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Aered eats with a good appetite, and when the time comes, both walk down to the dining room where this meeting will be held. They are both on edge, having no idea about what they will experience and who they will meet.
There are already a lot of people in the dining room, tables and chairs are placed like a U and in the center of the room is a large raised chair facing away from the room. A large clock is standing along the far wall. People are sitting and some are standing too. There are about fifty people in the room. Gnosha and Aered discreetly move to the left from the doors and stand along the wall, trying to blend in. Right then, the big clock sounds, and the servants in the room leave and the large doors are shut.
The high chair in the center turns, and in it sits a man in a black robe, holding a staff. He does not have much hair, only random strands of black hair are visible. He looks to be in his mid forties, with deep sunken eyes, he looks sickened.
He begins to speak; – “Welcome to this meeting. I know there have been some changes, which brought us here. First, we should have met at Hammerfast, but some ingenious work by Larchland here, that gave us control of The League of the Hidden Blades without spilling a single drop of blood. So, now all of us who want the Emperor to be resurrected can meet here, in an official meeting.”
He continues: – “My second thanks goes to Tarasha, who has faithfully handed over the book to me.” He touches his chest, as if the book is under his cloak.
He looks around in the room and continues: – “Now, there are not many books left to gather before we will find the burial place of the Emperor. This is the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning. Now, the word is free to anyone who wishes to speak. Remember, you will all become gods when the Emperor knights you.”
One person speaks out, and Gnosha recognizes the voice and sees Frori Thratelch, the Bandit King, standing to the side in the room.He says: – “I demand compensation. "I have lost thirty men to keep Tarasha safe.”
The man in the chair replies: – “You will be compensated when all the books have been collected. Your failures cannot be compensated until then.” Frori Thratelch goes silent, and Gnosha tries to read his expression in his face, but cannot really be sure what Frori thinks.
A person unknown to Gnosha raises his voice from the right side of the room and says: – “I want to propose a toast for our two brothers who have fallen for the cause, but at the same time not forget that the cause is greater than them and our losses.
Jeras Falk, who heroically attacked and seized the Vandamere’s Tower, but tragically was killed when some adventurers decided to retake it.
Kalarell, who opened the portal, but was stopped. Let their great sacrifices never be forgotten.”
Everyone toasts to the two fallen brothers.
Another person unknown to Gnosha speaks up and says: – “Do we have any representation from the Bald Wizards Circle here?” People start to look around and soft mumbles are heard. One person says in a loud voice: – “Kallan, I am the representation here, do you have a question?”.
The man referred to as Kallan says: – “I want to know the status, how are things going? There is no war yet, it should have happened months ago.”
The bald wizard replies: – “These things take time. You have never even been close to doing anything like this, so how could you possibly understand?”
The man in the high chair, who Gnosha suspects is the person known as Odan lifts his hand and says: – “No more discussion regarding this matter. I have a goal, we should gather our forces, to burn down von Kettling’s manor. He has refused to follow our path, and his connections with the Dutchess makes him a perfect target. We can lure all the Knight’s of Erast out, and set an ambush for them when they arrive to protect von Kettling. We can finally rid the North of those knights once and for all. This is the real reason why we have been gathered here today. I order you all, we march east to the other side of the strait.”
A chatter and mumbles erupt in the room, and voices saying things like “This was not in my plan” or “How are we supposed to cross the strait?” are heard.
Odan continues: – “I order you, tomorrow we will march, and march together. Leave the crossing of the strait to me. Anyone who will not march will me, will not march at all, ever again. Swear to that on the resurrection of the Emperor.”
The meeting ends with Odan saying: - “We will gather tomorrow morning at eight.” Gnosha thinks they have not been exposed, that their low profile worked. When they came back to their room Gnosha says: - “Aered, we’re in a bit of a pickle, I need to think and think fast. The gates are locked, we’re locked inside a building full of lunatics who want to give up their lives to become undead and rule these lands in eternity in a regime of terror. We just can't let that happen, not on my watch. We might need another set of clothes, again. Maybe if we can pose as merchants and join a caravan. So first things first, how do we get out of here? Any ideas Aered?”
Aered thinks and then replies: - “Gnosha, can’t we just jump over to the house next to this one, and then move along the roof and then climb down? The houses are very close, not a difficult jump.”
Gnosha looks at Aered and says: - “That is a brilliant idea my dear Aered!” Gnosha uses his sense of direction to figure out in what direction the other house is, and they figure out that they would need to get access to one of the guest rooms across their corridor.
Aered mingles in the corridor but tries to keep a low profile, but his deep voice and intimidating body language impresses the other guests and they feel lucky to have such a strong and dependable warrior in their ranks. Gnosha decides to mix a spiked drink, to make the victim they choose, to fall asleep. Aered spots a short, thin half-elven woman in a room that would be perfect. The plan is to invite the woman, gain her trust, then make her sleep and they use the window in her room to jump over to the next building. Gnosha is very reluctant to use violence, unless as a last resort. The drug he is mixing will make the victim slow, then sleepy, then fall asleep, and mixing it with alcohol will speed up the process.
After an hour, when Gnosha’s mixture is done, Aered talks with the half-elven woman, and then Gnosha introduces himself and invites her to their room for a night cap. The half-elven woman looks nervous, but accepts, and she says her name is Thefvae Adcyne, from her mothers side. She asks how long Gnosha and Aered have followed Odan, and without lying Gnosha replies a few months or so. She says that she also heard the voices in her head a few months ago that called her to this gathering. Gnosha says that’s why we all are a little nervous.
They sip their watered out drinks while watching how the Thefvae reacts to the drugs, but as usual, nothing goes as planned. Instead of being sleepy, she is the opposite, she’s speeded up. She gets a panic attack, crying that she doesn’t want to die, she doesn’t want to join this march of death. Gnosha tries to quickly figure out how to counter this unwanted effect. He realizes he might have screwed up mixing that drug in a bit of a hurry, his alchemical skills are still far from perfected, and this was a new drug, he tried to recall from a book he has read.
He gives her a large glass of water, and Thefvae calms down again. She looks at Gnosha and says: - “I know about you, Tarasha has talked about you, how you are evil, tried to stop her, how you work for the evil dutchess in Erast. Why were you trying to poison me? You are as evil as they all say! When I saw you, a Gnome and a tall strong human, I just knew it had to be you two. Why did you try to kill me?”
