Ronnie's missiles hit knocking the other gnoll off it's steed onto the ground dead!
Kiran attacks the gnoll Onyx froze in place and the beast falls dead off it's steed in a furry mass at the monk's feet!
OOC: ONLY Ran's gnoll stands.
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“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
This hyena headed demon is starting to really get Ran angry.
He lashes out with his longsword and before the gnoll can react, slashes down with the other one.
Attack: 25 Damage: 10
Attack: 14 Damage: 10
Hoping the gnoll is finally down for good, Ran makes his way quickly to the royal caravan with his horse, keeping an eye out for any more bandits or gnolls approaching but also see what is going to need to be done to free the caravan from the dead horse.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Varen scans the field for any surviving threats.
Assuming they are all dead. If Ran's gnoll is still alive, ride Mouse over to flank, attack, then Mouse disengages and keep riding (cavalry charge style).
Attack: 21 Damage: 13
She shouts at the guards and the rest of the party, "Grab the surving horses! We can make better use of them for the royal carriage!"
Varen rides Mouse in an attempt to herd one of the gnoll's horses, making a grab for its reins.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Hearing Varen, and seeing the last Gnoll is nearly beat, Elavor goes to retrieve his daggers from the dead bandits, quietly searching them for any thing of value, interest, or anything identifying who these bandits were.
Stealth: 11
Investigation: 21
Elavor then rushes to Dust (pocketing whatever he found)and climbs up, drawing his short bow at the ready should anything decide to ambush them again..
Looking around, he makes a mental note of where the party is positioned and heads towards the royal carriage to help..
As the enemies around her fall, Petal takes a look around at the chaos and bloodshed left behind.
(Assuming last gnoll is dead) Hearing Varens call, Petal waves her yew wand around, casting Speak with animals.
She walks towards the gnolls horses, calmly, with her hands in the air - projecting her voice in a soothing manner. “Hey there, I know you must be scared - but we’re not like those nasty folk - riding you into danger. Come with us and we’ll treat you real nice - I’ve got some treats for you.” She rustles around in her bag looking for some rations that a horse might like - hoping she has some nice grains.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The gnoll is dead.
EXIT combat
Varen grabs the reins to one of the horses as Opal grins a gazing blow on her arm from the single scimitar blow.
Elavor finds nothing of value beyond the gnoll's scimitar and 5 of gold pieces.
Petal is able to gather the other two gnoll horses.
Assessing the royal caravan most of the house guard is dead, there are 2 remaining alive. There are only two usable wagons and 4 horses alive plus the three gnoll horses. The queen then emerges from the carriage her face filled with horror as the king however remains inside.
"Opal! Onyx," Queen Citrine shouts looking around before spotting her children as Opal rides up and Onyx shuffled closer.
"They're dead mother....we are fine," Opal replies smiling her face splattered with blood.
"I...I was able to help too," Onyx calls out with a satisfied grin before looking at Kiran bloody from the fight as the queen also looks at the monk with concern on her face.
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“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Ran methodically cuts the dead horses from the royal carriage and any other wagons in the caravan that are rendered useless for the same reason and works quickly to yoke the sturdiest horses to the usable wagons. He doesn't trust the gnoll horses for that task.
"We best not linger, your majesty," Ran says to the queen. "These gnolls were howling into the woods near the end. They may have been calling others."
"I know that means we cannot honor the fallen as we should, but the sooner we put miles between us and here, the better. We can send riders back to bury the dead once we have you and your family safely clear."
He nods his recognition to the others. Even the holy father handled himself well. Best not to bring up the magic he saw some of the others wielding while the queen was around.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Varen nods. "I agree. The quicker we can be clear of this ambush the better." She leads the gnoll horse over to the carriage, dismounting Mouse and tying the gnoll horse to the cart. She looks at Opal. "That blood yours or theirs? Surely no mere bandit could make the mighty Opal bleed her own blood."
She looks through the bodies, quickly looking through satchels, pockets, and around their necks. She points to one of the nearby houseguard, "Keep an eye out for any identifying marks, a parchment with a contract, or anything else! Maybe one of them was careless and has left us a clue."
Edit: Elavor beat my passive perception so I wouldn't have seen him loot the body. Edited appropriately.
