Rejoining people as they gathered in the morning Aetius was unsurprised by Cassandra's confirmation she had not found anything more about the Sun King, though he did ask, "See anyone head out of the village and fail to return? They're the most likely to have headed out to share information."

Those continuing to talk about securing the place earned a furrowed brow before he shrugged, "Food was enough to keep the Sun King's direct servant and five troops fed for close to a fortnight. I'd say that seems like a minimum window for them getting visits, if Kimon had fewer soldiers directly under him then the area might be checked in on less regularly. So Cassandra's concern is correct but we might have a window to work in. However the priestess visiting here may mean it gets more attentions sooner" He looked to Tito and Melua to be corrected on any of that given it was purely a guess at this point, "That said our presence here is adding close to a dozen mouths to those who need feeding and I'd imagine the immediate area has been hunted fairly thoroughly. Anstice's idea has merit but we likely would be wise to take advantage of our numbers to hunt further afield too. Ultimately we might be better advised to move on to minimise the trouble we cause."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:07, Sun 26 Feb 2023.

"I would prefer to move on sooner than later, but, if we are spending days then Arachne and I can inspect the mill and can clean it up a bit too. Maybe it will be mostly superficial damage... Who knows? If there is real structural damage though then we may have more work than can be done before we get rid of the Sun King and his tyrant band..." he spoke, then asked some locals if they could point him to the burned mill.

He hoped most of it was stone and would be in working order, as he feared for the water wheel he assumed provided most of the force.

It had not taken Pantelis long to drift to sleep during the night, it had actually made his heart glad to have brought some smile to these people's faces. As he had awoken shortly after sunrise, he made his was to the rest of his companions staying quiet while they talked. Finally he decided to voice his opinion, "It would seem to me that even children of Zeus, such as mighty Hercules, must rest from time to time. Yes I agree us staying at this village draws them more danger, but we should consider a couple points. First we still have no clue the actual location of this Sun King, hunting him blind is not a good thing for us in unfamiliar territory. At least one more day to let Cassandra do the scouting she seems intent on, and for us to plan more may be the best course. The other consideration is, in this day that has passed it is not unlikely word may have already reached him of the defeat of that priestess of Hera and if he knows of that he is likely already setting plans and traps as I am sure he would have known one of his own was travelling with her."

High on a mountain...
Cassandra used her ability to change shape, and scouted ahead in a way no one else in the party could. What she saw living on the lower slops of the mountain was a boar, large and powerful. It moved, eat by the river and seemed to be almost guarding the path forward. As the day went on a dust cloud could be seen in the distance, many miles away. It seems a large group, on horseback where headed towards the village, likely to get there by morning the next day, if they stopped for the night.


Back at the Village...
Some of the widows followed around and worked with Yngvar, as he cooked throughout the day. Malvolo looked over the mill and thought about what was needed for repair (Knowledge Engineering, DC 15). The heroes where able to get some rest in general and the village where able to catch more fish from the river with Anstice's help. Finally, dawn came and Cassandra returned from her scouting to the rest of the group.


OOC: Game on. You are all together now.

Malvolo set Arachne in a tree and cast a summon monster spell to call a celestial spider of her size into the tree as well... He gave them instruction to spin their cloth as much as possible in the time the summoned creature had... It wouldn't even remain long enough to use more than half its webbing for the day, but half a day closer to the goal was still half a day worth of precious silk.

18+3 Engineering 22
He made a list of what needed doing for the mill. Having the list might mean hope, it would certainly mean they have goals available should they decide to stay to rebuild their village.

"I don't want us to stay a second day. I have no problems with coming back after we handle the Sun King and his lieutenants. We need to stop their damages before people and places can heal."

Perhaps a couple of hours later Cassandra walked into the village and greeted Fang who she had left behind. She moved over to where she could see a few people gathered together

"Trouble coming" she said. She doubted if anyone would be surprised. "A large body of horsemen coming. If they ride in the dark they will be here ... it's a guess ... midnightish."

"Now interestingly I saw a 'challenge'. A giant boar in our path forwards. It had an aura around it: like it was guarding the path onwards" she didn't add that the boar hadn't detected her, because that was obvious: she was still here and not dead on the floor. "I feel it's likely that one of the Gods has placed it there as a Trial for us, and thus I doubt if it will trouble the horsemen."

