Session 14 16/8/1491 Holding the Line; the Bonedrinkers Come XP 104+8=112 Lvl 10

Kythri, Uuah, and a dwarf join Judge Jarmath in defending a barricade vs hobgoblins, manticores, bugbear berserkers and bluespawn razorfiends. Uaah for once uses powerful Confusion and Sleet Storm magic against the attackers, but Judge and most of the defenders fall. When all seems lost a horde of bonedrinkers turn the tide.

Session 13 16/8/1491 Abithriax the Red Dragon incinerates PCs (& Teyani Sura)

Egg the Half Drow tries to get the knight Teyani Sura to safety, but is blasted by dragonfire and felled. Horribly burned, he crawls into the safety of the sewers to escape the flames.

In a collapsing tower, Aron the Ranger & Motter the Dwarf falls in battle against the terrible Red Dragon Abithriax. Abithriax retreats to lick his wounds.

Session 12 7-16/8/1491 The Council; The Attack Begins XP 95+8+1= 104 Lvl 9>10

The Red Hand Horde

RHoD Session 12 - by Matt/Egg

PC: Aron, Half Elven Ranger, Brother Bear the Druid, Caliyenna a Crinti Bard, Motter the Dwarf Champion Brewer, Tess of Umberlee & Egg Crinti Swashbuckler.

DM: Commander of Hordes, Master of Crits, the Doctor of DnD-Simon.  

Brindol, Highsun,1491

The party return to Brindol to find preparations for the defence of Brindol in hand.  Lord Jarmath and the council have wasted no time in organising the town.  We are summoned to the Castle to join the council.

The Top Brass is in Council.  Lord Kerden Jarmaath, Lady Verrasa Kaal, Captain Lars Ulverth, and High Priestess Tredora Goldenbrow are all present as is Speaker Sellyria Starsinger of the Tiri Kitor  (Immerstal the Red not present - ed.).  The situation is grave, despite the recruitment of the dwarven mercenaries the garrison of Brindol is outnumbered probably by 3:1.  Brindol has raised approximately 1300 troops in its defence whereas the hobber legions number from 3000 to 5000 and include a multitude of bloodthirsty monsters hell bent on the destruction of Brindol. 

During the Council several topics are discussed.

·         Eggs briefs the council on the organisation, leadership and motivation of the Red Hand. 

·         The party presents the council with several magic weapons to be distributed amongst the defenders' officers and champions

·         Aron, Bear and Captain Lars organise an aggressive defensive strategy, preparing the town for assault from both the ground and the air.  The creation of the killing space on the inside of the walls, a highly mobile defence force to respond to breaches and ‘other’ attacks and the magical communications network are all instigated.

·         The Garrison of Brindol is made up of a number of different units including; The Lions of Brindol 17, The Lion Guard 200, The Company of the Shinning Axe, dwarven mercenaries 200, The Brindol Militia 800, Lady Kaal’s Guard 69, and Lady Kaal’s Bodyguard 5

·         The Tiri Kitor elves are with us.  And for the moment at least so is his diabolical eminence the Ghostlord and his army of bonedrinkers (thanks to Caliyenna’s silver tongue).  The Elves and the Bonedrinkers have been harassing the supply chains of the Invaders.

·         Lord Jarmath (reluctantly) orders (ed: encourages) the non-combatants to evacuate Brindol.  Many flee to Dennovar, some 80 miles to the east.

·         The bridges north over the Elsir river are deemed to be ‘safe’ at this time.  However, we know the enemy had a base to the North in the ruins of Rhest, and there have been reports of ogres and goblins east of the Witchwood.  Scouts patrol the north.  If the town falls taking the Elsir River east to Elsircross then striking north to the Giantshield Mountains or east along the dawn way to Dennovar seem to be the choices.

The interrogation of Kal Kaz

Following the council, seeking further information on the invading horde, Aron, Bear and Caliyenna interrogate the hobber wizard Kal Kaz, who the party captured last month and imprisoned in Brindol.  Arno in particular is interested in the organisation of the Red Hand camp with a view to determine the odds of assassinating the commander of the army Wyrmlord Khan.  Under the influence of Caliyenna’s charm magic the hobber wizard spills his guts gives up some useful information.

