Current Campaign: New Blood For An Old Sword
Episode 5: "The Defenders of Eatonshire"
Year: 1763 Fall
Location: Eatonshire
PCs:
NPCs:
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. The mage warns them against taking the main road directly to Eatonshire.

As they leave the city a voice calls out to them and they see Valrick, the cabin boy for the Silent Wake, sitting astride Bancroft. Valrick says he was insulted by Artemis and the captain so he quit the ship, stole the lord's horse and kit, and wishes to join them. Kamil expresses doubt, but Valrick dazzles them with a display of his knife skills. 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. Their intent is to journey south to Greendale to avoid the well-trod main road between Eatonshire and Kandorr and then cut north to approach Eatonshire from the smaller, the less-traveled road.

On A Road Less Traveled

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 Artemis's enchanted pavilion, stow the young boy inside, and roll it back up.

They arrive in Greendale, which has enlisted a company of Inyaré rangers from Elys to help defend the area around the city. They are escorted through the main gate where they meet Shogar Cromwell, Lord Lieutenant of the city. He introduces Carlo and Clay to their local compatriots in the Dread Legion, thirty survivors of the Battle of Rainbow Bay who swam to shore and fled south, regrouped outside of Greendale, and reconstituted as a platoon. They are led by Lieutenant Redpike, a half-orc of great reknown who was discovered near-death by Shogar and restored to full health—Redpike has since pledged himself to the defense of Greendale. Shogar provides the group a license of passage and Redpike detaches half of his platoon under Carlo's command for the purposes of reinforcing Eatonshire, and after a day of rest the group rides out north the next morning.

The trek across the bleak, still countryside is unsettling and the group keeps morale up by telling stories, singing, drinking, and playing road games. On the fourth day of the trip they arrive at Old Oak Tor to bear witness to another dismaying tableau: the families of those lords who lived outside the walls of Eatonshire City hang from many trees. They spend the day cutting bodies from the trees and burying them as the warmage and former cleric, Gavril, blesses the grave. During the ceremony Ambrose discovers a group of serfs hiding in a nearby gully and they assure the frightened peasants they mean no harm; on man among them, Erdric, says they were hiding from local brigands who were hunting for their women.

Incensed upon hearing this, Clay suggests they lie in wait and ambush the brigands. They draft a plan and used Edric as a lure, dressing him as a traveling tinker with a cart of goods. When the brigands arrive on the road the group attacks them and slays all but their leader, a Grief Eater deserter named Tarn. Carlo recognizes Tarn as one of the platoon members who burned his village and he interrogates him, learning the possible whereabouts of his children and of the likely troop movements of the Grief Eater host. He kills Tarn and leaves him in the ditch alongside the other dead brigands.

Within The Weakened City

The group arrives at Giant's Head Ridge and views Eatonshire in the distance. Using his spyglass, Clay sees scant trace of the typical bustling activity within its walls. He does, however, view scouts within the woods opposite their position on the other side of Eatonshire. He passes the spyglass to Carlo, who recognizes the scouts as Crow Cloaks. They realize that the mercenary host must not be far behind. "We must hasten to the court of lords of the city," says Ambrose.

As they arrive at the outer wall the group is challenged by soldiers at the gate. Carlo observes their haggard countenance and shabby gear and recognizes the war-haunted look in their eyes. Clay delivers Shogar's license and informs the gate chief of the scouts outside the city. The group is permitted entry and gate chief sends a runner along with them with orders to assemble an emergency war council.

The council is held in the high court and there the group meets Prince Kane, youngest brother of Garn, who runs the city defense with a skeleton crew of seasoned knights and soldiers. Kane is at odds with Lord Chamberlain Ludrik Serafin, who leads a small contingent of nobles who feel that House Simonson has forsaken the throne, and the war council deteriorates into a fracas. Carlo tries to break up a physical struggle and in the process forcefully topples Ludrik, who immediately demands the mercenaries be thrown in the dungeon for bringing ruin to the country. Simonson reminds him that the Dread Legion was recruited to assist in their defense and Ludrik demands Carlo be flogged for insulting the dignity of the office. Kane refuses this demand and Carlo volunteers to duel with the chamberlain, who agrees and reminds Kane of the Eatonshiran custom that dueling a point of honor during wartime requires the death of one of the combatants. Kane reluctantly consents to the tradition on the condition that Ludrik's supporters withdraw their complaint and yield unreservedly to the will of House Simonson. They agree.

The men clear the courtroom of obstacles and the duel is held immediately. Ludrik is a skilled and powerful swordsman but Carlo finds a weakness in style and exploits it by letting the chamberlain wind himself. Carlo receives two wounding blows to the chest and shoulder but parries a deadly swing and strikes Ludrik beneath the jaw and thrusts his sword upwards, killing him immediately. The hall falls silent as Carlo removes his helm and kneels before Kane, who absolves him and recruits him and the party to guardsmen of Eatonshire. Carlo assigns Clay as his second and Ambrose as his war-mage and they go about assessing the strength of the city.

The Crow Cloak host arrives at the city walls at dusk siege engines in tow, and Quent the Wolf rides forth to deliver his terms to the assembled lords on the wall.

"Lords of Eatonshire, I bid you surrender your defense and open the gates to your city. Assembled before you are men who have taken far greater cities with far superior equipment that what we have now. Surrender and the lords of your city will be fairly ransomed. Deny us entry and see your walls crumble and your lives extinguished."

Kane refuses Quent's offer and the mercenary rides back to the host and they prepare for siege. Clay is learned in mercenary history and knows that Quent the Wolf is a brilliant siege tactician—he warns Kane that their defense must be sound, but that the odds are against the city even though they face so small an invasion force. Carlo insists he can muster a defense but needs time to do so. Kane is at a loss for suggestions but agrees that desperate measures must be taken. Ambrose suggests that Kane permit him entry into the sacred crypts of the temples, where he might access forbidden grimoires kept by the priests therein. Kane assembles the various priests of the city temples and proposes Ambrose's plan and the high cleric of

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.

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