2. Beregost

After seeing only Nashkel for some time, Beregost seems once again like a large town to the companions. There are familiar sites here: the handful of taverns and inns, the Flaming Fist office, and on the eastern outskirts of town can be seen the spires of a large temple of Lathander. There's the charred house where the party fought giant spiders, though it looks like someone has gotten started on repairs to the place.

The party has had other things to think about and jobs to do, but in the back of their minds looms the memory of dark mines and darker motives. Mulahey received his orders from someone named Tazok, and here in Beregost, supposedly at Feldepost's Inn, is another minion by the name of Tranzig.

Dieter finds the Flaming Fist office a busy place. Soldiers and couriers rush about in a jangle of armor. It takes Dieter just a moment to find the source of the hustle: a high-ranking officer is present in the office, and under her scrutinous eye everyone is either busy or trying to appear so.

With all the bustle, if he wants to speak with someone Dieter will have to show some assertion.

The boy, perhaps 10 or 12 years old, gives Dieter a bold look up and down. "How many scalps ya got? Officer Vai don't want anyone wastin' her time."

The boy's eyes go round as Dieter lifts the toe. "Wow! It's SO big! Is it a troll toe? Is it? Will it grow into a whole troll?"

Then, at Dieter's curt reminder of the task, the kid nimbly turns and slips between two busy Flaming Fist guards. "Officer Vai! Officer Vai! That funny-dressed man has toes!" He points back at Dieter.

Dieter feels Officer Vai's narrowed eyes on his back as he makes his abrupt exit.

He doesn't have long to wait in his first alley before a suspicious someone shows up. The errand boy, Gor, slips into the alley opening, but his eyes are on the street. Dieter can easily hear the kid whisper to himself, "Where'd he go?"

Dieter expertly snatches the kid and ties him up in the alley. With Gor wriggling and struggling to get free, Dieter easily makes his way back to the party without being followed.

Stella's ice bolt shatters on the building and immediately melts into a great splash of water, putting out many of the flames on the outside of the smithy.

Taerom makes it past the stable where the party's horses are tied, and just puts a hand on the backdoor, hand on the handle, when the door and surrounding wood explode outward in an enormous blast of flame.

That is no regular fire, the companions realize, but the result of a mage's fireball spell.

Taerom's thrown back a dozen feet, hitting the ground hard and rolling. The fire itself doesn't seem to have hurt him, for he shows no burns, but a long shard of wood is lodged in the smith's chest. He lies there groaning, apparently unable to move.

Chaos ensues as horses slam against their stable stalls in an effort to escape biting flames, and then the companions see a half-dozen figures emerge from the ruined wall of the smithy. They're dressed in dark clothes and armor, and each carries a sword and shield. Two of the enemies' swords already drip with blood.

These swordsmen see Stella and Aiwe and rush forward in pairs, their hostile intent evident in their movements!

Round 1 Player Phase!

Round 1 Summary

Aiwe's threatening spell thunders forth, injuring two enemies, and then the darkly-clothed swordsmen clash with the party's front line. Dieter engages one pair and his blade draws blood, but they strike back just as hard against the young warrior. Fortunately, Stella's starlit magic rips into one of them, leaving Dieter against just one foe.

Runeson, stalwart as always, occupies two more of the swordsmen. He focuses on defending himself and holding ground.

The last two come for Aiwe, slashing out and testing her defenses. One of them manages to score a deep cut on her upper arm, but then is forced back when Taerom, wielding a flaming timber as a club, steps up alongside her. As seems normal for him, he ignores the flames biting at his makeshift weapon.

Despite their injuries, the party seems sure to win out over these swordsmen, given time. But another combatant makes his presence known: arcane words float from midair, and a small bead of fire appears floating near the blasted hole in the smithy's back wall. The bead zips forward between combatants and through Taerom's front door. It stops in the air just inside for the briefest of moments, and then explodes!

Round 2 Player Phase!!

Round 2 Summary

The wizard's fireball is pure devastation. Glass shatters and blows out from the windows of Taerom's house as the explosion is unleashed, followed by a wave of heat and flame. The groan of wood sounds over the crackle of magical fire, and the roof comes crashing down. Where moments ago stood a home, now smoke, rubble, and ash are all that can be seen between the gleefully dancing flames.

Stella.

