The great doors of the sally port close behind the group and they are ushered through the narrow hall into the courtyard by the red-headed dwarf. The group of villagers that they guided through the town immediately spreads out, looking for family and friends as the courtyard and the open hall of the keep's tower is filled with fugitives from the town.
"Aye there, ya done something great bringin' those folk up 'ere to safety.", the red-headed dwarf addresses the adventurers. His eyes quickly dart towards Ignomini and Cuauhtémoc who are grievously injured after the fighting and both nurture bleeding wounds.
"Y'er in need of medical attention, I see. We got a few people here who can bandage you up, but you'll have to do with a few patches and some food for now. Our local healer hasn't reached the keep."
The dwarf's solemn face betrays his worries and distress. Inspecting a deep cut on Cuauhtémoc's arm he starts maneuvering the party towards the hall. "Name's Escobert by the way for those that aren't form 'round 'ere. I'm the castellan, so I need to get to my guards. Since y'er fightin' folks, come find me if y'er bandaged up and willin' to lend a hand in the defense. Alright? O'er there, that lady with the headscarf, she's got bandages and ointment, she'll sort ya out."
And he's off, busily hurrying towards the bannisters to confer with his guards. Halfway through the courtyard however, Kashi catches up with him. "Pardon me, castellan. Do you perchance know if a scholar names Leosin Erlanthar is in town, or in the keep? He's an acquaintance of mine and I was said to meet him here."
Escobert turns and gloomily shakes his head. "I'm sorry, lad. I've been occupied up 'ere, wouldn't know anything about it. Name's not familiar to me but there's a lotta folks 'ere. Ask around, I hope ya find yer friend. Now, I really gotta run."
A bit later Kashi meets up with Ignomini, who's wounds have been bandaged and who is now nursing a cup of hot broth in his surprisingly delicate hands.
"Nothing, I've found out nothing.", grunts Kashi, who has done a sweep of the courtyard and the stables where many are taking shelter from the night's violence.
"I have.", is the reply. The tiefling takes a moment to sip the hot liquid and then hold it out for the fighter to drink as well. He had been asking questions not only with the woman nursing his wounds but also with servants and kitchen staff and had gotten some news, if not much. "Apparently there's a whole group of scholars who was passing through on their way from Candlekeep to the East. There was an 'elf or something alike' with them.", he recounts, mimicking the affectations. "That must be master Erlanthar. He is somewhere in town, but not in the keep apparently."
"That does us little good", Kashi has been taking a few deep sips from the broth and now hands back his cup. "Not with the dragon about and the keep encircled. I've been on the battlements, those bastards are everywhere. But at least the dragon is nowhere to be seen for the moment."
"After night comes dawn, my friend", recites Ignomini and puts a hand on Kashi's shoulder. "Let's see if we can't make ourselves useful here in the meantime. Did you see the castellan?"
"A castellan, that's an odd word...", Kashi replies, before actually answering. "I've seen him go up to the tower. He must be there still. Perhaps we should seek him out indeed. How's the young lad with the hard to pronounce name?"
"Cuauhtémoc?", the tiefling seems to have no trouble with pronunciation. "He's injured badly, but he'll pull through. The way the people here treat him...he is still so young but already more of a man than many twice his age."
"Age is just a number, when you grow up is determined by many other factors. Let's go and find the Red.", Kashi does not appear to want to talk much about this and rushes up the stone steps with Ignomini on his heels.
From the battlements the men can see the destruction reigning all around. Greenest is in flames, many houses burning lustily and it appears that haystacks and -bales have been put to the torch and rolled into central areas for better lighting. Black smoke curls up, clouding the night sky and the red glow of the fires in combination with the fumes and vapors turn the peaceful village into a scenery that would befit any nightmare. Shapes of different sizes dart from house to house, somewhere an animal cries in its dying fits, calls from voices both brutish and scared echo to the keep, the words incomprehensible but the tone telling of fear and violence.
