Works for me. Lucky finishes the last swig of his brandy. Looks a the empty bottle with sarrow.Anyonw who takes a good look will notice a tear in his eye that it's empty.
Lucky walks next two Gor. Hey whiskers I'm one to always have a plan if things go bad on a job. Just in case... when we enter the cave let's hang back a step and see if there is any weak points in the roof of the entrance.
Lucky will then walk next too Drax.
Can you breath fire or something like the stories? If yes do you think it could damage a weakness in a cave roof if we see one?...just to have a plan we gotta go.
Vacating their own camp, and using the light of the moons to travel, the group, all of them this time, approached the hidden cave behind the small waterfall. As they made their careful way behind the falling water and into the tunnel entrance of the cave, the group clearly heard the voices of the people inside in conversation, so they halted for the moment and just listened.
"So they're wandering around like they're unsure, even, where to go?" That was Nargha's voice, Mills recognized it.
"Seems that way. They definitely doubled back towards us, their camp is probably only a half a day's march from here." Another male voice, tenor of pitch, and softer of tone.
"Yeah, sure, but Amryn's answers to the questions of my Commune spell indicate they're close to finding what they seek, and that them finding it still poses a danger to us." A third male voice, baritone of pitch, with practiced articulation. "The fact that they haven't found what they're seeking clearly means the amulet was only a piece of a larger puzzle."
"I don't suppose we're close enough that your spell that locates objects could point us in the right direction?" Nargha again.
"Nope, you have to be pretty close for that to work." The tenor voice.
"Did they have a fire?" That was Nyssa's voice.
"What?" More than one voice replied with the same question.
"Did they have a fire at the camp your scrying showed you?" Nyssa asked.
"Well, yeah, but what's that got to do with anything?" The tenor voice again.
"There cannot be that many travelers camping in these mountains this time of year. Just about everybody will have gone to town to celebrate Winter's Feast. Firelight carries a good long distance in the dark. If you said they're only a half day's march, we're as close to them as we've been. Might be we're better off marching in a northwesterly direction right now, at night, because we'll have a much easier time finding them if we can catch a glimpse of their firelight." Nyssa's logic was right on, as far as Mills' training and experience told him. On a good night, even with three of the four moons casting their light, a fire, even a small one, could be seen from a mile away or more, depending on the terrain.
Lucky whispered as quietly as he could, but still be heard over the noise of the falling water. "That's not a half bad plan. Maybe we should beat 'em to it? Horses did all the hard work today, I've still got some energy left in me. What about you boys?"
Zanoth, in heavy armour stays at the far back of the party so as not to give away their approach, so hears nothing…
/OOC I assume no one wants to make a decision.. :-) Those spells are awfully powerful, but I also don’t feel like backstabbing them and getting on their “to kill” list.
Zanoth being the only one in heavy armour kept to the back, with Lucky at the front doing what he did third… or was that fourth ? best.. sneaking.... At the front Lucky held his hand up… <halt>, and then some whispering, shaking and nodding of heads, and finally the “reverse” sign. Backing up away from the cave Lucky explained;
“So.. They ‘gave away‘ the location of those we are chasing. Let’s just go get em, we don’t need those saps in the cave”.
Zanoth frowned. Was this the whole story ? He knew Lucky always liked to take a certain “angle” on situations, but he couldn’t fault the logic, they had made no agreement with the other team, and this would save time and resources, something he knew well as a soldier was critical to winning.
“Suuuuure” Zanoth replieD, with a slightly sarcastic tone… Gor nodded, Mills shrugged, and no one really had much idea what Drax thought as no one really knew how a Dragonborn frowned or smiled.
Returning to their tied up horses, the group headed for the location Lucky provided.
Since the horses had done all the leg work during the day's travel, and since they, the horses, had a decent enough time to rest while the party was flitting back and forth between their camp and that of Nyssa and her employers, they weren't terribly put off by being dragged out into the woods by their reins. Mills said it would be best to walk the horses instead of ride them, just in case they would need their full speed and energy at some point. Traveling through the mountain woods at night isn't the easiest of tasks, but thankfully there was ample moonlight pouring through the forest canopy, and several among the group had darkvision, so it wasn't an insurmountable task.
As Lucky had suggested the group headed in a generally northwestern direction and kept their eyes peeled for any signs of light in the distance. The group hadn't been on the move for more than a few hours when just such a sign appeared on a hill in the distance. The trail to the flickering light in the distance would take the group down a steep hill, into a valley with a wide open grass meadow, and up another somewhat steep rise on a hillside spotted with various evergreen trees. If that firelight in the distance was in fact the camp of their dragonborn quarry, the point where they stood now was as close as they'd ever been to getting their hands on Feorac's family amulet.
