Kingdom on the Brink - Session 34
General Summary
The party begins to search the mansion looking for Ricard Bridgeford, starting through the east wing they find it looks to be mostly unused, they come across double doors barred by a wooden beam that's padlocked in place. Tia tries to pick it with her talons and and an arrow but is unsuccessful, Runsha has Tia move over and first hits it with his cold breath and strikes it with his warhammer, this leaves a nice bend in it but it stills holds so he tries once more and successfully breaks the lock. The party then works together and lifts the heavy beam and unbar the door, Tia manages to pick the second lock and the party opens the doors. They find a treasure room, easily containing 50,000 GP, they take 6,000 GP and make a note to let the Eastbrook coalition know and they continue to search the the mansion. Runsha is running room to room looking for Ricard with Tia behind him but being more methodical, she ends up finding a book that has fairly mundane details but comes across a page that doesn't quite fit the rest of the contents, she understands the words but they don't make sense and realizes it's encrypted and takes the book. The party concludes that Ricard Bridgeford isn't here and leaves, as they make their way through the city they find much destruction as well as wounded and dead, hearing faint sounds of battle in the distance. They eventually make it back to the original area they met the council members and reported that Bridgeford appeared to have left, the council members asked if they had found Bernard Ursel. This sets Runsha off as he expected them to have secured him from the jail but the council members respond that Bernard wasn't there. The situation gets even more tense and Runsha accuses them of being incompetent, the party tells the council about the vault and Horatius Dragomir gathers some guards to secure it and investigate the mansion. Tia hands them the encrypted book and after some time they manage to crack the code.
Runsha leaves to investigate the city walls and Hendred expresses her sorrow about the current situation (Runsha sneers at this) and both Hendred and Tia go out to try and help the wounded. Runsha arrives at the walls and inspects them for weakness and talks to the few city guards that are there, and asks if they're ready to fight for their lives in the coming month, they respond that they are but are confused by the question. Runsha returns back to the improvised war room after cooling off and sat back and listened, one of the guards returned and reported to Horatius, saying they secured the vault and searched the mansion. It's been abandoned and described what they found (signs of quick exit, empty potion bottles, a small pile of fine gray dust). Runsha approaches Horatius and says he should be prepared to take charge as the search for Bernard looks grim.
Hendred and Tia return to the church, finding it used as a sanctuary for the displaced and Runsha returns to his inn. Runsha finds that there's very few people there beyond the barkeeper, he goes upstairs and begins to pray to Sirlith, The wise. During this time here's something from just outside his room, he gets his warhammer and shield ready and slowly advances shouting "Who's there?!" As he approached the source of the noise he heard a voice that said "You took him from me!" and he began to dodge, getting swiped by two invisible strikes. Runsha responds with two strikes from his warhammer and shoves invisible attacker away and moved towards the stairs. The attacker responds that he is responsible for the death of the person they loved and struck twice more, downing Runsha, He responds that he wasn't the one and it was Bridgeford. The attacker lands another strike and casts off the invisibility, revealing herself to be Arryn Sylris, She drops several pieces of parchment in front of Runsha and says that he's the reason Bernard is dead. Runsha grabs his holy symbol and begins to pray, she strikes one more time and as Runsha is about to succumb to his wounds he sees her uncork a potion and dump it on him. Tia and Hendred wake up and head outside the church expecting to find Runsha, they head towards his inn when they noticed he wasn't waiting for them. They head towards his room and they find quite a few pieces of parchment and a small pile of fine gray dust. After further investigation they don't find anything further and begin to read the parchment, most of the parchments were extremely detailed accounts of the parties activities from shortly before leaving Hillfar, to Stathmor, and their time in Strongfare. But there was one that was a note:
"I hope this finds you well, I have enjoyed this little game of cat and mouse, it’s not often I actually have to pay attention, Highsummit is dull in that regard. Anyway I must be going, but I don’t want to leave you completely empty handed, I’ve left behind the correspondence of the individual who allowed me to find Bernard. I know he meant a lot to your backwater province (maybe even a little more depending on who you asked), I’ve also left behind a little gift. Best regards, Lord Ricard Bridgeford, Highsummit’s fist"
