Omast Frum's page

"'Who's Minderhal?'" Omast repeats incredulously. "Don't they teach you anything at that daft crusader chapel? Minderhal's the smith god of the stone giants. The story goes that he used his hammer Aggrimosh to forge the first giant. Of course, when he saw what he'd ended up with, he chucked it over and tried again, like anyone would. Next attempt, he came up with the first stone giant, and here he loses me, because he thought that was a good day's work. So he granted life to the first stone giant, a colossal mistake if ever there was one, and then used Aggrimosh to smash the first attempt; and the stone giants say that all the other sorts of giants grew out of its shattered pieces."

"Really, if you think about it," he muses, "Aggrimosh should be the Hammer of Making and Unmaking, not just Unmaking. But stone giants aren't known for their deep thoughts."

"Likely enough, Uskroth was lying about the hammer being Minderhal's," he concedes. "How would a hill giant come across the hammer of a stone giant god? But it must have been something special."

Omast shakes his head slowly, still in disbelief. "Under Trunau? No, no idea where Uskroth may have holed up in the Mindspins before he had gathered his armies. The stories only picked up the tale of the Twisted Hearts when they came down from the mountains to drive back the crusaders. That was when the orcs breached the Sunwall, so I'd guess they started from the northern edge of the Mindspins, up past the source of the Esk. But that's just a supposition."

Omast is momentarily speechless, an unusual occurrence. "Uskroth's Tomb? It actually exists? In Bloodmarch Hill? Was Aggrimosh there? The Hammer of Unmaking? Supposed to be the hammer of Minderhal himself, right old bastard that he may be?"

"Uskroth?" The dwarf's eyes flare with interest. "You're a few hundred years too late to find the so-called Hero Chieftain of the Twisted Hearts."

"What don't I know about hill giants in the Mindspins?" he boasts. "Except maybe where to find tham at any given time. It's not like they put down roots, build homes, plant crops, bury their dead like civilized people. They'll camp out at one rocky outcrop or another until they've fouled it enough with their stench that even they can't stand it and move on to someplace else. In the Mindspins, you'd most likely be talking about the Heart Eaters."

Omast notices Alicia. "Well," he grins, "what is it, little lady? Looks like just a slip of a thing, doesn't she, lads? But she helped hold the Inner Gate against waves of orcs!" he admonishes the soldiers. "Get up and give her a chair; she's more than earned a place at the table."

Omast Frum seems a likely source of information about the local orc tribes and their history. "Twisted Nail?" he shouts to Marikel over the hubbub in the newly-reopened Killin' Ground. "Even the orcs think they're savages, and that's saying something. Cannibals! It's why the other tribes shun them. They'll all eat their own kind in a pinch, but for the Twisted Nail, it's by choice! They don't join the aurochs hunt or any of the other festivities of the Flood Truce because the rest of the orcs don't trust 'em not to stab in the back and skewer them over the cooking fire. No one allies with the Twisted Nail, except maybe some ogres and ogrekin."

"I'll tell you what bothers me," he goes on, "is where did the damned Twisted Nail get siege weapons? There's no way they built those things up in their caves in the Mindspins. Hells, where did they get the idea to come down and march on Trunau in the first place? Planning's not their style. If they stumble across something, sure, they'll howl and hunt it down and kill it, but assembling weapons and cave giants and marching down out of the mountains, that takes leadership. And how about all those half-orcs planted in Trunau? Saboteurs mean forethought and cunning, two things the Twisted Nail have never cared for."

"Either we've got two sets of enemies at the same time," Frum drawls, "or this fellow from Freedom Town hired the Twisted Nail as a distraction from whatever he was doing on the cliff."

"And there's something else," Frum puts in astutely. "We kept a squadron on alert behind the Longhouse, watching that path up the cliff, ready to rain down arrows and rocks and acid and whatever all else on any orcs trying to use their secret back door into town. Never saw an orc one. It's like they didn't even know what those so-called prospectors were up to back there."

"They had fuse grenades, too!" Omast points out. "I never heard of no Twisted Nail setting up an alchemical lab."

"Or in cahoots," Omast Frum grunts with a satisfied nod toward the Chief Defender. "I told you that catapult wasn't built by any damned Twisted Nail handyman."

