An untamed frontier. Dark cults. Fickle fey gods. Ravenous fiends. Nothing black powder and sorcery won't fix... . Timberlands Campaign Diary
As the second battle for Inniscrone’s town square started between the party of heroes and a motley of flying weapons, strained shrieks split the gathering clouds of evening. Aelric, the satyr blood hunter cursed. He knew the origins of the sounds. Aelric had come to Inniscrone to hunt arcanaphages., also known as magebanes No doubt the monstrosities sensed all the magic arcing about Inniscrone that day and came expecting a feast. Alas, Aelric had no time to warn his new companions, the battle was already joined.
Sykes the eladrin rogue and Riley the changeling dervish slammed into a line of flying swords. Aelric called down a column of moonfire to cover their flank and funnel more Animated Weapons their way. Peregrine the half-orc archer snipped from atop a nearby house while Wild the tabaxi ranger let arrows fly from further down the lane. Beside the fey-touched catfolk, Ea the agriother wizard lobbed spells into the sinister implements.
The fight went well at first, even better when Wren Holdfast, a tax collector, and her guards stormed out of the Broken Bough Inn and attacked the cloud of flying weapons from behind. Knox, the town sheriff, and his goons opened fire from the windows of the lord-mayor’s manor to provide support. Despite being drained from the fights earlier that day, the champions got the upper hand.
Then the arcanaphages landed. One of the bat-like abominations smashed into a gaggle of flying weapons far from the fight. The other, however, dove onto Ea. The bearfolk wizard was unprepared for its fury and was quickly wrapped in its barbed tail. The archers tried to move their spells, hunter’s mark and hex, onto the magebanes, only to have the spells falter. Ea felt his connection to magic severed, and then the bite of the arcanaphage’s horn. Wild tried to bring the creature down and Riley broke from the battle with the flying weapons to little avail. Ea even managed to break free from the aracanaphage’s grip, only to be snapped back up and crushed once again. It wasn’t long before the wizard lay lifeless and bleeding out in its barbed tail.
On the other side, both Aelric and Sykes got stuck in first by flying weapons and then by the Swarms of Direflies around the town well. The baleful insects had been stirred up by the conflict and attacked the heroes, their allies, and the flying weapons alike. Soon the town square was engulfed in chaos. In the maelstrom, a few of Knox’s shots struck Wren and her men but it was hard to say if it was on accident or not.
Aelric broke free of the flying weapons and lent his aid to the tax collector and her men. It was a good thing too as the honeycomb horror in the well tore free and engulfed one of the guards. Things continued to spiral out of control as the Fallower patrolling a side street came ripping along into the melee. Peregrine turned his fire to the direflies while Riley and Wild managed to bring an arcanaphage down and get Ea back on his paws. Riley charged back in and they and Sykes made short work of the remaining flying weapons. Ea’s fire spells bubbled the Honeycombed Horror
away. Aelric, Wren and her guards made short work of the fallower and then the satyr hunter brought the other arcanaphage down.
As the sun set, peace finally returned to the town of Inniscrone.
Wren thanked the heroes for their good deed but accompanied her wounded men back into the inn. Knox’s guns withdrew from the windows. Aelric butchered both of the magebanes for valuable parts. Sykes gathered up bits of broken weapons so they couldn’t be repaired. Soon enough, though, the champions left the square a mess of gore and debris. There was still work to do.
Aelric wanted to see this waning court smith held captive, so into the blacksmith everyone went. In short order, the satyr drew his sword and moved to strike the chained Cindermane down, but Sykes stood in between the hunter and his prey. The two shouted at one another. Aelric believed that the waning court were nothing but evil monsters and this one needed to be extinguished while Sykes protested that Cindermane was held against his will and held the only means to stop the animated weapons tormenting the rest of the village and the region beyond. Surreptitiously, Riley edged up behind Aelric, ready to act of the satyr made good on his threat to cut Sykes down to get to Cindermane.
Peregrine butted in, his pact weapon changing from a heavy crossbow to the great sword he’d discovered it as. The half-orc had discovered earlier that day that Cindermane had been the one to craft the weapon… by reducing a celestial down to its base elements and reforging it into a tool of war. Cindermane didn’t deny the accusation but called it one of his best works. Clearly, it had served Peregrine well. Likewise, it was only a celestial. Embers weren’t real beings anyway. Besides, he’d clearly paid for misdeeds. Peregrine’s weapon returned to its crossbow state and the archer struggled as it tried to shoot the smith on its own. Ea remained quiet in the back, tending to his wounds while Wild worried that the party might come apart at the seams.
It was the fey smith who broke the tension. Cindermane, desperate to get free and stay alive, vowed that he’d not hurt a single resident of Inniscrone once he was free - save his captor, Gerwald Knapp. From there, he’d take command of the floating weapons and leave once he had his arm. Peregrine said that was good enough for him and one by one the rest of the heroes took a step back from the edge of violence and let the matter drop, for now.