Tia and Hendred are taken aback by this and is about to leave when they are greeted by another dwarf who introduces themselves as Duromar, he works for house Valeros and asks if they have Seen Runsha. Tia and Hendred look at each other and say that he is most probably dead, this saddens him and he responds that he most investigate this matter but since Runsha was helping the party in very grave matters that he would also join the group. Duromar begins to ask questions around the inn and eventually reaches the barkeeper and encounters some resistance, Duromar says that if he can't get answers then he would call for more assistance from Bronze Cliff and leaves. The group plans to reconvene with the council but Duromar asks to make a quick stop at the Royal Bralorian Couriers station and if the party would be willing to include their thoughts or words in his dispatch to lord Valeros informing him of Runsh's death. As the group is writing out the dispatch some people wearing the symbol of the Eastbrook Coalition approach and give the party the location for a meeting and they should get there as soon as possible. After sending off the dispatch the group head towards the meeting, they enter the building and they see a great open meeting area, in the center the representatives from all the cities that they had been to stood there. The group approaches and Duromar introduces himself and mentions Runsha murder and needing to launch an investigation, this causes some murmurs but Horatius says that is indeed unfortunate but the there is one pressing issue that needs to be resolved. He talks about the Orc incursion on Hillfar and speaks of an undead horde from the Wildlands, and that this riot has weakened the province in some ways as it killed both Arden Walmund and Zelkaen Highwind (the other two provincial councilors). While the allegiances of these two councilors were suspect because they didn't have ties to Eastbrook they did have supporter that were either killed or will be leaving the province. Horatius finishes by saying the province needs to get ready to defend against this incursion, Duromar makes the case for setting up the defensive line at Strongfare, effectively sacrificing the cities of Stathmor and Lakeshore. This gets some push back but eventually the representatives agree that it makes sense. The province begins to mobilize: Hendred focuses on healing the sick and feeding the malnourished, Tia focuses on hunting in groups and teaching them the ways of the wilderness and scouting, and Duromar focuses on helping train people in soldiering and using his alchemical supplies to create basic healing potions and other alchemical compounds.
On the 16th day of Rugos the party is made aware of several situations: the first is a string of murders happening in one of the hastily setup camps, the second is there have been acts of sabotage, and finally an expedition is being put together to clear out more parts of the nearby jungle to secure more raw material. The party decides to head into the jungle. The group tries to sneak around as they approach a crater but are noticed by a Chelicerae and a Fomorian. The Chelicerae advances and Duromar starts his bladesong and hastes himself while Hendred blesses (turns out the dragons favored her on this engagement due to what's about to happen) the party, Tia starts to fire a volley, which sets off a long string of critical hits, the Chelicerae attempts to strike back but is unsuccessful. Hendred critically hits with her warhammer and spiritual weapon and Duromar finishes it off with a booming blade, as this was going on the Fomorian advances uses his evil eye to to cause psychic damage, the party focuses on the Fomorian and it gets a few greatclub strikes in but before it's killed it uses it's evil eye one last time and is able to curse Tia which halves her movement and hinders her ability to accurately fire her bow. The party deliberates and decides to continue on because it'll burn another valuable day, they move to the next area, attempting to be sneaky but are discovered. The party faces a Aridni and a Behir, Duromar activates his bladesong and haste and speeds over to the Behir and strikes with his rapier, the Behir responds with some lightning breathe that Durmar is able to partially dodge. Hendred heals Duromar and Tia fires several arrows into the Aridni, managing to land several despite the curse. Duromar lands several more rapier strikes and begins to put distance between himself and the Behir, the Behir is able to catch up with Duromar and it's breathe weapon recharges, firing it at both Hendred and Duromar, which downs Duromar. The aridni attempts to hit Hendred but is unsuccessful, Hendred forgoes healing Duromar and upcasts a banishment on the Behir which is successful. With the Behir gone for the near future the party heals up Duromar and focuses on the Aridini, the Aridni attempts to break Hendreds concentration but is unsuccessful and is quickly felled. The party gets into position and Hendred drops concentration on the banishment. The party expends it's readied actions which knock off a lot of the Behir's HP but it remains up, the Behir recharges its breathe weapon and focuses it on Tia which drops her. But Duromar is able to finish off the Behir and Hendred brings Tia back to consciousness, the party quickly searches the area for more enemies and Hendred finds 500 GP of diamonds and they short rest in the Behir's cave. They move on to the final area, they manage to successfully sneak up and find an elemental of time (A Chronomental), they are able to banish it. After 6 rounds they notice a Glabrezu coming on their position, Hendred stays at a distance while Duromar advances and Tia limps up. The Glabrezu fires off several spells but Duromar is able to either resist or counterspell the magic, the Glabrezu is able to grapple Duromar but before causing much more damage the party kills it off. The Chronomental doesn't reappear and the party returns to Strongfare.
