Journal of Arcadius

Of Mistaken Identity

We were attacked in the night by a lone female monk, who moved with blinding speed and unerring grace, attacking us - particularly Walter-Tupper - quite effectively, and then leaving as suddenly as she had come.

Though we knew this must be some sort of effort to unsettle us and draw us into attacking their prepared position, it was also clear they knew exactly where we were, and could strike with greater force at any time. Despite the appearance of a trap, and our own weariness, we attacked the fort immediately.

We sent Jacob and Walter-Tupper into the depths of the fort by magic, in hopes that they could sneak in and retrieve the staff. To that end, the rest of us were to distract the enemy. Ragnarr held back to wield the healing power of Pelor, while the rest of us assaulted the front gate.

The defenders poured arrows down upon us. Chris created a stone ramp up their wall, but the enemy, with mages of their own, prompty damaged it. Trusting in Lord Pelor, I ran up the remnants of the ramp and reached the top, but it crumbled behind me. At the top I began battling the defenders, and was soon joined by Fflam and Chris. Aurelia fired arrows to support us from below.

We soon gained control of the first wall of the battlements, and sent two of the mages tumbling off from towers. Then, much to our shock, the remaining guards surrendered. At this point, something odd became apparent, far from looking or acting like bandits, these men seemed to be disciplined soldiers.

We still faced the assault on the keep itself, but all seemed momentarily well.

Then, a magically amplified voice called for a truce. Given the honorable behavior of these foes thus far, and the incongruities of what they seemed to be relative to what we had expected, it seemed reasonable to do so.

Several robed leaders left the keep and came to speak to us. They were elders of grave dignity, and clearly not bandit chieftains. A short discussion established that they were in fact an order of monks who had recently taken over this place from its former masters, who were the very evil-aligned bandits we had been chasing.

As was soon revealed, they had thought WE were allies of those bandits, but had come to realize otherwise. It turned out they had captured both the gnome and the staff, and were guarding the latter.

Praise be to Pelor!

After some discussion, it was made clear that they had not confidence in us to guard the staff ourselves, and I believe they are correct. Our missions take us constantly to the forefront of danger, and it must be admitted that we have already lost the staff once.

We were able to come to terms, offered hospitality for a few days in preparation for our journey to the next location of our mission, and, importantly, given jurisdiction over the gnome.

Meanwhile, it seemed the other fight had not gone so well.

*A*