Re: Out of Thin Air

by **Wallace** Wed Aug 05, 2015 6:31 pm

Badger skipped from one large rock to another as the trio crossed the stream to the dwarf. The ankle-high water was freezing cold but by now most of their feet were numb from pulling through tons of snow already. Once on the other side and moving into snow again they could hear the snoring dwarf and found him lying face down.

Ragnar grabbed him by his woollen coat and rolled him over. This prompted the dwarf to start waking up with some loud coughing noises and gurgling that didn't quite sound natural. This seemed to expunge all the alcohol from his breath into the air.
"Southlings!" He exclaimed after studying the three of you for a few seconds. He tried getting up but needed a helping hand which Ragnar was loathe to extend. "Not have I seen yours since a child was I."

It was hard to tell if the dwarf's language defect was due to his unease with the language or because he was simply that drunk. He dusted the snow off his overcoat and stomped his feet in the snow several times which seemed to get the blood circulating again as he looked red-faced at Roland and his armor. "Here looks he ready for a war."
"Dair Bronzehammer." He said and stomped his feet again. "Brongard is this all you see. Chief my brother is but brother he calls me not."

What you knew of dwarves was little. They lived about twice the age of a man and were a proud folk. Not many dwarves came south anymore. Those that do hardly speak of their homelands and are exiles for whatever reason, living our their days fighting, whoring and drinking. Hardship is not something dwarves deal with easily and as such it was hard to find someone who was friends with one. This one looked to be close to a century old, the grey streaks in his beard not from snow or drink but age. He was quite tall, even for a dwarf, easily outshouldering Badger.

"I can ask, you doing what here?" He said and burped.

by **Mazzic** Wed Aug 05, 2015 10:40 pm

The young de Bryc nodded to the dwarf - he was indeed ready for a fight, but what he would rather be prepared for was the cold. "We are seeking shelter...we came upon one of your folk slain and sought their killer, which appears to be a rather large ogre. But then, oddly, it fled from us." He paused for a moment, considering that the dwarf likely knew the land, but was seemingly unwelcome in his own clan's home. "We were not quite...prepared to be here, in this season. We need supplies, shelter, and a fire ideally. And a guide to the region, even."

by **Wallace** Thu Aug 06, 2015 1:22 pm

Everything you said after the word 'slain' was lost on the dwarf. He took a step backwards and cast his eyes down. With clenched fists he let out a wail of pain and the turned around to shout at the sky in his native tongue. "Are you happy Buren Bronzehammer?! My wife for a handful of sheep! I hope you choke on your lamb chops!"

He grabbed the hilt of his sword from under the undyed woollen overcoat and started hacking the snow with rage, screaming while tears rolled down his face. Having spent all his energy after a minute he sank to his knees and leaned with head and hands on the sword.
"Dogger is the ogre. A coward is he." Dair's throat was raspy from all the shouting. "Ilga is his wife, live there they do."
He pointed to the clearing.

by Dagnon Thu Aug 06, 2015 1:57 pm

Ragnar stood there, constantly on the watch. "Hopefully you understand him Roland, and all those years learning the tongue of the wee folk were useful..."

by kabetts Thu Aug 06, 2015 3:10 pm

Badger watched the conversation and the Dwarf's outburst. He guessed that the one that had been rent asunder had been important to him, but that was the best he could ken from the Dwarf's drunken ramblings.

"Roland, what's he saying? Does he know what happened here? Do we need to slay the ogre or avoid it?"

by **Mazzic** Sat Aug 08, 2015 1:39 pm

The would-be king frowned, hand on the pommel of his now sheathed sword. This was a case of Vengeance, pure and simple...first against the ogrez and then perhaps against the brother of the grief-mad dwarf.

"Bronzehammer," he began in the tongue of the stout folk, "If you will lead us to shelter for the night, we will aid you in avenging your wife. I swear this by the sun and the moon and the earth. " He didn't add that he also wished to sober up the dwarf, so he could clearly understand what had happened.

by **Wallace** Sat Aug 22, 2015 2:58 pm

"Southlings!" Dair sneered. He stood and pointed his sword in your direction. "Have you no fire in yer bellies? Kill we the ogres!"
He sheathed his sword and readjusted his overcoat. He turned towards the forest and started to talk as you followed. Despite his poor grasp on grammar he had the vocabulary to make himself clear although there were some dwarven sayings that you didn't quite catch.

