Session 31

The Ninth Knot secured the prison exterior.  After a spirited questioning of the head guard, Yvainne quickly feasted on him.  Eager and hungry, after being deprived her dinner during combat.

The Knot then went through the prison and found row after row of chained, malnourished prisoners.  Never one to turn down an opportunity, the leaders of the Shroud quickly recruit, selecting the choice prisoners.  The remaining prisoners were set free to meet whatever fate was in store for them.

Another oddity was found.  An assassin, branded with a runic F.  Forsaken.  Questioning the stoic prisoner revealed he was one the foreign assassins who failed to kill the King before his unexpected march from the capital.  The Knot offered him his freedom and another chance at taking out the King.  An opportunity the Red Mantis could hardly turn down.

With the prison secure, the Ninth turned their attention to some of Wasyli's unfinished business.  His Aunt.

The Baroness of Veryn and what was left of her ragged house guards were quite surprised to see Wasyli standing before her besieged manor house.  But warm hospitality was offered none the less.  The rest of the Ninth Knot played gracious guests, eyeing Wasyli, to see how he handled the encounter.  His claim that she betrayed him seemed unlikely given her warm welcome, unless she was an incredibly cleaver liar.

During a break, the Knot asked to converse in private.  Wasyli opted to use her Aunt instead of destroying her.  A decision heartily endorsed by the rest of the Knot.

So the Ninth Knot openly conspired with the Baroness.  Rallying a Shroud/Bugbear escort to get her and her handful of guards to safety outside the city so she could flee to the capital as a refugee.  And the Knot would do the "hard" task of sacking her house.  Making sure to take any monogrammed or marked treasure of the Baroness & distribute it well amongst the Bugbear horde.  To further bolster her claim of innocent victim of the savage northern monsters.  And if the Knot found themselves in the capital, well... they'd be sure to look her up.

Having swelled the shroud's numbers, acquired a key ally and investigated the obvious points of interest, the Ninth return to the joy of simple pillaging.

Returning to the docks the Ninth were going hunting for more treasures, when suddenly two angels teleport in amongst them.  A Trumpet archon and a Monavic Diva.  The angels squandering their surprise to have the Archon declare the Ninth to be punished for the death of Ara Mathra.

That lost surprise was something the Ninth was going to make them regret.  The fight was brief and brutal.  Emmerick shared his ability to smite good.  And the Ninth all got in good blows.  Some were blinded by Holy Word.  And a Blasphemy was returned in kind, though the Angel & Archon's natural spell resistance protected them.  Summit fumbled trying to grapple & resorted to flurrying.  And Quell unleash devastating sneak/smite attacks.  Along with Emmerick carving the angels with Hellbrand.  The Angel fell under the onslaught.  And Wasyli, channeling his infernal pact, managed to Feeblemind the Archon.

The Archon did pick up the Angel's maul & tried to destroy Yvainne with the powerful anti-undead weapon.  But the vampire resisted the blow & watched as the Archon was slashed to ribbons in front of her by her allies.

The Ninth stood triumphant again in the face of the forces of Heaven.

Liking their wounds, and Yvainne shaking off her near "death" experience, the Ninth resumed trudging through the city streets looking for any hidden wealth.  They failed to find the bounty they had earlier in the docks.  But they did find plenty of loose trinkets and abandoned trade goods worth some coin.  And as they expanded their search Emmerick stumbled across an oddity.  In the heart of the ruined city, bugbear marauders all around.  The Anti-Paladin spotted a cow, just wandering a city garden, munching on the grass.  How the bovine managed to make it into this location was beyond the Knot's understanding.  But still, there it was.  Fireaxe would get a special meal tonight.

The Knot managed to find many other odds and ends amongst the ruined, burning and abandoned husk of a city.  Though non matched the oddity of the cow.  Or the wealth of the magic items from the Docks.  And so the Knot grew restless.

Then the started hearing rumors from the Horde about attacks on lone bugbears and that survivors were hiding beneath the streets like rats.  Asking more questions, the Knot begins to isolate the district with the most attacks & beings searching the sewers.

Wandering through the bowls of the city, the Knot find a curious site.  A few city watch guards manning a fire at an intersection.  Wasyli cloaks himself in magical invisibility & the shadows and advances.  He finds more guards near by.  They're all guarding an unassuming sewer block.  Reconvening, the Knot decides there must be something hidden in the area.  They rally and unleash a surprise attack on the small resistance forces.

In a matter of seconds the guards were destroyed by the fire and steel of hell.  Yvainne wasted no time and started to use divine magic to melt into the stone walls.  Her blind hope turned quite lucky when she opened up a hole into a barracks of some sort.  Wasting no time,  the Knot rained the area with fire.  The stunned Captain of the Guard stood there, the cigar he was champing, burnt to a crisp, fell from his mouth.

In a few seconds the sleeping & resting guards were burnt to death as the Knot rushed in.  The captain, and his priestly friend tried to rally.  But their power, perhaps enough to fend of the stray bugbear patrol was nothing in the face of the Ninth Knot of Hell.

Over two weeks had passed, nothing in the city stood up against Cardinal Thorn's Ninth Knot, not even agents of Heaven.  When would the Cardinal of Hell give the Knot something worthy of their time.