Deor has a couple tricks up his sleeve regarding drink. He'll spend a few minutes with his books preparing the necessary spells.
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Deor has a couple tricks up his sleeve regarding drink. He'll spend a few minutes with his books preparing the necessary spells.
To clarify, Thoroncir wants to see if this horde of undead has anything interesting, historic, valuable etc. among its effects. He won't touch anything with his hands without Ceol or a wizard saying it's safe.
Rorimac and Mulligan will do a sweep of the undead now completely dead and see what they turn up.
Were the undead created from people at the fort or are they more ancient creatures which were bought from afar to attack this place?
The greater creatures were not from here. This was a simple Fort and Village of Raj until a few days ago and then the haunting began and then the Undead rose up and overwhelmed the fort. These horrors brought little but a pair of Evil Swords & Evil Cloaks. The cloaks are shredded. An Evil Minor Ring of Power, Wand (Lightning enhancements), Magic Belt gives +10 spell points for mage. It appears the lesser ghouls were somehow raised mainly from the local dead and they were in the process of making more ghouls.
The village is mostly intact but the fort is in terrible shape. Most of the troops are dead, The Captain has but 12 men left of a force of 107. In the end most of the villagers survived. The villagers prepare a large barn fire on the northwest side of the village. There is much debris to clear. All told it appears that a Lead Wraith Cleric/Mage led over 20 Slave Wraiths, 4 very strong ghouls, 48 Greater Ghouls & 169 Lesser Ghouls. The bulk of the slave wraiths were destroyed by Gilraen during the ambush. The leader was killed by Meriadoc's party in the dungeon. The ghouls were slowly destroy through the hours of fighting. Doing a perimeter ride around the hill it appears all the undead were found and destroyed or they ran far away.
This night during the barn fire the party this is the sight that greets the party.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...untedTower.jpg
Bjorn decides to use plant growths to enhance and grow the local crops and several more to enhance the trees of the woods that will be used to rebuild the fort. In this way he ensures there will be more trees when they are done than there are now.
The fort can share well from its larder sadly having only about a tenth the men to now feed.
Mírégol plans to casts a dig in the morning to trench out a 5’x5’x50’ grave pit.
Is that sight a good omen or a bad omen?
Either way, I guess our next job will be to trace back the ghouls from whence the came and deal with the source.
Meriadoc says, "No lad, our job is to meet the King and escort him safely to the King of Raj. Those undead will have to wait, this is war now."
"If no one's laid claim to that magic Belt, I'd love it."
Otherwise, Deor will help investigate the leavings from the Wraiths to try to determine more about their origins and intentions.
Thoroncir, still wondering about the reasons for the sheer scope of the undead onslaught, will help Gilraen or whoever else in the party needs it.
If agreeable, carry the belt for now but let's hold on the division of treasure. Bjorn will similarly carry the Wand of Lightning Enhancement if no objection.
Gilraen says, "I think the moon is ill omen and we should stay on alert. Keep at least one of those swords of detecting undead ready all night. As to the reason for the undead assaulting this fort, I think the Master Wraith brought his immediate followers a few weeks back and raised the army of ghouls somehow. The bigger question is was this fort an isolated assault and they had the good fortune of us passing in time or is this happening at small villages across the kingdom of Raj. Let's hope it is the first. Gil-Gandel, Capt. Mun, Lindar, Rorimac and Sala we need to learn if this hill or area has any old legends of haunting or if this is new."
Deor working with Thoroncir and others determine that the greater ghouls appear to be local to the region but archaic in garb from maybe a century back. The lesser ghouls appeared to be local and all dead within the last 20 years. The Wraiths left little trace though the little they left are ancient, hundreds of years old at least.
Mírégol is worried that all the undead and dead must be buried and a ceremony completed over the graves. Gilraen is the best one to do the ceremony. She agrees pray for said.
Oh well, let's get prepared for an interruption tonight, and then bury what's left in the morning.
Should we pile all the remains in one place (with weapons moved or hidden elsewhere), the easier to blast or ignite them en masse if they're somehow reanimated overnight?
