Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Late Morning★

 

Yalme	Ser Becklin Uth Viharin	Darrett Highwater, Ser Becklin’s Squire	Ridomir “Cudgel” Ironsmile	Mayor Raven Uth Vogler
Jeyev Veldrews, Cudgel’s Lieutenant	Lord Bakaris Uth Estide	Bakaris “the Younger”, Lord Bakaris’s Son	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier (Messenger)	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier

Room 101—Command & Control Center

   Mery, you remember that Vogler is located along the northern shoreline of the Vingaard River just west of Kalaman and Kalaman Bay. Although the village itself isn’t strategically very important, logistically, it makes a good place for an army to move goods along the river and into the Hinterlund—as well as a good place to move an army onto a river to get nearer to the city of Kalaman, if not attack it from the water, outright. Thousands of soldiers on hundreds of boats can move very quickly on a river rather than marching.

   To Lord Bakaris, Mery replies, “I would suggest, then, that you streamline your needs, my Lord. Take some money and only those things you can’t get elsewhere or are irreplaceable. Your chances of safety are greater if you travel light.” She doesn’t bother trying to persuade the man.

   Lord Bakaris bristled at that, but held his tongue on account of everyone else’s glowering. “Yes, well, maybe I could do that, if the situation is so dire . . .”

   Still, as was proper Artanis introduced himself simply to the Lord with a short bow, “Ser Artanis Brightblade, my Lord. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. We only did what was right.”

   “B-Bright-b-blade?” Lord Bakaris said, suddenly standing far straighter and holding his foppish cap between his hands. “Ser Artanis of the Brightblade family, you say? Well, this certainly is an honor! Not only was my town-”

   “MY Town,” Mayor Raven Vogler corrected.

   “-Our town, saved from evil mercenaries, but it was saved by none other than a scion of the illustrious Brightblade family, no less!”

   “I’ll be happy to come along.” Modri runs his hand through his beard in thought. “I’ll have the decency to let others see if they can’t reason with this messenger or their masters. If... or perhaps I should say when... that doesn’t work out so well, just say my name and I’ll share my piece with them.”

   “I’ll go too,” Hunni offers, with a shrug. “I can ride my staff to the meeting. Even if we aren’t planning on killing the messenger, it should help us send a message.”

   For the first time, Lord Bakaris takes notice of Hunni. “Um, excuse me . . . is that a . . . little girl . . . with you? Is she one of your daughters? What does she mean she will ‘ride her staff’ to the meeting? Don’t you think someone should babysit her whilst the adults in the room converse? Lest I burden innocent ears with the woes of the world, I shan’t give voice to how . . . vulgar . . . that sounds.”

   The report on a messenger from the army earns another incredulous look from the sea elf. “That’s... unexpected. It could very well be a trap, maybe a ploy to draw out the leaders of the village all at once. I’ll come along, absolutely. Just be ready for them to try to stab us in the back.”

   “You’ll have my sword too at this meeting, though hopefully it won’t be needed. As my comrades have suggested, I believe there will be no true parlay with these forces of darkness - not without complete submission. I’m also surprised by their timing. I wonder if it was the same patrol we saw earlier?” Artanis suggests.

   “I thank you all,” the Mayor said. “A good show of force might be just what we need to keep this meeting on even ground, but I suspect that, given your report, there’s no show of force this town could muster to give them pause. Don’t be surprised if we’re laughed at.”

   When you leave the room, you do notice that the guard you told to evacuate has disappeared. The two thugs fall in line protectively behind their lord.

   The mayor leads you all out of the Brass Crab and towards the River Gate. When you reach the small, pentagonal village square, Cudgel walks in step with Mery and has her slow down. Mery clearly sees Jeyev eye his captain, but he faces forward and continues walking with the rest of the party.

   Lord Bakaris and his thugs decide to continue straight, instead of north, and he heads back to his home, presumably to prepare for the coming evacuation.

At the River Gate

   When you reach the River gate, you see beneath the carvings of leaping fish etched into Vogler’s open wooden gate, a human in black-and-red full plate siting astride an armored warhorse. She has long, blonde hair tied with a red ribbon in a ponytail. Her angry, scowling, serious eyes are a piercing green. She wears a red mantle on her black armor. A dragon-head brooch decorates her mantle.

   She holds out a rolled parchment and calls out, “Who among you speaks for this village?”

   Raven steps forward the messenger reads letter aloud:

   “People of Vogler,”

   “By the orders of Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, you will quarter the soldiers of the invincible Red Dragon Army this night. Refuse and die.”

   “This is the Dragon Queen’s will.”

   The messenger rolls up the parchment and hands the scroll over to Mayor Raven. The Mayor looks at the messenger determinedly, almost defiantly, and snatches the rolled up missive.

   “I have served you your orders,” The messenger says. “Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, demands the village prepare to be occupied by Dragon Army troops this very evening. In the meantime, nobody can leave the village.” She then places two fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly. Atop the 30-foot-tall cliffs to the east of the gate, four Dragon Army soldiers appear. In their hands, they hold up javelins. “We will kill anyone trying to leave!” she reiterates.

