SESSION 23: DAY 10 – CRAGMAW
CAVES
Through 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 its 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?"
Malandir waits, knowing that Talmark is buying time for the
others to ready themselves for battle should it be required.
He 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.
He 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,” responds Brunhild.
Lucien backs away to his crafting area and stapes on his
belt that has an Alchemical Fire and grabs a Cause Fear scroll. Before gauging
whether to return, he considers his pentacle birthmark which may set the
clerics 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.
"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.....
As Lucien returns to the door, Kord sees a slight nod of the
head. It’s all the affirmation that he needs.
Kord immediately Channels Negative Energy upon the two
intruders.
The might of Asmodeius’ power permeates through the fortified
wall.
SURPRISE ROUND
·
Kord Channels Negative Energy and rolls 5 for
damage. The two acolytes will need to pass a DC 15 Will save. They both have a
Will save of +4 and will need to roll an 11 or better. They roll 1 and 5 and
both take full damage of 5pts.
·
Seeing that the attack has begun Malandir aims and
fires at the flat footed foe. He aims at Brunhild. The shot is true and thuds
into the armour of the cleric but cannot penetrate it.
·
Kord taps Talmark on the shoulder. “Now is your
time brother”. Talmark kicks open the door and brings the mighty Felldrac down upon
Adalgar but the swing proves to be wide and he misses.
·
Per searches deep in his heart. The party has
treated him well and he always had a slightly dark streak in him and never did
like followers of Torag. He 5ft steps through the door and stabs at Brunhild
and hits him in the left shoulder for 6pts of points of damage. Disabled and on
0 hit points, the cleric collapses to the ground and looks up helplessly at the
man at arms. [A random check was issued
upon Per. It revealed that despite the fact he is Lawful Neutral he has some
evil tendencies.]
ROUND 1A
Party Initiative: Roll 15 + 0 = 15
Clerics: Roll 7 + 2 = 9
·
Talmark again brings down the two handed sword
but again fails to make contact.
·
Malandir fires an arrow at the still standing
cleric but also misses.
·
Per stabs at Adalgar and hits him in the chest
of 8pts of damage. The good cleric collapses and starts to bleed out.
·
Kord begins to Channel Negative Energy again but
restrains himself just in time.
AFTER THE BATTLE
The combat is finished before it had even begun.
Talmark and Per stand over their defeated foes. Adalgar is
unconscious and is starting to bleed out. Brunhild holds out his hand, attempting
to stay any further action.
Standing next to Malandir and witnessing the crime Barret
looks on impassively at the situation as it unfolds (turns out he is truly Lawful Neutral). The other two mercenaries
have seen nothing as they are still donning their armour.
Looking down on his opponents Kord cracks his knuckles,
draws his heavy mace and proceeds towards them………………………..
DEW
A totally justified attack, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteTotally. I mean you saw Lucien give Kord the nod didn't you.
DeleteDoh, I was hoping to talk to them more and gain a touch more intelligence!
ReplyDelete"Malandir! Please do a quick scout of the area, they may not have come alone." Talmark spins quickly and quietly says: "Kord! Stay your hand a moment, we need to find out who their friends are, who knows where they have were going, and what their plan was. We need all of the information we can muster, as it is too early in our task to have strong foes aligned against us. Tell the other men that they were trying to sneak attack us and the fight was justified."
He turns back to the Torag. "Well, Brunhild. Your lack of tact and gruffness seems to have gotten you into a spot of trouble, thinking you could just bull your way in and attack any whom you wished, and it appears your compatriot may not survive your folly. But I am not a man without mercy, and this may all be just a mistake on your part. So tell me: did you get what you came for?"
Talmark's plan is to get Brunhild to talk using his friends life as a bargaining chip. He wants to extract the information about if they have a larger party somewhere, who knows where they have gone, if they have any allies locally, and whatever else they know about the area. In Talmark's mind, their lives are forfeit anyways, but it's best to learn all that they can.
He has a thought he will share later with Kord, about maybe keeping one for their "collection", crushing the other slightly and advancing his decay so they can take him back to the Burg and say they found his corpse and ogre tracks, then followed and killed the ogre. (we do have it's ears afterall). Maybe present both shields and say that there may have been another man with him, but the gory scene left us no doubt he'd been devoured or worse...
Nice armour, thinks Malandir, as he moves past the clerics to scout the area outside the cave.
ReplyDeleteQuiet and easy does it, no need to rush.....
Lucien steps forward and compliments Per on his quick and decisive actions, "I'm thinking you are deserving of a bonus, Per. Found a gap in both their armor right quick, didn't you? Well done."
ReplyDelete