"I am here for the same reasons I have always been here to finish the job WE were hired for. I am still here because we failed our first attempt, then you failed again a second time and without me, you will likely fail again. The fact that you think I am here to stop you is frankly insulting. I have never stopped anyone from their goals with the exception of her."
As she says the last statement she points at Cora,
"And that was over a matter of her methods. If you would like me not to assist you specifically because of some lack of trust on your part I will, of course, avoid helping you but tell me now before we begin this distasteful task."
Nodding at Alul, "One vote for brute force, I would personally prefer a distraction method but there is a high chance they will not fall for such tactics given that not two weeks ago there was an attempt made on the life of their chieftain. So I am unsettled by, but not opposed to brute force."
“You will pardon my concern for your sudden change of heart. Of course any legitimate help we will accept but we asked you to stay with us twice now and you walked away both times. Telling us killing the chieftain was wrong and not wanting anything to do with Cora. Calling us lost and our plan evil. Now you show up on the outskirts of the village almost as if you have been waiting for us, with no explanation and start asking about our plans. Can you not possibly fathom why we would be surprised and want clarification of your motives? Why now? You didn’t care we failed before.”
Yallin Stares at Sim eyes widening in disbelief then begins to laugh incredulously.
"If you do not understand by now why I did not and do not really wish to work with someone who views me as damned and scum then you never will, and I for one have wasted too much breath attempting to make you understand."
She glances at Cora shrugging apologetically as if to say 'we both know it is true even if we don't like it'
"And here you are doubling down on insult claiming that I did not care if you failed. You would have said before that you could never be more wrong on that feeling but you continue to surprise me. So I will simply say that I cared very much and still do. I do not wish to see ANY of you die on this venture. As for me being here, I have scouted ahead, and I have scouted sideways due to my own failings and have reached the conclusion that I cannot do this alone. So I made a prediction. That after having failed as badly as you did before you would attempt to gather more power and return for another attempt. Had you found an alternative I daresay I would have been here for a while. I will also note that I agreed reluctantly to the plan of assassinating the chieftain when we first formed it several months ago. I objected to killing the rest of the village and suggested distraction before but the bugling of your last attempt has made that much inevitable."
She chuckles again still not sure why she is having to explain everything again
"I owe you all nothing and none of you owe me anything. We are bound only by contract to the Blackmire Company. Again I ask a simple question, do you want me to not help you, specifically you, once this begins?"
She turns to the others clearly giving Sim the cold shoulder, "Brute force is the only way where trust is not an issue, you fight or you die so I am formally agreeing with Alul to fight through this place and achieve our goal no matter the cost"
By care you know I am referring to you walking away despite us asking you to stay not your personal feelings toward us as individuals. As mentioned you’re help if offered is appreciated and yes by me personally but our failures haven’t changed your stance on the issue before.
I mean no insult by any of my questions. If you take it that way I apologize but you haven’t budged an inch on this in the past. Now you run full steam beside us. I don’t feel it is to much to ask why. Why will you now willingly work with someone you despise. Why you now agree to tear through a town no matter what when we could actually attempt stealth. If you owe us nothing and you know we no longer honor the blackmire contract then we are not bound to you by that. Do you now willingly take Cora’s deal? I don’t need a repeat of why you chose your path before, I understand that, I want to know why you choose our path now. What has changed?
A final glare at Sim her face hardening "I will NEVER take her deal. NEVER." and then turns back to the group awaiting their answers to how they should approach the village clearly fed up with Sims lack of comprehension.
Cora tilts her head, watching the two for a second.
"You know that a frontal assault is a terrible plan. Their village is on a plateau. From the time we infiltrated, there's a few fields to cut through before reaching them, and a subterranian network that we can go through." She looks between Sim and Yaalin. "Going through the front will likely make us fight through a choke point..."
Alul chimes in with a quick "Coward."
Cora looks at Alul, before to the group. "I'd rather not fight single file line in a effort to hope a war of attrition is on our favor. And climbing a plateau where they can attack down at us, while defenseless, is a poor idea. Especially if your scouting is true and there are more of them patrolling and watching. No we should try again what we did last time. But I am open to suggestions rather than letting the apostate and the monster decide."
Sim sighs clearly not going to get an answer out of Yaalin. Let her join if you want. I still vote for stealth of sorts. I say we inspect the cliff and try to climb it. I figure they won’t expect us there.”
When Yaalin shows up Diadochi looks to her and then Cora, then he looks at Abigail and Alul. He opens his mouth to say something but then closes it saying nothing. The back and forth between Sim and Yaalin clearly puts him on edge.
