Twee (RCB) lvl 10 Goblinoid Ranger
Eight (Konopa) lvl 16 Wood Elven Monk
Jyn (Kiwi) lvl 10 Dwarven Cleric
Dimble (TheOddity) lvl 9 Gnomish Sorcerer
Zak (Carric) lvl 14 Githyanki Warrior
and yours truly:
Naal (Mal) lvl 15 Eldritch Knight
DM: Calmseeker
Our ordeal began when a gathering convened by Firenze of the Wisehoof clan of Centaurs arrived on the Bitter Dwarf Inn with Intelligence about the movements of the Kobolds occupying our former landing port of White Moon Cove.
They had scouted the region and were aware that the dread Wyrm known as Grimace had left the ruins of our once pristine Cove for one of it’s lairs in the Ghost Wood Marsh. Together forming a coalition with the Druids of the Neathy Woods and the Rushing Stream Monastery, they implored our presence in the Blackfoot Inn west of Ruined Oak, to confer with their leaders about military action to end their blight in our lands. The Gnolls which had helped them to oust us from our fair city had retreated north of the coast after one schism or another – very likely the land being unable to sustain their numbers on account of their depredations.
Without the black ritual that blanketed the area in perpetual night, a final push for them at sunrise seemed now within our grasp. We managed to bring a few dozens of our valiant guards to the eventual effort, who volunteered out of the kindness of their hearts for this campaign. With much fanfare we said our goodbyes to our loved ones and departed at once for this strategic meeting.
The travel to the inn was most uneventful: many wild forces would balk at attacking our massive numbers. We arrived in the second day of travel to the palisades of the Blood Eye town. There, we met with Zechariah from the Neathy Woods along with the Hobgoblin Warriors. The druid offered to speed our travel toward the Inn with his magics, an offer which we readily accepted – With his blessing the woodland parted itself before our passage, so we needed not to hack it as our many bodies made their way there.
Ambassador Zak and Duke Eight managed to convince the Blood Eyes to lend us a couple of their warriors for the final push as well.
We rested for the night before reaching the Inn at the mouth of the forest but would be disturbed by two hulking monstrosities resembling white manned gorillas with an extra pair of powerful arms. Jyn‘s watchful ears noted their approach as she stood guard.
After making short work of them with our formidable forces, we managed to surmise that they assaulted us out of hunger and desperation. This seemed consistent with reports of the Gnolls movements, leaving a trail of lands bereft of resources in their wake.
After our rest, we resumed travel toward the Inn. Once we arrived we were met with the combined forces of the Wisehoof Clan led by Khiron, the Druids of the Neathy Woods led by Gwendolen, and Doeumi leading the assembled Monks of the Rushing Stream Monastery.
Battle plans began with the disclosure that the Kobolds had arranged crude fortifications in a 10 mile radius around the Cove. More pressing, a Monk Scout managed to infiltrate the city itself for a period and saw preparations for a fell ritual within it: another unholy attempt at blanketing the area with eternal night. We saw it indispensable to strike before this spell could be completed. We would strike tomorrow, at dawn.
The plan was to send the bulk of our forces: Centaurs, Hobgoblins and Guards upon the guarded perimeter as a diversion to manage to get the doors open and the foul ritual interrupted. Our band of experienced adventurers would get the way open for the other forces, while our Monk allies would strike at the Kobold priests to keep its magics from working.
We spent a tense night in the Inn, knowing it would be the last for many. We got up before first lights in order to launch our surprise attack with the dawn, thus we marched South. With a cloud filled sky, we could begin to see the haphazard outposts cobbled together by poor substitution of engineering, that held up to the morning dew in defiance of common sense. What had they done with our town?
Signal flares exploded from these structures at our approach, while the Monk team and our band of adventurers maneuvered beyond them. Going past these outposts, we could begin to gaze upon the burned husk of what remained of our once glorious city. Twee and Zak communed with a couple of ravens to gain updated intelligence of the town, being able to see thru their eyes. Like our prior Intelligence noted, there were no signs of Grimace, the Black Dragon – we did saw Orcish soldiers stationed on the choke-points of entry to the city along with swarms of kobolds along with their more distinguished arcanists and priests.
