August 16
Ivy stays awake late into the night, watching the moonlit gorge from the mouth of the cave and contemplating her next move. In Lady Winter’s tower Simion Silverbeard strums his harp and sings softly of cool waters and lost lovers, while the housecarls sharpen their dragon-spears. In the common room of the Golden Unicorn, the adventurers are settling their tabs and saying their goodnights. Trigg lies sleeping in his little house on Sunbold Farm, itching half-healed swordcuts.
Dawn comes early…
Ivy’s Warband
…But Ivy’s warband does not. The troops are slow to stir (Morale roll of 10). Many of the heavy drinkers have to be bullied awake, and they linger over their camp chores. Lady Winter herself doesn’t enter Starwater Gorge until 10 am, setting out with a fanfare of hunting horns that send Ivy’s warband scrambling for their weapons.
On a normal hunt Lady Winter would be attended by hunters and servants, but when seeking dragons she brings only her warriors – the squires will take care of the horses. With her are Simion Silverbeard and his squire Irwin, Corin One-Hand, Red Rondard and his son Royger, Gufflaff Gyrlond the Autumn Knight, Swanbert the Eld and his squire Larc, Lopard the Axe, the halfling champion Mullen of Molehill, and Blackmallion the Bold, and Tallon Winter with his squires Osric and Osger. Lady Winter’s younger brother Taran squires for her. Lady Winter’s blink dogs, Larks and Selen, lope at her horse’s heels while Firespark, her winged cat, frisks through the air. She and her knights make a grand sight. Dark blue pennants ripple on the raised dragon-spears, and the men sing a ballad of her house as they ride.
As the verses of “When Winter Shakes the Boughs” echo in the gorge, the gnolls huddle in their cave, hoping that the terrible Blue Lady of the Valley will pass them by. Wolfeye the hobgoblin quails, but Captain Mothclaw is watching him too closely for the hobgoblin to feel easy about running off again. Robart holds his place, but is filled with sudden dread and doubt about what it means to serve a bandit with ambition. He thinks about how easily the Realmish knights and their wizard-lady could sweep this ragged band aside. Then Lady Winter does not turn, but rides up and out of the gorge.
Some time later the elvish scouts Drunvir and Reedle return to report their numbers and confirm that they rode out into the Stonelands, following the Starwater north. Ivy thinks of how only a handful of Eveningstar’s knights can be left in the valley. Many of her fighters are wounded, and there is much work to be done establishing a defensive lair, but perhaps she can take advantage of this opportunity.
Ambrosius the cleric casts Cure Light Wounds on Ivy and Nogi, restoring 3 HP to each. Widestripe refuses to be touched by elvish magic, so Reedle casts her cure spell on Ivy (+5 HP).
Ivy gathers her champions. She must choose her lair:
Bugbear Cave: furnished and well-stocked with food, but too small to comfortably accommodate the warband and the entire gnoll clan. With the bugbear cave on the other side of the gorge, she would have less influence on her gnoll allies.
Gnoll Cave: the band is already here, and the entrance is defensible. However, the cave is filthy, poorly furnished, and cramped.
Temple of Chaos: it’s roomy and near to the gnolls, but the huge echoing hallways make it difficult to defend. Additionally, the temple is creepy and needs clearing out. The temple’s air of menace and constant barely-audible piping music would wear on her band’s morale.
The Haunted Halls: from her explorations and dim memories inherited from King Rivior, Ivy knows that she could establish a defensive zone in the entryway. However, the Halls are dark, damp (most of the wood found there is described as rotten), and all of the provisions would need to be hauled in. Securing access to the Room of Pools and the forge would give her ready access to healing, clean water, and tools, but would require securing a huge portion of the dungeon (effectively the entire southern half). Reaching the kitchen is even more challenging, so cooking would need to be done on campfires, leading to smoke problems, or out of doors. On top of this, her camp would constantly need to defend its territory from dungeon residents, and the dungeon’s haunting illusions cannot be stopped by a barred door.
The Orc Caves: defensible, with a large fireplace and storage rooms. If she can convince the gnolls to move into the adjoining cave, then the two groups would be near each other without needing to share space.
The deliberations take some time, but in the end Ivy’s will prevails: the warband will move into the orc caves. Ambrosius argues passionately for moving into the Temple, but accepts her decision with a show of good grace. Mothclaw and Harg grumble about the work they’ll need to do moving everything into the new cave, but their complaints are not serious (Reaction roll 8). The gnolls take the news surprisingly well (RR 10). They’re clearly frightened by the turn of events, and welcome the offer of protection. Widestripe pretends to have had the same idea – he knows he’s unpopular and is relying on Ivy to back him up against his clan.
It takes another hour before the gnolls are ready to move.
Trigg & Company
Trigg Sunbold, Fighter 3
Tansybell of Merry Meadow, Halfling 3
Gimwort of Greydelve, Dwarf 3
Old Dolf, Thief 4
Eldred the Enchanter, Illusionist 2
Mell of the Moonwood, Fighter 1
Accompanied by most of their NPC allies, the Silver Daggers
Oak Ringlad, Ranger 1
Elm Ringlad, Ranger 1
Dunsell the Daring, Paladin 1
Deyla & Stonescale, Beastmaster 1 & 1 HD crystal lizard
Back in town, the PCs are equally slow setting out: they need to find the Silver Daggers, pack, then find Trigg and explain the plan to him, and so on. By the time Emelda helps Trigg into his armor and buckles on his sword, Lady Winter has already ridden out into the Stonelands.
