pneumatik's WotBS 1 - The Scouring of Gate Pass - Page 14

Arkhandus · 15th August 2009, 07:23 AM

Liiros dashes into the room behind Korrin, armor clanking with every step, and he rushes towards the soldier at the table, bringing his sword down on the man with a cry of "You'll threaten Gate Pass no longer!" as boldly as he can shout it. He tries to take a sturdy position next to the table as he goes.....

However, the elf stumbles a bit, and the aim of his blade is thrown off.....

OOC

pneumatik · 16th August 2009, 08:44 PM

The party dashes into the dining room, catching the soldier unawares. Hollister's fiery burst scorches him, but it's not enough to drop him. Korrin and Liiros charge in, but the cramped space and Hollister's fireball are too distracting, and both miss with their strikes.

The soldier stands and grabs his falchion off the table. "Get back, or the kids die!" he shouts. The family tries to squeeze further back into the corner.

Torrent hurries into the room around the table, blocking the soldier from the front door. "Don't touch them!" she shouts at them.

Code:

|--w---D--|
|         |
|sit area |
|    t    fp
| table   |
|*kL      |
-------D--|
P        h|
|         fp
|-D-------|
 p

back

Rhun · 17th August 2009, 06:28 AM

"Surrender or burn," shouts Hollister, again blasting the enemy warrior with flames.

Initiative: 21

Burst of Flame vrs soldier

Burst of Flame

2nd level fire spell ready: Fiery Burst has a 5' radius, range of 30', and causes 2d6 damage. Reflex save vrs DC 15 for 1/2 damage.

concerro · 18th August 2009, 12:01 AM

Plavin comes out of his stupor

initiative

renau1g · 18th August 2009, 04:58 PM

Korrin will seem to grab some of Hollisters flames and spread them along his falchion. This time his aim is accurate as he swings the flaming weapon striking the enemy, causing some minor wounds.

"Touch the children and death will be a pleasant fate when I'm done with you" Korrin threatens, the anger in his voice palatable.

OOC

Arkhandus · 19th August 2009, 04:32 AM

Liiros regains his balance and tries to cut down the enemy soldier. He warns "We won't let you threaten these people! Surrender and we'll leave you alive!" Liiros aims his longsword stroke to unbalance the man and leave him open to further attacks.

OOC for Everyone

pneumatik · 19th August 2009, 08:33 PM

The soldier threatens the family confidently. Despite being outnumbered, he knows that the Scourge will take Gate Pass. The party's vicious followup attacks change his attitude pretty quickly, though. Before he can act, he's a charred and sliced corpse on the floor.

The family's father looks at the party and whispers, "Please say you'll let us go. Please."

Rhun · 19th August 2009, 09:00 PM

Hollister nods to the father. "We have no quarrel with you, friend. You are of course free to go. Our fight is with the Scourge. But, before you leave, can you tell us what this soldier wanted?"

Arkhandus · 20th August 2009, 10:59 AM

"I'm sorry you folks had to see that," the well-armored elf tells the family, as he cleans the blood off of his sword and sheathes it.

"We're only fighting the Scourge. Invaders like that man. And I am sorry, but it looks like he slew two of your neighbors outside before he got to your house. I would suggest you clean the blood off, just in case anyone tries to avenge this soldier. The city has surrendered, so more of the Scourge may be entering the city soon to cause more trouble in their wretchedly easy victory over the cowardly leaders of your city. We'll move the body out to where his wyvern crashed, so any others in the Scourge will believe he was slain by guards after his crash-landing," the elf explains. He proceeds to tear off some scraps of the soldier's clothing and jam them into the man's wounds, staunching the blood for now, then starts dragging the Scourge soldier over to the base of the building out front where his wyvern crashed.

"Corellon bless you," he adds as he heads out the door. Once he finishes dragging the soldier's corpse, he decides that it would be best for the family in the house if their neighbors' corpses weren't found just outside their door, so he drags those corpses over to the entrance of the alley. He removes the pieces of cloth he had stuffed in the soldier's wounds, and climbs up to place them on the wyvern corpse, or as near as he can. Then Liiros returns to the group.

renau1g · 20th August 2009, 03:03 PM

Korrin sheathes his large blade carefully, so as to avoid any accidents with the family. He looks over at them and reaches into his belt pouch, producing a handful of coins, placing them on the table. "Good Luck" he says cryptically, then turns and stops Liiros before he goes to far.

"Perhaps he has items that may be useful to us? Whis armour might even fit you, we could try and trick them into thinking your one of the Scourge to get through the guards?" Korrin whispers, then grabs the man's weapon, strapping it to his back, and begins going through any pouches he has.

OOC

Rhun · 20th August 2009, 04:00 PM

Hollister moves behind the elf, using his control over fire to melt the surface snow in the street outside to obscure and hide the track marks made from Liiros dragging the bodies to the alley entrance.

pneumatik · 25th August 2009, 09:26 PM

"He said his name was Flaganus Mortus, from the Scourge," the father says to Hollister. "He broke into the house in the middle of last night, I guess an hour after the fighting quieted down. He grabbed our son Millard before I could do anything and, well ... uh, he had my tie up the family, and then he tied me up and went to sleep in our bed. When he woke up had untied us and moved us all downstairs so he could eat. He said when he was done he wanted clothes that fit him so that he could go find collaborators. I'm pretty sure before he left was going to, uh ..." he looks at his wife and kids. "Thanks. Just thanks." He swallows hard and wipes his eyes. "I'm Duroc. I'll never be able to repay you for today."