   Mayor Raven seeks to avoid bloodshed and encourages the characters to withdraw.

   She rests a hand on the pommel of her sword, easily, confidently, and with a certain grace and comfort that speaks volumes to Artanis. This woman might fell Ser Becklin without much thought in a one-on-one.

   Speaking of Ser Becklin; she stands stoically, looking down her nose at the messenger, assessing her. Her own hand rests on her sword, as well.

   With that, she makes to ride away, up the path back up towards those cliffs to join her fellow Dragon Army Soldiers.

OOC

   Feel free to continue the discussion or have your characters do things ‘Before the River Gate’ and ‘At the River Gate’, if you please.

   Anyone proficient in Religion recognizes the name Takhisisas one of the gods of Krynn, if your character didn’t know it already, somehow.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 12 Intelligence (Religion) checkas a symbol of Takhisis, the greatest of the evil gods, who is also known as the Dragon Queen recognizes the spiral symbol (right) on the messenger’s armor. This same symbol appears on all other Dragon Army Soldiers’ armor, too.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 17 Intelligence (History) checkas the insignia of a Dragon Army Officer.recognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak. If you roll 20 or above, use the same result to see below. Ser Artanis has advantage on this check.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) checkas the insignia of a Dragon Army Lieutenant, the lowest of the O-ranks (Lieutenant < Captain < Major < Colonel < General). recognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak. (succeeding on this check automatically means succeeding on the check above)

 

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Late Morning★

 

Yalme	Ser Becklin Uth Viharin	Darrett Highwater, Ser Becklin’s Squire	Ridomir “Cudgel” Ironsmile	Mayor Raven Uth Vogler
Jeyev Veldrews, Cudgel’s Lieutenant	Lord Bakaris Uth Estide	Bakaris “the Younger”, Lord Bakaris’s Son	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier (Messenger)	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier

Room 101—Command & Control Center

   Mery, you remember that Vogler is located along the northern shoreline of the Vingaard River just west of Kalaman and Kalaman Bay. Although the village itself isn’t strategically very important, logistically, it makes a good place for an army to move goods along the river and into the Hinterlund—as well as a good place to move an army onto a river to get nearer to the city of Kalaman, if not attack it from the water, outright. Thousands of soldiers on hundreds of boats can move very quickly on a river rather than marching.

   To Lord Bakaris, Mery replies, “I would suggest, then, that you streamline your needs, my Lord. Take some money and only those things you can’t get elsewhere or are irreplaceable. Your chances of safety are greater if you travel light.” She doesn’t bother trying to persuade the man.

   Lord Bakaris bristled at that, but held his tongue on account of everyone else’s glowering. “Yes, well, maybe I could do that, if the situation is so dire . . .”

   Still, as was proper Artanis introduced himself simply to the Lord with a short bow, “Ser Artanis Brightblade, my Lord. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. We only did what was right.”

   “B-Bright-b-blade?” Lord Bakaris said, suddenly standing far straighter and holding his foppish cap between his hands. “Ser Artanis of the Brightblade family, you say? Well, this certainly is an honor! Not only was my town-”

   “MY Town,” Mayor Raven Vogler corrected.

   “-Our town, saved from evil mercenaries, but it was saved by none other than a scion of the illustrious Brightblade family, no less!”

   “I’ll be happy to come along.” Modri runs his hand through his beard in thought. “I’ll have the decency to let others see if they can’t reason with this messenger or their masters. If... or perhaps I should say when... that doesn’t work out so well, just say my name and I’ll share my piece with them.”

   “I’ll go too,” Hunni offers, with a shrug. “I can ride my staff to the meeting. Even if we aren’t planning on killing the messenger, it should help us send a message.”

   For the first time, Lord Bakaris takes notice of Hunni. “Um, excuse me . . . is that a . . . little girl . . . with you? Is she one of your daughters? What does she mean she will ‘ride her staff’ to the meeting? Don’t you think someone should babysit her whilst the adults in the room converse? Lest I burden innocent ears with the woes of the world, I shan’t give voice to how . . . vulgar . . . that sounds.”

   The report on a messenger from the army earns another incredulous look from the sea elf. “That’s... unexpected. It could very well be a trap, maybe a ploy to draw out the leaders of the village all at once. I’ll come along, absolutely. Just be ready for them to try to stab us in the back.”

   “You’ll have my sword too at this meeting, though hopefully it won’t be needed. As my comrades have suggested, I believe there will be no true parlay with these forces of darkness - not without complete submission. I’m also surprised by their timing. I wonder if it was the same patrol we saw earlier?” Artanis suggests.

   “I thank you all,” the Mayor said. “A good show of force might be just what we need to keep this meeting on even ground, but I suspect that, given your report, there’s no show of force this town could muster to give them pause. Don’t be surprised if we’re laughed at.”

