3 Arodus 4719, late morning

Breachill

We had accumulated a fair amount of loot from our exploits in the citadel. Loot is nice to have but unless there is something specifically useful in what you’ve gathered it really doesn’t do you much good. That’s when you need to go through everything and identify it all, and catalogue it, and figure out who wants what, and what to sell and what to keep because we might need it later, and then finally go to the merchants and sell the excess. Only then do you have actual gold coins to buy what you really need.

Back in the Chitterwood this was my task for the goblin tribe, and I really hated it.

Happily for us Kyira has a real knack for this tedious but necessary work. Although just watching her scribble on her ledger brings back unpleasant memories of my time in the Chitterwood sorting through goblin stashes, it is an actual pleasure to see her spin the random stuff we found into literal gold.

And while this was going on we decided that we should first return to the citadel and clean out the creatures we had left behind before moving on to Guardian’s Way.

3 Arodus 4719, night

Citadel Altaerein, Hellknight Hill

Our first goal was destroying the skeletons from the cells. We strategically positioned the tables and bookshelves in the adjoining rooms to create a pathway where the skeletons would be forced to move in single file. We could then pick them off with ranged attacks.

Qantrip’s familiar, Ouch, provided magical support, opening and closing doors to regulate the flow of undead into our staged combat zone. This worked greatly to our advantage because even with all of the recent combat we’ve experienced the skeletal warriors were still challenging foes.

Kyira discovered that she preferred melee fighting to ranged, which means she took a fair number of blows before Tarsius stepped in so she could back away and heal. We discover these crucial things about ourselves in the most inopportune times, but that is the way life can be.

We found a couple of potions and some silver weapons for our efforts.

Qantrip, Liberte and I moved the two worg puppies into one of the cells for safe keeping.

We then arranged for the goblins to keep them fed and watered and their area clean. Better still the goblins wanted to keep the goblin dogs in the entry way for their own.

I suspect she may look into weapons with a longer reach so she can whack away at her opponents from a step away rather than always go toe to toe.

This left the gelatinous cube down in the abandoned armory for us to deal with. And as it turns out if you had ranged weapons and magical attacks these slow moving jellies aren’t that much of a threat. Or at least ours wasn’t. Soon it was an inert slumping lump of ooze and we had retrieved the magical battle axe from its innards.

We had a pleasant dinner with the goblins and are resting here before our hike to Guardian’s Way in the morning.

4 Arodus 4719, afternoon

Guardian’s Way

It was a pleasant walk to Guardian’s Way. The path wasn’t well traveled and so the wilderness had encroached on the trail and the young thin woods that spread from either side provided dappled shade as well as an element of concealment.

Some distance out from our destination Aemi sent Iskaryn ahead to scout out the area. There was a good bit of back and forth between the two as Iskaryn seemed to think it a risky mission while Aemi pointed out that the bird was the most suited of us to get the lay of the land and make sure we did not blunder into a trap.

I had mentioned before that these two sounded like a married couple, and while at the time I had meant it as a gentle jab, I realized now just how apt the observation was. And I mean this now in a good way: Aemi and Iskaryn complement one another and combined they are a much more potent force than when they act individually.

Iskaryn returned a short while later and reported that the sparse tree cover continued all of the way up to a rise in the land. An old cabin sat before a cave entrance, and elevated wooden platforms were set among the trees about it. Half orcs armed with shortbows perched on these lofts keeping watch. There were thickets of trees and brush that could provide cover for our approach.

We brainstormed the best way to approach the cabin and deal with the armed lookouts.

It dawned on me that Iskaryn said the watchers were all wielding shortbows. Looking around the party I noticed that most of us had longbows or commanded magics that worked at a similar range. If we set up in the cover before the cabin out of optimal range from the platforms then we would have a significant advantage in an exchange of arrows.

Qantrip, Aemi and I would sneak up to one of the flanking platforms where a single half orc stood guard while the rest of the team would set up in the bracken at range in front. We would attempt to use stealth to work our way in, use sleep magic on targets of opportunity, and then the others would distract the bulk of the half orcs with a frontal attack.

Sure this took one of our primary archers (me) out of the mix, but the chaotic nature and audacity of the plan was too delicious to resist.

The three of us crept in while Iskaryn kept a watchful eye on the battlefield from above.

Qantrip easily put a watcher to sleep but as I was sneaking forward to clamber up the platform (and slit its throat) one of the other guards saw me and called the alarm.

Instantly I was struck hard by an arrow as the rest of my team sprang into action. Arrows flew (in both directions). Spells were set off. Dancing lights appeared and distracted several foes. I climbed up onto the platform and killed the sleeping half orc with our newly acquired battle axe, and then switched over to my trusty bow and began to pepper the other half orcs with arrows.

We soon had the upper hand and the remaining watchers climbed down and fled into the trees.  Our ranged force of Liberte, Kyira, Tarsius, and Marcus gave chase, forcing our foes to drop their weapons and leave.

At about this time a hobgoblin exited the cabin by a back door and I targeted it. Qantrip put it to sleep and I leapt from my perch to quickly restrain it with manacles.

She woke up and identified herself as Dmiri. She had a lot of attitude and kept making snarky comments until Liberte showed up and browbeat her into silence.

Tarsius peered into the cabin and detected several sources of magic from within a footlocker. I cautiously entered and after picking the pesky lock found various useful items.

Some of the others have begun to question Dmiri as I write this.