** Part I: Fire and Ash **

[spike]

Trunks greeted Karlene with a brief but sincere smile, 'Aye, though I must confess I find it rather peculiar to have to convey geography to a Lorian, though I suppose more stranger things have occurred to me. You must still be an acolyte then?" he asked, and unfurled a map of the surrounding lands. 'This was given by the Elvish Lord Artinol, rather I won it from him in a wager over a game of Elven chess. It is dated, but for the most part still accurate'

http://www.padnd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=116&t=3145 (scroll to the bottom)

'we are here presently, in eastern Nyr. There's some deep forests and bogs that help protect the east from potential invasion, the queen does prize these lands and safeguards them from those who may draining the bogs for farm land. There exists a'plenty of garrison forts west o' here who keep vigil. East o' here are the Tomb Hills, that fade into the Copper Hills and then the Gate Mountains. You'll find many human settlements on the shores along the way, many of them charming and quaint, very hospitable and few see any dangers you are comfortable with handling. Let us say a brigand or sporadic horse-thief, stranger from a distant realm would be sufficient to get the locals agitated. The Black Forest is the exclusive dominion of the Elvish Imperium, and they do not receive non-elves so happily. For a hundred years ties were estranged when the boy king Uriel II decided to invade the sacred elven lands, inciting war. Only through the heroic acts of the Lord Duke Commander of Lor did the Elven queen's impression of men change and she lowered her distrust of humans and non-elves, only a little. Delilah can tell you more than myself. Forgive me, I ramble. There is always so much knowledge one forgets he hath." he helped himself to some water and wiped his mouth on his own sleeve, 'my spies inform me you are preparing for a journey, to seek The Watchers.'

[Chris1234]

"Thanks for the information, Trunks, ranble it wasn't. Always useful to gain another's perspective," Jerry replies, letting the poke about a Lorian and knowledge go unheeded. "What else do your spies tell you, then?"

[spike]

Trunks: 'Much' he stated flatly, 'though they do not always get it right. They informed me of a group that came out of the Boarshead and were trouncing about through this swamp. I dispatched Narn to fetch you, curious myself why a band of stalwart adventurer's were in the middle of the Salt Marshes, the least savory location to be running amok as you had' he said simply, 'ah you found some dire wolves, young pups...what? Ah, good" he said to the black one, 'yes, these are your new parents it seems' the druid said with a smirk, 'Seems you've won some local contests, made short work of a hired killer, and dispatched some slavers. Not too shabby for a long days work I must say. Oh and sabotaging the billistae that the elder should never have acquired, that was a bold move. Especially in the middle of a lively festival, impressive' he turned to look at each of you over more carefully then said 'The reason I inquire is because I am a watcher. I found it terribly amusing you would be venturing to their base of operations, something that I should strongly advise you against. First, it is a long arduous journey, one which is froth with peril, and two those files you seek are not there. The main base is for two purposes: training, and a large prison for those requiring imprisonment. The files you seek are with the Lorian archivist Hedge in Harby. He would grant you permission to view and make your own copies of them if I vouch for you. If I vouch for you, to which you would tell me as to why I would do such a thing and for what purpose"

[Nocturno]

Delilah will smile when the druid enters.

She will quietly eat, listening to all of the plans. Her head spinning from all the activity that is very from her normal daily activities."

[spike]

A moment later: BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!, then, a hundred angry screeching noises resonate from outside. In the thatch of the hut you are in four tar pitched arrows have pierced it, setting it ablaze.

From outside, the party can see four wheeled catapults advancing from the south, several are loosing tar pitched fireballs into the tree-top community. Behind them were two billistaes being armed.

The units appear as follows:

5 black guard infantry units in point, each armed with long two handed spears, longswords and daggers, and have shields on their backs.

Directly behind them were 5 archery units, 3 were longbowmen, and 2 heavy crossbowmen.

There were 5 assault units of 'cavalry' mounted atop giant lizards with cupped webbed hands and feet.

You also note 5 squads of Hobgoblin shock troops swelling the ranks of these black clad soldiers.

A force of at least 20 war-dogs are accompanying the archery units.

The door slams open and a villager standing there shouts 'We're under attack!!!' when two bolts skewers him, sending him over the railing outside.

DECISION

REACTION

[Nocturno]

Delilah will quickly take two shots at any of the archers.Hoping to find them out of cover.

code: Initiative, Attack, Attack, Dmg Dmg: [1d10] = 9 [1d20] = 13 [1d20] = 8 [1d8] = 4 [1d8] = 1

[TristenC]

Idrys also snatches up his bow and fires back at the archers targeting their hut. How the flaming hells did hundreds of troops get to the village without any warning?! he asks Narn and Ash. what kind of defenses are there? Maybe if I can repair the ballistae... good thing I only took a piece out instead of breaking it. he thinks to himself.

[Ooc: roughly how manh in a Unit vs a squad?]
-----
Bow thac0: 18
Idrys bow vs archers init,attk,attk,dmg,dmg [1d10] = 9[1d20] = 16[1d20] = 7[1d8] = 6[1d8] = 1

[Chris1234]

"There may be too many for us, Iddrys, no matter how good you are. And if we stay, these villagers will surely all die," says Karlene as she scoops up the two wolf pups and puts them in her two largest pockets. {OOC: Actually, just how big are these pair?}.
Nonetheless, she still joins her brother and hefts a sling stone at the foe, targeting an archer too.