Deor, comforted by the sight of the moon over the plains rather than unnerved, will simply prepare for bed. It looks like night over his home, and nothing more.
Somehow, I think gathering all the bodies into one big pile from the entire fort, might be too big a job for tonight.
If something attacks, something attacks, hopefully, we will know it is coming before it gets here. I just hope they don't send any dark, evil, magical and unseen assassins to try and cause havoc in the camp. They might cause us more problems. ;)
(Fast update)
Healing of all is done before sleep. Two more local riders are sent out for help. The night actually passes quietly.
In the morning all hands pitch in to drag bodies up to the sunlight. Mírégol digs a long trench with her Dig spell. She asks to borrow the belt just for the day to dig two more.
People pitch in an lay out the dead and cover them. Seeds are sprinkled over all the mounds and Bjorn asks Drindoleth to grow the flowers. Gilraen performs a Ceremony of Sanctification. The small army is ready to move out.
Any last minute anythings?
No last minute anythings for Mulligan or Rorimac. Both ready to be on their way.
As is Thoroncir. Have the people of the town now returned and settled back in?
No last minute things here, either.
Ceol will volunteer to assist Gilraen with the Ceremony, as needed. Otherwise, he is ready to go.
December 18th, FA64 Army of Suza Rij arrives at 10:30 am. The King’s Escort leaves at 11:30am. Gilraen and the Paladins spread Simbelmynë seeds that Bjorn grows into a snowy cover to the graves. The group hits bypasses the first town but visits the lake around 3pm. It is fresh water, shows signs of crocodiles, antelopes & a local large cat. It is a rainy afternoon. A bit later a 16HD Air Elemental attacks with 3 12HD. The lancers charge, the Hand to hand people form a wall and the mages Magic Missile and Fireball. It is a very fast battle. Mainly lancers and mages doing the damage and no injuries. The group moves on past the other town and heads north. Ride until late dusk. Camps about where the red dot is shown. Should reach Dravoon tomorrow. At which point, Bjorn will fly out to find the King. Perhaps Drindoleth will join him?
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...arharad2-1.jpg
December 19th: The party heads out and expects to reach Dravoon by noon.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...nofDravoon.jpg
Meet Colonel Marn and 200 warriors of Raj. Also supporting is the Mage Olarvi Min Hetori. Capt. Mun knows Col Marn very well as he runs the town but has only heard of the Mage Olarvi. Capt. Mun will go up to citadel to report in and check things out. Bjorn reports there is something slightly off about the Mage and Warrior thinks Marn looks enspelled. It might be nothing to worry about but towns have not proven safe thus far.
Capt. Meriadoc calls for a quick meeting of the two northern parties and Linwen. "How can we best scout the town and see if everything is as it should be?"
Bjorn will do a flyover shortly. Linwen will send scouts in including herself. Elfstan and Fely are willing to scout using their treasure finding skills.
Interesting. Can any of our magic-users unnoticeably figure out if the Mage Olarvi Min Hetori really is ensorcelled?
If the party favors a direct approach, Thoroncir is ready, willing and able to enter the town and have a look around.
Mulligan looks slightly disappointed that no-one has asked her to go look around the town while invisible using magical spectacles to spot all the magic which should or perhaps should not be there. Not to mention, she could do it without the invisibility?
Oh while looking at the good Colonel Marn through specs, how did he look?
Actually Meriadoc was looking for volunteers. He did not ask for them specifically but hoped the treasure finders and Druids would be willing to spy things out some how.
Col. Marn appears to be enspelled in some fashion, but of course you cannot tell how.
Of course, Mulligan will volunteer, oh and relate the fact that the Colonel was definitely enspelled as well. By what spell is a question for someone more practiced in the arts?
Ithilneth knows a few charm effects. Perhaps she could borrow the magic spectacles for a quick look at the Colonel?
Naturally. This isn't my area of expertise, but I'll do what I can, and strike up a casual conversation to try to delve into what these two have been doing lately.
