There's a group of a little over a dozen individuals on the road as well, all in dark worn uniforms. Three are Forged, the rest seem to be mostly human with a couple hobgoblins. The group is a little tense, but hails the party cautiously. After a bit of chatting back and forth, the squad realizes that this is the group of Pilgrims that the southern gate guards had sent a brief message about just a couple days prior. One of the Forged (who seems to be the leader of the group) introduces himself as Bronze. A second cockily introduces himself as the Iridescent Talon (the rest of the squad rolls their eyes and mutters that it's just Talon), but Talvosh nicknames him Iri on the spot. Iri has no problem with it :). The third Forged doesn't speak, but the others mention that her name is simply Lady. The rest of the squad...I don't name because I'm lazy and they're not particularly important NPCs. Deal with it!
After asking the party how their travels have been going, they mention the ambush by the creepy ninja mimes. Bronze makes an unhappy noise, and the rest of the squad mutters amongst themselves. Apparently the party had survived an encounter with a rather notorious group known as the Mummers. Mercenary assassins, the infamy comes from both their elusiveness and their rather high body count. The fact that the party managed to drive them off (and only one person was killed by the Mummers) greatly impresses the squad. After some more questions, Bronze mentions that the squad is heading further east to investigate signs of Elven raiders. He invites the party along, partially to offer the party a path to follow that's not the main road (in case they're worried about being ambushed again), and partially having a talented group of adventurers at their side would make things much safer and much easier.
After a bit of debate, the party decides that they will indeed accompany the squad of rangers. It'll add a few days to their trip, but there seems to be a multitude of reasons. To learn more of Logos, to gain some good will with the guardians of the city, to evade further attacks, or just the chance to kill more elves. I leave it up to the audience to decide which reason came from who.
The party falls in with the rangers, travelling down side streets that quickly narrow into winding alleys. The rangers move with well-practiced silence, obviously familiar with travelling between the ruined buildings. The party isn't too bad...except for Puck, who gets some lingering glances from Lady in particular. The building styles change slightly as everyone beats feet for the day, and once the group stops for the night, Bronze explains that they're heading for the Underbridge region, around the aqueducts. Puck questions why the rangers are so unsure of exactly where these raiders are hiding. If Bronze is a city guard, he should know. Bronze sighs and gestures to the dozens of buildings around.
"It's better to think of Logos now as a vast wilderness with small communities interspersed, rather than as a city. There's just too much, and not enough of us. We're a scouting force, not guards, and it's just us for about a week in each direction."
Sammael asks roughly how many people still live in Logos. Bronze's best guess is that there are several thousand people that are either Unmarked, or have enough willpower that they are able to live and function (mostly) normally. As for scavengers and vagrants eking out a living among the Hollows and worse in the wild parts of the city...10 times that, possibly. It's still a drop compared to what the size of Logos suggests it should hold.
Partway through the next day, Bronze calls a halt, and everyone hunkers down in a courtyard. A little later, one of the forward scouts makes it back, confirming that there's signs of elves in the foundation tower up ahead. Bronze starts to order his men, then pauses and looks to the party. He asks for their suggestion, stating that he'll follow their lead (Iri chimes up that Bronze just wants to see what the party is capable of). Everyone decides that Talvosh will get the attention of the knife-ears (seeing as how frenzied they got seeing him before), then lure them back into the courtyard, where the rangers will be hiding above and rain down arrows. Sona goes up with the archers in one building with Sammael, while Angelena and Puck wait in the courtyard. Seems like a good plan, right?
Doesn't go...exactly to plan. The issues starts when Talvosh just decides to wander up to within 50 ft of the building and throw a rock to get their attention. No attempt at stealth at all, no attempt to look out for signs of elves. So he gets to throw the rock, and then he gets surrounded by the two sneaky sentries, who each shank him in the surprise round. Then they both go ahead of him, and shank a bunch more to drop Talvosh to -4. It's okay! He's got Diehard...
Except then the Bonecaster walks out of the building and nails him with a Reach
Belkar Claws. Alive Talvosh transforms into Dead Talvosh, and the Elven cries of bloody victory alerts the rest of the gang.
Initiative!
The party readies a multitude of vicious and brutal readied actions. With bated breath, they lay in ambush...and start to suspect that Talvosh isn't coming back anytime soon. The raid leader barks some orders...but completely flubs a sense motive roll I made behind the scenes (and I rolled a natural 20 for the party's ambush setup), so he sends some of his brave warriors forward. They step into the alley that will lead them down towards the courtyard killing field, Angelena spots them and blasts them with a
Flame Strike Sammael shoots an arrow! And then Sona cuts them off with a
Wall of Flame!
So they're trapped at the beginning of the alley, not even close to the ambush point, and none of the archers can see the elves through the flames. Ah well. The bonecaster snarls and dispels the mystical ring of fire after triggering his Woven spells (causing
Displacement around him, the commander, and a couple warriors),which lets Angelena nail the group with
Holy Smite, blinding several in the back). One of the warriors rushes forward at Angelena...directly into Puck's
Expanded Axe as he steps around the corner. The second one charges in...and misses Puck spectacularly. Sona smiles and recasts the
Wall of Fire, and then Puck bull rushes the warrior into the wall and flames (the axe swing was an AoO). At the sight of the 20 ft flames again, the two sneaky elves cut around the long way...
