Smoke and Madness
General Summary
The party, fast asleep, swam in dreams of darkness. A vision came to them of a large forest on the horizon; a dark and forboding mass. As if animated by some unknown force, the forest rushed over the hills, towards the dreamer. Flying past them, they could feel the thorny whips and bark lashes of vegitation flying past them, sending them down into darkness. When the last light had been extinguished, the dreamer felt their jaw stretch wide, pushed open by teeth, growing from every corner of their mouth. All were woken by the snap of their drempt jaw, and bolted upright, finding themselves on the edge of the Ritensa River on the eve of the siege of Smokewall Castle. The Grey Outcasts convened to talk about the strange dream they had all had, and determined it was of magical origin. What portents the dream had for them they were unsure, but as they discussed, they noticed that Clarimund's bedroll was empty, and Luka was nowhere to be found. Worried that something had happened to their friend, they scoured the campsite to no avail. As Dreamstroke searched the field beyond for tracks, Kaizett took to the skies on Raijo to see if he could spot anything. With keen eyes he glimpsed a sparkle in the field amongst the grasses, and dove towards it. Picking it up, he recognized it as Clarimund's amulet that she had traveled to the Northern Kingdoms to find; a treasure she would not willingly part with. As the Grey Outcasts regrouped, they detailed their findings and gathered that whatever had happened to them throughout the night might be related to Clarimund's disappearance. As they shared their grim suspicions, Johan came to them with intel gathered from Smokewall Castle by Nick. The castle was well fortified, but did not have the most competent soldiers guarding it. Most looked like a band of small-time marauders, though there was a company of duergar mercenaries with them, which may prove to be more of a challenge. Even though the majority of their adversaries were untrained knaves, they were greatly outnumbered. Johan offered to ride out during the morning and sweep the surrounding villages to form a militia, since he knew the folk around Smokewall Castle were once proud Shieldlanders. After he rode out, the party made preparations, using Nick's intel, Martin's familiar, and Ent's ability to assess the land to form a strategy. Kaizett would lead the charge with the Cutpurses and whatever sorry band Johan could muster to charge the front gate. In the meantime, the rest of the party would sneak their way inside to interrupt the main command and raise the castle's porticullus, weakening their enemy's advantage. As the next day arrived, and Johan returned with a pitchfork wielding mob, the party put their plan into action. As their rag-tag band approached the castle, Kaizett gave a rousing cry, and the battle was on. Though they managed to get ahold of some ladders to scale the castle walls, they were still outmatched, and they quickly realized that their plan would have to go off without a hitch (and a little luck on top of that) for their assault to be successful. As Dream, Martin, Naelen and Ent rushed into one of the towers by creating a passage with magic, the two clerics summoned lightning storms and began to lay waste to the interior of the castle, catching the stables on fire and causing a panic. Dream and Martin rushed towards the Castle's commanders, when they recognized one of them, a duergar woman they had met many years ago when they delved into Kundrukar. What she was doing here was beyond them, but this past aquaintance might have been just the thing they needed. Dream blasted the bandit leader off the battlements, and he tumbled into the battle below. He was tougher than Dream gave him credit for, as he survived the blast and the fall, and began to run in a panic. While Dream gave chase, the three remaining in the castle made quick work of the Duergar and her guards. As they were about to make the final blow, a faint recognition flashed across the duergar's face, and she surrendered to the party, and ordered her troops to turn on the bandits, shouting "PLAN B" to her soldiers. The battle quickly turned in their favor and with their unlikely allies, the Grey Outcasts took the castle with only moderate casualties. With the battle won, they questioned the bandit commander about what he knew of the area before executing him. The party then helped up their Duergar aquaintance, who agreed to join them for a time, since they accepted and honored her surrender. After searching the castle, they found an old reward letter written by one Amara Dale. It stated that she would offer anyone brave enough to find her daughter, lost in a place known as "The Forest of Teeth", a grand sum of 8000 silver pieces. Though this was far from the riches offered to them by the City of Greyhawk for their current mission, it was nothing to scoff at. In addition, mentions in the letter reminded them of the dream they had the other night, and they hoped that this might lead them to Clarimund, who they were worried about. The group of them agreed that it would be in their best interest to have their troops hunker down in the castle while they sought out this "Amara" in the town of Zalgend...
Notes
This report began on the 7th of Harvester and ended on the 10th of Harvester
Clarimund's Amulet by Anonymous
Amara's Request by h2oman99
Report Date
09 Sep 2023
Primary Location
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