Chapter 54: The Battle of Pellak

Goodmonth 4 - 5, 591 CY

Present: Strymir, Sigorna, Celene, Rae, Kiffan, Telo’Mir, Anthe

The Pellak unity festival is winding down with an enormous outdoor gathering in the festival grounds on the western edge of the city. There is food, drink, dancing, and a general sense of celebration that seems to dispel the ethnic tension that had plagued the city in the aftermath of the totem theft. The party is enjoying the well-earned appreciation of Baron Nanjari as the totem itself is officially presented to the city atop a nearby stage.

The happy atmosphere, however, is soon interrupted as the image of a cloaked appears over the gathering. In the distance, other similar illusions can be seen in the distance. Whoever this is, he clearly intends to address everyone in the city. After a moment, he speaks:

Unity … a pretty word carried on the lips of vultures and cowards
before they drive a knife into your back. Hello, Margrave. Barons. People of Bissel. A decade ago, this nation showed me its true face. Now, in honor of this little festival, I have decided to reintroduce myself. I am Evard Markarvan, son of Piotr Markarvan. For ten generations we served this land. Now, I will grant it one more act of service. I will show you, all of you, the true face of Bissel. The same face I was shown all those years ago. I will throw open ever dark corner and drag your secret selves into the night air. You will understand, then, as I do.

In the meantime, I leave you with a gift suitable for this occasion. You have gathered here in this great city to celebrate unity. I will give you unity. For there is no greater unity … than death.

With that, the illusion vanishes -- and the stars overhead begin to go out. As panicked mutterings begin to spread through the crowd, a wall of darkness spreads up and over from the boundaries of the city, enclosing the entirety of Pellak within a veil of impenetrable shadow. At the last minute, a massive, skeletal dragon slips through the final gap, dives towards the festival grounds, and unleashes a gout of black flames onto the citizens of Pellak.

Screams fill the darkness as panic spreads. That panic only escalates as blighted plant creatures such as those the party had fought at Belak the Outcast's woodland manse appear and begin attacking both the crowd and our heroes.

The Margrave seems frozen in shock at the sight of Evard. His bodyguards quickly begin escorting him to safety, leaving Baron Nanjari to rally those soldiers he can to try to defend the innocent. He tells the party that there is an entrance to the sewers nearby and asks them to help hold back the monsters until they can help as many civilians as possible to flee underground.

The group takes to the stage in a defensible position and begins battling back waves of blights and undead. Telo'Mir and Strymir quickly bond over the usefulness of the Shatter spell. Rae takes a brutal hit from a Corpse Plant, leading Sigorna to unleash a black Flamestrike spell against the creature. Anthe also unleashes her own Flamestrikes -- then immediately apologizes to Celene, conscious of the elven druid/sorcerer's fears of fire. She then Shadowsteps to the roof, landing next to Sigorna. She tells the shadow sorceress, "I like your black fire." She then launches another Flamestrike that finishes off the corpse plant.

In the distance, an enormous tree blight is battering its way through soldiers and terrified civilians, slowly making its way toward the party.

Rae enhances Telo'Mir's constitution for the battle. She is then struck down by a blast of spores from one of the zombies. Sigorna rages and races to her side, but Strymir arrives a second sooner and heals Rae. Before rejoining the battle, Strymir tells Sigorna, "Bro, you freak me out, but love is love." He then hesitates and adds, "Please don’t drink my blood.”

Rae stirs to consciousness in time to see Sigorna’s eye making a heart over Strymir’s head with its "legs."

With most of the nearby civilians evacuated into the tunnels, the party begins a strategic retreat. As Anthe climbs over the stage railing, Sigorna takes time to unleash a dirty joke about Anthe straddling a railing and watching a tree blight burn.

As Sigorna and Rae continue their Addams-esque flirting, Strymir mutters “I have so many questions I will never ask.”

The party enters the sewer tunnels, with a wounded Baron Nanjari as the last person to enter and seal the tunnel entrance behind him. A bit further in, the tunnels open up into a large complex that's filled with wounded and frightened civilians, as well as a handful of shell-shocked soldiers guarding them. There are multiple exits from the room. The baron tells the party that the Margrave has gone on ahead, likely heading for his palace or possibly Castle Overwatch in the center of the city. Since that castle is right next to the Temple of Kord, the party votes to head for the temple to regroup and plan what to do next.

Strymir and Lavis tend to the wounded while Sigorna begins to scout the tunnels ahead, accompanied by a wildshaped Rae in the form of a cat. After some minutes spent exploring, they discover a pair of wounded soldiers and a horde of undead swarming the tunnels. Sigorna stays back to try to rescue the soldiers while cat-Rae sprints back to the previous chamber to get help.

Strymir picks up the cat, not realizing it's Rae, and muses, "Life finds a way," impressed that the housecat has survived the dangers of the tunnels. Rae then drops her wildshape and Strymir faces an awkward moment where he realizes his hand is accidentally on her breast. He blushes a deep red and stammers an apology.

Rae explains the situation with Sigorna and the soldiers, and the party prepares to charge to her rescue. Before they can do so, however, undead begin to pour out of several other tunnels. Everyone is forced to retreat back to the southwest. Several of the party want to go after Sigorna, but they are soon cut off as several of the Baron's mages collapse the tunnel behind them to prevent the undead from following.

The Baron apologizes for preventing them from pursuing their ally, but suggests that everyone fall back to a guard tower on the southwestern edge of the city. From there, he hints, they should be able to find "a ride" to get where they need to go.