Session 20, You Need a Better Nemesis

Etonia is under attack! As you recall, we uncovered a plot from Coral Gate to attack Etonia. Will had just received a message a message to help defend the market, whereas Eowyn had just received a message to help defend the library. We quickly confer, and then decide to head to the market. There might be innocent civilians at the market, and there are wizards to help defend the library.
 
As we approach the market, Julia sees an owl. She thinks the owl is of a breed consistent with those from the Coral Gate region. Julia immediately suspects the owls are familiars attached to Coral Gate infiltrators. Will casts Speak with Animals to go up and speak with the owl. He immediately gets hit—hard—with an arrow. I go up to the corner of the building, and peer around. I see another owl, which I call out. Julia uses her Psychic Blades and kills the two owls, while Eowyn casts Healing Word on Will.
 
Will is now exposed while Eowyn, Julia and I are behind the building. Vardia is still coming up. I need something big, because Will isn’t going to last long. Static fills the air around me as a cast Call Lightning. I bring a Lightning Bolt down on one of the attackers… but I’m not sure it does any good. And… of course… now my hair is all frizzy and a mess.
 
Julia fires her blades and hits an assassin hard. Will staggers to his feet, shoots an arrow that goes stray, hits with a second arrow, and then dives behind a tree.
 
Vardai announces she has arrived with her battle cry. She hurls two javelins. Eowyn does her Illuminating Knowledge cantrip, and I bring down another Lightning Bolt. The lightning doesn’t seem to be having much of an effect. Eowyn realizes that these assassins are targeting Ranon, as Ranon’s residence faces the market. As I explained previously, Ranon is the head of the Etonia council and a famed Bard. By taking out Ranon, they might paralyze the Etonian council, making the invasion easier for Coral Gate. Already, the Etonia council had significant dissent from several members. Ranon has been the guiding influence ensuring that the council has been effective so far (See Session 18, The Council of Etonia).
 
Will is still hurting really bad, but he manages to shoot the final assassin with an arrow. Eowyn heals Will again, and then she rushed into Ranon’s house to ensure Ranon is alright. Ranon isn’t there, she is at the library. Signal is there, and hurt. Eowyn heals Signal, who is slightly wounded.
 
As soon as the Market is secure, we head to the Library. The attack at the Library was quickly suppressed before we arrived. Avast, the head mage of the library, is giving out assignments. He acknowledges us briefly, signals us to wait, and continues with the assignment. After a few minutes, he introduces us to Wil. No, not that “Will”, a different Wil (Author’s Note: No, the DM couldn’t have chosen another name to avoid confusion with our Will, or maybe the DM could have chosen a different name, but decided he likes to confuse everyone). This “Wil” is younger. Avast gives a matching set of rings to the young Wil and to Eowyn. Avast tells Eowyn that Wil is now her apprentice, and that she needs to bring him along on our missions.
 
Avast then asks Eowyn to go to the camps outside Etonia to escort Savannah to the council. We previously met Savannah just yesterday at the Council of Etonia, where she was sworn in as the newest member. Eowyn asks the rest of us if we will go help her retrieve Savannah. Of course we will.
 
A brisk walk later, and we arrive in the refugee camps. The camps are essentially an extension of Etonia, where many Half-orc refugees have settled, although they are outside of the city walls. Unsure of where exactly Savanna might be, we pick a tent and start to go inside. Crap! We accidentally interrupt a wizard pep talking to her minions. “Audwyn Flametongue, the famous medium, will not only reward you handsomely, but he will provide you with full-time employment.” Now that the minions seem to be suitably impressed, the wizard notices us. She starts casting a spell as she tells the minions to kill us.
 
Julia interjects, “Audwyn is not someone you want to work with… he will gladly sell you into slavery.” Apparently, Julia knows this from experience, as Audwyn was the person who betrayed Julia (see Session 9, Into the Lair (of Emotions)) and had her improisoned. Of course, the minions, motivated by the wizard’s grand speech, have no chance of being talked out of a fight by Julia. Julia asks us to protect her as she runs into the tent, which—of course—we do.
 
