March 2-3: The Old 19th and Events Thereafter

[Mister-Kent]

Zachariah
The druidic gull finds only the gnawings of tiny rodent teeth on the bone, relatively recent. All the remains strewn from here to the entrance steps are bleached with age. There is little indication as to the cause of their former owners' deaths.

When returning to the gathering by the crater, Zachariah sees that the group has dispersed. There are some of them waiting on the upper slope of the crater, and the rest are nowhere to be seen, perhaps in hiding.

Zaent
The central chapel has two large windows in the front, three great windows on either side, and four at the rear. The glass has been shattered on all windows, and is completely broken out on most of them. The best view of the guards is from the front corner window on the west side of the chapel...

If Biblo wants in on Group 1 that's perfectly fine. I can go back and edit my headings to avoid confusion.

I'll update further with Ballar Uh's recon intel...Anyone in the advance group who is scouting, please make Move Silent rolls for me please.

[Marullus]

Gul-Marach growls in the rear group, "Someone stop that scroll... We can I'll afford dwoemers between them and us!"

[Fulci]

Ballar Uh, fighter/assassin

I'll update further with Ballar Uh's recon intel...Anyone in the advance group who is scouting, please make Move Silent rolls for me please.

[1d100] = 72

It might not be needed, because:

Gul-Marach growls in the rear group, "Someone stop that scroll... We can I'll afford dwoemers between them and us!"

Gul-Marach's growl interrupts Ballar Uh halfway to the building. He reacts without hesitation: the priest might know something that he doesn't... He reaches for his crossbow (staying in cover behind a ruined wall segment if possible), takes aim and fires at the guard.

[1d20] = 17
+1 Dexterity bonus makes it 18.
If hit, damage: Light crossbow damage [1d6] = 4

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias Tar, window-peeper.

The seagull flies down into the hole, circles the sunken temple once, and them perches on the sill of one of the broken windows to watch the activity within.

[Grognardsw]

Assuming Group One are those who can move silent and hide, Biblo is in the second group so as to not give everyone away.

"I don't think the guard reading a scroll is a threat..." says Biblo to Gul-Marach, perhaps too late.

Biblo grasps his sling staff. If Ballar Uh does fire on the reading soldier, and does not kill him with the shot, Biblo will sling a stone at the soldier.

[Enoch]

Crouched on the rim of the crater, Mathias mutters to himself. "I could have taken him out without all this fuss, if I had been down there. No-one the wiser."

[Mister-Kent]

9:15 AM

Zachariah-gull arrives just in time for the action! He peers into the window to see a guard--the sole guard in the chapel, as the rest are out of sight--reading a letter of some kind. The chapel itself is a complete mess, with five large wooden benches piled in the center of the room, and fifteen more pushed to the outside walls of the room. The central pile is covered in hundreds of unlit candles, like an impromptu altar.

Suddenly, a crossbow bolt is fired through the open door, striking the soldier in his right shoulder. Screaming in pain, the guard staggers towards the false altar and then looks towards a spiral staircase at the far end of the room. The blood-spattered scroll lies at the floor by central pile.

Initiative (I'll take the first roll) and Actions, please! The crossbow attack occurred before Zaent and Ballar Uh could reach the building or any side window. The front windows are large and mostly glass-free.

Surveillance intel: Disclaimer--I'm sometimes horrible at measurements and this is my current reference point for fifty-feet. If I was at home I'd use the Ruler tool on Photoshop and give more precise conversions. The central chapel building is about one-hundred feet front-to-back, and two-hundred feet across. The church's second story is about level with the top of the sharp drop (where Group B waits). The outlier buildings to the north, east, and west are semi-collapsed structures of uknown purpose.

[Enoch]

Mathias curses softly and glances behind him for any response top-side, pulling his hood up as he does so.. Assuming no one comes running, he'll grab the rope and climb down into the crater as quickly as he can.

If there's a roll needed: Climb Walls 74%: [1d100] = 20

[Fulci]

Ballar Uh, assassin/fighter/creature

Ballar Uh curses silently, for he fears his hot-hotheadedness jeopardized the mission. He disrupted the potential spellcasting, but might have alerted the Captain and his people. Nonetheless, he has to finish what he begun.

