S3E12: Death on the Reik – The Castle's Outer Bailey

Recap: The villager numbers thinned by the soldiers and beastmen attack in the woods. Then more lost to a monster within the cave. Sigrid and Hilda only have 8 other outlaws left to aid Agnes’ Orphans on their assault of the castle. They huddle within a dilapidated storage building within the outer bailey of the castle, peering outside where dozens of missing villagers (now mutants) amble around in the mud of the now falling rain.

Rega (Bill) dwarf Investigator

Brandiwyn (Tony) RiverWarden

Mallorhan (Brian) wood-elf Messenger…holy crap, he’s here!

Gary (Matt) Warrior/Cavalryman

Sister Agnes (Duane) noble, Warrior Priestess of Shallya

Katja (Geoff) noble, Entertainer/Bounty Hunter

Fan out and Cover! “Recognize anyone?” Hilda fearfully looked for her father but only saw men “absent since that fateful storm night 2 years ago.” Gary used his spyglass and paused at a 3-eyed beggar clutching a potato with its own eyes growing long. “He’s so emaciated, why hasn’t he eaten the thing?! He cradles it like a lover.” Brandi punned, “Love is in the eyes of the beholder. Can’t trust them not to sound alarm. I say we pretend to be beggars and fan out. Sigrid, take half your men and angle right toward that stable [S2] and then on to the church [S3]. Don’t bunch up; wander to arrive separately. We’ll angle left toward the front gate [A2] where there should be guards.” Rega handed out old grain sacks he’d scavenged within the storeroom, “Sigrid’s men already look like beggars. We can put these over our armor to look the same.”

Sigrid’s group found an abandoned smithy [S1] now occupied with 2-headed rats scurrying about. The upstairs was an empty living quarter. At least they got a better view from the upper windows… a 3-floor guardhouse [A3] across the courtyard. The stable [S2] included a fancy coach and 6 stabled horses. But these horses were covered in weeping sores along with mutations.

Meanwhile, Agnes’ Orphans and 5 outlaws wandered toward their stable [A1] climbing the outside stairs to the loft. Stealth? Gary’s heavy armor betrayed them as a voice sang out from within, “No beggars up here!” Gary entered in a beggar’s pose but paused at sight of the farrier glowing green. Brandi barged in with pistol drawn and finger to his lips, “Shhh. No alarm if you want to live. Where’s the warpstone?” The man was dumbfounded. Agnes listened at outer window and heard guards along the gate ramparts laughing at the sight of flames rising from Wittgendorf in the distance, “Foodless and now homeless. They’ll be easy catch tomorrow.” Gary pointed at their prisoner, “Gag him and tie him up.” Brandi pretended to search to be the last to leave, arching his blade across the captives’ throat as he whispered, “You didn’t really want to continue living like this. Death is better for you.”

Mallorhan snuck toward the guard tower closest to the gate. He silently opened the door…and found 4 guards playing cards staring at him. Awkward. Till one barked, “Get your mutated beggar ears out of here!” The elf backed out. 

Gary and Brandi readied their pistols each at a separate entry door “as a threat only. We don’t want to sound the alarm.” They opened the doors allowing Katja and Mallorhan to twang bolt and arrow to begin the attack. The others rushed into melee. Tight quarters. The elf fired over the dwarf swinging his flail as Katja had to wait for her opening to loose another bolt. Hearts pounded as the skirmish continued, concern other guards might hear and join the fight. Finally, Agnes tended Brandi’s right arm wounded [critical] under the cleaved armor.

Single file they crossed over the crenelated rampart above the gate to reach the other guards in their tower. The guards too busy cackling at the burning village. This time Mallorhan listened at the door before entering to surprise the single guard. The elfbow arrow sank into his chest, releasing the man’s cry of pain. From above, “What’s going on down there?!” The sound of a door opening prompted Brandi to respond [entertain +4], “Fucking rain ruined my sandwich.” Laughter, “Moldy bread and rat flesh…rain will do it good.”

