Aegon and the Troupe have finally located the Iron Throne’s Mine within the Cloakwood. After scouting the area, they learned there was only one way in. They marched through the front gates to find heavily armed bandits waiting for them.
13 Eleasias 1368
Helga: Straight to the point? I be game for this.
Aegon: You want to know what I always say? “Always kill the mouthy one”, that’s what I always say.
Drasus: HAW! A good saying! I will use your head for a puppet and make it say it over and over while we drink large amounts of mead! Life is pretty good, you know?
We hear a great number of bandits rushing to the fight. I prepare a Web to hold them back. Coran pulls out and hurls a Potion of Explosions. White calls upon a snake to help us in the fight, while Helga and Faldorn prepare spells to protect us during the fight. Eldoth pulls out one of the Scrolls of Restenford: this one to Summon an Earth Elemental.
Coran’s Potion strikes the ground and explodes in a ball of fire consuming our attackers. As the flames die down, Drasus drinks a potion, one that I recognise will protect him from the Weave. White’s snake rises out of the ground, baring its fangs already dripping with poison. Eldoth fails to use his scroll and decides a spell of protection would be a better use of the Weave.
Faldorn finishes her blessing and I feel a rush of vitality through my body. I should be able to recover from any wounds quickly during this fight.
Helga provides her Blessing for this battle, as the courtyard starts to fill with strands of silk wrapping themselves around the bandits. Some are held in place, but others remain free. Within the webs I see a wizard glowing with many protections summoned from the Weave. This one is going to be difficult to kill.
Eldoth calls upon Faith to be his armour, and layers of divine protection glow upon him. Helga calls upon her God to grant us bravery for the rest of the fight.
More bandits join the fight and arrows start flying into our ranks. There are too many of them, and Drasus has consumed a Potion of Strength. We are quickly being overwhelmed!
I use the Scrolls of Restenford to summon a couple of Astral Weasels to help us. Let us see if they can turn the tide.
Several Arrows of Ice pierce through Faldorn’s armour, freezing her flesh so much it burns. She tries to scream but can only let out a gasp. Her eyes fill with horror as she realises this will be her last moment in this fight.
I should have heeded the visions. We should have run. There are many of them, and we are already down one of our number.
The astral weasels and White’s snake manage to push many of their number back, but the wizard summons a couple of giant spiders to help in the fight.
One of the astral weasels grants us Haste, enabling us to attack and react faster. Helga Dooms one of the bandits. The giant spiders tear into White’s snake with their mandibles, almost tearing it in twain. They turn their attention to the weasels.
We focus our attention on one of the bandits wielding throwing axes, heavily armed as he is. Helga Hurls a Stone and the magical bullet strikes true.
The axe-man is knocked unconscious by the Stone, but the wizard uses the Weave to Confuse one of the weasels.
The wizard then attempts to Charm the other weasel, but thankfully it resists. The axe-man is killed by our onslaught, so we turn to help the weasels on their front.
I call upon Corellon to create a Glyph of Warding, which sends lightning surging into many of the bandits and kills one of the spiders.
I follow this up by sending a Lightning Bolt toward Drasus. He is almost unable to move with so much electricity in his veins.
An astral weasel kills another spider, but the wizard summons more reinforcements in the form of ogre berserkers. I don’t know if the weasels can take them…
I send some Magic Missiles flying toward Drasus. They strike and seem to hurt, yet he is still standing. Arrows, lightning, and pure magic have injured him, yet he keeps on fighting as if he was at full strength.
There are many archers among the bandits, so I ask the Weave to protect me from their arrows.
We kill two more spiders, but the wizard summons even more help. This time in the form of hobgoblins. The wizard brings Chaos to my thoughts as I try to fight a Blacktalon. I can’t focus any more. What am I doing here?
I find myself wandering toward the wall of the fortress. There’s something about the wood they used here. What kind is it? How far does it go into the ground? Do the trees that live beyond it mind that their flesh has been used this way?
Hold on. I am meant to be fighting. Yes, that’s it. I must go and fight this person. I think. He’s yelling my name. Wait. Is he the right person to fight? I raise my hammer.
An arrow goes through the man and he dies. Wait. It’s making sense again now. Coran! He’s dead. And Eldoth too. What happened? Shit, the visions are coming true. We’re going to die.
There are so many of them, and only three of us left. We need to stop the half-measures, I use my Wand to launch a Fireball. The smell of burning flesh starts to fill the air as many of the bandits die.
It’s still not over yet, though. I summon Aganazzar’s Scorcher with my Wand and move it through the ranks of the enemy. Many more fall as others burn.
