August took a moment to consider the paladin’s word, and the situation as a whole. The enemy was still out there and now, they had killed some of there soldiers. It wouldn’t be long before they realized that the men they sent in the inn wouldn’t be getting out any time soon. If this was an invasion, they would surely fight for their lives again before the dawn.
And there was still the matter of what had brought him to Teilorin. Investigating the town would surely be much easier without hostile men trying to kill him.
"Well then, Ser Knight. How do you propose we procede? " he said while walking to join the other travelers. "If we are to make it through the night, we’ll have a better fighting chance together."
He wasn’t yet convinced the travelers could be fully trusted, but they hadn’t try anything, unlike the agressors. August figured this would be the best chance any of them had.
Bertren was unsure if he could trust these people but if their truly was an invasion begin it would be best to put a halt to it here in the borderlands. Listening to Alkanos and the other patron who had assisted in stoping the assault he nod and hold out a hand to Alkanos “Well met Sir Demetrion I am Bertren Bell cleric of Xerena. Surely she watches over us today for alone that assault would have been a much harder fight. I agree we will have to face a lot in the next few hour and will have to work together to survive it. As luck would have it I was suppose to be meeting a group of warriors in this town loyal to the temple with any luck they are somewhere amid this battle.”
"These are fortunate tidings.", Alkanos replied to Bertren. "If we combine our efforts with another group of warriors, maybe even rally the townfolk, we could possibly turn this battle into our favor." The paladin looked towards the others inside the inn asking, "Does anyone have other suggestions, maybe further allies in the city we could call upon for assistance?" They had to act quickly or the attackers would disperse anyone trying to resist their aggression. To seek out Bertrens allies seemed like an oportune course of action, but they had to reach a consensus on how they were going to proceed. Even more so because they acquainted themselves during the fight they finished just now.
"Call me Nico, my full name is a pain in the ass and I don't like the sound of it anyway."
Golden eyes scanned the room, taking a hard look at each individual in the tavern, save for the innkeeper about to piss himself. They weren't a unit, but they'd at least get through the night, hopefully. "I think mr. uhh..."The man paused for a moment, gesturing openly towards August "whatever his name is has the right idea. We stick together and we can probably pummel our way out of this mess." Regarding the elf's suggestions, he agreed. "Also probably right. Six people and whatever measly garrison this town has guarding it can't hold back a full invasion."
Harrin's eyes bounced from person to person as they spoke, bulging out for a moment when he realized someone was addressing him. "I uh. Invasion? I-is that's what's happening?" The man was clearly afraid, and it took him some time to collect himself to answer the question. "N-no other doors, just that one. There's some east facing windows on the second floor? Just another building on that side so..."
Outside, BOOM BOOM BOOM, you hear three somewhat distant explosions. Definitely within town, but not right next-door as the others had been. Just barely, you can make out the faint tolling of warning bells, even further south. More shadows run by outside.
Artorias
If he's still peering out the window at this point, he would see the large plated - now clearly as they step away from the flames - soldier point west behind the buildings on that side and then turn to walk south down the road. Moments later, a set of spearmen flanking another robed figure would trot by.
From his vantage point, he couldn't make out much details about the coterie that passed by the inn as well as the two men that were just north of their position. Furrowing his brows, he reached into the neckline of his cowl and pulled up another piece of cloth to cover his face. Before peeling away from the window, however, he did catch sight of even more individuals as they headed south. Spearman and a robed figure. The cover over his face was primarily meant to obscure any breath on cold evenings and break the silhouette of his face in the shadows, its purpose here was to further conceal his features from the group gathered at the tavern. Turning toward them, he lifted two figures. Then pointed to his eyes and then covered his eyes with the palm of his hand before pointing a thumb toward where the two soldiers to the north stood. "Obstacle." he muttered. Those with astute ears could hear a masked accent. Very faint and hidden in the undertones of his voice which came out soft and smooth but had an air of dominance and forcefulness to it. With the same hand he pointed south toward the direction of where the group of men headed. "Information." He continued. "Valuable."
