DavesGaming

We finally made it out to Nalia’s family home the next day. It was a good size castle, and we saw a small wooden palisade outside the walls. This was all that was left of the local troops, barely a dozen of them. The invaders were a mixed force of trolls and yuan-ti, those always ill-tempered snake-men. Obviously this was an organized and determined assault, I’d not heard of either of these types striking with that kind of determination in human controlled lands.

Nalia of course knew how to find a hidden sally port, so that’s where we entered. We fought a number of trolls.

We tried and failed to save a few servants. We found one who was well hidden but couldn’t report much except that most of what he’d seen were in fact, trolls. He also embarrassed Nalia for her tendency to sneak out at night. That was good for a chuckle, but the situation was grim enough it didn’t last long. We cleared the main floor and opened the drawbridge so the troops outside could secure what we’d cleared.

Upstairs we ran into more trolls and a Yuan-ti mage who might have been the leader? Or a leader anyway. We did manage to rescue Nalia’s aunt, who was barricaded with a guard in her chambers (and a thoroughly unpleasant lady!).

And freed another guard from a Charm spell. We last searched the cellar and found a number of huge trolls desecrating a large chapel. The body of Nalia’s father was also in the room. Nalia’s grief and loss were palpable. I’ve seen far too much of this recently. Then Nalia shocked us with an unexpected proposal. She was the legal heir, but would not be considered a legitimate power to hold the noble title on her own. She suggested appointing Diomedes as her master-of-arms who held the land secure. This was an odd concept for me to understand, as near as I can tell mages are not considered an adequate power base for a noble title? I think a lot of local nobles would not be happy with the outcome if they faced young Nalia in a dual! For the record, I would not recommend THAT as a means of making decisions either. But Nalia is really opposed to any nobles with a claim getting ahold of this land.
Later research I did indicates Nalia gave us a tremendous gift. Of course its the sort of gift many would not want, it comes with huge responsibilities. But in essence, Diomedes (and I) now rule this land with only the caveat *we do so in Nalia’s family name*.

Almost as soon as this was settled, Jaheira received a summons back to the Harper base in Athkatla. We let her go immediately, and the rest of the team went back to the city the next morning. We met Jaheira there and she requested we join her for an interview with the Harpers. It was obvious pretty quickly this was a trap. Jaheira was outraged at being used this way. She joined with us in fighting off an attack. She has said with no doubt this was not an official or sanctioned act by Harpers, but I worry even more for her about what the cost will be of her loyalty to me.

From here we met up with Nem. It was a big “good news/bad news” sort of situation. We could free Skie’s soul from her prison, but it would come with a cost. A physical cost to me to open a portal, and someone would have to take her place. Find someone who would willingly be entrapped in an extra-planar void? I was torn, my immediate thought was “no way”. But Skie herself was an innocent in this. Nem suggested a volunteer was possible if not easy. We did find someone terminally ill, who feared for their eternal fate (with good reason we learned). Huh. I still don’t like it, but this seems as close to just as we can get. So we travelled into the dagger, and freed Skie’s soul. Leaving an elderly Halfling woman named Pyll behind in her place. I will need to make sure Skie and her family know that name to give thanks for. But for now we’ve done all we can. Nem suggested, if Skie’s mortal remains were intact and she’d already received a Raise Dead spell, she should come back to life. I’m reasonable sure both those conditions had been met by her wealthy and powerful father.

Now it was time to run off for Trademeet to investigate some troublesome Druids. I hope Jaheira is up for another assault on things she holds dear! This turned out not to be extremely dramatic. Apart from the life and death stuff we deal with every day. But the town was threatened by two perils. First was a group of Djinn looking for a wayward Rakshasa, we slew the beast and the Djinn left willingly. Next was a group of Shadow Druids. I don’t get all the details, but we’ve faced some of these nuts before, back in the Cloakwood Forest. Basically a group that makes an odd choice in the eternal “man vs nature” struggle. Very strange, their leader decided she wanted to face me in personal combat instead of one of her own kind (Jaheira would have had some challenge rights under their odd Druid rules; but no, she wanted to fight me). She turned into a beast and came at me with claws. I chose Flame Bolt, Magic Missile, Flame Bolt. My Stone Skin was still intact when she went down.
We enjoyed the hospitality of the grateful residents of Trademeet afterwards. Then a messenger found Diomedes to get back to our castle.
Some merchant was complaining about thieves attacking his caravans in the area, and he was threatening foreclosure on the large number of tenants he had in the holding to make up his losses. We bought out all the debt ourselves. But it was obvious this required some attention. We would increase spending for a new militia force. And I think we need to leave someone powerful here in case serious muscle is needed.