Around the corner they go and up a second flight of stairs. The night wind blows strong here on the keep's tower. About twenty guards are here, arrows and bolts at the ready. Some stare out over the castle walls, others keep an anxious eye on the sky. The castellan stands next to an elderly man with long grey hair and a stern face that is hidden behind bandages covering the right side of his head. They are currently talking but turn at the two adventurers when they approach.
"Who is this now?", asks the older man.
"Governor, these are two of the strangers I told yer about.", explains Escobert. "Haven't made proper introductions yet. This is governor Tarbaw Nighthill, lord of Greenest and the keep currently harberin' ye.", he begins with just those introductions. After learning their names the governor stands up, despite his injuries seemingly still strong and full of willpower.
"Gentlemen, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for aiding my people.", he says. "I'll have a proper reward for you if we live through tonight. For now I need to see to the defense of my town."
"We've come for that.", says Kashi. "The castellan asked us to come and see him if we were ready for some work. Well, here we are."
"And yer friend 'ere still looks as if he might collapse at any moment if those bandages didn't hold him together so tightly.", despite the seriousness of the situation there is still room for a jib from the redheaded dwarf. "But I got a nice, easy job that needs doin' that won't immediately kill yer if yer not bein' stupid about it."
He explains that below the keep there is an old supply tunnel leading to the stream that runs through the village. It hasn't been used much but might be the perfect way to bypass the raiders. Through a secret exit there might be a chance to get more water and possible even sneak some more townsfolk into the keep.
"But since there's been no foot traffic I believe the waterside rats 'ave taken to nest in there. If ye would be so nice to clear them out, we can safely use the tunnels without getting bit too much." explains Escobert, pulling a rusty key from his considerable ring. "'Ere, this'll get ye inside. Probably need to shift some crates, the entrance is below the kitchens in the back of the cellar."
Ignomini is the one who takes the key. "We will try to clear out the tunnel, castellan.", he says while indicating a bow to the governor.
"We better ask the two others if they want to join us.", he adds once the two men are down the stairs and out of earshot. "I've some experience with harbor rats. Fierce little critters, I am not looking to get my tail chewed off."
Cuauhtémoc and Pypui are easy to be found. The woman is cleaning and checking her whips for any damage while the lad is entertaining a few children with an account of the hunt in an effort to divert their attention from the horrors outside of the walls. Despite being bandaged up he still looks weak but immediately spring to his feet when hearing about the mission.
But Pypui speaks up first: "Rats? I'll take charge then, I used to train my skills with the whips on alley rats since my teenage years. But in case they're in the majority we better come up with a plan. I've seen swarms of angry rats tear down large guard dogs in a matter of seconds. If we are going to try and attack their nests, they'll fight fiercely."
"Let's have a look at the tunnel first, maybe we'll come up with an idea once we see it.", suggests Cuauhtémoc and the group heads down into the cellars.
The door is hidden behind a large stack of barrels of beer that need to be rolled to the side before gaining access to the door itself which is made of sturdy, but ancient wood reinforced with iron. With the key from Escobar it opens stiffly revealing a dark hole of a tunnel chocked with cobwebs.
"If any of you are able to conjure up a bit of flame to burn away these webs, this would be the most opportune moment to do so.", jokes Pypui. But her sarcastic expression shapes into suprise when Kashi sticks out his hand and a small bead of flame begins to burn within it. "Oh, that is useful!", she says.
"It has its uses indeed,", is the response and Kashi hurls the bead of flame into the tunnel where it burns away a thin trail of the cobwebs.
"You may go first then.", says Pypui. "Don't miss the spiders with that flame, I don't want them in my hair if you don't mind."
Kashi pulls an annoyed face but ignites both of his hands, stepping into the tunnel to begin and burn away all the webbing step by step.
"Wait, Buddy can scout ahead for us.", says Cuauhtémoc and takes from his pocket a rather rotund, grey rat that looks up at the adventurers with beady eyes full of intelligence. "He can check if we're running into troubles behind all those webs."
