The Hellions - Episode Six

==Arc Synopsis:==
Inzet, the capital city of Mowen's Borderlands province. Welcome to the Vanguard. An order of heroic Knights whose sole purpose is to protect the Trinity Kingdoms from threats beyond the ability of normal mortals. You are part of the Hellions Faction of the Vanguard, who patrol the wastes for the accursed dread hounds. These fiendish monsters have no tactics, no sentience, never tire, and are always hungry for mortal flesh. Until today, when something changed...
==Episode Summary:==
Fall 1217. In this adventure, the squad finished up their between adventure downtime activities and headed to Bastion to find the hidden warehouse. En route they came across some mercenaries that were up to no good.
This is the sixth adventure in the The Hellions Arc
==Commanding Officer:==
Mazz (Massidy) Hebner – Second-in-Command, Vanguard: Hellions Faction.
==Vanguard:==
*Nevelle Szmart - Tiefling Undying Warlock
*El Cangrejo – Crabfolk (Simic) Mastermind Rogue
*Dro Near’th - Drow Shadow Sorcerer
*Tyriel Criller – Human (Loxodon) Ancestral Barbarian
*Shepard Swiftfoot - Horned Halfing (Tiefling) Moon Druid
*Duvel Storm - Aarakocra Arcane Archer Fighter
==Adventure Debriefing:==
===You Make Me===
Six weeks downtime while Inzet secured. Squads swept through town to ensure no dread hounds remained from the attack. Nevelle decoded the ledger from Baltine's Manor and with a little cartography help from Shepard learned the locations of the warehouses. She also met with Whispering Cutlass mercenary Tar'ren to learn more about the routed Veyis cult and undead that were in the sewers. Tyriel spent time at the forge crafting the "Ancestral Totem Axe of Flame." Dro developed and attempted crafting a pocket watch out of Etherite. Duvel took some martial training learning the Special Move "Pushback" and worked on his bowmanship. El C worked on spreading rumors of his legendary exploits, and acquired the Compass of Coin in the process; then awoke one morning to a dog licking his foot. Shepard, with Sabine and Savaxis, scouted Bastion for the warehouse there, finding trail markers and a significant presence of ash zombies. Upon returning, Mazz gave Shepard an old spell tome from which he learned the spell "Invisibility from Undead."
===Whatever You Like===
While Shepard got Myrrh from the funeral parlor that services the Vanguard, the rest of the team visited Aradrine. El C disclosed that while they did not yet have the Etherite that was stolen from Aradrine, they did find the location where there would be even more. As a consolation prize he turned over info on late Rilka; and Rilka's destroyed Uncertainty Satchel, perhaps in hopes of restoring the magic. El C promised that perhaps they would return with even more Etherite than Aradrine had initially lost.
She knew about Rotter's Blight, and that the cases among the Vanguard had increased (her source Coelho? of the Synodic Parliament?), and sold Wellbloom to Duvel.
===Polka Face===
Kell's Hells sail their boat across Lakes. Once landed Duvel cast Pass without Trace, and Shepard cast Invisibility from Undead. Shepard lead the crew to the first trail markers and they followed until spotting a blueish glow to the north. Breaking from the trail they headed north to what would be close what had been the middle of town, getting closer Tyriel heard the "tink-tink" sound of mining. He then pointed out a faint mist at the bottom of stairs that led up to the blue glow. Nevelle theorized the mist prevented the local ash zombies from approaching. Captain, Dro's familiar, went to investigate and found the mist most unpleasant as they disincorporated from the freezing pain of entering the cloud. Sneaking past the ash zombies, the squad decides to climb a cliff to avoid the mists. Duvel secured a hook and rope allowing them to ascend. Unfortunately, a the mercenaries above were a little too alert and the parties presence was noted. Duvel, realizing their cover had been lost, loosed two arrows into the closest causing serious damage. 
