Val moves and attacks the other cultist..
But misses instead..
The remaining cultist drops his crossbow pulls out his glavie steps back and attacks Thorst.
But he fail's to leave a scratch on the barbarian's tough hide. The bat continues to attack the remaining cultist.
But it fails to even leave a scratch on the man. Anevia then fires with her bow at the cultist.
But her arrow goes wide.
With her Pit and Invisibility gone, Ophelia decides to help out with the remaining cultist. The elf quickly fires another tiny sphere of acid at her foe. Despite having to worry about aiming around her allies, her shot is actually half decent.
Val moves around and attacks..
But is utterly pathetic in doing so.
Thorst and Halara once agian move up and attack the remaining cultist.
With the aid of Ophelia's acid the cultist is brought down under Halara's blow.
Val casts detect magic and inspects the area..
Val finds several magical items on the body of the dead caster. A wand, some bolts, a cloak, and some bracers. She also finds a nonmagical morningstar, crossbow, and two keys on his body. The other cultists that are still there just have a chainmail, crossbow, glaive, 20 bolts, and 10 gold each.
Val will try to id the items, hopefully with some help..
Val Identifies the follwoing items.
A wand of CMW with 6 charges left.
A cloak of +1 protection.
Bracers of armor +1.
The bolts remain a mystery.
Ophelia has a +10 as well so she'll take 10 for a 20 on the bolts. "If noone objects ill take the cloak. We should gather what we can and move on to the next location."
The bolts are identified as +1 bolts.
You have explored each of the homes of every NPC with you which they asked you to do.
You have also explored the three locations mentioned as cultist hideouts.
Besides exploring this place the only thing left that you know of is that there are people planning a counterattack at a place called Defender's Heart.
"To Defenders Heart! Anyone know where that is?"
Aneiva nods.
"I remember the way there. Follow me."
With that Anevia begins hobbling out of the building and towards Defender's Heart.
"We'll follow your lead then," Ophelia says with a nod. Once again, she plans to stay in the middle of the group as they travel.
Val follows as well..
You travel through the ruins of Old Kenabres to the outer portion of the city. You see Defender's Heart in the distance a large stone tavern that seems to have weathered the demon's attack well. As you approach several guards appear with crossbows at the windows, but seeing who you are traveling with they quickly call out for you to come inside. Anevia joyfully cries out when she sees a half-orc you assume is Irabeth. They greet each other warmly.
Val follows Anevia.. "Well met Irabeth. You've been spoken highly of. Im glad to finally make it to some friendly quarters, my name is Valkyrie Stormseeker. These are my friends.. What can we do to help?"
"Greetings, Ms. Irabeth. I am Ophelia Glinathir; I help train some of our city's aspiring wizards in the basics of arcane magic. As Val mentioned, I will gladly help where I can, but some rest would not hurt. I swear that the trek here feels like it took months."
Halara, and Thorst both introduce themselves as well, and Irabeth nods at your introductions.
"It is good to see people willing to help. First off before I ask anything of you what have you seen so far? Any information could be important for our fight."
"We have mostly encountered cultists. I think we found paperwork regarding their plans, right Val?"
Thats right.. We stumbled across some documents that led us to some cultist hideouts across the city.. We took care of those situations on our way here.. What's the plan for a couter attack? she fills her in on all the details that I'm forgetting..
As you inform Irabeth about what you have done and seen she begins to nod slowly.
"Yes, we shall talk about the counter attack, but first there are some people you must meet."
Irabeth leads you into a room with an old man sitting at a table along with two other men standing there. The two of them look like fierce fighters. One of them is a tall man with golden hair, and beard who seems to carry himself with a slightly otherworldly air. A bright, and pure looking snow leopard rubs against his leg affectionately. The other man appears to be strongly build with a full beard and a few scars on his face. The old man appears to have weathered age with more than a few wrinkles and he also has several scars that seem to crisscross his face. He sits there with a haunted look in his eye. As you enter Irabeth begins introductions.
