Yuriel and Abil step forward as well to offer magical might and Tezi smiles and reaches forward and places two fingers on the orb's surface, "Everyone willing, magic user or not, step forward and make physical contact with the orb or someone who is touching it. Let your mind connect to it and it will do the work for the first part. Once we are all connected harmoniously to the orb, and you will know when this happens, all arcane casters expend one of your spells into it. It will pull in the magic and collect it for scrying purposes. This is what we will use to try and push through and see into our enemies lair."
Everyone participating in the ritual will be mentally connected momentarily. Enough time to dredge up one quick memory that will be shared with the group. This is the indicator that the orb is ready to receive your spell. Put in the memory to be shared and then any arcane magic users will cast one spell of your choosing into the crystal ball, after which Tezi will use all accumulated magic and everyone's focused will to try and penetrate the spell keeping prying eyes at bay.
All of The Iron Dragons and The Elite Hammers step forward and either touch the floating orb directly or touch someone who is directly touching it and begin to concentrate. Touching the orb or someone who is already begins with a small shock, as though a tiny amount of electricity passing through your bodies and as you concentrate you lightly feel the blood coursing through your veins. Your vision fades to black and you close your eyes as you begin to experience the probing of other minds momentarily before you feel the sensation of being sucked into a void of colorful lights swirling around you and then the memories begin to bubble forth.
You see a younger Ferik sneaking out of a tavern kitchen with several food items in his hands.
You see a slightly younger Sidri fighting goblins over the body of a small elf child, rage consuming her as she eviscerates the small horde rushing her from all sides with her spear.
You see a younger Tezi fleeing a town square as she is being pelted with stones.
You see Nevkulm praying at a shrine dedicated to Dugmaren Brightmantle.
You see Edward talking to Sidri, his hand reaching up to her face, pulling her closer.
You see Aden and Edward training in a large garden. Edward's form blurs and flickers as Aden laughs and fights on.
You see Selga meditating on the forest floor, her body beginning to shift and warp, changing into a large black panther before bounding off.
You see Kimi running to Aden on an active battlefield, placing her hands on him, his wounds closing up with a faint glow.
You see a young Yuriel up in the mountains talking to a man that had fallen from the sky as a pillar of smoke or mist.
You see a younger Abil sitting on a chair playing his lyre next to a bed that contains two barely clothed women.
Hrothgar steps foward, although unsure as to what to expect does not pauze to put his fingertips on the bowl. Hoping it can help Tezi. Feeling a jolt run through his hand up his arm. Seeing the fragments of memories of the others.
Those that see Hrothgars memory will see the following:
On the outskirts of Cormyr near the home of Hrothgars parents, his mother Sarah is standing next to his aunt Mirra. The two sisters looking over a wheatfield with a hand over their brow to shield their eyes from the sun as they look to the skies. In the field a very young Hrothgar is standing in front of his niece Roselyn, a girl only about 2 years younger than Hrothgar. He is holding a stick that he is using to defend Roselyn from another child. They are playfighting and his childhood friend Rodrick is playing the bandit attacker shouting treats at them. As their stickswords meet in the air blow after blow Rodrick suddenly stops, looking up to the skies, as Hrothgar is about to land his 'killing blow' he stops ,seeing his friend is distracted and turns around to see whats going on.
Two griffons soar to the ground landing in the wheatfield. Hrothgars father Obrin dismounts a most majestic looking griffon, white feathers around the head and the body mostly yellow and going into golden shades at the end of the wings. Dismounting from the other griffon is his uncle Tyron (now dead), his griffon looking mighty and slightly larger but with more common shades of brown. Still awestruck Hrothgar's face slowly turns to a smile as he sees the two men arrive. Then the memory ends.
