Eberron Two

DM wrote:

Leaving the mess hall [G] you go down the northwest stair [the tower with the flag] to the mustering hall [C]. From there, you are unmolested as you pass through the tall double doors at the northeast corner of the room.

A dark, wide stair, almost shallow enough to be a ramp, descends eastward for a short distance, then turns south. It is lit infrequently by dim coldfire crystals, each pool of yellowish light only barely touching the next. By the time you've reached the bottom, you have smelled the horses.

You emerge in the stables [M]. The floor is all stone block here. There are wooden stalls built against the stone walls and between heavy stone block columns. You see tack and harness, barding, straw, hay, a couple of soldiers, at least one warforged doing stable work, and several horses leaning heads out of their stalls to look at you. A shaft of light squeezes through a narrow slit just past the stairs. A few wooden steps rise up to it, and two crossbows and a case labeled quarrels lie next to it. Peering through the dim light, you see at the back of the stable area a corner of some sort of barred area. As you look that way, there is movement there for just a moment. Behind the sounds of horses and work, you also hear the distant but unmistakable sound of clashing swords coming from somewhere down here.

You don't see any other exits from the stable area, and you were in the training room of course. Ascending the ramp again, you arrive in the mustering hall. Meier is not here.
[1d6] = 1
There are, however, 4 soldiers here going about their soldierly duties. When asked, one informs you they saw Meier and 'a couple' warforged go into the entry hall [B on the illustration.]

ehiker133 wrote:

The party will hurry into the Entry room to try and catch up with them.

There is only a single guard there, standing next to the closed door. He immediately gets a concerned look on his face as he sees you hurrying. By the time you've crossed the room, he has the door open. "The mechanic ant three warforged, just a few minutes ago."

You emerge into the small stair area open to the sky [N] and see the interior portcullis is up. The exterior portcullis is slowly lowering. You hear the sounds of an alarm being raised behind you, inside the keep.

The portcullis stops 3 feet from the ground, just as you reach it, and starts back upward. Ducking under it as you run, you come out at the top of the stairs outside the guard house. Scanning the surroundings as steam billows from your mouths, you see 4 dark shapes receding southward across the fields.

They are perhaps 250 yards distant. If they continue on their path, they will eventually cross the East Road in a half mile or so.

[it was never mentioned whether you took your horses from the inn after the stake-outs, so we'll have to go with your horses still being at the inn in town.]

The portcullis begins to raise slowly, and shouts take up for 3 fresh horses. From what you've seen, they take the wagon to somewhere around the back side of the keep, but the horses go in and out the same entrance you just used - entry hall, mustering hall, ramp, stable in lower level.

By the time the exterior portcullis is up high enough, three soldiers on horses, each trailing another horse, are waiting to come through. They stop only long enough to hand three of you the reins to the horses, then head down the steps. They gallop off southward as you're mounting up.

You now see three figures instead of four out there across the fields, but one is taller than before.

ehiker133 wrote:

We'll mount up in the way previously mentioned (Caby behind Ducats, Jaral behind Tragor, and Finora on her own) and chase after them.

You all mount up on the three horses, and after walking them down the stairs you gallop off behind the three soldiers.

You ride across the open field, the horses hooves kicking up snow as they run, steam pouring from their noses. Soon you can clearly make out the line of the East Road running left and right far ahead. As the three running figures cross the road, one stops and turns toward the oncoming soldiers. The others run on across the road, into the fields on the southern side.

The five of you are about 100 yards behind the soldiers now. They seem able to get their horses to run a bit faster than you are able to, and the distance between you is gradually increasing.

The mounted soldiers reach the road. You can tell now the figure there is a warforged, armed with a massive zweihander. He ducks below the sweeping cutlass of one soldier, and at the same time sends his blade into another's mount. The horse's legs are cut from under it, and the cold air is filled with the disturbing bellow of horse screams as it crashes into the road. The soldier is trapped below the flailing horse, and as part of the same motion the warforged sweeps his huge sword around into the flanks of the second horse. It doesn't go down, but it rears and throws its rider. The soldier rolls to his feet, bringing up his cutlass against the advancing 'forged.

The third soldier rides wide of the warforged in the road, staying focused on the runners.

You are now 50 yards from the road.

We'll continue chasing the main group, circling wide enough around the warforged that it can't swing at us.

You gallop toward the road, aiming to give the battle a wide berth. The white snow is drenched in red, and the air is filled with the tang of the horse's blood. The standing soldier circles around the warforged toward the now motionless soldier on the ground. The warforged follows, leaping across the downed horse. The soldier on the ground suddenly strikes upward with his sabre, driving it into the groin of the warforged.

You cross the road, kicking up snow as you gallop into the next field.

Looking back, you see the standing soldier use his partner's attack for a chance to close inside the forged's huge blade, and he slams his cutlass deep into the wooden and metal chest. The warforged falls, apparently disabled, and the soldier begins pulling his comrade from beneath his dying mount.

Looking ahead, you are about 150 yards behind the other soldier, and the fleeing runners are about 100 yards in front of him. After another round of riding, it's clear that both groups are gradually out-pacing the 5 of you, although not by much.

ehiker133 wrote:

Hmmm.... could be that she's just staying with the other two horses. Can we get clarification? Would having the halflings hop off the horses allow the other three to go faster?

Finora finds herself oddly comfortable on horseback, and feels she could probably even catch up with the soldier at least. The other riders, Ducats and Tagor, feel like they're already going as fast as they could, with or without the halflings.

Feeling a sudden burst of confidence, though she doesn't know why, Finora drives her heels into her mount and sounds a mighty, "Yah! Yah!"