In The Pass

[Zergrinch]

Zemzelett nods, asking the translator to tell the Dragonborn to go ahead and take it since nobody was using it anyway.

[Guest]

"I oppose going into the mine, Its a distraction when your path home lies in the same direction of the Criminal Dalest. He is somehow involved in the taking of your home city if we find the leader of the crime syndicate we can find your way home. However if you insist I will go along I am not one to shy away from a good fight. tWith that said I am going for a run. Let me know what has been decided when I have finished." Abram goes to their quarters and removes his armor and tunic and began running a meandering course through the streets of the village.

[D'Narenth]

As D'Narenth takes his new hand ax, he lays one of his old ones down. "There is a good one, albeit not as good as this one, for someone else."

[Zergrinch]

While his fear of D'Naranth is greatly lessened, Zemzelett was no less intimidated by the naturally-armored dragonborn with the long sharp teeth. Still, it hurt him a little to be thought of as a fool. Dragging along a suitable translator (E'lanfal) along, he says his piece:

D'Naranth, brother... It saddens me that you would think us as fools. This is just something the five of us cannot ignore. We know the plight of the prisoners at the mine. I know how it felt to be helpless, to be able to do nothing while these... these creatures sack an entire city and slaughter everyone who resists. Gnolls are heartless and cruel - with the loss of their spellcaster, the gnolls will be angry. They will take it out on the prisoners. We both know what they are capable of.

You have pledged to be our guide, and for that I am very grateful. We don't expect you to accompany us in what you consider a "fool's errand" - it is enough if you would escort us to the entrance, and wait for us there for a few hours. It is more than anyone else would do for a group of strangers. I have just one request - I beg of you not to dismiss us as ill-prepared fools. We are just following what our hearts tell us to do.

With that, Zemzelett bows to D'Naranth, and heads towards Quelten to finish what they set out to do.

[Quelten]

Quelten waited, patiently, until Vorador finishes his rant.  "Vorador, you perhaps need to learn that one can disagree with someone's position without attacking their person.  I may disagree with the positions people take, but that's hardly the same thing as 'berating' them.  The closest I came was calling something 'errant stupidity', and I'm sorry but that's a characterization I doubt anyone would disagree with.  I apologize in advance, but since you appear to need the example, berating would be something more along the lines of..."

 

Quelten draws himself up, allowing all emotion to vanish from his face as his chin raises a good two inches higher, allowing him to look down his nose at the orphan.  The sneering, snide tone he uses sounds almost forced, and clearly isn't natural for him.  "If you had been properly educated, you would recognize that while one may forcefully state their position during a debate, that is not itself a criticism of the other individual.  You must separate the anger that comes from being disagreed with and focus on the argument, concentrating on the merits of the relative positions."  By the time he finishes the second sentence, the flow and cadence has relaxed slightly, making the attitude appear completely genuine.

 

Still, he'd made his point so Quelten gladly let the attitude flow away, shaking his head with distaste.  He'd learned how to handle other nobles, didn't mean he cared for the attitude and mindset required.  "I am forceful of personality.  I will not apologize for that.  I debate matters aggressively, knowing that the surest path to the truth is the confrontational proceeding between two respectful opponents.  I will not apologize for that.  Those are not marks of arrogance, or dismissal of others opinions.  Those are simply the hallmarks of reasoned debate.  On the field of battle my obedience to my commander is absolute.  Off the field of battle he may still invoke that authority at his discretion.  But until and unless he invokes that authority, it would be disrespectful of him and of the group if I fail to provide the best service I can, including stating my positions and the associated reasoning as best I can.  Or are you trying to imply that Eghas doesn't have the strength of will to challenge me if he genuinely disagrees with my arguments?"

 

"And Zem," Quelten turns with a smile.  "Apparently I was a little too subtle.  I saw you cringe at my comment, but it shouldn't have been a cringe of shame.  It wasn't your bolt I was talking about.  I'm talking about the first ever war arrow I ever handled.  I turned, drew the bow to full, and managed to slip flat on my back before releasing.  The arrow went straight up, and when it came down I damned near went through my eye.  It can happen to anyone on the field of battle.  Until you manage it on a sunny day, in the training yard, with a tutor standing over you to make sure you can't possibly screw up, don't worry to much about it.  Someone here has done much worse."