As Rhys the Elf suggested to the innkeeper to show them the back door to the establishment, he thought for a moment to head upstairs and grab a few things from his pack but thought against it. Time was limited. Artorias moved to the innkeeper and looked him deep in the eyes. "What is west?" He asked.
"West? Of here?" The timid man thought for a moment before continuing, "across the road is Garreth's shop, an' his storeroom is right next to it. Beyond that - " he trails off, shrugging. "I know he's got a cellar behind the shop b-but that's it."
“I fear Nico and our cowled friend here are right this town will not be able to hold back a full scale invasion if that is what this is we just don’t have enough information and with out it we could easily take a massive miss step..” and after thinking for a minute he turns back to the others ”I think I have a next step for us but it’s risky...if their is a shop with supplies, a store room and a cellar to take shelter and perhaps capture and interrogate to find out what the hell is happening....or I’m open for other ideas but staying here much long is dangerous.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"No time." He says as he looks over at the man who called himself Bertren. Moving back to the windows, he peers out into the night outside. The street is aglow with the flames licking into the sky from the adjacent buildings. He glances across the street and to the north to see if the two sentries were still there and any other potential soldiers. Waiting for the moment where his presence would go unnoticed, Artorias maneuvers over to the door that was kicked in when the three men burst into the tavern. Pulling the cowl a little closer over his head and, readjusting the face mask, slips out into the night air, moving to the nearest concealed position he can find. His trained steps move carefully over the grass outside as he stalks closer to two men. He stops a moment and looks back toward the door, holding his hand up in a closed fist position, indicating to wait as he skulks ever closer to the men.
As he crept closer he took note that both were bowman so their ability to react wouldn't be quite as adept as a swordsman. Before doing so, however, he studied the road further north and scanned the horizon to see if he saw any more men heading their direction. This information would be vital to either executing the two men or finding an alternate route. His breathing became measured as if he had done this many times before. His hands rested gingerly on the pommels of both swords.
As his hooded companion took off, August began to think. Ser Bell and the elf were right. Leaving the town was the reasonable thing to do. Yet, he felt he couldn’t just abandon his investigation. If the Greschmen found what he was looking for before him, he may never have another opportunity to get it back. But staying was an even greater risk. If only she had been more specific. Furthermore, he couldn’t bring himself to drag these people with him on a wild goose chase. He would simply have to hope that whatever he was meant to find would still be here when he came back.
His gaze then turned to the corpses at their feet. ‘’I think I have a plan. Some of us could take their uniform and try pass ourselves as Greschmen soldiers. The other could be prisoners that we need to escort. It would allow us to navigate through the town undetected. However, I don’t know about you, but I’m not familiar enough with layout of Teilorin.’’
Suddenly, it hit him. ‘’Master Harrin, do you know this town well enough that you could guide us to the quickest and safest exit while we escort you?’’
He then awaited to hear the others’ opinion on the matter.
As you step outside a strong gust of wind blows in from north, carrying smoke and ash along with it. The surrounding itself is lightly obscured by the smoke now, and you are able to slip behind a nearby tree unnoticed. Across the road, the plate-bearing knight has disappeared, the three other men have split into two groups, creeping around the building identified as a shop with weapons drawn. A small building directly north of the Inn is also ablaze, and you can see now that some of the sparks have started to catch on the roof of the inn itself. The two bowmen have their backs turned towards you and seem to be talking to one another in low voices. You are at the edge of town, besides the burning building right next to inn, there are no other constructs further north of it. You don't see any other men coming down the road, but there's a slight curvature to it do to a shallow hill so you can't see very far.
The innkeeper Harrin had calmed down a bit at this point, at least enough to where he wasn't stuttering anymore. There was still a faint gleam of fear in his eyes, but he seemed a little comfortable thinking he was around people who could handle themselves. "I've lived here my whole life." He said with a nod.
For the first time, he seemed to actually take in the people around him. His eyes focused on the cleric, and then widened suddenly. "You sir, did you say you were lookin' for members of your clergy? Them Xerena followers could help? There's a temple of theirs closer to the center of town."
