Beginnings of a Hasty Plan
In the morning I had breakfast and did some training. Before lunch I made my way out of the city making sure to take back alleys and use my Cloaking spell to go unnoticed. With confidence that I wasn't being followed I took the road leading west from Torinheim. A few hours outside of the city I came across Thelora, Hrothgar, Feadr, and a few others moving at a slow pace.
"We've been waiting for you to catch up. Is Lariss coming?" Feadr asked.
"She's waiting for us further ahead." I replied. He had a disappointed look that told me he forgot about their interaction back in the marsh.
We continued on our way and tried to avoid towns and villages as much as possible. When night came we camped out in the wild. There was a good chance Bornhilda had people along the major roads to keep an eye out for those headed to her hideout.
After another two days of travel we arrived at the meeting place with everyone else. There were around ten bandits along with Lariss and Vesta. The two of them were separate from the bandits and from each other. I now found myself in the predicament of who to approach first as they both looked my way expectantly.
"You could just call them to you." Thelora leaned in and whispered in my ear in a manner that implied a close familiarity between us.
"Lariss, Rhea, could you come here?" The two looked towards each other as they made their way towards me while also eyeing Thelora.
Vesta, who had told me to call her Rhea for this mission, was wearing a dark cloak with the hood pulled low along with a leather mask that covered most of her face. Zephyr also had a different illusion over his body.
Once we were all gathered I started to go over the plan.
"We're still a day away from the keep. We'll set out before dawn tomorrow and take a few hours to rest before attacking in the middle of the night. Thelora do you think you can find us a good way in?" I said.
"Based on what I know of the place there should be a few good entry points." She said.
"Good. It will be me, you, Lariss, Cedric, and Feadr going on. Hrothgar, you'll lead the distraction outside with Rhea giving support." I said.
"Alright." Hrothgar replied hesitantly and Vesta just nodded.
"Lariss, were you able to find any monster dens in the area?" I asked.
"There's a lot of smaller monsters like jackalopes but if you're looking to use any as a distraction then there's only a pack of Breldur wolves about two miles from the keep." She replied.
"Hmmm, that would be tough. I had planned to pull them past the keep on the opposite side that we're going to enter but I don't know if we have any mounts that would be able to keep ahead of them." I looked around the group but paused a bit longer on Vesta. I didn't want to put her on the spot to use Zephyr but he was the only one that would be able to keep ahead of them.
"I can handle that." Vesta spoke with a different voice.
"Thank you." I said.
"Lariss and I should head out soon so that we can scout the keep itself. We'll meet back up with you on the way to the next rendezvous point." Thelora said.
"We'll see you there." I said.
That night was uneventful and before the sun rose we set out splitting into a few smaller groups and made our way through the backcountry avoiding any major roads, as well as towns and villages.
"This is absolutely insane. You don't have the numbers and your plan could go wrong in so many ways." Vesta said as we traveled together.
"You're not wrong. It's a huge risk." I replied.
"Then why are you going through with it? When we first met you were very cautious about not being noticed. More and more you keep pulling people's attention to you." She asked.
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts into the proper words. "Shortly after we first met I accepted that my life wouldn't be ordinary and that hiding forever wouldn't work. So I could either take control of my destiny or let destiny take control of me."
"Firstly you're talking as if you're a hero of legend and not a… simple adventurer." I had a feeling she was going to reference my true heritage. "Secondly, even if you are destined to be a hero, there's a difference between forcing destiny and controlling it. Just because you throw yourself into danger doesn't mean that you and those around you are destined to come out of it unscaved."
I didn't have a response to that. She was making a good point. This entire plan had been rushed because I wanted to have control over the situation and in my mind the hero always prevailed. But she was right, just because I was destined didn't mean that everything would work out how I wanted it to. Anything could go wrong.
"You have a point. I'll need to be more careful in the future." I said.
She stiffened and while I couldn't see her face I think she was shocked. "Well, just as long as you understand."
"If you thought the plan was so insane from the beginning, why did you go along with it?" I asked.
