Expedition: Fingers/Treasure of Yoldessi Plains- 30 Aug 2021

[DavetheLost]

Does anyone have a guess as to the "horses and riders of living flame"? The rest seem clear enough. Given the choice between the gargoyles, what seems to be a black dragon, and creatures of living flame I think I'd prefer the gargoyles. At least we know we can kill them. The wolf riding nomads could be friends or foes, either way they probably outnumber us, so leet's give them a wide berth for now.

[Alethan]

Bandy nods, "Knowing that the gargoyles are the transformed enemies of some high wizard makes me want to put them to rest. I would hate to be condemned to living as a flying stone statue..."

[Rusty Tincanne]

Winnie asks the hippogryphs if they mean the horses and riders are on fire, or if they merely look that way because of costumes or paint.

She lets the others know that she is of limited assistance against the gargoyles. If we wait a day, I can turn the pack animals Invisible, which would protect them, but if they bolt that would complicate things.
And I only have a few magic missiles and webs each day.

[Marullus]

Winnie asks the hippogryphs if they mean the horses and riders are on fire, or if they merely look that way because of costumes or paint.

"Their fire burns," respond the hippogriffs.


Date: 5:40am, 04 September 2021
Light: Winnie's continual light
Effects: None
Injuries: Elmer (moderately injured); Buttercup (superficially injured)

[Zhym]

"Nightmares, maybe?" ventures Fingers. "Whatever they are, I don't think we want to meet fire-burning horses."

He looks toward the gargoyle city, then south to where the guy in the tomb said his help was needed. "Let's see if we can get into the city," he says. "And let's do it now, before my arrows become useless against the gargoyles. If we have to wait, we should go south. And I'm definitely not into hanging around for a day just to make animals invisible, 'cause I just know we'll get attacked." He looks thoughtfully at his dog. "But, hey...maybe we should do that with Sprinkles sometime. It'd sure help keep him from getting hurt!"

Marullus: Do we see an entrance to the city nearby? Other than the back way that just got buried?

[Marullus]

Though from a distance, you've seen the walls from all directions. The main entrance is on the western side. (You're on the eastern side.) There's also smaller gates facing the north and south. The north gate is the closest.

[Zhym]

If the gates are north, west, and south, our point of entry is obvious: we go over the east wall.

...or we could, if it weren't for the animals making that difficult. But, assuming there's no cover to approach from, it may not be a horrible idea to approach from the east, check the wall for secret entrances (it's possible, although the (former) existence of the other secret exit doesn't make that likely), and maybe have Fingers climb the wall and figure out a way to bring the animals over. I don't suppose our spell casters can make things levitate or fly, do they?

[Rusty Tincanne]

Winnie thanks and says farewell to the hippogryphs, May the Blessings of Beith shine upon you, leading you to a herd of horses to feast on. She does ask they leave the party's pack animals alone, explaining they are needed to carry the party's trappings as they battle the gargoyles.I hope our paths cross again one day. I hope to provide you with a more proper feast of goats and sheep at that time.

When that are gone, she indicates she is ready to venture toward the City of Gargoyles. I have no way of levitating the animals, though I do have a potion to decrease size. And I can make a disk to carry a considerable weight, but it only hovers off the ground a few feet.

I hadn't expected heading to the City, but she does have 3 MMs and 2 Webs.

[DavetheLost]

Baudh has granted me no prayers to make a mule fly, or a man come to that. We can angle our search along the East wall towards the North as that is our closest known entrance.

[Alethan]

Bandy thinks for a minute as his hand rests on a belt pouch and then glances back at their horses and ponies and shakes his head.

"I say we try the north gate, if it seems closest..."

[Zhym]

"Okay, but maybe we can get there by going to the east wall first?"

Fingers peers at the city, trying to figure out how many gargoyles there are.

[Marullus]

Standing where you are, in the concealed alcove in the foothills beneath the east walls, you look upwards and appraise the situation. The hillsides are steep and in some places sheer, climbing 50-100 feet upwards and perhaps 200-300 yards to the outer curtain wall's base. Effort was made in both choosing and constructing this motte to ensure it was not assailable from this direction. According to your maps, the section of the curtain wall directly above you protects the king's family estate, under which lies their crypts, and from which your now-collapsed tunnel extends. Adjacent to the king's estate and to the south is the tall and imposing central keep. The main fortification of the city, it stretches several stories above the curtain wall and lies just inside this eastern edge. Looking up from your present vantage, you're quite close to the main keep, the movement of the gargoyles visible upon its upper levels. As the hippogriffs stated, they do appear to move in small groups and there are several small groups visible. The gargoyles do seem focused on the keep as their roost.

The keep, though, is surrounded by the actual city. The curtain wall circles around a few miles, protecting the shops, homes, and other buildings which clustered around the main fortification of the horselord king who built this place. The gates in the city walls to the north, south, and west open into the city districts and then you'd need to progress towards the inner bailey wall which protects the noble estates, and then to the keep itself.

Winnie bids farewell to the hippogriffs and asks them not to eat the mounts. The hippogriffs argue that at least one of them is wounded and lamed... perhaps they could just eat him? Begrudgingly they do accept that the mounts of friends are also friends and will respect them.

The party considers how it might go straight over the eastern curtain wall, gaining access directly to the keep rather than going through the surrounding city. None of the spellcasters can aid, but the hippogriffs do tell Winnie they'd be glad to provide that brief service to lift the five of you over the wall, but this requires you to leave Jimmy alone with the mounts once more.

"I'm less than a half-day from the White Tower," offers Jimmy. "I'd rather lead them back to the stables than stay here like a lame duck, truth be told."

