Session 20

Brother Summit quickly goes running off into the darkness after Quell.  His orcish vision guiding his way.  He eventually spots a light as Quell ignites a sun rod & finds himself hiding behind a massive stone coffin.  All around are the trappings of high druid priestess of the Iraen forest elves.  The Knot regroup and explore the ruins determining it to be an old burial tomb to the Iraens.  They rummage through the place and seize anything of value.  By far the greatest find was the Druid's staff.  A powerful magic item that has spells able to charm animals.

They sell off what they don't need and decide to keep the druid's staff.  Galen is able to use some of the spells & Mardus can also try to "fake it".  The Knot then proceeds back to the Horn to continue their defenses.

Shortly after returning to the Horn they receive a report of a grizzly mass murder in town.  A party of Iraens is found, their remains strung up on lantern posts.  With a grim statement.  "Stay away from the horn".  It seems the seventh knot is busy & not really following the ninth knot's instruction of keeping quite.  Also a report comes that the the bugbear horde as struck another blow to the armies of Talengarde & the absent Lord of Farholde and a great number of the soldiers & citizens of Farholde will not be returning alive.  The evil baron's control of the town of Farholde increases greatly as he's the only noble of any standing left in the area.

Another week goes by when the Boggard shamen & some of his frogmen approach Emmerick with a request.  A hunting party has gone missing out near the lake to the east.  The Knot decides to go investigate.

Galen leads the way & nearly gets the group lost.  Fortunately, the recently recovered magical staff has the ability to show direction, so the Knot still manages to reach the Lake, though it is far north of where they should be.

The group proceeds down the lakeshore admiring the native wildlife when an unnatural horror attacks from the crystal waters.  A massive Chuul reaches up and grabs Yvainne.  In a flurry of attacks the Chuul downs the priestess.  But the beast is unable to repeat what the giant toad did in the original prison escape & eat the priestess or drag the wounded Knot member into the unknown deepths of the lake. For Galen rushes and teleports himself and the downed death priestess to safety where Mardus revives her.

The rest of the Knot unleashes a torrent of attacks on the otherworldly horror and the hunter rapidly becomes the hunted.  Before the Chuul can flee, the combined arms of Emmerick, Quell & Brother Summit backed up by arcane might of Galen & Mardus bring down the brute.

Some in the Knot consider trying to animate dead but lacking the resources on hand & disliking the idea of dragging a corpse through a predator rich environment, they leave the remains behind.

Finally arriving near the location of the missing hunting party, Quell is quick at work searching for clues.  And somehow he manages to find a small isolated den of some large feline hunter.  Unsure of the specific creature living within, the Knot approaches cautiously.  Emmerick takes the lead, with Galen ready with his staff to charm the animal, if able.  When the dire tiger charges as Emmerick, Galen manages to enchant it with his staff & stop it from attacking.

Using magical communications, they manage to barter with the Dire Tiger who goes by "One-Eye" due to a scarred over eye he lost in some earlier altercation.  And through convincing words & magical compulsion manage to get One-Eye to return with them & guard part of the caverns below the Horn.  Though how long the predator will stay bound to the will of the Knot is hard to say.

The following week the Knot receives a dire warning from the seventh knot.  A large silver dragon was spotted flying over Farholde.  The Horn goes on heightened alert.  Mardus goes & warns the near by green dragon who seems angry at a possible draconic rival being drawn to his territory due to the actions of the Knot.  However the arcane beast reserves his temper upon hearing it be a silver dragon.  He mentions to Mardus how he dislikes a copper dragon that lives off the western shore of Talengarde.  Mardus asks if he knows of any silver dragons and all the silver dragons he's ever heard of were one of Antharia Regina's brood.  A great wyrm who lives far to the north.  And likely this dragon is one of them.  Mardus asks, "What if it's this Antharia Regina herself?"  The green dragon flashes a toothy smile.  "Then you're doomed."

And yet the days go by & no silver dragon arrives at the Horn.  It seems for now to have been a false alarm.

Unfortunately, the next attack comes with no alarm at all.  It happens as Brother Summit is walking the third floor of the Horn, speaking with the Dread Wraith Ezra Thrice-Damned about how his monk powers allow him to draw the energy from the living in the form of ki.  Brother Summit notices an odd noise by the door to the teleportation room & pauses, unsure of himself as he walks over to it.

Before he can open it himself, it bursts open and a group of Holy Inquisitors of Mitra charge through in what would have been quite a lot of noise if it weren't for the magical silence that fills the area.

Ezra, seeing a priest in their midsts flees to get help and likely to save his own undead "skin".  Brother Summit manages somehow to rush past the throng of Mitrian warriors & make it to the teleportation circle.  Only to have the men follow behind & teleport right after him.  The leader calling out, "Surrender Asmodeus scum."  Brother Summit doesn't even pause to consider how the Mitrians know he works for Asmodeus and just continues to flee.

Teleporting back & forth, he manages to stall long enough for Ezra to warn Galen & the others. The conjurer of hell teleports down & with him comes one of the Daemon guardians.  As the other Knot members rush for the teleportation circle as well.

The battle finally begins to shift in the favor of Brother Summit, who gets cornered but still manages to kill off one of his attackers.

How will the battle end?  And how did the Mitrian Inquisition know to use the teleporters...