(HotDQ-4) "I would be honoured!"

You damned dwarf!

The heroes have defended Greenest and saved hundreds. Now they're following the retreating enemy to try and find out where they're based and what they want. Pretty straightforward, right?

Starring, in order they sit around the table:
Nyvan, (played by Jason) a elven knight who intends to talk about his duel with Cyanwrath for the next month - but not with Cyanwrath himself.
Venmir, (played by Brett) an elven clergyman, who seems to be spending a lot of his time shaking his head at everyone else. 
Sigurd, (played by Iain) a travelling swordsman, who can hold a tune, and his nerve.
Rodin, (played by Lorne) the battered and sullen dwarven axeman, who likes to let his axe do the talking... and is showing himself to be a little clumsy at times...
Nandrim, (played by Hilton), the ridiculously brave elf magic-user fancies himself a mountaineer.
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 party have set out to follow the raiders to their camp. The met some stragglers, and left them for dead. They were ambushed by the rearguard and killed them too. Now they're approaching the camp itself and only time (and luck) will tell what happens next.

As the heroes stood over the bodies of the rearguard, they thought about their options and decided to head straight to the raider's camp. 

They travelled a couple more miles and found the camp - and it was huge. Nestled inside a horseshoe-shaped plateau, with guards, huts, tents and even a guard tower. The heroes looked on with a little despair and a lot of indecision on how to proceed. Ideas were thrown back and forth, developed then discarded, with most unwilling to enter the camp, disguised or not, due to a fear of discovery and insta-death. In the end, a careful approach was agreed, with party heading back to the rearguard, nicking all their kit and dressing up like cultists, before going all the way around the plateau to look for alternative entrances or weak-spots. but there were none (at this stage, there was a necessary "player knowledge" vs "character knowledge" discussion - and I'm sure every group in the world has to contend with this kind of issue - climbing a rock-face might seem simple to a mountaineer, or someone who climbs the rock wall at the local gym, or anyone who's seen Cliffhanger, but for an elven sage who has lived in a book all his life, a dwarf who has spent his entire life half-pissed or bar brawling, or a knight whose knowledge of climbing is all about climbing into a suit of armour, it's a different matter! There must be a line drawn - I might watch a lot of history channel and murder mysteries on telly, but I try to ensure my characters don't suddenly display an intense knowledge of Roman legionary tactics- and then justify it with some crazy backstory alterations - this is when collaborative story-telling is not welcome, imo).

They went back to the only entrance. As they watched, a group of kobolds and humans approached the guards at the front, heavily laden with bags and stomping wearily across the fields. After they had moved on, the party checked their tracks and after following them back the way they came, realised they were part of the attack on Greenest. A new plan was conceived: enter the camp, dressed as raiders claiming to be on their way back and full of loot, find out all the info they needed, rescue the half-elf monk, Leosin Erlanthar, and then go back to town. Simple!

They went back to the rearguards, again, and this time took their backpacks, to make it look as if they were carrying loads of loot. 

They walked back to the camp, and then approached the guards, trying to look confident. The guards looked them over once, then ignored them as they walked into the camp.

How fricking easy was that! (knowing the guards didn't give much of a shit and weren't expecting to be infiltrated sucked when watching the party debate!).

They walked through the camp, before meeting one of the camp hunters. He offered to sell them some meat at a crazy price, which Sigurd saw through, and purchased it at a more reasonable figure. 

"Let us find a fire and cook this stuff." said Nyvan, woodenly. The hunter looked at him quizzically, but just assumed he was another drink-addled cult member. Venmir shook his head. Sigurd looked like he was about to explode (and everyone laughed a lot).

The party found a fire next to some mercenaries and considered their options. The talk around the fire was simple and not very helpful - but as the party relaxed, a figure loomed out of the darkness - it was Cyanwrath! Much to the party's joy, he walked up behind Nyvan and didn't see his face (for this, I asked them to roll perception, but it was actually a luck roll - and Nyvan scored highest!).

He queried them about their actions and combat int he town, which the party did well to blag through. He walked away happy. Nyvan started to breath again. Venmir shook his head.

The party continued their exploration after some meat. They found some prisoners tied by a chain to a tent pole. They stood nearby and called Leosin's name out gently. When this had no effect, a fierce debate raged, with some of the party wanting to call out his apprentice's name to see if that would encourage a response. As they argued, a patrol walked up and demanded to know why they were there. Some quick-talking from Sigurd convinced the guards they were just looking for a particular villager to beat. The guards left.

They continued their search, and found anumber of stakes driven into the ground. A figure was tied to one. As they considered their options, again, Rodin took control and walked over to the figure.

