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Tiptoe through the Tulips - Mission Progression: Riverside Province
Wyrm
- 25 Jun 2007
The group was still catching Angela up on all the recent
occurrences when they made their way down a hill to the path that would take them
to the White Mantle fortification where the Scepter of Orr was. It was almost
pitch black that night, which meant it would be easier for them to move around
unnoticed. Additionally, the guards seemed to be more interested in gossiping
with each other than they were at paying attention to their posts. That's not
to say they were completely inept, just more-so than usual. They hit what they
thought would be their first snag when they reached a tunnel, and the only way
through was guarded by knights.
"I
guess we don't have any choice but to fight them," said Buffy. "Let's
go then," said Sanskirt. "Wait
a second," said Stargazer. "Wait
for what?" said Sanskirt. "Undead
are coming," said Vex. "I can feel their lifeless bodies approaching." "Really?"
said Arty. "That
and there was someone before we left that was talking about there being an undead
infestation here," said Stargazer. "Doesn't
that just mean more work for us?" said Angela, still getting her head around
everything that had been going on. "The
White Mantle hate the undead more than they hate us," said Stargazer. "Which
means if we wait, we can just let them fight it out and then walk past." "Sounds
like a plan to me," said Arty. "Let's
go then," said Sanskirt. "No,"
said Stargazer. "The plan is to wait, not rush in." "Oh
fine," said Sanskirt. They
didn't have to wait long. The undead in the area revealed themselves at the other
end of the tunnel and the Mantle immediately charged at them. That battle was
brief, as the undead outnumbered the Mantle almost three to one. After slaying
the knights, the undead continued on through the tunnel. "Well,
now what?" said Sanskirt. "Yeah
yeah yeah," said Stargazer as they began fighting the undead. This
battle was also short-lived, as the undead weren't any real threat to the stalwart
adventurers. They met with almost no resistance after that, at least from the
Mantle. Deciding that since the Mantle wouldn't risk going into the lair of the
undead if they didn't have to, and that it would be better to fight with the undead
rather than the Mantle since their goal was to avoid the Mantle, they left the
standard path that followed the row of towers leading to the Mantle stronghold
and took the path through the undead encampment. There really weren't that many
undead patrols around to concern themselves with. Really, there were so few undead
that the team wondered if their presence was more diversionary than to be an actual
threat. Whatever the case was, the team had no trouble mincing their way along. When
they reached the other end of the undead territory and reached the path they had
left earlier, they noticed there was still one last tower to get past before they
would be where they wanted to be. Fortunately, as this one was just outside the
stronghold, the Mantle must have deemed it a low priority and therefore the tower
wasn't fully manned. That made it even easier to sneak past. Once past it and
inside, they made their way through the courtyard to where they were supposed
to meet their contact. "Well,
isn't this a surprise," said the contact when they finally located him. "I
had no idea that when I met you at the temple that you would wind up betraying
the Mantle and that I'd wind up handing the scepter over to you." "We
didn't betray them, they betrayed us," said Buffy. "Oh,
I see," said Dinas. "Well, I suppose that's one way of looking at it.
In any case, here's the scepter. You'll have to hurry, though." "Why
is that?" said Stargazer. "The
Mantle are due to return at any moment." "How
will we get out?" "There's
a back gate here that will lead you out to the ravine where you can make your
escape. You must hurry and get the scepter to the Vizier." "Very
well, good luck to you." "And
to you too." They
then parted company with Dinas, taking the back gate to a path that led them along
a hill near the stronghold. As they were walking away they started to wonder how
Dinas was going to avoid being killed when the Mantle discovered he gave the scepter
up. Then they chuckled when they heard him back in the distance crying about being
attacked by brigands that stole the scepter and ran off with it. They also knew
that this meant there would be a mass of White Mantle chasing after them, and
that they would have to move very quickly to avoid capture. This seemed somewhat
familiar to them. In any case, they soon learned that they had two watchtowers
left to get past. Since the alarm had already been raised, the towers were fully
manned and waiting for anyone that might try to sneak past. Things
did not look good for the heroes until they spotted a rope bridge near the edge
of the ravine. They decided to sneak as close to the bridge as they could and
then make a mad dash for it, hoping to beat the Mantle to the other side where
they could then cut the ropes and drop the bridge. They executed their plan and
it worked, barely. They had just made it to the other side of the bridge when
the Mantle were closing down hard and fast on them. They wouldn't have had the
time to stop and destroy the bridge, which meant trouble. Luckily, Evennia and
Saidra were waiting for them and as soon as they were across they snapped the
last few wires that were holding the bridge up. Some of the Mantle fell into the
ravine, others managed to grab onto the ropes and climb back up the other side.
In any case, the team was now safe. | 
