(IC) Festival of Heroes - Fenris Howls - Main

[EdgeGrinder]

Duke Magnus grinned. "Everyone here? I'll call a few wagons so you can head out." He put his fingers to his mouth and let out a loud whistle. "Come on out, boys! Time to ride!"

Right then, five horse-drawn, covered wagons pulled out from around the corner and pulled in front of the party.

"I'll leave the details on who rides with who up to you." Magnus said.

(Each wagon has a driver and 5 seats for medium passengers. Large passengers take up 4 seats.)

[Jgraves]

The Captain walks around the wagons, inspecting them for a moment before taking on to the middle and stepping up into the back, "This'll do sir. ye have me thanks General" he says to General Magnus with a nod, Brân looks over the area and lets out a kaw

[STDM Grizzly Ad]

Morning your Grace. Gorrun returns the Duke's greeting. I try to keep them sharp, but I fear by the end of this they'll be drawing on every ounce of training they've received. As the wagons circle the pass, Gorrun holds aloft a banner.

Spoiler: Lords Banner Effects

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Swiftness: A group or army that are traveling under a lord’s banner of swiftness can make a forced march without needing Constitution checks or suffering any nonlethal damage from doing so, allowing them to cover great distances while still arriving ready to do battle. This ability affects all allied creatures within 1 mile as long as they are able to see the banner at least once a day.

He waits for everyone to arrive and load up before moving out.

Spoiler: DM

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Running Hunter's Stance. 40ft move speed and Scent ability

[dysmorphia]

Kestejoo followed Aurora back to the castle after inspecting the battlefield and battlements. He wasn't sure it was enough to hold back the Abyss, but so far, it was working. With that in mind, he greeted those gathered with a nod or a wave, before he looked dubiously at the wagons. A glance at Aurora and he leaned in to speak with her. "Are we not faster...? Unless some magic applied?"

[Wolfykins]

"We are," Aurora agreed, nodding. "There's enough seats on the wagons for all the dwarves to ride in two wagons... which would mean you and I could pull them, if you'd be willing. It would hamper us if we did have to fight though... that is my main concern about pulling."
Aurora inspected Gorrun's banner briefly.
"That's a handy bit of magic," she commented.
"I do feel the fewer wagons we have, the better. If we put the miners in two wagons and let them be pulled by horses, then I can carry up to two people without difficulty. Kest probably can too, if he's willing. If not, that's fine! Don't feel obligated," she told him, smiling. "Hey, Markas, you have a flying carpet, don't you? How many people does that hold?"

[Erealyn]

"Actually if we're going to use less wagons to pull the main objective. Would it be alright if I used the remaining one as primary bait." Jaylyn said, smiling slyly, "Now hear me out, we put the dwarfs in the two middle wagons with our guards in the two outside wagons. Have me in one wrapped in an illusion, a bit ahead of the caravan. I'm thinking a wagon like one the thieves stole before the tournament. When they attack I'd use 'Dancing Lights' to alert the rest of ya'll I'm under attack. After that I'll engage them holding them off long enough for ya'll to arrive..." Jaylyn paused looking at Gorrun, "Any objections?"

[paladin_artea]

"My carpet can hold one other person besides me. I'm not sure how helpful that is, but if we need it I'm willing to use it," Markas replied.

[Wolfykins]

"Only two your size, eh? Well, you're faster on the ground than on the carpet now, I'd wager. But it could come in handy if someone is struggling to keep up or we need to get someone up out of range of attacks, I suppose," Aurora said, pondering. She looked at Jaylyn and frowned slightly, looking concerned.
"I'm not very keen on you being by yourself. Besides, it's not an effective decoy if one wagon appears totally unguarded and another heavily guarded. Makes it pretty damn obvious it's a trap! We will need to divide ourselves equally among all the wagons, as if they are all equally valuable."

[STDM Grizzly Ad]

I Agree. Gorrun replied to Aurora, looking back to Jaylyn, You're not going ahead alone. These freedom fighters managed to kill two of the tournament champions the week before last. They gave me a run as well. If not for Aurora, they may have overpowered me, possibly even Umbear. We are not going to underestimate them again.

