[IC] Into the Unknown

[thirdkingdom]

Cadmus the Confused

Cadmus carefully observes the bandit's reaction: "How would you like to help us sneak into the castle and free the prisoner?" he asks.

[Julius Sleazer]

Alfius the Aeviternal, Fighter

Alfius examines the map as it is drawn, gently asking questions about the castlet's defenses and how one might sneak in and out without alerting the sentries or the bandit chief.

Bandit Prisoner

The young road agent sketches a picture of a fortified stone tower perhaps ninety or one hundred feet in height. Inside, there are three stories. The first (ground) floor is the largest in height; a spiral staircase of stone winds its way along the sides of the wall, with several arrow-slits. The second story is far shorter in height, being less than ten feet high. This is apparently the room where the chief's lieutenants hold court. The next story up, the third, is, according to the prisoner, not somewhere he has been. There are apparently at least two chambers here: one for the chief and his concubine, and one where the prisoner is presumably kept.

The prisoner speculates about the possibility of a fourth story or attic being beneath the conical roof. Originally of slate, the roof has been reinforced in places with thatch as well as wooden planks. The windows on the second and third stories are also little more than small arrow-slits.

Two hillocks come together, and in the gully between them, the woods-track passes. The castlet is built a little ways up the hillock to the right of the track. A crude wooden structure, little more than an overgrown lean-to, has been built against the side of the castlet; this is used to house horses.

The bandit prisoner indicates that watches are kept every night, but there is little predictable pattern as to who is keeping watch. Sometimes an individual bandit may apparently earn the wrath of the chief, and thus be assigned to multiple consecutive nights on watch. Additionally, some of the bandits are more prone to dissolute drinking than others. While the chief deals harshly with those who are intoxicated whilst keeping watch, such occurrences are not unknown.

The prisoner seems somewhat at a loss for ideas on how to sneak into the castlet. He opines that perhaps a distraction might be the best approach, relating a tale of one time when a fierce storm with thunder and lightning spooked the horses, and several broke free from their shoddy stalls. Many of the bandits scattered into the wet night to recover their steeds; if any force nearby had been waiting in ambush, says the young man, the bandit band would have been cut to ribbons.

[Julius Sleazer]

Cadmus the Confused

Cadmus carefully observes the bandit's reaction: "How would you like to help us sneak into the castle and free the prisoner?" he asks.

Bandit Prisoner

"Sir, are you asking if I would like to help, or how I would go about doing so?"

[Vektunaxa]

Alfius the Aeviternal, Fighter

"I do not think we can count on a tempest to blow our way," Alfius laments. "A fire might work, but the heat may set the wood within the keep alight and slay the noble we mean to rescue. A wayward traveler would invite suspicion, since they fled our counter-ambush. I think a siege might be our only option. Bandits are unlikely to be the type to provision heavily, especially since it is spring and their winter stores will have been tapped."

[Julius Sleazer]

Bandit Prisoner

"Quite true, sir. Soon enough most of the band would have been out raiding away to the northwest, had the noble not been kidnapped. I would estimate that there is no more than a week's worth of food at the castlet."

[MonsterMash]

Decimus Numerous

"A siege might work however there are only four of us to conduct it which may be tricky to do, however let us rest and plan while we recover from our wounds."

[thirdkingdom]

Cadmus the Confused

Cadmus furrows his brow, deep in thought. "Let's think about this for a moment," he says, "we just encountered eleven of the thirteen bandits outside of the castle. Is this routine?" he asks their captive, "and the next question would be: given our attack, will their response be to withdraw into their fortress and hunker down or take to the hills in search of us?" Cadmus further suggests quietly that Decimus be the one to ask their captive if he would be willing to help with the assault to gauge the effects of the ensorcellment.

[Julius Sleazer]

Bandit Prisoner

"Oh, aye. Many times most of the band is out after a rich prize and few indeed are the folk left to guard the castlet. As for your second question, sir, I cannot say. Under normal circumstances, I'd wager that the response would be a regrouping followed by a counter-attack. With a spellslinger in the mix, though? I cannot say."

[thirdkingdom]

Bandit Prisoner

"Oh, aye. Many times most of the band is out after a rich prize and few indeed are the folk left to guard the castlet. As for your second question, sir, I cannot say. Under normal circumstances, I'd wager that the response would be a regrouping followed by a counter-attack. With a spellslinger in the mix, though? I cannot say."

Cadmus the Confused

"Were you after a 'rich prize' today?"