"And he'll tell us?", asks Pypui skeptically.
"He will tell me.", replies the young lad with a stern face, not looking like he is joking. "Buddy is well trained.", he adds and lowers the rat onto the floor next to Pypui.
"Sneak ahead,", he instructs. "Let me know if we're in danger or need to be extra careful."
"By dawn's glory.", mutters Ignomini as the rat appears to actually nod before it skitters ahead through the tunnel that Kashi is clearing. "The little fellow understands the spoken tongue. That is a useful pet to have, my young friend."
"He's more than a pet", says Cuauhtémoc, suddenly with a sulking frown that betrays his age.
There is silence in the underground tunnel as Kashi slowly moves his flaming hand across the ceiling, sending spiders to run for their lives and burning away the accumulated architectural wonders of the arachnids that have been left untouched for decennia. Then the plump rat returns, casually walking past the others to return to his master. Sat in his cupped hand he begins to clean his whiskers.
"He says that there are two nests of rats ahead, there are a lot of them. He's not too god with numbers but it must be several dozens. We better find away to attack them from a distance before getting swarmed.
"I'll have questions about you talking with that rat later", mutters Pypui.
"Why?", interrupts Kashi. "There are many who have the art to speak with the small critters of the land where I come from. Yet it still seems to surprise people every time."
"I'll have some questions about where you come from then as well.", begins the woman but the tiefling interrupts the bickering.
"The barrels.", says Ignomini. "We can roll some barrels into the nests, maybe crush a few of the critters with them.
This appears to be the best idea they currently have, so Kashi seizes his clearing of the cobwebs and instead the group makes way for him and Ignomini to heave a heavy barrel of ale into the tunnel and past the group.
"Alright, ready your weapons.", says Kashi. "They are not going to like this."
Together with the tiefling he pushes the barrel forwards. As it starts to gain speed Kashi lights up a flame in his hands again and tosses it after the barrel. In the light of the flying spark of flame the group sees that the tunnel comes to a slight bend and here the floor is stacked knee-high with refuse. From tiny holes in the dirt the faces of rats leer at the advancing flame. Then the flame hits and the tunnel reverberates with agonized squeals just moments before the rolling barrels crashes into the rat nest, crushing many small bodies under its weight. For a moment it appears as if the group has devastated the entirety of the swarm but then the tone of the squeaking from a dozen tiny throat turns to aggression and from the nest a wave of small, brown-furred bodies rises as the angry rats turn to attack the intruders into their territory.
Cuauhtémoc attempts to shoot a bolt into the advancing swarm but it ricochets harmlessly from the tunnel wall, doing no damage what so ever. Then the rats are upon the group but before their hungry teeth can sink into Kashi's flesh Pypui's readied whip whizzes past him and knocks out two of the little critters. The swarm hesitates for a moment and Kashi uses this opportunity to crush five more of them with the broad side of his axe, the rest scatters back into the tunnel. But the danger has not passed, because more of the rats are on their way, in an angry frenzy wanting to defend their home.
"Back, back, give us some distance.", calls out Kashi as he throws another small handful of flames towards the angry critters, burning a few of them. Slowly, awkwardly the group starts to back up. Then the rats suddenly surge forwards and swarm Kashi. The man cries out in horror as the angry rodents climb his armor like a wall and sharp teeth snap in the direction of his vulnerable face.
Ignomini, unable to reach the swarm calls out: "Protect your eyes! Protect your eyes!" and raises the metal lamp he had been using. "Strike true, my friends, we've dealt with worse tonight!", he tries to encourage his companions, providing light for their attacks.