Wyrmlord Kharn is well protected.  He is guarded by a tribe of bugbears and a cohort of dragonborn.  The bugbears known as the Bloodghosts, are a grey furred tribe renowned for their stealth.  Of the dragonborn he says little.  Wyrmlord Kharn is reputed to have great courage and is the prophets champion and a favoured soul.  Kharn it would seem is a holy warrior leading the bloody crusade against the Vale.  Should Kharn be illuminated a charming fellow named Scather a dragonborn Assassin is next in line to lead the invading horde (now that 3 of the Wyrmlords are dead of course).

·     
Kal Kaz reconfirms the prophet and instigator of the hobber crusade Azzar Khul awaits the destruction of Brindol at the temple of Takhisis.  He and his father the legendary Blue Dragon Turgarun (oh and another army of hobgoblins, this one even bigger numbering 6000) are preparing a ceremony to summon Takhisis, the Dragon Queen, Lady Chaos, the badass of bad asses herself from the Abyss.  A key point in the ceremony is the fall of the Temple of Lathander.

Information gathered, Caliyenna places Kal Kaz under a suggestion, he is to return to the invading forces gather information then return to us and spill his guts again.

Raven’s Eye View

Arno and Bear (shape-changed into a Raven) accompany the enchanted hobber Wizard to the outskirts of Talar, where Arno instructs the hober to get specific information about the camp and return.  Arno goes to ground outside Talar.  However, in the time it has taken Kal Kaz to get to the Red Hand army encampment the suggestion spell Caliyenna placed on him has worn off and he re-joins the army and blows Arno’s cover.  In the meantime, Bear has flown over the Red Hand camp at Talar and identified Wrymlord Khans quarters at the centre of the army, strongly defended by the Bloodghosts and Dragonborn in the army centre.   Thousands of troops have crammed into the ruins of Talar.  The assignation plot foiled Arno gives the Red Hand scouts the slip and returns to Brindol. 

Egg busies himself at the orphanage whilst waiting.  Sister Tuzna, the urchins and Egg run through the defence and escape plans many times. 

Tess and Caliyenna prepare new spells or such.  Motter boost the defender’s moral with his Champion’s Ale.

Takhisis

Enemy at the Gates

Is it the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?  Whatever is to happen, the invading legions of the Red Hand of Doom have arrived.    

The first thing the invaders do is to send a family of Hill Giants to batter down the main gate by throwing boulders at it.  Crude but effective, the Hill Giant artillery is taking a toll on the gate and the fortifications around it.  The party slips over the wall to take them on, but unfortunate Tess makes a racket in her heavy armour and alerts a patrol of Goblin cavalry, worg riders.  We are rumbled.  The fight a bruising encounter is thankfully over quickly.  Bear, Caliyenna and Tess demonstrate their capability with battle magic and the battlefield is quickly a dizzying array lightning bolts, fleeing worgs and hypnotised giants following pretty lights.  Giants defeated the party scramble back over the wall into Brindol hoping to take a short rest. 

Session 11 2-7/8/1491 DR Charming the Ghostlord XP 85+9+1=95 Lvl 9

The Ghostlord

Remaining 3 Bonedrinkers destroyed, meet and Cailyenna wins over the Ghostlord (he will send Bonedrinkers vs the Horde in return for his Phylactery), he killing 3 leftover Doomfist monks, then head back through Thornwaste defeating 1 shambling vine & fleeing a second, rest 3 days in the Hammerfist Holds then get a message from Sellyria Starsinger & head for Brindol. Camping farmhouse attacked by 6 Bladebearers & 3 Barghests. Bladebearers killed (or captured & badgered); 2 Barghests driven off and one banished when the farmhouse is set alight with it inside. Reach Brindol and prepare for the War Council...

RHoD Session 11 - by Matt/Egg

Players:  Brother Bear the Druid, Caliyenna a Crinti Bard, Motter the Dwarf Champion Brewer & Egg Crinti Swashbuckler.
Dear readers, I present you with another extract from the astonishing memoirs of Llardexter dal Hasifir or as he was known during the Invasion of Elsir Vale, Egg of the Brindol Irregulars. Printed by the Red Mage of Dennovar.
Alexander D.

2/8/1491 The Ghostlord's Lair

Alas, brave Thragny & Dagny are slain, bonedrinkers feast on their remains in the dastardly laboratory of the Ghostlord. Cali is cornered in the chamber of the black cube.

But she does not fear, for help is at hand. My brothers in arms and I charge to her aid. The brutish bonedrinkers are terrible foes they attack us with claw and vile tentacles, Motter gets the worst of it, his sturdy armour is pierced several times, his bones crushed and flesh torn. Cali cheers on from relative safety as the bonedrinkers are now occupied drinking Motters bones, no longer hers. We prevail, but not before poor Motter is quite blown, so we decided to rest.

