"Crowley could always turn invisible and follow Lob back to his village and then meet up with us in Waterdeep. As for the druid, I am not sure he will still be in the same place thirty years after heading that way, but he might have settled down some roots."
Getting up from your rest, you start heading towards the front pager. With Zi Liang in the lead, she takes you on a longer but much easier route, following the dirt path that runs parallel to the wall. In total, it's about four miles, and the travel is much easier than wading all that way through the waist high wheat fields.
(I'm assuming that you secure Lob somehow)
As you walk, you watch the direct light from the sunrise make its first appearance, its golden glow kissing the tops of the stone parapets atop the wall and spreading wide swaths of warm light across the fields. Being directly underneath the east wall, you don't see the direct sun yet or feel its warmth on your skin, but after last night, knowing that it's there at least brings some reassurance that often comes with a new day.
After about an hour, you pass the squat grain towers on the right, and you can see the main gate and guard towers up ahead. As you get closer, you suddenly realize that something is wrong. There's some kind of excitement going on at the front gate, and you see a handful of people frantically running along the road; farmers running away from the gate and members of the town guard running towards the gate. Looking up to the left, you can see a few guards running along the wall towards the front gate, and you can hear the excited commotion of people yelling; a mix of frightened screams from the villagers and guards shouting urgent orders at each other.
(Yes we bound Lob and his legs are tied so he can’t go very fast. He also didn’t get a rest or healing so presumably he’s one hit away from unconsciousness)
As you begin running forward, (Lifferlas has offered to secure Lob and also try to use his huge trunk to keep the giant somewhat out of sight,) you see the guards at the front scrambling to close the massive wooden doors of the front gate, while other guards are yelling at villagers, telling them to stay clear of the gates and run away from the wall.
It's a rather busy morning, and a merchant caravan of 4 carts had just entered the village, having been rushed quickly through the gates, and the confused merchants are scrambling to get things in order and figure out what do to, as some of the guards are telling them to leave the cart and rush forward. Obviously, they don't want to leave the carts, but they're obviously frightened by something, and a number of them, as well as other farmers are fleeing away from the gates. Right now, these carts are about 100 feet away from you.
Looking up to your left, you can see a number of guards running along the wall, with bows in hand, looking at something out beyond the town. A couple of them are firing, arrows at whatever it is they're seeing.
Suddenly, you hear a shout, and then you see something fly overhead from outside the walls. It looks like some kind of boulder or object that's been flung by a catapult, and it sails in a high arc over the walls, before crashing down right near the cart, smashing onto the ground with a loud crunch and instantly killing one of the merchants. The impact throws up a large cloud of dust, and when it settles a few seconds later, you get a better look at the object. It appears to be the broken body of a goblin that's wearing some kind of strange, spiked metal helmet that covers nearly its entire head and extends all the way down its back.
Vernon rushes over and looks at the dead, broken goblin, and inspects the strange spiked helmet, as well as the carnage that was caused by the impact. A sickening thought suddenly occurs to him as the morbid answer is resized. The goblin itself was basically a projectile weapon, launched from some kind of catapult, and this rather menacing spiked head and body cover waa crafted with but one purpose in mind: to inflict as much damage as possible when it hits.
Screams of terror and harried shouts of alarm ensue when some of the villagers and guards see the aftermath and realize exactly what’s happening.
Vernon will call out to the team, "They have a catapult out there, and presumably more of these to send in! Shall we sally forth and capture it, or wait it out inside the walls?"
“Let’s see what it looks like out there” Arisa says. She runs to where she can get a peek outside (from cover) to see if it is a catapult- or more giants…
Being down below the walls, you not have any view of the areas outside of the town. However, hearing your idea, Zi Liang leads Arisa over to the closest watch post access point, which is a few hundred feet away from the gatehouse (there is no public access to from the gatehouse watch towers.) You both quickly run up the 10 foot wide stairway that leads up to the wall, and make your way around the guard barracks that sit atop wide parapets that are spaced at roughly one-mile intervals on the wall, and a 30-foot high pagoda, which is a shrine to Chauntea.
