Session 31 - Scene 7 (of 10)

The next day, everyone spends the morning getting their fanciest clothing together for the knighting ceremony. Krolec invites his family to attend, while Lady Abigail accompanies Silas.

As with most big events, most of the nobles and gentry are in attendance; with the noticeable absences of Lord Varys and Lord Reneir.

Each of the group members is called up in turn, and knighted with a title of "Sir" or "Dame" as appropriate.

After the group is all done, Lord Markelhay makes the surprise announcement that an honor is also to be bestowed on to Lord Pembridge this day. No one looks more surprised than Pembridge at this turn of events.

Lord Pembridge is then given the honor of "Defender of the Southern Reach". Markelhay explains that Pembridge is the only one he trusts to keep the city safe against the close threats from the south. He then commissions Pembridge to build a castle south of the Moon Hills, where his forces can keep the city safe from any incursions by the goblins of Harken Forest or the Witchlight Fens.

Pembridge seems stunned by his new charge, and stumbles his way off the dais. Ruddiger gives an expression that leaves no doubt what he thinks of the events taking place. Ruddiger immediately storms off with his men once the official statements are done.

At the festivities after the official announcements, Tiberius plays his flute while everyone enjoys the party. Lord Markelhay congratulates everyone again, and explains that as Lt. Gerdrand will be busy recruiting and training a new force of town guard, he'll be too busy to act as liaison anymore. From now on, the group can return to meeting with Markelhay directly.

The lord also asks if they liked his surprise. Krolec agreed it was handled well. Markelhay explains that Pembridge is not really a bad man per se, and that re-assigning him out of town made the most sense politically because he was so connected in town. The lord does, however, express concern about Reiner missing the event. Krolec wonders if Lord Reiner was the money behind Salazar, though Tiberius reminds him that the new Lord Groddic mentioned the family finances had been drained by Salazar.

Session 31 - Scene 8 (of 10)

After a few more days of rest and relaxation, the group find themselves summoned back to Moonstone Keep. When they arrive, Lord Markelhay explains that he already has one of those vital tasks for the good of the city that he needs them to do.

Lord Markelhay goes on to explain that over the last few weeks, important discussions were going on in preparation for a very important meeting coming up. The lord declines to elaborate on the subject of that meeting.

He does, however, explain that several of his palace guards were in position to overhear some of those meetings. This morning, one of those guards was discovered missing.

The castle grounds were searched, and they did eventually find the guard's body stuffed into a chest in his room. But there were two things more troubling than that – the first is that a piece of parchment was found on the body with the symbol of a red wolf's head (the symbol of Rufus the Red). But even more troubling, the man had obviously been dead for several days, meaning someone was impersonating him in the castle for the last few days.

Lord Markelhay believes Baron Stockmer, an independent lord in Harkenwold, will be the target of an assassination attempt by Rufus. He commissions the group to go to Harkenwold and escort the baron back to Fallcrest for the important conference.

Challa notes that the group will need horses in order to be able to move quickly. Lord Markelhay tells her the royal stables will be at their disposal.

As the others start planning for the horses they will need, Tiberius discusses the possibility that the guard who was killed was being impersonated by a doppelganger. He suggests they will need a code phrase that only Markelhay and the group know to ensure everyone is who they claim to be. Tiberius comes up with the phrase "woodwind instrument".

Markelhay agrees, though notes that Sgt. Munley, as his personal guard, will need to know as well. After some argument, Tiberius finally agrees.

The lord is curious if Tiberius believes Rufus the Red is a doppelganger, but Tiberius isn't so sure. He thinks the doppelganger is more likely working with Rufus. Tiberius explains to Markelhay that a dark conspiracy surrounds the city; but when pressed for details, the warlord is forced to admit that he doesn't actually have any proof.

Markelhay does, however, suggest that Lord Reiner may be involved. Apparently, he quickly left town right after the death of Lord Groddic. Tiberius believes they should investigate Reiner's home for clues. The lord agrees and signs out a royal warrant granting them entrance to investigate.

Session 31 - Scene 9 (of 10)

Wanting to get moving as fast as possible, the group immediately goes and gets the horses they will need.

Afterwards, they stop by the Temple of Erathis and pick up their order of healing potions. The previous plan of having Durmindin hold all the healing potions didn't work out, so this time they divide them up between Krolec, Silas, Tiberius, and Leigh.

