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Hey folks, regretfully I have to withdraw from the game. I'm starting a new job soon, which means that my free time will be severely restricted, so I'm downsizing my number of active games. It's been an absolute pleasure playing with you all, and GM Red is doing a fantastic job running the campaign so far. Take care, everyone!
Skalla nods slowly as Saélihn reports her find. "We should head that way and investigate. It might be a temporary shelter for tonight, if nothing else, to house those who are wounded or weak. And apples can keep for a long time." The half-orc furrows her brow as she considers the options. "I'm wary about establishing a permanent camp so close to the town, in case the hobgoblins make incursions into Fangwood. By now they must know that some of us got away, and they might come after us." She turns to Aubrin. "Are there any caves in the Fangwood? I think that would be the best place to try and establish ourselves, as the signs of habitation are easier to hide, and it would be a more defensible location."
I think finding a secure spot for the base of operations should be the first priority, and from there we can scout the forest and other locations.
Skalla feels uneasy at the thought of camping so close to the forest's edge. They had quite a few people with them, burdened with supplies, and they had not made an effort to obscure their tracks. And even with the bridge destroyed, who knows what methods the hobgoblins employed for getting around? After all, they had managed a complete surprise attack on the town, emerging as if out of nowhere. But the townsfolk were tired, and there was little point in them fumbling around in the dark; while Skalla herself might be able to see for a short distance even without light, most of the others could not, and were likely to twist an ankle or worse. So she helps Aiza make a bed for herself between the roots of a large tree and stands watch in the early hours of the night, her eyes wandering often in the direction of Phaendar, straining to see if any lights flickered there or no. Gronilda's speech keeps running through her head. How could they not dwell on what they had lost, all the ones killed, all those lives snuffed? Skalla could not forget that so easily, could not turn her back on them so soon. Fleetingly, she is glad that Alina left, else she might be one of the bloody corpses in the ruined town now. Perhaps she was a bloody corpse elsewhere, the world seemed cruel enough... No. Enough dark thoughts. She was alive. The others in the camp were alive. And she would have to do her best to make sure they stayed that way, for as long as possible.
Level 2 Skald:
Profile updated.
It galls her to turn her back on the town, when there are so many who could yet be helped, but for now they must look to the safety of those who look to them for help and leadership. Glad of a task to distract her for the moment, Skalla helps Lizzie set the alchemical solution to the bridge supports. "We'll come back for the others once we have led this group to safety," she growls, more to herself than anyone else. It is a promise she intends to keep, with or without help from the rest of the defenders.
Skalla stands for a few moments as the last hobgoblin falls, swaying slightly. She had almost died, and there were so many dead surrounding them... but the time for processing all this was not now. striding back to the others, she looks across the bridge, away from the town. "What of those we rescued? We should make sure they cross safely before we destroy the bridge." She turns around, staring hard at the streets and houses of Phaendar. "We should go back, see if there are more we can help."
It felt wrong to leave Gronilda lying on the ground like that, obviously still wounded, but Skalla had nothing that could help the dwarf, and a hobgoblin was still menacing Grymwold. So she picks up the pace, charging at the still standing foe, battleaxe held blade first to meet his chest.
"Gronilda!" Skalla cries as the dwarf falls to the hobgoblin's deft scimitar strike.
Her voice, used to cutting through children's babble in the classroom, rings out loud and clear to alert the others of mortal danger. She edges to the right, trying to draw away the captain's attention, fervently hoping that one of the others can make it to Gronilda in time to save her life. She is shaking with anger and fear, so her strike goes wide.
As a GM, I straight-up do not kill PCs (although people are welcome to swap out a character they no longer enjoy playing). In terms of dealing with PC death or near-death, using hero points can be useful at lower levels when the party doesn't have access to Raise Dead/Breath of Life/Resurrect etc. I saved one of my PCs from death this way, as I would have been very upset to lose that character. Another method I've seen employed is to weave the character's death and subsequent return into the narrative. I'm in a Tyrant's Grasp game where one of the PCs died to a series of crits and we didn't have the magic to save them. The player worked with the GM and their character returned to the game after making a bargain with a mysterious higher power (hinted at to be Arazni). It was an emotional arc for everyone involved and beautifully executed, and also fit the theme of the AP. Ultimately, it's something to discuss before the game starts (not something available to you in this situation, GM - I realize that), as different players and GMs have varying degrees of comfort with PC death.
Skalla has a moment of indecision, but in the end she cannot let Gronilda face the hobgoblin on the bridge alone. She runs to stand by the dwarf's side, her battleaxe raised menacingly.
"Why are you offering them mercy, when they offered none to our people?" Skalla yanks the bolt out of her shoulder angrily, circling around to flank the wolf.