Standing behind the crenellations in the wall, you have an unlimited view of the surrounding countryside, which are mostly grasslands and farms that extend for a few miles in all directions.
"There!!" Zi Liang shouts as she points to an area about 150-200 feet away from the front gate, although you saw it even before she said anything. You see even more monsters... a much larger group than the ones you had encountered last night. Four hill giants stand about 150 feet away, and they look like they're getting ready to start hurling rocks. A hundred or so feet behind them, you see six ogres, all of which wear strange armored contraptions made of wood and metal, that have long wooden arms attached to them.
A bit further behind them, you see a large group of small helmeted figures, which you assume are more goblins, all equipped with spiked helmets like the one you just saw. They appear to be about 30 in number, and as you watch, you see a few of them moving towards the ogres, apparently getting ready to load themselves into the makeshift "goblin-hucker" catapults. One ogre that's already loaded yanks a long, heavy chain at his side and releases his goblin. You watch as the spiked-creature soars at least two hundred feet in the air, over the wall and crashes down just beyond the gatehouse, exploding in a cloud of dust. Fortunately, there was no one in that exact location at that very moment, but at least 5 or 6 people were close enough to get covered in dust.
“Whew… that’s quite a little army out there..” Arisa says with a disturbed tone. “Do the goblins ever survive that?!” She turns to look if the goblin made it safely to the ground or if it was dead. “We should get out of range of rocks before they start coming. They are out of my range of fire bolt anyway. We need a plan..”
Belkas looks out at the small army ranged against them. "I could probably just reach the closest ones with a fireball spell, or I could turn up to four people invisible. Would it be possible to trick or scare them away somehow? We could also help get the carts in and the gates closed and then just duck down and wait for them to get bored and leave."
"If ye can make me blind ta' their eyes, I can get out ther' and try to mess wit' their lines. But I don't like mah chances in tha' midst o' that all alone."
"I could also go out there with one other person, both of us invisible, and after a surprise attack, I could turn us invisible again and we could try to escape. If there was a nice distraction from the main gate at the same time, it could help."
I’ll assume that Zi Liang led you all up to the wall to have a look. There are other guards up there as well, and they’re talking with each other as they survey the scene, desperately trying to figure out what to do. They send a runners back and forth to relay info and commands to and from the guards at the gatehouse, which is about a half mile away.
As you’re looking out, the two giants, who are at least 150 feet away, if not more, each huck a large stone towards the gate. They both bang with thunderous crashes upon the great wooden outer doors.
Another hundred or so feet behind them, another ogre launches a goblin missile from his goblin-bucket catapult. The spike-covered goblin soars in a high arc, and crashes right on the wall, just behind one of the runners a couple hundred feet down the wall from you. The cracking impact sends stone fragments in all directions and causes slight, but noticeable damage to the walkway on top of the wall.
And to answer Arisa's question, watching the terrible impact the last goblin missile made on the wall, and upon the cart a couple minutes earlier, it's pretty clear that most of the time they don't survive after flying a few hundred feet through the air and hitting the ground such force.
As you watch in horror as the group of monsters begins to launch their attack on Goldenfields, Zi Liang informs you that the town's defenses include many archers, ten of who are always on duty at the main gate watchtowers, and 20 who are always on duty at each of the other watch posts, including the one where you are currently positioned right now. She reminds you that this how they drove away the giant attacks that occurred a few weeks ago, with scores of archers relentlesssly peppering the giants.
You can see the 20 archers at this watch post lining up with their longbows along the crenellated wall on either side of you. The four giants, who are lined up about 150 feet beyond from the front gate (they're quite a bit further from where you are standing,) are certainly within range of the archers. Even the ogres might be reachable, but at this distance, it's a pretty long shot for anyone.
Zi Liang starts shouting at the bow-wielding guards, "Release arrows now!! You need to take down the giants!!! Goldenfields is not just our home, it is breadbasket of the North. People depend on its safety and prosperity. We must protect it at all costs!!!"
Of course, she is not in charge, but given the dire and very obvious situation, many of them listen to her remarks with obvious agreement. The person who is in charge, a tall woman with long flowing black hair that has defined silver streaks calls to her troops.
