The Scourge of the Ratmen [Scarred Lands] - Updated 1/26

[Amaroq]

8th of September, 2002​

Issue #8

The Siege of Kratys Freehold​

Kratys Freehold is besieged. We are trapped within, surrounded by a hundred ratmen, and we few defenders of the freehold are outnumbered three to one.

When we raided the ratman compound of SySy, the rat-woman who was trading poisons for human slaves, we captured her. Interrogating her uncovered a plot by one of the Disease tribes to attack Kratys Freehold, and we rushed there to warn them. We arrived just in time to be besieged within.

A small diversionary raid by dead-eaters in the middle of the night proved almost enough to topple us, and had the ratmen attacked in force at that moment, they might have had us. As it was, the dead-eaters tunneled into the barn, killing a number of sheep and starting a fire which demonstrated just how vulnerable the wooden walls of the Freehold are. It’s about three in the morning, a few minutes after the fight ended. The last remnants of the fire have been stamped out.

Morale is at its lowest ebb, and not all within the walls are convinced that we will live through the night to see the dawn. Our hopes are pinned on two things: a messenger we have sent requesting assistance from Southport, and our desperate race to build a light catapult before the ratmen complete the catapult they are constructing.


Under the direction of Taryn Kratys, the freeholders are cleaning up after the fire. Paks, Chuck, Stone and Miriel have gathered in the center courtyard, near the half-completed catapult. The delay has set back its construction by some amount, but the framework of it is obvious. Outside the walls of the freehold, the rat men in the woods are harrying us with arrows any time they can see our heads over the five-foot-tall walls, so everyone is crouched or seated whenever possible.

As we gather around, Paks looks sharply at Stone. “Stone, you don’t look so well,” she says. The half-orc, injured during the fight with the dead-eaters, was revived by Miriel’s healing, but Paks is right. Now, he is shivering and looks very ill. As everyone turns to look at him, he collapses.

Miriel crouches by his side, and feels his forehead. “He’s feverish,” the priestess says, “And unconscious, but breathing. I’ll take him into one of the sick rooms, but I’m too exhausted to do much for him right now. I need to sleep.”

“The dead-eaters are much feared, for they pass disease at their touch,” Myrs tells us, “Though Corpse Blisters are more common than a fever.” The wife of Taryn Kratys, Myrs is the lady of the freehold.

Two of the freeholders help Miriel carry the hefty monk into one of the rooms off the main hall, which she is preparing for use as a hospital during the expected battle.

After they leave, one of the townsfolk, a guard named Garth, runs up and announces breathlessly, “SySy’s escaped!” We hardly have any chance to react to that news before we get another surprise.

With a quiet clap of displaced air, a tall, brown-haired man appears out of thin air. He has a white owl on his shoulder. He looks disoriented, and asks a townswoman where he is; the townswoman simultaneously asks “Who are you?”

“I am Telryn,” the tall stranger introduces himself. He looks young, a youth on the verge of manhood, perhaps seventeen years of age. He looks about him with his eyes wide. “I was sent this way, seeking someone who has knowledge of an arcane ink. Where am I?”

His mysterious appearance has followed closely upon trouble: SySy’s escape, and the grease fire in the barn, so everyone regards him suspiciously. Chuck grudgingly says, “We’re in Kratys Freehold,” but explains no more.

Paks takes charge of the situation. “Chuck, watch the kid,” she says. Chuck turns to regard the youth, his hand on his hilt, but it doesn’t appear that Telryn is likely to offer any resistance. Paks turns to Garth, and asks “So, what’s this? How could SySy have escaped?”

Garth is an older man, with a grizzled gray beard and a plain, gruff manner of speaking. He tells his tail in brief, clipped words. He was assigned to guard SySy, who was locked on the second floor of the tower. When the alarm bell rang, he ran down to the doorway, where he could see the fight. He claims that he saw Milo, who told him that there was a fire in the barn, which he was needed to fight. When Garth asked who would watch SySy, Milo answered that he would. Garth helped fight the fire, and returned to his charge as soon as it was clear that he was no longer needed. When he went back, she was gone, and Milo was nowhere to be seen.

Paks glances at Taryn, to defer to the lord of the hold, but he seems to be looking at her expectantly, and says nothing. She turns to Chuck. “Chuck, can you please lock Garth up until we can sort out how SySy escaped?”

Telryn looks very nervous, and asks, “Should I be worried about being locked up?” Nobody answers him, which makes him more anxious.

“Should I hogtie him?” asks Chuck, gesturing towards Garth.

“No!” answers Taryn Kratys firmly. It is the first time the lord of the hold has spoken on the issue. He explains, “Garth fought with me at the battle of Twotrees.”

“That may be,” says Paks, “But it was either Garth or Milo who let SySy get away.”

Taryn nods his head, and says, “That is true. But treat him with respect. It should be sufficient to lock him in the tower.”

“Very well,” Paks says. “Chuck?” Chuck nods, and takes the protesting guard away to the tower.

Chuck takes Garth up to the tower, locking him in the very room that SySy was recently locked in. Before he leaves, he examines the room. He sees an untied rope and an empty vial, but no signs of struggle. He examines the vial and thinks it was probably a healing potion.

Chuck looks at Garth with compassion, and apologizes to him for locking him up. “I’m sorry, but I have to do this.”

“Just save the hold from the rat men!” Garth implores him.

As he stands in the doorway, Chuck considers offering him a dagger to use on himself, if the worst should befall us. With a shake of his head, he decides against it. He closes and locks the door.



When Chuck returns, he finds that Telryn is even more confused, given the hostile reception he has received so far. Some of the townspeople want him locked up, as well. Paks explains roughly where the freehold is located. Telryn does not seem pleased. When Chuck explains the situation, and how we are surrounded and outnumbered by the rat men, he begins to look very grim.