Pypui swings her whips as well as she can but the space she is maneuvering in is cramped and she only manages to kill two of the rodents with the butt end of her weapon. Cuauhtémoc, with the aid from Ignomini's lamp leans past the woman, slashing out with his scimitar, scraping a few of the rats off Kashi's armor. From his shoulder the fat rat jumps into the fray but falls to the ground, holding another one of his species firmly under his paws. Tiny teeth slash through a tiny throat and Cuau's familiar takes another of the many foes out of the equation.
Kashi is panicking. Trying to protect his face with one hand he wildly slashes around with his battleaxe, striking sparks out of the walls but not diminishing the swarm of tiny assailants that find any opening in his guard they can, biting at cheeks. Wailing in pain the man falls to the ground, bleeding out of dozen's of tiny wounds, gasping for air in blind fear.
Now Ignomini pushes past the group, his armor scraping against the rough rock walls of the tunnel. "Don't despair, Kashi. After night there comes dawn!", he calls out, stepping into and over the churning mass of rats. His hand grabs Kashi's wrist and the amulet around the tieflings throat begins to glow as some measurement of divine energy flows into Kashi's body, healing a few of the tiny cuts.
And now the group unleashes hell onto the rats. With bare hands they grab at the critters, pulling them off Kashi. Whips crack, blades cut, a singular, plump rogue rat assassinates two of his kind and the last of the fleeing rodents finds its death under Ignomini's boot.
The battle is won, but at quite a price. While two of the party were already in a pretty rough shape now Kashi as well looks as if he had had an encounter with a particularly bad tempered thorn bush, cuts and tiny bite marks covering every bit of exposed skin on his body. None the less he refuses backing down before completing the task if there is any chance to finish it.
Cuauhtémoc sends buddy into the tunnel and after the rat familiar reports that the danger underground has passed, the group, lighting torches to aid Kashi's magical flame advance slowly, clearing the tunnel of cobwebs and filth. At the end they reach a rusty metal grate door that opens into a thicket of shrubs obscuring it from the other side. Pypui deftly opens the grate with the key but after sticking her head outside she quickly backs into the tunnel and against the wall.
"Quiet! Raiders are approaching!", she says, her finger at her lips. All four of the adventurers freeze on the spot, remaining as quiet as they can while outside multiple boots are treading the soft sand of the brook's bank. There appears to be some urgency to the movement and the sound of footsteps is mixed with the ringing and clatter of armor and weaponry. But it passes and the group relaxes. When there is no audible notion of a threat anymore Pypui attempts another peek and comes back to inform her comrades: "It's only about twenty yards to the water but there is a thick undergrowth of bushes in between the exit and the stream. No buildings within eyeshot but a farm across the water is burning, which means that there is some light."
"And they are patrolling here, apparently.", says Ignomini. "We need to be alert of that, wherever we go next."
"Wherever we go next?", sneers the woman. "We're going back up to the castellan, tell him that we've done what he asked and then have a nice lie-down. The three of you look like shit."
The sharpness of her voice underlines how right she is. With the grate locked securely behind them the four return through the now cobweb- and rat-free tunnel to the keep. They find the castellan in the cellars, overseeing the construction of rudimentary bunks of straw and blankets.
He listens carefully to their tale and agrees with Pypui. "Ye all look ta be in dire need of a nap. So lay yerself down, I'll have someone come and bandage those bitemarks up for ye.", he says and grateful for the rest Ignomini, Kashi and Cuauhtémoc sink onto the improvised straw beds and stretch out their painful limbs.
Pypui however does not feel like lying down. The battles of the night so far have failed to mar her and she experiences a great anxiousness washing over her even if she does not stop to explain herself to the others. Instead she leaves the cellar and starts to patrol the walls. She finds the keep well defended but the guards are too few for the numbers they are facing. Pypui finds a quiet corner on the battlements and stares over the burning town. There must be at least a hundred raiders in Greenest now. If they made a serious attempt to storm the keep, they might even have a chance, despite the sturdy walls and the many crossbows trained to defend the keep.
For a long time the woman just stands there in the darkness, her hands firmly grasping the handle of one of her whips, wringing it as if it were the last rope connecting her to reality. Beads of sweat form on her forehead despite the relative cool of the night. Or are those tears streaming down her face? Whatever it is, there is no one out there in the darkness who sees it.
[Cuauhtémoc, Ignomini are having a short rest, Pypui is still up to max health.]
It is a bit later when Pypui appears at the side of her new travel companions. "Come up, the governor wants to see us.", she says blankly. Rousing from troubled slumber the three men struggle to their feet. With only a little of their health regained they follow up the stairs to the tower again. Here governor Nighthill, leaning on a crutch but holding a silver goblet of wine in his uninjured hand offers them drinks of their own, warmed above a brazier. They gladly accept and the leader of Greenest explains why they are here.
"We have been keeping a close eye on the raiders for the last hour. It seems the initial carnage is over. Some fires have gone out and it doesn't look as if they plan on burning down more of the town."
On a winebarrel a crude map of the town has been sketched in chalk and Nighthill points out a few key points: "The temple is still surrounded as far as we can tell. There is a lot of activity there. I expect that Falconmoon, the priest has sealed herself inside with whomever she was able to rescue. And the ruffians have been loading carts with stolen goods on caravan square. All of this is very well executed and must have taken some serious planning. I assume they are planning to storm the keep as soon as some key element of their plan has come to fruition. We must know what these plan is."
The old man's good eye takes in every one of the four adventurers. "The four of you are injured and weary, I can see that. But I am asking you none the less to aid us again. We need someone to go out into town and try and take a prisoner. Preferably an officer of sorts but we'll take whatever we can. We need to question them and...by Torm's right hand, there it comes again!"
He shouts the last sentence just as the eyes of everyone on the bannisters turns to the sky. The beating of big wings is heard first, then a moment later as the guards begin to scream in terror lightning shoots from the sky, followed by an opened maw that angrily snaps shut. The dragon has returned!
Three guards lay dead on the tower's top, but Pypui shouts out something in a strange language that none of the others can understand. Despide the horrible odds she pulls her shortbow from her shoulder and shoots an arrow at the dragon. The projectile bounces off the blue scales but she shouts: "He can be hit, therefor he can be slain!"
Cheers of desperate reserve rise from the bannisters and crossbows are fired. Cuauhtémoc's bolt hits the monstrous creature's underbelly and the dragon turns in the sky, his eyes looking down at the collected humans, puny in comparison. The air around the enormous horn on the tip of his nose is crackling with electricity and the monster opens its mouth, ready to spew lightning again. But Kashi calls out "Bedazzled and befogged be they!" and the air around the dragon begins to sparkle with magical lights. A moment later Ignomini's Javelin hits the dragon just below the clavicle. The tiny weapons however pierces the scales and sinks into the dragons body for more than half its length.
It seems for a moment as if the dragon is hesitating. Its enormous wings keep beating but it remains in place. Its clawed forepaw grabs at the butt end of the javelin and its mean, angry eyes flash over the face of the tiefling. Then a hail of tiny projectile sprays up. None of them do any actual damage but the dragon backs up a bit none the less. After another moment of hesitation it roars. Words in the ancient dragon tongue reach everyone on the bannisters as the creature shouts at them. Then it turns mid air and with a single beat of its wings disappears in the darkness above. The flapping of leathery membranes swiftly becomes inaudible.
Then Pypui collapses to her knees with a high pitched wail. He companions rush to her side and the governor and his guards look shocked, frozen in time. "What is it!?", he demands to know. "What's wrong with her."
The wail however ends in a tormented heaving wheeze before, after a ragged breath of air Pypui's next scream is clearly one of glee. She is not in pain, the whipmaster is as a matter of fact roaring with laughter. "What? What's so funny?", askes Cuauhtélmoc, his eyes darting from the hysterical woman to the dead soldiers as if he was fearing for her sanity.
