Session 22: Rescue Party Report
General Summary
On a quest of redemption against an archdevil's plots, you found yourself transported into Avernus, arriving in the city of Elturel - or what was left of it. Quickly coming to your senses after fighting off a trio of fiends who were assailing a fleeing woman, you got your bearings of the city, Caja and Bertha climbing one of the taller buildings in order to get your wherabouts. The city had been almost torn in two - the Eastern part of town and the Docks dictrict lay in shambles with a roading river of molten lava running along the dge whereas the Western part of the city was mostly still standing with the High Hall in ruins, and the The Companion set low in the sky above it.
You met a group of survivors who had settled in a ramshackle survivor's enclave in Shiarra's Market, and found out that there were only about 700 people left in this part of town, with no more than 40 Hellriders to defend them. When you found out who had taken up residence as the leader of this camp, Ronaldus Swanstone immediately cringed, as the vampire Klav Ikaia had previously charmed the dwarven wizard to commit horrible acts under the undead tyrant's tenure as High Rider of Elturel. Coming to terms with the situation, and helped along by Fenrir Firecam, you finally decided to let the status quo in place for now, and see if you could help out the refugees in the meantime.
Upon learning that a resupply operation had not returned for some time, you volunteered to go out and look for them, and steadily made your way to the marked location where they had been sent. Bertha cleverly exploded the roof out of the abandoned warehouse, allowing the noxious fumes inside to disperse, and providing a point of entry circumventing the boiling lava that slowly surged by the nearby docks. Inside, Caja found a mechanical horse that the party played around with for a bit, while Leo and Ron took to looting the place - eventually reaching the water casks that they had been asked to retrieve. After a painful fall down a broken floor, Bertha and Ron investigated the downstairs area as well, finding more barrels, and upon listening, discovering the lost raiding party.
Ronaldus Swanstone revived the knight Trystane after the others helped to clear the caved-in lock-up room of the warehouse, finding the corpses of two more Hellriders who were unfortunately beyond saving. Collecting their findings as well as the three knights, you cleverly collected all of the water barrels and some other supplies into two nearby carts, likely brought by Trystane's party. Using the three horses that you had found nearby the warehouse to pull the carts, you made your way back to the Market, exchanging information with Trystane and finding out that the knight had a complicated past with Caja, who decided to stall that part of the conversation until later.
Upon returning to the survivor's camp, Rochus Pons, the sergeant in command of the garrison troops, and a soldier you had spoken to before, told you how impressed he was with your success - and that the High Rider would like to speak to your group privately. After an uneventful short night's sleep alongside the woman Mirriam's family, whom you had rescued upon entering the city, you relunctantly agreed to meet with Klav Ikaia, and walked into his command tent, finding the ebony-skinned vampire situated on a simple throne, stood in front of a single peach tree, with his second-in-command standing guard.
A short but interesting conversation followed, where Ikaia praised your group for retrieving the goods from the warehouse, telling you the short tale of how he had come to rise as the leader of the enclave, and welcoming you into their midst. When asked about your preference of a task to carry out, you volunteered to once again go on a supply raid, and the undead Hellrider had a job in mind that was right up your alley. Along the gardens and overlooking Maiden's Leap, the small inn called Symbril's House was supposed to harbor a connection into the Maze - the underground network of tunnels situated beneath most, if not all, of Elturel. Ikaia had explored the Maze previously, but supplies in the Eastern district were running low, with most entrances into the Maze collapsed or exhausted. The inn could provide a new point of entry in the relatively intact High Dictrict, hopefully leading to unexplored and still stocked portions of the Maze.
As you exited Ikaia's tent, there was a feeling of unease in your group, but most were happy to have a face to accompany the stories told by many of the surviving older Hellriders, including Ron and Leo. You prepared yourself to go on your way, and left for the gate into the Market Gallop once more.
Fenrir Firecam
Ronaldus Swanstone
Caja
Report Date
16 Apr 2023
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