"The man with the snow leopard is Micah, the old man is Quednys, and finally last but not least is Victor. I have summoned you all here because as horrific as recent events have been, we’ve come to realize that they are, in fact, merely a prelude. The razing of the Kite, the destruction of our wardstone, Terendelev’s murder, and the assault on the city were nothing more than opening gambits. The Worldwound is on the march in a more concentrated assault than we’ve seen since the fall of Drezen. It’s fair to say the Lord of the Locust Host is finally making his move. The end of this hundred-year-war is upon us, and it falls to us to ensure victory. While the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth were scattered, those who serve the Lord of the Locust Host himself remain concentrated in Old Kenabres. What we’ve heard from within the barricade they’ve erected is ominous. The cultists are waiting for something, and based on our own information and what you’ve managed to recover so far, it sounds like the vile witch Areelu Vorlesh will soon be coming to Kenabres. And it appears that we’ve determined what she intends to do. When the wardstone was destroyed by the Storm King, it exploded and destroyed the Kite. The network along the border failed, but did not fade completely. I believe this is because a significant portion of our wardstone still exists, and that the cultists have taken it to the old garrison in Old Kenabres. From what we’ve learned, they’re hoping to engineer a way to somehow reverse the field generated by the wardstones—essentially, to use our own greatest defense as a devastating weapon. The attack on Kenabres had a predictable result: causing the crusade to gather at the border to defend it. Some wonder why the demons haven’t attacked in stronger numbers. I believe that Areelu was counting on us massing along the border, and that if she can corrupt the wardstone field, she can strike a devastating blow against us all. In effect, we’ve lined up for the slaughter. Vorlesh is surely seeking some object of great Abyssal power, and with it she intends to turn the source of our hope into an unimaginable nightmare. We cannot hope to evacuate everyone from the border—I doubt they would give up the defensive line even if they knew what the enemy planned. But we can still stop this from happening—we just need to have someone infiltrate the Gray Garrison, locate the wardstone fragment, and destroy it."
"I'm certain that at least some of them would stay," Micah offers, shaking his head and absentmindedly rubbing the leopard's neck, "my own brother would chose to die in a trap before seeing demons overwhelm the border..."
He stares at the floor for a moment and then continues, "If there's a way to save him and all those others who have left behind families and farms to hold back the tide of evil then I'll do whatever I can to see it done... where is this Gray Garrison?"
"It is a pleasure to meet you all."
Viktor listens silently to the entire briefing, then taps his finger on the table with a grunt of disapproval. "You are right, I have fought beside them there. They would not leave so easily. I know I would not." He leans on his elbows. "I will help however I can. Infiltrating the Gray Garrison, how do we go about that?"
Halara, who has been contemplative for a long time now, finally recovers her voice. "Wish we had met on different circumstances, guys, but unfortunately we have a world to save. I'm not the subtle type, if what we need is a solo striker, but I can support a team pretty well, in case you're thinking about that approach."
"I'm sorry, how rude of me," Micah says turning his attention to the women, "yes, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, despite the circumstances. As Irabeth said, I'm Micah, and you are?"
Val listens as all is explained and afterwards while a plan is being formulated. Finally she speaks.. "Well met brave soilders.. Troubling times indeed. My name is Val by the way. So how do we go about infiltrating this place? It seems that a frontal assault would probably not be wise. Anyone know of any backdoors?"
"I didn't live in Kenabres, so I know basically nothing about this city. I'm Halara Orelad, by the way. Scouting around could also be a danger, but considering what we know about this city, there must be an underground passage."
"For anyone who does not know me, my name is Ophelia. I agree that our best bet is using some sort of side entrance; if the main entranceway could be taken with brute force, something tells me that we would have tried that tactic already."
Irabeth seems happy at your willingness to help.
"The Gray Garrison was once a museum, but after the attack upon Kenabres the cultists took it over because of how easy it is to defend, and it's central location. The Grey Garrison itself has no side or hidden entrances that we have been able to find and if there were the cultists have probably found and gotten rid of them. There are many dangers between the Gray Garrison and here, but I have a plan for that. When you are ready to start your infiltration the other mercenaries here and I will start an offensive to draw the attention and forces of the enemies away. During our distraction you can attack with most of the force away. You can strike hard, fast, and then fade back to regroup as needed. We don't know what they have in there, so we might need you to make multiple assaults. When you do get to the wardstone fragment you must destroy it. Quendys has found the perfect object to accomplish this."
