Greenest is the Blackest

We arrived in Greenest only to discover it is under attack. Black smoke billowing everywhere, fire rages, screaming and shouting can faintly be heard from our hilltop approach. Great, because our journey has been far too boring already! Of course my idea of excitement does not include seeing a real live dragon. Conrad seems to think it’s a blue dragon. Wonderful, like it really matters right now. I kept thinking, ‘it could be pink with polka dots and glowing in the dark – we are not heroes, no way we are fighting a fucking dragon.’
But then an old man came stumbling up the hillside. He’s wounded (with wounds clearly not from a dragon). The entire town is under siege from raiders as well. Okay… well, I cannot do anything about a dragon, but I can sure put a hurt on some raiders. Off we went! We rushed down the hillside to find some kobolds raiding the outskirt homesteads. Aiding the kobolds were some drakes. I wish I could say we dispatched them with ease, but it took some doing. Once again, Rhumor’s sneaky longbow shots made the difference in this encounter. Perhaps the most astounding though was this archaeologist. Fire sprang from him and injured some kobolds. Certainly he is no wizard, but perhaps he is not completely useless after all.
The old gentlemen whose house we just saved was so grateful he told us of a secret underground entrance to gain access to the town’s keep. Along our way we encountered a large band of kobolds who were facing off with a family – including several children. As Groc distracted the main group, I positioned myself to appear just behind the kobold who was trying to use one of the children as a shield, and relieved the kobold of his burden, that is to say, his puny brain was relieved of the rest of his body as I beheaded him. Conrad and Rhumor dispatched more of the foolish creatures. We managed to save the entire family, and convinced them to follow us to the hidden tunnel leading to the Keep.
Inside the hidden (and apparently long forgotten) tunnel, we encountered rats. Hundreds of rats. Rats swarming everywhere. Not even Luskan’s sewers had this many rats. Astoundingly difficult to eradicate, we did finally manage to overcome the throngs of rats that assailed us. Just as we began to breathe again, a wizard appeared and bade us to follow him the rest of the way to the Keep. The wizard, one Drake Nagus, took us to meet the commander of the keep, Escobert the Red, along with the town Governor, Governor Nighthill. Nighthill implored us to help rescue citizens and a priest from the town Temple. With nothing more than a few healing spells to soothe our wounds, we rushed off to see what we could do – joined this time by the wizard, who seemed none too happy to be accompanying us.
As we approached the Temple it became evident we needed a plan. Scouting performed by Rhumor revealed a small group of raiders at the back of the Temple attempting to set fire to the stone structure. A little ways up the street from the front entrance approached a larger continent that included a human in plain but distinct garb with a very curious mask all leading a battering ram. Lastly, some sort of patrol appeared to be circling the temple. The back seemed liked the best option. We began the surprise attack with me. I teleported directly into their midst and obliterated nearly every one of them. The rest of the team picked off the survivors of my initial strike and we began trying to convince the terrified citizens inside to come out and follow us to safety. It took too long. By the time we convinced them to leave the battering ram was already at work on the front door. Rhumor attempted to distract them, but apparently to no avail. Soon, the entirety of the two remaining raider forces were inside the temple ground walls and attacking. Conrad and Groc were inside the Temple trying to secure the exit for the priest, Rhumor was near the front trying to distract, and the wizard Nagus and I were attempting to secure the escape for the townsfolk all by ourselves behind the temple. I took an unlucky shot to my chest from a crossbow that nearly ended me. One of the townsmen was slain. Finally Groc and Conrad emerged from the temple and aided in killing the rest of the raiders. Hurting, wounded, exhausted, we made our way back to the secret tunnel to the keep.
Nighthill was thrilled at our success. (Success? Nearly everyone died!). Well, perhaps a bit dramatic. I nearly died. And several townfolk nearly died. From the report Conrad gave, Groc nearly died. We may have been overmatched at the Temple, and simply gotten lucky. I’ll take lucky. We did manage to capture, rather than kill, a commanding officer of this ‘cult’. Interrogation proved minimally useful. They serve dragons (big surprise), and they are gathering treasure for the dragons (again, big surprise). He did name his cult, though not terribly helpful at this point. And he let slip the names of a few real leaders, which is quite helpful. He either could not, or would not, say where they are based out of.
