Esa flies down the chimney, as the spirit owl did. She finds the metal tools leaning against the door, and hears Old Kellar's snores from the bedroom. The pixie starts shifting the items.
RL, Grimbald, and Vakiel approach the house. They can't see the grey cloak but know they are there somewhere. They get to the front door and can hear Esa huffing and cursing the heavy tools.
It has a latch on it that Esa can unhitch if she wants.
There's a snuffling from Old Kellar as the knocking penetrates his sleep. He grumbles and gets out of bed, farting loudly. He laughs. Then pulls some pants on and moves to the door, frowning as he is looking at how his "trap" has been dismantled. He doesn't see Esa.
"Who's there?" he calls out.
At this point the grey cloaked figure arrives and removes her hood. It is Alesia Gravelstoke. She nods to you all and gives Vakiel her brilliant smile.
"About time, I've been waiting for you lot!" He peers outside to see if anyone is observing. "Quick, come inside!"
He ushers you all inside and latches the door behind you. "I'll put the tea on."
As the old dwarf lights his stove and puts a kettle of water on, Alesia turns to you and speaks.
"Just to anticipate your questions, I'm here to gather information about the situation in Harken as I do every few days. Old Kellar is one of my regular stops." She looks at Vakiel. "And it's a nice surprise to see you all here. We've heard about Albridge of course, and the many heroic actions taken by you delvers."
Grimbald glances back and forth between Vakiel and Alesia. "Old Kellar, we'd like to see you safe, would you like to return to Aldbridge with us. Your experience is sorely needed"
Alesia starts when Esa appears, then mutters an apology, explaining she has had to deal with small flying things appearing, sometimes popping out of invisibility.
Old Kellar opens the door to the closed room. It looks like a washroom but has a chest in the corner. The ancient dwarf opens the chest and takes out a lot of junk, then opens up a secret compartment in the bottom and brings out a map.
"I'm not coming back with you. If I did, and they noticed, they might think something was up. But I'm giving you the map of the castle I drew up from memory. The Iron Circle took any plans I had, worried I might hand them on to their enemies. But I play the addled fool with them, make them think I'm losing my mind, so far that's worked."
The dwarf opens out the map and shows you. Then rolls it up and hands it to Grimbald. He looks at you all.
"So you better tell me what's happened to Augustin Stockmer, why isn't he here?"
Grimbald mumbles to himself, 'addled fool' as if it personally stings him. He leaves the explanation to the others. He opens up the map and studies it, attempting to commit it to memory. later he will ask "What's the best way for us to sneak in? Is there anything not in the plans they have?
RL was awkwardly waiting for someone else to explain but proceeds to let Old Kelar and Alesia know that Augustin is mostly ok but has an injury that requires a number of days of rest. RL is just a bit in awe of the amount of punishment that Augustin has taken and is somehow still alive.
"Better than I feared. He's a good lad, and with this experience behind him could probably make a better Baron than Jonn Stockmer's fool son, but it is what it is."
When asked about his black eye and facial cuts Old Kellar grunts - "They roughed me up a bit, wanting to know if anyone has contacted me about the keep. They'd probably like to kill me, but that might start a rebellion here, and at the moment we're their only food source. Oh don't think I haven't thought of just moving everyone out and starving them, but people have their livelihoods here, and we'd be condemning the Baron and his family to the same fate. But anyway I played the old fool who was losing his wits and they let me be after a bit of a beating and a warning. If it's my cost for the liberation of Harken I'll gladly pay that a thousand times over."
Alesia lets the party know what is going on in Harken.
People can come and go, but subject to harassment, theft, warnings about bad things happening to family if they don't return. They don't let families leave.
The Silver Nail taphouse (1 on the map) is now The Broken Gaol, run by an opportunistic half-orc woman. She took over when the owner of the Silver Nail was arrested on suspicion of protecting rebels. We think he was one of those sacrificed in the devil summoning ritual, but we don't know for sure.
The Iron Circle troops are almost all out of ammunition for their bows and crossbows, they spent all of it at the battle for Albridge.
Iron Keep, as they call it now, is being run by a priest of Asmodeus. He's not a very good administrator or war leader, so the troops are taking advantage and slacking off. They expect to be resupplied and reinforced from down south next summer. They are just hanging out until then.
We think this information is reliable. We captured an Iron Circle soldier and he's currently our guest at Gravelstoke Estate. He's been very helpful as he was thinking about deserting anyway.
Grimbald mumbles to himself, 'addled fool' as if it personally stings him. He leaves the explanation to the others. He opens up the map and studies it, attempting to commit it to memory. later he will ask "What's the best way for us to sneak in? Is there anything not in the plans they have?
Old Kellar pours some tea and realises he doesn't have enough mugs. He shrugs. "Maybe I AM losing my mind. Ah well, here's some blackberry tea. You can fight over it." He puts out three mugs of steaming sweet smelling tea.
