Irabeth_Tirablade's page

Irabeth comes to you through the flotsam of battle, the clerics working on the wounded while others begin burning the bodies of the slain.

"Another victory. We have shown them our might, but I worry that it's been too easy. We haven't seen a any of the leadership of these forces. That concerns me."

Irabeth leans in closer to Bollwerk, her face a mask of irritation. "I don't need a hero, I need a general. There's a difference. The time to wave your sword and charge is coming, but for now you need to lead men, not rush off for personal glory."

'Agreed." Irabeth nods at Bollwerk. She stands with all of you over a sand sketch she drew on the rough ground. With a stick she points to key points as she talks.

'According to Kazul and the others, the tiefling army is here," she draws a line across the 'canyon' on the sketch, "and the dretches are here." Another line in the sand. "The dretches hold a strong position. If we can draw the tieflings out with a feint, we may be able to defeat the armies piecemeal."

She looks up at you. "Sergeant Major Irra, do you have any experiences with this sort of thing? You are the most battle-tested member of our group. Bollwerk, I would ask that you - with Radiance - take command and lead the army on this attack. I will stay with the rearguard and the other officers to maintain control should something go wrong. You will need a defensive position to retreat to if necessary."

"We wait for the scouts. Keeper's Canyon is just ahead, and we know they will be waiting for us."

"True words." Irabeth nods at Farasha. "And well spoken. But we have lived our lives under the fear of such traitors. The temptations of quick power and wealth are ever our enemies."

She looks down on Nurah's unconscious form with a mix of pity and disgust.

"But what do we do with this one? She is -or was- a trusted advisor to the Queen. I cannot mete out justice for her without some word from Her Majesty, but neither can I wait to find out. We need to march."

She sighs. "I will leave her fate to you. But I would offer words of advice, if I may. Keep her secure, but find out where she went astray. We may yet find that she is not lost to us."

"Is that...what I think it is?"

"Listen," Irabeth says irritably, "you may be heroes and all, but I still command this army, and I won't be ignored. What is going on here? Halfling spy? That's one of the Queen's trusted advisors! You better have some serious proof. Let's get her over to the tent, and you can start explaining."

"What in the name of the Sword is going on here?" she demands, dressed only in a long nightshirt.

"She wasn't in the battle. She was supposed to be with the supply wagons."

"Well, looks like that's it." She says, swinging off of her horse into the dust around where you stand. "No survivors, no prisoners. Strange though, no officers that I found."

She takes a quick survey of the camp activities. "We'll get this set up and post guards. We need to decide what to do in the morning about guarding the ford. I've sent messengers back to Kenabres to report our victory here."

"Now, Knights of Kenabres, rise up and fight! Follow Radiance! Follow me! To victory! For Kenabres!"

Its not exactly the same, but this sets the tone beautifully.

The speech

"It's time to take the fight back to the Worldwound." Irabeth says. Turning to Kazul, she starts firing questions: "Did you see any scouts or pickets outside their camp? Any demons about? Where there any survivors from the Ford's garrison? "

Once she has her answers, No, no, and not that you could see. she lays down a simple plan. The army will ride along the road, scouts out in front, until they reach the rise. Then they form up in a line, and begin the charge from the top of the rise. You (the PCs) will follow on after the initial impact. Your job is to enter the buildings around the ford and kill any demons you find, and rescue any survivors.

"Any questions?"

Irabeth has already been working with the army to set up camp as Farasha, Kazul, Erin, and Anevia return with from the scouting and search of Vala's Gift.

"Right you are, Farasha," she says, "we must be up and on the move early."

"Vilareth Ford."

"I am," growls Irabeth, clearly angered by the man's tone. "and in the name of the knights of the Eagles Watch, last defenders of Kenabres, who is asking?"

"We are pretty short staffed here, Bollwerk, as you well know." Irabeth stands up and begins to strap on her sword. "We need to..."

"Truth be told, I did not have such dreams." Irabeth says. "I only barely slept, as I was gathering intelligence on the state of the city. As you might expect, the story is not a happy one, but it is far better than it was going to be...thanks to you. I have to help organize the search and rescue efforts, and you can best help in that regard by leading teams."

You have some time to get things done that you need. Fabian has already stated one of his goals - search for his mother. Do you need to buy? Sell? Scribe scrolls? etc etc. State your general plans and we will work from that.

Irabeth sets herself down wearily, still struggling to breathe normally after the effects of the spell on her. "I'd like to give you my thanks,"she begins, "and I am sure that everyone here owes you their lives." She begins to strip off her plate armor, wincing as each piece is removed.

"I'm afraid there is still much work to be done."

"The assault begins when you are ready."

"All of Kenabres' greatest defenders have fallen. Terendelev, Lord Hulrun, the rest. It falls upon us to save the city and stop Vorlesh from using the Wardstone fragment to destroy the crusader armies. I don't need to tell you the price of failure."

She pauses.

"Our task today is a difficult one: assault the Gray Garrison, and destroy the Wardstone fragment. To that end, Quednys has a plan." She reaches out to the Riftwarden's leader, who hands her a long, thin object wrapped in black velvet. Irabeth loosens the wrapping and draws out a silver rod topped with a green gem. "This Rod of Cancellation must be used to drain the last of the power from the fragment. Doing so will take away the chink in the Wardstone armor that Vorlesh needs to cause her calamity." She wraps the Rod back in its velvet.