For the trip down, the group decides to use the southern King's Road route. They are able to camp in the forest off of the road at night without incident.

The next day, they reach Harkenwold by the evening. The group immediately heads to Stockmer Castle where they are put up for the night.

The next morning, they meet Baron Stockmer over breakfast. The middle-aged man is pleasant, if a bit formal. He desires to leave as quickly as possible in order to make the conference.

Krolec examines a map of the region and comments that they should head to Raven's Roost, where they can spend the night under the protection of Lord Nimz.

He then turns his attention to the baron, suggesting he be disguised in a more common cloak. There is also discussion about the baron travelling with them alone. Everyone rolls their eyes as Stockmer insists on his valet traveling with him. Krolec doesn't argue the point, simply suggesting they disguise both men.

Since the baron will also insist on his baggage train heading to Fallcrest as well, the group discusses the train heading in a different direction than the baron. Tiberius has an alternate idea about splitting the baggage train into two separate carts and having two different groups heading along both roads. Krolec, however, wants just the group with the baron and his valet in order to move as quickly as possible.

While everyone else agrees with the plan to send the baggage train by itself (even with a couple of Stockmer's guards), Challa has moral ssues with the plan; she refuses to leave the baron's men alone as they will likely die. She feels the group needs to split – with half guarding the baron and the other half guarding the train.

Nearly two hours is spent as Challa, Tiberius, Durmindin, and Krolec argue back and forth about the merits of different methods of travel. In order to keep the discussion from being overheard by any of the servants or guards in the castle, Challa relays everything telepathically. While they try and ascertain which plan is the most tactically sound, they only conclude that each has advantages and disadvantages.

Eventually, the group decides to go with Challa's plans. Everyone will head out of town together, then without warning, split at the fork in the road. Tiberius, Leigh, and Durmindin will travel with Baron Stockmer and his valet, heading north to Raven's Roost while Krolec, Silas, and Challa will travel back on King's Road.

Session 31 - Scene 10 (of 10)

Executing the plan, Tiberius leads his group north along the road to Raven's Roost. He stays next to the baron while Leigh guards the valet. Durmindin takes point.

They reach Raven's Roost without any trouble. As they get closer, the new signs indicate it has been renamed Nimz Keep. Much construction is going on around them, as the keep is being refurbished while peasants are trying to get the land cleared out as best they can before the winter freeze. While heading in, Tiberius takes a close look to be sure the peasants aren't being oppressed.

When they reach the keep, Tiberius knocks on the door. When one of the servants answers it, he explains they have the baron with them and request sanctuary.

They are shown in and met by the keep's steward, who explains that Lord Nimz is currently back in Fallcrest. He asks which man is the baron, and Tiberius indicates the (much-younger) valet. The steward asks why the baron is dressed like a peasant, but Tiberius merely states it is a matter of security.

Tiberius has them provide three rooms – one for the "baron" under guard by two keep guards, one for Tiberius and the "valet", and one for Durmindin and Leigh. When the steward inquires about the reason for the specific arrangements, Tiberius claims Durmindin and Leigh are married and need their privacy.

As the night comes, Tiberius isn't so sure he was convincing enough and wonders how safe the group will be here...

Session 31 - Session Notes

Well, dear readers, once again I managed to have a delay before posting this session (since it occurred last Friday).

Anyhow, this session actually felt pretty short when we were playing it despite how long the write-up is.

The good part of this session was that we got a lot of character interaction in and cleaned up a few loose ends.

Knighting the PCs wasn't just a plot hook, but a way for them to really feel how they are slowly becoming more important in the community and give them a sense of accomplishment.  

It's also a sign how they have really started cleaning the area up.  The big meeting the baron is heading to is the backdrop for a big change in the campaign world coming soon, that will transform the area a bit - and all based on what the PCs have accomplished.

That said, there were plenty of low points this session:
* The endless argument over what plan to use took way longer than necessary.  They can be soooo indecisive.
* The baron storyline was originally supposed to wait a little bit.  Unfortunately, the other loose ends I was hoping they would follow up on never got looked into because the players are often too lazy to bother remembering anything about what goes on in the game.  And the one player that does, the Krolec player, very often overlooks the obvious because he requires the subtlety of an anvil dropping on his head with a big neon sign saying "this way!".
* The Tiberius player really wanted a fight that session, but we ran out of time.  At least I talked them out of the pointless "hunt down the wight" scenario they were starting to go for.  They still think they are going to "clear out" the underdark area around Fallcrest.  I haven't fully intimated just how deadly that would be for them yet.  Yet.