Dair explained that you still had a few hours before but that there wouldn't be much in the way of shelter. The wind didn't cut crags this high in the mountain and caves were rare. The ogres had built some shelter against the wind and there would be a few dwarf mines around where it would be possible to sleep. He continued on talking about the ogres and how they had set up here a long time ago and the dwarves had welcomed this new enemy as they seemed to be somewhat cowardly and didn't post much of a risk. The result was that the goblin pests had left to find food in other regions not wanting to tangle with the brutes. Chief Bronzehammer had organised a raid against the Embermaul clan and despite Dair's every advice had taken all the warriors with him. They had been somewhat successful but upon their return they had found that the ogre had been watching them and had seen all the men leave and decided that he might be able to raid the food stores. The women had grabbed whatever weapons they had to hand and tried to scare the ogre off, his own wife at the front. The ogre had grabbed her and made off, smashing her senseless against the rocks until she stopped struggling. The women had been afraid to follow. Dair's brother had not allowed a single person to leave as they had to be wary for a counterattack from the Embermauls. From what you understood, this was the way of life for dwarves now; raid after raid in order to scrounge food together for the cold winters while wild races affronted them at every opportunity. A bleak comparison to the kingdom of old, Emgard, with its great dwarven hall and uncounted riches. One wondered whether any of it remained or whether it had existed at all.

After about half an hour walking after and listening non-stop to the prattling dwarf, he hushed you to silence and you all crept forward until you were at the forest's edge. The edge circled round to create a clearing as wide as you could throw a pebble. There were tree stumps everywhere as though broken off like twigs. In the middle of this clearing stood two structures. You couldn't call them much else as they were no more than the bare tree trunks with the branches torn off set up like a hut about fifteen meters around each leaving about a three meter wide gap as an entrance. The trunks leaned against each other and were covered up with branches and mud. It was crude at best.

You watched and noted movement in the darkness of one of the two huts. At least one ogre was home but it was hard to tell what was happening inside the darkness. Badger noticed his trusted companion sitting on top of the hut having followed his orders to follow the ogre. The owl craned his neck and swiveled his neck before letting out a comfortable hoot that gave no sign of danger or anything else.
Dair didn't take his eyes of off the clearing, sweeping his gaze left and right for more movement as he spoke in the common tongue. "Charge do we do? Or another plan have you?"

by Dagnon Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:20 pm

The story was heartbreaking, but little could he feel bad with what they had been through. Relate though they could.

"Do we know how many there are? If there is one, we stand a chance, two becomes....troublesome."

by **Mazzic** Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:44 pm

Roland nodded as the dwarf spoke and followed the stout warrior quietly to the home of the ogres. "We can have the owl circle a time or two to see if the other is about, and if not go in and put it down...then lay a trap for the second's return?"

by Dagnon Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:22 pm

"Once we know it is but one of the massive creatures, I can sneak in and prepare to attack while you draw it's attention. That will insure we can kill the beast quickly."

"Send your bird Badger, we need to know quickly."

Roland drew his warhammer and prepared to use his stealth to find a way into the ogre's hut.

by kabetts Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:39 am

Now that he was in range again Badger could take over the senses of the bird directly and so he did. He had it fly around the site and in front of the hovel to look for the ogre and any others that might be in the area.

by Dagnon Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:44 am

Meanwhile Roland searched the area, looking for a path for his stealth approach.

OOC: I'm forgetting, if I'm trained in a DEX skill with a +3 ability mod what is my total mod for the skill?

by kabetts Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:44 pm

OOC: you add your proficiency bonus, which I'm pretty sure at this point is still +2 for all of us.

by Dagnon Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:55 am

OOC: Pew pew!

by **Wallace** Tue Sep 01, 2015 3:32 pm

The dwarf nodded as he listened to the plan. He untied the cord at his neck and off came his overcoat, the rough woollen thing dropping to the snow and showing what was underneath the bulk: a shield on his back, a sword on his leather belt and a leather padded shirt. He grabbed the coat and handed it to Ragnar.
"It will be harded to see you in the snow with this." He said, his common dialect improving with each practiced sentence. "You must move like the animals of the forest -- quickly with many pauses and frozen in the sight of terror."
He held up a finger. "As this."

He moved forward into the clearing, taking three quick steps, then pausing, then several more quick steps. He made a short circle like this: step-step-step - pause - step-step-step-step-step - pause - pause - step-step.
He pointed to the right. "Get closer from there and move in behind the huts, we will attack from this side with all the noise of a goblin horde-" he glanced up and down the heavy armor that Roland was wearing, "-and a soup kitchen on legs."

-----

The overcoat doubles your proficiency bonus for hiding in snow but only for sight, e.g. if you're sitting still and not making any sound. It also doubles your proficiency on Survival checks for staying warm.

by Dagnon Tue Sep 01, 2015 4:47 pm

Ragnar nodded and took the coat, the immediate warmth it provided was certainly welcome, if the smell was not.

"I thank you master dwarf." He said, giving a respectful nod to the well armed dwarf.

Years and years of hunting had made him excessively familiar with the likes of the animals and he knew exactly how to move in their image, it would be tiring, but should not prove difficult.

