[IC] A Stolen Land

[DM Dougfan]

"That's convenient." She looks to the others, swiftly appointing herself in charge of the situation. "I suppose we're staying the night, then, no?" Looking back at the outpost's caretakers. "I assume you have spare beds. We shall pay you." she declares, acting as if this were an ordinary stop at an inn, not a potentially life-saving endeavor.

"We would be very appreciative if you would stay.  As you can see, we have little to protect ourselves with against armed intruders.  Don't worry about paying us.  Of course we shall offer you lodging."  Oleg almost looks offended by this last part but keeps silent.

- Yes, we stay here to punish those bandits!

He takes his charter and shows it first to Oleg and after to his wife. Eran looks expectantly to Svetlana as he asks them:

- If you know anything more about the bandits, then don't hesitate and tell it! Every little bit of information might come in handy.

"We will tell you all we know of course."

"The bandits may have an outpost or camp somewhere nearby.  Perhaps a day's travel from here.  Perhaps more.  We're honestly not completely sure because we've rarely ventured outside our home in these past few months."

[url=[1d20+1] = 2+1 = 3]Sense Motive[/url]

After remaining quiet and listening and soaking up the surroundings of Oleg's outpost, Vidar at last speaks to Oleg and Svetlana.  "How many?... Where do they come from?"

Once he gets this information Vidar approaches his brother Valdi and speaks in his native tongue.  "What do you think Valdi? Should we lay a trap for these bandits?"  He holds up his bear trap.  "Or do you think we should try and convince these bandits to give up their criminal ways and join us instead?"

Svetlana's eyes widen and she gulps as she looks at the size of the trap.  "From the South.  Always they come from the south.  They expect us to have our gates open and our 'taxes' out in the open and ready for them to collect.  The first time they came, there were about a dozen thugs--that is the best way to describe them--led by a cloaked man with a bow and an evil woman with twin hatchets.  The woman did most of the threatening..."

Oleg looks at his right hand and wrist and flexes his fingers a few times at that.

"She seems to be the sharpest one of them.  I would guess they call her their leader.  The cloaked man...didn't speak much.  He seemed fairly gruff the whole time.  Always frowning..."

"The second time they came, it was only the hooded man leading 10 of the thugs.  The third time he only led 8 of them.  I think...I hope they may have let their guards down about us.  After all...what can the two of us do?"

Valdi strokes his beard and grins at his brother.

He replies in Skaldic. "I will not countenance banditry. They will give up their criminal ways, and reformed shall feed the garden, once they are slain."

[Sense Motive [1d20+4] = 6+4 = 10]

Switching to Common, he finally speaks.
"My brother and I shall bend our wills to ridding you of these bandits as well. We know they are coming, and they may not even have seen us arrive.  We should try to use that to our advantage."

"My brother and sir Eran are correct we need to know everything about them that you know. Jaw many of them are there? How are they equipped? Do they all come into the fort? Do some hang back? Do they have reinforcements waiting even further back? How can we single out their leader?  I know I am barraging you with questions, but any of that information will aid us."

Turning to Andra he says.
"You have an agile mind lass.  Do you have an idea how best we can use our resources to ambush the bandits?"

"Since you came from the North, I would be very doubtful of them knowing you are here.  Their camp is to the South, most likely, and I do not believe they have been scouting us very consistently.  I'm afraid we do not know exactly how many of them there are, only how many we saw."

[Nexendia]

[OoC: Sense Motive(me/Scarf): 16/13 ]

Nexendia thanks Eran for his assistance in dismounting her horse.  She then listens to what Oleg and Svetlana have to say and when there's a lull in the conversation, Nex will whisper, "I do remember a story about an Oleg who was a former Restovian guardsman who petitioned and was granted clearance to turn an old border fort into a trading outpost.  I agree that we should do what we can to help."  

She then sends Scarf to do a bit of scouting.  She can't give him specific orders yet but he's smart enough to scout the area for anything that looks like it might be dangerous to him or his master.  