   When you leave the room, you do notice that the guard you told to evacuate has disappeared. The two thugs fall in line protectively behind their lord.

   The mayor leads you all out of the Brass Crab and towards the River Gate. When you reach the small, pentagonal village square, Cudgel walks in step with Mery and has her slow down. Mery clearly sees Jeyev eye his captain, but he faces forward and continues walking with the rest of the party.

   Lord Bakaris and his thugs decide to continue straight, instead of north, and he heads back to his home, presumably to prepare for the coming evacuation.

At the River Gate

   When you reach the River gate, you see beneath the carvings of leaping fish etched into Vogler’s open wooden gate, a human in black-and-red full plate siting astride an armored warhorse. She has long, blonde hair tied with a red ribbon in a ponytail. Her angry, scowling, serious eyes are a piercing green. She wears a red mantle on her black armor. A dragon-head brooch decorates her mantle.

   She holds out a rolled parchment and calls out, “Who among you speaks for this village?”

   Raven steps forward the messenger reads letter aloud:

   “People of Vogler,”

   “By the orders of Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, you will quarter the soldiers of the invincible Red Dragon Army this night. Refuse and die.”

   “This is the Dragon Queen’s will.”

   The messenger rolls up the parchment and hands the scroll over to Mayor Raven. The Mayor looks at the messenger determinedly, almost defiantly, and snatches the rolled up missive.

   “I have served you your orders,” The messenger says. “Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, demands the village prepare to be occupied by Dragon Army troops this very evening. In the meantime, nobody can leave the village.” She then places two fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly. Atop the 30-foot-tall cliffs to the east of the gate, four Dragon Army soldiers appear. In their hands, they hold up javelins. “We will kill anyone trying to leave!” she reiterates.

   Mayor Raven seeks to avoid bloodshed and encourages the characters to withdraw.

   She rests a hand on the pommel of her sword, easily, confidently, and with a certain grace and comfort that speaks volumes to Artanis. This woman might fell Ser Becklin without much thought in a one-on-one.

   Speaking of Ser Becklin; she stands stoically, looking down her nose at the messenger, assessing her. Her own hand rests on her sword, as well.

   With that, she makes to ride away, up the path back up towards those cliffs to join her fellow Dragon Army Soldiers.

OOC

   Feel free to continue the discussion or have your characters do things ‘Before the River Gate’ and ‘At the River Gate’, if you please.

   Anyone proficient in Religion recognizes the name Takhisisas one of the gods of Krynn, if your character didn’t know it already, somehow.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 12 Intelligence (Religion) checkas a symbol of Takhisis, the greatest of the evil gods, who is also known as the Dragon Queen recognizes the spiral symbol (right) on the messenger’s armor. This same symbol appears on all other Dragon Army Soldiers’ armor, too.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 17 Intelligence (History) checkas the insignia of a Dragon Army Officer.recognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak. If you roll 20 or above, use the same result to see below. Ser Artanis has advantage on this check.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) checkas the insignia of a Dragon Army Lieutenant, the lowest of the O-ranks (Lieutenant < Captain < Major < Colonel < General). recognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak. (succeeding on this check automatically means succeeding on the check above)

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Late Morning★

 

Yalme	Ser Becklin Uth Viharin	Darrett Highwater, Ser Becklin’s Squire	Ridomir “Cudgel” Ironsmile	Mayor Raven Uth Vogler
Jeyev Veldrews, Cudgel’s Lieutenant	Lord Bakaris Uth Estide	Bakaris “the Younger”, Lord Bakaris’s Son	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier (Messenger)	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier

Room 101—Command & Control Center

   Mery, you remember that Vogler is located along the northern shoreline of the Vingaard River just west of Kalaman and Kalaman Bay. Although the village itself isn’t strategically very important, logistically, it makes a good place for an army to move goods along the river and into the Hinterlund—as well as a good place to move an army onto a river to get nearer to the city of Kalaman, if not attack it from the water, outright. Thousands of soldiers on hundreds of boats can move very quickly on a river rather than marching.

   To Lord Bakaris, Mery replies, “I would suggest, then, that you streamline your needs, my Lord. Take some money and only those things you can’t get elsewhere or are irreplaceable. Your chances of safety are greater if you travel light.” She doesn’t bother trying to persuade the man.

   Lord Bakaris bristled at that, but held his tongue on account of everyone else’s glowering. “Yes, well, maybe I could do that, if the situation is so dire . . .”

   Still, as was proper Artanis introduced himself simply to the Lord with a short bow, “Ser Artanis Brightblade, my Lord. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. We only did what was right.”

   “B-Bright-b-blade?” Lord Bakaris said, suddenly standing far straighter and holding his foppish cap between his hands. “Ser Artanis of the Brightblade family, you say? Well, this certainly is an honor! Not only was my town-”

   “MY Town,” Mayor Raven Vogler corrected.