Gnosha replies: - “I felt that you did not really belong here, when you look deep into your heart. This is not your dream, it’s the dream of the evil necromancer Odan that speaks. We have one chance to get away from this place. If we had wanted you dead, you would have already been dead. Thefvae, do you want to follow us out of here? You have two choices, you come with us, or we will have to ensure that you will not raise any alarms. I know you have doubts.”
Aered says: “Thefvae, we know that you want to do the right thing. We give you this chance to turn wrong to right, and your sins will be forgiven.”
Thefvae replies: - “We must get away from this place, otherwise a fate worse than death will be upon us all.”
Gnosha: - “The Bugbear will not, if I’m right, be a good place to be at very soon. I think we can move south with a caravan. We will have an eight hour head start.”
Thefvae says: - “But what about the other two that are sleeping in my room? I can solve this, I can cast a sleep spell to ensure they will not wake up, as long as we are quiet.”
Gnosha looks startled and replies: - “Other two? It sounds like you are a resourceful woman Thefvae, I trust you on this.”
They silently walk over to Thefvae’s room and open the window and Aered prepares a rope, just in case someone, presumably Gnosha, will fail to make the jump. Thefvae picks up a bag of holding and starts to put things into it. First her own stuff, but then she puts a lot of other stuff in it. In a bunk bed are two people sound asleep, and while Gnosha jumps over to the roof of the other building, Thefvae opens a chest at the foot end of the bed and puts more things into her bag of holding. Aered whispers: -”Stop that now and jump!” Thefvae jumps gracefully over to the roof, and then, last, Aered jumps.
The roof is steep, and they slowly climb to the top to more easily move along it over to the next building, and then the next. Stopping frequently to look and listen if someone seems to have seen them, but no one shouts halt.
The climb down from the roof of the third house, and down to the ground, on the side facing the wall where there are less windows. After a long and long climb, most scary and difficult for Gnosha, as Thefvae seems to be born climbing roofs, and a Aered has been training climbing walls and roof for years.
When they finally reached the ground, they carefully, in cover of the wagons on the ground, moved over to the house where they have their room and got in, undetected, as still no one has called them out. When they are in the room, Thefvae has another panic attack, sobbing: -”We will all die, we will suffer eternally, why are we here? Why are we not just leaving”.
Gnosha replies: - “We need to look at the situation like this. The gates are locked until seven, that will give us no real time to escape, and our absence might have been noted, and they might look for us. But, Odan and his evil minions have to work in the shadows, they cannot make an attack here at the Bugbear searching for us, as that will reveal them, and their secret will not be secret anymore. Our best option is to lay low, and let them head out, then hastily move south.”
Thefvae starts to randomly dig through her bag of holding, and finally picks up a set of fine clothes.
Aered starts watching at the window, keeping the house where Odan is having his meeting under surveillance. As the room is just a two person room, it has only two beds, so Aered and Gnosha will share one bed as one of them will be on watch duty, and Thefvae will get the other bed. When Gnosha is about to go to bed, Thefvae says- “What will happen now? Are we waiting until tomorrow?” Gnosha replies that as he said before, their best best chance is to trust that Odan’s thugs cannot go wreaking havoc at the Bugbear without exposing themselves.
Thefvae replies: - “So even if you don’t murder me in the sleep, they will still come for me and kill me? How can I trust you that I will wake up tomorrow? You have already tried to poison me. It’s like a bad dream, the one who protected me has already been killed.”
Gnosha replies: - “We do not plan to kill you. We never planned to kill you.”, but Thefvae just snaps back: -”You are Odan’s servant, this was all a trick to see if I am loyal, I will die.”
Gnosha tries to stay calm and says: - “Odan is planning to turn every living person into an eternal prison of being an undead, a slave under his rule. Our objective is to stop that before it is too late. He must be stopped. And we never tried to kill you. What happened was an alchemical sleep that went terribly wrong, like a backfired spell, my sincere apologies.”
Thefvae sobs and replies: - “The only way to be free is to follow him, the voices in my head are calling…”
Gnosha talks for some time to Thefvae with his calm and friendly voice, while Aered has the watch, even though he really needs the sleep. After two hours, Aered wakes up Gnosha for his watch and Thefvae sleeps peacefully in her bed, with Aered snoring in his.
Suddenly, Gnosha sees five men dressed in black, exiting the house rented by Odan. Gnosha picks up his spyglass and watches carefully what they do, and tries to see what they say. He catches some of what they say when they talk, quietly in the light of their own lantern. Go and search the alleys, We’re looking for three people, one short, a woman and a man. Have anyone seen them? If you find them, kill them. But don’t fight the guards.
Soon, three of the men are entering the door to the house where their room is, and Gnosha carefully opens the window, and throws a thunderstone at the house right across the courtyard. A loud bang is heard, and people wake up everywhere, and even the snoring guards at the tower watching the gate wake up. The guards shout at the dark clad men hunting for Gnosha, Aered and Thefvae: - “You there! Go back to your house! No running around at night! And no weapons!” Ten Bugbear guards come out of the tavern building, some of them lacking parts of their armor or gear, rushed out of bed, but they assure that Odan’s men are back into their house, and guards are posted outside the door.
In the morning, Thefvae wakes up, and she seems surprised that she is alive, as she checks her body for wounds. Gnosha keeps watching, and before eight, almost a hundred people in black robes and hoods are gathered on the courtyard, and he sees Odan entering a decorated wagon. Many wagons and horses start to move and the whole group sets off. Gnosha keeps a keen eye to where they move and they turn north and follow the northern road, towards Hammerfast.
Gnosha asks Aered to take the watch while he fetches some breakfast and will connect with a caravan going south back to Erast, the safest way for them to travel. He looks around to see any suspicious individuals, but doesn't see any. He meets a merchant that has a caravan of ten people and three wagons, that will be heading out at around eleven, and reach Erast around midnight. Gnosha offers his and Aereds support as guards and cuts a deal that it’s even with Thefvae traveling with them. Gnosha says: - “On the way here, we ran into a group of Goblins, you can never be careful enough these days.”
The merchant replies: - “Yes, and I heard that there was a watchtower being restored, but it was attacked and everyone was killed.” Gnosha replies: -”I’ve heard that the work on the watchtower is still going. See you at eleven, we have two horses.” On the way back to the room, Gnosha takes a long detour via the wrong floor, to shake off any possible spies trying to follow him. Odan has for sure left people behind, people now with the order to kill them.
After a good breakfast, still keeping a watchful eye out for anyone looking suspicious, they pack their gear and wait for eleven when the caravan will leave. They have two horses, so they will have to take turns walking. Thefvae is still not feeling comfortable in the company of Gnosha and Aered, but she is much more calm today. They did not kill her, which is a good thing.
