IC-Scene: Eastcrown

The person at the end of the Corridor moves around a bit and sits up straight.

"You have to come and get me, I can't move with my leg."

A weird laugh is followed after that, he seems to be very exhausted. Judging from the blood on the floor he certainly lost a lot.

Reiner frowned. And why would your leg be hurt? The arrow struck one of the men who ran in the arm not the leg. Shrugging he turend back to his men. We go and get him. The rangers will open and clear the rooms as we pass, 2 militia will join them. Reiner started down the hall, his borrowed shield held out in front of him.

A big grin appeared on the face of the man and he stood up.

"Damn you Silvermist, you will die today."

He begins to charge you with his sword in hand. Only a few meters in front of you he starts to throw a knife, it isn't very accurate but it still gets your attention. At the same time the doors to your left and right open and 4 men in red Robes appear, all with swords in hand.

Spoiler:

Reiner had expected something like this, a target at the end of a long corridor alone? It seemed a bit too good to be true. Taking a step forwards to get within sword range of the men that were at the doors, He raised the shield to try and stop the knife being flung while swinging his blade in a horizontal arc at neck level of one of the red clad men to his right, wanting an opponent out of the fight quickly to make things a bit more in favor of him and his men. Rangers, Militia, defend yourselves!

The knife hits your shield and then falls to the ground. It wasn't thrown strong, it was only used to distract you. And now you notice why, as your sword swings through the air at the enemy to your right the one who charged you jumps and tries to hit you you from above, he is only going for you in complete disregard of the men behind you. Meanwhile the tip of your sword cuts through the throat of the one you are attacking. Clearly he hasn't expected this, a fountain of blood leaves him as he tries to keep the cut closed with his hands.

Spoiler:

OOC: no I see it, disregard the group at the top left, they are inside the house

Your defense was successful but you are not able to stop the momentum of the charge. With a loud noise he crashes into you, both of lie on the floor for a few moments, unable to move because of the impact. But that is enough time for your men to advance and drive the enemies back into the rooms. The one on the right is just overwhelmed by the skill of a Ranger and two spears to his side. On the other side the fight takes a bit longer but as the two members of the brotherhood are faced with arrows pointing at their heart they let their weapons drop and yield.

As you come to your senses the fight is over. The one who charged you is has two spears pointing at his throat. One of the Rangers helps you back to your feet.

"Are you alright? Two of them dead and 3 Captured. I already told them to put them in chains and get them downstairs. I will check the other rooms and then get down as well."

Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Here, take this back, it certainly proved its worth. Reiner handed the shield back to the the militia he had borrowed it from. The two rangers will search the rest of the upstairs, 2 militia will go with each ranger, the rest will go back to the first level and prepare to move the prisoners back to the Keep. Hopefully, the other groups met with the same amount of success that we did. And had as few casualties as well. Reiner thought to himself as he descended the stairs to get to the ground level once again.

You are only half way down the stairs when you hear shouts.

"Where is Sir Alaric, we need help at the Alsmhouse."

He looks over to the stairs and sees you coming down.

"Sir Alaric, we need all the men you can spare at the Alsmhouse, we found their hideout. The Captain is Injured and we have 7 dead and 5 more wounded. Messengers are already on the way to the other locations. Please follow me fast."

Reiner nodded to the man. Of course, we were just finishing up here. Ranger. He pointed at the one on the ground level. You will come with me and the militia coming down the stairs behind me to reinforce the detachment at the Almshouse. The militia on this floor will take the prisoners back to the keep with the 2 remaining rangers upstairs after they are finished sweeping the top floor. What are we standing around for? Get to it!

Reiner pushed the man who had come to get reinforcements out the door, following close behind. Lead on.

You run through the narrow streets, it doesn't take you long until you see the the Roof of the Almshouse rise over the other houses. A huge crowd has gathered in front of the entry. You see some Militia keeping them at distance. As you enter into the hallway you notice the smell of blood. The messenger leads you to the right until you see the Captain leaning against the wall. He notices you and manages a smile. You see a crossbow bolt stuck in his shoulder.

"Sir Alaric there you are. We have found their hideout. Over there " he walks a few meters and nods in the general direction. " We cleared all other floors until we found this. We opened it but they expected us. The three men who opened it died with bolts in their bodies. I grouped everyone together and we tried to charge them but they were more than we thought, 5 more died and 3 were injured so we retreated. I stationed some Archers close to the hole so they don't surprise us."

Spoiler:

OOC: You have 4 Ranger, 25 Militia Archers, 9 Militia Spearmen, reinforcements on the way

Reiner nodded at the captain. I see. It's not going to be easy to drive these rats out of their holes. We don't have much of a choice on what to do about this, we either go down there and get them or just burn the Almshouse down altogether, and that second choice really isn't a viable one.

Very well. Here is what we are going to try. I want as many archers as possible looking over the team that is going down, if they see anything moving down there at the end of the passage they shoot. The Silvermists will lead, the spearmen will follow. Naturally, everyone in the first few rows will have a shield if possible. This isn't a charge, we move slowly and steadily, they aren't going anywhere and we have as much time as we need. Reiner paused as a thought came to him. Captain, how far down there did you get? If you got past the stairwell can you tell me anything about what the lay of the land is like?

"The way down is only wide enough for 2 men to walk besides each other. They have build a barricade about 2 meters after the end of the stairs, last time we checked they had 6 Crossbowmen stationed there. Before the barricade leaves a way to the right, propably deeper into the cellar but we have no idea what lies beyond."

