Raiding the Camp

## Summary

The party wakes up to find that Garrett has left. Apparently, he went to chase the large blue dragon and thus he couldn't let it escape. Tarbaw Nighthill tasks the party with finding out information about the cult of the dragon. He also asks the party to rescue the hostages. Durian agrees to go alone but Jojo wants to bring backup.

The group comes up with a plan to get inside by using Durian as a fake prisoner while Cora Treecreak disguises their faces. Jojo settles on taking one guard named Frederick from Greenest with them. A guard named Nessim asks the party to look for his brother, Leosin before they leave with a few horses. They follow some reptilian tracks south to a few plateaus. They pass by the camp the party made earlier only to find that it's now occupied by cultists and kobolds. Durian says that either stealth or an ambush would work best with the latter being the better option. Dr. Gerark suggests blending in to see if the disguises work while he stays a fair distance away stopping anyone from retreating and Durian nominates Fredrick to help Dr. Gerark. They notice that they aren't eating together while their weapons are stashed by a rock. Jojo brings up the idea that they may be defectors but continue with the plan.

They approach the caravan, and the campers accept Cora right away. Jojo manages to convince them after giving Durian a black eye. Frederick and Dr. Gerark encircle the camp as the cultist gets some food for Jojo. Dr. Gerark manages to swipe some of the weapons as the disguised trio decide to take the cultists down. Durian climbs the largest rock nearby and throws the nearest cultist into a fire. Jojo leaps from a rock nearby and pummels one guy into submission while Cora sneaks behind one guy and stabs him with her dagger. Dr. Gerark steals the rest of the weapons as Cora stabs the cultist's neck with her rapier. One of the cultists runs to the rock Dr. Gerark was hiding behind as Frederick prepares to herd the kobolds.

Durian pulls the cultist on fire out of the firepit and slams him into a rock wall. He tells the cultist to stay down as Dr. Gerark grabs the cultist that tried to run away. Jojo knocks out two kobolds with his quarter staff as Cora reclaims her dagger and gets onto the rock to prevent Durian's victim from getting away. Fredrick stabs one of the kobolds dead as Durian runs up to the herd and throws his handaxe at one of them. Dr. Gerark continues to hold onto his victim as he pulls out his javelin. The doctor stabs the cultist in a non-vital spot and the cultist goes unconscious. Jojo takes down three more kobolds as Cora insults the kobold in the back. The kobold is too panicked to react as Fredrick tries to stab another one but it misses.

Durian gets close to the last two kobolds and uses his hand of radiance to blind them. The last kobold tries to make a run for it as Dr. Gerark approaches the scared cultist. Jojo tries to attack the kobolds with his staff but accidentally knocks Frederick off his horse with the first swing. He pursues the retreating kobold as Frederick picks himself up. Durian then wallops the kobold near him with his warhammer, killing it. The retreating kobold ends up surrendering.

After a short rest, Frederick ends up leaving and Cora plays a nice song. Jojo begins tying up the unconscious people with a fishing net, Durian asks the conscious cultist to change religion. The cultist isn't amused though so Dr. Gerark takes up the interrogation. Jojo suggests giving the prisoners the weapons they picked up to sneak inside and create a larger ambush. The party are conflicted on the idea as Jojo knocks out the last cultist. They loot the bodies to find 28 silver pieces, a sack of pewter candlesticks, some silver serving dishes and some religious carvings of Shantia, the goddess of life and agriculture. Jojo takes the candles while Cora takes the silver. After some banter involving sexism, the party leaves while properly tying up Durian.

They arrive at the camp as the sun begins to set. Their disguises work as some kobolds in the nearby watchtower see them but get back to talking amongst themselves. Cora finds out where the prisoners are kept thanks to a skitterish kobold. They overhear that they're upset about Langdedrosa Cyanwrath's capture. Jojo then comes up with a plan to tell the ones in charge that they have Durian who captured Landedrosa and that they might want to see him. Durian likes that plan. Dr. Gerark talks with Jojo hoping he'll be able to kill when the time comes.

They turn Durian over while one of the guards notices that one of the prisoners is dead. The guard leaves with the body to feed to the dragon. Dr. Gerark, Jojo and Cora leave to mention their capture to the one in charge. They talk to the guard of the tent and he's unhappy when Cora 'stepped out of line.' A human mage named Frulam Mondath exits the tent with a dragonborn named Rezmir. They head back to the prisoner camp and interrogate Durian. They tie Durian to the post where the one man is kept.

Dr. Gerark heads over to him while Jojo notes that there are over 100 people in the camp. He suggests taking out the cultists tent by tent but notices Dr. Gerark is at the post. Jojo wanders over there with Cora. Leosin whispers if anyone's watching. Jojo says it's an infiltration and rescue. Leosin sighs as he got captured on purpose which Durian finds common ground with. Leosin sighs when he hears his brother sent them as he acted too well. Jojo asks if they can be worked into his plan. He mentions that not a lot of people are allowed in the eastern cave and Jojo suspects it's where the dragon is kept. Leosin directs them to a knife in his boot to free Durian while Jojo mentions that people are dying and they have to save the prisoners. Dr. Gerark punches Leosin to keep up the act and notices the monk isn't in good health.

Durian quickly breaks free as Dr. Gerark frees Leosin forcing him to help. They hurry to the prisoners and Dr. Gerark cleaves one of them in a frenzied rage. Durian gives himself virtue and takes down another guard. Leosin leaps off of Durian and attacks one of the guards in the back, knocking him out. Jojo uses his flurry of blows to knock down the last guard. Dr. Gerark gives the prisoners the bag of weapons and they begin leaving.

As the alarm horn rings, Jojo and Durian take the rear. Dr. Gerark loses his frenzied rage and lags behind with the prisoners. As they pass by the guard tower, they see that the kobolds watching are dead from arrows. Fredrick gives them a wave from a cliff face nearby with the reinforcements. They fought off the remaining cultists at the camp.

## Notable Events

* Garrett permanently leaves the party
* The party sneaking into the raiding camp and frees the prisoners
* This session was split into two parts due to technical difficulties