Post by hubertbartels on Feb 9, 2020 15:19:26 GMT -5
It’s been a month and a half since we returned from the Forest of Korum. I (Aerwyn) had decided to rest and spend my time, oh quietly perusing the City Archives of Midmeadow and let the others run around and get cold and wet. We were all in search of the hidden temple of Iuz, rumored to be somewhere in the city.
It was shortly after dusk, and we were returning from a dinner when turning onto the street where our house stood, we were ambushed by a group of thugs. Their leader was a tough woman in a chain shirt. We beat them down and Sir Thabo warned them about ever appearing in Midmeadow again. From their leader, we recovered a note showing us where they should go after finishing us off.
We set out that same evening. The note told the thugs to head north out of town to the rabbit ranch, then head down the old wagon trail. We discovered the rabbit ranch was a distance away and the deserted farmsteads were even further down the trail.
It was very late when we made it to the first abandoned farm. The house was gone but the barn promised some shelter. After clearing the giant webbing and the spider that spun them out of the barn, we settled down to rest.
Around noon, we set out again and arrived at the indicated farmstead near evening. The house showed signs of some upkeep even if the ground floor was all boarded up and the barn looked solid. We approached the front of the house and gave the required signal.
Turning the corner of the house – we found 25 bandits aiming crossbows at us. Duncan immediately threw down a fireball and dropped most of them. Saphie’s spell put the leader to sleep. At the same time, a furious barking arose from the barn. Duncan’s spell put a bonfire in front of the barn doors to keep whatever was trying to get out – in.
Behind the boards barring the second story window, there was motion. Then a fireball crashed on top of us. Sir Thabo rushed the front door, crashed through it, kicked a table blocking the way, aside and started killing. Wolfram followed him. Inside, everyone was wearing symbols of Iuz. Sir Thabo was fighting with two priests of Iuz on the stairway as a woman dressed with a raven motif flew around and hit us from behind with a Cone of Cold spell. At the same time, an half-orc woman had freed the dogs from the barn and urged them to kill. Gideon shifted into a animal and went around the corner of the house.
I stood up after getting a healing from Duncan. Inga Ravencloak’s spell had killed most of her Iuz worshipers. Gideon was being savaged by Thelma Ironhand’s dogs. Sir Thabo comes around the corner, rescues Gideon with a quick Lay-on-Hands, and proceeds to engage Thelma.
In the front of the house, Duncan and I were standing, facing Inga Ravencloak. She counter-spelled Duncan’s Scorching Rays – but she didn’t have the spell to counter mine. She fell out of the sky, hit the barn roof, rolled down the roof and crashed to the ground.
We followed Sir Thabo around the corner of the house to find Gideon still beleaguered by dogs while Sir Thabo was engaged with the half-orc woman. Duncan and I kill the dogs to give Gideon a respite. Then using my last high-level spell, I happened to kill Thelma Ironhand.
Searching the barn and the house, we found a lot of loot the bandits has stolen from houses and wayfarers. Inga Ravencloak was found to be wearing a very distinctive ring as well as a stylish raven adorned cloak. Her journal boasted of belonging to a very exclusive club in Midmeadow, one made of people with ‘similar’ interests. While the others considered how to find this club – I was looking through Inga’s spellbook.