–Froderik Penderghast – Male Human Wizard. Logical and self-important wizard. Accompanied by his hawk familiar, Mordecai. Quite happy that his girlfriend, Edella, was made a knight. Working on crafting spells in his spare time.
–Raskin Daggermaw – Male Half-Orc Rogue. Huge, muscular braggadocios letch who is especially good at stabbing folks, if not interpersonal skills. Bastard son of Duke Riffin Etiamond Wields Onyx Razor. Given ambassador powers to deal with his old clan and some what surprised to have successfully negotiated with them.
–Dame Edella Montfort – Female Human Paladin of Vesper and Baronial Knight of Wrellen. Somewhat sheltered and naïve but always out to help anyone she comes across and punish evil. Currently wields the Mermaid’s Spear. Currently absent.
–Zenga – Female Human Witch. Accompanied by her scorpion familiar (and brother) Janis. Enjoying using her new ability to change her form to that of an old woman as a disguise. Was sure to get the name of the orc chief from Raskin for no particular reason…
–Beybulat “Bey” Tasho – Male Human Swashbuckler. A barbarian from the Plains of Galmar. Currently in a unique position to be rid of Raskin without having to lift a finger…
–Delilah Farmeski – Female Human Cleric of Farmesk. A battle nun from the Eastern Realms who worships the God of War. As always, eager to smash her enemies in Farmesk’s name. Now wielding the Stouthammer.
–Ronald “Ron” Cunningham – Male Halfling Bard. A wandering halfling poet from Roadshire. Since joining his magic and bardsongs have been as appreciated as his cheery attitude. Putting up with the denigrating comments on his height and martial prowess with remarkable composure.
25th of Wolverine, 1159
Beybulat, held with a blade to his throat by none other than Dur’rang (aka “The Lisper”) and a group of orcs briefly considered their offer to save himself and his friends, so long as he walked away and let them kill Raskin in his sleep.
Mentally scrambling, and probably not trusting that the orcs would spare his friends, Bey replied (with a large degree of sincerity) “You are not only one who hates Raskin, I will help you kill him, but just him.”
Surprised, but convinced, Dur’rang agreed and released Bey. The two snuck into the tent, followed by around eight orcs who hung about near the entrance. Bey, seeing all the other orcs come in, said to Dur’rang, in a purposefully loud whisper “I thought this was supposed to be stealthy?”
The loud whisper did as Bey wished and awoke some of the others, which prompted Bey to shout about an ambush. Enraged, Dur’rang ordered his men to kill them all, especially Bey, as he charged to Raskin’s bedroll, bringing his axe down on the prone half-orc. Thankfully Raskin was able to roll mostly out of the way, just suffering a few non-mortal wounds.
The orcs charged in, falchions at the ready, and rushed the heroes as they quickly roused. Bey, for his part, leaped on Dur’rang in an effort to hold him in place and keep him from killing Raskin, allowing the half-orc the time to grab Onyx Razor and leap to his feet.
Meanwhile, Ron scrambled backwards from the orc that charged his bedroll, dodging the monster’s blade. Delilah leaped up and engaged, caving in the skull of one of the orcs that charged her. Froderik slowed a few of them down with a Slow spell, while Zenga cast a spell that seemed to frighten Dur’rang.
Suddenly, Edella popped in outside the back of the tent and, hearing her friends fighting inside, hacked a hole in the animal skin tent with her own falchion and charged in, engaging the orcs attacking her friends.
Raskin, for his part, took advantage of Bey holding Dur’rang and began stabbing him repeatedly with Onyx Razor, while Bey shoved his own magical short sword into the struggling orc. Zenga aided with the two of them with a spell that seemed to cause magical wounds to appear on Dur’rang and cause intense pain. Eventually Raskin finished off his hated enemy with his magical blade, draining the orc’s soul into it to be devoured.
As the orc lay dead Raskin bellowed in his native tongue to the other orcs “Now you all see that I am mighter than Dur’rang. You will submit to me or you will join him in death.”
Two of the orcs, those closest to Dur’rang, dropped their weapons and fled immediately. Another continued to pursue Ron and was promptly killed. The rest announced that they submitted to Raskin and effectively surrendered.
Raskin ordered the orcs to grab Dur’rang’s corpse and follow him as he stormed out into the orc camp, bellowing for Chief Gron’Dol. The enormous orc soon emerged from his tent, axe in hand, demanding to know why his sleep had been interrupted.
Raskin ordered for Dur’rang’s corpse to be thrown at Gron’Dol’s feet. “This honorless coward tried to murder me in my sleep. You say that you cannot give me back my position in this clan. I tell you know, you do not give me anything. I will take my rightful position in this clan, and I start with Dur’rang’s death.”
With a very slight nod of respect, Gron’Dol replied that he had ordered Raskin not to be harmed, which must be why Dur’rang made this attack behind his back. “For those that helped Dur’rang, I offer you their lives. You may punish them as you wish.”
“I will spare them, this time,” Raskin declared. “But they’ll find nothing but death if they ever raise their weapons to me again.”
Though he frowned at Raskin’s mercy, Gron’Dol declared the matter finished and returned to his tent. The group retreated to their own tent (except for Delilah, who’d remained in their tent and gone right back to bed) and tried to get a few more hours of sleep before it was time to leave in the morning.