A few minutes before eleven, Gnosha, Aered and Thefvae join the caravan with Thefvae riding on a wagon while Aered rides Amadeus and Gnosha his trustworthy Peridot. The caravan slowly moves on the south road to Erast. Ghosha and Aered are scouting the surroundings for ambushes, they are on high alert.
After about three hours, Gnosha hears the sound of breaking wood and a wagon falling. A wheel on one of the wagons broke, and the wagon now is almost falling over. The caravan comes to a fast halt. Gnosha arms his crossbow and loads it with an alchemical fire, but no one comes attacking.
A merchant shouts: - “Anyone handy with woodworking tools, we need to get this wagon moving as fast as possible.” Gnosha, who is a skilled craftsman, puts his crossbow on his back and volunteers, but he just can't figure what’s broken and scratches his head while counting the number of days it will take to mend and says: - “This wheel is totally broken, it just cannot be fixed. We need to cut down a tree, build a new wheel, make sprockets, and smith the iron ring, it cannot be fixed here in the middle of nowhere. We better move the cargo to the other wagons.”
Another merchant looks at the wheel and says: - “Are you stupid or something? I’ve fixed worse wheels than this, go find a stick or something, the wheel tap broke so the wheel fell off.” Gnosha feels kind of worthless, this is not his day to shine. Suddenly he senses that someone is approaching him from behind.
He turns around, and sees a man wearing a long dark robe, wielding a hand crossbow and a scimitar. Ghosha screams: - “Aered!! Here!!”
The man who looks like a typical assassin for hire rushes towards Gnosha and whispers loudly: - “Traitor, You will die!”
He slashes with his scimitar and hits Gnosha on the upper arm, just a light hit, then he attacks again but misses. Gnosha sees in the corner of his eye that another assassin heads towards Thefvae, but she sees him and she quickly disappears behind a wagon. The assassin follows her but comes out at the other side of the wagon where he sees Gnosha and rushes straight towards him instead. He points at Gnosha and says: - “You traitor, you are marked for death.”
Aered uses his newly acquired ability to move really fast and rushes to help Gnosha. He attacks the assassin that hit Gnosha with both his sword and his shield. Gnosha attacks with his rapier and hits the assassin twice. The assassin picks up a bag of sand and throws the sand in Gnosha’s face, but nothing happens as Gnosha dodges the sand cloud. The other assassin attacks Gnosha three times but misses every time.
Aered attacks again and strikes the first assassin to the ground. Gnosha tries to see an opening, but fails, so he steps backwards, in cover of Aered and picks up his crossbow again. Gnosha still can’t see Thefvae and is worried about her. The assassin tries to walk past Aered to attack Gnosha, and Aered says: - “You have one chance for redemption, lay down your weapons.”, but the assassin ignores Aered and attacks Gnosha. Aered protects Gnosha with his shield and blocks the attack, then he says: - “You had one chance, but you wasted it!”, then he attacks the assassin with his sword, then he raises his shield.
Gnosha loads his Alchemical crossbow, sees an opening and fires and the exploding alchemical bolt explodes on impact and blows the assassin to pieces. Gnosha asks Aered if he sees Thefvae, and Aered looks around and sees her, or he sees the strangely bent grass beside the road and says: - “Thefvae, you can show yourself now.”, and after a few seconds Thefvae appears standing in the grass beside the road. Gnosha thinks to himself that this little half-elven woman is a very resourceful person. If he could show her the light, the path of good, she might be a valuable addition to his little team. Gnosha says to Thefvae: -”I’m so glad you are unharmed, I was so worried when I didn’t see you.” Thefvae replies: - “I saw that he was coming for me, so I just decided to use invisibility to hide.”
The battle is over as fast as it started, and Gnosha now realized he was just unlucky when he tried to figure out what was broken with that wagon wheel. The caravan leader checks how everyone is, and some people have some wounds that need attention. Aered and Gnosha help out with that, as Gnosha decides that it’s better to leave that wheel to someone that is not unlucky when thinking.
They had two very dead assassins, and they left them beside the road. A group of merchant hands are working on the broken wheel, when Thefvae says to Gnosha: - “Thank you for your help, but I will expose you to danger if you help me. I will leave now, by myself. He will make sure I will never be safe, that I never can leave, this is all doomed for me.”
Gnosha replies: - “Don’t you want to stay with us for a bit longer?”
Thefvae says: -”Next time Odan won’t send two assassins, but more, maybe his whole army. I deserve this, this is the punishment for what I have done.”
Gnosha: - “I do not agree with that at all.”
Aered adds: - “You are wrong Thefvae! Everyone has the right to rectification. I swear to you that I will stop Odan and all his followers from threatening you. I never thought this would be my calling, but after all that has happened, I know this is what I need to do, my calling, my service to my god!”
Thefvae looks a little less depressed and says: - “I am touched that you have such trust in me, I will follow you to Erast.”
The guards and some of the merchant's helpers work a few hours to repair the damaged wagon wheel, and when it is done, the caravan is finally moving again.
After some hours, when the sun began to set, the caravan was close to Vandamere’s tower, and Gnosha said to the caravan leader: - “I know some people here, I think this is a great place to rest for the night. It’s getting late as we got delayed.”
The caravan leader replies: - “Is this Vandamere’s tower? The narrow trail up there is no way we can take these wagons.”
Gnosha sees that it looks like they have begun to clear the old paved road, which is longer but less steep than the narrow trail. A few trees have been cut down, and moss and dirt have been moved away. The dwarves have been very busy it looks like.
The caravan leader replies after he has listened to Gnosha’s comment: - “It would be good with a resting spot for caravans. This road has become more dangerous with all the Goblins now raiding caravans.”
A short discussion erupts and some merchants like the idea, some want to continue and some want to rest down here, but after a few minutes it’s decided that the caravan halts and two scouts are sent up the cleared road to check the road is cleared all the way. After thirty minutes the two scouts came back, and they happily reported that the road is mostly good except for a few patches, where the wagons might need a little push as the stones have moved.
The caravan leader decides that it’s worth the job to take the caravan up the new cleared road. After thirty minutes the caravan reaches the top where the tower is, and a new flat field has been cleared for caravans to stay the night.
When they arrive at the designated caravan area, Torin shows up and when he sees Gnosha he shouts: - “Gnosha! So good to see you again my friend! We just cleared the old road as you see, or most of it anyway. And we’ve added another three feet of wall to the tower. We needed to clear the road because we will need to get more supplies and material up here soon.”
