A Test of your Prowers, The Endless Guantlet

[CNFish]

Spoiler: JOA

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X looks in confusion as he over hears oorths prayer... Did he just say bare handed twice??? Weirdo.

Spoiler: FR

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Frederic follows the signs of kord through the trees and he can tell that he is definitely making ground between him and his pursuers so much so that he has all but lost them. After what seems like forever in running, Frederic and Robina seem to be tiring out when low and behold they spot a cave of sorts in the distance.

Spoiler: spot DC 12

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you notice a tall dark figure standing in the mouth of the cave. Upon closer inspection its Oorth!!

Kord has bestowed this blessing upon the weary adventurers

[JbeJ275]

Ander wanders over to Orth and pats reaches up reassuringly.
I’m sure they’ll be fine, this storm will pass, we’ll find them and nothing bads to happen. Tell you what when we get back to town after figuring out what the goblins are up to, I’ll buy you a beer and you can tell me what’s gone on in your oh so mysterious past.

[wilphe]

(1d20)[12] Spot +2

[wilphe]

Oorth! Praise be to Kord. The others are with you? Please be careful we may have company following us and they will not be in a good mood

She steps inside the cave

Anders, Jon, hello. And I see we have new friend, she looks at X'Ivlir Robina, hello. Nice to meet you and walks over and pets the mule, And your name is?

Alpha squad showed before you got back and we went along with them, however they gave us the creeps like something was going on so we gave them the slip.

[wilphe]

They might be chasing us, if not they know you were going to be following us so they'll probably double back. The commander is Lt Drake, who is a bully and generally unpleasant. Probable magic long sword, wears a breastplate. Has a right hand man with sword, chainmail and shield. Then one guy with a shortsword and bow, chain shirt and two more guys with the sword and board setup.

At least one of which [She describes GX] I would rather not kill.

I think they are only kept in line by the Lieutenant and without him and certainly without his number 2 they'll give up if we have to end up fighting them

[JbeJ275]

Good you’re back! Cries Ander rushing up to the recovered members of their team. I knew you’d make it back OK.

At the mention of other squad Anders face creases with concern. I’m not sure what I can do about this, I have a few spells to make you stronger and a few to cause them trouble without hurting them so I may be able to disable them, especially if we get them to meet us on our terms.

[Fliggl]

Feels good to be back... before participating in the greeting, Frederic knelt down with his sword in front of him and started a loud prayer. The chanting and buzzing mixed with the echoes from the cave was spectacular! Saying “thank you“ to your helping deity has to be spectacular...

He stood up, walked over to the rest of his group, greeted the new one and thought this has to be the tracker, clapped his hands together and said Okay! You know that we are chased. For one reason or another, the Alphas forced us to walk with them. But it was this tough young lady here he laid his arm appreciative around her which made our escape possible.
And now, now that we are all back together, we should confront Drake and his men!

Tracker, you! You know a good place, a bottle-neck or so?

[JonMarker2]

Gives off the normal happy vibe, is genuinely face and body written to show relief, tries to hide his smile due to his looks. Tries to keep mouth shut until everyone else as had a say. Trips over makeshift branch broom. About to go cry baby.

I'm Sorry I split the party up! I thought that no one would follow me, but still would be worried where I was. I'm not the greatest person to hang around, I've probably already peeved off Orth, Ander needs his spell study time, and I thought X'Ivlir was one of you two for the longest time! Plus I have a few...acquaintances... from a guild. I wanted to talk to, I don't know how they would react to you guys, or you guys to the...smell.

Deep breaths to hold it in:
I'm; so flippantly; Sorry. Still where from here?

[CNFish]

after an emotional reunion with comrades x decides to speak his mind.

X - it's down right impossible that you guys made it here. How on Earth did you get away? You must tell me. As I'm sure I will be thrilled by the story. And yes there is a bottleneck nearby where the canyon covers on both sides the trail that you were following. I was going to lead the group there to attempt to head you guys off. But we got forced in to this here cave..

