Rurik's Mission III
I’ll Dragon Bone You!
Once again we were called to meet with Lord Lucasson. He praised our efforts and told us that the locals were starting to warm to our little strike force. He told us that it was common for such groups to come up with a nickname. He offered us free advertisement and public relations for our group if we could come up with such a nickname. We were all, except maybe Scout, excited by the prospect of the increased fame that this would bring us. After these and other, more typical pleasantries, Lord Lucasson brought up the topic of our next mission.
It seems that the brigands that we had faced during our travels were rather more sinister than we had thought. Lord Lucasson had information that a relatively large, organized band of brigands had been harassing travelers, especially merchants, in the area. It was this group that had set up the blockade on the road to Willow Ridge, and it was the rogues of this group that had attacked us several times before. They were called the Dragon Bone Bandits, and it was our job to destroy them.
So, with no good information on where to find these bandits, we decided to let them find us. We examined a map and located all of the places where we had been attacked. Based on this information, we inferred possible locations for the bandits’ source. Seamus, Arcadius, Rigel, Korthian, Scout, and I set out along the roads where we now expected to encounter bandits. Our plan was to find some bandits and try to take them prisoner. We would then question the prisoners and prepare an assault on the main force of bandits.
Apparently our estimations were right on, because we quickly found what we were looking for. The execution of our plan was not so picture perfect. A small group of rogues attacked us, and we were just too efficient in our dealings with them. Only a few were able to get away, but none of those that didn’t get away survived long enough to be questioned. We decided to be a little gentler if we were lucky enough to find another band of brigands, and as our luck would have it, we didn’t have to wait very long at all. A second small band attacked us soon after the first attack. Again we battled the rogues, but this time we were able to capture a single prisoner due to Rigel’s psionic abilities. While under Rigel’s influence, the prisoner revealed the location of the brigand’s base, the proper signals to protect our campsites, and the name of the brigand leader, Skull Head. Since we no longer needed the prisoner, and because Rigel’s charm was wearing out, Rigel convinced him to run as far north as he could and told him that if he were to tell anyone of their encounter, he would be in big trouble. The rogue ran off to the north, and, as far as I know, he never returned.
With our new information in hand, we decided to check out this bandit fort. We were relatively safe because we were now using the signs to protect our camps. We spent a few hours watching the fort from a distance. We didn’t want to draw too much attention, though, so after a short time we then moved off to a safer distance. It looked like a well guarded fortress with plenty of manpower. We needed to get more information before we could try any sort of approach, let alone any assault. Scout went off on a scouting mission. She tried to track some of the larger groups that had recently left the fortress. The rest of us waited for her report. We hoped that she would find a band with a high ranking officer so we could get more useful information. Even though we were now safe from the bandits, there were other dangers in the wilderness. A small band of men approached our camp, and it soon became clear that they weren’t there for conversation. They were clearly undead, and looked very similar to the ghouls that we had faced earlier. However, as they approached we realized that they were something different. They gave off a horrible smell, and we later identified them as ghasts. We fought them valiantly, but the power of negative energy flowed through them. As we fought, Korthian and I became paralyzed by their touch. Fortunately, the others were able to destroy the abominations, and we eventually recovered our ability to move. The next morning Scout returned, but she had nothing to report. We decided that waiting to be attacked was dangerous and not very fruitful, so we decided to take matters into our own hands.
For several days we followed what appeared to be a well traveled path through the wilderness. Two interesting things happened during our hunt. First, as we were walking through a small valley, we heard a loud roar. Uncertain of what to do, we waited for a few seconds. The roar increased in volume, and soon we could feel the ground shaking beneath us. Still unsure of what could be happening, but knowing it must be big, we ran up a hill on one side of the valley. When we reached the top, we finally saw what was going on. There was a stampede of horses. An entire herd was being chased through the valley by a small pack of undead wolves. We stood there, stunned by this horrific sight. We contemplated going after them so we could save the horses, but they were simply moving too quickly. There was no way we could catch them, and only a moderate chance that we could have stopped the undead if we did catch them. We waited until they were all out of sight then continued on our way. The second incident was spread out during the entire hunt. We took what Lord Lucasson had told us to heart. We needed a name, a name to inspire us and the common folk, a name to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies. After long deliberation, we finally agreed on a simple name: The Warriors of the Eclipse. Now that we had a name, it was time that we used it.