More loudly than he means to be says "let's not look a trusted ally in the mouth" He looks sheepish and then continues at normal volume while making a rough approximation of the village through lines in the dirt and rocks. He takes out several wooden figurines crudely depicting the team ((depending on how many The DM says Diadochi could've made most to some of you might be bush branches)) "so, stealth is preferred but it did fail last time, further complicating the matter is the Hn'ti know we are coming, to the extent they can observe us is unknown. Distraction is an interesting idea, but if our distraction is too great we run the risk of moving the chieftain, and then we have to find him. If Abigail feels up to it she could scale the bluff and cause a distraction, perhaps a signal so our timing is precise so we know when to do the jump, then Abigail can climb down the mountain, hopefully less stressful circumstances than the last time...If we do go brute force we need to find a choke point or we will be over run. I don't remember seeing one expect for in the sewers but that seems more like an opportunity for us to take spell damage from a distance rather than the direct engagement we want..." Diadochi sighs, "last time we went in with no intelligence and we paid the price, we need something before we can come up with any form of actionable plan."
"These inferiors have little in the way that could stop me," he scoffs. Kicking a bit of dirt at the plan. "But they do have some magical talents. Their brute of a chief, the one that wears one of the holy mothers, is quite strong. And his hammer is," there's a bit of a pause. "Effective. I nearly killed their spiritual leader. His claws are sharp though. Took me quite awhile to even begin to recover from those wounds. I will guess his blood witches will be close by."
There's a low growl to his voice as he talks about the Hn'ti. "Traitorous beings. This is why we kept them on short leashes and executed those that dared to oppose us."
Cora perks up a bit, but her goblin masked face maintains unfurrowed brows. She glances a look over at Abigail and Diadochi, then back to Alul.
Lafetha, Cora, Abigail set out to scout. Others eventually following as well, even Alul - begrudgingly.
Night approaches as you eventually reach a spot to look out and see the Hn'ti village. Still a little ways off, but a familiar situation from the last time Lafetha was able to keep you low to the ground and infiltrate inside.
Fires are being lit inside the village. A few extra small bonfires sit out along the lines of the fields; a extra precaution against someone advancing into their fields and town. The 40ish foot fall plateau still quite visible, small standing torches along it off in the distance.
There's only a single way inside the town that doesn't involve climbing or going through the subterranean network. And this time, it seems they've brought more light to the edges of their plateau after the groups daring jump into darkness... and not dying on the way down.
You're much too far away to tell the movement of people inside the town, or if anyone is in the fields. It's certainly more than likely that scouts are around and watching with some kind of signal.
Diadochi scratches his head, thinking about the ways forward, his brain flashes to darkness, tentacles, water, fire, shadows, the past. He takes a deep breathe in, "we don't know if they discovered how we entered the town the first time, chances are they did, but the waterfall would make it harder for then to hear us and any alerts they send out. It's probably our best option."
"From your description of that entrance It would also be easier for the to prevent us entering by giving up the high ground with no escape route. Which seems an unpleasant way to get trapped and die." Yaalin gazes at the village sadness over what is about to happen to it and them, " The main entrance is still our best access point. gives us the larges retreat path and makes it much harder for us to be cornered. That is still where I want to hit them. but you have made it clear I am not calling any shots here so guide away where ever you will."
Cora agrees that going to the caves and sneaking in provides the best, and maximum level of success. Although the caves and lower levels do appear to be dangerous on their own.
Alul disagrees. Full force through their singular choke point. Let them know that you're there and demoralize them. It'll make it harder for them to rebound and recover after suffering such staggering losses at a defensive position as the lone staircase leading up.
Both, however, do admit that together everyone is stronger. And will go with the group.
"Going through the tunnels is the easiest way to get into the camp without sounding an alarm before we are even in; not all of us are so impervious to normal blades and arrows. I think we should stealth in; however, once we are inside the camp - if we are not discovered - Alul may get his wish to go in full force. We will likely need to use you as bait to bring out the leader."
Cora gives both Sim and Yaalin a look. "Well, we could use the apostate's help. More of us will only help."
Alul chuckles a bit. "Your second option is the only option."
Both Alul and Cora shoot each-other a glance. The tension between the two continuing to rise each day they've traveled together.
DM PbP Series (Completed) : The Blackmire Company, Voyage of the Windhook ,Shanty of Soulripper, The Streets of Dunnour
Her Expression cool and calm Yaalin looks at Sim.
"I am here for the same reasons I have always been here to finish the job WE were hired for. I am still here because we failed our first attempt, then you failed again a second time and without me, you will likely fail again. The fact that you think I am here to stop you is frankly insulting. I have never stopped anyone from their goals with the exception of her."
As she says the last statement she points at Cora,
"And that was over a matter of her methods. If you would like me not to assist you specifically because of some lack of trust on your part I will, of course, avoid helping you but tell me now before we begin this distasteful task."
