The Battle of Utford

General Summary

Utford was a little village, largely untroubled by the rest of Dorwine. Protected by the owls of the Ravenwood, Utford had little use for a standing military force and went about their lives peacefully in the service of Rielel.    In little more than 90 seconds, this was to change as Utford became caught up in a battle between the five fingers of Dorwine and Mateg's Boys. Mateg, still smarting after the heroes escaped him in The Undercrypt of Nyala the Lunatic, tracked them to Utford.   There his crew stole horses and set fire to a house to force the heroes out of hiding. They had been planning an ambush in another part of the village when first Alok Ravaralei and then the rest spotted the smoke from the blaze and went back to the village. There they found Mateg's gang in control of the village. With most villagers hiding in the cellar of The Half Full Tankard, the hobgoblins were menacing a small crowd gathered outside.   An attempt to sneak up on the hobgoblins was foiled when Mehmen Ashid alerted them to his presence and found himself briefly in danger.    A short and savage battle followed. During the battle Badalona Ailendogs found himself confronted with a shuriken throwing hobgoblin martial artist, Marble rode beneath a horse, successfully removing its saddle and unseating the rider and Thomas Marchant almost fooled everyone with his hobgoblin disguise. Mehmen's magic successfully took one of the thugs out of the fight and he was eventually subdued and captured.   Mateg offered to stop the fight if the Five Fingers would cease their assault. The heroes, doubting his sincerity, persisted and Mateg fireballed the inn, killing 6 townsfolk in the process. With his minions falling about him rapidly Mateg and several remaining hobgoblins turned to flee. They found Zuri Brawnanvil, Sudri, Finellen Battlehammer and the town Fletcher standing in their path, as well as several giant owls who had finally arrived to help.    Several spells later and Finellen, the Fletcher and 3 owls lay dead and Mateg galloped out of town. Kaltar, his lieutenant attempted to follow but was smashed to a pulp by an enraged Sudri, who used duergar magic to grow in size.    As Mehmen extinguished both the burning building and the inn, Mateg was left fleeing with his one remaining minion.    And Utford was left to count its dead.