Other members of the tower construction crew and the guards also greet Gnosha and Aered, and they help to guide the caravan into the night rest area which they have prepared. Torin continues to talk to Gnosha: – “As you can see, we have a new higher crane in position. We will get a lot of timber, but some we will cut here. We will build most of the tower in wood though. I know, a tower in wood is not as good and pure as a solid stone tower, but it will be faster, and cost less you see, and Erast is in a hurry.”
The horses and donkeys are watered and poles are placed on the grassy field beside the caravan parking so the animals can be tied up and graze, get water and sleep.
The caravan camp is set up, and Gnosha helps prepare the dinner. The merchants decide to gracefully supply groceries and meat from their carts and wagons for the dinner, as their way to pay for this extended protection. Torin tells Gnosha that he got both a reward and an award for the capture of that villian, and he is very pleased about it.
Evening turns to night and with several guards on patrol and an outlook in the tower, or on top of the current structure, it passes without any problems. In the morning, a good breakfast is served, and the merchants supply the food this time too.
During the breakfast, Torin stands up and says: - “I have a proposition for you. You are heading for Erast, it’s a six hour journey from here. If you help us finish the road, I will give each of you a token that will grant you free protection for your caravans here at the tower for one year. If you can hand us twenty men of your guards and hands, it will take about six hours. Think about it.”
Gnosha, who has some knowledge about Erast politics keeps his mouth shut, as he knows that the tower is under Erast command, and the protection will be free, or paid by the merchant toll you pay at Erast. He thinks that this Torin is a cunning man. He got the bounty for Withen, and now he gets some free labor, a good and clever friend to have indeed.
After some discussions among the merchants and the caravan leader, those against realizes they will then have to travel alone so in the end all is for the idea of helping with the road. Twenty men and the strongest horses begin to work.
The work is done at about three o’clock. Aered thought it was quite boring. He cut down some more trees and Amadeus, his strong horse, pulled them up to the tower where the dwarves had built a saw. Gnosha helped with fixing those stones that had been out of place due to weather, and roots. Now the almost a mile long road was in perfect condition, almost as it was built recently, even though it was from the time of the empire.
The caravan sets off again, slowly down the narrow road and onto the main road towards Erast. After a couple of hours, when riding through a part of dense forest, both Aered and Thefvae hear a strange mumbling sound from a distance. Aered said: - “Did you hear that?” and Thefvae replied: - “Yes, strange indeed.” and Gnosha said: - “Heard what exactly?”.
Aered warns the caravan leader that he heard something in the woods, but the leader just replies: - “Nothing to worry about, probably just an animal, we will keep going. We can’t stop because someone heard something.” One of the guards says he thinks he heard something too, while another guard says he didn’t hear anything at all.
Aered says to the Caravan leader: - “You continue, we will catch up, we just have to investigate this.” They leave the caravan, tie their horses, Peridot and Amadeus in a roadside tree, and head into the forest. Thefvae asks Gnosha: -”Why are you two doing this?” and Gnosha replies: -”Because we want to learn.”, and makes his crossbow ready, Thefvae replied: - “You are very strange indeed, but I agree, it is maybe good to learn things.”, and she mumbles something and makes some gestures with her hands, while Aered picks up his sword and shield.
Suddenly they hear a voice shouting: - “Caravan guard scumbags!” and a man stands up about fifty feet ahead with a shortbow, and fires three arrows at Aered. Two misses but the third has a good aim, but Aered blocks it with his shield, and the arrow makes a funny noise when it sticks into the shield. Aered shouts: - “Drop your weapons!” and charges. Halfway to the archer, another person, hidden behind a tree, throws a spear at Aared and hits him in the shoulder. Aered gets a little distracted and misses the archer when he finally reaches him.
Gnosha takes a careful look for a clear field of fire against the archer, aims, and hits him straight in the forehead with a crossbow bolt, and the man drops dead in front of Aered. Gnosha quickly reloads the crossbow.
Thefvae slowly moves forward when two Goblins suddenly appear and surround her. The Goblins attack Thefvae with their crude blades, and one scores a light hit in her left arm. behind Aered, a Bugbear comes charging and Aered turns around, and attacks it with both his sword and his shield, and the Bugbear falls dead to the ground. Gnosha aims at one of the Goblins, while Thefvae makes a quick sidestep and mumbles something and from her hand, a snowball flies and hits one of the Goblins in the face, and it drops to the ground. Gnosha fires but misses, rushes forward while drawing his rapier instead, and attacks the Goblin, and hits, but just a scratch. The Goblin also makes a sidestep then dashes off into the wood screaming, and Aered tries to catch him, but he is too slow.
They decide to look for the bandits camp, and find a tent with some backpacks. They find nothing valuable, except fifty pieces of gold in various coins and gems. Thefvae looks at Gnosha and Aered: - “Is this what you do?” and Gnosha replies: - “Peaceful beings have nothing to fear, but they did fire first!” The dead archer has seven empty bottles around him. Gnosha picks one up and smells it and says: - “Mead!”.
Gnosha hands over 16 pieces of gold and 6 pieces of silver and 6 pieces of copper to Thefvae and says: - “Here is your share, you did well.” Thefvae looks shocked and replies: - “But, this is a lot of money, I do not deserve this, I didn’t do anything.” Gnosha replies: - “You were in, that is what counts.” Thefvae continues: - “So, you share equally?” Gnosha replies: - “Yes, or me and Aered have a common expenses account. You see, it costs money to investigate, lodging, food and last but not least, bribes.”
They come back to their horses, and Thefvae sits in front of Aered when they ride to catch up with the caravan. After a few hours they finally see the familiar West Gate of Erast.