Aerdeth nods to Tezi, and calmly places a hand on the orb. The small shock is pleasant to him, like a much needed stretch of a tense muscle. When the other memories come to them, he does his best to savor each one - the breadth of experiences each one brought. Even if he lived for ten times his life, he could never experience all the things these strangers were sharing now. These ones. . . the voice in his head is his, and yet it isn't. Sometimes the line between his patron's will and his own are blurred. Sidri and Tezi. Their memories were the most sorrowful, the most intense. He focuses on those, trying to remember them, knowing that another observer will truly appreciate them.
As his focus slips, a memory of his own drifts past his consciousness. He does not try to withhold it. Few things were private to him anymore.
Aerdeth stands, looking much as he does now, over an unconscious dwarf, panting, features contorted in rage few have seen from him. Aerdeth has a few superficial cuts, but the dwarf's left leg is clearly broken - likely shattered beyond mundane medicine. A beautiful young woman, her soft, slender features cast in horror and shock stands in the bright light of the tavern's doorway.
"What did you do?!," she screams at Aerdeth before ducking back into the building, her voice still panicked, but muffled. "Do we have a medic? Or a healer?"
Alone in the street with the crippled dwarf, Aerdeth pauses, staring at the tavern with tears moistening his cheeks. Wordlessly, he turns away. As he leaves, he draws a hinged, black iron cuff from his pack and clasps it onto his left forearm. He grunts in pain, but continues his long walk through the night.
When everyone's ready, Aerdeth will expend one of his spell slots to cast Hex at 5th level into the orb.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Another medical problem. Indefinite hiatus. Sorry, all.
Lia places her fingers on the ball. She feels the jolt, but is not put off by it as she has experienced magic of this strength before most likely.
A memory of hers slips forward...
She stands in a darkened alley, clearly much much younger - not much more than a kidwearing dark clothes and clutching a pouch with it's ties cut. She opens the pouch and grins as she sees the coins inside.
Zogar prefers not to share his memories with anyone. He casts his spell on Tezi and keeps his hand on her shoulder, but fights to contain his thoughts.
Eventually the combined power and will of the group breaks through a small crack. All that is shown is the face of his older half-sister, Rohaki. She is a full orc and bears no resemblance to Zogar. Rohaki raised Zogar and his twin brother, the more orcish looking Sogar from childhood. She is the only one who understands his calling and the only one he's ever loved.
As quickly as it slipped out, Zogar suppresses the memory and closes off to the group again, focusing on Mythrien Sarath in a prayer for guidance.
Hastings sighs as he barely understands most of the magic as pnky his mother had any talent in the arcane among his family and it was no more then a few simple cantrips of convenience. With a shrug he moves up and places his hand on the shoulder of one of the more spell savy members of his own band. As he does so his other hand moves to rest on the comfortble hilt of his rapier.
As his own memory comes into the rest of the group's minds it is filled with the roar of a battle. It slowy forms to show two ships in thenmiddle of a battle. One is clearly crippled and barely afloat. While one side looks to he more heavily armed and all humans, the other is a ragtag group filled with elves, dwarves and a few humans and halflings. Hastings hinself is with the ragtag group, using his skills as a rogue to hit the weak spots in the armored humans.
It jumps a bit towards the end of the battle, the ragtag group nearly all dead. A wounded Hastings stands over a half elven woman that seems to be suffering from a gut wound. The ensuing battle is long with Hastings mostly be forced to dodge his more skilled opponent, only able to landna few jabs of his rapier in between his evasions. After nearly losing his arm, the noble fencer finally is able to deliver a killing blow. After this his memory fades with him kneeling over the half elven woman as he does his best to stop the bleeding with a hastily thrown together Healer's kit.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As the arcane casters push their spells into the crystal ball, all the memories suddenly stop and everything goes black for a minute or so. Just when you think the ritual failed, something begins to come into view. Your vision begins moving in a gliding and swooping sort of way. You soon realize you are looking through the eyes of some creature that had been flying over the fort when the spell went off. You see a series of mountains surrounding a large hidden lake. Next to the lake you see the fort, complete with a dock for the water. The image dives down closer to the fort and blurs for a moment and then suddenly you see it is actually piercing through part of the fort to the insides.