"Move into position and fire at will. Do not relent! Let's drive these terrible beasts back to their holes!!"
At her command, her troupe of 20 begin running down the wall to try and get closer before they begin their arrow assault.
Zi Liang turns back to you and says, "This is dire indeed, but unlike last night, we are not alone in this fight. We have the full strength of the town guard with us! We need a plan, though... any ideas?"
Just then, you hear a familiar voice down below... a high pitched sing song voice that's shouting at the base of the steps that lead up to where you are right now. It's Oren. You hear him frantically calling for Naxene, and when you look down, you see him running towards the area where Naxene and Miros are standing by the base of the steps.
"Naxene....!!! I have come from the abbey. Father Darovik said I might find you all here... I was hanging around the town square waiting for you, when he alerted me that there was an even bigger attack going on! So he sent me here to find you, and bring you what aid he could spare!"
With that, the halfling slings off a small knapsack and begins pulling items out of the pack. From your vantage point, it appears that he has a handful of vials.
Up on the wall, Zi Laing says, "Let's go down and see what he's brought!"
When you quickly rush down the steps, Oren sees you and shouts an exclamation of greeting, happily professing how happy he is to see you alive after last night's episode. Calling you over, he shows you the contents of his pack.
"We weren't sure how well you fared last night, but Father Darovik though you could use some healing. He sent what potions he had on hand and told me to give them to whoever needs them."
In total, he has brought four vials: Two Potions of Healing and two Potions of Greater Healing.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Arisa says “Indeed this will help! As for a plan: Have the archers focus all fire on the giants first- start with the one on the left! Once the giants are dealt with we can sally forth safer to deal with the others .”. Arisa will take one of the lesser healing potions 5 healing.
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"Crowley could always turn invisible and follow Lob back to his village and then meet up with us in Waterdeep. As for the druid, I am not sure he will still be in the same place thirty years after heading that way, but he might have settled down some roots."
Getting up from your rest, you start heading towards the front pager. With Zi Liang in the lead, she takes you on a longer but much easier route, following the dirt path that runs parallel to the wall. In total, it's about four miles, and the travel is much easier than wading all that way through the waist high wheat fields.
(I'm assuming that you secure Lob somehow)
As you walk, you watch the direct light from the sunrise make its first appearance, its golden glow kissing the tops of the stone parapets atop the wall and spreading wide swaths of warm light across the fields. Being directly underneath the east wall, you don't see the direct sun yet or feel its warmth on your skin, but after last night, knowing that it's there at least brings some reassurance that often comes with a new day.
After about an hour, you pass the squat grain towers on the right, and you can see the main gate and guard towers up ahead. As you get closer, you suddenly realize that something is wrong. There's some kind of excitement going on at the front gate, and you see a handful of people frantically running along the road; farmers running away from the gate and members of the town guard running towards the gate. Looking up to the left, you can see a few guards running along the wall towards the front gate, and you can hear the excited commotion of people yelling; a mix of frightened screams from the villagers and guards shouting urgent orders at each other.
"Bloody 'ells, it neva ends!" Zyllith curses out as she pulls out her rapier and rushes forward once more to see what the commotion is about.
Sylnache Ashrain - 7th Sojourn
(Yes we bound Lob and his legs are tied so he can’t go very fast. He also didn’t get a rest or healing so presumably he’s one hit away from unconsciousness)
“Let’s go see…” arisa says and follows.
"Let's go see what new menace has appeared."
"Is it another giant?" Vernon readies his hammer and follows.
As you begin running forward, (Lifferlas has offered to secure Lob and also try to use his huge trunk to keep the giant somewhat out of sight,) you see the guards at the front scrambling to close the massive wooden doors of the front gate, while other guards are yelling at villagers, telling them to stay clear of the gates and run away from the wall.
It's a rather busy morning, and a merchant caravan of 4 carts had just entered the village, having been rushed quickly through the gates, and the confused merchants are scrambling to get things in order and figure out what do to, as some of the guards are telling them to leave the cart and rush forward. Obviously, they don't want to leave the carts, but they're obviously frightened by something, and a number of them, as well as other farmers are fleeing away from the gates. Right now, these carts are about 100 feet away from you.