OK, so, I want to see if any of my regular readers can spot the huge clue I slipped into this session that none of the players even picked up on at all.  Can you spot it?

I'll give you guys a hint - it concerns something one of the NPCs said this session about another NPC that doesn't match up with something the group previously learned about that NPC.  Post you theory on what the clue I'm referring to is and what you think it means!  I really want to know if I was way too subtle or not.

Session 32 - Cast of Characters

Sir Krolec Jar'bin - Elven Ranger
Dame Challa kri - Kalashtar Paladin
Sir Durmindin - Wilden Shaman
Sir Silas Ballard - Human Avenger
Dame Leigh - Eladrin Wizard
Sir Tiberius Enchilada - Human Warlord

Session 32 - Scene 1 (of 5)

In the woods along King's Road, Krolec and his team make camp for the night.  As Krolec is the only one of the three with low light vision, he elects to take the second shift of the watch.  One of Baron Stockmer's men takes the shift with him.

In the dead of night, Krolec stands a careful watch.  He hears something moving out in the forest nearby.  As he alerts Silas and Challa to wake, a crossbow bolt flies out of the trees and pierces the guardsman through the heart.  He collapses as he coughs out a spray of blood.

Krolec then hears a loud growling sound, and suddenly a large dire boar emerges from the forest, charging straight at him.  Thinking quickly, the ranger manages to move out of the way.  Silas, however, is left in its path and gets gored by its tusks.

Out of the forest, an orc beastmaster emerges.  He yells a command to the boar, causing it to dig into Silas again with its tusks.

Challa and Krolec notice a large force of bugbears headed their way from a flanking position.  Back on the other side, four goblin sharpshooters emerge from the darkness, hitting Krolec with one of their shots.  The paladin and ranger quickly notice they are in a lot of trouble.

Trying to help Silas, Krolec fires off a couple of shots at the boar, but misses.  Challa moves over towards Silas and calls out a healing word.  She then strikes out at the boar with her on pain of death prayer.

The boar stays focused on Silas, digging further into his ribcage.  Silas has a little luck, however, as the boar's second attack, directed by the beastmaster, misses.  

The luck doesn't hold out long as the bugbears move into position.  Flanking Silas, one of them smashes his skull with its heavy mace, knocking him to the ground, dazed.  Another bugbear scores a hit on Krolec.  The goblins follow that attack up with a barrage of crossbow bolts, hitting him twice more.

Activating his point blank longbow power, Krolec uses a hawk's talon shot, hitting the bugbear.  He then shifts back to get a better position.  Meanwhile, Silas, still on the ground, takes a moment to catch his breath.

Challa senses the group will be in trouble fast.  She moves into position and uses a hallowed circle that affects three of the bugbears.

The dire boar stays focused on Silas, goring him again twice.  The bugbears swarm on Challa and Krolec while the goblins focus their fire on Challa.  No one is able to penetrate Challa's thick armor, but a bugbear manages to score a hit on Krolec.

Krolec switches to his swords then takes a moment to get a second wind, then drinks a healing potion.

Silas picks himself off the ground and drinks a potion as well.  He then launches into two attacks on the boar, striking into it with an oath of righteous fury followed by intervening blades.

Challa blesses her weapon then launches a massive astral thunder attack that hits all but one of the bugbears.  She follows up the attack with a righteous smite, striking one of the bugbears down.

Nearby, the orc beastmaster directs the dire boar to making another two attacks against Silas.  The tusks cut in deep, ripping open his stomach.  He collapses in a pool of blood.

Session 32 - Scene 2 (of 5)

The bugbears launch another assault at Challa and Krolec, but the two manage to avoid the goblinoid's attacks.  The goblin sharpshooters have little better luck, scoring but a single hit on Challa.

Krolec uses his swords to make an adaptive assault strike on the bugbear in front of him.  The elf's face is splattered with blood as the bugbear collapses.  Nearby, Silas slips towards death.

Seeing that Silas is mortally wounded but too far away, Challa makes an ardent vow and cuts into another of the bugbears with a valorous smite.

