AKA “Fighting Back - The Anwich Siege”

Adventures in Taggeriell

Session 22 (Date: 22nd April 2017)





Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Balasar”) Dragonborn Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor”) Dwarf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.





Absent Players

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male. <Played By Bob>

- Phil (Known as “Nac”) Half-elf Male. <Played by Rob>

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male. <Played by Travis>





NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by DM>

- (Known as “Valder”) Elf Male. <Controlled by DM>





Summary

- Fireday, 18th of Neth in the year 814 (Second Era). Winter.

- The party begin this session, resting in the Keep, in the center of Anwich, just after midday.

- After only twenty minutes of resting, Governor Tarbaw enters the sleeping area of the party, rushing over to a window and shouting to the party to awake and come look through his spy glass.

- About 300’ feet away, to the south east, is a large temple, surrounded by a stone wall that is roughly head height. From the upper story windows of the temple, can be seen several people waving arms for help. A group of the Dragon Cult is at the front and another group at the rear entrance of the temple trying to get in. A third group of the Dragon Cult is circling around the stone wall in patrol.

- The party call for Sir Castellan to attend, and a few minutes later the Dwarf commander of the keep arrives, and the situated is discussed. The party learn that this is a Temple of the Goddess Chauntea, she of the Grain and Harvests. It is a very defendable building but will eventually fall to the efforts of the Dragon Cult to gain entry.

- After some discussion the party decide that they will leave to attempt to rescue the people now before the Dragon Cult can force their way in. Sir Castellan agrees to lend four men at arms, with crossbows, to assist the party in retrieving the townsfolk, and the Dwarf commander also gives his last blue alchemy arrow to the party as a signal. If the party fire the arrow, the Keep defenders will fire arrows at the north side of the Temple as a diversion. The party also each grab a flat top “bucket” helmet as they have a plan to use them to get over the outer stone wall that surrounds the Temple.

- The party, Sir Castellan and the four men at arms, go downstairs into the cellar and go back to the old escape tunnel. The tunnel is emptied of water and the party proceed through the tunnel to the outer grate. Naillae unlocks it and sneaks outside to have a quick look around, she can’t see anyone and tells the party it is clear.

- The group exit the tunnel and the grate is closed. Nac takes a moment to cover the grate with reeds to hide it. As he finishes, Nac, Sir Krondor and one of the men at arms look up at some movement. A figure, expertly hidden in the reeds, covered with bushes and leaves, starts to move. Suddenly, twelve figures burst forth from the both sides of the river, surrounding the party; only Nac, Sir Krondor and the single men at arms are not surprised.

- Each figure is a human, dressed in long, oddly shaped black cloaks that cover black leather armour. None of their faces are visible due to the black dragon masks each wears, except for the eyes that show through twin eye holes. Each figure holds a scimitar and lunges at the party. Dragonclaw cultists!

- A pair of Dragonclaws lunge towards Gim, Sir Krondor, Labarett and Balasar. Nac, Naillae, Valder and Trenchart only get a single Dragonclaw. The four men at arms are ignored.

- The party quickly learn that these Dragonclaws are dangerous, their scimitars are doing lethal damage. (Dragonclaws get two attacks per round, have Advantage on their attack rolls if another ally is adjacent, and get additional damage dice if they attack with any Advantage).

- Before the party can do much, more figures appear from the sky above. Six are dressed in similar black cloaks, armour and masks as the first group, except the edges of their cloaks show a purple trim: Dragonwings!. Another figure, a seventh, is slightly higher than the rest and he is flying down too. Dressed in a similar fashion, except that he also wears a purple tabard: a Dragonfang!

- The new comers fly down and take up positions to engage the men at arms and also make sure that there are two attackers on each of the party.