Looking around inside the fort, you are surprised by the fact that there is no sign of any undead at all. No life appears to be inhabiting the walls of the building at all actually. The vision dives down further, seeking more info on anything that could possibly be dwelling inside, but suddenly hits resistance of some sort. You begin to hear a high pitched wail that tears into your mind before everyone is thrown back from the crystal ball, some hitting walls and some falling prone to the ground.
"Not sure we learned anything of use there." Lia says as she rubs her head, massaging the headache from the backlash. "It is curious we did not see any of the undead reported to be crawling all over the place, but not sure that was worth the toll of the spell just took on us."
Aerdeth grunts and braces himself as the psychic blast wracks the party, staggering back to his feet.
"I thought so. Whatever aegis blocks the place, it likely conceals the undead. There's also no way everyone is going to fit in at the same time. Perhaps one company approaches by water, from the docks. Another takes the main entrance. The third splits into two steams to provide emergency support to each. What think you, Hrothgar?"
Hrothgar falls back to the ground with his hands covering his ears as the wail still rings through. As he pulls himself back up he takes in what his team is mentioning about their findings.
Your right Aerdeth, we will need to split up. And those two points are the best to enter.
He recalls the images in his mind for a moment.
The main gate will most likely be guarded so we would need to assault the gate to draw their attention, while another team will try to get inside through the docks. Our focus should be to get everyone inside, so the docks team would need to open the gate for the others if they have trouble getting inside. It wont be wise for half of us to face the lich.
Hrothgar takes a moment to pause.
If we are in agreement, we need to decide who goes where and prepare for the assault.
Zogar gives Hrothgar a look that tells him that this isn't a diplomacy, we don't need to agree and we trust your decisions. Zogar himself says nothing, but after all these years, Hrothgar understands his meaning.
"Which group are we to be?" Lia asks, glancing to Hrothgar, expecting him to have made the decision and wanting her marching orders. She is confident in his leadership.
Hrothgar knows his group expects him to make a choice, but wanted to give the other groups some room to not feel pressed into a situation.
Our group is best served as the team that goes to the docks. Most of our abilities are for up close and personal, we would not be effective on a gate that might require ranged assault.
Hrothgar kneels on the ground of the cave picking up a small rock. He starts to draw a rudimentary outline of the keep and attacklines as the goes through his plan. His team will have seen him do this many times as tactical preparation and to give everyone a rough visual idea of the plan.
Looking at the other groups, Once you start the assault the guards will direct their attention to the front of the keep.He then looks at Hastings.
Hasting, our rogue will be the first to sneak up on the dock to secure our way in. Together with Aerdeth, Lia and Emma, hopefully we can take the docks quick and quietly. If you can make enough noise on the gateside we will fight our way to the courtyard, and move up to the gatehouse. Zogar and i will hold the line as we will use the small passages to our advantage against their numbers allowing the others to strike easier. We will raise the gate.
We will need you to come in and take control of the courtyard to give us some breathing room as im sure we will be swarmed by that time.
His eyes go across his group. We will be in for a rough battle, but together we will hold, as we have in the past.
We will attack at dawn, cover of night would not likely be effective against undead.
(OOC: mechanically we will want to be sure we've aligned to have both the Heroes' Feast the Aid spell I cast still up for the event. HF lasts 24 hours, but we slept the first 8. Aid lasts 8 hours and I just cast it. DM: I did the Aid thinking we were about to move in. Obviously Zogar would have waited until we moved out.)
