I don’t know, what do you want to do?

Vogir lays in little Jen’s bunk. He’s happy. The happiest he’s been in years.
Looking down at the young woman beside him, he feels a yearning for home and a normal life.
It’s with a bitter tear that he remembers that his home in Redford is but a distant memory. What family remains there are living a very different life to what he had.
The question is what to do now?
Despite numerous conversations, he is still conflicted in regard to the bandit Rob Inwood. Should they go after him and attempt to kill him?
He’s a thorn in the Dragon’s side; true, but he’s also a menace and attracting the wrath of the Black cloaks down upon the innocents…
Sitting up, Vogir decides to discuss it one last time with his monstrous companions.
Little Jen purrs and roles over, exposing her not so little breasts.
Smiling, Vogir leans over her. Conversations can wait until morning.

Two years ago today

Slicing open the raggedy envelope, Amaranta scans through the letter.
‘Mendez’? Why is that name so familiar?
It’s obviously the diminutive of her grandfathers name, but it’s more than that...
Hurrying to find her great aunt, she finds Eris sitting in her favourite wicker chair in the jasmin gardens.
Her aged aunt pales when she hears the name.
Due to Aunt Eris’ failing eyesight, Amaranta reads the letter aloud to her.
After she has finished, Amaranta is surprised to see the old lady crying.
“Mendez was one of my older brothers. Your great grandfather tricked his friends into going on a dangerous quest and then rewarded them by killing every one of them. Although just a girl at the time, I’m ashamed to admit that I helped with the attack.”
The old woman pauses for a moment.
“That was the day I died.”
Amaranta’s eyes widen with shock.
“That’s right. I died. Your great grandfather Estaban had me brought back to life, but by then Mendez had gone. I never saw his handsome face again.”
The younger woman can’t help but interrupt.
“What happened to him? Who is Petra?”
"Swearing he’d never return, Mendez sailed across the ocean to the savage lands in the north. Here he raised an army to battle the Dragon whose presence we feel even over here.
Some said he died, but others believed he survived and started a life in a small town called Redford.”
Eris pauses again to wipe a tear from her eye and catch her breath.
“It matters not now though. He was several years older than me and will certainly be dead by now. Help me inside child. I don’t want to be in the sun any longer”.

Conflicted we fall

Enjoying the revelry, Vogir settles back by the fire and watches the happy community of outcastes. The raid had been successful and no-one would be going hungry for a while. Weapons had been stored and they had enough gold to survive for years if careful.
Best of all, was that he had managed to kill a Black cloak and several of the Dragon guards.
It had sickened him to realise that he was the only human battling in that fort. His allies had been true, but it was disturbing to see the Tiefling transform like Niema had done.
Can all Tieflings do that?
The Dragon-born and the Orc had fought nobly but they seemed more interested in the fight than for the cause. The Tiefling had been frightening, but his priorities instantly changed when he saw the Dragon-born fall.
The only problem now involves the bandit Rob Inwood.
He’s no freedom fighter, that’s for sure, but...
He’s a thorn in the Dragon’s side.
That alone makes the thought of killing him difficult.
Unfortunately he’s apparently happy to attack human merchants as well.
He’s in it for himself.
Still, as long as the Black cloaks and the Sherriff target him, it gives the ‘real’ resistance cover to hide behind.
Will he bring the Dragon’s wraith down on everyone in the town of Rottingham?
Possibly, but so what?
Let the innocent villagers flee and hide.
Every copper piece lost to the Dragon is a small victory.
Pulling himself to his feet, Vogir seeks out little Jen. “Fancy a dance? I promise to keep up”.
;)

Fort to the end

OK, let’s see what we’re facing...

