The Walls are Closing In
| The Walls are Closing In | |
|---|---|
| Date | 8/29/23 |
| Storyteller | Zoro |
| Tier | Expert |
| Player Characters | Aleth, Grist, Damian, Siltmean, Illiam, Tuli |
| Rewards | 236.88 gold, 250 xp, Gloom Blade, Liar's Gun |
| Result | Success |
| Author | Aleth |
| Downtime | 1 |
Log
After a banquet for a retiring guard, a unusual pattern of hangovers came to the attention of the captain of the wall. We were asked to investigate. After speaking to those involved, we learned very little, but began to speculate anyway.
While we were chatting up the patrons of the tavern where the banquet occurred, we took note that the walls were undermanned. I noticed a woman in the crowd was furtive about this, and that a friendly acquaintance of hers was not ill and was not boarded in the common room. Those who were seemed to be the ones who were suffering lasting hangovers.
After speaking with her, I also noticed she seemed to have a favourable review of the establishment's sleeping accommodations even though, according to her and the staff, she had only arrived the day we did. It seems she was in other guises on previous nights.
We still had little to go on, so we waited outside until nightfall and hours more. The night was very dark, enough that my torch burned out, so, rather than doze off in the grass, I entered the establishment when light spilled out from the doorway after the associate on guard inside was compelled to leave by a magical suggestion.
The woman attempted to do the same with me and failed, so instead she cast another spell that affected my senses. When I regained them, she'd return to her true form - large, blue, horned, and monstrous - screamed and gored a sleeping guard, while two of her 'minions', powerful hound-like creatures of strange materials, emerged from the corners of the room and engaged the associates at the door.
These creatures were somewhat dangerous on the attack, but much worse is that they seemed able to inflict wounds on anyone near them without striking them. With me running and gunning that wasn't a problem - except once, when I discovered they could move very quickly so long as they hugged the walls - but at the door the fighting was an intense battle of attrition, with repeated healing spells needed.
Fortunately, the shape changer at the centre of the battle was somewhat of a glass cannon and quickly went down before she could kill again. However, she was not acting alone, she was part of a larger offensive, and said as much, speaking about how the defences she'd weakened would lay Onadbyr bare for 'the Covens', a notion which prompted Illiam's 'I-knew-its' and 'I-told-you-so's at the end of the night.
The home of the retired guard was attacked within a minute of us settling the score at the tavern. We rushed to the rescue. There were no lights inside, only the sounds of combat. We made it in time, and during our engagement there, we both learned and repeatably demonstrated that forcing the hound-like creatures out into the open disoriented them severely, giving them an incapacitating sense of vertigo. This earned us a quick victory without further casualties.