- The battle is fierce and deadly, the Cultists are intent on killing the party and give no quarter. The party and men at arms are struggling. During the initial chaos many daring exploits occur: a cultist nearly takes off Labarett’s head but just misses (Critical Hit that was forced re-roll with Inspiration to a miss); and Nac took a nasty wound to his leg that slowed him down to half speed (Critical Hit, that was forced re-rolled with his Inspiration but the re-roll was another Critical!).

- Valder, starts to panic, as he has two of the Cultists on him and even with the protection of his Glass Staff casting Shields around him, he has been hit and injured badly. Valder points to the ground at his feet and summons a Fireball spell, his most potent spell and it will be the last time he will be able to cast anything as powerful until he takes a long rest. The fireball erupts engulfing some of the party and some of the men at arms. Valder, using his mastery of Evocation, shapes the heat and flames away from the members of the party and one of the men at arms, saving them from the fireball but he can not save another of the men at arms, as his skill is limited. It is a sacrifice Valder is prepared to make as the party are in dire straights.

- After the flames vanish, half of the Cultists that were in the fireball are dead and the other half are badly damaged. (Fireball damage 35). One of the men at arms lays burnt to death.

- Now that the Fireball has taken out so many of the Cultists, the party start to gain some ground and fight their way back. The cultists are zealous and never give any ground, showing no fear or any indication of backing down. Naillae, badly wounded, has to retreat and hide behind some of the men at arms, forced to throw her daggers. Trenchant is forced to use his “pointy stick” (his rapier) as he’s run out of any Bard abilities. Nac is concentrating most of his spells against the apparent leader in purple. Balasar is dispatching Cultists, moving to and fro. Gim and Sir Krondor swing their weapons relentlessly never stopping (each using Action Surges). Valder fires off his Scorching Ray twice and hits multiple targets. Labarett, focusing his rage, begins to swing his long sword madly as the Cultists attack mostly deflect off the Barbarian.

- During the last stage of the combat, many great feats happen: Gim scores two Critical hits (each doing triple damage); two of the Cultists fumble their attacks (gaining disadvantage on their attacks); Sir Krondor fumbles his crossbow fire and hits one of the men at arms; and one of the men at arms delivers an amazing blow (Critical hit) with his dagger.

- In the end, the party, though very badly wounded, are victorious and manage to defeat all the Cultists. Nac quickly goes over to cast Spare the Dying on the Cult Leader, whilst Balasar ties up the hands of the Cult Leader.

- The party start to search the bodies whilst Nac prepares his spell of Prayer of Healing. There is nothing of value on any of the bodies except on the leader is found a note. Sir Krondor takes out the note and reads it aloud.

“Dragonfang Rexnil,

There is a Knight Of The Anvil here accompanied by a large group of able warriors and a wizard; they rescued a group of the locals and brought them to the Keep. The cursed Knight of Fanur will attempt to help these defenders, it’s in his blood. Lay an obvious trap at the Mill to lure out the Knight and set an ambush but ensure the forces there are insufficient to do any real harm to the Knight or his companions; pick men of low value and skill so their deaths will not be missed.

Follow the Knight and his companions and observe how they are coming from the Keep; there must be a secret way. Once we know the method, go back and gather as many men of the Cult as you need, set a real ambush and then kill them all when they exit. Then we shall enter the Keep and gather what loot lies within to bring to Rezmir to add to the great hoard.

Tiamat, Our Mother and Strength

Frulam”

- Sir Krondor looks up, “That’s why the Mill was so easy! Flawless victory indeed! We were supposed to win!”

- Balasar looks confused, “But why are they so concerned about one Dwarf Knight?”