Our target is a well built rectangular wooden fort. I’m guessing it’s about one hundred feet along the longest sides and maybe sixty feet at its most narrow?
It’s surrounded by a ten foot patrolled palisade and it seems there is a construction inside the wall since the guards can be seen over the palisade..
The palisade has two gates in the centres of the two shortest walls on opposite sides of the fort. These gates are fortified and have small guard towers on either side.
Do we know how tall these towers are?
The sturdy wooden gates open outward.
There are eight buildings inside.
The one near the north gate seems to be the troop's quarters. They are in two lines along the road in between the gates.
There are at least ten regular guards, but that’s including their commander and an accursed black cloak.
The road passes in the west while there is forest on the other sides.
There's about a fifty foot distance from the palisade to the forest's edge.
Carts normally seem to enter at one gate and leave through the other after being loaded or unloaded by the people that are with the cart and just supervised by a guard.

There also appears to be a kind of quick response group stationed there to protect the roads near the fort. Ten mounted fighters who control the roads and pass the fort on two regular passes throughout the day and stay there over night.
Annoyingly these cavalrymen don’t were helmets and are well known and easily recogniseable by the men in the garrison.

The fort act as an intermediate storage facility. The are carts bringing and taking stuff. They mostly supply troops that are passing through and get re-stocked when necessary.
The fort is simple though. A wooden construction and no moat or slope to worry about.

I still think fire’s our best option. If we could get Indigo in somehow, he could stealthily poor oil on the thatched roofs . In fact he could set the fires AND help open the gate..
Then it would be a simple matter for archers shooting fire-arrows into the fort to light the place up.
Wooden fortifications are always susceptible to fire. A few buckets of water and damp leather are no match for burning oil and bloody mindedness.
As the fire spreads, those living inside would be forced to flee, thereby allowing us to take them prisoner or kill them.

Our main problem though is still the matter of getting in...
Do any of us have any abilities that would help?

As for the problem of not destroying what we’ve come here to get. We don’t have to target every building. The guard house and one or two others would do.
I’ve thought about what Orestes had said about their fire defences. They are very unlikely to be keeping the wood damp as that would lead to it rotting.
And regardless of that, it would distract at least a few of them.
Interestingly, as the garrison is so lightly defended, there should only be six or so defenders initially as at least a third of them will be asleep preparing for or recovering from the night shift.

I also think we all now agree that it’s best for us to strike fast during the day, between the cavalry passes and be gone before they return. Killing them can wait for another day.

Of our assets, we have the five of us and the possible support of about 15 untrained men and women. Frankly I’d rather we left them behind to protect their settlement.

We don’t have any belfries, battering rams or catapults and using ladders would prove disasterous. Mining’s out as we don’t have any Dwarves and we haven’t got time for a siege

So unless anyone can offer a better suggestion?

Scribblings in the Dirt

When he looked into the faces of the others, Ghanash sighed. "Ok, I can try and draw how the fort looks!"
He started to draw with a branch Orestes had just provided through his demonstration.




He looked at it quite satisfied with himself. "Well, it shows you the main thing. The road goes past in the west while there is forest on the other sides. It's about 50 ft from the palisade to the forest's edge. You can see the buildings I spoke of. The one with the cross is I guess the commander's office and the quarter of the troops. The palisade is about 10 ft high with torches all way round at night and it seems there is a construction inside the wall since the guards can be seen over the palisade. Carts normally seem to enter at one gate and leave through the other after being loaded or unloaded by the people that are with the cart and just supervised by a guard."

Among Outcasts

Vogir could just make out the setting sun in between the trees. He was looking down over the small forest camp. It had been two days ago when Little Jen had guided them to this small settlement. Vogir couldn't help but be impressed about what he had seen so far. There were about 40 people living here as far as he could tell. It was difficult to know since most people were out to hunt or to buy or sell goods in the surrounding villages. Only a small group always stayed back to look over the children and to tend to the camp.
But it wasn't only the way they'd managed to live here hidden away from the Dragon's view, the design of the camp itself was impressive. As far as he could tell, it could be taken down within half a day and relocated. The treehouse he was standing in was held up only by ropes and could be lowered and taken apart easily. But although being so mobile, the camp was arranged in a way to be able to defend it with a few good archers.
And there was the problem! There were only some good bows and even less good archers. Crossbows would be much better for the untrained shooter, but they were too expensive and difficult to get without drawing attention.

