[WFRP] The Bloody Crown IX

[LeSwordfish]

"Nothing worth worrying about." Ludo said quietly to Hanna. "Whatever did that is long gone."

He turned to Elsa. "We need Morrslieb back in the air. If we can't find our way to the quarry, Sforza's going to get slaughtered tomorrow."

He was having the growing concern that this was his fault.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Trolls are all cowards, Sieghard thought, trying to stay calm. Given the situation, he was fine with trusting an ogre's judgement.

"Put that down and help me out of my armor," Sieghard said. "We can't be far off course, I'm going to try climbing one of the rocks to see if I can see the town." Once he had shed his plate and mail, he looked around to find a suitable area of rock. "Kulug, come here and lift me as high as you can. If you can get me to that rock, I think I can make it the rest of the way up."

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Sieghard will bring some rope up with him just incase. If he can find a less steep area of rock to climb, that's ideal. 51 strength, scale sheer surface isn't trained, but if he can, he's trying to avoid the completely vertical parts. No armor to avoid penalties, and hopefully Kulug's help might earn a bonus.

(1d100)[89]
(1d100)[61] reroll

[LCP]

Sieghard, Ludo, Astoria & Elsa

Thorns and Volunteers squeezed out of Kulug's way as the ogre stomped forwards, picking Sieghard up by the waist as if he were a toddler. Reaching up as high as he could, the ogre deposited him on the highest ledge he could reach on the tallest of the surrounding rocks.

Carrying the rope over his shoulder, Sieghard scrambled up the sheer rock face as best he could, looking for decent anchor points along the way. More than once he slipped and fell, skinning his hands on the jagged limestone - but he'd suffered worse on the battlefield. At last he gained the top, tying the rope tight around a spike of rock. He wasn't going to take any chances on the descent.

Looking out over the darkened landscape of the Karst, he saw no sign of rooftops or towers rising above the rocks - they might be close, but they weren't close close. The moonlight let him see for some distance, and he scanned the dark landscape for lights, chimney smoke, anything. There had to be something.

OOC:

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Sieghard takes 3 wounds from scrapes and cuts. Can I get a Perception check for spotting the town?

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

Sieghard gazed off in the distance for a moment before calling back down below. "Ludo, you've got good eyes. Get up here and help me look around." He tossed the other end of rope down for him.

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Rolled 71 OOC. Sieghard just isn't rolling well right now. Don't exactly like the thought of spending a second FP before we get to the fighting, but if Ludo fails to find it I might have to...

If we aren't able to see Putbad itself, we could probably work with spotting the road or even the river. Should be easier to find those atleast.

[RossN]

Adelbert

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Klammenberg. Well, well. The weeks have been unkind to us both I see.

"Being choked and nearly losing a finger," gasped Adelbert. He rubbed his throat and glared at Hakon. "Remember this Hakon; a strong arm and a weak mind are a paltry combination to deal with magic."

He flicked his eyes to Klammenberg and continued massaging his bruised windpipe. "Herr Klammenberg. Between Hakon and Udolf you certainly have curious taste in friends. I am... or until recently was... in the employ of His Grace. Hakon kidnapped me. I am grateful for you calling off the Norscan but what exactly are you doing here? This is scarcely a suitable retreat for a man of letters."

[LCP]

Adelbert

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"Keeping an appointment with these gentlemen," said Klammenberg. "And lady," he added, with a bow of his head towards Sanne. She snorted suspiciously at his manners.

"You said it yourself, Empire man," said Hakon, "we aren't wizards." Klammenberg gave him a sharp look of displeasure, but the red-haired Norscan ignored him.

"I'm still not following why you've dragged Schreiber here," said Klammenberg. "Or why he has to be party to our discussions."

"He used to run with the Tilean's men," said Arne, piping up from the back. "He knows where they keep it."

Klammenberg looked skeptical. "The last time I saw Herr Schreiber, he was tending a backwater shrine in the Thornwood," he said. "Somehow I doubt he's in Sforza's confidence."

[RossN]

Adelbert

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Adelbert couldn't help but notice 'the Lady' was being rather quiet. What was her game? Certainly Klammenberg apparently did not suspect Adelbert of being more than a lowly priest.