If she finds gold in any quantity, was it minted in the same location, or random? Are there any contracts, orders, instructions, or leads for who sent this band? Any identifying marks, mercenary insignia, or anything else? Since Elavor already searched once, I'll assume this is the "helped" version and won't ask Ronnie to help me.
After calming the horses, Petal goes to check in on her friends, Onyx and Ronegan.
As she heads over she notices Elavor atop his horse, and runs up to them “Hi Dust and..... Elavor is it? I just wanted to thank you for looking out for my friends there! You really took a bad hit huh? You were really brave. Dust is lucky to have you.” She smiles at the horse and pets him.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
(Elavor would have looked at the scimitar, but passed on taking it, the gold he took though, pocketing it as discreetly as possible)
Elavor smiles at the kind remarks "Well, two bad hits really, and I thought that second one had me for sure... but I suddenly got a breath of fresh air and came back around. Very strange, but welcome, to be sure...The wound will need tended to soon, but hopefully we will run into some luck or rest. I'm lucky to have Dust, and glad she's barely got a scratch on her. Let's go check on everyone"
He escorts her to the wagon, keeping a wary eye on the surrounding woods...
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As the last gnoll is still falling, Kiran moves quietly to check the surrounding woods, alert to the possibility of reinforcements for their enemies and trusting to his allies to get things ready to move. Perception: 15 Stealth: 9
When he returns, he makes certain to make eye contact with Onyx, Ronegan, and Petal each individually, just enough to let them know he saw, but does not say anything at this time. He looks around, "How long until we can move? We mustn't linger here long. I will send word of what has happened here." He then moves a little way apart and quickly writes on a sheet of paper before lighting it on fire and watching it burn, then rejoins the others.
DM
Using his Shadow Network feature to send a message to his nearest contact, "Ambush on royal family at (their current location to his best estimate) gnolls and bandits. Cannot stop to bury dead. Please arrange for proper burial and notify hierarchy of attack. Thank you, Kiran Hallowedsworn."
With the fight over, Ronegan finally looks down at the drying blood seeped into his robes. "Oh dear. This is going to take a lot of scrubbing. I've found that you can prepare a solution that is equal parts water and a concoction of my own design. Its quite clever really..." He mutters to himself, only stopping when his eyes meet Kiran's. That was going to be a problem! Why had he not foreseen...all of this? He immediately begins to foment a plan of action.
His fingers tap the the canister on his hip absentmindedly as he picks through the chaos. Ran was already checking on the queen, because of course he was. Petal was still alive -- of course she was. Ronegan had read a turn of phrase in one of his books that he quite liked. "The gods take care of dogs and the mad." Elavor seemed to be okay, despite having taken what looked like a killing blow. And of course, he had no worries about Varen -- from the stories she shared, he had no doubt that woman can take care of herself.
Finally, there was Onyx. As Ronegan finally sees him, he began to realize the young prince's involvement. His eyes widen and he rushes over as fast as his fat little legs can carry him. "Prince Onyx that was...remarkable." He whispers, grabbing tightly at first onto Onyx's injured arm. "We need to discuss your abilities young man. This changes everything." Ronegan can't hide the expression of delight on his face upon learning of his pupil's talents.
If she finds gold in any quantity, was it minted in the same location, or random? Are there any contracts, orders, instructions, or leads for who sent this band? Any identifying marks, mercenary insignia, or anything else? Since Elavor already searched once, I'll assume this is the "helped" version and won't ask Ronnie to help me.
Investigation 20
Opal approaches Varen.
"Tis but a scratch," Opal replies to Varen walking towards her sister at arms looking at what remains of their would-be murders. "Finally father was right but why this prediction and none of the others," she says halfheartedly with a smirk before noticing the first unmasked bandit is a halfling!
Varen
Looking at the gnolls she finds nothing of import but gold 96 GP. They have tattered armor and poorly made weapons: 2 scimitars, 4 daggers, and a longbow with oddly fletched arrows about a dozen. On the six masked marauders nearest to her, however, she finds several letters in a cipher of some kind which she can not right away make out. Varen moves on to a smaller man she discovers it's a halfling. The man is wearing the tattered insignia of the house Marshfield! She moves to another slightly smaller attacker nearby to find a gnome with house Turco crest on a ring, and another masked marauder a larger half-elf woman is wearing the colors of house Caelano of teal and magenta with fine yet worn leather armor that looks like carved leaves! Each additional figure, in turn, she and Opal unmask the women find grizzly looking humans in addition to the halfling, the gnome, and the half-elf!