Sammael does some extreme parkour, diving from the current building he's in to the next one, sprinting through the burnt-out building to carefully peer down at the elves. Keeping in tradition with elven commanders spotting Sammael when they shouldn't, the leader rolls a natural 20 and points with his sword, gesturing Sammael to come down and fight. The sneaks rush down the alley at Angelena, but they can't quite make it close enough, and she steps around the corner to cast
Cloud of Knives. Sona peeks out the window and slaps the sneaks with a
Great Thunderclap, which they fail against. Finally, an elf within sight of the rangers. The elven sneak gets perforated and dies, and Puck starts toward the other one (who's stunned).
Sammael dives down at the leader, dodges the attack of opportunity as he slides by, and rolls high enough to trip the commander using Elusive Target, ending up between the tripped commander and the bonecaster after landing a kick to the bonecaster's side. Said bonecaster hits Sammael with a normal
Belkar claws for some damage. The commander stands up, deflecting Sammael's attack of opportunity with a Wall of Blades maneuver, then winds up with a Ruby Nightmare Blade! Which Sammael causes to miss with Diverting Defense...curses! Luckily, it misses the bonecaster because of displacement. The warriors inside the wall of flames are no longer blinded and are tired of being slowly cooked, so they start climbing the building to scramble inside the window. Puck makes it to the stunned elf and nearly kills him with a single axe-blow, while Angelena paces back in forth in front of the 20 ft roaring flames, displeased at her lack of targets for her floating magic knives.
Alarmed at the near-decapitation by his leader, the bonecaster shuffles back and
Hastes the nearby elves. Sona then swaps Sammael and Puck with the fan-favorite
Benign Transposition, allowing Sammael to chop and pummel the wounded sneak to death, and Puck to take out the Bonecaster. Angelena continues pacing, just champing at the bit for the flames to drop. The elven leader roars a challenge and hacks into Puck with a full attack. Puck responds by cross-checking him into the wall for a big hunk of damage...ow. Sona dispels her flames, finally allowing Angelena to hurl one of her mystical knives at the last elven warrior who's half in and half out of the building. The knife hurtles forward! And Angelena misses by one :(. One of the other elven warriors is close enough to the window to see Puck, and decides to risk his life in one glorious strike.
He Dives out the window, howling and thrusting his spear. He has reach as well, so it'll be a simultaneous attack with Puck's attack of opportunity. Max power attack death or glory!
I roll a 3, so it's just death for him. Even raging, he's taken Flame Strikes, Holy smites, and fire damage, so Puck cuts him in half. The commander takes this opportunity to tumble past Puck and hit him with a Ruby Nightmare Blade. I fluff it as the commander darting past and delivering a wicked draw-cut to Puck's exposed side as he cuts at the airborne warrior, and Puck takes nearly 50 points of damage from the one blow. Blood is pouring out of the commander though, he's down to his last 10 hit points or so. He raises his blade invitingly and grins with red-stained teeth. Sona dim-doors into another building, and takes a bit of damage as she accidentally puts her foot where a chunk of stone is. Puck strives to grant the commander a warrior's death, but one attack misses from displacement and the other is deflected with Wall of Blades. The elf that Angelena shot at vaults back out the window...and rolls a one to reduce falling damage, and breaks his leg badly. The remaining elven warrior mimics his brother and dives out at Puck, screaming maniacally!
This one rolls a 4, so he suffers the exact same fate as the first. And Puck's cleave attack connects, finishing the commander.
Everyone meets up in the courtyard, Talvosh reappearing now that there's a moment's peace. The rangers are impressed. Really impressed, the party is more than a little frightening. Doesn't stop them from gently teasing the group about how they basically denied themselves the entire ambush setup (Iri especially takes great glee in this). After a bit more discussion, the party decides that they're going to head back towards the Pilgrim's road rather than continuing on with the rangers. Bronze understands, and is very enthusiastic in thanking the party for helping them defeat the raiders with only one casualty. The rangers travel partway with the party back towards the Pilgrim's road, and their night of rest passes blessedly quiet.
Spoiler: GM's note
Show
I've been rolling Scrying attempts each night on a random party member, and so far they've made their saves. So far...:)
Before the groups separate, Lady ghosts up behind Angelena, and silently hands her a folded piece of paper. Opening it, Angelena sees that it's a quick but detailed map, detailing an alternate route to take towards the Inner City. When asked about it, Lady finally speaks in a hoarse whisper. She explains that it is a more discreet route; it will take several days more, but it is much less visible than following the Old Road (also known as the Pilgrim's road). The only thing to worry about is to not venture too far east - the route winds near the self-claimed domain of a powerful fey spirit of decay. Angelena thanks Lady and makes an attempt to offer assistance in healing her voice, but is graciously refused.
The party makes it back to the Pilgrim's road in quick time, then settles down to debate on which route to take. After some back and forth, they decide to head down the alternate, quieter path. It's not as if they're on a strict time schedule, and not walking down an obvious route when murder-mimes are after you is a good thing. Of course, Talvosh and Puck's players want to go down that road because all they hear from "Powerful fey spirit" is "Optional boss." Sona doesn't roll high enough on a Knowledge (nature) to provide any info, so they're going in blind!
Spoiler: Silly anime side note
Show
This scene depicts the debate perfectly. Sona, Angelena, and Sammael play the parts of Nami, Usopp, and Chopper in no particular order, while Talvosh and Puck are channeling Luffy together.