Session 3: Scouting the Bandits' Camp Report

General Summary

The party woke up rested and, after a brief chat, set out in the direction they had seen the plumes of smoke beforehead. They found the bandit camp guarded by a lookout tower and thought it best for Nimira Reef to scout ahead, knowing that if she ended up in trouble, her handy charming magic could get her out of trouble. Nimira climbed the sides of the bandit camp, which was located within the hollow of some cliffs, shaped roughly like a horseshoe. She saw:

Two guard towers (one manned by kobolds, and another by humans)

An area with kobold tents

An area with tents with various sigils and banners

An area with tents adorned with dragon motifs

A big fancy tent

Prisoners being put to labour

A single prisoner near the back of the camp, tied

A cave entrance under guard

...And over 120 people in the camp!

Nimira shares the information with the party and draws a rough map of the camp. The heroes decide the best approach would be to sneak around and take out the guards at the rear watch tower. As the party sneaks, they notice:

More people don their Cult of the Dragon regalia

There's fewer people coming in or out of the camp

Some riders head out of the camp

Very few people are allowed inside the cave at the back, fewer still into the big tent

Sneaking into the Camp

The party manages to take out the guards in the watch tower by surprise, by having Zedrick Brightforge cast his voice elsewhere and claim they were their relief group, while Myrna Stoutheart waited nearby before pouncing upon the duo, knocking them out. Zedrick retrieved their alert horn and the guards were left tied somewhere out of view, their cultist outfit taken. From here, the Heroes had a better view of the camp, and Nimira recognized one of the banners. But from the big tent strode out the blue half-dragon champion, Langredosa, accompanied by a short-haired lady wearing purple - Frulam - and both headed out into the cave. Not wanting to leave without the information they came for, nor without the prisoners, especially Leosin, the adventurers had Nimira and Renwick of Three Rivers disguise themselves with the cultist regalia and try to retrieve Leosin, meanwhile Myrna and Zedrick investigated the great tent as stealthily as they could.

Retrieving Leosin

Nimira and Renwick, though dressed like initiates, managed to convince the guards by Leosin to go check on some rowdy kobolds by the entrance of the camp. Renwick healed the injured Leosin enough for him to walk, and Nimira cut the ropes. Pretending they were roughly escorting the half-elf towards the leaders tent, where meanwhile Zedrick and Myrna managed to investigate the interior of the tent after managing to knock down one the cultists, and briefly fighting the other. They found that:

Recently there had been someone else living in the tent, which has now been refurbished to a lounge.

Role-playing Cultists

Myrna tried, but unfortunately the Cultist Regalia was too large for her, but Zedrick seemed to fit just fine. Seeing Renwick and Nimira approach with Leosin, and the guard drakes begining to react, Zedrick decided to act quickly and decisively and put on his best authorative tone to pretend to be a cultist commanding the two "initiates" and their prisoner. Luckily, nobody recognized Zedrick as the adventurer who fought Langredosa in Greenest. The rest of the prisoners were still in danger, and nobody wanted to leave them behind. So Nimira swapped her outfit to that of a higher-ranking cultist (retrieved earlier from the tent) that Myrna couldn't fit in, and together with Renwick and Zedrick, headed back to the prisoners. Myrna could not fit into any of the cultist clothes so she stayed behind guarding Leosin, hidden behind the tent. As they walked with determination through the mercenary camps, a hyena-like cackle from one of the various groups had Nimira suddenly freeze in place. With the support of her companions, she managed to snap out of it and continue on. Zedrick and Nimira manage to trick the Cultists into believing they are high ranking Dragonwings with Renwick as their apprentice here to inspect the prisoners.

A Noble Sacrifice

At the same time, Langredosa and Frulam come back from the cave, headed towards the tent. Myrna and Leosin know that the two leaders would immediately know something is amiss with both Leosin missing from his prisoner stake, as well as Renwick, Zedrick, and Nimira escorting all their remaining prisoners away. There was little they could do to prevent this, and Leosin revealed he might be too valuable for the cultists to execute. Accepting there might be more cruel torture in the days to follow in exchange for giving the heroes a chance at escape, Leosin drew attention to himself as he challenged Langredosa to a duel in front of all their minions. The haughty half-dragon accepted, of course, and the entire camp started shifting towards the two to watch their champion battle, thus giving the heroes a chance to escape with the prisoners. They managed to remain undetected as they left the same way they came in through the back, and as they caught a glimpse of what was going on in the camp below, they saw Leosin be struck down to many cheers from the cultists.

Returning to Greenest

The group managed to reach Greenest without trouble on the road and were greatly rewarded by Governor Nighthill for the information and villagers retrieved. Having learned that the cave might be where the treasure is kept, but also that there might be dragon eggs within, the party is tasked to return to the camp and retrieve the treasure and destroy the dragon eggs.