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Currently you guys are engaged in the war between the Drow and the surface elves within the ruins of the ancient Elven city of Celwynvian. The war has been going on for over a month now, consisting of assaults at key points during the day and protecting the Elven base camp at night.
The events of note during the past few weeks for the party were the assault on the library, the closing down of the alchemical lab as well as saving the life of Kaerishiel. Yesterday supplies and merchants teleported in from Kyonin and the orders will arrive tomorrow.
You have just returned from the day’s patrolling of the ruins and went to the treatment tents to restore and heal from the combats with the demons in the city. As one of the clerics investigates your wounds she comments:
“You outsiders have done a lot in the efforts to reclaim our city, though you have been luckier than most. This morning one of the patrols returned, and only two elves returned."
Shivi's face turns somber: "That is distressing to hear - with the blessings of the Dawnflower we've had good fortune accompany us, so it is easy to forget the suffering of others. Could the survivors describe what happened?"
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The cleric sighs and shakes her head: “Amin hiraetha sister, they were foolish enough to go back to the ruins, but one of the survivors told me the tale. As far as I could make out through her tears she told how they were battling pack of demons. Just as there was only one demon left suddenly a spider the size of an elephant appear out of nowhere pouncing the demon tearing it apart with its barbed claws. The fighters still wanted to run away from this beast as it grabbed one of them with its claws ripping off his armour and impaling him with another claw. Another fighter’s arm was bitten off and he screamed as the rest of his skin started to melt off. After that bite though, the monster disappear as strangely as it appeared. The rest rushed to get the injured elf here but it was all for naught."
Shivi will be helping with the healing duties of the cleric for the next hour, helping change bandages and stitching up wounds, reducing the burden on the healers slightly as well as improving the condition the patients are in.
Variel's attention turns to the cleric after looking at the wounded. "Greetings fair priestess, may I learn your name. And perhaps which deity you serve?"
Variel replies to the cleric:"You may Address me as Variel, and I server the Waybringer, Apsu. But, you look tired! Perhaps you should rest a bit, and let me tend to the wounded for now? I admit there is much to be done, but working yourself to death now will not help our people in the long run. So please rest a bit."
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Emraeal comments to herself:“The Guiding Hand and The Waybringer?” and smiles softly:
Variel, your words are kind, but there shall be no rest for me, not yet, not when we are so close finishing this war. Eviana is calling a meeting tonight. She wants to strike a final blow to these foul Drow tomorrow.
Shivi listens up, "A final blow? Have our forces located the nest of these vile hornets?"
Emrin turns around in his bed onto his other shoulder, and enters the conversation,"If I have to lie in this bed any longer I will go mad. Why is it that we cannot move and heal at the same time?", facing Variel,"I know your faith is strong enough to heal me on the trot, so let's stop idling and get to work."
He jumps out of his bed and walks over to a chest in the corner of the tent and collects his gear. On his way out he stabs Lien in the ribs with the hilt of his sword and quickly scurries out, attempting to avoid the consequences.
Shivi chuckles quietly to Emraeal: "Boys will be boys - I wonder when he'll gather the courage to confess."
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Emraeal chuckles with Shivi’s but goes on to answer: Eviana have not slipped anything of how she plans to do this, maybe more forces are coming in from Kyonin tomorrow? But it is reasonable to assume that they have found where the Drow have been hiding.
Lien grunts at the unexpected impishness of Emrin ,who was in bed just seconds ago, and hobble after him to try and give him a piece of her mind, but never able to catch up to his nimble feet.
If they found the Drow’s hide out, Shalelu would be the one to know more about this. It can’t hurt to know a little bit more before tonight’s meeting. Being better informed we can make a proper contribution to the plan if we are asked our input tonight. Or we can just wait The last part added with little enthusiasm as he is too curious and wants to learn what is going on
Smiling at Derrin: "That is a good idea, me and Variel will be busy here for a while - but maybe you can see if she's not busy; she can come by and fill us in."
“Thank you and with that I will take my leave”
Derrin makes a bow and leaves the party for now, in search of Shalelu.
About an hour later you can hear Derrin’s voice outside as he is chatting to someone. The tent’s flaps are held open and Shalelu enters then Derrin. Shalelu glances at the patients and sighs heavily. Derrin places his hand on her shoulder comfortingly then points to where the party is helping the wounded. She walks up to you:
“Derrin here told me you would like my advice for your activities in the city tomorrow. You might not know but Eviana is planning something big. We are having a meeting tonight regarding that. I was actually told to collect your group later to join the discussions.
"Good timing, Emrael was telling of a climax in this war - I was hoping that you could tell us more. As we are all in this together, the more we know, the better we can prepare."
After stepping into the tent,"Shivi, you are over-eager. I am sure Eviana will want to inform us tonight in person, and there is not much we can do now in any case", he turns to Shalelu ,"I need to speak to the merchants while I still have time, but if you can tell me where we must meet then I can find you there later"
"We'll meet in the main tent, as usual - though be quick about the merchants, Eviana might call the meeting earlier. We'll hear out Shalelu first. Oh, if you have a chance - could you look up Beaky for me? She should be on the way to the merchants. Just check that she isn't trying to get to the honeysacks again.
