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Message: <blockquote data-quote="PHDungeon" data-source="post: 5057331" data-attributes="member: 86320">Preface: A couple of weeks have passed since the Flagg and his possessed minions were defeated. The heroes have spent the time in Grimsburg resting and recovering from their adventures. In a recent conversation with her patron Viktor Starke, Bella received a new mission. Starke has asked her to lead an expedition to the Nerathi mainland. She is to go to a town on the mainland’s northwestern coast called Alaster. There she will be representing Starke at an auction being run by hobgoblin merchants from the Kazanki empire. He has provided her with all the information she needs for the mission including a description of the item he’s interested in. Four of his men are to accompany her, and she has been provided with a sea captain who will be transporting them to Alaster on his Knarr. She has also opted to recruit her former adventuring companions for the job, as they have proven themselves to be valuable companions.PCsBella (changeling rogue/sorceress 4)Darren Androsax (human, fighter 4)Deryl Androsax (human, sorceress 3)Bjorn (human, cleric 4)Torfinn (Deva, Invoker 3)Bella's journal Session 8:  There’s a Storm ComingVictor,Everything was going smoothly.  We are a week into our journey and my only problem was that Tarl was a lazy, useless piece of skin; he followed orders though and Harg kept him in line; it was nothing I couldn’t handle.  The North Sea is known for being rough and this proved true, a storm appeared in front of us that Captain Garn has told me would kill us if we attempted sail through it.  Fortunately we still had plenty of time before the auction so I acquiesced to his experience and took his advice that we find a safe shore and wait for the storm to pass.The nearest shore turned out to be anything but safe.  A Nerathi village was near where we were trying to beach the ship, and the local lord and his militia greeted us.  Although not friendly by any means, I thought I had been able to negotiate a temporary peace so that we could rest until the storm passed.  He agreed to let us stay and even seemed interested in trading with our sea captain.  He had the cargo unloaded into the village tavern and allowed us to sleep on its floor.  Derren whined of course, still holding onto a lordling’s pride even though the arrangement was more than I expected from a people with obvious animosity towards us.That doesn’t mean I trusted them.  I had Tarl watch the boat on the shore and Cullen watching Tarl.  The peasants were asked to leave to give us our privacy but Derren bought them all a round of drinks.  I did not drink or eat anything anything I was given, though I sent food down to Tarl and allowed my men to partake and enjoy.  Bjorn agreed with me, having brought his own food and drink with him.  Derren was more trusting, drinking himself into trouble.  The peasants cleared out of the inn as the sun set; they were a dispirited lot.  Bjorn was just as cautious as I was.  He started barricading the door soon after the last of them left.  It was early into the night that we became aware that the food and drink we’d been given was poisoned. It wasn’t a deadly poison, but it did serve to make those who had consumed any fall into a near catatonic sleep. At that point we realized that our suspicions were correct and something was amiss. The tavern keeper’s daughter, affirmed our fears by trying to secretly warn us that her father was working with lord Vance to drug us so that the lord could catch us off guard.Shortly after learning of our dire situation, Cullen returned in a panic.  My familiar reported that a small devil-like creature had slit Tarl’s throat after he had fallen asleep on watch duty at the beach.  Perhaps the arcane power growing has made me bolder, but my first instinct was to run out and face our enemy.  Bjorn was more level headed; he suggested that we remain in the inn, as it was a more defensible position.  I could easily see he was right, so we stayed.  I sent Cullen to scout, for the most part the village was empty but what he found in the village’s church was worrying, a humanoid devil, it would seem we were to be made into a sacrifice.I sent Cullen out to guard our perimeter and started waking everyone up.  We did not have long to wait.  Soon the town’s militia with their lord, and his son and nephew closed in on the building.  They burst through the back door and the front only to find us awake and fully armed when they expected us to be sleeping.The Lord’s son lead the charge and Darren managed to get a sword to his throat when after Bjorn beat him on the back with is warhammer when he came through the door.  Derren tried to negotiate our safe release, using the prisoner as a hostage, but his father would have none of it, he didn’t seem to care much for his child.  Upon renewing their attack the Lord’s son was the first casualty.  They had us outnumbered but we had them outclassed, bottlenecked and surprised by our combat readiness they died quickly. Deryl proved to be the most effective, taking down entire groups of warriors in devastating arcane attacks.  We soon had them retreating to the church with no losses of our own.  On my insistence we rested at the tavern before tackling the devil in the church.  Deryl wanted to go to the Lord’s Palace, but the rest of us insisted on taking on the devil in the church first.  When we were ready we made our way to the front door.Derren held us up a little recovering the Lord’s horse, he said that it would be instrumental in the fight; personally I think that he’s just been envious of his sister’s horse.  Derren led the charge into the church.  Luckily, the initial attack had contained the majority of the Devil’s forces and few remained.  Androsax rode his horse through the front line of foot soldiers and doing a flying leap landed in front of the devil.  It was impressive, but strategically unsound.  Now the foolish fighter was facing the toughest challenge in the room and was far from re-enforcements.  Based solely on his tactics the Gods must be smiling on him, it surprises me everyday that he still lives.  The battle was less climatic then I thought it would be, despite his arrogance the devil was dispatched quickly, and I am satisfied to say I had the pleasure of delivering him the killing shot.We now only need to search the rest of the village and after the storm passes we should still have plenty of time to make it to the auction.  Everything is going as smoothly as can be expected.Belladonna</blockquote>

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