Middle Earth FA64 D&D Game: Ninth Adventure – Against the Cultists

Rorimac will make sure of the creatures with a knife and then retrieve the arrows from the creatures and presents them back to Ithilneth with a grin, "Thank you, it seems they were lucky indeed."

"I can use something to reveal what they are, but I wonder if it would be a waste?", says Mulligan

Ithilneth returns Rorimac's smile.

"Surely the creatures can be identified by touch alone?"

If they be animal, the Druid should be able.

"If Drindoleth or Luzi Mati want to make a guess about the creature, fine, hey we can even take it along with us if you need to take your time thinking about it. But given that their master is either waiting for their return or knows we have already killed them, I suggest we hurry." urges Mulligan.

"Agreed," says Thoroncir, looking about warily, his hand on the hilt of his longsword. "We have business elsewhere that would be better addressed sooner rather than later."

Well then, let's get a move on. I would suggest simply killing the thing to put it out of its misery and moving on.

Drindoleth identifies the creatures as a smallish member of the crow family. Typically very bright. Simply scouts it would appear and probably have some sort of magical connection to a spell caster type.

The party moves out fast. The next 2 hours go by quietly outside of the constant calls of the marsh but then the marsh goes quiet. The Rangers and the Druid all know this is not good. Luzi & Gonung both fear the Shamans are approaching for an ambush.

Gonung, "We could try to circle back about 15 minutes and approach by another path if you like. Or you can try to ambush the ambush but this might be the swamp dragon itself they awoke."

"Swamp...Dragon..."

Gonung replies to the stunned Hobbit, "Yes, I have heard that he is 200' long and covered in muck and swamp plants. He can swallow an Oliphant and breath deadly blasts of horrible smelling steam but I have also heard he is not especially fast and thus you only need to outrun the slowest members of the group you are with. I have never seen him, but I think I heard him once. That time also the marsh went quiet."

"Let us try to avoid contact unless we have the advantage," says Ithilneth. In the quiet, she listens intently for any sounds that are out there.

And my ears are no less keen to pick up any slight unrecognised sound. Swamp dragon? That would make a good subject for a song... many, many miles from here and in more congenial surroundings. Aerial scouts, be sure to stay very high - a dragon of such size ought not to be hard to spot.

Sir Thoroncir steps near Princess Gilraen, sword and shield at the ready, and listens carefully to the marsh beyond, even though he knows his senses are not as acute as the Elves'.

"It's probably just an illusion just to keep people away from the swamp", says Mulligan, "but if we do encounter it then the casters would know where we are, so taking a different path might be for the best after all."

January 4^th of FA65 at nearly 2pm.

So with it sounding like the party will err on the side of caution, Gonung leads them back 15 minutes to another damper path. It takes 90 minutes and it is now closer to 2pm but the fort comes into view. It is surrounded by a marshy moat that Gonung confirms is populated with aggressive crocodiles and some undead that sound like ghouls but they do not like the daylight.

He goes on to explain, "The normal entry is via a narrow causeway leading to a heavy wooden door only 6' high and 4" thick reinforced with bog iron* supports and fasteners. It is magically protected but I know the password for entry. However, if we enter via the door they will be alerted to us, assuming we can even sneak up on the door. I know of no safe approach."

Looking over the fort, the walls are but 18' tall and hardly of fine standard. The thief types would have bonuses to scale this wall without tools. Crossing the marsh is the tough part. The causeway is a bit twisty and exposed to eyes from the entry tower. It runs maybe 150'.



* Bog iron is a form of natural iron found in some bogs that is far more rust resistant then normal mined iron. It was a popular industry in the 1840s in parts of New Jersey, like Allaire.

"This looks like a task for a stealthy hobbit," says Thoroncir, "at least at first."

"A stealthy anybody. Mulligan, would you like a Fly to make your life easier after you've scaled the wall? I know you could climb it on your own, but you might find it useful once inside."

The two hobbits look at each other and nod.

"Fly across?", asks Mulligan
"I can levitate, so you can pull me." replies Rorimac
"Straight to the entry tower roof."
"It's as good a place as any to land."
"It will have a nice view of the fort as well."
"Secure it and get the others across?"
"Reccy to begin with, secure it if we have a chance."
"Agreed."

"Deor, thanks for the offer, it will be most welcome, as it will get us across the causeway with no problems." Mulligan reappears so Deor can cast the spell on her.

Rorimac changes his boots to those of Levitation and checks Khosal's Bane for signs of undead, before drawing his cloak across himself and fading from view.

The party is roughly 600’ from the gate tower. Thoroncir’s Arcirist is glowing and fairly bright indicating undead about. It has about a 600’ range and so by backing up a hair he can determine there is undead outside the fort.

Kkósal bane does not yet detect any and has a range around 100’. A little careful checking should determine to a much greater degree where the undead are. After about 10 minutes of checking, it appears the undead live in the marshy moat itself.

The Hobbits begin their flight and tow and approach the tower. What is the plan once they reach the tower roof?

Does the rest of the party do anything while waiting?

The hobbits will hope to land on the roof, and wait to see what alarms/spells/problems kick off. From the roof, they can hopefully see into the fort and see what is going on. Also, how many guards are in the watch tower?

There appears to be but one guard on top of the tower. They see none in the tower. The one guard is without armor but has 3 fairly dangerous looking heavy crossbow near him.

Just to clarify, one guard, 3 loaded Crossbows next to him.

What mechanism does the guard have to raise an alarm if he spots something or if attacked, how obvious would it be if the guard was missing from up here, and what view does the roof have of the fort.

and crossbows are only good if they have a bolt loaded.