The mage's satisfied chuckling carries from where he stands. "That's one! Tazok will reward me greatly for bringing down these fools!"

The remaining party members do their best to recover from the shock and continue the fight. Runeson desperately blocks with his shield against his two attackers. One block. A second. A third! And then one of the swordsmen feints cleverly, then twists around the paladin's shield and scores a cut along the back of his thigh (Runeson takes 4 dmg).

The mage's chuckle grows to full laughter as Aiwe, dazed from the blast, takes a crushing pommel strike straight to the face (Aiwe takes 4 dmg, leaving her at 1 hit point).

The laughter stops when Dieter, with blood being spilt all around him, continues the fight. "You can't win, boy!" A bolt of simmering energy slams into Dieter (Dieter takes 3 dmg). "Lay down your sword, and I promise you a relatively quick death!" But for all his arcane knowledge, this wizard fails to understand the strangely-dressed warrior. Giving no heed to the mage, Dieter becomes a whirlwind of death. Two of the swordsmen drop dead, their lives stolen away by the fighter's sharp blade and sharper fury.

"A brave fool." Another magical bolt begins to form in the air, likely to spell Dieter's doom, when an angry shriek comes from the wreckage that is Taerom's home. A starlit figure steps through smoke and fire, a glowing nimbus causing the flames to bend away from her. "No!" The mage turns his magic towards Stella and unleashes the crackling bolt. His desperation is no match for her rage. Her own radiant magic blasts through his and continues on to strike him fully, throwing him backwards and to the ground (Stella might take 3 dmg from magic missile).

And thus begins the party's comeback!

With one of his opponents slain by Dieter, Runeson recovers his stance and is ready to continue the fight.

Taerom dodges away from his enemy's swings, and then downs the swordsman by slamming him with the makeshift, burning club (Swordman 5 dies).

Aiwe, nose splattered against her cheek, refuses to drop. Her defiant war cry rips through the air, bloody tusks bared, and her foe decides he's had enough of this monstrous girl. His sword clatters against the ground as he turns and runs (Swordman 6 fails save vs Fear. Incurs opportunity attack from Aiwe if she wants!).

"What? No, you fool!" The mage's voice is shrill as he picks himself up, invisibility spell shattered. "Where are you-" He meets Aiwe's eyes and staggers under a wave of fear. "No... I'll kill... I'll kill at least one of you!" Once more he throws out a sparking bolt, fully expecting this horribly injured elfling to meet her end. The bolt hits Aiwe... and she doesn't even flinch but continues her magical drumming (Aiwe takes 3 dmg... but remains at 1 due to Relentless Endurance!).

Having nothing left against this party of indomitable adventurers, the mage whimpers, then turns and flees into the smithy! (Mage fails save vs Fear)

The last swordsman, standing between Dieter and Runeson, drops his sword and shield and lifts his hands up in surrender.

Heat.

Sweat, dirt, and blood streak down Dieter's face and body as he tries to spot the fleeing wizard. Between the black smoke and dancing flames it's hard to see much of anything. He nearly trips over the body of one of the apprentice smiths; the poor fellow looks to have been run through by one of the swordsmen.

Noting that the ceiling above the front door has collapsed, blocking that way out, Dieter continues his search of the warehouse as quietly and quickly as possible.

It's when he sneaks past a toppled, flaming cabinet that he feels something grab his ankle!

"Pl... please... h-hel...p."

One of the smiths is trapped under the cabinet. Blood seeps from a vicious head wound. With strength nearly gone, the man's feeble hand releases Dieter's boot.

The apprentice tries to speak, but ends up coughing instead. He closes his eyes in resignation.

Even through the smoke and fire Dieter spies his quarry. The wizard is in the far corner of the smithy, bare hands scrabbling at the wooden walls in mindless desperation. He's still under the effects of Aiwe's fear spell.

He'll have to pick his way across the room carefully to avoid flaming wreckage, but Dieter thinks he can close the distance safely and quickly if pushes himself.

Dieter tears the shield off his arm, no doubt ruining the straps and buckles, but then magical bow in his hands sings true. His two arrows whiz through the air. The first one takes the mage in the back, who gasps a lungful of smoke and sinks against the corner as he coughs. The second pierces his chest, and that's the end of this caster of fireballs.

