September 7th is mild but overcast.
The next morning, after memorizing his daily spells...Raz will cast know alignment on the dagger and the cloak.
He detects nothing.
Raz tries on the cloak and see if he looks good in it in front of a mirror.
As Raz examines the beat up leather cloak you can see that he gets kind of excited....He turns a looks like he is about to run outside, but then thinks better of it. "Hmmm...guess it can wait.", he says to himself.
Turning to the rest of you he then says, "Ah...if I may I'd like to keep this cloak."
"Ok, I'll grab them if no one else cares," Illyana says of the arrows.
Aldarin: "I'll carry half of them and you the other half. That way, we will be twice as effective against creatures requiring magic to harm."
If permitted Banquo will grab the daggers and practice throwing them at targets during down time.
Humphrey: "Well I can also use the arrows with by bows. If either of the daggers remains unclaimed, then I will carry one of those as well."
Aldarin speaks, "If given enough time, I could identify stuff for you."
Aldarin then says: "I will carry the scroll of Protection from Magic in case of emergencies."
Britan Inspects the Military pick and says "If no one wants it I would take the Pick."
"Well it at least looks like some of us have magical weapons now and we won't have to worry as much about getting are butts kicked by vampires and thier ilk." says Kelar.
Aldarin catches Raz, "Mind if I take a look at that spellbook to see if there is any spells I may be interested in?"
"Not at all", replies Raz, showing Aldarin the spellbook.
So thus far...
scroll - protection from magic - Aldarin
scroll - Raz and Farad cannot understand what's on it
scroll - darkness
scroll - read magic
scroll - protection from lycanthropes
scroll - protection from demons
potion
flail
ring mail (dwarf-sized)
dagger - Banquo
military pick - Britan
potion
standard spell book
potion
potion
dagger - Humphrey
short sword - Humphrey
12 arrows - Aldarin, Humphrey, Illyana - split them three ways..?
cloak - Raz
Where there are no conflicting claims, the relevant people take the items that they want. Only the dozen arrows remain to be split.
McTavish leaves you for a time...then returns.
"Are you guys finished?" he asks, "It's time to head on."
Assuming you find a way to deal with the arrows, you pack up and head downstairs.
In the courtyard of the inn you find your mounts and the wagon loaded and ready to go.
You note that McTavish's wagon is more loaded than ever...with about 30 barrels of beer.
"Damned near cleaned out the entire town," the dwarf says with a chuckle. "We'd best be on our way before the population realises that. As of now I am a beer merchant an' you guys are my mercenary hirelings. Banquo is my guide. We's goin' to Brach Prol or somewhere east of there to try to sell this beer."
You mount up and head east. Banquo rides with McTavish in the wagon.
It is a warm but overcast morning. A brisk wind blows in your faces as you head south-southeast out of Black Gate. The land becomes more open and desolate as you leave the last of the Blackwood behind you and enter the scrublands and moors of West Nolthen. Once a fertile and prosperous land - the breadbasket of the Empire - it has now become depopulated, neglected and abused. The roadside is littered with garbage.
After an hour or so on the road you see a figure sitting at the side ahead of you. As you get closer, you see that it is an old blind man.
"Alms! Alms for a poor old beggar!" he cries as you get near.
Raz looks warily at the beggar...you hear him mutter something under his breath but it is not understandable. Raz then walks in such a way as to make sure that the wagon is mostly between him and the beggar.
Banquo guides his horse over to the man and tosses him a coin, then says, "Old one, what awaits us ahead?"
The beggar pockets the coin.
"Woe and dismay lie ahead for ye all!"
Banquo leans his head back and roars with laughter saying, "You forgot death and dispair old one. By Tyr's lost hand I could have told you that before we even entered Nolthen. Have you seen any troops or press gangs recently?"
"Nay, no press gangs," he replies. "But orcs from Vile Orchold patrol up here once every day or so."
He spits.
