(G161 15/03/2013 Fri via Roll20 - JF(GM) , AP)
DAY 184 (12th Eleint) cont...
At half past one Fenrir arrived at the Trades Ward main watch house
but only to be told that Grinst Ervine, the senior civilar was at the
gates getting ready for the battle.
It dawned on Fenrir that today was probably not a good time for his
investigations so he went to the Gentle Rest for lunch. He then went
to the east gates and asked first a lord on horseback, then a sergeant-at-arms
where he could go to be of some help.
Since he was a magic user he was told to either report to the Black
Tower or the Watchful Order Tower. He opted for the Black Tower and told
them he knew Maliantor.
He was eventually herded up to a balcony where a wizard called Byenav Iffantoram
told him what to do. They would be a flight of 20 wizards from the Black Tower.
Since there wasn't much time to explain the whole strategy to Fenrir,
Iffantoram told him just to 'stay close to me'.
At three o'clock they all lifted off from the balcony and flew over the
walls to where the battle lines were being drawn up.
Over the walls they joined another larger group of flying wizards,
griffin riders and a single large dragon. They were the spearhead of the
attack and swooped over the front of the orc horde, the plan being to
keep them occupied while the ground forces exited the city and drew up
into formations.
Iffantoram flew in with the other Black Tower wizards, but Fenrir chose
to fly 50ft above him at about 150ft. Iffantoram favoured magic missile
attacks to begin with and Fenrir as always, used his eldritch blasts.
As the flying Waterdeep forces attacked, they were met with a hail of arrows
from the ground. Even those that could remain invisible were just as likely
to be hit and Fenrir was struck by two arrows almost straight away.
He shot down at the ground and blew an orc warrior into pieces, but he
had forgotten that he was meant to be following Iffantoram and lost all
notion of where he was as he concentrated on hitting targets on the ground.
He blast another orc to bits as arrows hissed and whizzed past him, then
badly injured another that then leapt into a trench.
By now though, a charging force of giants had come within range and started
to hurl rocks into the air which were deadly accurate. Fenrir was hit by
one in the leg, a crushing blow that sent him wheeling.
He quickly swigged down his 'child's tears' potion and flew upwards to 200ft.
He now started shooting at the frost and hill giants joining the battle
but although he injured several of them, he was never able to follow one
long enough to kill it off.
He was hit by another rock and flew up even higher. He badly hurt a hill
giant but he was also becoming a target for even more arrows and rocks.
After blasting away at giants and dodging the missiles for another minute
or so he was struck in the chest by an arrow that very nearly killed him.
He immediately turned invisible but it took him a moment or two to get
his bearings and find a place to fly towards.
He landed behind the front line and walked around looking for medical
help. He found a cleric and some of his helpers attending to the injured
but the healer was far too busy to help Fenrir as he was dealing with
soldiers with missing limbs and the like.
Fenrir let his diabolical healing powers heal him as much as they could
and limped off the battlefield.
By four in the afternoon he had made it back to the Hippo and had a short
rest before heading out again for his meeting with Strenk.
-
Here is a more detailed account of the battle, it can be skipped if you like
dear reader, it is all in the history books after all :
Battle of The Turnip Fields
The Waterdeep forces.
Lead by : Open Lord of Waterdeep
Open Lord's Personal Guard - 10 men
The Watch - 200 men
The Guards - 1000 men
Naval Ground Forces (Marines) - 200 men
The Griffin Cavalry - 90 men and mounts
The Grey Hands - 45
Churches of Waterdeep - 50 clerics
Mercenaries - 1000 men
Volunteers - 1000 men
Noble Houses Guard - 500 men
Guild Guards - 250 men
Blackstaff Tower Wizards - 20 men
Watchful Order Wizards - 50 men
Walking Statue - 1
Steel Dragon - 1
Total men : 5000 ish
Orc Horde Forces
Lead by : King Obould Many-Arrows
King Obould's Elite Guard - 200 orcs
The Many Arrows Tribe - 2000 orcs
The Hard Skull Tribe - 2000 orcs
The Black Bear Tribe - 1000 human barbarians
The Ice Road Gutters - 100 frost giants / 10 frost giant jarls
The Unwashed - 100 hill giants
The Storm Cursed - 10 storm giants
Total : 6000 ish
The battle starts with the flying wizards, griffin cavalry and steel dragon flying over
the wall and strafing the front lines of the siege.
They do a lot of damage but are driven back by a huge hail of arrows
This was a diversion though as the north gates have opened and the Waterdeep
Force has sallied out.