He looks over the wagons. I suggest taking all of the wagons. The miners in wagons two and four. Jaylyn and myself in one. Malaika and Bram in five, and Markas and Ais in three. Aurora, I would like your sharp eyes on point and Kest should bring up the rear. At least once we draw near the spot where the rebels struck previously. Jaylyn, if you wish to use your illusions to make us all look like miners, that may better serve your purpose. A large unguarded caravan of miners, ripe for the picking would be more of a draw than a single wagon, and it wouldn't put anyone in undue risk. He coughs into his fist. While I'm on the topic of undue risks, I need to inform you that I have sent men ahead. They were instructed to surveil the rebels and report back, but as a contingency, upon the possibility that they were discovered, they were to join with the rebels, so we may have friendlies in the mix. I don't want anyone just blanketing the area in flames or anything of that nature until we know that our allies are not in harm's way.

[Jgraves]

Bram grins, "General Gorrum, would ye be liking some support from the air?" He asks as one of his hands slides to his side and taps one of his pouches with a finger, because I may be able to arrange such a t'ing..."

[Wolfykins]

Malaika crossed both pairs of arms and tilted her head, pursing her lips. "Anyone got an 'Animal Messenger' wand or something? There's tons of pigeons around here. We could send word to our assets and ask for coordinates so we'll have an idea where we're most likely to run into them. I have a hunch that at least a couple just went directly to the 'Freedom Fighters' and offered to join them, as stealth and spying isn't their forte," she added dryly.

[STDM Grizzly Ad]

Once we get an idea of what we're dealing with Captain, I'll let you know. How long does that trick of yours take to set up? Gorrun continues, and you know I do Malaika. He reaches into his pouch on his side and pulls out a small silver raven figurine. He holds it up and whispers something to it. It begins to twitch and move, growing to the size of a natural raven. It momentarily twists its head to the left regarding Brân, before listening for orders from Gorrun.

[Erealyn]

Jaylyn nodded and walked over to the lead wagon and climbed on the back and sat down. "I can use my illusion to make the wagons look like anything I want. The question begs though, what do you think would be the best thing to change the wagon into to get their attention?" Jaylyn said, stroking her chin quizzically. "Before you answer let me explain a little more bout the spell. It takes 10 minutes for me to cast this spell, so we can either wait for 10 minutes or I can attempt to cast it while we move. I can make the wagons look like they are a royal escort caravan, a merchant caravan, a farmers caravan, or a combination of all three. I can include illusion guards, an army, or nobody at all. best part it's going to last for a full twenty-four hours, bad side once I cast this spell I can't dismiss it, nor change it. So pick wisely, as for making everybody look like miners, I can also do that however it will only last for a little over two hours and I can only make you all look like miner once before I run out of magic, that I'd be willing to expend on that illusion." She said.

Jaylyn winced when she heard that Gorrun had allies possibly mixed in with the Freedom Fighters. "Damn, there goes the idea of 'shoot first, ask questions later' tactic. Okay think Jaylyn." She muttered to herself, closing her eyes briefly. After a few moments she looked up and over at Gorrun, "Well I have two options, I can use my Mind-Effecting spells like 'confusion' and 'constricting coils' to stop whomever attacks us, or I can use my ability to only target enemies. The problem with both is, I don't want to hurt your men. Is there anyway to quickly determine who's is part of your men and who's a FF member?"

[Wolfykins]

"Well I was thinking of sending one for each person rather than dispatching one to talk to each in turn," Malaika told Gorrun. Then she turned and narrowed her eyes at Jaylyn.
"You've met most of them," she pointed out, an edge of scorn in her voice. "We're talking about Kasidra, Zetaya, Olp, Horofay, and Urtar. The last two I don't think you've met. Horofay is a kitsune, and Urtar is an oread, though you can only tell that if you really know what you're looking for. He looks very human."

[Erealyn]

Jaylyn's snapped her head at Malaika, her eyes narrowing in turn. "Easy there 'Four-Arms' The good general here..." She started pointing at Gorrun, "...Said 'His Men' that could be anybody in the cities army. If he had said 'Your Men' that would have caused less confusion on my part. Now tell me does Horofay prefer true form or..." Jaylyn snapped her fingers, switching from Kitsune form to human form, "...or human form. It would also be extremely helpful if you could describe how Urtar looks so that I have the 'what you're looking for'." she said, using a mocking tone at the end. folding her arms across her chest.

