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20 to 22 Flocktime, 581 CY, Cherrin and Adri Wood
After the struggle that will likely be forgotten in the annals of time, the tattered remnants of the forces of Munevar straggled back to the tents of their leaders. Darcius and Cedric were tended immediately by Rienne for their mortal injuries but were unable to join us on our mission to stop Pervost. Thanks to the speed with which Darrien attacked, he freed us up to pursue our other mission, assuming those involved left immediately from the battlefield. Oliver had left ahead of everyone else, having completely missed the battle, and was waiting in the woods until an appointed time to head off to rendezvous with Adamane. Those able to walk gathered supplies and waited for Ryvvik to talk to his master. Galen was antsy to get moving because he figured (correctly) that his father would find something for him to do in the wake of the loss and wanted to away much faster. Ryvvik took council with Voliker, who had observed the battle but had not gotten involved. Voliker sent him on his way telling him to do what he wanted. Ryvvik handed over his magic wand from the Tower of Bigby, asking Voliker to keep it safe for him. The group of them (Galen, Isaac, Ryvvik) gathered supplies and horses and headed north out of camp at a good speed. Before leaving Galen secreted a letter under Voliker's saddle. Before they left, Dedrick grabbed Galen and Ryvvik and said they might be needed by their superiors, a fact which Galen brushed off and Ryvvik didn't deign to answer.
23 to 24 Flocktime, 581 CY, Adri Wood
After catching up to Oliver, the party headed north again to meet Adamane in a prearranged clearing. In the clearing we met the rangers and druids that Adamane had gathered for this mission:
I had each player create a secondary PC to use this day, or in the case of Cedric and Darcius' players, a PC to use while their normal characters were out of action. Leith was played by Isaac's player, Angele was Oliver's, Rickard was Ryvvik's, Martin was Darcius', Mik was Cedric's, and Sonia was Galen's. I told them what level and class to be, but the player created everything else. I joked that it was kind of show-casing the druid and ranger classes.
Leith
of Beory
Angele
Martin of Redwall
Mik
Rickard and Sonia Lowenbrau, married rangers
Adamane told us his spy from Dustbridge, a ranger named Rannyr, had sent word that the slave caravan had left the town and was being escorted by a number of Prince Strychan's guard. We proposed simply robbing the caravan before the exchange with Pervost was made, but Adamane said he had no wish to earn the enmity of Prince Strychan, who until now had been neutral towards the rangers of the Adri. Oliver suggested that we try and intercept the caravan after the exchange, slowing it down with guerilla tactics. Two man teams of sneaky archers putting arrows in from all directions. While this was going on, the rest of the group would try and get ahead of the slavers path of march, set traps and choose a good battleground once we were ready to fight on open ground. The plan was agreed upon, and we set off to get ahead of the bad guys.
Adamane: Our man Rannyr had trailed the slave caravan to the northern most slaver camp, where the exchange would be taking place, after he reported this to me I told him to relate what has happened to Prisstyne, so that in the case that I could not inform her myself our work here would not be in vain. The group that I had gathered before Oliver's party arrived consisted of those sympathetic to the plight of the woodsmen. Obad-Hai's druids view the woodsmen as trespassers here, and are refusing to lend aid at the moment. The only other group I thought to contact were the Runners of the Hunt, those faithful to Ehlonna, but they are focused in the northern Adri at the time, leaving the normally peaceful southern Adri in my hands.
Our march took us west of the slaver camp where the exchange was to take place, and we set camp for the night. Rickard and Sonia went out to scout the slaver camp while the rest of us prepared ourselves for battle. At daybreak, our lookouts, Rickard and Sonia, saw the column leaving the slaver camp. Eight tarped masses of humans were led out, their feet bound in cloth and rattling with chains. Accompanying them were a number of slaver guards and some priests of Erythnul, the god of slaughter and chaos. This gave us pause though we knew from previous experience that Pervost had truck with them before. The were also at least eight raven-men, who took wing immediately and disappeared into the woods. Those "dire" ravens were about, along with many of their smaller cousins forming layers of defense around the column. Sonia and Rickard fell back before they were cut off from the rest of us by their advance scouts. The column appeared to be heading due west, straight towards the Deep Adri. They weren't using a path either, which seemed really strange. It seemed a poor strategy to walk fifty peasants under tarps through heavy underbrush.
When the two rangers returned and apprised us of the situation, Martin transformed himself into an crow and took wing to shadow the column through the woods. He hoped the ravens flying cover wouldn't notice him as anything other than a big black bird. He was right. In his flight he saw many ravens hiding in the trees, small ones further out and the larger ones closer in. And still closer, there were the raven-men jumping from tree to tree.