The others readied to ambush as Brandi called out, “Damn horses are out of the stable. Come help me round them up.” [failed entertain] They replied, “Fuck the horses, that’s Roesak’s job. We’re watching the village burn.” Change of plans, “Let me come watch.” They climbed the stairs single file, Brandi then Gary then the others. Brandi barreled into one surprised guard, knocking him over the wall. Axes, blades, bolts, and arrows sang out as they clashed. Quick work. Agnes gathered blades from their armory to prop the soldiers back into position guarding the gate. She happened to glance at the rising distant smoke from Wittgendorf.

But she was rattled at the sight of 6 gibbets below, lining the road up to the gate. One villager still clinged to life. She implored Mallorhan to end his misery, but the elf declined, “I’m counting my few arrows as it is.”

They spotted Sigrid across the courtyard and signaled her advance toward the church [S3] as they continued toward the guardhouse [A2]. Not before sending their outlaws into the far stable [S2] for covering bow-shots. That’s when the 3-eyed man intercepted Sigrid as he nestled the potato to his chest. “From my lady across the bridge. She visits often. I saw her eye me and drop this potato just for me. I’m her secret lover. I’m prepared to cross the bridge with her to consummate our love. Others have crossed following the soldiers. But she’ll come for me herself.” Sigrid could only smile and wish him well as she led her men toward the church.

Meanwhile, Agnes’ Orphans crept along the wall under the 3-story guardhouse. All cringed at the creaks of Gary’s armor as they slipped under the ‘murder-holes’ of the guardhouse and its open windows above with pots poised in the openings. Boiling oil? They were just about in position around the corner and within sight of the bridge access to the inner bailey of the castle when Rega whispered, “What’s all that noise? Anyone else hear yelling and banging at the church doors?” Brandi signaled for the other outlaws (covering from the far stable) to join them.

Unbeknownst to them, Sigrid entered the church to find cobwebs dressing 3 skeletons in full plate armor. Only when she stepped closer did the outer doors slam shut and the skeletons come to life! Fear swept the room as her men clawed at the locked doors as Sigrid commanded, “Then cut it down!” She rushed past the slower skeletons to open the door behind them. Only to face 3 more skeletons. “Oh fuck!” She pulled it shut. With her back against the door, she fought the 3 skeletons. Valiant effort for naught as one skeleton cleaved her right hand. She painted the room red with arterial spray before collapsing dead. Her men swung harder at the door with their axes.

Agnes’ Orphans snuck across the opening toward the church, mindful of soldiers lining the bridge ramparts. They almost made it, till the church doors burst open and an outlaw scrambled out, “Help!” Agnes urged the outlaw to be quiet but too late as bolts zipped all around from the bridge ramparts. More windows from the guardhouse 2^nd floor opened as soldiers scanned the scene. And spotted the outlaws crossing the courtyard. Crossbow bolts chased the men back into the stable for cover and return fire. Meanwhile, Katja and Mallorhan took cover to range attack the bridge soldiers as Brandi rushed up the guardhouse steps, calling for Gary to join him.

But Gary rushed toward the church instead, passing Rega also running that way. Gary shuttered at the sight of now 6 skeletons as he commanded the last outlaws still trapped inside, “Get out now.” He fired ‘Bessey’ (his blunderbuss) at the undead, cracking many bones. And that’s when Rega arrived, shrugged off the sight of undead, yelled “Fire in the hole” as he rushed inside to crouch behind a short wall after throwing a lit bomb. “Oh Shit!” Outside, Gary just had time to duck behind the door, … “BOOM!!”

Smoke billowed from the church doors. Gary entered and strained to see thru the smoke, “Rega? You still alive?” But the dwarf was deaf from the blast. Gary heard movement. The smoke parted to reveal a large skeleton standing before him. Gary swung his blade… a might blow… that didn’t even stagger his foe. “Oh shit. AGNES!”

