Operation: Graystone #14

[GM Mad]

Operation: Graystone #14

April 13th, CR 569

In the Eagle's Nest:

Having escaped the dwarven lair filled with goblins, the remaining member of Chimera and Wyvern Squads found their way back to where they had stabled the horses at the base of the Eagle's Nest area. Camp was set up for the evening with the plan of trying to reach the Eagle's Nest without setting off the trap once more. Ren, based on his skill with traps and engineering, had theorized that it was the group being spread out that had caused it to trigger. If everyone had stayed close to each other, than the trap would remain inert.

However, enemy forces approached during the middle of the night! Goblins were spotted coming closer. Everyone was woken up to defend the camp. The approaching force was small and not expecting trouble and were dealt with quickly. Only one of the two half-orcs with the goblins managed to escape. Butternut and Vernar chased after him and were swallowed up by the night.

While looting the defeated enemy, a much larger force further down the road was discovered. Far to many to fight and with the interrupted rest none of the spellcasters had yet to refresh their magic. Thus it was decided to go up the ramp now and hope that Ren was correct. If he was, then the squads would reach the Eagle's Nest safely and, hopefully, the oncoming enemy would be the ones to fall into the trap!

Thus did the nine remaining members of Chimera and Wyvern Squad start their journey up the long ramp in groups of three. They moved much faster this time than when first here and reached the top in just minutes. A small outpost was found with a common area and a place to sleep. Huge doors like those found in the dwarven lair below could be sealed for security. Kendell with the aid of Kaylessa just lifted a large timber used to bar the gate into place. Erisciana found a long metal hatch that could be opened to reveal holes large enough for ranged weapons to be fired through or spears thrusted through. However, these holes were sized for dwarves and only three feet off the ground.

“I will see to our door defense.” The Paladin says he will retreat to the storeroom/armory and see if there are any spears that would be of use. Then return to the door.

Lucyus rushes back to the store room and returns with a barrel of spears. Not long after that the sounds of the approaching band of goblins can now be clearly heard coming up the ramp. The sound grows louder and closer until it is suddenly replace by cries of surprise! The approaching noise becomes more distant as you can imagine that the front of the approaching group just triggered the trap and were sent sliding down into the depths of the mountain!

However it is no time to celebrate just yet as there is the noise of yet more enemies coming up the ramp. Just like before they get closer and louder and then all of a sudden they cry out in astonishment and soon grow quiet. Two groups have now been dumped down the trap!

But all is not quiet on the ramp. More sounds can be heard, but not as loud as before. There are others out there, but now they are being very cautious and not just blindly rushing forward. Any noise you hear is not near the closed gate, at least not yet.

Back in the common area, Sann has found the location of a secret door. However, he cannot seem to find the trigger that opens it.

“These dwarves were crafty fellows,” Ren notes as he aids in the search. “Crafty enough that the army never figured out how to open this door. I'd wager that is a complicated process that may need more than one person to carry out.”

“Aye, fine dwarven engineerin'”, Sann agrees. “Keep lookin' for the trigger!”

[GM Mad]

Following the Enemy:

Outside the Eagle's Nest area, Butternut's and Vernar's pursuit of the half-orc lead them into a stream that flowed through this area. Both slipped on the mossy rocks and fell into the water, along with their quarry. All three of them went over a water fall and landed in a pond at the bottom. The half-orc didn't survive the plunge.

Right after that, they were approached by three riders on horseback. The leader of this group was Sergeant Crandell, the commander of Talon Squad. With him was the only other survivors of that squad: Gerett the dwarf and Laurel, a Priestess of Felix. Talon Squad had witnessed an army coming down the pass towards Fort Graystone and were trying to warn them. They had hoped to reach the Eagle's Nest area to raise the warning flag, but a small force splintered of from the enemy army with the same idea. However, they would raise the all clear flag so they could attack the fort with surprise.

Having made their introductions, this new group mounted up and cautiously followed the enemy vanguard as they moved on Eagle's Nest. Butternut accepted a ride with Sergeant Crandell while Vernar settled in behind Laurel. He soon discovers that she has a cat with him.

As Vernar mounts the horse the cat squirms in its perch on Laurels pack unhappy with this new arrangement and loss of personal space. When Vernar attempts to pet him, the cat quickly rushes to accept this new form of affection. Vernar can hear Laurel mumble, "Traitor" under her breath as the cat abandons her for a new perch.

“I'm seeing if this is the dwarf we are looking for,” the cat counters taking a sniff.

This new combined group kept a safe distance and were surprised when an explosion went off back a the base camp. It sounded very much like Ren setting of a vial of Alchemist's Fire. By now the riders were getting closer to the enemy ahead of them and so Sergeant Crandell asked if any here who could see in the dark had scouting skills.

Gerett is happy to get down from his horse, but is not quiet enough to do scouting work. He looks around for higher ground to attack from, but really doesn't find any. The area around the camp is mostly flat, but there is light forest to the right as you approach on the road.

Crandell asks for someone to sneak ahead and take a look. Gerett admits that he's not particularly sneaky, but seems eager to take any opportunity to get off his horse. Resisting the urge to smirk at this dwarf she doesn't really know yet, Butternut swings down off the horse while answering Crandell's question. "Vernar and I both have some skill at scouting, though his night vision is better than mine. We're getting fairly used to working together."

Based on Gerett's comments, Butternut puts together a quick recommendation. "Vernar and I can take a look ahead. Gerett can follow us just until he's about to lose sight of you two. If we get in trouble, we'll retreat to him, and he can signal you."

"Aye, that we be," Vernar adds in reply. Once Laurel stops the horse, Vernar moves to dismount. The cat makes its way back to her as well.

“Sounds like a plan,” Sergeant Crandell agrees as he swings down from his mount. “Laurel and I will stay here with the horses while the rest of you get closer. This is just a scouting mission. See what is going on and then report back in.”

With that, Butternut and Vernar moved further up the trail as quietly as they could. Gerett trailed behind them, but kept them in sight.

Laurel relaxed in her saddle a bit, personal space again - at least for a little bit. Malfamata slides into her lap as the dwarf behind her shifts. Instinctively her hand smooths the patchwork of hair on the back of his head. Laurel whispers down to him, her long black hair falling into her face, "Are you going to go with them, or stay here?"

“Oh, very well,” the cat grumbles as it leaps down the ground. Malfamata than scampers off after the others and is soon lost from sight.

Further up ahead, Vernar leads the way with Butternut following after. Gerett is about thirty feet further behind Butternut. All three are surprised to see Laurel's cat go running past in near silence and is soon gone from sight.

Vernar reaches where the trail turns and leads up the campsite. The dead goblins that were laying on the dirt road were shoved aside so that the enemy unit could pass. Vernar hugs the wall and carefully looks around the corner.

Several entities are seem, all seemingly near the campfire. The fire still burns brightly and there are more than a few goblins laying on the ground around it burning. Those of the enemy that can be seen are not paying any attention to the burning goblins. There are several still living goblins here too.

A figure in plate mail armor, probably a human given his size, seems to be the leader of this group. He carries a torch as do to other humans. These other two both wear chain mail armor. Three other figures of note are among this group. The first is an ogre, easily over ten feet tall! Based on your travel up the ramp from before, Vernar has to believe that this one is too large to move through the mountain.

The last two individuals are also very unique. One looks like a dwarf, but has pasty white skin and a long gray haired beard. The last person looks like a lady elf, but her skin is jet black in color!

The human in plate barks a series of orders, but the are in a language that neither Vernar or Butternut are familiar with.

“Nikag mane hic !” the man in plate commands. “Tu quoque Epidre. Protegat nos cum istis pestibus agmen!”

With that, the man in plate, along with the other two men in chain mail, the pasty dwarf and the goblins start up the ramp. The ogre then turns and stands before the stable entrance as if on guard duty. The dark elf moves off into the forest and is soon lost from sight due to the trees.

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

Lucyus let’s out a frustrated sigh as he sees the state of the storeroom stores. “This does not bode well. Whomever manned this last did not intend to hold it.” He says frustrated by the lack of provisions. He then looks over the weapons to see what is there. Several weapons are of note.

There are spears among the weapons in the store room. Each member of the squads were given a weeks worth of food to take with them. Food stored here would just go bad over time or draw rodents to it, so it makes more sense to just bring your own.

Vardra going up the tower was covered in the last post.

Only Laurel can hear her cat talking. To everyone else, its just making the usual cat noises. Its just easier to include it in the post.

There are more enemies near the doors to the Eagle's Nest, but they are keeping their distance after seeing what happened to those who went before them.

Down by the stables, only an ogre guarding the cave opening can be seen and a drow has moved off into the light forest.

Now what?

[Laurel]

“Oh, very well,” the cat grumbles as it leaps down the ground. Malfamata than scampers off after the others and is soon lost from sight."

Laurel quickly and quietly calls after him, "be careful! You know how goblins love to eat cats, you're a delicacy!"
"And now for the waiting game. This is always the worst part."
Laurel's legs ached from the last few days of trials. She yearned to get off of the horse and stretch her legs but right now her job was to be quiet and ready. Her mind wanders as she waits for the scouts to return. At first she wonders if the horse has a name....if Sgt Crandell know the horsies name and what sort of other adventures has this horse gone on. Then she daydreams of her room, and bed (mostly her bed), and cramped office. Missing her old simple life. At this point she would even be willing to entertain her mother to have some of that comfort back. But she was here. Her mind pauses, and gives turn. If they don't somehow succeed there might not even be a Crossroads to go back to. She finds this thought frightening, but she then finds herself thinking of Gateway. Was this what happened to that city so long ago?

