As morning broke the surviving warriors at Kara’s Dale rode out as fast as they could to Cloveshire Keep. By late afternoon they arrived, at the keep….and found it unscathed. The dwarven Siege Breakers were stationed outside walls and the Thunders still held the walls. A giant pyre of gnoll remains was still smoldering outside the keep. The light from the burning dead dog men was what they saw on the horizon the previous night.
It seems a contingent of gnolls assaulted the keep and were quickly cut down by the combined might of dwarven steel and blunderbuss shot. The dwarf losses numbered five. Five dead after an afternoon of fighting. It seems their shield wall and hammers were no match for a bloodthirsty mob. The party and remaining mercenaries made their way to the courtyard to report the events of the previous day and to inquire about the battle here and about the Stonekeep and Wychlight contingent that went North.
There had been no word yet from the Stonekeep/Wychlight forces. Also there was word from a pair of Outriders that there was smoke coming from the small abandoned fort of Darby Hold. The fort was lost a week ago and the fires had long burned out. This location needed investigated as well. The barbarian, monk and rouge left their mercenaries behind, grabbed fresh horses and rode out to find out about the other allied force and explore the remains Darby Hold.
A few hours later they saw a pair of approaching riders. They were Outriders from Cloveshire Keep. They were heading back to report the news that a large force of gnolls and their leader had been defeated by the Stonekeep spearmen and the Flames of the First born. Even better was that minutes after their leader ( a large and powerful Flind ) was killed the assaulting gnoll force fell into disarray. They turned upon each other, fell to feast on the dead, cowered in fear or fled from the battle. Whatever hold this leader had on the force was broken as he died. The remaining allied force was in the process of following the fleeing gnolls in hopes of driving them from the lands or even better wiping them out completely. The wounded were making their way back to Cloveshire Keep. The remaining Cloveshire Outriders were heading father North, then circle East and finally back to the keep. They were going to ensure that no other gnoll force had slipped by them. The party wished the happy hunting, lamented missing a chance to battle the gnoll “big bad” and continued to ride toward Darby Hold.
Three hours and change later the party arrives near Darby Hold .They can see small wisps of smoke rising from the central keep. The palisade walls are devoid of activity. They can see that there are several holes in the walls too. The party slowly approaches and looks in several of these almost man sized holes. The holes look to have been caused by chewing or tearing, but they are large enough to move a large human or gnoll through. Something ate through these fort walls and gave the dog men access to the inhabitants. What did this….they had no idea.
As they looked into the fort ( beyond the burnt ruins of buildings, rubble and trash ) they saw several emaciated and very dry looking gnolls just slowly swaying in place. They also noticed a quartet of pale nearly naked humanoids huddled around a pile of something. The rear of the fort housed as twenty foot tower that had two gnolls standing guard at the door. Strange green and black smoke was rising from the top of this small tower. A gnoll could be seen gyrating and barking at the top.
They skirted back from the ho lint he wall and devised a plan. The rouge, much to the disagreement of the monk, would sneak into the fort and climb the tower. Here he would sneak up and dispatch the gnoll who looked to be doing some sort of ritual casting. The barbarian and monk would enter through a wall hole and attack the forces in the courtyard. The rouge scampered off as the monk and barbarian made their way to the hole in the wall closest to the group of four nearly naked humans.
The rouge made his way stealthily to the tower and began to climb.
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| Something like this but with a dragonborn was what the party was expecting for the tower. |
The monk and barbarian charged into the fort and attacked the nearest group of gnoll, whom appeared to be undead. Their withered husk-like bodies torn and crumbled as they were attacked. The four humans rose and turned at the noise. They threw their heads back and unleashed a horrible forlorn scream. They then rushed the pair of warriors with their long tongues lolling from their fanged mouths and long black clawed fingers clicking as they ran. The quartet of ghouls had been following the gnoll advance and captilizing of the bounty of carrion. Now they had live prey and they hungered!
The pair of gnolls outside the tower quickly rushed inside the building.
Meanwhile….the rouge began to climb the tower and fell ( roll natural 1 after 10’ ). He landed roughly, dusted himself off and began to climb again.