   “-Our town, saved from evil mercenaries, but it was saved by none other than a scion of the illustrious Brightblade family, no less!”

   “I’ll be happy to come along.” Modri runs his hand through his beard in thought. “I’ll have the decency to let others see if they can’t reason with this messenger or their masters. If... or perhaps I should say when... that doesn’t work out so well, just say my name and I’ll share my piece with them.”

   “I’ll go too,” Hunni offers, with a shrug. “I can ride my staff to the meeting. Even if we aren’t planning on killing the messenger, it should help us send a message.”

   For the first time, Lord Bakaris takes notice of Hunni. “Um, excuse me . . . is that a . . . little girl . . . with you? Is she one of your daughters? What does she mean she will ‘ride her staff’ to the meeting? Don’t you think someone should babysit her whilst the adults in the room converse? Lest I burden innocent ears with the woes of the world, I shan’t give voice to how . . . vulgar . . . that sounds.”

   The report on a messenger from the army earns another incredulous look from the sea elf. “That’s... unexpected. It could very well be a trap, maybe a ploy to draw out the leaders of the village all at once. I’ll come along, absolutely. Just be ready for them to try to stab us in the back.”

   “You’ll have my sword too at this meeting, though hopefully it won’t be needed. As my comrades have suggested, I believe there will be no true parlay with these forces of darkness - not without complete submission. I’m also surprised by their timing. I wonder if it was the same patrol we saw earlier?” Artanis suggests.

   “I thank you all,” the Mayor said. “A good show of force might be just what we need to keep this meeting on even ground, but I suspect that, given your report, there’s no show of force this town could muster to give them pause. Don’t be surprised if we’re laughed at.”

   When you leave the room, you do notice that the guard you told to evacuate has disappeared. The two thugs fall in line protectively behind their lord.

   The mayor leads you all out of the Brass Crab and towards the River Gate. When you reach the small, pentagonal village square, Cudgel walks in step with Mery and has her slow down. Mery clearly sees Jeyev eye his captain, but he faces forward and continues walking with the rest of the party.

   Lord Bakaris and his thugs decide to continue straight, instead of north, and he heads back to his home, presumably to prepare for the coming evacuation.

At the River Gate

   When you reach the River gate, you see beneath the carvings of leaping fish etched into Vogler’s open wooden gate, a human in black-and-red full plate siting astride an armored warhorse. She has long, blonde hair tied with a red ribbon in a ponytail. Her angry, scowling, serious eyes are a piercing green. She wears a red mantle on her black armor. A dragon-head brooch decorates her mantle.

   She holds out a rolled parchment and calls out, “Who among you speaks for this village?”

   Raven steps forward the messenger reads letter aloud:

   “People of Vogler,”

   “By the orders of Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, you will quarter the soldiers of the invincible Red Dragon Army this night. Refuse and die.”

   “This is the Dragon Queen’s will.”

   The messenger rolls up the parchment and hands the scroll over to Mayor Raven. The Mayor looks at the messenger determinedly, almost defiantly, and snatches the rolled up missive.

   “I have served you your orders,” The messenger says. “Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, demands the village prepare to be occupied by Dragon Army troops this very evening. In the meantime, nobody can leave the village.” She then places two fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly. Atop the 30-foot-tall cliffs to the east of the gate, four Dragon Army soldiers appear. In their hands, they hold up javelins. “We will kill anyone trying to leave!” she reiterates.

   Mayor Raven seeks to avoid bloodshed and encourages the characters to withdraw.

   She rests a hand on the pommel of her sword, easily, confidently, and with a certain grace and comfort that speaks volumes to Artanis. This woman might fell Ser Becklin without much thought in a one-on-one.

   Speaking of Ser Becklin; she stands stoically, looking down her nose at the messenger, assessing her. Her own hand rests on her sword, as well.

   With that, she makes to ride away, up the path back up towards those cliffs to join her fellow Dragon Army Soldiers.

OOC

   Feel free to continue the discussion or have your characters do things ‘Before the River Gate’ and ‘At the River Gate’, if you please.

   Anyone proficient in Religion recognizesthe name Takhisis as one of the gods of Krynn , if your character didn’t know already, somehow.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 12 Intelligence (Religion) checkrecognizes a spiral symbol on the messenger’s armor as a symbol of Takhisis, the greatest of the evil gods, who is also known as the Dragon Queen. This same symbol appears on all other Dragon Army Soldiers’ armor.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 17 Intelligence (History) checkrecognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak as the insignia of a Dragon Army Officer.. If you roll 20 or above, use the same result to see below. Ser Artanis has advantage on this check.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) checkrecognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak as the insignia of a Dragon Army Lieutenant, the lowest of the O-ranks (Lieutenant < Captain < Major < Colonel < General). (succeeding on this check automatically means succeeding on the check above)

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Late Morning★

 