The laboratory is fascinating.  The energy generated from the dark floating cube is conveyed to and somehow powers the pool of rebirth.  The rebirthing pool is a foul-smelling pond of yellow amniotic liquid that converts skeletal remains into the savage bonedrinkers. I make detailed notes and drawings of the fascinating necrotic apparatus.  A great sad lion totem fills the far end of the chamber.  Shaggy, rotten pieces of many lions have been assembled to represent a giant black lion, perhaps the focus of the insane apparatus and maybe a tool used in the creation of the ghost lions themselves. I wonder…

We comb the chamber, finding several secret doors, and agree to search them.  Motter has regained his composure after a few soothing ales, and so we press on, Cali particularly keen to investigate the laboratory. It is as if she can smell the treasure. Behind one of the secret doors lies a spectacularly morbid chamber. A polished, mirrorlike floor is surrounded by a mural, depicting a nasty looking fellow killing a lion cub. We feel we might have hit the jackpot when non-other than the high lord of Ghosts himself sinisterly shimmies into view to ask us what we are doing on his premises. Cali immediate takes the lead and with a great deal of flattery, explains our mission to make a deal with him. The Ghostlord is quite taken by the Crinti's charm and gives her a tour of the facilities, even presenting her with a quite stunning amulet of health and one of his very own gift shop ghost lion figurines. In the discussion, it seems we were quite right in thinking the Ghostlord has been blackmailed by the Red Hand Wyrmlords to support the invasion of the Elsir Vale, and in fact, the Bonedrinkers are the very army he has agreed to supply the Red Hand Wyrmlords with. So, we propose a deal, the Ghost Lord will set Bonedrinkers on the Red Hand harassing supply lines and the enemy flanks of the Red Hand forces in the Vale.  The irony is delicious to my Crinit soul.  The very army the Red Hand blackmailed the Ghostlord to create is turned upon them.  Following the defeat of the Red Hand invasion, I will return his precious phylactery. With Cali's skilful negotiations, the deal is done, the Ghost Lord agrees. I breathe a sigh of relief, I thought good brother Bear was going to blow the negotiations by attacking the Lich. But good brother Bear, despite his darkening mood from dealing with the perverse necromancer, held his discipline.  But it seems the Lich is not finished with Cali yet, and proposes to her they leave us to view the glowering dusk of the Thornwaste from the viewing platform atop the roof. He tells Cali the Ghost Lions translucence is particularly charming at this time of day. She shows no sign of concern as she travels to the summit of his cathedral of death.  Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, three Red Hand hobber monks ambush them on the viewing platform. The Ghostlord makes very short work of them destroying them with necrotic black fire.  In the glow of the hobbers ashes, Cali makes her excuses and her escape.

Not wanting to press our luck with the Ghost Lord, we push our luck and travel through the Thornwaste at night and are attacked. Fortunately, Bear's survival skills have been honed to a fine edge fighting the Red Hand in the Witchwood, and he spots, would you believe, evil plants! The dastardly vegetation (probably another creation of the Ghostlord) was trying to surround us. Bear quickly uses a great wall of fire to see one of the bloodthirsty bushes off while the rest of us give the evil bush a proper pruning. Finally, we are out of the corrupt wasteland.

We encounter a patrol from Hammerfist in the foothills of the Wyvernwatch Mountains and they escort us to the Hold where we relay the sad news of Thragny & Dagny, then drink many of Motters soothing ales to their memory. We rest for several days with the dwarves. Excellent folk, but I fear somewhat overconfident of the chances of Brindol surviving the invasion. Legions of hobgoblins, goblins, and ogres supported by avian monsters, including dragons against the brave hundreds of Brindol. I keep these thoughts to myself. When we part company, the good dwarves give us more ponies to speed us on our journey, and good brother Bear scouts the way from above in the form of an eagle. I make notes of the hidden ravines and backwoods trails we use. If all goes badly, we can use this as an escape route south.