Well, unless he was playing his cards close to his chest of course.

"Like every other cleric in the Reaches I was at the priestly conclave to determine what to do about a recently rediscovered tome of dark magic." Adelbert explained stiffly."As I also lived in that oaf Sforza's domain this gentleman naturally assumes that I know all state secrets and no doubt sample the Prince's wife and wine while he looks the other way."

[LeSwordfish]

Nursing his own bruised knees from the climb up the rock, Ludo peered hopefully into the darkness as well.

"Should have stuck to the road, maybe," he said quietly. "Sorry."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"No sense in worrying about it now," Sieghard muttered. "Besides, I'm the one who wanted to make sure we could reach Putbad without being spotted... Lotta good that did us. If we're lucky whoever saw us was just some hunter who ran off in the opposite direction."

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Sieghard threw a rope down and LCP rolled your first perception test as though Ludo was already on top of the rocks. I think we're probably good.

[-Sentinel-]

"We need Morrslieb back in the air. If we can't find our way to the quarry, Sforza's going to get slaughtered tomorrow."

"Hmm," said Elsa. "He's not going to be happy." She paused. "Morrslieb, that is. But I suppose Sforza too."

She woke Morrslieb up and asked him to go fly high above the Karst to the northwest of Putbad in search of a number of torches on the ground. As she expected, the raven was not in a good mood at all. She stressed to him that this was a life or death situation and that if they were not out of this maze within a few hours, there may soon be no more shiny or edible gifts. She also cajoled him with promises of lots of spare time for himself once they won the war, which would happen all the sooner if they could get out of here.

Now, the rest was largely a matter of luck. Would he find them in time?

If Sforza is defeated because part of his army got lost on the way to battle, I might just die of embarrassment.


OOC

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If Morrslieb has trouble locating us, there is always the option of Elsa throwing fireballs skywards to help him zero in, although this has two drawbacks:

1. Trolls could find us, and
2. Alvarr's sentries might conceivably see the signal, if we're closer to Putbad than we think.

[LCP]

Sieghard, Ludo, Elsa & Astoria

From the top of the rock, Ludo's sharp eyes made out what Sieghard's couldn't - a faint glimmer of warm light, reflecting off the distant crags of the Karst. It was out to the left of their current course, perhaps a mile or two distant - if that was Putbad, they must have veered off to the west. Perhaps if they'd kept on their current course for long enough they'd have run straight into the Captain, coming up the river.

Scrambling down was just as hair-raising as scrambling up, but Sieghard's rope offered the two of them a safe descent. When he reached the bottom, Ludo still had his bearings, but looking into the dark cracks and crevices surrounding them, he felt uncertain of keeping them. Another few twists and turns to wind around the rocks and perhaps they'd be headed back towards Harmugstahl, unless he felt like more climbing.

Proceeding with as much care as their tired minds could muster, they wound their slow way back towards the direction Ludo thought he had seen the lights. They had been marching perhaps another half hour into the night before Morrslieb found them at last, the raven flapping down out of the jagged rocks to land on Elsa's shoulder. They were close, he told her, though from the bird's disgruntled account it sounded as if they had been veering off-course once again.

With Morrslieb's assistance, they managed at last to find a more direct path to Ruprecht's quarry. Long past the heyday of its use, its open but overgrown gravel pit offered enough open space to camp, beside a stagnant pool of milky green water. Through the artificially widened cut in the rocks, the lights of the town were now clearly visible.

Without orders, the militia began to drop their packs and weapons to the stony ground, taking the weight off their feet. It must have been nearly midnight, and they were worn ragged. Having marched most of the way in his heavy armour, Sieghard felt the exhaustion just as keenly - though he knew it would probably be best not to show it in front of the men.

---

Adelbert

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Klammenberg looked to Hakon with an expression that said I told you so. "You see?" he said. Hakon just grunted in displeasure.

"You have the gold?" he demanded.

"Perhaps this should wait until - " Klammenberg began, looking sidelong at Adelbert. Hakon snorted.

"If he says he knows nothing, then I have no more uses for him. What does it matter what a dead man hears?" He rested his good hand on his knife. "You want us to do this, show us the money."