Telryn starts to tell his story. “I am but an errand boy,” he says, “Sent by my master to fetch glitter ink…”

Before Telryn can even finish the sentence, Chuck darts away again. This time he runs after Miriel. He finds her just turning in to bed. He tells her that there’s a guy looking for glitter ink. Miriel refers Chuck to Paks, and rolls over to face the wall.

Telryn continues, “…a special ink used in some of my master’s arcane work. He sent me to a mage named Delmeron, who told me he would send me to a place where I could find some. He cast a spell, and suddenly I found myself in this courtyard.”

He looks around, and sees Paks and Taryn nodding thoughtfully. Encouraged, he adds, “Obviously, this is not the best situation to be in, but I’m willing to help however I can.”

“Who is your master?” inquires Paks. She is suspicious, but not confrontational. A mage’s help, if Telryn should prove trustworthy, could be invaluable.

“He’s a powerful mage in Molistown,” Telryn says, just as Chuck returns. “His name is Loowys Strangeblood.” Not all of us have heard of Molistown, but Paks and Chuck have. They know that it is a large town up-river from Lave, built at a place where riverboats must pass through a series of locks, and that the town’s wealth comes largely from the taxation they are able to place on river traffic.

“Very well,” Paks says. “We’d be glad of your help.”

Chuck pulls Paks aside, to explain what happened with SySy. He tells her that Milo probably gave SySy a healing potion, so it was also probably Milo who freed her. She responds by asking him to keep a weather eye on Telryn in case the mage turns on us.

Paks begins giving orders. She sends some people to check the integrity of the wall around the stable. She calls to Goldpetal and the guard on the tower, telling them that Telryn is friendly, and that he has offered to help. She sets some of the children to search for Milo and SySy, taking the two guard dogs and a number of sheepdogs, with an adult supervising. She sends Chuck back to reinforcing the exterior walls, and asks Telryn to help him, while Myrs and her work party resume their work on the catapult we are building in the center of the courtyard.

Paks goes, with a few of the townsmen, to check the barn for tunnels. About half the livestock are dead, and she starts the townsmen on moving the live ones out of the building, and treating their wounds. When she investigates the ground, she finds some tight tunnels into the barn. Though they are too small for a man in armor, she thinks that an unarmored woman or youth could slip through them. She suspects that they’re probably big enough for rat men.

She calls Chuck and his work party over, and tells him to fill the ends of the tunnels with bricks.

While they work, Chuck summarizes the situation at the hold for Telryn. He tells the story of how we captured SySy, and learned of the impending attack, and arrived just in time to be trapped with the freeholders. He explains how Nik, the slave we rescued from SySy’s complex, has gone to Southport, but that we are not sure whether we can count on assistance from them or not. Telryn looks increasingly nervous as Chuck’s description of the predicament makes it clear how precarious our position is.



About an hour after the dead-eater’s attack, at the darkest part of the night, all is quiet. The sound of Brand, the smith, hammering away in his forge, rings across the compound. The sound is reassuring: he is working on repairing the five suits of chain mail, which will let us armor some of the freeholders for the fight to come.

Without warning, a bolt of fire splits the night, and arcs above the walls. It streaks towards the watchtower, where Goldpetal stands watch with one of the best archers in the hold. They both dive aside at the last minute, and it hits the spot where the archer was standing, leaving a scorched and steaming area.

Paks tells everyone to hold their places and watch the woods carefully. Goldpetal calls down a description, saying that it came out from behind the trees, as though launched from hiding in the orchards, but that he couldn’t see who had cast the spell.

Several minutes of tense waiting pass, but no further attack is forthcoming. The children have finished their search for Milo and SySy, without success, and Paks sets a guard to patrolling inside the walls and buildings with a dog, watching for more burrowing attacks.

As the first hint of daylight begins to creep into the sky, turning it dark blue, Chuck’s work party finishes filling the tunnels with bricks. Telryn is exhausted from the backbreaking labor, and has to retire to catch some sleep. After a brief rest, Chuck puts the remainder of the group goes back to work reinforcing the walls.

Miriel wakes up and checks on Stone. He stills looks very sick. She warns everyone to stay away from him, saying that he is diseased and contagious, and brings him some food and drink herself. He has trouble eating or drinking, and doesn’t appear coherent. Fever rages through his body.

 

[Amaroq]

Issue #8: The Seige of Kratys Freehold. Episode 2 of 6

As the first light of the sun reaches the top of the tower, and the smell of Miriel’s cooking wafts across the compound, morale begins to lift. With the coming of the sun’s light, it is almost as though the gods themselves are smiling upon us, and we begin to believe that we can prevail, despite the disease tribe’s superior numbers. It is Taniday, the 18th day of Charder, and we can only hope that Tanil grants us luck today.

With the early morning light, Goldpetal sends his two hawk companions out east and west to see what they can spy. He warns them to be careful to stay above bowshot range, flying well above the level of the trees. He discovers that the bond between he and the hawks is stronger than he had expected, and he is actually able to speak with them, when they return. The hawks tell him that they saw a camp to the southwest where something big is being assembled. They see a flock of people around it. They also see a really big person that they don’t like at all. They describe him as shiny and clunky. They tell him that there are other small flocks of people and a few individuals in the woods.

Goldpetal comes down from the tower to have breakfast with the rest of us, and tells Paks what the hawks report. He adds that he thinks it may be a catapult, or some siege engine designed for dealing with our walls. He keeps sending the hawks out, at ten-minute intervals, to check and see if a large group of rat men is moving towards the freehold. The smith, Brand, also informs Paks that he has completed the repairs on five suits of chain mail, which she issues to townsmen.

Shortly after breakfast, still early in the morning, Myrs announces that the catapult is complete. Her crew is tired, but proud as they tromp into the dining hall for well-deserved food and rest. We all gather around the catapult, with Taryn and Myrs, and debate how to make the best use of our new weapon.

