Southlands Campaign Timeline

BOOK ONE


S1: Day 1 - 16/6/4434 BCCC
Six weeks into the Dry Season, the ground is firm but the grasslands are still lush and green.  On the road to Stone Axe Inn with the half-elf Theyvatta Corin, wife of the kidnapped human merchant Cosgovin Corin of Renth - she is bringing money to the Inn to buy him back from Shadar's brigands.  Saryth & Megaera rescue Lady Chelarre Foxwood of Bisgen from a brigand ambush, with the help of an Altanian Shifter.  Two brigands flee. Reaching the Inn, they investigate the cellars, discover a hidden door to the catacombs, and rescue the serving girl Jana from being sacrificed on an altar to Tsathoggua by the Necromancer Malac Roake.  They kill him and destroy the altar, taking the Staff of Olnehr from him.  Later Saryth is ambushed upstairs by four magic-wielding Hamarkhite assassins, who want the Staff.  They are quickly dispatched.


S2 Day 2: At the Inn, the heroes are recognised by some of Shadar's brigands, and a battle ensues in the Inn courtyard.  The heroes dispatch all 12 brigands.  The Altanian warrior Rameses approaches them with a mission to loot a ruined temple on the west bank of the River Endgate.  Talking with the slaver Bissel Ket, he agrees to stay at the Inn and negotiate with Shadar to buy 'scribes', hopefully including Cosgovin Corin, Theyvatta's husband.


S3 Day 3:  Morning - a new coach arrives for Lady Foxwood from her estate, she thanks the heroes and rewards them with 100gp, then departs.   Theyvatta Corin stays at the Inn, the Innkeep Hagar Gudmunson keeping an eye on her safety.  The heroes join with Kytor the Red, a wandering mercenary, and head south on the road to the crossroads north of Bisgen, where a weathered, horned skull sits atop a sign-post of red stone.  They head northwest into the dusk.  A full moon rises, and they are approached by an 'old man' who claims his horse is fallen in the mire.  The heroes are not fooled by the Jackalwere, and when the 'Plains Demons' attack the heroes kill them all.


They cross an ancient stone bridge over the Samhain Stream, camping for the night by the river.


Day 4:  Heading south-west along the Samhain Stream the heroes are attacked by Bullywugs near some abandoned river-huts.  The frog-creatures are swiftly dispatched, but Kytor acquires a chest infection from fungal spores released by their pet frog, and has to abandon the mission.


S4: Saryth, Meg & the Shifter continue south past the confluence of the Samhain & Endgate rivers, meeting three more adventurers seeking the Temple, including a Thief, an elf Ranger, and the druid Noon.  The two groups join forces and reach the temple in swampy ground near the west bank of the Endgae.  A great battle with lizardmen and their guard drakes ensues.  As the lizardmen fall, their Yuan Ti mistress emerges from the still flooded vaults beneath the temple.  Her entrancing dance avails her not, she is slain and the above-ground ruins looted.  The heroes begin their journey back to Bisgen, camping that night on the plain.


S5 Day 5 (20/6/4434): The group reach Bisgen around noon for some R&R, and split up.  That evening (9pm) several of the heroes are approached incognito by Parre, the 'Traitor Baron' of Bisgen, who offers them 2,000gp for Shadar's head.  She also gives them the aid of her best warrior Varek of the Tigerclaw, the head of Parre's guardsmen in Bisgen.


Day 6: The group hired by Parre heads north, back to the Stone Axe Inn.  Bissel Ket & his slavers are still there.  That evening a dozen bandits turn up, with three scribe-slaves, not including the kidnapped merchant Cosgovin Corin.  A great battle breaks out, Bissel & co also attack the heroes, but all are defeated, among the dead is Shadar himself.  Bissel is captured, interrogated, and after revealing a little about Thulseus Doomfire & the fate of Rameses' sister, is executed by Varek.  Total bodycount is some 12 brigands and 8 slavers.