Nodding at Alul, "One vote for brute force, I would personally prefer a distraction method but there is a high chance they will not fall for such tactics given that not two weeks ago there was an attempt made on the life of their chieftain. So I am unsettled by, but not opposed to brute force."
“You will pardon my concern for your sudden change of heart. Of course any legitimate help we will accept but we asked you to stay with us twice now and you walked away both times. Telling us killing the chieftain was wrong and not wanting anything to do with Cora. Calling us lost and our plan evil. Now you show up on the outskirts of the village almost as if you have been waiting for us, with no explanation and start asking about our plans. Can you not possibly fathom why we would be surprised and want clarification of your motives? Why now? You didn’t care we failed before.”
Yallin Stares at Sim eyes widening in disbelief then begins to laugh incredulously.
"If you do not understand by now why I did not and do not really wish to work with someone who views me as damned and scum then you never will, and I for one have wasted too much breath attempting to make you understand."
She glances at Cora shrugging apologetically as if to say 'we both know it is true even if we don't like it'
"And here you are doubling down on insult claiming that I did not care if you failed. You would have said before that you could never be more wrong on that feeling but you continue to surprise me. So I will simply say that I cared very much and still do. I do not wish to see ANY of you die on this venture. As for me being here, I have scouted ahead, and I have scouted sideways due to my own failings and have reached the conclusion that I cannot do this alone. So I made a prediction. That after having failed as badly as you did before you would attempt to gather more power and return for another attempt. Had you found an alternative I daresay I would have been here for a while. I will also note that I agreed reluctantly to the plan of assassinating the chieftain when we first formed it several months ago. I objected to killing the rest of the village and suggested distraction before but the bugling of your last attempt has made that much inevitable."
She chuckles again still not sure why she is having to explain everything again
"I owe you all nothing and none of you owe me anything. We are bound only by contract to the Blackmire Company. Again I ask a simple question, do you want me to not help you, specifically you, once this begins?"
She turns to the others clearly giving Sim the cold shoulder, "Brute force is the only way where trust is not an issue, you fight or you die so I am formally agreeing with Alul to fight through this place and achieve our goal no matter the cost"
By care you know I am referring to you walking away despite us asking you to stay not your personal feelings toward us as individuals. As mentioned you’re help if offered is appreciated and yes by me personally but our failures haven’t changed your stance on the issue before.
I mean no insult by any of my questions. If you take it that way I apologize but you haven’t budged an inch on this in the past. Now you run full steam beside us. I don’t feel it is to much to ask why. Why will you now willingly work with someone you despise. Why you now agree to tear through a town no matter what when we could actually attempt stealth. If you owe us nothing and you know we no longer honor the blackmire contract then we are not bound to you by that. Do you now willingly take Cora’s deal? I don’t need a repeat of why you chose your path before, I understand that, I want to know why you choose our path now. What has changed?
A final glare at Sim her face hardening "I will NEVER take her deal. NEVER." and then turns back to the group awaiting their answers to how they should approach the village clearly fed up with Sims lack of comprehension.
Cora tilts her head, watching the two for a second.
"You know that a frontal assault is a terrible plan. Their village is on a plateau. From the time we infiltrated, there's a few fields to cut through before reaching them, and a subterranian network that we can go through." She looks between Sim and Yaalin. "Going through the front will likely make us fight through a choke point..."
Alul chimes in with a quick "Coward."
Cora looks at Alul, before to the group. "I'd rather not fight single file line in a effort to hope a war of attrition is on our favor. And climbing a plateau where they can attack down at us, while defenseless, is a poor idea. Especially if your scouting is true and there are more of them patrolling and watching. No we should try again what we did last time. But I am open to suggestions rather than letting the apostate and the monster decide."
DM PbP Series (Completed) : The Blackmire Company, Voyage of the Windhook ,Shanty of Soulripper, The Streets of Dunnour
Sim sighs clearly not going to get an answer out of Yaalin. Let her join if you want. I still vote for stealth of sorts. I say we inspect the cliff and try to climb it. I figure they won’t expect us there.”
When Yaalin shows up Diadochi looks to her and then Cora, then he looks at Abigail and Alul. He opens his mouth to say something but then closes it saying nothing. The back and forth between Sim and Yaalin clearly puts him on edge.
