20150327 Recap WAR! The Trouble with Troi Mission

With nearly half of the 1st Platoon, 1st Company decimated after the Royalist raid on the food caravan, the remaining members 1st and 2nd Squads are used as replacements for other Battalion level units that are under strength.   An orphan Platoon from another Regiment is designated to replace 1st Platoon.  That leaves the remaining members of 3rd Squad.  Battle Chief Cagvree “Members of 3rd Squad, you have fought many battles during the war and now you have suffered the loss of many of your fellows.  I’ve observed you and I see great potential in you.  I know potential when I see it as I was once the Leader of Strike Force Red an elite team of soldiers who completed many critical missions during the war.   We have no such unit at the regimental level and it is time we did.  You will be our regimental elite combat team, performing all those missions that regular line units could not.  Think of a name for your Strike Force, something memorable and maybe your Strike Force will become as known as Strike Force Black!  After interrogating the two scouts you captured, we learned that there was a Royalist informant that provided information regarding the caravan route and guard compliment.  Go to the City of Sullduskoon and contact Captain Pike of the Silhouette, he will give you further orders regarding the identification of the informant and finding out who is the next link in their network.”  

As the Barbarian and Dwarf are still recovering from their wounds from the prior mission   Pax (Elven Ranger – Art), Belladona Foxglove ( Seeker - Brad),  and Raistlin  (Invoker – Arthur), set off for the nearby city.  The trio choose to travel with a caravan that is going that way and guard the small merchant nearly all the way before they part ways nearly in sight of the city.  

Without warning, the party is set upon by a number of undead who attack with great fury.  Raistlin fights especially fiercely after he finds that radiant damage greatly impacts the hellspawn soldiers.  After dispatching the ghostly bandits, the trio makes their way past the evening watch at the main city gate, telling the officer in charge that they are mere travelers seeking a word with a captain at the docks.

Speaking with a common beggar near the gate, the trio then chooses to travel through the temple quarter rather than the merchant district on the way to the docks.   As the group passes by the temple of Orcus, two large zombie hulks burst from the walls and attack with a fury while nearby citizens flee.  Raistlin and Belladonna are bludgeoned while Pax launches a near endless barrage of arrows.   A lucky blow by one of the zombies stuns Pax, but Belledonna is right there to revive him and get him back into the fight.  A combination of spells to slow and push back the zombies, along with a hail of arrows soon finds the zombies lying dead, this time for sure, in the dirt.

After a brief rest, the group gets to the docks but don’t seem to be able to contact anyone of note.  The group spies a shadowy figure on a nearby building rooftop watching them.  A brief and violent exchange of missile fire and spells takes place before a tense standoff occurs.    The party learns the Endow, a female elf, is a skilled archer and spy for some powerful group within the city.  Convinced she has nothing to do with their mission and not wanting to risk taking further serious wounds from her very precise archery skills, both sides back off.

A few minutes later, a woman passing the party in the street catches their attention and they whisper the Rebel challenge phrase and she replies with the trouble password, pointing out a number of partially concealed men in the shadows.  Sensing that Pax, Raistlin and Belledonna are allies of the woman, the men, who turn out to be Royalist irregulars, launch a well planned ambush with archers firing from warehouse roofs and swordsmen charging from three directions.  With the woman, whom the party later learned was Jana, the first officer of the Silhouette, blocking an alleyway where a very formidable swordsman was threatening, each of the remaining heroes had to deal with no less than two opponents on multiple fronts.  After a furious initial clash, the rebels seem to be pressed very dangerously near the limits of their abilities with everyone suffering from multiple serious wounds.   A few well placed spells to push the Royalists back as well as the timely arrival of three more crewmen from the Silhouette, tilts the balance in the Rebel’s favor, with one Royalist finally downed, the rest turn tail and run.  The leader jumps into the water and Raistlin jumps in after him and only then remembers that he is a very weak swimmer!  

After fishing Raistlin out, Jana tells the party that she is tracking Troi and the party needs to go meet Captain Pike at the Doe Kang, a bar down the street.  Once at Doe Kang’s, the battered party meets a rebel watchman and learns that Pike is out in the middle of the bay.  Rather than swimming, the party rents a longboat and finally meets with Pike.  Pike takes the envelop of orders from Pax, and also shows the Ranger that the party was carrying a small holy token of Orcus, perhaps attracting unwanted attention from creatures that can sense negative energy.  Pike tells the group to return to shore and go to “Walsh’s Grave”.

A section of crew, man a long boat and ferry the heroes back to shore, near the bar, Walsh’s Grave.  There the trio find good observation spots and quickly spy Troi leaving the bar.  They follow her to the Morning Star, a large merchant ship and later learn that the ship is captained by the merchant Falzool, a powerful merchant, who is a known associate of the Royalists but was released by Rebel forces in exchange for many of his house’s armed soldiers leaving the island and an agreement to widen his house’s arms trade as the former rebels form a new government.

Rather than try to board the ship, the trio wisely carries the message back to Jana and Captain Pike who immediately set sail for Leniss to bring this new and valuable intelligence to the Rebel leadership.  For their bravery and contribution, each member is issued new equipment from the regimental Quarter Master.   Pax is awarded the Marksman’s Medal of Bravery 2nd Class, and Raistlin is awarded the Bloody Knife token for being severely wounded while on a critical mission.

While I can not question Iouns wisdom and knowledge beyond my own I believe it would be prudent to make sure that for all future missions we have a few solid warriors with us.