Birthright: Tuornen Chapter Five

[ewancummins]

CLYDE


RAAAWWAARRR!!!


SCARF-FACE-

Ohdeargods,nooo!!!Can't reach ledge! Please, please stop, no!!!!

COUPLE OF PASSENGERS ON A BOAT COMING INTO PORT

"Did you hear that horrible noise?!? That sounded like an angry bear, attacking..."

"A bear, in Haes? No, that's silly. The only bears you might see here are those little tame dancing bears on chains. Bear-baiting is illegal. No, you probably just heard...well, something else..."

[Varrus the Ethical]

RIVERSIDE

Roald and Fez scramble to their feet in the flophouse. Fez avoid's Roald's first punch and recovers his dagger, lashing out with it, leaving a shallow cut on Roald's cheek.

Roald leaves his blade on the ground and throws a hook that catche's Fez on the cheek. Fez swipes at Roald with his dagger, but the blade is no match for Roald's armor. Roald follows his hook with an uppercut that drives the air, and the fight, out of Fez.

The slimy little man turns to run to jump out a window, but takes a blow to the side as Roald chases after him. Running through the street, Fez opens the distance as Roald climbs out the window. For a moment, Fez thinks he's out distanced the big mercenary, but when he glances behind, he sees Roald bounding after him, his long strides closing the distance.

Eventually, Roald tackles Fez in the street, landing another blow on Fez's face. Fez tries to run, but he only succeeds in exposing himself to Roald's fists. With a wild haymaker and a fast follow-up punch, Roald lays Fez out in the street.

Roald binds Fez with manacles he acquired for a mission where he escorted an insane noble woman out of the duchy.

"I thought theses would come in handy," he says as he locks the irons over Fez's ankles. Roald finishes by binding Fez's wrists with rope.

When Reese comes up with his sword, he thanks the boy and sheaths his weapon.

Lifting the bound and unconscious man over his shoulder, Roald says, "Let's rejoin Torhtur and then take this garbage back to the-." Roald hears the screams of a man and the roar of a bear in the distance. "I guess Clyde has found his breakfast."

[ewancummins]

RIVERSIDE

When Roald returns, he finds Torthur kneeling over the pallid corpse of the big alewife he called Magga.
A growing crowd of onlookers hang about the muddy, bloody street, staring in morbid curiosity.
One of the strangers stands closer to the dwarf, a bald, thin man in bloody robes.
Seeing Roald approach, the bald man says,
"I'm a physick, sir. I tried my best, but the wound was to deep. The poor woman had lost too much blood by the time I arrived. I'm very sorry, but she's dead.

Someone in the crowd shouts, "The Watch is coming!’’

[Varrus the Ethical]

RIVERSIDE

"Murdering a woman in public AND paying an assassin to kill me?!" Roald slaps Fez on the ass. "You've been a very naughty boy, Fez. I imagine your mother will be quite upset with you when I tell her. After I finish plowing her, that is."

[ewancummins]

CROAKER NORGE

Maeve cocks her head a little to the right and stares intently at Filbert.

''Yes, clever little Shadowspawn, that's right. I called and you came seeking."

She looks up at Devlin for a a moment, then back down to Filbert.

"He looks more like his mother than like his father, doesn't he?"

Filbert doesn't expect a rational reply from someone called "Mad Meave" so he needs a second to realize what has just happened. Indeed this Meave is responsible for the phrases and she also has met Devlin's parents because she can tell to whom the young duke looks like. Without trying to hide his perplexion, the halfing says:

"Yeah sure, he looks more like his mother than his father. But how do you know? Have you met Duke's Devlin's parents? And why this secrecy with the phrases? What do they mean?"

"My rhyme is both a test and a warning.
If the young duke is truly worthy to sit in his father’s chair, then he will unlock the meaning in my words in time for the warning to prove useful.
As for the mummer’s curious words, I cannot take credit for those. No, the lines were from a play he was practicing. He repeated them often, during his dalliance with me. The words took my fancy.”

She smiles again and leans in as if to give Filbert a kiss on the brow, before pirouetting away with a broken laugh.

“I confess it’s true; I sent the Mummer to Haes to lure the Duke to Croaker Norge. The poor fellow took a simple plan and elaborated it, made it a bit crooked. What do you expect from an actor? They are all madmen, you know. Pretending to be other people for a living, imagine that. Ha!”

She turns to look on Devlin once more,
“You have come when I called, Duke Devlin. Many would be too frightened to descend into Croaker Norge with an army, much less with just two companions. Brave, or foolhardy-- In either case, I offer more than riddles in the dark. I offer my aid against the invaders. Do you wish my help? “

[ewancummins]

MONASTERY


The man in the pit, once freed, tells Foerde-

"I'm Brother Aelfred. The others , they were all killed in the fighting or taken away in chains. I don't know, maybe some are kept in other rooms, maybe in the cells under the watchtower."

Cormac and his men expend all of their arrows massacring the entangled goblins.

And then the far gate opens and MORE goblins burst into the compound, charging in a ragged line towards the building where the party is holed up.
There must by fifty or sixty of the monsters, of all sizes, with a dozen or more wargs running among them.

A huge, bull necked goblin standing in the open gate cracks a whip, shouting at the goblins and waving one hand towards the building.
He shouts again, this time in the Common Tongue-
"Doom is upon you, foolish humans! We have returned and you cannot win!"