A conversation I'll gladly join - I'm no authority on spellcraft, naturally, but if the good man's demeanour reminds me of some enspelled figure of legend and lore, perhaps that would give me some insight worth sharing, and if not, it might make him feel less as though he is being quizzed by Deor.
Ceol will also volunteer to participate in a conversation with the mage and the colonel -- between his abilities to detect evil and detect lies, he might be able to help with puzzling this out.
As for the town, Mulligan will be quite happy to look around, not using the ring and see what is going on.
If there is anything you think she should look at in particular, please let her know.
So the scouts set out as Ithilneth, Deor, Gil-Gandel & Ceol engage the Colonel and Mage Olarvi in conversation. Mulligan needs the spectacles for the scouting but between Ithilneth and Gil-Gandel's experience with charms they should be able to figure things out. As the conversation starts though, the Mage looks off into the sky and says, "We must make haste back to town, excuse us, their is a small problem needing both of our attention. Come Colonel we best move it at a gallop."
Ceol finds that the Mage is not quite lying but is at least deceiving for some reason. Gil-Gandel and Ithilneth and nearly certain that the Colonel is under a glamour of some sort and probably a charm type spell.
The scouts see the town is set up for an ambush for any entering it. The main street in has archers and crossbowmen lining the roofs and troops ready to rush out to bottle up their foes.
During scouting, did they notice any sign of another way of entering the town to avoid the ambush? Or any weak points in said setup?
Ithilneth wonders aloud. Perhaps direct confrontation is not the best course. There will be too many lives lost in the town. Is there some way we could capture the Colonel and/or deglamour him?
Hmm, if most of the troops are setting up ambush towards the main gate, Mulligan is definitely interested in scaling the back wall and getting into the town. If there is no magic around, then climb invisibly and go and look around. I suggest setting up for lunch at the bottom of the hill.
"A few things spring to mind, the town is just trying to protect itself, perhaps the soldiers are being duped and do not know if the evil has crept into the town, or the entire town is compromised."
We have a fair number of members that can scale the walls stealthily and we can arrange for a few flyers that can incapacitate many of the defenders with sleeps type spells. But the duped soldiers does not seem unlikely at all.
The beginning of Meriadoc's plan was to ride in after our stealthy people were in place. Have the 3 wizards flying and come in fast and sleep the soldiers on the building and Bjorn will use a variety of powers to confuse and overwhelm the soldiers waiting in ambush. Drindoleth could hopefully do the same to some degree as another flying. Finally Haldreng (paladin) would charge across the rooftops on his flying horse to further sow confusion. Meanwhile Linwen is charged with taking out enemy mages and necromancers. The rest of the spies are to find the Colonel and free him of the charm spell. Lindar (Elf Bard) can use a find object to locate his sword or armor at a 12" range. We expect to find him and other captives in the citadel.
There is only one entrance to the town.
What improvements can be made? Or what alternatives?
Mulligan thinks for a while
"Perhaps our Captain would like to wait to find out how many people are in the town, what spellcasters they have and their location and what traps they may have set up before riding in. Just on the off-chance that, you know, they have a pet dragon up one sleeve, or the front entrance is rigged with all sorts.
Next, how many people can Dispel Magic or failing that can Deor charge a Sling stone with it. On that note, I still have a couple of smoke screen globes left, which will cause no end of confusion.
If anybody have a large packet of sleeping herbs, I can spice up any meal being served to the troops. Far more effective than a sleep spell. We might also want to decide how to directly target the main leaders in the town, if we can compromise their officers, the main soldiers will normally surrender at that point."
Deor can not put a dispel magic on a stone.
Drindoleth considers Mulligan's questions.
"I can dispel magic and have a large collection of herbs. Between all of us pooling our skills and resources that part seems more than feasible. If we want to directly target the main leaders in the town, however, getting someone inside stealthily would be the best course."
I think confronting the ambush with force is a huge mistake. These are our allies, and it might even be better to be captured than to ruin this hard-won alliance with the Raj. I would rather simply confront the confront the guard at the gate and ask them why they're preparing to ambush us; after all, we've got no bad intentions. As distasteful as detection magic is here in the South, I would willingly submit to magical questioning. I have nothing to hide.
