"We can trust them" Eria begins to protest "At the very least none of them are friends of the Baron." She shrugs "Beside if the barons Nephew isen't as dimwitted as he makes out and is currently telling the Baron everything about us that he knows then someone else knowing about us is probably not going to make that big a difference."
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"We can trust them" Eria begins to protest "At the very least none of them are friends of the Baron." She shrugs "Beside if the barons Nephew isen't as dimwitted as he makes out and is currently telling the Baron everything about us that he knows then someone else knowing about us is probably not going to make that big a difference."
"Well, we don't know what Bumbo is saying. He might be confused. I think my pretense at getting a letter out to Cheliax fooled him at first but when he learned we wanted into the castle,... I don't know. I think it will be easier just to slip in before the Baron tries to find out who we are one way or the other. And that means we need to move before dawn."
I pull out my crossbow and load it.
"If I can get within 30 feet or so of one of the dogs, I should be able to put it down quickly. Who else wants to take out a dog?"
Eria opens her mouth to speak again but seeing Galadar load the crossbow and hearing what he says her shoulders slump and she immediately moves herself to the back of the group and goes very quiet.
"Look if it'll make her happy I'm sure one of you fingerwaggling magic users has some kind of knockout spell. Can we just get on with it? How do you people get anything accomplished?"
"By the Truth of the Sword we can determine if someone is trustworthy, I have never performed this mystery, but if Eria trusts one of the hunters to be of some use for wisdom's sake I'll accompany her with all speed to lodge this hour to fetch such a man." Hru seems unsure of this course but feels strongly that faith should be abided.
"I may be able to put the dogs to sleep but only if they are close to each other say in a twenty foot square. Killing them is a mistake, never shoot first and think second. Let me go and talk to Bumbo, if its trap then you can all save me. He is okay, I reckon he isn't bright considering he told us where the secret entrance is. What did that blacksmith give us? Bumbo is the only game in town and killing his dogs will finish that like a bucket of cold water over two frisky elves."
"I may be able to put the dogs to sleep but only if they are close to each other say in a twenty foot square. Killing them is a mistake, never shoot first and think second. Let me go and talk to Bumbo, if its trap then you can all save me. He is okay, I reckon he isn't bright considering he told us where the secret entrance is. What did that blacksmith give us? Bumbo is the only game in town and killing his dogs will finish that like a bucket of cold water over two frisky elves."
The entire dog yard is only 20' by 40'. It is close but not adjacent to the castle wall. The dogs are sleeping in the kennels which take up about 10'x10'. There are guards in the gatehouse but they don't seem to be paying attention.
"Yeah let's go with Hru's idea" Eria once again pipes up
"So you want to go, and find a ranger, who may or may not be trustworthy, and convice him to see if he's able to charm these dogs, without them making any noise."
Liandra stares at Eria in absolute amazement.
"Is this some kind of sick joke? Is there no actual mission and this is all just to screw with me? or are you simply out of your $@^&^#ing mind?"
"No more of a joke than blabbing a bunch of things to the Barons cousin who may or may not be pretending to have a mental deficiency I should think" Eria pauses for Breath "Or trying to kill every dog in that yard without them raising any noise. Do you think the other dogs are just going to sit there whilst you fill one or two of them with arrows?"
"I am being serious thank you very much." Eria responds now actually starting to sound annoyed "I'm not the one who blabbed things to the counts nephew"
"Who said they were strangers? I know them better than I know half of you right now."
Knotty moves closer to the kennel area and pulls out a large piece of cotton wool. Then he throws it in the direction of the animals and whispers sweet words of magical power.
He then waves everyone forwards.
Knotty moves closer to the kennel area and pulls out a large piece of cotton wool. Then he throws it in the direction of the animals and whispers sweet words of magical power.
He then waves everyone forwards.
As the dogs were mostly sleeping anyhow, it is hard to tell how Knotty's spell affected them. They do seem to be sleeping more deeply.
Liandra grins at Galadar as her own pair of Khukris appears in her hands with a flicker of motion. She follows.
Stealth:
Hru almost laughs aloud when he sees the brandishing of the weapons...clearly made for wounding more than killing. The huge battleblade slides effortlessly from it's sheath.
"Lay thy hand on the neck of thine enemies, devour the flesh with thy sword" Hru chants under his breathe and then with a sharp inhalation of breath presses forward.
The dog seems pretty soundly asleep. Unfortunately, it seems to have fallen asleep on the trap door that Bumbo must have crawled through.
Knotty stares in disbelief at the drawn blades under the guard tower. But words fail him. There is this popping sound as he opens and closes his mouth a few times, "nuuhh, -uhh."
Then he heads into the kennels and starts to quickly push at the trapdoor dog, but its far too heavy for his spindly arms. So he stops and begins searching around for anything important like a lantern or candles or even some means of locking the trapdoor after everyone has passed.
Failing that the halfling pulls out his scaly brown wand and casts mage armour upon himself.
Sir Manfred carefully steps forward to gingerly ease the dog off the trapdoor.
Sir Manfred carefully steps forward to gingerly ease the dog off the trapdoor.
The dog does not wake up. The trap door does not need to be locked; it simply closes over the hole in the bottom of the kennel. The tunnel beneath is high enough to stand up right in, and walled with stone. This tunnel was obviously built with the same kind of care as the rest of the keep and walls. It extends straight towards the keep about 50'.
Liandra joins Galadar up front, beginning her sweep from the opposite side.
Perception
Eria brings up the rear of the group stowing her bow till they can get out the tunnel
Galadar and Liandra see no traps as they walk through the well constructed tunnel, barely needing to duck their heads. They smell the distinctive smell of horse dung when they arrive at the ladder at the other end. A trap door is closed above them, at the top of the ladder.
I move up swiftly up the ladder and cautiously raise the trap door, peeking out before exiting. Only if the coast is clear will I climb out.
Stealth: 1d20+17
Galadar finds himself in a stable. The trap door opens into an empty stall. He hears muffled voices nearby.
Knotty hurries along just before Eria, keeping one combat wand in hand just in case.
Hru takes up surprising little space despite the heavy sword, you might even think he could find room to fight if he were stuffed into a barrel. He nods to Eria as he passes into the tunnel and gives Knotty a small laugh. "Hoo hoo, well done master wizard." he chuckles softly "I hope you don't subdue all our enemies thus or I shall have no tithing for the Iron Lord"
I 'hist' behind me, trying to indicate the need for quiet and then scoot out of the opening and over to the edge of the stall to see what I can see.
Galadar:
You see at least four keep guards, in breastplate with shields, swords drawn, trying to spread out around the stables. They are crouching down and 'shushing' each other. Morons.
Nodding I drop into a low crouch and make my way towards another of the indicated enemies, ready to strike as quickly and cleanly as possible.
Stealth:
Sir Manfred crouches, waiting for the signal. He makes room for Hru to pass if he wants.
Seeing others get ready Eria draws her bow
Sir Manfred crouches, waiting for the signal. He makes room for Hru to pass if he wants.
Knotty puts the wand away and waits in line behind the others. He mentally reviews his combat spells.
Stealth: 1d20+17
Nodding I drop into a low crouch and make my way towards another of the indicated enemies, ready to strike as quickly and cleanly as possible.
Stealth:1d20+14