"What does this mean," Opal asks seeing what Varen sees when investigating the bodies of the bandits! "I...what's this..." she adds pointing now to the man's embroidered tunic, worn but still visible.
Kiran gets a sense they are being watched but when he tries to covertly send his message the entire party sees him most especially the Queen who wears a fleetingly hard expression as she glances at her son again coming down from the carriage and ushering away to three house guard left battered but standing.
"Yes I agree Ran....please help us get this tree out of the way so we may journey on," Queen Citrine calls out to him her tone soft, thankful but her expression is mournful. "The king and I agree we should move as quickly a possible from this place. The dead lay where they are," she adds gritting her teeth slightly at this statement as Onyx's mouth falls open in shock!
"Surely....we bury them....they were our friends," Onyx begins his eyes wandering over a female dwarven guard who's fiery red hair is matted with blood as she kneels by a fallen dwarven man with the same fiery red hair and beard who lays dead on the road.
"No," Citrine says with a frown. "We move....they would understand," the queen says her expression mournful again before looking to Kiran who speaks. "Tell whoever you wish about this attack but...save the details so we might discuss them....later," she adds her eyes edging towards her son as well as his tutor before looking back to the monk her expression becoming stony.
As Elavor with eyes to the trees notices a figure in dark clothes having been spotted dashes off further into the forest away from what remains of the royal caravan. He and Kiran notice this person fleeing into the trees.
"Master," Onyx says delighted by Ronegan's praise. "I...I thought of what I wanted..." he leans closer to whisper to his tutor and friend, "and it...it came to me," he adds gleefully before the realization again washes over him and he casts a wary glance at Kiran. He then steadies himself by looking at Petal who seems unphased by the violence that has befallen the party. "That...that was some command of flora," he says to her in a low voice smiling. "I...seem to prefer the winter myself..." he adds with a nervous stroke of his short beard.
The forest still seems to close in. All travelers have died in the melee and the tree remains blocking the path. It is large and even with heavy axes and many hands, it will take a very long time to move the conventional way. The hour grows late too and the thick canopy of trees already shading the way seems to darken steadily as the afternoon fades into the early evening.
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“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Kiran bows slightly to the queen. “This is not the time or place for that discussion,” he agrees as his eyes flicker to the fleeing figure, “Perhaps we can harness the horses to help us pull these trees out of the way?” He moves over to the tree and starts trying to use his shortsword to hack away many of the smaller branches to make it easier to move.
Seeing that everyone near the wagon is pretty well along, Elavor continues his gaze into the surrounding woods. Noticing Kiran looking into the woods right after he bbn spots the mysterious figure, he decides now would no be a good time for panic and says nothing to the others. Elavor urges Dust up towards where he sees Kiran trying to hack away at the fallen tree.. " Yes, having the remainder of the horses help move the tree is a good idea.." and then in a lower tone to Kiran he adds : "The quicker the better, did you see the dark figure in the woods too?"
Elavor dismounts Dust, and grabs the reins as Kiran slows his hacking, moving to hitch Dust to the log....
Ran bows his head to the queen and then joins Kiran by the tree.
“You’ll just dull the blade if you keep using it as an axe,” he says gesturing at the short sword Kiran is hacking at the tree with.
In a lower voice he continues.
”I suspect we may not have time to move the tree enough to get the carriage through. This was no bandit raid. They were too organized. Too well armed and too many of them.”
He looks at the horses they have.
”It’s not noble, but if we double up on the horses we can get moving now. Even if some of us walk we will make similar time as that carriage.”
Kiran lowers his sword for a moment, speaking to the other two without turning, “Yes, I saw it, I don’t tend to miss much,” with a quick glance down at Elavor’s belt pouch, “Although it may be quicker, I think it may be more dangerous to leave their majesties exposed to attack. I’d rather keep them out of sight if possible. Let’s try to move this, if it doesn’t move quickly, we’ll change plans.”
