Phinious Whistelteets, a half-elf bard of Riffilin blood, trying to live up to his merchant family standards. His charming personality was going to get him a number of enchanted and rare items in a deal with the prominent Nubian merchant in Verge. Of course, his fear of light war horses and his deadly allergy to cheese was proving problematic on this journey.
Arnold, another half-elf bard of far more considerable blandness
Froedrick Cobblepot, a Gnome Cleric of worshiping the halfing goddess Yondalla.
"Keebs," a Gnome Titan BattleMage, and frighteningly the only competent fighter in the group.
Clarkos Metropoulos - Former Baronial Guard of Vadecvinscy who wields a pole arm
Lorigaard Moosaka - Neurotic priestess of Echelon, the god of the ocean, and her pet pigeon.
10th of HepDec, 1142 - Ligere's Tower, Village of Verge, Kingdom of Marakeikos
Despite trapping themselves, they secured themselves in a cell, and realized the ogre's pet owlbear. After sniffing and screeching at the party, it turned its attention on the humanoids closing in. It was not anywhere close to a fair fight.
Upon clearing out the basement of the Wizard Ligere, our heroes were met my his wife, Marie, and an elven woman, Gwendolyn Oakland, the Druidess of Verge... and possibly all of Marakeikos.
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| Gwendolyn Oakland, Druidess of Verge |
After dealing with the unwelcome intruders that infiltrated the cellar, Gwendolyn got straight to the point.
"The queen referred to in the note you brought is known to me. Her name is Ilyanna and she is a fighter of some ability. She is an intensely chaotic, and a vicious and evil person."
"It is clear that she is trying to raise and army to attack Verge, and is possibly quite far into her plans. If she manages to conquer Verge, it might be the political motivation to earn a title and grant of the surrounding land by the Crown. Such is the way of politics in this realm."
"There of numerous ancient keeps dotting the countryside. We've narrowed the location down to two. We'll assign some local militia to scout out the location. If you're willing to scout out the other, and perhaps harass the troops, it would be greatly appreciated.
Of course, the party volunteered their services.
12th of HepDec, 1142 - Ilyanna's Keep, Village of Verge, Kingdom of Marakeikos
Ilynanna's Keep was built into the side of of the mountain, quite secure, but creating some odd blind spots for a small group to approach undetected. With a quick review of the dozens of goblins and larger monsters moving around, it was quickly decided to distract the guards and infiltrate the Keep.
Lorigaard and Clarkos drew the attention of the tower guards and some goblins at the gate. They lured the gate goblins away, allowing the others to take advantage of another blind spot, slay the remaining goblins inside the gate, and surprise the hobgoblins in the towers.
In a stroke of rare tactical genius, the group unwisely alerted a group of orcs from the Dark Web tribe to their existence, but in the subsequent chase, stowed away inside the gatehouse and trapped them outside the walls.
With a substantial part of the garrison trapped outside, the party decided to set as much on fire as possible, only engaging in goblins, hobgoblins, or even orcs in small groups of three or four.
Following Keeb's lead, the group went into the main building of the Keep, and into its dungeon. Outside of a violent Ogre, they didn't encounter much in the way of resistance. When the hobgoblins finally discovered the Dark Web Orcs on the other side of the gate, and details on the treachery, a quick sweep of the grounds led them to the basement. The party had one trick up its sleeve
This allowed the party plenty of time to search the throne room and personal chambers of Ilyanna and her underlings, but the chaos allowed them enough time to flee... if they were in the Keep at all.
14th of HepDec, 1142 - Ilyanna's Keep, Village of Verge, Kingdom of Marakeikos
The wilderness was full of evil on the way home, but ultimately the group met up with two very disappointed individuals in Clarkos and Lorigaard. They all returned to Ligere's Tower to update them on their success. Gwendolyn was quite pleased with their daring raid, and troubled by Ilyanna's elusiveness. Most worrisome was not the details of the group's foray, the goat-head imagery, the half-eaten human bodies used to placate the monster, rather a few documents left in the keep, by a Lieutenant of Ilyannna's named Merkul. Ilyanna was not the mastermind of the invasion. That title was reserved to a small god of tremendous power and great anger, whom everyone served unconditionally. Merkul at least showed some contempt to his boss, naming the whole arrangement a dangerous cult.
The Cult of Janus.
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