We finally closed in on a decent sized bandit camp. There were about twenty bandits in all, half of them awake on guard duty, the other half asleep by a small fire. We stopped a short distance from the camp and made some plans. We needed to capture some more prisoners, which had not been our strong point so far. Rigel volunteered to make the first move of the attack. He would try to mentally overpower one of the guards, and charm him like the prisoner we had caught before. I would lead the second prong of the attack by confronting the camp head on. The rest of the group would surround the camp in the darkness and, if the bandits grew violent after my approach, our archers would attack without mercy. Fortunately, the plan worked perfectly. I approached the edge of the camp and waited for one of the guards to walk off into the night. This would be my sign that Rigel had succeeded in the first step. I had waited for about ten minutes when I saw one of the guards off to the west side of the camp walk out into the darkness. I waited for just a little bit to make sure he was truly gone then I made my approach. As I approached the edge of the light, one of the guards noticed my shining armor and called for me to identify myself. “We are the Warriors of the Eclipse,” I said. “Surrender now or every one of you will die.” At this point, the lead guard made some a rude comment and showed that he was not at all prepared to surrender. His call ignited a storm of activity in the camp. Every bandit jumped for his weapon and moved to attack. I quickly moved into the thick of it all and wreaked a little havoc of my own on them. I also noticed some of the rogues on the edge of the camp falling as if hit. My fellow Warriors had taken their cue and the fight was joined.
For the number of rogues in this band, the fight did not last very long. In a couple of minutes, all but two of the rogues were dead. One was the rogue we had captured by Rigel’s powers, the other was a child who crawled under a wagon and started sobbing. We kept the two prisoners separate so as to not upset the boy any more than he already was and to prevent any interference with the influence Rigel had over the other rogue. I did my best to entertain and watch over the child, but my non-human appearance only frightened him more. Scout eventually came over as did Arcadius. We took turns trying to make sure the child was ok and trying to calm him down. Korthian and I also spent a few minutes cleaning up the campsite. We collected all the bodies and moved them out into the dark so that the campsite might be less traumatic for the boy. I also made a couple of excursions over to where the other prisoner was being questioned. My presence would have been unhelpful, so I stayed in the dark as much as possible. It was a strange scene because the prisoner was standing behind a large barrel of beer, mug in hand, and he was constantly urinating on the nearby vegetation. Apparently Rigel had used his psionics to convince the guard to leave the camp because he had to relieve his bladder. Unfortunately, he apparently couldn’t turn it off.
After questioning our prisoner we learned more about recruiting techniques, membership in the band, the hierarchy of the band, and a little more about the layout of the fort. We learned that in order to get more useful information, we would have to capture and question one of the lieutenants, and they only came out for raids on exceptionally valuable merchant caravans. Therefore, the only way to catch a lieutenant would be to join a valuable merchant caravan. We decided to go to Port Luck to prepare for our next plan. We tied up the prisoners and brought them with us. We couldn’t send the child out to fend for himself, and as we were heading to Port Luck anyway, we figured we could turn these two over to the authorities there. So after several days of travel, we reached Port Luck, turned our prisoners over to the town guard, and got to work on our new plan.
First, we needed to find some sort of shipment that would draw out the lieutenants, and then we needed to associate ourselves with that shipment. We decided to keep a low profile in the town, and try to work as if we truly were merchants. I wrote a letter to my clan on the Mithril Isle. I asked them to send a shipment of high quality goods for use in my mission to help the human island. Once the request was sent we had a bit of free time to recover from our last trip and prepare for our merchant experience. I spent my free time at the forge, working on a new suit of armor. I was able to get most of the base work done so that all that was necessary was fine polishing and a final fitting. I spent my evenings doing paperwork so that we would have the proper permits and identification for our merchant endeavor and so that the proper informants would “discover” our secret shipment and the information would be leaked to the bandits. After three weeks of waiting, our shipment arrived. It was even more spectacular than I had hoped for. We received an entire cart full of masterwork weapons. This was certainly a prize that the Dragon Bone Bandits would love to get their hands on. We let it sit for one more night to get all of our paperwork in order. We set out the next morning for the town of Willow Ridge, hoping to aid Mayor Brextol with a cheap shipment of quality weapons. I acted as the head merchant. Seamus, Scout, and Rigel were my merchant guard. Korthian and Arcadius had to hide in the cart with the weapons because our group was becoming too well known. The only place where you might find an elf and a half-orc working together would be with the Warriors of the Eclipse. We left bright and early, and we didn’t have to travel long before our bait was taken. Within an hour of leaving town, we were hit by a sneak attack.