About the time of the end of Xs statement another loud thunder rips across the sky and the rain seems to pickup intensely with no signs of slowing down. Anyone caught out in this wouldn't be able to walk five feet without being able to see where they are going let alone make it to a shelter. The party exchanges niceties and stories of what happened.. the party rests up here for the night. Once the dawn breaks over the cave walls the rain has subsided and it's time to head on.

X - so, where to now that we found your friends? he says facing oorth.

[finaldooms]

( sorry busy day)

a Frederic and robina!! I see. Kord has..surprisingly...answered my prayer!! Hrmm if alpha was acting oddly as you say X might be right about corrupt guards then which is a problem...cause robina told our superior and now we have them..

And yes Jon and I had a slight..yelling bout but it should be all clear now ..and hopefully we can take them down..either lethally or not ..just know,im not so good at the not part

Points at his greatsword that is obviously sharp and dangerous
now..from what Xsaid there is a spot we can use and withhis help we can quickly get there before they do i bet once it clears up a bit. .i brought supplies on thr cart btw ( i dont know who wants to keep track of that btw)
Or if we want we can either go back to town ans try to find not corrupt people..go to the hob base as planned...or..and im just throwing it out there..we can just say screw it and leave ..but that last is only if everyone feels like that

[Fliggl]

Leaving isn't an option! I want to know what Drake has planned with Robina and me! This guy needs someone to teach him a lesson!

And what was curious: it seemed that he know where to go - know where we wanted to go - without asking any questions. They just walked and didn't even look for tracks!

But whatever. Fight. Defeat. Not Kill! Ok?

[JonMarker2]

Umm...hopefully the villagers are innocent, just the higher muck rakes and alpha playing Calvin and Hobs, so why don't we catch alpha and tell the high mucks to lock them up... With the people here I have been practicing my goblin writing and after we catch them, we can walk away from the militia, by turning in a fake document and then do what is right on our own. Sorry X, looks like you have take what you can carry off of alpha squad and a little bit of their pride too. Oh! does anyone else do goblin, I've gotten a few pointers, but it isn't a perfect note yet.

Too the point of pushing out hair, hand on head rubbing.

[CNFish]

X - drake... Damn it all.. he gets a rather sour look on his face. aye, there is a spot that would be decent for an ambush. It's not far from here and if we walk fast we may get the drop on them.. The path we are on is a bit quicker than the ones you as he looks in the direction of Frederic and Robina . were dragged on. he begins to draw in the dirt the path to the mountains narrows in this direction only large enough for small groups of people to move through. This is why merchants usually avoid the path because it's difficult to move product through.
But it's decent to move an army though if you have the time. And Grakdo definitely seems to have the time. Corrupting the guard doesn't happen overnight.. With Cliff sides on both sides anyone with a bow would be out of harms way, while you and you he looks at the two melee heavy members of the group. would be able to get a good facing on them.

[wilphe]

Robina will dry herself and her stuff off as best she can, make sure that watches are posted and get some sleep.

I don't want to go back to town now. Even if it is our word against Drake's that's not enough. If his higher ups are in on whatever is going on that is even worse.

I think he has three options right now:

Firstly, he heads back to town and gives up. Seems unlikely for him

Secondly, he knows the rest of Omega was back in town and following behind so he might double back and try to find them. Especially as how that is a logical place for us to go.

Thirdly, he pushes on towards Grakdo, and if that is what he is doing then that seems a good enough reason to stop him. But remember what I said, focus on him. I think most of his people don't know what's going on.



( i dont know who wants to keep track of that btw)
I'll do it

[wilphe]

We may run into trouble whilst moving, so I suggest we think about our order.

How about?

X'Ivlir upfront with myself as he needs to guide and we may need to parlay. Oorth as muscle behind us, Frederick as rearguard and Ander in the middle?

Jon I don't where you are most comfortable unless you want to stay with the mule?

Spoiler: ooc

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Cause there isn't anybody here with Handle Animal, so Profession: Squire is as close we we gonna get

[wilphe]

But whatever. Fight. Defeat. Not Kill! Ok?

I might be able to bluff him into surrendering, or at least put enough doubt in the minds of some his squad that they don't fight. Let me think about that.

[finaldooms]

that sounds like a good plan so far, but im not to sure i can do the not kill thing haha but il try ..also unless we have more money lieing around than..8gp all X was hired for was tracking unless he decides to fight for free so try to keep that in mind
After we get ready
to the ambush point?