Now was the time for some careful planning. If The Outlanders could catch their prey unaware, they stood a much better chance of victory. As part of that planning, though, Drax, the group's resident Dragonrealm defector wanted to know if violence was absolutely necessary. He asked as much: "If it's at all possible to just steal the necklace from them with stealth, wouldn't that be the best option?"
Drax, I understand that those are your people, but unless you believe Lucky can infiltrate their camp unnoticed and steal the Amulet, it's not worth the risk. They've already shown that they're willing to resort to extreme measures, including raising the dead and causing chaos, to achieve their objectives. It's likely that they'll fiercely defend their prize.
However, if they don't sleep in their armor, we may be able to catch them off guard. Maybe a diversion ? a squirrel can be quite noisy I understand ! Moreover, we must be prepared to quickly counter any attempts at necromancy and take them down swiftly.
Gor listens to Zanoth "Zanoth makes sense. If someone had stolen in our lands, raised the dead and attacked us, they too would be met with a swift death. We would capture and interrogate as well and then put them to the blade"
Mills shrugs. "Cart before the horse. Let's get a look at them first. Confirm it's even them. If Lucky finds the stolen goods, then we can discuss laying down some frontier justice."
Lucky starts stretching. Ok I'll go take a look will keep a safe distance at first and see what is there. If I starts squealing come save me if you be so kind.
Lucky will take off towards the camp spend a few minutes watching them then come back and report his findings.
Lucky was able to sneak up within spitting distance of the camp. Four dragonborn lay sleeping on bedrolls. Two wore the robes and gear of priests, one with black scales, and the other with blue. Two slept in chainmail, each with a spear and metal kite shield within easy reaching distance of their red scaled claws. The fifth was awake, keeping watch, or as close to it as she was able, her scales were green, and her gear marked her as some kind of religious acolyte, no doubt in training to one or both of the male priests who now snored away the middle watch of the night.
What Lucky did not see was the amulet, anywhere easily noticeable anyway, which meant that it was more than likely tucked away safely in some satchel or hidden robe pocket. There was going to be no easy way to retrieve it. As Lucky traveled back down the hill, and across the valley, his muscles started to ache with the fatigue of a long day and night of traveling. When he returned to find his friends, he wondered if they were starting to feel that same fatigue as well.
(OOC: All right everybody, I am going to have you all roll one Con Check with a DC of 11 or suffer one level of exhaustion. Traveling all day, and half the night has to have the chance of some kind of operational penalty. After all those rolls, you can formulate whatever plans you want based on the information Lucky brought back.)
Works for me. Lucky finishes the last swig of his brandy. Looks a the empty bottle with sarrow.Anyonw who takes a good look will notice a tear in his eye that it's empty.
Mills will lead the group back to the turd camp
Paladin - warforged - orange
Gor follows along wondering about the stag "Are stags held with great respect here? Should I change into stag and present myself as such?"
Lucky walks next two Gor. Hey whiskers I'm one to always have a plan if things go bad on a job. Just in case... when we enter the cave let's hang back a step and see if there is any weak points in the roof of the entrance.
Lucky will then walk next too Drax.
Can you breath fire or something like the stories? If yes do you think it could damage a weakness in a cave roof if we see one?...just to have a plan we gotta go.
(OOC: "turd camp?")
Vacating their own camp, and using the light of the moons to travel, the group, all of them this time, approached the hidden cave behind the small waterfall. As they made their careful way behind the falling water and into the tunnel entrance of the cave, the group clearly heard the voices of the people inside in conversation, so they halted for the moment and just listened.
"So they're wandering around like they're unsure, even, where to go?" That was Nargha's voice, Mills recognized it.
"Seems that way. They definitely doubled back towards us, their camp is probably only a half a day's march from here." Another male voice, tenor of pitch, and softer of tone.
"Yeah, sure, but Amryn's answers to the questions of my Commune spell indicate they're close to finding what they seek, and that them finding it still poses a danger to us." A third male voice, baritone of pitch, with practiced articulation. "The fact that they haven't found what they're seeking clearly means the amulet was only a piece of a larger puzzle."
"I don't suppose we're close enough that your spell that locates objects could point us in the right direction?" Nargha again.
"Nope, you have to be pretty close for that to work." The tenor voice.
"Did they have a fire?" That was Nyssa's voice.
"What?" More than one voice replied with the same question.
"Did they have a fire at the camp your scrying showed you?" Nyssa asked.
"Well, yeah, but what's that got to do with anything?" The tenor voice again.