[Lucyus]

Lucyus

Lucyus rushes back to the store room and returns with a barrel of spears. Not long after that the sounds of the approaching band of goblins can now be clearly heard coming up the ramp. The sound grows louder and closer until it is suddenly replace by cries of surprise! The approaching noise becomes more distant as you can imagine that the front of the approaching group just triggered the trap and were sent sliding down into the depths of the mountain!

Lucyus grabs a barrel of spears and brings it close to the door so that they are in easy reach. A sudden thought comes to the Paladin and he speaks it out loud. “I cannot use a spear. I am only trained with axes and long sword.” He says placing his axe behind his back in it’s sheath and drawing his long sword. “I’ll do my best with this.” He says simply as he takes his position near the reinforced door.
As he awaits the horde of goblins rushing up the ramp. Their feet pound against the ground as they scream battle cries. Suddenly the sounds become one of surprise. “Seems your plan is working Eris, he calls back as he lowers his helm. Within moments It happens once again.
But all is not quiet on the ramp. More sounds can be heard, but not as loud as before. There are others out there, but now they are being very cautious and not just blindly rushing forward. Any noise you hear is not near the closed gate, at least not yet.
Hearing that this group is quieter than the others Lucyus says, “Use your arrows as you can, thin them out as they approach! Their charge will break like water upon rock!
Lucyus will await near a hatch that no one is using and await the coming of the goblins. Once they reach the door he will pop his hatch and start stabbing with is sword.

[Kaylessa]

Kaylessa
Giving her bow a good pull, Kaylessa listens to Eris as she speaks of the hatches. She knees down on the ground and knocks an arrow to her bow.
Lucyus comes forward with spears, which she looks at a moment and decided to stay with her own weapons. Now was not the time to dapple in the unknown. She listens as the Paladin calls out for ranged weapons and she is more than happy to oblige. She opens the hatch as the thundering of feet run up the ramp which are soon followed by surprise calls as the goblins make their way to the prison below. Within a few moments it happens again.
Then a third group comes up the ramp and slower and more cautious than their trapped friends. Taking a deep breath Kaylessa steels herself for the coming horde. When she sees them come within range she will let the others know. Then she will begin to send arrows down range.

[Vardra]

Vardra Marcus, PFC:

It only takes a few minutes to climb the stairs to the top of the lookout. Reaching the top, Vardra opens the door and steps out onto the balcony. He immediately spots a box with two flags and a flagpole that leans out from the side of the tower. Assuming that the flag would be in the general direction of the fort, he scans the darkness in that direction. Other than a few tiny pinpoints of light, there is nothing to indicate the presence of the fort. Could something have happened to the fort while they have been gone, or are they keeping it dark for some strategic purpose? Worse, if he cannot see the fort, how could they possibly see the flag at night? There are no obvious answers for his questions and concerns.

Vardra works his way around the parapet, looking for any sign that he might have misjudged the direction of the fort or an approaching army. Still nothing other than scattered bits of light here and there can be found. There's no way to tell if the force they saw approaching the cavern entrance was part of a larger army or not. With no useful information gathered and a head full of concerns, he retraces his steps back down the tower.

When he returns, Vardra finds that the last of their party has made it up the ramps safely. The first thing he finds is Sann carefully inspecting the wall very near where he emerges into the hall.

She will let the others know what she found. "There is a method to help drive off the enemy that bypass the trap. The doors have holes in them that allow us to use spears and crossbows or possibly arrows to strike the enemy through the door. We should prepare a defense for the first wave of enemy that reaches us."

“The storeroom has weapons.” He adds to the conversation, “Some bows, arrows. There maybe spears as well.” The Paladin says. “There was some flasks of oil, though to open the doors now would be folly.( If Kendell and Kaylessa are still working on securing the door, he will add his strength to theirs.”

Vardra takes note of the information as he returns to the main hall. "That certainly seems to give us an advantage. Has the first set of double doors been barred yet?" Since he cannot see the doors in the entry room from where he is, he walks down the hall in that direction. "I agree that we shouldn't open the first set of doors if they are closed now. The holes give us a way to defend the doors without great risk to ourselves. If it seems like the doors will be breached, we can retreat to the second doors, throw oil on the floor between the doors, then bar the second set of doors. Once the enemy start attacking the second doors, we light the oil and continue fighting through the holes."

Vardra turns to the halfling priestess. "Wimzy, can you take charge of preparing the oil for use if needed?"

"If we can determine a method for opening it, then we do not have to be subjected to a prolonged siege by the evil humanoids. Definitely a large "if". I propose that some of us set up to defend the door while others continue to look for a means of operating the secret passage."

It takes Vardra a few seconds to process the information, but he soon realizes what Sann was doing. "Seems like our tricky gnome friend is the perfect choice to help with that." Since Lucyus reported their availability, Vardra will go collect extra arrows from the storeroom, urging Flare to do likewise. He also tosses several additional vials of oil into his pouch; his personal supply for his lantern is running low.

It is not long before the approach of the opposing forces can be heard. They grow closer and closer, then suddenly the sound of shifting stone is answered by cries of alarm and dismay. Clearly, the goblins triggered the trap. Yet still more continue to approach up the ramp, only to meet the same fate.

Behind him, Vardra can hear Ren and Sann discussing the secret door. He hopes they figure out how to open it soon! Meanwhile more of the enemy are approaching up the ramp, but are moving much more carefully now. Good, this will give them time to prepare.

A sudden thought comes to the Paladin and he speaks it out loud. “I cannot use a spear. I am only trained with axes and long sword.” He says placing his axe behind his back in it’s sheath and drawing his long sword. “I’ll do my best with this.” He says simply as he takes his position near the reinforced door.

It seems the paladin has the same issue as himself. "Nor can I, friend Lucyus. My bow should work well enough, though."

Lucyus joins Kendell at the door, and Vardra does likewise. Pulling the composite longbow from his back, he uses his knee to lean into it and bend the bow enough to get the bowstring properly strung. He then selects one of the holes in the door and kneels down so he can get a decent view through the low hole. Lucyus exhorts them to thin the invaders with arrows, which is exactly what Vardra intends to do. For now, he must wait for one to come within view.

Kaylessa takes another dwarf-hole and prepares her bow. Vardra looks over at the elf and nods, then calls back over his shoulder. "Hey, Flare, come join us! It'll be fun!"

______________________________________________________________________________________
How far apart are the defensive holes in the doors?

Wow, talk about a flurry of posting!

[Gerett]

Gerett is in no hurry getting his gear from the horse, giving Butternut and Vernar time to get a lead on him. With crossbow over his back and halberd in hand, and once Mitch has clambered out of his bag to trundle along beside him, he begins to make his way into the forest.

"Keep an eye out for tracks, or anyone else moving in the forest other'en the dwarf and halfling up ahead."

He knows the badger is unlikely to understand his instructions fully, but he feels more comfortable with some sort of backup. The badger is small, but has a knack for getting dug in, making noise, and becoming impossible to root from a spot. Not unlike Gerett's own strategy...

While Mitch rustles through the undergrowth, Gerett looks for a hillock to stand watch from. Finding the terrain less than ideal, he opts instead to stand just inside the treeline beside the road. He won't be hidden, but if Vernar and Butternut end up fleeing, he might not get noticed and may be able to get a few shots off to cover their retreat. He waits until Vernar and Butternut give him the signal to stop--the signal that he's getting too close to walk unseen by the enemy force. Hopefully Crandall and Laurel will follow at a distance that puts him squarely between the two groups--so he can see any commotion around the scouts and give warning to the two waiting on horseback.

Once Gerett finds the spot to stop, he will lean his halberd against a tree and load his crossbow, ready to fire or to drop the crossbow back into its sling and grab his pike at a moment's notice. He focuses his watch on the direction Butternut and Vernar head--even if they move too stealthily for him to watch, he should be able to detect if anything goes amiss, or if they are able to flush out any enemy troops and send them his way. He keeps his crossbow at the ready, but relaxes against a tree, knowing that it could be some time before anything happens. He mutters for Mitch to watch the direction he is not facing and bark if he sees anything taller than Gerett.

[OOC]: Here's hoping Infravision, knowledge of the woods, and Mitch's watchful eye will keep Gerett from getting backstabbed by that drow! I know he can't see the enemy forces that were described yet, but just so I know if the time comes--would Gerett, as a hill dwarf, be familiar with drow or duergar?[/OOC]

[Erisciana]

Erisciana -

Up at the top of Eagle's Nest, defense preparations are happening haphazardly. The priestess has noticed the panels in the reinforced doors that drop to reveal holes to shoot or stab the enemy on the other side of the door with relative safety. She wonders if a skilled mage or cleric could use their magicks to strike at her and her friends through the door.

Lucyus returns with some weapons as they prepare to try and repel whatever invaders make it to the top of the ramp. Meanwhile, Saan has found a secret door that as yet is unable to be opened.

