No One Left Behind

General Summary

I found something you dropped
— Rehele Odred

Rain and the rumble of an inbound storm shake the early evening hours. News as reached the heroes that the New Sanctuary Expedition wagons have finally arrived in Frial . The city's leadership, the Kreastos were indifferent to the arrival of the caravan and the Grand Order of the Lion were downright cold.

Most of the party were out on a resource gathering mission south of the city but the Moondalls, Caellena and Cordelia were still at the tavern Aelfric had rented out. Once they heard the caravan was rolling in they quickly made for the small, empty, cityblock the Kreastos were allowing them to rent for 200 gold coins a day. They pass through the city square where they're attention is briefly drawn to a gallows where nine bodies suddenly drop to their deaths with a sickening snap. They all recognize the man overseeing the execution, the mercenary hired by the Kreastos to help bring order... Allistar Killian. Cordelia in particular chooses to hurry through the area and with the others keeping pace.

They reach the caravan as the wagons are all settling in. It's an area of the city between the city square and smitheries that looks like it was never chosen for rebuilding. Broken stones, overgrown weeds and derelict structures dot the small pocket of civilization. They're first greeted by the Westbound Star's second in command, Old Bear, who seems happy to see all of them. He fills them in the news such as the caravan helping to found Fountain Head and evidence of Giants lurking in the area. He also gets them up to speed on the buried Skyriran outpost one of the scout teams briefly investigated as well. He then offers them a riding horse as one of the young foals under his charge is old enough to work now. Caellana eagerly takes the opportunity to speak with horse and name it Open Fields.

They then head to Rehele's wagon to check in with their leader but upon knocking she answers in a very unexpected way, telling them to come in and get something they must have "dropped". Inside they find Rehele organizing papers and scrolls at her table with none other than Tindel .Their former partner seems alive and well despite his death during the incident in Becklinberg. They try to explain to Rehele that something must be wrong and that Tindel cannot be himself but she says he's done nothing suspicious since they found him near Becklinberg and Tindel himself professes that everything is fine. He simply woke up from his injuries in the woods and wandered back into the city ruins where he found the caravan during its stopover.

Rehele asks them to table the discussion about Tindel because she has a pending meeting with Grand Order of the Lion. During her stay in Frial she wants to meet with as many of the influencers in the city as she can ad hopes to bring along the heroes to add any context to the discussion (knowing they have had some interaction with the Lions already). She takes them with, leaving Tindel behind to finish his administration duties.

Inside the Lions' fortress they speak with the Senior Quartermaster, Caleb Broom, and his staff about securing trade, supplies or sponsorship. The conversations are rather dry for heroes who sit through the negotiations quietly (or in Caellana's case she fidgets with the stoic guards in the room) but it quickly becomes clear to them that they're upset about the way things turned out with the Fellhammers days earlier. Broom even confronts them directly about their choice to secretly back the Kreastos instead of them. The debate becomes heated as Broom explains that the Kreastos is corrupt organization with too many different hidden interests all vying for power. They're the ones holding back Frial from realizing its true potential and by supporting the city instead of the Lions all they did was breath new life into a flame that should be dying.

Meanwhile, as Caellana fools around with the guards he notices something out the chamber's window. Smoke and then flames erupting from a building across the way and she quickly realized which building it was... the city's constabulary and dungeon. The place they had turned over the Fellhammers to. She quickly alerts the others and just as warning sirens start to scream from within the constabulary. The Quartermasters adjourn the meeting to help with the growing emergency outside and then rush from the room. The heroes remain inside with Rehele and quickly fill her in on the dwarves. Thanks to Cordelia's inherit paranoia she suspects this to be something larger, a distraction but to what end she isn't sure. Rehele returns to camp while the others reach out to the Lions asking for info but only Claudius Xavier Bastion will speak with them. The other Lions only seethe bitterly at the heroes. Claudius has nothing but respect for them though thanks to their help with the rogue knights, the Lion's Claw. He tells them that the dwarves have escaped and they're on the loose, setting fire to the constabulary and other nearby buildings. Claudius says that the dwarves are too formidable of opponents for the constabulary to recapture without taking casualties. Cordelia offers for herself and the other heroes to pursue the dwarves while the Lions concentrate entirely on battling the flames and working together with the Kreastos emergency effort.