(OOC: Yeah, the heroes feast I assumed was eaten before bed to make it last as long as possible, the Aid spell i don't mind saying you waited on until you knew the plan in full. Consider it freshly cast. You arrived in Proskur around noon and met Ferik about an hour later. On horseback you made it to The Iron Dragons about 20 minutes after that, so it's almost two pm by now with the scrying and everything. By dawn the next morning, the Heroes' Feast will have worn off. That decision is up to you to make. I know you said you wouldn't have cast the feast if you weren't a day away from battle, buuuut, technically waiting until tomorrow is a choice you have, but you also have the choice to attack now, or tonight. I'll let you folks make that decision.)
Aden and Edward come forward to speak with Hrothgar and Aden steps forward to speak, "We are both willing to follow your battle plan for this mission. I do believe that your group has more experience overall in tactics and combat. It will be an honor for all our groups to fight side by side."
(ooc alright i agree with should try to use the buffs as best we can so im ok with moving in asap, hope to get into the keep before it goes dark since darkvision is not on our side and most undead have it)
So scratch the last part and Hrothgar will have said:
We should attack as soon as possible, before the darkness helps conceil these vile undead.
In response to Aden and Edward. It is anhonor indeed.
Assuming the group prepares to leave Hrothgar will walk towards the exit and turn to speak to everyone one last time before leaving. He has prepared for this moment since their arrival at Proskur and his face is serious as he begins his speech (using Inspiring Leader focussed on our group of 6 but speaking to all for rp and to boost everyones morale) :
Today we will undoubtedly face great evils, this is true. But we must take comfort in the fact that we are not alone in this.His eyes move between the 3 groups before starting to pace a few steps back and forth in the cave.
Know that there are others out there facing the same evils. Others that depend on us this day. Together we shall face this treat. He says with a firm voice.
He stops pacing and raises a fist And we will cleanse this land of the evil that has taken hold of this place. Putting power into his voice trying to get hold of everyones emotions. We will show this lich his corruption will not be tolerated, we will show these... vile creature who defends these lands.
With even more determination in his eyes he raises he balls his fists once more, using his entire body language to amplify his words. Looking at Aden and Edward Fight for your king and queen, towards Zogar and Aerdeth Fight for your gods Then to Lia/Emma and Hastings and fight for the people of this land. Now let us go forth and bring light where there is only darkness.
Mechanics:
I can target 6 people (including myself) for Inspiring Leader which i will do. Everyone in our group gets 16 temporary HP that last untill our next short/long rest whenever that will be. I speak to all to give whatever boost to the other groups that the DM sees fit :). Mostly going for morale boost for them. @DM it has to spend 10mins to inspire.
(ooc: i tried to visualize as much as possible with the speech and hope it comes across as i have in my mind, intend to do this more often so hoping people like it since this is how i see Hrothgar.)
Hastings rubs his head and frowns at what seems to be a rather unpleasant memory, shaking his head once more to clear it. Once he recovers he crosses his arms and leans against the wall to hear the plan and speech, nodding as he does so. He keeps his hand close to his weapons and pulls the hood of his cloak of to cover his face somewhat.
"If the need truly arises I still have my bow although I admit to being rusty. I have not had much chance to use it recently since as you well know I first developed the skill during my time on the high seas. But stowing such thoughts away for now I know my skills at subterfuge are quite legendary among our band do any of you perhaps have magic that may perhaps enhance it? We do not know what we shall be facing so I do not know if my skills alone shall suffice."
"I prefer having some distance, but I also prefer a cool glass of ginger mead and a harpist performance. I will make do."
He does not cast any further spells as the group moves on the fort. He had to pace himself when borrowing the power of another - and he feared the others might already be expending too much.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Another medical problem. Indefinite hiatus. Sorry, all.
Yuriel and Abil step forward as well to offer magical might and Tezi smiles and reaches forward and places two fingers on the orb's surface, "Everyone willing, magic user or not, step forward and make physical contact with the orb or someone who is touching it. Let your mind connect to it and it will do the work for the first part. Once we are all connected harmoniously to the orb, and you will know when this happens, all arcane casters expend one of your spells into it. It will pull in the magic and collect it for scrying purposes. This is what we will use to try and push through and see into our enemies lair."