26th of Wolverine, 1159
The group awoke, and shared breakfast with the orcs, a disgusting (if nourishing) gruel that nobody wanted to know the components of. Delilah, Froderik and Edella frowned at the humans performing chores in the orc camp, as they were obviously human slaves taken when the orcs raided the Antyoch settlements. Delilah stated her desire to free them, but the others said that now was not the time, or they would ruin the alliance that had just been forged.
They had a final meeting with Gron’Dol where they stated that Duke Riffin would soon contact them with instructions on the best way to help the war effort, and decided that they should teleport back to Antyoch City directly rather than riding, so that they could save time.
After breakfast Frederik teleported Bey and Delilah directly to the house they had rented in Antyoch City. Zenga teleported Edella, Ron and Raskin back, however she had clearly miscalculated as they appeared on top of a table in the small home of a family of peasants eating breakfast.
The family screamed in surprise and horror as the sudden weight of four fully equipped adventurers proved too much and the table shattered under them. Zenga immediately found her feet, threw a few gold pieces and a hasty apology to the family and promptly teleported everyone out. Thankfully this time they ended up in their rented house as well.
Everyone found Belina cooking breakfast, and she explained that Miles and Tumaini were still sleeping and had spent the last few nights carousing. She said Tumaini promised he was keeping an eye on Miles to keep him from getting into too much trouble.
Since nobody had eaten much of the gross orcish breakfast (except perhaps for Raskin) everyone had breakfast again and discussed their next steps. They agreed that they should report to Duke Riffin to inform him of the success of their mission, but they were wary about accepting his second mission to assassinate the Spider Person impersonating Geoffry Ravenut.
Raskin was all for performing the mission and killing a man who had put a price on all their heads, but Edella was wary, stating that she felt it would be akin to walking into a trap. She was also wary about Duke Riffin’s motives, stating she felt his goals might be more about claiming power as the husband of the new queen more than doing what was right.
They all ultimately agreed to try to play for a little time to investigate matters so they weren’t going in so blind. After breakfast Raskin, Edella, Zenga and Ron went to go report to the duke while the others remained at the house.
While they waited for the others to return Froderik awoke Miles to ensure he was well and tell him to be ready to travel, as he intended to get him to the rest of his family (though the wizard made sure not to tell Miles where that actually was.)
Meanwhile Raskin, Edella, Zenga and Ron made their way to Waerham Hold. They found the castle as locked down as before, but were fairly quickly granted an audience with Duke Riffin (and Raskin noted that the servants were all calling him “my lord.”)
They informed the duke that the mission was successful and that the Dol-Aton clan had agreed to fight for Antyoch in return for a noble title for Gron’Dol and an estate in the duchy. Riffin seemed highly pleased, and informed them that they would each receive a reward of 1,000 gold for their efforts. When Raskin casually mentioned that he’s slain The Lisper, the duke threw in an additional 500 gold for him.
Raskin thanked Riffin, but stated that his mother being released was a condition of the agreement. With a nod, Duke Riffin ordered Ery’thelia to be brought to them, where he informed her of the alliance and that he was releasing her to return to her people and fight for them.
Ery’thelia looked to Raskin when it was stated he’d negotiated successfully with Gron’Dol and gave a small nod. Duke Riffin stated he’d send her back with instructions for Gron’Dol and have her escorted safely out of the city.
With that Duke Riffin inquired about the second mission. Raskin was able to explain they needed a few more days to think it over, and Riffin said he understood, but warned he could not wait too long, as he did not know if the enemy would make a move before the winter snows began to fall in earnest, and that the Crown still might make a move during the winter.
The group also asked if they’d had any luck in locating the imposter for Sir Alain, and Riffin explained that they had not, though they’d found a few people in cocoons in his house, though they suspected he might have other cocoons hidden elsewhere in the city. Raskin again offered the party’s help, but Duke Riffin advised he believed that the Spider Person’s time was limited and that his forces could handle it.
The party took their leave, though before they did Riffin invited Raskin to return to the castle anytime if he wanted. They headed back to their rented house where Raskin reported what had occurred and doled out the gold he’d received, making a point to give half of his 500 gp personal reward for killing The Lisper to Bey and thanking him for the help. This surprised the Galmarian, who gave a half-confused nod and thanks in response.
The group began to strategize their next move. Edella advocated spending a few days in the city to try to make contact with the allies they’d made like the real Geoffry Ravenut, Professor Chickwood, Ambassador Goldaxe and Baroness Leena, to try to coordinate efforts going forward. She also reminded everyone that according to their information, the enemy would try to destroy the avatar of Modee in here in Antyoch in exactly a month, and that they would need to be in the city to try to stop them.
DM’s Notes: A session of mostly RP and planning, though the beginning was a bit action packed. The orcs, ultimately, did not have a chance of standing up to the PC’s. The real x-factor turned out to be Bey’s hatred of Raskin vs. his loyalty to the party.
The question now is what will the party do next. Will they agree to assassinate “Geoffry Ravenut”? How are their allies doing in their various efforts around the kingdom? Will Bey and Belina hook up (which will relieve Delilah as she’s already sick of their brief dalliance)? Will Raskin go to Duke Riffin for a montage of dad-bonding? The ball is really in the PC’s hands at this point so who knows?!
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