When this was told to us, we had to rethink our strategy, it would be really hard to do hit and run attacks with the raven-men screening the enemy. Everyone seemed settled on attacking in 2 groups. Adamane and Mik would advance and draw the enemy into battle whereupon Oliver and Martin would join the fight to pin them down. The rest of the group would provide cover fire. This was still supposed to be a hit and run scouting mission and when the enemy became too focused we would break contact and regroup away from them.
Adamane: I was unsure of this plan after examining the tracks the slaves weren't leaving. It was discovered that someone, or something was obscuring the trail, and I surmised that it seemed to be done by rangers. This had me concerned, I knew we had lost a few rangers to the slavers but I never thought those lost might have joined with them, and may now be aiding them. If this were the case the slavers may be able to follow the tracks tha we leave after these small battles. But no better plan was presented so we went with this one.
With the plan in place and the sun going down, the first two groups advanced, which triggered the enemy's outer perimeter of ravens. After freezing for a moment, we figured that the first caws were only warnings, and we pressed forward. Further along, we drew the attention of the larger ravens, Adamane insists on calling them "dire". These big birds flew overhead in the darkness of the overhanging canopy and screeched at us. Some let off black balls of energy that swept unerringly at us from above. Then their magic users started opening fire on us, dropping gassy clouds on us that had everyone's eye's watering and choking. The raven-men used this time to attack us from the darkness, dropping onto our unprepared backs in the clouds of smelly gas. They started by screeching at us and panicking Oliver into fleeing. Then a slippery goo covered the ground under Mik's feet and he slipped a bit. Once we got clear of the initial assault area, the battle went fairly well. We forced the raven-men off of us without killing anything. At least, we didn't find any bodies.
The cover fire party was moving up to close up our spacing when they were hit by another wave of raven-men. Much like the forward party, the rear guard was surprised by the ferocious attacks from the dark. Galen took command of the situation, directing Sonia, Rickard and Angele to fight back. The clouds of noxious gas impeded our progress but the limited resources of the ravens were telling. They closed in after attempting to disorient our friends with spells. Initial panic turned to single minded destruction of the enemy troops. Angele even used her great strength to her advantage, grabbing one of the small raven-men by a leg and smashing it against a tree. The ravens must have sensed the tide turning for they fled back into their one true advantage: the darkness. Mik finally arrived to assist the rear guard just in time to catch one of the fleeing creatures and lop off it's head. Of it's body however, we found no trace.
Adamane: Attacking at night was proving to be increasingly dangerous, these small black creatures seemed to see us much better than we saw them, and they used this to definite advantage. I wanted to keep my bow ready for when I spied Pervost's obese form, but with the constant threat of attack this was proving difficult.
Oliver gathered everyone together again and we assessed our respective situations. Despite having done very little damage to us, we had expended a good deal of magical ordnance in dealing with our first group of guards. A quick survey determined that everyone was game to go on, seeing if we could actually penetrate Pervost's defenses. Mik put forth the argument that we were really only trying to probe the enemies defenses, not engage the main body in pitched battle. He was talked over by the more gung-ho elements among us. We pressed on.
Adamane and Oliver scampered forward quietly, hoping to pass the sentries by without raising an alarm. They got close enough to the camp to see the fires of the slavers before stopping to watch for a time. Oliver was reminded of Galen's earlier worry that the canvas tarps may be for more than just covering peasants. He had put forward a suggestion that since Pervost was a necromancer, maybe he had undead under the tarps. Nocking an arrow, he targeted the nearest bundle under the tarp and let fly. If it were undead, it would not react. The bundle jumped as much as it could and commenced howling in no uncertain language that it had been wounded. Definitely a peasant. Satisfied, Oliver gave a thumbs up and headed back to the makeshift camp everyone had gathered at. Laying out the camp in the dirt for everyone to see, he described eight bundles under tarps, roughly twenty slaver guards and nothing else. No sign of the Erythnulian priests Rickard had seen earlier, no overall commander, no guide. Just slaver guards. We were a little curious, and surmised that the stronger troops had been drawn off by our earlier escapades with the raven-men. Assuming we had passed the more potent defenses, we fanned out, closing the range for our archers to pick off the slaver guards. At the edge of the ragged clearing where our quarry had stopped we picked our targets, many of whom were partially screened by makeshift barricades and the bulk of the peasants. Isaac led off the attack with an ensorcelled arrow which shed daylight in the clearing. The rest of us began pouring fire into the clearing, picking off targets with precision. The druids launched a volley of entangles into the center of the clearing, ensnaring some the slavers, while Angele cast one into the tree cover above us to keep the ravens off of us. They weren't far behind us, we could hear their caws to our rear. Ryvvik cast two flaming spheres and bounced them around the interior of the camp, scattering any slavers not entangled or killed by arrow fire. Their morale was completely shattered and the survivors scattered out the far side of the clearing.