Everyone participating in the ritual will be mentally connected momentarily. Enough time to dredge up one quick memory that will be shared with the group. This is the indicator that the orb is ready to receive your spell. Put in the memory to be shared and then any arcane magic users will cast one spell of your choosing into the crystal ball, after which Tezi will use all accumulated magic and everyone's focused will to try and penetrate the spell keeping prying eyes at bay.
All of The Iron Dragons and The Elite Hammers step forward and either touch the floating orb directly or touch someone who is directly touching it and begin to concentrate. Touching the orb or someone who is already begins with a small shock, as though a tiny amount of electricity passing through your bodies and as you concentrate you lightly feel the blood coursing through your veins. Your vision fades to black and you close your eyes as you begin to experience the probing of other minds momentarily before you feel the sensation of being sucked into a void of colorful lights swirling around you and then the memories begin to bubble forth.
You see a younger Ferik sneaking out of a tavern kitchen with several food items in his hands.
You see a slightly younger Sidri fighting goblins over the body of a small elf child, rage consuming her as she eviscerates the small horde rushing her from all sides with her spear.
You see a younger Tezi fleeing a town square as she is being pelted with stones.
You see Nevkulm praying at a shrine dedicated to Dugmaren Brightmantle.
You see Edward talking to Sidri, his hand reaching up to her face, pulling her closer.
You see Aden and Edward training in a large garden. Edward's form blurs and flickers as Aden laughs and fights on.
You see Selga meditating on the forest floor, her body beginning to shift and warp, changing into a large black panther before bounding off.
You see Kimi running to Aden on an active battlefield, placing her hands on him, his wounds closing up with a faint glow.
You see a young Yuriel up in the mountains talking to a man that had fallen from the sky as a pillar of smoke or mist.
You see a younger Abil sitting on a chair playing his lyre next to a bed that contains two barely clothed women.
Hrothgar steps foward, although unsure as to what to expect does not pauze to put his fingertips on the bowl. Hoping it can help Tezi. Feeling a jolt run through his hand up his arm. Seeing the fragments of memories of the others.
Those that see Hrothgars memory will see the following:
On the outskirts of Cormyr near the home of Hrothgars parents, his mother Sarah is standing next to his aunt Mirra. The two sisters looking over a wheatfield with a hand over their brow to shield their eyes from the sun as they look to the skies. In the field a very young Hrothgar is standing in front of his niece Roselyn, a girl only about 2 years younger than Hrothgar. He is holding a stick that he is using to defend Roselyn from another child. They are playfighting and his childhood friend Rodrick is playing the bandit attacker shouting treats at them. As their stickswords meet in the air blow after blow Rodrick suddenly stops, looking up to the skies, as Hrothgar is about to land his 'killing blow' he stops ,seeing his friend is distracted and turns around to see whats going on.
Two griffons soar to the ground landing in the wheatfield. Hrothgars father Obrin dismounts a most majestic looking griffon, white feathers around the head and the body mostly yellow and going into golden shades at the end of the wings. Dismounting from the other griffon is his uncle Tyron (now dead), his griffon looking mighty and slightly larger but with more common shades of brown.
Still awestruck Hrothgar's face slowly turns to a smile as he sees the two men arrive. Then the memory ends.
Aerdeth nods to Tezi, and calmly places a hand on the orb. The small shock is pleasant to him, like a much needed stretch of a tense muscle. When the other memories come to them, he does his best to savor each one - the breadth of experiences each one brought. Even if he lived for ten times his life, he could never experience all the things these strangers were sharing now. These ones. . . the voice in his head is his, and yet it isn't. Sometimes the line between his patron's will and his own are blurred. Sidri and Tezi. Their memories were the most sorrowful, the most intense. He focuses on those, trying to remember them, knowing that another observer will truly appreciate them.
