bit naked without my armor." Dirk: Armand has just flashed you an old training sign for "be ready". He is obviously agitated at something about Selena.
Armand reluctantly takes the first healing potion and unstoppers it, wincing as he moves his arms. You note his shoulders are still showing a deep purple color. "I am unlikely to be of much use to any of you in combat other than the link to my diety. I can support you, and I will fight if needed, but I am still very stiff and unable to move well. I fear this is a waste of our precious resources...besides I have other protections."
Armand hands you back the other Potion. "Put this to better use. Do not argue with me Dirk, I will be fine."
"Thank you, all of you, for the rescue. I'm not sure how long I had to live but I can assure you not much longer. My...treatment...has taken it's toll and I am afraid without real rest I will not be combat capable, and with my armor and weapons taken from me, I suspect I will be of limited use as a combatant." A wry smile touches his lips as he reaches up and grasps the holy symbol around his neck. "Though I am not without my resources." Frowning slightly Armand looks up at each of you as he continues. "Our choices are few. Ilyana still possesses that sword of hers, and with it she still controls the Goblinkin in the keep above us. Even in the best of circumstances I cannot imagine that the orcs above have held out this long. I do not understand why they are not flooding the halls here to kill us but I'm afraid we do not have much time." "Our choice, then, is whether to continue out of this Dungeon hole and hope we can make it, alive, through the keep above, leaving Ilyana for another day, or to go back in and attempt to destroy her and her minions once and for all. Either choice is grim." "Either way we need to prepare ourselves as much as we can. What items of healing do we have? I still have a few spells at my use and can call down my Goddess's power a few more times, but I certainly do not have the power to heal everyone here."
"This is not our time to die, and death is surely the price we will pay for resistance this time. There will be opportunities. The worst thing we can do now is give up hope. No matter what happens, we have a duty to the region...all of us." Slowly lowering his weapon and attaching it to his belt, but keeping his shield up he steps a step toward the door, in front of the party. Ensuring his voice can be heard by all, Armand states in a commanding voice. "You have the advantage over us Tarrayo, and you have our surrender."
"Not much of a fight to get back to." Armand states calmly, too calmly. Glancing down at the prone and recovering Lasciel with a sad smile on his face, Armand says "While a valiant maneuver Lash, rushing to Selena's aid was not your best move. In the future, trust your companions...if we have a future." "I believe our run of the castle is now over." Armand slowly stands from kneeling, facing the door, mace lowered, shield raised to stare into the daylight outside. "Dirk," he says as the crash and din of the ended battle recedes into a momentary silence, "I believe we have problems."
Armand disengages from the ranged battle with Tarrayo and calmly moves over to Selena (B3) kneels down and calls a healing prayer to his Goddess: "If it be your will, my lady, it is not this young ones time yet." A soft radiance lights up Armand's hand and slowly flows into Selena's unconscious body.
As Selena Flutters back into consciousness from Armand's healing, Armand leans down and whispers: "Stay down until this is over Selena, one more volley from the sorceress and even I may not be able to prevent death from claiming you."
Armand hangs his mace off his belt and raises his palm toward Tarrayo, praying to Saenrae for cleansing fire.
Armand will move in to engage W1, clearing the doorway for others to enter.
"As you wish." Armand steps up over the unconscious hobgoblin and places his hand on it's chest. Muttering words you mostly fail to hear, Armand says a prayer to Saenrae, asking for healing for the creature.
Thanking his Goddess for granting his request, Armand looks up from the now Stirring Hobgoblin Leader and says: "He'll come around momentarily."
Armand, working his attack in coordination with Dirk's, comes in low at the Hobgoblin leader, swinging for another non-lethal strike.
Armand, Seeing Dirk's maneuver and understanding what he's going for, shifts his stance so he's directly opposite Dirk, causing the Hobgoblin Leader to be surrounded. "You can't win, save your own skin, surrender to us and tell us what we want to know, perhaps you'll get to live another day."
Armand Moves from E3 -> E4 To Make room for Selena and takes another swing at HGU2, aware Dirk is hard pressed against the both a Lieutenant and the Hobgoblin Leader.
Armand steps up to his target swinging.
Nodding at Dirk's sound plan, Armand chants a fast prayer to his Goddess, extending his hand as a bolt of flame shoots forth.
Glancing sideways at Mird's obvious sarcasm, Armand turns to Selena with a smile on his face. "Sister, may the Goddess herself bless and keep you for your innocence and pureness of heart. May you shine as an example to us. Most of all, when our task is done, for good, or ill, may that innocence and pureness still be within you." As he continues Armand's smile changes from pure to sad. "Kethlenica is my home and my kingdom, and will be my destiny, regardless of the outcome of all of this. Kiren's Keep, however, is the closest thing I've had to a family for more years than I can care to count...possibly more years than you've been alive my child. In the time I have grown in this region, I have seen the actions of the orcs, and their foul spawn, on my families lands. I have seen atrocities that you cannot imagine perpetuated by these creatures. I have seen families torn apart, displaced, destroyed. And" glancing sideways at Mird Armand continues "I am not the only person who's seen atrocities of this nature out of creatures of their ilk. However, you remind us all that not every creature is evil just because of what they are." "May Saenrae bless them if they are indeed different from the others in the region. May I be wrong and may my fears be unfounded, but I am still deeply concerned for the region I have grown to love. I do what is best for Kiren's Keep in dealing with these orcs, but I am afraid that we will accomplish the goal of running one evil out of this keep only to replace it with a longer term evil for the region. I see this castle as the potential for a fortified base of operations for the orcs of the region from whence to strike out and cause more damage to the region and it's people, a base that once established, will not be easy for the people of this region to flush out. You see the castle as a home for the orcs and their families, a place to raise their children and a debt duly owed. May your vision of this Keep's future be better than my own, but I am afraid you and I will have to disagree on what we see in our crystal balls for the moment." "Thantos is right, we do not have the time nor the luxury of standing around and worrying about what may become of things in the future when the present is right before us. In deference to you, I will tell the orcs to stay out of the building. In deference to all of those past dead, and to Mird's family, however, I will not tell them why. Call it a failing of my human spirit child, none of us are perfect."