They had offered to help while waiting for Ghanash and the two youngsters who had left yesterday morning to scout out the Dragon's outpost. Vogir and Dokan had mostly trained the group of women and youngsters to fight with longswords and bows. Rudha-an had spend the last two days travelling around with the two men who tried to grow crops in fields hidden in clearings. From what Vogir could tell, the shaman was convinced they could improve on crop yield by relocating or fertilising some fields and had done his best to teach them. Vogir looked down when he could hear the children running after Orestes again. Although the half-orc didn't really know what to do with them, they hadn't left his side while he had gone around camp with Jen to provide muscle where needed. He had tried to teach them how to fight, which was fun to watch but yielded mixed success.

Although Vogir felt satisfaction for being able to help these people, he also felt unrest building up. He was hoping that Ghanash would be back soon with the information they would need to plan the raid. The youngsters who had left with him to guide him had said it was less than a day's brisk walk away so they might be back later. Also Fry had left this morning to ask his contact in the castle of Rottingham about the possibility of another tax cart and said he would be back before nightfall. Since Rottingham was more than a days walk away, Vogir had wondered how he could get the information so quickly since a contact surely would have to inquire in the castle first. But Fry had just smiled and answered that he had a 'good' contact.
Dokan shouting up to him got him out of his thoughts "Hey! Vogir! Ghanash is back and the hunters brought a good piece of deer! Come down before the meat's gone!"

They sat around the main fireplace and most of the others had gone to bed when Ghanash started to tell what he had seen. "Fry was not joking when he had said it would be impossible for them with the resources they have to get into the fort. I'm not even sure whether our swords will be enough to get in and out alive. It's a well built rectangular fort surrounded by a 10 foot patrolled palisade. The palisade has two gates on opposite sides of the fort which are fortified with small guard towers on either side. From a tree I could count 8 houses inside of which one near the north gate seems to be the troop's quarters. They are in two lines along the road in between the gates." Orestes grunted "That's all interesting, but not important! How many guards to kill?" Ghanash looked at him for a second and then continued "I could count at least 10 regular guards including a commander and a black cloak. With those defenses, a frontal attack would be suicide!" He looked up to Jen who was sitting opposite the fire "I don't think you are hiding an army that you didn't show us yet?" Jen shook her head "You've seen most of them! We have about 15 men and and women who know which end to hold a sword with. Only five or six were ever involved in a fight. Most of our raids were nightly thefts or ended with a merchants surrendering when we promised to spare his life. That's why we've asked you in the first place!"

"But it will be worth your time!" Fry had just come down the path through the dark. "From people that have been inside those forts, we know that they always have a reasonable amount of money and weapons stored. We would mostly need the food and some weapons, like crossbows. Of course we could also use some money, but if that's your price we are happy to pay that in order to get the food." He sat down next to Vogir and urged Ghanash to continue with his report.
"I didn't tell you the best part, yet. Since the attacks on merchants have started, there seems to be a kind of quick response group stationed there to protect the roads near the fort. I counted 10 mounted fighters who control the roads and pass the fort on a regular schedule throughout the day and stay there over night. If we want to take the fort by force, we would have to do it in between those passes and be gone before they return. I don't think we would stand a chance to take the fort in the night while they are there. And from what the boys told me who also know about the nearby forts, this one is the least protected!"

Ghanash looked at the others "What are your thoughts? I wouldn't recommend a full-on attack. Maybe a more stealthy approach or trying to trick them to get in?"
Fry had gotten up again when Ghanash asked his question and was about to leave towards the huts when Dokan quickly addressed him "Before you leave, any news on the tax cart?"
"Yes, sorry, I didn't want to disturb your planning! My contact told me that it would be difficult to explain another tax cart from Rottingham so soon after the last, but the nearby village of Deadwood has to send theirs soon and my contact will inquire when exactly it is due to leave and will recommend you as guards. She, I mean my contact, guesses the cart might be due in about a week but will let me know by tomorrow evening what the exact day is and whether they would accept you as guardians. Of course you can stay here and we are happy to share our food until then! But excuse me know, I'm tired. I will speak to you tomorrow again! Good night!"
When he left, Dokan turned towards the group and Jen who was still sitting there.
"Ok, so what are our plans?"