“There are the dead-eater corpses,” Chuck suggests. “We haven’t wanted to touch them due to the disease; they need to be burned. Why don’t we coating them in pitch, light them, and catapult them onto the enemy’s siege engine? With any luck, we could burn it before they complete it.”

Taryn shakes his head. “A wildfire through those dry, empty fields could be worse for my freehold than the ratman attack.” It is late summer, and all of the grassland we came through to the freehold is dry. It would burn easily.

“What do you suggest we throw?” asks Goldpetal.

“I don’t know. Bricks,” Taryn suggest. “We also have some chains and caltrops.”

“Why don’t we send parties out into the woods to attack those archers?” Miriel suggests. “Its only a matter of time before one of them gets lucky and wounds someone.”

Paks vetoes this idea. “No. I want to lure the ratmen out to attack our siege engine, where we are defended and they are not. Attacking them in the woods would be suicidal.”

“What keeps the ratmen from burning us out?” asks Telryn.

We all look fairly horrified. “Nothing,” Paks answers for us all.

“Let’s fill sacks with pitch,” suggests Chuck, “And splatter the rat men camp. That’d make them less likely to play with fire.”

“Or give them the idea,” Paks says. “Telryn, can your owl get a more accurate view of the camp?”

“His name is Chester,” Telryn says. “And yes, he can. I also have a flask of Alchemist’s fire, which we could dip arrows in to shoot when the rat men approach the walls.”

“Right,” Paks says. “Here’s the plan. We’ll load that barrel of nails into the catapult, and fling it towards the camp where the hawks saw that siege engine. They won’t have any warning, and we should catch a lot of them out from cover. Then we’ll start ranging on the catapult with corpses; when we get the range, we’ll switch to firing bricks. Telryn, Goldpetal, you keep the birds watching the camp, and spot for us. Everyone, remember the positioning we discussed last night: if we can force them to attack us, run to your station. Don’t wait for an order.”

We load fifty pounds worth of nails, the maximum load the light catapult can handle, into the cup at the top of the catapult arm. Myrs, a former combat engineer, sets the range and angle as best as she can, and we fire our load of nails into the ratman camp. Telryn, whose telepathic connection with his familiar lets him give us immediate updates, tells us, “It worked! The rat men are scattering into the woods. Some of them are clearly injured, and some lie still on the ground.” He chuckles. “There is much chaos!”

“Good,” Paks says, “Re-load.”

It takes about fifteen minutes to re-set and reload the catapult, and we load about fifty pounds, or a third of a dead-eater corpse. The ratmen seem confused and discouraged, and have not attacked us. We launch the gory payload at the rat men’s catapult. Though it overshoots, we get good ranging information.

Goldpetal, standing atop the tower, scans the edge of the forest through the telescope. Other than the few ratman archers behind their blinds, he doesn’t see much activity. Shortly, however, the hawks warn that the rat men seem to be regrouping.

We begin to reload the catapult, and after another fifteen minutes, we launch another fifty pounds of dead-eater corpse at them. This time, we hit the catapult. Despite the unconventional nature of our projectile, we’ve damaged it somewhat. From what Chester tells us, through Telryn, we’ve clearly set back their work on it, and we begin to load the catapult with bricks.

“Okay,” Paks says. “They won’t be able to complete it, as long as our catapult is functional. They’ll have to attack. Be ready.”

She is proved right within minutes. “Here they come!” shouts Goldpetal, and one of the guards with him begins to ring the alarm bell.

We have only a short moment to ready ourselves.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Milo the traitor... it has a certain appropriateness to it. And I knew he reminded me of the Peck from Wulf's story hour!

 

[Amaroq]

Issue #8: The Seige of Kratys Freehold. Episode 3 of 6

As the defenders rush to their battle positions, Goldpetal looks south from atop the tower. He has a clear view of the enemy, and this is clearly the invader’s major assault. His keen eyes can pick up two groups of ratmen charging through the southern orchards towards us, the larger emerging from the southeast corner and charging towards the main gate, on the eastern wall, with a smaller group rushing from the southwest corner towards the rear gate. In the southwest, he catches a glimpse of a giant, armored ratman. He quickly casts entangle at that group, trying to capture the giant. The very trees of the orchard, and the grasses at their feet, seem to come alive, trapping perhaps twenty ratmen. The giant tears free, however, ripping the limb off of a tree. Archers, still hidden in the blinds at the edge of the no-man’s land, unleash a volley of arrows at the elf, but he ducks beneath the wooden wall of the tower. Arrows thud harmlessly into the wooden walls, and sail overhead into the rapidly emptying courtyard.

The rest of us array ourselves as Paks had directed. Our strongest group climbs to the roof of the main hall, where they have strong footing and can overlook the main gate and both the southern and eastern approaches. Led by Taryn, this group includes Chuck, Delonia, and ten of the townspeople – including the “heavy infantry”, those five townsmen who were issued the repaired suits of chain mail. Telryn casts mage armor on himself, and follows them. Paks takes three dogs, and climbs the eastern wall just north of the main gate. One of the dogs is a trained guard dog, with a spiked collar, but the others are sheepdogs: smart, but ill-suited to a fight. At the northeast corner of the compound, Brand and his assistant climb to the roof of the forge. Llewyn rushes into the stable, the northwest corner of the compound, to saddle and mount her warhorse. There is one freeholder atop the ruined barn, along the western wall, overlooking the rear gate, and he calls for help as the ratmen rush towards it. A squad of four more freeholders rush towards him, and direct the remaining dogs to the rear gate. Miriel runs into the main hall, which we intend to be a hospital for the wounded. Chester, Telryn’s owl, joins her. Goldpetal’s hawks circle high above the battlefield.

