Lord Orond Gralhund:
CHES 27th (The Claw of Sunsets – 1492 DR)
00:37 am
Lord Orond Gralhund and Hrabbaz were still within the Gralhund Villa. 3 Drow move towards to Alley and 2 of them cast ‘Faerie Fire’ on her but both fail and the Bard avoids the Spell with her Dexterity. The third attacks with his Hand Cross-Bow, to Poison her and so slow her down. He misses too.
Zarek has ‘Faerie Fire’ cast on him by the remaining 2 Drow. The first fails and the Rogue avoids the Spell with his Dexterity but the second is successful.
Zarek is now glowing.
Alley manages to kill 2 Drow, one that was damaged by the ‘Fireball’ and one other.
Zarek moves away from the 2 Drow on him and silently moves up behind the third Drow attacking Alley. Avoiding the burning tables and lounge chairs.
The Rogue attempts to knock the Drow Prone at the feet of Alley and himself fails as the Drow manages to brace himself against the Rogues poor effort.
The Nimblewright, which was previously the fastest to act, suddenly gets up, checks its chest as if looking for something and then jumps off the Balcony. The Nimblewright climbs down the front of the Gralhund Villa like a Zakhara Goat.
Fel’rekt Lafeen ‘Levitates’ back up to the rooftop and the Rogue spots more figures silhouetted against the dark sky.
Fel’rekt Lafeen fires and strike the Nimblewright as it continues to dash away from the main house.
Alley spots the Nimblewright and feels that there is something wrong if it continued to flee. The Bard take the Stone of Golorr out and she is unsure as they only had a written description to go by. A trick by Lord Orond Gralhund.
The Rogue and the Bard finish of the last of the Drow, just as they hear a cry from within the Master Bedroom as Hrabbaz drops his Morningstar and is attacked by the last 2 Zhentarim, as he had killed 1 of the three.
Urstul Floxin and Lord Orond Gralhund where now out of sight from the Rogue and their whereabouts are unknown.
Alley is now free to use her Magical ‘Earrings of Message’ to contact Zarek silently and alert him to her fears of the fake Stone of Golorr.
Zarek tells Alley that he was going to use the Scroll with the ‘Haste’ Spell.
Alley explains that she will take her ‘Potion of Speed’ and match the Rouge for paces as the Nimblewright has a fair head start on them both. She also hands Zarek her ‘Potion of Heroism’ for him to take only if necessary.
Zarek instead of casting ‘Haste’ from his Magical Scroll, takes the ‘Potion of Heroism’ given to him by Alley.
Another shot rings out from the rooftop and 5 more Drow descend from the rooftop, avoiding the Rogue and Bard. These Drow are then joined by 2 Drow Gunslingers.
Zarek climbs down the face of the Main House and Alley makes her way across the Gralhund Barracks, leaving Lord Orond Gralhund and Hrabbaz to their own fates.
Zarek spots Urstul Floxin as he dashes out of the open front doors. As the Rogue looks up at Urstul Floxin, he also spots the Shadow figure and his 2 Canine companions.
Zarek racks his memory and finally realises what they were. Undead Shadows for dead humanoids.
The Rogue initially headed towards Urstul Floxin but then elects to veer off in the direction that the Nimblewright run off in. The same direction as the 2 Shadow Canines.
Urstul Floxin was attacked by the Shadow and cries out as he is apparently stuck by the undead creature. The Zhentarim Captain then ran screaming, in which direction the Rogue did not know.
Zarek: “Where they in the employ of Lord Orond Gralhund or were they from another faction?” The Rogue thinks to himself.
The Rogue can see that the 5 Drow have marched of in the direction, grouped together in a silent dash through the small copse in the grounds.
Slightly behind, and further south, the 2 Drow Gunslingers dash onwards to the wall to the north-east. As they run past Zarek can see one of the winks at him and smile.
Zareks blood boils and he vows revenge.
