Having escorted a small band of villagers and much needed
supplies into the safety of Greenest’s keep, our heroes could spare little time
for rest. Tarbau and Escobar, the
ranking officials within the keep, expressed profuse thanks and offered a safe
place for a short rest. First, though,
something had to be done about the scaly blue monster raining lightning death
down on the gates of the keep. Our
heroes made Grim, their ace archer extraordinaire, as comfortable as possible
the hustled up to the uppermost tower
[Ed. Note – Grim’s player couldn’t make it to the game. Since his character ended last session at 0
hp, it made sense to leave him behind during the session.]
The big blue dragon seen earlier in the day had returned and was strafing the tower with its breath weapon. Keeping its distance, the only real option was to hop into the seat of a lone ballista pn the parapet and take a shot. Ever the bluffer, your humble storyteller cast a quick illusion to make the bolt look magic. Direct hit! Not enough to kill an old brute like the one overhead, the bolt scored enough damage to make the dragon think twice. Aramis followed up with a quick holy bolt of some sort, and that was enough to send the dragon headed for the countryside.
Finally, a chance to rest. The whole party was depleted of its “until
long rest” abilities, and this wouldn’t be the time. A short rest to patch up the wounded gave the
attacking cultists time to get some organization together – a peek from the
keep revealed two main clusters of attackers and a tough choice. Hit the overall commander over in the town
square and end this madness? Or mount a
rescue mission to save the scores of folks holed up in the local chapel from
the larger kobold and cultist besieging force?
First level with no spells left in the arsenal? We’ll take the sneaky route and head for the
Church, thank you very much.
So Escobar, rotund dwarf and apparent keymaster escorted the
group down into the undercroft where a secret door and tunnel would allow the
party to slip past the besiegers (almost) un-noticed. A couple rusted-shut gates and a fight with
two mobs of rats later, and the group stood just inside of a fake sewer pipe
below the walls of the keep. Just as
they would have set out on their rescue, a kobold patrol blundered by. With little time to discuss matters, the
group ambushed the raiders slaughtering all but one cultist would escaped back
into town.
Nothing to do but hustle up and hope to make it back before
cult reinforcements.
At the Church of Chakaal, three mobs block any hope of
rescue. The leader – an armor clad
bruiser – had a mob battering the front doors with an improvised ram. A bigger mob complete with large drakes stood
milling about the side of the church, looking for weak spots. The smallest mob, and the obvious weak link
in the siege, was trying to burn down the large rear doors of the church.
 |
I think the DM said Church of Chakaal. I'm not really
up on my theology of Faerun, but in the campaign that goes
on in my head, the Church is totally dedicated to Chakaal. |
Tally-ho. Our four heroes charged into the rear ranks of an
enemy twice their number. Surprise
proved telling, as did the smokescreen the besiegers themselves were sending
up. Aramis and Karren, cleric and
paladin respectively, swung for the fences, putting the two cultist leaders
down on the ground with no time to sound a definitive alarm. The half-elf quickly snatched up the cloak
and scimitar of one of the two human leaders of the enemy mob and barked orders
at the kobold ranks, thinning them by half.
The following conversation demonstrated that comedy lives
even in the midst of tragedy. The party
turned to the “face” of the party, Mr. Fast Talk Half-Elf, to convince the
townies that rescue had arrived. But
first, Aramis pointed out, you might want to ditch the cultist disguise.
Oh. Yeah. So…
“Tell her Liane sent
us.”
“Liane sent us.”
“Tell her Escobar sent
us.”
“Escobar sent us.”
“Tell her –“
“Hey! Who’s got the
17 Charisma here?”
“It’s hard to tell
sometimes.”
The door cracked open, revealing a lovely half-elf
priestess, a human cleric, and 22 other villagers including the priest and
priestess, which the party hustled out the back and into the woods. A half-hearted attempt to distract the
remaining raiders turned into a full blown retreat when the front door
collapsed in splinters.
The two dozen citizens might have been safely out of the
chapel and into the woods, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. Remember the
one that got away? The cultist that
survived the ambush at the back door of the keep? The now much larger party arrived at the
false drain just moments before a large raiding party. The heroes took up position amid the brush
and started to hustle the citizens into the dank tunnel, but it was clear the
kobold raiders were going to cut them off before they could get everyone in.
So Raane, the illusionist, quickly hunkered down and cast a
minor illusion – a dead kobold farther up the stream valley. This bought the villagers a precious few
rounds in which the aged, infirm, and young could escape. The sally-port cum escape hatch safely locked and sealed behind them, the group still had no time for rest. One more encountered loomed, but it was late and the boys (young and old) were too tired to see that one through to the end of Chapter One.
