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