“He who allows oppression shares the crime.” - Desiderius Erasmus----
Grabbing a barrel of Dwarven Stout, Kyle, Thistle and Tazjh set off towards the arena, with Kyle oblivious to Thistle’s plan.
Meanwhile Vognar sets off to see a wizard rumored to be the most powerful in Tymon, with the idea that he might be able to secure passage for the recently liberated Gron back to the Mierani Forest. Telling Lythar that he will catch up, and leaving the letters and Book of the Sun that he retrieved from Venture Captain Smine with Lythar, he sets off down the street from the Prancing Palomino.
Lythar isn’t entirely sure what Thistle is up to, but he has a pretty good idea that it involves the animals imprisoned in the Arena, and decides that he will not wait out the night, allowing angered Tymonians to waylay him. The moment Vognar sets out from the front door, Lythar bids Gron to wait at the Inn and leaves immediately to find a horse for Kyle, Tylalaes in tow.
Pounding on the door of the nearest livery, Lythar uses the promise of overpayment to ensure good service at such a late hour. Using a practiced eye, Lythar is able to choose one of the healthier horses of the lot for Kyle. A quick stop for tack and saddlebags, and Lythar rushes back to the Inn to begin preparations for leaving Tymon.
While Lythar is horse trading, Thistle and company arrive at the arena. Plying the two guards at the side-entrance with Dwarven Stout, and using their new-found fame to great effect, Kyle is able to befriend one of the two, and along with Thistle convinces them that they just want to feed the animals as a tribute to their Gods.
Leaving one guard to monitor the entrance, the other leads the three adventurers down to the animal pens. Inside the pens, the heroes find six hyenas, four worgs, a bear, a giant tarantula, a small green dragon, a lion and two lionesses and a griffon. There are two guards charged watching over the animals, and they become incensed as their orders are to keep the poor beasts starved and hungry, to enhance the fights.
While Kyle and Thistle are schmoozing the guards, Lythar completes his shopping trip and collects Gron and everyone’s belongings from the Inn. Announcing that he’s heading back to Uringen, he leads the string of horses out of the northern gate, quickly turning into the forest and joining the road headed towards Kyonin once he is out of sight of the walls. A few miles out of town, they make a cold, quiet camp off of the road a ways, and Lythar leaves Gron in charge of the horses, returning to watch over the road from a concealed position.
Deep in the bowels of the arena, Kyle, incredibly drunk at this point, manages to convince one of the Animal Pen Guards of his "sincerity", and then uses his silver tongue to turn the two guards on each other. With an argument well under way between the two guards, Thistle attempts to make friends with the Green Dragon, in the hopes that he can convince the creature to leave himself, Kyle and Tazjh alone.
Convinced that he’s done the best he can, Thistle signals Kyle, who, with a prayer to Cayden Cailean, releases all of the locks on the doors and the chains on the animals. The doors behind the arguing guards are also unlocked by the strength of Kyle’s plea.
The dragon is the first out of the gate, and he quickly makes short work of the pen guards, with the pack of hyenas rending the guard that had escorted them limb from limb. Kyle, Thistle and Tazjh make a hasty exit out of the now unlocked back doors, and escape into the night, followed by the menagerie of arena animals. The dragon pauses on the way out to melt portions of the arena with his acid breath.
To the tune of screams, running guards, and dying townsfolk, the three leave the town through an unguarded gate, part of a throng of people fleeing the massacre. As they leave Tymon in their wake, Thistle notices a familiar Drowish figure standing atop the arena, accompanied by the Dog-headed beast the party encountered in Uringen. To Thistle’s dismay, both are looking in their direction.
Before long, Thistle and Kyle are distracted by a dark shape winging towards them. Kyle is tackled by the dragon, who inhales deeply, before announcing, “So I can remember you...” and winging off into the night.
Rejoining Lythar, Gron and Tyl, the party makes camp for the night, with Lythar and Gron taking the watches to allow Thistle and Kyle to recover from their adventure. Sitting quietly with Gron, Lythar revealed their mission to the large Lunarae, discovering from him that Dro, Lythar’s Lunarae friend, and Gron’s packmate, carried a similar book, except that book was infused with green instead of white light. When the two were captured, Gron felt that the book may have fallen into the enemy’s hands. As Lythar spoke of possible ways to get Gron back to the Mierani Forest, Gron expressed interest in accompanying the party to Absalom, and from there to Katapesh to try and rescue Dro.
The following morning, a rested party mounted up and started riding towards the Kyonin border. Before too long, however, a flurry of crossbow bolts came out of the forest to their left. As the first flight hit, Lythar felt and Thistle felt themselves get woozy for a moment, but were able to shake off the effects of the poison. Gron and Kyle, however, weren’t so lucky, with both succumbing to the poisons used by the denizens of the UnderDark. As he fell unconscious, Kyle crashed to the ground from the back of his horse.
Before the remaining party members could react, a second wave of bolts impacted the party, and the combined effects left Lythar unable to cope. Slumping in his saddle, Lythar was out of the fight. Meanwhile, Gron and Kyle were able to shake off the effects of the poison, and began to slowly stir to life. That left Thistle, Tazjh the Raptor and Tyl the Wolf to protect and avenge their comrades.
In a hot fight with six Drow Soldiers and a Noblewoman, Tazjh managed to shred a number of soldiers, with Kyle charming an additional Drow fighter, convincing him to make war against his kin. Before long, the party was able to overwhelm the attackers, as Lythar groggily attempted to fight off the poison.
After the fight, Kyle questioned Renlys, the captured Drow. From him, the party was able to learn that Dro, Lythar's friend, was sold in Katapesh. They also learned that the slaver Gnolls roaming the countryside were allied with the Drow, and were members of a clan called Lamashtu’s Flower. Finally, the captured soldier revealed that there were many books, and some may be found in Absalom, others in the markets of Katapesh.
The Drow Soldier, having outlived his usefulness, was struck down by Gron at a signal from Lythar. Leaving a pyre of burning bodies in their wake, the party continued on towards the Elven land of Kyonin.
No comments:
Post a Comment