Pursing his lips, Klammenberg produced a heavy bag from under his travelling cloak and handed it to Hakon. Adelbert heard the clink of metal.

"There's more where that came from," Klammenberg said, as the Norscan fished out one of the coins and turned it over in his callused fingers. It flashed gold in the sun - Adelbert thought it looked similar to the ancient coins they had retrieved from Kheneb.

"And the Tilean?" asked Hakon, still gazing mesmerised at the coin.

"Will be destroyed, as promised. With the witch and all his court." Klammenberg's voice had fallen, adopting a soft, persuasive tone. "All you need to do is bring us the book."

OOC:

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Test Magic Sense for Adelbert.

[RossN]

Adelbert

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If Adelbert had retained the faintest sliver of hope that he was going to talk his way out of this it gurgled away down into the pit of his stomach when he saw those coins. By Verena's grey eyes the things were virtually marinated in the stuff of death!

Still as unpleasant as that was phrases like 'What does it matter what a dead man hears?' or 'With the witch and all his court' were worse yet.

"What is this about destroying the Tilean?" Adelbert spoke up, adding probably truthfully, "No one here hates him more than I do. Perhaps I can help you."

[Erulasto]

Astoria was distinctly uncomfortably wandering around in the Karst with such limited amounts of light to begin with, and Hanna’s discovery of the bleached and gnawed upon bone causing her to tighten her grip on the pommel of her sword unconsciously.

Watching as Sieghard scaled the rocks with the help of the Ogre, she kept her eyes trained up – not that she could help if he had fallen, but still. It helped keep her mind of the lurking shadows on the periphery of the torchlight.

Then Ludo went up as well, and she held her breath.

Finally they were on the move again, and Astoria had kept silent so far – trying her best to find some sort of identifying features or markers to ensure they weren’t going in circles. Even with Elsa’s feathered friend helping keep them from going astray, there was something about this maze that made her very, very nervous.

When they came to the quarry at last, she adjusted her sling and helped herself to a large drink from her waterskin with a sigh.

”I hate that place.” She muttered to Sieghard, Ludo and Elsa as she watched the Thorns setting down their packs. ”How long of a rest can we afford to take?”

The knight tried to find a position in the quarry where she could see the approach to town a little more clearly, though she wasn’t keen on doing any climbing herself with one arm out of commission. Astoria shuffled a little uncomfortably as she realized, perhaps belatedly, that if they needed to scale any tall walls she was going to have to hope that one of the Ogre’s could help her up or she’d have to remain on the ground.

Astoria groaned softly, and rubbed her good hand through her hair wearily.

”Ruprecht, how long do you think it will take us to cross the quarry?”

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"A couple hours," Sieghard said, letting his own things drop and removing his armor once more. "I want to strike right as the sun begins to rise. We'll split the Thorns into three groups and strike at the men guarding the wagons from different sides and try to draw them back into the rocks. Their numbers won't matter there and Hildebrand will be able to split them off with her fire wall. If she agrees to it, we could even have her bird blast the wagons to draw their attention before the crossbows start firing."

[LeSwordfish]

"Sounds good." Ludo said. "Who are we having on watch? They'll barely sleep at all. A few of the crossbowmen, so they can stand back a bit when the fighting starts."

[-Sentinel-]

"If [Hildebrand] agrees to it, we could even have her bird blast the wagons to draw their attention before the crossbows start firing."

"I don't agree to it," said Elsa firmly. "We've been over this before. Even Sforza agrees Morrslieb is too useful an asset to risk in this way. I can use him for spellcasting, but I'd rather not do it in a way that draws attention to him."

Or if she had to, it would have to be a one-time thing, at a critical moment. Then the surprise would be lost, and arrows would start flying much higher. There would be no sending Morrslieb back within bow range after that.


"Sounds good." Ludo said. "Who are we having on watch? They'll barely sleep at all. A few of the crossbowmen, so they can stand back a bit when the fighting starts."

"Sounds right," said Elsa, "and we'll be resting all our best crossbowmen, of course."

[LCP]

Adelbert

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Hakon grunted. "Still talking?" he asked of Adelbert. "If it was possible to hate him to death, the Duke would have done for him years ago."

