Gameplay - Dangerous Prisoner

Grok's axe is both dodged and a little bit deflected wide of his mark.

Don't forget your GWF re-roll, Grok!

edit: guess it doesn't matter

Oh yeah! It's just Nar and me who have that. Sorry! I'm just used to seeing lots of re-rolls for all these big weapons we're all carrying. My bad.

Baroril will attempt to cast sacred flame once more.

The old woman takes a bunch of damage, and nearly keels over. She casts another spell and the room goes utterly black. Even dark vision is blocked.

Perception checks please.

Nar swings but in the mystical darkness, can't seem to connect to his target.

Grok's fingers find the old woman half way down the stairs as she attempts to run down. She resists but Grok's strong fingers lock onto her clothes.

EPILOGUE

Grok and Jhishma subdue Rigavian, and chuck aside the stone that he had enchanted with magical Darkness.

Sydell frees his wife, Helge, from her mystical stasis by whispering a keyword and removing a ring from her hand. She wakes immediately, and smiles at her much older husband. Her smile becomes a from, and she looks at the others, and the subdued warlock. "The Shades of Orcus have struck, opened a rift in town." She nods and stands up. "Show me."

At the rift, still pulsating with purple magic, she casts a single spell and it disappears. She looks about and nods, seemingly satisfied. "That's that. We should send word to the king."

Later, you find out that the cult leader, Rigavian, had been arrested on suspicion regarding some missing children. Over the following few days, the jails had quickly filled up as all sorts of locals got themselves arrested for minor crimes. A former guardsmen went crazy and was also subdued, and chained up in the jail. Lastly, Gilchan Abidal, a notorious and wanted criminal, was located by another local (who received a reward), and several adventures were dispatched to retrieve him. Never did they think that this was all related.

What magical means were employed to escape remain a mystery. Helge suspects that there was some sort of powerful illusion and enchantment was used on the prisoners, which duplicated the appearance and magical aura of the former guard. This allowed them all to bypass the Arcane Lock spell which was attuned to allow the guards to open and lock the doors at will.

After that, Rigavian, now freed, opened a gate to the netherworld, where a small host of demons had gathered. Again, she suspects that had the gate been open longer, more would have arrived. The Shadow Demon must have accompanied Rigavian on his errand, though whether it had been in town prior to that or entered via the newly opened gate, there is no way of knowing. A peculiar alignment of the seasons meant that the gate would be at its most stable on that particular day, and so Rigavian was no doubt in a hurry to see his plan come to fruition.

Had they succeeded in ransacking the wizards' tower, they would have been able to remove all of her prepared defenses against such beings, and possibly found a way to eliminate her, as well (though she seems dubious about that). This would have left the town, and the Duchy of Harcourt, defenseless.

The warden, Meinhert, exceeds his authority and has Rigavian executed, and ensures that the body is burnt and the ashes scattered into the river. Nobody complains about the lack of due process.

The warden and towns folk gather a number of valuables to reward you for saving their town from infernal mayhem. By donations of copper from some, gold or gems from others, you each receive 150gp for your efforts. In addition, you have made some new friends of the folk of Marian Town.

Chapter 2 starts here...