Chapter 7 Crusade
Tlinthar Regheriad turned in the saddle to view the column of soldiers behind him. The sight made him feel both humble and proud at what had been accomplished. It had been the work of years but it was all finally coming together.
It had been a long journey. Years of holding his temper when he was mocked and belittled for being bested by lizardfolk. For being scared of them. They just didn't realize how dangerous they could really be. The threat they posed.
He had joined the Order of the Aster in the hopes of gaining the support he needed to return to the Lizard Marsh. Lathander's blessing, their vulnerability to fire, surely they were all signs? The order had dismissed them.
Coward they had labeled him, broken by his losses. But he had retained Lathander's favor so they couldn't cast him out. They took it to mean he could be redeemed. Healed if shone the right path. He knew the truth though. It meant Lathander still supported him. That his course was the correct one.
Then they took to sending him out on a number of patrols. They ranged all along the Sword Coast and even ventured into the vast High Moors. They had fought numerous times, slaughtering goblins, orcs and even lizardfolk.
It was the last he tore into with unparalleled ferocity. Only to find out they fell all too easily. In fact they were pretty pathetic. They had no armor, usually not even possessing clothes. They had very crude tools and even the metal weapons they did possess were horribly rusted.
At first he thought it was a trick. That the order was trying to mislead him. But eventually it became obvious to him. The lizardfolk he was encountering were the norm. They were savages, barely more than animals. They didn't pose any danger to anyone. It was the ones in the Lizard Marsh that were different.
No that anyone believed him. Lizardfolk hadn't been spotted leaving the marsh in years. They claimed that obviously they had learned their lesson or taken horrible losses after the raid on Daggerford. After all not even so much as a caravan had been harassed by them since.
Instead they decided his changed stance meant he was mostly 'cured'. Only a lingering dread of where he lost his comrades remained. As long as any patrols steered clear of the Lizard Marsh he was perfectly reliable.
Tlinthar had wanted to quit at that point. Instead his mentor, a fellow paladin by the name of Aun Argent, had counseled another way. Under his guidance he had thrown himself into politics. He was even supported in his efforts by Daggerford, which was still feeling the effects of the raid.
Slowly he had risen in prestige, reknown and eventually rank. He still couldn't muster the order by himself though. And then as if confirming Lathander truly was behind him came the reports.
The Lizard Marsh, so silent for so long, was experiencing activity. It wasn't the lizardfolk. Instead small groups of adventurers were exploring the edges of the swamp. They all seemed to be searching for the same thing. Lizardfolk.
That still wouldn't have been enough except Luskan suffered a major attack soon afterwards. No one else had completely believed him, but the evidence was there. Instead they decided It was likely a rival mage had set himself up inside the swamp. The devastation wrought in Luskan did seem to support that idea.
Not that they did anything. They refused to muster the order when whatever was in there wasn't causing any problems. Instead they decided just to keep an eye on the area.
Fools. They were just giving them time to build up. Tlinthar was trapped though. Even with Aun now supporting him he still didn't have enough support. So he kept working and hoped it wasn't already too late.
Then the reports came from Daggerford. The swamp was finally showing activity. It wasn't lizardfolk as so many were quick to point out to him. It was a series of new creatures showing up.
A tribe of giant hobgoblins taking over an abandoned castle. A tribe of squat kobolds with blue scales taking over another. A series of moats and shallow canals appearing around parts of the swamp under the control of plant-like Siv. And finally enormous dinosaurs, started leaving the swamp to hunt.
The order believed this was all proof it really was a mage. The dinosaurs were obviously created magically. And lizardfolk don't ally with other races, they eat them.
Tlinthar honestly didn't care by this point. It didn't matter the rest of the order thought Lathander had just used his fear to try to point out the true danger. He was happy they were finally taking the danger seriously.
One thing they could both agree on. Whatever was in there it was now threatening civilization. Which made it evil and therefore to be purged.
The call to arms had gone out. Daggerford, anxious for revenge, had pledged the majority of their guard to the efforts. Luskan had posted a bounty on the mage, drawing in a number of adventuring bands. Many from their own city. Even Waterdeep had lent them support, although it was more in the way of supplies.
And the order had finally mustered. Over a hundred paladins and clerics led the way. And for his hatred and impatience, for the first time in years Tlinthar felt fully at peace with himself.