[wilphe]

I know, but I'd rather not kill GX at least and the more bodies you leave lying around the more trouble you get in later, besides if there is an attack and we get the guard back on side the town will need every body it can if it comes to a fight with Grakdo. she pauses, then adds as an afterthought, Also killing is bad

[wilphe]

Well Jon and I and the only two archers but we outnumber them two to one in that regard. Frederick and Oorth can tear up in melee but they will be outnumbered and let's not forget that everyone we are up against is going to be better armoured than us so may well last longer. The Lieutenant also looks like he has seen a fight or two so he might even be a match for the two of you together.

Fortunately we have ruined the Lieutenant's tack so he is unlikely to be on horseback and we will have the advantage of mobility.

And they know I can cast a spell or two, so they are unlikely to clump again. If they do, fantastic.

So I suggest we speak to them first and try and divide their willingness to fight, if that doesn't work use magic to slow them down, split them up and neutralise them, then focus fire on their archer and the Lieutenant. Melee should just be mop up or last resort if they get too close

[JonMarker2]

As an archer I will try to stay hidden until the last second. I really don't want to split the party again over if we could have gotten some more proof out of the LT. Still... X, you seem to have no love for the town's militia do you think if you saw the Alpha group, you could point out a or maybe your reasons for us.
Ander, I know you have probably prepared your spells already; I tried to stay out of your way...I like magic...right, but is one of them either Message or Ghost whisper? We could ask for a member representative that Robina or Frederic can describe to meet us at a point. Now if the representative shows then X can judge if the guy is no good, if the LT shows...then we capture and force his group's hands, if they all show up they aren't any good and we will have to fight.
I don't know if that is good idea or if you guys even get what I mean, but those are my thoughts.

[finaldooms]

I love the afterthought there robina lol

killing is not always bad, its a way of life for most things..only difference is we don't eat other humanoids..mostly due to social stigma but whatever
And i assume the LT will be..obvious compared to the rest? I can try to just kill him..

[wilphe]

And i assume the LT will be..obvious compared to the rest? I can try to just kill him..

Possibly magical longsword, breastplate. Will almost certainly be shouting at people. she looks at Oorth with concern, I know you guys took out three gobbos without getting a scratch, and that the Brawler is watching out for you, but I'm worried if you charging in with no plan other than to trade blows you are gonna get carved up

[finaldooms]

well you and Anders and Frederic can cast spells ( and im assuming we have enough time to plan and make it to the spot) ..if we know what spells we have and what they do we can try to get a real plan going..cause im only good for smashing things..and people

Plus if we get there and we can find a pile of,rocks or even a knocked over tree above them we could always just push it onto them

[wilphe]

but is one of them either Message

I have message, but I have to get within 120 feet , so we are probably better off using that amongst ourselves.

Otherwise, I have a couple of spells that can subdue, confuse and misdirect, but not a lot of direct damage.

As for the Lieutenant. I very much doubt he'll send someone else to talk in his place

[JonMarker2]

As I said, I like magic...but I just don't get it, you know. Still now is the time to steel and ready ourselves. Shouldn't we get going?

[wilphe]

Yeah, let's move. I think everyone is ready, we can talk further on the move if we have to

[CNFish]

The party starts to move following X, all the while talking about their strategy on how to deal with the situation at hand.

[CNFish]

After what feels like a good while in walking X decides to step in from amidst the conversation and say
X - we're gettin' close now. If you haven't figure out your plan you'd better do it soon. It's untelling what will be there, if any when we arrive. he goes silent as he continues walking forward not even once slowing down to address anyone in particular.

[JbeJ275]

Ander speaks up from his position in the middle of the group. I can make their footing unstable, leave them a little easier for ours to subdue, but if any of ours wander onto their ground it'd have the same effects.

[Fliggl]

Tracker, where do you lead us to? A bottleneck? A canyon? Where can we take our advantage from it?

Best would be that Orth and myself do the greeting and speeking and you he points to the rest are supporting us with arrows and magic, if necessary, from out of the shadows. Or woods or wherever X is leading us to...