Adamane: This attack was a slaughter, I felt slightly bad for the helples slavers, they are little more than petty thugs hired by a greater villian. However, they choose their path, and I would not mourn their deaths long. It was their masters that I came for, and it was they I would put down.
We
were starting to congratulate ourselves on a job well done and assess things
when a volley of crossbow bolts struck the trees around Leith and Isaac. Another
cloud of noxious gas flushed a few more of our friends from cover and into the
edge of the clearing, just outside the entangled area. The rest of us broke
cover to support our beleaguered allies just as we heard battle cries from the
far side of the clearing. Leading a charge of Erythnulian acolytes and rallied
slaver guards was a large man wielding an axe that appeared to be dripping blood
UPWARDS! His face was heavily scarred with recent wounds and around his neck
hung a symbol of a screaming face, the holy symbol of Erythnul. Below that was
another symbol, the symbol of Prisstyne's rangers, but broken in half. Adamane
recognized him as one of his own, a man named Koryavin, thought dead weeks ago
trying to stop the slavers. Behind the enemy ranger was a very familiar priest
of Erythnul, Illearn, whom we had chased off before, in our first raid on a
slaver camp. Cedric had defeated him then and this time we had no foil to him.
Isaac took care of the slaver and acolyte charge with his usual flair, launching
volley after volley of arrows into them at close range. Oliver tried to engage
the enemy ranger, but the heavy blows the man rained down on him were too much
and he broke off to cover Isaac. Adamane met the man in single combat, and handily
defeated him. I guess it turns out the man wasn't the fighter he thought he
was.
Adamane:
Indeed, I recognized Koryavin as one who aided me in my northern campagins a
couple years before, I looked to him as he came hurtling from the darkness,
screaming for blood like a beast. I saw his features scarred and torn and I
looked to his face to see what had caused him to turn from all he once honoured
to serve these villians. I saw in his eyes a raging hatred bordering on madness
and realized it was directed at me. Steeling myself, I knew there would be no
words exchanged between us. His wild swings were thrown off by his frenzy and
though powerful, they where of little threat to someone who kept their mind
clear of fear. It was a short fight, I plunged my sword into his side wounding
him mortally. Any words he had for me as he died were garbled in blood. I mourn
the man he once was, not the ravaging madman I slew.
Oliver
surprised two of the acolytes out of hiding slaying them with an ease that seemed
even to surprise him. Illearn tried to rally his men but was sorely wounded
and retreated after his charge was fully stopped by our combined might. We thought
we had this battle well in hand until...
A voice rang out through the clearing, "Rise my minions and destroy them." It was Pervost!
This was bad. Two of the tarps rose and swirled to the feet of eight skeletal constructs, easily ten feet tall and made of a composite of bones. They shambled into the fight, luckily for us, they walked directly into our entanglement, slowing them down and buying us some breathing room. Oliver retreated from the main battle to support Ryvvik who was looking for Pervost, he had a little surprise for him. When Ryvvik spotted the fat bastard flying near the canopy, he let off a spell, Bigby's Silencing Hand, which had the effect of silencing the floating necromancer for a time. Pervost had no choice but to deal with this problem immediately and blasted the hand off his face with a wand that discharged electricity into his own face! After three times, Pervost got the hint and retreated to regroup.
