Having used the Gatestone to leave Merlin's cavern, the party found themselves standing on a grassy plain, surrounded by a circle of weathered, standing stones, very much like Stonehenge . The land in front of them sloped gently upwards, and a large castle could be seen several miles in the distance. The peaceful scene before them is at odds with the sounds coming from behind them: a tumult of shouts, screams, thundering hoofbeats, and loud crashes.
Turning, the party was confronted with a scene of horror. Several hundred yards away, a berm of earth rises up to a stone wall roughly 15’ tall. This is part of a series of zigzag fortifications that extends for several miles in either direction. Behind the fortifications, and manning the parapets of the walls are thousands of men and other creatures. Flights of arrows arch over the wall from an unseen enemy on the opposite side, while archers firing from atop the walls and through arrow slits in their sides send their own arrows back in reply. Occasionally, large boulders come soaring through the air to crash against the stone walls or into the press of men behind them. On this side, giant humanoid creatures heft the fallen stones and heave them back in the opposite direction. The tops of several ladders suddenly appear above the parapets. A cry goes up, and dozens of men below grab hold of several stout poles that protrude from the wall. Working together, they push the poles outward, and the ladders can be seen to topple backward.
Other archers are stationed well back from the walls, facing away and scanning the sky. The sky above is filled with a low cloud cover, although it was clear over the castle. In places, the cloud begins to thin, and young men on horseback gallop to and fro, wielding wands that regenerate the layer of thick fog, barely 30’ above the ground. As the party watches, something comes diving through the clouds. It looks like a lion with the wings and head of a huge eagle, and a man is riding on its back. The beast swoops down and grabs one of the horsemen in its talons, lifting him off his mount and into the air. A volley of arrows from the watching bowmen shoot towards the intruder, but bounce harmlessly off both him and his mount (although a few pierce the hapless victim dangling in the beast’s claws). Just before he disappears back into the clouds, the man gestures with a wand of his own, and a blast of flame engulfs a crowd of soldiers near the base of the wall.
At this point, one of the archers spotted the party. “Intruders at the Gate!” he shouted, and began to fire at the party. His comrades joined him and two of the horsemen wheeled their mounts and began to charge towards the party. A bearded man on horseback who appeared to be directing operations for this section of the defenses shouted something and a large group of roughly 100 soldiers broke away from the rest manning the wall, and came jogging towards the party.
Finding themselves in the middle of a war between unknown combatants, the party found themselves with few options, none of them good. A quick check of the Gatestone showed it pointing towards the castle, but there were several ranks of cavalry and footsoldiers between the party and the castle, apparently being held in reserve for the battle, and another line of fortifications could also be seen blocking their path several miles away.
Feeling slightly outnumbered, the party decided to follow the time-honored tactic of "Run Away!". Jerry cast a quick Invisibility 10' Radius, and the party began to try to pick a route towards the castle. However, the mounted mages galloped past the party to several of the reserve units, and quickly formed a double-line of pikemen, who began marching resolutely forward, sweeping the entire area. Thinking quickly again, Jerry cast a Rope Trick and everyone quickly clambered up and out of the way of the searchers. Once the line had passed below them, the party dropped down, still invisible, and again tried to find a way to reach the castle.
The tide seemed to be turning in the battle behind them. A section of the wall crumbled, and attackers began pouring through. The defenders sounded the retreat, and troops began moving back to the second line of defenses, apparently to a gate at the far right-hand end of the second wall. In so doing, they began to empty the left-hand portion of the field, making it easier for the party to make their way undetected to the inner wall. There they found another row of zig-zag fortifications, some 40' tall with a 30' deep dike in front of them. The wall was heavily defended, and ended at the left at a sheer cliff that dropped into the sea.
Keeping their invisibility up, the party waited for darkness while Jerry and James re-learned some spells. After nightfall, they cast Fly on a few party members, Jerry used Polymorph Self to transform into a parrot (a form that had provided loads of entertainment in the past), and the group set off around the end of the wall and towards the castle. The ground inside the inner defensive wall was crammed with tens of thousands of troops, both human and non-human, as well as flocks of sheep and cattle - the defenders were apparently prepared for a long seige.
Staying within 10' of each other (by holding onto short lengths of rope), the party made their way apparently undetected over the soldiers below, and the massive castle loomed before them. As they grew nearer, they could see it consisted of multiple inner keeps, with many towers and battlements. The party made for the roof of one of the central towers. However, as they were coming in to land, several members suddenly found themselves unable to move, including Mary, who was one of the flyers. She crashed hard into the rooftop, but since everyone was invisible, no one really realized what had happened. A minute later, most of the remaining characters were also paralyzed, leaving only Ice and Chuck still mobile as a trapdoor in the roof opened, and an armored figure with a crossbow popped his head up. "Surrender!" he demanded, as several other soldiers clambered up from below, followed by a bald man in black robes carrying a dragon-headed staff. Remembering their unpleasant experience in Merlin's pit, Ice and Chuck immediately complied.
While the soldiers seemed to be randomly waving their crossbows in the general direction of the invisible party, the bald fellow had no trouble picking out each of the party members as he instructed the soldiers in stripping them of their belongings. He even ordered Jerry's parrot form to be taken prisoner, and cast some spell that returned him to human form. In the confusion, Ice managed to slip the Ring of Blinking Niviane had given him into his mouth, hoping to keep it from discovery. Stripped once again to their underwear, the party was led down numerous flights of stone stairs and thrown into a dungeon cell where total silence reigned.
No comments:
Post a Comment