Zelroch is following along with the group keeping an eye out for any enemy that might lunge out of the shadows, the rage has since subsided though he is thirsty to get back into the action. He keeps wanting to charge into battle with these insufferable creatures but then sees the looks on the children's faces and remembers what is more important. He notices one of the smaller children having a hard time keeping up so he leans down and scoops up the child to place him on his shoulder, making sure none of the children are left behind.

(have any of cobalt's wolves shown up yet?)

Colbalt, who has wild shaped into an ape as a defense buffer and will cast [spell]Pass Without a Trace[spell] on himself and includes everyone in the group before moving on from the kobolds and culists while thinking to himself, <What does a blue dragoon breath and what's the good version of one? Should I go for power or counter? I'm really itchy right now>

Quote from Shodai_Kishi >>

(have any of cobalt's wolves shown up yet?)

Colbalt, who has wild shaped into an ape as a defense buffer and will cast [spell]Pass Without a Trace[spell] on himself and includes everyone in the group before moving on from the kobolds and culists while thinking to himself, <What does a blue dragoon breath and what's the good version of one? Should I go for power or counter? I'm really itchy right now>

 Sorry, forgot to tell you at the time, but the conjure animals spell is also concentration.  As soon as you cast Entangle it ended the conjure animals spell.

As you continue on towards the keep you come across more groups of kobolds and cultists, but continue to backtrack to bypass them. When you reach the gates to the keep they are in the process of being closed, and you are the last ones to enter, the invading  force coming in hard behind you as they encircle the keep as soon as the gates are closed.

You have now made it to the keep. I will work on the post for this next section today.  For now you all gain a level.  Go ahead and add 1 hit dice of one of your classes and 1 feat, ASI, or Epic Boon.  For things that depend on level, this level will stack with any other class-specific affect for the class you pick.  For instance, the Abjuration wizard gets bonus HP for their arcane ward based on wizard level.

Quote from DragonDenn >>

As you continue on towards the keep you come across more groups of kobolds and cultists, but continue to backtrack to bypass them. When you reach the gates to the keep they are in the process of being closed, and you are the last ones to enter, the invading  force coming in hard behind you as they encircle the keep as soon as the gates are closed.

 

You have now made it to the keep. I will work on the post for this next section today.  For now you all gain a level.  Go ahead and add 1 hit dice of one of your classes and 1 feat, ASI, or Epic Boon.  For things that depend on level, this level will stack with any other class-specific affect for the class you pick.  For instance, the Abjuration wizard gets bonus HP for their arcane ward based on wizard level.

 Would this include prepared spells?

As the gate slams shut a figure steps forward to greet you.

"Thank you for coming to the aid of our citizens..." The figure says. The right side of his face and head are bandaged, his right arm hangs in a sling, and his light blue tunic is stained with his own blood. "I am Governor Nighthill. Please follow me. He leads the way through the keep and up on the parapet. "The raiders have isolated the keep from the town with encircling groups of guards, but they haven’t organized an attack. I do not believe the raiders intend to attack the keep; they seem interested only in loot. The real danger is to the town and to those people who didn’t make it into the keep before it was cut off." He glances to the group of you. "From the reports I have had these creatures seem to be abnormally strong, and it would be death to any of my guards that I send out. "Would you be willing to slip back into the town and help people who are cut off or harass the raiders? It seems you are our only hope for these things."

Mr.Black shrugs, "I'd be willing to head out and try to find more people. But what makes you think they won't just turn to here once everyone is trapped.  Why not lead people out into some distant homesteads instead?"

"I believe we need a moment (an hour) to catch our breath. The journey here was not easy even for us," Cobalt states, "At least for me, i can recover some of my magic with time which I believe we will need," 

"It is up to you." The govenor says.  "I believe these are here to loot, and have little desire to attack the keep itself.  The outer homesteads have been the worst hit, from report, so I would not like to send any of the people out to face that if there is any other choice."

"It would be nice to take a breather inside the keep here, but do we ahve time to do so?" Dain asks as he looks out over the walls.

Perception: 19

.

Over the city walls is the scene of many fires burning as the invaders have clearly set fire to many of the buildings,.  It appears they have set up a ring around the keep to keep the defenders contained, but do not appear to be about to set an attack on the keep itself.  

Art will look at the ring around the keep, "They may not intend to assault the keep, but they seem intent on keeping us in here. It looks like they plan to surround us and will attack all at once if we leave. We can handle a small band, but if they all assault us at once in the open, we're in trouble. And that's without the dragon."

After recovering his spell slots after a short rest with Natural Recovery, Cobalt peeks through the holes in the keep, "So whats' the plan? If we're trying to keep everyone alive, i think Mr Black has an item for that. If we're going out to fight, I got a few ideas,"

Mr.Black speaks up, "Well, while you all rest, I'm happy to go scouting and look for survivors. With luck I can find a path through the invaders to get people back here. If not, I can at least locate them and then bring you back the locations and we can plan their rescues.  Though, if I come across people being attacked already, I doubt I'll be able to help them by myself." 

Art will check over himself, "I have no need to rest at the moment, I can help support you, but I'm not very sneaky, so the best I can likely do is lend ranged support from the walls." 

(How far away are they from the walls?)

"I see the need for rest in my future, but that need does not seem immediate.  You all know I am not particularly stealthy, but perhaps with an invisibility spell I could slip past the patrols in order to be of some assistance."

"I could also use the ritual to link our minds together.  You will recall it only lasts an hour, but during that time we could speak to each other over any distance with but a thought."

"Nighthill, do you have a secret way out of this keep we can use to gather people of your town and bring them in. Looking at the ring of enemies around your keep, I am not sure we could safely pass through them and then back through them with civilians." Then turning to the rest of the group, "If we do leave, I suggest we all go out as a group, I have heard and witnessed, splitting up the party is never a good thing. I am not 100% but I am good to go."

Mr.Black, "Then I suggest we go. An hour means the difference between life and death for the people out there."

Cobalt grumbles, "Fine, I'll be down a few spells. We could barely kill the few we fought. Sending off while we ran away. Mr Black, I suggest if we're overwhelmed to have your rod ready to take us to a safe haven," Cobalt uses his staff to cast [Tooltip Not Found] on the party. 

OOC: [Tooltip Not Found] is sure the most powerful spell here!

"And I would swear that dragon was all about the keep." The idea of opening gates to the chaos outside with the dragon above did not look anyhow reasonable to Rose. "If we are about to go as a group - we might want to look like those creatures. Or at least like the cultists." She looked at  the governor: "Did you get a few black robes per chance somewhere in the keep?" "I can disguise myself,  Black can do it too, but the rest of you need to do something or we will be fighting every inch of every street."

"May be it indeed will be better if Black and I are scout a bit, while you are resting and working on those disguises," she patted Pinnacle on the shoulder, "begin your ritual. Ten minutes of preparation would save hours outside."