 

"Abram, D'narenth, you are our guides.  If you truly recommend we do not do this, I for one will accept it.  But I am ill inclined to leave such evil behind me if it can at all be avoided.  It is my duty to leave this land the better, not the worse."

[A.B]

Elan'fal chuckles at Vorador's ramblings and ignores them and him. "I say we go remove the threat that is in the mines. You never know how threats can be connected and maybe charging after that criminal without doing this first may be a bad idea, this may offer information we now not have, but I'll go with the group." He says calmly.

[Jeikor]

"Vorador, I have already stated what I thought about trying the magic items. As for my age, yes, I have lived longer than most here but by my people's standards I am not yet an adult either and have not gathered that much wisdom having spent many years living alone. I do not WANT to go back underground but I cannot leave a threat and possible captives without trying to do something about it,

Abram, Dalest was in that pass with those who are in the mine. We may be able to get information that will help capture him or help us get home."

 

Innil turns away toward Zem, Quelten and Elan'fal. "Zem, you still seem to be troubled still; let's talk it out. Quelten, I apologize for my actions so far and vow to try to treat you better. The four of us need to get together and figure out these items and learn about each other. I would like to help you gather your information and take a look at the maps."

[Quelten]

Quelten gives a small, half-bow to Innil.  "Sir, your actions do not require apology.  Perhaps you have not thought the best of me, but you have yet to actively attack me in action or deed.  You have been quite corteous, and your company would be welcome.  I had not intended to turn this into a group activity, but the more of us who look for familiar objects, the more likely we are to succeed."

 

"In case you didn't hear, my desire is to find something we recognize, preferably something we know is from home.  It could also be something from here that we know lies in a specific direction from home.  Or from a place we know is closer to home.  The slightest of clues could at least give us at least a direction to our search.  And if you have any ideas of other ways to search, let me know."

 

"Also, we should probably try to find a couple of ten foot poles.  We know there are traps in the mines, and poles will give us something to trip them with other than ourselves.  If you can think of any other gear we might need while in the caves, sound out."

[Zergrinch]

"Troubled? Oh no, Sir Innil, there's no trouble at all! I am quite happy to learn that you don't think of me as someone who might fail!" Zemzelett lies to Innil, while managing a broad smile.  Unfortunately, the lie wasn't very good (see roll here: Deception roll = 7 + 5 = 12) with Zemzelett telegraphing his discomfort through unintended body language.

Of course he was troubled by his own incompetence! He hated very much to lie to the kind elf like that, but the likely result was that he would be stripped of the crossbow and be relegated to a slingshot, which is the absolute last ranged weapon the half elf needs: a child's toy.  Eager to change the topic, and knowing from their previous interaction that the moon elf was easily distracted, the Half-Elf latches on to the concept of ten foot poles and needed things to do.

"We found a couple of ten foot poles yesterday. One is strapped to my backpack, the other is at the wagon. So we don't have to buy any. But I do have a couple of thoughts to sound out.

First, if we can fix the wagon, we should. One of the wheels is wobbly and I can't find any replacements here. If there are no woodworkers or carpenters here, there's a set of woodcarver's tools from the box Sir D'Naranth gave us that we can use to fix it with.

Second, I've been thinking about last night. Two things made it hard for us - lack of lighting, and enemy has good cover positions that made it really hard to hit them. We may have the same two problems in the mines. How do we solve the light problem without making the bearer of the light an easy target? And how do we make the bad guys lose their good cover positions while making sure we are not out in the open?

And finally, Melirel being held next to the window and his arm was about to be cut off... I can't shake off the feeling that there was nothing we could have done to save him if Sir Eghas didn't do what he did. How do we protect any hostages if this happens again? I heard you discuss what that gnoll said, and he made the exact same offer as that bugbear - half the prisoners to us, and they keep the other half."

[Quelten]

"The light is easy enough to solve," Quelten shrugs.  "I'll carry a pouch of pebbles with us, and cast Light on those, as well as having it on an arrow or two.  We can toss the pebbles aside as needed, and we fire the arrows at targets to provide us with illumination.  When it comes to cover, we'll have to play it by ear.  If we're lucky, there won't be any lines of sight of any real significance.  If we aren't lucky, we'll just have to take advantage of the fact that this time, we're the attackers, not the ambushees.  We have the option of withdrawing."

