<Contract#2 Briefing> @Grall_Stonefist @Jorimel @Skarboy @Casavay @Maleth @TuskatheDaemonKilla @Vulpas @matt23 @lord-watchman @Keidivh OOC I can drop some sort of a picture if you wish for a better description of the place "The castle itself is located right above the gorge of the river Eiskalt on one side of the narrow canyon - basically, as you walk the road into the mountains, the road follows the river's canyon, couple of miles up you come to a crossroad of sort. The road continues forward but on the left there's a wide bridge covering the canyon's gap and on the other side of the bridge stands High Rock. The castle has the overwatch of the entire area and the old scrolls say that they had cannons and catapults on the walls of it which they used to shoot at the Greenskins who used the road to get down into Ostland." "That and the fact there's only one way into the castle - that bridge I mentioned, awfully narrows down the options an attacker has. The numbers would mean nothing as the attacking army would have to move their regiments one by one across the bridge and suffer the constant bombardment from the defenders. Even if they reached the other side they would be facing gates and fortified walls where a powerful knightly force would be able to fully concentrate its attack and deal with the attackers one by one. And if anyone wanted to erect a siege by blocking the bridge, well an undead army needs no supplies and wouldn't be disturbed by such thing so you get the picture why the place hasn't been taken back from the vampire." "As for the exact troop number the Grandmaster has, I have no knowledge of such facts but I assume the worst. However I have a plan for that as well. Before we reach the castle, we will stop in one of the fishing villages in the base of the mountains for the night's rest. Since I know for a fact the vampire has its thralls among the humans in the area, we'll just have to be good at investigating and catch a suspect or two. Once we get them, we'll extract information, which I don't think should be a big of a deal given the fact our group is quite diverse and capable, maybe even find if there is another way into the castle - who knows, High Rock is located above the canyon and any self-respecting architect would build a back exit to escape in case the castle falls, so my guess is there are a number of caves below it and one of them would hide an entrance, we just have to find it or find someone who knows the area." "In any case, there is a lot of improvisation involved but I'm sure we'll be able to find a solution. If you have any more questions ask, if not, go and pack. We leave in an hour."
@Colapse Mariah listened to all the plan and the others speak before she began to analyze the entire situation. From the stories and remors, the undead were no easy foes. Most would even go so far as to say they are exponential harder a foe than any orcs within all the lands. She then spoke up to Constantine, "I am sure you are all to familiar with the stories and rumors of the undead, Sir Thomas. If this castle should hold a vampire who is a grandmaster, we will need far more than this small group we have. Vampires have the potential to have a limitless army so long as there are corpses laying around. So we will need men to support the fight, wouldn't you say?"
@matt23 "We'll have Kolja, Ori and at least 30-strong halfling unit to support our backs," Constantine reminded the maiden, "However now that you mention it...I originally planned for us to infiltrate the place somehow, find this vampire lord and slay him after which his army would crumble. In order to do so, I wanted to influence his sense of honor, no matter how twisted it is, the man is still a Grandmaster of a Knightly order, and perhaps work that out in our favor." "Point is, I wanted to evade going into pitched battle and risking the lives of the many, but your plan might work even better. If we bring more troops with us, we could divide the team and send a part of it, under your leadership Mariah, to try and storm the castle from the front while the rest of us infiltrate it. That way you would provide us with a diversion and while the Grandmaster's eyes are upon you, we would strike him from behind," Constantine nodded now, the newest battle plan perhaps putting Mariah in a more dangerous situation than couple of moments before. "To get more men, I think we should rally the villagers we come across and add them to our force. Under the strong leadership such as yours, I can see they shaping up in a decent enough military force to hold the undead tide as needed."
@Colapse Mariah nodded as she listened to the new edition to the plan, "Even mobs have their uses and the people of this village can be rallied up easily enough to make things happen fast. As soon as we rally them to the cause, you will have your window to make your move. I say window simply because the moral of a village militia will raise up quickly, but will be hard to keep up, so should the tide of battle turn away from our favor, I am sure they will flee. So, do please hurry once you are inside.