One step remained; finding the locus of all this turmoil, the conman Gerwald Knapp. The heroes weren’t sure where to look for him. They’d tried the false-smith’s house, the inn, and other nearby buildings. They even went so far as Aleric climbing down into the ruined well to see if he’d ended up in the honeycomb horror’s den. He hadn’t.
They decided to return to the lord mayor and see if she might lend them more aid now that the town square had been cleared. As before, Levinia Greye was pleased to receive them in her dining room. She continued to state she didn’t know where Gerwald was. The party laid out his list of crimes and the fact that only his death and the return of Cindermane’s arm could quell the horror consuming her village. Levinia asked for time to think on the matter and asked the heroes to wait in her study as she convened with Knox the sheriff and others on what to do. The party reluctantly agreed but took the time to rest, relax, and talk over what to do next. Save for Sykes, the rogue snuck out to have a look around the manor house. She didn’t get far, though, before realizing there were too many people about to go snooping and returned.
Sometime later, the lord mayor called the heroes back in. Low and behold, Gerwald Knapp sat beside her; bound, gagged, and sporting a swollen eye. She explained that Knox, the fine lawman that he was, had sniffed out Gerwald’s hiding place. The sheriff grinned slyly and the party frowned as they realized they’d been played. Levinia next set Cinderman’s arm on the table. There, she stated, the heroes had everything they needed to end this so, there was no need to dally further. With furrowed brows, the champions took the blacksmith and metal arm, then left.
They didn’t go to Cindermane at the smith immediately. Instead, they dragged Gerwald to his house for questioning. During this time, Aelric slipped off to keep an eye on Cindermane, who in turn sat and waited for release. On interrogating Gerwald, they discovered that he’d murdered Eloise as they suspected and didn’t show a mote of remorse for offing the fey. Likewise, the conman related how he’d come across Cindermane in a drunken stupor, sliced off the fey’s arm, and enslaved him for his own enrichment. Gerwald spoke with supreme disdain for the fair folk, despite the fact most revered them as gods. Peregrine pressed to see what deals Gerwald had with the mayor and the bastard stated he’d say or sign whatever they wanted if they let him go. Deciding that Gerwald was a piece of human garbage, the heroes dragged the struggling man to meet his fate.
Cindermane perked up as they entered with Gerwald and his arm. The fey popped to his feet and was anxious to be whole and have his revenge. First, though, Sykes reminded him of his oath and pleaded with the fey to keep it and to just let his anger go. Cindermane listened respectfully and stated that he’d have to keep his word, though, if he wanted to attack them he could as he’d only promised not the harm residents of the town. They weren’t residents. Peregrine chuffed, as he’d noted the fey’s wordplay earlier and expected it. However, Cindermane offered that he had no intentions of turning on his saviors and likewise would be too weak to take on the heroes directly. So, if they would please hold up their end of the bargain and give him his arm.
The heroes kept up on their side of the deal and handed the prosthetic over. Cindermane fused it to his stump. The effect on the fey was immediate. As the runes on the metal arm glowed, his shackles melted and fell away. The rich, coal color of his skin returned complete with burning veins. He snatched Gerwald Knapp, dragged him to the forge, picked up a blacksmith hammer… and pounded the man’s matching arm to a loathsome pulp of splinted bone and pulped meat before throwing him to the ground. Cindermane sighed and with a squeeze of an iron fist, took command of the animated weapons. He wondered if the heroes would let him leave, as he truly harbored no ill will toward them. They told him to go and never look back, which Cindermane did. However, he audibly suspected that their next meeting might not go so smoothly. Like the pied piper, the waning smith led the animated weapons out of the city. The heroes worried that they’d made a grave mistake.
They also debated on whether to let Gerwald Knapp bled out for his crimes. However, the ally the goblin warlock Niq, couldn’t bear to see the man suffer so he healed Gerwald just enough to keep him alive. Then they delivered the conman to Wren Holdfast’s authority. The tax collector was happy enough to take him in for proper trial. The party also informed her that the lord mayor had tried to hire them to kill her in a roundabout way. Wren listened with a level head. The half-elf was not unfamiliar with threats on her life. She also knew the way of nobles. While she was sure that’s exactly what Levinia had implied that the heroes should do (Session 20), it was their word against the mayor’s and Levinia had powerful allies. They’d need the proper arbiter to confirm the story. Wren knew there was a famed paladin just over the pass at the Grim Faced Bridge, Ser Silvercrown. She and her men would return that way to hand off Gerwald to a proper court and entreat the paladin to come back with her to Inniscrone. He should be able to confirm who was telling the truth. Then they could take down Lord Mayor Greye as well.
As one last note, Sykes pulled Wren aside and let her know of the older contract on the tax collector. Wren was amused more than anything else and took the missive. Though, she didn’t recognize the handwriting. Wren assured Sykes again, that she was used to being threatened. How many other tax collectors traveled in brigandine and knew how to fight after all? She encouraged the eladrian assassin to keep walking the path of a good life now that Sykes had gotten a second change. With that, the heroes settled in at the Broken Bough Inn for a proper rest. The remaining residents of Inniscrone came out of their boarded-up homes, laughed and cried, and started to pick up the pieces.
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