The bolts are loaded you believe. The guard has no clear alarm system. Probably they are relying on shouting. The gate tower roof is the highest point of the entire fort. It is a fairly low fort and on the bright side only one underground level that Gonung knows of. Hard to say how obvious it would be if the guard was missing, at a guess it might not be too noticeable for a little while.

I will have to draw up a rough map.

"I think it might be a good idea for me to use my eagle-eyes up there, should there by any trouble for our hobbits." Drindoleth will wait for any objections before changing form to take flight.

So if we can get someone here quickly, they can double up for the outline of the guard, giving us even more time.

Rorimac will wait quietly in or on the tower while Mulligan flies back quickly to inform the others what they have found and so they can work out who they want to replace the guard with for a short duration. After that, Mulligan will head back to the tower and there will be a double sneak attack on the guard. Disable, if possible, kill if necessary.

That all makes sense to Thoroncir. He is on guard against any attack by the undead, with Arcirist aglow and at the ready.

Mulligan asks Gonung, "What does your brother look like and is there anyway to contact him? I don't want to make any lethal and permanent mistakes."

Gonung answers, "Good question. He wears his dark brown hair shortish, it actually stands up about an inch. He has a scar on his right cheek that is 2 inches long and runs from just below his eye back towards his ear. His name is Numo. He uses scimitar and small shield typically and is dressed in banded armor. He tends to draw night duty."

He goes on, "The undead will not attack in the daylight. So unless the leaders raise a dark mist we should be safe from the dead at least on the outside."

Mulligan gives Gonung a description of the guard on the tower. "So, worth keeping alive or crocodile fodder?"

Gonung hems and huhs, "Umm, well he's not a bad chap. I mean if you can let him live without risk to yourself you should I guess."

Mulligan gives an evil grin. "This might be more fun than I first thought and I think I will give him a choice. A little invisible bird is about to have a word in his ear about the values of being helpful. Otherwise, it's back to Plan A. So what's his name? "

She floats up ready to head back.

"because if he can be persuaded, we have our ticket into that fort without being discovered."

"I'd thought to go up for an extra pair of eyes, but I can take the guard's place for a short time," Drindoleth offers.

Gonung provides a drawing. The only underground is in the central building. All buildings are stone unless noted.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...hMarshFort.jpg

He says, "The guard's name is Lak, but I doubt you can persuade him. I thought maybe you could just knock him out somehow."

"Not as much fun, but doable. Give us a couple of minutes, Drindoleth, to knock the guard out and stash the body, then you can replace him on the wall. You wil probably see it happening anyway."

Mulligan heads back to the tower to pick up Rorimac and knock out the guard. Something around his mouth to keep him silent and an injection dagger in the leg to put him down.

The pair sneak up on the unarmored guard. Rorimac is levitating just enough to make a grab for his mouth as Mulligan stabs the guard in the rear of his thigh hoping to put him to sleep quickly. The stab and grab are successful and the guard goes quickly and quietly asleep. Shortly after this Drindoleth lands and takes on the roll of guard.

The guard is bleeding from the wound.

Gonung suggest the party move swiftly into the fort and concentrate on getting into the central building fast and leave one or two to guard the door or hole they make. Meanwhile Gonung will try to find his brother and sneak outside if that is acceptable.

Mulligan suggest to Drindoleth that he packs the wound to stop it bleeding but suggests not using a spell for the moment.

While the rest of the party is coming in, Mulligan will be listening at each building to get an idea of how many people are in each and to see if the doors can be barred from the outside to cut down on outside interference while we deal with the head people here. Rorimac will be staying around to land a hand to those climbing the wall, rather than going through the front gate.

Sir Thoroncir stands ready with the rest of the party, still under cover but prepared to move in when needed. The knight-errant gives a reassuring smile to his beloved Gilraen.

How is the party proceeding? What is the plan?

Drindoleth will tend the guard's wound without magic, bandaging it up the best he can, then settle himself in to remain as the decoy for the moment.

Is there any good reason for us to avoid going in through the front gate? Opening the gate will likely draw attention, but I suspect we can get inside faster if we do it that way, rather than sending our rather extensive party over the wall.

At this point it would be a slight advantage to haul the party up the tower instead of through the tower. Does the party head for the tower?

Yes, let's head for the tower. It'll give us a more fortified position to advance from.

Agreed. The longer we can go without risking raising an alarm, the better this will turn out.

Then, up the tower, as quickly and quietly as we can.

Thoroncir moves ahead, glancing at his blade Arcirist now and then to see if its color has changed.

As the party gets close to the walls, Rorimac will throw a rope over the side to help the rest of them get up the wall.

Mulligan is currently invisibly flitting from door to door, listening in.

Ropes down and Gil-Gandel goes swiftly up first followed by Ithilneth and other lighter and nimble members. It takes only minutes to haul everyone up. The Dwarves show surprising skill at going up the walls but Thoroncir is not the most nimble in this action.

Does the party go back down the inside of the compound or break through the gate tower?

Gilraen sees to the injured guard.

What does Mulligan find/hear at the buildings and are there any that she can lock?

The first two wooden building are fairly quiet. The one to the right has some light chatter, probably just barracks talk. The doors are neither locked nor trapped.

That's useful to know at least. Mulligan will reply back to the group, perhaps Gonung can point out what each building is, whether it be barracks, mess hall or chief's hall.

Ithilneth suggest that herself and another archer or caster stay at the top of the tower to provide support. Or do we want to all go directly into the central building?