Operation Parameters
| Date |
1492 DR, 27 Flamerule
|
| Soldiers |
- Falyer
- Virgil
- Aceso
- Khyber
- Waldo
|
| Status |
|
| Casualties |
None |
Operation Details
Background:
Cpt. Rem informed us that there is a potential enemy force south-east of the camp, past the moonwell, that is setting up to take back the moon-well. Based on the very limited intel available, there was a suspected force of 30-40 enemies. Our mission was to go down to the camp, and learn everything possible about these enemies, their camp, patrols, and anything else of value.
At the last minute, a person named Waldo ran into camp. After a discussion with Cpt. Rem, and with Druid Durella's recommendation, he was added to our mission.
With our destination over 5 hours away, we left shortly after talking with the Cpt., at around 10:30am -- given the round trip of 10 hours if all went well, we needed to be mindful of the time. About an hour or two into the journey, we noticed a set of 3 torches a couple hundred feet ahead of the party. They were heading south but were slow enough that we were catching up on them. The group was quite loud with loud metal clanking, and metal noises. Our team decided to take a wide berth to the east to avoid the group. This allowed us to avoid a potential confrontation, which could have slowed us down, and tired out the team before reaching our destination.
This detour did lead us into a thick forest that was infested with snakes of every color. We were able to find a well-traveled animal travel, and then carefully tiptoed our way out of the snake infested area. Luckily no one in our group was bitten, and we were able to continue.
After traveling further, we came upon a high ridge that seemed to run north to south, and we were forced to head further south. A short time later Falyer noticed a torch on the top of the ridge. He was able to hush the party and sweep us into an adjacent hedge. We all froze and waited. The torch eventually disappeared but we couldn’t tell if it was extinguished or disappeared into the distance over the ridge.
To gain information on who was on the ridge, Hallbjorn decided to climb it, and was immediately attacked by a wolf. After dispatching of said wolf, Hallbjorn was able to see that there was smoke rising to the south-east, and an ocean to the east. Another member of the party attempted to also climb the ridge to get a better look but had an unfortunate fall. Given that one member of the party already fell, and there was still a dwarf and kobold in the party, it became evident that our chances of all climbing the ridge, at this point, wasn't worth the risk.
The team continued south, where the ridge began to shrink in height. Eventually it became approximately our height, and we started hearing loud thudding to the south. We decided to jump the ridge and backtrack north up the ridge to get a height advantage. This allowed us to avoid whatever was making that terrible thudding, and hopefully let us discerned what was causing the smoke to the south-east. After backtracking a decent distance up the inclining ridge, in a northern direction, we suddenly noticed the enemy camp. We all got very low, and quiet, and began observing.
The following information was determined:
hundreds of structures (likely close to 500)
construction of sentry towers in progress
seems that this force/camp is ramping up
no walls present at the camp yet
undead creatures that are wandering/meandering in the center of the camp
many carts seem to be providing supplies from the south
there is a fighting pit
pentagram, with people gathered there, unrecognizable mangled corpse in the center of the pentagram, some sort of active ritual, chanting...
hundreds of units
war machines
definitely a war force; likely to re-occupy moon well
the location is surrounded by forest
there is a high ridge on the north-west side of their camp
these forces are the same ilk that raised Waldo's home -- Snowden forces
well outfitted
rely HEAVILY on slaves
At this point a covered wagon began coming toward our direction. This seemed to be the only patrol/wagon heading in the northern direction in the entire time we were surveying the enemy camp. This patrol seemed to be a lone wagon, with a single driver, and something large covered in the back by a burlap sack of sorts. The driver was dressed in dark purple garb.
In order to gain more intel before engaging, the group maintained a 60 feet distance (dark vision limit) from the cart. Falyer stealthily approached from behind and was able to get to the back of the cart. He was able to see that the burlap sack was over some sort of large structure in a metal cart. He cut the burlap sack to see the contents, and the entire cover began to unthread/unravel, revealing two large metal boxes with slits that seemed to open and close at whim. Arrows immediately flew out from the metal slits at Falyer, in what we assumed was being manned by archers from within. The cart and wagon were all completely metal, along with the boxes, and seemed to be a sort of mobile trap or basic war implement.
A fight ensued with the two metal boxes, along with the driver of the cart. In the end we were able to knock out the driver but couldn’t do any significant (or any?) damage to whatever was in the box. Our abilities were limited to ranged arrows, close melee, and limited magic damage, so our ability to damage the boxes was limited. Soon after the driver was knocked out, a loud war horn bellowed from the cart. Given our proximity to the enemy camp, the team decided to immediately disengage, and head north-west back towards the camp. All members proceeded to run, with Khyber carrying the knocked-out hostage, while Virgil made a last-ditch effort to acquire one of the two horses. Virgil was able to successfully capture one of the horses, by the slimmest of margin, but was separated from the team during the effort as he headed northeast. With the speed of the newly acquired horse, Virgil was able to catch up with the team.
As we headed north-west, we eventually saw what seemed to be a sculpture in the distance, which we eventually determined was the moonwell. As we got closer, we saw that there were soldier's all over the place in a clashing combat. After our previous fight, we were in no shape to fight, so we made our best effort to stealth around the combat. The information we had gathered was far more valuable than the impact we would have had in this battle.
After leaving the battle behind, the team started looking for safe ground to recover and compose ourselves. In the end, we were able to find an area with a long flat stone wall that was shrouded by vines and foliage. After gagging, blinding, tying, and deafening our unconscious hostage, we proceeded take an hour to rest before continuing.
Just as we were to begin our rest, we noticed another cart heading from the west to the south. It had two horsed riders leading in front, two horsed riders in the back, and then the cart in the center. The cart was a large, barred cage, with what seemed to be human slaves, and not war prisoners. Our team knew that we had to return to the camp with the information and hostage we had but leaving those slaves behind weighed heavy on the team. We proceeded to rest in silence for our hour rest.
After the rest, the team continued our journey to the north-west. In the distance, the team noticed two large mammoths passing in the distance (400 or 500 feet away), but once again, the team made the decision to avoid them at a distance. Our top priority was to bring back the critical information to the camp.
Our last encounter involved a sickly old man (human -- based on an ability by one of the rangers), with a clump of hair missing, and a leather cap on a horse. He asked if we were from the abandoned ship that showed up overnight; east/south of here. After one of the members mentioned we were from the soldier's camp, he seemed to hastily move on -- heading west.
We arrived back at the camp at ~10:30pm and provided Cpt. Rem with the unconscious hostage for interrogation, along with all the highlights of all the critical information detailed in this report. The team hopes the information gathered in this mission can help us against this vast and unexpected force. We hope the hostage could also be a source of additional information, while his clothes be used for possible infiltration.
