And now it really begins!
Having suffered a brief moment of distraction at the hands of Bandit Lord de Cockernay, our intrepid heroes found themselves standing on a short rise looking over Greenest...
Starring, in order they sit around the table:
Nyvan, (played by Jason) a elven knight who enjoys watching others holding doors shut and spits in the face of danger (and prisoners - this was retconned by the DM).
Venmir, (played by Brett) an elven holy man, known as Kindelf, who runs out of healing all the time.
Sigurd, (played by Iain) a travelling swordsman and a master of the book, "Playing Pinchusion for Kobolds, for Dummies"
Rodin, (played by Lorne) the battered and sullen dwarven axeman, who loves to sneak up stairs and see how far he can throw his axe
Nandrim, (played by Hilton - welcome back, bud), the ridiculously brave elf magic-user who loves rat-flambe and taking jobs usually reserved for the fighters
and The DM, (played by Alex), who loves to comment in blue. And writes this blog. He's also a bit of a git and likes to make life difficult for his players.
The heroes are still a man down, not yet having met Nandrim - but that won't last and they're all keen to get stuck into the bad guys....at least they're assuming the guys burning the town down are bad guys...
Staring down into the town, several things were instantly notable: The town was largely on fire, there was a dragon swooping about the place and there were groups of figures running to and fro - seemingly either villagers, or bad guys.
Sigurd, the only mounted party member, spurred his horse forward and Rodin urged the horses as fast as they would go. The others prepared for combat.
As soon as they arrived at the outskirts of town, Sigured dismounted and waited for the others, while he surveyed the area. Small groups of villagers ran here and there, trying to avoid roving bands of kobolds and mercenaries, with the occasional men in strange black clothing with arched black face masks.
When the others arrived, the headed into town - the obvious choice being to get to the keep. So they made their way towards the town's only visible point of resistance. Within moments, they came across a small group of villagers; a limping man, three small children and a woman with a broken spear, being followed by a double-handful of kobolds.
With a roar of outrage, Sigurd (I think it was Sigurd!) charged at the kobolds. drawing their attention and the kobolds, originally believing the party were allies, turned in surprise, half of them peeling away to face the party. within seconds, the party had cut them down, and Venmir's arrows had left one of those on the woman dead, before Nyvan and Sigurd leapt at them leaving them down to one. With a cry of rage, Rodin flung his battleaxe at the remaining kobold...and watched it sail overhead and land in the street 30 feet beyond the beast. Before it could react, Venmir impaled it with an arrow. Nyvan and Venmir shared a coy nod.
Nyvan lead the family onto the wagon and urged it forward. The party carried on moving and found themselves on the road leading up to the keep's gate. Standing in from of them was a group of men, dressed in black, flanked by two man-sized drakes, which instantly lunged at the heroes, the cultists (for that they were!) not far behind.
From the gates, the defenders of Greenest saw the melee ensue and alerted their leader, Governor Nighthill. He stood next to the latest visitor to Greenest, a strange elf named Nandrim. Asking if he could help and receiving a positive response, he ordered the gates opened - and Nandrim ran out into the cold early evening.
As the party battled their new foes, the wagon ran up the hill. The party fought valiantly and, just as the last of the cultists was about to split open Rodin's chest, his head exploded in a ball of fire from Nandrim's fist.
"Kill the elf...!" almost shouted Sigurd. He quickly stopped himself as he realised it was a friend rather than foe.
The party made their way up into the keep and met Governor Nighthill, as well as Escobert, the keep's Castellan. Before long, they had encouraged the party to help the town and, in the first instance, capture a cultist and bring them back to the keep for interrogation. Escobert gave them a key and lead them to a door which lead down into the sewers under the keep - and to a secret exit down by the stream. Before they set out, Venmir wanted to rest, but Escobert pushed them forward - there was no time to waste, people were dying by the second. Venmir pushed for a rest, but the others saw the benefit of helping the town first, and they set out.
They leapt into the tunnel, mage first (!!!) with Nyvan at his side. Before they reached the grate, they were assaulted by hundreds, if not thousands of rats, streaming at them from the darkness. Instantly, Nandrim flung forth waves of flame, but not before they had virtually covered Nyvan and nibbled their way through every gap in his armour. He staggered back before scraping his blade down his armour - and the damage started by Nandrim was finished by his sword - and the rats fled (this does not accurately represent the bloody lucky rolls from both Nandrim and Nyvan with their rolls).