"Brother,
I send good news, the plan in this area is working, this should make your job even easier. Between the chaos here (plus the instability in other areas) and your logistical magic tricks nobody should be able to pay too much attention back home. I’ll be heading back soon, I’m wrapping things up here, it’s been fun (especially toying with that Valeros pup, such a naive romantic), without their local folk hero the province will surely be unable to deal with what you have told of what’s coming.
Praise be to Nadranth, the first of dragons"
Runsha leaves to investigate the city walls and Hendred expresses her sorrow about the current situation (Runsha sneers at this) and both Hendred and Tia go out to try and help the wounded. Runsha arrives at the walls and inspects them for weakness and talks to the few city guards that are there, and asks if they're ready to fight for their lives in the coming month, they respond that they are but are confused by the question. Runsha returns back to the improvised war room after cooling off and sat back and listened, one of the guards returned and reported to Horatius, saying they secured the vault and searched the mansion. It's been abandoned and described what they found (signs of quick exit, empty potion bottles, a small pile of fine gray dust). Runsha approaches Horatius and says he should be prepared to take charge as the search for Bernard looks grim.
Hendred and Tia return to the church, finding it used as a sanctuary for the displaced and Runsha returns to his inn. Runsha finds that there's very few people there beyond the barkeeper, he goes upstairs and begins to pray to Sirlith, The wise. During this time here's something from just outside his room, he gets his warhammer and shield ready and slowly advances shouting "Who's there?!" As he approached the source of the noise he heard a voice that said "You took him from me!" and he began to dodge, getting swiped by two invisible strikes. Runsha responds with two strikes from his warhammer and shoves invisible attacker away and moved towards the stairs. The attacker responds that he is responsible for the death of the person they loved and struck twice more, downing Runsha, He responds that he wasn't the one and it was Bridgeford. The attacker lands another strike and casts off the invisibility, revealing herself to be Arryn Sylris, She drops several pieces of parchment in front of Runsha and says that he's the reason Bernard is dead. Runsha grabs his holy symbol and begins to pray, she strikes one more time and as Runsha is about to succumb to his wounds he sees her uncork a potion and dump it on him. Tia and Hendred wake up and head outside the church expecting to find Runsha, they head towards his inn when they noticed he wasn't waiting for them. They head towards his room and they find quite a few pieces of parchment and a small pile of fine gray dust. After further investigation they don't find anything further and begin to read the parchment, most of the parchments were extremely detailed accounts of the parties activities from shortly before leaving Hillfar, to Stathmor, and their time in Strongfare. But there was one that was a note:
"I hope this finds you well, I have enjoyed this little game of cat and mouse, it’s not often I actually have to pay attention, Highsummit is dull in that regard. Anyway I must be going, but I don’t want to leave you completely empty handed, I’ve left behind the correspondence of the individual who allowed me to find Bernard. I know he meant a lot to your backwater province (maybe even a little more depending on who you asked), I’ve also left behind a little gift. Best regards, Lord Ricard Bridgeford, Highsummit’s fist"
Tia and Hendred are taken aback by this and is about to leave when they are greeted by another dwarf who introduces themselves as Duromar, he works for house Valeros and asks if they have Seen Runsha. Tia and Hendred look at each other and say that he is most probably dead, this saddens him and he responds that he most investigate this matter but since Runsha was helping the party in very grave matters that he would also join the group. Duromar begins to ask questions around the inn and eventually reaches the barkeeper and encounters some resistance, Duromar says that if he can't get answers then he would call for more assistance from Bronze Cliff and leaves. The group plans to reconvene with the council but Duromar asks to make a quick stop at the Royal Bralorian Couriers station and if the party would be willing to include their thoughts or words in his dispatch to lord Valeros informing him of Runsh's death. As the group is writing out the dispatch some people wearing the symbol of the Eastbrook Coalition approach and give the party the location for a meeting and they should get there as soon as possible. After sending off the dispatch the group head towards the meeting, they enter the building and they see a great open meeting area, in the center the representatives from all the cities that they had been to stood there. The group approaches and Duromar introduces himself and mentions Runsha murder and needing to launch an investigation, this causes some murmurs but Horatius says that is indeed unfortunate but the there is one pressing issue that needs to be resolved. He talks about the Orc incursion on Hillfar and speaks of an undead horde from the Wildlands, and that this riot has weakened the province in some ways as it killed both Arden Walmund and Zelkaen Highwind (the other two provincial councilors). While the allegiances of these two councilors were suspect because they didn't have ties to Eastbrook they did have supporter that were either killed or will be leaving the province. Horatius finishes by saying the province needs to get ready to defend against this incursion, Duromar makes the case for setting up the defensive line at Strongfare, effectively sacrificing the cities of Stathmor and Lakeshore. This gets some push back but eventually the representatives agree that it makes sense. The province begins to mobilize: Hendred focuses on healing the sick and feeding the malnourished, Tia focuses on hunting in groups and teaching them the ways of the wilderness and scouting, and Duromar focuses on helping train people in soldiering and using his alchemical supplies to create basic healing potions and other alchemical compounds.
