Session 311

# August 10th, 2023 - The Rescuers

## The Rescuers

The session began with the party moving south through the forest to the sounds of multiple skirmishes, both north and south of their position. The night sky was darkening and the stars were disappearing as the storm clouds moved in, and it began to lightly rain. To the east, through the trees they could see and hear the enemy army marching towards the friendly Red Sun’s defensive position. The full battle would truly begin shortly, but they needed to try and save as many as possible from their company. They approached the next clearing and saw a fierce combat in progress, with about a dozen enemy soldiers and two more guard drakes engaged in melee with friendlies, standing amongst a number of corpses already. Around the battle stood three robed female dragonborn, likely spellcasters monitoring the situation - the enemy clearly had the advantage.

The party had two surviving soldiers with them, who cautiously followed behind the group. Watch quickly climbed into a nearby tree to get a better view, and most of the party charged around thick bushes to start firing upon the foes. Fax charged toward the nearest spellcaster on the west side of the clearing, who reacted to the ranged attacks with a *shield*. Raven moved through the brush and cast *conjure animals*, summoning forth eight velociraptors that charged into the melee. Right behind them rode Carlton upon his celestial steed, charging to engage one of the enemy's more powerful veteran warriors. Although, with the raptors running around he missed his initial swings of his warhammer.

The southernmost witch reacted to the charging paladin by casting *hold person* upon him, which Carlton failed to resist and became paralyzed atop his horse. The same spellcaster was yelling out orders to those around, and Raven inferred she was their leader. The easternmost witch vanished, casting some sort of *invisibility*, Orsais noticed and waited patiently for her to reveal herself in some way. Daelain and Raven had also moved to the west side of the combat to support Fax, but it was then that the easternmost witch cast a *fireball* at the center of their group, exploding to also catch the paralyzed Carlton. Fax and Daelain both went down, and it quickly looked as if the party was outgunned and in trouble. Carlton’s steed vanished with the explosion, leaving the paladin still paralyzed on the ground.

Orsais was watching keenly, and saw the *fireball* emit from a spot just outside of his range on the eastern side of the clearing. The witch did not become visible again (it was *greater invisibility*), but he cast *faerie fire* as close as he could, and caught the invisible witch in a glowing purple aura. As magic and bolts flew across the site, the melee continued with soldiers on both sides falling. The fight was now lit by the area on fire from the fireball, and one of the tents ablaze. Watch continued to rain down *eldritch blasts* from his elevated position, joined by Joakim who kept near tree trunks to shield himself. Orsais and the other friendly soldiers with him fired their crossbows, and with the party focusing on the enemy spellcasters they were able to kill two of them, the western and eastern ones. Raven and Orsais healed their two downed teammates, saving them from death.

Just as they began to gain the upper hand, a group of six friendly Red Sun soldiers charged from the south to surround the leader witch. They must have won their local ambush and came north to aid. The enemy soldiers were dropping, even though Raven lost most of his raptors the situation snowballed and the enemy was left with a single regular soldier, a single veteran, and the leader spellcaster. Before they all died, the enemy spellcaster cried out that they surrender, and ordered her two remaining fighters to drop their weapons. The Red Sun soldiers surrounding the spellcaster looked to the party, who immediately ordered them to bind the witch's hands and gag her.

They gathered up the prisoners and started looting the dead. Watch climbed down from his position and anxiously awaited what the group would do with their three captives. Daelain and Carlton, with guidance provided by other spellcasters, intimidated and tried to persuade the captives to reveal their battle plan. The veteran, once separated from his leader, said he would tell them the signal they were to give once victorious - if they let him flee. He revealed he could not give the signal, only the witches, now only their leader. The leader witch was initially combative, refusing to give any yes or no head nods, and Fax in response slit the throat of the regular soldier bound to her right side, showing they were serious.

## Victory or Defeat

With Watch having his dagger to her throat, cutting slightly, Daelain warned her not to even start an incantation - or else - as she removed the gag so the witch could answer Daelain’s question. She said their army leader awaited her sky signal, using the *sky write* spell, of their victory. No one in the party could cast it tonight (Raven had the spell, but did not have it prepared). She said she would only be able to cast the spell if she could trust the party would actually let her go free afterwards, and the only way she could do that is if they let her veteran sergeant flee first as a sign of good will. The group quickly debated, and decided to let the veteran flee west. They had already taken his weapons and stripped him of his armor, so he was no threat and would have to loop around the forest the long way to return to his army. By then, the party would likely have already executed their plan.

After the veteran disappeared out of sight through the thick bushes to the west, with Watch and the other Red Sun soldiers cautiously nearby with weapons drawn, and Orsais having his crossbow leveled at her the entire time, they watched as the spellcaster began her *sky write* ritual. Raven acknowledged the ritual looked correct, and while it was cast Carlton took the time to perform his own ritual to resummon his celestial steed, Alastor. After about ten minutes, while the other party members watched and listened to the armies nearby starting to engage in earnest, the witch unleashed her *sky write* spell. A bright red bolt shot into the sky and burst into three glowing red draconic rune clouds, that many in the party all could read indeed said “victory”.

The witch looked proud at her deed, ready to flee, when Watch silently crept up behind her and slit her throat. Carlton gasped, saying that was not their deal and he was honorable to his word. Watch responded only by saying a target of such value could not be allowed to live, to which the Red Sun soldiers all grinned happily. The sounds of the enemy trebuchets flinging large fiery objects meant their true test was about to begin, and they would have no means of taking captives until the battle was over. Through the trees they could see hundreds of tiny motes of light flying across the air, which were fire arrows being unleashed by the Red Sun archers.

They had not yet seen meteors fall from the sky, but with the armies engaged it was only a matter of time. The party of seven had saved an additional four soldiers from this combat, combined with the two they saved previously and the six that joined them from the southern part of the woods, they now numbered nineteen - out of the starting one hundred in the company. There were surely more fights or survivors to be found to the north of the woods, and perhaps with the enemy thinking their ambush was successful the party could scour the woods quickly without outside interference. However, they had to be ready soon for the meteor signal to attack the enemy army's backline, and they would need all the soldiers they could get.

The party had recovered another two hundred and forty eight gold pieces, four more potions of healing, a stone of good luck, and a +1 longsword (that went to Carlton) from the enemy in this battle. In addition, the leader was wearing a pair of bracers of defense that went to Daelain. The party had recovered a magic cloak from the spellcaster in their initial ambush, which they determined was a cloak of protection that they gave to Fax. Finally, among the three enemy wizards they had a number of scrolls that the party collected, one each of *poison spray*, *bless*, *bane*, *command*, *detect good and evil*, *expeditious retreat*, *sleep*, *acid arrow*, *barkskin*, *lesser restoration*, and *haste*. With two *counterspell* scrolls in addition.

And that is where the session ended, in the middle of the night of the fifteenth day after the party left Black Landing.

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