Turning to the big man with the scarred eye, he jerked his head in Adelbert's direction, saying something in Norscan. Before the man could rise to his feet, Sanne had risen faster, interjecting with some incomprehensible grunting of her own. The two men let her pass as she walked over to where Adelbert was kneeling in the dirt, hauling him to his feet and marching him away from the fire. Adelbert felt his bowels turn to water as she drove him forwards - he might not speak a word of Norscan, but this surely seemed like the prelude to an execution.

Turning a corner around one of the jagged rocks sheltering the meeting-place, Sanne waited until they were ought of sight and out of earshot of the others to turn and push Adelbert back against the wall of stone. Showing him a dagger as long as Hakon's, she glanced back over her shoulder before putting a warning finger to her lips.

"I was at your Conclave," she said, her voice a careful whisper. "The man talking to Hakon, he's the one who spoke of there, yes? The one who stole your... books, or something."

---

Ludo, Elsa, Astoria & Sieghard

Picking out sentries from among the Thorns whose marksmanship they might not miss too much come tomorrow, Ludo set them to watching the main entry to the quarry while the rest of the company made camp. Without the luxury of fires or the prospect of more than a few hours' rest, the stony ground of the quarry was not the most comfortable bed - but after today's march, Ludo knew he would have no difficulty sleeping. His eyes were trying to get there ahead of him before he had even laid down to rest.

---

Festag, 11th Sommerzeit

Ludo, Elsa, Astoria & Sieghard

The horizon hadn't even begun to lighten in the east when one of the sentries came looking for Ludo again. Rubbing his eyes and trying to muster a more cogent response than "bleurgh?", he forced his foggy mind to focus on what the equally weary-looking Thorn was saying.

"...saw something moving in the rocks," the man said, pointing back towards the point where Ludo had set his post. "Lights, closer'n the town. Reckon it's nothing, but Karl said I ought to tell..."

[Erulasto]

Weariness or not, sleeping on the rocky ground of the quarry with a splinted arm was most certainly not a recipe for a good night’s sleep. Astoria had to shift positions several times across the night to avoid being jabbed by any uncomfortable spurs of rock.

The knight was drifting in and out of light slumber when she heard the scraping of the sentries coming through the camp. Propping open one copper eye, she watched as they approached Ludo with some hesitant curiosity.

Pushing herself up to a sitting position, Astoria stretched her back slowly and blinked a few times in an attempt to push away that last dregs of her slumber.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"They may be moving the wagons," Sieghard said groggily, getting to his feet. Or worse, whoever saw us may have warned them. "You did well to warn us."

[RossN]

Adelbert

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"He is," Adelbert hissed back. "I'm pretty sure he's a necromancer too, linked with this business about Nahorek."

He narrowed his eyes. "He can't get his hands on that book Sane. I don't care whatever that muscle brained idiot Hakon thinks but it is going to be very bad for us all if Klammenberg walks away from this with the book."

He was quite for a long moment, watching the woman.. and her knife.

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo shook himself groggily awake, still somehow dog-tired after the long march yesterday. "I'll go and have a look," he said. "Maybe I can get closer and figure out what's going on."

OOC

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Get as close as he can to the firelight without being seen, use Stealth and Night Vision to see what's going on.

(1d100)[77] vs 69ish Stealth?
(1d100)[65] vs 48 Perception

[LCP]

Adelbert, 10th Sommerzeit

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”Wadim tried to warn us about him, before this war began. The cunning man and his quiet friend.” She looked back over her shoulder again. “I didn’t see the other one.”

Looking back to Adelbert, she searched his expression with a penetrating gaze. “It wasn’t all a lie, was it? You do know some of Sforza’s people, Kelda said.” The knife hadn’t moved, her voice still a paranoid whisper. “The fire witch? Do you know her?”

---

Ludo, Sieghard, Elsa & Astoria, 11th Sommerzeit

Dragging his feet in the direction of the sentries, Ludo peered out into the darkness. He couldn’t see any lights beside the lights of the town – if this turned out to be a false alarm, he would be sorely tempted to have Words with the men on watch.

“Out there,” Karl said when he arrived, pointing north-east into the Karst. “I just saw it for a minute, then it was gone. Like someone wavin’ a torch.”