Finally she calms enough to respond. It takes her a few attempts to form the words that move her to hysterics but then she bluts out: "Fuck this, I'm done with all of this!", followed by another laughing fit.
"Did she loose her mind?", Ignominy asks worriedly but Pypui has calmed herself just enough to be able to explain herself. "No! No, I'm good. That's what he said, the dragon! He said: Fuck this, I'm done with all of this!" She hiccups. "I haven't heard a dragon swear like that! Never thought I would!"
A few of the soldiers join in with the laughter and even the governor pulls a handkerchief from his breast pocket, dabbing at his mouth as if hiding a smile when suddenly a voice from down in the courtyard calls up: "The gates! They are storming the keep!"
A moment later the sound of heavy wood crashing on the front doors of the sally point rouses everyone from their moment of victory. The night is still young and there are threats abound. With most of the castle's guards distracted by the dragon the raiders have rushed the sally port and are beating down the main gate with a large log.
"To the courtyard! Defend the Keep!", roars the governor and the momentary relieve fades in an instant as most of the guard immediately rush for the steps down onto the western battlements, loading their crossbows and grabbing arrows to defend the keep. Ignomini, Pypui, Cuauhtémoc and Kashi however rush down the second set of stairs. There is no communication, no shouts, they just act. A moment ago they were battling a dragon, the rush of that fight and their seeming victory is still racing through their blood. A comradeship that has been slowly built this night has now been reaffirmed by the combat against the flying monster and now that the keep is under direct attack from mere humanoids, the four adventurers do not waver for a single moment. As the guards on the battlements are firing arrow after arrow down at the advancing raiders a loud crash signals the big gates collapsing and now rough voices and a terrible snarling growl echoes from the inside of the sally port.
From inside the sally port a single kobold darts, rushing quickly past. He has made his equation without taking into account the reach of Pypui's whips however. Halfway through his dash a length of leather wraps around his neck and cuts the side of his face. The little dragonkin whirls around in panic. The stone in his sling clatters at Pypui's feet. She blurts out in laughter that turns to fear a moment later when she see's what is approaching through the sally port and her next two cracks of the whips miss their target. Two more kobold's join it but luckily only one of their projectiles actually hits Pypui, bringing her the first injury of the night.
Cuauhtémoc rushes in, firing a bolt from his crossbow mid-run and tossing the weapon aside wildly to draw his scimitar when the projectile misses. A dark flame shoots up from the ground in front of him but he manages to dodge it without fail. Then Kashi is next to him, splitting one of the kobolds with a hue of his battleaxe.
"Watch out, inside the sally port!", calls out Pypui. Kashi turns and another bullet whistles past his ear. But the warning had not been to make him heed the origin of the pebble but the green scaled monstrosity that shoots out of the darkness, teeth bared. It looks like a wolf-sized wingless dragon and with sharp claws it hooks the side of Kashi's armor, its jaws closing around the warrior's throat. Kashi falls under it's weight, critically wounded.
"No!", shout's Ignomini, hurling a javelin mid run but he does not hit the monster that tore down his companion. From above some of the guards are shooting at the intruders but so far with no results.
The two kobolds in the courtyard drop their slings and storm forward with death defiance at Cuauhtémoc and despite Pypui managing to take one of them out the other one jams its weapon into the lad's ribs, knocking the wind out of his lungs and bringing him down. Cuauhtémoc's face hits the hard cobblestone and he begins to immediately cough up blood as his lung collapses and he fights to stay conscious in a desperate groan. Pypui's face turns pale as behind the dragon-kin another figure approaches, humanoid in form and wearing a cowl. A green, tattooed finger points at her face and a voice hisses: "Kneel!"
As Kashi's blood quickly flows out of his torn open throat a last kobold jumps over his body, climbs a stone bench below the keep's wall and hurls a rock at Ignomini. The projectile hits the tiefling the face, blinding one eye and chipping the cheekbone. The green monster lets go of its prey and scrambles over the fallen fighters towards Pypui, snapping at her calves without much success.