[RocEter]

MONASTERY


The man in the pit, once freed, tells Foerde-

"I'm Brother Aelfred. The others , they were all killed in the fighting or taken away in chains. I don't know, maybe some are kept in other rooms, maybe in the cells under the watchtower."

Cormac and his men expend all of their arrows massacring the entangled goblins.

And then the far gate opens and MORE goblins burst into the compound, charging in a ragged line towards the building where the party is holed up.
There must by fifty or sixty of the monsters, of all sizes, with a dozen or more wargs running among them.

A huge, bull necked goblin standing in the open gate cracks a whip, shouting at the goblins and waving one hand towards the building.
He shouts again, this time in the Common Tongue-
"Doom is upon you, foolish humans! We have returned and you cannot win!"

Foerde nods to Brother Aelfred. "Well check once we deal with gobs, here take this sword. It ain't much but your gonna need it." He says handing the wicked long knife.

"Heh.." Is all Foerde says before raising hand and calling down another bolt of lighting down on Gob driving the others toward them.

[RocEter]

"Cormac, Brother Aelfred, Deitric, lets move up to the hay loft! Only two ways of attack from there. We'll have the others jump down and join us. We just have to hold out until I can summon another bolt of Lightning." He says to them.

[ewancummins]

"Cormac, Brother Aelfred, Deitric, lets move up to the hay loft! Only two ways of attack from there. We'll have the others jump down and join us. We just have to hold out until I can summon another bolt of Lightning." He says to them.

Brother Aelfred nods.

"Aye, get above them...Wait, what about the hall that leads to the tower? The Belfry has only one door, a narrow one that we could hold against many foes. If it's unlocked..."

He glances out the window.

"They are regrouping!"

[RocEter]

With Aelfred as guide the party runs towards the tower..

[steveflam]

RIVERSIDE

"Murdering a woman in public AND paying an assassin to kill me?!" Roald slaps Fez on the ass. "You've been a very naughty boy, Fez. I imagine your mother will be quite upset with you when I tell her. After I finish plowing her, that is."

Torthur hasn't said a word. He closes her eyes and kisses her forehead. He stands and grits his teeth. Spying Roald amd Fez, his eyes narrow. He knows the militia will arrive soon. He walks over to Roald and Fez. "Hold him, Roald," he tells the sellsword in a serious voice.

"Ain't gonna kill ye" he tells the rogue. Slaps him really hard to rouse him. Spits in his face for good measure. "I said I aint gonna kill ya."

He punches Fez in the face very hard, then kicks him in the balls.

"Didn't say I wouldn't hurt you, you scumbag. Ye killled a good wimmin and person. Yer lucky Clyde aint here acuz I'd let him eat ya nice n slow. I will be there when you hang though."

[JMaytr]

Croaker Norge-

Devlin steps closer to Maeve. He could lean in and kiss her, he is that close.

"I would hope that all who live within Tuornen would have the pride to stand against an invader simply for invading. Does your assistance come with hidden strings, Lady Maeve?"

[ewancummins]

Croaker Norge-

Devlin steps closer to Maeve. He could lean in and kiss her, he is that close.

"I would hope that all who live within Tuornen would have the pride to stand against an invader simply for invading. Does your assistance come with hidden strings, Lady Maeve?"

"I have my own realm, here in the deeps of Croaker Norge. Whether the young house of Flaertes or the old house of Alam claims these western lands, I would still rule this place."

She spreads her pale hands wide.

"But I prefer Flaertes.

Many are those who will make you offers; profess their friendship or their loyalty. Many may seem to ask little in return, though each will want his pound of flesh in the end.

Methinks you need an ally like me, one whose price is named before aid is given. It is this: on the Eve of the Dead of this year you will return to Croaker Norge—with such companions as you think fit-- to undertake a quest for me. Do not worry that the task may keep you long away from your duties as a ruler—the rising and the setting of the sun may suffice for it. I can promise that you will not be required to do anything evil, or to work against the interests of your realm or your house. Agree to this and you will have my aid in the coming battle against the Goblins and the Alamiens. They are in league, as you suspect.


You have my offer.”

[Adam]

MONASTERY

"Aeric's breath, there's hundreds of these things. Where are they all comin' from?"

At Foerde's suggestion, he nods and hustles over to the wounded, throwing an arm over his shoulder and doing the best he can to get them all moving.

[ewancummins]

THE WATCHTOWER

MONASTERY

"Aeric's breath, there's hundreds of these things. Where are they all comin' from?"

At Foerde's suggestion, he nods and hustles over to the wounded, throwing an arm over his shoulder and doing the best he can to get them all moving.

The party rushes out of the stables, down a short flight of stairs, round a right turn corridor, and through a low-ceilinged hall that connects the main building to the watchtower. The door at the end sticks until the men give it a good hard shove.

Beyond the doorway, by the light of Foerde’s dying torch, the men make out a big square room with a high wooden ceiling, stone walls, and a flight of spiral stairs wrapping up clockwise to vanish through a gap in the boards overhead. The only door in sight is the one through which they have just passed. Crates, barrels, chests, and stuffed sacks litter the floor, partly concealing several hatches.

Behind the party, noises echo down the connecting hall; the relentless thudding of axes and the howling of wolves…

No sooner than the men enter the room and even as they begin to close the door to the hall, but four small goblins leap out of the clutter, screaming ferocious battle cries and swinging clubs as they charge the party! The enemy is moving to cut the men off from the stairway up!