Taking note of the group to his left and the growing flames on top of the inn, he stops his movement and takes a knee at the tree. He looks back toward the inn and waits until one of them has looked outside and begins signalling to them. Three fingers, points to the eyes and then towards the opposite side of the street. He also signals a wave with his hand. A serpentine motion to indicate flame or heat and then points towards the roof of the inn itself. It probably wasn't going to catch within the next few minutes but a flame can mature into a fire and a fire into an inferno in no time at all. Especially since the inn seemed to be made of mostly wood.
As he gives his report, he also tilts his head over to the two bowman to the north and then glides his hand across his throat. These men must be taken out if they are to make their way across the street unimpeded. Whether they chose to go north and around or straight west into the next group, it would be prudent to eliminate these extra pairs of eyes. Artorias waited for some kind of signal from someone within the inn that they were ready before he advanced on the man to the right. It was then that he struck, steel leaving leather. The swords flew across the air with an almost preternatural grace as they yearned to spill blood. With any luck, it would be a killing blow, leaving only one man left to contend with here.
I will roll stealth again if necessary. Artorias is basically waiting for a signal from someone in the inn that they have his back and are ready to come out and lend support before he engages the bowman on the right. Let me know if I did this correctly.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As the quiet one stepped outside, Nico's head snapped up to attention. "What's that fool doing?" He muttered, inching towards a window to watch him. When he turned to make hand signals towards them, he could only stare blankly. How in the hells were they supposed to understand that? Maybe the others were smarter than him. After he moved towards the men further north of them and turned to look one last time, he added under his breath "oh for the love of- I understand that at least." Gripping his sword longsword in one hand and pulling his shortsword out with the other.
The two men slowly approach their quarries, weapons drawn as they grow nearer. Nico moves quickly to catch up, and his armor clinks faintly in the night. The sound is mostly masked by the roar of flames and loud creaking of wood as structures inside the nearby buildings start to fail. Artorias is the first to strike; with lightning speed his blades flash forward, one entering at a downward angle through the archer's neck and another upward below his ribs. He makes a faint choking sound before falling to the ground. As Nico takes his final steps to strike, the remaining bowman turns around, eyes wide in surprise as he catches sight of him. He opens his mouth to yell, but the fighter's long sword slices open his throat while the smaller blade is driven through his heart.
Both men have now been dispatched of, and as far as you can tell, there is no one around who could have noticed.
After the white-haired half-elf left the building, August poked his head out to see what the two men were up to. He had arrived just in time to see them both dispatch the archers with relative ease. ‘’I suppose that works as well.’’ He turned to face the other warriors and the innkeeper. ‘’Let’s not linger here now. We need to move.’’ He motioned to them to follow him.
August stepped out of the tavern, while trying to remain unnoticed. The burning inferno across the street was the first thing that caught his attention. He decided to hide behind the street and survey the movements on the street.
As two more members of this makeshift alliance crept out of the tavern, they would find the street abandoned save for the corpses their two comrades had created. The men across the street had disappeared behind the blazing inferno that was once a shop, as pieces of the wall and roof began to collapse and fall due to structural failures. August was not as quiet as he might have thought he was being, but besides the others he was aware of, no one else was in sight to catch him.
August
On the southern end of the inn is an attached stable where he would have left his mount.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
This was exactly what Alkanos didn't want to happen. The group began to scurry into the night one by one like a pack of panicked animals. They didn't even formulate a plan they could follow, they were moving for the sake of moving or even worse; to save their own skin. In disgust he let out a frustrated sigh before addressing the inkeep. "Harrin you better pick up one of those weapons and follow me close if you want to get through this alive." The paladin wouldn't leave anyone behind. "Bertren, I still think we should group with the followers of Xerena. There could also be a lot of innocent people seeking shelter in her temple. Somehow we need to steer our companions in its direction."
He then stepped outside the inn's doors and followed the rest before they got themselves killed.
Realizeing everyone was rush out into the night Halt shrugs to the tavern keeper “Well so much for planning, but death comes to us all eventually follow closely Harrin, lightly and let me know what way the warriors attached to the temple would be.” Then he follows the other out into the night.
