The Siege of Kandorr

Enemy forces lay siege to Kandorr City

Current Campaign: The Knights of Eaton

Episode 03: "The Siege of Kandorr"

Year: 1753 Fall

Location: Kandorr City, Lowleaf

PCs: Ambrose the Elder Borric Simonson Conan of Balthas Drake Flanagan of Osgud Margaret Kelleck Simon Aylay Windsor Tasselhof Kelleck

NPCs: Alaric Windsor Alva Cromwell Grindstone Croyd Simonson Deslaine of Barleystoke Edwyn Kelleck Elwin Kelleck Colonel Evans Garn Simonson Gregory Simonson Grespin Kelleck Jacob of Loth Kuth of Memnod Noma Migorak-Saldura O'Brien Pavel Durskow Tobias Victor Cozann

Previous Episode: "Orasi In Darkness"

Next Episode: "Bloodlusting"

Previous Campaign: The Thuzuulan Heresy

Summary

Tasselhof runs afoul of a secret enemy. Kandorr City is besieged by the combined forces of Dellforth, Ananberg and Argonheim and what follows is a legendary battle.

Developments

• Deathist X of Argonheim wishes to avenge the death of his father who was murdered by Croyd Simonson; the regicide is remembered as a national insult by the lords of Argonheim.
• Lieutenant Tasselhof investigates ghoul sightings near Lowleaf and Crookhill.
• Tas discovers a Belosian platoon and their secret troop movements.
• He is captured but later rescued by his comrades Margaret and Jacob.
• Margaret orders an assault on the Belosian camp; they engage in a skirmish and are captured by ghouls.
• The group takes an Oath of the Bitten Tongue and escapes to Kandorr.
• An emergency council prepares Kandorr for a siege by three armies: Dellforth, Ananberg, and Argonheim.
• The siege begins, and Kandorr City faces intense attacks and breaches in its walls.
• Key figures in the battle include sorcerer Noma, court wizard Ambrose, and various knights and commanders.
• Captain Cromwell’s forces arrive, leading to fierce battles and counter-attacks.
• Heavy casualties occur on both sides; notable deaths include Alaric, Deslaine, Conan, and Flanagan's grievous wounding.
• Snow dragons from Kel Doras aid in routing the invaders.
• Aftermath sees the retreat and destruction of most invading forces.
• Survivors include Tasselhof, who is found barely alive, and key commanders.
• Prince Borric wanders the city, reflecting on the battle; King Croyd abdicates and plans a mission to Argonheim.
• Celebrations and promotions follow: Tasselhof becomes ranger Captain, Simon is knighted, and others receive honors.

Story

Act One: Betrayal And A Secret Kept

Lieutenant Tasselhof, chief ranger of the north-eastern sector of Eaton, received a report of ghoul sightings near the villages of Lowleaf and Crookhill from one of his rangers in that area. Tas left early in the morning to investigate and traveled until late in the afternoon, where he set up a hidden camp outside of Lowleaf. During the night he witnessed strange activity along an old deer path—the lights and noise compelled him to sneak closer for a view.

He arrived at the secret encampment of a platoon of soldiers—whom he identified by their language as Belosians—and he overheard its commander discussing secret troop movements throughout the area north in Dellforth and into Eaton. Tas was spotted by a scout who raised an alarm and he fled deeper into the woods. He was surrounded and put up a valiant defense but was ultimately wounded, disarmed, and captured.

He was dragged to the command pavilion where he saw two Eatonshiran lords among the commanders; he recognized the lords as Edwyn Kelleck and Victor Cozann. Tas was interrogated but refused to answer queries; he struggled to fight his way to escape but was beaten by the guards and lashed to a tree. The troops decamped and moved out, leaving Tas for dead.

When night fell and Tas failed to turn in, Margaret and Jacob took a small squad out to track him down. They found him the next day and healed him, and he reported what he had seen. Margaret ordered him to track down the Belosians, and Tas led the group to the enemy's new encampment, which they hadn't yet completed. Margaret realized her group had an immense advantage and she ordered an assault on the sleeping camp. Her squad targeted the soldiers who were toiling to build up their battlements and she successfully dispatched them without alerting the main body of the camp. They killed another dozen men who were sleeping in one of the tents before an alarm was raised. A large-scale skirmish erupted and continued until only Margaret, Jacob, Tas, and twelve enemy Belosians were left.

