Battle for the Five Nations

[Morbis Meh]

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Spot (1d20+10)[16]
Listen (1d20+3)[4]

[Mantid]

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Spot=(1d20+2)[13]
Listen=(1d20+2)[11]

[hoverfrog]

Edwin Tuller hears something, a sound like canvas caught in the wind above him. He looks but can't see anything.

Ajani Beleren hears the same sound but glances up in time to see a movement, something large and reptilian takes wing and glides into the cover of the canopy above. He's sure that there was someone perched on its back, a small figure with a hugely grinning face, but then it's gone.

[Siege Tower]

Ajani by reflex take out his bow and points it to the sky, making those around him flinch in surprise.

"We have to move! Something is up there! It...I think it may be a dragon. It's some kind of flying lizard. Something is riding it!"

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Knowledge Religion: (1d20+7)[18] to know about any grin having monster riding peoples.

Ready action to shoot bow at the thing riding the monster.

[Morbis Meh]

Raja looks at the archer and shakes her head "Settle down rusty, if it were a dragon we would definitly know by now but I agree that we should continue on. Can you describe to me in detail what you saw, I perhaps can point out what it was and if it was being ridden then I feel it is safe to assume that it was a druid's companion. Also due to the claw marks on the trees it may be the cause of the other soldier's unfortunate demise."

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If Ajani gives her a decent description then knowledge nature
(1d20+9)[24]

[Siege Tower]

Without lowering his bow Ajani describes to Raja what he saw.

"It was something big. It just took off and flew; somewhere above the canopy. It has to be a dragon. What other flying lizards are there?Something was definitely riding it. Small but I swear I could see it smiling at us. A large mask perhaps."

[Morbis Meh]

The shifter sneers "Don't be so stupid, think for a moment: Dragons are a proud and dangerous race, would they simply allow someone to use them as an overglorified horse? I doubt it, secondly if it was a dragon then it would have to be a young dragon for anyone to be able to ride it and thus would not make sense because mother dragons would be extremely protective of their offspring. As to what it could be there are a variety of possibilities, if you actually spent some time outside you might discover that there are rather unique creatures. For all we know it could be a drake or a wyvern."

[Siege Tower]

Ajani remains silent and keeps staring at the sky waiting for something bad to happen. Not knowing what the difference between a dragon, drake, or wyvern was, Raja's spiel did nothing to calm Ajani down.

[mistformsquirrl]

Kera looks contemplative, thinking about the description she's just heard and trying to place it.

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Lore Check: (1d20+6)[15]
If that doesn't count I've also got:

Knowledge History: (1d20+5)[22]
Knowledge Arcana: (1d20+5)[10]
Knowledge Religion: (1d20+5)[19]

Disregard any that are inappropriate to the critter and rider; I'm honestly not sure which are and aren't in this case so I'm just rolling it all >.<

[hoverfrog]

Working only from a brief description of a shape caught from the corner of his eye doesn't help much. Several flying creatures fit the description but most likely are the halfling tribes who are known to ride dinosaurs they call glidewings or the larger soarwings. The forest is poor terrain for them though. They are more common around the Endworld Mountains in the disputed lands of the Talenta Plains. Perhaps it was a dire bat or a small wyvern after all.

You keep an eye out for it to return but minutes pass without incident.

[mistformsquirrl]

Kera takes a deep breath to calm her nerves, then after a few moments more waiting speaks up.

"I-I suppose we ought to be m-moving on... whatever did this, w-whatever Ajani saw, we'll just have to keep an eye out as we move a-along."

After a half-second's more thought.

"P-perhaps we ought to stick to the thicker f-forest as well... a f-flying creature will have difficulty manuevering if the trees are close together, right? It might k-keep us from being spotted from the air at all. I mean it's j-just an i-idea."

[Imperial Psycho]

Edwin tenses he hears the noises, but slowly begins to relax as nothing comes of it.

"Moving deeper in is not a bad thought. But if there is anything that doesn't need to fly to kill us... It will be a tradeoff. Perhaps it's a risk worth taking. I certainly wouldn't want to fight whatever that was on open ground."

[Siege Tower]

Ajani's tiring arms finally force him to place his bow back at the hip. The over protective cleric still keeps an arrow notched however.

