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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deuce Traveler" data-source="post: 3428156" data-attributes="member: 34958">Chapter 2- Illusions"Approaching during the day would be foolish at best, although at night we'd would still have to be cautious once we get closer.  Goblins can see in the dark up to a certain point."  Rix hunched down, making him no higher than most of the taller folks' shins."We have little resources at our disposal for this venture," Rix clicked his nails once, what could be taken as a scowl on his face.  "A fire might draw their attention to one side, then we could scale the opposite wall.  Fifteen feet is not so high with the knotted-rope and a grappling hook."  The dragonkin nodded towards Alexander's pack which had both of those mentioned tools."I imagine the central building is where the shaman houses himself as well.  We might as well set up camp on this ridge for a short time, watch their activities and remain out of sight.  The more we know, the better, we're already at quite the disadvantage.""Your strategem is sound Rix," Kel said amicably as he settled unto to the ground to watch the camp."Rix and I should move first in case any guard stays in spite of the fire. We'd bring him down, and then the rest of you can get up there so that we may continue into the building," Alexander shifted his weight from one foot to another and reluctantly added: "A neat plan indeed Rix""We must find somewhere to remain until darkness falls..." Alexander started scanning the terrain, searching for any covered place before the barren land besides the goblin fortress. And he added a thought that had been floationg on his mind, "...depending on the numbers of guards we observe in the meantime, our plans might change. We might have better luck waiting for someone to enter the stronghold, or, however improbable, the shaman to come out of it."Silas nodded.  "A fair plan, indeed.  Though my vision at night is highly impaired I think I can manage.  Now about this fire.  Are we setting it away from the stockade with the hopes they will send someone out to investigate?  Or are we attempting to set the stockade itself afire?""It will be difficult to set the wall on fire. Perhaps if we can observe a while longer we may notice a weakness we have not yet. Alexander, perhaps we should scout around to view it from different angles, since it may reveal something we've missed."The party spent the rest of the day observing, and into an uneventful night. The adventurers weren't impressed by the goblins' sense of watch duty. They switched guards on the ramparts every four hours, but the guards on the wall tended to relieve themselves whenever they felt like, not always waiting for their replacements. During the late afternoon a contingent of six goblins went out on a feeble patrol and came back an hour later. There didn't seem to be a password to enter, and the double doors were opened when they were sighted returning. Overall, it seemed they had less of a sense of the military than what their well-designed fort would indicate."Well that tells a story eh? But can we use any of the story to our advantage?" Kel mused as the evening darkened. "Discounting their ability to see in the dark, is there any reason why we shouldn't move out tonight? If we're going to use fire as our cover could Rix perhaps sneak around to the other side of the fort, light something on fire and distract them while the rest of us get over the wall?"The party estimated the size of the structure and realized that the stockade was roughly circular, and nearly 250 feet in diameter. The goblins used a minimum amount of torch light inside the fort and along the top of the outer wall.Alexander nodded at Kel's words after this observation. "We could move in tonight, but where should we create the distraction?" Alexander let his words hang in the air a couple of seconds and added: "Rix is right, scouting the walls is necessary before we do anything. Aside from finding possible weaknessess on the walls we coud eliminate some guards without rising the alarm with a fire, and therefore not have all the fortress awake.""Do any of you have oil?  That would be the easiest way to secure a fire, otherwise we would need torches and something easily flammable, dry brush for instance."  Rix nodded towards the half-orc, "Why don't the three of you scrounge up some dry brush that we can move easily, tie it together if you have to.  So we can set the fire up swiftly. A few lit torches into dry brush placed near that section," the kobold gestured towards the eastern side of the stockade, "should stir up enough of a fire to give us a chance to climb the western side.  For now, that's the idea, although Alexander and I will scout out the surroundings and see if there's a better location."During scouting, Rix and Alexander discovered that there were several spots, from all directions of the fort, where they could light a fire that would be somewhat contained. Anywhere outside these spots would likely start a fire that would burn through the rest of the surrounding forest. The closest area of concealment was on the western side of the stockade, where shrubs and trees were only 30 feet away. The doors to the stockade were on the northern side.When Alexander returned from scouting he informed the others of what had been discovered. "The western side will provide cover from where we can make a rush to the wall, then Rix should set afire some bushes by the western side... combined with green leaves, we want plenty of smoke so that they notice the fire"Then he commented to Rix: "After litting the fire the safest would be for you to make it to the western wall by the fortress' south." But..."Once we are done with the shaman we shouldn't have trouble escaping... right?"  The party looked hopeful, but none answered his question.When night fell Rix lit a fire more than 100 feet from the eastern side of the stockade. The kobold ran back as fast as he could, heading towards where the party had gathered. It took about five or six minutes for the fire to really take hold, causing a shout from the goblins on watch.The goblins on the western side moved to check out the distraction, allowing Alexander to rush forward with his grapple and rope, catch hold of the top of the wall, and climb up. He peered over the top and noticed that the immediate area was clear of goblins, then signaled the rest to come up. Rix got back just as Silas made it over the top, and climbed the rope behind the abjurer.The party was now on the top of the defensive wall. A ladder and a half-dozen buildings could be seen below, the largest lying in the center. They counted around 20 visible goblins, which were either opposite of the group or heading to the eastern wall to view the glowing flames.Silas quickly scanned the interior of the stockade looking for a good hiding place and a location to retreat to and make a stand if that should become necessary. He moved to the ladder, but saw movement.Rix smiled, stupid goblins, easy enough so far.  