Before many of the defenders have reached their positions, the ratmen break into the clear area around the walls before. The roar of a hundred voices echoes within the freehold. They charge across the clearing towards the walls, grey fur rippling in the sunlight, metal glinting from their blades. Goldpetal, from atop the tower, shoots an arrow into the mass of ratmen charging from the southeast, and draws first blood, wounding one. Myrs and Telryn climb up to the tower, where they will be able to cast spells all across the battlefield. Brand earns the first kill, firing his great bow into the ratman charge before they reach the walls.

The captain of the rat men, Xyler Blackfoot reaches the walls of the main hall and kitchen. Chuck shoots his bow at the captain, but misses. A hail of arrows rains down on the roof of the hall, as two squads of rat men archers loose their arrows from the orchard. None of the arrows hit, but they are forcing us to be cautious; Delonia shelters under cover, away from the arrows. Taryn shoots at the captain from the roof of the kitchen, but misses badly. Shaking his head in disgust, he draws another arrow. Milo is attacking with the ratmen, and he is at the base of the wall, below the captain. The horde of ratmen are right behind them, and they range themselves along the front wall. A half-squad of freeholders reaches the top of the roof, but their rushed bowshots are ineffective.

The captain starts climbing the wall, followed by Milo and perhaps fifty ratmen. Another twenty ratmen archers remain back at the edge of the orchard, firing a hail of arrows at anyone they can see above the walls. The ratmen spread out along the length of the eastern wall, spreading all the way from the hall in the southern corner to the forge in the northern corner. They, too begin to climb.

Chuck moves through the rain of arrows, unhurt, to lean over the edge. He shoots down at the captain and puts an arrow right through him. Taryn joins him, at his right shoulder, and also buries an arrow in the Blackfoot’s shoulder. The unarmored squad of freeholders atop the hall fires down on the climbing ratmen, killing one. Milo is the fastest climber, and reaches the top of the wall first. As the halfling reaches the top of the wall, the defenders drop their bows and draw swords. The closest freeholder chops at Milo’s hands, cutting his right arm badly and knocking him off the wall. The halfling tumbles down, but lands on his feet.

Paks and the dogs are standing to the left of the main gate, and she draws her longsword in preparation. The heavy infantry squad steps onto the wall between the hall and the main gate, on the right side of the gate. They also fire bows down on the climbing ratmen, but their arrows fly too far, hitting the ground below. Five ratmen are climbing the walls of the forge, where only Brand and his assistant are. They take one last shot with their bows, both missing, and draw swords. In moments, the ratmen reach the top of the shorter walls.



At the back gate, the ratman lieutenant leads the charge, but unbeknownst to him, Goldpetal’s spell has deprived him of most of his troops. In the woods behind him, the elf’s entanglement has trapped the ratmen’s shaman, and most of the lieutenant’s cohort. The great mauler, the huge, muscled ratman in heavy armor, stops and begins trying to free the shaman. The lieutenant’s corps is reduced to merely five other ratmen, but there is only one freeholder atop the ruined barn overlooking the back gate.

Telryn climbs to the top of the tower, joining Goldpetal and Myrs, who have turned their attentions to the ill-defended back gate. They are trying to buy time for the five freeholders rushing across the courtyard to reinforce the solitary defender. Goldpetal, like the lone defender atop the gate, fires his bow at the lieutenant. With two arrows sticking from his chest, the lieutenant presses on, reaching the wall and beginning to climb. Myrs casts a sleep spell on the ratmen behind him. Four of them fall asleep, right at the base of the wall; the lieutenant and one other continue to climb. The five reinforcements reach the barn, climbing up a ladder to the rooftop. They spread out, readying their bows.

The lieutenant reaches the top of the wall at the same moment. He has a scimitar in his right hand, a shield in his left, and a great mace attached to his tail. He stands on the catwalk and bellows a challenge, holding his scimitar aloft. Just as he issues his challenge, the reinforcements fire their bows at him. Two more arrows hit him, and he tumbles down off the catwalk, dead. The last freeholder on top of the barn runs to the catwalk, above the climbing ratman. When it reaches the top, the freeholder is waiting for it, and runs it through. The back gate is secure.

The five freeholders who had arrived as reinforcements begin running along the catwalk along the interior of the wall, leaving the solitary freeholder to deal with the sleeping ratmen below.



Along the eastern wall, the ratmen reach the top of the walls, pouring over our defenses like a wave over a sandcastle. The defenders draw melee weapons and try to knock as many as they can off the walls.

Paks, standing alone at the main gate, swings her longsword at the first ratmen to reach her. Fighting from the narrow catwalk atop the wall, she misses her footing, and unluckily she drops her sword over the wall! As she falls to the catwalk, the ratmen swarm their way onto it, over and above her. The guard dog tears one apart, and the heavy infantrymen knock four of the ratmen off the wall as they reach the top: none of them survive the fall. However, at least twenty ratmen have breached the top of the wall between the gate and the forge. Paks plays dead, letting rat-clawed feet climb over and past her. The ratmen kill one of the sheepdogs, and wound several of the heavy infantrymen as well. Although they are not injured seriously, they are all pushed back away from Paks, leaving her completely surrounded!

Atop the forge, Brand and his assistant are also in dire trouble. Five ratmen have reached the top of the forge, facing only the two defenders. One of the ratmen scratches Brand with a scimitar, drawing first blood. Panicked, the smith brings his bastard sword around in a wild blow. When it meets opposing steel, he loses his grip on the sword, and it flies off the roof. He tumbles to the floor, and the ratmen leap on him, slicing him with their scimitars. Three hit, and he’s badly wounded, but still conscious.