Ragnar nodded to Roland and Badger and headed off to get into position.

by kabetts Wed Sep 02, 2015 5:47 pm

Butterbrickle hadn't seen any sign of other ogres so Badger had to assume that there was only one. He looked up at Roland as Ragnar slunk off into the snow.

"Well, lets get heading to our place then. I'd rather you lead, if that's not too much to ask."

by **Mazzic** Thu Sep 03, 2015 12:23 pm

Roland smiled for a moment at the young wizard, "I would be little better than a piss-poor pretender if I thought leading from the front was never an option for myself." He gave a ten count to allow Ragnar a good head start and then began to slowly wind his way towards the ogre encampment.

by **Wallace** Sun Sep 06, 2015 6:41 am

Ragnar thought to make use of the terrain as he saw it slope away down to the right allowing him to make an unseen approach. As soon as he dipped out of sight from the trio, the dwarf unclipped the shield from his back and took the sword out of its sheath. He hefted both in his hands and waited for Roland to make the first move but staying only two steps behind the armored youth.

"Use the high ground." The dwarf grunted quietly in his own language and Roland saw the approach to the huts that would take them slightly higher. It was somewhat inconvenient that his ward was out of sight as that would have given him more security about what was going on but if everyone executed the plan then it wouldn't be much of a problem.

The trio trudged past tree stumps on the ground where they had been broken of from their trunks. It looked something out of a battlefield painting where the tree had exploded but the trunks were nearly all gone. They passed one on their way up to the plateau where the huts were situated. The trunk lay there as an unspoken warning of the violence that was sure to come. Badger hopped over the tree trunk at the back of the trio and soon found himself within earshot distance of his owl companion again.

They stopped here, assessing the scene. The ogre shelters were massive. Made up out of trees that would have stood five times as high as the tallest man you knew, they seemed to provide the sleeping ogre with enough shelter from the searing wind and the damning show. The snow which seemed to drained the heat out of you every second you stood on it. In front of the two huts was a firepit, so large that it could hold several people but filled with the charred remains of trees covered in snow meaning it hadn't been used since last night at least and maybe longer than that.

The dwarf stood next to Roland to look at the same scene and then looked at him and Badger. "On your signal."

- - - - -

Down the slope, Ragnar was cursing himself for splitting off. He could see the top of the huts just over the slope, if a fight broke out he would be in a prime position to flank the ogre inside the shelter. Unfortunately, the same could be said for the ogre coming out of the trees at the far side of the clearing. It had a tree trunk slung over its shoulder and didn't seem to be making much haste for his shelter. Even from this distance, Ragnar could see blood splatters on the gross grey body. The angular knees and the fat belly inproportionate to each other and the jaw on its head making up most of the proportions of that grissly face.

Ragnar crouched and grabbed the edges of the overcoat close together in front of him to remain as much unseen as he could. It seemed that the ogre on the far side had not seen him or his companions. On the other hand, he didn't know if his companions had seen the ogre. Was it time to continue the plan or abort?

------------

OOC:
I made a quick 2 minute sketch of the area. The three black dots are you guys with Ragnar's black dot off to the side. The big dots are the ogres. Line of sight between the trio and the ogre on the far side is broken so they cannot see one another.

Sketch:

by Dagnon Sun Sep 06, 2015 12:18 pm

Ragnar made a quick, albeit difficult decision, he would follow the plan and hope that they would be able to do enough damage to the one in the huts before the other stupid ogre would be able to reach them and change the course of battle.

OOC: Am I supposed to be the one to start the attack?

by **Mazzic** Sun Sep 06, 2015 8:23 pm

Roland readied himself for fight ahead. He stared at the sleeping ogre unblinking for a moment, considering how they would best slay it. "Come, let us end this terror," he said to the dwarf at his side. Sword in hand and shield on his arm, Roland moved towards the sleeping beast.

Actions:
Advance to 30 ft from ogre

by Dagnon Tue Sep 08, 2015 10:08 am

OOC: And how far am I from the creature?

by kabetts Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:29 am

As Roland began to approach the huts Badger decided to give the ogre something a little more important to worry about than his friends, for a moment at least. He imagined an image of blaze as he cast a spell to create an image of fire and put it on the top of one of the huts where the creature would see it. Hopefully it would try to put the fire out and that might keep it occupied while his companions move closer.

OOC: Cast Silent Image on the hut, I'll move a little closer if range is an issue, I don't have the book with me atm so I don't know the exact range. It doesn't get to save unless it interacts with the image.

by Dagnon Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:52 am

OOC: Oh joy, what is the range of a spell like that for the other other, the one you don't know about, to see? Or does it only apply to the one currently in the hut?

by **Wallace** Fri Sep 11, 2015 2:30 pm

OOC: It's an image, it can be seen from anywhere and applies to everyone. That means everyone who doesn't know it's false will have to roll. The sleeping ogre doesn't see it because it's asleep. You can't see it because it's over the hill. It doesn't make a sound either.

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