They have enough time to manoeuvre as the horde forms up after scattering somewhat.
The Guards form the centre, with mercenaries on the left and volunteers lead by
the watch on the right. Everything else is held in reserve.
The Guards are the first to meet the enemy, throwing aside a line of orc skirmishers.
Then a large force of orcs throw themselves right at the guards. This central
melee will carry on for the entire battle.
The left flank is met by a force of giants coming down from where the ballistas
are held and the mercenaries fall back.
The right flank makes better progress as it plunges into the baggage train having
worked its way around via the cover of a gully.
The left flank is pushed further back so the open lord commits his reserve and the
navy land forces, guild guards and grey hands charge into the fray.
The right flank moves further forward and the Open Lord commits his last troops,
the Noble House Guards to push home the attack.
The flying troops swoop in again to wreck havoc on the enemy.
The left flank holds steady for a while before collapsing. The giants chase
the routing soldiers back to the walls but are in turn pushed back from the
walls by guards on the battlements and the griffin cavalry. A walking statue
is let loose to rid the walls of giants.
The steel dragon strikes at the heart of the orc camp but is badly injured
by magical attacks and returns to the city.
With left flank gone and the giants returning the Open Lord orders the retreat
and the centre falls back to the south to enter the city from the east gate.
The right flank is left alone and isolated and has to fight its way back
to the city walls through hordes of orcish archers.
The flying wizard heroically cover the retreat of the Volunteers and the Watch
as they head south for the east gate and finally reach safety.
-
At about half past six Fenrir entered the Crawling Spider and went over to
talk to Strenk.
Strenk told him he would go outside and Fenrir was to follow him in five minutes.
Fenrir waited and then went out to the alley where the old man waited.
Strenk pointed at a large rotten box at the corner of the alley and whispered,
'This item is in that bin. Don't take it yet. Wait until I go back inside before you
take it. Now listen carefully; It is the blade that Blatt used when he was tied up
in his devil business. When he didn't want it he destroyed it, or so he thought
anyway since I got my hands on. Thought it might be useful one day, and your 200 gold
will be enough to keep me going for a while longer. But listen, the blade is
useless to you unless you know the ... BLARGGG!'
Suddenly they were both hit by a 'cone of cold' spell fired from somewhere down
the alley that killed them both instantly.
Sadly, Fenrir was still quite badly injured from the battle and had not thought
he was in any danger. A foolish thing to think in hind-sight.
But wait? I hear you cry! That can't be the end of the story can it? Oz lost the
Gods-Know-Where and Fenrir dead? Well, no, because fate had not finished with
the young warlock. He found himself gradually awakened in a simple bed chamber.
Wondering what was going on he got up, noted that he was wearing a plain red
robe and walked over to the window. A horrible landscape lay before the tower
window he looked out of - lakes of acid, volcanic mountains, tortured black
forests. As horrible realisation dawned on him a rumbling voice behind him
said, 'Welcome to my world.'
It was none other than Bnurgstickslackskin of course, the Glabrezu demon.
'Looks like you messed up young Fenrir, but you have a chance to escape the
Abyss if you wish. I've cut a deal with those others you allied yourself
with. They will provide a resurrection if we pay for it.'
Fenrir was still in a daze,
'But what choice do you really have?' continued the demon, 'Look around this
place, this is where you are coming if you mess up again. Remember - I own you.'
Things began to fade out and once more Fenrir woke up in a strange room,
this time a light and airy place. He was wearing a white robe and the
smiling face of an old lady was close by. She wore a blindfold but seemed
to know her way around the room. She helped Fenrir out of the bed and
said,
'Please, take some time to get your bearings. A resurrection, even a True
Resurrection takes a moment to recover from. I will be back in a few minutes.
Just take your time. My name is Gertrude the White. I am Cavu's patron.'
Fenrir stood up and looked around the room. There was a table with some
food and drink on it, a book case and a wardrobe as well as the bed he
had been lying on.
He was eating some food when the old lady returned. She was tall, with
long white hair, her eyes bound in a silk scarf. She had no staff or cane
and sat at the table when she entered as if she could see where she
was going.
She began to speak:
''
I will give you this advice, I hope you take it in the spirit it is meant.