As you all move outside in what you certainly think is a stealthy manner, the innkeeper grabs a shield off one of the fallen corpses, holding it in both hands as he follows you all outside, sticking close to Bertren. He doesn't see anyone else to justify the creeping about, but figures you all know best so he tries to emulate. Stepping out into the night he would tug on the cleric's arm, pointing southeast-ish. "Temples that way. Down that road, east for a bit until the first street to go south again, and then back west a bit. Be in the center of a big townsquare." He speaks in a low voice, loud enough for most of the group to hear, but not so much that it carries. He's shaking nervously now, jumping slightly every time a loud pop or snap rings out from one of the burning buildings.
...
bwoom bwoom. Bertren is the first to hear it, a deep bass tone, reverberating through the air. bwoom bwoom. The sound is picked up by the rest of the group this time, and you strain to figure out its source. bwoom bwoom. It's louder this time, and now you can easily tell it's coming from the north. bwoom bwoom. Realization dawns on you as to what the sound is, just before the drum beats increase in tempo and break into a full cadence. Around a mile out and stretching across a large portion of the horizon, you see small flickering orange torchlight crest the shallow hill, slowly growing larger as they grow nearer. The rest of the Greschian army has arrived in full force, on a war march towards the town.
Alkanos couldn't believe his eyes as he beheld what seemed like the bulk of an invading army on the horizon. At first he thought it was a trick played to his eyes by the bruning buildings and the smoke around them. But the second glance revlead that this formation slowly made its way towards the city. This complicated matters. Contemplating Harrin's words, Alkanos only found one reasonable way forward, if they wanted to try to save some lifes in this catastrophe. "Harrin! You say the temple is southeast of here. Well, if you ask me going southeast sounds way more appealing than heading north right now. Maybe we could do some good on the way. Get some souls out of this mess." Alkanos was ready to move in the directions the innkeep provided and really hoped the others would follow suit.
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August took a moment to consider the paladin’s word, and the situation as a whole. The enemy was still out there and now, they had killed some of there soldiers. It wouldn’t be long before they realized that the men they sent in the inn wouldn’t be getting out any time soon. If this was an invasion, they would surely fight for their lives again before the dawn.
And there was still the matter of what had brought him to Teilorin. Investigating the town would surely be much easier without hostile men trying to kill him.
"Well then, Ser Knight. How do you propose we procede? " he said while walking to join the other travelers. "If we are to make it through the night, we’ll have a better fighting chance together."
He wasn’t yet convinced the travelers could be fully trusted, but they hadn’t try anything, unlike the agressors. August figured this would be the best chance any of them had.
Bertren was unsure if he could trust these people but if their truly was an invasion begin it would be best to put a halt to it here in the borderlands. Listening to Alkanos and the other patron who had assisted in stoping the assault he nod and hold out a hand to Alkanos “Well met Sir Demetrion I am Bertren Bell cleric of Xerena. Surely she watches over us today for alone that assault would have been a much harder fight. I agree we will have to face a lot in the next few hour and will have to work together to survive it. As luck would have it I was suppose to be meeting a group of warriors in this town loyal to the temple with any luck they are somewhere amid this battle.”
"These are fortunate tidings.", Alkanos replied to Bertren. "If we combine our efforts with another group of warriors, maybe even rally the townfolk, we could possibly turn this battle into our favor." The paladin looked towards the others inside the inn asking, "Does anyone have other suggestions, maybe further allies in the city we could call upon for assistance?" They had to act quickly or the attackers would disperse anyone trying to resist their aggression. To seek out Bertrens allies seemed like an oportune course of action, but they had to reach a consensus on how they were going to proceed. Even more so because they acquainted themselves during the fight they finished just now.
"Call me Nico, my full name is a pain in the ass and I don't like the sound of it anyway."
Golden eyes scanned the room, taking a hard look at each individual in the tavern, save for the innkeeper about to piss himself. They weren't a unit, but they'd at least get through the night, hopefully. "I think mr. uhh..." The man paused for a moment, gesturing openly towards August "whatever his name is has the right idea. We stick together and we can probably pummel our way out of this mess." Regarding the elf's suggestions, he agreed. "Also probably right. Six people and whatever measly garrison this town has guarding it can't hold back a full invasion."
