The Race For The Tower (Turn Six)
This week we see our first dungeon delve action, the Halflings take charge, weapons research begins in earnest, and the Elves find that their predecessors left a curious item behind.
The Report
The Dwarves
The Stouts inform their hosts that they found a tribe of men and will attempt to make contact.
Clan Gimmel answers Onemvault. The existing envoy is invested as an emissary to be embedded in Onemvault, and a request for one to be sent to Gimmel’s stronghold is made. Gimmel agrees to dispatch men to Onem’s Hope and will muster them over the next week.
Research on a new weapon has passed the design stage and now the plan to secure the physical plant needed to build it is being drawn up and settled upon.
The garrison at Onem’s Hope successfully tracks the Ogre band to its lair and arranges an ambush that routs them out of the territory. Four casualties taken for six Ogres slain.1 The others get away.
The Elves
Dedicated routes from the city to known locations start being mapped out and blazed for later turnover to a paved road.
Word from the Tallfellows about a dungeon in a swamp well to the West under investigation by an unknown party arrives, prompting discussion on what to do next.
The library in the city, still in tact, reveals that an experimental item meant to preserve the memories of the living is in the Tower.
The Gnomes
The Gnome army encircling the Goblin-held castle begins entrenching, setting in for a siege to the defenders, but this conceals a sapping operation. The operation is still in motion by the end of the week.
The Halflings
The Stouts’ Druid takes 60 men and 12 hawks, more non-predatory birds, and several fine wares as he departs from Onemvault. Following a lead generated by the messenger birds previously, they find a nest of Hippogriffs in an aerie that is out of sight of the allied Clan Gimmel’s stronghold a few miles away.
There, in a carefully executed approach, the Druid enters into a parley with the nest. They are a band of 16 adults2 and they are receptive to the Druid’s offer of food and nest security in return for their allegiance. The band ends up accepting the offer.
The Stouts go on to find and approach the camp of Tribesmen previously found by the messenger birds, opening relations and using shared religious traditions and gifts of fine wares to build rapport. The men reveal that they are descendent of a kingdom that thrived in ages past, but a massive war destroyed it and now only a ruin remains far to the East and they are in exile against a rival tribe that claims those ruins.
Another eight Hippogriffs appear, having heard about the alliance, and by the end of the week the Stout Druid and half the men fly back to Onemvault while the others remain either with the tribe or the aerie.3The Tallfellow take 60 of their number and move them out of the Elf City to the now-conquered-and-occupied Kobold lair to renovate it into a proper Halfling Hole. The men move the Viper Nest farming operation to the lair, and the Tallfellow Druid maintains surveillance over the Guardians.
The Hairfeet shadow the Ogre band that attacked last week, catching them unawares and whittling them down over a series of ambushes that take a whole night of combat. Explosives do the most of the work4, with missile fire doing the rest. None survive.5 Threat sorted, they return to the encirclement by the end of the week.
The Druid offers to assist the sapping effort, pointing out that if they sappers undermine one of the towers on the gatehouse he can guarantee an opening by which they can storm the castle, and puts that up for consideration for the next week.
The Guardians
The party in the swamp spend the week, assisted by the Tribesmen, in securing the entrance to the ruined tomb as there were several groups of Ghouls milling about that got drawn towards the tomb. That effort drew out a Ghast from within the tomb, which was set upon and destroyed.
The Tower’s awakening accelerates.6 Three Ogres answer the call of the Tower. They have stories to tell. 7
By the end of the week, the expedition party managed to penetrate the tomb. Two days of exploration result in the impression that a lot of the first level of the tomb had been previously explored, cleared, and looted.
One such party had been found. Leading a body of Men and Orcs, they found a pair of fledgling Fighters and a Thief in a chamber hidden by secret doors in all directions discussing how to split a treasure they just looted from. They were subdued, as were their Orcs in an adjacent chamber, and interrogated. Their fates are yet to be determined as the week ends. 8
Commentary
The Guardians are making headway now that they have secured the area immediately outside their dungeon target. With a base camp all but right outside, and no threats in the immediate area, they are now able to delve into the ruined tomb without worry- and it has already borne fruit, albeit not as intended.
While the Dwarves are slow-burning, their launching of what is ruled as an Item Creation project promises to be a game changer if they can pull it off. The Stouts have just brought in a massive asset, and the Gimmel Clan is warming up to them.
Meanwhile the Gnomes are getting close to taking a second fortification for their own use, along with their Hairfeet allies. If this siege resolves in their favor, they will be able to project outwards sooner than later.
As for the Elves, their curiosity will hopefully get them to move out more now that their immediate area is secure and roads are being planned to speed up travel overland- faster travel that the Tallfellows will appreciate.
The discovery of Men on the Isle is already changing this, as there is a rush to secure friendly relations if not recruitable allies. The Guardians finding persons of interest that could guide them to a specific point of interest is a game changer, especially after a fortunate bit of good luck- for them, at least.
I could not be happier with how this is turning out.
Orders are to be in and final by Friday evening (10pm Eastern Time).
5K cp, suit of +1 Chain Mail sized for Elves.
Eight mated pairs, with as many nests, producing 12 eggs between them.
Total of 20 Hippogriffs recruited. Nests in the Merchant Quarter need to be arranged along with other necessary logistics. 20 Halflings remain with the aerie and 20 with the Tribesmen, using messenger pigeons to stay in contact.
Both devices used.
550 gp total acquired from the slain.
Tower Awareness Level 3. TAL 4 will be achieved on September 9th.
Yes, these Ogres are survivors of contact with the Dwarves.
Grand total of 220 pp, 1.1K cp, 275 gp recovered. Two F1s, an A1, seven Orcs, and six Light Footman captured.