S6 Day 7: The heroes meet Bulwark, an Altan Warforged whose own adventurer party was recently ambushed by Shadar's bandits, and join up with him.  Fatigued by the great battle, the heroes rest 6 hours then (4am) gallop north through the night towards Shadar's Den, aiming to take the remaining bandits by surprise.  With some difficulty they reach the bandit fortress before dawn - Varek having rather expected a mere collection of tents - and set fire to the south-west tower. The sleepy bandits come out to address the fire, the heroes charge in and start slaughtering.     The battle rages long, but as dawn comes up (6am) the heroes stand victorious.  One bandit leader, the crossbowman 'Deadeye' Bosk, uses the other survivor of Bulwark's old group, the captured Nerathi paladin Lady Lucinda deLampton, as a hostage, and is able to escape alongside three other brigands, much to Varek's annoyance - the bandits stole their horses, along with the saddle-bag holding Shadar's head!.  But Lucinda is freed and thanks Bulwark for rescuing her.  Shaken by her experience, she decides that adventuring may not be for her.  Varek executes another captive, a bandit wizard.   The heroes rescue dozens of captives from the brigands, including, at last, Cosgovin Corrin.  Leaving Shadar's Den in flames they return to the Stone Axe Inn, where Theyvatta & Cosgovin are tearfully reunited; they will accompany a merchant caravan back to Renth.


Day 8:  The tired but victorious group return to Bisgen on foot, where a somewhat grouchy Parre rewards them despite the lack of Shadar's head.  Varek tells Parre he is leaving her service.  Parre, being a fellow Altanian, understands his wanderlust and accepts with relatively good humour.


Days 9-15 (to 30/6/4434 BCCC):  The heroes rest & relax a week in Bisgen.  Most spend freely; Varek spends vast sums in a week-long binge that will become a local legend.  Bulwark investigates various Warforge-related rumours.   Seeking to discover more about Thulseus Doomfire, now rumoured to be a snake-cult leader with a fortress on the west slopes of the Castellan Mountains, Varek instead hears of Zehirite snake-cult activity centred around Valoth Mett, a rich Nerathi merchant with an estate near the Endgate River riverbank, a mile west of Bisgen.  Mett has been buying many slaves who go into his estate and never come out.   Human sacrifice has been illegal in Bisgen since Parre decapitated the old Nerathi Baron Valomar 20 years ago(4414 BCCC)  and seized power - Valomar was a follower of the evil death/murder god Hamarkhis, whereas Parre reveres the Lawful Good power Mitra.


S7 Day 16 (1/7/4434 BCCC): Varek, Megaera & Rameses decide to investigate the Mett Estate.  Varek incites a crowd of his sycophants with tales of watered beer, and persuades a friend, the veteran guardsman Meltor, to come along on one last adventure.  Meltor, despite being mere days from retirement, agrees...


The heroes & crowd walk the mile to the Mett Estate, and scale the outer wall, though Meltor falls, a premonition of things to come.  They enter the Villa - no sign of Mett, but a big Altanian Sword Knight (Kaleos) & 8 armed servants demand they leave.  A fight quickly breaks out, Varek is hard-pressed by the Sword Knight and Meltor is poisoned by the weapons of the servants, dying horribly.  However the heroes and their lackeys soon triumph, leaving the hall splashed with greenish blood.  Angered at Meltor's death, Varek dismisses the crowd of sycophants who return to Bisgen, and uncovers a secret trapdoor beneath the throne - steps lead down into the earth...  Varek, Rameses & Megarea descend into a den of Zehirite Snake Cultists; hacking through cultists, serpents, more cultists, slaying the cult leader Valoth Mett - Varek is rescued from the jaws of a giant sacred crocodile.  Somehow the heroes prevail, and after some looting (Varek taking the Dragonslayer Longsword of Vallos from its wall fixture) they return to Bisgen with four Tharbrian slave girls rescued from Mett's intended sacrifice.


Megaera starts her own investigations into the names on a letter found on Mett's corpse, indicating a widespread conspiracy - "Nerath Restored".  Meanwhile Varek leaves his old broadsword with Meltor's widow and her young son Kardath, then leaves the four slave girls (Clarissa, Rae, Becca, Lucille) with the innkeep Torgle Mult.  Mult promises to treat his new 'tavern girls' right.  The girls seem a bit nervous...