As soon as Humphrey sees the beggar, he rides over to him: "Here you are my good man. May the future be brighter for you than the recent past has been."
Humphrey then hands over 2 GPs.
"Thankyou, son!" he exclaims. "You are noble indeed!"
Banquo says, "Vile Orchold is an outpost of about 200 orcs. It is a couple of hours down the road, Brach Pol is beyond it."
Farad looks at Banquo. "Only 200 or so? What's to keep us from taking the place? Raz, Aldarin and I could turn that place into an inferno from which no orc will leave."
"Aye...sounds like fun!" says McTavish.
Raz says, "Aye..we could indeed do that, but it would probably bring the entire armed forces of the town down upon our heads." Raz pauses a moment and pats the mane of his horse before continuing..."To that end..what is our purpose here anyway...are we going to liberate this town...assasinate the Vampire leader...or just pass through?"
"We're on our way to Kludar," says McTavish, "So we're just passing through on our way east. Don't you go telling anyone where we're bound, though! Of course, if a fight is pressed upon us...I ain't one to back down..."
The dwarf rests his hand on the pommel of his sword.
"Sure it might bring the army down. But not on us. We are, after all, only wine merchants. Surely we don't have enough of a force to take out a full orcish outpost." Farad says, using his sizable charisma. "No, you must be thinking of that group of paladins from the west that passed us by. If you hurry, you might just catch them."
Illyana shrugs. "Orcs aren't that dangerous when confined in a small space. Do you know anything about their lair Banquo? If it is really deep and complicated we may never dig them out of it."
"If we can limit their access to us to one or two exits, we can mop them up. Didn't you say Illyana that you did something like that a while back?"
"Kill the orcs! Kill the orcs!" cries the beggar after you as you ride away. "Torch them! Fry them! Condemn them to hell and damnation!"
His laughter recedes into the distance.
Humphrey, after leaving the beggar asks, "Did anyone happen to memorize a neutralize poison?"
Unfortunately, the party's only cleric went running off into the night yesterday...
Shortly after noontime you crest a slight rise and see a shallow valley before you.
About a mile away is Vile Orchold: a sorry collection of wood and thatch huts, surrounded by a 12' high wooden pallisade. A single gate opens facing the road. You see some figures around the gate, and a few others pacing around the walls on a walkway built on the inside, just below the top of it. Smoke rises from cooking fires buring in some of the huts. Even from this distance you can see that the entire area is littered with filth and refuse, and an unhealthy smell is wafted to you on the wind.
Britan says "Well Raz if by chance we happen to run into the Vampire and kill it I do not think anyone will grieve over it certainly not me."
Humphrey's face distorts at the smell. "You know a couple of fire balls could improve the smell here. Well Illyana, how should we approach this?"
Britan places his hand on the hilt of his sword and says,"Ya we could mop them up as long as they don't surround us and mop us up."
Illyana nods. "Yuri had us clear out an orc stronghold, and we did it without magic as well. Just a LONG battle, it took us the entire day."
She pauses. "We did have reinforcements show up at the right time though, so we were never in any real danger. I would prefer blowing them all up from here, no telling how many shamans could be in there. I don't suppose we could go to the nearby town and ask if we have permission to destroy the place?"
"Don't be a blockhead," replies McTavish. "Those orcs are part of the army that defends the town!"
Farad looks at Illyana. "I don't think a town run by vampires will be particularly fond of us killing their orcish outpost."
"Outside as we are, each of our fireballs can easily totally immolate the place. All three and nothing should be left standing. Give me a few minutes to memorize that spell. I have lightning bolt memorized now."
Britan calmly listens to Farad and Illyana descuss what the best way to get rid of the orc scum and says, "So Farad you say you and Raz can knock out all the orcs before they can get out, Hey? That kind of leaves nothing for the rest of us to play with!"
Britan grins.