I could add a little something to this: if the layout of the ambush appears as though they wish to lure us into town before attacking, then those of us who are stealthy could infiltrate as per the plan already mentioned, while the rest of us head for the gates in all innocence, with me out in front singing to announce our arrival. Then once I'm close enough to be clearly heard by those at the gates, I can change my song to one of Bardic Charm, which has the happy circumstance that it can affect any number of people within earshot. On average nearly half (40% with the aid of my Harp, though anyone possibly affected is allowed a saving throw, which low-level fighters will fail in droves) of them might prove susceptible. The theme would be something along these lines:
Behold us, your trusted friends who here return in triumph!
Let your songs of victory and joy with ours be blended:
Join us in celebration and clasp the hand of friendship,
Sing with us and dance before the gates we have defended.
--which I can deliver quite fluently in the local language. And which, as those of our ambushers who know of by reputation at least, is on the whole true... possibly to the extent of meriting a saving throw penalty for them.
Once a number of our would-be ambushers have left their positions and are intermingled with us, not only will they be uncoordinated for their intended ambush but they will be getting in their fellows' way, which may scupper the plan altogether. What's more, if they are not wise in the ways of Elves or bards generally - and we're not exactly common - many of them may not even realize that I have done anything in particular. Though some of the more savvy among them may recognise an old Jedi mind-trick Bardic charm, but that's a chance worth taking.
"Gil-Gandel's plan is a wise one. Though, I think the better armored among us should lead, with Gil-Gandel right behind. That way we can put up a quick defense should one be needed."
I still think that stepping into the ambush is a foolish idea; there's no sense in hurting those who ought to be our allies. That said, if the party really wants to proceed this agressively, I'll slip on my ring as the attack begins and try to stay out of the way. If Mulligan and I can evade capture through invisibility, we might be able to spring a jailbreak.
Thoroncir says, "Gil-Gandel's plan is a sound one. I favor sending in invisible scouts before we carry it out, though, in case there is more here than meets the eye."
"How about this," says Rorimac, "Let's break for lunch here, it is midday or so and it would take a while to get up to the town. Let them sweat a little while waiting for us. After all, a hobbit's got to eat sometime. While that is going on, let's get some people inside and reccy the place now and if they ask, we will be up to the town mid-afternoon. Judging by their reaction, I would guess one of our flyers got spotted."
"That is an astute observation, Rorimac," agrees Ithilneth. "They may be organizing defenses against our airborne watchers."
Meriadoc says, "Well we have no consensus at all and your point about injuring or killing innocents is well taken. I am leaning towards Gil-Gandel's solution though. We have three powerful Bards here and a several Mages and Druids. We do need to make a decision though."
"I would strongly prefer to not injure or kill innocents, as well. I suspect that there are a small number of actual villains involved here, and whatever we can do to unmask them while minimizing bloodshed would be my preferred course of action."
Drindoleth says, "Of our options, Gil-Gandel's suggestion may be the safest for all involved. If they are on watch for fliers, it might be dangerous to try scouting or getting inside further that way. I agree with Thoroncir that sending in invisible scouts before we try Gil-Gandel's plan might be best. None of us want the blood of innocents spilled today, but between our Bards and magic we may be able to avoid it entirely."
Invisible scouts, prepare yourselves, then, and as for the rest of us, let us be about it - indecision is not going to make us any safer. Those who are going ahead, be sure to watch out for any who might look as though they have the ability to detect you. Good luck, all.
"Time to get moving then", grins Mulligan. "Give us an hour's head start at least, just in case there is more to this than meets the eye. Rorimac?"
"Oh, I'm ready, although it's a shame to miss lunch", replies Rorimac with an equally broad grin. "Anyone else?"
With no ideal plan available, Ithilneth will agree with consensus. "Let us hope the most good comes from it."
As the scouts prepare to depart, Ceol will say a prayer for a successful mission.