Skalla grits her teeth as she follows Gronilda, stepping over the bodies. She cannot help but look, examine every visible face and try to put a name to it. She will not avert her gaze, she will remember each and everyone of these folks and avenge them when the time comes. But for now, to save those who still live.
Skalla reaches out a hand to squeeze Lizzie's shoulder in silent support. She feels cold all over as she hears her companion's father recall seeing so many of their family cut down and beyond their help. It is hard to wrap one's mind around the fact that this was it, this was all of them who had escaped the cruelty and savagery of the hobgoblins. And the danger was not yet past; they needed to make haste and escape across the bridge and into the woods. Hoisting Aiza up in a hip carry after loading a few supplies in a sack to carry on the opposite shoulder, Skalla nods her readiness to the others. She cannot speak, not yet. She feels the knot in her throat, the sobs and screams welling up behind it, and the time for mourning was not now.
"Aiza, my heart, are you alright?" Skalla takes the orphan girl into her arms. "Let's get you all out of here and somewhere a little safer." Knowing that giving her a task will help the child keep her mind off the horrors happening in town, Skalla looks around for something useful that Aiza could carry.
"Gronilda, are there any hidden spaces here? Lizzie's aunt said there would be more people here, but I don't see them..." Skalla begins to search the shrine, tapping on the floor and walls.
Skalla leans to the left to avoid the first swing, then back as the second whistles past her face. As she straightens up, she brings her axe in an upward swing aimed at the hobgoblin's midsection.
Skalla tears her gaze away from the dead caretaker, shouldering past Grymwold into the shrine proper. She stalks towards the altar, battleaxe gripper tightly in her hands. "Come out, you cowards! Or do you only fight against unarmed villagers?"
Rushing around the shrine to where the others were shouting, Skalla is brought up short by the sight of Big Gronilda. Even so, the size of the wolf is also rather imposing; most people who have never seen one think of wolves as dogs, but wilder. The truth is rather far from that. Still, the creature was threatening her companions, so Skalla grips the shaft of her battleaxe tighter before closing the distance and swinging.
It is difficult for Skalla to make herself small and unnoticed, but the former teacher tries anyway.
Skalla takes all the weapons; there was no sense in leaving them behind to be looted by hobgoblins and then used against more innocent people. Those that don't have sheaths she quickly wraps in rags and straw, Distributing them amongst the others to carry. The waterskins are filled from the pump and likewise distributed. She smiles as Lizzie is reunited with part of her family, going over to ask them. "What of the kids? Have you seen anyone? Are they at the shrine as well?"
Skalla is also Very Interested in saving any children she can, as she is/was a teacher in Phaendar before the raid.
"Kining!" Skalla shouts after the blacksmith. "You're angry, and I am too, but shops can be rebuilt and lives cannot. We are alive, for now, so let us focus on staying that way. Help us gather what is useful, and help these folks make their way to the bridge. There are others that escaped this massacre, and we mean to hide in the forest." This was the adult version of the speech that Skalla often had to give to the younger kids, which was usually along the lines of "Use your words, Brienna, not your fists."
Skalla moves to help Kinning with the door, but turns around as she sees the pair of half-elves about to leave. "You can do a lot more good helping us protect the townsfolk! We are getting organized, gathering provisions. On your own your chances are poor at best, don't throw your lives away like this!"
I'm happy with GM Red adopting this game for the first book. Few APs on the boards make it past that point, anyway. :)
Good luck with the house, Mahuffma! And I'm down to try and find a new GM.
"What is with this creature? Where does it come from? Why does it attack us?" Skalla's rising exasperation can be heard in her tone. Still she cannot sit idle while her companions are being attacked. She moves to stand at Grymwold's side.
Likewise not looking for a fight with the animated rock, Skalla gives it a wide berth as she helps people get down from the loft. "We need to move quickly, gather whatever would be useful to survive in the wilderness, as much as you can carry. Food and drink, especially, also tools, hatchets, weapons if you know how to use them!" She looks over the people to see if any of them were wounded.
It was pointless to try and save the building. They were fleeing anyway, most likely never to return here. She should have seen this earlier, if only she wasn't overwhelmed by the memory of that one night. No, what was needed now was to save the people. Skalla heads to the door, giving it a once-over to see if it was barred or locked from the outside. Why would the hobgoblins do so, though? Why leave people alive, but trapped in a burning building, instead of taking them captive or killing them? Was it just cruelty, or were they bait for people like Skalla and the others, the ones who would rush to aid those in danger?
Skalla grabs her battleaxe, ready to turn the closest shutters to splinters. She signals Saélihn. [b]"If there are flames inside, opening either the door or the windows will make them worse, so please be ready with your water conjuration.