"To me that feels like two separate challenges. Obviously if we stay here the village will be ruined and devastated by the attack. Most wild animals, I get on with. It might be possible to befriend it with honeycakes and the like. I am certainly willing to try it. I think though we should face it after the horsemen. If it goes wrong, it will be a fight. And a fight with it may leave some of us wounded" or dead... Like their two former comrades ... but she chose not to say that. "Leaving us in a poor condition to fight the horsemen"

"There are woods here. Horses perform poorly in rough terrain. My feeling is that we could lure the horsemen to follow us. Perhaps we can avoid fighting them, but even if we can't we can pick the terrain we fight on. Then when we are rested and recovered we could approach the boar"

Eleni helps out as possible with the assessment and repairs, even just staging wood. She doesn't have the head for mechanical things like some of the others, but her strength can be used effectively if directed. When Cassandra returns she listens intently, and is concerned about the safety of the village. "I think we need to intercept the horsemen away from the village. I don't want to risk them being caught in the crossfire or be put in a position of danger. I agree we can meet them in the forest, which will be more helpful for us overall. I would like to try and convince them not to attack, but like most bandits I do not expect them to listen to reason. If you guys all stand in the forest nearby, I can stand in the road and try talking first. Hopefully they will see reason and not choose bloodshed."

Listening to Cassandra's summary of her scouting expedition Aetius' expression was wary in the wake of that. Like others who had spoken his immediate concern were the horsemen who represented an impending danger rather than a future challenge and he glanced in the direction Cassandra had scouted for a long moment, "I found a spyglass amongst the other items in Kimon's dwelling, we can possibly get a clearer look at their numbers if there's a viewing point along where you scouted Cassandra."

"Aside from that I think people have the right of it, we're better having this confrontation away from the village. If we head out now and find a suitable point along their required route to confront them then that might be the wisest choice. After that we can work out our next steps from there."

"I agree, if the confrontation is here, they will take it out on the women and children."

Looking at his sword, Garvarius nodded. Agreed, we should ambush them not far from the village, but far enough to avoid the deaths of innocent women and children. If we ambush them, at least we will have the element of surprise, which may help to counterbalance if they have Superior numbers."

"I think I'll go back and find out more about them. They were a long way away and going there might have added two or three hours to the time get back here to warn you about them" Cassandra explained "I don't think I can add much to your plans to fight them" she was obviously uncomfortable about the talk of deliberate violence. Of planning to kill and butcher other people, even bandits. But didn't make any big deal of it: she'd started it after all. Something that had left a bad taste in her mouth, but it was better than letting the bandits into the village

"The spyglass is a good idea. If you have someone watching for them it might give some advance warning" Cassandra was obviously not considering the idea of using it herself but thought it was a good idea for a 'lookout'.

Nodded with a troubled expression, "Maybe we can utilize the burned fields, if there are some to the north then watering ditches and loose soil might make for that difficult terrain too. I don't want them missing us entirely and venting their frustrations on the village. Most of their ilk are likely taken from similar villages and indentured rather than living the life they choose. I will seek to minimize death. Though I make no mistake a good cuff to the head and a little spilled blood hit many lessons home in my life."

He was eminently worried about a 'sly' lieutenant. It might seem to be anyone from the boat to here. He shook his head and moved past the data paralysis to pay attention to the group again.

Seeing Cassandra's obvious discomfort after she gave her report and started listening to the planning going on, "Cassandra, that is a good idea for you to go try to keep further eye on them but please be careful and do not take any unnecessary risks. Try to come back here as quickly as possible, though this time since you know there is real danger out there, take your wolf with you. I think we would all feel better knowing you have another to watch your back."

Turning to the others, "Perhaps we should warn the villagers as well or at least their defacto leader. He may have some insight as to where we can set a defensive position."

Nodding as a consensus seemed to be reached Aetius rolled his shoulders absently before holding out the spyglass for anyone interested given Cassandra did not seem to express interest in the role of lookout, understandably given her previous day's efforts, "I'd suggest then someone takes Astera and the spyglass, finds a place a good distance out and observes their approach before heading to rejoin the rest when they stop or get sufficiently close. I'll do it myself if no-one else is able."

Looking to Eleni he nodded agreement with Pantelis' suggestion, "You've exchanged the most words with Dusty, I'd say he's their closest to a leader right now. If you advise him of what's coming and our intent that will likely be best. Should we fail then " Sending a sideways glance at Tito and Melua he added, "You two are likely best making a choice, trying to remain here and improve the local's opinion of you or joining us on our own efforts. I suspect we'll be the riskier choice to stay with if I'm honest."

"Thanks Pantellis. Good advice. And... I am touched by your words. I will take care. But I am safer without Fang. Fang cannot travel as I can. When you go somewhere Fang will stay here and then he can track you and lead me to you. He is far better at that than I am" she nodded approvingly at Malvelo. Sure it was going to be violent, but perhaps the Gods would be satisfied with a bumps and bruises rather than disembowlings, beheadings and maimings

Yngvar, when he saw all of the others gather, took a break from cooking, handing his spoon to an elderly woman that knew what she was doing, to check in.