Meanwhile the main battle wasn't going so well. Adamane was blasted by a lightning bolt from the darkness, and four of the skeletal monsters were on our little band. Mik, Martin, Sonia, Angele, Galen, Isaac and Adamane tried to hew into the creatures, but their blades were having little effect on the monsters. Sensing a pivotal moment, Pervost chose this time to blast at Adamane with gales of bone shards from hiding. Laughing maniacally, the necromancer attacked us at will from the darkness. The damage we'd done to him (or rather, he'd done to himself) was healed by stealing it from Ryvvik's dog, Ma'Corth. Sonia and Rickard were forced to flee into the brush by an area effect spell by Pervost and ran into the trees blindly. They returned just in time to be ultimately killed by another lightning bolt from the dark. We were starting to get our tails kicked. Isaac finished off more of the skeletons with his great club (Oliver would call it 'dire'), and Martin and his wolverine companion were put down under the weight of the skeletal creature's assault. Angele entered the entangled area only to become hopelessly trapped herself. One of the creatures took a moment to swing it's clawed arm and flay the life from her. Her sacrifice drew three of the skeletons farther into the entangle however, and bought us the time we needed to regroup. Adamane was the target of most of the skeletons and we jumped all over the big buggers, all of us except for Ryvvik and Oliver, both of whom were waiting for Pervost to appear and spring a trap. Ryvvik was calling for a general retreat in order to draw attention to himself Oliver was 30 feet up a tree waiting to leap on the back of the fat man and bring him down to earth. Pervost did appear, only not where we expected. He swooped out of the trees, shredding Adamane's back with another flurry of bone shards. Adamane went down in a heap, taking most of our hopes with him. Mik doubled back to pick up his fallen comrade and Oliver descended from his roost to aid in battle. Ryvvik pulled his crossbow and lit up one of his bolts with a light spell, firing from the hip. The bolt spanged off of Pervost's shield dropping to the ground. At this point the three skeletons broke free of the plants holding them back and advanced on our party. Mik charged them and felled one in a flurry of blows before being KO'ed by another one. The bad guys played what we hoped would be their trump card when Illearn led a group of raven-men into our rear. Oliver wasn't surprised however and he met their charge long enough for everyone to ready themselves.
The battle was grinding to a halt, many of our number dead, and most of the enemy fleeing or dead. The slavers were trying to force us to fall back, but we knew that if we fled now, our unconscious friends would be so much fodder for the enemy. Desperate now, we fought on, hoping to win a reprieve through force of arms. Three raven-men, a Priest of Erythnul, one skeletal construct and a fat, maniacal necromancer floating in the treetops stood between us and salvation. Isaac charged head on into the skeletal construct taking many wounds in the process. Enough, in fact, to force him to change into one of the were-ravens himself. We were mightily worried by this, since we had no way of controlling him in this state, and Pervost might. He pecked into the skeletal construct, shattering bones as easily as flesh. The thing collapsed in a pile of dust atop him and he flapped wildly to escape.
The raven-men and Illearn fought with Galen and Oliver, and the fight looked grim, but then Galen became inspired with his rapier, skewering the ravens in vital spots over and over again. Oliver was less effective until the two of them worked in concert to flank the raven-men. Isaac, meanwhile, had some luck in forcing his animal nature to revert, and he became human again, just in time to face one of the raven men with his club. Pervost chose this time to fly down and try and grab Isaac with his hands. Oliver yelled to Galen to capitalize on this chance and jump all over Pervost, abandoning their opponents behind them. They launched a huge series of blows at Pervost and all of them penetrated his magical protections enough to wound him. He fled into the dark, cursing us with words enough to make a sailor blush. The ravens were also pushed back by this point.
Pervost was still out there somewhere, laughing at us.
The ravens also retreated and we took a moment to breathe and bandage the fallen.
25 Flocktime, 581 CY, Adri Wood
The next morning broke over a torn up field and a lot of bodies starting the slow journey back to the earth. We had finally defeated Pervost and his minions, saved the peasants(or kept them Pervost, depending on who you ask) and lived through what likely will be remembered by most of us as the most difficult fight of our lives. The peasants were dazed at their 'liberation' and were uncertain as to how they should act around us. Having lived in bondage all their lives, they were unsure how to act with their new found freedom. They wandered about and finally Oliver got tired of constantly having to stop them from wandering off aimlessly. He whipped them into lines, gathered up the six oldest men and appointed them 'father figures' for the rest of the peasants. They were to travel in groups of ten, each led by one of these 'father figures' and the sixth was to act as their leader. This man talked to us and he divvied up the food and water amongst the people. This was our best solution for these fifty miserable serfs who were cast adrift by their lord and left to their own devices far from home. (I figure Cedric would have been perfect here) We marched them as fast as we could for the entire day, heading south, making for the border of the woods. Ravens dogged our progress, not disturbing us, but pacing us nonetheless. We had the peasants carrying all the food and goods we could, as well as using them to screen our walking wounded. Adamane was hidden among the peasants so as not to become a target.
On our southward march we were confronted by one of the slavers. He carried a white flag and told us he came bearing terms from Pervost. If we handed over the peasants and walked away, there would be no hard feelings...If we continued, he would kill us all, and revel in destroying our souls. (at least, that's how I interpreted it) We sent him packing, telling him to let Pervost know that we defeated him once, and we'd do it again. We hoped we sounded convincing because truth be told, we were in no condition to fight our way out of a paper bag.
