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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xaltar" data-source="post: 6143" data-attributes="member: 480">-------------------------------------------Session 3, Part 5: When a plan comes together...-------------------------------------------Holden and the Riders of Mistledale (A group of lawmen that protected the surrounding area) swapped information on the recent disruptions and discussed possible courses of action.  Meanwhile, the rest of the party began to pull themselves from their hiding places and joined Holden’s side.The group found the Riders to be polite, but preoccupied.  They seemed grateful that the party was willing to follow-up on the apprehension of these raiders, allowing them to return to their battle against the raiding drow.  Before they left, Holden had persuaded them to assist the party in constructing a three-section pit trap along the path that the raiders were known to travel.After a long and hard day for everyone, the Riders pack up their horses and wished the party luck.  Their captain approached Holden and gave him a pat on the back saying, “You have a good head on your shoulders, and I think that your plan might just work!”With that said, he handed Holden a couple of healing potions to aid them in their upcoming battle.  He also mentioned that nearly a ten-day ago, the raiders had raided a nearby farm and had taken a stable boy named Walter and a horse named Axel.  After he mention that there was a hundred gold piece rewards for the return of each, Drexel asked, “It’s a horse, how do we know we have the right one?”Smiling, the captain stated, “You’ll know!  This horse is a prize stallion, and he’s also got a bit of an attitude…of course that can be overcome with a good apple.”The captain reached in his pack, pulled forth a fresh red apple and tossed it to Drexel.  With a wave he turned and mounted his horse and within minutes the Riders were gone.After a good night’s rest, the party woke the next morning to perfect their trap, and to work on creating better hiding spots; they weren’t going to be taken off-guard again!  They dug into the side of the ravine, and managed to setup a well-hidden alcove.  It was all planned and secured, as the raiders rode by the side of the keep, the first horses in line would trip into the covered ditch, and the party would use the surprise to gain the upper hand.  While the others lightly rested, Rossal was given another jar of honey and asked to keep lookout in a nearby tree.The party waited tensely, overpowered by the smell of freshly dug soil, with sweaty hands grasping their weapons in anticipation.  They didn’t want to discuss what they were all thinking, what if they weren’t strong enough to beat this other party in a frontal assault.  Suddenly acorns started fall into the ravine, and they all new that it was almost time for action.As they peered from they’re hiding place, they could see a group a about 8 humans and half-orcs with some captives slung over the horses of the riders in the rear.  Leading the group was a very large half-orc with thickly dreaded hair.  As their commander rode forward, the horse hit the first covered section of the covered ditch and faltered.  In fact, with the weight of it’s warrior, the horse’s front legs crumpled forward with a sharp cracking sound.In that moment as the raiders watched their leader’s horse crash to the ground, the party sprang forth from they’re hiding spot.  They had three primary targets, a mage, a priest, and the barbaric half-orc leader.  Yet the prone leader stood little chance as Holden tumbled forward and drove his great-sword into his back, burying it to the hilt as several feet of sword protruded from his chest.Spiderfang rushed forth, pummeling the cleric with his powerful glowing fists, while finishing his flurry of attacks with a hit that snapped the man’s neck.  Meanwhile, Borghin’s trained crossbow shot struck down the mage in one shot, while Ziona provided cover against the more heavily armored warriors.  In the rear of the party, three half-orcs halted their horses.  With only two of higher ranking Zhent officers left, and all of their leaders killed in the initial ambush, they were having second thoughts about throwing their lives away.The half-orcs weren’t going to pursue suicide, but the other two were devoted Zhent warriors, and they drew their weapons to attack.  Drexel quickly charmed one of the Zhents, and called out to his new friend in desperation as the other warrior approached.  Grack had been in the loyal employ of the Zhents for many years, but he wasn’t about to let his friend Drexel die this way.  Grack ran to intercept the hit from his commander, and proceeded to run him through with his long sword.During this time, the rest of the party surrounded the half-orcs and demanded their surrender.  They were more then willing to oblige after witness the near instantaneous slaughter of their comrades.  When one of their lower-level officers approached at Drexel’s side, they were convinced that they had been “Set Up.”The party let the cowardly half-orcs go free on foot after they had explained to the best of their ability how they understood the portal to work.  The party also released the prisoners and provided them with horses to return to their homes.After the half-orcs and freed captives had moved out of sight, Holden hefted the body of the dead cleric over one shoulder and headed towards the area where he had first found the horse tracks that abruptly disappeared.  After waiving the cleric’s left hand, bearing a tattooed eye in the center, over that spot on the ground…a portal opened.  Drexel turned to his new ‘friend’ Grack and asked him how much time they had before the portal closes.  He replied, “Uh well, I guess about ten minutes, so you better hurry because you can’t open it again for another ten-day.”Then with a harsh tug on his robes, Drexel looked down to see someone he had completely forgotten about, Leper the kobold.  Looking up, he quickly did some math in his head and realized that his charm person spell should have worn off by now.  Squinting his eyes he looked towards Borghin and Spiderfang as if they might know something that he overlooked.  Both ignorant in the ways of the arcane arts just shrugged.With another harsh tug Drexel looked down again, “YES???”“Are we going somewhere?”-------------------------------------------Next time:  Storming the keep...-------------------------------------------</blockquote>

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