The Belosian commander, Lieutenant Durskow, led everyone to a small village graveyard and ordered the three to dig a mass grave. While they were digging, Tas uncovered a tiny portion of an underground tunnel, which he related to the other two; they hid its presence from the Belosians and continued digging the grave, which took most of the day to complete. Durskow commanded them to fill the pit with corpses and then climb in, and his men poured oil into the grave. As Durskow lifted his hand to toss a fireball into the pit, the three pushed their way through the dirt into the small opening and clambered into an underground tunnel; they escaped the searing flash of heat from the mass grave.

The Ghoulie Kingdom

Half-blind in the darkness and weary from exhaustion, they staggered into an antechamber and collapsed. In the moments after their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they realized they were surrounded and captured by ghouls armed with spears. The lead spear-man put a finger to his lips and then pointed upwards and whispered, "If you make a sound we will send you back out there."

They were tied together and led through a labyrinth of tunnels that got darker the deeper they went. After several minutes of walking, they were instructed to sit and a small circle of polished skulls glowed dimly in front of them, revealing a large catacomb filled with human skeletons stacked in decorative arrays.

The ghouls offered them an ultimatum: swear the Oath of the Bitten Tongue: Reveal us to none and hunt us no more; agree to a Greater Geas to secrecy and avoidance and we will permit you to leave this place. They complied and were led through the underground terrain for a day and a half; they arrived at a steep ladder made of bones which led them up to a mausoleum; when they got their bearings they realized they were standing alone in the graveyard outside of Kandorr.

Act Two: Argonheim Strikes

Margaret reported to Borric who in turn alerted his father King Croyd. Croyd called an emergency lords' council to command his generals to prepare the city for siege defense. He ordered his magi to alert the countryside, and they used the Voyeur's Pupil to contact Kandorr's nearest allies, the lords of Greendale and Elkor, Captain Cromwell, and the Ashakre ambassador Grindstone. Scouts returned with reports that three separate armies were on the move towards Kandorr city: Dellforth from the north, Ananberg from the south, and Argonheim from the east sea.

The enemy armies met outside of Kandorr City's outer walls, where they set up camp and built siege engines and battlements; the Argonheim navy blockaded the port with its mighty fleet. On the seventh day of the siege, Chaos Warlords breached the outer wall and their soldiers pillaged and set fire to the east area of the city; the heroes fell back behind the massive inner wall but sneaked out to launch small counter-strikes within the city. This slowed the enemy's approach and allowed the inner wall's defenses to be fortified. Heavy street skirmishing continued for three days until the heroes were forced back to the inner wall for good.

The Walls Are Breached and Ambrose Dies

In the third week of the siege, enemy sorcerer Noma destroyed a section of the inner wall before he was killed in magical combat by Kandorran court wizard Ambrose, who himself died in the conflict. The fight escalated at the breach and enemy archers of all three armies concentrated their fire there. This deadly hail disabled Croyd and killed most of his bodyguards; he was thought dead by the enemy but in truth, he was whisked away to the safety of the hidden tunnels beneath the city.

The Traitor Cozann Is Killed

Margaret commanded Simon, Tas, and a small group of knights to flank the invading force, and they skirted the city's inner perimeter on horseback until they came against a squad of soldiers led by Victor Cozann. In the ensuing skirmish, Margaret wounded Cozann and was nearly killed by him but was saved by Simon, who mortally wounded the traitorous knight. They destroyed Cozann's squad and fought their way into the enemy's right flank, where they surprised and routed Dellforth's archers with a deadly charge.

Cromwell's Forces Arrive

As the fight raged on against Dellforth's heavy infantry at the main breach, another portion of the inner wall was destroyed and Argonheim's heavy cavalry charged into the second breach. The inner bailey was soon so thick with combatants that there was little room to maneuver. A fresh alarm was raised and Kandorr saw Captain Cromwell's flagship appear in the distance, leading a full fleet of privateers and warships and the knights of Barleystoke, led by their count, Deslaine of Barleystoke. This force immediately assaulted Argonheim's navy. Cromwell's ship, with aid from ship's magi O'Brien, rammed through the blockade and made it to port. Flanagan and Conan disembarked The Molly and led its forces in a counter-attack.

The combat intensified as Argonheim unleashed its terrors upon the troops in the inner bailey: Chaos Warlords, minotaurs, and Firelords assaulted and pushed the palace guard against the walls of the castle. Sir Alaric led a valiant charge against the minotaur squad and cut down a few of them before he was killed in the struggle; Grespin and Simon successfully routed the remainder of minotaurs and chased them into the castle, where they hunted them down and destroyed them.