With Silas down, the boar turns its attention to Challa.  It charges at her, piercing her armor with one of its tusks.  She gets another crossbow bolt in the shoulder courtesy of the goblins, but manages to avoid any more attacks by the goblins or bugbears.

Krolec shifts himself into position against the nearest bugbear.  He attacks it, ironically, with a boar assault, running his blade through the creature's chest.

As Silas continues to bleed to death, Challa calls on another ardent vow and uses a bolstering strike to strike down the bugbear in front of her.

The remaining bugbear, the boar, and the goblins all try to take Challa out with their attacks, but her defenses fend off them all.

Krolec turns his attention to the boar, but misses with his shadow wasp strike maneuver.  Nearby, Silas continues to hold on despite his massive blood loss.

Challa makes another ardent vow then strikes down the remaining bugbear with her bolstering strike.  The boar responds by goring her as she is hit in the side with another crossbow bolt.

Next to her, Krolec uses an evasive strike to down the dire boar.

As Silas still struggles to hold on to life, Challa takes a minute to gather her breath.  

Before Krolec can move up to help the fallen avenger, the orc beastmaster advances in and attacks at Krolec with its flail.  Krolec manages to fend off the attack but is hit in the leg with a crossbow bolt by the goblins.  Krolec responds back with a pair of sword strikes, but fails to damage the orc.

Silas is unable to hold out any longer.  With most of his blood gone, he falls into the eternal sleep of death.

Angered by the death of her comrade, Challa issues a divine challenge on the orc and cuts into him with a bolstering strike.  The orc attempts to attack her back, but fails.  The goblins, however, score two more hits on her with their crossbows.

Krolec strikes at the orc as well, hitting him with one of his twin strikes.  Challa uses her final ardent vow then attacks the orc with a bolstering strike.  The orc collapses to the ground.

With all of their assault forces lost, the goblins make a hasty retreat.  Challa and Krolec elect not to bother chasing them.

Session 32 - Scene 3 (of 5)

With all of the threats neutralized, Krolec checks on the other guard and camp followers.  They are all hiding behind the baggage train.

Once he is sure they are OK, Krolec looks over the dead.  He notices the orc is mortally wounded, but still alive.

Krolec tries to get a reaction out of the orc by insulting him, but the beastmaster only responds by cursing him in orc.

Challa makes a more convincing argument to get the orc to say why they attacked the group.  Before dying, the orc says only that Rufus will be happy they killed at least one of them.

Krolec is immediately worried about the other group as Rufus appears to be aware of their plan.  He wants to leave immediately to try and reach the others, though it will take until the morning at even the fastest speed.

Challa actually agrees with the plan, believing the baggage train will now be out of danger.  She makes sure they will haul back Silas' body to Fallcrest and turn it over to Lady Abigail.

Before they head out, Krolec notices the orc is wearing hide armor of elven design.  Although neither he nor Challa have the arcane training to determine what exactly the armor is, they can tell it is likely magic.  Krolec decides to wear it rather than his normal armor.

They then head off quickly for Raven's Roost.

Session 32 - Scene 4 (of 5)

Inside Nimz Keep (previously known as Raven's Roost), Tiberius' group is sleeping in their respective rooms – Tiberius with the disguised baron, the baron's valet (who is posing as the baron) with guards posted outside his room, and Durmindin and Leigh (posing as a married couple).

In her room, Leigh awakes to the sound of a commotion coming from downstairs.  She immediately alerts Durmindin (who she made sleep on the floor).  Leigh goes over to the stairway to check on the noises while telling Durmindin to alert Tiberius.

Durmindin reaches Tiberius' door and knocks.  From inside, Tiberius insists on the password in order to open the door.  It takes Durmindin a minute, but the shaman finally remembers they agreed to use "woodwind instrument" as a password.

Tiberius lets Durmindin in and closes the door behind him.  The wilden explains about the noises heard downstairs.

Just then, a loud knocking sounds from the closed door.  Tiberius motions for Durmindin to be quiet.  Positioning the baron back in the room, Tiberius and the shaman move themselves to either side of the door, and wait.

They get a slight sense of relief when they hear the steward calling from behind the door.  Tiberius elects not to answer, however.

He then moves over to the window.  Looking out, he sees there is no way to easily exit the room.  He sees and hears nothing out of the ordinary outside.

Outside, the steward sounds to have moved to the next room over.  A muffled conversation can be heard taking place with the guards.