"Padre!" Omast Frum greets the group from across the room, waving them toward his position by the fire. "Told you to be back by dark! But I hear you've come by some information to show for your late arrival?"

The dwarf's eyes flash with interest. "Catapult ... aye, I'd like to have a look at that." He glances up at the sky to gauge the time of day. "Go on out, if you like; I won't begrudge you a bit of hunting. But be sure to be back within the palisade before dark."

"What news from the battle?" Frum asks eagerly.

"Someone's got to hold this gate," Omast replies, glancing around at the Patrol members. Six are in good health, one is walking wounded, one unconscious. "Hank, get down here and carry Floyd up to the Longhouse for healing. I can hold the gate with six men. Padre, can you and your group take the Barterstones?"

"Well now," Omast Frum drawls, strolling through the gate and kicking idly at the dead orcs, "when I ordered the gate opened, I thought it was warriors out here to pin them between us. But you did real good," he compliments the magic-users. "What news from the front lines?"

Marikel clambers over the debris and bodies to take up position at Omast's right hand side. He drops his shield to grasp the longspear effectively in both hands but not before he waves that hand over Floyd with a word to his Goddess.

"Much obliged, Padre," the dwarf nods politely before stepping gingerly over Floyd and hacking a deep gash into the blinded lizard with his greatsword. The reptile curls into an insensate ball, its wildly twitching tail the only sign that it is still clinging to life, if not consciousness.

Omast Frum moves to AD14 & attacks lizard 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20 damage 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (4, 3) + 4 = 11

From the other side of the gate, the defenders see flames burst inexplicably over the orcs. The one on the inside of the gate, with arrows already sticking out of him, collapses next to the bars.

The next moment, the archer on the wall calls out, "Citizens! Defenders from the Lower Quarter!"

"Open the gate!" Omast Frum chortles triumphantly. "We got 'em flanked!"

The three tense Patrolmen waiting behind the barricade relax a bit as the gate slams shut once more. "Patrol Captain," one suggests to Frum hopefully, "we could take our longswords and attack them through the gate."

"You mean longspears, and that gate's not staying closed," the dwarf replies brusquely. "But they're not charging through that many dead, either. Take your javelins and get in position to throw while they're holding the gate open. With any luck, they'll drop it on their own toes." Frum hops the barricade himself and looses his crossbow bolt at the orc on this side of the portcullis.

Omast Frum moves to AF21 & attacks Twisted Nail 21 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23 damage 1d10 ⇒ 4

Omast Frum winches back the string of his crossbow and inserts another bolt in readiness.

Omast Frum loads heavy crossbow

"Down in front, there, padre!" the old dwarf shouts, holding his crossbow at the ready. "Give me a clear shot!"

Omast Frum readies

"You heard him! There's another wave coming! Back behind the barricade, lads!" Omast Frum commands, and the Patrol members scramble to obey him.

Patrol B double-moves to AE24
Patrol D double-moves to AF24
Patrol A double-moves to AD24
Omast Frum readies
Twisted Nail 14 delays

Round 13 init: Alicia, Twisted Nail 20, Twisted Nail 21, Marikel, Twisted Nail 12, Vhailor, Carbonel, Lizard, Twisted Nail 23, Patrol F, Patrol C, Patrol G, Twisted Nail 7, Patrol H, Dorn, Skyreaver, Patrol B, Patrol D, Patrol A, Omast Frum (readying), Twisted Nail 14, Twisted Nail 22

Current effects: longstrider (Dorn)
darkvision (Alicia)
enlarged (Marikel) (expires round 17)

Updated map link

Squares with loose timber in them are difficult terrain. There are now two dead orcs in AE 14, AE16, AF14, AF15, and AF16, which means they both can't be charged through and cost two squares of movement to cross.

"Now, wait just a minute!" Omast Frum calls after them reprovingly. "We're still responsible for holding this gate. No one's going to go running off all willy-nilly and leaving the gate unguarded, not on my watch!"

Omast Frum readies

"That's it, boys!" Omast Frum calls back to his men, as he lifts the barricade out of the way. "Now!" It's at least plausible that, at this distance, he is unaware of Kagak cowering among the corpses.

