Having destroyed the base of operations of the slavers and liberated the captives within, the party flees the wretched city of Highport with its new allies in tow.
Free at last, Lady Alina invites the heroes to her family's lands, where they are treated to lavish banquets and endless celebrations… as well as a sizable reward.

OOC:
The loot you hauled out of the last dungeon totals 1907gp per person.
All of you are awarded 3500gp and a choice of either one magic item or three potions/scrolls.
All of this brings your total experience to 20,651 XP. Some of you may have leveled up.

But your rest is less satisfying than you'd wish for. One day, looking through your loot, you find the map of the caravan route. Your task is not yet complete. The fact is made clear by the arrival of an unexpected visitor: an escaped slave from an old fort lost in the midst of the Drachensgrab Hills, exactly where your map leads. Everyone in the room turns to you. Whatever sense of duty led you to delve into the Pits of the Undercity now has you preparing to assault the Slavers' Stockade!
 
OOC: Please update your character sheets particularly if you have leveled up and state your choice of a reward.

After a harrowing journey in which the party faced hunger, bandits, and the wild tribesmen of the Drachensgrab Hills, the adventurers are have arrived at their destination and are scouting the fort from concealed positions on a nearby ridge. The fort is situated atop a high, steep hill that surveys the countryside. A warding ditch 20’ wide and 10’ deep surrounds the fort.
The only access road winds down from the north, through a narrow valley, up to the drawbridge that spans the ditch.

The hill fort is a combination of recent construction and the remains of an older stone fortress. The outer wall of the hill fort is an earthen rampart topped by a wooden stockade. However, the curtain wall containing the drawbridge is made of stone. The wall is 35’ high and is topped by a stone parapet which is constantly manned. The curtain wall is connected to the rest of the fort by the rampart and stockade.
The ground slopes upward from the curtain wall, and some distance back, across an open courtyard, is the gatehouse. This is of massive construction, four stories high, with a stone parapet atop it, so that all sides can be defended. The rampart and stockade connect to the gatehouse and surround the fort keep.
The keep abuts the rampart on three sides, with a parade ground to the north between the main building and the gatehouse. The fort was originally a single story stone building, but the slavers have added a wooden guardpost as a partial second story. The entrance to the main building is recessed back and an enclosed garden leads from the building’s entrance to
the parade ground.
The rampart and stockade surround the fort on the west, south, and east sides and join the curtain wall to the north. The outer face of the walls and stockade are fitted with downward sloping spikes to prevent attackers from scaling the walls. The stockade has a walkway on all sides, the walkway being 15’ above the main building’s first floor. Guards patrol the walkway, and the top of the gatehouse and curtain wall, but it is impossible to estimate numbers from a distance.
The escaped slave has told the party that he left the fort by running a makeshift rope from the curtain wall’s second story to the ditch and climbing down. Since no one saw him leave, he is sure the rope is still there.

What will you do?

<  <  <  PARTY  >  >  >
Bernhard F5 HP 22/22 THAC0 17 AC 1 M/R: +1/+0
Black Angus F5 HP 22/22 THAC0 17  AC 3 M/R: +2/+0
Brother Nerrag C5 HP 22/22 THAC0 18 AC 0 M/R: +2/-
Falan M3/F3 HP 12/12 THAC0 18 AC 7 M/R: +1/+1
Ronan M5 HP 12/12 THAC0 18 AC 5 M/R: +1(+2)/+1(+0)
Thorik T5 HP 12/12 THAC0 18 AC 7 M/R: +1/+1(+0)
Dhar-Gradvig F3 HP 12/12 THAC0 18 AC 6 M/R: +1/-
Thrall F3 HP 14/14 THAC0 18 AC 3 M/R: +0/-
Tum-Tuk F1 HP 4/4 THAC0 19 AC 6 M/R: +0/-
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:30, Wed 01 June 2022.

After appraising the sometimes earthen, sometimes wooden, and sometimes stone fort, Ronan grins in his reassuringly malevolent way, "I can end this now. With my lighting bolt."

The drool from his thrall's mouth drips from the corner of its mouth and down to its neck in its steady way, neither validating nor gainsaying the magic user's boast.

"Shall I?" he asks. "I'm ready."

It looks like he's going to aim for the rope.

In reply to Ronan (msg # 3):

"Why would you destroy the rope? It's our only way in!"

Falan contemplated Ronan's words long enough for Black Angus to speak.

"I...surely, you can't mean that you will be striking the blasted thing down with a stroke of lightning? You're megalomaniacal, my friend, and I mean that as the sincerest compliment, but I don't think it will do the trick, Ronan."

He spoke frankly, but in a friendly tone.

He turned to the party's stalwart friends, Dhar-Gradvig and Tumtuk. "Have either of you heard tell of this stockade? What sorts of dangers might lay ahead?"

OOC: I'm reiterating my intention to continue, treacherously, as Tumtuk should I die as Falan.

Incredulous, Ronan expostulates, "You would have me destroy everything BUT the rope?"


If there is one thing a megalomaniac likes to do, it's to bask in a complement. He proceeds to do so while the others do the proper planning for their infiltration of the slavers' stockade.

"I think either stealth or subterfuge are our ways into this fort, not force. Even if you manage to take down a wall of the fort, you will simply rouse the entire garrison."

"We should check for that rope first and see if it is there and if we can actually make the ascent. Under the cover of darkness would be ideal."

"Barring that, we could try to pose as slavers and approach the gate."

OOC: Bernhard's AC should be -1 with his Ring of Protection +2, plate armor +1, and shield.

Tum-Tuk quickly begins mouthing off: "Oo! Yes! I knows!" He gesticulates excitedly. "They gots an army... of dragons! And, um... Zombies! Zombie dragons!" The escaped slave cuts off the goblin's nonsense. "I don't know much about this place, but rumours are the slave pits are below the fort itself. They say there's a sorceress who subjects the prisoners to inimaginable torture."



<  <  <  PARTY  >  >  >
Bernhard F5 HP 22/22 THAC0 17 AC -1 M/R: +1/+0
Black Angus F5 HP 22/22 THAC0 17  AC 3 M/R: +2/+0
Brother Nerrag C5 HP 22/22 THAC0 18 AC 0 M/R: +2/-
Falan M4/F4 HP 16/16 THAC0 17 AC 7 M/R: +1/+2
Ronan M5 HP 12/12 THAC0 18 AC 5 M/R: +1(+2)/+1(+0)
Thorik T5 HP 12/12 THAC0 18 AC 7 M/R: +1/+1(+0)
Dhar-Gradvig F3 HP 12/12 THAC0 18 AC 6 M/R: +1/-
Thrall F3 HP 14/14 THAC0 18 AC 3 M/R: +0/-
Tum-Tuk F1 HP 4/4 THAC0 19 AC 6 M/R: +0/+0
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:01, Sat 04 June 2022.

Ronan starts to mouth off as well.

"When I have an underground laboratory beneath a mountaintop fortress," he begins, "I will have a secret entrance, so I don't have to climb a rope to the second story, go down a hallway, and then descend two floors before I can even think about vivisection."

Noticing that all but the goblin look upon him with disfavor, he corrects himself, "Were I to have, ..."

It seems likely that this sorceress has her own entrance. Perhaps they could look for it by the light of the moon?

In reply to Ronan (msg # 9):

Angus grinned, he liked the truths that were being revealed.

"Oh, Ronan, I doubt you'll ever have to worry about having a secret laboratory, we're certain to die here."

Falan chuckled and set about searching nearby for some secret doors, to no avail personally.

OOC: I rolled a 1, which fails in this ruleset.