Ludo put the question of whether he might have been seeing Putbad through the rocks, but the young Thorn vigorously shook his head. “It were too close for that,” he said. “Much too close. If you come up here a little ways I can show you.”

Wearily following Karl up the slope of scree that bordered the quarry pit, Ludo followed him a few dozen yards into the rocks. Turning a corner around the largest of the bordering crags, Karl pointed down a long straight between the rock formations that led off into darkness. It certainly wasn’t leading to the town.

“Down there,” he said. “That’s where it went. Swear on my sister’s l-”

Before he could finish the oath, the other sentry loudly shushed him, pushing him down to his knees. Tensing, Ludo turned, looking for what the man had seen that he hadn’t. But it wasn’t what he had seen, it was what he had heard.

Beyond the rocks to their right, he could hear the quiet crunching of boots on gravel, impossible to completely muffle in this stony terrain. Slithering up to the nearest spot where he could see, he looked down through the cut in the rocks that led from the town up to the quarry. There was no light – only a river of dark figures creeping through the darkness, the outline of spears and shields rising against the moons.

There were at least a hundred of them, maybe more. They were already practically on top of the camp – but worse than that, Ludo was practically on top of them. If he called out now, it would take them little time to scramble up after him into the rocks…

[LeSwordfish]

Ludo's blood ran cold. He stood carefully, watching the figures approach.

"Make your way back to the group, slow and quiet," he whispered. "I'm going to go fast and quiet, get them awake."

Once the two men had recieved his instructions, Ludo began moving away, as fast as he could while still confident of his silence.

OOC

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Another Silent Move check, possibly at a speed penalty? (1d100)[88]

Back at the camp, Ludo began immediately waking other members of the militia, all the time searching around for Elsa.

"Sieghard!" he hissed, passing near the mercenary. "There's dozens of them marching right to us! We need to be ready now."

[RossN]

Adelbert

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"Udolf. He's the quiet one. I've met him and I don't think he's human."

He felt a flicker of pain at the mention of Kelda. It was still too raw to think of her dead. "I do know her yes. She's a friend... Or was before this idiotic war. She might work for the Tilean but she'd be the first to agree with Wadim."

And suddenly grey eyed Verena touched Adelbert's thoughts with revelation. He he had an idea. A desperate one but an idea all the same.

He tried to turn to look at Sane better without imposing himself: " Help me kidnap Klammenberg; we can bring him to her and I'm sure you can name your own reward."

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Then help me rouse the men," Sieghard hissed back, a note of alarm in his voice. He wouldn't meet his end the same way de Bohun had. "Elsa, get morrslieb flying over them. We need to know how close they are and how much time we have."

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(1d100)[8] vs 49 command to get everyone up and ready
(1d100)[25] reroll

Whoever saw us warned them and now Alvarr has sent men after us... But they don't know where we are. Yet. Depending on how much time we have, we may be able to trick them into going right past us - the report they got would've said we were further away than we are and if we could get turned around in the rocks, they certainly could to. Failing that, we have to use the rocks and Elsa's firewall to our advantage to limit the ability to use their numbers... That and send a message to Sforza that he has to start the attack on Putbad NOW while we've got a large part of Alvarr's army distracted.

[-Sentinel-]

Still barely awake, Elsa ordered a grumpy Morrslieb to go on a reconnaissance flight. She rummaged in the dark for a parchment and a quill, just in case the enemy spotted them and she needed a message ready for sending.

Have been found, she wrote under the moonlight. Dozens of enemy soldiers about to attack our camp. We'll keep them busy as long as we can.

Even outnumbered, they might win this, if she could repeat her performance from the Battle of the Burning Hill. Except that this time, unlike Burning Hill, there would be no last-minute reinforcements. They could only count on themselves.

[LCP]

Adelbert, 10th Sommerzeit

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”I’ll take Hakon, you’ll take Ulfgeir, is that the idea?” Sanne whispered, with unmistakeable sarcasm. “After the big ones, it’ll only be two against three. Of course, we’ll have to explain first why I didn’t kill you like I said I was going to...”