We camped down for the evening, expecting Pervost to show up and we weren't disappointed. We waited until second watch and he came in blasting away with his magic. He fired a bone shard at Oliver, which got absorbed by a glowing blue hand. He then fired a green ball of acid at Ryvvik which was deflected off his shield. Seeing his spells having almost no effect he paused for a moment. He then tried to frighten the peasants and stampede them but somehow they seemed to congregate around Oliver who rallied the masses and kept them mostly in line. Raven men came charging out of the forest, trying to scare us off. Pervost backed them up with spells. We were stretched really thin, unable to attack anything out there in the dark.
At our darkest moment, we were saved by an ally none of us could have expected. Kakoura, the Raven King, flew through the battlesite, filling the area with an unearthly cawing. The ravens, large and small, as well as the raven-men, flew off behind him, stripping Pervost of his most potent weaponry. This display silenced all of us for a moment, and we exulted to have the chance to survive. Martin was toppled by a flurry of bone shards and a conjured creature, we called the "Blagrelaalag" attacked us with Illearn as support. We turned to face our foe, the wax creature and Illearn. As we closed for battle, Oliver swept behind the man in a rush and viciously stabbed the man repeatedly in the vitals. The priest finally died at our hands, his neck punctured from behind and below with a longsword. (We all laughed and decided not to mention to Cedric that this guy came back to haunt us.) Galen used the opportunity to imitate the noise of Kakoura, hoping it would unsettle Pervost. Fortunately for us, he took flight, swearing vengeance. Oliver thought now would be a good time to head off and get the horses, with Pervost gone and the ravens momentarily silenced.
He trudged off into the woods and a year later all they found was this film...whoops, wrong franchise...Really, he wandered the woods all day on the 26th lost as hell, and finally ended up back at the same camp he left the night before.
26 Flocktime, 581 CY, Adri Wood
The
group left behind with the peasants marched all day again, stopping before sundown
and hoping to set a trap for the necromancer. Using fake bedrolls in amongst
the peasants, and hiding around the perimeter, they waited. And the wait was
not long. As soon as full dark came, they heard movement. Then a crackling bolt
of
white-fringed black lightning tore through the camp, killing peasants and fake
bedrolls indiscriminately. The party was shocked, this change of tactics indicated
Pervost had given up getting the peasants back and was instead trying to deny
us a meaningful victory. Another bolt tore through the huddled masses, killing
a dozen more peasants. Martin Redwall and Sonia were both finished in this battle.
All through this barrage, the fiend laughed and laughed, pausing only to cast
another spell and curse us. He then proceeded to strafe larger groups of peasants
with his bone shards until he was satisfied he'd done enough damage. Adamane
tried to get Ryvvik to light an arrow up and fire it into Pervost himself, so
at least we could have a target. The arrow bounce harmlessly off the necromancer's
shield and fell to earth. Again the fat bastard laughed, killing another peasant.
He then flew off and we did the best we could to salvage any survivors. Only
twenty-two of the original fifty still lived.
That night Oliver, in his lost wanderings, came across advance scouts of a group of slavers. Hiding in the darkness, he counted their strength. Forty men amred and armored. They were making haste to rendezvous with Pervost and the ravens. Following the group of men, Oliver began picking off the rear guard one at a time until they got under cover of their raven scouts. Hiding around the clearing they were gathered in, Oliver scampered through the woods, picking off another group of men sent out to gather firewood. Having killed all the men sent into the darkness, Oliver felt the point was made. It didn't help matters that he was starting to draw the attention of more and more ravens. He hid and made his way away from the area before resuming his search for the horses.
27 Flocktime, 581 CY, Adri Wood and Cherrin
Oliver finally (made his Wilderness lore check of 5) found his way to the horses and led them out of the woods, encountering nothing on his way out. The group also split up, with the rangers and druids going back to their homes in the forest. The butcher's bill was high this time out, three of our good friends dead and a score of peasants slaughtered. The peasants then proceeded to go right back where they came from: the domain of Prince Strychan in Dustbridge. That raised a few protests and arguments to the contrary, but when you have lived in the same place for generations, change is hard to accept. We sent the peasants on their way with a bag of silver taken from the slavers and before they left, Oliver gave them another bag containing twenty eight more silver, one for every head lost. We parted on the road east of Cherrin and headed home.