Zak saw the prepared ritual spot, with the high priests of the Kobold menace plus their helpers and bodyguards. The Monks ran up the walls in their fashion, Zak and myself leapt up to the ramparts in a single bound, leaving rope for our allies. Keeping our wits about us for traps and nasty surprises including Invisible agents, the gates barricaded as well as the portcullis shut down, as we got up on the wall we were spotted by a patrol of slingers. Jyn and Zak went down before myself, suffering a fireball for their trouble. There was an Orc/Ogre hybrid among them, a plate mailed Orc, an Orcish arcanist: they had a balanced composition and swarms of disposable troops which Twee took out easily with his hails of arrows.
We bloodied and overtook them quickly, bound our wounds with potions and blessed ourselves with several other: Heroism was particularly popular among Zak, Twee and myself. We removed the barricade and lifted the portcullis before heading further into the ruins. With impeccable timing, our Wisehoof allies charged thru with war-horns blaring. We continued South ourselves, toward the ritual site. Our Monk friends had most control of the situation: only a single priest was holding the magic afloat – we helped the monks strike him and his entourage down.
They were producing some unholy pool of darkness by sacrificial means. Death would only empower it more, so we took effort to take the casters down in a non-lethal fashion. Another short scuffle later and we were done. We weren’t even bloodied yet. The last task left was for us to find the Kobold leader. Grimace’s top high priest. His name was Scowler and we learned that the Orcish mercenaries they were employing were called the Brazen Blades. I suspect commissioned from Trader’s Bay. They prepared their last stand in the east of the town square.
When we reached the site, Scowler made a bit of a monologue before displaying a huge shadow dragon coming out of some rubble – he was being guarded by the elite of the Brazen Blades – their chief and most capable casters. But the size of the Wyrm wasn’t quite what the reports had noted – it would be an adult and not an ancient one if this was Dread Grimace.
We clashed also against a Kobold expertly wielding a rapier, an Orcish Priest, a Kobold arcanist, who could cast very high level spells. Eight, Zak and myself converged on Scowler and tried to pry him from his mortal coil, ignoring magic effects unleashed to protect him, but in the end I managed to take his head. With the Kobold gone, the illusory Grimace disappeared. We had managed to endure a couple of his acidic breaths.
The Orcish Warlord, which Dimble had banished from the fight up until this moment, reappeared and took visible offence at the dead employer next to me. He claimed his name was Urubain and that he would not die to a blade. Turns out he was correct cuz he was felled by a precise arrow by Twee after Eight finally stunned the Orc.
With the battle won, we took to the task of dispelling the pool of darkness. I weakened it’s enchantments by scratching the arcane symbols which gave it presence then Jyn dispelled the diminished puddle.
Finally, Khiron sauntered forth with one of the captured Kobold priests who shared the following with us:
“Our master Grimace left those of us that served him closest with a message. He has abandoned the ruins of this town as an unsuitable location for a new lair. Instead, he will venture into the Ghost-wood Marsh to locate a properly suitable lair. He holds no great love for the ruins of your beloved town of White Moon Cove, so he will bide his time and gather his strength. For now, his interests lie in other matters that we mere servants could not comprehend. Perhaps if it suits his fancy, he will return someday in the future. Perhaps those structures you built to the north of this town could be useful.“
We also learned that they knew what the portal was for, but didn’t knew how to operate it. If this knowledge fell into the wrong hands, we would have much toil ahead of the Freeholds. Finally, our combined forces finished routing the rest of the beheaded Kobold forces occupying our lands. Leaving a detachment of guards and other allies, we said our farewells to our allies and ventured to the portal site, which was rigged with both arcane and physical traps: Jyn and myself dispelled those, Eight dealt with a rock-fall trap and I filled up the 40 feet deep pit trap near it. It would’ve been a harsh deal if we had used it to invade. I also made sure we weren’t being watched by scrying magics with See Invisibility before we used it to return to Ruined Oak.
Now the rebuilding can begin.