While a real rest would have been in order, we did not have that luxury. Shortly after the interrogation and a short breather, the governor asked us to go save the town mill. Well, everyone needs to eat, right? Who burns down a mill, really? Oh well. Just before leaving the priest we saved gave us a tremendous gift: A bag of holding, which also contained a magical rope. Off we went again. Carefully approaching the Mill revealed that there was something afoot. Cultists were prancing about like a bunch of nancies, but not actually doing anything. Well, we couldn’t give them the opportunity to do anything. So, to the mattresses! Dispatching this bunch of pansy cultist proved fairly easy. My initial surprise attack was not nearly as successful as I would have hoped, but Conrad, that strange archaeologist, brought forth a tiny little fire elemental… or something like one. It kept appearing and disappearing all over the place, and each time it did it would set fire to anyone foolish enough to be nearby!
This is when Conrad and Rhumor both noticed that there were more inside the mill – waiting, in ambush. Weird. Anyway, we went back and forth a lot bout how to handle this situation until Rhumor grew tired of waiting and broke a window, hoping to strike them from outside and draw them out. Well, it half worked. They poured out – most of them came out on the side of the building Rhumor, Nagus, and I were at. They had us outnumbered more than 2 to 1. Before Nagus was able to do anything at all he was shot with a crossbow and then took a spear to the gut – he was done. I would have tried to stabilize him if I had not been trying to fend off three mercenaries that were beginning to surround me. More and more kept coming. As I watched Rhumor drop some caltrops then rush away, (taking out a cultist as he ran), I realized I had little hope of surviving this encounter. In a desperate attempt to turn the tide I rushed into the center of the mob of mercenaries and cultists and summoned the Arms of Hadar. The tentacles thrashed and thwacked all of them… but not a single foe fell. I was still surrounded by a half dozen or more enemies, with no more help in sight. I managed to dodge and parry some, but took a nasty hit just before getting a single strike off with my longsword, felling the brutish mercenary who had speared Nagus, all of this only to feel the keen sting of a spear in my side, and all went black.
When I awoke a cultist still stood nearby, with Conrad’s smiling face looking down on me. I could just make out the look of terror in Cultist’s eyes before he fell. He was apparently the last. Conrad rushed to aid Nagus, but it was too late, Drake Nagus was gone forever. While Drake and I had fared poorly against the mercenaries and cultist’s that assailed us, I learned that Groc and Conrad, with the aid of his mico-sized fire elemental, had easily obliterated the array of foes that had exited the other side of the building. Conrad is definitely more than he appears to be, and Groc is certainly proving to be a most able warrior. I must spend some time learning from him, it could prove useful s I clearly need more training with my blade. The strangest thing did happen to me though, just before I was felled: A surge of inspiration hit me, and I realized I could (and decidedly should) be calling my weapon to my aid from another plane, rather than wielding some man-made simpleton’s craft. Perhaps Groc can better instruct me over time on how to best use a larger weapon to my advantage. During my brief time of consciousness I dreamt of a tremendous greatsword, wreathed in the same purple eldritch power that flows through me… I will need to meditate on this.
Back at the keep we received heros’ welcomes, and a bit of respite…just an hour or two. While Rhumor went off in search of more information from his underworld connections, Conrad, Groc, and I sat in a secluded portion of the keep chatting lightly. I decided to take a big risk. I showed Conrad a copy of my rune rubbings, in hopes that his learned background might prove useful in revealing some of their secrets. He was not able to provide me with much new information, but he was able to identify their origins – that of Giants! It is an interesting twist, and one that I will have to follow up on and learn more about when the opportunity presents itself.
Naturally our time of respite was limited. The Governor called on us, again. A moderate sized detachment of the raiders was approaching the keep, whilst the rest of their group was coordinating an orderly exit to the South. A strange tactic if they intended to attack in force… Using a spyglass Escobert handed me I immediately noted the leader of this troupe detachment. An enormous creature! Very Draconian features, but decidedly humanoid, he could only be a half-dragon. He called out from the ground, demanding a champion be sent forth to do single combat with him else he would murder the hostages he was dragging along. I felt the urge to accept the challenge, but I knew I was woefully overmatched. The blue half-dragon promised to release the hostages in exchange for an honorable combatant – regardless of the outcome. I felt inclined to believe him, but was too afraid to accept. I am not ready. I have not learned how to defend well enough again a foe of such might. I need more training, and armor. Despite my repeated requests for access to better armor the commander either had access to zero resources, or he simply did not care. Or perhaps he simply did not believe it would be of benefit. It is hard to believe that none of his soldiers were equipped thus, but I digress. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon….