Category The Tormentors

With a little bit of fire and ice, the group slays hundreds of rats and a quintet of kobold that trail the horde. Tiring of the slaughter and deciding that half-starved kobolds pose little real threat to the Ludensheim region, the group returns to tell Miles of what they have seen and killed.

The group leaves the town by traveling along the remnants of the road by which the Horned One’s troops poured into the area. Despite being old, it is still in good repair and the group makes good time, traveling 4 days northwards without any major encounters. The landscape is barren and the cleric sustains the group with magically produced food and drink. one day, the sharp-eyed ranger spots a metallic glint from the foothills on the other side of the river.

Curiosity piqued, the intrepid and invis...

Returning to the room of evil tiles – the group retraces its footsteps but someone is left in the complex, for when they open one of the concealed doors discovered during their last outing they trigger an alarm. While Lad looks for the source of the noise, a dagger sprouts from his thigh and the battle is on. Within twenty seconds, the battle is over and a bugbear lies dead on the floor while the other surrenders.

Brief communication is attempted and while some answers are forthcoming the group is suspicious of the motivation of their captive and ‘persuade’ him to walk in front. While the group is investigating a firepit and piles of straw a commotion rises at the end of the line. The group has been seen by a trio of orcs, and the orcs flee pell-mell.

The group gives chase and ends up fo...

Venturing within reveals a warren of rooms, ending in a throne room tiled in evil tile bisected by a line of black tiles that are not evil.. Not good perhaps, but not evil. The evil tile paralyzes the first person to set foot upon it. There is a distinct lack of enthusiasm for setting foot upon the tiles. A plan is hatched to defeat the evil tile, and additional exploration is undertaken by the spider-climbing mage. This reveals a series of hidden cells and a passage out of the throne room. Before the group ventures further, the case is made for securing the various unexplored passages. More exploring is undertaken. The results of this inquisitiveness is a trio of gnolls – apparently working as independent contractors for the red hats...

The onrushing guards encounter a sleep spell followed by a volley of arrow fire. The survivors are bound and offered a choice – death with the old regime or an opportunity to be part of something new, and remain breathing. The sergeant is a wise man and accepts his promotion. He tries to negotiate with the captain and the rest of the guards, but the captain is not as wise as his sergenat and within moments he is no longer among the living.
The party rushes the Duke’s bedroom, surprising his wife – who faints at the sight of a bloody band holding the severed head of the Duke. They bind her and toss the bedroom, then venture downstairs to confront the rest of the guards – Goldpiece (disguised as Miles) holds the duke’s head in one hand and the captain’s head in the other...

Drawing on the information made available to the group by Miles and the gnomes, the group knows that there are people inside Ludensheim that are ready to see the end of the Duke’s reign. They journey through the town and see the sights, few that they are. They make note of the upgraded silk merchant’s guildhall and eventually make contact with both the leader of the civil guard and the head of the wool merchant’s guild. They manage to convince each one of the veracity of the charges laid against the Duke and his legs.
Alas, though the group has a wide range of popular support, they lack a fighting force upon which they can depend. A plan is concocted and a few days of information gathering are undertaken...