So Much for Surprise

Bella crept down the stairs and listened at the closed door. The others waited at the top of the stairs, stepping over the body of the guard they’d quickly dispatched after teleporting onto the hidden lookout post. They’d found a back way into the fortress of Seinaru Heikiko, and they were pleased that they’d been able to breach the fortress without raising an alarm. So far, so good. Bella could hear muffled voices from behind the door, but either her Tian wasn’t as good as she’d thought, or they were speaking a dialect she didn’t know. She remounted the stairs and told the others.

Sawyer wasted no time. With everyone else close behind, he climbed down and simply threw open the door. Inside was a simple guardroom: cot with a straw mattress, rough table and a small footlocker, iron brazier providing some heat. A pair of bandits occupied the room. One sat on the cot, while the other was standing directly in front of the door. He turned, expecting to see his buddy from the lookout, but instead took Suishen in the gut. His other friend rose off the cot, but Shinjiro rushed into the room, ignoring the half-hearted slash from the first bandit’s katana, and gave him a solid kick. There was another hallway leading out of the guardroom to another flight of stairs, and Shinjiro wanted to prevent anyone from escaping to raise the alarm. Sandoval and Marie had the same idea. They too rushed into the room. Sandoval took up a position blocking the exit, while Marie cast Silence on a coin and tossed it down the first couple of stairs, cutting off any sound of their attack.

Nicki fired off a volley of Magic Missiles at the bandit in front of Sawyer, and he collapsed. The bandit on the cot picked up a javelin that was leaning against the wall. He hurled it towards the group clustered around the entrance; as it left his hand, it turned into a Lightning Bolt, zapping everyone with crackling electricity. He looked pleased with his attack, but the feeling didn’t last. Shinjiro chopped him as he threw the javelin, Zhustin zapped him with an Acid Splash, and Bella finished him off with an arrow to the throat.

Surprised by the magical javelin, Marie decided to do a Detect Magic. Both the dead bandit in the doorway and the unfortunate lookout also had Javelins of Lightning, as well as magical armor and a couple of potions. Each of them also had a quiver of arrows, of which two in each quiver were painted red. Bella examined one of these special arrows; it was etched with grooves and had odd stiff fletching. “That’s stupid,” she muttered. “There’s no way you could shoot someone with these arrows and not be noticed. They’d make a terrible racket.”

Satisfied they’d found everything of value on the guards, Bella picked up Marie’s Silenced coin and crept down the next flight of stairs. At the bottom there was a small landing that opened into a large, dusty room. Four old stone columns support the roof, standing within a 3-foot-deep depression lined with enameled tiles now faded, cracked, and encrusted with dirt. It looked like the room might once have been an elaborate public bath, but that was long ago. A wooden trough now carried a stream of water from a pipe in the east wall, filling a large tub between the two westernmost columns before flowing out of the south wall via another trough; from the large double doors and the muddy hoofprints leading from them, it looked like the trough was now used for watering animals. The room smelled of freshly cut wood and the floor was sprinkled with sawdust. Three sturdy workbenches stood along the far wall, covered with carpentry tools and pieces of work in progress. In the northwest corner of the room, a wooden stairway led upwards.

Bella could see two people in the room. A small Tian woman squatted in the center of the former bath, staining a freshly-made wooden chair. A very hairy man stood at the farthest workbench, planing a wooden plank held in a pair of vises. They hadn’t noticed Bella, so she crept back up to report, dropping the coin halfway up the stairs.

Nicki was all for ‘shoot first, ask questions later’, but Shinjiro objected. “They look like simple servants, not bandits. Let me go talk to them – they might be able to tells us about the rest of the fortress and what we’re up against.” Nicki tried to convince him that he’d be better off hanging back to guard the magic users, but Shinjiro took offence at that insult to his honor. He insisted on approaching peacefully, and Nicki acquiesced with a roll of his eyes.

Shinjiro climbed quietly down the stairs, with Sawyer following for backup. Sawyer was to stay out of sight unless things went bad, and the rest of the group huddled halfway up the stairs. Bella had picked up the Silenced coin again, so they could neither see nor hear what might happen with Shinjiro; they’d have to watch for Sawyer’s reaction and act accordingly.