- Trenchant steps forward, “Have you not heard the tale of the Battle of the Agas Islands, two hundred years ago, near the end of the great Tar-Fri war? No? The Tar-Fri were pressing their land forces onwards, from the Island of Sa-Ni-Ni, using the Agas Islands land bridge towards the southern shores of Asalea and Tyriba. The troops of the Asalea and Tyriba, many thousands of men had been shattered and what men were left were in full retreat. There were five thousand Tar-Fri warriors marching forward and had they entered the main land of the southern shores of Taggriell, then any chance of victory would be lost. But a contingent of one hundred Dwarf Knights of The Anvil stood waiting at the end of the Agas Islands. There the Dwarves made their stand and did not yield. The battle raged for the rest of the day. Thousands upon thousands of Tar-Fri kept coming; wave upon wave. The pile of bodies grew, like a small mountain of death. When the sun finally set, five thousand dead Tar-Fri lay on the field of battle, and of the one hundred Dwarf Knights, only three survived. That day, the Dwarves of Fanur saved Taggriell. The deed is not forgotten amongst the Dwarven Clans. If we ever get the time, remind me and I’ll sing you The Song Of The Brave Knights Of The Agas Islands. It is a long epic, goes for nearly an hour, and is completely in Dwarvish but it is a tale worth hearing.”

- Gim speaks softly, “Aye lad, we sing that song once a year to remember the fallen. I lost an uncle in that battle.”

- Sir Krondor speaks with a low voice filled with emotion, “And the Order lost many of it’s most senior and greatest Knights that day. It is a sacrifice we Dwarves have not forgotten, even if most men have.”

- The party arrange for the captured Cult Officer to be taken back to the Keep by the remaining men at arms as they will continue onwards to save the people trapped within the Temple, as time is pressing.

- Going quietly, keeping to the winding river, and using the tall reeds for cover, they make their way over to the Temple. As they get nearer they move to the far east side and start to prepare for an ambush against the group of the Dragon Cult that is patrolling the outside wall.

- Taking up positions in the nearby patch of thick trees and underbrush of the natural bush that lies in between the river and the stone wall, the party lay an ambush. Nac attempts to lay a trip line across the trees, using rope, but gets his hands tied up in the attempt (very bad Wisdom Survival roll) so Trenchant comes over and makes the trap.

- Whilst the trip line is being set up, Balasar the Monk easily springs upwards in a graceful jump and lands quietly in the top part of one of the trees. He can see over the stone wall and into the Temple compound. He can see the group, about 80 or 90 feet away, at the rear of the Temple, that comprises 3 Cult Fanatics, 10 Kobolds and 2 of the strange dragon, dog like creatures that is nearly the size of a horse; that the party have only ever seen from a long distance before. This strange creature is an Ambush Drake. It appears the group are trying to ignite a pile of wood on fire to burn the rear door of the temple.

- Some of the rest of the party climb up into the trees and take elevated positions, Naillae, Nac and Krondor. The rest either want to remain on the ground, or are too exhausted to risk climbing up, like Valder.

- After about ten minutes, the hiding party see the approaching Dragon Cult patrol coming towards them from the north. The group comprises 3 Cult Fanatics, 6 Kobolds, 1 weird looking kobold and 2 Ambush Drakes.

- As the group gets near the party, Nac uses his Silence scroll and aims it at the group, which is the signal for everyone else to begin the attack. Gim throws his Dwarven throwing axes; Sir Krondor fires his bow; Labarett throws his javelins; Naillae throws her throwing knives; Balasar uses his crossbow; Nac and Valder fire their spells; and Trenchant fires off his crossbow.

- Quickly the party drop the strange looking Kobold, afraid of what he might be, and then turn their attention to the Cultists. Because of the Silence spell, the kobolds in the front of the marching patrol do not hear the battle at first, and the the Ambush Drakes can not be immediately commanded to attack by their handlers.

- The ambush is perfectly set up, with the party hidden and in elevated positions, they rain death upon the patrol. The patrol can not call for help and it takes time for most of the group to become aware of the attack, to their doom, and it takes time to hand signal for the handlers to get the Drakes to attack.