Date: 5:50am, 04 September 2021
Light: Winnie's continual light; daylight
Effects: None
Injuries: Elmer (moderately injured); Buttercup (superficially injured)

Hippogriff temp help [2d6] = 7[2d6] = 5[2d6] = 6[2d6] = 7

[Zhym]

"Yeah, I guess we could leave the mounts at the White Tower instead of trying to take them inside or leaving them out here," says Fingers. "I don't suppose we have any way to call for them when we're done though, huh?"

He gives a skeptical look to the keep and its gargoyles. He wonders again whether he should just go elsewhere. Or go home and buy and sell things instead of risking his life out here against uppity statuary. "All right, let's do this thing," he sighs. "Mounts back to the White Tower. The rest of us into the city, and hope to hell we don't get killed."

"Oh, hey—how are we on food?"

[Alethan]

Bandy grabs his trail rations and a spare quiver from his pony before the boy heads off with the mounts.

"At least he can make good time by riding them. Hopefully he can outrun anything he might come across... or that might come across him," he adds, dubiously.

[onlyme]

Markd reluctantly agrees to let Owen go with the stableboy.

[Zhym]

"So, what're we waiting for?"

(Bump.)

[Marullus]

Jimmy seems relieved to not accompany you forward into the City of Gargoyles. As the sun slowly crests the horizon, its rays drying the morning dew, he prepares to ride Owen, leading Buttercup, Mitch, and Elmer by their leadlines. He sets off, confident he'll be back at the White Tower in time for lunch.

The party is soon ready to move on, but the hippogriffs delay until the sun has fully crested, darting its rays down into gullies and over walls. Winnie understands from their whickering. "The sunlight makes things safe, they say. They do not go close to the Keep until the sun shines," she explains to the others.

Winnie and Fingers rig slings from their bedrolls which they can use to hold and hug their large hounds across their chests as the dogs resist going near the hippogriffs and rightly fear flying once aloft. With some effort, it is managed. Bandy, Markd, and Hengist each also find a way to clamber atop the friendly hippogriffs. All five of you hold on for your lives as the hippogriffs launch into the sky, bank wide around the tower, and then land in the large flagstone courtyard of the inner bailey. You are grateful to have your feet touch down again. The hippogriffs gratefully accept your parting gifts (rations previously offered), snatching them up with their beaks, then take off to continue their morning explorations, now having their own tale to tell their flocks of the humans who fight gargoyles.

The courtyard you stand in is about 100 yards wide, roughly oval shaped, and twice that long. You can imagine it crowded with the throngs of the city on festival days. There are no buildings in this grand courtyard, but there are gates in the walls around its circumference and there are a few features otherwise of note. First, the grand doors of the keep rise at the top end of the courtyard, the walls of the large, square keep rising above it. Atop the keep are two small round towers, each providing a commanding view of the surrounding plains, and there are two larger towers further out, where the inner bailey wall meets the outer curtain wall on its east side. To the right (south) of the keep doors are the collapsing remains of a large wooden stables, easily suitable for scores of horses. Opposite the keep on the west side of the courtyard is a three story stone gatehouse, the portcullis and gates still secured and intact beneath, leading out to the outer city. To the left (south) of the gatehouse but still on the west-facing side is a breach in the inner bailey wall. About 40' of the wall is collapsed into utter rubble, the rubble field strewn out in both directions, the glint of bone and rusted armor vaguely discernable among the hunks of toppled stonework.

Having flown in, you also were treated to a helpful view of the inner bailey as a whole. There are three ornate gates on each side of the courtyard, each leading to one of six noble estates. You discern from your maps that the one closest to the keep on its north side is the estate of the king's family, under which the crypts originated. You see small rents and fissures in the earth near the outer wall there, ramifications of the collapse beneath the ground. Each of the noble estates is about two acres; sizeable real estate within the protected walls of the city. They each have a large manor house, some also have smaller outbuildings, and are largely overgrown by plantlife which might once have been gardens or trees before centuries of neglect allowed them to abound and obscure any further detail.

Keen to spy the gargoyles, you noted that there was indeed perfectly still demonic-visaged statuary perched on the crenelations of each of the four towers. You saw no sign of movement as the hippogriffs circled wide away from them and deposited you in the broad courtyard.

Date: 10:00am, 04 September 2021
Light: Winnie's continual light; daylight
Effects: None
Injuries: None

[DavetheLost]

"I suppose it's too much to ask that those statues actually be statues. At least the hippogriffs seem to have been right that the gargoyles aren't active in the daylight. I wonder if they still have their senses and watched us fly in here? Safer for us to act as if they did, just in case.

Should we try for the king's crypt or try to smash some gargoyles while they are still immobile?

[Zhym]

"Gargoyles aren't any safer just 'cause they're not moving," replies Fingers. "And hitting them when they're still didn't do Kellstrom any good. Anyhow, if they are alive, I don't think they'll just let us walk up and smack 'em."

"But I'd rather try any one of those towers right now than dive into another tomb just yet. What's everyone else think?"

Marullus: I know you normally don't do maps, but since we flew overhead, is there any chance we could get a visual representation of what we saw? That might be easier than trying to guide me through drawing it up on my own.

Here's my best guess at the layout:

GargoyleCity.png (154.51 KiB) Viewed 242 times

Not to scale, obviously.

[onlyme]

Markd agrees that they came to clear the city.

does someone want/need to borrow the gargoyle swatter? Not sure the best odds for the group, whether to have Markd use it twice, or someone else use it while Markd uses his swiss army knife and sword. He is partial to holding the dagger of course.