“The storeroom has weapons.” He adds to the conversation, “Some bows, arrows. There maybe spears as well.” The Paladin says. “There was some flasks of oil, though to open the doors now would be folly."

Vardra takes note of the information as he returns to the main hall. "That certainly seems to give us an advantage. Has the first set of double doors been barred yet?" Since he cannot see the doors in the entry room from where he is, he walks down the hall in that direction. "I agree that we shouldn't open the first set of doors if they are closed now. The holes give us a way to defend the doors without great risk to ourselves. If it seems like the doors will be breached, we can retreat to the second doors, throw oil on the floor between the doors, then bar the second set of doors. Once the enemy start attacking the second doors, we light the oil and continue fighting through the holes."

A suitable plan given their circumstances, but unfortunately, a lost opportunity to use the oil trick twice. While some people had lobbied for no real leader, they were in a situation where people making their own decisions cost them an offensive strike. Kendall was clearly thinking only of their safety when they closed the doors, but had the door hatches been found sooner, they could have trapped the ramp further away. At this point there was too much risk to try to take advantage of that knowledge now. The goblins could be here at any moment.

Turning to Kendell, "Will you stand with me?” Lucyus asks the large warrior. He then turns to Erisci, “Have someone see to raising the flag.”

Vardra has just descended the steps to the observation area, but he doesn't comment about having flown a flag. Erisci looks between the two of them curiously. At that moment, everyone turns to the sounds of commotion not far away and easily heard through the door hatches. The first group of goblins has fallen foul of the trap. The priestess smiles a mirthless smile at her plan having succeeded so far. She pauses a moment as more goblins can be heard following the first group. More cries of alarm and more goblins dumped into the bowls of the dungeon. The group exchange pleasant looks at the success.

With a lull, potentially brief, the priestess will scamper up the spiraling stairs to the top of the observation area. She looks out over the night area, unable see much in the night air. She takes in a long deep breath, as she scans the horizon and also looks to see if the cave entrance and campfire can be seen. Unfortunately the view of their campsite is blocked by the very mountain itself. A few lights flicker off in the distance but it is impossible to tell how far away they may be. The view here may show the valley beyond well in the day but night now swallows all advantages.

Erisci will notice the two flags in a box nearby and raise the black flag upon the flagpole. If the others find the means to open that secret door, then they may not be in Eagle's Nest for long. Although there is the possibility that the trap has swallowed enough of the enemy to allow them to fight their way out. Despite the short night's sleep and current defensive retreat, the priestess' mind is clear and she does not feel the tug of tiredness. She takes another deep breath of the cool night air. "Ishtar, may you watch over us all and guide our hands in the coming battle." She will then return down the steps and see how the others are progressing.

At the bottom of the stairs, Rena and Saan are looking for the secret passage 'trigger'. "Ren, you mentioned that the trap on the ramp was mechanical in nature. Should we not expect a mechanical nature to open this door? " She thinks back to her childhood and watching he complex machines used in the building of massive buildings back home. "Perhaps the door does not need to be 'opened', but rather unblocked. " She thinks a bit longer on the puzzle, intrigued by the possibilities, at least while the enemy is not at their doorstep.

[Sorvani]

Sorvani:

“That would make sense,” Sann agrees as he starts to look around himself. “Providin' that the ancient dwarves wanted to move about unnoticed.”

“It doesn't make sense to me to back themselves into a corner like this,” Sorvani notes. “I'd have an emergency exit at the ready!”

“Let us see what the storeroom holds. Perhaps there are things that we can use in the defense of the fort. Was there anything of worth in the Officer quarters? And papers?”he asks curiously.

“Just spare gear, much like what the army offered us when we signed up,” Sorvani reports. “Although I imagine that those who use arrows and bolts could stand a refill.”

With that thought in mind, and assuming that we'll be attacked soon, Sorvani brings out the spare arrows and bolts and will place them on the table closest to the entry doors. They'll be at the ready for those who need them.

On the next table, Sorvani will start to collect the food and water we carried up. “Everyone, lets pool our food resources here. It will lighten us up and make us quicker if we need to flee once more. We'll know how much food we have and how long it will last.”

Lucyus rushes back to the store room and returns with a barrel of spears. Not long after that the sounds of the approaching band of goblins can now be clearly heard coming up the ramp. The sound grows louder and closer until it is suddenly replace by cries of surprise! The approaching noise becomes more distant as you can imagine that the front of the approaching group just triggered the trap and were sent sliding down into the depths of the mountain!

By now the area has gone silent as we can hear the enemy rushing up the ramp. They are loud and boisterous and have no idea what they are running into. Then it happens and they are gone!

Sorvani breaks into a laugh. “I'll tell you what, priestess,” he says to Erisciana, “I do feel blessed now! Have a nice trip you miserable creatures!”

However it is no time to celebrate just yet as there is the noise of yet more enemies coming up the ramp. Just like before they get closer and louder and then all of a sudden they cry out in astonishment and soon grow quiet. Two groups have now been dumped down the trap!

“Perhaps weeded them out enough for us to deal with what remains?” Sorvani wonders. He'll continue to keep his distance from the doors to let those there have room to operate.

[Kendell]

Kendell:

Kendell follows the lady elf and the leather priestess up the ramp. Its a nice easy run for the country boy and he shows no sign of being tired. Once at the top and hearing the horde coming after us, Kendell moves to bar the door. The lady elf helps.

“This is like moving a small tree!”she calls out as she helps lift the bar into place.

“That it is,” Kendell agrees. “Its heavy, maybe heavier than I could left by myself.”

On the next table, Sorvani will start to collect the food and water we carried up. “Everyone, lets pool our food resources here. It will lighten us up and make us quicker if we need to flee once more. We'll know how much food we have and how long it will last.”

With the bar in place, Kendell moves into the common area. “I grabbed all that I could carry.” Kendell then proceeds to set the bags of food and water skins he collected from the horses on the table. “That'll make it easier to fight when the time comes!”

Others are gathering by the door as the enemy seems closer.

Turning to Kendell, Will you stand with me?”he asks the large warrior.

“I will,” Kendell vows. “Only a buxom barmaid with a pitcher of ale and a steak wold make me move!”

Lucyus grabs a barrel of spears and brings it close to the door so that they are in easy reach. A sudden thought comes to the Paladin and he speaks it out loud. “I cannot use a spear. I am only trained with axes and long sword.” He says placing his axe behind his back in it’s sheath and drawing his long sword. “I’ll do my best with this.” He says simply as he takes his position near the reinforced door.

It seems the paladin has the same issue as himself. "Nor can I, friend Lucyus. My bow should work well enough, though."

Kendell observes the grim soldier and the holy warrior in surprise. “What skill do you need? Put the pointed end in the hole and thrust if something is close. It's just like making love to a woman!”

From the sounds of it at least two groups of enemies have been send down in the depths of the mountain. Boy will they be surprised at what they find!

“Perhaps we weeded them out enough for us to deal with what remains?” Sorvani wonders. He'll continue to keep his distance from the doors to let those there have room to operate.

“Maybe,” Kendell agrees with the mage. “We ain't gonna get no sleep until they are all gone.”

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

How far apart are the defensive holes in the doors?

The holes are about a foot apart from each other. There's enough room for four people to man the defensive holes at the door. Based on what has been posted so far, that would be Kaylessa, Kendell, Lucyus and Vardra.

Here is the updated map for the outside and where I see folks being in the post.

graystone027.jpg (128.42 KiB) Viewed 8260 times

O is the ogre, D is the drow. Vernar is at the corner, with Butternut close by. Gerett is further back and nowhere need the woods just yet. Crandell and Laurel are much further back.

Now what?

[Vardra]

Vardra Marcus, PFC:

Turning to Kendell, "Will you stand with me?” Lucyus asks the large warrior. He then turns to Erisci, “Have someone see to raising the flag.”

Hearing the Lucyus' comment, Vardra turns to the paladin. "It's pitch dark out there. I couldn't make out any sign of the fort, which surprised me since I would have expected there to be a lot of torches and other fires there. I also didn't see any signs of an army on the road, just a few scattered points of light here and there. Did we receive information that there is an army approaching?"

===

On the next table, Sorvani will start to collect the food and water we carried up. “Everyone, lets pool our food resources here. It will lighten us up and make us quicker if we need to flee once more. We'll know how much food we have and how long it will last."

"Okay," Vardra replies. He digs most of the food out of his pack and places it on the table, retaining only about one meal's worth of food and a skin of water. Having come very close to starving in the tunnels below Rollo's Shield, he's loath to leave himself with nothing to eat.

Kendell observes the grim soldier and the holy warrior in surprise. “What skill do you need? Put the pointed end in the hole and thrust if something is close. It's just like making love to a woman!”

Vardra just shakes his head at the brutish warrior. "I prefer to actually hit something, and I'm more likely to do that with a weapon I know how to use." With the holes so close together, Vardra figures that he can make use of two or three of them as needed.

“Maybe,” Kendell agrees with the mage. “We ain't gonna get no sleep until they are all gone.”

"That depends on whether they can get through that heavy door or not," Vardra says in a matter-of-fact tone.

______________________________________________________________________________________
Crud. Forget to include this part about what he saw - or didn't see - in my previous post.

[Butternut]

Butternut:

"Aye, that we be," Vernar adds in reply. Once Laurel stops the horse, Vernar moves to dismount. The cat makes its way back to her as well.