"Moving would be a good idea. That thing knows where we are and if it comes back it may not be alone."

[hoverfrog]

You proceed through the woods, skirting obvious ambush points and sticking to the more overgrown paths. Tensions run high and Lieutenant Osprey carries his Cannith forged longsword as if it is a talisman that will protect him. It is with some relief when the trees thin and the land opens into the rolling hills that mark the edge of Thrane. With no cover many of you remain cautious. The shifter scouts keep a wary eye on the tree line and steal glances up at the clouds above you as if dragons would suddenly emerge at any moment to bathe you in fire.

Nothing like that happens though and thirty minutes later you spot a line of carriages hovering over conductor stones. A human male wearing the unicorn surcoat of House Orien signals for you to hurry and you quickly board. The coach in front is already sparking with energy and ready to go. The Orien man hands a note to Lieutenant Osprey with a curt, "A halfling delivered this not ten minutes ago. He came in on a glidewing," and then slams the doors shut. Moments later you start moving.

Lieutenant Osprey glances at the note before screwing it up and throwing it to the floor, "Bloody bugger," he swears, "Damnable bloody bugger. Who does he think he is, eh?" With that he strides off into a corner to fume. Someone picks up the note and reads it out for the rest of you before passing it round.

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME.
DO NOT RETURN THIS WAY
OR YOU DIE

FAIR WARNING

You have about an hour to discuss this before the carriage slows and stops and the same Orien man returns to open the doors. The lieutenant signs a form that the man is carrying and orders you all out. Minutes later it resumes its journey north. As it passes you see the edge of Fort Light in the distance, woods to the east and open plain to the west. If you set off immediately you estimate that you can reach it by nightfall.

[Morbis Meh]

Raja looks out into the twilight and sighs, the pale golden light on the horizon was lovely too bad they would soon have to violate this tranquil place with blood. She had no ilussions of what would happen with that stupid, impertenant commanding officer. She traced a line in the dirt absently before looking to the others "We better move on and find a suitable place to camp, I feel it would be best to accomplish this task at dawn, giving us both rest and time to solidify our course of action. Besides your human eyes cannot see very well in the dark."

[mistformsquirrl]

"B-besides that, we've been traveling all day - we need to be at our best if we're going t-to pull this off." Kera yawns abruptly, despite her trying vainly to suppress it.

[Imperial Psycho]

Edwin frowns. "Well, if we do not wish to be spotted, and wish to maintain our most valuable asset - surprise, the more darkness, the better. Dawn, then. The half-light will allow us to see, and hopefully keep them from seeing us."

[hoverfrog]

You find a suitably secluded spot at the edge of the woods. What are your plans for the night? The shifters maintain their own watch and patrol in small groups and wake you an hour before dawn unless given different instructions.

[Siege Tower]

Ajani does not make any orders and instead waits for a superior officer to command his troops. If the shifters are the only ones on patrol Ajani won't be sleeping tonight. Only if he camps close enough to a shifter that he gets protected by accident will he get a good nights rest.

EDIT: If there are enough warforges to maintain watch on their own, Ajani will rest peacefully.

[Morbis Meh]

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If that's the case siege... Raja could always snuggle against Ajani but keep in mind there are warforged around so they are auto watches since they never sleep.

Raja will have a restful nights sleep and commune with nature before they head out, her people know the drill and will inform her of any oddity if one presents itself.

[mistformsquirrl]

Kera tries to find an out of the way corner of the camp to bed down in.

[hoverfrog]

You wake before dawn well rested after your sleep and approach the edge of the forest. A strange glow seems to emanate from Fort Light as you reach the tree line, cut back 500 feet from the walls. You can see that the walls are festooned with polished shields that reflect the light of several bonfires burning in the open and of the moons above. The fires look to have been blazing all night. The light must have been much brighter a few hours ago. Nevertheless it seems as if the entire area is very well lit.

You can see the square corner tower in front of you, an old design that has long since been replaced with round towers. It rises to form the castle proper which is much higher than the 30 feet high walls, about 80 feet in total. Light can be seen from several arrow slits in the castle itself. All on the same floor by the look of them.

