Assault on Drezen
Our Heroes, and the army, arrive at Drezen mid-afternoon of the next day. Being late winter, normally this would be a cold and dry time of year, but the vagaries and chaos of the World Wound play into The Party's favor, and it's a balmy, almost pleasant day.
Except for the orange sky with streaks of purple. It's a bit hard to look at, and adds a note of insanity to what otherwise might be pleasant - welcome to the World Wound, if you brought any sanity we'll make sure to relive you of it at some point.
Irabeth sends the scouts ahead - at this point, with the command team's membership halved, that's her wife Anevia, the rogue Torvan, and the ninja/paladin Vig. They see the Citadel of Drezen is mostly intact; there's signs of ghouls in the cemetary (and a crypt that oozes black smoke like a lanced boil). In the city proper there's what appears to be a prison on the hill, and a couple of buildings south of the citadel that might be stores of some sort. Finally, the one remaining bridge over the dry riverbeds is guarded by a small troop of tieflings, and has several aurochs tied to the bridge pillars (think about a bull / dinosaur combination, but with that special World Wound sauce that makes everything worse).
Hmmmm... thinks The Party.
Irabeth announces that the army will make camp in the graveyard tonight.
Hmmmm? thinks The Party.
Irabeth explains that she wants to provoke a ghoul attack first thing, and isn't worried about an army of paladins against ghouls; this way the army's western flank will be protected.
Hmmmm! thinks The Party.
Before dark Our Heroes enter the malevolent-seeming crypt, and find that, yes, it's filled with undead and demons and some sort of undead-smoke-demon creature! Most of the monsters are handily dispatched; the smoke-demon-undead-creature turns into smoke and races away, into the citadel.
That night, as predicted, the ghouls attack. Being on double-watch, it is hardly a battle to speak of, and YHN will say no more about it than this: the paladins win.
Morning breaks in the World Wound, like an egg shattering against a window. Kand begins helping to set up the trebuchet, since Aron Kir, the Engineer, is still suffering the effects of DemonBlood withdrawal syndrome. While the army sweeps-and-clears South Drezen, Our Party goes to take a look at the bridge. Approaching stealthily from the river bed, The Heroes manage to get close enough to the Aurochs to start picking the locks that chain the beasts to the pillars; some soft smooth words from Antwon and a magical ring of Befriending Animals helps smooth the way here. Before all can be released, however, one of the Tieflings notices The Heroes working at disabling the bridge-collapsing trap, and combat is joined!
Two of the Aurochs were freed, and the other two slain before they could pull the bridge down. The tiefling guards never really had a chance against such brave Heroes as Our Party, and most choose to flee into the Citadel.
As Our Heroes move to rejoin the Army, they hear a roar from the Citadel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
Well, perhaps it's better to say that a roar comes from the Citadel; in all the excitement I'm not quite convinced that it registered upon their ears.
The army was also victorious against the inhabitants of Drezen; minor demons, tieflings, and cultists, Oh My. Three buildings have food, water, and other equipment; Sosiel will prepare Detect Poison and Purify Food and Drink to ensure that the rations and water are fresh and clean. There's also a couple of hundred soldiers worth of arms and armor.
It's still before noon, and both Our Heroes and the Army are relatively fresh; The Party goes to scout ahead and see if any prisoners are left alive and sane, while the Army begins its sortie against Paradise Hill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
The Heroes look quizzically at one another - a roar of some sort? It's probably just the World Wound in its strange panoply of wonderments and horrors.
Now for a moment please allow me, Your Humble Narrator, to turn your attention once again to Nelson, the War Wolf. Recently he has fought several demons and monsters, although at this point that's nothing really new. He's been hoisted to the tops of several buildings, and has come to enjoy the ride. His best friend, and his other friends, are quite appreciative of his combat prowess and just, in general, his Good-Boy energy. The World Wound itself, however, smells wrong.
I fear I have been derelict in my descriptive duties, Gentle Reader, for I have only touched upon the highlights of how fundamentally WRONG the World Wound seems - like looking into a mirror where everything reflected is in part or whole entirely mis-shapen and disturbing. Sounds of screams or moans or the sussurrations of whispered madness are inescapable, and the air smells off, somehow, like the opposite of the smell of a forest after the spring rain.