The combined party arrives in the Starwater Gorge as the gnolls are in the middle of packing up their lair to move into the former orc caves. The Ringlads scout out ahead of the group, darting between stands of scrub oak. Reedle the elf is on lookout duty for Ivy’s warband and spots the rangers coming, but they notice her in turn and return to warn the party. With a few minutes to prepare, Ivy decides to put on a show of force. The female gnolls and their young are sent into the cave, and she forms her entire warband up into two lines:
Ivy (fighter 4), Ambrosius (cleric 3), Nogi (dwarf 2), Widestripe (gnoll), Mothclaw (orc), Urskrag (orc), Harg (bugbear), Dorben (dwarf 2), Delgert (fighter 1)
Drunvir (elf 1), Reedle (elf 1), Luggog (orc), Bent-Tail (gnoll), No-Smell (gnoll), Rangrop (goblin), Wolfeye (hobgoblin), Robart (fighter 1)
The second rank are all equipped with bows, except for Luggog and Robart who have two spears each.
The PCs approach in a smaller formation:
Trigg, Gimwort, Tansy, Dunsell, Elm
Dolf, Eldred, Mell, Deyla, Oak
“Halt!” Ivy calls as the PCs break cover and approach the gnoll cave. “The gorge is mine. None stay or come without my leave.”
The Silver Daggers have a reaction roll of 7, so I decide that they’re following the party’s lead. Trigg is confused at being greeted with hostility. Despite the Ringlads’ report, he didn’t really think that his friend would greet them with shields to the front.
“We were worried about you!” he says, “You haven’t been back to town for days. What happened? Are you alright?” Ivy’s warband has a reaction roll of 9, and are apparently comforted by Trigg’s honest face and apparent sincerity. Even Ivy is somewhat mollified.
“I am as you see,” she says. “I have taken this land for my own, and the people of the caves are under my protection. Go back. I will not return to Eveningstar with you.”
“Why not?”
(reaction roll of 9) Ivy sighs. “Such is my will. I have a deed I must do first.”
“But–”
“Go home, Trigg. Do not come here again.”
The PCs are hesitant, but the Silver Daggers are all extremely nervous about being outnumbered nearly 2-1, with six bows pointed at them. All of them except for Dunsell the Daring, of course, who is confused and angry.
“But these folk are bandits, surely!” he says, too loudly. “They consort with goblins and gnolls!”
Ivy laughs (another high reaction roll). “If we are bandits, boy, then you had better speak more softly to us. I could have feathered you with arrows before you uttered a word. Now go! I will not warn you again.” Widestrip snarls (reacting to Ivy’s tone more than anything) and Harg growls a sharp command in gnollish, which the PCs don’t speak. Dunsell half-draws his sword, white-faced with fury, and Oak Ringlad puts a panicked arrow to his bowstring, but Tansybell restrains the young paladin. The PCs back slowly and carefully away, trying to keep their shields up, while Ivy and Harg restore order among the warband. The party hurries back to town as soon as they are safely out of bowshot.
Downtime in Eveningstar
Back at the Golden Unicorn, Trigg’s company and the Silver Daggers debate what to do. Dunsell is all for routing out the bandits as soon as possible. Flarkin the dwarf wants to get back to dungeon delving. The PCs want to know what happened to Ivy. Tansy and Dolf both noticed that Ambrosius’s vestments and armor were more ornate versions of the serpent-marked bronze wargear worn by the warrior-monks they fought in the Temple of Chaos. They talk it over and people mention that Ivy didn’t get her black sword and raven helm until after the sack of the temple. Could she have gotten them there? They decide to consult the Abbott.
Unfortunately, they are unable to see that wise priest. The officious Brother Prior intercepts the PCs and tells them that the Abbot is far too busy to be bothered by vagabond adventurers. Bandits in the gorge? The caves are always full of such creatures – it is the duty of the secular authorities to deal with such things. He advises them to go and tell Captain Gilbear (the Silver Daggers already informed him of the situation and the captain is not terribly concerned). Stymied, the PCs try and think of other options. Eldred mentions the throne room in the Haunted Halls, with its moving paintings and knowledgeable mimic. The party resolves to mount an expedition to consult this creature on the following day.
(Rolls in the background indicate that if they had been able to consult him, the Abbot would have recognized a description of King Rivior’s sword and helmet, as well as the temple’s armor and symbols)
Back in the Gorge
There is no more argument from the warband about the necessity of moving camp. Their enemies know where they are, and they need to make themselves secure. The band thoroughly explores the orc caves and haul out the refuse. The gorge’s owlbears and other scavengers seem to have gotten at the corpses in the weeks since Ivy’s old party raided these caves, but nothing has made a lair here. The warband and the gnolls make rudimentary camps. Ivy’s party has a cold, cheerless meal out of doors and divide up sleeping arrangements.
Commentary
I thought I had things set up for a big dramatic battle that didn’t happen. While the PCs weren’t likely to attack Ivy first, I was fairly confident that the situation would devolve into conflict one way or another, but everybody kept their heads. Neither side can afford to take heavy losses, so the prospect of a pitched battle in the open wasn’t appealing to either leader. I suspect that real players would have forced the issue just to move things along, but we’ll have to see. The party had Eldred’s wand of frost and color spray spells as force multipliers, but they were also outnumbered and had only shaky allies in the Silver Daggers. Sound off in the comments about how you think it would’ve gone down if you’d been there.
It took me a bit to think of it, but the quest to consult the friendly mimic in the throne room will get the party back into the dungeon again at last. It’s nice to be able to pull on a dangling thread from so long ago in the campaign. In the meantime my campaign situation hasn’t gotten any simpler, but Ivy will have the opportunity to do a little base-building in the gorge, so I can make use of the inventory of food, furniture, and other resources I made of the Caves of Chaos.
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