Mistrustful Allies

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## Honks and Hobgoblins

The three-headed goosedra starts smashing through windows and flailing around, inflicting hefty damage. With some heavy damage however, the heads begin to be whittled down back to their smaller numbers. Mirik casts firebolt over the heads as they all off to cauterise the stumps, preventing them from regrowing. In the chaos, Ahsatan looses control of her demon, which begins to attack her. It telepathically asks her to hand over her sword to it, but a blue shield of energy prevents it from grabbing the blade. The demon angrily skitters up the wall and prepares to jump on Ahsatan below.

Carric and Rayner finally levitate out of the top floor window and onto the ground. Rayner sprints off to the secret entrance at the back of the town hall. Maurice and Fendrel also begin running to the back entrance.

The goosedra is knocked down to a single head. Kiira convinces some nearby hobgoblins to fight against it, and they agree. As the goose begins to fly away with a single head in tact, Carric casts Fey Hypnosis on it and the two hobgoblins that were fighting it, causing the goose to plummet out the sky and land painfully on the ground. Kiira finishes it off with a sneaky crossbow shot and runs off towards the back of the town hall. Suddenly, three familiar hobgoblin ninjas appear on top of the nearby wall and begin running down and throwing darts at Kiira. Ahsatan avoids the hobgoblin ninjas using thunderstep to rocket jump right to the exit. With Ahsatan too far away, her demon instead skitters across the wall to Kiira and drops down onto her, but struggles to get an attack in.

Ven makes his way outside now as the distant sound of horns grows closer, along with marching. A mean looking hobgoblin rounds the corner opposite the entrance to the town hall, leading a small army with him. Carric casts entangle on the entrance to hinder their movement, and Ven begins to talk to the army. The leader is none other than Merdug, who after a small conversation about fire safety has his men shoot Ven down, knocking him unconscious.

Ahsatan manages to regain control of her demon and banish it back into the sword. As the ninjas close in on the party, Mirik emerges from the town hall and casts Hold Person on them, stopping them from pursuing. One by one the party minus Ven escape out the back as they hear the hobgoblin army approaching. They rush through the town to escape into the wilderness around Grimmholm. Lead by Maurice, the party "stealthily" make their way to her farmhouse on the outskirts of the town and duck inside. They have a much needed rest and begin to discuss their escape plans.

## A Surprising Twist

Ven finds himself healed back up by a nearby hobgoblin as he notices an even larger army approaching. He attempts to run, but is knocked unconscious again. He later wakes up tied to a chair in a office room with a few hobgoblins dotted around. Sitting in front of him is a large hobgoblin in navy blue armour, who offers a polite smile. He introduces himself as Zaldran, and asks a couple of questions about the party. Zaldran explains that they saw the party enter a farmhouse not too long ago, and if they try to run they will be blown to smithereens by several fireballs centred on their location. He asks Ven to gather the party to have a conversation with him, and in return he will allow them to go free with whatever prisoners they want. He also mentions that he has a job offer for them if they want, and a couple of letters for Mirik. Ven agrees to Zaldran's request, and is sent to the farmhouse to gather the party.

Ven slowly walks to the front door of the farmhouse and warns the party not to run away. He explains the situation, and says that they have until tomorrow morning to make a decision. Clearly not wanting to be blown to smithereens, the party agree that they will have to speak with Zaldran, and with nothing left to do settle down for the night, keeping watch on the nearby town. The flames from the town hall eventually settle as the night goes on.

Mirik finds himself in a dream, overlooking the Plainstead Valley from the nearby mountains. A human-sized Pelor stands next to him, and compliments Mirik on his strength. Pelor points to a black-iron fortress near the base of the mountain, as black shadow builds up from within it. Small motes of darkness fly out across the valley and land in different towns and cities, spreading the darkness further until the valley is completely black. Pelor asks Mirik what he will do, and Mirik unleashes his sun energy. The beam is powerful; so powerful, the sight of the valley in front of him is reduced to nothing but white light. Mirik turns to Pelor, upset that he just removed the entire valley. Pelor laughs. He compliments Mirik on his strength once again, and warns him that his reluctance to use such power is only holding him back. Surprised by the sinister tone in his voice, Mirik looks at Pelor to see the glowing orb of light where his head is seems to drip slightly. Pelor speaks again, more forcefully, telling Mirik that he must listen to him carefully and follow his orders if he wants to become the light he was destined to be. The sun god continued to talk, even suggesting that he split him from Landar to remove his inhibitions. Mirik then wakes up, shaken thoroughly by his dream as the sun shines bright into his room.