The party had given lots of thought to their fight with Vanir, Iohannes, and the rest of the Lycos Suns - arranging the place, time, and as many of the protective buffs as possible.
Due to their efforts they seriously trounced the bad guys so much so that they were able to maintain momentum even after the Lycos Suns were striking back. Having a 12th level wizard as the enemy would have normally slaughtered the party however he had been sacrifice wounded earlier by Havic and the party KNEW that the Lycos Suns did not have a cleric at their beck and call - so he would not be a major player.
However, the fight isn't done. And now the group is going to be on the other side of the coin. And it is going to hurt.
Write up follows:
We arrived at Bork Keep as clean and as ready as we were able to. It was only a few minutes before Sir Bork had us escorted in and gave us his thanks as well as the thanks for the entire town of Flat Rock. With over 40% of the townsfolk dead from the ravages of the plague there was some concern as to the going continuation of the locale but Sir Bork felt confident as far as the future was concerned.
There was nothing left in the coffers and precious little to be drummed up as far as reward could be considered, but Sir Bork was able to make a few concessions towards the group (who denied needing any reward). First, Market Square was going to be renamed Havic Square in honor of our dwarven barbarian who died during our attempts to cure the plague. Second, Three Dog Hotel, who had lost its proprietor, Blemarius, was going to be renamed Sundered Chains Hotel and be jointly handled by Blemarius’ widow as well as Sir Bork’s Castellan. And finally, he was willing to award 5 acres of homestead farmlands around Flatrock to each of the surviving members of the Sundered Chains and affiliated adventurers: Guyus, Detheron, Gwyn, Aleron, Thurin, Norris, Mebali, and Ludwig. To the group this was the most exciting result but were unsure if they could accept since no one had any skill with farming.
Sir Bork was more that hopeful that the party would just willingly settle here in Flat Rock as there was much work to do and the promise of lands would entice them to stay. If they did not want to, he would have the land offered to other prospective people (should anyone want to come back north and settle around here), paying the party the rental costs when that time would arrive. The group was very thankful and accepted this as an equitable solution. We also picked up Draugmore, a wild elven king’s thief with a charter from Count Cedric himself and impeccable references.
From there we wanted to leave town as fast as possible, making our way towards Kreladale and our encounter with the Lycos Suns. By noon we were gone and pressed on as fast as we could towards High Mesa. Once there, Detheron transformed into a falcon once again and scouted ahead to give the place a once over. He made 4 passes, doing his best to stay as far over the outpost as possible. He did note that the area with the mausoleums in the middle of Kreladale cemetery had some sort of tenting over them, some oilskinned tarp. There was the butt end of a wagon seen.
In addition, he could count at least 5 figures about, two of which were filling holes (graves) not under the tarp. As for Kreladale itself, the main roads had some orcish figures patrolling the outpost; maybe a dozen. He returned and told us of what he had found. We went over our plan a bit and then decided to press on.
As expected, at 2 PM, a sudden thunderstorm materialized over not only the badlands, but for miles and miles in all directions. The sky grew dark, clouds became dark, and with a crack of thunder, the rain began to fall. Visibility dropped to a thousand feet and the group quickly donned baladranas as soon as possible. After waiting a few minutes the party began firing off spells. Extended call lightning, polymorph self, protections from fire and lightnings, protection from normal missiles, longstrider, even greater magic fang for Digger. It ended with an Invisibility 10’ radius for the party and then we pressed on as fast as we could towards Kreladale.
We came upon the southwest gate where a few minutes observation let us know that the orcs were walking patrol and seemed pretty regular, about 80’ or so apart. At the end of West Road they looked towards the cemetery and made a thumbs up and nod before turning the corner. Ok, the orcs were patrolling for the Lycos Suns.
