20170811 Recap Against the Slave Lords - Capturing Icar

Against the Slave Lords – The Slavers Stockade Capturing Icar 20170811

After defeating the cloaker, our heroes free all the slaves, including Bannor’s sister, Breeda.  The group is making a plan when a second allied team of infiltrators enters the room.  As the second team has a wizard, Cyrano as well as a second rogue, and two heavy fighters, the two groups reorganize with Bannor, Nero, Raistlin and Cyrano staying here in the cloaker room, resting up in preparation to move ahead.  Mantis, Gird, the other wizard, the other rogue, the remaining defender get ready to escort the freed slaves back to the complex of haunted rooms where they can rest in relative safety.  In order to care for some of the wounded slaves, Souldun goes with the group escorting the freed slaves, many of whom arm themselves.

The group left in the cloaker room Raistlin (Elf Wizard – Arthur), Bannor the Bloodguard (Human Fighter – Brendon), Cyrano (Drow Rogue - Kenji) and Nero (Battlemind Dwarf Defender – Ken) is nearly ready to head out, when from the north, a hobgoblin patrol bursts in.  Raistlin immediately takes down one hobgoblin soldier and Cyrano takes out another as a half dozen rush by him and into the room.  Cyrano and Bannor double team the hobgoblin leader and manage to wound him then Raistlin propels the wounded enemy into the trench in the center of the room, dazing him.  Several hobgoblin soldiers including the assistant leader, start moving along the northern ledge in an attempt to move around the heroes and attack them from behind.  These flanking hobgoblins are stopped cold in their tracks by Nero who downs one hobgoblin immediately and wounds two others.  Cyrano, and Bannor are fighting the hobgoblin soldiers and resisting blasts of fire and lighting from a pair of goblin shaman.  Raistlin blasts the fire shaman but is pressed by several enemy archers.  A huge half ogre half giant charges into the room and hurls Cyrano back and presses Bannor toward the southwest corner.  Cyrano creates a zone of darkness and drinks a healing potion, buying him a bit more time, but as soon as the darkness fades, the Ogre/Giant strikes at both Bannor and Cyrano, downing the drow and badly wounding the fighter.  Raistlin teleports the dying Cyrano away from certain death and next to the wizard.  Raistlin revives Cyrano but because they’re under fire, Raistlin is forced to teleport into the northern hallway.  Although intended as an escape, Raistlin attracts the attention of the enemy spellcasters and a couple of regular soldiers.  Raistlin summons a mace tailed dinosaur which is immediately damaged by the fire shaman and finished off by one of the soldiers but the dinosaur’s sacrifice buys Raistlin enough time to use his remaining magic to turn invisible and then hide around the next corner of the hallway.   With several of his enemies rushing toward the north to chase the elven wizard, Bannor is now one on one with the Ogre/Giant.  Badly wounded, Bannor also takes a healing potion and then uses a powerful strike that also energizes the fighter, keeping him on his feet.  The giant continues to batter the fighter forcing him back and putting him on the defensive, forcing him to catch his breath to stay on his feet.  Cyrano scores a serious hit on the giant and another on the fire shaman.  Nero wounds both the enemy leader and the second in command but is flanked by a pair of the regular soldiers and then gets hit by a lightning bolt for serious damage.  Nero, moves away from the eastern door, and slashes at the enemy leaders as they go past.  The sturdy dwarf then moves to support Bannor and scores a slashing wound on the giant’s leg.  Cyrano, seeing the wounded fire shaman turning to run, hurls a dagger that finds its mark, downing the fleeing shaman.  Nero downs yet another regular hobgoblin, so of the original eight there are only two left who decide to fall back toward the eastern door while firing their bows at any who appear to be giving chase.  Spinning around, Nero strikes yet another blow on the giant’s leg, causing him to fall and giving Bannor the opportunity to line up a powerful strike to finish the giant off.  The lighting shaman and one hobgoblin flee to the north, while the two badly wounded hobgoblin leaders flee to east.  The group gathers their equipment and quickly decide to head off to the north where they find a storage room where they take a much needed rest.

After hearing several patrols pass by their temporary hiding place, the foursome venture out quietly and listen at a number of doors in the long hallway they’re in.  They find a few barracks, one that sounds like merchants, and another that could be mind flayers.  They very quietly move further down the hall until they come to a metal door behind which they hear noises.  Thinking there might be an enemy leader beyond, the group busts in and discover a large group of armed soldiers.  Icar, the blind garrison commander, is using a two handed flaming sword to roast a giant lizard over a huge fire pit.  There are eight more hobgoblin soldiers as well as three very large men with flaming red beards and hair.  Raistlin gets off a blast of magic, grouping most of the enemies near the fire pit.  Seemingly unaffected by any of Raistlin’s magic, Icar moves quickly to the northwest corner of the room where he engages Bannor and Nero.  Cyrano moves to the east but is badly wounded by the one hobgoblin soldier that escapes Raistlin’s barrage of magic so the drow retreats to the west to help the fighters battle Icar.  Raistlin continues to fire area spells at the ten bunched up enemies in the center of the room, pinning them in place repeatedly, and although dealing moderate damage each time, none of the enemies fall and many take out bows and return fire against their elven nemesis.  Icar deflects several attacks and surrounds himself with an enduring shield of smoke and flames, burning all those who come close.  Bannor, Nero, and Cyrano are all badly wounded but continue to maneuver and strike at the well armored enemy leader.  Bannor strikes a sweeping blow at the hobgoblin chasing Cyrano and strikes him down while also wounding Icar on the follow through.  Nero downs a badly wounded hobgoblin as it escapes Raistlin’s magic zone.

Raistlin’s magic finally downs one of the elite hobgoblin guards and one of the red bearded men.  A second red bearded man escapes Raistlin’s zone of magic and charges Bannor who turns to meet him, leaving Nero and Cyrano to battle Icar for a few seconds.  Bannor downs the raging barbarian and turns back to aid the dwarf and drow.  Both Raistlin and Cyrano are badly wounded and move up to a pair of high ledges on the western wall where they trade magic and thrown daggers with bow fire from the four remaining guards.  The third barbarian rushes forward and is halfway up the wall beneath Raistlin’s ledge when Raistlin unleashes a powerful blast of magic in his face, putting him down.  Nero and Bannor continue to trade blows with the enemy leader and all three are badly wounded, having used every bit of skill and energy in the heated battle.  Seeing an opportunity, Nero hooks Icar’s left leg, tripping up the swordsman, setting him up for a powerful downward axe strike by Bannor which Icar never "saw" coming, which knocks the enemy leader out “cold” as the flames from his sword die away.  With their leader down, the remaining four soldiers surrender.  Too badly wounded to continue (Raistlin, Nero, and Cyrano each w a single surge, Bannor w two surges), Raistlin, Nero and Bannor dress as slaves, with two hobgoblins in front and two to the rear.  Icar with Cyrano holding a dagger to his back, are in the middle and the whole group heads back toward the haunted complex of rooms.  After barely bluffing their way past a couple patrols, the group manages to get back to the haunted rooms and rejoins Mantis, Souldun, Gird, and the newly freed slaves.

To be continued…