Looking up to your left, you can see a number of guards running along the wall, with bows in hand, looking at something out beyond the town. A couple of them are firing, arrows at whatever it is they're seeing.
Suddenly, you hear a shout, and then you see something fly overhead from outside the walls. It looks like some kind of boulder or object that's been flung by a catapult, and it sails in a high arc over the walls, before crashing down right near the cart, smashing onto the ground with a loud crunch and instantly killing one of the merchants. The impact throws up a large cloud of dust, and when it settles a few seconds later, you get a better look at the object. It appears to be the broken body of a goblin that's wearing some kind of strange, spiked metal helmet that covers nearly its entire head and extends all the way down its back.
Vernon will run over to the Goblin, trying to remember what he knows about spiked helmets like this one.
History: 16 + 6 (normal modifier) + 3 (Artificer's Lore) = 25.
Vernon rushes over and looks at the dead, broken goblin, and inspects the strange spiked helmet, as well as the carnage that was caused by the impact. A sickening thought suddenly occurs to him as the morbid answer is resized. The goblin itself was basically a projectile weapon, launched from some kind of catapult, and this rather menacing spiked head and body cover waa crafted with but one purpose in mind: to inflict as much damage as possible when it hits.
Screams of terror and harried shouts of alarm ensue when some of the villagers and guards see the aftermath and realize exactly what’s happening.
Vernon will call out to the team, "They have a catapult out there, and presumably more of these to send in! Shall we sally forth and capture it, or wait it out inside the walls?"
“Let’s see what it looks like out there” Arisa says. She runs to where she can get a peek outside (from cover) to see if it is a catapult- or more giants…
Being down below the walls, you not have any view of the areas outside of the town. However, hearing your idea, Zi Liang leads Arisa over to the closest watch post access point, which is a few hundred feet away from the gatehouse (there is no public access to from the gatehouse watch towers.) You both quickly run up the 10 foot wide stairway that leads up to the wall, and make your way around the guard barracks that sit atop wide parapets that are spaced at roughly one-mile intervals on the wall, and a 30-foot high pagoda, which is a shrine to Chauntea.
Standing behind the crenellations in the wall, you have an unlimited view of the surrounding countryside, which are mostly grasslands and farms that extend for a few miles in all directions.
"There!!" Zi Liang shouts as she points to an area about 150-200 feet away from the front gate, although you saw it even before she said anything. You see even more monsters... a much larger group than the ones you had encountered last night. Four hill giants stand about 150 feet away, and they look like they're getting ready to start hurling rocks. A hundred or so feet behind them, you see six ogres, all of which wear strange armored contraptions made of wood and metal, that have long wooden arms attached to them.
A bit further behind them, you see a large group of small helmeted figures, which you assume are more goblins, all equipped with spiked helmets like the one you just saw. They appear to be about 30 in number, and as you watch, you see a few of them moving towards the ogres, apparently getting ready to load themselves into the makeshift "goblin-hucker" catapults. One ogre that's already loaded yanks a long, heavy chain at his side and releases his goblin. You watch as the spiked-creature soars at least two hundred feet in the air, over the wall and crashes down just beyond the gatehouse, exploding in a cloud of dust. Fortunately, there was no one in that exact location at that very moment, but at least 5 or 6 people were close enough to get covered in dust.
“Whew… that’s quite a little army out there..” Arisa says with a disturbed tone. “Do the goblins ever survive that?!” She turns to look if the goblin made it safely to the ground or if it was dead. “We should get out of range of rocks before they start coming. They are out of my range of fire bolt anyway. We need a plan..”
Belkas looks out at the small army ranged against them. "I could probably just reach the closest ones with a fireball spell, or I could turn up to four people invisible. Would it be possible to trick or scare them away somehow? We could also help get the carts in and the gates closed and then just duck down and wait for them to get bored and leave."
"If ye can make me blind ta' their eyes, I can get out ther' and try to mess wit' their lines. But I don't like mah chances in tha' midst o' that all alone."