Katja, Mallorhan, and Brandi with pistols kept the bridge soldiers busy, thinning their ranks. Allowing Agnes to rush to the call. She hefted her might hammer at the undead. Bones cracked yet the undead seemed to find strength to rage harder. [gains advantages if hit in melee] Deaf but not blind, Rega joined the attack with his throwing axe. [minor wounds but more importantly removed its advantages] Two outlaws entered the fight to avenge the death of Sigrid. Cannon fodder to lessen wounds on the heroes. Gary and Agnes swung with all their might as Rega hit with his last axe which hacked away more of its armor. The skeleton stood defiantly over the shorter Gary and hacked mercilessly. Which allowed Agnes to deliver the fatal blow. The skeleton: a collapsed set of broken bones inside bent and hacked plate armor.

Outside, the battle raged on. Soldiers at the guardhouse windows thinned the ranks of outlaws firing from the cover of the stable. One such outlaw, Franc, snuck out to then climb the walls of an adjacent building to gain access to a side window of the guard-house. He dared to peek inside to warn, “There’s almost a dozen inside!”

With the bridge ramparts now silent and abandoned, Agnes’ Orphans climbed the stairs single file. Brandi tried to force the locked door but bruised his shoulder more than broke wood. At the end of the line, Rega called out, “Let me up. I can unlock it.” They lifted him over their heads as he ‘body surfed’ to the front. And unlocked the door, tumbling inside. Brandi charged in to face a crossbow leveled at him… enough pause for Brandi to get the drop. The heroes rolled into the room and began their assault.

Meanwhile, Franc braved another look thru the window and took aim at the Lieutenant commanding from the rear. “Twang.” A solid hit. But fear raced over Franc as Lt Shif Doppler’s head spun 360 degrees to reveal his grinning, rotting, face. Franc ran along the roof to jump for safety. He didn’t make it. Shif leaned out the window and fired his bolt into the departing outlaw who tumbled off the roof, dead.

Once again, Agnes’ Orphans had to deal with another choke point: a single door to the 2^nd floor guard room. Mallorhan stayed at distance firing arrows over his allies, targeting the Lt. Brandi entered first only to be hit by 2 soldiers (left leg and left arm). Two more engaged Rega as he stepped in (hit left leg). Katja pressed into the room engaging in melee. Gary stepped in to cleave Katja’s foe dead. And Agnes too entered, swinging her Warhammer. It took awhile for them to win the battle. At the cost of Brandi slumped on the floor trying to pour a potion down his own throat. A critical hit to his left arm that caused bleeding, now staunched by the potion. Agnes knelt to treat him, “You have a damaged artery just under the skin. You’ll need surgery I can’t perform. You best stick with your ranged weapons till we find a real doctor.”

They searched the dead soldiers and guardhouse. Katja pulled back from the lieutenant as she removed its silvered mask to reveal its decaying flesh. Gary search its pockets and held up a key, “Looks like to the gatehouse.” In the kitchen below, they found a chained beggar. If one of the soldiers was still alive, he’d tell them he the dinner bell for the other beggars, “Pull the chain and he yells in pain, calling the others forward.” Upstairs, in the lieutenant’s bedroom, they found the severed head of a beastman on the bed. Agnes looked with disgust at the obvious sex-toy and began to pour oil. Brandi stopped her, “OK, the bomb blast and our pistol fire might have sounded the alarm. But setting this guardhouse on fire will definitely signal the castle has been breached. Can you wait till we’ve cleared out the entire castle? At least find and deal with the warpstone meteorite. And that bitch Lady Margritte.”

Only Hilda and 2 outlawmen remained. And they still had 2 castle baileys to confront. How many more soldiers stood before them? What other mutants roamed the halls? Surely, there must be beastmen about. The warpstone on display and corrupting, mutating the soldiers even at distance! “We best deal with this quickly. I’d rather not grow a third eye and become in love with a potato."

Next Session: https://rigglewwh.blogspot.com/2022/01/s3e13-enemy-withindeath-on-reik-inner.html