Intertwining Shadows

Niema looked down at the guard who had stopped her. "I think I was clear when I said that my business in Vornak is none of your concern! But if you delay me much longer with your meaningless questions, I'm sure that the people I do this business with will make it their concern to contact your superiors!" The guard, suddenly unsure how to react looked up at the woman. She was riding a tall, perfectly black horse and was dressed in a long silken black robe. She looked down on him with a look that left no doubt of nobility. Although the hooded robe didn't reveal much, black hair with a blue shimmer was visible framing the face and bulges to the left and right of the hood hinted towards horns. She didn't look like your everyday traveller in these lands and unlike the noble women he saw regularly, she travelled without guards. He looked over his should to his colleague for help but he had vanished into the guard's hut. He gave up. "I'm sorry mylady, but I'm just following orders. But of course, a lady like you would only do legit business, so please forgive me for asking! Please do enjoy your stay in Vornak!"

Leaving the gate behind her Niema had to smile. The horse was a good buy. She had found it in the stables of Gilderock and immediately loved its dark black coat. The previous owner needed only a little convincing to make her a good price and was suddenly quite happy to sell contrary to his first comment. An expensive looking horse added to her appearance as a noble woman and definitely had worked on the guards.

She had found out that her travel companions had followed a paladin to take a job guarding a tax cart to Vornak. She just had to arrange to 'accidentally' cross their path again. But first she could focus on more pleasurable encounters. She hadn't been to Vornak in a long time. It was territory outside the realm of her guild and the local guild would not take it lightly if she would conduct business here. Under the eyes of passersby who happily made way to somebody dressed in black, she guided her horse to one of the more expensive inns.

She left the inn by foot when it was already dark and started to walk towards the poorer part of town. She hadn't seen her an years but had heard from a friend that she was in town. After an hour walk, she looked down the dark alley she was in. She knew this passage which was one of the darkest places in Vornak. She chose a dark corner and merged into the shadows. Most of her friends had no fixed address which made surprise visits always an adventure. But she always had stayed in this area, so Niema was confident she would find her here if she really was in town.

Only a few people passed by in the next 3 hours, all oblivious to Niema's presence. She passed the time by opening her mind and reaching out into the shadows. She could feel smaller creatures like spiders and rats around her and was just about to give up when she suddenly could feel another presence coming down the small road. Her hope came back when she could feel the person in the alley slowing down and hesitating just a few meters away. Niema smiled and connected to the shadow link of an unsuspecting spider near her. She moved along the Shadowfell connections until she had reached the presence now hiding and waiting behind a nearby corner listening into the night. She hadn't felt her for a long time but immediately recognised the familiar shadow. Stepping out of it, her dagger connected to the skin at the woman's throat, her mouth next to the woman's ear. "I always wonder how you survived that long with such bad reflexes!" The stranger answered in a surprisingly calm voice considering the dagger. "Maybe because people perpetually underestimate me!" She slowly stepped sideways out of Niema's grapple and Niema noticed that her body and arms were held firmly by shadows that had materialised around her. "I see you improved your skills to forge shadows into form!" The woman turned and revealed the pale features of a smiling Shadar-kai. "A noble woman like you in the territory of a hostile guild should clearly do better homework before acting. Don't they teach you anything in this guild of yours? It must be your alluring looks that kept you alive all this time!" Niema started to smile "Yes, and if you release me I will show you what I've learned about how to use those..."

The shadows started to loosen their grip as the slender Shadar-kai stepped towards her to embrace her. "Come on, I show you my place! It has been too long!"