Sylnache Ashrain - 7th Sojourn
"I could also go out there with one other person, both of us invisible, and after a surprise attack, I could turn us invisible again and we could try to escape. If there was a nice distraction from the main gate at the same time, it could help."
I’ll assume that Zi Liang led you all up to the wall to have a look. There are other guards up there as well, and they’re talking with each other as they survey the scene, desperately trying to figure out what to do. They send a runners back and forth to relay info and commands to and from the guards at the gatehouse, which is about a half mile away.
As you’re looking out, the two giants, who are at least 150 feet away, if not more, each huck a large stone towards the gate. They both bang with thunderous crashes upon the great wooden outer doors.
Another hundred or so feet behind them, another ogre launches a goblin missile from his goblin-bucket catapult. The spike-covered goblin soars in a high arc, and crashes right on the wall, just behind one of the runners a couple hundred feet down the wall from you. The cracking impact sends stone fragments in all directions and causes slight, but noticeable damage to the walkway on top of the wall.
And to answer Arisa's question, watching the terrible impact the last goblin missile made on the wall, and upon the cart a couple minutes earlier, it's pretty clear that most of the time they don't survive after flying a few hundred feet through the air and hitting the ground such force.
As you watch in horror as the group of monsters begins to launch their attack on Goldenfields, Zi Liang informs you that the town's defenses include many archers, ten of who are always on duty at the main gate watchtowers, and 20 who are always on duty at each of the other watch posts, including the one where you are currently positioned right now. She reminds you that this how they drove away the giant attacks that occurred a few weeks ago, with scores of archers relentlesssly peppering the giants.
You can see the 20 archers at this watch post lining up with their longbows along the crenellated wall on either side of you. The four giants, who are lined up about 150 feet beyond from the front gate (they're quite a bit further from where you are standing,) are certainly within range of the archers. Even the ogres might be reachable, but at this distance, it's a pretty long shot for anyone.
Zi Liang starts shouting at the bow-wielding guards, "Release arrows now!! You need to take down the giants!!! Goldenfields is not just our home, it is breadbasket of the North. People depend on its safety and prosperity. We must protect it at all costs!!!"
Of course, she is not in charge, but given the dire and very obvious situation, many of them listen to her remarks with obvious agreement. The person who is in charge, a tall woman with long flowing black hair that has defined silver streaks calls to her troops.
"Move into position and fire at will. Do not relent! Let's drive these terrible beasts back to their holes!!"
At her command, her troupe of 20 begin running down the wall to try and get closer before they begin their arrow assault.
Zi Liang turns back to you and says, "This is dire indeed, but unlike last night, we are not alone in this fight. We have the full strength of the town guard with us! We need a plan, though... any ideas?"
Just then, you hear a familiar voice down below... a high pitched sing song voice that's shouting at the base of the steps that lead up to where you are right now. It's Oren. You hear him frantically calling for Naxene, and when you look down, you see him running towards the area where Naxene and Miros are standing by the base of the steps.
"Naxene....!!! I have come from the abbey. Father Darovik said I might find you all here... I was hanging around the town square waiting for you, when he alerted me that there was an even bigger attack going on! So he sent me here to find you, and bring you what aid he could spare!"
With that, the halfling slings off a small knapsack and begins pulling items out of the pack. From your vantage point, it appears that he has a handful of vials.
Up on the wall, Zi Laing says, "Let's go down and see what he's brought!"
When you quickly rush down the steps, Oren sees you and shouts an exclamation of greeting, happily professing how happy he is to see you alive after last night's episode. Calling you over, he shows you the contents of his pack.
"We weren't sure how well you fared last night, but Father Darovik though you could use some healing. He sent what potions he had on hand and told me to give them to whoever needs them."
In total, he has brought four vials: Two Potions of Healing and two Potions of Greater Healing.
Arisa says “Indeed this will help! As for a plan: Have the archers focus all fire on the giants first- start with the one on the left! Once the giants are dealt with we can sally forth safer to deal with the others .”. Arisa will take one of the lesser healing potions 5 healing.