As we moved down the road, a patch of ground was suddenly thrown back on each side of us. A total of sixteen archers and two lieutenants caught us in a cross fire and tried to capture us. Seamus quickly started casting a spell. I did my best to steer the cart away from the brigands to protect the goods. As I drove the cart, I was struck by a couple of arrows from the archers. Enraged at being hit, I leapt from the cart seat and charged toward the nearest brigand. As soon as I hit the line, a rolling ball of flame moved through the ranks of bowmen. Apparently Seamus had learned a thing or two from Xextic’s tactics. Then, above all of the shouting and the whistle of arrows, I heard Rigel yell out that we needed to look for a place to hide. Confused, I turned and saw one of the lieutenants run and dive into our cart. Apparently he was up to his mind tricks once again. We quickly finished off the remaining guards, managing to capture both lieutenants and ten of the sixteen archers. Rigel started to question the lieutenant who had jumped into the cart right away. We wanted to get as much information as possible from him while he was still in a good disposition. As Rigel questioned the lieutenant, we gathered up the rest of the brigands and turned back toward Port Luck. From the lieutenant, we were able to get a good layout of the brigand’s fort, as well as information about alternate routes of entrance and exit for the fort. Having got what we wanted from the prisoners, we turned them all over to the authorities in Port Luck. We then started our trip once again. This time our trip was uneventful. Apparently the Dragon Bone Bandits had put a lot of resources into taking our caravan, and having failed with their first attempt, they were unable to harass us further.
We soon arrived in Willow Ridge, much to the delight of Mayor Brextol. We decided to offer him a discount of 10% on the weapons. Overjoyed by the possibility of actually arming his soldiers, he gladly bought all of the weapons we had brought. Then, in one more act of support for this community, we decided to reinvest our earnings on trade items from Willow Ridge. We purchased several more carts, several cartloads of lumber, a load of apple brandy, and several pieces of fine jewelry from a local merchant. In order to protect our small caravan, we also hired several of the men from the village to walk with us on our way. Again we moved very quickly along the roads toward High Castle. When we arrived at the city, we managed to make an additional profit on our new goods. We sold off the carts and sent our extra guards home with a small bonus. I sent the cost of the weapons and a percentage of the profits from the Willow Ridge goods back to my clan. When all was said and done, we had made a full 8000 gold on our merchant endeavor. Now that we had a large source of funds, it was time to plan our final assault on the fort.
This plan took a very long time to work out. Our mission was to disband the Dragon Bone Bandits. I thought a frontal assault, if well planned, could do just that. However, our mages thought that the leaders would get away, and while that might solve the problem in the short term, we should really aim to eliminate the leaders and rid the world of the Dragon Bone Bandits forever. I had to admit that this was a good idea, but I didn’t know how to get to the leaders. I inquired about a water source as a potential point of access to the fort, but then talk turned to poisoning the water, which I must admit was a most dismaying turn of the talk. We quickly changed our focus and returned to more ethical combat tactics. After much arguing, Seamus remembered that we might ask his mentor to use magic to spy on the fortress for us. This would allow us to actually see the access tunnels that the prisoners had told us about as well as help us find the hidden tunnels. We went to the mage’s tower with a large supply of spell components. Seamus’ mentor used his crystal ball to spy his way around the compound. We found the locations of all the tunnels, as well as the entrances to the tunnels. In all there appeared to be a total of three entrances to the compound: one inside the main fort, and two tunnels. With this knowledge, the argument started again about the best way to infiltrate the compound. I thought that we might be able to block of the two tunnels, and then make a strong assault from the front. In this way, we could avoid any traps set to prevent invaders from entering the tunnels. The mages, however, were convinced that we couldn’t possibly block off the tunnels, or that it would take too much time to block the doors and the lack of an exit route would warn the bandits of our presence. We all argued against a three pronged attack because we didn’t have the manpower for such an involved plan. That left a two pronged attack. We would enter from both of the access tunnels, block off the third entrance then seek out the Skull Head and the day and night masters. With these three gone, the rest of the brigands should disperse on their own. We used our merchant earnings to purchase several scrolls for our mages including spells to lock doors and wall of passages, and some to make us invisible to prevent accidental warning. We were now set to take on the bandits.
