Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

I had said earlier that I would like to hang out here in the woods and watch the guards. If the numbers on watch became fewer we should attempt entering the cave like we would any other creature cave...one room at a time. I just think that having 5 men on guard makes it highly unlikely that we can enter the cave without having the entire bandit camp alerted to our attack,

Paladin finishes peeing. I'll go watch if you guys want to hang out with Barney tonight, he says. If I don't come back to here by noon tomorrow, I'm in a cage in the first cave again.

Paladin looks around, and then very slowly and carefully moves back towards the cave. He expects the bandits to be more on edge than before, so he will be very cautious and careful, move very slowly through the brush and pick a site far from where Doughbert was seen. Paladin, having a very small heart, will certainly turn back to the others if something looks awry at the bandit cave.

Iain_IF wrote:Paladin finishes peeing. I'll go watch if you guys want to hang out with Barney tonight, he says. If I don't come back to here by noon tomorrow, I'm in a cage in the first cave again.

Paladin looks around, and then very slowly and carefully moves back towards the cave. He expects the bandits to be more on edge than before, so he will be very cautious and careful, move very slowly through the brush and pick a site far from where Doughbert was seen. Paladin, having a very small heart, will certainly turn back to the others if something looks awry at the bandit cave.

Paladin finds himself a suitably concealed position from which he can safely view the cave entrance and settles down to watch. Between lazy daydreams of the Chubb sisters, and frequent snacks to sustain himself during his vigil, he observes that the regular guard consists of just four humans. The dwarf, who appears to be a lieutenant of some sort, comes and goes on an occasional basis for brief discussions with the guards before returning to the cave.

After a couple of hours, the guard changes. The four guards that were with Morward when he talked to Tannen and Nivek this morning retire into the cave to be replaced by four fresh sentries.

For the next hour or so after the change all is quiet, the guards chatting amongst themselves but remaining relatively vigilant. But then the calm is broken - both Paladin and the other party members back with Barnaby at the fork in the path pick-up the sounds of horses and human voices nearby. The sounds don’t appear to be coming from the cave entrance that Paladin is watching. Rather the noises are coming from somewhere just to the south of Paladin’s position, which is from the direction along the unexplored south-westerly path for the other party members. It would seem that riders are approaching the main party along that path. You can’t see them yet, but equally, as far as you can tell, the riders are unaware of your presence, at least for the moment. It sounds like the horses are just walking at a steady pace; they’re not approaching at any great speed.


Doughbert: HP 5/5. No '0' level spells remaining today.
Hiker: HP 9/9.
Karl: HP 8/8.
Nivek: HP 7/7. 2 '0' level spells remaining today.
Paladin: HP 3/4.
Tannen: HP 9/9.
3 pm, 28th day of Harvestide.

"Quick, Hide!!" Tannen hisses in a hoarse whisper, before diving into the nearest patch of thick undergrowth.

Tannen hopes that Barnaby will have the 'sense' to hide too.

Diughbert scurries into the underbrush and pocks a location where he can both hide and watch the trail.

Nivek conceals himself as best he can.

Paladin contemplates jumping out of hiding and demanding everyone's treasure. He then thinks better of it and maintains his cautious quiet watch.

At the sound of the approaching riders, everyone (including Hiker, Karl and Barnaby) quickly dashes into the woods away from the path in an attempt to find both cover and a vantage point.

A couple of minutes later, the riders come into view along the path. Morward leads the way on a large black horse. He's still wearing his chainmail armour and has his fancy sword at his side. He's followed by five other men on horseback that you haven't seen before, but who are attired similarly to those that you saw at the cave entrance earlier today (leather armour). All have crossbows at their side, but little other equipment - just waterskins and small saddlebags. Judging by what they're carrying, it doesn't look like they're going far - most probably a hunting trip.

[Rolls]

The riders pass, unaware of your presence, and continue east into the forest along the trail you arrived on.

Doughbert listens for any other riders and/or anyone on foot coming from either direction. If he doesn't hear anything he will regroup with the others and say, "mayhap they have left the backdoor open?"

"Maybe that might have evened up the odds of us getting in to find Miss Alma, eh Hiker?

Let's sneak up a little closer to the cave entrance and see how many guards they left behind."

[OOC: Joe, did Tannen notice any obvious signs that there were horses tethered outside the cave while waiting for Nivek to bring the coin to the bandits earlier, or would he assume that the horses were inside the cave?]