T-D Session 5 Report

General Summary

15th Flamerule 1492 DR
In the chaos of the Companions change, the party manages to keep together. Through the screaming, and panicking crowds, they press onwards, trying to keep up with Blur and his squad of Flaming Fists. Princess leading the way, dragging Scott along with her. Haelee manages to regain Erric's focus, and follow the tall half-orc, with Feylan taking up the rear. The rate of the booming thunder and crashing lightning begins to slow, striking the city every minute or so now. Pushing and shoving, they manage to clear the throngs of people stampeding in The Gardens. Moving into the eastern side of the High District, the alleyways become somewhat less choked with people, and the party is able to move with more pace. They see parents carrying crying children towards homes, the fires in the city starting to choke the sky with smoke. They round one alleyway and into a wider street, the short halfling, hefty battleaxe now drawn, sprinting towards a specific townhouse with purpose. The white stone walls reflect the ruddy red light in the sky, four stories tall, with a set of steps that rise up from the street level to the front door above.
Taking the steps two at a time, the halfling makes it to the front door, and begins fumbling through his keys. The other three Flaming Fist take up a defensive stance around the stairs. As Blur gets the door open, he calls for everyone to get inside before he makes his way to the stairs. The party enter through the doorway, and find themselves in a stairwell, with a staircase that runs around the wall, leading up to the floors above. The room itself is furnished as a small reading nook. Two other doors within the room lead elsewhere within the house. "Marshal Ravengard, are you okay?" Blur calls as he heads upstairs. A male voice calls back, low and commanding "I am, Blur, please report." The party follows Blur upstairs to meet Ravengard, as Blur calls back down the stairs to his men "Deod check on Lalsil in the servant's quarters, Hor and Kor, hold the door." One of the Flaming Fist heads back down the stairs onto the street, and disappears from view.
The party make their way to the landing of the second floor, with the stairs continuing to follow a looping spiral up to the third floor above. From the windows, the sight of the High Hall looms to the south, with the Companion crackling and swirling mere hundreds of feet above it. Three doors open out onto this landing, two shut and the third open, revealing a bedroom, and a dark skinned man, bald head, clearly part way into his battledress. A chain shirt and leggings fastened, but still working his way with his platemail. Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate, Marshal of the Flaming Fist, Ulder Ravengard introduces himself. Princess takes the lead on attempting to explain the situation - that they had uncovered clues that suggested something terrible was going to happen on the anniversary of the Companion, and that somehow he was involved or targetted in some way. Furthermore, she believes that the city has been plane shifted to the first layer of the hells - Avernus. Haelee, using her newly unlocked latent telepathic abilities reads the surface thoughts of Ravengard. Unfamiliar with him, and feeling very out of her comfort zone, she opts for a more intrusive approach to build trust. From this she gleams that Ravengard seems to harbour no ill-will to them or the city, that he is highly sceptical of the city being plane shifted due to the magical effort required, that he is concerned for his men, and the people of Elturel. Ravengard advises that Lalsil is down in the servants quarters, that when the shift started she checked in on Ravengard, before returning to her men to get ready for battle.
It is at this moment that Kor, one of the guards, yells from the stairs outside, "We've got company!". Blur, Scott and Princess begin to sprint back down the stairs to investigate. Erric, having seen the balcony of the house when approaching it, opens one of the closed doors to reveal the master bedroom, which indeed has a door leading out to said balcony. He vaults over the bed, opens the doors and takes an elevated position looking over the street - Haelee and Feylan following his lead. Erric looks down and sees that Blur, Kor, Hor, Princess and Scott are engaged in battle with devils. There creatures of different natures, although the two at the front, whilst distinct, wear the armour of the Hellriders.
The largest of the trio, standing at least seven feet tall, its body wrapped in chains that move of their own accord, flailing out towards the defenders, the ends of these chains attached to maces, mauls and curved blades. The second devil, its form almost a mockery of a knight, stood at about six feet, the head merely a helmet, although seemingly squashed impossibly tight to its head. The body is merely a suit of armour, although more bulbous in form, carrying a hefty halberd. The third, much smaller, with sinewy wings keeping it aloft, its wingspan nearly five feet across, sharp spines running down its back to its tail, its mouth a maw of razors, and its small hands clutching a trident.
Haelee takes the form of a giant ice spider, and fires a bolt of thick web at the chained devil leading the pack. The web restrains the creature, tangling in its flailing webs and making it easier for those engaging it in melee to take it down. Erric meanwhile, from his vantage point began to fire his silver-tipped arrows into the flying devil below. Just as the defenders were gaining some confidence in the fight, two things happened. Firstly the halberd armed devil sunk its blade into Princess, wounding her significantly, before bringing the pike down into Blur. Secondly, shouts of concern and the sounds of battle were heard from elsewhere in the house. The party realised that a second group of devils must be fighting with Lalsil in the servants quarters.