Eowyn casts her cantrip, Illuminating Knowledge, twice very quickly. Typically, it takes several seconds to cast a spell. There are a few spells that can be cast faster, such as Healing Word. I can cast Healing Word in under a second. Coupled with a cantrip like Produce Flame, I can cast both of those together in just a slightly longer time then casting the cantrip itself. Although I can cast cantrips over and over again without tiring myself too much, a spell like Healing Word does require more exertion. As I cast more complex spells, I have practiced to still be able to cast them in about 4 to 6 seconds, but they do tire me out faster. You are right, I already explained this earlier (See Session 6, That was Fun). But, my point is, Eowyn has a magic item that somehow breaks… or enhances… her magic. If she casts a cantrip that takes several seconds, she can cast another cantrip almost instantaneously. So, it seems as if she is casting two Illuminating Knowledge cantrips in the same time that it takes her to cast the single cantrip. It is an impressive show when she does it. Her magic item enabling this is called Illusionist Bracers. Of course, maybe she really isn’t casting the second cantrip faster… maybe it is just an illusion that has us all fooled. All of that to say Eowyn double casts Illuminating Knowledge.
 
Lellie, the wizard (one of the minion thugs calls her that) casts some sort of an arcane burst, and then she teleports out of the tent and right next to… Vardai. Big mistake. Vardai immediately hits Lellie twice with her hammer. With Julia and Eowyn inside the tent, I summon Ember and have her teleport into the tent to help out. Lellie then tries to do make some sort of a portal to escape. Something goes wrong with the portal and it consumes Lellie. The portal also tries to suck Vardai and Will in, but they resist it. With Lellie having disappeared after attempting to abandon the minions, the remaining minions surrender to Julia. Eowyn gives the thugs a task to help out in the camps. I’m sure the minion thugs will disappear into the night, never to be seen again.
 
Unfortunately, Eowyn’s friend Pop the weasel did not survive the fight. I am sad, Pop was a reliable and loyal party member. Pop was unafraid to jump into the fray when the fight wasn’t going our way. Pop will be missed.
 
Eowyn summons a new familiar. The new familiar is a bat named Three Willie. Wil, Will and Willie… this is going to be so confusing.
 
We find Savannah and return to the temple. There, we catch a couple of hours of sleep. Through the night, the City Watch gets the rest of the Coral Gate incursion under control. We wake up entirely too early, but there is work to be done. Ranon escorts us to the roof of the Town Hall. We realize that the roof was an illusion, it is actually made of ramparts with defenses rather than just an ordinary roof. Aligning the ramparts are statues of Aarakocras. Off in the distance, we see three ships from Coral Gate, ready to invade. Our task is to take out one of those ships. Other task forces are detailed to attack the remaining ships. Cool!
 
But how are we going to get there? Ranon says that the Aarakocras will come to life and fly us to the ship, but they won’t be able to stay. This is even cooler! Plus, I really like the tactics. If we can do better than destroy the ship, if we can capture the ship… that will add to Etonia’s navy and help even the odds against future invasions. That’s my goal: Capture the ship if we can, destroy it if we can’t.
 
Eowyn decides to have the apprentice Wil stay at the Town Hall. The mission is too risky. We start precasting spells. OK, we are actually casting the spells, but we call it precasting because they are preparatory spells for combat. A ritual casting of Water Breathing, which is always handy if going into naval combat. Eowyn casts Aid on us, which increases our durability in combat. Vardai casts Pass Without Trace to quiet our approach. Julia explains more about Audwyn Flametongue. He is a charlatan, a pretender. He has ways with people to get what he wants. He traded Julia into slavery for a position in the Coral gate mage tower, so it is likely he has some basic spellcasting skills. As the Aarakocras come to life, Eowyn finishes our preparation with an inspirational speech and tales of heroics. Will says something along the lines of, “Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!” We are ready to go.
 
The Aarakocras pick us up and we are off. The flight is about 10 minutes. We are approaching from the East, so there is a chance that the rising Sun will conceal some of our approach. We can see another group of adventurers attacking the second ship as we descend upon the lead ship. We land on the deck, greeted by several sailors, thugs, and casters.
 
Eowyn casts some sort of aura of damaging spectral books just before we land. I am unsure of the spell, but it seems to attack all of the people around us (author’s note: a reflavored Spirit Guardians). A mage on the deck casts some arcane bolts at Eowyn, causing her to lose concentration on the spell.
 
Julia spots Audwyn on the deck as she hits him with an attack. She yells, “Hi Audwyn!”
 
He responds, “Julia? It can’t be you! You can’t misunderstand the situation.”
 
“You’re right, I can’t,” she shouts back.
 
Vardai is swinging her axe and several thugs as some sailors and thugs surround me. One hits me with his mace. My inner Tiefling rage cries out, as I respond with Hellish Rebuke. I cast Thorn Whip on one, and then I bring Ember, my Wildfire Spirit in. Her arrival brings a fiery blast which drops a sailor, and then her flame seed drops a thug. Although surrounded, I am holding my own. I say to the closest thug, “You are next!”
 