Varen gives Opal a grim look, surveying the ruins of their caravan. "Wish the light had done more protecting today. No matter. We can get to the bottom of this as soon as we get your parents to safety. Keep an eye over me while I get to work, yeah?"
Varen gathers the gold and ciphered letters, stowing them in her satchel. "Perhaps Ronegan and I will have to take a good look at these later..."
DM: Does each kingdom mint their own coin? Basically Varen would look to see if it's all Marshfield coin, or a mixture. Probably do that when next they make camp, since counting and examining all the coin right now is low priority.
She takes one of the knives from her bandolier, and cuts away the Marshfield insignia from the halfling's tunic, sawing out a square piece of cloth. She takes the gnome's Turco ring, and pries off the leaf-embroidered shoulderplate of the Caleano woman's armor as well as a square of cloth from her tunic as well. As she does so, she notes the distinguishing features of each bandit, enough so that she could describe them later.
Varen stands, turning to Opal again. "A motley mix. Members of almost every other household, though whether it was a band of mercenaries and guards who abandoned their household, or worse, agents of the other Houses, I can't tell yet. And I don't understand how the gnolls were involved... what kind of person would willingly work with such chaotic brutes?"
Varen stands, returning to the caravan. She moves over to the kneeling female dwarf, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she says, saying the dwarf's name (Varen would know it... Viper does not). "I promise you we will find out why this happened, and bring the bastards responsible to Firstforge justice. But we need your shield to protect the King and Queen now. They depend on you. Take the moment you need, then on your feet."
Varen looks to the royal couple, specifically Citrine. "Your grace, I suggest you start gathering the essentials you need. We may need to abandon the carriage."
Right, so assessment:
Give moving the tree a good college try, summon over the surviving guards to help. Perhaps Ran will beast mode it with a 20. Otherwise...
Three caravan horses, three gnoll horses, Dust, Mouse, Ran's horse, Opal's pony. Carts are unusable due to the tree blockage unless we risk another ambush.
Caravan Horse 1: King
Caravan Horse 2: Queen
Caravan Horse 3: Onyx
Gnoll Horses 1-3: Surviving Guards + rations/feedbags from the cart
Opal's Pony: Opal
Mouse: Varen and Ronegan
Dust: Elavor and Petal
Ran's Horse: Ran and Kiran
I don't particularly like having the royals exposed, but we may have little other choice. Move as far as we can before its too dark to travel, then get off the road and make camp.
Petal beams at her friend “Winter is cold and harsh, much like your mother hehe” Petal giggles as she puts her finger over lips as if sharing a secret with Onyx. “But it’s beautiful too, and necessary - It’s the time when things return to the earth.” Looking around at the bloodshed, she puts her hand on Onyx’s arm to comfort him. ”I’m sorry for all these people, but they’ll be in the trees, the grass, the air, and I’m sure they’ll help us out when we need them. I’m glad you didn’t return though!”
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
In spite of himself, Ronegan can't help but interject after Petal speaks to Onyx.
"You know, that's not quite how the afterlife works for halflings or dwarves. I'm actually in the midst of doing a fascinating comparative study." He pulls his spectacles from a pocket in his robe and makes a small groan of dismay as he sees the lenses have been pulverized.
The pause gives him a chance to reflect that maybe right at this moment is not quite the time to share his findings so instead he will mutter a small "Excuse me your Highness,"
He will instead move to the body of the halfling in particular and examine him closely. Halflings in Embera, Ronegan knew were still quite numerous, even if they did not match the population of Dragonborn or humans. He will recall what he can about House Marshfield and their relationship to House FIrstforge. Lahiri would be the first major civilization they would pass through and if this was some sort of plot that his people were involved in...well, Ronegan knew he would fall under immediate suspicion -- if nothing else, for hiding what now seemed to be revealed to the whole household. He took some small solace in the fact that he wouldn't be the only one locked in the stockades, but the prospect of sharing a cell for any length of time with Petal made Ronegan visibly blanch.
History (if needed): 14
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Ronnie's missiles hit knocking the other gnoll off it's steed onto the ground dead!
Kiran attacks the gnoll Onyx froze in place and the beast falls dead off it's steed in a furry mass at the monk's feet!
OOC: ONLY Ran's gnoll stands.