We broke the party into 3 groups of 4 and spaced ourselves out, invisibly of course, to follow in between the orc patrollers to the end of the block and then to the small road that would lead to the cemetery. Once there we stood silently off the path until all parties were back together. The cemetery had a single guard at the gate, signaling to the rest of the Lycos Suns beyond each time the orcs gave the all clear. The gate itself was closed with a wrap of chain. Was it locked? Someone was going to need to get closer to check.
Aleron volunteered and the ranger relayed back that it was held closed with chain and only a slip of wire bent around itself. But getting it open would alert the guard. What to do next? Our protection spells were slowly passing by as time marched on, the minutes ticking by until they expired. We needed to do something and do it swiftly.
Detheron pointed to the sky and channeled a bolt of lightning from above, calling it down so it struck the gate, frying the guard next to it as well as blowing Aleron back and away. Thurin rattled off a Hold person spell, causing two of the lycos sun to freeze in place. Ludwig sang off a Bless spell. Guyus called his warhorse and mounted up. And three of the party members armed with Lyreth medallions stormed the gate, knocking it open as the lightning scored chain was weakened from the blast.
The guard at the front was slain by the blast and a few of the lycos suns were able to fire arrows at us. One of the slavers used a mirror image spell on themselves and we heard Iohannes under the tarp confirm with Vanir to stay put as he was going to change. A large figure with a two-handed sword tried to stop Guyus but the mounted paladin was undeterred. King went into the cemetery and charged towards the lone archer taking cover along the northern mausoleum. A flaming sphere blossomed into space AT the party, only Detheron avoiding any damage due to his protections. More of the party charged into the cemetery.
Magic missiles flew and Guyus charged at one of the lone warriors, hacking his down as he charged up. Digger tore into the two-handed swordsman, the dire wolverine worrying at the figure. King ripped one of the Lycos Suns apart, beating the archer to death. Another lightning bolt slammed down at Detheron’s call. Our surprise attack on the Lycos Suns caught them ill prepared and the party was carrying the momentum.
Iohannes, in werewolf form, leapt out from under the tarp and assaulted Guyus, his claws ripping into his steed and causing the paladin to send his companion back to the astral plane. A Charm spell shattered against the party. More lightning flew. More magic missiles flew. A female warrior in platemail with a very deadly mace kept trying to smash Guyus to the ground. King charged under the tarp and ripped the female mage there near Vanir to shreds. Vanir cast disintegration on the ape and he burst apart in a spray of green dust.
Iohannes made a HUGE leap, 60’, avoiding Guyus and landing amongst the spellcasters outside the gate. Most everyone who did not have a silver weapon found their equipment weakening with each blow. Mebali and Norris tried to hold Iohannes in place but the werewolf was much too strong for the two of them. Norris was laid low, the half elven bard slain by Iohannes.
Most of the rest of the Lycos Suns were either down or dying. Vanir fired off an Ice Storm which pelted most of the party members still in the open. Another bolt of lightning arced down, tearing the melee site apart. Draugmore attempted to climb on the wagon and proceeded to ride the horse and wagon away. Vanir’s spell he had cast earlier finally went off, and a 225’ wingspan roc appeared, it reached down and grabbed the wagon and horse, attempting to fly away. The enemy mage teleported on top of the roc and made some attempt to flee. Another lightning bolt arced down. The roc was going to escape. Draugmore leapt down to safety.
Iohannes jumped back into the battlefield. Aleron seeing the roc and Vanir was to escape took out Norris’ dwarven rocket and launcher. Oil and a lit candle was tossed down the stone tube and one of the precious rockets followed. The blast the came next was so terrible that it deafened the ranger and streak of fire shot up to the flying Roc and blasted the mighty god-bird apart – 250 hp of damage. It crashed back to the ground, Vanir falling with it – the mage taking 190’ drop like a stone where he hit the ground in a single bone shattering smash.
Iohannes made to flee; Detheron scored another lightning bolt at the escaping werewolf. It howled horribly. He transformed into a falcon, kept pace, and dropped two more bolts from his called lightning down on the werewolf until it failed to move anymore and the battle ended.
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