But I can only begin to imagine how off the World Wound must smell for a creature whose sensory apparatus is oriented not visually, as ours is, but olfactorally, like Nelson's is. In our mirror analogy above, imagine that on top of the reflection being wrong, it's both foggy and blurred, as if one was wearing another person's spectacles, and standing so close to the mirror that it fogs with one's breath.
I'm not convinced I've still caught it, but at this point, again, I want to reiterate that you're a Good Boy, Nelson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
Our Heroes see several people in what looks like a giant open-air prison; cots on the floor and as many guards as prisoners. The party enters invisibly, and at first the prisoners are, at best, leery of the authenticity of their rescue - the World Wound plays tricks on us, and nothing can be trusted for nothing is as it seems.
As the guards begin to die and Our Heroes are revealed, the captured Crusaders begin to realize that this might actually be a legitimate rescue operation, and soon combat is joined in earnest. The Army outside is also clearing this section of the city, and though it's slower going than South Drezen, with more urban guerrilla action, it's apparent that Our Heroes and the Army will carry the day...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
The chimera's name is Soltengrabbe. One head is a lion, another a goat, and the third a dragon, which breathes a blast of ice crystals on paladins and cultists alike, indiscriminate in its slaughter. The party attracts its attention, and battle is joined! It is a hard-pressed combat, as this monster is the toughest foe that Our Heroes has faced so far - at one point Vig passes beyond the veil that covers the long road from which none return; until Kendra acts quickly and pulls his spirit back into his body, so that Our Ninja Friend can live to fight another day.
Eventually, as such things must, The Heroes emerge victorious. The Chimera is slain, the prisoners rescued and armed, and Drezen has been retaken.
Bloodied and exhausted, The Party and the Army - now more than double in size with the addition of the freed captives - make camp in the ruins of South Drezen. It is with a complicated set of emotions that the Crusaders bed down for the night; grief for fallen comrades, elation at victory, hard-fought and won, and weariness from all the action today. As evening prayers are said over a meal of beef stew and potato-bread, we pull the curtain on our story - goodnight, Gentle Reader, until the morrow.
Except for the orange sky with streaks of purple. It's a bit hard to look at, and adds a note of insanity to what otherwise might be pleasant - welcome to the World Wound, if you brought any sanity we'll make sure to relive you of it at some point.
Irabeth sends the scouts ahead - at this point, with the command team's membership halved, that's her wife Anevia, the rogue Torvan, and the ninja/paladin Vig. They see the Citadel of Drezen is mostly intact; there's signs of ghouls in the cemetary (and a crypt that oozes black smoke like a lanced boil). In the city proper there's what appears to be a prison on the hill, and a couple of buildings south of the citadel that might be stores of some sort. Finally, the one remaining bridge over the dry riverbeds is guarded by a small troop of tieflings, and has several aurochs tied to the bridge pillars (think about a bull / dinosaur combination, but with that special World Wound sauce that makes everything worse).
Hmmmm... thinks The Party.
Irabeth announces that the army will make camp in the graveyard tonight.
Hmmmm? thinks The Party.
Irabeth explains that she wants to provoke a ghoul attack first thing, and isn't worried about an army of paladins against ghouls; this way the army's western flank will be protected.
Hmmmm! thinks The Party.
Before dark Our Heroes enter the malevolent-seeming crypt, and find that, yes, it's filled with undead and demons and some sort of undead-smoke-demon creature! Most of the monsters are handily dispatched; the smoke-demon-undead-creature turns into smoke and races away, into the citadel.
That night, as predicted, the ghouls attack. Being on double-watch, it is hardly a battle to speak of, and YHN will say no more about it than this: the paladins win.
Morning breaks in the World Wound, like an egg shattering against a window. Kand begins helping to set up the trebuchet, since Aron Kir, the Engineer, is still suffering the effects of DemonBlood withdrawal syndrome. While the army sweeps-and-clears South Drezen, Our Party goes to take a look at the bridge. Approaching stealthily from the river bed, The Heroes manage to get close enough to the Aurochs to start picking the locks that chain the beasts to the pillars; some soft smooth words from Antwon and a magical ring of Befriending Animals helps smooth the way here. Before all can be released, however, one of the Tieflings notices The Heroes working at disabling the bridge-collapsing trap, and combat is joined!
