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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 1148" data-attributes="member: 41">26-- Sometimes, The Best Offense Is The One That Kills the Most PeopleArriving in Mistledale, the group is greeted by a red-cheeked rotund fellow who introduces himself as High Councilor Haresk Malorn.  A tongues spell enables communication, and the party describes their encounter with the drow.  Harsek takes the group around town, and they are jovially introduced to Jhanira Barasstan, priestess of Chauntea and Nerval Watchwill, priest of Torm, the town's spiritual leaders.  The group is paraded before the town's elders, and then briefed on the current situation:Vast armies of drow recently rampaged up out of the Underdark and overran the nearby Cormanthyr forest.  This invasion was made possible by the Elven Retreat-a phenomena where elves have fled the world of men for a mythical homeland across the sea.  Although the Retreat has been recently reversed, the elven forests of Cormanthyr were largely abandoned when the drow made their surprise assault.The drow stopped short of conquering any of the human Dalelands, but many observers predict that it is only a matter of time before a serious assault takes place.  In the meantime, drow have made frequent raids, burning outlying farms and slaughtering or kidnapping their inhabitants.Taran stares at the assembled leadership of Shadowdale, and asks his brother to translate the following: "Give us a place to live, and we'll see what we can do about your drow problem".Two days later, the group has begun to learn the basics of the language, and has used spell-enabled communication to gather information on the land they find themselves in.  They have been magically transported to a place called Faerun by its sages, in a region known as the Dalelands.  Nearby Shadowdale is the home of several famous adventurers, including Storm Silverhand and Elminster; the man Dalelanders claim is the most powerful wizard in the land.  Thelbar's eyebrows shoot up at this boast, but he holds his tongue.After getting a lay of the land, the group is ready to go hunting.  Taran retraces their steps back to the small ruined cottage where the portal left them, and begins tracking.  After a morning's work, he reports that he has found a group of tracks that were meant to be concealed, leading deeper into the forest."It's a war-band, I can assure you that," the bull-necked fighter states.  "Look here-advance scouts overlap sweeping in two-by-twos, and here's the supply detail, these sorry wretches are carrying the loot.  This group came to fight fast and travel light.  They've got to have a base nearby.  Eyes up."Taran, Thelbar, and Gorquen make for a fleet-footed war band themselves, and by the afternoon, they have found their target.  Taran's chain shirt is silenced and blackened, and using his newly discovered message power, he is able to range far ahead of the group and provide a whispered commentary of his findings.Taran describes a pair of stone buildings; a low-set, long structure and a nearby tower.  The buildings must have once housed a wizard and his retinue, or perhaps a woodcutting team.  Either way, they appear completely abandoned now.  A closer inspection reveals several camouflaged sentries hidden about the grounds.  Taran completes his sweep and counts four all told, including one at the top of the tower.Taran flies to a position just beneath the lip of the tower, and waits for Thelbar and Gorquen to get into spell-range.  As they have done so many times, Taran waits until he hears the whoosh of a fireball expanding before he flies into the face of the guard and slices into him with a rapid overhand/underhand combination that leaves the drow eviscerated, in shock, and gushing arterial blood.Within seconds, the drow forces have responded, and Gorquen is dashing forward to engage them.  Dark elf fighters come streaming out from the low building and Gorquen gives a hearty Ishlokain battle-cry, hacking at her foes with a righteous fervor.  Though these drow had nothing to do with the massacres Gorquen escaped with the elven refugees, you wouldn't know it from watching her fight! Thelbar is peppering the melee with magic missiles and lightning bolts, but several drow archers get a bead on him and flush him from his cover.Taran, meanwhile, is holding his position at the top of the tower, and when a trapdoor begins to creak open, he points his wand of fireballs at the hole, and soon the trap door is blown off its hinges in a flaming explosion, taking several drow with it.But there is a wizard left alive in that tower, and he has a fireball of his own.  After a counter burst singes Taran's skin, and sucks the breath from his lungs, he decides that trading spells with a wizard is a bad idea, and hops down the opening to see how the wizard likes trading sword-blows!Gorquen's characteristic enthusiasm for melee has left Thelbar alone, which is not the place a mage wants to be when several drow rangers are stalking him. He burns and pierces them with magic, but he is soon overtaken, and cries out for help.Gorquen begins fighting her way back to his side, and after Taran swiftly butchers the drow wizard he flies to give aid as well, but neither of them are fast enough.  Thelbar collapses from multiple sword wounds before they arrive.  Fortunately, a potion of cure moderate wounds is at hand, and within seconds Thelbar is on his feet, and ready to assist his companions as they pursue the fleeing drow, killing them where they can catch them, and cursing the rest.</blockquote>

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