Armand, now ensconced on the other side of the North East barrier takes another swing at the Hobgoblin's head, hoping for a quick kill.
Armand passes through the remainder of the trapped floor and up to the barrier, ducking out quickly from behind his shield and bringing his mace across in a whistling arc just above the top edge of the table.
Armand starts across the floor toward the north east corner of the room, moving Opposite Dirk. Raising his shield in front of him he's going to move slower but try to absorb the next bolt shot (using the shield as partial cover for next round).
Getting only about 10 feet into the room Armand stops his advance dead.
Armand immediately shakes his head. "Each of them have skills appropriate for escaping pursuit. Unless you have an invisibility spell hidden somewhere up your sleeve somewhere, sending you off with them would be akin to a death sentence. Worry not, I'm sure we'll find a way for you to be useful."
Armand looks over at Dirk, impressed at his assessment of the situation and nods. "They're almost assured to practically empty that fortress to find us. They should have some 60-80 creatures and men left in there...the orcs are about 20 strong and assumeably will assist us in this venture. The problem is avoiding engaging whatever overwhelming force they're about to send out against us and getting back into the castle before they get back." "That web spell won't hold for much longer and then they're going to be all over this place. Sounds like they've got dogs or wolves or something that they'll probably use for tracking." "Mird...Lash. Harrass them coming out of the gate with arrows then take off into the woods, don't lead them long, just get them out of the general vacinity, long enough for us to circle around and get back to the gate. Use whatever methods you have to disappear and make your ways back to the castle, by that point the 4 of us, plus hopefully the orcs, should be in control, at least of the gate area." "This looks like our opportunity in, but it's dangerous. If the orcs aren't on our side there will be enough resistance within the keep that we'll all be killed. I'm game if everyone else is, or we can flee now, hide out and plan our next move." "The choice is yours folks."
As the six of you reach the edge of the forest Armand is still grinning from ear to ear. "I can't believe how well that worked and how stupid our enemy is. Instead of flooding the wall with archers to trap us in where we were, they pulled everyone off the wall to try to get at us at the gate." "I suspect as soon as they manage to break free of those webs they'll be coming after us in force. Ideas about what to do next? Anyone?"
Seeing no oncoming opponents, Armand spins to slam the goblin facing Selena from behind with his mace.
Armand squares himself within the doorway into the southern tower and prepares to swing at the human as he tries to stand.
Armand will be taking a swing at the Goblin at 2416 and if I can flatten him take a 5 foot step to occupy the square.
Seeing the Web blocking up the entrance, Armand also decides to move into the hallway, giving the archers one less person to shoot at.
Building on his previous successes, Armand fires yet another bolt of fire this time at the incapacitated archer on the southern part of the wall.
Armand will fire another bolt of fire at the wall archers, this time to the south at 2822.
Armand fires another firey bolt at the archer he hit last round.
Armand stays in place and summons a fire bolt at the Goblin Archer at 2709.
Armand glances at dirk with an innocent smile on his face and then grimaces. "I don't know my friend, I'm not the man I used to be. And I seem to have lost my cane somewhere along the trail...perhaps you'll need to carry me..." Then to the group at large he says: "Does anyone happen to have an extra saddle for my new pack horse?" Drawing his mace and hefting his shield he says "I am ready, let us make short work of these vermin."
Armand Continues after the 5 of you have had a chance to peer out into the surrounding lands. "The main challenge we'll face in assaulting the gates are the archers on the walls. We will need to move the resulting distance between here and the gates and will be in range the entire time. I have no good plan on how we do this, but Thantos' idea of some kind of obscurity/cover would not go awry." Armand smiles at Thantos' self deprecating humor and continues. "If you can, pay attention to what kinds of protection they have on the gate itself. It won't do to get up there when we try this for real and find that they've managed to bar the gate to our entrance." Armand takes a deep breath and finishes his speech. "Good luck to all of us, may Saenrae watch over our cause."
Smiling at the rest of you Armand nods. "The gate it is then. As recommended, I suggest a daytime assult, just to test the defenses. Remember, this is hit and fade, not break and enter. The intent of this strike is to test the gate defenses, and try to draw out a small number of persuers from the castle that we can ambush farther back in the woods. If we breach the gates do not continue into the courtyard, the archers on the walls would have a field day with us. Hold the gates for a few minutes and then break." "No heroics, I don't need to be dragging any of you back to the cave by the feet. This is not a last stand situation, when the pressure builds up too much, retreat, there will be other opportunities. Under no circumstances are we to go back to our hideout if we are being pursued. Fyird is still back there and unable to fight, if we lead a force to our doorstep he is as good as dead. "In the event we are forced to split up to lose our persuers, make your way back to the cave only when sure you are not being tracked. If we are forced to split up stay in pairs at least. Selena you are with me, Thantos stay next to Dirk, Mird and Lash are our last pair." "Mird and Lash in the event of a persuit, you two have a special job. Since you both are experienced at disappearing among these settings, lose your persuit, track us, then harrass any additional persuit of the group, distract them long enough for the four of us to escape, take down as many as is feasable, then lose the rest and meet us back at camp."
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