Init [1d10+4] = 10+4 = 14, to hit [1d20-1] = 13-1 = 12, dam [1d4+2] = 3+2 = 5
THAC0: 20

"Trunks, can you turn their own dogs on them from this distance?" she asks.

[spike]

There are 7 in each unit.

Narn whispered 'They must have overtaken the scout patrols in the south bog. Defenses? We have about thirty men, and a tribe of our Grippli friends. We usually are protected by the queen's men, but the watch tower Stormkeep an hour ride from here'

Trunks: 'xiogo tardaz mygrolth dath ithlig scorddal numraith gorbag!' he took a square of red cloth in his hands and it hovered in the air and was slowly incinerated, but before it was devoured by flame it became the symbol of a bat then faded into ash and dispersed.

You hear a loud winding noises in the distance.

A large massive dark cloud of bats swarmed into the area flying at the advancing fore units, causing them to be harassed and frustrated by the agitated bat swarm.

The druid said 'Nay, I cannot. But if you would be so kind as to gather some acorns on the roof, I would be indebted to you...my squirrel friend slept in this morning' he asked Karlene.

[Chris1234]

Karlene goes to fetch some acorns.

[spike]

IDRYS and DELILAH shatter a window then take their shots:

DELILAH'S elven sheaf arrow sunk into an archer, who grunted in response and ducked behind a tree.

IDRYS's missile flew into archer #1 who cries out 'I've been hit! Assassins up there in that window! Return fire!' when a swarm of bats surrounded him and began harassing him, injuring archer #2 'bloody hell!' the soldier cried out, knocking an arrow and scanning the tree tops for the source of the offending missile.

Ash began spraying the entire party with holy water, and several crimson flames enveloped the party. You feel more righteous.

spell in effect: bless (+1 to hit/+1 damage/+1 saving throws)

Ash: "we can't stay here, this is only an advance force. Look, they're after me. They think I have the files. I need to make a run for it and lead them elsewhere or they'll bring down the entire village. I can reconnect with you all in Harby. For now, it's time to break wind, or breath like the wind. Nevermind!'

[TristenC]

Lets get out of here, then. I don't think there is much we can do, unless you know of some secret weapon or some way to get them to stop eh Narn? John? Do you really think they'll spare the village even if they did believe you were gone?

[Ooc: I keep picturing Bruce Campbell as Ash ]

[Chris1234]

**Still fetching acorns**

[spike]

(ooc: Ash looks nothing like him )

Karlene easily fetched some acorns off the roof of the hut, scooping them from the bamboo gutters and handed them to the druid. He moves slowly to the door and began chanting 'dulgoth nyirizmyig tranistog' the acorns became ignited with blue fire and he flung them amidst the ranks of the black cloaks, causing each acorn to detonate in a series of fiery explosive grenade blasts. One soldier's head blew clean off, and another lost all his legs as they were incinerated in a blur.

'Push through, in the Emperor's name!'

As several score of the black cloaks were decimated, the archers continued pummeling suppressing storms of fiery missiles, a catapult fireball detonated and incinerated a third level row of villagers, wiping them out.

The lizard mounted riders were now scaling the thick trees and firing crossbows at random targets.

Narn says 'Idrys is right, we need to get the hell out of here! There's too many of them!' he pulled himself from the window and guided you toward the back, where a concealed door loomed behind a countertop. He opened it to reveal a knotted thick rope that went down some 20 ft to a low hanging cat-walk bridge. The druid's bats are still harassing the troops, particularly the archery units from being able to effectively fire.

Narn: "This way!!"

The party traverses down several walkway bridges similar to this one , and leads the group to a water mill. The entire party clambers down the side of the mill and reaches the ground. Narn looks back and becomes teary eyed, trying to head back to the village when Ash held him back 'No! There's nothing we can do at this time. We need to get out of here, quickly'

John: "We've two hours of march north by northwest. Careful, there's lots of snakes hereabouts'

The party cuts through some knee high swamp, cutting through concealing willow wisp trees when you gain the bank of the snake river. 'There's the river pilot's cottage' he pointed to a small modest cabin-cottage next to a small pier and a large barge. There were two horses secured to a tree, and the door was ajar.

Idrys and Delilah peek through and see three black guardsmen within. There's a man, woman and three children all on their hands and knees. One of the guardsmen took out a fanciful dirk and placed it into the hearth so the tip grew orange, and he pressed it against the mans face 'we believe you, riverman, but we need to be absolutely self assured you haven't seen this stinking bastard pass your way...his name is Ash, tall lanky fellow. When he was right in the head he was one of the best damned killers I knew, now he's a damned cleric, spewing out poetry and other nonsense. Look you imbred little lickspittle, you want o enjoy your supper and fuck your fat wife here tonight aye?' the black guardsman let the dag dangle along the line leading to the woman's cleavage, letting the glowering orange tip scald her.

The officer said 'mmmm, mums the word aye? Burn the house down,, take the brats they'll make good slaves'

Father: "No! Please, I beg you! Take what you will! I'm an honest man with honest means, I know of no such folk you seek! The bog people keep to their own affairs!'

REACTION

[TristenC]

Idrys is about to creep up when he whispers to ash, do you have a spell to hold them? Otherwise I'll get him. if Ash doesn't have a spell, Idrys will creep in and assassinate the man with the dagger amd another (dual longswords)