As his focus slips, a memory of his own drifts past his consciousness. He does not try to withhold it. Few things were private to him anymore.
Aerdeth stands, looking much as he does now, over an unconscious dwarf, panting, features contorted in rage few have seen from him. Aerdeth has a few superficial cuts, but the dwarf's left leg is clearly broken - likely shattered beyond mundane medicine. A beautiful young woman, her soft, slender features cast in horror and shock stands in the bright light of the tavern's doorway.
"What did you do?!," she screams at Aerdeth before ducking back into the building, her voice still panicked, but muffled. "Do we have a medic? Or a healer?"
Alone in the street with the crippled dwarf, Aerdeth pauses, staring at the tavern with tears moistening his cheeks. Wordlessly, he turns away. As he leaves, he draws a hinged, black iron cuff from his pack and clasps it onto his left forearm. He grunts in pain, but continues his long walk through the night.
When everyone's ready, Aerdeth will expend one of his spell slots to cast Hex at 5th level into the orb.
Another medical problem. Indefinite hiatus. Sorry, all.
Lia places her fingers on the ball. She feels the jolt, but is not put off by it as she has experienced magic of this strength before most likely.
A memory of hers slips forward...
She stands in a darkened alley, clearly much much younger - not much more than a kidwearing dark clothes and clutching a pouch with it's ties cut. She opens the pouch and grins as she sees the coins inside.
Zogar prefers not to share his memories with anyone. He casts his spell on Tezi and keeps his hand on her shoulder, but fights to contain his thoughts.
Eventually the combined power and will of the group breaks through a small crack. All that is shown is the face of his older half-sister, Rohaki. She is a full orc and bears no resemblance to Zogar. Rohaki raised Zogar and his twin brother, the more orcish looking Sogar from childhood. She is the only one who understands his calling and the only one he's ever loved.
As quickly as it slipped out, Zogar suppresses the memory and closes off to the group again, focusing on Mythrien Sarath in a prayer for guidance.
Hastings sighs as he barely understands most of the magic as pnky his mother had any talent in the arcane among his family and it was no more then a few simple cantrips of convenience. With a shrug he moves up and places his hand on the shoulder of one of the more spell savy members of his own band. As he does so his other hand moves to rest on the comfortble hilt of his rapier.
As his own memory comes into the rest of the group's minds it is filled with the roar of a battle. It slowy forms to show two ships in thenmiddle of a battle. One is clearly crippled and barely afloat. While one side looks to he more heavily armed and all humans, the other is a ragtag group filled with elves, dwarves and a few humans and halflings. Hastings hinself is with the ragtag group, using his skills as a rogue to hit the weak spots in the armored humans.
It jumps a bit towards the end of the battle, the ragtag group nearly all dead. A wounded Hastings stands over a half elven woman that seems to be suffering from a gut wound. The ensuing battle is long with Hastings mostly be forced to dodge his more skilled opponent, only able to landna few jabs of his rapier in between his evasions. After nearly losing his arm, the noble fencer finally is able to deliver a killing blow. After this his memory fades with him kneeling over the half elven woman as he does his best to stop the bleeding with a hastily thrown together Healer's kit.
As the arcane casters push their spells into the crystal ball, all the memories suddenly stop and everything goes black for a minute or so. Just when you think the ritual failed, something begins to come into view. Your vision begins moving in a gliding and swooping sort of way. You soon realize you are looking through the eyes of some creature that had been flying over the fort when the spell went off. You see a series of mountains surrounding a large hidden lake. Next to the lake you see the fort, complete with a dock for the water. The image dives down closer to the fort and blurs for a moment and then suddenly you see it is actually piercing through part of the fort to the insides.