Out in the hall, Leigh can hear the steward talking to the men behind her.  They decide to head inside the room and barricade themselves in to protect the baron (who is actually the valet disguised as the baron, unbeknownst to them).

Leigh's attention, however, is focused on the scene down the stairs in the main hall – where a large force of orcs is engaged in battle with the keep guards.  The orcs appear to be winning, making short work of the keep's defenders.

Session 32 - Scene 5 (of 5)

A couple of the orcs spot Leigh up the stairs and begin charging towards her while the others finish off the keep guards.  

One of them cuts into the wizard with its axe.  Leigh moves to cast a spell, causing her to get attacked by both of them again.  This time, both attacks find their mark and Leigh finds herself seriously wounded very quickly.

She does, however, manage to get off her rolling thunder spell.  The resulting blast knocks both of the orcs tumbling back down the stairs.

Bloodied and beaten, Leigh runs over to Tiberius' door and begins pounding.  But inside, Tiberius and Durmindin have already secured the door using the bedframe, and Tiberius is anchoring his rope to use as an emergency escape plan.

Hearing the pounding, Tiberius moves over to the door and has the baron stay back towards the window.  To his horror, a masked assassin then leaps into the window from the side of the outside wall.  With a quick motion, a blade emerges and slices into the baron.  The baron falls to the ground, bleeding profusely.  Durmindin, reacting quickly, uses his bonds of the clan spell to absorb some of the damage.  From the effects on him, he can tell the blade has a poisonous, necrotizing effect.

Outside, all the orcs begin heading up the stairs.  Leigh uses a fire burst to hit four of them, killing two.  She also makes sure to keep her rolling thunder activated, hoping to slow the orcs down.  As more orcs emerge into the hallway, she blasts them with a shock sphere then activates a fire shield for defense.  Down below, two orc bloodragers and their chieftain make their way to the stairs.

Back inside the room, Durmindin can tell the baron is mortally wounded.  He uses a sudden restoration ability to help the baron fight off the effects of the necrotizing poison.  The shaman then uses his spirit of the hawk's wind spell to attack the assassin, but fails.

Tiberius activates the power of his stoneborn armor and moves the bed from blocking the door.  He calls out to Leigh, but realizes she won't get there in time.  In order to save the baron, he makes a quick decision and makes a bull rush at the assassin, smacking directly into him and knocking him out the window.  

The assassin, however, manages to make an acrobatic flip on his way down and lands on his feet, relatively unharmed.  With a move of his dark cloak, the assassin disappears into the night.

Outside, two more orc berserkers die as they attempt to charge through the rolling thunder.  Leigh yells for the guards inside of the valet's room to come out and help her, but no one answers.  She then takes a minute to rest herself and prepares to cast a fireball as soon as any more orcs come up the stairs.

It doesn't take long.  The orc bloodragers reach the top of the stairs and Leigh casts her fireball, blasting them both.  However, they appear to weather the blast much better than the weaker berserkers.

Meanwhile, Durmindin takes Tiberius' healing potion and administers it to the baron, allowing him to heal a bit.  Tiberius decides to head out into the hallway to assist Leigh, figuring the shaman can keep Baron Stockmer safe.  He heads out the door and positions himself in front of Leigh.

Leigh, however, has ideas of her own.  Moving back in front of Tiberius, she lets loose a burning hands spell, blasting the bloodragers.  They respond by moving up and slashing at her, but she manages to get out of the way in time.  The orc chieftain, however, directs them to attack again, and one of their swords finds its mark.

Back in the room, Durmindin decides to move the baron away from the window for safety.  It doesn't take long, however, before he realizes he didn't move the baron far enough.  A flask of alchemical fire comes flying in from the window and engulfs half the room – and the baron – in flames.

In the hallway, Tiberius moves up next to Leigh and strikes into one of the bloodragers with his stand the fallen maneuver.  Leigh blasts the one in front of her with a magic missile then retreats to safety.

Coughing in the smoke-filled room, Durmindin moves the baron to safety and pats out the flames on him.  Seeing that the man is dying again, he uses a healing spirit to stabilize the lord.

Outside, the bloodragers attack at Tiberius with a flurry of four strikes, but the warlord fends them all off.  The orc chief points out a fifth point of attack, however, that the bloodrager is able to hit.

