IC XIV

[Atlictoatl]

Tev Meren, Fighter

As they walk the road in the morning, Tev holds his crossbow at the ready. His jaw tightens at the logging camp. As a bounty hunter, he's seen acts of desperation committed by men and women guilty of heinous crimes, and he's come upon macabre displays of the dead, but he hasn't yet become inured to them.

He doesn't know the wizard, but it's discomfiting to see that the wizard, too, has fallen. Though hopefully has managed some escape.

When the goblins reveal themselves, Tev returns fire upon them, then drops his crossbow and charges behind his allies.

[Alethan]

Rhys the Avenger

Seeing his first chance for revenge, Rhys draws his sword and charges the nearest goblin with fierce determination to remove its head.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Quint Kacie
Quint pulls out his sling and let's fly at one of the goblins, choosing carefully to avoid firing towards one of his charging companions.

[thirdkingdom]

Rounds One to Four

The adventurers charge the goblins amidst a hail of slingstones. Quint returns fire, but is unable to hit his target, while taking a stone to the forehead in exchance. Severi and Rhys both suffer telling blows as well, and then they wade into melee combat with the squealing goblins.

Rhys and Severi both fell their targets instantly, but then combat resolves itself into a flurry of thrusts and counterstrikes. Severi is dealt a deep cut just above a greave by a large goblin, and he responds with a series strikes that eventually fells the rascal. Rhys and Tev both attempt to parry blows; the wiry mystic succeeds, while Tev is unable to avoid a long scratch to the forearm.

Even though the goblins fight as though cornered rats they are quickly overwhelmed by the superior steel and skill of the adventurers. A total of 90 cp are found hidden away in dirty pouches; it is notable that the creatures bear steel blades much finer than would normally be expected. About half the goblins have wizened, shrunked heads dangling from their belts; most are old and look to have once been goblin, kobold or other humanoids, but several look newer, and human.

Severi takes 4, Rhys 2 and Quint 3 from slingstones, Severi takes 7 hp from sword, is unable to deflect. Rhys is able to deflect an attack, Tev is not, and takes 2 points of damage.

[MonsterMash]

Thurgan, dwarf

Thurgan looks at the newer heads seeing if any look familiar. "Do we need to rest while injuries are healed?"

[Atlictoatl]

Tev Meren, Fighter

"Severi took a fierce blow, there," he comments. He steps away from the immediate scrum, just a bit deeper into the woods, searching for trail signs in an effort to determine from which direction the goblin squad came.

[Wyzard]

Severi Silvertongue, Elf

"It's true, I've been wounded more gravely than I would like. Let's set up a concealed camp of our own, and prepare to ambush anything that walks by."

[Alethan]

Rhys the Avenger

Rhys helps to locate a site where they can camp and easily defend themselves should the need occur.

Before they settle down for the evening, Rhys goes into a deep meditative state, sending healing energies to where the goblin's sling stone hit him earlier in the day. He wills himself to no longer feel the damage from the stone, to no longer HAVE the damage from the stone...

He opens his eyes, feeling refreshed and ready for more action.

OOC: Rhys heals himself for 4 pts of damage, bringing him to 16/16 Hit Points.

[thirdkingdom]

Thurgan does not see anyone he recognizes amongst the goblins grisly trophies. The filthy creatures, sneaky though they might be, are obviously not wise in the ways of woodcraft, and their trail is quickly picked up, leading south into the woods.

Referring to the map, looks like they're heading south into hex 51.20

[thirdkingdom]

Klarmont 9, AC 1000

The companions travel north of the Road, finding a suitable spot to camp halfway between it and the Lake; not close enough to see either, but on a gentle rise that should enable them to see an approaching foe before they themselves are seen. Severi casts a dweomer upon Rhys that causes the mystic to fade from view, although he warns him that the spell is not proof against heatvision such as goblins and orcs possess. This should not, however, pose a problem unless he is caught unawares at night.

It is many hours -- evening has come -- by the time Rhys reappears and tells the companions what he has witnessed:

Immediately north of Threshold, at the mouth of Lake Windrush, and island has been connected by bridges, joining the two sides of the river. This island is usually home to several dozen fisherman's shacks, and their docks that jut out into the lake. The once numerous shacks are now either burnt to the ground or occupied by a tribe of savage orcs. Rhys counts approximately 40 orcs on the island, drinking and lounging about in the insolent manner of conquerors.

