The rescue, parts 1 and 2
Subject Planning
OOC: I think the attack is tonight. The night right after Surin came back/the attack. Also, my understanding was that Harp would be right at the hole that Salix opens up. Bel, Cai, and Fal as well. Only if they need to come in a little ways to do their work then they will.
From: Kevin
Subject Planning
OOC: I agree with Randy. The idea was to go in tonight since we still have 1 day until the big, bad guys shows up to pay the 1/2 orc for kidnapping Rochelle. Harp realizes he is still hurt, so is willing to stay back aways with the others, useing his spells to help the others as needed (Protection from Evil, Shield of Faith, etc.) on Ran and Kal before then enter the camp. If things go badly, he can run up and help with the fight.
From: Kevin
Subject Planning
OOC:I think the idea was for Surin to confirm IF the 1/2 orc was in the room and to confirm that Rochelle is where we think she is when we go in. If for some reason the 1/2 orc stays with her the whole night, then maybe we have to postpone. Not a great option, but better than Rochelle getting cut in half. Surin can come out from under the shack before we get the rescue fully going (i.e. as Ran, Salix and Kal are heading to the shack). At least we know where she is now. We will have to wait and see what Mark creates for us.
From: Mark
Subject Goblins
There would be the normal goblins, who are not really all that sociable.
From: Mark
Subject Spells
Wood shap is not noisy. It is magic.
From: Mark
Subject Scale
10 feet in this case.
From: Mark
Subject The rescue begins
As Harp falls asleep, Salix gets the healer's kit and works on Harp's wounds. Salix is amazed that Harp does not awaken while Salix works. Salix applies a few healing herbs to the wounds and makes a poultice out of some of the supplies. He even stitches up one of the gashes on Harp's arm. The ? orc's only response is a brief grunt. When he is done, Salix heads off for his own rest. (Heal check, DC15, 14+9=23, 8 hours sleep heal 8 HP.)
The night passes with no other surprises. At noon Ran wakes Harp and the party eats. While eating they get into a heated discussion about how to rescue Rochelle. Several times they ask Surin to clarify some aspect of the story he had told the night before. Eventually a plan is hammered out. A large portion of the party heads back to sleep so as to be rested for the next day. Kal and Fal spend a lot of time on watch as they need no sleep, just the meditation time the elves use instead of sleep. Just after lunch, while the other are preparing for the afternoon Surin suggests that he go and scout out the area of the woods where they will be making their approach. ?I don't want any surprises tonight so I might as well familiarize myself with the terrain now, while it is light. And don't worry Ran, no one will see me.? And like that the halfling is off.
A few hours later Surin pops back up in camp, startling Fal and Kal. They had both been on watch and paying attention but still had not heard or seen a thing. Surin laughs. ?We little people have to have some advantages to you big ones.? He then climbs into his bed roll and falls asleep. It seems like just minutes later Ran is nudging him with his foot, telling him to wake up. Surin grumbles a bit, but then remembers what is at stake and rolls out of bed.
It is about an hour after sunset. The party takes it's time packing everything up. Supplies are distributed so that everyone can move as fast as possible. The pack horse has some room made on it so that a small human might be able to ride on it. With a nod, Ran motions to Surin to lead the way. The halfling leads them off into the woods, leading them slowly but quietly. Salix has already done what he could to calm the horses so that they will not create a racket. Over the next two hours the halfling leads the party deeper into the woods and then south. Everyone, except the rangers, are feeling pretty lost when Surin whispers ?Here we are. The west wall of the encampment is about 500-600 feet east from here. I don't think we can get any closer than this with out there being a chance of them hearing us or the horses. Salix, do you have the note for Rochelle??
Salix nods and hands a small note. It reads ?R, A sent us to rescue you. Be ready.? Surin folds it and sticks it in a small pocket. The halfling then asks ?Ok which bird is going to be watching?? Salix points to Ebon. ?He is the smartest of the birds and with his coloring should be the hardest for anyone else to see. I have instructed him to sit in a nearby tree and keep an eye out for you. When you wave your hands over your head three times he will come to us and we will move into position.?
Before he goes Surin goes to Harp and asks for a section of rope. ?You never know when you might need some rope.? Harp cuts him a 25 foot length and Surin drops it into his back pack. With that the little halfling is off into the night. It is just past midnight.
Surin makes it to the same place he had used last night, between the south and the west tower... He finds his same hand holds and starts to climb. (DC15, 14+2=16, success.) He quietly drops down to behind the tents there and takes stock of the surroundings. He sees that most of the camp is asleep. He hears the snoring of goblins and the occasional grunt as one changes position. Many of the tents have no sound coming from them. He works his way towards the shack in the middle, remembering where Rochelle was kept.
When he gets there he quickly slides under the shack and takes a quick breath. Now is when it can get dicey. He takes out his dagger and gently slides in through the gaps in the floorboards. Slowly sliding it along the cracks, Surin is able to find a spot on the floor where there is a mattress or something covering the floor. It is on the floor near the outside east wall. Surin then scoots himself towards the other back room. When he gets there he can hear the snoring sounds of someone. They are very loud and continuous. ?Well the brute is asleep, at least for now? Surin thinks. He works his way back to the other room, trying to think of a way to get the note to Rochelle.