When the caravan came closer to the gate, Gnosha looked around, and he saw that this was not at all the West gate, it was the North gate. Lack of sleep can make even a sharp mind like Gnosha's a bit cloudy. The caravan leader and the merchants all look pleased that they have finally arrived. There are some guards outside the gate, and on the fields outside the gate, dirt farmers are turning the soil. Gnosha looks for Lieutenant Gidaadee and sees her, so he rides forward and tells Aered to follow him. When he gets there, he says: “Lieutenant, we need to talk, urgently!” and dismounts Peridot and ties him to a horse bar outside the gate house. Lieutenant Gidaadee replies “Nice to see you, we are very busy here”, then she shouts to a soldier at the gate, “Corporal, you are in charge of collecting toll.”. She points at Thefvae and asks “Who is she?”. Gnosha replies: – “She’s with me and I vouch for her.” They walk into the small gate house room and Ghosha tells Lieutenant Gidaadee the following:
– “We went to the Bugbear, where we found out that an organization called The League of the Hidden Blades had booked a whole building for a private meeting. We spotted persons that were unmistakable followers of the Whispering Way entering that building. We infiltrated the building using some deceptive skills and secretly attended a meeting. The Meeting was held by this person who goes by the name of Odan, Odan the Necromancer, who has an agenda to retake the empire and turn all his followers into undead people. He said that he had taken control over The League of the Hidden Blades with the help of a person named Larchland. There was a wizard from the Bald Wizards Circle there, Kallan. Odan was not happy that Kallan and the Bald Wizards Circle had not made a war to erupt, but Kallan promised that it was coming along according to the plan. Tarasha the Bleek was there and it is confirmed that she stole the books on a direct order from this Odan. He needs the books to find the burial place of the Emperor, which he plans to turn into an undead, under his control.
All his followers swore to follow Odan the Necromancer to the von Kettling Manor as the von Kettlings have refused to cooperate with Odan. There were about a hundred men and women that left the Bugbear in the morning. On our way back to Erast, we were attacked by two assassins who tried to kill Thefvae and us.”
When Gnosha was talking, Captain Woode arrived at the North gate with twenty or so recruits in training. Ghosha shouts for Captain Woode to join them. When Captain Woode entered the gate house room, he gave Lieutenant Gidaadee a quick look and said: – “I have never seen you so worried before. What have these troublemakers told you this time?” Lieutenant Gidaadee just gave Captain Woode a worried look and said: – “I think you need to hear for yourself.”, and Gnosha told the story again, a little shorter this time and then said: – “We must bring this to Sir Heskan and the Dutchess immediately.”
Captain Woode replied: – “We will see how these recruits will perform faster than I had hoped, and I hadn't planned to lose my beard and eyebrows just yet, but yes, we need to hurry to the castle and bring this to Sir Heskan.” Gnosha understood what Captain Woode meant by losing his beard and eyebrows, as he had seen Sir Heskan’s fuming anger before.
Captain Woode orders Sergeant Gallois to take witness statements from all the caravan members about what they saw at the Bugbear and during the journey back to Erast, and bring the report to the castle as fast as possible, then they mount their horses and set off towards the castle. The carnival, Marda-Zam, is now on, and every street and square in Erast is full of people, most of them dressed in costumes, one more extreme than the other. Riding through the crowded street is slow, very slow. Captain Woode rides up beside Gnosha and says: – “The girl riding with Aered, who is she?” Gnosha replies: – “She was there, we planned to use her for our escape, but change of plans, so we brought her with us, and she has already proven to be useful. With the right mentorship she can be a valuable asset in my team.”
Captain Woode said: – “If you have a very black and white view of the world, would you say that she was an accomplice?” Gnosha gave Captain Woode a nod, and Woode replied: – “Don’t mention that to Heskan.” Ghosha replied: – “She has a price on her head from Odan, she needs to lay low. By the way, Vandemere’s Tower is coming along nicely. The caravan stayed there for the night, and we even helped clear the road.”
Captain Woode replied: – “Some very good news indeed, we need that watchtower now more than ever with these bad tidings you are bringing.”
While Gnosha and Captain Woode talk, Sergeant Gallois comes running with a folded parchment and hands it over to Captain Woode saying: – “Captain, the statements from the caravan.”. Captain Woode reads through and says to Gnosha: – “The merchants all confirm your story of the events at the Bugbear and the attack by the assassins, which you and your friend Aered seemed to have handled very well.”
After another ten minutes of navigating through crowds of people in costumes, the group finally reached the castle. Captain Woode shouts to the guards: – “We need to assemble the council urgently. If the Duchess wants to attend she is most welcome. We need to hold the council now”. The guard replies: – “You can go to the audience chamber, I will go and summon Sir Heskan.”
Aered says to Thefvae: – “How do you feel?”. Thefvae replies: – “I haven’t really thought about it. I haven’t been to Erast before, but it’s cute with the carnival, but it is a small town. Where I grew up, down south, the cities are so big that when you stand at one end, you can’t see to the other, and there are towers as tall as the highest mountains. I do love to be in a town full of life again, much better than a graveyard full of corpses.”
The group arrives at the audience chamber, and they just stand and wait while other people enter too. Captain Woode keeps Gnosha updated on who is who. He tells Gnosha that the council consists of people representing different interests in Erast, and that the purpose of the council is to advise Duchess Maimux on important decisions, even though she has the power and authority to make the decisions herself.
One well dressed older half-elven man arrives, and Captain Woode informs Gnosha that this is Treasurer Bruno Perrino. Heavy footsteps are heard, but it is not Sir Heskan that arrives, but a well dressed man, large and strongly built, his weather face and hands gives him away as a farmer, and Captain Woode says that he is Halke De Roos, representing the farmer guild. He looks like he was dragged away from his Marda-Zam celebrations.
A very well dressed dwarven merchant arrives, and he starts to talk with the treasurer about the meeting, saying: – “What is the meeting about? They woke me up for this, I was drinking all night with my friends at the Golden Nugget. For Pete’s sake, it’s the week of Marda-Zam.” Captain Woode informs Gnosha that he is Lornud Ingotcoat, head of the Merchant’s guild.
Then, even heavier footsteps are heard down the corridor, and Sir Heskan arrives in the company of three knights of Erast. Even though the knights are tall, they look short when they walk beside Sir Heskan. Plumes of smoke and fire rise from his mouth when he asks Halke De Roos if it was he who has summoned the council due to the problems with Kobolds and Goblins attacking farms and ruining harvests, but De Roos replies that it is not he who has summoned council. Sir Heskan was still fuming with anger.
Now Duchess Maimux arrives from her private quarters, and at the same time a middle aged man with long brown hair dressed in leather armor arrives. Gnosha has not seen the man before among the guards. Captain Woode tells Gnosha: – “That man is Herman Gild Huml, and he is head of the Erast Auxiliary Militia. He’s in charge of the untrained farmer militia, and if I had been in charge, I would have sacked him ages ago. He is incompetent, but the council needs his support.”
The doors close, and Duchess Maimux says: – “Captain Woode has summoned the council. We had all hoped to celebrate Marda-Zam. We are all here, the council is complete.”
excellent serie !