Irabeth motions to Quendys who stares off into space for a small bit before looking back at the group.
"Hmmm? Oh yes the object." Quendys pulls out a rod and places it onto the table. "I found this rod of cancellation in the ruins of a wizard's shop. Using it should drain the last of the wardstone's power and prevent the demon's plan."
Halara approaches the rod, but does not touch it. "Well, it is still better than facing all of them. Are chances are a little higher. Do we have a regroup point?"
"The sooner we leave the better our chances of stopping them in time..." Micah offes, "and, regarding a rallying point, it seems to me like perhaps we should agree on that once we draw close to the garrison and can evaluate first hand which locations are suitable... Can anyone use the rod or does it require specific skills or abilities?"
"We can scout for a regroup spot on the way I would imagine.. We best get started if there's no other advice."
Ophelia puts her fist to her chin and thinks carefully.
"So shutting it off should be the easy part, correct? We just have to konk the wardstone with that rod, yes? Huh. I am surprised that the demons never tried that form of sabotage before. Anyway, it would probably be best to start as soon as we can. It sounds like we are on a tight schedule."
"Well, the hardest part would be to get close to it, since it was impressively well guarded. Now that they had, it makes sense to use it, instead of destroying it, since they were not harmed by its function anymore. I don't think I understand how to use it, but perhaps one of you girls know? You are both magi!"
"Hmm. Subtlety is not my strong suit."
"The wardstone fragment is weak enough for the rod of cancellation to work. When the wardstone was still at the height of it's power nothing would have a chance at harming it. It seems that the constant attacks by the demons over the years weakened it enough for them to pull off this attack. It may have even been their plan all along since the very first attack."
Halara seems ready to rock 'n roll! "Well, I guess if you don't have any more information to provide us, we will be on the way. How long will this distraction of yours take to make any effect?"
"I'm ready to leave right now too" Micah quickly agrees, then more tentatively adds, "I'm not overly familiar with the layout of the town though- some of you do know exactly how to get there, right?"
"I know the general layout of the city. I have lived here for over a hundred years. If someone points me in the right direction, I can probably get us there. I imagine that we can also travel with the main force for a time."
"Main force.... Oh yes, we will all go, of course. But if you're thinking about finding others, I don't think there will be many, Ophelia. Let's try, but we are probably what this city have left of the ways of defense..."
Irabeth nods. "Very well I shall inform the men and we shall move out immediately."
As you get ready to leave Aravashnial approaches the group.
"So you're proposing that we just slip through the enemy lines during the chaos?" Ophelia asks Halara. "I suppose that could be a decent way to get in, but retreating will problematic if we do not have a clear exit path.
"I know this isn't much, but you helped me get out of that hole and you saved some of those librarians, so the least I can do is bring you some goods that were still hidden. I checked the location of a nearby Riftwarden cache and some items were still there."
Aravashnial reveals several items to offer assistance.
eight potions of cure serious wounds
four potions of lesser restoration
10 +1 evil outsider bane arrows
a chime of opening
a masterwork cold iron longsword
a wand of magic missiles (CL 5th, 31 charges)
a wand of daylight (24 charges).
Halara lifts her shoulders. "Well, maybe going back is not what we're supposed to do..."
"Thanks Aravashnial. Are you gonna be all right? How are your eyes?"
"I shall be fine. My eyes no longer pain me as they once did, but I shall seek out healing after this demon problem has been dealt with."
Micah watches the interaction with Aravashnial quietly, carefully observing and attempting to piece together some small part of the story of what this group of women have been engaged in of late.
Then, noticing he is the only one carrying a bow, he bashfully speaks up. "umm, I know I wasn't part of the team that helped out at the library... but if nobody else can put them to use... I sure wouldn't mind having those arrows for the assualt..."
"Thank you Aravashnial. These will help us a great deal."
"My thanks as well.. I do hope you get your eyesight returned. If we do not meet again it was a pleasure fighting along your side."
As for the gear she would like 2 of the cure serious pots and 1 of the lesser restos. "You should take the longsword Viktor as yours doesn't appear to be made of cold iron. You want that for fighting demons as im sure we will."