The Captain looks around and kicks a shield which is lying on the floor.

"Our Shields are not as strong as the ones of your Rangers and some of them are already broken due to the first charge. The men are afraid to die, they are not trained for battle like your Rangers."

Spoiler:

Hm. I understand, these men are not soldiers, I have been asking them to do things that they do not have the training for. That they have done this well is a credit to them and you Captain. Reiner looked at the door down to the cellar and appeared to be thinking about something before speaking again. They are cowering down there like rats, so why don't we try smoking them out like a pack of rats? Make them come to us instead of heading down there like lambs to the slaughter.

Reiner turned to the rangers behind him. Borrow some bows and arrows from the militia archers and start taking potshots at those cowards while I think, show them there is a reason that the Silvermists are known for their archery. Reiner turned back to the captain. Is there a way that we can create a very smoky fire and throw it down there to smoke them out? Give them a choice between coking to death on the smoke or coming out here to meet us on even ground? Like stuff a sturdy barrel with oiled rags and throw it down the steps at them? Or is that too risky and likely to set the place afire?

The Captain thought for a second. And looked at the wooden floor.

"If the fire is too big we will set the whole house on fire and with it the rest of the city. Everything is made out of wood and the houses are close together. A small fire could distract them for a short time. These men are only afraid on dying, if you give them a plan that sounds better than charge and most propably die they will follow."

Just after the Captain was finished some reinforcements arrived.





OOC: 2 More Rangers and 10 Spearmen as Reinforcements

Reiner looked towards the door to the cellar again before straightening suddenly, as if shocked. Of course! The only reason they we are having so much trouble here is because there is only one way into that cellar! We just need to make a few new entrances.

As the reinforcements poured into the almshouse, Reiner got their attention and pointed at the floor. Start ripping up the floorboards in many different locations, we are going to drop right down onto their heads, take away their advantage and their killing field.

As the men tear up the floor, Reiner turned to the militia behind him. Alright, there are still 2 at the bottom of the stairs. Fortunately, we now outnumber them 6 to 1 in archers alone, so that is what we are going to use. When I start down the stairs, fire, keep their heads down long enough so that I and these 6, Reiner pointed at the spearmen who would follow him down, don't get shot. Reiner looked over to see how the teams were doing with the floors and was pleased to see the work as completed. Taking a shield, the one with the least damage he could find, from one of the deceased militiamen from the earlier assault, Reiner saluted the storming parties by the holes with his longs sword before nodding.

NOW! Throwing his shield in front of him, Reiner charged down the steps, soon out of the line of fire so the archers behind could follow his instructions.

Your sword enters the mans neck and you are covered in the blood gushing forth. But instead of beheading him your sword gets stuck and you loose balance. You shield misses its target and you tumble to the ground atop the man you hit in the neck. The other one was surpised to see you coming around the corner so fast, but as he fall to ground he sees his chance and gets out a dagger. In his rage he forgets that there a still several archers aiming for him. To his surprise he pierced by 3 arrows and crashes against the wall, dying. As you get up you see the battle in the cellar already over. You men are standing atop the bodies of the slain enemys.

"Sir Alaric, we killed them all, it is over."

The men are looking around the room as they find another door leading to a tunnel which extends for farther than you can see.

Reiner picked himself up off of the corpse he had fallen on top of and wiped the worst of the blood out of his eyes. Nodding at the man who had spoken, he began issuing some new orders. Well done. Now.... militia, secure the entrance to that tunnel and do NOT go inside of it. Rangers, search the bodies for any information along with those crates along the walls over there. And someone tell the Captain we have secured the cellar. Now where is my bloody sword?!

Looking about, he saw his sword still stuck in the body of the Brotherhood Guildsman. Taking the hilt in both hands he gave it a solid and sharp pull, reclaiming his blade before walking over towards the tunnel entrance, cleaning the blade off on a scrap of cloth he had taken from the body and trying not to think of how difficult it was going to be to get his armor clean once this things had quieted down.

The Captain came slowly down the stairs, he managed a short smile but the pain in his shoulder returned and he flinched for a second.

"I can't believe the build a hideout right under my nose, I am deeply ashamed that I let this happen. Please accept my apologies."

He held his head low as he stood before Alaric.
Just a second after he finished on of the Militia called them all over.

"Captain, would you please look at what we found."

The Captain turned around and looked at the man, he was holding green tabard in his hands. He couldn't believe his eyes, there was a Fleur de Lys set on it. He had to exchange multiple looks between the real Silvermist clothing and the fake one to notice the difference. He didn't know what to say, and only stood there for a time.

Reiner looked at the fake tabard for a moment, considering what it might mean.

It would seem that we stumbled upon a part of that plan that was going to take place. Apparently they needed access to something that only the Silvermists could get to.

Reiner reached out and took the fake tabard from the militia, looking for something like a weavers mark or other identification as to who made it, unless the Brotherhood suddenly became master weavers it made sense to him that a guild or organization had made the materials for this disguise.

Your search didn't bring you any further, there is no sign of who made this clothing but it is of low quality. It wouldn't stand any closer inspection by guards or real Silvermists. As you are putting it back you feel a gust of wind coming from the still closed door.

"Sir Alaric, if you will excuse me, I think I will have to see the Medicus now. I will await you at first light in my quarters."

He manages a slight bow and walks away slowly.