Mimi is ready to go! Her rabbit, Pink Flower, sits perched on her shoulder.
"Come along, everyone."
Georgedef prepares for the mission!
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It's been months since our heroes returned from the far north after rescuing the citizens of a nearby town from the Raiders of Black Ice. Time has passed, and life has returned to normal. Mimi's farm and garden are in good shape, and her many pets are enjoying themselves. Gerogedef's mine is in full operation, and his dwarven workers are finding enough valuable minerals to keep the entire place paid for. The land is protected by fences, guards, and catapults, while workers tend to the crops and animals. There's a nice big farmhouse for Mimi, Georgedef, Sylarus, and Rei to share, while the rest of the workers have their own bunkhouses elsewhere on the land.
One day, a cry goes up from the fields. A few minutes later guards approach your farmhouse carrying a wounded man. He's wearing the armour and cloak of a Nirmathi Ranger (the army that protects your country), but he's unconscious, and bloody. A red-feathered arrow sticks out from his shoulder.
"We found him on the northern border," one of your guards says. "Thought you'd want to see him."
Rei pokes at the guy a few times. "Yup, he doesn't look good. Wonder what happened to him." she looks at her brother, Georgedef. "What do you think, bro?"
Mimi gasps when Rei pokes the poor wounded man. "Hey! Don't poke him! He's hurt!"
She looks to her guards. "Thank you. You can go back to your posts. Be extra careful!"
Then she pulls out her healing wand and uses it on him.
"Hmmm... I don't know what happened yet." Georgedef says. He looks at the man's clothing, armour, and the arrow sticking out of him.
Cutie Pie trots over and rubs up against Georgedef. "Oink! Oink!"
Georgedef grins down at Cutie Pie and pats him. "Good job, Cutie Pie. Stay close. Might be dangerous out there today."
After a moment Georgedef leaves the room and puts on all of his gear. On his way out he passes by his wife and sister. "I'm going to go keep watch. Come along Cutie Pie."
Georgedef heads outside and looks around. If it looks safe he goes out on patrol.
"Hurt? Pfft! More like BORING!" She leans down and yells in the unconscious guy's ear. "WAKE UP, LAZY!!"
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The wounded man jerks awake to find himself in a strange place with a pale woman and a pink fluffy rabbit over him, and an orange fox-woman yelling in his ear.
"AAAH!" the man screams. He scrambles backwards in fear. "STAY BACK! I'll never tell you anything, you -- " He pauses a moment and narrows his eyes at you. "You're not orcs! And you're not Molthuni soldiers, either. ...Am I... Am I a prisoner here?"
"No." Mimi says. "Our guards found you on my farm and brought you to me." She points at Rei. "She woke you up rather rudely. But I healed your wounds. How are you feeling? What happened? Why were you dying in my corn field?"
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Georgedef heads out on patrol with his weapons and his pig close at hand. He sees no signs of intruders, enemies, or other dangers on his property or int he distance. Eventually he does find signs of the wounded man. Judging by the trail he left, it looks like the wounded man came from the south. He was stumbling around -- likely from blood loss -- which shows he was heavily wounded some time before arriving on your land. If he hadn't found safety in your home its likely the guy would have died within a few hours.
Georgedef knows that to the south is the forest his farm is built near. It's called the Fangwood. From there the forest thins out and opens up into some fields as it reaches the Marideth River. Then there's the Marideth Valley, and then the forest continues again all the way to the border of Nirmathis, the country he lives in. There's a lot of border forts and troops on the border who protect the country from it's neighbour Molthune. Molthune is a human kingdom that wants to conquer Nirmathis, and has a powerful army. The Molthuni Army and the Nirmathi Rangers are always fighting along the borders, but it has been stable in the area you live in for a while.
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Meanwhile, Mimi and Rei watch the soldier sigh in relief. "Oh! I thought the orcs had me. Wait... Orcs? ...NO! Hobgoblins! Yes! The battle!" The man seems very worried and very confused. He grabs onto Mimi's arm, leaving bloody handprints on her pretty clothes. "Please! You must send word to Tamran! Nirmathis is being invaded! Molthune! They... They... They sent a strikeforce to Fangwood Keep! It's to the south, in the Marideth Valley. And it weren't no army, neither. Not like they usually send. This time Molthune just sent one troop of soldiers. Raiders they were! Came in the night like beasts, slipping into the walls afore we even knew they were there! They killed everyone! I'm... I'm the only one who escaped! The raiders! They! They!"
