
As I sit there listening to Rachel tell what happened to her, my heart breaks and my eyes tear u. I get up and place my hand on hers and say to her; I'm here for you. You were braver than all of us." My voice breaks a bit as the tears fall down my checks. I stay there beside her for as long as she needs me too. I say, "Lean on me if want. We are all here for you and to offer whatever support we can. They will; I stress this a bit, pay for doing this to you."
"Rachel" I begin quietly "That was worse than foolish. You risked your life for an attempt at a shortcut that was not worth the cost. I don't know you at all well enough, yet, but if I had known your plans I would have had to stop you. That was tantamount to suicide. What desperation drove you to such a terrible path? If scouting was needed, and you insisted on doing it, we could have planned invisibility, etheralness or better methods.You could have been lost, entirely and final."
Looking askance at the Lord Douglas, I continue, a bit sharper now "The fact that we were not immediately informed as soon as you left is a mystery. In fact, I'd say it's almost negligent to allow you to risk your all for something of relative unimportance. A waste of a valued resource, if you were to take it impartially. A loss of a life of possibility, if you didn't."
Angry now, my features have settled and fixed into a stiff, unrevealing firmness and I sit back, hands gripping the edge of the table, fingers white.
I speak much more softly then Grant, angry and upset myself, if mixed with that of disbelief and concern as I ask her, "Why? Did you find your life expendable, worth giving just for a shortcut? We all need to get out of this together! To our families, our friends, and to everyone who cares about us most." I pause, quiet as I consider my next words or if I should wait.
I too will look to Lord Douglas, finding myself question his motives and thinking in allowing this. That, or at least in withholding this information from us. Continuing, I will say to Rachel, "We may not know each other well, or much at all, but we are in this together. Through shared blood spilt, experiences overcome, and yes even friendship."
"None of us to martyr ourselves, at least not yet, and show care or cautious consideration, not just to speed things up or take a shortcut," I may be speaking calmly, yet with a drive behind my voice as I think on all that I have learned, from music, stories, entertainment, and personal experience when it comes to things. Edited: Thomaslee on 7th Feb, 2018 - 5:03am
I grasp Vickie's hand for comfort." Thank you Vickie. What I did was extremely foolish. With that ring I thought I could do it without too much happening. I'm sorry that I made this decision without consulting all of you. It was the most frightening thing I've ever experienced. I learned my lesson the hard way. I wasn't intentionally being suicidal. In my mind I thought that I could do it."
My shoulders shake as more tears run down my cheeks." Use what I found though. We need more help to take them out. There are too many for just us to handle. Those poor slaves.... .. " Edited: Kyrroeth on 7th Feb, 2018 - 1:53pm
I continue to hold Rachel's hand and offer comfort. I ask her, "How many guards are with the human slaves, would it be possible to get them out and use the flooding to our advantage?"
I look at the others, I can see the anger in their faces. I say to them in a calm voice, "What she did was foolish, yes, but she did get valuable information for the group. Them seeing her healed and in armor, will be a surprise to them. They are probably wondering were she went anyway. Why not use the water the flooding the tunnels to our advantage. If possible get the human slaves out and flood the place completely..take them out by water. "
I look at Thomas and Grant, "That's more than enough you two. We do not need to be adding to her experiences. Besides, I suspect she may have just saved lives."
"Rachel, you said there were upwards of fifty combat capable hobgoblins in the prisoner area alone? It seem that both our estimation of how large this place is and the numbers our foe can muster are woefully inadequate."
"We need to change our approach to this place, and we're going to need more hands than we have." Edited: daishain on 7th Feb, 2018 - 3:32pm
The lunch hour passes as people go about their plans and the party heads off to figure out what they are going to do next. The second sun is slowly moving towards it meridian height as the first sun is slowly heading to set in the west. You can see work being done on a inn west of the general store. Jason is told that once the Inn is complete that his shop will be build next more to the north of the smithy and across from the new small lake. You all are told that water will start heading into the north tunnels probably late tomorrow.
With a deep sigh and a couple of steady breaths, I say coldly and privately “it’s not her I’m pissed at, in any fashion. I’m sad that desperation led to her choice but we should have been informed. This stinks, Jason. If this was an alignment, I’d be putting his attitude and actions as chaotic neutral if not leaning darker. Something is not right here. “
Burying to loosen up a bit, I continue. “50 plus fighters, taken all at once, would be out of our league, but if we can funnel them and stop walking into their killing zones, we can deal with them. I’ve been experimenting on some gases for attacking and I think I can create a binary combo with what they have here. Chlorine gas will at least incapacitate a large area, if we throw two regular flasks at the same spot, and it’s easily vented afterwards. Best case would be to send a cloud ahead of us, but they may be prepared for us. Again. “
“If they are informed by someone here or magic scrying, no preparation we can do will help. The one thing we don’t have is time to prepare. And that makes this an almost impossible task. “. Edited: Gknightbc on 7th Feb, 2018 - 5:02pm