Session 21

=August 30th, 2018 - Triboar's Fiery Aftermath=

Cleanup Crew
The session started immediately where it last left off, as the party takes in the aftermath of the battle with the fire giant forces. The streets were empty, numerous buildings on Triboar’s north side were still on fire, screams were still heard in the distance, and they had a barely breathing fire giant in the town square. Not to mention the thousand pound adamantine ring sitting in the middle of the Long Road. The group split up to cover as much as possible quickly. Some went to help others, and some went to help themselves.

Alburt and Cadmus went to loot fallen monsters, while Rufus searched stealthily through the already destroyed buildings. Both found coin, and Cadmus pulled some large and useless items from the fire giant’s large cloth sack. While Cadmus did most of the searching, Alburt dipped in and out of his familiar owl’s vision, circling the area and keeping an eye on others. Rachen and Thia went to check burning buildings, first going to the nearby wizard’s mansion as only its wooden second story was partially in flames. The four stone gargoyles atop the roof merely sat upon their perches as the smoke billowed around them.

Rachen smashed through the wooden front door of the mansion, and Thia followed him inside. Amid the smoke filled haze they saw the figure of a human body on the ground just beyond the basement doorway. They carried the man outside and laid him on the ground, he was coughing and barley conscious. After asking him if there was anyone else inside, the wizard could barely request them to save the chest on his bedroom nightstand. Rachen sighed, knowing the bedroom was upstairs with the fire, but went back in anyway.

After breaking down a few different doors in the mansion's upstairs, Rachen found the bedroom, whose exterior wall was engulfed in flames. Coughing through and his plate armor burning, Rachen found the small wooden carving of a chest sitting on the nightstand, and retrieved it before the fire spread further. Outside, Rachen gave the trinket back to the wizard who held it in his arms as he and Thia began to carry him back towards the safety of the town keep. While all of this was going on, Rhogar and Lachlan went west around the back of the burning buildings seeing still living fire babies - magmins.

They approached cautiously and saw two magmins moving around the westernmost inn along the Triboar Trail. One magmin jumped through the window of the building, while the second merely was walking along the exterior with its hand outstretched igniting the wooden structure. By the time the pair got close they had lost sight of the magmins, but they did see another plate armored orc axe down a fleeing woman in front of the rundown burning inn. Rhogar began firing Eldritch Blasts at the orog which quickly got its attention. Magic was hurled at the orc without slowing it as it barreled towards the spell casters screaming with an outstretched battle axe.

The orog connected its weapon into the body of Rhogar. Then, the orc pulled the bloody axe, spun around, and sliced the blade through Rhogar a second time, cutting him to the ground as his wounds gushed terribly. Lachlan yelled for help and ran to try and keep the orog occupied. Alburt had seen this exchange happen from the eyes of his owl, and told Cadmus. The pair began running there as they passed Rachen and Thia carrying the body of the unconscious wizard, and told them of their caster’s plight.

Thia ran with them immediately as Rachen first dragged the wizard to the safety of the keep. The group arrived just in time to save Lachlan, killing both the orog and a magmin, while Cadmus revived Rhogar with a Healing Word spell. Rachen arrived only a few moments after, and the still heavily wounded Rhogar told them he saw at least one magmin go in the building. Once again, Rachen went into a now burning building and Cadmus dove in right after him. Inside, the group killed the other sighted magmin, and rescued a fragile old woman hiding by the counter.

Interrogation and Investigation
The woman said she was the owner of the inn, Tolmara Hysstryn, crying as her home and business burned. The group asked her if anyone else was in the building, having seen no others on the first floor, and she said no but they could tell she was being awkward and shifty saying to let it burn. They saw her safely to the town keep, and after finding no other survivors in the burning buildings, tended to other matters as they came down. Around this time townsfolk began returning to the center of town, and a few began trying to setup a bucket brigade from their small well. The party instead interrogated the fire giant, as the Lady Protector and her few guards came out to listen and help.

Rachen was the only one who spoke giant, and so he did the talking. The giant did not hesitate to speak back. Even in his weakened state he boasted heavily about his master, the fire giant Duke Zalto, and his plans to rebuild an ancient dragon-killing colossus known as the Vonindod. When asked what he knew about the shattering of the giant Ordning, the giant went on about Duke Zalto preaching how this was a reward for their commitment. The party also tried to lie and trick the giant into thinking they had captured his female mate, going so far to use an illusion.

Through all their efforts they did learn some facts: the location of Duke Zalto’s fire giant fortress, Ironslag, was in the Worldspine Mountains near where the Nether Mountains spurs from it. They also learned that the giant’s have multiple of these rods that can direct them to the magic in these colossus fragments, and they will likely try to capture the ring again. Even if they ultimately fail to regain the ring, Duke Zalto could forge another; however, doing so is likely very costly and it's clear that is a last resort. In the end, Rhogar used his short sword to slit the giants throat right there in the town square, outside the keep.

By now, a number of the horse riding towns guard known as the Thirteen had returned and awaited the interrogation to end. Once it had, they sadly reported the outcome of the battles at the eastern farms. A number of them had fallen to the boar riding orcs, including the Captain Rory, but the Thirteen were successful in chasing them off. The orcs were clearly a distraction, but they killed the inhabitants of three farms and burned two, before half were killed and they fled to the north. The Lady Protector sadly grieved with the survivors, commending them all on their heroism.

She then commended the party on their heroism, calling them heroes for what they did driving off the attack. She told Rachen now that Rory had fallen, she knew of no one better to carry the Blade of Triboar (Bacon-Sword) than him. The Lady Protector said she would see to it they could stay at any inn left in town they desired for free. She then began to tell her guards she wanted to marshall the town militia throughout the night. Before the party called it a night, they returned to the old woman Tolmara’s burning inn to find it having collapsed on itself.

Most of the fire had burned out, but sections were still ablaze. Rachen led the search lifting large wooden beams until they found the strangeness they suspected would be there. A charred body that both hands and feet were bound in iron shackles. Taking the body back to the keep was all the evidence the Lady Protector needed to lock up the old woman for imprisonment and the death of this person. She thanked the group again, as some semblance of order returned to the shaken town.

The night set in fully with a smoke filled sky, as the orange glow of fires still lit up the town full of activity. People searched and cried over the deaths of those still being found, and others continued to come in from the outlying farms as the militia was summoned. More still tried to put out the fires where they could with water buckets. The main square had fireball explosion craters, walls and buildings were damaged by massive boulders, and all told two buildings were destroyed by smashing, and six by fire. Lastly, as the party gathered at the luxurious Everwyvern Inn, Rachen sent a brief telepathic message to Lady Silverhand with his sending stone telling of the attack, the colossus, and the piece that was left.

The session ended there on the night of the seventy ninth day since the raid on Greenest.

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