Butternut is glad to hear that Vernar agrees with her assessment. She's starting to think that they make a pretty good team.

Vernar joins him on the ground, and they make quick preparations to skulk off into the night.

“Sounds like a plan,” Sergeant Crandell agrees as he swings down from his mount. “Laurel and I will stay here with the horses while the rest of you get closer. This is just a scouting mission. See what is going on and then report back in.”

Butternut nods with an unintelligible grunt, then turns to leave with Vernar. They haven't gone far when Butternut notices the other dwarf taking something out of a bag and setting it on the ground. It takes a moment to recognize in the darkness, though she soon realizes that it is a badger! The number of her companions that travel with animals is starting to get a little crazy. Not a complaint, really, as she's always felt very at home with animals of many shapes and sizes.

"Keep an eye out for tracks, or anyone else moving in the forest other'en the dwarf and halfling up ahead."

Butternut looks back over her shoulder. "Does your friend there actually understand you?" she asks, curious. She's still not certain about Flare's bird or Laurel's cat.

If he catches Butternut eyeing him, he will whisper mirthfully, "Hate havin' to train yet 'nother sergeant."

As they glide down the road toward the cave entrance, Gerett slowly falls behind as he tries to keep an even distance between himself and the two duos before and behind. Once far enough ahead, it's Vernar's turn to make a snarky comment. Butternut's face cracks into a nasty smirk. "Only if he manages to last longer than the other two sergeants. This place seems to have an appetite for consuming them."

Moment's later, the quiet woman's cat scampers by. Butternut catches Vernar's eye and gestures toward the cat. "Wonder what it's up to..." She half suspects it got bored by the woman's silence.

As they approach the last curve before the road widens out to where they fought the goblins earlier, Butternut's attitude shifts to all business. As she had done before with Ren, she moves to the edge of the road and takes up position a handful of steps behind Vernar. As per her training, she focuses all of her attention on her senses, scraping whatever hints she can from sight, sound, smell, and even movement of the air.

Peeking around the curve, they can see the enemy patrol gathered about near the campfire. One of the humans appears to be in command and giving orders, though Butternut has no idea what he's saying. She focuses on observing his companions, instead. They had been able to identify the ogre and goblins from afar, but there are still a few surprises in the group. A couple more appear to be humans like the commander. Another looks kind of like a dwarf, but his skin is far paler than any dwarf she's ever met. The last is a female drow; even she has heard of the dark elves, and what she's heard is nothing good!

Leaving the ogre and drow behind, the rest enter the cavern headed for the ramp. The ogre plants itself in front of the cave opening, making it clear that he would likely be able to fit through the tunnels. The drow, on the other hand, wanders off into the wooded area on the right.

Stepping back so that she can no longer see around the bend, Butternut whispers to Vernar. "Time to head back?"

______________________________________________________________________________________
It's a good thing Butternut can't hear Laurel's thoughts. 'Butterbutt', indeed!

[Lucyus]

Lucyus

“Just spare gear, much like what the army offered us when we signed up,” Sorvani reports. “Although I imagine that those who use arrows and bolts could stand a refill.”

“Good to know my friend.” The Paladin says simply.

Vardra takes note of the information as he returns to the main hall. "That certainly seems to give us an advantage. Has the first set of double doors been barred yet?" Since he cannot see the doors in the entry room from where he is, he walks down the hall in that direction. "I agree that we shouldn't open the first set of doors if they are closed now. The holes give us a way to defend the doors without great risk to ourselves. If it seems like the doors will be breached, we can retreat to the second doors, throw oil on the floor between the doors, then bar the second set of doors. Once the enemy start attacking the second doors, we light the oil and continue fighting through the holes."

“All the doors are sealed and barred. Our time for preparing for the goblins was short at best.” He says simply.

On the next table, Sorvani will start to collect the food and water we carried up. “Everyone, lets pool our food resources here. It will lighten us up and make us quicker if we need to flee once more. We'll know how much food we have and how long it will last.”

Lucyus looks to the mage and gives him his water skins and rations he has on hand.

Erisci looks between the two of them curiously.

Lucyus looks to the warrior priestess for a moment looking her way. He realizes why she is looking at him in such a way, but quickly dismisses it. There will be time to talk about it if they survive this ordeal.

“I will,” Kendell vows. “Only a buxom barmaid with a pitcher of ale and a steak wold make me move!”

Lucyus shakes his head at the comment but has little to add.

Kendell observes the grim soldier and the holy warrior in surprise. “What skill do you need? Put the pointed end in the hole and thrust if something is close. It's just like making love to a woman!”

“I would not know of what you speak, Kendell. Women are, for the most part, foreign to me, though I was taught to respect and honour them,To guard them with a ready sword.” He says simply as he leans back against the door jam, glad that his face is covered.

[Erisciana]

Erisciana -

As the priestess is taking a moment to contemplate the possible workings of the secret door, a thought suddenly pops into her mind. The group is vulnerable! It is an unlikely worry, but certainly within the realm of possibilities.

She will get the attention of either Sorvani or Flare (which ever is not currently engaged in some other task). "We need someone to keep an eye on that door." She will make sure the door to the observation area is closed and latched. "Whether they know about the trap on the ramp or not, and judging by the screams of the goblins they do not, that doesn't preclude them from having a means to reach the tower by some rogue or mage. Even if the spells are powerful, there exist magickal items which can give the abilities of Flight or Climbing of Spiders. I think the saying goes: Better to be wary than suffer?"

Erisci looks between the two of them curiously.

Lucyus looks to the warrior priestess for a moment looking her way. He realizes why she is looking at him in such a way, but quickly dismisses it. There will be time to talk about it if they survive this ordeal.

Erisci is not certain if Lucyus understands her unspoken query, but she can see by the look on his face that he understood "something". She nods quickly and emotionlessly in his direction.

The group is settled behind the barred doors and collect their food. Methods of defense are finally being discussed and suddenly Erisciana hears something that makes her start in surprise!

Kendell observes the grim soldier and the holy warrior in surprise. “What skill do you need? Put the pointed end in the hole and thrust if something is close. It's just like making love to a woman!”

An audible gasp of surprise can be heard from across the room. Erisciana gives the tall warrior a look of disapproval. "I can assure you, my dear man, that even the basest daughter of a penniless serf appreciates a measure of skill in the realm of love. There is much more to it than the simple ... 'act'." She frowns at the thought, but there are more pressing matters to be addressed.

Trying to think in a mechanical manner, remembering again the construction of buildings in Huzuz when she was a child, she thought of various machines: lifts, gears, wind or water mills. She considers ways the door could be blocked: pins which slide in from the sides or top, something to lift the door or pull it aside. The door must be stone to fit in so well with the wall.

A thought comes to her from a story she heard long ago. Dwarves see in the dark, maybe it has to do with the torch holders? The priestess will inspect the torch holders, especially the ones closest to the secret door, seeing if they move, rotate, slide, pull or twist somehow. If that does not work she will look to see if there are any clues in the wall to the side of the door in the short hall before the steps that go up to the spiral stairs.

[Flare Nightstorm]

Slaughtering the fallen Goblins outside Eagle's Nest -

With Ren, Butternut and Vernar giving chase to the male half-orc, Flare and the rest have the task of slaughtering the fallen Goblins outside Eagle's Nest. Flare puts on a good show but lets Kendell do the majority of the slaughtering. One of his companions takes notice of his half-hearted approach:

Flare seems to be playing with his sword in dramatic fashion. She resists the urge to tell him he has to stick them with the pointy end.

Ren returns and breaks the bad news to everyone -

"Damn. Our victory is short-lived. We've been dumped from the proverbial pan into the fire," thinks Flare. "Godspeed Butternut, Vernar. Come back to us in one piece."

Dragging their stricken and unconscious companions to safety -

Forcing his eyes to open, Vardra looks to either side and sees that Flare appears to be dragging him in the general direction of their campfire. "Hi, Flare. What's going on?" he asks, sounding not entirely coherent yet.

"Welcome back, Vardra! You decided to take a little nap during our last battle! We are pulling you to safety. Everything is good! Quite good!"

Flare realizes he is downplaying their current circumstances: "Actually, Vardra, a VERY LARGE army of the enemy is on our heels! Therefore a more accurate assessment of our situation is, oh... DESPERATE?'

"BUT NOT SERIOUS!" he awkwardly adds.

Lost in his thoughts, Flare continues dragging his (now-conscious) companion to safety as if this chat hadn't occurred.

The mounts and his bird -

Sorvani will grab the extra food and water from his mount and help himself to such things from the other horses. You always stock up during a siege!

Flare feels similarly and takes as much from the mounts as he can. He says some quick prayers over the animals then turns to look at the sky, knowing his hawk, M'Lady, is nearby. He screeches - a perfect hawk call! - into the sky. When she returns his call, he gestures broadly with his arms and hands and mimics her flying back up the mountain, keeping alert for danger(!) and waiting for him there. She replies back then launches herself from a tall tree. Away she flies. In the dark.

Flare is about to gently release the horses and mules, but...

Kendell unties the mounts reigns and will give them a slap on the rump to get them out of the cave. “Go get a drink!” he tells them. “Go hide in the forest! Just don't be here!”