Initiative: [1d6+1] = 3+1 = 4

Open confrontation is so far avoidable. So while the wounded guard is turns away back towards the chapel, Ballar Uh sprints to take cover in one of the outlier semi-collapsed buildings. He wants to be in range from the chapel's entrance, but able to hide from sight too. He also wants to reload his crossbow to fire in the turn after the next. If group A remains invisible, the soldiers will not know what hit them - and that will be when they strike in full force.

Is group B visible from the chapel entrance?

[Grognardsw]

To confirm, both Group 1 and 2 are not visible to the Captain and guards?

[Mister-Kent]

The guard wasn't looking before, but if he were to look now he might see Group B somewhere along the cliff where the ropes hang. I'm sure Group B is doing their best to remain as inconspicuous as possible, of course, so it depends on his observational skills.

As for your view of him, he was perfectly visible to A and B at his initial post, but moving further inside takes him out of everyone's view unless their looking in the windows from A's level.

As for the Captain and other soldiers, they went further up and further in, but you can't be sure of their exact location. Those who can see into the chapel do not see them inside the room, however.

[Inferno]

Zaent Darkhand, elvish rogue:

Zaent cursed softly, "Damned amateurs," and fired two arrows at the guard who was just reading something to pass the time.

Bow and Arrow Attacks: [1d20] = 4 [1d20] = 7

[jellyfish]

Morgan/Thief

Morgan detaches from her group and nocks an arrow on her short bow, quickly moving towards the western window.

If there's enough time:

Morgan fires at the wounded soldier through the window: short bow: [1d20] = 4 +2 from dex

[Grognardsw]

Biblo, illusionist

Not able to see the guard and others, Biblo whispers to his group "Let us hide!"

[Marullus]

Gul-Marach, Priest of Born

At the bottom of the rope, Gul-Marach crouches behind some rubble with Biblo, concealing his location while the whole group of thieves and assassins work to quietly dispatch the one solitary guard.

[Mister-Kent]

9:15-9:20 AM

Guard Initiative: [1d6] = 2

The guard begins to stagger towards the rear of the chapel, and finds himself skewered by two further arrows--one through the chest and one in the rear of right thigh. Spitting up blood, he collapses onto the altar, smashing the many candles and sending some uncrushed candles rolling along the warped wooded floor. A third arrow, fired from Morgan at the window, goes wide, striking a windowsill on the opposite wall.

Poe the Raven lands next to Zachariah the Seagull, and caws encouragingly.

[Inferno]

Zaent Darkhand, elvish rogue:

The Captain wouldn't fail to come and investigate that racket. Zaent hissed to Biblo and Mathias, "Cast an illusion to hide the body and replace the guard!"

Please?

[Enoch]

What's around? Are there any places a body could be easily stashed? How out-of-place would a Penitent seem here?

I can certainly cast Invisibility over the body if Biblio wants to cast an illusion, but it might be simplest to simply stash the body and have the silent Penitent point up at the rope, hopefully causing the captain to investigate...away from his men.

[Pulpatoon]

Zacharias Gull flies down into the chapel and grasps the fallen scroll, flying it back to his perch where he and Poe can investigate its contents.

[Mister-Kent]

(What's everyone's location? I assume the Group A trio are all at the building now? Has anyone actually entered, or are you just looking through windows?

Finding a Penitent instead of the guard would certainly be a shock to the other guards, but likely not a kill-on-sight kind of shock since they are allies. The "vow of silence" part might make it hard for a Penitent to explain their presence, however.

For the advance Group A, if you can see into the room or are entering the room, along the far wall next to the spiral staircase sits a large wooden table, covered in a moldy linen sheet and more candles. These candles, by the way, as well as those on the pile-altar, are made of red-purple wax, as you might guess. This could have been the actual altar when this place was still in business.

Approaching this table would give a clearer view of the staircase, both the way upstairs and--curiously--the stairs leading down.

Only visible upon actually entering the chapel, in the front eastern corner sits a simple wooden wardrobe. One could possibly use either the table or the wardrobe to stash the corpse.)

Zachariah
Poe leaps forward, clawing at the scroll. He doesn't make a sound, but flutters furiously at Zachariah-gull--anyone near the windows or within the chapel will notice Poe's movements in the window.