Winestott's Revenge (6/5/2023)

## Aftermath of Arbor Haven

After the battle in Arbor Haven, the party is exhausted and surrounded by smoldering ruins. A massive hole is in the main wall and the realm shard is gone. There's a mess of bodies around the gate and a handful of people that survived but were injured. Lachlan survived and is holding a severed arm of a Druid, still clutching a leaf blade. Caius survived the fight as well. The party watches Cragthorn retreat along with his "wife", as he stops for a moment and spits out the realm shard before disappearing into the forest. Hadrian mysteriously dissipates into mist.

Talek, Leaf, and Fen work to heal the injured (Fen has no idea what he's doing) and manage to save 24 out of 36 of the villagers. Lachlan looks distraught declaring this an "absolute disaster". Xophren reminds him that it's only a disaster if anyone survives to tell the tale, raising a few eyebrows.

Alluin and Xophren move to investigate the spit out realm shard. It's pulsing red to soft green every few seconds which indicates blood magic has been involved here. Xophren becomes an Elk and with the help of some of the party drags the realm shard back towards the village (once again, Fen is not much help here).

Lachlan informs the party that an Inquisitor is on the way to investigate. Just as this is mentioned, several figures crest the tree line. One looks familiar, bearing an Inquisitor seal and a large shield. Having not bumped into any Inquisitors since returning from the blood realm, the party decides to disguise their presence. Xophren becomes an Eagle and perches in a tree. Alluin turns invisible. Dandelion finds a chimney to hide behind. Talek, Fen, Leaf, and Ryafyrie take cover in a healing tent. Ryafyrie goes as far as to don a nurse outfit and "treat" the wounded. Caius is spotted fleeing the scene as Talek gives him a knowing nod.

A hushed conversation is had between the Inquisitors and Lachlan who of course gives up that the party was here. Aegis yells "Spread out and find them!". Unfortunately, Xophren in the form of an eagle lets out a large CLUCK as if he were a chicken, giving away his location. "They have a Druid!", one of the Inquisitor soldiers yells as they give chase. Fen creates a silent image of Talek trying to be "sneaky". This creates enough of a distraction for the healing tent hiders to make their way out the back wall of the town, though Aegis seems to lock eyes with Alluin despite him being invisible.

Once outside the walls, the party locate their carriage with horses. Xophren casts pass without a trace to try and cover their tracks as they depart, though Aegis appears to be watching them but makes no moves to follow. Alluin communes telepathically with Aegis, asking "Do you mean us harm?" to which she responds "Only if you deserve it.". The party continues on...

## Chasing Eldrin

They ride for many hours with no sign of being followed. Talek tries to drive but Fen, drunk, has decided he would be better suited to the task. Night falls as the party take turns resting and continuing to push the horses. Fen recognizes a north-bound road (the direction that Lachlan said Eldrin had fled) as leading to Littledrift. They ride through the night, the landscape changing from forest to sheets of grey rocks and hills. The mountain range of Mjolnheim can be seen not too far off in the distance.

Alluin gets the sense that we are a few days behind Eldrin, but despite best efforts no one is able to find any good sign that he has passed this way. Another half day of travel through the rocky wastes transpires and the party reaches a rocky archway that seems like it could be a perfect place for an ambush so they slow their approach. Alluin senses movement and sees a small figure duck behind a rock as he orders the carriage to be stopped (Xophren refuses). Leaf and Talek jump out of the carriage to investigate with Alluin. Weapons drawn, they approach when a small gnome peeks out, fires a flare from his wand, and swiftly flees. That's probably not a good sign...

They all jump back in the carriage and continue down the road, when Ryafyrie detects a rhythmic beat like music in the distance behind them. Turning around, they see an airship about 500m away blaring dance music and giving chase. A projected voice declares "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to everybody's favorite game show - Skies of Vengeance!!!". Leaf applauds...

## A Wild Airship Appears

"I'm your host, Vesper Windrider! We've got the Winestotts here ready to TAKE REVENGE against the party of adventurers who burned their house to the ground!!"

Realizing that this is a "bad situation", they turn the cart backwards to try and find some cover under the rock archway that they passed as they are currently in wide open ground. The airship picks up speed and continues to approach, blaring party music the whole time. On the deck is spotted a wealthy and beautiful man with a tiny microphone, sparking green eyes, and gorgeous hair.

