"That sounds like a good tactic," Dany replies to Tealon. "I wasn't expecting to attack until a bit after midnight. Perhaps an hour before shift change. The guards on duty will be bored and tired and the new shift probably won't have woken up quite yet."

"Go ahead, Khuno... help him find the herbs and plants he needs. Unless you have an objection?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:14, Tue 19 Oct 2021.

In reply to Danyka Ydrasyl (msg # 744):

Tealon studies the surroundings and the items he has, gets his wagon patch off his clothing and brings it back into being 'real'.  He then sets about creating his concoction, using the forge part to fire some clay pots.

As Tealon sets about working with his wagon, Khuno slips into the woods to hunt for the plants he'll need. It's a bit harder at night, but there's enough moonlight for her to find the plants she's familiar with. After all, they only grow in certain places.

The half moon sets just after midnight, and the group gets ready to make its move.

"How many of these bombs can you make?" Dany asks Tealon. "Our attack plan will depend on how many."

"We can't get any inside, but if the distraction draws some of the guards over to the far wall, we'll want to use on on them while at the same time hit the remaining guards."

"My concern is that there might be a password for the inside guards to let the outer guards in. That's the way I'd do it, and I'm not even that paranoid."

"That may be where we need you, Korkas--think you could smash down the door? Yes, I know it'll depend on the door, but we can always use black powder to do it. I expect the noise of the explosion to carry a lot farther."

"One way or the other, once we get the door open, toss another bomb down the stairs. If we don't make too much noise and no alarm is sounded, we might still catch some guards asleep. Hopefully, there won't be too many left since the Promaxim took a small force with him."

"Do you want any of us to remain on the roof after you breach the door?" Nicollo asks.

"What about a second assault on the front door? Dealing with the outside guards should be easy enough once the roof guards are taken out. But then we're back to breaching the door."

In reply to Danyka Ydrasyl (msg # 747):

Until I've got the ingredients and managed to boil and crisp them down, I won't know exactly, as many as I can is the only answer I can give at this moment.

If someone had access to a Silence Spell, that would mean we could blast the door or wall and nobody would hear, even if they felt a trembling, they wouldn't think it a blast from powder.  I'll check the wagon for red and black powder, that would be more powerful than just black powder, add a bit of a fuse and powder, get the bag of knockout drug to spread out, wouldn't last as long but cover a greater area.

Korkas nods At Danyka "I think I can take down the door if need be."

"I know the Silence spell," Jheridan answered. "I can study it while Tealon brews his concoctions. Maybe Nicollo can study it, too. That way, we'd have one for each door."

"I'm starting to like this plan. I think it's probably doable."

"So, Korkas... you can bust down one of the doors without explosives? You want to try lower entrance or the roof one?"

"It wouldn't be quite, but I believe so yes." Korkas responds as he rolls his back and shoulders a bit.

Tealon, stood by his wagon with the portable Forge etc, shows the rest of the group what else is there.

*Small Wagon with Portable Forge (50) in top (like NY Hotdog Stand),
 -In Compartment Below: Masterwork Simple Toolset (15): Tool Harness (1):
  Portable Alchemical Lab (40): Gunsmith's Kit (25): Gunners Kit (15):
  Toolset [Clockwork] (15), Toolset [Mechanika] (30), Heat mat (-)
  Alchemist Beard (5): Alchemist Apron (5): Goggles (1): Common Silk (1):
  Precision Ammo[Small Pistol {90}: Collapsible Ladder (12) & Chair (6)
  Folding Shovel (7): Collapsible Spyglass (1): Ammo[Military Pistol] {80}

((OOC: Thought I answered this already,  but Korkas is still considered a Medium-sized creature, so the Enlarge spell would make him Large.))


Just past midnight, Tealon has managed to make all the concoctions he needs.


It's agreed that the lower door will be the sturdier door and therefore the harder one to break down. On top of that, if the door is broken, it won't be a defense against the Promaxim's return.