He settles on a chair, wincing as his knees give him a sharp pain. "You need to decide how to do that. Maybe get the Gravelstokes here to help, they're good at sneaking. And they have the plans to everything, I be more worried about not putting everything down here."
Alesia smiles. "We can certainly discuss this. Now the Iron Circle are effectively broken, thanks to the Battle of Albridge, they are not hassling us any more. We can help with the liberation of Harken. Bearing in mind we are not front line fighters, but we can infiltrate, maybe open a few doors."
Grimbald offers Old Kellar a Goodberry, not sure if it will aid his pain. "Alesia, our best chance is to get behind the walls of the Keep unseen, frontal assaults dont tend to work well for us. If a few doors of the keep are left open, that would help a lot..."
Later that day while Augustin was busy doing some light work in the town, mostly with construction, driving a cart of wood to a build site or helping turn clay into bricks. While working he’s thinking about what the team needs and what steps can be taken to facilitate their next action. The paladin hates that everyone is out and he can’t protect them and tries not to think about that too much.
When walking back to his room at the Mallard Inn, Augustin notices two tall dragonborn in armour trying to talk to locals. The locals don't seem to be much help, and one of them notices Augustin approaching and gratefully points at you while saying something. The two dragonborn turn to look at Augustin and walk towards him. They seem very much like soldiers in their manner and bearing. Each wears splint armour and carries a longsword and shield.
"I am hengot Alikax of Dythan's Legion," one silver scaled dragonborn says, his accent thick. "This is baka Talroc," he indicated the dragonborn with bronze scales. Augustin guessed that "hengot" and "baka" were ranks. "We would like to ask you some questions. If you would help us, we would be grateful."
Augustin has heard of Dythan's Legion. Wielding arms and armor from a bygone era, these dragonborn legionnaires scour Arkhosian ruins for relics of their lost heritage. Augustin remembers his uncle the Baron saying that Dythan's Legion has little patience for treasure hunters. Stand in its way, and your bones will litter the ruins for some future explorer to excavate. The Legion is led by Legatus Dythan, a charismatic idealist who seeks to raise Arkhosia from the ashes.
Grimbald offers Old Kellar a Goodberry, not sure if it will aid his pain. "Alesia, our best chance is to get behind the walls of the Keep unseen, frontal assaults dont tend to work well for us. If a few doors of the keep are left open, that would help a lot..."
Alesia nods. "We've been observing the Keep. Obviously night time would be best. Perhaps if I come with you to Albridge once we have a plan I will bring that to Xander and we'll make it happen."
RL puts his hand up to speak and pauses just a bit too long before finally saying. "We heard rumours of rebels in Harken village, while we were in allbridge. It might be a good idea for the town to be very quiet for a night or two to lull the IC guards into being more lazy"
He is not sure if he should be bowing or hugging so gives a kind of strange half bow to Alesia
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Esa flies down the chimney, as the spirit owl did. She finds the metal tools leaning against the door, and hears Old Kellar's snores from the bedroom. The pixie starts shifting the items.
RL, Grimbald, and Vakiel approach the house. They can't see the grey cloak but know they are there somewhere. They get to the front door and can hear Esa huffing and cursing the heavy tools.
"we could have just knocked" thinks Grimbald.
Still can. :)
Knock Knock. "hey Old Kellar, it's me" (others can be with me or in hiding)
RL will try the door to see if it's locked
Grimbald looks at RL. "Let the dwarf answer first!"
It has a latch on it that Esa can unhitch if she wants.
There's a snuffling from Old Kellar as the knocking penetrates his sleep. He grumbles and gets out of bed, farting loudly. He laughs. Then pulls some pants on and moves to the door, frowning as he is looking at how his "trap" has been dismantled. He doesn't see Esa.
"Who's there?" he calls out.
At this point the grey cloaked figure arrives and removes her hood. It is Alesia Gravelstoke. She nods to you all and gives Vakiel her brilliant smile.
"Friends!" she calls back to Old Kellar.
"Hey Kellar, it's Grimbald... and it appears... Alesia Gravelstoke"
Old Kellar opens the door quickly.
"About time, I've been waiting for you lot!" He peers outside to see if anyone is observing. "Quick, come inside!"
He ushers you all inside and latches the door behind you. "I'll put the tea on."
As the old dwarf lights his stove and puts a kettle of water on, Alesia turns to you and speaks.
"Just to anticipate your questions, I'm here to gather information about the situation in Harken as I do every few days. Old Kellar is one of my regular stops." She looks at Vakiel. "And it's a nice surprise to see you all here. We've heard about Albridge of course, and the many heroic actions taken by you delvers."
Grimbald glances back and forth between Vakiel and Alesia. "Old Kellar, we'd like to see you safe, would you like to return to Aldbridge with us. Your experience is sorely needed"
Esa, hiding behind the door, quietly and awkardle creeps out and amongst the rest of the party, eventually flying up to perch on RL as they talk.