[STDM Grizzly Ad]

Jaylyn, I'm going to stop you right there because I don't want to clean up the mess. The Duke said the rebels have been attacking miners. They're used to attacking miners. Changing that up would make them more suspicious then it would draw them in. Once we begin to get close I'll have you disguise us all as miners and that guise should serve.

As for the messengers, I'm not sure that sending a whole flock would be wise. Where as a single raven lighting on the shoulder of a tiefling would not be terribly suspicious at all. I was figuring on delivering a small scroll to Kas and allowing her to deliver information as needed. Animals aren't always too keen on distinguishing personal features so given the nature of the freedom fighters I've encountered, I assumed she would be more easily distinguishable.

[Wolfykins]

Malaika pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "We are Gorrun's men," she said through ground teeth. "And it was on his orders, not mine, that they went to gather intel."
"Horofay... doesn't have a human form, actually. She goes from fox to gnome. She is a desert kitsune. A fennec. And she's an illusionist, so I'm not sure how much good a detailed description will do. But if you have the means to see through illusions, such as with 'True Seeing', then just seeing a gnome-fox would confirm it's her. I would be astonished to see another fennec this far north. Even with summer approaching, she's been griping about 'cold' mornings," Malaika muttered.
"Urtar is..." she looked at Gorrun, brow knitting in bemusement, "...nondescript? He's short for a human... under five feet. Black hair, and really pale green eyes that look a lot like dreamstone crystal up close. He's got, I dunno, sort of 'chiseled' good looks, but you can never say that to him or he thinks you're making a joke about him being an oread... Which sets him off on a chain reaction of rock puns, so... just... never tell him that..." she muttered. "I don't really know what else to say about Urtar. Despite being a bard, he's a very... fade into the background type of guy." Malaika shrugged at Jaylyn and made an 'ehyeh' sort of sound while making a face.

The shobhad woman turned back towards Gorrun and sighed. "The problem is, I don't think they stuck together. Our previous information about this group is that they're widely scattered, and have been targeting people fairly randomly at various points along the roads. What I expect happened is that Horofay, Urtar and Ulp would spy from a distance and try to get information on location and movement, while Kasidra and Zetaya, being rather un-stealthy women with their bright armor and Zet's banner, would likely have picked two different groups and offered themselves for hire, to get information on hierarchy, structure and strategy. Though from everything I've heard about this particular group, I have doubts they'll get much useful information about that. But who knows?" she said with a broad shrug of her upper arms, her lower arms akimbo.

[STDM Grizzly Ad]

I see. I was going on an assumption of a central camp causing problems in this specific area. That's useful. Gorrun turns to one of the drivers. Could you, given the funds, acquire in quick manner, a wand of animal messenger and a bag of bird seed?

[Jgraves]

The Captain takes a moment to think, "so we be wanting them to be thinking us miners then?" He says, then looks at his Captain's coat, tail, and tricorn hat, all of which scream pirate, "not sure if I fit the mold" then he added "Also why do ye need that bird seed, Bran can take messages as ye need" the captain replies to Gorrun

[STDM Grizzly Ad]

Worry not Captain. That's her job. He says, gesturing to Jaylyn. What she lacks in tact, she makes up for in visual manipulation.

[Jgraves]

"I'm just saying sir, I have a small craft that would allow us to flank them from the air as the decend upon the wagons, catch the bastards in a nice little pincer" he continues, a smile on his scarred face

[Erealyn]

Jaylyn chose not to say anything to Gorrun other then "Miner's caravan it is then. you just let me know when you want the illusion's cast on you all."