Thanks - I really like how this story has been evolving through the mind of me and the Game Master, but most of all by really bad dice rolling :P
Gnosha, steps up onto a chair and tells the following story, laid out to better fit this council than a Captain or a Lieutenant of the town guards.
– “Your Highness, Lord Heskan, honorable members of the Erast Council. For you who do not know me, I am Gnosha Curosinie and I was hired by Master Didethor to assist Paladin Aered Ealchfrilen to solve the mystery with the stolen books.
I bring you tidings of grave importance. I know this is the week of Marda-Zam, a week supposed to be filled with joy and laughter. I have found out that a necromancer, by the name of Odan, lies behind the tragedies that have been bestowed upon Erast, but that is just the beginning of an even more sinister plan. This is the work of The Whispering Way, a plan to raise the Emperor and turn him into an undead, controlled by Odan the necromancer. The theft of the books from her Highness by the traitor Kanna Okkura, the attacks by the Goblins and the Kobolds, the sudden diplomatic crisis with The Bald Wizard’s Circle, all are just pieces of Odan’s master plan.”
Herman Gild Huml is about to interrupt Gnosha, but Sir Heskan releases a fume from his mouth and with a rather loud stage whisper, he says: - “Herman, shh, let him speak”. Gnosha reads Herman’s face; it just says I don’t buy this crap, it’s just a fat pack of lies. Gnosha continues to speak.
- “At this very moment, an army of about one hundred men and women are marching from The Bugbear towards the von Kettling Manor. They will cross the waters somehow. The reason is that the von Kettling family refuses to support Odan the Necromancer’s cause and ambitions, and he is about to set an example of what happens with those who go against him. The Bald Wizard’s Circle is involved in this, they are planning to start a war. Odan the Necromancer has taken control of a secret organization named The League of the Hidden Blades. I haven’t heard about them before, some of you might have.
I have found all this out from my investigations about the books stolen from her Highness private library. I ask you, members of the Erast Council, to act accordingly, and act fast, before Odan the Necromancer can fulfill his plans, and we all will perish.”
Gnosha feels that what he said really went well, the message seems to have got through to his audience, except maybe Herman Gild Huml. When Gnosha is finished, Duchess Maimux speaks up, first directly to Gnosha: - “Gnosha Curosinie, you have completed the tasks we gave you with a greater honor than I had ever imagined. What you have done for Erast, and for me, is huge, I, and Erast, are in debt to you.”
Duchess Maimux now turns to the council member and says: -”If this is true, we will have to use the most powerful means we have, to stop Odan and to stop the Bald Wizards. What is said now in this room stays in this room, but we need to act fast, and plan even faster.”
She turns to Sir Heskan and says: - “Sir Heskan, status report”. Sir Heskan replies: - “Your highness, We are not as many knights as I would like it to be, but we can ride ahead to the von Kettling Manor, as a vanguard force. If the main force does not arrive in time, we can evacuate as many as possible and fall back.”
Duchess Maimux turns to Herman Gild Huml: - “Mr Huml, you have to mobilize the auxilian force immediately, we cannot wait.”
Lormund Ingotcoat, head of the Merchant's guild clears his throat and says: - “We just cannot cancel Marda-Zam now, if we do that we won’t have any merchants next year.”
Treasurer Perrino follows up Mr Ingotcoats comment: - “We cannot cancel now, I agree. If we do that, we will not collect enough taxes.”
Gnosha felt he just had to quickly stop this nonsense so he said with a loud voice: - “If we do not cancel Marda-Zam now to mobilize, there will not be a next year to celebrate Marda-Zam.”
Duchess Maimux gives the council members a harsh look and they all almost stand in military attention, as Duchess Maimux’s whole body language says I am in charge, now, do as I say.
Treasurer Perrino sighs and says: - “I will make some new calculations for the state of the treasury.” and Mr Ingotcoat says: - “I will write a letter to all merchants about this early cancellation of Marda-Zam and tell them that if they come next year there will be a discount of some sort.”.
Duchess Maimux concludes: - “Mr Huml, you mobilize the auxilian force immediately. Mr De Roos, you will mobilize the farmer’s militia at once. A lot of farmers are in the town for Marda-Zam, which makes it faster to reach them.”
Duchess Maimux turns to Captain Woode and says: - “Captain, you have done great work recruiting and training new town guards, but I’m sorry to say that we will need some of them. Trained men are dearly needed.” and Captain Woode looks a bit dejected. Gnosha feels satisfied, his work has been completed, his speech had the effect he had hoped for.
Hadn't run across this one. Have to catch up on it. Not to be too disruptive or anything, but wondering if problem w/browser on my end.
You removed a couple of renders? Looks like back in August 2023. Just curious.
Might be when the forum file upload was down so I linked to the Gallery, thanks for pointing it out, I upload to forum now when it's unbroken again.
Edit: Done, and one section (post) was gone, I know there were issues when post disappeared too when the upload was broken. So, thanks again, corrected.
Duchess Maimux continues: - “We also have a political problem at hand. We urgently need to find out what is happening in Winterhaven, Willowdale and in the Bald Wizard’s tower. We need to send someone to investigate. Winterhaven suffers from the Kobold infestation, and Willowdale is now under the jurisdiction of the Bald Wizard’s Circle.” She calls one of the servants to fetch Mr Tijan Danso. After a few minutes, a weathered dark skinned man with gray hair arrives. Duchess Maimux continues directly to Mr Danso: - “We need information about what is happening in Willowdale. You have never been there so you will not be recognized. You should either pick your own escort, or try to find a caravan or merchant group going in that direction, but that would probably be tricky to find. I recommend that you go to The Tasty Raven and find yourself some adventurers for hire. Gnosha and Aered, you will help Mr Danso to pick some good hands for his escort, I trust you in these matters. But I’m not finished yet. Gnosha and Aered, you have another mission too, you will ride with Sir Heskan and the Knights of Erast to the von kettling Manor.”
She turns to Sir Heskan: - “Make sure you have adequate transportation for Gnosha, Aered and their new companion, if she wants to join. And also, ensure they have adequate equipment too.”
Aered says to Thefvae: - “As you heard, you can come too, but I warn you, it can be very dangerous.” Thefvae replies: - “I insist, I need to follow you, I might be able to turn Odan’s words against him, and this is also my way for redemption.”
You really ought to develop this into a graphic novel.