“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
This hyena headed demon is starting to really get Ran angry.
He lashes out with his longsword and before the gnoll can react, slashes down with the other one.
Attack: 25 Damage: 10
Attack: 14 Damage: 10
Hoping the gnoll is finally down for good, Ran makes his way quickly to the royal caravan with his horse, keeping an eye out for any more bandits or gnolls approaching but also see what is going to need to be done to free the caravan from the dead horse.
Varen scans the field for any surviving threats.
Assuming they are all dead. If Ran's gnoll is still alive, ride Mouse over to flank, attack, then Mouse disengages and keep riding (cavalry charge style).
Attack: 21 Damage: 13
She shouts at the guards and the rest of the party, "Grab the surving horses! We can make better use of them for the royal carriage!"
Varen rides Mouse in an attempt to herd one of the gnoll's horses, making a grab for its reins.
Animal Handling 19
Aldrik Reinholdt in Dragon Heist
Daventry in The Candlekeep Mysteries, and her bag
Hearing Varen, and seeing the last Gnoll is nearly beat, Elavor goes to retrieve his daggers from the dead bandits, quietly searching them for any thing of value, interest, or anything identifying who these bandits were.
Stealth: 11
Investigation: 21
Elavor then rushes to Dust (pocketing whatever he found)and climbs up, drawing his short bow at the ready should anything decide to ambush them again..
Looking around, he makes a mental note of where the party is positioned and heads towards the royal carriage to help..
As the enemies around her fall, Petal takes a look around at the chaos and bloodshed left behind.
(Assuming last gnoll is dead) Hearing Varens call, Petal waves her yew wand around, casting Speak with animals.
She walks towards the gnolls horses, calmly, with her hands in the air - projecting her voice in a soothing manner. “Hey there, I know you must be scared - but we’re not like those nasty folk - riding you into danger. Come with us and we’ll treat you real nice - I’ve got some treats for you.” She rustles around in her bag looking for some rations that a horse might like - hoping she has some nice grains.
(let me know if you need any checks)
Gilgin Hardhammer - Mountain Dwarf Cleric (Forge Domain) - Icewind Dale
Petal - Forest Gnome Druid (Circle of the Land - Forest) - Unsung Heroes of Embera
The gnoll is dead.
EXIT combat
Varen grabs the reins to one of the horses as Opal grins a gazing blow on her arm from the single scimitar blow.
Elavor finds nothing of value beyond the gnoll's scimitar and 5 of gold pieces.
Petal is able to gather the other two gnoll horses.
Assessing the royal caravan most of the house guard is dead, there are 2 remaining alive. There are only two usable wagons and 4 horses alive plus the three gnoll horses. The queen then emerges from the carriage her face filled with horror as the king however remains inside.
"Opal! Onyx," Queen Citrine shouts looking around before spotting her children as Opal rides up and Onyx shuffled closer.
"They're dead mother....we are fine," Opal replies smiling her face splattered with blood.
"I...I was able to help too," Onyx calls out with a satisfied grin before looking at Kiran bloody from the fight as the queen also looks at the monk with concern on her face.
“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Ran methodically cuts the dead horses from the royal carriage and any other wagons in the caravan that are rendered useless for the same reason and works quickly to yoke the sturdiest horses to the usable wagons. He doesn't trust the gnoll horses for that task.
"We best not linger, your majesty," Ran says to the queen. "These gnolls were howling into the woods near the end. They may have been calling others."
"I know that means we cannot honor the fallen as we should, but the sooner we put miles between us and here, the better. We can send riders back to bury the dead once we have you and your family safely clear."
He nods his recognition to the others. Even the holy father handled himself well. Best not to bring up the magic he saw some of the others wielding while the queen was around.
Varen nods. "I agree. The quicker we can be clear of this ambush the better." She leads the gnoll horse over to the carriage, dismounting Mouse and tying the gnoll horse to the cart. She looks at Opal. "That blood yours or theirs? Surely no mere bandit could make the mighty Opal bleed her own blood."
She looks through the bodies, quickly looking through satchels, pockets, and around their necks. She points to one of the nearby houseguard, "Keep an eye out for any identifying marks, a parchment with a contract, or anything else! Maybe one of them was careless and has left us a clue."