Alesia starts when Esa appears, then mutters an apology, explaining she has had to deal with small flying things appearing, sometimes popping out of invisibility.
Old Kellar opens the door to the closed room. It looks like a washroom but has a chest in the corner. The ancient dwarf opens the chest and takes out a lot of junk, then opens up a secret compartment in the bottom and brings out a map.
"I'm not coming back with you. If I did, and they noticed, they might think something was up. But I'm giving you the map of the castle I drew up from memory. The Iron Circle took any plans I had, worried I might hand them on to their enemies. But I play the addled fool with them, make them think I'm losing my mind, so far that's worked."
The dwarf opens out the map and shows you. Then rolls it up and hands it to Grimbald. He looks at you all.
"So you better tell me what's happened to Augustin Stockmer, why isn't he here?"
Grimbald mumbles to himself, 'addled fool' as if it personally stings him. He leaves the explanation to the others. He opens up the map and studies it, attempting to commit it to memory. later he will ask "What's the best way for us to sneak in? Is there anything not in the plans they have?
RL was awkwardly waiting for someone else to explain but proceeds to let Old Kelar and Alesia know that Augustin is mostly ok but has an injury that requires a number of days of rest. RL is just a bit in awe of the amount of punishment that Augustin has taken and is somehow still alive.
Old Kellar nods.
"Better than I feared. He's a good lad, and with this experience behind him could probably make a better Baron than Jonn Stockmer's fool son, but it is what it is."
When asked about his black eye and facial cuts Old Kellar grunts - "They roughed me up a bit, wanting to know if anyone has contacted me about the keep. They'd probably like to kill me, but that might start a rebellion here, and at the moment we're their only food source. Oh don't think I haven't thought of just moving everyone out and starving them, but people have their livelihoods here, and we'd be condemning the Baron and his family to the same fate. But anyway I played the old fool who was losing his wits and they let me be after a bit of a beating and a warning. If it's my cost for the liberation of Harken I'll gladly pay that a thousand times over."
Alesia lets the party know what is going on in Harken.
Old Kellar pours some tea and realises he doesn't have enough mugs. He shrugs. "Maybe I AM losing my mind. Ah well, here's some blackberry tea. You can fight over it." He puts out three mugs of steaming sweet smelling tea.
He settles on a chair, wincing as his knees give him a sharp pain. "You need to decide how to do that. Maybe get the Gravelstokes here to help, they're good at sneaking. And they have the plans to everything, I be more worried about not putting everything down here."
Alesia smiles. "We can certainly discuss this. Now the Iron Circle are effectively broken, thanks to the Battle of Albridge, they are not hassling us any more. We can help with the liberation of Harken. Bearing in mind we are not front line fighters, but we can infiltrate, maybe open a few doors."
Grimbald offers Old Kellar a Goodberry, not sure if it will aid his pain. "Alesia, our best chance is to get behind the walls of the Keep unseen, frontal assaults dont tend to work well for us. If a few doors of the keep are left open, that would help a lot..."
8th day of Summer - Albridge.
Later that day while Augustin was busy doing some light work in the town, mostly with construction, driving a cart of wood to a build site or helping turn clay into bricks. While working he’s thinking about what the team needs and what steps can be taken to facilitate their next action. The paladin hates that everyone is out and he can’t protect them and tries not to think about that too much.
When walking back to his room at the Mallard Inn, Augustin notices two tall dragonborn in armour trying to talk to locals. The locals don't seem to be much help, and one of them notices Augustin approaching and gratefully points at you while saying something. The two dragonborn turn to look at Augustin and walk towards him. They seem very much like soldiers in their manner and bearing. Each wears splint armour and carries a longsword and shield.
"I am hengot Alikax of Dythan's Legion," one silver scaled dragonborn says, his accent thick. "This is baka Talroc," he indicated the dragonborn with bronze scales. Augustin guessed that "hengot" and "baka" were ranks. "We would like to ask you some questions. If you would help us, we would be grateful."
Augustin has heard of Dythan's Legion. Wielding arms and armor from a bygone era, these dragonborn legionnaires scour Arkhosian ruins for relics of their lost heritage. Augustin remembers his uncle the Baron saying that Dythan's Legion has little patience for treasure hunters. Stand in its way, and your bones will litter the ruins for some future explorer to excavate. The Legion is led by Legatus Dythan, a charismatic idealist who seeks to raise Arkhosia from the ashes.
How does Augustin respond?
Alesia nods. "We've been observing the Keep. Obviously night time would be best. Perhaps if I come with you to Albridge once we have a plan I will bring that to Xander and we'll make it happen."
RL puts his hand up to speak and pauses just a bit too long before finally saying. "We heard rumours of rebels in Harken village, while we were in allbridge. It might be a good idea for the town to be very quiet for a night or two to lull the IC guards into being more lazy"
He is not sure if he should be bowing or hugging so gives a kind of strange half bow to Alesia