The monk was suddenly assaulted by a pair of ghouls! He dodged multiple attacks, but the filthy claws of one of them torn into his arm. Suddenly, he was unable to move. He had fallen victim to the beasts horrible paralytic touch. The barbarian rushed in and began to cut through the encroaching withered and possibly undead gnolls.
The rouge continued to climb the tower, and once again fell after making it almost to the top of the structure ( another natural 1 on the climb ). He once again fell, dusted himself off and began climbing again. Yet he couldn’t find purchase ( rolled another natural 1!!!!!).
The gnoll atop the tower finished his ritual. There was an green flash of light and then a burst of multicolored smoke. As the smoke settled what was left behind looked like a trio of multi-limbed walking fanged maws. They unleashed a wet gurgling roar and began to climb down the tower and toward the battle in the courtyard. The gnoll who summoned then turned his attention to the barbarian and unleashed a blast of sickening green energy at him causing him to struggle and retch. He shrugged off the major effects of the magical sickness, but was still wounded by the blast.
The monk was able to shake off the ghoul paralysis and dive back into the fight, just in time as the gnolls inside the tower burst out of the door. Following them was a large, olive skinned gangly armed beast with matted black hair. The creature pulled a metallic muzzle-like contraption off its face. It then looked around the courtyard and turned to stare with its large yellow eyes at the fight occurring. It then began to bellow and in a loping run made for the barbarian and monk. It was also hungry and there were plenty of things for the troll to eat in the courtyard!
The rouge finally made his way, safely, to the top of the tower. He drew his weapons and stealthily made his way toward the gnoll spell caster.
The monk and barbarian were now facing an charging troll, a handful of witherling gnolls and a trio of hungry maw demons. They quickly came up with a plan. The troll would be priority for the barbarian and the monk would try and kill everything else. It was then that another green blast of sickening energy struck the barbarian. Once again his orc constitution fought off the toxins from the spell, but the damage it caused was starting to accumulate.
The gnoll caster began to chant again, but this time it was cut short by a sword and dagger being driven into his back. The dragonborn rouge took a step back to strike again, but instead was grabbed by the gnoll. The creature’s hand began to glow with a black energy and the rouge flailed in pain as he felt his life being drained from him. He struggle free from the gnoll’s grip and stumbled back a few feet to regain his composure. The gnoll advanced on him reciting the same chant and making his hands crackle with dark energy again. The rouge knew that with nowhere to run this next attack could be his last. He launched himself at the gnoll caster, driving his sword and dagger straight at the beast! The rouge’s weapons both struck the gnoll. The creature’s jaws continued to snap at the dragonborn even though the creature was dead. He sheathed his weapons and began to sprint down the tower stairs to reach the courtyard battle.
The barbarian and troll battled back and forth in a battle of attrition. The trolls regenerative powers kept him alive as did the barbarian’s battle rage. The monk was able to dispatch a pair of the maw demons before one of them latched onto him and just began to chew. The remaining witherlings continued to swing away as well. It was beginning to look bleak for the party. It was then that the rouge made his way down the tower and unleashed a gout of his acidic breath on the troll. The beast staggered and the barbarian saw his chance to finish off the troll, knowing the acid would keep the troll from regenerating.
The barbarian drove his sword deep into the troll’s belly and then reversed his grip to pull the sword up through his chest. The troll stumbled back a few steps and then fell to the ground dead. The acid from the dragonborn still bubbling and eating away at the creature’s body.
All that was left was to finish off the remaining witherlings and return the last maw demon to the abyss that spawned it. Minutes later and those tasks had been accomplished. The trio took a few moments to recuperate before searching the remains of the fort.
As they searched they now knew how the gnolls got into the fort. The gnoll shaman must have summoned maw demons to eat through the walls. He also used some sort of necromantic magic to reanimate fallen gnolls to continue fighting. If they hadn’t have stopped him it appeared he would have continued to raise the dead and bolster the gnoll warband ranks with the dead. The ghouls must have been drawn by the carrion or summoned by the shaman.
After searching the fort all they found of use was a small lockbox containing some gold coins. These coins had a half circle with five lines protruding from it, on both faces of the coin. They had seen these before throughout the realm. They were not currency from any city. Nobody knew their origin. They were becoming more prevalent. They also seemed synonymous with trouble as well.
The party stashed the coins and made their way back toward Cloveshire Keep to inform the allied forces there of the events at Darby Hold.
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