Speaking of Thorn Whip, it is an amazing spell. I spend a few seconds casting it, and then a vine covered with thorns near instantaneously appears in my hand. I immediately lash out at my target. Sometimes, the vines grab the target and I can pull the target closer to me. I’m not sure how I, a 120-pound Tiefling (at least the last time I stepped on some scales at a granary), am able to move larger bad guys, particularly since raw strength is not my best attribute. It is as if my body is magically anchored, and my force of will overrides my strength to grant me that power. It’s really cool how it works!
 
Will steps into some mists and teleports onto the crossbeam for the main sail. He shouts to Audwin, “Hey Audwin, I heard you are an asshat!” His arrows connect twice onto Audwyn and hurt him badly.
 
Julia shouts, “You can surrender, Audwyn!”
 
Will counters, “No… fight!” Audwyn decides to take Will’s advice rather than Julia’s. He starts summoning a creature, but it goes wrong. The summoned creature reeks of necromancy, but Audwyn does not have it under his control. Audwyn just used necromancy… now I really don’t like him!
 
Audwyn then steps off the deck, falls and knocks himself unconscious. “You need a better nemesis, Julia,” Will retorts, referring to Audwyn as the primary driver of bad events in Julia's life of late.
 
Vardai swings hard, crushing one of the thugs. I can’t see what Eowyn is doing. Julia pulls out her moon-touched sword and attacks the summoned death creature, with some effect. The thugs have me and Vardai surrounded. Fortunately, their swordsmanship training is not the best. I need to get out of this crowd. Ember teleports me to the other side of the crowd, living fiery blasts in her wake. I follow it up with a casting of Burning Hands. I say to the two remaining Thugs, “Do you know where I won’t burn you? In the water… basically, Jump!” They look like they are considering my advice.
 
Crap! The death creature emits something. I have to get away before it kills all of us. I’ve never been so scared! Julia runs to the rear of the ship, past me. Will and Vardai run up front. The thugs must be as scared of this thing as I am, because they are running and jumping overboard. Eowyn seems to be the only person not running… doesn’t she realize she’s about to die. I run to the back of the ship… I have to get away from this creature… wait, what was I thinking? Oh, I was under a magical effect to frighten me. Eowyn is still standing in the face of the summoned death and we all ran away. I have to help her… but Julia is in trouble. She has crawled completely off the ship and onto the keel beam. I need to help her off. Fortunately, Vardai and Will recover quickly to assist Eowyn.
 
Vardai is now face to face with the death creature, and I am able to pull Julia off of the keel. Some of the thugs and a mage flee to below deck. Will and Eowyn move below deck to pursue them. Vardia swings her hammer and absolutely crushes the summoned death monstrosity, leaving it on its last legs (no, it doesn’t appear to have legs). I cast Scorching Ray to finally take out what’s left of the death creature. Necromancy disposed of!
 
We start to follow Will and Eowyn under deck, but are slowed down by the narrow stairs. By the time I can get down there, either Will or Eowyn have convinced the remaining sailors and thugs to surrender. Apparently, the second mage had escaped through a portal. I yell down, “Listen up! I’m your Captain now! Get up here and get the ship ready to sail! Now!”
 
We did it, we captured the ship, along with many of the crew… including an unconscious Audwyn! As we start to sail the ship into the Etonia port, we see the second ship is disable. Some giant plant, probably from a Plant Growth spell, has cracked the hull. It is probably only a matter of time before that ship sinks. The third ship was captured by the ship provided by the Etonian allies. The day has been a disaster for Coral Gate. Coral gate lost their entire navy, and Etonia is now up two ships. With the amount of time it takes to construct a new ship, Coral gate will not have a naval presence for a long time. Of course, Etonia has to recruit and train sailors to make good on their captured ships.
 
Coral Gate had also lost several mages in the fighting, including the captured Audwyn. Apparently, they had underestimated the mages of Etonia, who more than held their own against the invading forces. As long as Coral Gate doesn’t have a large army to march overland, Etonia should be safe for a while. I do know, from my time in the Court at Augustin Citadel, that Coral gate is better known as a center of knowledge and magic than of military might. So, again, Etonia should be safe… unless Coral gate has done something crazy like ally with dragons…
 
Later that day, Avast takes us a mile out of town. On the ground are scorch marks. The trees in the forest bordering here are dead in a 30-foot wide line. Avast says, “A creature of enormous death was heading to the city. We were able to stop it. But another creature is heading toward the cities in the South.”
 
• Thank you to George Sanders, his Anhult Campaign, and World Anvil.