The Lone Tower

[Telcontar]

"Firewatcher, we are all set down here. Let us see what lies below our feet and explore a bit before laying in wait. They will not return for sometime."

[Eclecticon]

This is a good suggestion and I do not see how anything bad can come of it.

EDIT: Less facaetious post to follow when I've got some more work done.

[Eclecticon]

Arbogast's nod is somewhat distracted, for he is already narrowing his eyes and peering through gaps in the stonework in search of a figure he thinks he beheld for a heartbeat, flitting from cover to cover in the twilight. 

[GandalfOfBorg]

"You first, master spearman.  I'd rather know this place as much as possible lest they return.  I like not towers overmuch since the spiders..." said Grimbeorn as his eyes drifted to the flames, lost in haunted memories.

[AlyC]

Hidden in the bare scrub, Laeral frowned.  Who were these Men, and what was their business in this place?  She wondered whether they might be allies of the orcs, or simple mercenaries trading their blades for the Enemy's coin, for she had known the treacherous and greedy hearts of Men in years long past.  Or perhaps they were here for the same purpose as she: to slay or drive off the orcs and return any stolen treasures back to the Free Peoples?

Her curiosity beginning to overcome her suspicion, she began to stir herself.  She would not learn the answers to her questions without coming closer.

[tomcat]

Hathcyn hefted his spear before him and went to where the planks of wood lay across the floor. He grabbed a corner and hefted it up to reveal a hole that went straight down. To allow for access, a crude wooden ladder ran down its length.

There was nothing but darkness below.

As the Beorning opened the trapdoor, again a shadowy shape moving across the snow-covered field around the tower caught Arbogast's eye.
Need to make a test roll for the two Beornings...

TN 14 awareness by PC

Grimbeorn 3d 1d12 : 3, total 3
Rolled 3d6 : 2, 2, 1, total 5

Hathcyn 3d 1d12 : 6, total 6
Rolled 3d6 : 6, 2, 4, total 12

[tomcat]

Somewhere below, Hathcyn heard a gruff voice speaking, only to be answered by another.

"Glad tonight is not my night for raidin'. I's prefer to be warm down here."

"Well that's because yer not much more than maggot-folk! Weak and useless!" The other voice gave a snarled laugh.

"You may say so, but it's us that found this hole and it's us that made it into the perfect hideout. And we's know how to get around through small holes and cracks."

"Like worms!" Again the snarled laugh.

"Just remember... yers the ones who have been offered shelter here by our chieftain, not the others way 'round!" Came the angered reply. "Keep it up and I will let Hargash know exactly what you Uruks been sayin'!"

A large growl and then a yipe came from somewhere below, only to be followed by a laugh, "You maggot-folk can keep your hole. We'll be movin' on soon enough. It's my lads who are out there now raiding and collecting supplies from these Lake-men... they are as soft as you folk."

"If they're so soft, whys you all sneakin' in by night? Whys you all hidin' heres with us?"

The argument continued, as Hathcyn looked to Grimbeorn and mouthed the word... orcs.

[Eclecticon]

Now certain that he sees sobering approaching, Arbogast descends the rickety remains of the staircase as quickly as he can, sparing little thought for stealth.  Some new threat has us trapped in here, he thinks, his mind full of a memory of the terror he felt during the battle years ago against the Spectre of Gundabad.

It is not until he has rattled his way to the bottom, dislodging more than one timber, that he sees the shock on his companions' countenances and realises that enemies already lie below. 

[Telcontar]

Hathcyn lowered the planks and moved away.

"Sounds like goblins and Orcs together. This may be a whole den of them. That raiding party is not alone. I'd not have them come up behind is while we ambush those that return. What do you want to do?"

[Eclecticon]

"For now, pay then no mind, for I fear something worse approaches from without!"

[Telcontar]

The ladder meant that they would need a great deal of leverage to throw it open.

Hatchyn leveled his spear and took a stance upon the planks.

"They'll have to move me dead or alive. I'll receive what comes upon my spear and let my weight block the deeps. I'm ready." 

[GandalfOfBorg]

Grimbeorn looks around for something to block or wedge the opening.

 
 

Craft -  1d12 : 5, total 5
Rolled 2d6 : 4, 2, total 6

[AlyC]

Laeral arrived at the remains of the tower's door, her spear held loosely but surely in her hands.  She heard the voices of Men from within, speaking in the tongue of the Men of the West.  Though this augured well for their nature, she let her spear-tip precede her through the archway. Before those within could react, she addressed them.  "Who are you and what is your business here?"

[Telcontar]

"Death to Goblins and Orcs, our names are our own. Who are you that materializes from the wood?"

Hathcyn showed no change in his posture, but spoke in a more subdued tone than usual. There were other guests below his feet.

[Eclecticon]

Hold on - I'm going to let the Random Number Gods decide how Arbogast takes this...
Wisdom roll at an arbitrary TN of 16

1d12 : 2, total 2
Rolled 4d6 : 4, 3, 3, 2, total 12