"Let's have a round of applause for our first contestant - Lord Winestott on the cannon!"

A bolt of energy flies from the airship as Xophren maneuvers the cart deftly, avoiding a massive explosion. Leaf readies his crossbow when Alluin places a hand on his shoulder and says "Wait....we're going up there" and points to the deck of the ship. Ryafyrie gives Leaf a wink, providing him with some inspiration.

"Next up to the cannon is Lady Winestott! Let's see if the LADIES can hit better than the MEN!"

And they can. Lady Winestott hits the carriage directly, blowing out the back axle. The party rolls from the destroyed cart, avoiding any serious injury, but ending up a bit scattered. Alluin proceeds to try and reach Leaf while Xophren turns into a Giant Eagle and flies towards the balloon that supports the ship. Fen provides Leaf with some Haste and tries to find cover with the rest of the party, but it's pretty barren out there.

"Oh boy you know what we like to see in Skies of Vengeance?? SITTING DUCKS!"

Another few blasts leave the airship and hit the cart, destroying what was left of it. Ropes descend from the ship and four armored figures descend and start charging towards the party on the ground. Ryafyrie casts Confusion on two of them, sending one running and another attacking a rock to no avail. Another blast from the airship narrowly hits Dandelion and rips into Leaf. Offended by this, Dandelion proceeds to blast two of the soldiers that are charging. The airship continues its assault, landing more blows on Ryafyrie and Dandelion.

## Chaos in the Skies

Alluin manages to connect with Leaf, snaps two fingers, and a rectangular door opens up in front of them, the other side ending directly on the deck of the ship. They both step through as Alluin boldly proclaims "Remember us, motherfuckers?". As it turns out, there is no actual audience on this ship, only audience backing tracks. On the deck is Vesper, the Lord and Lady Winestott and their 2 children, and Sir Reginald, and of course heavily armed guards. Leaf grabs Lady Issadora and brings a sword to her throat, demanding "This ends, NOW". Vesper seems unmoved by this and orders more assault along with a rapid descent of the Airship, throwing Leaf and Alluin off balance. Leaf drops his prisoner (kicking her to the ground) and launches himself at the announcer, Vesper.

"Woah, let's slow this down a second - PUT ON THE BRAKES BOYS!"

The airship lurches in mid air, stopping its descent in mid air and in fact backing up. This puts Leaf just out of reach of Vesper. More chaos erupts on the deck. Alluin summons an Air Elemental who blows one of the soldiers off, falling 400ft to his demise. Another guard lands a good slash on Alluin while Leaf is dodging and parrying and striking blows on the remaining soldiers. The erratic movement of the airship makes for hard fighting.

In all of this chaos, Xophren reaches the balloon and works on tearing holes in it.

Meanwhile, on the ground Dandelion, Ryafyrie, Talek, and Fen are (mostly) dodging Airship blasts while taking on 4 heavily armed soldiers, 2 of which are very confused. Talek chugs his mystery potion and his skin turns to stone. He takes a direct hit from the Airship, but nothing happens. "Solid as a rock". Attacks continue to bounce off of his now stone skin. Ryafyrie keeps up the assault of confusion, consistently making soldiers look very stupid. Dandelion is merciless with Eldritch Blast. Talek explodes the head of one soldier while yelling "Avandra CHANGE HIM", while Fen throws fire like it's all he knows how to do (it is).

Xophren finally manages to rip holes in the thick hide of the airship's balloon, causing a very uncontrolled descent. Leaf is seeing red and continues to mercilessly butcher soldiers, heedless of the danger of a crashing ship. Alluin takes aim with a fireball, enraged at the audacity of this Lord and Lady. At the last moment, he notices the children with the Lord and Lady and shapes his spell to avoid the **excessive** amount of carnage that would have entailed.

Seeing what appears to be the end, Vesper, the Lord and Lady and their children make their way towards the back of the ship.

"Thank you SO MUCH for playing Skies of Vengeance! See you next time!!"

Out of the back of the ship, they manage to flee on a realm-shard-powered escape pod.

The party manages to scatter to avoid the massive collision of the Airship, all but Talek who is made of stone and decides to let the ship rip into him, taking almost no damage. The Air Elemental cackles in the resulting mist and dust...