Tiberius, however, is more worried about Leigh.  He calls out an inspiring word to raise her spirits then uses his knight's move maneuver to get her inside the room.  He attempts to strike at the orcs as well, using a bastion of defense, but fails.

From inside the doorway, Leigh is able to hit one of the orcs with her magic missile.  Durmindin then heads to the door as well.  Calling forth his spirit companion, he has it strike at an orc with a thunder bear's warning, but the attack fails.

Under the command of the chieftain, the two bloodragers launch another flurry of attacks at Tiberius, hitting him once.  Tiberius responds with a guarding attack, but fails to injure the creature.

Leigh then lets loose with a scorching burst, blasting the two bloodragers.  Durmindin follows it up with a protecting strike from his spirit companion, killing one of them.

The remaining bloodrager continues to strike out at Tiberius, hitting him with two heavy axe blows.  Tiberius uses an inspiring word to keep his adrenaline up then attempts to strike back with an inspired war cry.  The orc fends him off.

Leigh strikes out again, hitting the orc with another magic missile.  Durmindin follows it up with a spirit renewal strike.  He also calls forth a healing spirit to help with Tiberius' injuries.

The orc moves in to attack again, but Tiberius fends him off.  He then chops into the creature's chest with a viper's strike, killing it.

Once again, Leigh uses her magic missile – this time to blast the chief.  She then moves closer to the window in the room and loudly proclaims the baron has died, hoping to deceive the assassin should he still be out there.

Durmindin moves his spirit companion towards the orc chieftain, lashing out with a spirit shield strike that the orc easily avoids.  The orc chief advances and strikes into Durminidin with his axe.

Tiberius tries to strike back using his warlord's grimace, but misses.   Durmindin's follow up attack with his mace fares no better.

Back inside the room, Leigh moves herself back to the doorway and hits the chief with another magic missile.  The orc responds by chopping into Tiberius again.

The battle continues, but the orc scores no more hits.  Leigh continues to blast away with her magic missiles as Durmindin uses his spirit companion's protecting strike.  In the end, Tiberius' viper's strike scores the killing hit, chopping the creature's head in two.

With carnage all around them, Tiberius wonders if the assassin was Rufus the Red himself.  He quickly moves everyone back into a room to fortify themselves for the rest of the night.

Session 32 - Session Notes

With last session being all set-up, this session was all action.  The entire session was essentially two combat scenes - one for each subgroup.

On the one hand, both battles were full of nail-biting intensity.  Krolec's group was in danger of being completely wiped out, while Tiberius' group almost failed their mission and Leigh only barely avoided death.  In both cases, a spectacularly bad series of rolls by me was all that saved them.

On the other hand, it meant each sub-group got kind of bored because they had to sit around for an hour and a half or more while the other group had a fight.  But, such is the problem with splitting up the party.  And no, there's no way in hell I could have managed to slip back and forth between combats and kept track of anything.  Why, oh why, wotc, won't you build me some kind of combat helper application I could download and use on a laptop?

Anyhow, the point behind this session was to show how calculated Rufus' plans were.  Actually, now that I look back on it, I forgot to enter an important part in the writeup where after the fight they discover the valet, the steward, and one of the guards are dead in the other room (revealing that Rufus - or whoever the assassin was - posed as one of the guards and murdered the others then climbed across from one window to the other).  Oh, well.  I'll include that in the first part of the next session report.  

The first fight was pretty straight-forward - a hired group of orcs and goblins surrounds the PCs and attacks.  It got a lot of heightened drama during the session because of Silas' death.  I have to say, though - a lot of that was caused by not using any real tactics during the fight.  Despite playing the game for over a year now, most of the players still suck ass at tactics.  

Frankly, something as simple as "don't keep standing in a flanking position when one of the dudes can knock you prone and daze you with a hit when flanking you" combined with "that boar does more damage when you are prone" shouldn't be that hard to figure out.  Nor should the concept of "hey, the avenger is getting reamed - maybe we should assist him".  If that subgroup had gotten a TPK, they would have deserved it.

I let the orc live long enough to have a dramatic conversation moment just to make sure they got that Rufus planned the attack.  That worked out nicely.

In the second battle, I had even more fun.  The wizard PC was wide-eyed at having to face a whole force of orcs herself, while the other two kept accidentally putting the guy they were supposed to protect in harm's way was hilarious.  Well, hilarious to me at any rate.

The bullrush to knock the assassin out the window was pretty inspired (even if it came via a "hint" from the Krolec player).  Honestly, the assassin's next act would have been to do a coup de grace on the baron, so it saved the mission.  Plus, the assassin would have wiped the floor with Tiberius and Durmindin in a straight up fight.

The Silas player elected to let his character stay dead and created a new one.  Look for that new character next session or so.

In the meantime, I'm continuing my planning for the undercity part of the campaign that the players signaled they wanted to do.  I bought the underdark book and a bunch of new minis to inspire me.

Session 33 - Cast of Characters

Dame Challa Kri - Kalashtar Paladin
Dame Leigh - Eladrin Wizard
Sir Tiberius Enchilada - Human Warlord
Sir Durmindin - Wilden Shaman

and introducing:
Sa'lid Dra'lah - Human Sorcerer

Session 33 - Scene 1 (of 7)

Challa and Krolec finally make their way to Raven's Roost, now Nimz Keep, by mid-morning the next day.  Upon getting close to the main entrance, Challa spots the main door to the keep has been forced open and the bodies of a few dead guards lie on the outside lawn.

She and Krolec dismount and draw their weapons.  Krolec heads off to check the perimeter while Challa quickly heads into the keep.  She thinks they may already be too late.

One inside, she sees the main hall is filled with dead soldiers.  She also spots some scorch marks near the stairs, with a couple of dead orcs lying there.  She recognizes that Leigh must have been involved in a battle here.

Heading up the stairs quickly, she sees more scorch marks in the upstairs hall with several other dead orc bodies.  She doesn't see any other bodies, and no one is moving around.  There are, however, three closed doors in the hallway.

Challa calls out for her companions.  Durmindin answers from behind a door.  She announces herself and Durmindin opens the door for her, not thinking to ask for the password.

Going into the far room on the right, Challa sees that Tiberius is still asleep while Durmindin and Leigh appear to be guarding over the shell-shocked Baron Stockmer.  They all look pretty rough for the wear, particularly the pale-looking baron.

The paladin asks her companions what happened.  They explain to her how a group of orcs assaulted the keep and wiped out its forces as a diversion while (presumably) Rufus made an assassination attempt on the baron.

While the attempts on the baron's life were foiled and the orcs defeated, Leigh points out that Rufus himself is still at large; though she takes comfort that he knows they know he is after them and will thus be less likely to assault them directly again.

Challa wonders about Lord Nimz and the other inhabitants of the keep.  Leigh explains that Lord Nimz is already back in Fallcrest and they don't believe there were any other survivors.  She goes on to tell the paladin how they checked the room where the steward was holed up, only to find the steward and the baron's valet dead along with one of the two soldiers that went into that room.  Their speculation is that Rufus disguised himself as a guard and murdered the steward, valet, and the other guard when they went into that room and then climbed across from one window to another when he made his attack on the baron.

Durmindin asks Challa how she arrived at the keep.  She explains about her and Krolec riding all night to get here.  Although Durmindin has more questions, Challa cuts him off – explaining that she must search the keep for other survivors first as a matter of duty.

Session 33 - Scene 2 (of 7)

Durmindin and Leigh stay behind with the baron while Challa searches around.  As they explained, she finds the dead bodies of the steward, the valet, and the guard in the room next to the one the others are staying in.  The third room upstairs is quite a mess, with burn marks and blood everywhere along with furniture thrown about the room.

Heading downstairs and looking around some more, she eventually finds a couple of servants hiding out in the kitchen pantry.  Challa explains to them that they are safe now and can come out of hiding.  She offers to escort them back to Fallcrest.  They happily agree.  She commissions them to gather food for everyone for the journey – two days worth of meals.

With the keep thoroughly looked over, Challa heads outside to check the outbuildings.  She immediately runs into Krolec, who explains he already searched everywhere and located a few more servants, including the gardener and the groom.  Challa makes these servants the same offer, but they elect to stay behind at the keep.  

Not arguing their position, Challa instructs the groom to prepare several horses from Nimz's stables for them.  She and Krolec will require new horses, plus an additional two for the other servants accompanying them.

Krolec then tells Challa he found a strange looking hat outside, below one of the windows.  He takes Challa over to see it, where he left it on the ground (not wanting to touch it without having the wizard examine it first).  She sees it is a strange shape but of almost supernaturally high quality.  They head back inside to grab Leigh to examine it.