Xyler Blackfoot, the ratmen’s captain, reaches the top of the main hall. An epic battle ensues between he, Chuck, and Taryn on the rooftop. Chuck draws first blood his longsword, cutting deep as the captain climbs the last few feet, but does not knock him off the wall. The captain parries Taryn’s attack, vaulting over the top of the wall with his other hand, and stands before him. His sword is a segmented whip-sword, and he slices at Chuck first. The sword extends, completely defeating Chuck’s attempt to parry with his short sword, wrapping around that blade to score a critical hit on Chuck. Bleeding heavily from a mighty blow to the ribs, Chuck fights on.

A hailstorm of arrows, fired indiscriminately by the archers at the orchard’s edge, continues to rain down on them, but the combatants ignore it. Chuck and Taryn attack in coordination, and Chuck’s blow is met with a firm parry. That leaves the captain open to Taryn’s attack, and the lord of the hold calls upon his deity as he smites the captain with a tremendous blow. He shouts “Corean!” His sword cuts deep into the left shoulder of the ratman, nearly severing the arm with his critical hit, but amazingly the ratman captain fights on!

Worse, his swordplay has bought the time for twenty more ratmen to reach the top, and they look set to overrun the ten defenders there.



From the tower, Goldpetal can’t see Paks, but he shoots into the group of rat men on the catwalk. He wounds one. The freeholder shoots into the woods, at the mauler, and hits it hard.

Unhindered by the arrow sunk deep in his thigh, the mauler gives one final heave and finally pulls the shaman free. The shaman wastes no time and casts a spell. Fire arcs from his fingertips towards the tower, right at Myrs! But she recognizes the arcing fire from the previous night, and dives out of the way. Seeing this, and realizing that he is out of range for his best spells, Telryn climbs down the staircase inside the tower and rushes back to the roof of the hall.

At the main gate, the guard dog fights his way to Paks’ side, ripping the throat out of one of the ratmen. Paks draws her short sword and gets to her feet. Surrounded, she is hard pressed to do more than parry attacks with her sword and shield. The heavy infantry try to advance along the catwalk towards her, but they can make no progress.

Llewyn bursts from the stable atop her warhorse. Sizing up the situation in a brief moment, she rides to the back gate. There, she gathers the other dogs, leading them back towards the eastern wall.

The ratmen now control the main gate, and the sheepdog jumps down off the catwalk in the face of overwhelming odds. About fifteen ratmen jump down from the catwalk, bypassing the heavy infantry, and head for the catapult. Some of them pull out slings and whirl stones at Paks and the guard dog. Three of the stones hit the guard dog, but that merely enrages him. Four of them hit Paks, and one of those catches her bare head, knocking her out. She tumbles from the catwalk, and lies in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the wall.

 

[Broccli_Head]

Whoa! It doesn't look good for the defenders..

 

[Amaroq]

Issue #8: The Seige of Kratys Freehold. Episode 4 of 6

Things do indeed look bleak for the defenders of Kratys Freehold. The ratmen have breached the eastern wall, and, twenty ratmen have piled to the top of the main hall in the southeast corner. Yet more are atop the forge, the northeast point of the wall, where only two defenders resist, and there are still twenty archers firing arrows blindly into the melee. The mauler and shaman are now free of Goldpetal’s entanglement, and if they advance to the attack, there is nobody free to deal with them.



Twenty ratmen scrabble their way over the top of the wall, onto the roof of the main hall. Six of the freeholders try to hold them at the edge, and wound several of them, knocking one off the edge of the wall. By sheer force of numbers, the ratmen drive them back. Several of the freeholders are injured as they give ground, and one is skewered brutally. The survivors fight desperately for their lives. Two of the ratmen join the sword duel between Taryn Kratys and Xyler Blackfoot, the ratman captain; they both wound Taryn. He turns, and lops the head off of one. The captain takes advantage of his adversary’s momentary distraction to attack Chuck, and the whipsword again proves more than a match for the young Vigilant. Hit hard, he collapses, bleeding, to the roof of the hall.

Three of the ratmen attack Delonia, the mage who once worked for SySy. She wears no armor, and they gloat as they cut her. She snarls as she brings up her hands and utters a quick arcane phrase, burning hands. A fan of flames jets from her fingers, igniting their nappy fur. They scream in pain and rage. Telryn, behind her, tries to cast sleep at some of the others, but in his panic he jumbles the words, and the spell fails him.

A constant hail of arrows is falling into the melee, fired indiscriminately by the ratman archers at the orchard’s edge. Two of those arrows pierce Taryn’s mail just as his long sword thrusts into the heart of a ratman. He yells for Miriel, “Medic!” and tries to position himself between the captain and Chuck’s bleeding body.

The rat men Delonia had lit on fire drop and roll to put it out, but the others try to attack her before she can make another pyrotechnic display. One of them moves too close to Taryn, and his flashing blade catches it in the neck. It is dead before it hits the blood-drenched wood of the roof. Others push past the freeholder infantry to attack her, and faced with numerous blades, she is hit repeatedly. One blow catches her in the side of the head. Bleeding profusely from the temple, she falls face-first to the roof.



On the roof of the forge, Brand and his assistant are surrounded and outnumbered five to two. Brand scrambles to his feet, drawing his longsword. Reinforcements for both sides rush towards the forge. The first to arrive are six more ratmen rushing along the catwalk to attack them. Four of them engage Brand’s assistant, and their numerous blades drive him mercilessly towards the edge of the wall!

Five of the freeholders from the barn and back gate are running along the catwalk towards the forge, and Llewyn has dispatched three dogs towards this point. The dogs are even now heading into the forge and up the stairs towards them. Outside the walls of the complex, five ratman archers move out from their archery blind at the edge of the orchard, towards the forge. They fire their bows at the five freeholders, who are crossing the stable, only seconds away from reaching the fight. It’s a tough shot, and all of the archers miss.