Alley makes the decision to push on passed the Drow and manages to head them off before she realises that she may have bitten off more than she could chew.
to the rescue come the Rogue, drawing his ‘Necklace of Fireballs’ and plucking off the last Bead and launches it into the middle of the Doom of Drow.
This time the Rouges throw is absolutely perfect and the ‘Fireball’ kills all of the 5 Drow instantly.
Meanwhile, the Nimblewright has fled over the wall and headed off in a northerly direction, the Drow Gunslinger’s also had climbed the Gralhund Villa wall and gone out of sight, which only left Zarek at the base of the wall and Alley on top of it.
Then both of the Shadow Canines came bounding around the edge of the copse, the leading one headed straight for Zarek and the second was 20’ feet behind.
Alley dealt with the second of the Shadow Canines while Zarek was attacked by the first of them.
Then another complication or boon occurred as the sound of marching hobnailed boots were heard from the area in front of the main gates to Gralhund Villa.
City Watch Sargent: “Open this gate in the name of the law.”
Meanwhile, Urstul Floxin makes it to the open main doors into Gralhund Villa as he hears the residual noise of battle continuing inside.
Lord Orond Gralhund stands next to Hrabbaz on the Balcony, blood dripping from the Half-Orc Morningstar and they watch the events unfold.
Alley fearing that she would lose the trail of the Nimblewright, uses her ‘Earing of Message’ to let Zarek know she intends to follow the ‘Stone of Golorr‘ and will endeavour to leave a trail for the Rogue as best she can.
The Bard is able to cast her ‘Chromatic Orb’ once more and adjust the damage so that it would be most effective versus the Undead Shadows, Radiant damage is dealt to them and its effect is double as a result.
She then dashes off and the Rogue remembers that the Bard had taken her ‘Potion of Speed’ and the countdown was on for her. After a minuet she would be useless and prone. This would be a very bad situation if she was there alone.
With the effects of the ‘Potion of Heroism’ still surging through the Rogue he finished off the
Zarek: “I need to act fast as Alley only has a minute before her ‘Haste’ Effect impedes her and if he is not there, the Drow Gunslingers will attack the Nimblewright with their Lantanese Pistols.”
The Rogue Makes his way to the wall, climbs up onto the top and can then see the 2 Carriages and 1 Chart that the Zhentarim had used to travel to Gralhund Villa, each had a driver who was armed.
Zarek was still glowing, due to the ‘Faerie Fire’ Spell cast upon him by one of the Drow, and this only further highlighted his Tiefling profile. There was no time for tack of stealth and so the Rogue jumped down and attempted to play the part of a Zhentarim member with knowledge of Urstul Floxin and their mission.
Confused, alarmed and a little frightened, one of the 3 drivers fired off a Cross-Bow Bolt at the glowing Rogue as he Dashed by.
Zarek: “That Zhentarim Thug, the winking Drow Gunslinger and the Bullyboy on the wrecked Ship in Mistshore all go on my list.”
The Rogue then has to Dash on forward, both looking for signs left by The Bard or the other quarry themselves.
Eventually, the Rogue spots the signs that Alley said she would leave and he spots the slash marks of the floor. That in turn lead to another slash, but this was pointing upwards and the Rogue deduces that he needs to climb.
Zarek: “Both Lord Orond Gralhund and Lady Yalah Gralhund should be glad that I did not seek revenge for the death of Iomhar, but I will see them both again.”
Once on the roof tops, the Rogue sees the following seen:
- What must be the Nimblewright several roofs, and several hundred feet away from him.
- Alley behind the Nimblewright, some 80’ or 90’ feet behind.
- 2 Drow Gunslingers behind both parties, 60’ or so feet behind.
However, from here the Rogue can see that movement in a straight line was complicated, the roofs uneven and slippery and that there were also gaps between the builds at times and unfamiliarity of the terrain would be an issue.
Zarek: “In for a Nib, in for Dragon. I coming Alley.”
Slowly and silently, behind the Rogue the dark silhouette of melon sized creature flies up and over one of the roofs. The creature floats in the air with 4 appendages all appears to face the direct of the occupied Rogue.
Another complication.