The man shakes his head in confusion. Even though you've healed him he's lost a lot of blood and looks like all this excitement might cause him to pass out!
"WHAT?!" Rei exclaims. "This is HUGE NEWS! Like, MASSIVE news!" She pulls out her pen and ink and starts taking notes for her next newspaper article. "Molthune and Nirmathis are constantly at war, but this region of the border has been safe and stable for years. This attack is incredibly shocking!" she explains to Mimi. "It's why you guys built the farm here. Because its in the middle of nowhere and BORING!" She writes some more, then begins to pepper the soldier with further questions.
"Are you sure that you were attacked by Molthuni troops? What was their insignia? Who was their leader? How large was the strike force?"
Mimi tries to pat the blood off of her beautiful clothes. "I'd better go and wash this," she says. Then she gets up and leaves the soldier to Rei. She puts on clean clothes and goes to wash her dirty ones.
"Auw, can you imagine me with dirty clothes, Pink Flower? ME? Oh, I hope this doesn't stain!"
"Well, shucks!"
Mimi finishes cleaning her dress and comes out to go and feed her pets.
Georgedef pats Cutie Pie. "Well then," he says to the pig. "Lets go back and chat with the family."
Georgedef heads inside his home. "Well, he came from the south. Probably a soldier from the border. Poor fool would've died if we didn't take care of him!" He notices the man unconscious. "Oh. Did you kill him, Rei?"
Georgedef puts his hands on his hips and grunts. "I think we should should head to the border and make sure its safe. If Nirmathis has been invaded we'll need to move before raiders get here. We might be next! And I don't want to move."
"Let's get ready for war!"
Georgedef wanders off to pack his battle bags! Then he makes sure his guards and workers are all prepared to run the farm while he is gone.
Cutie Pie snorts. "Snorty-Snie!"
He trots off after Georgedef to help peck.
"Sounds good!" Rei exclaims. She grabs a piece of paper and composes a letter to the newspaper in Tamran, telling them about the possible incursion on the border. Once its done she seals the missive and hands it off to a messenger, charging him with delivering her emergency announcement.
Then Rei packs her bags and gets ready for adventure!
Mimi gets her leash for her rabbit, Pink Flower, and packs her bags. "Alright, I'm ready," she says happily. Pink Flower squeaks.
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Prepared, the group bids their workers farewell, confident they've left the farm, animals, and mine in good hands. They turn south, heading through the dense woods for nearly six hours. It's late afternoon now, and you're all tired and hungry.
The forest thins out ahead, revealing a wide river valley cleared of trees. The path descends for a quarter mile (about a five minute walk) to a single stone bridge that spans the river, and then continues up a small hill. Atop this barren hill sits a small, two-storey fort surrounded by a thick, partially collapsed outer wall. It's clear that leaving the shelter of the forest would make you easy to see from the fort.
"It's getting late," Rei says. "If those are humans on the wall they won't be able to see us in the dark. But, if they're hobgoblins, they will. Those big jerks can see 60 feet in the dark. Better than seeing us from half a mile, like they would in the daytime, though... Approaching in the dark is probably safer."
"See the Marideth River, there? It's really fast flowing, so swimming across is dangerous. The bridge there is the only safe place nearby to cross." She points at the fort. "I see some figures moving on the battlements. Can't tell if they're Nirmathi Rangers, Molthune Soldiers, or Hobgoblin Raiders, though. Whoever they are, there's a few I can see, and they're on watch. They'll see us if we just walk over there now." After a moment she adds, "Actually... You see that wall outside the fort? The one that goes around the hilltop? The guards on the ramparts will have a clear view of everything approaching the hill, but that wall blocks line of sight within 15 feet of it. We could hide along that outer wall there without being seen. It's getting there that's the problem, though. That and from the wall to the fort."
Rei checks out her gear... "I have a few potions of vanish. They'll make us invisible, but only for a few seconds. It could get us from the wall to the fort, but not from here to the wall. Their magic doesn't last very long."
She thinks for a moment. "Keep an eye out for guard patrols. If I can get a good look at one of them I could disguise myself as them and hurry over to the fort. If we fight the patrol you guys could steal their gear and we could all go in disguise." After a few more moments she adds, "Actually... I could disguise myself as that wounded guy at our house and hang out on the forest edge. If there's his pals in there they'll send out someone to check on me, and if its his enemies they'll send out someone to kill me. Either way, it gets a patrol out here. At least then we'd know who's in charge of the Fort."
"Any other bright ideas?"