As Dieter turns to help the smith, there's a groan of wood from above as a portion of the ceiling comes crashing down.

Stella's wet cloth helps considerably with her breathing amid the smoke, and with clear presence of mind she sees motion a couple dozen feet to her right. Part of the ceiling caves in there, and she sees Dieter dodge cleanly to one side as a heavy beam nearly crushes him.

Dieter's reflexes save him. As he regains his bearings, he notes that the fallen ceiling missed the trapped smith by mere inches. The man's eyelids flicker.

Though he's just endured hard-hitting blades and spells, Dieter shows no sign of faltering. He's about to grab part of the flaming cabinet to lift it off the fallen smith, when Taerom taps him on the shoulder. "Let me lift where the fire is worst. You grab that side." Working together, they move the dangerous cabinet safely off of the apprentice, and set the injured man onto Dieter's tower shield.

Meanwhile, Stella's ministrations are quick, efficient, and effective. She's sure the smith will survive his wounds, so long as they get him out of this place and she can continue work on him.

Dieter pulls the makeshift shield-sled, Taerom moves aside burning debris that has fallen between them and the back wall, and Stella cleverly uses her magic to protect the group from any further incidents... and then they are out of the burning building and into the fresh, clean air!

Stella finds the stables busted and the horses gone. All except Tulco, who seems to have gone straight to Runeson. The other horses can likely be tracked down, especially with the help of her familiar once it's resummoned, but such a search may be a difficult task at night.

Dieter sees no sign of the lad. Perhaps it's past his bedtime.

Not only is Stella able to trace where the arrow came from, but she sees the archer; a fair distance away, a dark-clad man with a longbow slung over his shoulder slides off the roof of a darkened building and onto the street, then takes off at a sprint!

Hooves pound on cobblestone as Stella and Tulco race down the dimly-lit street, with Aiwe, Dieter, and Runeson along for the ride! The black-clad figure looks back in fear as the horses quickly gain on him, and the heroes recognize him as the attacker who fled from Aiwe's fear spell.

Just as Dieter activates the magical wand, the assassin ducks into an alley too narrow for the horses. The magical missiles flash from Dieter's wand and zip around the corner, and the group clearly hears them impact their quarry, followed by the sound of wood splintering. As they turn the corner and gaze into the alley, they find the assassin's broken figure sprawled amid some old crates and barrels. The man is quite dead.

During the day, Beregost's Song of the Morning Temple is a monument of Lathander's power. But even at night its walls are lit with a divine glow. The light is a comforting beacon to the party as they make their way through Beregost's dark streets.

Even at this late hour there are acolytes on duty to hear the party's needs, and they open the doors to let the group inside.

The entry hall of Lathander's temple is pristinely beautiful. Obviously no expense was spared in the craftsmanship and stonework. On either side of the hall runs a basin of pure water, meeting at the far end as a fountain. Just before the fountain is an altar fashioned to look from this angle like a morning sun breaking through the clouds.

Adding to the temple's ambience is the sound of four hauntingly beautiful female voices. They sing a wordless song in soft harmony, blending with the trickling of water into a texture that seems to sound from every angle. In each corner of the hall, sitting on the edge of the basin and with delicate feet resting in the water as they sing, are unearthly women with bluish, translucent forms. They smile serenely at the group as they vocalize, sometimes singing and sometimes humming.

In all, the atmosphere is clean and comforting.

With Kelddath's sonorous voice echoing through the temple's halls, the group figures they have enough time to investigate Tranzig's room before the spell finishes.

Outside, much of Beregost has come to life as townsfolk come out to see the commotion of the attack on the smithy. The group makes their way past lit windows and torch-bearing townsfolk to Feldepost's Inn. For a town this size, the Inn seems fairly well-to-do. The outside is freshly painted, and the common room is brightly lit by an intricate chandelier, showing fine wooden floorboards and furniture. The tables have pristine white napkins and metal silverware. The half-dozen patrons look to be merchants or minor nobility, and seem unconcerned with the goings-on outside, but frown at the party as they enter.

The handwriting matches the letters written to Mulahey.The bag feels light and empty until Dieter looks inside

From what Dieter can tell, the iron seems unspoilt.

Stella can hold an individual ingot, but she wouldn't want to carry it far. It seems to weigh about 40 pounds.

I step into the room to help search for anything else that may be hidden/ of use.