Though surrounded by five ratmen, Brand finds an opening, and thrusts the point of his longsword into a ratman’s breast. It falls, but the others circle him warily, unwilling to press too close to that deadly blade. Their hesitation costs them their advantage, as the dogs arrive. The guard dog from the eastern wall, chasing the ratmen, attacks from the flank. The second guard dog comes up the stairs behind the ratmen, and bites one of them hard. The sheepdogs also pile into the fray, wounding another ratman. Disheartened by the sudden reinforcements, several of the ratmen stumble around in confusion, but one gets a telling hit on the assistant. He staggers, near the verge of collapse.

Below, in the center courtyard, Llewyn charges the fifteen ratmen by the catapult astride her mighty warhorse. The steed, so much larger than her opponents, tramples one with its hooves. The others surround her, some attacking with scimitars, and others attacking with tooth and claw like animals.

Myrs, from atop the tower, sees the danger to her daughter, and casts sleep into the crowd. The spell puts three of the ratmen to sleep. The heavy infantry leap down from the wall, crashing into the back of the group; they are all wounded, but fight bravely. Llewyn is hit as well, but her warhorse tramples the three sleeping rat men. She attacks another with her longsword, slicing off its head with a single, powerful blow.

The tide of battle in the courtyard begins to change; the shock of two successive charges has broken some of their spirit, and five of the ratmen break off from that group, darting into the apparent safety of the forge.



Atop the hall, things are still dire. Delonia and Chuck are bleeding to death, while Taryn Kratys and Xyler Blackfoot duel above them. The five freeholder swordsmen, fighting grimly, have killed about five of the ratmen, but there are still eleven surviving ratmen battling on led by their captain. Five of the archers are advancing from the orchards towards the freehold, launching arrow after arrow with little effect. Milo, after waiting at the base of the wall, now tries to climb the wall again, but he seems to have hurt himself in his previous fall, and he has difficulty. Next to him, the only rat man to have survived a fall from the wall is using his sling to throw small stones into the melee above; he hasn’t hit anything.

The mauler and the shaman are skirting the edge of the orchard, circling around towards the southeast corner of the freehold, but staying in the cover of the trees. Goldpetal and the other archer atop the tower keep them honest, firing into the trees. The freeholder gets lucky, and another arrow buries itself into the mauler’s left bicep. He ignores it.

Myrs, casting spells from the tower, casts sleep into the fray on the roof of the hall. Four of the rat men fall, snoring peacefully despite the clamor of battle around them. Miriel, rushing to respond to Taryn’s cry for aid, reaches the top of the hall, poking her head out the top of the ladder, but staying mostly down and out of sight.

As the ratman captain fences with Taryn, the youthful mage, Telryn, casts magic missile at him. A small ball of iridescent blue energy coalesces at his fingertips, and flies directly into the captain’s chest. He shrugs it off, and glares at Telryn. In a heavy accent, he growls, “Traitorspawn witch! You will die next!”

The exchange distracts him, however, and he takes his eyes off of Taryn’s blade to issue the threat. It is the last mistake he ever makes. Even as he speaks, Taryn leaps forward inside the reach of the captain’s sword. He slashes his blade across the captain’s chest, and as the ratman leader doubles forward in pain, Taryn presses the attack. The second blow chops the captain’s head off; it bounces once off of the wooden roof, and rolls sightlessly away.

The surviving ratmen look around in dismay. Two of them lower their weapons, and are quickly run through on the swords of the freeholders. Three of the freeholders kneel to kill the sleeping rat men. The odds atop the roof have suddenly shifted, from well in favor of the ratmen to clearly favor the defenders.



Miriel takes advantage of that moment of indecision to rush across the rooftop to Chuck’s side. “Madriel!” she cries, laying her hands against his bleeding ribs. Healing power courses through her hand as she heals him, and he looks around groggily.

At this display of divine power, four of the five surviving ratmen rush at her. Taryn kills the first to reach her, but two of them wound her. The last one slips on the wet wood of the rooftop, losing his scimitar entirely.

Telryn has exhausted his ability to cast spells. In desperation, he draws out his light crossbow, and at close range launches a quarrel at one of the ratmen attacking Miriel. His first shot goes straight through the heart, killing it. He looks down at the crossbow with respect dawning across his face, and rapidly starts to reload.

Myrs throws open the door from the tower, which opens onto the roof of the hall. She steps over to Delonia’s bleeding body. She shouts to Miriel, “Take care of Paks!” and begins bandaging the worst of Delonia’s wounds. Miriel looks around, and spots Paks’ body, bleeding on the catwalk of the eastern wall. There is nobody near it.

Chuck clambers back to his feet as Miriel rushes that direction. There are only three ratmen remaining on the roof, and he and Taryn begin to advance on them from one side, while the other freeholders attack them from the other side. Just as they reach them, an arrow buries itself in Taryn’s neck. It narrowly misses killing him, but the lord of the freehold kills two of the last ratmen with mighty blows of his sword. The other freeholders dispatch the last one, and Taryn drops to his knees, holding his hands around the arrow, but clearly afraid to pull it out.

 

[Amaroq]

Issue #8: The Seige of Kratys Freehold. Episode 5 of 6

The ratmen atop the hall may have been beaten, and their captain killed, but the siege is not yet broken. Twenty archers are still pouring arrows into the complex, the roof of the forge is nearly overrun, and at least fifteen more have broken into the courtyard. The mauler and shaman lurk, watching, at the edge of the orchard; Goldpetal shoots another arrow into the mauler’s wounded left leg. It’s limping.



On the roof of the forge, Brand runs a ratman through with his sword. The dogs surround and harry the others. One of the guard dogs knocks a ratman prone on the roof, and tears out his throat, while the other grabs another ratman and thrashes his head back and forth, shaking the hapless ratman like a rag doll. Its neck breaks, and the dog drops it. Six ratmen survive, harried into a defensive circle by the sheep dogs. One of them wounds Brand’s assistant, but Brand knocks the weapon from another’s hands; it falls to its knees before him.