Aldarin gives McTavish a stern look, "I for one say that something needs to be done to eradicate this evil. I do not wish to look the other way just because it is not in our travel plans to stop here. I will defer to the decision of the group but I'm for toasting a tribe of orcs myself."
"I am too," replies the dwarf, "But I have no intention of getting toasted myself. If they can be eradicated in such a way that no word will ever get back to the authorities as to who did the eradicating, we should do it. Otherwise, we should just pass."
After listening intently to the conversation for a few minutes, Raz speaks up, "Fine. I suppose that the world will be a better place with a few less Orcs in it."
Banquo listens to the diatribes of everyone and then says, "The ruler of Brach Pol is a very powerful Vampire/Cleric. He will not tolerate this kind of interference in his sphere and we will be found and have to face him. If we kill him we will have attracted the attention of Imrimil himself, a being that a horde of 20th level paladins would hesitate to face. Before we decide to do this deed, what is the return? Will this do anything other than bring the wrath of Imrimil down on the locals? If we destroy this outpost and move on, there will be hundreds, if not thousands of innocent locals killed. If we destroy this outpost and stay and fight the cleric, even if we win there will be hundreds of locals hurt or killed. Decide what you want to be the final goal, do you want to remove the power structure that runs this area, or simply impulse kill a pack of useless orcs that will be replaced in a day? We need a goal and a plan before we start a fight."
With that Banquo waits for a reaction.
"Wise words," comments McTavish. "Sometimes the blood lust overtakes my reason. You have more knowledge of the ways of this area...I defer to your judgement."
"You do have a point - and if they are going to be so easily replaced then there is no real point in just destroying them all." says Illyana.
Looking at Banquo with a new respect, Raz nods slowly and says, "I must agree with Banquo...our interference here may only worsen the living conditions for these people...we indeed need to be focused and think about our actions before we carry them out."
Farad smiles. "The locals should not allow such a ruler to remain over them. Perhaps our burning of the outpost will put some spirit into them. The old man seemed to approve."
"Its a shame Pillar is not present however. He did want to fight a vampire lord. But I'm willing to try that too."
Banquo looks at both of them then says, "The locals have no say in the matter and multiple revolts have only gotten many of them killed. Any public display of rebellion will turn the entire countryside against us. They will turn us in for fear of reprisals. You cannot overcome hundreds of years of oppression overnight. The lord of Brach Pol does deserve to die but if that is your goal we can do it a much better way than a frontal assault. I can get us into Brach Prol and we can kill the Vampire straight up then make it look like one of his Captains had done it. They will fall into infighting over the power vacuam and be so busy we can pick them off one at a time and set up an underground to get the locals involved slowly. This can be financed easily by the loot we will take from our strikes against the rulers. This way the locals are not blamed and the rulers kill each other and we profit from it."
Farad eyes Banquo closely. "I think I like this man. Lets do it."
Farad smiles at McTavish. "Seems to me that toasting the village would give the vampire something to think about. While so distracted he will be easier game to hunt. He'll not think that someone doing such a frontal assault would then try and sneak in to get him. Rather he would be putting most of his men on the border of the walls trying to keep whatever caused this out. But by that time, we will already be inside."
Banquo grins and says, "If we do that we should give them something more to think about. We should get some uniforms or something that will implicate the nearest other kingdom, especially if we do not like them. If we are lucky they will send a punitive expedition after that kingdom and remove some troops. Properly planted evidence will enhance this possibility."
Farad nods. "Do you think they might have some of those uniforms inside the outpost? I could turn ethereal and go in and try grabbing some."
Banquo shakes his head and says, "Vile Orchold are the same troops as Brach Pol, we would need to go back to Black Gate unless they have some prisoners held there. Another possibility is does anyone have the illusion capability? If so we could let a couple survive to tell the tale of the raiders in foreign uniforms."
"I was thinking of prisoners. If this outpost patrols the roads, then it is possible they have picked up a lone soldier or two spying. I could go in and see if I can find any uniforms."