 

Quelten sighs.  "If you have any good ideas about hostages, let me know.  All I can think of is something my father said after an orc raid.  'Letting the orcs take them would have been worse,'" Quelten's voice held a harder, sadder edge than usual.  "Even if half the hostages are executed in the rescue attempt, that's still half rescued, far more than if we don't try.  The key, if we get into negotiations, is to clarify our minimum goals and try to find a way to let the enemy have their minimum goals in return.  Whatever you do, don't just threaten them with death if they don't give into every jot and title of your demands.  That-"  Quelten hesitates, suddenly putting a finger on one reason he neither liked nor trusted Barrett.  "It simply doesn't work, all you do is put the enemy in a corner they can't get out of.  They'll lash out, blindly, or even execute the hostages just to get a little preemptive revenge.  Plus it puts your ultimate sanction on the table, leaving you no place to escalate to.  Let the enemy know the ultimate sanction is there, available to hand, but don't jump straight to it."  Quelten shakes his head.  "I could repeat another couple of hours worth of lectures on the subject, but I think those are the main points we need to consider here.  We aren't likely to make friends, so lets move onto defining our goals."

 

"Our minimum goals, to my mind, are to rescue the hostages and secure the pass so it can be safely traversed.  A secondary goal would be to clear the mine and reclaim it for the dwarves, but that's more a method to the primary goal.  Even if we have to let the enemy go, so long as we achieve those our primary two goals we'll have succeeded.  An ideal victory state would be to completely clear the mine, slaughtering all opposition without harm to a single hostage, but that's an unlikely scenario.  We'll try, but I suspect it's impossible.  The enemy almost certainly has scouts out and will know we're coming.  We may well be better served by negotiations."

[Zergrinch]

"There is no reason for us to ride out of here as adventurers," Zemzelett suggests.  "If they see all of us on horseback, armed to the teeth, then yes, they will know we are coming.  But it was really dark and we didn't left any witnesses alive, so they don't know what we look like. To make it more convincing, we can escort a real trade caravan out of here towards the pass.  Some of us should be disguised as merchants wearing fine clothes over armor, while the warrior types hide with the cargo over a tarp. If the gnolls try to ambush the "merchants", they'll be the ones surprised," the half-elf grins.

 

In a more serious tone, he adds, "I don't look threatening, so I should easily pass as a merchant."

[Quelten]

"Brillian!" Quelten smiles, excited.  "We could even try to hide a lot of our weapons as 'trade goods' under tarps or something, so that we look like an even easier target!"

 

"Can anyone else think of anything else to make Zem's idea work better?" Quelten asks.

[A.B]

"Sounds good, how can I help?" Elan'fal asks.

[Quelten]

Quelten turns to Elan'fal.  "We need to think of ways to look more like merchants, less like adventurers," he says, excited.  "For example, I can't really look like a merchant without taking my armor off.  I don't think that's a good idea, me and Reld need to be in armor so we can form a rudimentary melee line in combat.  D'narenth too, if he decides to come with us.  The rest of you don't wear very heavy armor, though, so maybe you can disguise it to look like regular clothes from a distance, or even take it off if you're willing to take a chance.  As soon as we trip their ambush you could put it back on, but it is a risk."

 

Quelten grins even wider.  "And even one ambush tripped will probably do them a lot of damage.  We've already taken out their chief spell caster and a chunk of their warriors.  That may not be enough to leave them really hurting, but they'll have to put a lot of effort to make a second ambush to match it.  I bet we can add to the pain with just that new ambush, and at the very least, it'll let us draw more of them out of the caves where we can both engage and retreat more readily."

 

"This is perfect Zem!"  Quelten crows.  "It's a brilliant idea!  You're good at this!"

[Jeikor]

Innil smiles at Quelten and says, " I will help however you think best. I have a fire bolt cantrip so can set aside my weapons but with this silver skin I cannot hide who I am without magical help." Innil turns to Zem, "Can you help with a disguise?"

