Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1337309" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #8: The Seige of Kratys Freehold. Episode 5 of 6The 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.</blockquote>

Verification