Yalme	Ser Becklin Uth Viharin	Darrett Highwater, Ser Becklin’s Squire	Ridomir “Cudgel” Ironsmile	Mayor Raven Uth Vogler
Jeyev Veldrews, Cudgel’s Lieutenant	Lord Bakaris Uth Estide	Bakaris “the Younger”, Lord Bakaris’s Son	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier (Messenger)	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier

Room 101—Command & Control Center

   Mery, you remember that Vogler is located along the northern shoreline of the Vingaard River just west of Kalaman and Kalaman Bay. Although the village itself isn’t strategically very important, logistically, it makes a good place for an army to move goods along the river and into the Hinterlund—as well as a good place to move an army onto a river to get nearer to the city of Kalaman, if not attack it from the water, outright. Thousands of soldiers on hundreds of boats can move very quickly on a river rather than marching.

 

   To Lord Bakaris, Mery replies, “I would suggest, then, that you streamline your needs, my Lord. Take some money and only those things you can’t get elsewhere or are irreplaceable. Your chances of safety are greater if you travel light.” She doesn’t bother trying to persuade the man.

   Lord Bakaris bristled at that, but held his tongue on account of everyone else’s glowering. “Yes, well, maybe I could do that, if the situation is so dire . . .”

   Still, as was proper Artanis introduced himself simply to the Lord with a short bow, “Ser Artanis Brightblade, my Lord. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. We only did what was right.”

   “B-Bright-b-blade?” Lord Bakaris said, suddenly standing far straighter and holding his foppish cap between his hands. “Ser Artanis of the Brightblade family, you say? Well, this certainly is an honor! Not only was my town-”

   “MY Town,” Mayor Raven Vogler corrected.

   “-Our town, saved from evil mercenaries, but it was saved by none other than a scion of the illustrious Brightblade family, no less!”

   “I’ll be happy to come along.” Modri runs his hand through his beard in thought. “I’ll have the decency to let others see if they can’t reason with this messenger or their masters. If... or perhaps I should say when... that doesn’t work out so well, just say my name and I’ll share my piece with them.”

   “I’ll go too,” Hunni offers, with a shrug. “I can ride my staff to the meeting. Even if we aren’t planning on killing the messenger, it should help us send a message.”

   For the first time, Lord Bakaris takes notice of Hunni. “Um, excuse me . . . is that a . . . little girl . . . with you? Is she one of your daughters? What does she mean she will ‘ride her staff’ to the meeting? Don’t you think someone should babysit her whilst the adults in the room converse? Lest I burden innocent ears with the woes of the world, I shan’t give voice to how . . . vulgar . . . that sounds.”

   The report on a messenger from the army earns another incredulous look from the sea elf. “That’s... unexpected. It could very well be a trap, maybe a ploy to draw out the leaders of the village all at once. I’ll come along, absolutely. Just be ready for them to try to stab us in the back.”

   “You’ll have my sword too at this meeting, though hopefully it won’t be needed. As my comrades have suggested, I believe there will be no true parlay with these forces of darkness - not without complete submission. I’m also surprised by their timing. I wonder if it was the same patrol we saw earlier?” Artanis suggests.

   “I thank you all,” the Mayor said. “A good show of force might be just what we need to keep this meeting on even ground, but I suspect that, given your report, there’s no show of force this town could muster to give them pause. Don’t be surprised if we’re laughed at.”

   When you leave the room, you do notice that the guard you told to evacuate has disappeared. The two thugs fall in line protectively behind their lord.

   The mayor leads you all out of the Brass Crab and towards the River Gate. When you reach the small, pentagonal village square, Cudgel walks in step with Mery and has her slow down. Mery clearly sees Jeyev eye his captain, but he faces forward and continues walking with the rest of the party.

   Lord Bakaris and his thugs decide to continue straight, instead of north, and he heads back to his home, presumably to prepare for the coming evacuation.

At the River Gate

   When you reach the River gate, you see beneath the carvings of leaping fish etched into Vogler’s open wooden gate, a human in black-and-red full plate siting astride an armored warhorse. She has long, blonde hair tied with a red ribbon in a ponytail. Her angry, scowling, serious eyes are a piercing green. She wears a red mantle on her black armor. A dragon-head brooch decorates her mantle.

   She holds out a rolled parchment and calls out, “Who among you speaks for this village?”

   Raven steps forward the messenger reads letter aloud:

   “People of Vogler,”

   “By the orders of Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, you will quarter the soldiers of the invincible Red Dragon Army this night. Refuse and die.”

   “This is the Dragon Queen’s will.”

   The messenger rolls up the parchment and hands the scroll over to Mayor Raven. The Mayor looks at the messenger determinedly, almost defiantly, and snatches the rolled up missive.

   “I have served you your orders,” The messenger says. “Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, demands the village prepare to be occupied by Dragon Army troops this very evening. In the meantime, nobody can leave the village.” She then places two fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly. Atop the 30-foot-tall cliffs to the east of the gate, four Dragon Army soldiers appear. In their hands, they hold up javelins. “We will kill anyone trying to leave!” she reiterates.