- The battle is chaotic with many outstanding moments and many mistakes: Gim scores two Critical Hits with his hand axes (each doing triple damage!); a badly aimed shot from Trenchant’s crossbow (Fumble) goes over the stone wall and hits inside the compound but none of the other Dragon Cult members inside notice; Labarett fumbles a throw of javelin but this angers the Barbarian who then hurls his next javelin with such force as to rip a deadly wound on one of the Dragon Cult (Critical Hit for triple damage).

- One of the Drakes approaches the trees where the party are hidden but stops to smell and investigate the rope trip line the party set up. This gives the opportunity for Balasar and Gim to move forward and engage the beast. Gim scores a deadly swing with his battle axe, which allows him to follow up with another swing (Critical Hit - Follow up).

- In a short amount of time, and without alerting any of the inside Dragon Cult members, the party are victorious. The bodies are searched, on one of the Kobolds is a small pouch with 20 gold pieces and 30 silver pieces. The strange looking Kobold is searched, from his clothing, items and equipment Valder thinks he may be some type of Alchemist. Three flasks are taken from this Kobold, one green, one red, and one blue.

- The party then begin with the next phase of their plan: entering the inner compound of the Temple. Some of the party stand at the stone wall, using the bucket helmets they borrowed to allow them to just see and fire over the wall. The rest of the party will go up into the trees to fire at range into the compound.

- As one the party open fire on the unaware group of Dragon Cultists at the rear of the Temple. The party concentrate their attacks initially on the 3 Cult Fanatics and the trio of robed figures are dropped quickly. From there the battle is a one sided affair. The Kobolds take up cover and try returning fire with slings but the range is too long for them and the party are not in any great danger from their sling stones. The 2 Ambush Drakes are commanded to ran at the far position of the party and attack but are brought down just in time as everyone concentrates their attacks at the incoming charging beasts.

- One by one the Kobolds are dropped. During the short and easy battle Gim had an excellent shot with his cross bow (Critical Hit for triple damage) and so too did Sir Krondor with his bow (Critical Hit for double damage).

- Easily, by using stealth and cunning, and superior tactics, the party are successful in defeating the group at the rear door of the temple.

- The group leap over the stone wall and approach the Temple. Whilst Naillae climbs up to one of the upper smashed windows, Trenchant builds a pile of steps that will assist people getting over the stone wall using the bucket helmets, and the rest of the party put out the fire at the rear door of the Temple.

- Once at the window, Naillae speaks to the people inside, and convinces them that they are here to rescue them. The door is opened slightly by a male elf with long white hair, who introduces himself as Priest Eadyan Falconmoon, head of Temple Of Chauntea.

- Once the Priest is sure of the intent of the party he opens the door fully and urges all the followers inside to flee to safety.

- About 30 people, mostly woman and children but with two elderly males, start to flee. They use the makeshift steps at the stone wall to get over.

- Nac speaks, “Is there anything in the Temple that is valuable that the Dragon Cult might be looking for?”

- Sir Krondor chips in, “Yeah, anything with Dragons on it, or strange masks?”

- Priest Eadyan speaks quickly, “No, the only items of value are the holy trinkets of the sacrament that we use for rituals. They are inside the alter cabinet.”

- “You’re just going to leave them here?” asks Nac incredulously.

- The Priest replies, “They are nothing but material objects. The lives of my parishioners is all that matters now,” and with that he walks away helping the last of his followers to the stone wall.

- The party start to move off over the stone wall too, everyone except Nac. Gim, Balasar and Labarett grab one of the dead Ambush Drakes and start to carry the heavy body back with them. Sir Krondor, Gim, Valder and Naillae then begin to lead the Priest and his followers back to the river and onwards.

- Nac goes into the Temple and opens the alter cabinet. Inside there is cloth of gold vestments of the Goddess Chauntea; a small 1 foot high gold idol of Chauntea; a brass goblet with inlayed jade set in the symbol of Chauntea (a blooming rose set on a wreath of grain), and a small locked 10” chest that jingles with coins. He stuffs all the items into a small sack. Whilst he is doing this the front door of the Temple is booming as a heavy object keeps smashing into it.