#edbd00 - Gold
Harrin's eyes bounced from person to person as they spoke, bulging out for a moment when he realized someone was addressing him. "I uh. Invasion? I-is that's what's happening?" The man was clearly afraid, and it took him some time to collect himself to answer the question. "N-no other doors, just that one. There's some east facing windows on the second floor? Just another building on that side so..."
Outside, BOOM BOOM BOOM, you hear three somewhat distant explosions. Definitely within town, but not right next-door as the others had been. Just barely, you can make out the faint tolling of warning bells, even further south. More shadows run by outside.
Artorias
From his vantage point, he couldn't make out much details about the coterie that passed by the inn as well as the two men that were just north of their position. Furrowing his brows, he reached into the neckline of his cowl and pulled up another piece of cloth to cover his face. Before peeling away from the window, however, he did catch sight of even more individuals as they headed south. Spearman and a robed figure. The cover over his face was primarily meant to obscure any breath on cold evenings and break the silhouette of his face in the shadows, its purpose here was to further conceal his features from the group gathered at the tavern. Turning toward them, he lifted two figures. Then pointed to his eyes and then covered his eyes with the palm of his hand before pointing a thumb toward where the two soldiers to the north stood. "Obstacle." he muttered. Those with astute ears could hear a masked accent. Very faint and hidden in the undertones of his voice which came out soft and smooth but had an air of dominance and forcefulness to it. With the same hand he pointed south toward the direction of where the group of men headed. "Information." He continued. "Valuable."
As Rhys the Elf suggested to the innkeeper to show them the back door to the establishment, he thought for a moment to head upstairs and grab a few things from his pack but thought against it. Time was limited. Artorias moved to the innkeeper and looked him deep in the eyes. "What is west?" He asked.
"West? Of here?" The timid man thought for a moment before continuing, "across the road is Garreth's shop, an' his storeroom is right next to it. Beyond that - " he trails off, shrugging. "I know he's got a cellar behind the shop b-but that's it."
“I fear Nico and our cowled friend here are right this town will not be able to hold back a full scale invasion if that is what this is we just don’t have enough information and with out it we could easily take a massive miss step..” and after thinking for a minute he turns back to the others ”I think I have a next step for us but it’s risky...if their is a shop with supplies, a store room and a cellar to take shelter and perhaps capture and interrogate to find out what the hell is happening....or I’m open for other ideas but staying here much long is dangerous.
"No time." He says as he looks over at the man who called himself Bertren. Moving back to the windows, he peers out into the night outside. The street is aglow with the flames licking into the sky from the adjacent buildings. He glances across the street and to the north to see if the two sentries were still there and any other potential soldiers. Waiting for the moment where his presence would go unnoticed, Artorias maneuvers over to the door that was kicked in when the three men burst into the tavern. Pulling the cowl a little closer over his head and, readjusting the face mask, slips out into the night air, moving to the nearest concealed position he can find. His trained steps move carefully over the grass outside as he stalks closer to two men. He stops a moment and looks back toward the door, holding his hand up in a closed fist position, indicating to wait as he skulks ever closer to the men.
As he crept closer he took note that both were bowman so their ability to react wouldn't be quite as adept as a swordsman. Before doing so, however, he studied the road further north and scanned the horizon to see if he saw any more men heading their direction. This information would be vital to either executing the two men or finding an alternate route. His breathing became measured as if he had done this many times before. His hands rested gingerly on the pommels of both swords.
Stealth: 27
Perception: 16
As his hooded companion took off, August began to think. Ser Bell and the elf were right. Leaving the town was the reasonable thing to do. Yet, he felt he couldn’t just abandon his investigation. If the Greschmen found what he was looking for before him, he may never have another opportunity to get it back. But staying was an even greater risk. If only she had been more specific. Furthermore, he couldn’t bring himself to drag these people with him on a wild goose chase. He would simply have to hope that whatever he was meant to find would still be here when he came back.