[A.B]

"I can create calligraphy writes of passage to make it look like we have royal decrees or something, I'll need ink and parchment as well as D'Nareth to tell me how the local such papers are. Didn't we have some finer clothes with us? Maybe someone can make them larger to fit you and Reld above your armour." Elan'fal says the other boy. But on the other hand maybe you don't have to. In these parts I am sure rich merchants need bodybuards, you, Reld, Abram, and D'Nareth can pass as the bodyguards of me, Innil and Zem,...oh yes and Vorador, two half'elves and two elves and a tiefing dressed in rich clothes in an area where Elves have not been seen for centuries can pass as rich merchants with four bodyguards. What do you think?" 

[Jeikor]

"That sounds good to me. I won't need a disguise then but Zem, I will need help acting like a merchant. Let's go try on some clothes!"

Innil grins at the group as his excitement rises at the prospect of a real plan. "Come on, Zem Help me pick out the right costume for my part."

[Zergrinch]

Zemzelett's grin widens with excitement the more the others discuss the plan. It falters a bit, but not completely, when he realizes there are issues that needed to be solved first.

"Si-- Elan'fal," Zemzelett says, hastily correcting himself, "Too big a visible entourage may not trigger another ambush since they lost a lot in their attack last night. Perhaps a rich family consisting of Elan'fal, myself and Vorador will look like an enticing target, with just Reld as the visible escort.

On the other hand, the gnolls know that the village knows the spellcaster was beaten. So if the caravan had nothing more than Dragonborn, it could still work. The gnolls would think that the villagers thought the danger was over hence the caravan, and would attack with impunity.

I don't think it is a good idea to doff our armor, since there's not enough time to put it back on in an ambush situation.

But there's a temple here, maybe we can borrow some robes and wear them over armor? We won't be a merchant group then, but even a softer target - a group of acolytes out on a mercy mission.

Another thing we need to solve is how to hide among the trade goods. It's much easier if we can escort a carriage, but much harder with an open wagon. Most of us will have to hide under a tarp, and punch a few air holes to breathe. Those hiding should assume a combat ready stance once we approach the pass, ready to jump out and shoot immediately.

If they ambush us, I would think the best course is to pretend to surrender, and when they come to capture us, we spring our own ambush. On the other hand, if they don't attack us, then we would have gotten to the mine entrance safely."

Turning over to Innil, the half elf says, "I have some powder in my disguise kit, but even a fine costume won't hide your muscles. Sir Innil, you might have to keep out of sight."

[A.B]

"You are correct, so maybe we should leave behind what stuff we will not need, and hide the rest of our group in the wagons, then when we are ambushed the wagons become their tombs." Elan'fal says.

[Quelten]

"Sounds like we have some good ideas here," Quelten nods.  "I don't think they're going to check our documentation, though, so we probably shouldn't waste time with papers.  There's also a good point about not wanting too fierce an appearance.  We should get Abrams and D'narenth in on this conversation, find out what the locals consider a 'normal' escort force for caravans of various size."

 

"We could also make the prize look richer by talking to some of the locals.  Even if they don't want to fight, they may be able to help us improve the disguise.  Maybe more carts, or richer looking carts.  We'll need to see what they can come up with.  Maybe taking a load of  dross from their mines and making it looks like valuable ores.  We could pile that over a shelter or framework of some kind to hide a person or two inside a cart."

[Zergrinch]

The half elf excuses himself, walks over to Eghas, Car'Sel, D'Naranth, Reld, and Abram, who was just jogging by, and brings them over to the group huddle. He quickly fills them in (Dwarven and Sor'teth) on the plan and solicits their opinions. The more people review the plan, the more likely it would work.

Car'Sel in particular would be able to help with logistics such as securing carriages or additional wagons for an actual trade mission with hidden escorts. Or even provide them with robes should the group prefer to be disguised as a temple delegation.

[Kyle Aarons]

Reld listens in to the plan and looks at everyone with a befuddled look, "You want to trick them? Draw them out? Do you want to have someone or someone close to the mine to cut off escape back into it or do you want to have al who survive the atacck run back and get word of your plan to whatever is in charge down there... Um... unless it doesn't work that way in the real world, like it does in the salve combat pits. The bosses never came out to play or risk their heads, they hid behind the felsh of the rest of us."

