... carrot and the stick ...
Our band continues to be...
Kalik, halfling initiate of Avoreen;
Vesper, (NPC) human fighter, henchman of Kalik;
Milik, halfling sorcerer;
Kendradell, female half-elf bard & initiate of Lydia <absent
this week>;
Marcus, half-elf acolyte of Hieroneous;
Tarqualan, high elf mystic;
Paul Denton, human sorcerer-initiate of Boccob;
Nubo, gnome thief-psionicist <absent this week>;
and finally;
Piotr, suloise human mercenary (Duchy of Urnst).
[6th of Coldeven, 579]
When we past left our intrepid band, Piotr had narrowly escaped being
captured along with Kalik while the two of them investigated a meeting
of a secret cult of the Sword-King (whom they believed was led by the Ka'antos
and the Faceless Ones). After making contact with the rest of the party,
several scouting sorties were made to establish the exact location where
Kalik had been captured, and eventually a condemned boarding house was
determined to be the most likely location. While
scouting, Nubo witnessed a pair of ruffians molesting a woman on the
first floor, which sent Marcus running to her rescue with the rest of the
party in his wake. After disabling the woman's attackers (okay, disemboweling
them would be more accurate), a shaft leading down was located...
Either by sliding or climbing the group soon found themselves in the basements, which Piotr soon recognized as having been the quarters where the meeting had been held. The rooms seemed to have been swept clean except for a single scrap of paper (the left inch or so of a letter) with the name of a nearby town (Rendarin) clearly visible; deciding that any clue was worth following, the party was soon on the road heading east.
Arriving in Rendarin late in the afternoon, the party took rooms in the inn and recovered their strength; it was only after a few hours of sleep that anyone thought to question the innkeeper concerning other travelers, and so they learned that a force of over 20 mercenaries had left the inn mere hours before the party's arrival. They missed their quarry again the following day, but eventually Milik's familiar caught sight of a column of mercenaries riding on the road ahead. Too large for the next town's inn, the mercenaries took over all it's rooms and erected a tent for the balance of their forces in the yard beyond the stables.
After separate sorties by Vesper and Milik's familiar, Ferrite, established that Kalik was still in their custody (bound and gagged in a steamer trunk), Marcus, Kendradell, and Tarqualan rode back along the road to where they'd passed a fortified manor house earlier in the day. Introducing himself to Nondain, the local Lord, Marcus explained the circumstances and was granted assistance in the form of six knights who would assist Marcus in both the recovery of Kalik and the destruction of the agents of the Sword-King.
After a short consultation with Sir Nodwick, the senior knight, the battle plans were laid out and put into action. Nodwick's force, led by Marcus would target the mercenaries who were quartered in the tent outside. Vesper, Kendradell, and Nubo would sneak up on the flank, looking to do what damage they could. Meanwhile, Tarqualan, Piotr, and Milik's familiar would fly their way into the room where Kalik was being held, effect his release, and escape. The rest of the party rode behind the knights, and would support whichever group seemed to need them most.
As the knights thundered into the compound, several mercenaries emerged from the tent bearing great bows, which they unleashed into the horses of the lead knights, sending Sir Nodwick to the ground and injuring the others horses. Marcus rode his mount down upon one of the mercenaries, and as he circled around for another pass, they dropped their bows and drew swords instead. As the rest of the knights rode into the bowmen, it quickly became clear that the armor that the mercenaries wore was far tougher than mere plate.
As Paul and Milik unleashed spells at the mercenaries, their protection
from such became apparent as well; like the weapons of the knights, spells
often seemed to glance off of their targets with little or no effect. As
the strike team released Kalik from his bonds, the leader of the mercenaries
burst into the room, only to be felled by a mighty blow from Piotr's blade
soon thereafter. Though seemingly a great victory, it was short lived as
one of the leader's cohorts put a spell upon both Piotr and Tarqualan,
inflaming their passions against one another. While not sufficient to bring
them to blows against one another, it was sufficient to cause Tarqualan
to quell the spells of flight and blur that he had placed upon his human
companion, and to distract both from
proper coordination of effort.
To make matters worse, when Tarqualan attempted to teleport the wounded
leader into the sky above, his spell rebounded, and if not for the pair
of flying boots he owned, it would have been himself who plunged to his
doom. Meanwhile, the battle outdoors raged on, though at some unspoken
point those mercenaries unengaged in melee withdrew to the stables and
fled the scene on horseback, with the knights in close pursuit.
Before the battle ended, however, the mercenary leader was dragged to safety by the same man who had placed Piotr and Tarqualan at odds, and was seen to twist a ring on his master's finger, at which point the leader vanished. At the finale, Kalik was rescued, and one of the leader's cohorts was captive, the rest having fled or died. For his part, Kalik remembered little of his ordeal, having spent most of his time in the trunk, except for an interminable period when each of the members of the band who held him had spoken to him in an unknown language, and touched his brow, before giving way for the next of their number to do the same...
[9th of Coldeven, 579]