Therryk - Dragonborn Paladin
Zamir - Genasi Swordmage
Arlarond - Human Wizard
Ana - Half Elf Cleric
Lucan - Elf Fighter
Jesse continued the adventures of the Heroes of Fallcrest as they battled the Legion of the Chimera.
We finished our exploration of the compound we had claimed, and divided up the treasures we plundered from the fallen orcs. Our wagon was damaged in the attack, and we set our two slaves up to fix it. Minions, I meant minions.
We were surprised when a lone demon approached the West gate. A couple of us immediately rushed him. Some of the more prudent party members stayed on or in the structure. The next round another demon appeared. The four of us that rushed up were in a good spot, and feeling pretty tough. Arlarond was on the roof of the building inside the walls and he started throwing spells at them. He kept spending his move action to search around, trying to find out where these demons were coming from, but they were too well hidden
Lucan and Therryk stood side by side and fought the demons, while Sambrielle and Ana stood on the wall and supported. The next round, another demon appeared. And the round after that. Zamir rushed to the gate, and the three defenders stood shoulder to shoulder and blocked the route around the edge of the wall.
The demons stopped coming to us, and started running around the corner to the open wall where our two companions were repairing the wagon. Before we could get there to intervene, one took a mighty swing at Scrag, the goblin, and he went down like a bag of stones. We split into two groups. Not on purpose, it just happened that way. Lucan broke off from the front gate fight and jumped up and over the wall to engage the demons coming through the other gate. Sambrielle joined him. Arlarond turned his focus to these new threats, and the other three of us focused on the last of the initial demons.
Lucan had the attention of the new group of demons, still augmented each round by another one coming from the bushes. Zamir, Ana, and Therryk finished off the last of theirs and turned to help their companions.Therryk ran around the edge of the wall, trying to make best time to the other fight, and was startled when he noticed a Gnoll in the bushes. His eyes were closed and he was murmuring something. One axe thrown at his face ended his summoning ritual, and the endless flood of demons stopped.
This still left the few that he had already summoned, currently fighting in the entryway of the South gate. Now flanked and outnumbered, it was only a matter of time before they were brought down. Though their variable resistance to our various elemental attacks was annoying, it did not save them in the end.
We were pleased to discover that Scrag had only been faking injury, in the masterful cowardly way that Goblins can, and that the gnoll summoner had a very valuable staff topped with a black diamond. Not magic, but still good news.
Following the fight an Eladrin rode in from the East. We recognized him, he was one of Kerlos' men, one we had fought and defeated in the Moonstone Keep. He was impressed with our work, and told us that if we could but hold onto this ruin for another day, reinforcements from Southember would arrive, and we could go. We agreed, as getting in the good graces of the Eladrin is just as important as getting in good with the legion.
Shortly after he left, we saw two Lizardfolk approaching from the South. The one in the lead was carrying a makeshift white flag, so we let them approach. We had moved the wagon into the broken Southern entrance, so the introductions and discussion took place on the seat of the wagon. These lizardfolk had heard of our attempts to create dissent in the Legion, and were offering some small amount of help. Through some negotiation we learned that not all of the Orcish shamans followed the Red Champion blindly, and would like an opportunity to study the book of Orcish prophesies personally. Unfortunately, the Red Champion was keeping the book on her person, so the Shamans went along with her. . . for now.
The gnolls had been trying to find another copy of the prophesies so that they could give them to the shamans. The goblin raids on Fallcrest were one attempt to get the book, though we knew of no copy there. We agreed that we would help the lizardfolk do this, but in the process Therryk let slip that we were expecting an attack during the night. Arlarond suspected that the silent lizardman in the rear of the wagon might have occasion to use this information to our detriment. We told him as much, and as a good faith gesture he allowed us to keep the possible dissenter with us for now. Our plan was to meet up with him in a grove that he specified with the Eladrin copy of the Prophesies in 24 hours. If we were unable to make it we would need to send word and arrange another meeting place.
When the lizardman left we got to fortifying the Northeastern section of the outpost. With material from the building we were able to build a rude barricade, and we chucked the wheels of the wagon to provide some kind of protection from the south. When we were finished we split up into watches and tried to get some rest. Arlarond set up his Arcane Eyes to watch the bog. Sambrielle and Therryk kept watch for the first part of the night.
