Eschbach Gets a Shadowy Visit
The team are around the towm of Eschbach and they get raided, raided hard.
Plot points/Scenes
The team are around the Eschbach Shields when they are disturbed by the Burgeaters. Strange 'elves' with black & silver clothing, alabaster skin, and white hair attack. They have made their way to the Burgeaters barracks and a pitched battle is taking plae both inside & out. They seem to be trying to get to the prisoner who is still inside the cell. Also, another group has attacked the church & grove. They are trying to get into the vault, and are fighting a character who appeared at twilight in the grove.
The Shadar-Kai has slipped past the defences using shadowy magic appearing from the shadows near their targets.
If they head to the Burgeater barracks, it is partially on fire, and fighting is taking place both inside & around it. About 15 to 20 (minimum) Shadar-Kai troops and mastiffs are there. The townspeople & any merchants have armed themselves & fighting back. The Shadar-Kai are looking to get to Pier to extract blood from him for some ritual concerning the Bladd Pouch, and are not above killing him, Mikhael or Erdis to achieve this. The latter two are spread out holding the line as best they can with the Burgeaters & militia. It proves to be an even match one side skilled, one side a mix of some skill & numbers.
At theChurch & grove, the Shadar-Kai are primarily attacking the church trying to get in. Father Tossil & the remaining monk, Amon, Edward the Monk, and Martine Sacha are defending it with a few Burgeaters & a few local militia. The Germanic Priests & the Druids led by Ema Duckthorne are primarily protecting the grove but are lending their strength wherever possible, especially to the church. The Shadar-Kai number at least 30 here with a handful of Shadow mastiffs, and a shocking creature called the Nightwalker is trying to attack both where possible. It is partially held off from the grove as a woman in her 20s (the Morrigan) is fending it of when it & the Shadar-Kai are getting too close using magic, flocks of ravens, and a spear. The Druids especially seem to follow her lead, and the Germanic Priests sometimes do.
If the Shadar-Kai get in the church and make for the vault, they awaken the Radiant Idol & a Swarm of Rats that attack, though the latter will bite or attack anything getting too close. Anyone attacked has the chance of getting St Justinian's Plague (the Black Death / Bubonic Plague on a failed DC 20 Constitution roll). If any Shadar-Kai gets down they go for the strange book, the cube, and the long sword taking them out, and any leaders may use the sword (adds a +3 to hit / damage, and causes an additional 10 3d6 Force damage).
Again they seem to want to use these to arm the Bladed Pouch with.
If the team & town are successful they will stop one or more of the pieces being taken. Also there is a risk that any of the named characters are killed, especially Father Tossil, Edward the Monk & the unnamed monk who will fight to the last to stop the vault being broken into. They will find thafterwards that the raven feather that was given to Reolus is slightly smoking, and dripping blood from the tip of the quill, the whole time.
The whole time the Fey will help where they can and a few of them may also be killed, as well as Anselma's people. Any large enough response hasa 25% chance of attracting both the Goblins from Goblintown and more Shadar-Kai. Another Nightwalker may appear if there is enough death.
All told there is good chance a few may not make it, and one or two of the objectives may not be met.
Afterwards they can regroup and question any enemy survivors. They were after the items for ritual purposes, and arming the Bladed Pouch, and the raven feather acted like a beacon when activated. They had also struck a deal with the Order of the Gash to retrieve the book & cube so they can be let loose on the world. As for the Longsword it called to them promising to lend it's power to the downfall of not just Eschbach but both the Frankish Empire / Roman Catholic backers & the Thieves of Frankia, and to kill all others who the Shadar-Kai & Bladed Pouch faced.
They will say that the Nightwalkers are found naturally in the Shadowfell, and were tempted out of it with the promise of killing.
The team may find themselves speaking to the Morrigan who will state that she regularly monitors the Raven Queen and her Shadar-Kai minions, especially the Master/Mistress of the Bladed Pouch who she thinks are cowards. She will give Reolus a spear tip saying he needs to kill the Mistress pretty quickly and to force the spear tip into her heart so the Morrigan can claim her soul. And only the bearer has any chance of truly killing her when used correctly. The spear tip is from a spear used by Cuchluian (the Hound of Ulster), and tipped in his blood when he died fighting her beacuse of his Geas (death curse).
The spear tip is a magical item that points constantly in the direction of the Mistress when she is in the Material Plane, or the Shadowfell. It grows warm when she is in 25 feet of the bearer. If it is not used within a year and a day, it will disappear & the bearer will suffer a Geas (cursse, a mark of forboding death) forever more until they die.
It is likely that the Mistress will come after them all now after any set back here and both her master the Raven Queen & the Morrigan have been at war in their own way for decades. When she leaves she appears as a flock of ravens that quickly fly away with the others that have appeared.
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