[Game Thread] Part 2 - Survival

[Saidande]

The dawn breaks over the settlement on their second day of life stranded in this unknown place. The settlers, having fought off a small band of kobolds during the night, rise from an unsteady sleep. Rothbert rises early, as do any that bear the gift of healing magic, going to work as quickly as possible to mend the wounded.

He calls to you early in the morning, bidding you to gather.

”Get use to being up at dawn lads, we will have no time to sleep in for quite some time” He says, working hard to suppress his dwarven accent.

”The goal for today is to get defenses up, form a cordon around our camp so that any attackers are forced though points we can defend” He explains and already you hear the sound of axes and hammers at work. Men and women are cutting trees at the forest edge, and working the trunks and thicker branches into long jagged poles, which are being laid down on embankments dug by yet more workers. The entire camp is working hard to gather and shape the materials needed to build defenses.

”What I need from you is simple. You are to go out into the woods, about a hundred yards, and scout. A wide circle around the camp should do. Just to get our bearings. If you see kobolds, don't engage, let them run. Odds are they will” He explains, drawing a rough map of the clearing out with his foot.

”The lords and ladies will stay here and oversee the construction. I'll be doing the same. Lord Howard should wake later today, hopefully he'll be well enough to take over a bit. But until then I'm in charge. Lets get ready. I want you in the woods in an hour” He says, still struggling to keep his accent at bay. A few moments later two men walk up, each bearing bandages from the day before. Several of the castaways had grievous wounds and could not be properly treated till the morning when the healers could replenish their magics.

”There ye are. Fall in with the rest, I will go over this one more time” Rothbert says as the two sit down.

[Lazersetcetera]

Rothbert. I'm not building, leave that to the proles. You'll need these though.

Kallisto summons a couple of horses from the ether.

You know this is not my metier. I'll make a mount and take one of the kobold prisoners, scout about. Get the exiles into military order. Also, inform me of any who exhibit magical talent, they will have more use than menial slogging, anatheama it may be to you as a hardy soldier. If you hear a bell ringing, it means distress. Come quick.

 

Casts Mount 3 times, prepares to put a bound and gagged kobold on the horse with her to spend some time searching and talking to him.

The bell ringing reference is her intention to cast Ghost Sound of a bell ringing (obviously) in the direction of the camp at the sign of trouble.

[TheMystic]

Hengist jerked upright, "Etiam, ubi sum?" his heart pounding, he turns and sees several others in the tent with him, he spies the cleric already awake and greets him "Salve frater, sis benedictus See knowledge check in translationCleric's Deityquid accidit mihi"



Pendra awoke more slowly not moving until he heard the sound of a voice, speaking a language he did not recognise, but was somehow comforting to the ear. He sat up and saw that it was a boy, no more than three years past his majority, probably less than two. He then spotted the cleric and assumed that it was he who treated his wounds. "Thank you priest, can you tell me what happened after the portal broke down?"

As the others spoke Hengist realised that he could not understand what they are saying Bother, I must be too riled up. Because he was gaining nothing from the conversation Hengist closed his eyes and saught to focus his mind and calm himself.

OOC Saidande can you tell me where I/We am/are?

Redundant (Didn't delete because they contained the dice roles, but consider them apocryphal Channel Positive energy Targets: Living, 1st of 6 uses for today Dice Channel Positive Energy: 1d6 5 creating a burst of white light Channel Positive energy Targets: Living, 2st of 6 uses for today Dice Channel Positive Energy: 1d6 4 sets about healing him

[Saidande]

[You and sinner awake, with your noble, in a tent. With a cleric nearby]

[austarrowsplitter]

Mal awoke without complaint, and did as he was told. That was how life worked in the warren. You got up early, you did your job to the best of your ability, and you didn't harp about it. He nodded as Rothbert ordered the group to head out and scout, saying, "Sounds logical. We'll get it done, sir. Let's hope that any escapees told some very nasty tales about us, and that they'll be too scared to do much of anything. Then again, it's always best to keep your ears up, yes?"

