The Defenders of Eatonshire

Current Campaign: New Blood For An Old Sword

Episode 5: "The Defenders of Eatonshire"

Year: 1763 Fall

Location: Eatonshire

PCs: Ambrose Carlo of Treefall Clay Chooser

NPCs: Angus Redgud Artemis, lord Kamil Jarthul Quent the Wolf, commander of the Crow Cloaks Valrik Omber

Previous Episode: "Trickery at Taros"

Next Episode: "?"

Previous Campaign: The Knights of Eaton

Story

Act One

The Silent Wake docks in Kandorr and Carlo leaves the employ of Artemis on bad terms. They are disturbed by the despondency and desperation of the people of Kandorr and the refugee tent city beyond its walls. Carlo finds Kandorr's populace hostile and unreceptive to mercenaries, and Clay learns that the mercenary guild-house has been burned to the ground. Carlo hires on Clay, Angus, Kamil and Ambrose to accompany him. They decide to pose as agents of the church on a charity mission and tarry in Kandorr for a week, gathering information and supplies for the perilous trip west to Eatonshire. Ambrose checks in at the charterhouse, where he is warned by the magus captain that several of his charges attached themselves to a contingent of horsemen who mean to fortify Eatonshire; they rode out three weeks ago but never reached the city.

As they leave the city a voice calls out to them and they see Valrick, the cabin boy for the Silent Wake, riding on Bancroft towards them. Valrick says he was insulted by Artemis and the captain so he quit the ship, stole the lord's horse and kit, and now wishes to join them. After Kamil expresses doubts, Valrick dazzles them with a display of his swordsmanship. Carlo welcomes him to the group, warning him of the danger ahead. They ride together out of the west gate and past the tent city.

On their journey they pass emptied villages and the smoldering ruins of towns, bodies litter the shoulder of the great road. Valrick tracks a recent mass of movement headed over the hills outside Greendale, where they encounter a gruesome sight: the corpses of the horsemen out of Kandorr hang from trees in the peach orchard of House Windsor. They ride to the manor and find it sacked, with the corpses of servants and livestock slaughtered alike. Ambrose enters the ransacked main hall and discovers a young squire alive but sorely wounded, lying beneath the body of a house guard. They unpack the Artemis's enchanted pavilion, stow the young boy inside, and roll it back up.

---

In Greendale the crew met Shogaurd, a smalltime merchant and brother of Cromwell. The group set out to Eatonshire with a band of hired mercenaries led by the orc Redpike. Along the way they were joined by a cleric of Calahmere named Gabrial. Outside of Eatonshire the band met with fleeing serfs and Carlo was given more information about his childrens' whereabouts. A team of would-be brigands attacked but was frightened off by Gabrial's magic. That evening the PC's discovered the Hanging Gardens: large trees which the mercenaries hung of Eatonshiran nobles, freemen, and soldiers. They reached Eatonshire and found it nearly empty of life. The city was being run by Kane Simonson and his team of errant knights. The drunk chamberlain insulted Carlo and the two dueled; Carlo killed the chamberlain and Kane recruited Carlo as captain of his guard. As the days passed, a large band of mercenaries set camp outside of the city and demanded total surrender. Their only terms were: We'll let you live and we'll sack the city. The PC's sent a skull spirit out that evening and the mercenary leader was killed; he was replaced by Captain Krinlogue, a hard-line and merciless soldier. Krinlogue wished to begin the siege. Valrick was dispatched to assassinate the Captain, but he was killed and his head was catapulted back into the city. Carlo began a campaign to train every able body in the city. On the second week a surprise siege breached the city and everyone fell back to the castle. Kane and Gabrial were killed in this siege. Desperate for an edge over the mercenaries, Ambrose initiated a an to conjure a dimensional servant or an angel of Eliahn using Gabriel's sword. His spell backfired miserably and a powerful demon arrived. Ambrose was killed, along with 86 others before the demon was killed. The siege was finally successful and Carlo, Jarthul, and Clay were imprisoned and sent to a slave ship with the other survivors; it was revealed that Artimus was taken prisoner when he traveled to Eatonshire and he was aced on the vessel, too. Redpike managed to escape and he fled to Elkor with the surviving members of his mercenary unit.

Meta

• House Croydan has set up a provisional government as Garn rules in exile from Erelaan,