ASFTD: Session XI

General Summary

As night descended and took a hold of the town of Kleinhaupt, the party waited for it to become dark enough to begin their infiltration of the Baronial Mansion. Once they were satisfied that the darkness would give them enough cover, Elijah and Merric began to creep from the Royal Flower Inn and across the marketplace to the foot of the hill on which the Baronial Mansion sits. Failing to spot Kepler on the south tower, they split, with one climbing up a different side of the hill and scaling the palisade wall above to reach the battlements. As they slipped onto the battlements above, they noticed a guard on the south tower, who was leaning over the crenelations, clearly attempting to spot something on the ground below. Beside them, another guard could be seen sleeping on the floor. As Elijah and Merric crept closer they recognised that the guard was in fact Kepler, who was keeping an eye out for the party below, and that the sleeping guard was actually dead, having been strangled by Kepler.
Joining up with Kepler, he and Elijah threw down a rope that Kepler had attached to the battlements to enable the others to scale the walls, and Finn, Rain and Thorwald began to make their way to the base of the hill and begin their ascent. Finn and Rain were able to climb the knotted rope with ease, but Thorwald, in his heavier armour was making far too much noise, and was struggling to climb the rope. From a nearby section of wall, one of Valentin’s guards could hear the Dwarf's struggle as well, as he began to lean over the wall with a torch, trying to spot the source of the noise below. Thorwald noticed just in time as the guard threw their torch down onto the ground below in an attempt to get a better view. Thorwald was able to dodge around the wall of the tower, and as the torch hit the floor he cast Produce Water on the torch to extinguish it before the guard had a chance to spot the rope. As the guard turned away to a nearby brazier, to light another torch, Thorwald darted back to the rope, and Rain swiftly pulled him up the wall and onto the battlements.
From their position in the tower, the party could see that there were at least eight guards that stood between them and the gatehouse, and after a quick discussion, Elijah, Finn and Merric, as the stealthiest members of the party began to creep along the wall. The first two guards were dispatched without too much issue, but as they approached the north tower their luck began to run out. As Finn and Merric approached the north tower, Finn tripped over some detritus that had been left on the wall, but was able to dive into cover before being spotted. Merric on the other hand, who was half way up the ladder to the tower, had to dash onto the tower platform, and was able to miraculously shadow the guard around, using his smaller Halfling size to hide behind the guard. However, as the guard turned to spot the source of the noise, his line of sight was drawn to the bodies of his comrades, still on the walls, and the creeping form of Elijah. Acting quickly, Merric attempted to shove the guard off the tower, whilst the rest of the party moved into combat.
As a mêlée broke out and stealth was cast aside, the two guards in the tower were dispatched, but not before the two guards at the top, and two guards at the base of the gatehouse were alerted to the intrusion. Thorwald, however, had a flash of inspiration and cast Silence on the area of the gatehouse, stifling the cries and orders of the guards there, and stopping more from being drawn into the combat for the time being. As Rain, Merric and Finn charged up to engage the guards on top of the gatehouse, Elijah, supported by Thorwald engaged those at the base. In the complete, arcane silence that enveloped the fight, the guards at the top of the tower were eventually dispatched, whilst those at the base of the tower proved more of a challenge. As the fight eventually began to swing in Elijah’s favour, one of the guards made a break for it, attempting to run out of the zone of silence and raise the alarm. Again quick thinking by Thorwald and the casting of a Command spell, the guard was forced to turn and make his way back to the fight, where Rain was now waiting to dispatch him with an arcane blast.
With the guards around the gatehouse dead, Thorwald made his way up to the north tower, and sent an arcane message to Linde Frankesen in the Wolf Tavern, telling her to get all available troops ready and to tell Wolfram to begin his attack on the Mansion in ten minutes. As a tabard, bearing Linde Frankesen’s coat of arms was wave from the tavern window, to indicate the message had been received, Thorwald returned to his companions in the gatehouse.
The decision was made that Rain should remain in the gatehouse, ready to lift the bar and admit the troops loyal to the Baron when they began their attack, whilst Elijah, Finn, Merric and Thorwald set off, creeping along the ground in the shadow of the wall, to gain access into the Mansion itself. Avoiding the main door, which was clearly guarded, the party crept round to the back of the Mansion, where they were able to gain access through the kitchen complex. Managing to avoid waking the kitchen staff and servants who were asleep there, they saw two doors on either side of the room leading to the Great Hall, which Merric and Finn approached to eavesdrop and scout through.
Inside the Great Hall, Merric and Finn saw that there were several of Valentin’s agents scattered around the space, and the at a large table Valentin himself was pouring over a large document with a well-dressed Shadow Elf, and a Shadow Elf bodyguard, and the figure of Baron Theobald Hohensten, tied up and on his throne, clearly unconscious and in a very bad way. Valentin could be seen signing whatever the document was, placing it into a leather document tube, and conversing with the Shadow Elves in broken Undercommon. Shortly after the signing of the contract, the warning bell began to sound high, above them, and a man entered through the main doors of the Great Hall, saying that the Mansion was under attack, leaving with two of the Agents that were in the room, and the remaining two agents began to barricade the doors to the Great hall, starting with the main entrance, and then moving to the smaller back entrances, through which Merric and Finn were eavesdropping. Knowing that they had to act quickly, the party gathered just behind the door through which Merric had been spying, and as the Agent moved in to bar it, they pounced, throwing open the door and attempting to drag the man into the kitchen. However, the Agent was not taken as much by surprise as they hoped, and managed to resist being pulled into the kitchen, and instead dragged Elijah into the Great Hall.
At that point the situation turned to violence, as Valentin, enraged by Elijah’s appearance ordered his men to attack. After a long and brutal fight, in which the party managed to steal the document tube and Valentin himself waded into the fight to try to reclaim it, Valentin was eventually slain. As the last of his life left his body, with Elijah’s daggers embedded in his chest, the doors to the Great Hall were broken open by Rain, leading Wolfram and his men to the scene. The only survivors of the battle were the party, and the two Shadow Elves, who had only moved to defend themselves and were clearly trying to establish how to extricate themselves from the situation.

Report Date

22 Feb 2019

Primary Location

Kleinhaupt