The party opened the grate (after a brief moment where they thought they'd broken the lock) and encountered another group of foes and only at the last moment, did Sigured turn his blade aside and knock a cultist unconscious. The rest lay dead, floating face-down in the stream. They tied up the cultist and took him back through the gate and up to the keep.
Governor Nighthill shied away from interrogation - and asked the party to take centre-stage - they seemed somewhat more capable in the circumstances. Sigurd leant forward and, while the cultist expected threats, he got offered a way out, a potential escape route, a chance to get out alive - and the cultist considered it for a moment before his resolve kicked in and he responded with a burst of bloody spit at Sigurd's face. Sigurd turned to Rodin - suggesting the dwarf should try a more direct route.
Rodin looked down at the cultist. He smiled, all friendly like, and laid a comradely hand on his shoulder. He contemplated his options and settled for the friendly approach.....but after some strange glares from his comrades (and a blessing from Venmir), he went for the more forceful attack. He leant back, pulled out his axe and slowly started slicing through the cultist's hairs, one by one. Several minutes later, the cultist broke - more from boredom than fear, and spilled his guts. He was a part of the Cult of the Dragon (a name which resonated with Rodin), and they were there to collect funds for the hoard they were preparing for the return of the Dragon Queen. Nandrim blanched - this was not good news - and he shared what he knew of the Dragon Queen, Tiamat. The cultist also told the group the name of his mistress, Blanky McBlink (placeholder).
Escobert came into the room as the interrogation finished and they shared some of their knownledge with him, asking what the Castellan wanted to do with the cultist. Without a moment of doubt, Escobert leant over the cultist and cut his throat. "More important things to worry about", he declared as he ran from the room.
As the party discussed their options, they heard a commotion from the stairwell, quickly followed by a flying cultist body which crumpled into a heap at their feet. Enemy in the keep, shouted Escobert from above. The party considered their options, which ranged from clearing the keep to running away. The compromised, and sent Rodin stealthily up the stairs to the kitceh, and then towards the courtyard. There he saw a dozen cultists fighting the militia. Escobert turned to face him after striking down another cultist. "The sally port, they're in through the sally port!" he shouted, leaping to help another guardsman. Rodin summoned his pals and they ran for the sally port. Sally port.
They charged into the room to find a scene of carnage, The room was filled with cultists and kobolds, as well as a different kind of cultist, in chainmail and wielding a warhammer. As combat ensued, it was apparent he was a caster and he flung spells into the mix. They proved unnecessary, as Sigurd quickly succumbed to multiple kobold stabbings. The heroes were too strong, however, and as soon the acolyte's minions fell, he cursed the heroes and condemned them to death, before running away in fear.
As the party slammed the door shut, more cultists arrived and it turned into a feat of strength - the cleric and magic-user on one side, multiple cultists (and more by the minute) on the other. The paladin watched on, bemused. Rodin helped Sigurd to his feet. Venmir hurled abuse at Nyvan, before the beefy elf finally realised he might be better served lending his weight to keep the door shut - but to no avail - numbers won out and another batch of enemies charged into the room.
More combat (and cursing) followed, before the enemies were repulsed. The door itself was damaged, but the party held the door shut (with more help from the stronger people in the room) while Escobert got one of the local apothecaries who knew a cantrip to mend broken items to come to the room and fix the locking mechanism.
The party paused for a breather.
Minutes later, Nighthill came back into the room - and they discussed their options - including finding and laying their hands on Blanky McBlink. Nighthill took them up to the battlements and pointed out their likely target. There, among a ring of foes which easily numbered in the hundreds, stood a woman, in purple robes and surrounded by kobolds and cultists. Surely an impossible target.
Suddenly (as if enough wasn't happening), a militiaman ran up to Nighthill and announced that the enemy were trying to set the mill alight. Nighthill was aghast - such an incident would leave the village to starve, even if they were to fight off the attack.
Sigurd once again volunteered the services of the party without hesitation, despite the fact it was now midnight and they had been fighting, travelling, interrogating or holding doors shut with their arses for nigh on five hours.
After all, some things are worth risking your life for, when you're a hero...
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