When Korrin examines the dead soldier he doesn't find much beyond his obvious equipment. The soldier's full plate is perfectly serviceable. He originally wore a tabard that likely served as a uniform, but between the fire and the swordcuts now it's just a handful of fabric scraps. He carried a silvered but otherwise simple shortsword, likely as a back-up weapon to his falchion.

The falchion is different story. It's well made, with a stylized flame motif etched into the bode of the blade. The edge of the blade has a visible rippled grain pattern that gives a reddish tinge to the light it reflects. When Korrin picks it up he experiences a warm breeze reminiscent of the hot gusts from burning buildings he felt last night.

Observing everyone's activities, Torrent says, "Okay, Duroc, we're going to take him outside," pointing at the dead soldier. "We're all going to go in the kitchen to clean up a little and just get ready to head back outside. I'm sure your family wants to wash and change and whatnot, so why don't you all go upstairs and do that? We'll make sure no one else gets inside for a little bit."

She looks at the party and gestures towards the kitchen door. Duroc's family slowly make their way upstairs, the parents carrying the kids. It's obvious from their faces and clumsy movements that they're all exhausted. Once in the kitchen she explains that she wanted to let Duroc's family try to get their collective life back to normal as soon as possible.

After everyone finishes rolling the dead soldier Liiros carries him outside and down the alley. He pauses at the alley mouth to gather his breath, then hustles over to where the wyvern crashed. There's no cover between the alley mouth and crash site, and his plan only works if no Scourge collaborators report him moving the body. Hollister follows behind him, obscuring their tracks with judicious magical fire when they both head back to the house. "We should probably leave out the front when we go," he suggests.

Rhun · 25th August 2009, 10:18 PM

"Well, should be get back on track to Gabal's School?" asks Hollister. He looks around at his companions. "Unless someone has a better suggestion."

renau1g · 27th August 2009, 03:41 PM

"Yes, that sounds good, any time we waste here will allow those bastards to close the noose tighter around our necks." Korrin agrees.

Rhun · 27th August 2009, 04:03 PM

Hollister nods. "Then let us be on our way." The fire mage wraps his cloak tight around him, readying himself for the cold trip through the streets to the school.

pneumatik · 29th August 2009, 08:21 PM

The party leaves Duroc's house and continue on their way to Gabal's school. It's two city gates away to the east and takes a little under half an hour to get there. The cold winter air in Gate Pass is full of charcoal and smoke. The snow in the streets is melted from fire and trampled, yet the streets are almost empty.

It's difficult to believe it's been less than 24 hours since your adventure started. It sounded simple - meet a spy for the Resistance, take a hand-off from him, and get it out of the city. First you're jumped right at the start of the mission (when the Scourge invades Gate City), then you find the spy has also been jumped and the hand-off (a black scroll-case) taken from him. And so you're off to find the people who jumped the spy somewhere at Gabal's school, and hopefully you can get the scroll-case from them. Somehow.

Gabal’s school consists of a small campus with four 50-ft. towers and several smaller buildings, surrounded by a moat and an iron fence. One of the towers is cracked, likely from a Ragesian bomb. It is mockingly called The Castle by those in Gate Pass who don’t like the school’s pompous headmaster. You see over forty angry people around the school's front gate. Listening carefully, it sounds like they're protesting about Gabal's lack of participation in the defense of the city.

As a student, Hollister knows that the only ways into the school are either through the front gate or swimming the moat and climbing the walls.l

renau1g · 3rd September 2009, 03:46 AM

Korrin turns to Hollister, "So you studied here right? How do we get in? You wizards usually have all sorts of secret doors, maybe you can take us in that way to avoid the crowd?"

Rhun · 3rd September 2009, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by renau1g

Korrin turns to Hollister, "So you studied here right? How do we get in? You wizards usually have all sorts of secret doors, maybe you can take us in that way to avoid the crowd?"

"Through the front gate," says Hollister confidently. "If there are secret ways into the school, I have not yet learned of them. Come, let us proceed."

With that, the wizard takes the lead, motioning the others to follow as he moves toward the front gate.

renau1g · 3rd September 2009, 04:05 PM

Korrin will follow the brash mage and keep an eye out of potential trouble as they approach.

pneumatik · 4th September 2009, 03:22 AM

The party approaches the front gate to Gabal's school cautiously, with Hollister in the lead. When you step out into the open, one of the protesters points at you and shouts, "There's another one!" The crowd turns and looks at the party. They look angry.

"Why didn't you help?" another protester shouts.

"Yeah! The city fell and you wizards didn't do anything," shouts a third.

"Don't think you can hide in there forever," the first one says. "When the Scourge moves into the city, we'll show them right where you are! Good men died fighting the Scourge, and all you wizards did was hide in you *castle*."