More loudly than he means to be says "let's not look a trusted ally in the mouth" He looks sheepish and then continues at normal volume while making a rough approximation of the village through lines in the dirt and rocks. He takes out several wooden figurines crudely depicting the team ((depending on how many The DM says Diadochi could've made most to some of you might be bush branches)) "so, stealth is preferred but it did fail last time, further complicating the matter is the Hn'ti know we are coming, to the extent they can observe us is unknown. Distraction is an interesting idea, but if our distraction is too great we run the risk of moving the chieftain, and then we have to find him. If Abigail feels up to it she could scale the bluff and cause a distraction, perhaps a signal so our timing is precise so we know when to do the jump, then Abigail can climb down the mountain, hopefully less stressful circumstances than the last time...If we do go brute force we need to find a choke point or we will be over run. I don't remember seeing one expect for in the sewers but that seems more like an opportunity for us to take spell damage from a distance rather than the direct engagement we want..." Diadochi sighs, "last time we went in with no intelligence and we paid the price, we need something before we can come up with any form of actionable plan."
Alul glances over at Diadochi's plan.
"These inferiors have little in the way that could stop me," he scoffs. Kicking a bit of dirt at the plan. "But they do have some magical talents. Their brute of a chief, the one that wears one of the holy mothers, is quite strong. And his hammer is," there's a bit of a pause. "Effective. I nearly killed their spiritual leader. His claws are sharp though. Took me quite awhile to even begin to recover from those wounds. I will guess his blood witches will be close by."
There's a low growl to his voice as he talks about the Hn'ti. "Traitorous beings. This is why we kept them on short leashes and executed those that dared to oppose us."
Cora perks up a bit, but her goblin masked face maintains unfurrowed brows. She glances a look over at Abigail and Diadochi, then back to Alul.
DM PbP Series (Completed) : The Blackmire Company, Voyage of the Windhook ,Shanty of Soulripper, The Streets of Dunnour
I can help stealth a couple of us if I have to , so we can figure things pass without trace 12 +10 to whoever wants to stealth through
Lafetha, Cora, Abigail set out to scout. Others eventually following as well, even Alul - begrudgingly.
Night approaches as you eventually reach a spot to look out and see the Hn'ti village. Still a little ways off, but a familiar situation from the last time Lafetha was able to keep you low to the ground and infiltrate inside.
Fires are being lit inside the village. A few extra small bonfires sit out along the lines of the fields; a extra precaution against someone advancing into their fields and town. The 40ish foot fall plateau still quite visible, small standing torches along it off in the distance.
There's only a single way inside the town that doesn't involve climbing or going through the subterranean network. And this time, it seems they've brought more light to the edges of their plateau after the groups daring jump into darkness... and not dying on the way down.
You're much too far away to tell the movement of people inside the town, or if anyone is in the fields. It's certainly more than likely that scouts are around and watching with some kind of signal.
DM PbP Series (Completed) : The Blackmire Company, Voyage of the Windhook ,Shanty of Soulripper, The Streets of Dunnour
Since they have lit up the cliff I suggested we climb is now lit up I change my vote to going through the caves again.
Diadochi scratches his head, thinking about the ways forward, his brain flashes to darkness, tentacles, water, fire, shadows, the past. He takes a deep breathe in, "we don't know if they discovered how we entered the town the first time, chances are they did, but the waterfall would make it harder for then to hear us and any alerts they send out. It's probably our best option."
"From your description of that entrance It would also be easier for the to prevent us entering by giving up the high ground with no escape route. Which seems an unpleasant way to get trapped and die." Yaalin gazes at the village sadness over what is about to happen to it and them, " The main entrance is still our best access point. gives us the larges retreat path and makes it much harder for us to be cornered. That is still where I want to hit them. but you have made it clear I am not calling any shots here so guide away where ever you will."
Cora agrees that going to the caves and sneaking in provides the best, and maximum level of success. Although the caves and lower levels do appear to be dangerous on their own.
Alul disagrees. Full force through their singular choke point. Let them know that you're there and demoralize them. It'll make it harder for them to rebound and recover after suffering such staggering losses at a defensive position as the lone staircase leading up.
Both, however, do admit that together everyone is stronger. And will go with the group.
DM PbP Series (Completed) : The Blackmire Company, Voyage of the Windhook ,Shanty of Soulripper, The Streets of Dunnour
"Going through the tunnels is the easiest way to get into the camp without sounding an alarm before we are even in; not all of us are so impervious to normal blades and arrows. I think we should stealth in; however, once we are inside the camp - if we are not discovered - Alul may get his wish to go in full force. We will likely need to use you as bait to bring out the leader."
"As you are all insistent on the sneaking in approach please lead the way someone. As standing here simply wastes more time"
Yaalin looks at the group who has been here before expectantly waiting for someone to start moving in the direction of the tunnels
Lafetha nods her head in agreement with Yaalin and Abigail about sneaking in through the caves.
She signals towards Sim to help her lead the way there
Diadochi takes off his armor before they start to head out.