Taking a deep breath, Shinjiro strode confidently out into the room. As she caught sight of him, the woman gave a small shriek and scuttled away to crouch behind one of the columns. The man turned to see what had prompted her shriek, and glowered when he spotted Shinjiro. “Who the hell are you?”

Shinjiro opened his mouth to respond … and realized he had no idea what to say. “Uh, I’m looking for … Bob?” he finally stammered. “I was told he was here, but I can’t find him.” Silently kicking himself for not having a better opening, he waited to see how the man would react. To his surprise, he stared for a second, and then smiled. “Oh sure, I think I’ve got a schedule here somewhere that tells where all the guards are. Just a minute.” He turned back to the workbench and fumbled around, his back to Shinjiro. Not sure whether to trust him, Shinjiro moved across the room to get a better look at what he was doing. “Here it is!” the man said, and turned back to Shinjiro. His hands were empty, though. He snapped his fingers, and a bolt of lightning shot down from the ceiling onto Shinjiro’s head!

So much for peaceful dialog. Sawyer rushed into the room, taking a position midway between the carpenter and Shinjiro, wanting to guard the monk. When the others saw Sawyer draw Suishen and run in, they also reacted. Nicki got into the room just in time to see the carpenter cast another spell; the stranger’s body was now wreathed in thin, wispy blue flames. Suspecting it was some kind of protective spell, he cast his go-to Fireball, but twisted the spell’s energy into acid, hoping their new opponent hadn’t anticipated that mode of attack. Whether Nicki was right about the other spell or not, his acidic explosion clearly wounded the carpenter. Shinjiro tried to blind him with the Gem of Brightness, and Sandoval tried to subdue him with Hideous Laughter, but neither had any effect, although Zhustin’s Magic Missiles hit home.

Marie dashed into the room. Seeing everyone else clustering more or less in the southern part of the room, she headed north, running right past the cowering girl. “Don’t worry!” she called over her shoulder as she passed. “We’re not going to hurt you!” The response was a ripping snarl. Marie turned to see the woman transform into a huge creature, half-tiger, half-woman. She roared, and then her fangs sank deep into Marie’s neck while her claws raked at her flesh.

Tos Katun

These weren’t just simple servants to the bandit gang. The group had stumbled across the bandits’ shaman, Kamuy-Paro, and his were-tiger concubine Tos Katun. Bella looked between the two, trying to decide who was the greater threat, and then charged Kamuy-Paro. The shaman was preparing to cast another spell, but as Bella approached, it suddenly got very quiet; Bella was still carrying the Silenced coin! Kamuy-Paro instantly understood what was happening, and without hesitation he dashed for the door, running out into the gathering dusk. Shinjiro gave chase, and Nicki blasted him with another acidic Fireball through the open doorway, but they could see him running towards the door to one of the other buildings of the fortress compound.

Sawyer saw Tos Katun trying to dismember Marie, and rushed to her aid. He slashed with Suishen, but the blade did far less damage than he was used to against the were-tiger. Marie, knowing she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, used her Dimensional Hop to teleport away from the were-tiger. Hoping to cut off Kamuy-Paro, she reappeared in front of the door that he was heading towards, blocking his path, but she could hear him yelling at the top of his lungs: “Intruders! Help! Under attack!” She swung her warhammer and connected with a solid blow, but it seemed to do no damage to the shaman. Marie, however, felt waves of intense cold wash over her as her weapon met the blue flames surrounding him, and she was very grateful for her innate cold resistance.

Sandoval had seen the damage that the were-tiger had inflicted on Marie with its lightning-fast strikes, and didn’t want the rest of them to face that. Thinking fast, he cast Slow on Tos Katun, and breathed a sigh of relief as her movements slowed to mere human speed. Zhustin summoned an Earth Elemental to appear behind Tos Katun, but its blows glanced harmlessly off her thick hide.

Bella once again had a choice to make. Sawyer was shouting at her to keep after the shaman, but of course she couldn’t hear him, thanks to the coin in her pocket. With a (silent) shout of glee, she drew her silver dagger in one hand, and her short sword in the other and Pounced  on the were-tiger. Like the other weapons that had been hitting her, the short sword had trouble piercing Tos Katun’s hide, but the silver dagger sliced through easily, leaving a gaping, bleeding wound. The were-tiger snapped back at her, fangs sinking deep into Bella’s arm.