"There cannot be that many travelers camping in these mountains this time of year. Just about everybody will have gone to town to celebrate Winter's Feast. Firelight carries a good long distance in the dark. If you said they're only a half day's march, we're as close to them as we've been. Might be we're better off marching in a northwesterly direction right now, at night, because we'll have a much easier time finding them if we can catch a glimpse of their firelight." Nyssa's logic was right on, as far as Mills' training and experience told him. On a good night, even with three of the four moons casting their light, a fire, even a small one, could be seen from a mile away or more, depending on the terrain.
Lucky whispered as quietly as he could, but still be heard over the noise of the falling water. "That's not a half bad plan. Maybe we should beat 'em to it? Horses did all the hard work today, I've still got some energy left in me. What about you boys?"
/OOC I assume no one wants to make a decision.. :-) Those spells are awfully powerful, but I also don’t feel like backstabbing them and getting on their “to kill” list.
OOC: DM called what lucky would do. He would get right after their target.
OOC Gor would defer to the group as he is unsure how things are done in this land. He typically doesn't parlay in caves where he comes from
I was waiting on Zanoth. If he wanted to go fight these guys, he could. If he wants to go, we can.
Paladin - warforged - orange
Sorry, some story telling;
Since the horses had done all the leg work during the day's travel, and since they, the horses, had a decent enough time to rest while the party was flitting back and forth between their camp and that of Nyssa and her employers, they weren't terribly put off by being dragged out into the woods by their reins. Mills said it would be best to walk the horses instead of ride them, just in case they would need their full speed and energy at some point. Traveling through the mountain woods at night isn't the easiest of tasks, but thankfully there was ample moonlight pouring through the forest canopy, and several among the group had darkvision, so it wasn't an insurmountable task.
As Lucky had suggested the group headed in a generally northwestern direction and kept their eyes peeled for any signs of light in the distance. The group hadn't been on the move for more than a few hours when just such a sign appeared on a hill in the distance. The trail to the flickering light in the distance would take the group down a steep hill, into a valley with a wide open grass meadow, and up another somewhat steep rise on a hillside spotted with various evergreen trees. If that firelight in the distance was in fact the camp of their dragonborn quarry, the point where they stood now was as close as they'd ever been to getting their hands on Feorac's family amulet.
Now was the time for some careful planning. If The Outlanders could catch their prey unaware, they stood a much better chance of victory. As part of that planning, though, Drax, the group's resident Dragonrealm defector wanted to know if violence was absolutely necessary. He asked as much: "If it's at all possible to just steal the necklace from them with stealth, wouldn't that be the best option?"
Gor listens to Zanoth "Zanoth makes sense. If someone had stolen in our lands, raised the dead and attacked us, they too would be met with a swift death. We would capture and interrogate as well and then put them to the blade"
Mills shrugs. "Cart before the horse. Let's get a look at them first. Confirm it's even them. If Lucky finds the stolen goods, then we can discuss laying down some frontier justice."
Paladin - warforged - orange
Lucky starts stretching. Ok I'll go take a look will keep a safe distance at first and see what is there. If I starts squealing come save me if you be so kind.
Lucky will take off towards the camp spend a few minutes watching them then come back and report his findings.
Rolled a 15 on stealth
Lucky was able to sneak up within spitting distance of the camp. Four dragonborn lay sleeping on bedrolls. Two wore the robes and gear of priests, one with black scales, and the other with blue. Two slept in chainmail, each with a spear and metal kite shield within easy reaching distance of their red scaled claws. The fifth was awake, keeping watch, or as close to it as she was able, her scales were green, and her gear marked her as some kind of religious acolyte, no doubt in training to one or both of the male priests who now snored away the middle watch of the night.
What Lucky did not see was the amulet, anywhere easily noticeable anyway, which meant that it was more than likely tucked away safely in some satchel or hidden robe pocket. There was going to be no easy way to retrieve it. As Lucky traveled back down the hill, and across the valley, his muscles started to ache with the fatigue of a long day and night of traveling. When he returned to find his friends, he wondered if they were starting to feel that same fatigue as well.
(OOC: All right everybody, I am going to have you all roll one Con Check with a DC of 11 or suffer one level of exhaustion. Traveling all day, and half the night has to have the chance of some kind of operational penalty. After all those rolls, you can formulate whatever plans you want based on the information Lucky brought back.)
CON Check: 5
Lucky gets back. And relays what he saw to the group.
Con check: 5 (7)
Lucky sits down.
I'm beat. If we are to make a move we should do it soon before we get more exhausted.
Con check: 10
Gor patiently waited for Lucky to get back. "Perhaps we can lure the one on watch away from the group by making a noise such as the rustling of grass"
Mills con check 19
Paladin - warforged - orange