 

GM NOTE:

 

the pearl is not magical.

 

Is there items I have not given the magical school of. If there something, let me know. I really thought I have given everything what school of magic they belong to

 

 

If you are going to go through with this plan I need to know you all are wearing and how you are equipped so I know how you are keeping things hidden.

 

Also I am deep into my next chapter of Kandric so I may be slow the next week or so on responding. Kandric takes a great deal out of me

[Zergrinch]

"Oh, I was thinking we would pretend to surrender to them - we know they take prisoners and haul away the caravan goods.  They will then need to come closer to capture us, and then everyone who was hiding in the wagons would bust out and tear them a new one, yourself included," the Half-Elf grins at Reld. "After we take them out, we move into the mines.  They'll be at a disadvantage since there will be less of them."

 

"It is possible they will not attack us unless they see an easier target.  So maybe instead of acting as merchants who would expect attacks, we can use the robes from the Temple of Vindayin to look like acolytes out on a mercy mission.  The robes will also hide the fact we are armed and armored. Of course, you big guys with muscles will still need to hide inside the wagon.  I'm sure we can rig up some kind of tarpaulin cover, and you can hide yourself under the fake cargo we'll put in. Us out front will have a code word, say like 'ROSEBUD', which can be a signal for you to attack."

 

"But..." Zemzelett pauses, having found a possible wrinkle in the plan, "Gnolls have a good sense of smell, right?  We'll need to find a way to throw it off so they don't smell those who are hiding."

 

Thinking of yet another scenario, Zemzelett finishes, "Of course, they could also not attack us at all.  Maybe they're not so confident on ambushing others without their spellcaster, and will be lying low.  In that case, we would be able to get to the mine safely, and can begin rescuing the hostages."

[Quelten]

"I think what you're trying to get at, Zem, is that whatever plan we come up with needs to be as flexible as possible," Quelten suggests.  "We'll also need to balance between being as vulnerable and rich a target as possible, and not being so much of a good thing they get suspicious."

 

"Reld, while it would be ideal to have someone sneak around behind their line and cut off their lines of retreat, do you think you can do it?"  Quelten asks.  "It's a lovely thought, but you'd have to sneak past their scouts without being noticed, not the easiest of tasks.  I suspect that it makes more sense to have you with the group, but if you really think you can pull it off...  Totally your call, but stealth doesn't really seem like a gladiator skill.  Maybe Abram or D'narenth could pull it off, but that still leaves them stuck way out there with minimal support.  It's a great idea, but I don't think we can afford to split our forces like that.  If something goes wrong, whoever got stuck out there would be screwed.  One of the important things to remember is we have to leave ourselves a line of retreat."

 

Quelten turns back towards Zem.  "You have a pretty good memory, can you build up a list of resources available to us, resources we can easily acquire that might be relevant, and so on?  By resources I mean tools, weapons, wagons, trade goods, any guards that are likely to want to join us in the effort, anything you can think of that would help support our actions.  Once we have a defined list of resources, we can move on to build our exact plans from there.  Include the design of the wagons.  If we can find something with good, solid, heavy sides, something that might look like a pay wagon, or an alchemist's mobile laboratory, that'd be perfect."

[Eghas]

Eghas has kept quiet while listening to the others talk, finally he nods his head, and holds up his head to stop further conversation.  "I like what i am hearing, so we'll do this.  First off, we need to have some 'guards' on the caravan, or else it won't look right.  so some of you will be on horses.  the rest.  well who says that the wagons are small, or there not enough room for someone to sit in the back without being seen.  yes we'll need to have some goods to make it look right but, we don't need to have people out of armor if we don't want them to be."

 

He looks over to Reld and grins.  "Meanwhile, while you guys are doing that, Reld, myself, Vorador and possible either Abram or D'naranth will sneak up behind and cut off escape and reinforcements.  This is of course, assuming they attack us, if not,t hen we'll have to go past, and then come in another way, but.  since we will have people with us who know mines, Car'sel is giving us a couple people to go with, we'll figure things out then. 

 

Now, i really think we need to take some time to rest, because tomorrow is gonna be a long day i think.  Anyone have any questions?"