Edit: Elavor beat my passive perception so I wouldn't have seen him loot the body. Edited appropriately.
If she finds gold in any quantity, was it minted in the same location, or random? Are there any contracts, orders, instructions, or leads for who sent this band? Any identifying marks, mercenary insignia, or anything else? Since Elavor already searched once, I'll assume this is the "helped" version and won't ask Ronnie to help me.
Investigation 20
Aldrik Reinholdt in Dragon Heist
Daventry in The Candlekeep Mysteries, and her bag
After calming the horses, Petal goes to check in on her friends, Onyx and Ronegan.
As she heads over she notices Elavor atop his horse, and runs up to them “Hi Dust and..... Elavor is it? I just wanted to thank you for looking out for my friends there! You really took a bad hit huh? You were really brave. Dust is lucky to have you.” She smiles at the horse and pets him.
Gilgin Hardhammer - Mountain Dwarf Cleric (Forge Domain) - Icewind Dale
Petal - Forest Gnome Druid (Circle of the Land - Forest) - Unsung Heroes of Embera
(Elavor would have looked at the scimitar, but passed on taking it, the gold he took though, pocketing it as discreetly as possible)
Elavor smiles at the kind remarks "Well, two bad hits really, and I thought that second one had me for sure... but I suddenly got a breath of fresh air and came back around. Very strange, but welcome, to be sure...The wound will need tended to soon, but hopefully we will run into some luck or rest. I'm lucky to have Dust, and glad she's barely got a scratch on her. Let's go check on everyone"
He escorts her to the wagon, keeping a wary eye on the surrounding woods...
Perception: 19
As the last gnoll is still falling, Kiran moves quietly to check the surrounding woods, alert to the possibility of reinforcements for their enemies and trusting to his allies to get things ready to move.
Perception: 15
Stealth: 9
When he returns, he makes certain to make eye contact with Onyx, Ronegan, and Petal each individually, just enough to let them know he saw, but does not say anything at this time. He looks around, "How long until we can move? We mustn't linger here long. I will send word of what has happened here." He then moves a little way apart and quickly writes on a sheet of paper before lighting it on fire and watching it burn, then rejoins the others.
DM
Using his Shadow Network feature to send a message to his nearest contact, "Ambush on royal family at (their current location to his best estimate) gnolls and bandits. Cannot stop to bury dead. Please arrange for proper burial and notify hierarchy of attack. Thank you, Kiran Hallowedsworn."
With the fight over, Ronegan finally looks down at the drying blood seeped into his robes. "Oh dear. This is going to take a lot of scrubbing. I've found that you can prepare a solution that is equal parts water and a concoction of my own design. Its quite clever really..." He mutters to himself, only stopping when his eyes meet Kiran's. That was going to be a problem! Why had he not foreseen...all of this? He immediately begins to foment a plan of action.
His fingers tap the the canister on his hip absentmindedly as he picks through the chaos. Ran was already checking on the queen, because of course he was. Petal was still alive -- of course she was. Ronegan had read a turn of phrase in one of his books that he quite liked. "The gods take care of dogs and the mad." Elavor seemed to be okay, despite having taken what looked like a killing blow. And of course, he had no worries about Varen -- from the stories she shared, he had no doubt that woman can take care of herself.
Finally, there was Onyx. As Ronegan finally sees him, he began to realize the young prince's involvement. His eyes widen and he rushes over as fast as his fat little legs can carry him. "Prince Onyx that was...remarkable." He whispers, grabbing tightly at first onto Onyx's injured arm. "We need to discuss your abilities young man. This changes everything." Ronegan can't hide the expression of delight on his face upon learning of his pupil's talents.
OOC: Apologies I just realized that my earlier post did not in fact post!
Opal approaches Varen.
"Tis but a scratch," Opal replies to Varen walking towards her sister at arms looking at what remains of their would-be murders. "Finally father was right but why this prediction and none of the others," she says halfheartedly with a smirk before noticing the first unmasked bandit is a halfling!