Upon seeing Lord Deslaine's forces overwhelmed by the Belosian vanguard and Deslaine himself killed, Conan spurred his horse to charge Captain Kuth of the Chaos Warlords, who cut its legs out from under him; as Conan struggled to rise and lift his sword defensively the warlord swung his battle axe hard at him, shattering his sword and cleaving away the top of his head. Flanagan wounded the warlord captain, but his second attack was parried and the warlord cut off Flanagan's arm at the shoulder; before he was able to deal a killing blow to Flanagan, Kuth was thwarted by Eatonshiran pikemen. He fell back among his men and disappeared back into the fight.

Ananberg soldiers wrested control of the main gate from the guards and they poured onto the walls, where they fought against Kandorr's archers. Colonel Evans, captain of the archers, was knocked from the wall, where he suffered grievous harm. Tas fought his way through the enemy forces towards Evans and retrieved the wounded colonel's unconscious body and magical bow but was surrounded by Argonian spearmen. Tas defended himself but was overwhelmed by the pikemen and collapsed, unconscious and bleeding out. Jacob tried to fight his way to them but was grievously wounded by a Firelord and he was pulled to safety by Tobias. Drake took Jacob's sword and killed the Firelord. The enemy forces gained control of the inner bailey and moved the bulk of their forces through the breaches in the wall. Prince Gregory ordered the palace guard to fall back to the castle and they made a defensive retreat.

A Storm From Kel Doras

Gregory sounded a final alert and his commanders fell back and away from the main body of the enemy army, who organized their units for a final assault on the castle. From the distance, a shimmering host approached in the sky from the direction of Keldoras and within minutes a horde of snow dragons began strafing the enemy forces. Ananberg's army was the first to lose its nerve and it immediately retreated, quick-marching into the outer city where the main body of Kandorr's reserve troops were waiting for it; Ananberg was attacked and its retreat became a bloody rout as its soldiers ran confused through the city streets. Dellforth, which had taken the heaviest losses of the three invading armies during the siege, turned its attention to breaching the castle but was fought off by Kandorr's palace guard. Argonheim attempted to fight the Keldori dragonmen, but their units of Chaos Warlords and Firelords were the first to be targeted by the dragons and they were left with little defense. Soon the inner bailey was covered in ice and snow and panicked and screaming men, half the invading army was frozen in agonizing death and the other half routed only to be attacked in a counter-assault by Kandorr's forces.

Aftermath

The battle became little more than a wintry abattoir and only a few thousand invaders escaped Kandorr City, most of whom were Belosians; in the weeks that followed they were tracked, hunted down, and executed where they were found and only 100 Belosian survivors returned to the shores of Argonheim. Only 800 of Dellforth's forces, exclusively cavalry, made it back to their homeland. The entire invading army from Ananberg was destroyed.

The survivors of the conflict walked through the snow-blasted cityscape and Simon spied someone in the distance leaning over Tasselhof's corpse; before he could get close enough she was gone and Simon noticed Tasselhof's ring finger was missing along with his magical ring. He tracked the woman and found Flanagan's arm, but the sword was missing from the hand's frozen clutches. Simon lost her at the docks and saw her board a dinghy and row towards The Molly. He returned to Tas and cast Sense Life and was shocked to realize a faint sign of life; he shouted for assistance and the royal healers attended to Tas and carried him off to be restored.

Prince Borric wandered the city with Margaret that night and meditated on the brutality he had witnessed. He was approached by his father, Croyd, and a small contingent of elite warriors. All men were incognito and equipped for travel and Croyd told Borric that he had formally abdicated the throne to his eldest son Gregory and he planned on traveling to Avandell with the intention of putting an end to the threat of Argonheim once and for all. He embraced his son and advised him to live honorably and he made for the docks to The Molly.

Later that month, after the walls were restored and the city in repair, Gregory called for a week-long celebration and festivities. Tasselhof was promoted to ranger Captain, Simon was knighted, Margaret was rewarded with a leadership position in House Kelleck, Drake was granted a lesser title and claim to a plot of land in Greendale, and the others were given medallions and prizes for their valiant defense of Kandorr City.

Meta

The Dead

• Ambrose
• Conan of Balthas
• Victor Cozann
• Tasselhof Kelleck
• Noma Migorak-Saldura
• Alaric Windsor

Points Awarded

• 4 point for all

Season Pool

• 14 points