She shook her head. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You scream like a man getting murdered, and then the two of us push something heavy into that pool over there. Make a splash they can hear from the campfire.” She motioned to one of the small, flooded pits between the rocks. “Then you get out of here, as fast as you can. Find your friends, warn them what’s coming.” She was still glancing over her shoulder, as if convinced that Hakon might drop in on them at any moment. “Manann’s Keep is a long way from here. If you move fast, you can still get there first.”

---

Sieghard, Elsa, Astoria & Ludo, 11th Sommerzeit

Ludo’s feet had fairly flown over the stones, moving with a light-footedness even an elf would have been envious of – but the figures in the dark had had no further to travel than he had. Sieghard had no sooner started raising the alarm when the quiet crunch of their booted feet broke into a sudden stampede, the dim shapes of men behind tall blue shields pouring into the southern end of the quarry.

Ingwald spluttered a particularly blue string of curses as he was woken by the noise, jumping to his feet as quickly as if someone had pressed a red-hot poker to his toes. Half-dressed militia scrambled for their weapons, Sieghard’s shouted commands cutting sharply through the fog of sleep – but with the best will in the world, the camp was still a long way from being ready for a fight.

“SHIELD WALL!” came a shout from the darkness, and the attackers raised their shields, spearheads swinging down in a steady line. Ludo recognised that voice – Alvarr himself was with the attack.

“CHARGE!”

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Here’s a quick map:



You can treat the quarry as roughly circular (i.e. it has a diameter of ~64 yards in all directions), and the 18-yard width of the passage the attackers are approaching through as being typical of the larger passages.

Alvarr’s men are charging from 28 yards away, meaning they’ll be on you in ~20s. If you want to stand your ground, you can give 20s/2 combat rounds’ worth of preparation before we roll initiative. For Elsa, all of that time will be consumed by finding her writing materials and writing her letter. She can of course drop the letter-writing if she wants.

[Erulasto]

11th Sommerzeit

As news spread through the ranks of the Thorns, Astoria scowled in frustration as she reached for her sword. As quickly as she could, the knight made her way through the camp to Elsa. Without her armour, and with arm still in a sling, Astoria knew she would need to think carefully about her movements very carefully.

Alvarr may have had the numbers, but between the remaining Maneaters and Elsa's magic, they had some fight left in them.

"Sieghard? My Lady? Do we stay?" Her head whipped to look in the direction of the shouts from their attackers.

[-Sentinel-]

"Sieghard? My Lady? Do we stay?"

"Not sure we have anywhere else to go," said Elsa grimly, standing up.

This may be the Thorns' last stand, she realized.

She held up a scrap of tapestry and slowly tore it in two, reciting the words to raise a wall of fire across the passage from where the enemy was spilling.


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As discussed OOC, Elsa sent Morrslieb to keep an eye on the enemy, so I'll assume that can give her the 12-yard range she needs. If not, feel free to roll a Chaos die on my behalf to double the spellcasting range.

Curtain of Flame via Morrslieb, regular length.
Using a scrap of tapestry as spell ingredient: +2. No time to Channel, since it's a full round to cast.
Casting 12+ (incl. spell ingredient): (3d10)[3][9][1](13)


Edit: Well I'm glad I had these spell ingredients made! Would've failed otherwise.

That was only one turn's worth of actions, but since this may buy us some time, I'll hold off.

[TheSummoner]

Sieghard

"Heinfried! Roth! Oswald! Grab weapons and form up!" Sieghard roared. "Kulug! Support them!" He turned to Nat and the volunteers "Get your men ready and relieve them at the front as soon as you can. The fire won't stop them forever. Ingwald and Hanna, I want half of the Thorns watching the other passages through the rocks and the rest arcing shots over the flames. Tightly packed as they are, it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel."

"Elsa, can you send a few lights down the side passages? We don't want the darkness giving them cover."

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The fire should relieve most of the immediate pressure. Even with just swords and shields (the halberdiers are equipped as volunteers for this) they should be able to handle what few men were in front of the mouth of the passage or who slip through. For the moment, Sieghard is prioritizing getting the others equipped and ready, himself included. That may change after this first round if the effects of Elsa's spell are different than I'm anticipating.

Let me know if the command roll from before to get them ready is sufficient to cover this or if you want a new one.

Edit: As for Sieghard's request to Elsa, we should see the immediate results of the fire wall before doing more.