Chapter 1: Windshire in Flames
Session 1
The party has met up on the road to Windshire, finding it interesting that they are all heading to the same location and for the same reason: to investigate the activities of the Cult of the Cold Sun. They crest a hill just outside of town around nightfall, and see smoke rising from the direction of the town. The rush to see it attacked by large force of cultists, mercenaries, kobolds and lizardfolk.
Their first sight as they approach the town is the stream that runs alongside it, and their first instinct is to sneak through the stream to the keep, where it appears that many villagers are gathering for protection. However, they spot a villager, Linan Swift, protecting her husband and children from a group of kobolds led by the smallest lizardfolk they’ve ever seen. The kobolds note their approach but do not react to them, instead advancing on the family. Brother Alywn immediately ran forward to help, decisively killing the lizardfolk before any of its minions could react. This almost immediately breaks the morale of the remaining kobolds, some of which put up minor resistance but several of which flee, only to be shot in the back and killed by Eldritch Blasts from Kazik and Rylorn. The party decide to take the family along with them, down the stream, before making a run for the keep.
On the way to the stream, they run past a house and Brother Alwyn bumps almost immediately into a man in blue robes. This cultist leader insists that they “take care of the hostages and ransack that nearby shop.” Alwyn, always helpful, respond with “Okay!” without a hint of subterfuge, though Coop steps in to assure the cultist that all is well. After a convincing bluff, the cultist stomps off, muttering about “shiftless mercenaries” under his breath.
The party is able to easily sneak alongside the town down the stream, and arrive to the Keep just as the gates are being sealed. Carrying the children (and halfling) they make it inside just in time. Merla Tealeaf stops to help tend to some wounds with a fellow house Jorasco scion, Callie, while they spot a few other Dragonmarked scions helping out, from Harley d’Ghallanda providing fresh food and water to Jerred d’Cannith fixing things around the keep. Coop and several others seek the leadership, and find Lady Cara, the bewildered minor noble who rules this region of Aundair, and Escobert “Big Red” d’Kundarak, the dwarven castellan. Lady Cara professes she never imagined the cult would be so brazen as to assault as large a settlement as Windshire, to which Coop replies “Maybe you should have imagined it,” to approving nods from Escobert. Brother Alwyn asks if there’s anything the group can do to help. Cara points to the local Temple of Olladra, where several villagers rushed to take refuge but is currently under siege by cultist forces. They spot three groups; the roving band patrolling the building’s perimeter, the group trying to break down the front door, and the group trying to smoke them out from the back.
Escobert shows the party the hidden escape tunnel through the back of an old storage room, which takes them through the keep sewers. He also gives the key to the lock at the end. Anakendrick goes ahead to scout, and notices two swarms of rats up ahead. Merla hatches a scheme with Herb, as both have the
minor illusion cantrip: Merla will form the image a large cat while Herb will make the sounds. This works wonders: the rats disperse, fleeing out the tunnel. They struggle to open the lock, but a little oil helps them get it open without resorting to breaking it down.
Unfortunately, the escaping rats have attracted some unwanted attention, in the form of a patrolling group of cultists and kobolds! A single cultist is sent to investigate, and again mistakes the PCs for mercenaries, though this time the party does so intentionally, with the help of a well-timed casting of
friends by Kazik. They pump the cultist for information, finding out that the cultists are looking for loot, and especially dragonshards. They’re also looking for a way into the Keep, and he asks the party about the tunnel behind them. Again, Coop successfully bluffs the cultist, telling him the tunnel is collapsed behind them. The crisis appeared averted.
As the cultist went back to inform his colleagues about the tunnel, Kazik and Rylorn began motioning to Coop to ask her if they should shoot him in the back with
eldritch blast. She nods, and together the two successfully kill the cultist, then proceed to kill his remaining colleagues in a fairly simple combat. This battle also saw the first use of Anakendrick’s acid breath. One of the cultists had a
spell scroll of silence.
The group decided to sneak their way to the back of the Temple, where they could stop the cultists from trying to smoke the villagers out. The warlocks hung back to assist and pick off stragglers or anyone trying to run for help. Anakendrick, with Herb hiding behind him, successfully snuck up to the creatures. Anakendrick was able to easily kill the lead kobold, who was carrying a weird backpack and wearing a fancy cloak, while the rest of the party quickly joined the fight. There was some difficulty with a particularly difficult to kill cultist, but the group was quickly dispatched. Anakendrick looted the backpack wearing kobold, discovering three alchemist’s fires, a bag with a hornet’s nest in it, and the cloak, which turned out to be a
cloak of billowing.
The party had to work fast, as the patrolling group was nearing them. Merla was able to talk to the scared villagers, convincing them to open up and escape with the party back along the stream. Herb dropped a fog cloud to cover their escape.
As the rest of the party reported back to Cara and Escobert, Merla amused herself by conjuring the image of a large dragonshard just outside the gates. An eager kobold broke from the siege and tried to leap on, falling straight through it and earning laughs from its enemies as well as its allies.
Their triumphant return was short lived, as sounds of fighting broke out in a nearby side courtyard near the Sally Port. They arrived to find a small group of kobolds, a cultist acolyte, and an ambush drake had broken through the sally port broken and killed the guards stationed there! A difficult melee ensued, as the party’s focus fire on the drake and the acoylte’s well-timed saves allowed the kobolds to gang up on party members, taking down Brother Alwyn in short fashion. Merla was able to bring him back to his feet with a
healing word, but the kobolds surrounded her and also knocked her unconscious! Coop, still tangling with the acolyte, risked an attack of opportunity to break free and cast
cure wounds on Merla, and the kobolds were quickly dispatched after that, eliminating most of the threat.
The sally port gate was broken. This was when Merla remembered: there was a House Cannith rep in the keep! She ran to get Jerred, who was a bit jittery about being so close to combat, but was comfortable coming to help cast the required mending spells needed to fix the gate. But just then a second group rush the sally port ledge, trying to climb up. A timely
eldritch blast from Kazik knocked a cultist off, killing him, but four kobolds managed to make the climb, including one with a large black shield made of dragon scales. The kobold was much more powerful than the rest, easily knocking the exposed Kazik out before engaging in a difficult melee with Coop, while Anakendrick and Alwyn focused on the other kobolds. The other kobolds were quickly dispatched, but the dragonshield kobold posed a tougher threat. Alwyn shoved a
goodberry down Kazik’s throat while the rest of the party engaged the remaining kobold.
Seizing an opportunity, Escobert charged at the remaining kobold, who, in its shock, dropped its shield as they both went tumbling off of the ledge. They saw the kobold land, its neck broken, as another group of kobolds swarmed over the fallen dwarf
paris cdg transfer. The shield was a
black dragonscale shield, a magic shield without an enhancement bonus but conferred resistance to acid. The shield, not being made of metal, was claimed by the party’s druid, Herb.
Jerred, holding Escobert’s key ring, let the party know that the gate was fixed and ready to be shut and locked. The party decompressed, and Harley d’Ghallanda offered them a specialized
heroes’ feast that allowed them to benefit from a long rest in a much shorter period of time.
Coop has disappeared by the end of the meal. The last anyone had seen of her, she was pulling her blonde ponytail tight and headed towards the hidden tunnel.