Fort Helm
Looking around inside the fort, you are surprised by the fact that there is no sign of any undead at all. No life appears to be inhabiting the walls of the building at all actually. The vision dives down further, seeking more info on anything that could possibly be dwelling inside, but suddenly hits resistance of some sort. You begin to hear a high pitched wail that tears into your mind before everyone is thrown back from the crystal ball, some hitting walls and some falling prone to the ground.
(( OOC: Wisdom Saves
Aerdeth: 25
Hastings: 20
Zogar: 29
Lia: 17
Hrothgar: 21
Save DC: 20
Psychic Damage: 16 Failure = full damage/Success = Half Damage
Everyone please update your HP and Use up any spell slot for the ritual.))
"Not sure we learned anything of use there." Lia says as she rubs her head, massaging the headache from the backlash. "It is curious we did not see any of the undead reported to be crawling all over the place, but not sure that was worth the toll of the spell just took on us."
Aerdeth grunts and braces himself as the psychic blast wracks the party, staggering back to his feet.
"I thought so. Whatever aegis blocks the place, it likely conceals the undead. There's also no way everyone is going to fit in at the same time. Perhaps one company approaches by water, from the docks. Another takes the main entrance. The third splits into two steams to provide emergency support to each. What think you, Hrothgar?"
Another medical problem. Indefinite hiatus. Sorry, all.
Hrothgar falls back to the ground with his hands covering his ears as the wail still rings through. As he pulls himself back up he takes in what his team is mentioning about their findings.
Your right Aerdeth, we will need to split up. And those two points are the best to enter.
He recalls the images in his mind for a moment.
The main gate will most likely be guarded so we would need to assault the gate to draw their attention, while another team will try to get inside through the docks. Our focus should be to get everyone inside, so the docks team would need to open the gate for the others if they have trouble getting inside. It wont be wise for half of us to face the lich.
Hrothgar takes a moment to pause.
If we are in agreement, we need to decide who goes where and prepare for the assault.
Zogar gives Hrothgar a look that tells him that this isn't a diplomacy, we don't need to agree and we trust your decisions. Zogar himself says nothing, but after all these years, Hrothgar understands his meaning.
"Which group are we to be?" Lia asks, glancing to Hrothgar, expecting him to have made the decision and wanting her marching orders. She is confident in his leadership.
Hrothgar knows his group expects him to make a choice, but wanted to give the other groups some room to not feel pressed into a situation.
Our group is best served as the team that goes to the docks. Most of our abilities are for up close and personal, we would not be effective on a gate that might require ranged assault.
Hrothgar kneels on the ground of the cave picking up a small rock. He starts to draw a rudimentary outline of the keep and attacklines as the goes through his plan. His team will have seen him do this many times as tactical preparation and to give everyone a rough visual idea of the plan.
Looking at the other groups, Once you start the assault the guards will direct their attention to the front of the keep. He then looks at Hastings.
Hasting, our rogue will be the first to sneak up on the dock to secure our way in. Together with Aerdeth, Lia and Emma, hopefully we can take the docks quick and quietly. If you can make enough noise on the gateside we will fight our way to the courtyard, and move up to the gatehouse. Zogar and i will hold the line as we will use the small passages to our advantage against their numbers allowing the others to strike easier. We will raise the gate.
We will need you to come in and take control of the courtyard to give us some breathing room as im sure we will be swarmed by that time.
His eyes go across his group. We will be in for a rough battle, but together we will hold, as we have in the past.
We will attack at dawn, cover of night would not likely be effective against undead.
(ooc what time is it now?)
(OOC: mechanically we will want to be sure we've aligned to have both the Heroes' Feast the Aid spell I cast still up for the event. HF lasts 24 hours, but we slept the first 8. Aid lasts 8 hours and I just cast it. DM: I did the Aid thinking we were about to move in. Obviously Zogar would have waited until we moved out.)