Varen
Looking at the gnolls she finds nothing of import but gold 96 GP. They have tattered armor and poorly made weapons: 2 scimitars, 4 daggers, and a longbow with oddly fletched arrows about a dozen. On the six masked marauders nearest to her, however, she finds several letters in a cipher of some kind which she can not right away make out. Varen moves on to a smaller man she discovers it's a halfling. The man is wearing the tattered insignia of the house Marshfield! She moves to another slightly smaller attacker nearby to find a gnome with house Turco crest on a ring, and another masked marauder a larger half-elf woman is wearing the colors of house Caelano of teal and magenta with fine yet worn leather armor that looks like carved leaves! Each additional figure, in turn, she and Opal unmask the women find grizzly looking humans in addition to the halfling, the gnome, and the half-elf!
"What does this mean," Opal asks seeing what Varen sees when investigating the bodies of the bandits! "I...what's this..." she adds pointing now to the man's embroidered tunic, worn but still visible.
Kiran gets a sense they are being watched but when he tries to covertly send his message the entire party sees him most especially the Queen who wears a fleetingly hard expression as she glances at her son again coming down from the carriage and ushering away to three house guard left battered but standing.
"Yes I agree Ran....please help us get this tree out of the way so we may journey on," Queen Citrine calls out to him her tone soft, thankful but her expression is mournful. "The king and I agree we should move as quickly a possible from this place. The dead lay where they are," she adds gritting her teeth slightly at this statement as Onyx's mouth falls open in shock!
"Surely....we bury them....they were our friends," Onyx begins his eyes wandering over a female dwarven guard who's fiery red hair is matted with blood as she kneels by a fallen dwarven man with the same fiery red hair and beard who lays dead on the road.
"No," Citrine says with a frown. "We move....they would understand," the queen says her expression mournful again before looking to Kiran who speaks. "Tell whoever you wish about this attack but...save the details so we might discuss them....later," she adds her eyes edging towards her son as well as his tutor before looking back to the monk her expression becoming stony.
As Elavor with eyes to the trees notices a figure in dark clothes having been spotted dashes off further into the forest away from what remains of the royal caravan. He and Kiran notice this person fleeing into the trees.
"Master," Onyx says delighted by Ronegan's praise. "I...I thought of what I wanted..." he leans closer to whisper to his tutor and friend, "and it...it came to me," he adds gleefully before the realization again washes over him and he casts a wary glance at Kiran. He then steadies himself by looking at Petal who seems unphased by the violence that has befallen the party. "That...that was some command of flora," he says to her in a low voice smiling. "I...seem to prefer the winter myself..." he adds with a nervous stroke of his short beard.
The forest still seems to close in. All travelers have died in the melee and the tree remains blocking the path. It is large and even with heavy axes and many hands, it will take a very long time to move the conventional way. The hour grows late too and the thick canopy of trees already shading the way seems to darken steadily as the afternoon fades into the early evening.
“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman...You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Kiran bows slightly to the queen. “This is not the time or place for that discussion,” he agrees as his eyes flicker to the fleeing figure, “Perhaps we can harness the horses to help us pull these trees out of the way?” He moves over to the tree and starts trying to use his shortsword to hack away many of the smaller branches to make it easier to move.
Seeing that everyone near the wagon is pretty well along, Elavor continues his gaze into the surrounding woods. Noticing Kiran looking into the woods right after he bbn spots the mysterious figure, he decides now would no be a good time for panic and says nothing to the others. Elavor urges Dust up towards where he sees Kiran trying to hack away at the fallen tree.. " Yes, having the remainder of the horses help move the tree is a good idea.." and then in a lower tone to Kiran he adds : "The quicker the better, did you see the dark figure in the woods too?"
Elavor dismounts Dust, and grabs the reins as Kiran slows his hacking, moving to hitch Dust to the log....
Ran bows his head to the queen and then joins Kiran by the tree.
“You’ll just dull the blade if you keep using it as an axe,” he says gesturing at the short sword Kiran is hacking at the tree with.
In a lower voice he continues.
”I suspect we may not have time to move the tree enough to get the carriage through. This was no bandit raid. They were too organized. Too well armed and too many of them.”
He looks at the horses they have.
”It’s not noble, but if we double up on the horses we can get moving now. Even if some of us walk we will make similar time as that carriage.”
”what do you think?”