Omast Frum moves barricade & readies

Omast Frum hops heavily over the obstacle and stands ready to remove the length of barricade downhill of the boulder. "Clear the way!" he calls to his allies standing in the gate.

Omast Frum moves & readies

"I'll leave you to it, girl!" Omast shouts to Alicia. "Job one is to get that gate shut! If Hank's firing arrows upstairs, you should have a clear run to the mechanism." He retreats toward the barricade and the boulder trap.

Omast Frum double-moves to AF22

"Damn it!" Frum curses as he sees the flames licking at his precious barricade. "Anyone have any water?"

Omast Frum delays

The Patrolman nearest the sputtering grenade calls out, "Patrol Captain, sir? Should we be worried about that thing?"

Omast Frum glances at the hissing fuse. "Get the hells away from it!" he advises. "Looks like something that's going to blow!" Taking his own advice, he hops over the barricade and retreats toward Dorn.

Omast Frum double-moves to AI18

"I told you!" the former Patrol Captain cackles. "Already dead on his feet; it only just now caught up to him! Padre, can you do anything for Fergus there? Everyone else, behind the barricades! We're about to have some more company."

Indeed, as the old dwarf scrambles surprisingly nimbly over the barricade, it is clear that the orcs at the gate will soon succeed by sheer numbers in forcing the portcullis up. He begins to turn the winch on his crossbow to insert a new bolt.

Omast Frum moves to AG24 & begins full-round action

Round 3 init: Patrol A, Patrol B, Alicia, Marikel, Patrol E, Vhailor (delaying), Carbonel (delaying), Patrol F, Twisted Nail 6, Patrol C (readying), Twisted Nail 2, Kagak, Patrol G, Patrol H, Twisted Nail 1, Twisted Nail 5, Omast Frum, Dorn, Skyreaver, Twisted Nail 3, Twisted Nail 4, Patrol D

Current effects: longstrider (Dorn)
darkvision (Alicia)

Updated map link

Squares with loose timber in them are difficult terrain.

"They'll die all right," the dwarf assures him grimly. "They're dead on their feet now; they're just too stupid to know it. We've just got to stay on our feet until they realize it. Fall back to the barricades, you lot! No point in letting yourself get killed by a dead orc!" He raises his primed heavy crossbow but doesn't release the trigger, unwilling to waste his bolt if he doesn't have a clear shot.

Omast moves to AE22 & readies

"Get ready to close the gates at my mark," Omast calls to the men standing at the mechanisms inside the towers, "and not a moment before! The lot of us can handle a few stinking orcs, but I'll not shut a neighbor out!"

"Catapults!" Frum replies scornfully. "The Twisted Nail can't build a shelter tight enough to keep rain off their heads! Who's giving them catapults? Did you see the Chief Defender?"

"What happened?" Frum calls out to the first through the gate. "How did they get through the palisade?"

As Alicia drops a third macabre speedbump in the path and Vhailor opens Katrezra's scroll case, a horn sounds from the Lower Quarter.

"That's the signal!" Frum warns. "The gate's been breached! Those unable to fight hand-to-hand will be retreating this way, while the rest try to make their way to join the Chief Defender! Take your positions!"

Map

The three X's are dead half-orcs. Numbers 1 through 8 are your allies on the Patrol: 1 & 2 have been assigned by Omast to lower the gates after the townsfolk have retreated, 3 & 4 will close the barricades after the retreat, and 7 & 8 have bows and arrows atop the wall. I've relabeled Kagak with a K (he's in AD26). Let me know which square you want to start from and which weapons, if any, you have in hand. Is anyone taking the items Vhailor identified before the battle?

"You men," Marikel calls to the dismissed troops. "Everyone gather round."

Another brief prayer to Iomedae and soothing energy flows into their wounds, healing and reinvigorating them.
"Acting Chief Defender here may still have need of you."

"Aye, now that's more like it," Omast grins. "Arm yourselves and get ready to defend the gates. It'll be mostly wounded and noncombatants heading up the hill if the palisade is breached; Patrol on the front line who are in fighting shape are under orders to join up with the Chief Defender's party if the gate falls. Our job is to let the wounded get to the Longhouse and keep the Twisted Nail right here. You hear me? Not a single damned orc gets past us!"

The eight Patrol members manage a respectable cheer at the dwarf's rallying speech; Kagak only looks nervous.