His gaze then turned to the corpses at their feet. ‘’I think I have a plan. Some of us could take their uniform and try pass ourselves as Greschmen soldiers. The other could be prisoners that we need to escort. It would allow us to navigate through the town undetected. However, I don’t know about you, but I’m not familiar enough with layout of Teilorin.’’
Suddenly, it hit him. ‘’Master Harrin, do you know this town well enough that you could guide us to the quickest and safest exit while we escort you?’’
He then awaited to hear the others’ opinion on the matter.
Artorias
As you step outside a strong gust of wind blows in from north, carrying smoke and ash along with it. The surrounding itself is lightly obscured by the smoke now, and you are able to slip behind a nearby tree unnoticed. Across the road, the plate-bearing knight has disappeared, the three other men have split into two groups, creeping around the building identified as a shop with weapons drawn. A small building directly north of the Inn is also ablaze, and you can see now that some of the sparks have started to catch on the roof of the inn itself. The two bowmen have their backs turned towards you and seem to be talking to one another in low voices. You are at the edge of town, besides the burning building right next to inn, there are no other constructs further north of it. You don't see any other men coming down the road, but there's a slight curvature to it do to a shallow hill so you can't see very far.
The innkeeper Harrin had calmed down a bit at this point, at least enough to where he wasn't stuttering anymore. There was still a faint gleam of fear in his eyes, but he seemed a little comfortable thinking he was around people who could handle themselves. "I've lived here my whole life." He said with a nod.
For the first time, he seemed to actually take in the people around him. His eyes focused on the cleric, and then widened suddenly. "You sir, did you say you were lookin' for members of your clergy? Them Xerena followers could help? There's a temple of theirs closer to the center of town."
Taking note of the group to his left and the growing flames on top of the inn, he stops his movement and takes a knee at the tree. He looks back toward the inn and waits until one of them has looked outside and begins signalling to them. Three fingers, points to the eyes and then towards the opposite side of the street. He also signals a wave with his hand. A serpentine motion to indicate flame or heat and then points towards the roof of the inn itself. It probably wasn't going to catch within the next few minutes but a flame can mature into a fire and a fire into an inferno in no time at all. Especially since the inn seemed to be made of mostly wood.
As he gives his report, he also tilts his head over to the two bowman to the north and then glides his hand across his throat. These men must be taken out if they are to make their way across the street unimpeded. Whether they chose to go north and around or straight west into the next group, it would be prudent to eliminate these extra pairs of eyes. Artorias waited for some kind of signal from someone within the inn that they were ready before he advanced on the man to the right. It was then that he struck, steel leaving leather. The swords flew across the air with an almost preternatural grace as they yearned to spill blood. With any luck, it would be a killing blow, leaving only one man left to contend with here.
I will roll stealth again if necessary. Artorias is basically waiting for a signal from someone in the inn that they have his back and are ready to come out and lend support before he engages the bowman on the right. Let me know if I did this correctly.
Surprise Attack: 9
Advantage Roll: 27
BA Off Hand: 12
BA Advantage Roll: 23
Main Hand Damage: 15
Sneak Attack: 11
Initiative: 20
As the quiet one stepped outside, Nico's head snapped up to attention. "What's that fool doing?" He muttered, inching towards a window to watch him. When he turned to make hand signals towards them, he could only stare blankly. How in the hells were they supposed to understand that? Maybe the others were smarter than him. After he moved towards the men further north of them and turned to look one last time, he added under his breath "oh for the love of- I understand that at least." Gripping his sword longsword in one hand and pulling his shortsword out with the other.
Sneaky Stuff - 3
Initiative - 13
Main Attack against other bowman - 11
Damage - 9
Bonus Attack - 11
Damage - 2
#edbd00 - Gold
The two men slowly approach their quarries, weapons drawn as they grow nearer. Nico moves quickly to catch up, and his armor clinks faintly in the night. The sound is mostly masked by the roar of flames and loud creaking of wood as structures inside the nearby buildings start to fail. Artorias is the first to strike; with lightning speed his blades flash forward, one entering at a downward angle through the archer's neck and another upward below his ribs. He makes a faint choking sound before falling to the ground. As Nico takes his final steps to strike, the remaining bowman turns around, eyes wide in surprise as he catches sight of him. He opens his mouth to yell, but the fighter's long sword slices open his throat while the smaller blade is driven through his heart.
