Chapter One - Part One: Greenest In Flames

Isra, you help tend to some of the soldiers’ armour and weapons, there’s no forge so it’s mainly fixing dents and sharpening swords. The rest of you catch a little break, it’s been a long day but you have the feeling that there’s a long way to go yet.

After a little while, Governor Nighthill gets you and leads you up the stairs to the parapet surrounding the keep. The sight that meets you is not encouraging. The raiding force is surrounding the keep and it seems to continue to grow in numbers. "They just kind of...stand there...the reports I’ve gotten makes it sound like they’re just looting the town. I think maybe they’re as interested in keeping us in here as we are. Less interference." Nighthill looks out at the invaders and points down to a figure in a purple robe, a human woman with short black hair holding a black halberd. Next to her is a hulking, blue half-dragon in splint mail also with purple markings. They’re surrounded by about a dozen guards. The woman says something to a couple of cultists and they run off, "That’s their commander...".

Governor Nighthill sighs quietly before he points in the direction of what appears to be a temple. "That’s the town temple, a temple to Chauntea. One of the priests have told me that there are people hiding out there believing it to be the perfect sanctuary. But I’m afraid that with this kind of force," he gestures towards the raiders outside, "they won’t be safe there. I know we’ve just met, that this isn’t really your fight and that this is a big ask of you...but if you could go to the temple and bring these people here...we’d be forever grateful".

'I will certainly try.' Octavia speaks as she surveys the scene. Linan's death weighedon her mind, but she reminded herself that at least her husband and children were now safe. Now she had a chance to safe even more. Solana wouldn't forgive her if she turned her back on these people.

'Though it appears myself and Kirsk are not built for stealth, so we may want a different tactic. If you are coming along of course.

Governor Nighthill looks at Zachary, "I know this is a lot to ask of a stranger that just happened to come to our town at the wrong time, but I fear those people will die if we don’t act and...I’m no good to anyone right now". A flash of guilt spreads across his face for a moment while he rubs his injured arm. He then looks around and shouts for Escobert to join you. "Leaving through the gate would be suicide. If you accept the mission, then we need to figure out a way to get you out of the keep safely. Escobert, you know this keep better than anyone, do you have any ideas?". The dwarf thinks for a second and then grins. "The tunnel! There’s an old tunnel runnin’ from the cellar all the way te the stream south of town. It was made just for this type o’ occasion, but since the keep ‘as never been besieged before, it’s never been used". He takes a huge ring filled with iron and brass keys in all shapes and sizes from his belt. "Which one...hmm...ah! ‘Ere it is!", he grabs a big, rusted iron key and hands it to you.

Governor Nighthill looks at you, "The stream is shallow enough to walk through, if you follow it east you’ll get to the temple. IF you get the opportunity, maybe it would a good idea to have a little...conversation with one of the raiders, just to see if we could find out what they’re doing here. But don’t do anything foolish, the safety of you and the people in that temple is paramount...can I count on you?

Governor Nighthill nods in appreciation. "Thank you. You coming to the town at this moment feels like fate. Luck smiles upon us. He looks at Kirsk, "We can post a guard inside the tunnel, we don’t want anyone to draw attention to it. There’s probably two, three, maybe four dozen. It’s hard to know the exact numbers. He looks at Kel, "If you can, that could be useful...but don’t for a second hesitate to use lethal force on these bastards. Nighthill shakes the hand of each of you. Be careful, we don’t know whether there’ll be raiders at the temple or not, but expect the worst...good luck".

Escobert take you all the way down to the cellar while he explains about the tunnel. "Okay, so the tunnel were made fer if the keep was ever under siege. He laughs ruefully, It leads to the stream on the outskirts of town, so if ye were ever locked in the keep ye could sneak out te get water. If you were te look at it from outside, it would just look like a sewer grate. So hopefully the raiders haven’t given it a second look". He moves a few crates and barrels to reveal a very old, rusty gate. "It should be a straight shot from ‘ere, I don’t...think...anythin’ dwells in there.... It takes a little time, quite a lot of effort and a whole lot of swearing in both common and dwarven to open the rusted gate, but working together you manage to do it in the end. "It’s very narrow so you’ll ‘ave to walk single file. Best of luck"

You say your goodbyes and walk along the tunnel, a guard following you in the rear. Thick spiderwebs cover much of it, but otherwise it’s clear of any dangers and you eventually make it to the locked gate at the end. You see that, as Escobert explained, it’s been shaped to look like a sewer gate to hide it’s true purpose, which explains why the raiders haven’t posted any guards here...at least as far that you can see, your overview of the stream isn’t great. There’s a small bit of tunnel at the other side of the gate which obscures your view to each side of the stream. You look at the gate and it looks in even worse condition than the one in the other end.

Kirsk, you put the key in the lock and try to turn it. Like the other gate it sticks and you have to use force to turn it and- SNAP! The key snaps in half and is stuck in the lock. You have no way of unlocking the door.