(OOC: Yeah, the heroes feast I assumed was eaten before bed to make it last as long as possible, the Aid spell i don't mind saying you waited on until you knew the plan in full. Consider it freshly cast. You arrived in Proskur around noon and met Ferik about an hour later. On horseback you made it to The Iron Dragons about 20 minutes after that, so it's almost two pm by now with the scrying and everything. By dawn the next morning, the Heroes' Feast will have worn off. That decision is up to you to make. I know you said you wouldn't have cast the feast if you weren't a day away from battle, buuuut, technically waiting until tomorrow is a choice you have, but you also have the choice to attack now, or tonight. I'll let you folks make that decision.)
Aden and Edward come forward to speak with Hrothgar and Aden steps forward to speak, "We are both willing to follow your battle plan for this mission. I do believe that your group has more experience overall in tactics and combat. It will be an honor for all our groups to fight side by side."
(ooc alright i agree with should try to use the buffs as best we can so im ok with moving in asap, hope to get into the keep before it goes dark since darkvision is not on our side and most undead have it)
So scratch the last part and Hrothgar will have said:
We should attack as soon as possible, before the darkness helps conceil these vile undead.
In response to Aden and Edward. It is an honor indeed.
Assuming the group prepares to leave Hrothgar will walk towards the exit and turn to speak to everyone one last time before leaving. He has prepared for this moment since their arrival at Proskur and his face is serious as he begins his speech (using Inspiring Leader focussed on our group of 6 but speaking to all for rp and to boost everyones morale) :
Today we will undoubtedly face great evils, this is true. But we must take comfort in the fact that we are not alone in this. His eyes move between the 3 groups before starting to pace a few steps back and forth in the cave.
Know that there are others out there facing the same evils. Others that depend on us this day. Together we shall face this treat. He says with a firm voice.
He stops pacing and raises a fist And we will cleanse this land of the evil that has taken hold of this place. Putting power into his voice trying to get hold of everyones emotions. We will show this lich his corruption will not be tolerated, we will show these... vile creature who defends these lands.
With even more determination in his eyes he raises he balls his fists once more, using his entire body language to amplify his words. Looking at Aden and Edward Fight for your king and queen, towards Zogar and Aerdeth Fight for your gods Then to Lia/Emma and Hastings and fight for the people of this land. Now let us go forth and bring light where there is only darkness.
Mechanics:
I can target 6 people (including myself) for Inspiring Leader which i will do. Everyone in our group gets 16 temporary HP that last untill our next short/long rest whenever that will be. I speak to all to give whatever boost to the other groups that the DM sees fit :). Mostly going for morale boost for them. @DM it has to spend 10mins to inspire.
(ooc: i tried to visualize as much as possible with the speech and hope it comes across as i have in my mind, intend to do this more often so hoping people like it since this is how i see Hrothgar.)
Hastings rubs his head and frowns at what seems to be a rather unpleasant memory, shaking his head once more to clear it. Once he recovers he crosses his arms and leans against the wall to hear the plan and speech, nodding as he does so. He keeps his hand close to his weapons and pulls the hood of his cloak of to cover his face somewhat.
"If the need truly arises I still have my bow although I admit to being rusty. I have not had much chance to use it recently since as you well know I first developed the skill during my time on the high seas. But stowing such thoughts away for now I know my skills at subterfuge are quite legendary among our band do any of you perhaps have magic that may perhaps enhance it? We do not know what we shall be facing so I do not know if my skills alone shall suffice."
Lia and Emma will both cast mage armor and mirror image The mirror image they will cast as they get closer to the dock.
((OOC:. Uh. Do we have a boat?))
Aerdeth shrugs as the plans commence.
"I prefer having some distance, but I also prefer a cool glass of ginger mead and a harpist performance. I will make do."
He does not cast any further spells as the group moves on the fort. He had to pace himself when borrowing the power of another - and he feared the others might already be expending too much.
Another medical problem. Indefinite hiatus. Sorry, all.
(OOC: We were attacking a fort. I didn't bring any aquatic magic today. Sigh.)