Both men have now been dispatched of, and as far as you can tell, there is no one around who could have noticed.
DM Screen
1
20
After the white-haired half-elf left the building, August poked his head out to see what the two men were up to. He had arrived just in time to see them both dispatch the archers with relative ease. ‘’I suppose that works as well.’’ He turned to face the other warriors and the innkeeper. ‘’Let’s not linger here now. We need to move.’’ He motioned to them to follow him.
August stepped out of the tavern, while trying to remain unnoticed. The burning inferno across the street was the first thing that caught his attention. He decided to hide behind the street and survey the movements on the street.
DM:
Were would August have left his mount?
Stealth: 6
Perception: 11
As two more members of this makeshift alliance crept out of the tavern, they would find the street abandoned save for the corpses their two comrades had created. The men across the street had disappeared behind the blazing inferno that was once a shop, as pieces of the wall and roof began to collapse and fall due to structural failures. August was not as quiet as he might have thought he was being, but besides the others he was aware of, no one else was in sight to catch him.
August
On the southern end of the inn is an attached stable where he would have left his mount.
This was exactly what Alkanos didn't want to happen. The group began to scurry into the night one by one like a pack of panicked animals. They didn't even formulate a plan they could follow, they were moving for the sake of moving or even worse; to save their own skin. In disgust he let out a frustrated sigh before addressing the inkeep. "Harrin you better pick up one of those weapons and follow me close if you want to get through this alive." The paladin wouldn't leave anyone behind. "Bertren, I still think we should group with the followers of Xerena. There could also be a lot of innocent people seeking shelter in her temple. Somehow we need to steer our companions in its direction."
He then stepped outside the inn's doors and followed the rest before they got themselves killed.
Stealth: 6
Realizeing everyone was rush out into the night Halt shrugs to the tavern keeper “Well so much for planning, but death comes to us all eventually follow closely Harrin, lightly and let me know what way the warriors attached to the temple would be.” Then he follows the other out into the night.
Stealth: 16
Perception: 16
As you all move outside in what you certainly think is a stealthy manner, the innkeeper grabs a shield off one of the fallen corpses, holding it in both hands as he follows you all outside, sticking close to Bertren. He doesn't see anyone else to justify the creeping about, but figures you all know best so he tries to emulate. Stepping out into the night he would tug on the cleric's arm, pointing southeast-ish. "Temples that way. Down that road, east for a bit until the first street to go south again, and then back west a bit. Be in the center of a big townsquare." He speaks in a low voice, loud enough for most of the group to hear, but not so much that it carries. He's shaking nervously now, jumping slightly every time a loud pop or snap rings out from one of the burning buildings.
...
bwoom bwoom. Bertren is the first to hear it, a deep bass tone, reverberating through the air. bwoom bwoom. The sound is picked up by the rest of the group this time, and you strain to figure out its source. bwoom bwoom. It's louder this time, and now you can easily tell it's coming from the north. bwoom bwoom. Realization dawns on you as to what the sound is, just before the drum beats increase in tempo and break into a full cadence. Around a mile out and stretching across a large portion of the horizon, you see small flickering orange torchlight crest the shallow hill, slowly growing larger as they grow nearer. The rest of the Greschian army has arrived in full force, on a war march towards the town.
Alkanos couldn't believe his eyes as he beheld what seemed like the bulk of an invading army on the horizon. At first he thought it was a trick played to his eyes by the bruning buildings and the smoke around them. But the second glance revlead that this formation slowly made its way towards the city. This complicated matters. Contemplating Harrin's words, Alkanos only found one reasonable way forward, if they wanted to try to save some lifes in this catastrophe. "Harrin! You say the temple is southeast of here. Well, if you ask me going southeast sounds way more appealing than heading north right now. Maybe we could do some good on the way. Get some souls out of this mess." Alkanos was ready to move in the directions the innkeep provided and really hoped the others would follow suit.