He slides from under the shack on the east side, next to the wall that Rochelle is probably sleeping against. Inspecting the boards he thinks he can pry one away enough so that he can slip the paper through. He takes his dagger and starts to pry the board away from the support. As he is doing this he hears a quite voice ?Whose there?? The voice is soft and lilting. Surin quickly whispers ?Shhh, I am a friend. Here take this? and hands the note through the gap in the boards. He waits a few seconds for her to reply. She does. ?I can not read this. It is dark in here.? Curses, they should have thought of that. The girl was human. She could not see in the dark. Of course he could not see in the dark, but he had the moonlight and the fire light. Putting his mouth to the gap he whispers ?Lay back down with your head to the SE corner. I will talk to you from under the building.? With that, Surin scoots back beneath the shack.
He listens as the girl shifts position. He puts his mouth to the small gaps between the floor boards again and whispers ?Can you hear me?? ?Yes, who are you? she replies. ?I am part of a group that has been sent to rescue you. Anglewing sent us. Be ready to go at a moments notice. We will be back with in the hour to get you out. Do you understand?? She breaths ?Yes? and goes quiet. Good girl.
Now the hard part Surin thinks. He needed to take out the guards. While Ran might have said to only take out the one, he felt it was better to take out the guards on the North, West and South towers. Since the South tower was closest, he would do that one first. He works his was over towards where the ladder is that goes up to the platform is. He can hear the goblin guard about 12 feet above him. Putting his dagger between his teeth, he slowly moves up the ladder. As he gets to the top he can see the goblin, outlined in the moonlight, looking out over the wall, his back to the ladder. As Surin gets to the top of the ladder he takes the dagger from his mouth and throws it at the goblin.(AC14, 17+11=28, hit, sneak attack, damage 13) The dagger smashes into the back of the goblins head and it is dead before it hits the floor of the platform.
The halfling, feeling a little sick at the ease at which he was able to kill, moves onto the platform and carefully pulls his dagger from the back of the goblins head. He cleans it on the goblins clothes and re-sheathes it. One down two to go.
OODM: I will do more tonight.
From: Karl
Subject The rescue begins
OOOOOOH the suspense!
From: Derrell
Subject Spells
I can also use the pyrotechnic spell to generate a smoke screen which would hinder their dark vision. I have a choice of either fireworks or the smoke screen.
From: Derrell
Subject Spells
That smokescreen only works in a fairly limited area though, whereas the fireworks would probably attract attention from all over camp.
From: Mark
Subject The rescue, part 2
After he catches his breath, Surin slides off his back pack and cuts off a 5 foot piece of rope. He uses this to tie the goblin body to the watch tower so that it looks like it is still standing up. Of course it will not stand up to close scrutiny, but it should do for a passing glance. He then puts his backpack back on and climbs down the ladder. Figuring he will save the West guard for last he starts to make his way across the compound.
Even though it is only 150 feet it take Surin almost 5 minutes to cross that distance. His path is not a straight one. It bends east because for some reason there is less noise coming from that side. As he goes, he starts checking the occasional tent, just in case he needs a place to duck into. In particular he notices that most of the tent near the two fires closest to the front gate have almost no one living in them. Once he has to duck into an empty tent when a goblin comes out of another tent near one of the fires(F1) and adds some logs to the fire. The goblin then turns around, and mumbling to itself, goes back into the tent.
As the halfling approaches the North tower he sees that it is just like the South one, a ladder leading up to a platform that can look over the top of the palisade. He puts his dagger between his teeth again and readies for the climb. He almost gags as he realizes that there is a tang to the metal that was not there when he started this. Gritting his teeth on the metal, he climbs slowly up the ladder. He sees basically the same thing as before, a goblin leaning against the wall, looking out over the edge. Again he throws his dagger at the back of the goblin, a twinge of guilt pulling at him for attacking from behind and from the dark.(AC14, 9+11=20, hit, surprise attack, damage 14) He watches again as his dagger strikes at the base of the skull and in beds itself there. The goblin slumps over the wall with out a sound..
Surin quickly finishes his climb and pulls the rope and cuts another section to tie the goblin up with. As he is trussing the corpse up he notices a ring on the finger of the goblin. It glints in the moonlight and draws his attention to it. He recognizes what it is. A halfling marriage ring. They were given when a halfling couple pledged themselves to each other and were never taken off. There was only one way a goblin could have gotten one. Suddenly Surin did not feel as bad.
Two down and one to go. It seems like it had been hours since he left the party, but from the position of the moon it has been less than an hour, closer to ?. He goes down the ladder and starts moving to the last guard tower. This time it takes him only a couple of minutes. He hears a lot more snoring noises from this part of the camp. It seems as if the goblins were trying to stay as far from the gate as possible. When he gets to the bottom of the West tower Surin takes a minute to collect himself before going on.
He looks at the third ladder with a bit of dread. ?Will this one be any easier?? What appalled him the most, he thought, was how good he was at this. He shook off the feeling and got to work. People were counting on him, not the least was an innocent young girl. With his dagger between his teeth again, he quietly climbs up the ladder. This time the sentry is walking back and forth on the platform. Just when the goblin is past Surin takes the last couple of steps and throw his dagger at the goblins back. The sentry turns just as the knife leaves Surin's hand and looks down as the weapons appears from his chest like it was magic.(AC14, 6+11+17, hit, damage 3) The creature has a stunned look but does not fall to the ground.
(Initiative:Surin 25, Goblin 9)
OODM: Jake what do you want to do? You still have your melee dagger at your waist.
From: Jake
Subject The rescue
Surin meets the goblin's eyes for a moment, then with a fluid motion draws one of his throwing axes and sends it whirling toward the goblin.