Jaylyn chose to focus her attention on Malaika's description of Horofey and Urtar. "Ah yes, Sandborn Kitsune, We've traded with them but they normally only come to Varrock from late spring to early fall, as Varrock tends to get slightly too cold for them any other time." Jaylyn said, nodding closing her eyes. When Malaika mentioned that Horofey transforms into a gnome, Jaylyn was literally taken-aback, almost falling into the wagon before steadying herself. "Wait what!?... interesting... I've never heard of Kitsune transforming into anything other then human before... as a second form I mean... interesting." Jaylyn said amused. "However the does pose another problem. If I'm half the illusionist she is, without the aid of 'True Seeing' as you stated before, which I DON'T have by the way, it will be very hard for me to pick her out from the crowd. So let's hope she isn't with them when the fighting happens. But if she is, I'm going to apologize right now." Jaylyn finished with a worried tone in her voice.

Jaylyn then sighed and looked back over to Gorrun. "MENTAL manipulation, not visual..." she said, shifting her gaze back to the Captain, "When the time comes, don't worry you'll look like a miner. Everything else though you'll have to do. While I can make you look like a miner, you'll have to sound and act like one until it's time to spring this trap of ours."

[Wolfykins]

Malaika raised an eyebrow at Jaylyn's reaction. "Jaylyn... The fennec kitsune are all under four feet tall. They would be hard pressed to pass as humans that way. Their alternate forms are usually gnomes or halflings."
The shobhad turned her attention to the newcomer to the group.
"So you have an airship? That's pretty conspicuous. In order to keep from being spotted on the ground, wouldn't you have to go up high enough to hide in clouds? How would you then see or hear what was going on below to know when you were needed in battle?" she asked.

[Jgraves]

"aye, that part I'm thinkin on, ye wouldn't happ'n te have an ideas would ye?" He asks before reaching into his pouch and pulls a bit of food out for his raven

[paladin_artea]

Markas was shocked at hearing that these freedom fighters were dangerous enough to kill and severely injure his fellow tournament competitors. He just assumed that this would be an easy one when compared to the demons everyone have been battling lately. Now he was concerned. However the airship would be a nice support so he chimed in, "Perhaps Jaylyn could use her illusions to disguise the airship instead of the wagons? Make it appear as a cloud or flock of birds?" he suggested.

[STDM Grizzly Ad]

I.... don't hate that idea. It has merit. Can anyone cast farie fire? It could be used to designate primary targets for the captain to focus on.

[Erealyn]

Jaylyn sat there for a few moments in silence, listening to all that was spoken as well as her own thoughts. She shifted back into her true form, as she jumped down from the lead wagon. "As I see it, we have two objectives. First is getting the dwarfs to either the mines or an outpost, Second is to deal with these 'Freedom Fighters'. Both are important equally, my concern is... well... they are in no real condition to be of any assistance should we need it... Hell if nothing else they are more of a hindrance." Jaylyn said waving her hand at where the Dwarfs was standing.

She then looked over to Captain Bramwell, "Excuse me Captain... umm..." Jaylyn started before realizing she couldn't remember his name. "...Branwell was it? You said you had an Airship. If you can fit all the dwarfs in it, I could make it disappear completely. While we're on the road heading to the outpost disguised as miners, you could take to the air get them safely to the outpost then double back. While you're doing that you could safely scout ahead and see if you spot any suspicious groups of people. When you get back to us you could relay that information, so that we don't waste resources unnecessarily..."

Jaylyn then looked over at Gorrun, "Sorry 'Faerie Fire' isn't a spell I know nor can learn under normal means." Jaylyn said apologetically "I know of a spell that does similar effects to the one you are looking for, but it would take time for me to learn it. Sadly time is something we don't have at the moment."

[Jgraves]

Bramwell raises a bushy eyebrow at Jaylyn, "First, its Bramwell Rakham," he says and then points at the raven on his shoulder, "this be Brân," and then takes a moment to think, the raven looks at the Kitsune, "you're not the first to have done that ma'am," Brân says to the woman when the Captain speaks up, "fer me te ferry them, I need te know an exact number of passengers, Sparrow can only hold but a small number of folks, shes not as big The Crow"

[Wolfykins]

Aurora took a quick head-count to double check the number of dwarves. "Ten," she said, "there are ten dwarven miners to transport."

[Jgraves]

"aye, she could ferry that many, plus one or two more te support in case these Freedom Fighters see through our ruse," he says thinking for a moment again, "yes sir, she could hold that many." Brân replied to the Captain