Banquo considers this then says, "How confident are you that you will not be discovered? If you are not and we find some prisoners we then have a good reason why they would strike here. Either way a scouting expedition never does any harm. Your call if you want to try."
"Pretty confident. Ethereal, I would not only be invisible, but out of harms way and able to pass through walls and doors. If they detect me, then they are hiding a much more powerful force than this place looks to have."
"Lay on MacDuff." says Banquo.
Farad looks at the sun. "Raz, if for some reason I don't get back in an hour or so, when the sun sets cast a dispel magic in the area. If something happens and I don't have the strength to return, I will try and move here. That spell should force me out of the Ethereal."
With that Farad uses probability travel and steps into into the ethereal plane.
Raz shakes his head, "Sorry Farad..I don't have that spell memorized."
"Then lets hope nothing goes wrong, shall we?" Farad says smiling, as he fades from view.
The rest of you retreat a short distance back up the road, getting the wagon and horses out of sight of the outpost.
After about an hour, Farad rematerialises before you.
Somewhat anxious, Aldarin stands and greets Farad, "Good to see you back my friend. So, what news do you bring?"
Britan stands and says " Well Farad Did you bring us back anything or find out any useful information?"
Farad drops the uniforms he found. "Its a filthy compound. Typical orcish sort of place. I didn't stay around to try and find anything out, but I didn't see anything that impressed me either."
Banquo grins and says, "Let's see who these fit. Best be the humans if we are going to blame Black Gate."
With that he looks at the uniforms and compares them to the availible body sizes.
They are sized and cut for humans.
Elves would be swamped in them...
"So who wants to go?" asks Illyana.
Banquo takes Farad aside for a hushed conversation.
Before Banquo and Farad go off to talk, Raz speaks up..."If we wait a day I'll be able to cast stone skin and polymorph self or other on someone....just thinking it might prove useful that's all..."
Farad shakes his head. You can hear him say something in a not so whispery voice. "... nobody that would serve. Even so I don't think I could get them out. Besides, I think a rumor will do. We don't want any bodies lying about that a cleric could question. Only a fool thinks a dead man tells no tales."
You hear Banquo say, "Good point. I'm not used to magic around here, little is permitted."
They come back over and Farad answers Raz's question.
"That would be perfect. I don't think we are in any hurry."
Britan steps up and says, "Well I am human and I will volunteer to go."
He then looks at Humphrey and says, "How about you there Humphrey you were always looking for adventure."
He grins.
Raz gets up from where he is sitting. After wiping off some dirt from his brown robe, he looks about and asks, "Okay..so what exactly is the plan? We dress up in these uniforms here and fireball the outpost? I need to know so that I can be sure to memorize the appropriate spells."
Raz looks a little confused.
"That looks to be the plan, as much as it is. Then we partially burn the uniforms and put a few arrows through them so that perhaps they will think we accidentally blasted ourselves or the orcs got us. If they question any of the dead orcs inside, they will learn only that a few Black Gaters blasted them."
Raz nods slowly in response and says, "Okay...Do I need to memorize polymorph other and stone skin...or would other spells better fit into your plan?"
You move off of the road s short distance and set up camp in some scraggily trees and bushes. Good cover is not easy to find in these parts.
A short time after doing so, you hear the sounds of approaching horses...from the west...the direction of Black Gate.
You creep back towards the road to see what it is.
Lying low, you see a half a dozen riders in the uniforms of Nolthen. They are orcs. A few are wounded. Their horses are encumbered with a number of bloody bundles...corpses. One of these bundles is still alive, though, going by the way it is wiggling and struggling. A young woman, those of you who can understand orcish can hear the troops laughing and talking about the fun they are going to have with her tonight, after they return to Vile Orchold.
Banquo's eyes turn red and he says in a low whisper, "The leader's mine, none of them leave alive. Let's go ahead a little and set up an ambush."