Two of the Aurochs were freed, and the other two slain before they could pull the bridge down. The tiefling guards never really had a chance against such brave Heroes as Our Party, and most choose to flee into the Citadel.
As Our Heroes move to rejoin the Army, they hear a roar from the Citadel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
Well, perhaps it's better to say that a roar comes from the Citadel; in all the excitement I'm not quite convinced that it registered upon their ears.
The army was also victorious against the inhabitants of Drezen; minor demons, tieflings, and cultists, Oh My. Three buildings have food, water, and other equipment; Sosiel will prepare Detect Poison and Purify Food and Drink to ensure that the rations and water are fresh and clean. There's also a couple of hundred soldiers worth of arms and armor.
It's still before noon, and both Our Heroes and the Army are relatively fresh; The Party goes to scout ahead and see if any prisoners are left alive and sane, while the Army begins its sortie against Paradise Hill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
The Heroes look quizzically at one another - a roar of some sort? It's probably just the World Wound in its strange panoply of wonderments and horrors.
Now for a moment please allow me, Your Humble Narrator, to turn your attention once again to Nelson, the War Wolf. Recently he has fought several demons and monsters, although at this point that's nothing really new. He's been hoisted to the tops of several buildings, and has come to enjoy the ride. His best friend, and his other friends, are quite appreciative of his combat prowess and just, in general, his Good-Boy energy. The World Wound itself, however, smells wrong.
I fear I have been derelict in my descriptive duties, Gentle Reader, for I have only touched upon the highlights of how fundamentally WRONG the World Wound seems - like looking into a mirror where everything reflected is in part or whole entirely mis-shapen and disturbing. Sounds of screams or moans or the sussurrations of whispered madness are inescapable, and the air smells off, somehow, like the opposite of the smell of a forest after the spring rain.
But I can only begin to imagine how off the World Wound must smell for a creature whose sensory apparatus is oriented not visually, as ours is, but olfactorally, like Nelson's is. In our mirror analogy above, imagine that on top of the reflection being wrong, it's both foggy and blurred, as if one was wearing another person's spectacles, and standing so close to the mirror that it fogs with one's breath.
I'm not convinced I've still caught it, but at this point, again, I want to reiterate that you're a Good Boy, Nelson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
Our Heroes see several people in what looks like a giant open-air prison; cots on the floor and as many guards as prisoners. The party enters invisibly, and at first the prisoners are, at best, leery of the authenticity of their rescue - the World Wound plays tricks on us, and nothing can be trusted for nothing is as it seems.
As the guards begin to die and Our Heroes are revealed, the captured Crusaders begin to realize that this might actually be a legitimate rescue operation, and soon combat is joined in earnest. The Army outside is also clearing this section of the city, and though it's slower going than South Drezen, with more urban guerrilla action, it's apparent that Our Heroes and the Army will carry the day...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSx_cSPw_0
The chimera's name is Soltengrabbe. One head is a lion, another a goat, and the third a dragon, which breathes a blast of ice crystals on paladins and cultists alike, indiscriminate in its slaughter. The party attracts its attention, and battle is joined! It is a hard-pressed combat, as this monster is the toughest foe that Our Heroes has faced so far - at one point Vig passes beyond the veil that covers the long road from which none return; until Kendra acts quickly and pulls his spirit back into his body, so that Our Ninja Friend can live to fight another day.
Eventually, as such things must, The Heroes emerge victorious. The Chimera is slain, the prisoners rescued and armed, and Drezen has been retaken.
Bloodied and exhausted, The Party and the Army - now more than double in size with the addition of the freed captives - make camp in the ruins of South Drezen. It is with a complicated set of emotions that the Crusaders bed down for the night; grief for fallen comrades, elation at victory, hard-fought and won, and weariness from all the action today. As evening prayers are said over a meal of beef stew and potato-bread, we pull the curtain on our story - goodnight, Gentle Reader, until the morrow.
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