Acting nonchalantly, he lifted his axe to the figures chin and gently lifted the prisoner's chin (not far, for a dwarf to see his face but since this seemed an odd way to get someone's attention, I asked Lorne to make a Dexterity check to make sure nothing horrible happened - and he rolled a 1). Rodin's hand slipped on the haft of his axe and thrust the tip of the blade deep into the prisoner's shoulder. The prisoner screamed in pain and surprise.

The camp awoke and dozens of cultists and mercenaries ran for the party. Sigurd waited until they were close and dashed over to Rodin, flinging him to the ground and chastising him soundly , "What are you doing, you damned dwarf!" he cried in anger (and it wasn't even mock anger!). Venmir shook his head.

A huge circle of guards surrounded them, swiftly burst open by the appearance of the leader of the rebels, Frulam Nondath, accompanied by a number of guards and drakes. Nyvan slunk into the shadows and Venmir shook his head.

Demanding to know what was happening, Sigurd tried to explain that the dwarf was drunk and foolish and there was nothing really going on. She was not to be dissuaded however, and ordered that Rodin be tied to the stake and then executed in the morning, with the other prisoner. Several burly guards grabbed him and tied him to the stake.

Just as she turned to leave, she stopped and turned back to Rodin. "Actually, I've never had a dwarf before. Would you care to spend the night with me?" she asked of her captive.

Rodin, his mind whirring (and we could see it whirring from our seats) took a few seconds to consider, before replying with a hearty, "It would be my honour!", a smile spreading across his face. 

"Good," she said, bringing out a further grin. Venmir shook his head. "Cut his throat and bring the corpse to my tent. We shall start the ritual immediately!". She smiled and turned away. One of her guards walked up to Rodin and stood behind him, his blade pressed to the dwarf's neck.

"Frulam!" came a deep voice from the darkness, It was Cyanwrath. " we have no time for your rituals, mistress, we should just kill him with the half-elf and be gone."

"You're right," she replied. And they walked away, with Rodin intact. The party breathed a sigh of relief.

And with a parting glare at the dwarf, she left with some chilling orders. "Now beat him, but leave him alive for his execution..." and her guards set do with great zest. Rodin slowly descended into unconsciousness on the fists of his foes.

An hour later and the others were planning their next steps. Nandrin had gone on a scavenger hunt for clothing, so he could sneak everyone out. Meanwhile, Leosin spoke just as Rodin regained consciousness. 

"Why did you stab me?" he asked.

"It was an axe-cident, " said Rodin, "I was trying to rescue you."

"Great job." mumbled the half-elf.

(this was some of the most fun I've had DM'ing for a long time!)

He told the dwarf how he had a knife hidden in his shoe and, with a little contortion, cut himself and the dwarf free, just after a patrol passed. The ran to the nearest cliff wall and prepared to ascend. Nandrin eventually caught up with them, and gave them the clothes he had stolen, and nipped back to the others to tell them to meet up with them later on where the rearguard had been killed. After a time, the three of them decided to climb the cliff to get out of the camp. They started the ascension.

Just then, the patrol passed and noticed the missing prisoners. The camp was awakened. The other three leapt into action, trying their best to look as confused as everyone else - and doing a pretty good job of it. They slowly moved their way forward to the centre of the camp and stopped to talk. As ever, standing still in a hive of activity is bound to get attention - and they were interrupted by a huge black half-dragon...

"What are you doing, standing still?" it demanded.

"We were thinking about the best way to catch the escapees. We thought they might..."

"Enough! Can any of you track?" it asked, impatiently.

"Yes," said Sigurd, "I was thinking they would go out..."

"Silence! Enough talk, worms! Stop standing still and get out there and find those prisoners. Immediately!" and with that the monster stomped off, shouting at someone else.They learned from a passing mercenary that the creature's name was Rezmir. They exited the camp and waited at the rearguard.

The others, apart from a slight almost 120-foot fall down the cliff-face when Nandrin was saved by Leosin, were untroubled and met up with the others some time later.

They returned to Greenest as heroes and showered in glory. Receiving free weapons, food and drink for their troubles.

They got their fees from Governor Nighthill, who insisted they all take money, even those who had vowed to do it for free. Before long, however, they had their new task. Leosin offered them a shower of gold to go back to the camp and keep an eye on things, to let me him know what was happening and, if possible to get into the cave at the back of the camp - where the enemy had three black dragon eggs - which would have terrible consequences for the area. He told them of his friend, Entharr a Paladin of Torm, in Elturel and how the pair of them were combining forces to try and fin out what was happening with these cultists. The party agreed to check the camp and set off within hours.

After a chance meeting with the hunter from before, the party found themselves back an the camp, but it was empty and the kobold huts and tents had been burned down. They crept forward to examine the rest of the camp...

(it felt like everyone had a great time - and not a single moan about the total lack of combat, so I gave out an exp bonus too!)