"Okay, I think I've come up with a plan that has the best chance of success," Katrin explains.

"Some of us will have to climb up the side wall by the upper door. No one will be looking over the edge as long as we're quiet."

"We're going with a three-pronged attack. The first one will be Nicollo, Viktor and Fluffy at the front door. We should be able to create some smoke to hide the three of them, can't we? Anyway, the intent isn't to bash the door down, but to make noise as if you are trying to do so. I don't expect them to open the door to attack, but that might happen anyway. In that case, charge in if you can. I'm hoping that the disturbance will draw troops down to that level, as well as distract the roof guards."

"Second prong is Tealon fastening ropes to the crenelations so that we can climb up. Then he'll drop his sleep gas on the roof... the guards by the door first, then the other roof guards."

"Third prong is us climbing up over the walls and bashing down the door to get inside. We can't take too long, though, so if Korkas can't do it, we'll use explosives and Jheridan's Silence spell."

"Now, I've had another thought. Rather than us taking over the fortress, which we'd have trouble holding unless we get all the troops to switch sides... what if we march all the troops out through that secret entrance? Leave the fortress abandoned. That should shake up the Promaxim more than anything else. And we'll start spreading rumors that his troops turned against him."

"How does that sound?"

In reply to Katrin Eason (msg # 755):

Sounds reasonable although, better I drop the sleeping gas first so additional troops don't rush forward, also, would mean not getting attacked from above when attaching ropes.

If you take some of the ammo apart, you'll have enough blasting powder to cause that distraction you were looking for.  I can reuse the rest of the ammo bits to make new ones when we get back.

If we watch for any of the soldiers that seem pleased that we have taken the fortress, assuming that we do, there may be some that do wish to switch sides, they may be tribute rather than willing participants.

"How we march all the troops out the secret entrance though?" Korkas asked after the plan had been laid out and he nodded in agreement. He rolled his shoulders, back and neck in preparation. "I'll be the first up the ropes."

"Good point, Korkas," Katrin responds. "It'll depend on how many troops there are and how many of them will switch sides."

"It may also depend on the route to the secret exit."

"Oh, and it'll certainly depend on whether we win!"

"Okay, I think we're ready. You all set, Tealon?"

In reply to Katrin Eason (msg # 758):

Tealon checks the sleeping draught pots and the powder for blasting, stretches and tests his wings, stretches his arms, cracks his neck the states "Yes"

Iolenna cocks her head and smiles.

" And if things go wrong I will bring the Winter. "

And the assault begins!

As it turns out, the guards on the roof don't ever seem to look down over the sides. Their attention is usually directed upward.

So as the climbers make their way around the fortress to the back side, Viktor, Nicollo and Fluffy make their way to the main entrance.

As the original scouting revealed, there are no outside guards at the front gate. The guards up on the roof keep watch on the road up to the doors. Apparently, however, they are looking for typical travelers to the door... supply wagons, troops, etc.

Since those three are approaching stealthily to get as close as they can, it turns out to be easier than they thought it would be.

They are waiting for some sign... which is likely to be a bit of a commotion up on the roof when Tealon drops his sleep bombs.

About time!


"If we get close enough, I'll pound on the door, then shoot at it," Viktor informs Nicollo.

"You shoot at anyone up on the roof that sticks his head out."

"I'll have Fluffy scratch at the door then while I help shoot those on the roof."

"Work for you?"

"That's as good a plan as any," Nicollo agrees. "Make noise, cause a distraction, and see if we can get anyone to come out and play!"

He was surprised that they could approach that close to the door by creeping along through the underbrush on either side of the road. It was especially tricky because the potential observers were up on the parapet.

He moved a bit, looked up, then moved a bit more. Repeat.

He'd been amazed at how culturally different everyone down here in Zu was compared to home. Sure, there were some similarities... bread was still made the same way, still tasted the same (for the most part), and people were still people. But the lack of mechanics down here meant they were still using tactics that were... well, outdated.