   Mayor Raven seeks to avoid bloodshed and encourages the characters to withdraw.

   She rests a hand on the pommel of her sword, easily, confidently, and with a certain grace and comfort that speaks volumes to Artanis. This woman might fell Ser Becklin without much thought in a one-on-one.

   Speaking of Ser Becklin; she stands stoically, looking down her nose at the messenger, assessing her. Her own hand rests on her sword, as well.

   With that, she makes to ride away, up the path back up towards those cliffs to join her fellow Dragon Army Soldiers.

OOC

   Feel free to continue the discussion or have your characters do things ‘Before the River Gate’ and ‘At the River Gate’, if you please.

   Anyone proficient in Religion recognizesthe name Takhisis as one of the gods of Krynn , if your character didn’t know already, somehow.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 12 Intelligence (Religion) checkrecognizes a spiral symbol on the messenger’s armor as a symbol of Takhisis, the greatest of the evil gods, who is also known as the Dragon Queen. This same symbol appears on all other Dragon Army Soldiers’ armor.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 17 Intelligence (History) checkrecognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak as the insignia of a Dragon Army Officer.. If you roll 20 or above, use the same result to see below. Ser Artanis has advantage on this check.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) checkrecognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak as the insignia of a Dragon Army Lieutenant, the lowest of the O-ranks (Lieutenant < Captain < Major < Colonel < General). (succeeding on this check automatically means succeeding on the check above)

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Late Morning★

 

Yalme	Ser Becklin Uth Viharin	Darrett Highwater, Ser Becklin’s Squire	Ridomir “Cudgel” Ironsmile	Mayor Raven Uth Vogler
Jeyev Veldrews Cudgel’s Lieutenant	Lord Bakaris Uth Estide	Bakaris “the Younger”, Lord Bakaris’s Son	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier—Messenger	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier

Room 101—Command & Control Center

   Mery, you remember that Vogler is located along the northern shoreline of the Vingaard River just west of Kalaman and Kalaman Bay. Although the village itself isn’t strategically very important, logistically, it makes a good place for an army to move goods along the river and into the Hinterlund—as well as a good place to move an army onto a river to get nearer to the city of Kalaman, if not attack it from the water, outright. Thousands of soldiers on hundreds of boats can move very quickly on a river rather than marching.

 

   To Lord Bakaris, Mery replies, “I would suggest, then, that you streamline your needs, my Lord. Take some money and only those things you can’t get elsewhere or are irreplaceable. Your chances of safety are greater if you travel light.” She doesn’t bother trying to persuade the man.

   Lord Bakaris bristled at that, but held his tongue on account of everyone else’s glowering. “Yes, well, maybe I could do that, if the situation is so dire . . .”

   Still, as was proper Artanis introduced himself simply to the Lord with a short bow, “Ser Artanis Brightblade, my Lord. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. We only did what was right.”

   “B-Bright-b-blade?” Lord Bakaris said, suddenly standing far straighter and holding his foppish cap between his hands. “Ser Artanis of the Brightblade family, you say? Well, this certainly is an honor! Not only was my town-”

   “MY Town,” Mayor Raven Vogler corrected.

   “-Our town, saved from evil mercenaries, but it was saved by none other than a scion of the illustrious Brightblade family, no less!”

   “I’ll be happy to come along.” Modri runs his hand through his beard in thought. “I’ll have the decency to let others see if they can’t reason with this messenger or their masters. If... or perhaps I should say when... that doesn’t work out so well, just say my name and I’ll share my piece with them.”

   “I’ll go too,” Hunni offers, with a shrug. “I can ride my staff to the meeting. Even if we aren’t planning on killing the messenger, it should help us send a message.”

   For the first time, Lord Bakaris takes notice of Hunni. “Um, excuse me . . . is that a . . . little girl . . . with you? Is she one of your daughters? What does she mean she will ‘ride her staff’ to the meeting? Don’t you think someone should babysit her whilst the adults in the room converse? Lest I burden innocent ears with the woes of the world, I shan’t give voice to how . . . vulgar . . . that sounds.”

   The report on a messenger from the army earns another incredulous look from the sea elf. “That’s... unexpected. It could very well be a trap, maybe a ploy to draw out the leaders of the village all at once. I’ll come along, absolutely. Just be ready for them to try to stab us in the back.”

   “You’ll have my sword too at this meeting, though hopefully it won’t be needed. As my comrades have suggested, I believe there will be no true parlay with these forces of darkness - not without complete submission. I’m also surprised by their timing. I wonder if it was the same patrol we saw earlier?” Artanis suggests.

   “I thank you all,” the Mayor said. “A good show of force might be just what we need to keep this meeting on even ground, but I suspect that, given your report, there’s no show of force this town could muster to give them pause. Don’t be surprised if we’re laughed at.”