Erric slew the flying spined devil with his arrows, as Haelee continued to try and keep the chain devil wrapped in webs. Those on the ground continue to try and bring the chain devil down, whilst the squat halberd devil begins to make its way towards the front door, walking with driven purpose. Blur and Princess manage to intercept it before it makes its way to the front door, but at a cost. Blur took hits from the chain devils' whirling spikes, and Princess got knocked unconscious by the powerful strikes from the halberd. Scott, Hor and Kor continued to work on the chain devil, finally bringing it down, before rushing to assist Princess and Blur. Haelee, Erric and Feylan made their way back down the stairs to help downed Princess and to fight the devil that was pushing its way inside. At this point flying spined devils made their way from around the back of the house, and headed for the open balcony. Erric headed back upstairs to help protect Ravengard, drawing his shortswords and killing one of the devils in one swift move.
Blur, critically wounded, stepped out of the fight and began to apply first aid to Princess, trying to stabilise her. With Scott punching and the guards stabbing, they manage to bring the devil in the doorway down. Haelee hastily moved past them and summoned fey spirits, channelling healing energy into both Princess and Blur. She followed this up with her own healing words, and Princess came back around to consciousness. With the devils at the front defeated, and the sounds of battle still raging from the ground floor of the house, Scott and the two guards ran down the back alley to the servants entrance. As Scott made his way inside the narrow passageway, and caught sight of the servant's quarters, it was a mess. Stuck in a cramped space, Lalsil and three guards were fighting a towering seven foot tall devil made of razor sharp barbs, its tail coiling and lashing out like a snake. On the floor in the doorway lay a dead Flaming Fist guard, and another devil, wearing Hellrider armour. Too cramped to get into the melee, Scott pulled out a fist full of darts and began throwing them at the devil for all it was worth. Soon Erric arrived, and was able to position himself, trying to hit the devil with his arrows at the awkward angle.
The devil was finally killed, but not before it slew another Flaming Fist. As it died it hissed that “you are all delaying the inevitable, their souls are hers, and soon they'll be joining the ranks of the Blood War.” With the threat ended, Lalsil rallied her men, told them there was no time to mourn the dead, and for everyone to report in with Ravengard. Everyone headed upstairs, to find Ravengard alive and well, Feylan by his side, having killed another flying spined devil. With Blur and Princess healed as much as Haelee could manage, the two groups tried to make a plan. Whilst they discussed, Haelee wandered the house, heading up to the top floor she found a study that must have had an amazing view in days prior. Now however, it showed the true state of affairs. From his higher vantage point, she could see out to the east, and from that make out beyond the walls of the city. In the distance she could see a roiling red river that runs towards the city of Elturel. As the perspective came into focus, she realised that Elturel must be floating in the sky above the river. Craning to see more, the banks of either side of the river could be seen, confirming the notion that Elturel was flying. Beyond this, she could make out a large tower, to which a huge chain ran from it, and connected to the city.
This information was relayed, and as everyone took stock of this fact, Ravengard proposed that they head to High Hall. That it is the strongest and most defensible bastion in the city. That clearly the forces behind this had targeted him for assassination, and that for a time, they'll assume they'd succeedeed. They should use this time to move to a more fortified location. Moreover, as the seat of government, the people of the city will be turning to High Hall for guidance and support, and that he will be able to help lead them in this troubled time until a solution to the problem is found. Princess was concerned about moving that far across the city, and potentially to another hostile location. She suggested that they move to another nearby neighbour, take refuge in another house and rest to recover. As the party was spent, heading back into battle without rest was foolish. Haelee suggested that heading to High Hall was a large risk because people would know to go there, and that perhaps Helm's Shieldhall was a better location. It too is a fortified citadel, and the main base of the Hellriders. The debate raged on for a few minutes, and as time began to burn away, losing the advantage they'd gained, they agreed to head to High Hall.
They moved as carefully and quietly as they could, taking their time walking the streets of Elturel. They saw people still moving about the streets, some trying to put fires out, others dazed and confused, looking for loved ones missing in the chaos. Despite those out in public, the numbers had dropped considerably, a lot of people it seems had turned to shuttering themselves in their homes, hoping to ride out this bad night, praying that in the morning everything would be okay. The trek from the Ravenshade Villa where they found Ravengard, to High Hall took a little over an hour. The large doors of the gatehouse hang open, and the courtyard empty of people, the Flaming Fist and the party take stock of the situation. The courtyard is dominated by the large, three story cathedral, and beside it, the smaller and newer High Observer's Hall. Both buildings with their doors open.
The session ended with things feeling too quiet. Erric made his way to one of the defensive towers, climbing to the top of the structure to get a better view. From this elevated spot, he could see most of the city, buildings on fire, the occasional bursts of lightning from the Companion still arcing out every few minutes. Beyond the city, he could see the wide, winding river, disappearing off into the smoky haze to the east and west of the city, its waters, if that's what they are, a dirty red. The sounds of roaring creatures, noises beyond anything natural, echoing from far in the distance.

Report Date

01 Mar 2024