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Møøse Trained By: Hugh Foster
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Great-grandchild of the sister's gibbon's friend of the nephew of the Campaign that Would Not Die, now in 3.25e Møøse Trained By: Hugh Foster |
 DM Note: Rick and Liz were unable to join us, so the game was bijou, elderly and dangerous. Liz gave permission for Nazariel to take part in the recce. |
With the cart reloaded and the skillfully-disguised ersatz carters on board, the party heads towards the fortress. It's 5 miles away, the last 2 of which is across open plain, very exposed. Spy the raven soars above, adding an airborne view to their observations [and allowing the DM to display the map straight off which was easier for everyone!]
The Cyrn itself sits on a crag set in the midst of that plain, with (as the carters see it) a steep, treacherous-looking cliff to the left and around the sides, and a slope leading to the top at the right. The remains of a road leads up the crag, and Sam Carter swings the waggon onto this and heads for the ruins.
The years have not been kind to the structure, and in places very little remains of what was once there. Only short stretches of wall remain, with hollow, tumbledown towers. The "gate" is a shell, with great gaps in the walls, only a boundary now rather than any kind of fortification.
Faint traces of smaller buildings are visible on the slope descending from where the gates once were. Guards are visible at the remains of the gates, and atop crude wooden structures built behind the walls that rise above them.
Smoke rises in several places from behind the ruins.
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Carter draws the waggon up to the gate, and the guards recognize him as a trader who's been before. One eyes Nazariel dubiously, perhaps remembering the pretty daughter Carter brought last time. Then the first guard nods and the waggon rolls into the ruins.
There are, however, several new wooden buildings inside the remainder of the walls. Three smaller ones look like some kind of barracks; a slightly larger one with a black roof has a cart and some containers standing outside it; this has guards standing on all sides. Two larger buildings stand the other side of the barracks, one with smoke rising from it. Finally, a fairly substantial building stands between the ruins of the main tower and the great hall.
Crude wooden watch-towers have been built and more guards stand atop those.
People can be seen moving to and fro, mostly going about daily affairs, but if watch is kept for a while roughly-dressed men can be seen unloading varied things (which sometimes glint) from the crates outside the black-roofed building, and taking them inside – under constant guard. Every hour or so, two men carry out one of the strange blue barrels, which Spy noticed glow faintly, and stack it with the others near the cart.
The waggon is directed to the Barn, which is packed with stores for men and beasts. Nearby is a kitchen and mess-hall, where late-rising soldiers and workers are getting breakfast. Carter and the PCs make a bit of a meal of unloading the barrels and rolling them into the barn, while Nazariel and Baylock get a good look around.
They observe the crates being taken into the Black Roof House, and blue-glowing barrels removed and stacked near to a cart, clearly for shipping away somewhere; they conclude that this is magical items being somehow processed.
Finally, with the last of the grease unloaded, Carter gets his payment from the man in charge of the kitchen, and the scouting party retraces its steps to leave the site.
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After considering their intelligence, the party decide to try and taunt the garrison into making an attack, confident that they can further reduce their numbers by defeating same. Baggy, mounted on Binky McBinky, rides magificently up the road towards the gates, stopping just out of bowshot and delivering the most offensive, taunting challenge she can put together.
The rest of the party remain around half a mile away, within visual range, observing.
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After some minutes, a party emerges from the 'gates', two riders, two walking arcane casters of Lizardman stock, and two crossbowmen. One of the riders is cloaked and hooded, with armour peeping out and a sword sheathed under her knee; probably Iring, the military commander. The other must surely be Daedoloth; a female Kin, in wizard's robes and a staff across her saddlebow.
Baggy addresses another torrent of personal abuse to them both, culminating in throwing Narbaloth's severed head to the roadway as far towards them as she can reach. Daedoloth launches a Fireball at the paladin but this is evaded. She spits on the road in Baggy's direction - a twist of steam or smoke arises from the place it hits. Both riders, however, stay put.
One of the lizard wizards notices Spy, and a quick spell nearly ends the raven's intrepid career - he comes soaring back to the party.
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Daedoloth looks deeply incensed, and with a flick of one hand performs a Summoning, sending a large, gangling fiend loping towards Baggy, before returning to the fortress trailed by her assistant wizards. As the fiend reaches her, she rides up to it, and a short, nasty combat ensues, resulting in the fiend being "slain".
Baggy resumes taunting Iring, then decides to try a new tack; clutching her chest as if a wound from the fight had been more serious than it was, she topples artfully but safely from Binky in a crash of armour. Cued by a whisper, Binky nuzzles the 'corpse disconsolately.
Seeing an opportunity to capture or confim a kill of one of their foes, Iring and the two crossbowmen approach the 'body'. As they reach her, Baggy springs up in a surprise attack and battle is joined.
While Binky tackles one of the crossbowmen, the other joins Iring in attacking the paladin. The fight is fierce, but short - the commander is despatched by several crushing greatsword strikes.
Nazariel, Baylock and Chambu attempt to assist with bow and crossbow fire, but the distance is ridiculously far and the missiles come nowhere near their targets.
The crossbowman, exploiting a gap, drives his spear alarmingly deep into Baggy but is battered unconscious with the flat of her sword. By this time, Binky has reduced the other soldier's head to paté.
Shaking blood out of her eyes, Baggy drags the corpse of Iring and the stunned soldier across Binky's back and makes off back to where the others are, then to the edge of the forest two miles from the fortress.
With the paladin healed and the body looted, the prisoner is revived and interrogated while Baggy returns to try (unsuccessfully) to abuse another challenge from Daedoloth, who doesn't appear.
The soldier - Myrril - reveals that the carts, once filled with barrels, are driven off somewhere (he doesn't know where) heavily guarded and with at least one assistant wizard aboard. The next one is due to leave today or tomorrow, though this isn't likely at the moment! Daedoloth is indeed in charge, and her fury at the loss of the Patrol is nothing to her rage at the death of Narbaloth.
| DM Note: Standard mercenary pay is 2sp per day. Myrril says he's paid 3. |
Baggy, feeling no inherent Evil in his nature, asks the man why he serves the Cult of the Dragon. "Pay," is the answer; Myrril is a soldier and has hired on for good pay, nothing more. Baggy and Baylock ponder how much it would take to beat the Cult's offer for the remaining soldiers; Myrril's plain terror of the Kin indicates this may not be cheap.
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Session Date: 25th May 2021; in Cyberspace! |
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