"Because you're less likely to die if I'm helping you. And I've read mission reports of crazier plans succeeding." She said. "But don't think that I'll go along with every stupid idea you have. If you keep being an idiot, I'll just learn to ignore you."
"I'll try not to reach that point. Having you around brings me comfort that my insane plan might actually succeed." I replied and she only grumbled a response.
Soon we all started to meet back up. Most of our people took what time we had to rest. Shortly before night set in, Lariss and Thelora met back up with us.
"It took a lot longer than I hoped but we found a place on the north side of the keep. There's enough tree cover close by that we can wait for a gap in the watch to sneak to a small sally port. The door is aged and it looks like they tried to hide it behind some boulders. There are some wards set up around it, but Feadr and I should be able to handle them." Thelora reported. I was a little surprised at how willing she had become to follow my lead.
"Alright. Rhea you'll need to time the pack of Breldur wolves passing by the southside of the keep about an hour after nightfall. Hrothgar keep everyone else back and start a siege about an hour after that. Stick to hit and run tactics with Rhea using powerful long ranged attacks to soften them up. I also have these for you." I pulled out the two ceramic jars and handed them over to Hrothgar. "Use them on any groups that you can. We want them to believe that you're just testing the defenses for a larger attack later on."
After giving a few more minor instructions our groups headed out. Thelora, Lariss, Cedric, Feadr and myself towards the north side of the keep and Vesta with Zephyr towards the Breldur wolf den.
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"You don't think I know that. Anything could go wrong." Vesta said to Zephyr's complaint.
The unicorn neighed again.
"I don't understand it either." She said. "I just feel like helping him. And you have no room to complain since you're the one that convinced me to give him a chance in the first place."
The following neigh was accusatory.
"I am not. He is just a fascinating man and I had nothing better to do." She said.
A neigh that felt like an eye roll came next.
"Oh shove it." Was her reply. "Besides if he isn't already interested in that elf archer then he's interested in that other woman, she's all mysterious and... Of course someone like him is going to attract capable women."
Zephyr gave a comforting neigh.
"Thank you." She said. "There's just too much risk for us to interact more than we already are."
The two of them went quiet as they got closer to where Lariss told them the den was. Vesta was surprised at how accurate she had been. Lariss had pointed in the exact direction, gave them an exact distance, and pointed out several unique landmarks that they had passed to guide them. Even if Zephyr wasn't a unicorn with an excellent sense of direction, Vesta was sure she'd find where she was going even in the darkness.
As they approached the area Zephyr extended his illusion to give them the same benefits of a Cloaking spell. The den was a small hollow with a cave on one end. A few of the larger wolves were sleeping in the hollow, smoke and even the occasional small flame would escape their nostrils.
When the time came, Vesta prepared a powerful spell. Around her mana core six water motes began to rotate, followed by three air motes and two fire motes. Advanced ice spells used fire motes to pull more of the heat away, making the effect even colder. A blast of frost coated the area wounding the sleeping wolves. As the spell took hold, ice crystals expanded, piercing the monster's flesh and creating a field of ice spikes.
A terrifying howl came from the cave as close to a dozen fire breathing wolves stormed out, melting the ice spell as they went. Zephyr altered his illusion once more allowing them to sense and follow him as he tore back towards the keep.
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On top of the wall surrounding the keep one of the watchmen saw brief flashes of red and orange light coming from the forest in the far. As it got closer the cries of wolves started up and he saw that the light was caused by fire.
"Let the captain know there's a pack of monsters headed this way." He told another watchman.
After a bit of grumbling the other man left. Within a few minutes the south part of the wall had twice as many people standing on it. They watched as a Frosilr elk came storming close to the walls before turning, each step leaving a trail of frost and ice. Following closely behind, a pack of Breldur wolves breathing fire came rampaging after the elk. Some of the flames scorched the sides of the keep.
"Don't worry lads, they're just after their prey. Just make sure one doesn't decide that we're an easier snack." The watch captain said.
To make sure that the pack didn't try to breach the walls the captain pulled some watchman away from other parts of the wall. Even those that weren't on the southside were distracted by the howls and bright flames coming from that direction. Those walking on the northside were unaware of a small group of people sneaking up to the unmanned sally port.