Pillars of smoke rise from the once peaceful farmlands of the Southern Vale.  Large pyres, probably Dauth and Prosser billow across the summer crops. Bear guides us through the woods between the villages and coming across a small abandoned farm at dusk, bone-tired we decided to rest. The farmstead is modest and unmolested, and just as we have got the kettle on, we hear the unmistakable war-whoops of the damn hobbers, they must have picked up our tracks as we cross the Dauth-Prosser road. We know each other so well now, and measure each with just a gaze, though tired, we are ready. They come at us fast from several directions, Cali and I guard the back of the farmstead which has a small walled area probably for livestock, Motter and Bear take the front door. Furious beasts rush us, wolflike with strange goblin-like heads (barghest we would find out later) they bound over the wall and through the front door at the same time. I manage to get a shot off at one of the hobber veterans with them before they are on me. Very quickly, we were overrun. The barghests are in the cabin, both doors broken in. The fight takes a chaotic and desperate turn, thankfully Bear and Cali turn the tide with fire and confusion magic, and we gain the initiative, the fight wears on. These barghests are strange indeed, seemingly a goblin shape-changing devil immune to fire with the ability to dimension door and extremely tough. Hobber veterans are deadly when fighting together. The battle is hard, but we prevail, taking the commander captive. His unit, is one of many searching for 'Heroes from Brindol.' He tells us the elite 'Kill' teams have gone north following the misinformation Kythri, and I fed the Arachne shapeshifter spy Miha Serani in Dauth many days ago. The sergeant also confirms the chain of command and more details on the Red Hand invasion force. The interview takes a dark turn when Bears' anger finally gets the better of him. We leave the hobber sergeant in a shallow grave as the farmstead burns.

Red Hand of Doom leadership 
The Prophet: Azzar Khul & Targaryen legendary blue dragon (Azzar Khul’s father) are at the Temple of Takhisis
Wyrmlords: Warmaster Khan, Invasion force leader
Dead Wyrmlords: Stormbringer (Ghostlord), Kolth (Vrath Keep), Saarvith (Rhest)

Red Hand Invasion Force
Ground troops: Goblins, Hobgoblins, Ogres, Hellhounds, Barghest,
Avian: Red Dragon- Abithriax, Black Dragon-Regiarix, Manticore, Chimera, Wyverns and Sphinx.

Session 10 1/8/1491 DR Fall of Ulvai Stormcaller; The Bonedrinkers XP 78+7=85; Lvl 8>9

Wyrmlord Stormcaller & her friends vs Heroes of Elsir Vale

Uah vs the Bonedrinkers

Uaah Cailyenna & elf Ranger Arno Lightleaf aid Tessele and the 2 dwarves Dagny & Thragny vs Wyrmlord Ulvai Stormcaller and her warriors - 3 doomfist monks and 2 clerics. Ulvai & her forces defeated, 1 cleric captured after killing Thragny.
Move through chamber with pit containing gargantuan grey ooze.
Enter Hall of the Bonedrinkers, the 6 attack swiftly killing Dagny and the hobgoblin prisoner; then  Cailyena temporarily hypnotises 4 of them. As the fight goes on 3 Bonedrinkers are destroyed, 3 remain.

Happy D&D players!

Hall of the Pool

Hall of the Pool

Hall of the Pool

Session 9 30/7-1/8/1491 DR Brindol-Thornwaste XP 70+7+1=78 Lvl 8

West of Prosser

Captured Aranea in Dauth

Behir in the Thornwaste Stone Lion

30/7 Leave Brindol, lunch in Prosser, battle at beer caravan west of Prosser. Reach Dauth that evening, unmask aranea spy.
31/7 Travel to the Dwarf Holds. Recruit dwarf sisters.

1/8 Travel from the Dwarf Holds west to the Ghost Lord's lair in the Thornwaste. Kill behir guardian & ghost lions.

Session 9 - Egg Account

30/7/1491 Flamerule, Brindol

Kythri, Tessele, Motter, & Egg leave Brindol, we are bound for the Dwarf Clan Holds with a large sack of gold coins from the Lord of Brindol to hire soldiers, then we plan to track down the sinister Ghost Lord of the Thornwaste.

We decide to use the backwoods trails south through Prosser and Dauth to avoid the main body of Red Hand forces. On the first day, just outside Prosser we came across a sizeable Red Hand scout party that had recently waylaid a caravan transporting Brindol Best Ale. Tired from the hard ride south, the enemy got the drop on us, fortunately for us, the monstrous two-headed ettins had consumed much of the ale and were quite drunk. The battle did not last long, Tessele and Motter are very experienced at fighting the Hobbers now and quickly regained the initiative by taking our the Hobber sergeant commanding the group, splitting the battlefield with an ice storm and quickly downing one of the drunk giant kin.