Five archers continue to advance towards the wall of the forge, from the north. They fire a steady stream of arrows at the combatants, but don’t seem to be very effective. Their shots are rushed and wild, typically overshooting into the courtyard of the compound. From the courtyard, two sling stones hit one of the guard dogs; intent on tearing apart its victim, the dog hardly seems to notice.

The five freeholder reinforcements from the back gate finally arrive at the forge rooftop. “To Llewyn!” shouts one, seeing that Brand and the dogs have the ratmen penned up, and he leads the others down the stairs into the forge itself. Standing within are the cowardly group of ratmen, standing near the door and slinging stones into the courtyard. The freeholders charge into the back of the group with swords, and it is almost easy. They kill the first, and badly wound all of the others. The shock of their charge drives the others back into the courtyard, terrified.



There are still ten ratmen in the courtyard; the heavy infantry are between them and the main hall, fencing madly. The clash of arms rings loudly through the courtyard, but neither side can get an advantage. A solitary sheepdog barks at the ratmen. Llewyn, astride her horse, continues to lay about her, but she is completely surrounded. As she parries the attack of one on her right, his compatriot gets a telling blow to her ribs. From the other side, the flat side of a scimitar hits her in the head, and the blow knocks her unconscious in the saddle. That ratman pays the price, however, as her warhorse kicks it with his hooves. Its ribs are crushed, and the ratman falls to die slowly in the dirt of the courtyard.

Miriel sprints out of the door from the hall, and rushes over to Paks, who lies in a slow spreading pool of blood at the foot of the main gate. As Miriel reaches Paks, she can see that her healing skills will be sorely tested, and she utters a quick prayer. “Madriel, save my friend!” As she kneels beside the fallen warrior to begin the healing, the heavy infantry make a shield wall between her and the eight ratmen who are still milling about in the courtyard.

The ten ratmen in the courtyard are effectively trapped in a killing ground, as arrow fire pours down on them from the top of the tower, and the stray arrows from their archers outside the walls are as much danger to them as to the defenders. Goldpetal’s keen elven eyes sighted one arrow; it strikes a ratman in the neck and kills it.

The five freeholders run out of the forge, pursuing the wounded sling-bearers. They catch them, and slaughter them all. Llewyn slumps, unconscious, from the saddle. Her warhorse rears over her, lashing out with its hooves to protect her body. The few surviving ratmen are badly demoralized; they back away.



Outside, the mauler and the shaman can see that the advantage, so briefly theirs, has passed, and they retreat into the orchard. Within moments, they have disappeared into the woods. A few of the ratmen archers follow them, abandoning their fellows. Milo, who had never made it to the top of the wall and into the courtyard, begins to run away as well.

There are still perhaps twenty ratmen entangled by Goldpetal’s entangle spell in the orchard to the southwest. With their captain and his lieutenant slain, they are no longer fighting to free themselves and attack, they are struggling to free themselves and flee, but that proves just as futile.

On the roof of the hall, Delonia is still bleeding. Telryn stands guard over her with his crossbow ready, but there are no useful targets for him. Myrs reaches Delonia, and cradles her body, uncorking a potion of healing. She tips the sorceress’ head back, and pours the potion down her throat, bringing some color back to her pallid face.

Taryn, meanwhile, has an arrow stuck in his neck. It missed any vital areas on its entry, but could be just as dangerous to him if he tried to pull it out. He fumbles in his pouch for a potion of healing, uncorks it, and drinks. The wound closes magically from underneath the arrow, pushing the arrow back out as the flesh knits underneath it. Finally, it falls harmlessly to the roof, and the lord of the freehold picks up his sword and rises to his feet.

Behind him, one of his freeholders walks among the ratmen, slitting throats to ensure that the sleeping die and the dead are truly dead. The others stand at the side, firing out at the last of the archers visible at the edge of the orchard. They kill the ratman which fell from the roof as it tries to flee.

Chuck, too, stands at one of the archery blinds, his bow drawn. He concentrates deeply, and utters a brief prayer, “Gods helps me,” as he looses the arrow. He aims for Milo’s leg, trying to lame him, but the arrow skips off the ground just to the right of the halfling. Even as Chuck knocks another arrow, he realizes that the little fellow will have escaped into the cover of the orchard before he is ready.

The last five archers start retreating towards the cover of the orchard. They had been firing at those on top of the hall, but now they shift their fire to Milo, narrowly missing him as he slips into the protective confines of the orchard. The five freeholders atop the hall shoot their few remaining arrows at the archers, but the archers reach the edge of the orchard and slip away.

Goldpetal sends his hawks flying in the direction Milo was headed. He casts a spell from the top of the tower. Nobody sees him casting, and none of the other combatants can see the effects.



The five north-most archers advancing pause, hesitating about twenty feet from the forge. Stationary, their shots are more effective; one kills Brand’s assistant, and he falls over the edge of the forge, dying on the ground outside the walls of the complex. Another arrow wounds Brand, but he fights on, alone now atop his forge.

One of the guard dogs leaps against the ratman which fell to its knees, bears it to the ground, and mauls it savagely. The other dog leaps in the air, but is knocked aside. Tumbling, he falls, but deftly lands on his feet and recovers. The sheepdogs continue to harry the other ratmen; one bites a ratman’s calf, tugging on it and tearing muscle.

With the tide of the battle clearly turned, these archers, too, start backing away. They continue to fire at Brand, and arrows bounce from his mail; only one does any telling damage. Four ratmen remain atop the forge, and Brand attacks them with abandon, killing one. The two guard dogs kill a second, while the two sheep dogs finish off the wounded one.

The final ratman flails desperately about with its scimitar, more of a danger to itself than his attackers. When they are done with their most recent victim, the guard dogs finish it off.



