Session XLII: Operation Blazing Night

Chapter 4: Casus Belli

General Summary

22-23 Dripping, 1305 AM

The party set up position around the snowy road and awaited the arrival of the first Khâzukavil sentries. Delivering overwhelming fire and fury to their Asmodean foes, the party triumphed very quickly, with Baldur even managing to drag the group's Tyrant Knight through a Wall of Fire that Tropam had conjured. The wizard noticed that as the Hellsworn duergar fell, the stamped contracts that they wore on their armour burned away; he concluded that this had the effect of, at least partially, resulting in their gear losing its magical properties.
The second group arrived through the forest, just as Lila and Charles had told them, though they were fewer in number than expected. Indeed, Tropam and Jacqualine noticed that some of the housecarls' ornamental headpieces had been broken off, indicating recent combat. The patrol ran towards the road and took up defensive positions, seemingly hoping for support from their comrades (which would not arrive). They, too, were dealt with quickly. Jacqualine wanted to ascertain the source of this group's depleted manpower; she accidentally saw an eldritch, illusory vision of a hovering, skeletal being whose blue-burning skull was encased in a cage of iron. Jacqualine relayed this to the party (for it was something only she saw) and Baldur recalled something he had read in his capacity as a Hellknight, about an accursed being commonly called the Collector, who roams the fallen ruins of Hyx and delights in collecting the spines of unfortunate travellers and turning them into ghostly retainers.
Whilst making their way to the mine, Jacqualine overheard several messages from the MISREC soldiers' communication devices, suggesting that there were was a an additional troop presence on their side of the river for the midnight assault. Tropam, after being told about callsigns such as 'Eclipse,' 'Zenith,' and 'Nightfall' by their translator (Jacqualine), inquired with Lila as to their function. In so explaining, she utilised the hypothetical callsign 'Rabbit.' This inspired Tropam to propose that the party start using it, with slight deviations from the Draecovian system: Jacqualine shamelessly named herself Rabbit One; Tropam as Rabbit Two; Del'Gado as Rabbit Cat; Baldur as Rabbit Black; and Caerlin had the dubious honour of Rabbit Twenty-Five.
Once Rabbit Squad and Nightfall (Lila and Charles) were at the mine, they were told how long to expect the bombardment to last, and to make use of the shock and confusion in its aftermath. From Lila's description, this artillery would completely destroy their designated targets, above and below ground. Tropam was the first to get up and walk towards the mine entrance, managing to glimpse a hastily defence being constructed. Unfortunately, he was also seen. The entrance begun to be sealed, but Rabbit One used her reliable stoneshape to force an opening beside the heavy-set mine doors. A prolonged combat begun, with neither side pushing towards the other, but Rabbit's abundance of highly destructive magic (and quick elimination of the Khâzukavil Forge Cleric) brought down the Hellsworn duergar to just a few. One of the last duergar standing was a Tyrant Knight, who probably broke tradition by challenging Baldur to single combat, a duel that lasted around one second: for Baldur simply walked up, hit him in the groin, and cut him down with the force of a thousand suns.
After the battle, Rabbit took in their surroundings and located a central shaft that continued a long way down. Tropam cast Featherfall, which allowed them to descend hassle-free to the bottom floor, which seemed to house the rest of the mine's defenders. An Asmodean Forge Cleric, his retainer, and three Hellknights (whose insignia had been burned away) greeted Rabbit, and the Forge Cleric seemed open to the idea of not putting up any resistance and letting them in to the Excavation Floor, where he told them that the Hirdman had been negotiating with a devil for the past month.

The party saw no issue with this and were let in, and…

Campaign

The King on the Threshold

Protagonists

Jacqualine

Zsakshash (Caerlin Krexis)

Del'Gado

Baldur Ironfist

Lawful Neutral Mountain Dwarf (Knight)
Paladin 6

70 / 70 HP

STR
19

DEX
13

CON
20

INT
10

WIS
11

CHA
17

Report Date

10 Jul 2024