Varek emerges from the Inn to the stench of smoke, and flames in the distance - the crowd he whipped up have embarked on an anti-Nerathi race-riot...  Parre won't be happy.


S8 Day 17 (2/7/4434 BCCC): Saryth and Megaera intimidate & calm the anti-Nerathi rioters trying to break into the Moondew villa, they disperse.  Parre's guardsmen soon arrive, bust a few heads and restore calm.  ca 3am Varek is summoned to explain himself to Parre; he and Saryth quickly fetch the rescued slave-girls, before they can be taken from Torgle Mult by five men in Cormarrin livery. Parre hears the explanations, she questions the slave girls in secret.  Rameses expresses interest in Lady Moondew's wellbeing.  Parre suggests Varek and co make themselves scarce for a couple weeks, as the Nerathi aristocrats will soon be up in arms over the massacre of Valoth Mett and the riot.
The heroes decide to investigate rumours of a Warforged to the south and leave by the Bisgen south gate before dawn, riding south through the estates, paddocks and horse meadows of Nasan Tara, Master of the Herds.  As the sun rises in the east they camp in a hidden dell by the Onslaught Stream, rest 6 hours then swim the stream with their horses, into Tigerclaw Clan territory.  The group are swiftly stopped and questioned by Tigerclaw scouts, Varek's kinfolk, and escorted SW towards Sarn's tower.  The group reach Sarn's tower towards evening, and rest again.


Day 18 (3/7/4434 BCCC): Next morning the group approach Sarn's tower from the east, hoping the glare of the morning sun will help blind the Arang-Tok orcs.  They enter the village and eliminate a nest of orcs in the old chief's hut, question & kill the orc berserker Anux, then attack Sarn's Tower itself.  Scaling the walls, they dispatch a few orcs - then a red-eyed, hand-bladed steel figure appears leading the orc defense - Azm Zealot!


S9 Day 18: Saryth is wounded by an orc arrow on the battlements, others destroy Azm Zealot and kill the orcs, including Sarn, capturing surviving orc drudges.  Having freed the village they ride east and report to a council of the Tigerclaw wise-women and war-chiefs.  War-Chief Kalgol agrees to occupy the former Red Bear village with Tigerclaw warriors; the wise woman Mama Kala is sceptical.


Day 19 (4/7/4434): PCs return west to Sharn's Tower with 40 Tigerclaw warriors; send message north to the Red Bear clan.


Day 20 (5/7/4434): PCs ride east 60 miles across Tigerclaw territory, camping on the plain.


Day 21 (6/7/4434): PCs ride east up into the western slopes of the Castellan Mountains, reach the road pass through the mountains (Bulwark's Breach) and follow it south to the orc-occupied Skydome tower overlooking the pass.  Group camps out of sight of the orcs.


Day 22 (7/7/4434): Morning - PCs prepare to attack the Skydome.


S10 Day 22 (7/7/4434): Rameses persuades the Skydome orcs to let himself, Bulwark & Varek into the Skydome tower.  Once inside they proceed to kill every single orc in the place, plus a couple of worgs and a dire boar.  One captive girl is killed in the fighting, two girls (Calari, Lyssana) and a captive youth (Valios) are rescued.  The heroes rest in the tower and plan to explore the sealed pits beneath the Skydome...


BOOK TWO




S11 Day 23 (8/7/4434): The group rest overnight in the Skydome tower.  Bulwark is joined by Saryth, recovered from her wound, and by Megaera, who now sports small horns and a forked tail.  The three of them leave to escort the two Gishmesh slaves home and then explore the Warforged crypts said to lie beneath Madcat mountain.  Rameses and Varek remain, planning to explore the pits beneath the Skydome before taking Lyssana home to her people; however Rameses develops a high fever, the consequence of his wounds suffered against the orcs.


Meanwhile, Arvias & his Gishmesh Hexblade friend had met aboard ship years ago, and met again recently in the port town of Renth, known for its hemp rigging-ropes, finest in the Wilderlands.  They decided to go search for the mysterious Skydome, rumoured to hold lost sorceries of ancient days, and joined up with Nathir, a local tracker and guide.  In the Skydome tower they found piles of dead orcs and three people, Altanians - the warrior Varek of the Tigerclaw, the princess Lyssana of the Winged Ape, and the wounded warrior Rameses of the Mountain Lion.