Outside, Kamuy-Paro was still yelling for reinforcements, and zapped Marie with another bolt of Lightning. Sawyer, realizing that Bella wasn’t going to go help the cleric, gave Bella a piece of his mind (to which she was totally oblivious) then dashed out to attack the shaman (allowing Tos Katun to rake his back with her claws). Shinjiro also joined him, and the shaman turned to face him, allowing Marie to quickly cast Cure Critical Wounds on herself. And not a moment too soon. Kamuy-Paro took a step back, and a roaring Wall of Fire appeared around him, searing everything nearby with its scorching heat. At the same moment, the door to the other building burst open, and more bandits began to spill out. They quickly surrounded Marie, Sawyer, and Shinjiro, not noticing the danger from their ally’s Wall of Fire until it was too late. The last few, seeing the nearby targets surrounded (and possibly realizing the threat from the Wall of Fire), charged on into the building Kamuy-Paro had fled.

Inside, Tos Katun was proving a difficult foe. Sandoval charged, and his echoblade found its mark. Bella continued slashing with both blades, and her silver dagger was wearing the were-tiger down, but it continued to snap and snarl at the rogue, soaking her clothing with blood. Zhustin, seeing the commotion outside, fired off a Lightning Bolt through the open doorway, zapping three of the new opponents.

Nicki made his way over to the double doors in the western wall and opened them a crack. To his relief, the courtyard outside was empty, so there were no new threats coming from that direction. But off to the south, the guards atop the wall had heard the shouts and clanging swords, and were taking aim with their bows at Marie’s exposed back. Nicki cast a spell, and an enormous Freezing Sphere covered the entire wall. The guards, taken by surprise by this magical attack from an unknown source, decided that their part in the battle was over; they practically knocked each other over in their hurry to climb down the ladder that led off the parapet, and dashed out through a postern door set into the main gate.

Inside his Wall of Fire, Kamuy-Paro thought he was safe, and drew a wand out of his belt. But before he could use it, Sawyer Lunged through the flames, stabbing the shaman through the heart. The magical flames died with their caster, and Sawyer spun and used the backswing to slice one of the bandits. Inside, Tos Katun continued to snap ferociously at Bella and her silver blade, but the silver’s wounds were mounting. The rogue spun, blood flying from the were-tiger’s latest bite, and her blades flashed, and Tos Kotun collapsed in a bloody heap, her form reverting to that of a human woman.

That just left the band of bandits. They were continuing to surround Marie, Sawyer, and Shinjiro, and another charged at Sandoval inside, stabbing him in the back as Tos Katun died. Sandoval began singing as he turned and stabbed back. The elemental moved behind the bandit, punching him, and then Bella dashed in and it collapsed silently in a heap. Zhustin blasted one of the bandits harassing Shinjiro with a Scorching Ray. Shinjiro unleashed a Flurry of Blows that sent one bandit to the ground and injured another, while Marie retreated behind Sawyer, trying to get away from the incessant blows.

The bandits’ lieutenant appeared in the doorway. He’d remained inside through much of the battle, firing arrows while letting his men do the dirty work, but as they began to die, he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. He drew a scimitar, and began shouting instructions to his men in a mountain dialect that none of the party understood. One stepped aside, leaving his boss a spot from which to attack Sawyer, but then several things happened at once. Roaring, sulfur-laced Hellfire shot up out of the ground, accompanied by Nicki’s evil laugh. One of the bandits was incinerated, and the lieutenant was badly burned. Then, as he raised his scimitar to charge, Sandoval cast Grease on the weapon, and it went flying out of his hand. Disarmed, he drew his bow again, and fired another ineffectual arrow at Sawyer, who Lunged and stabbed him with Suishen.

The battle turned quickly against the bandits. Shinjiro was a blur of fists and feet, killing a pair of bandits with one Flurry. Bella beheaded one, and Nicki killed another with a burst of Magic Missiles. Sandoval finished off the last bandit, and then everyone focused on the lieutenant. Bella charged and all but cut off one leg. Uncowed, he tried to pick up his slippery sword, but Sawyer brought Suishen down, and his head rolled across the floor.

The PCs earned 9,600 XP for the night, putting them at 269,605 XP, with 315,000 required for level 13. We’ll be back at Leo’s next week, although Scott will be singing (for real).