   When you leave the room, you do notice that the guard you told to evacuate has disappeared. The two thugs fall in line protectively behind their lord.

   The mayor leads you all out of the Brass Crab and towards the River Gate. When you reach the small, pentagonal village square, Cudgel walks in step with Mery and has her slow down. Mery clearly sees Jeyev eye his captain, but he faces forward and continues walking with the rest of the party.

   Lord Bakaris and his thugs decide to continue straight, instead of north, and he heads back to his home, presumably to prepare for the coming evacuation.

At the River Gate

   When you reach the River gate, you see beneath the carvings of leaping fish etched into Vogler’s open wooden gate, a human in black-and-red full plate siting astride an armored warhorse. She has long, blonde hair tied with a red ribbon in a ponytail. Her angry, scowling, serious eyes are a piercing green. She wears a red mantle on her black armor. A dragon-head brooch decorates her mantle.

   She holds out a rolled parchment and calls out, “Who among you speaks for this village?”

   Raven steps forward the messenger reads letter aloud:

   “People of Vogler,”

   “By the orders of Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, you will quarter the soldiers of the invincible Red Dragon Army this night. Refuse and die.”

   “This is the Dragon Queen’s will.”

   The messenger rolls up the parchment and hands the scroll over to Mayor Raven. The Mayor looks at the messenger determinedly, almost defiantly, and snatches the rolled up missive.

   “I have served you your orders,” The messenger says. “Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, demands the village prepare to be occupied by Dragon Army troops this very evening. In the meantime, nobody can leave the village.” She then places two fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly. Atop the 30-foot-tall cliffs to the east of the gate, four Dragon Army soldiers appear. In their hands, they hold up javelins. “We will kill anyone trying to leave!” she reiterates.

   Mayor Raven seeks to avoid bloodshed and encourages the characters to withdraw.

   She rests a hand on the pommel of her sword, easily, confidently, and with a certain grace and comfort that speaks volumes to Artanis. This woman might fell Ser Becklin without much thought in a one-on-one.

   Speaking of Ser Becklin; she stands stoically, looking down her nose at the messenger, assessing her. Her own hand rests on her sword, as well.

   With that, she makes to ride away, up the path back up towards those cliffs to join her fellow Dragon Army Soldiers.

OOC

   Feel free to continue the discussion or have your characters do things ‘Before the River Gate’ and ‘At the River Gate’, if you please.

   Anyone proficient in Religion recognizesthe name Takhisis as one of the gods of Krynn , if your character didn’t know already, somehow.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 12 Intelligence (Religion) checkrecognizes a spiral symbol on the messenger’s armor as a symbol of Takhisis, the greatest of the evil gods, who is also known as the Dragon Queen. This same symbol appears on all other Dragon Army Soldiers’ armor.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 17 Intelligence (History) checkrecognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak as the insignia of a Dragon Army Officer.. If you roll 20 or above, use the same result to see below. Ser Artanis has advantage on this check.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) checkrecognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak as the insignia of a Dragon Army Lieutenant, the lowest of the O-ranks (Lieutenant < Captain < Major < Colonel < General). (succeeding on this check automatically means succeeding on the check above)

Date

On This Magetag, the 23rd Day of Brookgreen,
in the 351st Year After the Cataclysm
(Tuesday, March 23, 351 AC)

★The 3rd Day of the Campaign - Late Morning★

 

Yalme	Ser Becklin Uth Viharin	Darrett Highwater, Ser Becklin’s Squire	Ridomir “Cudgel” Ironsmile	Mayor Raven Uth Vogler
Jeyev Veldrews Cudgel’s Lieutenant	Lord Bakaris Uth Estide	Bakaris “the Younger”, Lord Bakaris’s Son	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier—Messenger	Dragon Army (Red) Soldier

Room 101—Command & Control Center

   Mery, you remember that Vogler is located along the northern shoreline of the Vingaard River just west of Kalaman and Kalaman Bay. Although the village itself isn’t strategically very important, logistically, it makes a good place for an army to move goods along the river and into the Hinterlund—as well as a good place to move an army onto a river to get nearer to the city of Kalaman, if not attack it from the water, outright. Thousands of soldiers on hundreds of boats can move very quickly on a river rather than marching.

 

   To Lord Bakaris, Mery replies, “I would suggest, then, that you streamline your needs, my Lord. Take some money and only those things you can’t get elsewhere or are irreplaceable. Your chances of safety are greater if you travel light.” She doesn’t bother trying to persuade the man.

   Lord Bakaris bristled at that, but held his tongue on account of everyone else’s glowering. “Yes, well, maybe I could do that, if the situation is so dire . . .”

   Still, as was proper Artanis introduced himself simply to the Lord with a short bow, “Ser Artanis Brightblade, my Lord. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. We only did what was right.”

   “B-Bright-b-blade?” Lord Bakaris said, suddenly standing far straighter and holding his foppish cap between his hands. “Ser Artanis of the Brightblade family, you say? Well, this certainly is an honor! Not only was my town-”

   “MY Town,” Mayor Raven Vogler corrected.