While Lyssana tends to Rameses, Varek joins the three newcomers and they descend into the pits under Skydome, where they are immediately attacked by hordes of zombies who pour in from two directions: humans, orcs, hobgoblins and ogres.  A long and bitter struggle ensues, both Varek and Nathir go down, but eventually the heroes prevail, destroying 16 shufflers, 6 flesh-crazed zombies, and 2 undead ogre-hulks.  After catching their breath, they open a door onto an old wizard's laboratory-study.  Drops of water drip from the ceiling, marking the dusty floor.  The air is chill.  Arvias recognises valuable reagants on the lab table, while the shelves contain many Ritual books.  Then ghostly forms emerge from the walls...


S12 Day 23 (8/7/4434)
While the spell-wielders Arvias and Garvas are overwhelmed by black mist, the warriors Varek and Nathir are unaffected.  They battle the Wraith Sovereign and his Wraith Figments, joined by the dwarf adventurer Dunstan Ironforge of the dwarf hold at Kolda.  Victorious, they place vials of alchemical reagants in a 2,000-year old Turathi mahogany chest, using priceless Nerathi ritual texts as packing material.  Arvias & Garvas recover enough to return upstairs.  Venturing on, the trio disturb a Purple Worm, and all flee the tower.
Princess Lyssana of Winged Ape clan and Rameses of Mountain Lion Clan announce they are in love and are to be wed.  Rameses also retells Lyssana's account of Nerathi necromancers active around an old tomb in Winged Ape territory.  Garvas & Arvias escort Lyssana and Rameses north back to Winged Ape territory, while Varek, Nathir and Dunstan the dwarf ride back west towards Sarn's tower.  They cross the Onslaught Stream.  As the sun is setting in the west, they near the ruins of the great statue of 'Itzlazam, King of Kings' - now reappeared from the Void - passing it they are attacked by three spiders, which appear from nowhere to leap at them.  Dunstan's pony is killed, but Varek and Nathir slay their attackers, the third spider vanishes just as it appeared.  They camp on the plain, having ridden some 50 miles west.


Day 24 (9/7/4434):  60 miles west across the plain brings Varek Nathir & Dunstan to Sarn's tower at nightfall.  Varek is greeted warmly by the 40 Tigerclaw warriors there, led by the veteran Sword Knight Koltan.   They report ambushing and wiping out a small orc patrol the previous day (8/7).


Day 26 (11/7/4434): Varek sets Dunstan to work improving the defenses of Sarn's Tower, sends scouts (including Nathir) south to check on Orc activity, and himself heads north, swimming the mouth of the Endgate river, avoiding the plesiosaurs that lurk out to sea, and entering Red Bear Clan territory.  He is taken to the tribal council, where over the objections of the Wise Women he persuades a hundred Red Bear warriors to join him in war with the orcs of the Arang Tok.  


Day 27 (12/7/4434): Varek returns to Sarn's Tower with his Red Bear warriors.  The Tigerclaw scouts have returned, reporting little sign of orc activity; Nathir found some dire weasel spoor near the coast, but it seems the orcs rarely visit the seaside.


Day 28 (13/7/4434): The group hold a council of war.  It is decided that rather than march directly on the fortress of the Arang-Tok, they will take all the men south along the coast, then head east to the orc-ruled sulphur mines at Barath.  A runner is sent east to the Tigerclaw to request more warriors for Sarn's Tower.


Day 29 (14/7/4434): Varek leads 140 men out of Sarn's Tower with Dunstan, Nathir scouting ahead, and head south along the coast.


Day 30 (15/7/4434):  Heading south ahead of the army, Nathir encounters and kills a stalking dire weasel. 


Day 31 (16/7/4434): Heading south-east away from the coast, the army follows a small river upstream eastwards.  A little before sunset they spot the target - the sprawling, palisaded sulphur mining colony of Barath ahead, with a tower on the highest of three huge boulders, huts perch on the remaining two. They have travelled 90 miles in three days, but the tough Altanian warriors are ready to fight.  Varek, Dunstan and Nathir plan the attack.