Emrin sighs and falls into a sprint after the land-based bird,"Beeeeaaaakkky!", he shouts at the creature,"whatever's in that bag better be worth it!", and continues to pursue it...
Lien, after helping the healing of the wounded out as best she could, proceeded to the market to arrange the selling of all the built-up supplies we've been collecting the past month. To smooth this process Lien doesn't try to haggle too much but rather tries to get on the good side of the elves, knowing they are not likely to fully help us outsiders without some smooth talking.
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When Lien gets to the merchants ‘tent she could see that the elves seem to have very little time for her and they rather attended to the needs of their elven clientele. But through her dealings Lien displayed the appropriate level of politeness with just enough assertiveness to not seem rude, but also to get heard and get what she wants. With that the merchants seem to become less disinterested and Lien managed to convince the merchants to also buy the horse, even though they were more interested in selling today than buying.
Beaky stops suddenly when she hears her name then when she sees Emrin she run towards him, dropping the bag next to him then sprinting away.
Emrin grinds to a halt next to the bag and picks it up. He covertly has a look at what's inside, before the other elves arrive.
Perception
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Emrin opens the bag and a very sweet aroma emanates from it. He finds a variety of breads and cakes inside the bag.
Knowledge(Local):
"That damn bird!", he mumbles as he hands the bag off to the other elves,"so much trouble over a bit of bread, bah!". He turns back around and continues on towards the merchants.
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One of the elves stops Emrin before he can walk away and says:
"Its no wonder the bird tried to steal them though, especially the cakes, they are delicious and sweet. Here you can have one for your troubles. Its hearty food that is very vitalizing.”
The elf takes out one of the cakes from the bag and hands it over to Emrin
Emrin snatches the cake, eyes it over, then looks up to the elf and smiles,"Why thank you, this might come in handy!", he says in their native tongue.
After finishing up at the merchants he rejoins the party for the all-important-cant-miss-it-for-the-world meeting.
After the party has finished placing their orders they are assured the items will be there by tomorrow.
It is becoming evening and Shalelu comes to fetch the party and brings them to the meeting. As usual the meeting is started with a dinner of different fruits and light chatting. Afterwards Eviana askes that Kaerishiel, some of the other Shin’Rakorath members and Shalelu with a group of her scouts stays behind, as she has important matters to discuss. The table is cleared and a map of the city, as well as a map of a specific building is placed on the table. When everyone is settled Eviana starts explaining what is going on:
”As I assume most of you have already heard. I believe we can make a final blow to the Drow tomorrow. A week ago Shalelu has managed to track down the main fort of the Drow in the city. We have been unable to assault it directly to thus far and most of the attempts the past week was to create a path to this building. I believe we have the opportunity tomorrow to make this final strike, as we have thinned out the resources of the Drow significantly. To be able to make this assult possible though we can only send three groups towards their main fort, as the other elves will be preoccupied trying to keep the other Drow and demons preoccupied.The main fort is this building:”
Eviana points on the main map of Celwynvian to the Academy of Arts. Then she moves another map into full view. This map giving some more details of the building.
The Academy of Arts as you can see have three entrances, the main doors in the front and two holes in the exterior, one to the west and one to the north. All three entrances are fiercely guarded. The front door is watched over by a host of drow and is by far the most secure. The hole to the west is also well guarded by a few drow and a number of dretches. The hole to the north looks the easiest to breech, since it is close to the trees and guarded over by a few drow and a number of troglodyte slaves. Sadly we could not manage to obtain any information about the interior of the building. From the books you have brought us when you first came here I am sure the Drow have some manner of portal inside the Academy of Arts, a portal they call the Armageddon Echo. I believe it is a portal to a pocket inside the shadow plane and that is how the Drow have managed to escape us so often. Your mission is to defeat the leaders of the Drow here in Celwynvian and to secure that portal.
Kaerishiel takes this as his cue to speak: So tomorrow the last of the supplies will arrive before day-break and after that we need to make our move fast Turning towards the party Which entrance would you prefer to take?
"I believe it is time to strike at the heart of these wretched beings. I and my trusted steed volunteer to charge the main entrance."
After reviewing the maps a few times, and letting the strategy take hold, Lien says:
"I concur, our party is the most likely to succeed in an attack on the front entrance, and by the looks of it we'd be in a much better position if all three attacks strike true. If we start our strike a bit prior to the others, we could even hope to draw the attention away form the lesser guarded zones, allowing for an elven party to strike the entrance from its rear. "
Kaerishiel, being a bit more patient with the party than he was in the past, takes the time to listen and consider the suggestion.
Feeling brave are we? Well so be it. How much later should Shalelu’s group and my Shin’Rakorath attack?
