Campaign6/session24
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The Oncoming Storm
Session Date: October 1, 2005
Trailer: A promising start to profitable trade with the Nith, and a map of the region to help pick the low fruit on this 2-week tour of the lands through the gate. But all is not sunshine and light in the land of the lotus blossum... a chill wind of the mind is perceived, and a nemesis unvanquished and more dangerous than ever lurks beyond your grasp.
Synopsis
Assynt 37, 1022 (late afternoon)
The party enjoys the festivities for the rest of the day, and retires to the guest house for the evening. One of the guards arrives and asks for Anna: the Prefect's younger consort Tsuya has requested Anna's company, at a time of Anna's convenience. Anna indicates that she will finish dinner and then go see Tsuya. The guard departs, and the party begins a feverish discussion of how to protect Anna from Tsuya, who they believe is either Nymvayas in disguise, or under the influence of Nymvayas through some unknown magical means. The discussion takes place in Hebridonian to prevent eavesdroppers, but Naruko is very confused and concerned because she cannot understand what is being discussed.
Finally, Naruko takes Triella aside and asks what is being discussed. Triella tries to explain the party's history with Nymvayas, and how they think she came to be a current threat through her presence in the Ysyryl when the Nilhen time magic was activated. Naruko has the greatest difficulty understanding what the Ysyryl is, and how someone can be "inside" it. The explanation Triella provides makes Naruko very uneasy about the magical powers that Triella dabbles in. In the end, she manages to put aside her reservations, unable to accept that Triella might be evil.
As far as protection goes, Jake manages to return to lucidity, and offers to cast a spell of mind protection on Anna. While he spends an hour crafting the spell, Triella assists Tegred in lifting some floorboards (by disintegrating the wooden pegs holding them in place) so that he can sneak out and position himself under the audience room in the main ceremonial building of the village. His first attempt at reaching his hiding place fails, and he is detected just before reaching the building. He pretends to be on his way to the jacks, and one of the guards decides to escort him, since he is not supposed to be at liberty in the village after dark.
Tegred returns to the guest house, and the escort berates the guard at the front door for letting Tegred go unescorted. The guard's protestations of innocence fall on deaf ears, and the escort tells him not to let it happen again.
Inside, Tegred joins the others as Jake finishes his spell. Jake grunts for a moment and says 'Well, it's better than nothing!'. With those reassuring words, Anna secrets an obsidian shiv made by Tegred into her sleeve and heads for her rendezvous with Tsuya. At the same time, Tegred slips through the floorboards again and this time manages to get into place under the audience room just as Anna joins Tsuya for tea.
Time passes, and nothing startling happens. As far as Tegred can tell, it's just two women talking in the audience room, having tea.
Back at the guest house: Ban, Feiruhn, Triella and Jake decide to repair the floor, which requires new pegs to hold the boards into place. Naruko volunteers to fetch a sapling to carve up. She leaves out the back door, while the others remain to consider what it means that Tsuya has not moved against Anna yet. Some start to doubt their own conclusions that Tsuya is a threat.
Treilla is the first to notice that Naruko is taking a LONG time to get that sapling. She goes out through the back door to look for her, and finds that the guard usually stationed to watch the wagon is gone, and so is Naruko! Then she notices just in time that a man clad all in black is standing at arms length from her! He blows some powder in her face, but she manages to dodge it. Triella decides to create a brilliant light in the man's eyes, but he jams his hand in her mouth, interrupting the spell, and grapples her, dragging her towards the woods! She manages to break his grasp by gripping his family jewels and twisting, and spins around to instantaneously set his clothes on fire. The others in the guest house (sans Jake, who goes out the front) quickly emerge to see the man streaking off toward the lake, lighting up the night with his flames.
They quickly realize that the man was not alone, and a battle begins. Using magical attacks and expert fighting skills, the party manages to fend off the attacking assassins, and realize that the whole town is now embroiled in this stealth attack. The Prefect and Shimura emerge from the back of the ceremonial building and are immediately ambushed by a dozen stealth warriors. The Prefect yells "Kronnoch!" and wades into to face the assassins.
Jake trips the flaming man as he desperately flails toward the lake. The assassin shudders and then succumbs to the flames. Tegred emerges from under the ceremonial house to see what is going on and sees the flaming assassin fall. He sees Jake turn south to skirt the eastern edge of the guest house, heading south toward the fight at the rear of the house. By the time Tegred reeaches the fallen assassin (just behind two guards that left the ceremonial building to investigate), Jake is gone. Tegred slips into the woods to look for more assassins and perhaps find Jake.
Back in the audience room, Anna builds an impromptu barricade with the tables to defend herself and Tsuya from whoever is attacking outside. When they hear soft footfalls on the roof above, they decide that perhaps finding the others might be a better strategy for defense. As they try to exit the building, a man clad in black steps into the doorway and throws a fistful of powder at Anna and Tsuya. Anna staggers for a moment, but keeps her senses. Tsuya drops like a sack of potatoes. Anna fights both Kronnach while they attempt to subdue her with the flat of their blades and another dose of powder. Their gross ineptitude results in both Anna and one of the Kronnach collapsing due to the powder and the other Kronnach receiving a near mortal wound. He is still able to heft her over his shoulder and attempt an escape, leaving his unconscious comrade behind. Halfway to the woods, she manages to fight her way back to consciousness and manages to deal a fatal blow to her kidnapper. She staggers back to the ceremonial hall and finds Tsuya still there, unconcious.
Meanwhile, the battle is not going well outside. In the distance, between attacks and counter attacks, the party can see women being carried off to the south from various homes. Feiruhn tries several times to seize control of one or more of the assassins, but fails miserably. As Shimura, and then the Prefect fall with severe wounds from the attackers, Triella makes one last ditch effort to save the leaders of the Nith. Casting a protection spell, she draws mana from beyond her own reserves or that of the Ysyryl, crossing a threshold that causes magical energy to dance all over her skin, and her eyes to shine as bright as the sun! The protection spell works, but it does not buy enough time to save the two leaders.
Tegred's search of the woods turns up an unconcious Naruko, apparently drugged against a tree 20 yards from the treeline.
Feiruhn finally manages to control one of the assassins, but before he can really put him to good use, he is chopped down by one of the Prefect's bodyguards. Unfortunately, Feiruhn has to draw beyond his own reserves to do this. and begins glowing much like Triella. However, Feiruhn also notices another effect... a weakening in his own ability to draw and store mana. But in the heat of battle, it is something to worry about another time.
With the Prefect and Shimura dead, one of the Kronnach uses a whistle to signal their objective has been accomplished. The assassins withdraw, fighting Nith man as they recede into the southern woods with their bounty.
Previously: Session 23: The Saiji
Next: Session 25: The Missing and the Dead
Back to Campaign 6 Index