Aldarin whispers to the others, "If we take out this group with a minimal of mess, we could use their horses and stuff to get into their fortress." Looking to Raz and Farad, "A few sleep spells should do the trick, what do you think?"
Raz has other ideas, however...
"Damn", says Raz under his breath, "well..I have to do something about this.."
Thereafter you see Raz jump to his feet and cast multiple magic missle spells at the unsuspecting riders.
The orcs are not surprised by Raz jumping up, but he is still quick enough with his spells.
Two spells are all that are needed...as the mage blows the orcs from their saddles. They are dead by the time they hit the ground.
The horses, however, panic.
"Only those of you who are wearing the uniforms go forward. This is as good an excuse as any."
Farad casts sleep towards the horses, but remain covered so he is out of obvious sight.
Aldarin follows suit and also casts sleep, also remaining out of sight as much as possible, taking cover afterwards.
The six horses fall. The corpses and the bound woman are thrown clear.
The woman was also slept...but is roughly awakened again when she hits the ground.
Banquo yells, "You flaming idiot, you'll get the girl killed."
He then dashes at the back of the group...sword drawn of course.
Illyana draws her sword out and moves up.
All of the monsters are dead.
The young woman is struggling.
"Ummm maybe next time we can conserve our strength a little. First Raz makes rats flambe and then you two," nodding towards Farad and Aldarin, "decide to use sleep spells on two orcs. Yet you think that 200 is no problem. We need to work on some comunication on spells I think." Kelar says with a smile
Banquo runs to the woman and pulls a dagger then says, "Stop struggling and I'll have you free in a minute."
He then cuts her free.
"Wonderful group effort there, people. Well, we have extra horses now for what it is worth. Make sure there wasn't another group after this one, I want the road watched."
Illyana sighs and shakes her head. She walks over to the woman. "Everything will be fine for now, I hope. Where are you from? What is your name?" Illyana asks.
Aldarin, "I've got it."
Britan says " I'll Accompany you."
As they're jogging down the road, "Britan, you take one side of the road and I'll take the other. Be sure to pick a spot where we can see each other."
Britan looks at Aldarin and says, "OK."
As Britan Looks down the road to make sure no one or anything is down the road and if there is not he crosses the road and finds a place to hide where he can see both ways down the road and where he can still see Aldarin, once he finds this spot he signals Aldarin with a thumbs up.
They move about 50 yards down the road, from where the orcs came, moving in the treeline so as not to be seen. They settle in a spot where they can see down the road and the party without having to move. They then watch the road.
"Thank you " a goodlooking young woman now stands before the group. Tall, with a pale complexion and jet black hair. She smiles an easy smile. " Your help is much appreciated. That vermin had rather unpleasant plans for me this evening. My name is Sharone, servant of Idun. May I ask the names of my benefactors....?"
"My name is Raz", says a young looking dark haired human male wearing a dark brown cloak and boots.
"Glad to have been able to help", he continues with a half-cocked grin on his bearded face.
"McTavish here," says the dwarf, stepping out of the bushes where he had been hiding. "We're going to trash their orchold come morning. Wanna join us?"
He looks at the scene of death and destruction on the road.
"Should we clean up this mess before we head back to camp?"
"How often are the orcs ambushed?" wonders Illyana, "If they are ambushed enough, then there is no bother. If this never happens, we should clear the road."
"Probably...", replies Raz, "wouldn't want to anonunce our presence here just yet." Raz then begins the grisly task of removing the orc bodies from the road. 'I should of just fireballed them', thinks Raz wearily to himself as he works.
Banquo says to Sharone, "My name is Banquo, What were you doing in these parts? It is dangerous for humans to come here, especially women."
Banquo is a male human fighter, just a touch under six feet, brown hair and dressed all in black.
You clear the road and hide the bodies as best you can. By this time the horses are awake, so you tether them together and lead them back to your camp, which is nearby.