"That depends on if they take the bait or not, if they re-inforce the front entrance, we are likely to have no hope of victory, but this is your sign to attack their weakend positions and rescue us. If their positions do not change, we can assume they won't fall for trickery and you should attack at your discression. We'll try to signal our victory, if it will not be too dangerous to do so. "
A Sound Burst spell should do the trick to signal our victory, though it might call extra defenders, which is also part of the plan.
The chair Emrin was rocking in falls over backwards and so does he. After standing up, he dusts himself off and walks over to the map of the academy,"It's naive and optimistic to think that they wont reinforce the main entrance when combat breaks out. I agree with everything that has been said so far, but I would prefer to strike from the west once those combatants respond to the disturbance at the main entrance. I will try to find a hiding place to the south-west of the building, and once the enemy moves around the west wall to flank you I will strike.", he looks to the oracle,"A surge of light would be appreciated at this point Lien."
The ex-elf picks up his chair and sits down. He looks up to Eviana."This tactic will surely split the drow up once they are being attacked from two sides, but there is a small problem. I will probably be singled out when I attack from the south-west. Sister, if you could aid me with a potion of invisibility to escape after my ambush, it would greatly help secure this victory!"
"These consorts of demons will try to veil themselves in darkness - I suggest making use of scrolls of darkvision to enable us to take the fight to them without suffering the fight on their terms. I will place my order of 3 scrolls right away."
"Furthermore, I feel the plans as they are laid out now are good - we'll attempt to assault the main entrance in the south as swiftly as possible; the less time and resources we lose challenging them, the better. Once we breach their position, we'll attempt to purge the building of their presence. In this case the assault on the other entrances and our invasion of the building should pin enemy movements in place."
"On that note, antitoxins will probably come in handy. If you have the gold to spare - I'd recommend using it if your constitution cannot handle it."
After listening to the plan and considering the strategies, Variel stands up.Barging into the front door, is it. Of course this is the route we should take. I don't see any other honorable way of attacking this Drow base. As for the demons, they were foolish to come here. I will smite them, and throw them into the wind.
Variel continues to talk in another language.
Apsu, give me the strength to vanquish this blight from the face of the surface!
Kaerishiel frowns: I do not like all this uncertainty, but is war and this is how far we can plan. I will take the entrance to the North then.
"...And I will take the West entrance. It is a hole in the roof of the building. The Drow probably use levitation to be able to use this entrance, but at least the Dretches will be stuck in the building itself. When I first found this building it was while following Razorhorn's trail, though we have not seen his shadow cloaking this building for a while. What I would give to have a confrontation with that beast and kill it."
Shalelu visably shakes when she speaks of the green dragon.
"Shalelu, we have not seen the dragon in ages, it has probably abbandoned the case of the Drow after it seen our successes in the city, your time for revenge is not now."
Eviana turns to Emrin: Invisibility will be of a great aid to this attack, as well as the other suggestions of antitoxins and darkvision. That is why I invited Iadara to attend this meeting, so you can place your final orders with her. The other merchants have already left, but she will return to Kyonin after this meeting and collect the last items to have it ready with the other shipment tomorrow morning before the final strike.
Emrin jots a couple of things down on a parchment and hands it to Iadara,"These are the items I require for tomorrow", he also hands her a heavy bag,"and the gold of course".
"Does anyone else have any input before we retire for the night?"
"No. Let us take our rest - we might not get a chance to sleep well for a while; the Dawnflower's blessings be with us all."
Eviana looks around the table, seeing if anyone else has something to add then being satisfied she ends the meeting with:
”Then tomorrow morning before dawn you can collect your items. The assault will commence as soon as the sun’s rays touch the tallest remaining spire of the city. Quel esta ar’quel marth, good night and good luck.”
With that the elves all leave the tables and move to their tents to try and get some rest.
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All of you manage to get a good night’s rest. Emrin is still not used to “sleeping”, but managed eventually. Before dawn Shalelu comes to wake you up and you go to collect your orders. Everything is ready for the assault; Shalelu has her four scouts with her and Kaerishiel his four Shin’Rakorath mercenaries. You set out for the attack.
The journey to the academy is a quiet one. There seem to be very few drow on the streets and they are easily avoided. As the large building draws in sight, both Shalelu and Kaerishiel exchange well wishes before taking their small groups off to prepare for the assault. As they disappear into the brush, the first rays of light illuminate the ancient structure. The time for the strike is close at hand.
The Academy itself is one of the more well-preserved structures in Celwynvian, but still the passage of time has left its mark in places. The building itself is made of stone and consists of three domed structures surrounding a low, one-story stone bunker. The domes are of white marble and thick with ivy and other creeping vines.
Lien starts to cast buffing spells.
She casts:
- magic vestment (shield) +2
- magic vestment (armour) +2
- magic circle vs evil
- Enlarge person (self)
During these same four rounds I will do this:
Round 1: Drink potion of antitoxin
Round 2: Cast Darkvision from the scroll DC 21 on himself
UMD Darkvision Scroll: