A Scholarly Issue

[dreamweaver]

The mercenary slips very carefully through the gate, the two guards does not seem to notice there's one more person present than they think. They are in a rather heated, though quiet argument about constellations, plus Abe is silent as a snake.

Inside he finds himself opposite of a sturdy stone wall, full of arrow slits. The lord of the fort did not leave it to chance what happens if attackers get through the gate.

To the west, there's a brick wall, which has several irregular-shaped holes in it, but otherwise intact, all along the wall. Behind and above it is the west wall. It has two doors, one wide open, while the one to the north is really just a big doorway. The door itself cannot be seen. Between the two doors is a large well, at the base of the north wall there's a cart and a big haystack, surrounded by dropped tools.

The little Abe can discern from the east part is it's much cleaner and better maintained. And the only light comes from there, probably torches by its flickering and color.



A: Abe
G: guards

[DrRenfield]

Abe allows himself a satisfied smirk as he makes it into the fort unseen. Continuing to move with methodical stealth, he sets to work searching for a way down to the fort's moldy lower levels.

Abe starts by investigating the well, hoping for a mold habitat. He will drop a small stone and listen for depth and whether it still contains water.

Perception [1d20+6]=5+6=11

[dreamweaver]

The well is quite wide, almost two meters across, but no route down is visible for Abe. Inside the doorway is probably the remains of a stable, and attached to the south wall is a stairway up to the parapet, which was obscure from near the gate.

As the pebble plops into the water down the well, the mercenary hears soft scuffling in a few seconds, coming from the direction of the haystack. When he looks that way, he can see a lump of hay move, and glimpses a door in the corner in the north. The moving lump is a person slowly waking up, and there's a suspiciously similar lump is next to it.



A: Abe
W: well
D: new door
S+S: sleeping people, the one on the left awakening

[DrRenfield]

Abe crouches behind the well on the balls of his feet, unmoving. He eases his short sword free of its scabbard, ready to take the stirring man unawares should he rise and investigate.

[dreamweaver]

The man mumbles something quietly, then sits up and looks around. Half a minute later he gives up being vigilant, and drop back into sleeping position with a thud. Not much later he is fast asleep again.

Since Abe entered the fort, he hasn't heard anything from the direction of the gate. The guards outside are probably still unaware of anything out of the ordinary.

[DrRenfield]

Abe carefully stalks toward the sleeping men, blade in hand.

stealth [1d20+7]=14+7=21

If they fail to wake, Abe will perform a Coup de Grace on each of them. It's grim business, but Abe refuses to risk a chance alarm being raised by waking men while he investigates the fort. He hasn't survived his chosen career by generously dispensing mercy to violent men.

Coup de Grace damage [2d6+6]=9+6=15

Coup de Grace damage [2d6+6]=5+6=11

[dreamweaver]

As his blade sinks into the first man, then the second, they look up at the mercenary with shocked surprise before fear shows in their eyes for a moment. In a few seconds the grim business is over, further silencing the already quiet building. In the doorway with the ex-stables, Abe can now see it's been converted into the sleeping quarters for this group. There are a lot of odds and bits lying around in a mess there, though he can't see what those things really are without getting closer.

[DrRenfield]

Abe wipes is blade clean on the dead men's clothes and creeps east to the corner door ("D" on map).

Continuing his careful infiltration, he presses his ear to the door
Perception [1d20+6]=16+6=22

If all is quiet, he will attempt to enter
In case it is locked: (Disable Device [1d20+7]=19+7=26)

[dreamweaver]

It is definitely quiet, but not completely silent. He can sense some talk-like noise on the edge of the hearing range. It's not whispering, so it must be rather distant or coming from behind something that blocks sound to a great extent.

The door is locked, or more precisely, it was locked and now it's open. It makes no significant noise as Abe moves it. Inside it is dark, but there's a faint orange glow coming from an uncovered trapdoor with a flight of stairs leading down. The distant speaking also comes from there.