[Vektunaxa]

Alfius the Aeviternal, Fighter

"If a siege cannot be conducted, could we lull them into security? None of those who escaped talked to us, so they know nothing of our intentions. If we were to pass by, galloping on our horses, and recede into the distance, what choice would they have but to assume we are travelers who have no intentions on their castlet. They may pursue us, but the must realize that their odds are not good because we are mounted. We then leave the track, camp for the night, and assault their keep at dawn. Decimus, you could do the honours of knocking on their front door."

[Julius Sleazer]

Cadmus the Confused

"Were you after a 'rich prize' today?"

Bandit Prisoner

"Nay. Some of us were engaged in routine agricultural labor as we attempted to supplement our food stores. Others were stationed along the track to waylay any 'hostiles.' There was good information that the folk from Caius' Place wished to storm the castlet."

[MonsterMash]

Decimus Numerous

"So will you aid us in our plan to free the captive and return him to his family?" Decimus asks the captive.

"Yes making the bandits think we have merely passed by on a journey elsewhere would help us if we seek to catch them unawares again."

[Julius Sleazer]

Bandit Prisoner

"Aye, I'll aid you. I'm afraid of the fight, to be honest, but it seems only right to help. After all, I can tell you lot seem like honest folk, and I'm sure that you're going to help me get a new start somewhere in an honest trade so I don't have to continue on being a bandit. So, I'm not quite sure how exactly one rescues a noble properly, but I'll help!"

[Vektunaxa]

Alfius the Aeviternal, Fighter

"I think my plan of riding past the outpost and appearing to leave might draw them away from their guard, perhaps even to pursue us. But, Mr. -- I'm sorry, I don't remember if you told us your name, friend; I am called Alfius -- you might have to sneak around the other hill, out of sight."

[MonsterMash]

Decimus

"I am Decimus. If we need to leave you while we ride past then we have rations to spare while we camp overnight to allow my magical force to recover from today's efforts".

[thirdkingdom]

Cadmus the Confused

Cadmus agrees to the plan.

[Julius Sleazer]

Alfius the Aeviternal, Fighter

"I think my plan of riding past the outpost and appearing to leave might draw them away from their guard, perhaps even to pursue us. But, Mr. -- I'm sorry, I don't remember if you told us your name, friend; I am called Alfius -- you might have to sneak around the other hill, out of sight."

Bandit

"They call me Tasco, sir."

[Julius Sleazer]

12th-13th Springmonth II

The adventurers mount up, moving their horses at the pace of a quick-stepping man as Tasco lopes along beside them. As they approach the castlet, he swings wide to the southwest, keeping a hill between himself and the castlet.

The adventurers themselves tear past the castlet at high speed, urging their horses on, crying out phrases such as "Yah now!" and "On there!" and other such things, and in general, acting like men galloping by at great speed and with no designs on an isolated, half ruinous tower. Several crossbow bolts issue forth from the arrow-slit windows, but the quarrels come nowhere near the adventurers. Soon the youths from Durans Well are past the castlet without taking a scratch and without picking up any obvious pursuers.

Okay, there are one of two possibilities here:

1.) The bandits were just firing warning shots, so I didn't roll dice.
2.) The bandits were firing to kill and/or injure, and I rolled secretly (you should all be familiar with the fact that I rarely roll secretly---many campaigns pass without a single secret roll).

After a time, the adventurers slow their horses, allowing the steeds to regain their wind. After dallying, they hear crashing through the brush, and soon Tasco emerges, angling back towards the track to meet them. After continuing on at Tasco's pace, they come to a reasonably defensible camp site and settle in for the evening. The night passes uneventfully.

In the morning, the adventurers shiver in the cold dawn and wolf down a bit of breakfast, and then double back as silently as they can towards the castlet. When they are several hundred yards off from it, they pause to gather themselves before the attack. Tasco stamps his feet and blows upon frigid fingers.

"We're about to attack, right?" he queries. "Can I have a blade or a club or something? I hope I've proved myself. I didn't call out to those bastards in the keep to let them know you were coming, and I didn't run off into the woods."

Any directions etc. I should bear in mind as y'all begin the attack, or any changes of plan? Please let me know IC or OOC, whichever is most appropriate given what each of you have to post. Thank you!

[Vektunaxa]

Alfius the Aeviternal, Fighter

Alfius hands the bandit his own spatha; then he takes his billhook in hand and strategizes.

"The optimal course of action would be to wait for some of the bandits to leave; then Decimus could ensnare them and we capture them without bloodshed. If that does not happen, perhaps it would be possible for Decimus to cast his net through one of the arrowslits, allowing us to approach unmolested and build a fire around the base. We can smoke them out, like a hive of wasps."

[MonsterMash]

Decimus Numerous, mage

"Ah, but to do that I would need to approach without being seen and I have no lore of invisibility with which to perform such an act".