When you first came back from Candlekeep you set up in a single inn and
stayed there. You should have followed the splendid example set by young
Ozbourne and stayed somewhere different each night. Your second mistake
was to rely too heavily on your disguise kit when you have many other
options which leads to your third and fourth mistakes which was to
not do anything about people scrying you and never checking to see if
you were followed. I'm sorry to say you did not learn from young
Ozbourne here either since he was very adept at rooting out watchers
and followers. Surely you must know your enemies watch the Brewery and
your families villa and will follow any stranger that goes comes out?
Your fifth mistake then was not sleeping somewhere secure, both places
I've just mentioned are currently very heavily guarded.
Your sixth mistake was to think that Blatt was just waiting patiently
for you to come along and kill him. While you were making your moves
and investigations he was making his.
Finally your seventh mistake was not to use Maaril to your advantage.
If you could have used your considerable charm to convince him to come
back to Waterdeep then Blatt's attention would have been moved to this
much greater threat.
I reveal much that I wish I did not have to. I do not like to interfere
in the course of events too much. If I change things I have foreseen
then things get unpredictable and then there is great danger.
But your fate is clear to me and I cannot change it so I must bring you
back into the land of the living and set you on your way once more.
When you are ready Cavu will bring you up to the surface.
Fenrir had some questions though and she answered them as well she could.
He had been dead four days, his body had turned up at the OJB in a cart
and everyone had assumed you had died in the battle. His corpse had been
buried in the family vault in the City of the Dead.
She also told him to help himself to clothing and she could provide him
with any mundane armour and weapons he wanted. She also gave him 500
gold but told him that none of his previous possessions had been
recovered.
DAY 185 (13th Eleint)
Fenrir was dead today.
DAY 186 (14th Eleint)
Fenrir was dead today, but Gertrude told him
''
A proclamation went around the city. Every able bodied man between the ages of
16 and 50 are to report to their local watch tower for duty assignment.
Single women between the ages of 16 and 40 should also report.
It is either gate duty, wall duty, naval duty or patrol duty. Patrols are
assigned to only those that profess to any kind of combat experience.
All people doing so are issued some paperwork and a green tabard to wear.
Anyone paying 100 gold to the city is exempt and issued with a certificate.
Anyone found on the street by the watch not to have an exemption certificate
and not wearing a tabard will be fined 1 gold and sent to the guard towers
for duty.
DAY 187 (15th Eleint)
Fenrir was dead today.
DAY 188 (16th Eleint)
(Fenrir was dead today or most of it anyway. He was resurrected at about
ten o'clock.)
Cavu arrived at the room and greeted Fenrir with a compassionate and knowing
smile.
When Fenrir was ready they left the house they were in, both wearing large black
cloaks and walked out into a dark, sinister street. Fenrir looked up, there
was a cavern roof above him.
Cavu lead him through some more streets and up several steps of stairs to other
narrow streets stacked up on each other in the caves.
'Is this Skullport?', Fenrir whispered.
Cavu nodded.
Next they entered a deserted alley then after a wait to check if they were followed
Cavu pushed a brick in the wall and a secret door was revealed.
This portal lead into a network of narrow tunnels that Cavu followed upwards until
eventually, about three hours later they emerged in an abandoned cellar in
Dock Ward.
DAY 189 (17th Eleint)
It was two o'clock in morning when he returned to Waterdeep.
Fenrir was back.
[Additional : This is the song ]
'The Staff of Thunder'
(re-named to 'Thunder's Fall' after the Battle of The Turnip Field)
To the tune of 'The Wild Rover'
There once was a building that brewed whiskey and beer,
But now is purpose is making devil's tremble with fear,
The Brewery Gang are now living with-in,
Fenrir Thunderstaff and his brethir-in,
-chorus-
And they fear the staff, thunder
As his enemies are slain,
And they cheer the Brewers,
As they triumph again!
Now on one occasion he rescued a girl from a burning shop,
And on another a gang of kidnappers were requested to stop,
Those that change faces and bodies and more,
Fenrir will blast them to stains on the floor!,
-chorus-
On black wings and in darkness, he strikes down his foes,
Bringing distruction and and vengeance wherever he goes,
Be you a changer or summoner of the grisly undead,
Fenrir will make sure you'd been better staying in bed,
-chorus-
Bandits and assassins, sea hags and ghosts,
Fenrir will blast them to cinders and toast,
If any endanger, Gyella, his fair maiden pure,
Their days are soon numbered, of this ye be sure!
-chorus-
(This verse added after the Battle of The Turnip Field)
And so to battle he went, to defend Water - Deep,
Cutting down orcs and putting giants to sleep,
But in the end, we must cry, that all heroes must fall,
Just remember young Fenrir, the most charming of all,
-chorus-