The first mercenary to react dropped his pick and grabbed an axe and shield, another followed suit grasping a greatsword. A caster hit Duvel with an eldritch blast. Duvel flew up and tossed a bag of Dust of Sneezing and Coughing into the enemies, incapacitating a couple. The presumed leader of the mercenaries coaxed his subordinates into action. Shepard charged ahead to the closest fighter, changing into a dire wolf and biting into him. Another mercenary dropped his pick and grabbed a bow to shoot Duvel. Dro tried to hit the fighter by Shepard with a fire bolt. A caster mercenary tried to cast sleep at the squad but was unsuccessful. Tyriel accessed his inner strength and raging forward slashed the fighter. El Cangrejo, seeing a downed opponent and a cliff, took a chance to hook him and then pulled the attached rope around a rock with enough force to roll the hooked individual off the ledge. Nevelle stepped forward and hit the leader ("money man") with a couple blasts of her own. A few ash zombies confronted the opponent that had fallen off the edge.
The fighter below steadied himself and prepared to block ash zombie attacks with his shield. The greatsword wielder swung at Tyriel and missed. The eldritch caster conjured a shadowy spirit but unable to control it to attack Tyriel, instead knocked himself out. The "money man" quaffed a healing potion and ran further away. Duvel flew around the grave quartz deposit and surging with fighter ferocity fired four arrows at the "money man," dropping him. The sneakier of the mercenaries, after hearing the boss' pained cries, decided to make a swift stab at El Cangrejo causing him to bleed; and then disengaged away from everyone. Shepard bit and pulled the greatsword fighter to the ground. The bowman hit El C with one quick arrow while trying to escape, but only causing half the damage as El C parried it slightly with his rapier. Dro eyed the far caster and hit him with one of two eldritch blasts of force energy. The caster responded by dropping an area of freezing fog on the squad, excluding where the greatsword fighter lay prone. Nevelle, Dro, and wild-shaped Shepard were sapped of their strength, but Tyriel stood strong against the cold. Tyriel took a couple swings at the downed greatsword fighter, landing one and surrounding the fighter with the spirits of Tyriel's ancestors; and then stepping out of the freezing fog. El Cangrejo wanting to stop the fleeing rogue that stabbed him, activated his magical bracers, Mutual Destruction, and threw a dagger causing significant damage to both parties. The wound he suffered previously still bleeding, El C dropped to the ground. The escaping caster managed to dodge Nevelles sacred flame cantrip. Slowly, ash zombies moved closer to the fracas, no longer kept at bay by an earlier freezing fog that had now dissipated. 
The greatsword fighter swung at the only foe still near him, but Shepard took the hit without worry, but the fighter was the dispatched by Tyriel's protective ancestors. Duvel fired a couple arrows at the fleeing caster, and on the second caused the caster to be pushed back and knocked prone. The fleeing rogue fell down the cliff in an attempt to avoid approaching zombies. Shepard dashed from the freezing fog across the plateau catching up to the archer. The archer disengaged and climbed along the far cliff to avoid the zombies below away from Shepard. Dro approached towards where the rogue had been, and used his ability to instantly change a creatures location to warp himself down by the fleeing rogue. Duvel "suggested" the caster move the freezing fog back to where it would hinder ash zombie encroachment, but the caster was too weakened to cast any more spells of the third circle that day. Duvel offered the caster a chance to yield, and the caster dropped his staff, "I yield." Tyriel saw the caster subdued, and switched targets to engage the approaching ash zombies, striking one and resisting the cloud of ash that it produced. On the second swing the ash zombie intercepted the blow and held the axe firmly. El Cangrejo remained unconscious but was holding on. Nevelle misty stepped up to El C and cast spare the dying to help him hold on.