Despite the large farm-boy's lack of finesse, his technique is effective, and the animals scatter quickly, so Flare can't complain too much.

Traversing the trap-

Vardra walks quickly over to the odd ranger, lighting one of the torches he collected in Bollo's Shield in the campfire along the way. No point in wasting his lantern oil while he has torches on hand. "Time to go, Flare. You'll be leading Lucyus and I up the ramp.

Nearly ten minutes into their trek, the trio can feel the click that Ren discussed when the gnome was talking about his impressions of the trap. The three men continue on regardless and have safely bypassed the trap! The door to Eagle's Nest greets them right around the corner! The first group up the ramp has had about ten minutes to explore this area before the second group arrived.

In Eagle's Nest barracks-

Wimzy, Ren, and Sorvani are met by Lucyus, Vardra & Flare. There is a buzz of excitement that they did not spring the trap!

Lucyus discovers the storeroom and Flare grabs all the arrows he can use!

Sorvani starts to collect the food and water that the squad carried up.

Lucyus looks to the mage and gives him his water skins and rations he has on hand. Flare pulls out many niblets, tasty bite-lets, and a few cider flasks! He takes a healthy sip of blueberry cider & puts the flasks back in his pouch. His nerves already feel better! He does manage to put his human food-stuffs on the table before Sorvani, who stares at him quizzically.

Flare starts wondering about his bird. "I must call her!"

He slips away, quickly, up the steps to the observation area. It's dark.

He screeches into the sky and M'Lady returns. "What did you see, my friend?"

She squeaks and screeches and he listens intently. He's so distracted he doesn't see the box containing the black and white flags.

We don't see if Flare keeps his bird or releases her again.

Everyone has made it past the trap!-

- except for Butternut & Vernar who are still on foot in the wilderness. Having returned from the observation deck, Flare is concerned for his Dwarf and Halfling companions.

Kaylessa closes the doors. There is a permanence about it. Are we safer here? Or more deeply trapped? Flare wonders.

The priestess will entreat their quiet ranger to help with the process of putting the wooden bars in place and he will oblige.

Erisciana then finds some "murder holes" in the thick doors! They will come in handy against the enemy!

Kaylessa takes another dwarf-hole and prepares her bow. Vardra looks over at the elf and nods, then calls back over his shoulder. "Hey, Flare, come join us! It'll be fun!"

The holes are about a foot apart from each other. There's enough room for four people to man the defensive holes at the door. Based on what has been posted so far, that would be Kaylessa, Kendell, Lucyus, and Vardra.

Flare is thankful Lucyus and Vardra are alive and well - and ready to fight another day. "I will back you up, Vardra. If someone needs a break, I'll come join the fun!"

Sann finds a secret door! It is to the left of the door that leads up the tower stairs. However, there does not appear to be any way to open it!

Sann's discovery makes Flare feel better about being trapped in the barracks! and he busies himself by keeping one eye on the secret door and one eye on their surroundings, looking for any ingenious ways their Dwarven predecessors might have hidden the locking mechanism.

He then catches sight of Erisci, hastening towards the spiral staircase - and his mood sinks.

"Damn, damn, damn, DAMN, damn!"

He knows where she's going!

She's going to hang the black flag! The flag he neglected to hang!"

She isn't gone long, but when she returns, Flare is decidedly embarrassed and avoids eye contact.

"What will I do to make up for this lack of focus? C'mon, man, get it together!"

Erisiciana then comes to the realization that their secret door could open up to more threats from the enemy:

"Whether they know about the trap on the ramp or not, and judging by the screams of the goblins they do not, that doesn't preclude them from having a means to reach the tower by some rogue or mage. Even if the spells are powerful, there exist magickal items which can give the abilities of Flight or Climbing of Spiders. I think the saying goes: Better to be wary than suffer?"

Flare doubles down on his efforts to find the trigger. If he finds it, he will feel vindicated for his lack of focus earlier.

He feels for physical triggers with his hands. He looks for runes, hidden words. Pressure points. Pushing on this piece of stone or that piece of mortar. Always aware that the trigger could be on the opposite side of the door and that the enemy could surprise them and spill into their laps at any time!

But hopefully not!

The secret door may be a blessing or a curse. They don't know yet. But it has no hope of being a blessing if they cannot open it!

[Vernar]

Vernar -

Butternut's face cracks into a nasty smirk. "Only if he manages to last longer than the other two sergeants. This place seems to have an appetite for consuming them."

"Human hubris..." Vernar replies, and then focuses on the task at hand. Soon, a cat goes padding past him much more carefree than Vernar thinks is prudent at the moment.

Butternut catches Vernar's eye and gestures toward the cat. "Wonder what it's up to..." She half suspects it got bored by the woman's silence.

"My experience been they always be doin' their own thing," Vernar says with a shrug and then moves up slowly as he approaches the curve. He gets a few steps ahead of Butternut, but suspects she will make sure to take in whatever lies around the corner as well.

What he spots is an impressive amount of assorted individuals. This is clearly more than just the common soldierly rabble, and likely the command staff, or specialized agents and, well, an ogre. What bothers Vernar more, however, are the last two that he spies.

The last two individuals are also very unique. One looks like a dwarf, but has pasty white skin and a long gray haired beard. The last person looks like a lady elf, but her skin is jet black in color!

Something gnaws at Vernar that he should know about that dwarf, but he cannot for the life of him think what it is. The elf looks to be pure evil as well, and not someone he would want to get the drop on him. Soon, though all but the ogre and strange elf start to head up the ramp. That's when he hears Butternut in his ear.

Stepping back so that she can no longer see around the bend, Butternut whispers to Vernar. "Time to head back?"

Vernar fades back around the corner, his eyes following the elven woman until he can no longer see her. Turning to Butternut to ensure his voice does not carry in the wrong direction, he whispers, "Yes. That it be."

He will begin to make the trek back, looking for Gerett so he can signal in time so he doesn't get impaled with a crossbow bolt. Once back with the others, Vernar will quickly describe what he saw and where all of the enemy went.

[Vardra]

Vardra Marcus, PFC:

"Welcome back, Vardra! You decided to take a little nap during our last battle! We are pulling you to safety. Everything is good! Quite good!"

Flare realizes he is downplaying their current circumstances: "Actually, Vardra, a VERY LARGE army of the enemy is on our heels! Therefore a more accurate assessment of our situation is, oh... DESPERATE?'

"BUT NOT SERIOUS!" he awkwardly adds.

"Ah. Well, that's good - or maybe not - I suppose..." Vardra's tone conveys his confusion more thoroughly than his words. But at least he's alive, so he's happy about that.

===

He slips away, quickly, up the steps to the observation area. It's dark.

He screeches into the sky and M'Lady returns. "What did you see, my friend?"

She squeaks and screeches and he listens intently. He's so distracted he doesn't see the box containing the black and white flags.

Vardra hears some strange noises, and what could possibly be a voice while he is circumnavigating the parapet, but by time he gets back around to the flagpole, there is no one there. Perhaps it was the wind or some birds flying by...

===

Flare is thankful Lucyus and Vardra are alive and well - and ready to fight another day. "I will back you up, Vardra. If someone needs a break, I'll come join the fun!"

Vardra smiles at the young woodsman. "Always good to have backup going into a battle."

“All the doors are sealed and barred. Our time for preparing for the goblins was short at best.” He says simply.

Vardra nods in understanding to the paladin. There might have been value in firing down on the enemy as they came around the corner from the trap, but that cannot be helped now. At least this way, they have an initial barrier to fight from behind and a retreat point at the second set of doors.

Strange looks go back and forth between the human priestess and paladin, but he's not sure what that's about, so Vardra just shrugs.

Flare joins those searching for the secret door, and Eri heads up the stairs toward the overlook. She returns a minute or two later, but doesn't say anything and starts searching for the secret door along with the others.

[GM Mad]

Post Continued:

In the Eagle's Nest:

Most of the remains of Chimera and Wyvern Squad have safely reached the Eagle's Nest. There they find a small outpost with some level of defenses. A tower rises up from this underground outpost and at the top the valley below can be seen. The view will be better come the morning, as it is too dark to make out much.

The first defensive door has been barricaded with a thick timber, much like the doors in the dwarven lair were. A metal hatch is opened to reveal holes that the defenders could attack through. The only drawback is that the holes are at a comfortable size for a dwarf and too low for elves and humans. Supplies are found in a nearby storeroom and brought out for easy use.

The first wave of goblin attackers is heard coming closer and then they fall into the trap and are gone, sent hurtling down the inside of the mountain! A second wave meets the same fate. More beings can be heard in the ramp, but they are not rushing forward like the first two groups had. Time passes while the Squads await the enemy to arrive.

Sann has located a secret door, but has yet to find a way to actually open it. Ren assists the dwarven archaeologist.

Vardra returns from his trip up to the top of the observation tower and Flare makes his own way up there. Once up top, Flare calls out for his hawk and M'Lady wings her way to his waiting arm.

He screeches into the sky and M'Lady returns. "What did you see, my friend?"

The hawk reports that almost all the enemy has come up the ramp, but a big ugly thing was left behind along with a dark elf. M'Lady will also say that the missing members of the group have joined up with three riders are and following the enemy.