[Battlechaser]

Stretching himself, Talhoffer winces when pain shoots through his blue spot. Next he sets himself to Psionic focusmeditating. When he hears Kallisto proposing to scout around with the kobold, he asks "May I join you? You might have need of a fighter."

[Lazersetcetera]

A big hunk of a guy like you, devoted to goodness and order?

Yes please.

[OllieNorth]

As the others are stirring, Errol steps back into camp from helping

Dice Profession: Soldier:

d20+6

(15)+6

Total = 21

supervise the fortifications. As Kallisto hops onto her horse, he merely shakes his head. "I will do some scouting of my own, and hopefully I will be able to find some fresh meat as well. We should look into signal horns for the watch."

[SinnerBeta]

Meanwhile in the tent where the wounded were gathered Catherine started regaining conciousness. Her eyes started moving under her eyelids and her mind started racing. The bed was unfamiliar. The smell was unfamiliar. There was a sense of something missing. Then she remembered - the gate collapsing, sucking everything in...

And her sister trying to hold onto something with one hand and her with the other before something slammed into her head and sent them both flying.

"Elizabeth !" she sat up in terror the moment the memory came back and started frantically looking around to see all the wounded.

"Please do be quiet dear, I have a splitting headache, worse than that time the Baron stopped by our mansion and rented your horse for his wine collection..." she heard her sister answer from the bed to her right, turning around she noticed that beside the bandage slightly soaked in red that decorated her head she was fine. "Don't worry, the healers already mended the wound, I'm just a bit rattled and they told to lay down for a while longer."

"I'm just happy that you're safe... but where are we anyway." she asked her and listened as Elizabeth explained to her what happened and what she heard from the people that were going around and healing them. She regretted she wasn't concious to help them fight off the riders but was at least informed that they're organizing a scouting party.

"Very well then, I'll go check if I can help them with checking out the surroundings and you rest. I'm bet Gilles will be happy to stretch his- Oh no, Gilles !" she ran out remembering another thing - she was not only with her sister when the gate accident happened, but also with her beloved horse, Gilles. While her sister was able to grab her, they obviously weren't strong enough the help her mount and the poor animal was one of the first thing sucked in. As she saw her sister run out Elizabeth simply chuckled to herself and started planning the rest of the day.

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Catherine:

As she ran out of the tent forgetting about everything else, she quickly asked for directions that led her to where the surviving animals were put. She rejoiced as she quickly found Gilles alive and healthy, his light armour making him stand out among the other animals and probably what kept him alive through the ordeal. Thanks to her family name and personally helping out the common people before the peasant, named Henry if she remembered correctly since she remembered setting his shoulder in after he fell from his roof, allowed her to claim her horse back and parted with an exchange of "good luck"s.

Leading Gilles to where the Guard Captain was supposedly forming the scouting party, she approached the dwarf she remembered leading the guards around her home city and introduced herself to the group: "Hello sirs and madams, my name is Catherine of the House of Thranx she pointed to her mount and this is Gilles. I heard you were organizing a scouting party and I wanted to ask if we could be of any assistance."

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Elizabeth:

Elizabeth decided that there was no point in sleeping in and picked herself up, leaving the tent a few minutes after her sister. She already knew the nobles were coordinating the palisade construction, and she headed there. Still, it seemed that they either left or still haven't gathered, so she had to find another way to keep herself busy. Pulling up her skirt a little bit so that it wouldn't get in her way but without showing too much and making sure that the bandage on her head and the blood it covered were clearly visible, she approached the workers and asked if she could be of any assistance. Few recognized her face, but those who did mentioned who she was to the others who remembered her parents. Thanks to her fragile lady act she avoided the physical work, instead helping out the women that were carrying the lighter materials or food and water to the workers.