 
Duvel flew up and loosed a couple arrows at the ash zombie closest to Tyriel, unfortunately hitting Tyriel with a stray shot, but then following up with a "kill" shot on the zombie, freeing Tyriels hand and axe in the process. The rogue that had tried to flee, pulled out the bigger knife El C had thrown at him and stabbed Dro with it before continuing to run. Dro responded by hellish rebuking the attack, injuring the rogue further. Shepard maneuvered around a boulder and paused where the archer was hanging off the cliff, and with a bow of his dire wolf head attempted to wordlessly offer "help up? or be knocked down to the zombies?" The archer chose to accept the help up and dropped his bow in surrender. Dro warped himself back up the cliff; out of the reach of coming zombies. An ash zombie hit Tyriel but he was unfazed. Tyriel grabbed a nearby log and used it to block the stairs, rolling it down into a couple zombies and pinning them. Around the area many zombies shambled ever closer. Nevelle veiled herself with a spirit shroud and blasted the nearest ash zombie with eldritch energy demolishing it, a cloud of ash puffed from it's body but she was unaffected. The war marshal that had been pulled off the cliff by El C earlier had been harassed by zombies repeatedly, but with axe and shield in hand, continued to stay alive.
Duvel fired a couple arrows at the ash zombies Tyriel had pinned. Shepard, still in dire wolf form, tapped the archers bow with a paw and knelt down to encourage him to jump on, and after he did so, dashed across the field stopping above the war marshal. The archer fired down at zombies below. Dro cast a toll the dead on one zombie coming up the cliff nearest him, Nevell, and the resting El Cangrejo; then grabbed a healing potion from El C's medic sash. Tyriel slashed at the zombies on his side of the field, ending their advance. Nevelle administered a healing potion to El C, bringing him back to consciousness, and then took a defensive position to block the few zombies that had moved up to the plateau. As the zombies approached, they tried to attack Nevelle but were unable to do engage, deterred by her among the dead feature.
Duvel grabbed the caster and told him to follow or risk death by Duvel's arrows, then flew towards the bulk of the party on the ledge; finishing with a few well placed arrows at the back of the pack of zombies congregating near Nevelle. The caster complied and also cast a fire bolt at one of the zombies. Shepard tried hitting a zombie with one of his own fire bolts, but only managed to hit the cliff. Dro activated his new form of dread ability, taking on a shadowy red-eyed visage and hit a zombie with a fire bold. Tyriel closed the rest of the distance to his squad, and readied himself to take position at the front. Dro returned the bigger knife to El C. Now back in the fight, El C realized his grappling hook was still attached to the war marshal and helped him halfway up the cliff, and then stepped back to regain his strength. Nevelle held her position trying to block the zombies on the ledge. The zombies moved in tighter almost surrounding her, one overcoming it's hesitation to engage and it attacked Nevelle.
Duvel flew to the far side of the ledge and shouted attempting to draw some of the zombies to him instead of Nevelle, one stumbled while turning and fell off the cliff; and Duvel waited for the other to get close enough to avoid splashing Nevelle with an ash cloud. Shepard rejoined the group behind Tyriel, ready to help wherever needed. At El C's request, Dro took off his hat, but instead of holding it out, he simply dropped it and warped back away from the ledge. Tyriel moved up next to Nevelle and attempted to shove one of the zombies off the cliff, but the angle was to awkward to get a good push. El C pulled the battering ram from Dro's hat of holding and charged across the ledge, slamming into Nevelle and the two zombies sending them off the cliff. Duvel loosed his held arrows, hitting the zombies as they fell. Tyriel reacted quickly; braced and caught Nevelle before she could drop off the side.
==Conclusion==
The remaining mercenaries surrendered, and the squad began asking for information on what lie ahead.
==Rewards==
*Pushback (special manuever), Duvel
*Ancestral Totem Axe of Flame (crafted), Tyriel
*Designs for Etherite pocket watch (crafted), Dro
*Invisibility to Undead (spell unlock), Shepard
*2 Shadow Onyx gems (traded for Etherite), held by El Cangrejo
*Scroll of Banishment, El Cangrejo
*Compass of Coin, El Cangrejo
*One gold tooth, El Cangrejo
*Improved Reputation (rumors), El Cangrejo
*Perro, El Cangrejo
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*25 lbs of Grave Quartz, Dro Near'th
*Travel Dragonchess set, Ivory and Obsidian, El Cangrejo
*Potion of Healing
*Black Lace Masquerade Mask
*Langston's Pocket Watch, '13' countdown, ("Don't Forget" written in blood)
*23 gold and 23 silver
Hellions - 06