Flare then returns to the area below and restocks his arrows. Erisciana than goes up to the top of the tower, takes the black flag and raises it up the flag pole warning the distant fort that there is danger in the valley. The foreign priestess then returns to the living area below and slides the large bolt to the closed position to lock the door leading to the stairs going up the tower.

At the bottom of the stairs, Rena and Saan are looking for the secret passage 'trigger'. "Ren, you mentioned that the trap on the ramp was mechanical in nature. Should we not expect a mechanical nature to open this door? " She thinks back to her childhood and watching he complex machines used in the building of massive buildings back home. "Perhaps the door does not need to be 'opened', but rather unblocked. " She thinks a bit longer on the puzzle, intrigued by the possibilities, at least while the enemy is not at their doorstep.

“That would make the most sense,” Ren agrees. “This floor is solid, no weight related triggers in it. It must be something else instead.”

Flare and Erisciana assist Ren and Sann in looking for a way to open the secret door. Eris is drawn to the torch holder nearest the secret door. She removes the torch from it first and tries to turn the holder. It doesn't move side to side, but will pull out slightly!

Vardra turns to the halfling priestess. "Wimzy, can you take charge of preparing the oil for use if needed?"

“On it!” the Halfling calls out as she scurries into the store room and starts to bring out containers of oil. These are vials of lamp oil like many of the group had at the start of this adventure and not the explosive oil that Ren used.

And then it happens! Kaylessa can see a small group of goblins coming around the corner and starts to fire her arrows. Her first shaft embeds itself into one of the goblins, but does not put it down. The second misses.

While not being able to see anything, Vardra fires his composite longbow anyway. Kaylessa can confirm that Vardra's arrow did down a goblin! Lucyus and Kendell lacking ranged attacks and not being able to see anything anyway, hold their actions.

Kaylessa can see the goblins stop and run away! The all disappear around the corner except for the goblin that Vardra slew with his bow. They seem reluctant to charge the barred door!

[GM Mad]

Following Behind:

Outside, Butternut and Vernar have encountered what remains of Talon Squad: their commanding officer Crandell, Gerett the dwarf and Laurel, a Priestess of Felix. They followed the enemy up to the base of the Eagle's Nest area. Vernar and Butternut scout ahead to see what is going on back at the camp. They see what must be the leader of the enemy forces, a human in plate mail, barking out orders. In response to these orders, all but an ogre and a dark elf stay at the base. The rest start up the ramp inside the mountain.

Back at the horses, Laurel's cat has gone off to explore the area.

Laurel quickly and quietly calls after him, "be careful! You know how goblins love to eat cats, you're a delicacy!"

The cat stops and looks back at Laurel. “Goblins eat their own poop,” the cat answers tartly. “Of course I'm a delicacy!”

The cat then continues on past Butternut and Vernar and disappears off into the forest. Gerett's pet badger Mitch does the same.

Retracing their steps, Butternut and Vernar come across Gerett and all three return to Sergeant Crandell and Laurel and explain the situation.

“Ogres tend to be stupid,” Crandell notes. “They can be easily distracted. There are enough of us that if we are smart we should be able to take it down. The same cannot be said for that drow however. An evil and cunning race they are! I think we should focus on her first. The obvious plan is to have the scouts sneak off into the woods and see if they can find this drow and take her out. Unless someone has a better idea?”

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

Lucyus grabs a barrel of spears and brings it close to the door so that they are in easy reach. A sudden thought comes to the Paladin and he speaks it out loud. “I cannot use a spear. I am only trained with axes and long sword.” He says placing his axe behind his back in it’s sheath and drawing his long sword. “I’ll do my best with this.” He says simply as he takes his position near the reinforced door.

Just because you are not trained in a particular weapon, that does not mean you cannot use it. It just means you're not as good with it as you are with weapons you have trained with.

The goblins came around the corner and approached the barred day, were fired a upon and then ran away. But they can still be heard. They have not gone away.

Gerett didn't make it past the scouts, so he never reached the forest. Gerett would be able to figure out that the pasty dwarf that Butternut and Vernar saw was a duergar or a gray dwarf. They are an Underdark variation of dwarf that tend to live underground and are known to be evil. Most have at least heard of the drow, even if they have not seen them, gray dwarves not so much unless you are a dwarf. The duergar are to dwarves as drow are to elves, a malevolent Underdark version of them.

Time wise its going on 3 AM in the morning, so dawn is still hours away.

Now what?

[Erisciana]

Erisciana -

After hanging the black flag at the observation area, she returns to the main hall. She notices Flare acting oddly. Although she wonders a moment if anything is truly odd when it comes to their mysterious ranger.

She isn't gone long, but when she returns, Flare is decidedly embarrassed and avoids eye contact.

She considers for a moment, but there are other more pressing matters at hand. The priestess wonders if it is late night and broken sleep, combined with the stressfulness of the situation. Plus Lucyus and Vardra were struck by the Spray of Colors spell. She furrows her brow a moment, concern etched on her features. “Everyone clear your heads! And stay focused! That door is not necessarily an impenetrable obstacle. I would expect the enemy to have a few tricks. Be ready for the unexpected.”

Having locked the door to the observation area, the priestess is a little less concerned about some sort of surprise attack from that direction. There are too many possibilities to be reached by magick to leave that avenue unopen and unguarded.

Erisci discusses the options with Ren and Saan. Ren agrees with her assessment and offers an interesting, if unsuccessful, option to consider. ”That would make the most sense,” Ren agrees. “This floor is solid, no weight related triggers in it. It must be something else instead.”

Deciding to check a torch, the priestess moves to the one closest to the secret door. She removes the torch and tries to rotate or pivot the torch s doesn’t accomplish anything. But she does find some small success with pulling the holder and it moves slightly away from the wall.

A quick smile comes to her face and her eyes widen when she realizes that she likely doesn’t have the strength to so easily pull the metal torch holder from its moorings in the stone wall. She will steady herself and pull again on the torch holder to see how far it will come out.

While this is happening the first wave of goblins finally circumvent the trap and rush the door. Erisci can hear the commotion behind her, but it sounds like everything is under control. She steals a look away but the fighting seems to have stopped almost as soon as it started. So she will return her attention to the door.

If the torch holder doesn’t pull out more, then try to twist and turn it again. If it does pull out further but the secret door does not open, then try to twist and turn it then. If that doesn’t work, mention to the others to see if any other torches do the same.

[Butternut]

Butternut:

After spying on the enemy for a few minutes, Vernar agrees that it is time to return to the other. While most of the patrol has gone inside, they left the ogre - which likely couldn't fit in the tight tunnels anyway - and a drow behind. While the ogre guards the entrance, the drow has wandered off into the woods.

On the way back, they collect Gerett who was holding the middle position between them and the human members of this makeshift squad. He seems much happier to be on foot, rather than stuck on one of the horses; though that may not last much longer.

Vernar relays their observations to Sergeant Crandell and Laurel, with Butternut adding details along the way.

“Ogres tend to be stupid,” Crandell notes. “They can be easily distracted. There are enough of us that if we are smart we should be able to take it down. The same cannot be said for that drow however. An evil and cunning race they are! I think we should focus on her first. The obvious plan is to have the scouts sneak off into the woods and see if they can find this drow and take her out. Unless someone has a better idea?”

"Pretty much what I was thinking, sergeant." The real problem is how to do so without the ogre seeing them. "Do any of you know if ogres can see in the dark? If not, slipping into the woods without it seeing us should be easy; otherwise, we may have slip down into the gully here and then back up into the woods. Less likely to be seen, but noisier. Either way, we should stash the horses down there so they aren't seen or heard."

Of course, even if they take out the drow, they still have to deal with the ogre. "Once the drow's dead, we can hide in the woods and shoot the ogre until it falls. Three crossbows should be able to put it down while it tries to find us."

_________________________________________________________________________
I don't have a very good sense of scale for the map. Is the 'V' bend beyond infravision range from where the ogre is? Is it dark enough out by the edge of the road to scamper across to the woods with minimal chance of being seen?

[Gerett]

Butternut looks back over her shoulder. "Does your friend there actually understand you?" she asks, curious. She's still not certain about Flare's bird or Laurel's cat.

"I half expect he understands every sodding word I say, and yet chooses to ignore it," Gerett whispers into the night as the halfling passes by. As the two scouts disappear uncomfortably quickly into the wood, he glares down at the beady eyes watching him. "Yeah, I'm talking about you, you pint sized grizzly. Yer the only one more stubborn than me here. Just keep an eye out."

Gerett settles in while the scouts do their thing. He's never minded waiting, and he had long ago trained out any restlessness or impetuousness. They'd be back when they were back, no sense fretting about it and certainly no sense moving from his post. If anything went amiss, it would be noisy and he'd figure it out, though it would probably be too far away for him to sprint in and help. Those two hadn't survived the rest of the Wyvern Squad by being fools, though. They acted confident and certainly had him convinced. The bigger question in his mind was whether their report would yield any fruit. The fact that their little group was behind the enemy could be a huge advantage--but it was also entirely possible that they were too few to contribute. If they could, great. If not, it would be better to hang back, stay out of sight, and try to get back to Greystone. If not Greystone, further back even. Someone had to put out a warning. No sense dying as heroes. He suspected the halfling and dwarf were of a similiar mind--and thus far the human woman hadn't seemed too insistent on anything.