Some 100 feet along the eastern wall is a round tower built out at the same height as the curtain wall. Another smaller bonfire burns on the roof and you can clearly see the outline of guards there. There are four such towers along this wall. Along the southern wall the same arrangement is repeated except that the two central towers are closer and form a pair of rounded towers either side of a gate. A drawbridge stretches across a dry ditch that looks like it encompasses the entire fort. The ditch is bare earth about 20 feet deep but there are a few feet of loose wood along the bottom of it.

Your scouts tell you that the north and west walls are the same except that the west wall is missing the last round tower and has a wooden palisade plugging the gap. The other three corners of the curtain wall have small square towers about 10 feet higher than the wall itself.

[mistformsquirrl]

Kera breaths in deeply, then slowly exhales.

"I'm going to do a reading, to see if we should proceed or not. I-I still have a bad feeling about this w-whole operation so... it can't h-hurt at least."

Kera steps back from the treeline about 50 feet into the forest, then sits crosslegged and begins to cast the Augury.

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Augury - DM has to make a secret roll.

[Siege Tower]

Ajani looks at the fort they would soon be infiltrating with concern.

"I have never been one to be on the offensive. I know how to spot enemies but not how to avoid detection. Perhaps another one of us is more familiar with this?"

Ajani leaves the others to discuss a plan while he heads into the forest after Kera. As she begins her meditation, Ajani draws his bow and notches an arrow ready to protect the prophet in case of any danger.

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Spot: (1d20+5)[8]
Listen: (1d20+4)[18]

[Mantid]

"Well... it's bright. I suppose we should wait till Kera's... umm... prayers?" Gerilow says, looking to the others for clearification on what Kera is doing. "I really don't know how you, ah, magic-types keep it all straight.

"Seems like the west side is our easiest way in, if we can get to it. Wonder how'd they react to a bunch of Shifters hanging out in the edge of the woods. I'm sure it'd get their attention. Doubt they'd come charging out of their walls for them though... course this is Thrane, right? Wouldn't want to put Ra's people in danger."

[Imperial Psycho]

Edwin watches bemusedly as the clerics disappear off into the forest. He scratches at his beard. "If I were guarding this fort, I would expect any enemy to come from the west wall. Likely it will be well-lit and guarded. Depends if the enemy has any sense, I suppose."

"If we did go for the west wall, we'd have to get through the palisade. I don't see that being quiet. For now lets just work out how many of the buggers we're dealing with. "

[jojolagger]

Why go through the wall? We have several days to dig our way in if we want to.
Asks Dallun, who appears to be doing some mental math.

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If I don't mind burning all my spells for the day and some xp, I can dig out a 1/2 mile long 5 by 5 passage.
That can't be right...
7 casting of Druid 2 spell Burrow via spell storing item.
2*4 xp per cast
4 minutes of burrowing per cast.
28 minutes -> 280 rounds of burrowing at 10 ft./round.
2800 ft of burrowing, costing 56 xp.
Mile is 5280 ft.
so, yeah, 1/2 mile long passage.
Because POW aren't troops, we could even mine over to the lightning rail and load them on.
If Raja is willing to help, we can mine 4000 ft per day. And we have about a week. And Fort Light is really close to the lightning rail.

[mistformsquirrl]

Kera reappears looking immensely embarrassed.

"I-I uhm... I realized just before casting; I'm not sure precisely what we're planning to do. I n-need to know to cast the augury and... w-well..."

[Morbis Meh]

Raja raises her eyebrow and the mention of digging, she hated going underground "I confered with the spirits and I have the ability to shape wood, I can easy turn the wooden wall into a lovely doorway for everyone. No need to dig a tunnel that could potentially collapse or be flooded, what we need though is a distraction and one urgent enough to draw out the guards and townspeople. We need someone to convince them that something terrible is about to happen, something on the apocalyptic level. Have the person spout a few signs, which we then conjur causing mass panic and so on. When everyone clears out and leaves we waltz in and extract your soldiers. Done and done."

[Imperial Psycho]

Edwin nods. "I like the idea of a tunnel. You may be able to make the palisade into an entryway, but the tunnel has the advantage of stealth. They may well spot us moving towards the walls. Even if they dispatched the garrison, they will still have watchers. "

"A distraction may also be necessary though."