"News? They coming here to kill us now?" he says with a grin, "I think they are getting ahead of themselves, I don't intend to be on the receiving end."

Eleni nods in agreement to Aetius. "I'll let him know our intentions and recommend they prepare as they see fit." she says before returning to the inn and approaching Dusty. "Hello friend. I bring a bit of sour news. There is a group of riders approaching from the shrine. I suspect they are loyal to the Sun-King and we intend to catch them before they get to town. In the event we are not successful in getting them to turn around or stop, then you should decide how you are going to handle things should they come here. We'll do what we can to help." she tells the innkeeper.

Cassandra headed out of the village and vanished into the undergrowth

"If our goal is to limit movement. We just need to catch them in natural growth and I can create it anywhere. If we wait for morning I can prepare tonight to have more disruption and support. As far as battle plan goes what do we want to do exactly. I can probably surround most of them in plant matter similar to what I did to the Priestess and Kimon which will limit movement but we need to be willing to have the fight at range and not close with them while they work there way free. I also believe I can create additional hazards in the form of ice or focus on increasing others attacks or defenses while we wait for them to close." Anstice looks around at the others seeing how they react to the ideas.

"I don't have many spells, but can shoot with a crossbow."

"I will prepare spells I can use to daze a target... Arachne can throw web nets. I suppose we could have kept more in net form for people to use, but I lost a lot of silk in the storm. It will take months and I have been eager to recreate stock," he lamented. "The island's care is more pressing but I hadn't thought... I'll try to keep one from acting until Arachne can properly bind them in a net. In a pinch I can enlarge us and she could net a horse sized target, if someone sees the need."

"We've enough longbows now to engage them at range but if we're close enough to talk a collection of mounted soldiers will be in range to reach us when things turn to violence. If we're just going to ambush them then I'd rather hit them at their camp when they've dismounted and taken off their armour to rest, however we've not confirmed yet these are the Sun King's forces yet so we'd be unsure they're foes. As such I think that's not an option."

Nodding Anstice's way he added, "I'd say if you can pin down any that lack ranged weaponry it's to our advantage. Fighting them in smaller groups is almost always going to be better."

It was just before dawn, still dark, but the glow of the sun behind the horizon could be seen. Birds where just beginning to awake and sing before the sun. The rogues entered the clearing that was to be the ambush spot. They where not riding their horses, but leading them through the rough, thick forested area. Now was the time to strike...


OOC: Here is the map for this field of war...You will all get to act during the surprise round regardless if you beat enemy Initiative, which is 15. If you beat enemy Initiative go twice, for both the surprise and 1st round.

Forgive me for not making a formal post, but it's my fourteenth straight day of work and I'm falling asleep as I write this before bedtime. Thank you all for your understanding. Game on.

Nasos the warrior, AC 20, HP 20
Ganiadis the sly one, AC 17, HP 26
Vasso the Cyclops, AC 14, HP 39
Thugs (all the rest): AC 13, HP 9


This message was last edited by the GM at 05:58, Mon 06 Mar 2023.

Cassandra was up a tree. High up the tree where there was lots of foliage between her and the bandits making it hard to see, and giving her protection from their arrows. There wasn't much she could do in the way of 'fighting' but at least she was here if there were problems
This message was last edited by the player at 13:01, Tue 07 Mar 2023.

With the ambush triggered and them thankfully unseen by the advancing foes Aetius cast a spell to enlarge himself, swelling into a larger size ready to engage them, the undergrowth he was using for cover shoved aside as he did so. Advancing forwards with chain whirring he sent it sweeping at the closest bandit, the now oversized chain sweeping them off their feet into an unmoving pile on the floor before he brought the weapon back to his grip as he weighed up the next possible target.

OOC:
20 Initiative
AC 15 FF 13, T11
HP 22

Surprise Round
Standard: Enlarge Person so I should take up cells G16, F16, G17,F17

Round 1
Standard: attack on bandit in I/J11. 19 to hit, 12 damage.
Move: Move closer to the bandits, occupying squares
J13, I13, J14, I14

AOO info for DM for whoever provokes one, reach is currently 20 feet (increases to 10 for Enlarge person, doubled by reach weapon)
Max of 3 per round, I will aim for those advancing towards me first
Attack Bonus +5, 2d6+4 damage
This message was last edited by the player at 15:21, Tue 07 Mar 2023.