While there was a kind of innocence to that, he was concerned that their influence... and the introduction of magic and guns... would soon destroy that innocence.

Korkas crouched in anticipation of their attack, his eyes watching the wall and roof above them waiting for those ropes to drop and the sleep bombs to go off. He had to be up that rope quickly and ready to break down the door.

As Tealon was preparing to go up and over, he could see the jumpiness of the others to get this done quickly.  He flies out, up and round as he did previously so as not to give any signals to those watching of anything untoward.

With the prepared sleeping "bombs" ready, 'Blaster' looks to the clouds, gauges the wind and aims to come down from there.  Coming down fast (he hopes) will help with the surprise.

Having waited the requisite length of time for the climbers and Nicollo with Viktor by the door, Tealon sees the tiny figures on the roof and heads down, looking like a tiny bird that isn't too far away.  As he gets closer, he circles in a figure of 8 twice to give the signal to the others.  He then heads down by firstly dropping a 'bomb' onto the largest area with people around on the roof, then another, then swoops, ready to drop more.

Katrin and the others had worked their way around to the side of the fortress, nearly against the cliff face. The fort had been built against the cliff at the end where it turned into promontory. The walls had gone up and over the top, along the backside of the cliff to meet up with the other end of the fortress. The backside of the cliff was considered unclimbable due to several overhangs. In her opinion, it could be climbed by a highly skilled climber, but that wasn't them.

Even though it was her plan, Dany was still their leader. Under her direction, she split the small group up into two smaller groups to climb the ropes that Tealon dropped... one to either side of where the roof door to the inside was.

She and Korkas and Jheridan took the front side while Dany had Ioelenna and Khuno.

Tealon waited until they were in position and Viktor started the distracting commotion at the front door.

Although Tealon's flying was done in a figure 8, it was Fluffy's keener eyesight that saw it and let out a low growl to alert Viktor and Nicollo that it was time.

Viktor ran up to the door and began pounding on it and hacking at it with his handaxe, all the while shouting insults at the guards inside and on the roof. Eventually, he figured he could probably hack through the door that way, but he didn't think the occupants would wait that long.

He'd considered having Fluffy bark and howl to add to the noise, but he figured that would make those inside even more leery of opening the door.

He was close enough to the wall that it would be hard for those up on the parapet to target him, but on the off chance that they did, he was trusting Nicollo to take care of them.

"COME OUT AND FACE ME LIKE THE COWARDLY SLIME THAT YOU ARE!" he shouted. "BASTARDS! CRETINS! MAGGOTS! ONCE I GET THROUGH THIS DOOR, YOU'RE ALL MINCEMEAT! I'LL CUT YOU INTO TINY LITTLE PIECES AND FEED YOU TO THE DOGS!"

As soon as Viktor began his pounding and shouting that carried to the others in the still of the night, including Tealon circling above, it was Tealon's cue to drop the sleep bombs.

It worked out as planned, since the commotion drew the attention of all the guards on the roof. A frontal assault on the door is the only scenario that made sense to them. There really weren't any 'veterans' of this kind of 'war', so it never occurred to them that it was a diversion. They certainly never thought to look up. Even when the first bomb broke on the stone floor, their first instinct was to look around to see who had thrown in. The second one drew their attention in yet another direction, and by then they were all starting to fall asleep before they realized what was happening.

Rope they had plenty of; not so grappling hooks. Even makeshift ones would have been hard to make. Instead, loops had been made that Tealon could just drop over the crenelations.

Once he did that, he could continue circling to see if there was any more threats on the roof. As it turned out, there was. Not all the guards had succumbed to the sleep gas. There were still two awake over by the front door down below, and two more that had been on perimeter patrol and were now rushing over to the rooftop door.

It was unclear if they saw Tealon or saw him drop the ropes.