SESSION 22: DAY 10 – CRAGMAW
CAVES
Quietly the general alarm is raised amongst the party and
the men at arms.
Malandir sneaks into
his position and remains hidden with an arrow ready in case it becomes
necessary to fight the intruders. While in position, he closely observes his
targets, preferring to aim at the least armoured one but will go with the best
shot if needed to engage.
He has an excellent observation point from his position.
Before they ignite their torch he can see with his infravision and once they
light it he can see with his normal vision.
As they approach he sees the symbol of a mace upon their
shields.
He knows this is the symbol of Torag the lawful good god of
the forge, protection and strategy. It puts shivers down his spine. He knows
these fanatics worship slavish devotion to their god and the protection of the
weak from a position of strength. Malandir cares nothing for their beliefs.
Looking more closely he can see two heavily armoured
warriors clad in scale mail and carrying heavy shields. He cannot tell if they
are fighters, clerics or paladins but he notes that at their side they are
carrying elaborately decorated warhammers.
As they carefully pick their way forward Lucien picks up his
spear and mace. He isn’t armoured as he had been crafting. Putting the mace
aside he gets to within 20ft of Talmark and encourages him to issue a challenge
to the intruders, just to let them know they are not alone and are encroaching.
Lucien curses that he and Kord had to use their primary spells for the day on
healing the party and that they only had their Domain spells left.
Talmark’s voice reaches out in the darkness. It is amplified
by the evening quiet and reverberations though the caves. “Who be thee?”
The two men of Torag stiffen as they realise that they have
been noticed. But they stand fast and reply “We are Adalgar and Brunhild,
Acolytes of Torag. Who be thee?”
The small white hairs upon the nape of Kord’s neck bristle
as he hears that the priests of Torag have entered the home of Asmodeus. He
urges Fremont and Clovis, the two men of arms who were resting, to get into
their armour as he grabs his shield and quietly moves to the side of fully armoured
Talmark.
DEW
(sorry about the delay guys. Pops had unexpected surgery and came through ok, and then returned home to one of our cats having been killed probably by a bobcat and the girls just crushed. Been a hectic few days)
ReplyDeleteThrough the wall, Talmark responds: "I, ser, am Talmark Feldrac, and it is the mission of my compatriots and I to clear this dangerous land of the chaos that troubles it to help establish the rule of Law that it is lacking. We have cleared this complex of it's troublesome bandits and claimed it as our forward operating base, for now. I see you are Toragites, and I have no doubt you've been to Burg Liechenstein recently. We have good standing there and return on occasion to collect our bounties and update the Brothers on our progress."
"Now, what is YOUR business here?"
Really glad to hear that you're Pops surgery worked out ok. That's great.
DeleteThat's no good on the cats though. Jeez a bobcat. Bummer.
Malandir waits, knowing that Talmark is buying time for the others to ready themselves for battle should it be required.
ReplyDeleteHe admits a grudging respect for Talmark's choice of words, all true, but not quite revealing the allegiance of the group, not provoking but asserting his authority here and dominion of the cave. Very clever.
Malandir knows he has a good position and will surprise the enemy with his attack if it is needed, and he so badly wants it to be needed .... but for now he is content to wait and watch.... if there is one sign of aggression, or a call to others outside to assault the cave, the arrow will take flight ....
Lucien is impressed with Talmark's challenge, and concerned Malandir may take matters into his own hand.
ReplyDeleteHe does not necessarily care for the acolytes, more for the reaction of the men at arms and what potential strife it would cause if Malandir decided to fire on the two strangers unprovoked. If we needed to end them all, we'd encounter suspicion and difficulty at the Burg attempting to hire more...
Lucien awaits the acolyte's reply.
"We are Adalgar and Brunhild. Acolytes of Torag. We've come to free the lands of chaos and evil. Open up so that we may see thee and converse."
ReplyDelete((Kord could suddenly channel a few times right here, lol...)) Seriously, though, these guys are rather presumptive. Lucien will back away to his crafting area, strap on at least a belt that has an Alchemical Fire, and grab a Cause Fear scroll before gauging whether to return - his pentacle birthmark may set these guys off, if this encounter can be smoothed without Lucien in sight, it may be for the better. If not, well, Lucien needs to gather what resources he can to bring to the mix if it develops.
ReplyDelete"These Torags are getting impatient....at least being an elf, one learns to wait, we have the advantage of time over lesser races" Malandir thinks to himself, as he holds his shot.....
ReplyDelete