In a sibilant whisper, "That way," pointing out the ladder, "the quicker we get this over with, the better."  Silas held Rix back with a hand gesture, as two goblins walked by the bottom of the ladder and towards where their comrades were gathering to watch the fire. After they disappeared around a building, Alexander and Rix climbed down the ladder followed by the rest of the party. They headed towards the central buidling, and hid in the shadows created by its side and near the side of another structure. The building had double doors on the first floor, but no windows. It was rectangular in shape, although a balcony hovered on the second floor, hanging over the front doors. This was likely used by the shaman to make announcements to the troops when assembled.Silas stayed close to the wall and did his best to blend within its shadow.  He pointed up at the balcony.  "Think we can get up there?"At Silas' words Alexander grinned and pulled out the grappling hook again, looking out for any goblin movement.  As none was noticed, Alexander swung his rope and grapple, successfully connecting with the balcony. He went up first, followed by the rest of the group. It got pretty crowded by the time that Silas pulled up the rear. A pair of doors were accessible from the balcony, leading into the second floor.Silas returned Alexander's grin and crouched out of the way of the door to give Rix free access to it. He glanced out over the stockade, keeping an eye on the goblins gazing out at the fire.Rix fished out a slender set of lockpicks from his pack and examined the door, checking for traps. Finding none, he opened the doors to reveal a meeting room. A simple, but large chair rested in front of the party, dominating a rectangular table and seven, smaller chairs. The room was 30 feet long, by 20 feet wide. Doors led to the south, east, and west.Kel carefully moved into the room and, now that he was inside and the moonlight couldn't give him away, drew his long sword, "Huntress guide my steps tonight, let the hunt be swift and deadly." he intoned quietly in a rich sing-song voice.Rix moved to investigate one of the doors, while Kel strode boldly beside him, standing ready to gaurd him from any attack."Which door?" Alexander unsheathed his scimitar quietly as he entered the room, and froze still for a moment to listen...Trying to hear where the goblins might be.Silas gripped his staff and stepped into the room. He began to review words of divine power, just in case they stumbled into combat.Rix combed the room over with his trained eye... suredly the largest chair was where the shaman would sit during council. The three doors were of interest however.Although Rix and Alexander heard nothing from the other two doors, they detected the sound of quick shuffling and muffled talk from the door to the east (left side from those entering from the balcony). It sounded like a few people moving around, although they couldn't discern what was being said.There was nothing else found in the room. Although, it was observed that the door to the west was closer to the balcony than the door to the east.Alexander moved his head towards towards Rix to be certain that he caught the sound proceding from the eastern door, and added in hushed tones: "See if that one is his room" -he motioned with his scimitar to the western door- "I'll keep guarding the other door."He motioned for the others to be ready to defend either of the doors.Rix nodded to Alexander, checked the other door over with trained ease, then opened the lock with ease and found the room empty. He motioned for the rest of the party to follow him inside. The room was similar in dimensions to the last one, 20 feet wide east to west, while 30 feet wide north to south. A small, plain bed lied in the southwest corner. A tall, thin closet lied open against the east wall, although it was currently open and empty. The blankets on the bed were thrown to the side, and a dirty nightshirt lied on the floor. A cabinet had several drawers open, as if someone went through their clothes quickly. It looked like someone left in a hurry.Kel moved back into the chamber with the three doors, his long sword held loosely in his hand. Going to the door that Alexander had been about to crack open, he waited alongside Alexander while the kobold did his thing.In a hush, raspy voice Alexander asked, "Ready to take our chances?" He motioned towards the door the shuffling came from, "Or should we lure them here?".As Kel opened his mouth to debate whether or not to enter the other room, the eastern door opened, and a humanoid with the head of a hyena poked its head into the room. Upon seeing the party he growled something, threw open the door, and moved to attack, followed by two other dog-headed creatures. The first one wielded a battle-axe, while its two comrades moved to attack with clubs.Rix dodged under the table, hoping to put good cover between himself and the hyena-like creatures and hoping that they would focus on the tall folk.Silas took a step back from the creatures and casted shield.Alexander nimbly dodged two of the creatures, the one with the battle-axe missing the half-orc and lodging itself into and through the room's table, causing Rix's eyes to widen in surprise. The hyena-headed being ripped the axe out of the surface and turned to meet Alexander's counter-attack, but too late...Alexander drove his scimitar deep into his enemy's chest with deadly strength and precision, causing the humanoid to cough a stream of blood and fall dead.  Alexander took the brunt of a savage club attack, but was immediately healed by a quick-thinking Kel.Swiftly removing the scimitar from under the hyena-man's ribs, while he ignored the one in front of him, Alexander turned to the gnoll who just hit him, both stabbing under its ribs and slashing at its shoulder."Capture the other one!" He yelled.Alexander killed the second creature before it moved to strike at him. The third and final hyena-faced creature backed off from the party and moved out of the room and into the balcony. Silas fired a crossbow bolt, but missed it as the bolt soared over the creature's head and past the balcony. Kel also missed with the flat of his longsword, as the creature ran past his position by the doors to the outside. Rix fired his own weapon, striking it on the shoulder. It snarled, dropped its club, and leapt off the balcony to land below.Alexander dropped his scimitar and made haste to the balcony while taking his longbow into his hands.  Alexander notched an arrow and let fly, hitting the enemy in between its shoulder blades. The creature fell to its knees and died from its wounds.The party's adrenaline began to dissipate. But they had a problem. There were two dead hyena-headed creatures in the room, and one below the balcony. Also, a large gash was visible in the wooden table of the room they were standing in. And they didn't know how much longer the fire would distract the goblins...</blockquote>

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