Returning to the mainland, directly north of Threshold, he sees the following:

From what he can tell, there are at least two goblin encampments around Threshold. One is directly north of the city, on the banks of the Windrush River. There look to be only a score of goblins in this encampment, and the creatures look insolent and sullen; many of them have filthy and bloody bandages wrapped around appendages. A standard festooned with clacking fish skeletons flies above their camp. The second is located just west of the city, and looks to number two score or so goblins. He dare not approach further to investigate, though, as giant wolves prowl through the goblin camp.

More worrying, however, are the enemy encampments surrounding Tarnskeep, the Baron's castle located northwest of the town, on shores of Lake Windrush. There look to be at least two, if not more, separate camps surrounding the fortress. The Baron's flag still flies from the towers, however, and from the rooftops of Threshold itself. Luckily, the Baron insists that all buildings in the town be of stone, with slate shingles, so the only buildings that have been destroyed by flame are the numerous smallholdings scattered about the fertile fields surround Threshold.

I'll add a map to the Map section later tonight, and also go ahead and update IC to bring us to the new day. Al, if you want Rhys to investigate more he totally can, but it will take more time.

[Wyzard]

Severi Silvertongue, Elf

"I believe that having the baron free of his stronghold will do more to help the town, than freeing the town will do to help the baron. Unfortunately, we do not have the strength to assault those camps immediately. Our advantage lays within the fact that the besieging force cannot pursue us without breaking the siege. We should attempt to find some canoes, or tie some of the woodsmen's logs into rafts, and approach the island by stealth at dawn. If we come from the east, the weak eyes of the orcs may not detect us, whereas they would surely watch the bridge. We can approach them through the forest."

He sketches out a plan on the ground with a stick, while thinking aloud. "We slay that score of orcs, and put their heads on pikes in turn, where they will be visible from the opposite shore. If we so choose, we can burn the bridge to deny them the ability to pursue. Else, if our strength is still upon us, we might go and slay the small goblin camp immediately to the north of the city."


OOC: Reference viewtopic.php?p=27937#p27937

TK, tell me if I'm wrong about the construction of the bridge and dam there across the mouth of the river. It struck me that we might soak one with lamp oil or pine tar across the middle, and light them up on the way back if we're pursued.

[MonsterMash]

Thurgan, dwarf

"I'd like to help out the baron in breaking out, but we don't know how strong those camps are. I'd say take down the smaller of the goblin camps first as we need to erode their forces like a river over a rock rather than try and shatter them while they are still so strong".

[Koren n'Rhys]

Quint Kacie
"I have to agree with Thurgan. It sounds as if the orc camp will be to much for us to handle given our numbers and current condition. We might be better off harrying the smaller of the goblin camps to begin with and see what sort of resistance we meet."

[thirdkingdom]

The adventurers discuss their options late into the night, but are unable to formulate a concrete plan.

Klarmont 10, AC 1000
Northeast of Threshold

The new day is cloudy; a brief storm early in the morning ended as quickly as it started. The adventurers begin discussing their options once again.

[thirdkingdom]

The adventurers continue to debate their options. Barely an hour has passed since sunrise when the ringing sound of steel on wood can be heard, echoing through the forest. It sounds as if a score of loggers labor, relatively nearby.

[Wyzard]

"I move that Semele immediately distribute any healing dweomers on those of us still injured, and then we go to investigate whether those sounds come from men, or from foul goblinoid folk."

[Atlictoatl]

Tev Meren, Fighter

Tev, ready for bashing some goblinoid heads, agrees.

[MonsterMash]

Thurgan, dwarf

"I only need a little healing" Thurgan says. "Yes, lets investigate what is causing that sound".

Down 3 - 1 back natural healing, 1 pt from a cure minor wounds. leave him 1 down at 26/27[/sblock]

[thirdkingdom]

The adventurers set forth. The woods here, this close to Threshold, are light, with the trees widely spaced. Moving east towards the sound, after a half-hour or so they see, off in the distance, a number of orcs scattered throughout the trees, overseeing a gang of humans as they chop down trees. The orcs seem more intent on guarding the laborers then they do observing their surroundings.

1)Are you guys mounted? I keep forgetting you have horses. It will be harder to move unobserved on mounts, and you won't be able to, like, gallop through the woods anyway.
2)You guys are still some distance away from the orcs, perhaps 100 yards or so, and due to the distance/trees can't quite make out how many there are, total.
3)With all the chopping, you guys don't really need to worry about making sounds.
4)As far as you can guess, you're about a half-mile north of the Road and about the same distance from the lake.

[MonsterMash]

Thurgan, dwarf

"Shall we ambush these orcs and free their captives? Maybe best to use magic to make them sleep in case they start to kill the prisoners as well as fighting us".