[DrRenfield]

Abe scowls at the poor luck of an occupied basement. He pads down the stairs side-on leading with his sword arm, in the Scarlet Einhander stance. If he is undetected, he will draw close and try to identity the number of men below.

stealth check [1d20+7]=16+7=23; perception check [1d20+6]=1+6=7

[dreamweaver]

As the mercenary stalks closer to the men speaking down there, he can discern at least three different voices, but it's hard to say because of the echoes in the stone-walled corridors, so it may be up to six as well. They don't whisper but speak in hushed voices, in that annoying border where one can understand some syllables, but no words or phrases, eluding the meaning of what can be heard.

He can either avoid the group and explore the rest of the basement or try to stalk closer to get more details.



A = Abe
V = voices

[DrRenfield]

Abe curses silently. He was hoping not to engage the bandits, but he refuses to risk going deeper and leaving enemies behind to cut off his exit route. He creeps nearer to the voices.

stealth check [1d20+7]=10+7=17; perception check [1d20+6]=20+6=26

[dreamweaver]

As he approaches the conversation stealthily, he can distinguish three voices talking in a heated tone. They are discussing ways the west gang can be ambushed, weighing pros and cons. They mostly in for attacking at night, while they are asleep after drinking, but finer details of where to come from, who to start with are the topics. Also, they refer to the west gang as 'lepers' several times, and Abe can clearly hear 'doomed anyway' once.

[DrRenfield]

With surprise on his side, Abe should be able to take three. He adjusts his grip on his sword and clears his mind, visualizing the academy forms he has prepared. Still in his Scarlet Einhander stance, Abe rounds the corner moving fast toward his targets.

[dreamweaver]

As he enters the large wine cellar, Abe can see two of the people in the conversation, but one of them is almost blocked from his sight by the closer one. From the voice origin point, the guy must be behind the first row of barrels. With the closest one showing his back, the other visible one facing south, and the third one behind the barrels, the mercenary approaches them undetected.


A: Abe
X: bandits
brown square: table
brown disks: wine barrels

First round of combat, which is a surprise turn for the three. Have a look through your actions and abilities, and Abe can act first, including activation of maneuvers.

[DrRenfield]

Abe closes the distance in a few long strides.

Abe opens up his Einhander stance into a scything strike across the two nearest bandits. In an instant, Abe employs the minute hand to launch a duelist's thrust at the third man.

Scything Strike [1d20+3]=8+3=11, Damage A [2d6+3]=8+3=11, Damage B [2d6+3]=4+3=7

Minute Hand [1d20+1]=15+1=16, Damage [2d6+3]=10+3=13

[dreamweaver]

The first to taste his blade, quite a skinny guy, doubles up in pain as he falls to the ground, while the second target manages to shirk back just a little, but this is enough to avoid instant death as Abe's sword slices his side and forearm. The one standing behind the barrels just keeps looking at the mercenary pierces his upper body with the follow-up thrust.

When he turns around, Abe can see the first guy unconsciously bleeding to death on the ground, the second one desperately pulling his dagger and slim sword, and the last one, the large, heavy-set man from the rival gang gasping for breath in vain, oblivious of what's happening around him.

Second round, let's make init rolls and keep those for the remainder for the fight.
Last man standing initiative: [1d20+3]=2+3=5

[DrRenfield]

Initiative [1d20+3]=17+3=20

Abe presses his advantage, determined to end the fight before it begins. Suppressing his adrenaline and focusing his mind, Abe executes a dimensional strike. His form shudders and fades as he wheels to launch a slash at the fumbling bandit.

Dimentional Strike [1d20+3]=13+3=16, Damage [2d6+3]=12+3=15

[dreamweaver]

The last member of the little coup collapses to the floor of the cellar, quickly succumbing to his fatal injury. As the room settles back to silence, the only thing Abe can sense aside from the view, is the mix of slightly metallic smell of spelt blood and the heavy aroma of aged wine. The former makes quite a large pool, coming from three adults.

[DrRenfield]

Abe, takes a slow exhale and cleans his blade, opening his mind in the Spirit Sensing stance.

He stoops to search through the bandits' effects before examining the wine. Throughout his career, Abe has consumed a huge quantity of wine running the gamut from aristocratic fare to the cheapest available. Depending on the quality, these brigands might be sitting on real money without appreciating it.