[OoC: Scarf's skills: Fly +11, Perception +6, Stealth +11.  Empathic link has a range of 1 mile.  He will not venture out of that radius but does stay high enough in the air that his stealth, distance and size should make it difficult for anyone to shoot him thinking he's a meal.]

[Andra Petrescu]

As Valdi directs his question to her, she regards him with a guarded look. For all her bluster, she is still used to her opinions and ideas being cast aside as unworthy of a moment's notice. To be asked for them is... odd. Glancing again at the door, she listens to what the outpost's keepers have to say. "If their camp is more than a day's travel from here, then they are already on the road. There is a chance we could catch them before they get here. But they are likely to be more wary in the wilderness. Better to ambush them once inside the fort. If we can get the gates shut behind them, it will temporarily cut off any who enter from reserves left outside, and being inside the fort will restrict which direction they can come at us from."

[Eran]

- I will put my vote to the ambush them in fort.

Eran waits for the conversation to finish:
- We should discuss the team strategy. If I had enough time to change my prepared spells then I can enlarge Valdi and Vidar. I cloud knock them to unconscious, blinded and stunned, but it's a risky task for me and I can't save myselft with magical armor if I enlarge you.

[DM Dougfan]

[OoC: Sense Motive(me/Scarf): 16/13 ]

Nexendia thanks Eran for his assistance in dismounting her horse.  She then listens to what Oleg and Svetlana have to say and when there's a lull in the conversation, Nex will whisper, "I do remember a story about an Oleg who was a former Restovian guardsman who petitioned and was granted clearance to turn an old border fort into a trading outpost.  I agree that we should do what we can to help."  

She then sends Scarf to do a bit of scouting.  She can't give him specific orders yet but he's smart enough to scout the area for anything that looks like it might be dangerous to him or his master.  

[OoC: Scarf's skills: Fly +11, Perception +6, Stealth +11.  Empathic link has a range of 1 mile.  He will not venture out of that radius but does stay high enough in the air that his stealth, distance and size should make it difficult for anyone to shoot him thinking he's a meal.]

Unfortunately, even at a distance of 1 mile up in the sky, Scarf is unable to see much of anything except green grasses and the hints of a treeline in the far distance to the Southwest.

As Valdi directs his question to her, she regards him with a guarded look. For all her bluster, she is still used to her opinions and ideas being cast aside as unworthy of a moment's notice. To be asked for them is... odd. Glancing again at the door, she listens to what the outpost's keepers have to say. "If their camp is more than a day's travel from here, then they are already on the road. There is a chance we could catch them before they get here. But they are likely to be more wary in the wilderness. Better to ambush them once inside the fort. If we can get the gates shut behind them, it will temporarily cut off any who enter from reserves left outside, and being inside the fort will restrict which direction they can come at us from."

Oleg nods thoughtfully, agreeing to the idea of ambushing them, but not liking the idea of making the ambush in their home, where damage could be done and Svetlana could get hurt.  But these 'explorers' seem to know their business, so he holds his tongue...for now.

- I will put my vote to the ambush them in fort.

Eran waits for the conversation to finish:
- We should discuss the team strategy. If I had enough time to change my prepared spells then I can enlarge Valdi and Vidar. I cloud knock them to unconscious, blinded and stunned, but it's a risky task for me and I can't save myselft with magical armor if I enlarge you.

Oleg blinks a few times.  Finger-wigglers.  "How long would it take you to, erm...reset your spells?"

[Nexendia]

"Ambushing them inside the fort is fine with me," Nexendia replies.  "My only concern is for Oleg and Svetlana.  If I were a bandit, I would want to capture them and use them to force our surrender.  So they will need to be well hidden.  Another option would be ambush the bandits when they demand the gates be opened.  Some of us could attack them from a defensible position behind the walls while spell enhanced warriors could circle around and block their retreat."  

"My spells are already fairly optimized for this situation. I have a Mage armor for protection; Silent image for stealth or trickery; Grease for battlefield control.  I doubt my other spells would be as useful except for maybe Expeditious Retreat for if things go bad."  Nex makes a superstitious gesture to ward against bad luck.