"Lesson one," the dwarf grunts. "We don't release the logs or the boulder if there's allies between us and the orcs. That's why there's two barricades, so we can keep falling back, keep the line together. One man alone will get torn to pieces if he's surrounded. That spear thing, that's good, though."

The dwarf inspects the bruised and bedraggled Patrolmen. "You two, you're in no shape to fight," he separates the two most injured. "And you two," he points to two more, "you're little better. Back to the Longhouse with you. The rest of you, you ready to fight?" Getting an affirmative answer, he directs them, "You two, man the gatehouses. Yes, I know that one's broken; when the last of our people have fallen back, you pull out that pin and drop the portcullis on the damned orcs. And you two, man the barricades and be ready to close up the path of retreat behind our folk."

You have four Patrol members to help you defend the Inner Gates. They will follow Omast's orders at the beginning of the combat; after that, they'll be yours to direct.

"We'll get them bunched up for you good at the gate when we drop the portcullises," Frum assures Vhailor. "The trick'll be to let all our wounded through without letting too many damned orcs in with them. Drop the gates too soon, and you're trapping townsfolk on the wrong side of the wall; but drop them too late, and we'll have half the Twisted Nail in the Inner Quarter to fight. Come on, let's get these barricades set up. There's some good weapons to brace against a charge in that barrel over there, and we've got a few surprises for the damned orcs: two bundles of logs ready to be cut free and roll downhill to take the legs out from under them, and a boulder Gorkis Meeson doctored up for us. Got some goo on it you can light with a torch and send it down the hill at them as well."

The dwarf recruits Dorn and Vhailor to help him move the barricades into position, leaving a single path open for the retreating townsfolk to get through.

Map

Barricades: Two lines of barricades are being set up on the hill inside the Inner Gate. Each piece is approximately 3 feet high and 5 feet wide. A barricade has an AC of 5, hardness 5, hp 20 per piece, and a break DC of 20. It costs two squares of movement to cross a barricade. A barricade provides cover but only to creatures within 30 feet of it. An attacker can ignore the cover if he's closer to the obstacle than his target. See PfRPG rules on low obstacles and cover.

Brace and Reach Weapons: A glaive (which has the reach special weapon feature), a guisarme (reach and trip), a halberd (brace and trip), two longspears (brace and reach), and a ranseur (disarm and reach) are standing upright in a barrel near the downhill barricade.

Fallen Orcs: While bodies and prone allies don't normally impede movement, the barricades and the craggy nature of the Inner Quarter's hill create a special exception. A square containing a single fallen creature cannot be charged through; a square containing two fallen creatures costs 2 squares of movement to cross; a square containing three or more fallen creatures costs 3 squares of movement to cross.

Flaming Boulder: Gorkis Meeson's prepared boulder can be ignited with a torch as a standard action. Starting the boulder on its journey downhill requires a move action and a successful DC 13 Strength check. The boulder travels in a 10-foot-wide path, attacking all creatures in its path. The boulder has a melee attack bonus of +10; on a successful hit, it deals 3d6 points of bludgeoning damage, plus 1d6 points of fire damage if it's on fire. In addition, any creature struck by the boulder must succeed at a DC 10 Reflex save or be knocked prone. The boulder will crash through any barricades in its path but will come to a halt when it hits a sturdy solid object such as the Inner Quarter's wall.

Rolling Logs: Two bundles of logs have been lashed on either side of the downhill barricade and can be cut loose to roll downhill with devastating effect. Releasing the lashings of each bundle requires two full-round actions (thus, releasing a bundle takes 1 character 2 rounds or 2 characters 1 round). Alternatively, a bundle can be released as a standard action by dealing at least 2 points of damage to the lashings with a slashing weapon. When unleashed, the bundle of logs tumbles down the hill in a 20-foot-wide path, attacking all creatures in its path. A bundle of rolling logs has a melee attack bonus of +15; on a successful hit, it deals 3d6 points of bludgeoning damage. In addition, any creatures struck by the logs must succeed at a DC 15 Reflex save or be knocked prone. The rolling logs stop when they reach the wall.