Seeing that Gronilda was reviving Ghost, Skalla rushes to put out the fire on the roof. Her powerful voice shouts to the others "See if there's anyone still alive inside!"
Skalla takes a few steps closer, staying near the pump so that she can quickly draw water to put out the fire once the fighting was over. So far things were in their favour, but the scope of the disaster hits her afresh and she doesn't feel capable of inspiring anyone. Picking another smooth stone with fumbling fingers, she aims her sling at the remaining hobgoblin, taking care to not hit the others. It was good that those next to her target were short - a dwarf and two dogs - so she aims for the upper chest and head.
I forgot to add the raging bonus damage to my own damage, haha.
Skalla takes out her own sling, picking a round stone from a belt pouch and flinging it at the hobgoblins. If she could hurt them from a distance she would, the feeling of getting sliced by their swords is far too recent for her to feel comfortable getting closer - at least not until they're good and bloodied.
The sight of the flames licking the thatch roof make Skalla go cold all over, and her vision blurs with fury and fear and the memory of a burning hut many years ago. "Not again," she hisses through clenched teeth as she moves closer. Her voice is low and menacing and filled with controlled rage as she imparts the same fervor on her companions. "It's not enough to kill us. They slaughter the animals. Destroy our tools. They seek to erase our whole lives. This stops here. This. Stops. Here."
Skalla lets Lizzie scout ahead, staying towards the back of the group as she's all too aware of her clumsiness. She clenches and unclenches her fists, impatient to get to the trade post and worried about what they might find there. As they move on the outskirts of the town, she glances towards the streets and houses, looking for any kids that might have escaped the carnage.
Skalla passes the antidote to Aubrin, frowning in concern at the shopkeeper. "Brightberry, do you have any more of those berries? Oreld is still injured."
Skalla sets her jaw. "We'll save as many as we possibly can. If there is a path for the others to make it to the forest unnoticed, then of course they should do so instead of following us into danger. Perhaps Aubrin can lead them." She finishes tying the knot of a sack containing as much of the provisions as she could cram inside, her movements swift and precise. "Whatever we decide, we need to do it quickly. Every moment that passes, more people are killed or taken."
"These two are cure ones, the other one to turn invisible. Maybe that is how they stroke in the heart of town without notice. Invisibility." Skalla frowns, clearly not enjoying the idea of invisible hobgoblins. "Then they must have been preparing this for a long time, to brew so many potions. Or... they got help from someone. I don't like either of those scenarios." With Oreld's customers and family rescued from the cellar, the half-orc gets to work securing vital provisions and organizing the more able-bodied people to carry some of them.
With the hobgoblin dead and the others taking charge of freeing those who had taken refuge in the cellar, Skalla moves to search the other invader's body. "I hope one of them has the key to this damnable collar. Oreld, we're planning to retreat into the forest. Anything in your shop that could help us survive in the wilderness?"
Skalla should be at full HP, 9/9.
Goblin:
"You! Let them go and surrender, or else your life is forfeit!"
Skalla draws herself up, raising her flail to point at the living hobgoblin as she addresses them in a menacing tone. She doesn't yell, instead her voice is low and threatening as she enunciates the guttural sounds of the goblin language.
3 rounds of song used, I'll find a place in the status line to track that.
Skalla flattens herself against the wall outside the door, trying to hear what's going on inside.
"It would also mean that retreating there would be a lot more dangerous. I still think it's the best option though - at least the forest will give us some cover." Skalla hefts the makeshift pack over her shoulders. "Well, I think we got everything useful here. Everyone ready to go? Someone with keen eyes should check if the rear exit is clear."
I've been updating the loot sheet, and I had a question. The loot listed for hobgoblins (mwk backpack, heavy crossbow etc.) - is that for each of them, or for both together?
Skalla shakes her head as she stuffs cured hams, wheels of cheese and bags of beans in a sack. "Many things could have happened. They were distracted. They were killed before they could raise the alarm." She wraps handfuls of straw around clay jugs and adds those to the sack. "Betrayal." The half-orc fashions two loops from a length of rope and ties one end around the mouth of the sacks and the other to the each of the bottom corners. It makes for a crude backpack so she has her hands free. Once she has gathered all that she can carry, she makes it back to the main room, shaking her head at Gronilda's suggestion. "We stick together. Alone, each of us is easy pickings for the hobgoblins. You saw how it took five-six of us to kill two of them. Not counting the dogs."
Ask at the bar for the secret menu.
"I can carry the supplies," offers Skalla. She looks to Jet's assistants. "Let's grab the strongest alcohol you have, we can use it for wounds. And some ale or something similarly weak for people to drink if we don't find clean water." They turn to the others briefly before heading down into the cellar. "Someone quick-footed should get the people upstairs."
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