"Only an elite group such as yourselves can achieve this. But you will not fight alone. We will coordinate several strikes against the cultists, timed to coincide with your assault and draw support away from the Gray Garrison. I will lead the remaining crusaders in these strikes. Chief Sul here has promised the support of the First Children..." At this, the Chief bows and smiles. "...who will conduct hit-and-run attacks from beneath the city. Horgus Gwerm has provided us with fresh supplies: weapons and armor and other gear, smuggling them to us last night. And there's more: Aravashnial?"

"Good, good," she says pointing to a spot on the large map of Kenabres rolled out on the table in front of her. "we will strike here and here. The First Children can support by quick strikes from below: here, here, and here."

She looks up again. "Good morning all. I'm glad to find you awake and refreshed."

Irabeth smiles. "Good. Rest today and prepare yourselves. We will need a plan. The scouts have been out, and we have preliminary contact with the First Children. The Gray Garrison will be no easy task for you. It is a fortified place, much like this one, and all of the remaining cultists will be using it much like we are using the Defender's Heart."

Irabeth reads the letter, then hands it to Quednys. He reads it slowly, as if to consider every word. Finishing it, he looks at Irabeth and nods, then he hands the letter back to Fabian.

"I need to know," Irabeth begins gravely, "that you are willing to help us in this, beyond a doubt, willing to lay down your lives if necessary. Sacrifice all, to save Mendev...no...all of Avistan, from this calamity." She looks at each of you in turn, her face a mask of stone.

You can reply as you wish, I am assuming you agree.

“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.

Vorlesh is surely seeking some object of great Abyssal power, likely the Nahyndrian crystal mentioned in the missive you recovered, 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.”

"Ah! You made it!" She exclaims with obvious relief in her voice. "We did not know what you find out there, the situation being quite unstable as yet." She sits down on a a large wooden chair next to an older man. The man is an aged and angular looking man with an eagle claw tatooed on his cheek.

"Let me introduce you to Quednys Orlun, founder and head librarian of Blackwing."

Irabeth meets you at the door. "Keep your eyes open, and your wits about you. When you traveled here, you were a larger group. Now with less, you may be seen as an easier target. Iomedae watch over you."

The half-orc paladin listens intently to Bollwerk and Fabian as they go through their tale. When Fabian reaches the part of the story involving Vagorg, she stands up smashing her fist into her open hand.

"That scum. He felt that because we shared a half-orc ancestry that I should let him go. Of course I refused, and threw him in jail. Frankly, we had forgotten him. Apparently, he hadn't forgotten us. Good riddance."

She paces for a moment, lost in thought. "S.V. Hmm...S.V. could it be? He would raise his head at this moment..." She sits back down.

I know of only one SV. And you won't like it. Staunton Vhane. A dwarven paladin...or was. I exposed him as the traitor he was, an infiltrator of Ivory Labyrinth. We battled, and he fled on that damned giant bee of his. Fled into the Worldwound in fact. Now I see this has been long-planned and precisely executed. Surprising for demons, I guess, surprised all of us. Now Kenabres lies in ruins." She speaks, half to you, half to herself.

She looks up. "Sorry." She gives you a weak smile, and you can she hasn't slept in days. "As for your mother Fabian, I have not seen her. If she hasn't made it here yet, I fear the worst." Irabeth rises to clap a hand on the wizard's shoulder.

"Right now, we need to think about ourselves, I'm afraid. We aren't out of this yet. I am glad to hear that some of the Riftwardens survived. Quednys will be as well. Also I am glad to hear of the alliance with the First Descendants beneath the city. I will send scouts to contact them at once. We will need them. As for you all, my suggestion would to find these safe houses and take them down. See if there is any more information we can find.

She stands, putting a hand on her blade. "It's time we take the fight to them."

"As far as the leader of the resistance, you are looking at her. I am the ranking person left alive in Kenabres. There is one other, Quednys Orlun, the leader of the Riftwardens, he knows you are here and will be arriving shortly. Regarding other points of resistance, this is it. I was hoping you would be able to tell me of more."

She sits down heavily, her bright armor dull in the dim room.

"We..." she begins slowly, "know very little. There is word that the demons have hit all along the border, but nowhere harder than Kenabres. They have hit the capital of Nerosyan, but they were beaten back by Queen Galfrey's legions. The line holds...for now. The queen marches for Kenabres at the head of an army, but that is days away at best."

"Now. What can YOU tell me?"

"No." She says brusquely, and turns away again. Leading you down a long hall, she only stops when she reaches the door to a good sized room, now turned into a war room of sorts. Maps of the city line the walls, as well as troop lists, many with names of units crossed out. Gently, she sets Anevia down on a chair. Then straightens and faces you.

"I have many questions, as do you, I don't doubt. Sit. You start."

The woman sets Anevia down gently on the stone pavings of the street, and turns to him. "Yes Sergeant, I know. Now is not the time to let down our guard. Carry on."

She turns to you. "I am Irabeth Tirablade, and I am in your debt. Come inside, where we may talk in safety...such as it is..."

She lifts Anevia up to carry her, and leads the way into Defender's Heart.

"Anevia! I thought you were dead! I never..." Tears come to her eyes and she buries her head in the crippled woman's shoulder. "I never thought I'd see you again..." She mumbles, through sobs of joy.

For her part, Anevia says nothing, her joyful tears too much for her to speak through.