Tuska had no questions and carried everything he needed on him so he got up and exited the tent. He then found a large rock and sat down and began to play his pipes while he waited for the rest of the group to get ready. Spoiler yep he doesn't have much else to contribute other than some music you can listen to while you get your stuff together
<Contract#2 - Welcome to Oakwood> @Grall_Stonefist @TuskatheDaemonKilla @Vulpas @lord-watchman @Jorimel @Skarboy @matt23 @Keidivh @Maleth @Casavay "We'll do our best," Thomas replied to Mariah and picked up his maps, sending everyone to pack. An hour later the team set off from their campsite, leaving the rest of the Constantine's workers to pick up the tents, pack the supplies and put down the fires. Kolja promised he would make it fast and rejoin the rest tomorrow in the morning alongside their halfling unit, just before they climb the mountains towards the High Rock. The rest followed Thomas who led them down the road leading northwest and towards the Middle Mountains... Their journey took them better part of the day, the country quite inhospitable here with only few villages on this side of the Mountains, the people in them strong and harsh, not trusting a band of strangers and keeping their doors shut. The terrain itself was a mix of forests and swamp ground, the latter becoming increasing in size as they approached the river Eiskalt, however once they reached it, the road led northwards and was well-made, stones in it still standing strong and not ruined by the weather. But as they moved north towards the mountain pass their surroundings became bleaker and bleaker, old trees, hollow and even scary surrounded the path while silky webs could be seen in the darkness of the forests, something big creeping in them and gazing at the team, but not daring to come forth. Earth itself also looked quite spent, a mix of dry land and few bogs from which they were greeted by couple of huge green toads, looking at them with their green eyes. The overall feel of the place was quite grim and it didn't help the mood once the sun slowly started setting down behind the horizon when they eventually reached the outskirts of another village. "This must be Eichewald, the last populated place before the road goes up into the mountains and towards the High Rock," Constantine pointed at the dozen or so houses stretching in front of them, located on the bank of the river Eiskalt. They couldn't see much from here, only couple of locals going around the place, but as for the points of interested they could spot a small inn, a fish market, docks with couple of small boats tied on the shore and a big house in the middle of the village, probably town major's place. "I'll go to the inn and find us lodging for the night," Constantine said, "While there's still some light left, I suggest you go scout the village and ask around for the information about their undead neighbors or if there is anyone who might guide us when we go up there as well as finding us that militia. If you need me, I'll be at the inn." OOC alright, I'm giving you freedom on choosing where you wanna go next before the night settles down. The village is located on the river and is surrounded by forest. I wrote everything there is in it so you can go to those places and check them out. Note - something is lacking in this village, a very important building(s) and I didn't forget to write it down, the reason is much different
As they had walked and walked, Tugg saw several small interesting things, Like the Big frogs and such, perhaps they tasted good, though he Got no chance to try catch one. As they arived in the small human town, that aperantly was the last one before they reached the castle place, Tugg at first thought about just following Constantine to the in and get food and drink, but Then he remembered he was running low on spices, herbs and ingriedients, so instead he decided to Walk to the egde of the town, This was a new place for him, who knew what could be around here.
@Colapse Mariah moved down into the town, and headed for the large building in the center. Once there she would enter the building, taking off her helm as soon as she entered. Hopefully there was someone to talk to here, that could help her out.
After the briefing and a day of travel, Alozia was some glad to hear that they'd be stopping in this town for the night, even it was the last one around before the castle they'd be taking from the Vampires .... And given how the place looked, she decided that it might be worth investigating the inn to start finding information about the undead issue and the castle. So the Druchii walked off towards the Inn, keeping her staff close to hand as she tried to make a quiet entrance so that she could hopefully not make too much of stir if there were people already inside. After all, becoming the topic of conversation in the Inn due to a flashy entrance would likely make any covert eavesdropping that she might want to do on conversations that happened to be relevant to the topics she wanted to start investigating a touch trickier.
A small, but noticeable scowl formed on Kristoff's face as he went further and further into this blighted land. Such corruption was an insult to Taal, and thus an insult against Ulric himself. This would need to be fixed, and quickly. Even Vorgen seemed off, his ears flat on his head and his tail low, like he was expecting the land itself to attack them. When they finally reached the town, it seemed to be a pathetic husk of what any true Imperial town should look like, and there was one especially glaring problem with the picture. @Colapse "No temple. No priests. Not even a bloody shrine. What kind of heathen place is this?" Kristoff's scowl only deepened, and he kept his warhammer handy. They weren't among friends. He decided to head of into the heart of the town, and see what he could find out from the local populace. Kristoff got along better with commoners than most. Maybe he could dig up some useful tips.