“Ogres tend to be stupid,” Crandell notes. “They can be easily distracted. There are enough of us that if we are smart we should be able to take it down. The same cannot be said for that drow however. An evil and cunning race they are! I think we should focus on her first. The obvious plan is to have the scouts sneak off into the woods and see if they can find this drow and take her out. Unless someone has a better idea?”

Hearing the tactical situation got Gerett's mind working again. No more speculation now; finally they had a report and could make a real decision. As to the optimism of the report itself, Gerett was of two minds.

"I feel the same way. Glad the ogre can't fit into the fort. He could cause real trouble there. But we're a Hel of a lot smarter than he is, and pretty optimally equipped to take him out with minimal danger. If the drow is dealt with first. I think she could be a real problem. And why did she disappear anyway? If she suspects there's enemies about, she'll stay just close enough to have the ogre as backup. But engaging the ogre while she's alive would be a great way to get a dagger in the back. Or whatever sodding drow weapon she's got hidden on her blasted person.

"It stands to reason that the stealthy folks would be able to find her the easiest. Whatever place they find that is good to hide is probably the same place she'd find. We shouldn't make the same mistake as our enemy, though, and split our numbers. That's our main advantage. If the scouts do find her, she might think they're all we've got. So if they run, she might just give chase, and maybe they can bait her into the rest of us. They want this whole invasion a secret, ya? So she won't just let scouts spy her out and then run away. And if she's chasing you at breakneck speed, she'll be less likely to spot me an' the humans no matter how bad we are at hiding.

"Don't know much about drow. But if'n they be anything like their fairer cousins, she'll be arrogant. Crafty, but thinking she's better'n everyone else. She's the hunter, the slaver, the tracker, whatever. A halfling and a dwarf wandering through the woods are her playthings. So mebbe she won't think she's become the prey."

Gerett pauses a moment, mulling over what he has said and waiting for a response from the others. The plan did depend on them taking the first action, after all. His gaze heads up the mountain as he contemplates.

"I don't like that a duergar went up with the goblins. He'll be granting them a stone-sense the rest of the army doesn't have, and notions to get around the traps and fortifications. But I guess we got the elf and ogre. Mebbe we get a showdown with the deep dwarf later on." His teeth grind a little at the last statement, though his voice does not sound angry. "Or the others'll take care o' him. Guess we'll see."

[Vernar]

Vernar -

Conversations about what to do next begin after Vernar and Butternut share what they saw. One thing that the other dwarf, Gerett, says in his long soliloquy stands out to Vernar.

...And why did she disappear anyway? If she suspects there's enemies about, she'll stay just close enough to have the ogre as backup...

"I be suspectin' she be usin' the ogre as bait. Waitin' jus' far enough away to strike when the brute is engaged," Vernar offers. "She not be needin' to think any o' us be out here, but rather jus' takin' advantage o' her sneakin' ways. Besides, they clearly know enemies be about, with that oil lightin' up the night sky an' all."

Butternut then agrees with the sergeant's plan overall, but it doesn't sit well with Vernar. He doesn't think the other three will be any good trampling through the woods if everyone sticks together. That'll just leave the drow her choice of targets to ambush.

Of course, even if they take out the drow, they still have to deal with the ogre. "Once the drow's dead, we can hide in the woods and shoot the ogre until it falls. Three crossbows should be able to put it down while it tries to find us."

"I be thinkin' it folly t' try an' find this elf not knowin' where she be," Vernar interjects. "If we was chasin' that be somethin' different, but she has time t' get all comfy in her spot. No, I think we fire at the ogre from the longest range you can reliably hit with the crossbows. Lay a trap o' our choosin' for it an' her. Once the ogre be dead o' crippled, it is of no consequence. That elf then be responsible for guardin' the door by her lonesome or come find us. I like our chances better five against one."

[Kaylessa]

Kaylessa

And then it happens! Kaylessa can see a small group of goblins coming around the corner and starts to fire her arrows. Her first shaft embeds itself into one of the goblins, but does not put it down. The second misses.

Kaylessa keen eyes pick up traces of movement as several goblins begin to move forward against the doors. Not saying a word she takes a deep breath and aims down the hallway. When the time was right, she exhales, her arrow finding it’s mark. She mutters a
She draws a second arrow knocks and looses in a fluid motion. For a fraction of a second she thought she heard a scraping sound and the arrow that she fired does not find it’s mark. Another arrow is fired, this time by Vardra and the arrow strikes home and causes the goblin to fall to the ground unmoving.

Kaylessa can see the goblins stop and run away! The all disappear around the corner except for the goblin that Vardra slew with his bow. They seem reluctant to charge the barred door!

“A well found volley!” she calls out though she sees the goblins flee from sight. “The Goblins have retreated to the safety of the bend. Perhaps they flee this day?”though she knows it is doubtful.
Curious she tries to listen for words in goblin.
( Will a vial of oil look like it will fit through the holes?)

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

I don't have a very good sense of scale for the map. Is the 'V' bend beyond infravision range from where the ogre is? Is it dark enough out by the edge of the road to scamper across to the woods with minimal chance of being seen?

The ogre would be beyond Vernar's infravision range, so assuming the ogre can see in the dark at a similar range, it would mostly see darkness where the scouts are standing. Assuming its even paying close attention. The scouts could see the ogre, and the drow for a short time, due to how close they were the campfire.

Will a vial of oil look like it will fit through the holes?

The vials of oil are too large to go through the holes.

[Lucyus]

Lucyus

Holding his sword in his left hand, Lucyus leans against the wall, for a moment he leans his head against the wall. The darkness is sombering and all he wants to do is go to sleep. For a moment he thinks he hears himself snoring and he looks about looking for the culprit, when Eris calls out to them.

“Everyone clear your heads! And stay focused! That door is not necessarily an impenetrable obstacle. I would expect the enemy to have a few tricks. Be ready for the unexpected.”

“We are.” He says simply stifling a yawn.
Lucyus will sheath his sword take up a spear and await what comes.

[Laurel]

“Goblins eat their own poop,” the cat answers tartly. “Of course I'm a delicacy!”

Laurel quietly watches the cat disappear into the forest. While Malf could be a total pain in the butt he was useful, being a cat and all. Laurel sighs inwardly. She could have followed, but that would be leaving Sgt. Crandell alone. Less than optimal. Plus, Malf has better instincts than she does, stone-cold hunter and all that. Of course, she would never give him that compliment. His head was big enough without it. Laurel hears movement in the dark and narrows her eyes. Night vision would be a useful thing. She sees Butternut, Vernar, and Garrett come into view and approach. Then they quietly relay their observations to the Sgt.

“Ogres tend to be stupid, they can be easily distracted. There are enough of us that if we are smart we should be able to take it down. The same cannot be said for that drow however. An evil and cunning race they are! I think we should focus on her first. The obvious plan is to have the scouts sneak off into the woods and see if they can find this drow and take her out. Unless someone has a better idea?”

"Pretty much what I was thinking, sergeant.Do any of you know if ogres can see in the dark? If not, slipping into the woods without it seeing us should be easy; otherwise, we may have slip down into the gully here and then back up into the woods. Less likely to be seen, but noisier. Either way, we should stash the horses down there so they aren't seen or heard... Once the drow's dead, we can hide in the woods and shoot the ogre until it falls. Three crossbows should be able to put it down while it tries to find us."

"I feel the same way. Glad the ogre can't fit into the fort. He could cause real trouble there. But we're a Hel of a lot smarter than he is, and pretty optimally equipped to take him out with minimal danger. If the drow is dealt with first. I think she could be a real problem. And why did she disappear anyway? If she suspects there's enemies about, she'll stay just close enough to have the ogre as backup. But engaging the ogre while she's alive would be a great way to get a dagger in the back. Or whatever sodding drow weapon she's got hidden on her blasted person."

"I be suspectin' she be usin' the ogre as bait. Waitin' jus' far enough away to strike when the brute is engaged, She not be needin' to think any o' us be out here, but rather jus' takin' advantage o' her sneakin' ways. Besides, they clearly know enemies be about, with that oil lightin' up the night sky an' all."

"It stands to reason that the stealthy folks would be able to find her the easiest. Whatever place they find that is good to hide is probably the same place she'd find. We shouldn't make the same mistake as our enemy, though, and split our numbers. That's our main advantage. If the scouts do find her, she might think they're all we've got. So if they run, she might just give chase, and maybe they can bait her into the rest of us. They want this whole invasion a secret, ya? So she won't just let scouts spy her out and then run away. And if she's chasing you at breakneck speed, she'll be less likely to spot me an' the humans no matter how bad we are at hiding.

"Don't know much about drow. But if'n they be anything like their fairer cousins, she'll be arrogant. Crafty, but thinking she's better'n everyone else. She's the hunter, the slaver, the tracker, whatever. A halfling and a dwarf wandering through the woods are her playthings. So mebbe she won't think she's become the prey."

"I be thinkin' it folly t' try an' find this elf not knowin' where she be. If we was chasin' that be somethin' different, but she has time t' get all comfy in her spot. No, I think we fire at the ogre from the longest range you can reliably hit with the crossbows. Lay a trap o' our choosin' for it an' her. Once the ogre be dead o' crippled, it is of no consequence. That elf then be responsible for guardin' the door by her lonesome or come find us. I like our chances better five against one."