Sharpened Stakes: The uphill barricade is equipped with sharpened and splintered wooden spikes. A character who readies an action to impale an incoming attacker on the stakes as though readyng a brace weapon against a charge deals 2d8 points of damage to an enemy that ends its movement on the barricade in a square threatened by the PC.

"A half-orc named Katrezra recruited and bullied these half-orcs, mainly from the Howling Hound, to take the gate here and trap our fighters. He's dead in the right tower there."

Marikel gestures at the fallen around him.
"These are most of his followers. Miss Alicia may find some more clues on his person."

"Katrezra," the dwarf muses. "Doesn't ring a bell. Not a local. Of course, no true Trunauan would betray his neighbors. Just this ringleader, lass!" he calls after Alicia as she returns to the tower. "We don't have time to count pocket change!"

"Didn't you bring anyone with you?"

"We've already got the most part of our warriors at the palisade," he scowls back at the priest. "No point in letting the gate fall and people's homes burn because we're holding our best forces in reserve. I brought a handful down to reinforce the Upper Gate," he gestures up the hill behind him. "It's going to be up to us to defend this position if the palisade is breached."

The former Patrol Captain hustles up and and places his own shoulder beneath the heavy bars of the portcullis. With some effortful moments of struggle, the four men are able to raise the gate high enough for Alicia swiftly to lock the mechanism in place with a spoke of the broken wheel.

Omast Frum steps away cautiously, eyeing the portcullis warily in case the jury-rigged stop suddenly fails. "Who'd you say was behind this, Padre?" he asks.

"Padre!" the dwarf calls out as he approaches. "What's going on? They've been saying we've traitors inside the walls!"

Omast concurs with more good will. "Just stand ready with sword and healing, Padre. We'll be standing in need of both when the damned orcs get here." He nods a dismissal, if there is no further business to discuss.

Omast looks pained. "Every man's life will be in danger when the damned orcs get here, too. Oughtn't they have the opportunity to drink a bit of ale and enjoy the company of their neighbors before that happens?" he counters.

"I've raised a mug or two in his company, aye," Omast replies, "but I wouldn't've thought there'd be anything short of Aroden's return would pry him off a barstool to raise rabble in the streets. Not a thinking man, is Foster." He gives Marikel and the others a nod. "I'll put a man on the Killin' Ground, keep an eye on things. Or do you reckon it'd be better to set him outside the Howling Hound to discourage a crowd from gathering?"

"Foster?" the dwarf replies with a quizzical frown. "What's put a pebble in his boot?"

"I assume the searches of the tunnels turned up nothing else?"

Omast rubs his nose thoughtfully. "We haven't had the time nor the manpower to search every tunnel in this honeycomb of a hill," he admits, "but we found nothing else in the tunnel where the Grath boy died. From what we were able to get out of them, we believe the so-called mining operation was a blind to get folk to work on their back way up the cliff. Those half-orcs thought they'd be getting rich quick on the Sawyers' left-behind ore ... as if there's been a Sawyer born yet that wouldn't cut the gold teeth out of their grandpappy's corpse before leaving a coin in the ground that could be in their pockets. At least we can be thankful that we found what they were up to. Any of those Twisted Nail savages that think they'll be sneaking up to our very back door will have a surprise in store for them."

"Same goes for all of you," the dwarf goes on, giving the others a nod as he prepares to take his leave. "If you want to move your belongings up to the Longhouse, we'll make space for them. Not that I'm saying this place is sure to burn, but the Longhouse is made of stone and a lot farther from the main gates."

The dwarf gives a nod of satisfaction. "Pleased to hear you say so, ma'am. If you need any help in moving anything of value to a safer place, just send word and I'll be happy to have the Patrol assist you. And if ... when we turn the tide and Halgra's back in town, rest assured I'll let her know how amenable you've been."

"I've just given folk permission to defend their property," he explains. "Seems only right that includes you. But if you plan to make your stand here in this church, the Lower Quarter will be the first to fall, and the Patrol will be fighting to defend what's left of Trunau up at the Longhouse, far away from the healing magic they'll be needing. On the one side of the stone, everyone's got a right to defend what's his, but on the other, doesn't seem fair to the folk up top to be fighting and dying without that help that you could be providing."

It's the first time Omast has been inside the mission, and he glances around curiously before getting to the point. "Miz Padre, ma'am," he begins, "I'd like to know your intentions."