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As should be the case we had no problems marching south. The weather was fair and sunny, bandits and monsters avoided us. Even the road was remarkably free of potholes.
Aun rode by my side, but didn't seem to be enjoying our success. "Cheer up! We are finally going to wipe out the blight was lives inside the Lizard Marsh. A decade of work finally paying off. This is a momentous day!"
Tlinthar didn't let Aun's attitude bring him down. Not even the irritating sniping by the kobolds could do that. After all what else could they do? He had personally led the charge that shattered the only ambush the cowards had attempted so far.
He had no doubt they'd try again. They were less than a mile from the kobold's camp now and they weren't capable of facing them in battle. No. The kobolds aren't the problem. The real problem was still the lizard demons inside the marsh.
Tlinthar was as surprised as everyone else when he woke up the next morning. He had slept the entire night. He had been so sure one of the watch horns would have sounded last night. Looking around, he wasn't the only one. It seems like half the camp kept one eye open last night.
Shaking his head he made his way to the command tent and listened in disbelief to the scouting reports. He couldn't help but scoff when he heard them. A last stand? Don't those beasts know better?
They should have scattered and hid like the rats they are. Sure many of them would have been hunted down, but some of them would have escaped. After all, it would take too much time to try to track down all of them. Now they're all going to get killed.
Oh well. Fewer monsters in the world is always a good thing.
Tlinthar couldn't help but laugh when he saw the pathetic wooden defenses the kobolds had hidden behind. He was a paladin of Lathander! And they thought mere sticks would stop him?
It wasn't a horrible defense. A small maze of walls and watch towers. It'd be a hassle for adventurers. Not so much for an army.
Along with his men he laughed as the archers rained flaming arrows into the entire place. And now the maze was a deathtrap. Stupid kobold. They really were just animals. Clever, but not intelligent. A more annoying version of his nieces dog. Which gets into everything.
Tlinthar's wandering thoughts snapped back into focus when he heard the roar. From the center of the primitive village a large pit was revealed and a massive dinosaur was climbing out. And on it's back, riding in a saddle, was a lizardfolk.
Clearly it was meant to be a nasty surprise to catch them by surprise. Now it was panicking and fleeing, smashing through the walls to run to safety. And likely home.
Which meant... that's where the demon lizardfolk were hiding! "After them men! Don't let it get away!"
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Aun just felt tired when he looked at his eager protege. When Tlinthar had first made his way to the order he has been so bright. A passionate youth full of energy.
It as if he had a purpose. A personal quest from the Morninglord. Tlinthar often substituted blind faith for reason. Young, eager, impatient and determined to change the world for the better. It was thinking like that that had caused almost as many problems.
While that was considered slightly heretical, Lathander's own histories denote his occasional massive failures. So he had taken him under his wing. Sheltered Tlinthar from the inconsiderate masses who mocked him since his beliefs weren't popular. He had also done his best to temper him, to curb his excesses and outbursts.
Tlinthar was a good kid. Just a bit too reckless and outspoken. In many ways he reminded him of his estranged family. Ever since his brothers had massacred an elven village he had stopped talking to them and by association the rest of his family.
The elves weren't even doing anything wrong. Just denied them passage. And the reason they needed to pass through so urgently? They were hunting bandits. The worse part was they never even found the bandits. A whole village, killed for nothing.
The fact that the same paladins wouldn't have done the same to a nobles estate bothered him more than a little. In fact he had been thinking about retiring for quite a while now.
Seeing the kobolds holed up had bothered him more than a little. Kobolds never fought to the death unless they had a very strong reason to do so. A bunch of wooden huts and walls wasn't enough.
So he had arranged to burn it all down. When the dinosaur had smashed its way out of the pit he had been impressed. It wouldn't have let the kobolds win, but it would probably have distracted them enough for them to escape. Not it was just trampling their own lines.
Seeing it run off with a rider was worrying. Especially since it was clearly a lizardfolk. Tlinthar, even after all these years, was still irrational about that race. Sure enough. ""After them men! Don't let it get away!"
Sighing, Aun signaled the cavalry to back Tlinthar up.
He watched with his spyglass as the dinosaur move away, chased by two regiments of cavalry. Something about the situation seemed off.
At first he just thought he was worrying for no reason. And then he realized. The dinosaur wasn't pulling away. Spinosaurs were incredibly fast. They were even faster than a race horse. So why wasn't it pulling away?