"In the morning a thick mist rises from the river here, and creeps up nearly all the way to the walls. I can use magic to shield us the rest of the way. But, we'll need to wait until morning. Until then, I can summon a bug to act as a spy for me. We might learn something."
Mimi swirls and dances around gracefully, there's a little gust of wind, and then a little bug appears. Mimi touches the bug, whispers to it, and blows on it gently. The glossy, black beetle flies away, towards the fort.
"Nice!" Rei exclaims happily. "We can hide in the mist on the approach. Have to wait until morning, of course. Whoah! You can use bugs as spies now? Well, look at you! Nice to see you learned some trickiness from me! Atta girl!"
Turning to her brother, Rei asks, "So? Anything to add?"
"Hmmm... I like Mimi's plan. We'll wait until morning to head to the fort. But first we need to eat and sleep. Let's eat something raw. Something we don't need a fire for. We don't want to make any light or smoke. Then we can set up camp in the woods do they don't see us. We need to keep watch too, though. Just in case of guard patrols, like Rei said."
"I think there's a great place over here. This way. I only found enough food for me and Cutie Pie, though."
As Georgedef sets up camp, Rei keeps watch for trouble.
"What? You didn't find me any food? When I starve it's on you, pal." Rei tells Georgedef with a wily grin.
"Oh, no! I'll try again! Don't starve!" Georgedef goes out for find more food.
"Here! I found some for you."
"Hello there, again." Mimi says to the bug. "What colour skin did the people in the fort have? What colour were their clothes? Did they have any patterns or pictures on their clothes? What did it look like? How many people did you see in the fort? Did anyone try to squish you? Did anyone recognize you as magic?"
"Well? What did it learn?" Rei asks curiously.
"Did you see any bunnies? Did you see any animals?"
Then she tells the others what she learned.
Mimi chats with the bugs until they vanish. Then she is ready to move on.
"What does it say?"
Mimi pulls out a wand and casts mage armour on her bunny, Pink Flower.
Georgedef feeds Cutie Pie a potion of mage armour. Then he holds up his shield and pulls out his axe. His potion drinking will need to wait until they are at the fortress walls.
Cutie Pie drinks the potion and squeals happily.
Rei readies herself, then slinks off into the mist..
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...?
When the mist rises off the river, the group moves, staying close and staying quiet. They creep forward, not really able to see where they're going on their way across the clearing, and relying on their gut and other senses. They reach the river, and have to follow it for a time before they manage to find the bridge. Then they hurry forward and up the hill, coming to a stand still behind the crumbling fortress wall. The mist reaches no higher up the hill, meaning any attempts to get closer to the fortress will be without the cover of mist.
Glancing around the corner of the wall reveals the inner courtyard. Countless shallow pits have been dug into the dark soil. More alarming, however, are the signs of recent combat all around—dozens of corpses are littered throughout the courtyard. Most are human, but some are hobgoblins as well, and all show signs of an intense battle. The human bodies have been stripped of their gear, and if not for the broken swords and bows lying about, one might be inclined to thing that the dead soldiers fought with the shovels and pickaxes leaning against the inside of the outer wall.
Ahead is the keep's front door: a stout wooden gate with no handles on the exterior. Between your hiding spot and the door are two hobgoblins, one with bow in hand and other with longsword on their hip, and a hideous looking guard dog. Both the hobgoblins have a signal horn on their belt, for raising an alarm in times of trouble. A further two hobgoblins with bows stand alert on the upper ramparts, directly above the front entrance.
After peeking around the corner of the wall, Rei uses her hands to signal their circumstances. She holds up three fingers and gestures at the door, then two fingers and points up at the balcony—all while hidden behind the wall. She pulls out her potion of vanishing, which she mentioned earlier, and makes a slicing motion across her throat, then gestures behind again. Then she shrugs and points the other direction.
She seems to be asking if we should ambush the guards at the front door or try circling around to look for a back entrance. Either way, Rei can go invisible for a few moments, but she has no way to pass on that favour to her pals.
Ambush the guards, and then sneak in.
ok we need a distraction I will go check the wall ok?
Georgedef starts to creep away to check out the wall for signs of weakness. Unfortunately, he sounds like a herd of stampeding aurochs. The ugly dog growls and you hear a voice.
"You check it out. I'll hold position."
You hear footsteps approach, and the growling gets closer.
running along to get away.
The groups takes off at a run, hurrying along the outer wall. The dog barks, and the hobgoblin gives chase alongside it.