Around midnight we were attacked. Flaming arrows started striking around the courtyard. The Heroes were awakened, and the battle started. A group of Orcish archers stood 40 feet away and shot flaming arrows into the battle. They were guarded by two Wargs. More orcs rushed the gate, and a big orc, an obvious leader, quickly got inside the compound.
Sambrielle stood atop the wall with her sword as tall as she was and was rewarded for her courage with a barrage of flaming arrows. Therryk jumped down and charged at the archers in an attempt to draw their fire and was rewarded with just that. Inside, Lucan and Zamir closed with the Orcish leader and began to feel just how much pain he could dish out.Our ace in the hole, Arlarond on the roof tossing spells around, was just in position when we were betrayed. The lizardman whom we had kept with us so that he would not betray our plans rushed at Arlarond and tried to shove him off of the roof of the three story building. He failed, but Arlarond knew that it was a matter of time before he was knocked down, and tried to leap down and mitigate his damage somewhat. He failed. On top of that, the lizardman pulled his greatbow from his back and started pumping arrows into Zamir.
The orcish brutes hammering at the gates were dispatched easily by Therryk and Sambrielle, but the archers focused their fire and with one volley brought the dragonborn down, and he bled and lay dying. The small halfling was now virtually alone outside the gates, with two wargs as tall as she, and four archers with no other obvious targets. Things were looking grim outside the gates.Luckily, due to the nature of the gate, Ana was able to arrive and began bringing the wrath of Bahamut down on the orcs. She healed the dying and began to turn the tide of the battle. Glowing with the light of her god, her allies felt even more bolstered when blessed by healing from her patron.
Arlarond, too, took advantage of the gate, and began harassing the archers. He yelled at Scrag to pull the lever in the building, the one that controlled the counterweights and opened the gate. Scrag began to do just that. He yanked the lever back and forth, and what was a grim battle became even more uncertain with the addition of the heavy smashing gate in the midst of it.
Zamir, meanwhile, took advantage of one of Ana's many blessings to yank the lizardman from the roof. A bolt of lightning drew him down and he struck the ground, hard. Robbed of his vantage point and stuck in melee combat, he was forced to fight tooth and claw.Lucan began maneuvering right away to get the orcish leader smashed by the gate. His trident is most adept and pushing and pulling enemies where he wants, all around the battlefield, and it was inevitable that the orc would end up smashed by the gate.
The wargs were finally silenced, and Therryk and Arlarond went to work shutting down the archers. A blast of ice knocked most of them from their feet, and Therryk's axe with Arlarond's magic began to bring them down.
The real fight was the orcish war leader. Briefly knocked into bloodied, he channeled his orcish blood and healed himself out of it. When he brought one of the Heroes of Fallcrest into bloodied territory, he would savage them even more. In the end it took a combined effort of all the party, with healing running low and powers spent, but he was brought down, smashed by the gate into a pulp. We ended there.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This session took a bit longer than our usual ones, so once combat ended we were done for the day. Surprisingly, Jesse anticipates that this story arc will be finished up next session. We will see. I feel like from Therryk's perspective this is an enormous problem that will not be solved for months and months . . .but from a storytelling perspective I can see it happening. Colin hopes to run next, and we will be starting up 6th level. 6th level is a nice boost in power for some of us, Leaders of course can now add 2d6 to their healing, My mark improves a bit, feats are earned and Utility powers are gained. Good level, 6th. Of course, in a couple weeks I will be looking at 7th level and thinking how cool it will be to have three encounter powers. I am never content.
Jesse was saying as we wrapped up that this gauntlet of three encounters with no extended rests was done to stretch us. We sometimes rest more than I think is strictly necessary. Hitting that milestone is cool, though, Colin has a power gem, so he can bring back his Rain of Blows. That power is very sick. Very, very sick.
I didn't get any notes taken this session, but since it was a light roleplaying session that is mostly okay. I am not sure about the name of our Lizardfolk contact, and I had to think pretty hard about the order things happened in (demons>eladrin>lizardfolk>orcs). Since I do this more as a benefit to the group, should we ever be nostalgic our curious or . . .anything, and less as a showing off of our cool game, I really should be a little more consistent with that. In other news, I took a bunch of pictures, so that is cool, right?
Jay
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