Session 30

The Knot received orders relayed to them via Fire-Axe that they were to stay in Daveryn and help Fire-Axe control the city.  And under no circumstances were they to interfere with the Sons of Balentyne.  Odd orders.

So, the Knot continued "visiting" Daveryn and over the next week.  And they had quite a time of it.

The first order of business was to hunt down the Duke.  Repeated uses of divine magic eventually proved successful.  In short order the Knot had the Duke cornered in his hiding hole in an abandoned merchant building.  Even quaffing an invisibility potion was of no avail to the Duke.

The Ninth spent some time questioning the Duke themselves before turning him over to a gleeful Fire-Axe.

The intel the Duke gave was quite useful.  Troop sizes of the King's army, Their commander, the King, and the second in command some Barcan general. And that the King wears an amulet that lets him return to his private sanctum in the Capital, where his daughter is.  Also, the Duke was trying to reach a wizard of some repute who offered to whisk him to safety if ever the city fell.

The rewards from Fire-Axe were large indeed.  He made Emmerick a general of the horde, granting him 5,000 gp of the Horde's earnings.  Also each Knot member was granted a slave from those captured in the fall.  The Ninth was quick to free any woman so gifted, do deference to their undead priestess.  Also they saw the Duke cooked on a spite and eaten by Fire-Axe and his lieutenants.  Some of the Knot recoiled in disgust.  As they witness the full savagery of these northern brutes.  Monsters they helped enter Talingarde.  Helped under the order of the Cardinal.

The Ninth decide to turn their attention to the wizard.  The Ninth coated themselves in magical protection, and used stealth to reach the top of the wizards tower and used magic to rip a gaping hole into the tower's roof and expose a very startled wizard.

Yvainne, unable to enter uninvited, opted to call out a mighty blasphemy.  The wizard was stunned.  Yvainne, having been blinded by Holy Word after Holy Word in the fight in the Vale was pleased.

In sort order the stunned Wizard was tackled by Summit & subdued.  He did struggle to get a couple spells off, but was unable to under the warm embrace of the Monk.

Questioning the wizard yielded little new information.

Though, searching his quarters did yield a couple rare finds.  One was a codex that seemed to match a book they found in the library of the tombs of the temple of Mitra-Made-Manifest.  The other, some intelligent thunder eagle had captured a black dragon and might kill him soon.  In interesting development to say the least.

The Ninth's wandering of the city found a few other finds.  The Knot, following a rumor, found a pocket of soldiers holding a barricaded street.  It took hardly any effort for the forces of Hell to lay low the soldiery.  Exploring the area beyond the barricade, they found a section of un-looted houses.  One was a trader's house and within was a dead to a manor house in the Capital.  The knot wondered if the owner was still alive.  Yvainne walked through the door into the house, turning and with a smile saying "no".

Operating on some other rumors, the Knot headed to the tower that stored the crown jewels of the duchy of Daveryn.  They ignored the 2 dozen bugbear & ogres waiting outside the tower claiming they "found" the jewels and instead, using magic, flew up to the top level.

Quell carefully crawled in, relying on Mardus to keep the obvious magical trap within from going off.  A couple failed dispel magic checks forced Quell to dodge out of the way of a lightning bolt or two, but eventually his arcane support came through & disabled the trap.  At least long enough for Quell to temporarily turn it off and steal the jewels.

The Bugbear grumbled at the "theft" of their treasure.  Until Emmerick reminded them he was a "General of the Horde" and not to be trifled with.  And the bugbears backed down.

On a hunch the Knot checked out the Docks and were blown away by what they found.  Warehouses full of goods, wild warhorses trotting around.  And magic items sitting in suit cases on the docks.  And two damaged ships that could easily be retrofitted into at least one working ocean going vessel.  The spoils were quite large.  The Horde somehow completely overlooked the docks.

In fact Mardus got so excited as they left the docks for the night, that a couple near by bugbear perked up & started snooping into the docks.  Likely the spoils would start going down once the Horde realized their oversight.

Still instead of returning to the Docks, the Knot followed a new lead.  Something about a prison compound repelling attacks.

The Knot rushed with magical and extraordinary skills over the walls of the Prison.

Guards rushed to mount a defense.  Fumbling to stop the death that had befallen them.  But they put up a paltry resistance.  In fact, the greatest frustration for a Knot member was when Yvainne, growing hungry from her last feeding, tried to feast on a guard, only to have her kill blown to bits by a stray fireball.  Even the Warden, a stout warrior, who charged out half-way through the fight fell before the blades of Hell like a ship battered against jagged uncaring rocks.

Standing over their fallen enemies, the Ninth marveled at their powers.  The Duke was dead, as was the high wizard.  Pockets of resistance were crumbling, riches were being seized.  Was there nothing in the ruins of Daveryn to challenge their combined might?