We arrived in Dauth late in the day, and immediately assisted the locals with their evacuation to Brindol. Since the sack of Drellins Ferry, the Vale has been in chaos, the Red Hand was burning its way to Brindol brutalizing everything in its path, leaving a wake of death and destruction.  Once in the town, we encountered Miha an Arachne shapeshifter and spy for the Red Hand of Doom. She was attempting to conceal herself amongst refugees bound for Brindol. After a brief tussle, we captured and interrogated the shapeshifter in the pub. The Red Lion of Dauth was all but deserted, just a few wannabe looters, the landlord and his daughter had remained after the evacuation. After a putting off the would-be looters, the Innkeeper, a stalwart fellow, let’s use the facilities while we conduct the interrogation of the spy.

Applying some ingenious integration techniques, we managed to turn the spy and pump her for information on the Red Hand. Miha reported to the leader of the army, the Wrymlord Khan himself, and she was well versed in the Red Hand plans. She confirmed much of what we knew already; that Wrymlord Khan and the main army were approaching the Nimon Gap, their numbers in the thousands. As the host gathered, foraging parties plundered the countryside, including a perversely scheme of rounding up halflings as snacks for Turgarun a well-known blue dragon. After some alcohol-infused encouragement, she gloated about the Red Hand’s plans for the Vale, those plans are much more diabolical than we thought. Bargaining with her life, Miha told us that the mastermind of the invasion is the prophet Azarr Kul and the destruction of Brindol is just the beginning of his scheme.  The prophet Azarr Kul plans to open the very gates of hell with the sacrifice of Brindol and usher the dragon queen and her demon horde into the Realms using a portal at the Temple of Takhisis in the Wrymsmoke mountains. The Red Hand army is but the vanguard of a more significant force being amassed in hell. 

Tess channeled divine energy to message the Lord of Brindol, warning him of shape-changing spies among the refugees and the army being the vanguard of a much larger force. She also urges him to seek aid from Dennovar and its sorcerer Aragathos.

We reached the dwarven clan hold of Hammerfist on the second night out of Brindol. Motter is very popular here, and we get a good reception, the dwarves greeting us warmly. The council has been expecting a party from Brindol, and we conduct the business swiftly handing over the large sack of gold coin (60lbs) and enlist the services of the Shinning Axe company in Brindol’s defence. Two hundred stout dwarves march to Brindol that very night, now I don’t think it will be enough…

We spend an evening with the friendly dwarves and re-equip. Vulblood, the master smith, is particularly chatty after relieving me of much of wealth, and he regales us with stories of the cannibal tribes of the Thornwaste and the Ghost Lord himself. Inspired, Tess and employees Gagnee & Thragnee, dwarven sisters, veteran warriors, and old school friends of Motter. The sisters hired at a steep price agree to help us in our quest to find the Ghost Lord and hopefully break his alliance with the Red Hand of Doom.

It is extremely rough going in the Thornwaste, there is not a living soul to be seen. The terrain is a labyrinth of chasms and ravines covered in razor-sharp briars. The horses and I are savagely lacerated by the time we reach the Great Stone Lion that is rumoured to be the Ghost Lord’s Lair. Rising from a flat-topped hill, the Great Stone Lion is nearly a hundred feet high, and almost three times as long, spectral lions swoop around its head like tiny clouds.

The cavernous entrance to the shrine is built into the Lion's chest, and it reeks of death. Stairs lead up past two leonine skeleton statues into a large round chamber, the stench is stronger here, whatever it is coming from seems to be in the room. Kythri and I creep up the steps and a cave occupied by a vast serpentine monster, for a moment I thought it was the Turgarun, the blue dragon we had heard rumours of, but as my eyes adjusted to the gloom I could see the monstrosity was wingless, with twelve legs and a massive snake-like body ending in a long narrow crocodilian head, in Halruaa they are called the Behir. Luck was with us because this two-ton giant was snoring. Praising Tymora we started to creep back to the party to plan our attack when Kythri slipped, cursed and the serpent's eyes snapped open. The Behir flew at us with speed dazzling for a creature of such size, but Kythri met its headlong charge with a stunning blow, the dozing monster misjudged the slender wild-elf and we all fell upon it, hacking it to pieces.