We once again traveled to the fort of the Dragon Bone Bandits. Seamus and I were to take the elite access tunnel, while the rest of our group was to sneak in the other access tunnel, use the wall scrolls to block off the main fort from the underground complex, and then meet with us, hopefully somewhere near the living quarters of Skull Head. Seamus and I rode out to the access tunnel and waited for the signal. After several minutes, we heard the signal to start our attack. Fortunately, during our spying of the complex, we actually saw Skull Head enter this tunnel, so we knew the secret process and we were able to safely enter the tunnel. We quickly moved up the tunnel until we came up to a wooden door. We slowly approached the door, unsure if it was trapped or alarmed. Then, bells started ringing from the other side of the door. Throwing caution to the wind, we burst through the door, hoping that we weren’t already too late. The door flew open and there, standing across the room from us was the rest of our group. We suddenly knew that this must be the place. Midway between us a corridor crossed the one in which we were standing. We quickly ran to the central corridor, and noticed four doors. Seamus and Arcadius quickly cast spells to seal off the doors on the north walls. Seamus and I moved toward one of the south doors, and suddenly Skull Head himself stepped out. I did my best to hold him back with my glaive, but he was more skilled than any of the rogues we had faced yet. He was able to tumble around the corridors, deftly avoiding most of my attacks. Seamus, Rigel, and Arcadius were the heroes of this fight. They used their magic effectively and were able to kill Skull Head and the day master. As we moved to search their bodies, the night master burst through his locked door. We quickly moved to attack him, and he was quickly brought down as well. We had accomplished our goal.
Seamus and I started to search the three of them for valuables when Rigel and Scout ran back to the door from which they had entered the room. Arcadius had locked the door magically after they had entered, so they could not leave. They started to beat on the door and tried to break it down. When they couldn’t get through, they started screaming at Arcadius to let them out. We tried to restrain them, but they kept screaming and resisting our attempts to calm them. Finally, they calmed down to a degree, and Arcadius explained what was going on. Apparently their group had witnessed a most vile scene on the way in. One of the rooms was occupied by a number of women who had been kidnapped during the Dragon Bone Bandits’ raids. These women were kept solely for the pleasure of the leaders and officers of the Dragon Bone Bandits. Now that we understood what was going on, we all agreed that looting could wait. Arcadius dropped the lock, and we went to confront the officers who were in the room with the women. The posed no serious challenge to us, and could have been quickly dispatched. Rigel, however, was fuming. I did my best to calm him, assuring him that justice would be served. Scout was not so easy to bring down. In fact, Scout started torturing those officers who she had caught. As much as I despised what the officers had done, I could not stand for Scout’s actions. I went to her victims and showed them more mercy than they deserved by putting them out of their misery.
Now that the officers were dead, we had eighteen women of varying ages and health in our custody. Scout was set to be in charge of the women, as it seemed unwise to put them in the charge of a male at that time. We went back to the room in which we had left the leaders. We searched their rooms, gathered the valuables, and took the leader’s bodies out through the elite tunnel. We left the day master’s and night master’s bodies at the gate of the fortress as a warning for the other bandits. Hopefully they would disperse before too long. We then returned to High Castle with the rescued women. The women were taken to the temple for healing and a chance to rest without fear. We then went to find Lord Lucasson. Once in his presence, we revealed our group name and presented him with the body of Skull Head. Lord Lucasson was highly impressed with our success. He also expressed surprise that we didn’t ask for help in assaulting the fort. He reminded us that all his resources were at our disposal, but he was still glad that we were so successful. He gave us our reward of 300 gold pieces each. Rigel and Scout declined their rewards, however, because they were still upset about the abuse that the women had received. We then split the loot from this mission. I received a fair amount of gold (which was used to buy a new, extremely well made glaive) and some mithril shirts which I traded in for some raw materials. I was able to get enough mithril to start the creation of a suit of full plate armor. All that I needed was some time and a good forge, and I would be the best armored dwarf on the island.