Ignomini, himself grievously injures, rushes forward to grab at Kashi. His hand closes over the man's open throat and with the divine power of his god and a prayer on his lips he stops the bleeding, bringing Kashi back from the brink of death. Tears are streaming over his face as he starts to pull his travel companion away from the fight, abandoning Cuauhtéloc who also is on death's door. "I am sorry, I am so sorry...", he mutters, making eye contact with the young lad as he tries to bring his friend into safety.
These two rounds of combat saw a lot of extremes. The drake tore down Kashi with a natural twenty and while one of the kobolds also landed a critical hit against Ignomini both the downed fighters rolled critical failures on their first death saving throws. The fight has become much grimmer than anticipated. Since Cuauhtémoc is well known in Greenest however I am bringing in several guards to aid in the fight in the hope that this is not ending in a total party kill.
There is nothing Pypui can do. She knows the magic, she knows the implications. While the monster that she alone amongst the four adventurers knows to be an ambush drake is snapping at her she slowly drops to her knees, bringing her throat in for the hungry teeth to bite at. With a knowing smile the cloaked figure steps into the courtyard for a mere moment. It is a woman, plump and wide-faced, her eyebrows meeting above the root of her nose. Her finger points at Ignomini and the tiefling falls, struck by another of the dark flames that shoots out of the ground and takes the last bit of strength that was in him. Seeing herself facing the many guards on the battlements the woman slinks back into the safety of the sally port.
Kashi however, healed by the paladin who now lies at his feet understands how severe the situation is. Forcing himself to breath rhythmically, to summon his bodies energy to tap whatever reserves are left he grabs Ignomini under the arms and drags him across the courtyard and up the stairs towards the battlements, away from the raging combat.
Six of the guards above have become aware of what is happening in the courtyard. They are shooting arrows down at the drake, some even hitting the monster. The projectiles hinder it greatly and its body sags a bit in the middle, its jaws snapping shut mere inches next to Pypui's throat. One of the kobolds however scurries over and its dagger finds the woman's side, jamming itself between the layers of thick leather.
"Let...her...be...", groans Cuauhtémoc, still fighting for every bit of breath, his head turning sideways and half his face smeared with blood.
Both Cuau and Ignomini succeed a death saving throw on this turn.
Pypui's face is filled with hatred but she knows she cannot win this fight. Standing up from her vulnerable position she turns and runs. Both the drake's teeth and the kobolds dagger rip bits of flesh from her as she does so but Pypui has her eyes closed, finding a second wind and heading straight for the tower doors. She rushes through and pulls them closed behind her.
While the snarling drake is slain by the arrows from above and the kobolds rush to safety, Kashi has grabbed a piece of cloth and is dabbing the blood from Ignomini's face. He pours water from his bottle over the burn and tries to lay the tiefling in a comfortable position. As guards rush by him to drive the intruders from the sally port and repair the gate, he anxiously listens to the tiefling's heartbeat, breathing along in relieve when he notices that his travel companion is going to live. He carries his body inside the keep and bed him on one of the improvised straw mattresses. A bit later they are joined by Pypui who is looking more grim than ever.
"I think he'll make it.", says Kashi with a faint smile.
"Good for him.", the woman replies. "The lad with the difficult name wasn't so lucky..."
She throws herself on the straw and closes her eyes. After a while a healer finds the three of them in solemn silence, mourning the death of their compatriot.
Cuauhtémoc died after failing three death saves. Next time we return to this adventure, a new face will be added to the party.
Because the group did not meet many encounters on their way to the keep and did not rescue very many villagers they did not level up so far. For living through this ordeal I am rewarding each of them 50 XP which is enough to level them up to level 2, which we will do next time as well.
Thank you for reading through my adventures, leave a comment if you've enjoyed them.
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| Rest in peace, Cuauhtémoc (and Buddy the rat) |