Cordelia reasons that the dwarves must be trying to escape Frial and the only way out would be through the western gates or the sewers. The Moondall siblings take the sewers while Cord and Caellana head toward the fire hoping to catch them in the act or at least on the way to the western gates.

The Moondalls find the sewers pitched black and very difficult to traverse. The rain has been steady and the sewage is over thigh height. They stick to the ledges along the edges of the main channels instead. Their rather loud progress quickly earns the attention of some of the sewers local residents, giant rats. A dozen of them swarm out of the cracks and passages to quickly surround the two siblings on their ledge. They bite, scratch and thrash about doing some serious harm to both McKenna and Riken but are otherwise quickly dealt with. McKenna needs a short rest to bandage up her wounds though. It's during that rest they hear a rather deafening crash from one of the nearby junctions.

Meanwhile, Caellana and Cordelia rush as fast as they are able but the fire seems to be spreading unnaturally fast despite even the rain. Caellana watches the flames and with her keen mystic sight she sees something that is lost to the other civilians running through the streets. A malicious shape and insidious intellect to the inferno. It's an elemental and gleefully covets the opportunity to spread from building to building. Caellana's emotions are a flood of helplessness and urgency as she struggles to run fast enough to even keep up with Cordelia let alone the fire. The magic within her takes hold; fueled by her emotions and she wildshapes into a galloping stallion. The pair than ride off into the smoke and rain as they search for the cause of this unnatural inferno.

Fire Elemental by Dungeons and Dragons 5E

Once they reach the constabulary they find it already lost to the elemental's flames. Caellana can see the magical shape of the inferno and hear its words in every crackle of fire and scorching gust. It says it was summoned here but rather than ire it is overjoyed that the only task it was given was to burn everything it could. Cordelia's eyes were on the streets though and through the blaze she spots something familiar, one of the Fellhammers' allies, Barrels. The freed dwarves and their entire troupe are here in the town square and skirting through the alleys to avoid being seen.

Cordelia and horse-Caellana ride up on the entire group and confront them. Ginny, seems to seethe with bitter anger but the dwarves quiet her. Robogan Fellhammer, the supposed king of clan Fellhammer, condemns the duplicity of the heroes. Cord wishes only to talk though and she learns from Robogan that an ally came to him in prison and offered to help undo the injustice that was done to them. The dwarf describes this alley and the man's stated business with the Lions and their vaults. Cordelia immediately recognizes the man before the words even leave Robogan's lips... Heinreich Klamp

In the sewers, McKenna and Riken skulk through the dark and close in on the source of the noise. They stop short of entering the tunnel the noise came from as they see lights and hear voices. Peeking around the corner they find the source of the commotion. A dozen or so armed mercenaries all standing a safe distance behind a truly awe-inspiring sight. A beast larger than any ogre, with a body of shaggy black fur and frenzied visage of a raging bull. Lurking near it in the shadows is a hulking orc in heavy cloak and painted face. And, atop the bull beast is a screeching goblin issuing shrill commands to his mount to tear the wall asunder. As they watch this odd group of monsters rip down the wall they overhear the name they go by. A trio of inhuman mercenaries for hire known as the Gatecrashers and their task seems simple enough, batter their way through this wall and into the lowest level of the Lions' bastion.

The Moondalls try to sneak back out of the corridor to warn their friends but McKenna loses her balance on the ledge and splashes down into the running sewage, sinking in waste deep and nearly vomiting while her brother helps her up. All of the mercenaries and along with the Gatecrashers turn to look at the pair. It's then that a low, sinister and eloquent voice purrs from the dark. "I've been looking forward to this." The voice belongs to Heinreich Klamp who's stands in the shadow of the minotaur and eagerly commands his hired swords to bring the Moondalls to him alive. Riken and McKenna flee as quickly as possible, barely managing to keep ahead of their pursuers and reaching the city's street level.