The council is closed. Sir Heskan says to Gnosha: - “We will ride on the third bugle blast, do not be late, and remember that you will need time to equip and saddle your horses.” From one of the castle towers, the sound of a horn was heard, and Sir Heskan said: - “That was the first burgle blast.”. Gnosha and Aered feel that they have grown as persons, this conclusion of all the hard work they have done, have finally paid off. To get paid in equipment and not in gold is not a problem at all, as gold will otherwise has to be spent on equipment anyway.
Gnosha, Aered and Thefvae hastily walk in company with Mr Danso towards The Tasty Raven. It’s just along the road that leads to the West Gate, at the far end of Five Markets. There are a lot of people out in the streets celebrating Marda-Zam, but the mobilization of the farmers and the auxilia troops have already started. The cheerful crowds have slightly changed to worried crowds, what on earth is going on seems to be what is on most people’s minds. Merchants in many places have begun to pack their market stands up, and put whatever they have left on large discounts to avoid having to bring things back that will just lose value as they will rot or get moldy if not sold now. As a wise merchant said, when you have sold enough to break even, everything you sell after that is profit, do not feel sorry for selling it cheap, every coin in your purse is a coin in your purse.
Aered, Gnosha, Thefvae and Mr Danso headed to the Tasty Raven, to try to locate some suitable adventurers that could escort Mr Danso to Winterhaven. The tavern is rather busy, but not as crowded as it can be in the evenings. Gnosha spots a couple at the bar that look like adventurers just when they enter. A boy, in Aered’s age, and a tall elven woman with a bow. Gnosha said hi and asked if they were adventurers looking for a job. They were looking for a job, and the young fighter bragged widely about all the beasts and monsters they had slain, while the elven woman was more of the silent type. Gnosha listened to him for a while, then asked him where they slain those monsters, and what monsters they had slain. The young fighter got a bit upset and replied: - “Monsters, hairy monsters with long tails and sharp teeth, big sharp teeth, that bite you and it hurts real bad.” Gnosha looked at them for a few seconds, then said: - “So, you two have been helping farmers with pest control, killing rats, that is sadly not the experience I’m looking for here, and you are way to chatty, you would not survive an evening in a tavern filled with unfriendly and shady figures, looking to having you killed.” Gnosha looked at the others and said: -”Come on, let’s look around.”
Gnosha and his friends walk deeper into the tavern in search after some adventurers, and he steps up onto a stool and says in a loud voice: - “Lads and lasses, I’m looking for a group traveling Eastward, that have space for one more passenger, or a group that are willing to escort a man in that direction.”
Aered and Thefvae see some reactions from a table in the corner, where a group is talking to what looks like a merchant, and informs Gnosha. The merchant walks over to Gnosha and says: - “Sir, my name is Taragai, a merchant with a caravan heading in that direction, and I can take a passenger. I have just negotiated with a group of adventurers for my protection. Do you want to ride with us? The price is just ten pieces of gold.” Gnosha replies: - “Sir, my name is Gnosha Curosinei, and I am just here to ensure the traveler will find sufficient protection at a fair price. The traveler is Mr Danso here beside me. I say for ten pieces of gold, I could hire my own caravan escort, but don’t let this opportunity pass us. Let me meet the crew you have hired, and I will tell you what I think is a fair price.” Mr Taragai looks at Gnosha and replies: - “Very well sir, I see you are a tough one to bargain with, come one, meet the escort and see for yourself.”
Mr Taragai calls for the crew at the table, to come and meet another person that is looking for an escort east. Gnosha scrutinizes the group of four quite odd adventurers. He looks at them one by one. First, there is a Goblin female, dressed in red clothes, and Gnosha thinks to himself, a sorcerer of some sort, she introduces herself as Ignis. Secondly, a very tall person, a Gnoll, dressed in scale mail armor, carrying a large sword. He looks like someone who can fight and hold his ground, he introduces himself as Krarrgork Skogsbuske. Ghosha sees some symbols of the god Uvuko, which is a popular god among the tribal worshippers in the world. Krarrgork might even be a Paladin Gnosha thinks, just like Aered.
The third person is of the cat folks, dressed in leather armor, with daggers visible here and there. Gnosha thinks, a rogue, and the person introduces itself as Gato Felis. And last, a man dressed in nice clothes, with a puppet on his arm. The puppet says: -”Hi Gnosha, I’m Karl Magnus, you are almost as short as I am!” and then laughs a frantic laugh. The person is a ventriloquist and probably a bard Ghosha thinks. After the brief introduction, the group of adventurers return to their table.
Gnosha now looks at Mr Taragai again, and says: - “Mr Taragai, that is a quite interesting group you have hired, they look capable to me.” After a short haggle between the two, the price of five pieces of gold is set, and Mr Danso joins the group at the table, and introduces himself, and pays the fee. Gnosha says: -”I'm so sorry we have to leave you so soon but we have some urgent business to attend to. Safe travels and we might meet again.” Gosha, Aered and Thefvae double back to the Castle, they are really in a hurry now.
When Gnosha, Aered and Thefvae return a bit after the second bugle blast, and they just barely entered the castle, Sir Heskan hands them one large pile of stuff each, where Aered gets the largest pile. Sir Heskan says: - “Gear up, saddle your horses, they are down at the stables, we leave very soon!”
Gnosha looks through his equipment, which mostly consists of a huge saddle with bags, and a small pouch with magical runes, one for his rapier, one for his crossbow and one for his armor. Gnosha prepares his equipment with the runes, to make them better, easier to handle. The horses provided by Sir Heskan are huge, even though Gnosha seems to have got the smallest huge mare they could find.
Aered’s pile is much larger, and he finds himself with a new set of armor and a rune for his sword. It takes Aered some time to figure out how this new armor sits, and to adjust it to his likings, but after he has done some of his practice moves in his new armor, he feels that he really likes it. It seems to follow his movements better, and at the same time have some better protection, and the new shield is more like the one he’s trained with, but better. The sword is even better balanced now too.
Thefvae did not get much except a saddle and a set of water bottles and provisions. She guessed Heskan’s blacksmiths might not really have armor for a tiny girl, but on the other hand, her armor is very good as it is.
They saddled their horses, and tried to befriend them. Thefvae had a rather huge stallion named Firefly Shadow, and Aered had a stallion named Duke Bizzard. Gnosha got the smallest horse they could find, a mare named Lucinda Clover, still a bit out of his comfort zone.
At the third bugle blast, Gnosha, Aered and Thefvae joined the Knight’s of East under Sir Heskan’s command in the outer courtyard, and then set off through Erast down to South Gate. When they exited through the gate, the horses set off at a riding speed Gnosha, Aered or Thefvae never had experienced before. The knight’s ride fast, but also takes frequent rests to let the horses rest and drink water.