I keep moving through them and thin out their numbers as the wizard moves in to join the fight once more.
Damn this thing is powerful. I should use it a lot more.
Only a few remain. The ogre berserker’s charge into us while the archers support us. The wizard continues to call upon the Weave.
Our enemies glow as they are protected by the wizard’s Chant. They may be slightly tougher to kill now, but they are already severely burnt.
They are killed easily, as are the hobgoblins. Unfortunately I am held in place by the Weave, that damned wizard fighting to his last.
Thankfully his magical protections have worn off, so Helga and White are able to kill him quickly. Now they need only wait for his magic to wear off so I can move again.
While they wait, Helga contemplates the things she has learned in the Cloakwood. She feels her connection to Haela is being restored through these battles.
Her Saves against Polymorph and Spells improve by 1. She also gets 1 additional Level 2 Spell, as well as 1 Level 3 Spell. She gains 9 Hit Points and 2 points of Lore.
Haela now grants her blessings similar to that of my own Corellon. We are on equal footing in that regard now.
Eventually I am able to move again and I quaff a Potion of Regeneration to restore my broken body.
We gather the equipment of our fallen allies and press forward to search the bodies of the bandits. We find that another wizard has been lying in wait for us, and his protections are still active.
I use my Wand to send forth a pillar of flame at the mage. His magic doesn’t seem to protect him from the fire.
White goes into a barbaric rage and rushes to flank the wizard.
But before he can swing his flail our opponent falls to the ground, his flesh turned to ash.
We won the fight, but at a heavy cost. Half of our number gone. We may make it back to the temple in time to resurrect the others. But we cannot continue our assault with only three of us remaining. We have to go back and regroup either way. I only hope that when we return they won’t have any reinforcements.
Before we go we take the time to search the bodies for supplies. On Drasus we find a letter from someone called Rieltar. They must be a part of the Iron Throne.
Davaeorn was writing letters to Tazok, confirming what we already knew. This is the mine that Tazok left to visit, not the Nashkel Mine.
Among their equipment we find several Potions of Extra Healing…
…as well as some Potions of Power.
Many of the Blacktalons wore chainmail armour. Some of their chain mail was enchanted.
A couple were wearing enchanted splint mail armour.
Many of the Blacktalons carried enchanted longbows, as well as Arrows of Ice and other enchanted arrows.
The heavily armed axe-thrower was wearing some enchanted plate mail.
He also wore Talos’ Gift, a pair of boots designed to absorb lightning.
Drasus himself weilded an enchanted morning star.
He held this alongside a flail that sucks the life out of people as a vampire would. I can sense the evil in this weapon, and none of us want to use it ourselves.
He also carried a spear I cannot identify. I’ll have to ask Eldoth after we return to civilisation and have them resurrected.
Drasus’ shield is enchanted by the heart of a dragon, and provides a lot of protection. I decide to take it for myself. It’s a little unweildy, but its worth the extra defense.
One of the wizards wore a Robe of Cold Resistance.
And he carried a Wand that looks familiar, but I can’t be sure it’s another Wand of Fire.
The other wizard wore a Traveller’s Robe.
He also carried on him a couple of scrolls. One allows the caster to use fire as a defense against attacks.
The other allows the caster to Confuse their opponents.
These are both beyond my skill to memorise right now, so I tuck them into my Scroll Case.
Warily, we make our move out of the castle. This fight didn’t go the Iron Throne’s way, but it didn’t go ours either. The three of us begin the dangerous trek back through the Cloakwood, to the Friendly Arm Inn where we will find the Temple of Wisdom.
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It takes us a few days to get back to the Friendly Arm Inn. As we travelled through the woods we were chased by spiders. We chose to run, not wanting to risk losing another of our troupe.
At the temple we find we don’t have enough money to pay Gellana for the resurrections, but we make up the deficit by selling spare equipment from our Bag of Holding to the traders outside.
All three of them decide to rest here at the temple for now. I ask Eldoth to help me identify the weapons that we recovered in the motte and bailey. He tells me the sword is a Varscona.
He also confirms that the Wand is another Wand of Fire. It is also fully charged!
Unfortunately the spear is cursed, wounding the wielder almost as much as it hurts their opponent.
I ask Ratava if she can identify the rings we found in the Cloakwood, and she is all too happy to help. The first, as it turns out, is actually a crown used by druids to get closer to Nature.
The other is a tool used by druids to fight forest fires and protect the woods.
We say our goodbyes to the others, leaving them here to recover. We must return to the Cloakwood before they can rebuild their defenses. But to do that we are going to need a new team…