Heinreich Klamp by Gianfranco Villantoy

Cordelia lets the Lions' relief force know that the dwarves are in the area, hoping that the knights can deal with it one way or another rather than leave it to the ill-prepared constabulary. She than rides back to the Lions' bastion as fast as Caellana's horse-form will carry her. She reaches the area shortly after the Moondalls pull themselves from the sewers. They quickly compare notes on what they've learned and realize they need to get inside the reliquary as soon as possible. Cordelia knows that Caellana is useless in this horse-form and that her mind is little better than the shape of the beast she wears. Having seen how her wildshape functions before she chooses the gristly method of daggering her till the magic form fades and a very confused, Caellana emerges.

While Caellana gathers her wits and McKenna switches outfits for one not so covered in excrement Cordelia makes the difficult choice to put on her tengu-skull mask and reach out to Scourge.

Scourge by Gianfranco Villantoy

She knows that the construct is searching for Klamp and hopes that it will move to Frial as fast as possible to claim their mutual enemy. To her shock, when she peers through the mask's eyes to connect with Scourge she sees the city of Frial and the flames. Scourge is already here and on one of the rooftops hunting. He can sense Klamp here and has already been following him. He can also sense the Moondall siblings whom he has been tracking as well, wanting to claim their blood to fulfill the debt their dead father owes him. Cordelia lets Scourge know where Klamp is but tells him the Moondalls were never part of the deal but his bitter hate for his creators blinds him to the terms of their originally agreement. Caellana is shocked to hear this communication take place but before she can process it Cordelia ends the communication and leads them all into the bastion.

Inside, they find a number of the Lions' administration staff wounded or dying. The sound of chaos and combat echoing from elsewhere on the ground floor. Riken and McKenna recognize the sounds as the Gatecrashers. It seems the brutes are occupying the castle defenders while Klamp presumably invades the reliquary.

The heroes rush downstairs to the reliquary area, finding many more injured or dead on the way. Among the survivors is one member of Klamp's human mercenaries and Caleb Broom who tried to stop them. Once downstairs they find sewage water flooding the area and many of the chests all smashed open and contents stolen. Cordelia studies the area and realizes the only chest fully emptied is the one she secretly stole from days earlier for Tryxanna. She took the demon's bracelet per her instructions and instead put the Moonbridge in its place. The box that used to hold the bracelet is missing, along with the Moonbridge Cordelia put inside. Klamp and his men have already fled back into the sewers and before the heroes can pursue the hear heavy, cloven feet stomping down the stairs.

The Gatecrashers are done with their distraction upstairs and are looking to leave the way they came. Cordelia realizes they're severely undermanned for this kind of fight and quickly tells everyone to flee around them and into the safety of the Lions returning forces. Her instinct is right as the orc, goblin and minotaur shake off every opening attack and deal crippling damage in return. They all manage to get up the stairs and past the Gatecrashers who make their escape into the sewers as well.

Once outside and safe Caellana confronts Cordelia about Scourge and her pact with the scarecrow. Unable to hold back her secrets any longer Cord confesses to having made a bargain with the creature. She agreed to turn over Laplin many weeks early and witnessed Scourge brutally murder the man. Laplin was one of Scourge's makers along with Temax Moondall and Heinreich Klamp. The Scarecrow told her that if she refused he would murder his way through the caravan and do it himself. Scourge now hungers for the Moondall siblings as well as Klamp. Caellana firmly believed there had to be a better way, one where Laplin could have lived and Cord didn't have to treat with a monster. She was angry that Cordelia made this choice for the rest of the party and hurt that she didn't bring it them to discuss. The night ends with the one friend Cordelia had leaving her alone in the rain and against a backdrop of burning buildings.

Rewards Granted

Riken and McKenna were given Laplin's old wagon to make their own. Inside they found a dirty old leather-bound book containing all the dirty, yet mundane, secrets of dozens of caravan civilians (random treasure card roll). Caellana has a horse named Open-Fields now.

Campaign

The New Sanctuary Expedition

Protagonists