In the courtyard, Paks hovers on the verge of death. As Miriel invokes the power of Madriel to heal her, the morning sun reaches Paks’ face, and Miriel feels a great, divine power moving through her in a way unlike a normal healing. Her eyes close, and she falls into a deep, powerful trance.

Miriel can sense, through her fingers, the numerous injuries the young warrior has sustained. She is bleeding from several sword wounds to the ribs and some sort of head trauma. Even as the priestess devotes energy to stopping that bleeding, she can feel Paks slipping away, and she casts about for the damage. She finds it in the brain, where internal bleeding first from the stone and then from the fall have nearly taken the warrior’s life.

It is exhausting, and intense, but the deep trance allows Miriel to work, ever so delicately, around the brain, closing the injuries and preventing further bleeding. Eventually, she is even able to begin to clear out the bruising. When Paks finally comes awake, both she and Miriel look very weak.



Behind her, the mopping up continues. Five ratmen, surrounded, put their backs to each other. Unsurprisingly, they snarl and lash about them, fighting like the proverbial cornered rats. The five chain-armored members of the heavy infantry stand between them and the gate, where Miriel works over Paks, while five more freeholders stand between them and the catapult. The warhorse stands valiantly over Llewyn’s body, with a growling sheepdog also between Llewyn and the few surviving ratmen.

Taryn bursts out of the hall, and runs towards Llewyn. “Chuck! Anyone! Help me!” he yells. He bursts past the ratmen as the sheepdog bites one. The horse, rearing, kills two with his hooves. Sobbing, Taryn reaches his daughter’s bleeding body, and tries unsuccessfully to bind her wounds.

The heavy infantry hammer the three remaining rat men, killing them all. Myrs runs downstairs towards Llewyn, and Chuck follows. Taryn starts calming Llewyn’s horse, lest he trample on his mistress in his desperation. Myrs kneels beside her daughter, but she can do no more than Taryn, having expended all of her healing potions. She looks to Miriel for help, but she can see that the priestess is lost to the world, deep in the process of healing Paks.



Telryn stands at the edge of the great hall, looking for more ratmen; nothing moves in the no-man’s land, save, at the back gate, where two of the freeholders have jumped down to the ground are slitting the throats of the sleeping ratmen. He summons his owl, Chester, to come up and fly above the freehold. At the back gate, the two freeholders slit the throats of the sleeping ratmen.

In the courtyard, Taryn calms down Llewyn’s horse, and Chuck performs first aid on her, binding the worst of her wounds. She appears to be stable, and he says, “There, that should hold her until Miriel can look at her.”

“Chuck,” Telryn yells, “My owl tells me that he sees a halfling caught in some trees to the east, some archers running away, and a bunch of rat men entangled in some trees to the southwest!”

“He’s not going anywhere,” Goldpetal calls from the tower. “I’ve entangled him.”

“Sir,” one of the freeholders says to Taryn, who is holding the reins of the warhorse. “There are some ratmen entangled in the orchard. Shall we go deal with them?”

“Yes,” the lord answers. “But be careful. Keep a watch out for stragglers.”

A dozen freeholders, including the heavy infantry, head off to the orchard to the southeast. With bows, finishing off the entangled ratmen is easy work.



Paks and Miriel open their eyes at the same time. Their gaze meets for a moment, and the two women share a powerful bond; the glow of Madriel’s power still surrounds them both. To Paks’ eyes, the sun makes a perfect halo around Miriel’s face.

“Miriel,” Chuck says, approaching. “Is she okay?”

“She will be,” Miriel answers wearily.

“You should look at Llewyn,” he says. Miriel looks up to see Taryn, Myrs, and Brand gathered around Llewyn. The young woman is cradled in her mother’s arms. She walks over to Llewyn to heal her as well. It takes the last reserves of her strength, but she heals the young woman. Llewyn wakes up, and she looks stronger than Miriel does as she sits up.

Chuck and one of the other freeholders help the exhausted priestess inside, where she collapses into a deep, deep sleep. Chuck pulls a blanket over her, and steps back. He eyes her worriedly, but there is nothing more he can do for her. With a sigh, turns to head back into the courtyard.

When he gets outside, he finds Paks back in action. Despite visible wounds unhealed by the powerful magics, she has vigorously taken charge. She has already set the children to searching the interior of the freehold, with the dogs, ensuring that there are no surprises waiting inside the compound walls.

“Chuck,” she calls. “Taryn, Myrs and I are going to head out and see if we can find Milo. Want to come?”

“No,” he replies. “I’d like to search the bodies. I suggest some of the rest of you help search as well.”

“I’ll search,” Telryn calls, from the top of the hall.

All told, they find 250 silver pieces, and much assorted weaponry. Chuck makes sure to set aside the captain’s whipsword, and also finds an ornate rat-man dagger, a fine suit of studded leather armor, a shield, and some jewelry – a chain and two rings.

Paks, Taryn, Brand, and Myrs go out through the main gate, following Milo into the orchard to the east of the compound. They find the halfling completely enveloped by living plants, clearly the work of yet another entangle from the elven druid. Myrs casts sleep on the hapless halfling, putting him unconscious before Goldpetal’s spell wears off. Brand and Taryn tie the sleeping Milo up and carry him back.

The compound is secure, and the siege is broken.

 

[Broccli_Head]

Hooray!

Now I wonder if they'll gut Milo....

 

[Fulcan]

I forgot how useless Telryn was at first level. For many sessions after this Telryn struggled with the fact that his magic didn't help much. At least he could shoot a crossbow.

This was an intense seige, I wasn't sure we were going to be able to make it. Goldpetal and his entangles definitely helped a huge amount.

 

[Amaroq]

Sorry for the long delay, folks. I hope to be returning to a daily-post format next week, but this week can only offer the coda to the previous issue, episode 6...