While the fires burn upstairs and the alarm bells ring all around them, the group readies itself for the final push. When Reza exits into the corridor to see what level of hostility they may encounter, a pair of fireballs detonate near his head. At the end of the passageway is a shield wall, manned by crossbowmen, pikemen and a pair of pesky mages. Burning and choking, he dives back into the room for some quick healing. While Humbar tends to Reza, Dalliance thinks she may be able to dislodge the obstacle by blasting away with her wand of fire (fire!). While she does lob a shot into the shield wall, she earns a crossbow bolt in the head for her troubles. She also retreats into the room for some hasty healing.
Powering up, she enters the hallway and lets rip with a duo of fireballs to help convince the bravest to seek an alternate location.
Boom…BOOOM! The screams of the frying are short lived and the group powers along the corridor, hangs a hasty right and then enters a four-way intersection. While Lubbitch and Humbar and Reza plow onward, Bud relays the information that an ambush party is lurking at the rear, hiding in the officer’s quarters. Barada seals off the danger zone with a wall of fire and the group rolls onward.
They smash through the next door they encounter and move forward…into another ambush. Humbar takes a bolt through his neck and almost dies. Dalliance fires up her spell of arrow reversal and saunters into the hallway in preparation for lightning bolting the offending attackers. She follows up the bolt with another large ball of fire. Man, the interior decorators are going to be busy trying to put the interior of the castle back together. First they’ll need to extinguish everything.
Wheeling left, they power through the last visible doorway and into the private chambers of Lord Mourngrym…who looks grim indeed. Humbar goes berserk and attacks the noble. While Lubbitch and Humbar pummel the life out of him, the rest of the group prepares for what comes next. In a moment of inspiration, Barada dons his hat of disguises and some of the lord clothing and goes off in search of junior officers with Reza and Dalliance in tow, Finding a group of officers trapped behind the wall of fire, he uses his charm ability supplemented with Dalliance’s spell of mass suggestion to convince the officers that the threat has been eliminated and they need to get busy manning the walls in anticipation of the large army heading towards them. Lord Baradagrym sets up a robust defense and rallies the troops to man the walls. Bud is sent off in bird form to alert the dalesfolk that the castle has been taken and they are called to action in its defense. Humbar, Reza and Lubbitch fly off to issue instructions to the wolves to begin harrying the army’s flanks.
Within the space of a few hours, the fires are mostly extinguished and the walls are manned. When the ‘relief’ force arrives, they are fired upon by ballistae, archers and Dalliance and her wand of fire. Fire!
Understandably confused, the army falls back and demands to know what manner of mischief is afoot. Boom. Boom. BOOOM go the fireballs.
AAAAAGH! go the roasting soldiers. Retreat! go the commanders, and by the time the morning comes the invading army is no more, having broken into smaller groups for ease of foraging and deciding to retreat. The emboldened dalesfolk and wolves go after them and the rivers are awash in blood for days.
With the siege ended, there is an uncomfortable moment when the Lady Mourngrym seeks out her husband. Bud smashes her in the face and knocks her unconscious. While she ‘snoozes’ they search her and the ex-lord and turn up a pair of harper pins. Hm? Harpers? What?
This revelation leads to Dalliance teleporting with the Lord’s corpse back to Waterdeep to seek the advice of the Lathanderites. it is revealed that the lord is a trusted member of the Waterdhavian nobility and deeply enmeshed with the Harpers and their ilk. The most likely answer – once many questions have been asked – is that the Lord was possessed by some entity and used to enslave the dalesfolk in order for the Baneites and the Zhentarim to do their dirty work. The lord is restored to life by the Lathanderites and will return to the ‘dale once it is determined that he is not a threat. Apparently, all that remains is a final jaunt into the dungeons to slay the flaming skeletons and the slithery slitherer, and to free the ranger. With that goal in mind, the group rests for a day or three, then starts planning for what is presumably the final assault on the forces of evil…
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