M.A.G.U.S. adventures - in the land of the Six Cities (2)

Introduction

Again, some time had passed since the last session - but at least, we had time to come up with a sensible plan. We fleshed out the details, then swung into action. We relied on the help of the friendly inkeeper. We threw enough gold at him to secure his "friendship", and hoped that our employer would return our funds.

Getting into the fort

We dressed up as peasants, and we brought fowl to the kitchens. Of course, we didn't have time to gather enough pheasants, so we arrived carrying all manner of assorted birds. We got what we deserved from the kitchen wenches.

By the time we got rid of our payload, it was getting dark. Phempheus had the job of creating a distraction, while Aegon and Wilborin dug out the weapons hidden in the vegetable garden (thanks to the help of the innkeeper). We had at our disposal: 1 sword, 1 halberd, 2 vials of combat drugs, 10 poisoned throwing daggers. No armor.

Diversion

Our first choice was the firewood, stored near the kitchens. The firemage had to light it up. He managed to conjure lots of small fires among the wood, which had successfully spread, before someone alerted the guards.

Rescuing the prisoners

Taking advantage of the confusion, we made our move on the dungeons. There were 2 soldiers on guard; we charged at them. With an augmented Psi-charge, Wilborin swung his halberd, running one of them through. The others killed the other guard. I tried to torture some information out of him before he died, but he had suffered heavy brain damage, so I was unsuccessful. We put on the armor of the dead guards, then opened the door and got the prisoners out.

Getting out of the fort

The inner courtyard was filled with soldiers desperately trying to put out the fire. It was an excellent distraction, but it did not offer a way out. Every gate of the double stone wall was shut.

To increase the time at our disposal, Phempheus applied more fire magic. The fire grew by several meters, engulfing several nearby buildings.

The guards of the inner gate were awed by the fiery spectacle. We managed to lift the keys off of them, before they ran to join the fire brigade.

The outer gates had another two soldiers on guard. Wilborin drank a vial of combat drugs, then charged at them, screaming wildly. Yet again, a soldier was run through immediately. The other one soon got reinforcements, but the adventurers handled them, and managed to open the gates - but not before Phempheus received a large cut to his side. Carrying the unconscious firemage, the party ran out of the fort.

Escape

We didn't know how would we exit the fort, so we had reserved two separate avenues of escape. If we had found a way to exit towards the noble quarter of the city, we had a safe house at our disposal, disguised as a noble's mansion. Alas, we had found ourselves in the sewers instead. We met up with a guide hired by the innkeeper, who led us to the poor quarter, outside the city walls. We took shelter in an empty hut.

Unfortunately, we managed to drop Phempheus on the way, and his open wound got infected.

A hard night

During the dark of the night, in an unknown city, we did not brave the streets. We had to wait in the hut until morning. We had no medicine at our disposal. We tried to keep the firemage warm with our own body heat, so that at least he couldn't get worse. Of course, this meant that neither of us slept well. (And by that I mean that we didn't regenerate anything, as one normally would during a long rest.)

Escape from the city

In the morning, we met up with our guide. He and Aegon brought our gear and medicine for the firemage while I stood watch. Then we realized that the stonemason, who was supposed to join us, had no idea where we were. Furthermore, we had no means of escape without a cart or horses. We gave some money to the guide to warn the master mason (who had indeed reached us at nightfall). Then we sent him to buy a cart. To assure that he wouldn't run with the money, Aegon cast an imaginary (though very scary sounding) curse on him. He found an ox instead of a donkey, but at this point, we were happy with basically anything.

The journey home

We kept travelling at night, resting during the day. Phempheus was recovering well, lying in the cart. Thanks to our carefulness, we had a single run-in with the soldiers searching for us. We spotted the riders from afar, and stood near the wagon, awaiting the charge. The ox is grazing peacefully to the side.

Wilborin successfully "halberded" a rider.
Phempheus launched a fireball, which made a horse buck and throw off its rider. Close combat followed, but the soldier managed to escape.
Aegon conjured lightning, also managing to confuse the horse. The thrown-off soldier had a short fight with the warlock, who kept throwing daggers at him from the safe cover of the cart. They held off each other, until Wilborin put the man down with his halberd.
Of course, we couldn't afford to leave survivors, so I jumped on a horse and hunted down the escaped soldier.

Arrival

We were well received by our employer. He immediately put the stonemason to work, and we were rewarded for a job well done.