"I don't like that a duergar went up with the goblins. He'll be granting them a stone-sense the rest of the army doesn't have, and notions to get around the traps and fortifications. But I guess we got the elf and ogre. Mebbe we get a showdown with the deep dwarf later on." His teeth grind a little at the last statement, though his voice does not sound angry. "Or the others'll take care o' him. Guess we'll see."

With everyone seeming to be done speaking Laurel quickly interjects, "Can we wait for Malfamata...my cat...to get back?" The young lady seems hesitant as how what she's going to say will be recieved, "He might have...found something, or smelled something, or...something. If anybody has a chance of finding that drow before it finds us, it would be him." Laurel sighs, second guessing her cat, "Of course, there's no telling how long we could be waiting for him, it might be most fortuitous for us to go forward with some plan and hope he finds us before the drow does... Or I could chase him down myself...the cat, I mean. Not the drow." "The drow is a lady, of course she's not a him...note to self, get better at talking to people"

[Vardra]

Vardra Marcus, PFC:

Lucyus' voice is laden with fatigue as he responds to Erisicana's exhortation. He, too, is suffering from weariness and it is taking a toll on him mentally and physically.

It is dark in the hallway beyond the door and Vardra can see precious little beyond. He hears the scampering of feet, and Kaylessa begins firing. Guessing based on sound more than sight, he looses an arrow through the small hole, and is rewarded with a grunt of pain and the sound of a body falling.

“A well found volley!” she calls out though she sees the goblins flee from sight. “The Goblins have retreated to the safety of the bend. Perhaps they flee this day?”though she knows it is doubtful.

A smile appears on Vardra's face as the elf announces their success in driving off the first wave of attackers. "I reckon they'll be more careful next time, though honestly, I can't see a darn thing through this hole. Hitting anything was a stroke of luck." He looks back over his shoulder. "Can any of you see well enough to attack through these holes? Flare, maybe? You lead us up the ramp, so you can probably see better than I."

[Butternut]

Butternut:

"I half expect he understands every sodding word I say, and yet chooses to ignore it," Gerett whispers into the night as the halfling passes by. As the two scouts disappear uncomfortably quickly into the wood, he glares down at the beady eyes watching him. "Yeah, I'm talking about you, you pint sized grizzly. Yer the only one more stubborn than me here. Just keep an eye out."

"Could be," Butternut replies as she fades into the darkness, though in truth she doubts it. She has spent a lot of time around animals, and hasn't encountered any that could truly understand speech. She can still hear him talking to the badger, but it chooses to keep its own council.

===

With everyone back and together again, talk turns to dealing with the ogre and drow while the human priestess listens silently. Gerett speculates on why she went into the woods, so Butternut adds her observation. "As far as I could tell, she mostly just wanted to get away from the light. She didn't appear to have any particular destination in mind other than away from the campfire."

"I be suspectin' she be usin' the ogre as bait. Waitin' jus' far enough away to strike when the brute is engaged," Vernar offers. "She not be needin' to think any o' us be out here, but rather jus' takin' advantage o' her sneakin' ways. Besides, they clearly know enemies be about, with that oil lightin' up the night sky an' all."

Butternut considers a moment. "That's one possibility, but more likely they figure they got us all trapped up in there. The ogre was prob'ly left behind because it's too big to fit in the tunnels, and the drow is there to keep an eye on it."

If the scouts do find her, she might think they're all we've got. So if they run, she might just give chase, and maybe they can bait her into the rest of us. They want this whole invasion a secret, ya? So she won't just let scouts spy her out and then run away. And if she's chasing you at breakneck speed, she'll be less likely to spot me an' the humans no matter how bad we are at hiding.

Butternut grunts her disagreement. "Problem is, the tall-folk are a lot faster than us. Any attempt to run from her will quickly end with those daggers in the back that you mentioned." She cannot really argue with his supposition about the drow arrogance though; she doesn't really know much about them at all, though she has experienced a bit of that elven snootiness in her past travels.

It takes Butternut a few moments to catch onto what Gerett is talking about when he mentions 'duergar'. It is not a term she's familiar with, but does eventually figure out that he must be talking about that pasty-skinned dwarf they saw. "Not much we can do about that either way," she says with a shrug.

Vernar then proposes that we ignore the drow and attack the ogre. This seems like a bad idea to her. "Soon as we start shooting at the ogre, the drow will know where we are. She can then circle around and attack us from behind while the ogre comes at us from the front. I'd rather not be where it can see us as soon as it is within sight range. Using cover is definitely to our advantage."

With everyone seeming to be done speaking Laurel quickly interjects, "Can we wait for Malfamata...my cat...to get back?" The young lady seems hesitant as how what she's going to say will be recieved, "He might have...found something, or smelled something, or...something. If anybody has a chance of finding that drow before it finds us, it would be him." Laurel sighs, second guessing her cat, "Of course, there's no telling how long we could be waiting for him, it might be most fortuitous for us to go forward with some plan and hope he finds us before the drow does... Or I could chase him down myself...the cat, I mean. Not the drow."

Butternut nearly jumps when the other woman suddenly speaks into a short pause in the discussion. Trying to piece together Laurel's stumbling dialogue, she gets the sense that this woman want them to wait for information from the cat! Does she expect it to speak to her? Is she crazy? Who knows.

"Uhm..." Butternut's gaze shifts between Gerett and Crandell, as they know this woman better. Perhaps they have some sense of what they can expect from her. "I suppose we could wait a little while..."

[Sorvani]

Sorvani:

Sorvani mostly stays out of the way as some prepare to repel attackers, while others look for a concealed exit from this place. Once the extra supplies have been brought up, Sorvani turns back to the extra rations on the table. He'll start to divide them up to get a rough idea just how many days of food and water we have left.

“We have enough food and water for all of us for three days,” Sorvani will report. “More if we can get back to our horses.

She will get the attention of either Sorvani or Flare (which ever is not currently engaged in some other task). "We need someone to keep an eye on that door." She will make sure the door to the observation area is closed and latched. "Whether they know about the trap on the ramp or not, and judging by the screams of the goblins they do not, that doesn't preclude them from having a means to reach the tower by some rogue or mage. Even if the spells are powerful, there exist magickal items which can give the abilities of Flight or Climbing of Spiders. I think the saying goes: Better to be wary than suffer?"

“Uhm, okay,” Sorvani will utter. Clearly the priestess is thinking much further ahead than I am.

Sorvani will keep an eye on the door and will look back to where the others are defending the entryway to see if they need any aid there.

[Kendell]

Kendell:

Vardra just shakes his head at the brutish warrior. "I prefer to actually hit something, and I'm more likely to do that with a weapon I know how to use." With the holes so close together, Vardra figures that he can make use of two or three of them as needed.

“I would not know of what you speak, Kendell. Women are, for the most part, foreign to me, though I was taught to respect and honor them, To guard them with a ready sword.” He says simply as he leans back against the door jam, glad that his face is covered.

An audible gasp of surprise can be heard from across the room. Erisciana gives the tall warrior a look of disapproval. "I can assure you, my dear man, that even the basest daughter of a penniless serf appreciates a measure of skill in the realm of love. There is much more to it than the simple ... 'act'." She frowns at the thought, but there are more pressing matters to be addressed.

Kendell has no idea what the leather priestess is going on about, but will say, “I'm just sayin' that it ain't as complicated as y'all are making it out to be.”

"That depends on whether they can get through that heavy door or not," Vardra says in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Considering that we needed that giant stone dwarf to break down the other door,” Kendell drawls, “I feel pretty safe behind this here one!”

The Lady Elf sees goblins coming and fires her arrows at them!

“I can't see a darned thing!” Kendell complains. “It's just too dark!”

[Lucyus]

Lucyus

Kendell has no idea what the leather priestess is going on about, but will say, “I'm just sayin' that it ain't as complicated as y'all are making it out to be.”

Lucyus cracks a smile at the Large warrior, but makes no remark.

“I can't see a darned thing!” Kendell complains. “It's just too dark!”

Leaning on the spear, Lucyus hears the call for light and he stands straighter as he recalls he still has a light spell. "I think I can change that."he says simply.“Kaylessa, Can you knock an arrow to your bow and aim it. When you are ready with your arrow tip out the hole, close your eyes. I’ll tell you when to fire!”
Lucyus will await the elf to be ready with her bow and arrow. Once she is situated, Lucyus will cast Light on the arrow towards the back of the shaft.

[Kaylessa]

Kaylessa

“I can't see a darned thing!” Kendell complains. “It's just too dark!”
Leaning on the spear, Lucyus hears the call for light and he stands straighter as he recalls he still has a light spell. "I think I can change that."he says simply.“Kaylessa, Can you knock an arrow to your bow and aim it. When you are ready with your arrow tip out the hole, close your eyes. I’ll tell you when to fire!”

Kaylessa hears the Paladin talking as she tries to listen to what is happening beyond the wall. “I’d be happy to shed some light on the situation.” Not even realizing she is using a pun.
Drawing an arrow and knocking it, Kaylessa takes aim with the arrow in the hole area. As she closes her eyes, she will say, “Ready.”
When she hears that the spell is complete, she will slowly open her eyesat a squint to make sure her aim is true and release the light arrow.

[GM Mad]

Post Closed