[TheMystic]

Once Hengist calms down and starts speaking common again he asks the cleric if there is any healing work left to be done and offers his assistance. Should none be found at this juncture he will see to the children and the infirm, making sure he knows who each is and trying to gather them near the eastern edge of the lake away from the forests edge. As he moves around Hengist

Dice Knowledge (The Planes):

1d20+7

(7)+7

Total = 14

considers their surroundings, and tries to infer anything about the plane and it's features or better yet it's location.

Pendra heads out of the cleric's tent and goes in search of someone who looks like their in charge, either to offer his aid, or to knock some sense into them, depending on who it is. Upon seeing the captain of the guard he takes the former option. "Captain, I am Pendra Genry. From the looks of it you're building embankments of spikes, I intend to see to the organization of the construction crews.

[OllieNorth]

As Errol heads to the tree line, Lord Iron turns to his fellow nobles. Obviously pleased with the performance of the survivors during the kobold attack, he seems energized. "All right. We have scouts out on the perimeter, and it seems we have at least something of a defense force. The first priority needs to be defense. It seems that everyone who won't make it is gone, and everyone left is at least reasonably hale." Stepping over to a cleared patch of dirt, he sketches out the area. "If we put our backs to the pond, we have one side covered, and easy water supply. Let's try for a square of palisade to begin with. Have very able bodied hand get to digging a trench and piling the dirt on the inside. Then put the palisade on top of that berm, we'll get more effect out of it. If we can get an archer tower or two up, that will help significantly." Circling an area on the far side from the pond, he points to it. "Latrines should go here, keep them from fouling our drinking water."

Looking up at the others, he raises an eyebrow. "If it looks a lot like a military camp, it is. Once we get established, we can look at spreading out some, but for now we need everyone close where we can defend. Anyone have any thoughts?"

[Saidande]

"Now wait, all of you" A voice calls out and you watch as a man is carried from one of the tents, his legs and one arm in splints. Lord Howard calls for all of you, the nobility and their charges, to gather. And is carefully set in a chair before he speaks again.

"The nobles will stay here with me. I have much to discuss now that I am awake and apprised to the situation. I want your charges to go out as a group, not individually, and preform a preliminary scout. For all we know this area is infested with dragons or worse, there is no reason to go out alone" He says, turning to Kallisto.

"I do not want any of our prisoners taken from the encampment. They will only serve to goad any kobolds in the woods into attacking to retrieve them. I would rather that happen when we are behind walls than when you are in the forest away from magical aid" He says, and his words are like iron.

"I highly doubt peace is to be made with them. I have dealt with kobolds before, they only honor agreements until they are inconvenient or until their lust for slaughter and depravity overtake them. I highly doubt these are any different. I am not saying we should not try, only that if you go into this thinking you can frighten them into subservience you will find yourself being torn apart. Gods forbid their clan is run by a dragon, we are ill prepared to fend off such an assault" He says, wincing as he shifts in the chair. He is obviously in pain but there does not seem to be anything that can be done for it.

"Rothbert is overseeing the building of our defenses, and given that he is a dwarf, and has been building such emplacements for better on a hundred years, we will leave the details of their construction to him. As to where we chose to defend, that is up to us. We must find where is best to stake our claim and build our town. I doubt we will be able to move from here, so we must defend this area as best we can until something more permanent can be created" At that Rothbert nods.

"Wards, gather your things, you will need to leave soon if you are to complete a circuit of the clearing before mid-afternoon. You lords and ladies that survived, meet me in my tent in fifteen minutes if you please" At that he is lifted from the chair and carried off, a cleric furious that he was brought from the tent in the first place.

"Ye herd im" Rothbert says with a quip.

"Form up, lets get to it!"