[Valdi]

Valdi looks to Oleg.

"You have not yet told us everything you know about them, you may not realize  what we are looking for."
"Were they all mounted? Just some of them? Or all on foot?"
"Aside from the hooded man with the bow, and the woman with the axes, how were the rest armed? How heavily armoured?"
"Do those gates close quickly and easily, say if a person of decent strength were to stand behind them to push them shut?"

Turning to Eran.

"How long does your enlargement last? Would you be able to cast the enchantment quickly enough to be useful? If so, I could be quit devastating with this."
He hefts his bardiche for emphasis.

[OoC picture closing the gate then standing there with a reach weapon with 20' reach.. with my brother there to protect my 10' 'too close' area - nice little pairing there]

[Valdi]

"Ambushing them inside the fort is fine with me," Nexendia replies.  "My only concern is for Oleg and Svetlana.  If I were a bandit, I would want to capture them and use them to force our surrender.  So they will need to be well hidden.  Another option would be ambush the bandits when they demand the gates be opened.  Some of us could attack them from a defensible position behind the walls while spell enhanced warriors could circle around and block their retreat."  

"My spells are already fairly optimized for this situation. I have a Mage armor for protection; Silent image for stealth or trickery; Grease for battlefield control.  I doubt my other spells would be as useful except for maybe Expeditious Retreat for if things go bad."  Nex makes a superstitious gesture to ward against bad luck.

"Could you maintain that Silent image  long enough to create an illusion of, let us say.. the gates already being open.. we couldfd combine that with us crouching low enough not to be seen on the wall walk. Then when they get right to the gate we could spring the trap. Again the enlarge ment would be useful there as with a 20' reach I could reach the ones close to the wall from the safety of the wall walk, while the rest of you could wither them with bow and crossbow. The Grease could be used to prevent retreats."

"My own magic today consists of Reinforce Armaments, which has an obvious use here in making someone's weapon sharper and harder [masterwork quality for 10 minutes], and Comprehend Languages, which is less useful with an ambush."

[Andra Petrescu]

As the others begin to share their magics, she becomes quiet, casting her eyes downward in thought for a few moments. Finally, she speaks up again. "I have very limited access to magicks, but it is tied to myself, and is not useable on others." That's a new one for Nexendia. The elf had not heard of Andra ever exhibiting magical talent of any kind. "I can prepare new effects before the sunrise. The most useful, in this circumstance... If they have dogs, I can erase my odor. I can make it seem that I am standing still while making small movements. And I can make myself bounce..." Realizing that sounded odd, she waves upward toward the wall. "For example, I could jump from up there to the ground, and simply bounce off the ground, instead of injuring myself... It would be unexpected."

Reaching into her pack, she removes a wooden box and sets it on the table. Opening it reveals a soft padded interior and vials. 5 of these vials are full of liquid, of varying colors and consistency, some of which appear to be bubbling. She picks up and presents one to the others, filled with a ruby liquid with yellow bubbles.

[Vidar the Red]

Listening, Vidar nods in assent. "Outnumbered, we will win with cunning.  Do you see it brother?" Vidar's voice booms with excitement as he looks into the eyes of his sword sisters and brothers feeling the call of battle.  Rattling the chains of his bear trap he says to Nexendia, "We will lay out their offering inside this fort. When they reach to grab a barrel of ale, thwack, a hand is lost to this trap.  Andra, hidden, drops from the gate walls, closes the gates to seal their doom.  Valdi and I charge from hiding and smash their shields and swords! Eran and Nexendia, you can ensorcel them, protecting Master Oleg and Svetlana!... One may survive, so we drag him in chains to this bandit hideout.  What do you say?"

Vidar is ready to get to work preparing an offering, laying out traps, setting up hideouts and cover from arrows, and prepping a solid bar to lock the bandits in. Is there enough firewood to burn 7-9 bodies? (que the "Eye of the Tiger music")