Spinosaurs also don't have a lot of endurance. At this rate it'll exhaust itself for no reason. Suddenly he tensed and focused on the rider. Wait... sure enough, it was looking back. And it wasn't frantic, like it was scared. It was calculating, judging the distance. It was bait.
"Rouse the men! It's an ambush! Sound the recall." Aun's plans to regroup were interrupted by a roar that shook his bones.
With dread he looked up to see an enormous shadow pass overhead. The soft booms of it's wings wasn't enough to drown out the crackling hum of energy. Suddenly it's head darted out and a searing bolt of lightning tore it's way through the formation of cavalry.
"Form up!" Even over the screams of 'dragon' Aun's command was heard. He flared the reservoir of power and his presence burst forth, bolstering the morale of his men. He could feel his brothers-in-arms as they all did the same.
Morale was still fragile though. He couldn't even blame his men. Seeing what had just landed on what was left of his heavy cavalry he was scared himself.
A blue dragon.
From it's appearance it was no young, fresh dragon. No, it had scars and had lived long enough for it's scales to fade. Even young dragons are dangerous. This beast was easily a hundred feet long. This was a disaster.
Aun couldn't even feel any satisfaction seeing the falling body of the dinosaur and it's rider. It was obvious now it was a suicide mission, deliberately luring them here and then running off the cliff to leave only them as targets.
If he had read about such an act in a history book he may well have raised a toast to the soldier. Right now he can only think about how many of his men will die.
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Aun was surprised to wake up. His last memories were of fighting what felt like a living storm. Thunder, wind and of course lightning. He groaned as he tried to shift his weight.
"Easy there."
He looked up to see Tlinthar sitting next to him, with his leg in a splint. "What happened?"
"The dragon tore apart the army. We ended up fleeing and lost most of our supplies. Luckily Daggerford was close enough to provide shelter. It didn't try to chase us."
Aun frowned. If they had a town to make camp in, why was he in a moving wagon. The sounds were obvious now that he was awake. Before he could ask Tlinthar started speaking again.
"We had barely settled in when the town came under assault." For the first time he noticed how strained Tlinthar's voice was. "Those reports of giant scaled hobgoblins? Turns out they were true. The reports also don't do them justice."
Aun had to strain to hear him now. Tlinthar's voice was soft, lost in memories. "They were organized, well equipped. More so than normal hobgoblins. Any mercenary company in Faerun would have been proud to be so fortunate."
"Five hundred of them. All neat and orderly. And even bringing large wagons with their own siege weapons."
Tlinthar gave out a bitter laugh. "If they could be called that. They were noisy, full of gears and chains. But they shot so fast... And they didn't fire arrows. Or even spears. They fired explosions! They rained down a stream of fiery death over and into the walls."
"We found out later what they were using. It was simple really. A short hollow wooden javelin. Coated on the inside and out with pitch. And filled with oil. Set it alight and when it strikes... instant fireball."
Aun paled as he imagined how destructive such a weapon might be. Still, it wouldn't be too bad. A mage's fireball would be far worse. As if sensing his doubt, Tlinthar suddenly turned to face him.
"Daggerford is gone. Burned to the ground by a shower of thousands of these 'firebolts'. They used less than a dozen machines to burn down an entire town in an hour. Now do you understand how bad the situation is?
"Even worse was what they had pulling the wagons. Dinosaurs, but warped and twisted vilely. Spinosaurs like before, but with two heads and barbed tentacles sprouting from their back. And the kobolds who survived were spotted among their ranks. It's a full army."
"I told you. I tried to tell everyone. But no one believed me. And now it's too late. The demon lizards have a blasted kingdom now."
Hearing the despair in Tlinthar's voice broke Aun from his shock. He reached out and gripped his friend's arm. "Not yet. The Order and even the entire church will take you more seriously now. And I think it's time to rejoin my family."
Aun gave a small grin at the surprise on Tlinthar's face. He had always made it clear his intentions of avoiding his family. "I may not like them, but they're influential. I don't like it, but with their name, I'll be able to support your efforts."
"Lathander rises." He grabbed Tlinthar's hand in the traditional greeting for new quests.
"Lathander rises!" Seeing the rising hope on Tlinthar's face, Aun felt satisfied. He supposes there really is something to just charging in.