The knights, led by Paragon Knight Sir Heskan, follow the road south, the road Gnosha and Aered arrived to Erast on a month ago, but it feels like a lifetime away. They have had so much adventure together, and the bond between them, as mentor and pupil, has grown very strong. Gnosha almost loses himself in philosophical thoughts while they once again ride on the South road.
After about two hours, they leave the South road and turn west in the direction of Winterhaven, the road Mr Danso and the crew of Mr Taragai will take in a few hours. The nights hold a high speed, but slow enough to not wear out the horses. They rest for lunch, and dinner, and between that just for the horses to drink. At nightfall they come close to a large mountain where Heskan decides they should make camp for the night. Gnosha looks at the mountain and he realizes that the mountain is called Kobold mountain by the folk around Erast, but he also thought the Kobolds might have second thoughts about attacking a group of fully armed Knights of Erast. Watch duties were ordered by Heskan, and everyone took a turn. Those on the watch went in pairs, watching in different directions. Gnosha thought that these Knights really were serious in everything they did.
Gnosha was paired with Sir Knight Fulcaire Mende de Santilhana. The two having a watch shift are ordered to know each other by name, combat name. This is an old Knights of Erast tradition, which ensures that those on watch know each other to prevent mistakes in the heat of the moment. Sir Knight Fulcaire Mende de Santilhana explains. - “During combat, if you quickly want to get my attention, you cannot shout Sir Knight Fulcaire Mende de Santilhan. One of us would be dead before you have finished saying that. You simply call me by my combat name, Mendo, and I will not shout Sir Gnosha Courisinie, I just shout Gnosha, or if you prefer something else as your combat name.” Gnosha realizes that this Knight, is a very experienced Knight, so he feels even safer.
Sir Knight Fulcaire Mende de Santilhana spends all his wake time watching out in the dark, while he constantly grinds his sword or the short thin bladed daggers he carries with a piece of leather or a small grinding stone, to keep their edges razor sharp. Gnosha realizes that these Knights are even more keen on weapons care than Aered.
Aered spends his watch paired with Sir Knight Benoît van Panhuysen, who has the combat name Benno, and they discuss weapons training, shield tactics and different kinds of feints and maneuvers that you can use to get your opponent off balance or distracted, while they both keep keen eyes on the environment, listening and checking the horses. Benno explains to Aered that the shield is not only for protection, it is a perfect weapon, and using it as such often surprises the enemy. The night passed without any incidents, so Gnosha thought he might have been right about the Kobolds not attacking Knights of Erast.
In the morning, they packed up and after breakfast they set off again. They estimated it was about three hours until they would leave the western trade route to Winterhaven and take a smaller trail north to reach the von Kettling Manor. It is a full day's ride on the trail until they reach the von Kettling Manor, so they would have to spend another night under the stars. There were more forests and hills around here, and much less farmland, Gnosha thought that the Kobold mountain probably had something to do with that.
When they had almost reached the crossroads where the trail North towards the von Kettling Manor begins, they saw a plume of smoke rising to the sky a fair bit ahead. Heskan made the sign for halt, then turned his head around towards the Knights and shouted in his loud and strong voice: - “Knights of Erast, For Duchess Maimux and the glory of Erast, charge!”
The knights set off at an extreme speed, raising shields and drawing swords. Aered, Gnosha and Thefvae try to keep up, but only Gnosha is up to it, but he slows down when he notices that neither Aered, nor Thefvae is up to it. Thefvae could almost keep up the pace on Firefly Shadow, but Aered was not at all one with Duke Blizzard, so he had to slow down or he would have fallen off. Gnosha quickly decides that it’s better to stick together, this still is Kobold lands, and without the Knights around, they are much more of a target, and three is better than or or two if they are attacked. The Knights, led by Sir Paragon Knight Heskan, quickly disappear around the next bend in the direction of the fire leaving a cloud of dust behind.
Suddenly Gnosha spots Kobolds beside the road just a bit ahead, and they have a large lizard on a leash with them. Gnosha tries to figure out what kind of giant lizard it is, but he has no clue. Gnosha brings Lucinda Clover to a halt and picks up and loads his crossbow. Aered rides up alongside Gnosha and dismounts his horse and draws his sword and raises his shield. The Kobold holding the leash lets it go, and the lizard moves really strange towards Gnosha and tries to bite him, but Lucinda Clover, a trained warhorse, skillfully makes a sidestep in the right second so the attack misses. The three Kobolds then raise their crossbows and fire. Two fires against Aered and one hits, and the last one fires at Gnosha and hits.
Thefvae mumbles something behind Gnosha and Aered and two small darts shoot out from her hand and hits one of the Kobolds high in the chest, and by the sounds the Kobold made, it hurts. Gnosha tried to see a weak spot on the gigantic lizards as he now has figured out that it is a giant gecko, and hits it in the neck behind its head, and then he reloads again.
Aered attacks the giant lizard with both his sword and his shield, just as Benno had told him to do, and he first knocks the lizard in the head with his shield, surprising it, then he runs his sword through the lizard’s throat, and kills it with his mighty attack.
The Kobolds now realize that Aered is the greatest threat, so they all fire their crossbows at him, but Aered deflect the bolts with his shield.. They quickly reload and fire again, and this time two of them hit. Thefvae mumbles something again, and fires off three small darts from her hand and they all hit the Kobold she hit before, in the chest again, and the Kobold falls to the ground. Ghosha tries to see a weak spot on one of the Kobolds, but he hides behind a tree, so he fires at the other one and hits it in the left leg. Aered rushes towards the Kobold hiding behind the tree and first bash it in the head with his shield, then decapitates it with a clean slash with his sword. This shield and sword combat tactics is really good, Aered says to himself. The last Kobold, hit in the left leg, starts to run away, but Thefvae mumbles again, and a new swarm of small darts shoots out from her hand and hits it in the back and he falls.
Gnosha quickly looks at Aereds wounds and they are not bad, but need some attention. They look around the area to see if there are any more Kobolds hiding around, or if there is some kind of nest or scouting position nearby, but they find nothing, and they find absolutely nothing of value on the Kobolds either.
After about 30 minutes the knights returned, they didn’t find anything except that someone had started a huge fire in a field, maybe even as a diversion to lure away the Knights from the rest of the group. Sir Heskan was impressed when he saw the dead Kobolds and the dead giant lizard laying beside the road.