[Battlechaser]

Being pushed forward in his wheelchair by a commonor, Lord Cohen remembered his passage through the portal, Preston guarding him from harm, his head crushed by a flying rock. "Damn you, Preston. you should have let that rock hit me, my friend. I have had my life." A single tear rolled down his cheek.
Having reached the captain he hears an old battleaxe giving his speech. Cohen nodded and looked at his wheelchair "Well, this charade can end, we're all in the same heap of sheit together." So he stood up drawing startled looks and added "Boil the water before you drink it. You don't want to dig new latrines immediately." Smiling he continued "Put the children in the middle under the care of one or two adults. The older children can help out with small chores." Cohen turns to lord Iron "I agree with your reasoning of defense first. But we also need to keep the morale. If the will is good, men, and women off course, " he bows to the Ladies Kalliope and Elizabeth, "will perform much better and will endure more. Are there any bards or artist with us?"

[KnightHumanus]

* Edit - place post in chronological order prior to Lord Howard's speech.

Eyadin listens costly as Lord Iron speaks and scratches slightly at the stubble coming up on his face; duties at court having required him to keep clean shaven, he was considering growing a beard for the duration of this departure from everyday life. He broke into a jorous grin as he looked at the gruff dwarf, and the blue giant, and Errol... at the glory of how even the most disparate of people's, even dwarves and giant, found inwardly an innate desire to come together for the common good, and to bring order out of the chaos presented to them. True... There were those beings who held no such inward desire, but he felt confident that all the multiverse had an innate desire to order itself, and to create new patterns of reality, and to become increasingly complex - which Eyadin found to be the definition of goodness itself.

He studied the map Lord Iron drew, as he intently refocused his concentration on the task at hand. Drawing upon decades of study, Eyadin attempted recalling every military or colonial venture he had ever read of, and tried to recall to think of what the most efficient initial colony design was... He remembered the importance of tool making, and of the ability to work wood into different shapes, and of the importance of defensive formations. Lord Irons words hit dead on the head.

Looking over his shoulder, however, at Errol, Eyadin decided he would feel better taking off with the rest of those going into the woods than he would around those nobles making decisions about the camp. He did decide to say one thing before he left, however, but spoke to Lord Iron directly, [Bold]Your Lordship, if I may suggest but one addition to your plan, I would recommend that during our fist day of real effort, we go ahead and build us a woodworkers shop and a blacksmith shop. I am not too keen on exactly where we are at in regards to resources, but if we can afford to spare them, the resources would be put to good use building any future palisades, trenches, and the tools required to build them. I second the vote of Lord Iron's recommendation of exact palisade placement, whatever that may be, recognizing a far better military eye in him than is in me.[/Bold]

OoC Eyadin suggest that on the first building sequence, there be built a woodworker's shop, and a blacksmith's shop if possible. We have 3 sets of tools... 1 for woodworker's shop, 1 for blacksmith's shop, 1 for palisades. Plus 3 free palisades = Four palisades total, and starting our next building cycle we will be able to build two palisades per set of tools, plus we will be able to make new sets of tools. In the long run, I think it will be worth it.

* Edit - place post in chronological order prior to Lord Howard's speech.

[SinnerBeta]

Noticing the commotion and Lord Howard's return, Elizabeth exchanged partying words with the workers and told them of her need to leave for her duties. Walking up to the small crowd she fixed her skirt and exchanged simple nods with her sister just as Howard begun to speak.

She nodded gratefully when Cohen addressed her and added with a beautiful smile "I might not be a bard but I'm quite capable with a lute and a harp, not to mention I'm quite proud out of my singing voice. But I believe we'll have to discuss more pressing matters during our gathering first." She made a slight courteous bow and approached her sister for a talk. "So I see Gilles is quite alright ?"

"Why yes." answered Catherine with a smile since she was happy to see her sister on her feet already and giggled a bit her horse started nodding. "And I think he's happy that you asked."

"Well, he's quite a smart beast isn't he. Anyway, did you get accepted for this scouting mission ?"

"Umm, no. I mean, I just got here and noone had the time to answer me."

"I see. Well, just don't get hurt okay ?"

And so the twins spent a few minutes exchanging pleasantries and their observations until either interrupted or need somewhere else, as Elizabeth had to attend the meeting in fifteen minutes.