   “-Our town, saved from evil mercenaries, but it was saved by none other than a scion of the illustrious Brightblade family, no less!”

   “I’ll be happy to come along.” Modri runs his hand through his beard in thought. “I’ll have the decency to let others see if they can’t reason with this messenger or their masters. If... or perhaps I should say when... that doesn’t work out so well, just say my name and I’ll share my piece with them.”

   “I’ll go too,” Hunni offers, with a shrug. “I can ride my staff to the meeting. Even if we aren’t planning on killing the messenger, it should help us send a message.”

   For the first time, Lord Bakaris takes notice of Hunni. “Um, excuse me . . . is that a . . . little girl . . . with you? Is she one of your daughters? What does she mean she will ‘ride her staff’ to the meeting? Don’t you think someone should babysit her whilst the adults in the room converse? Lest I burden innocent ears with the woes of the world, I shan’t give voice to how . . . vulgar . . . that sounds.”

   The report on a messenger from the army earns another incredulous look from the sea elf. “That’s... unexpected. It could very well be a trap, maybe a ploy to draw out the leaders of the village all at once. I’ll come along, absolutely. Just be ready for them to try to stab us in the back.”

   “You’ll have my sword too at this meeting, though hopefully it won’t be needed. As my comrades have suggested, I believe there will be no true parlay with these forces of darkness - not without complete submission. I’m also surprised by their timing. I wonder if it was the same patrol we saw earlier?” Artanis suggests.

   “I thank you all,” the Mayor said. “A good show of force might be just what we need to keep this meeting on even ground, but I suspect that, given your report, there’s no show of force this town could muster to give them pause. Don’t be surprised if we’re laughed at.”

   When you leave the room, you do notice that the guard you told to evacuate has disappeared. The two thugs fall in line protectively behind their lord.

   The mayor leads you all out of the Brass Crab and towards the River Gate. When you reach the small, pentagonal village square, Cudgel walks in step with Mery and has her slow down. Mery clearly sees Jeyev eye his captain, but he faces forward and continues walking with the rest of the party.

   Lord Bakaris and his thugs decide to continue straight, instead of north, and he heads back to his home, presumably to prepare for the coming evacuation.

At the River Gate

   When you reach the River gate, you see beneath the carvings of leaping fish etched into Vogler’s open wooden gate, a human in black-and-red full plate siting astride an armored warhorse. She has long, blonde hair tied with a red ribbon in a ponytail. Her angry, scowling, serious eyes are a piercing green. She wears a red mantle on her black armor. A dragon-head brooch decorates her mantle.

   She holds out a rolled parchment and calls out, “Who among you speaks for this village?”

   Raven steps forward the messenger reads letter aloud:

   “People of Vogler,”

   “By the orders of Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, you will quarter the soldiers of the invincible Red Dragon Army this night. Refuse and die.”

   “This is the Dragon Queen’s will.”

   The messenger rolls up the parchment and hands the scroll over to Mayor Raven. The Mayor looks at the messenger determinedly, almost defiantly, and snatches the rolled up missive.

   “I have served you your orders,” The messenger says. “Belephaion, the Voice of Takhisis, demands the village prepare to be occupied by Dragon Army troops this very evening. In the meantime, nobody can leave the village.” She then places two fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly. Atop the 30-foot-tall cliffs to the east of the gate, four Dragon Army soldiers appear. In their hands, they hold up javelins. “We will kill anyone trying to leave!” she reiterates.

   Mayor Raven seeks to avoid bloodshed and encourages the characters to withdraw.

   She rests a hand on the pommel of her sword, easily, confidently, and with a certain grace and comfort that speaks volumes to Artanis. This woman might fell Ser Becklin without much thought in a one-on-one.

   Speaking of Ser Becklin; she stands stoically, looking down her nose at the messenger, assessing her. Her own hand rests on her sword, as well.

OOC

   Feel free to continue the discussion or have your characters do things ‘Before the River Gate’ and ‘At the River Gate’, if you please.

   Anyone proficient in Religion recognizesthe name Takhisis as one of the gods of Krynn , if your character didn’t know already, somehow.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 12 Intelligence (Religion) checkrecognizes a spiral symbol on the messenger’s armor as a symbol of Takhisis, the greatest of the evil gods, who is also known as the Dragon Queen. This same symbol appears on all other Dragon Army Soldiers’ armor.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 17 Intelligence (History) checkrecognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak as the insignia of a Dragon Army Officer.. If you roll 20 or above, use the same result to see below. Ser Artanis has advantage on this check.

   Anyone who who succeeds on a DC 20 Intelligence (History) checkrecognizes the Dragon Broach on the messenger’s cloak as the insignia of a Dragon Army Lieutenant, the lowest of the O-ranks (Lieutenant < Captain < Major < Colonel < General). (succeeding on this check automatically means succeeding on the check above)