Kiran lowers his sword for a moment, speaking to the other two without turning, “Yes, I saw it, I don’t tend to miss much,” with a quick glance down at Elavor’s belt pouch, “Although it may be quicker, I think it may be more dangerous to leave their majesties exposed to attack. I’d rather keep them out of sight if possible. Let’s try to move this, if it doesn’t move quickly, we’ll change plans.”
Varen gives Opal a grim look, surveying the ruins of their caravan. "Wish the light had done more protecting today. No matter. We can get to the bottom of this as soon as we get your parents to safety. Keep an eye over me while I get to work, yeah?"
Varen gathers the gold and ciphered letters, stowing them in her satchel. "Perhaps Ronegan and I will have to take a good look at these later..."
DM: Does each kingdom mint their own coin? Basically Varen would look to see if it's all Marshfield coin, or a mixture. Probably do that when next they make camp, since counting and examining all the coin right now is low priority.
She takes one of the knives from her bandolier, and cuts away the Marshfield insignia from the halfling's tunic, sawing out a square piece of cloth. She takes the gnome's Turco ring, and pries off the leaf-embroidered shoulderplate of the Caleano woman's armor as well as a square of cloth from her tunic as well. As she does so, she notes the distinguishing features of each bandit, enough so that she could describe them later.
Varen stands, turning to Opal again. "A motley mix. Members of almost every other household, though whether it was a band of mercenaries and guards who abandoned their household, or worse, agents of the other Houses, I can't tell yet. And I don't understand how the gnolls were involved... what kind of person would willingly work with such chaotic brutes?"
Varen stands, returning to the caravan. She moves over to the kneeling female dwarf, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she says, saying the dwarf's name (Varen would know it... Viper does not). "I promise you we will find out why this happened, and bring the bastards responsible to Firstforge justice. But we need your shield to protect the King and Queen now. They depend on you. Take the moment you need, then on your feet."
Varen looks to the royal couple, specifically Citrine. "Your grace, I suggest you start gathering the essentials you need. We may need to abandon the carriage."
Right, so assessment:
Give moving the tree a good college try, summon over the surviving guards to help. Perhaps Ran will beast mode it with a 20. Otherwise...
Three caravan horses, three gnoll horses, Dust, Mouse, Ran's horse, Opal's pony. Carts are unusable due to the tree blockage unless we risk another ambush.
I don't particularly like having the royals exposed, but we may have little other choice. Move as far as we can before its too dark to travel, then get off the road and make camp.
Aldrik Reinholdt in Dragon Heist
Daventry in The Candlekeep Mysteries, and her bag
Petal beams at her friend “Winter is cold and harsh, much like your mother hehe” Petal giggles as she puts her finger over lips as if sharing a secret with Onyx. “But it’s beautiful too, and necessary - It’s the time when things return to the earth.” Looking around at the bloodshed, she puts her hand on Onyx’s arm to comfort him. ”I’m sorry for all these people, but they’ll be in the trees, the grass, the air, and I’m sure they’ll help us out when we need them. I’m glad you didn’t return though!”
Gilgin Hardhammer - Mountain Dwarf Cleric (Forge Domain) - Icewind Dale
Petal - Forest Gnome Druid (Circle of the Land - Forest) - Unsung Heroes of Embera
In spite of himself, Ronegan can't help but interject after Petal speaks to Onyx.
"You know, that's not quite how the afterlife works for halflings or dwarves. I'm actually in the midst of doing a fascinating comparative study." He pulls his spectacles from a pocket in his robe and makes a small groan of dismay as he sees the lenses have been pulverized.
The pause gives him a chance to reflect that maybe right at this moment is not quite the time to share his findings so instead he will mutter a small "Excuse me your Highness,"
He will instead move to the body of the halfling in particular and examine him closely. Halflings in Embera, Ronegan knew were still quite numerous, even if they did not match the population of Dragonborn or humans. He will recall what he can about House Marshfield and their relationship to House FIrstforge. Lahiri would be the first major civilization they would pass through and if this was some sort of plot that his people were involved in...well, Ronegan knew he would fall under immediate suspicion -- if nothing else, for hiding what now seemed to be revealed to the whole household. He took some small solace in the fact that he wouldn't be the only one locked in the stockades, but the prospect of sharing a cell for any length of time with Petal made Ronegan visibly blanch.
History (if needed): 14