Session 29

Members

 * Oneshoe (Josh)
 * T (Natalie)
 * Byard (Rob)
 * Varis (Hunter)
 * Dakk (Alex)

The Adventure
Our new adventure starts with a small group of adventurers making their way along the rolling hills of the Southern plains of the Sword Coast toward the town of Greenest. There is Byard the Human Bard, Dakk the Half-Orc Barbarian, T the Elven Ranger, Varis the Elven Rogue, and Gimble “Oneshoe” Timbers the Gnome Wizard. They all have met each other along the road and have grouped together to keep each other safe along the way to Greenest.

As the sun began to set and the group is almost a mile out of Greenest, they are met with quite a surprise. Instead of the pleasant little farming town with its quaint cottages and agrarian lifestyle, they instead found a town burning and in the middle of a large raid. Even worse, cutting through the rising pillars of smoke was a terrifying Blue Dragon.

Dakk was the first to jump into action and start heading towards to besieged town, with the rest of the group following along. Getting closer to the town, the smoke and sounds of raiders and screaming townsfolk began to fill the air as night began to take the town.

Entering the town, the group came across a woman and her family fleeing from a pack of raiding Kobolds. She was brandishing a shield, some wounds, and a broken spear and desperately trying to get her family to safety. She was ready to give her life to protect her family, but the group chose to place themselves between the woman and the Kobolds and they were able to make short work of the vile creatures.

After the fight, the woman, Linan Swift, informed the group that they must head for the keep as it is the towns best place for safety and defense from the raiders. T showed some apprehension about the dragon circling above the keep, but after a closer look at the dragon, she realized that while this dragon was clearly flying around and causing fear among the people, it was not attacking with the typical ferocity and power that is to be expected of a dragon. It appeared to be lazily flying about and occasionally swooping in low towards the keep.

The group then led the survivors towards the keep and fighting off two more groups of raider made up of more Kobolds and Cultists. Varis was able to take out one of the cultists with an arrow to the back of the heel, but keep him alive to question him about the raid. They were able to just make it inside the keep as the heavy gate closed and the last bit of daylight turned to night.

Upon entering the keep, the group was surrounded by what looked to be most of the town crammed into the modest keep. Many folks were rushing around tending to the wounded while some town guards were busy finding any weapons and reserve armor to give to able bodied men of all ages to help begin defending the Keep. It is apparent to the group that while the Keep may be strong, it has not seen any real action like this for many years.

Our adventurers then spotted a man of strength and authority making his way through the crowd to the newly arrived group. Governor Nighthill looked to be in some rough shape, with a few cuts and an arm in a sling, but a look of calm desperation as all of his leadership experience is needed in trying to keep the Keep and his townsfolk safe.

He welcomes the group and is happy to not only see adventurers aiding the town, but that they have even managed to capture one of the cultists. Nighthill insists that he and the group interrogate the prisoner to find out more of their plans or any reasons for them raiding Greenest. The group decides that they want to interrogate the prisoner as well, but are a bit perturbed, especially Byard, at his eagerness to be present for his interrogation. However, by looking into his eyes, the group can tell that this is a man who has dedicated his life to Greenest and wants to do all that he can to keep this night from become more of a tragedy than it already is.

Dakk and Varis went in and played good cop bad cop with the prisoner to find out more information. While the “cultist” was a bit gruff, he was not so tight lipped. He didn’t have any detailed information. All he told them was that most of the “cultists” like himself are just hired out by the cult to add a little extra man power to the raid. Their task was to raid and collect any gold and valuables found in the town for the cult. He didn’t know more about the leadership or plans of the group aside from what he was told, but did mention that if they got their hands on an acolyte or a more devoted cultist, then they might learn more. And he also let slip that there are rumors about the possibility of a clutch of dragon eggs either in possession or being sought after by the group.

Seeing that the Governor means well and wasn’t out for vengeful blood, the group is convinced to help aid in protecting Greenest and preventing more harm caused by the raiders. Nighthill took them up to the parapet to show that the town is indeed being raided, but that they are not truly looking to enter the keep, but instead keep the townsfolk pinned in while they have their way with all the towns supplies and valuables. He also points out in the distance the leader of this raid, Frulam Mondath, a powerful looking woman in elegant purple robes surrounded by dozens of guards and a high ranking member of the Cult of the Dragon.

Nighthill informs the group that there had been rumors and messages of a large cult devoted to dragons making their way through towns and pillaging them for all their valuables. However, Nighthill greatly underestimated their size and arrival time. Being taken by surprise has put Nighthill in a tough situation and feels it a stroke of luck that the group of adventurers arrived when they did. He calls upon the group to help in any way that they can to rescue townsfolk that might still be hiding and making things difficult for the raiders.

He shows the group that it looks like a group of raiders have pinned some townsfolk in the Chapel in a similar way to how the raiders are keeping folks pinned in the Keep. He asks the group to try and head there and try and free them and return them to the keep. The front gate is the only way in and out of the Keep and must remain closed, but he mentions that Castellan Escobert the Red, just “Red”, is a dwarf in charge of maintaining the Keep and that he might know of an alternative way in and out of the Keep.

The group makes their way down to the main area of the Keep when they hear a great commotion and fighting coming from the Sally Port. Entering the room they find Red squaring off with a group of raiders made up of Kobolds, and Acolyte, and a very menacing looking, wolf sized dragon creature called an Ambush Drake. It appears that the Sally Port was left unattended and a group managed to get in before the door could be shut. Now the door is damaged and only a matter of time before more raiders discovered the weakness to the Keep. The group was able to fight alongside Red and take out the Raiders and secure the door with various boxes and barrels.

Seeing that the group was made of some tough stuff, Red was more than happy to help the party find a way out of the Keep. Since the Sally Port is now compromised, Red took the party down to the bottom of the Keep where there was a grated metal door that led to a water reservoir tunnel that leads out to the stream. Red bid them luck and the group was on their way through the tunnel.

It was a narrow and damp tunnel, and it turned out that they weren’t alone in the tunnel. They had stumbled across a swarm of rats and they were none too happy to have someone enter their home. Attacks were made to try and fend of the rats, but Byard had enough and cast Sleep and managed to knock out the rats and leaving the rest of the group to just stomp on them as they moved onwards.

As the group began to see some light at the end of the tunnel, they came across another old gate. This gate clearly hadn’t been used in a while, but thankfully Varis was able to use his nimble thieving hands to open the lock without causing too much difficulty. However, when opening the door, they created a loud screech that was probably difficult to ignore. T was quick enough out the door and managed to catch a glimpse of some figures darting into the brush across the stream.

XP
305 XP each

Current Level: 2

Loot

 * To be calculated when I double check my notes** GP worth of heirlooms, cutlery, etc taken from the homes and businesses of Greenest. About 20% is actual coin.

Creature Loot

 * An odd assortment of leather armors, Kobold sized shortswords, and some small daggers in poor condition.