Lanal 11-12, 652 DR: The remaining group searches the town of Ōddon and tries to guess the size, shape, and position of Ichalus’s army. A desperate thief is burned out of an inn. The company is attacked. Kry Ōddon is besieged by mindless red-robed chanters and columns of flame. Mishara takes the opportunity to kill ranks of Uren. Ichalus welcomes “death” and is reborn as the Demon Storm.

Continued from An Unfinished Task.

Padídor, 11 Lanal 652

Following the disappearance of the Black Tome a decision was made to investigate the villages of Ōddon and Portage to see how they had fared in the wake of the Minions of Danok. Ðr. Enthor assigned two of the Kry Ōddon guards to the mission. The group wandered down the hillside from the keep, and crossed the Run Morus into Portage, knocking on doors and peering down alleyways. Nothing stirred. Smoke rose from the burnt ruins of Portage, and except for the stray dog and chicken poking through the embers, no people were found. At the end of Dock Street, the group came to the stone Merchant Guard Portage Barracks and Station. There were replies from inside, but the soldiers there refused to exit, fearing a return of the Minions.

The group wandered back into Ōddon, where they began a house-to-house search for survivors. The search began at an abandoned inn where Mishara found evidence of passage through a boarded window. The group climbed in and searched the house. They found a map of Ōddon knifed to a table in an upper room, with a hatch presumably leading to the attic. One of the soldiers held Kaithah on his shoulders as she poked her head through the ceiling. Both tumbled to the floor after an arrow grazed her forehead from somewhere above. Sgt. Adolv commanded the hiding party to exit, but no one answered. In response, the sergeant started a fire in the room to smoke the “archer” out. When the fire began spreading rapidly through the old and dried building, the group rushed downstairs and back into the street. Soon large black bilious clouds were rising from the old building.

The group continued its search of Ōddon, knocking, and breaking down secured doors looking for survivors. Near the Run Morus Inn someone noticed a group of people in the streets by the docks, and decided to retreat into a nearby building. Waiting inside a local building they waited for people to pass in the streets. No one did. Finally, it was decided to exit and return to the keep. Returning, the group was ambushed by Minions, scattering the group to opposite sides of the street. Alcèrra found herself facing down a swordsman, and summoned ghostly hands to choke her opponent to death as she jabbed at him with her trident. Kaithah meanwhile, circled a building and came face to face with another swordsman that brutally cut her down. Mishara arrived nearly too late, taking a critical moment to bind the bardess’s wounds as the man hacked at him. In the street, the soldiers engaged other Minions that appeared between the group and the keep, having circled and cut-off the party as they waited in the building. A stray crossbow bolt pierced Adolv, dropping the sergeant in the smoke filled streets. After dispatching the swordsman, Alcèrra regrouped with Mishara and helped him and the remaining soldier drag Kaithah’s body back to the keep. The bardess looked in terrible shape, and the Priestess could see by her wounds that no person could be closer to death and still cling to the living realm.

The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing the troops of Kry Ōddon for an inevitable siege. Mishara armed each of the soldiers with crossbows and ordered them out along the battlements, while he took watch from a high tower window. Their wait was not a long one.

Groups of people soon emerged from the surrounding town, approaching the keep wall, singing a mournful song. A command was given to fire, but many of the soldiers recognized the red robed townspeople and refused to shoot. Mishara fired at the approaching groups, felling one after another, until the ground was littered with dying peasants. Next, another group appeared in the distance, led by a man in elegant red robes holding a red staff. Mishara took aim at him as the man summoned tendrils of flickering light from the arrow-riddled bodies. Finishing these words he pointed to the gate of the keep and fire sprang from his palms, leaping through the night air and striking the gate. The banded gate shuddered from the impact of the flames, and smoke rose from the walls. The crossbowmen trembled and hid behind the merlons. Another pillar of flame struck Mishara’s tower, who leaped aside as flames rushed through the arrow slit, burning the ancient stone. The archer continued to launch arrow after arrow. As the Eylfāe fired his bow, the priest’s entourage moved calmly in front of him, accepting the deadly arrowheads on behalf of their leader. Soon a third blast of flame tore through the night. The keep gate shuddered and the smell of charring wood drifted through the keep. The gate held again. Mishara could see dozens of other figures standing in the distant shadows, waiting for the gate to fall. More arrows fired down at the priest, finally piercing him once, and twice. He began casting again and again as the arrows struck him, once, twice, three times. Holding his staff high, he began chanting a different song. As the last three arrows from Mishara’s bow found the priest the night around him became alive with the beating of black wings. The circling and flapping creatures dispersed and the priest was gone. A small and wary cheer went up from the soldiers on the keep wall, but it was soon replaced with yells and screams as winged creatures dove from the night and began ripping through the soldiers. Mishara and Ðr. Enthor ran out onto the walls to deal with the Neðérim, and after dispatching a few could hear still others flapping above and away.

Bærídor, 12 Lanal 652

The rest of the night, spent nervously waiting for the next wave of Minions, passed without further incident.

Continued in Demon Storm.

Characters

• Alcèrra Nàdrelan
• Kaithah Argentale
• Mishara Mythdaras
• Adolv Gruensveld
• Beruk Slitter
• Cudala Maronkkerrek
• Ðr. Enthor
• Felboon the Elder
• Felze
• Gladia
• Idus
• Kirrin Hack
• Ogor
• Old Serrel
• Opersweth Nalnummor
• Ortod
• Orun Yurander
• Pamala Temmast
• Sellen Mezod
• Sheddaran
• Vallupa Nevulless
• Zored Keeler

Played: 06 Dec 1997