Searching the chamber, we came upon a secret door in the wall that hid a passageway that rose further up into the dread cathedral. Kythir and I decided to scout ahead again, the corridor spiralled up some distance. Another concealed door found quickly enough, barred the exit from the passageway. The secret door was not trapped, but it was guarded, and we were attacked by spectral lions. The scrap was draining, the ghostly lions are creatures born of necromancy, but again we prevail once we regrouped. We left the secret tunnel through the concealed door into a reception chamber of some kind decorated in chilling murals, a spiral staircase leads to a level above.  We were considering what to do when a door to another room opened, revealing a gang of Hobbers and what must be another Wrymlord...

Ghost Lion

Miha Serani

Red Hand of Doom

Ghost Lord's Cat-hedral

Session 8 The Rhest Road 29/7/91 XP 65+4+1= 70 Lvl 8

29/7 Head east at dawn to Rhest road, twice encounter hobgoblins on the road (& a strange sorcerer), reach Brindol after dark and meet the Council under Lord Kerben Jarmaath. Plan to go to the Dwarf Delves to recruit warriors, and on to the Thorn Waste to find the Ghost Lord.

The Council of Brindol

Bears account

Account of Bear - Druid of the Witchwood

After the battle in the ruins of Rhest, in which we drove the dragon Regiarix away, we had returned to the elven settlement of Starsong Hill hoping to rest and recuperate. There we met our companion Tessele who had received word from Brindol that Drellin Ferry had been destroyed, Terrelton had fallen and the forces of the Red Hand were rapidly marching towards Brindol. Some of our companions were still in need of rest and so it was decided that Motter, Tessele and myself would head to Brindol along with Kiliar Arrowsmith. It was felt that flying would be our swiftest option and the use of the elven owl mounts would aid us in this.
Before we left it was decided that the elves would launch stealth raids on the Red Hand Forces in order to disrupt their supply lines and cause chaos to their foraging parties in the Witchwood.
I assumed the form of a Great Owl and carried Motter on our southward journey. Tessele travelled with Kiliar who appears to be quite taken with our cleric!
As we travelled south we saw below a small group of humans fleeing from a much larger party of what appeared to be hobgoblins and two giant humanoids.
Much to the surprise of Motter, I swooped down and struck one of the hobgoblins a glancing blow before landing and allowing Motter to climb off my back. He immediately drew his axe and engaged a couple of the hobgoblins. As I reverted back to my human shape I saw that Tessele and Kiliar were engaging the other foul creatures with spells and missile accordingly. I also saw something quite out of the ordinary. The lead person in the group of those running from the hobgoblins was smaller than average and was dressed in a manner completely different from the rest, his clothing being almost completely black. As I noticed this, I saw him become enveloped in a sphere of complete blackness. Certainly not your average townsman!
As the battle continued to rage between us, the hobgoblins and what I could now see were ogres, I summoned two fey dire wolves to aid us. I also saw another dog like beast lope from the sphere of darkness towards one of the ogres.
I could see that Kiliar appeared to be sorely wounded and he and Tessele flew off out of sight. It was then that a large ball of flame shot from the dark sphere, wiping out a large number of our enemies and making the remainder much easier to finish off.
The sphere of darkness disappeared and a small, slim fellow made his way towards our group. He appeared to have a rather sallow complexion and what I can only describe as a ghastly grin plastered across his face. His demeanour instantly caused the hackles on my neck to rise and I could feel myself unconsciously snarling.
He introduced himself as Thelonius Umbra, a half elf employed as an agent of one of the major Houses in Brindol. His voice matched his demeanour and my distrust of him grew.
He said that he had been sent to seek aid for the defence of Brindol. He had been caught up in a group of refugees who were fleeing the encroaching Red Hand Forces until we intervened. He was willing to stay with us until we reached Brindol.
After a short rest we resumed our journey southward. I took the form of a giant eagle and carried Motter on my back and our new companion grasped in. Y talons. I felt this prudent, as if he proved to be false, I could drop him from a great height!
After a while we came upon a small hamlet which was under attack by another group of Red Hand hobgoblins. We immediately gave battle and thwarted the attack although there was only one survivor of the hamlet’s inhabitants. Despite my misgivings, our new companion proved his worth and my mistrust of him dissolved, just a little. I had no such thoughts of Tessele, Motter or Kiliar who proved themselves as capable as always.
After defeating this group we undertook the final part of the journey to Brindol. Cities have never held much appeal for me and I bade farewell to my companions and made to head northwards into the Witchwood where I intended to aid the elves in their harassment of the Red Hand army.