- Nac then takes some time to desecrate the Temple. Praying to his own God, Tiamat, mocking the Goddess Chauntea and urinating all over the altar. <This behaviour would warrant Inspiration being awarded as that is line with Nac’s traits but Rob, who was controlling Nac, already has Inspiration, so I can’t award it to him again>

- The front door is starting to splint and break open so Nac quickly makes his way to the rear door. Just as he gets there the front door smashes completely open. Standing just beyond the door are six large Kobolds dressed in full armour. They all hold a large, thick, tree trunk that has a metal cap on the end. It is this battering ram that has smashed the door in. Just behind them is a very large and muscular Kobold, almost the size of a human. And further outside can just be seen about half a dozen of the Dragon mask wearing Dragon Cultists, one with a splash of purple colour.

- Nac runs off and starts to leap and jump over the stone wall and trees, using his Boots of Striding, to head directly west; away from the rear stone wall. The group of Dragon Cultists try to follow but can not keep up or see where Nac ends up.

- Back at the grate to the Old Escape Tunnel, just as the party realise that Nac is missing, Nac comes leaping in.

- Balasar asks, “Where the devil were you?”

- Nac smiles, “I just made sure to lead the other Dragon Cultists west and away from the rear stone wall and you guys. You can thank me later.”

- The party enter the Old Tunnel, taking the rescued Priest and his followers with them. The Ambush Drake has to be quickly cut up, the legs and head cut off, in order to fit through the grate. Nac casts Create Food and Water to use the water to wash away the Drake Blood from the grate as to hide their passing and also create food in the hands of the rescued group so they can have something to eat.

- After locking the grate and then re-flooding the tunnel the party are safely back inside. The rescued group joins the other refugees in the cellar, grateful to be alive, whilst the party go up into the inner Keep compound. Trenchant makes arrangements for the dead Ambush Drake to be taken to a skinner that is inside the Keep to start the process of skinning and obtaining the hide of the beast.

- The party is told that Governor Tarbaw and Sir Castellan are awaiting them in the dining room in the tower. They make their way to the second level and inside the dining room they find Governor Tarbaw, Sir Castellan and Nesim The Harper, looking over maps and paperwork that covers most of the long dining table. Nesim is seated as his leg is still broken. Governor Tarbaw has invited Nesim to join him as he has learnt that the injured fellow is a Harper and as such will be useful in the planning.

- The party advise the trio what has happened at the Temple and what they have learned. The party learn that the captured Dragon Cult Officer has not given up any information as of yet and is currently held in the upper tower cells. The party decide that they need rest and make their way to the empty chamber on the forth floor that they have made their camping area.





<And mid-afternoon, as the party catch their breath again, tired, exhausted, and all but spent, that is the end of the session.>





XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- Questionable Ethics - Friendly Fire - Guardsman = - 25 XP Penalty

- Capture Cult Officer for Interrogation = 500 XP

- Rescue Priest of Chauntea and his followers = 1000 XP





Creatures Overcome

- Full Cultists - Dragonclaw = 2400 XP

- Full Cultists - Dragonwing = 2700 XP

- Cult Officer - Dragonfang = 1800 XP

- Initiates - Cult Fanatic = 2700 XP

- Kobolds = 400 XP

- Kobold Alchemist = 450 XP

- Ambush Drakes = 400 XP





Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil





XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start + Received = Total (Notes)

Phil : 17057 + 1155 = 18212

Rob : 18815 + 1925 = 20740

Arthur : 13289 + 1155 = 14444 (Level up to Level 6!)

Bob : 8391 + 1925 = 10316

Travis : 8662 + 1925 = 10587

Paul : 8268 + 1155 = 9423

NPC (Valder) : ??? + 770 = ???

NPC (Naillae) : ??? + 770 = ???