On the 16th day of Rugos the party is made aware of several situations: the first is a string of murders happening in one of the hastily setup camps, the second is there have been acts of sabotage, and finally an expedition is being put together to clear out more parts of the nearby jungle to secure more raw material. The party decides to head into the jungle. The group tries to sneak around as they approach a crater but are noticed by a Chelicerae and a Fomorian. The Chelicerae advances and Duromar starts his bladesong and hastes himself while Hendred blesses (turns out the dragons favored her on this engagement due to what's about to happen) the party, Tia starts to fire a volley, which sets off a long string of critical hits, the Chelicerae attempts to strike back but is unsuccessful. Hendred critically hits with her warhammer and spiritual weapon and Duromar finishes it off with a booming blade, as this was going on the Fomorian advances uses his evil eye to to cause psychic damage, the party focuses on the Fomorian and it gets a few greatclub strikes in but before it's killed it uses it's evil eye one last time and is able to curse Tia which halves her movement and hinders her ability to accurately fire her bow. The party deliberates and decides to continue on because it'll burn another valuable day, they move to the next area, attempting to be sneaky but are discovered. The party faces a Aridni and a Behir, Duromar activates his bladesong and haste and speeds over to the Behir and strikes with his rapier, the Behir responds with some lightning breathe that Durmar is able to partially dodge. Hendred heals Duromar and Tia fires several arrows into the Aridni, managing to land several despite the curse. Duromar lands several more rapier strikes and begins to put distance between himself and the Behir, the Behir is able to catch up with Duromar and it's breathe weapon recharges, firing it at both Hendred and Duromar, which downs Duromar. The aridni attempts to hit Hendred but is unsuccessful, Hendred forgoes healing Duromar and upcasts a banishment on the Behir which is successful. With the Behir gone for the near future the party heals up Duromar and focuses on the Aridini, the Aridni attempts to break Hendreds concentration but is unsuccessful and is quickly felled. The party gets into position and Hendred drops concentration on the banishment. The party expends it's readied actions which knock off a lot of the Behir's HP but it remains up, the Behir recharges its breathe weapon and focuses it on Tia which drops her. But Duromar is able to finish off the Behir and Hendred brings Tia back to consciousness, the party quickly searches the area for more enemies and Hendred finds 500 GP of diamonds and they short rest in the Behir's cave. They move on to the final area, they manage to successfully sneak up and find an elemental of time (A Chronomental), they are able to banish it. After 6 rounds they notice a Glabrezu coming on their position, Hendred stays at a distance while Duromar advances and Tia limps up. The Glabrezu fires off several spells but Duromar is able to either resist or counterspell the magic, the Glabrezu is able to grapple Duromar but before causing much more damage the party kills it off. The Chronomental doesn't reappear and the party returns to Strongfare.
It is the night of the 16th day of Rugos
Missions/Quests Completed
Held the provincial council meeting to coordinate the defense of the province
Cleared out part of the jungle to keep the exotic material flowing into Strongfare
Cleared out part of the jungle to keep the exotic material flowing into Strongfare
Notes
The death of Arden Walmund and Zelkaen Highwind in the revolt caused a decent chunk of the Eastbrook population that supported them to either flee the province are die in the revolt or the fallout that happened over the next few days.
Categories: Heal the sick/injured, Feed the malnourished, stockpile supplies, create weaponry/armor, build fortifications
Categories: Heal the sick/injured, Feed the malnourished, stockpile supplies, create weaponry/armor, build fortifications
| Male population | Female population | |
| total | 430,000 | 430,000 |
| under 15 | 107,500 | 107,500 |
| 15 - 55 | 215,000 | 215,000 |
| over 55 | 107,500 | 107,500 |
| professional fighting force 30,000 | ||
| Malnourished - 200,000 | ||
| sick/injured - 150,000 |
Report Date
29 Oct 2022
Primary Location
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