S13: Day 31 (16/7/4434): With the sun setting behind them, the Altanian horde races across the meadows west of Barath and storms the wall, tearing down the semi-rotten palisade with rope and grapple-iron.  The wild mage Arvias, who has been following them, races up to join the fight.  Led by Varek, Nathir, the Gishmesh hexblade Garvas, and three Red Bear Clan heroes (Mari the Old, Haak the Warsinger, and the Sword Knight Zane), the Altanians surge in and fight their way to the three huge boulders at the centre of Barath, where they face the orc chief, orc storm shaman, two earth-shaking orc pummelers,  four armoured ogre mercenaries and four crazed orc pyromaniacs, who attack them with fire-bombs.  A young red dragon flies from the orc shaman's tower to join the battle, which is long and hard.  The young dragon blasts the heroes with fire, then lands, grabbing Nathir, only to be swiftly overwhelmed.  
As combat rages, shouts go up as the orc's sulphur mining slaves - humans, halflings, and others - rise up from their pits to join the fray.  At last the Altanians triumph amid heaps of corpses as the orc shaman falls dead from the tower, but Nathir and Varek are both badly wounded.  On inspection the orc shaman appears to be female.


S14 The heroes and their horde finish the sack of Barath with an assault on the Antillian Merchants' warehouse, directed by the halfling slave Henry Sallowroot and aided by the undercover Paladin Galadhil of Mitra (PC).   A merchant is captured alive, two Antillian mercs surrender and are recruited by Varek.


Day 32 (17/7/4434): They rest the night and leave at dawn after setting Barath and the Sulphur Mines ablaze, vast clouds of black smoke roiling into the sky.  The Antillians' ship is sent north with the wounded and a guard of Altanian warriors under Sir Zane.  
Marching west for the coast north of the river, Nathir spots Troll tracks. 


Day 33 (18/7/4434): They reach the coast that evening and camp within sight of the sea.  That night camp-fires are spotted to the north-east.


Day 34 (19/7/4434):  Scouting pre-dawn, Nathir & Garvas ambush and wipe out a party of 4 Orc scouts.  The dead orcs' leader has scar-markings as Arang-Tok Sacred Band, the Chosen of Midor and equivalent in rank to an Altanian Sword Knight. Meanwhile, Varek's sleep that night is disturbed by strange dreams: 

Night on the plains, under a sullen sky.
A gaunt, black robed figure with an ebon ring stands beside a river, the lights of a walled town in the distance. 
He raises a hand, on which gleams an ebon ring set with a great ruby, the symbol of ancient Bael Turath... Sorcerous energies crackle, and from ancient burial cairns, the long dead warriors of Fallen Nerath burst forth, rusted blades in their gaunt hands. 
Dozens of them... hundreds...


Tal Lorvas watched as the ancient burial cairns split asunder and the warriors of Fallen Nerath arose once more.  To the east the sky was reddening with the colours of a new dawn. Lorvas raised his right hand, the ruby ring of the Demon Empress shining brightly.  His speech was well-prepared.


"Comrades!  Those who here with El'dyr bled!  Those who oft Cormarrin's led!  You rise now to fight again!"


Three hundred pairs of dead eyes regarded the Necromancer.  Three hundred bony hands gripped weapon-hilts.  Lorvas called out once more to the assembled Vasthrong:


"We stand on sacred ground!  Here on this soil, on this sacred night, you brave three hundred at last turned back the White Ruin!  Here, you saved our people from final annihilation!  Here, they buried you once - to sleep, to dream, until Nerath had need of you again.  Comrades, that time is Now!"


Lorvas turned, gesturing dramatically toward the distant township.


"Our city, Bisgen, has fallen to Red Barbarism!  Traitors and red savages infest the streets!  Join with us now - join with Cormarrin's sons - and free our land!"


He paused. The dead shuffled closer eagerly, moaning, sword-butts clanging on rusted shields.  He had them.  Lorvas smiled slightly. 


"All of you here this night!  By the power of this ring, forged in the fires of Bael Turath, I request and require your allegiance!"      


He raised the ring higher.  Three hundred dead warriors bowed their heads, falling to their knees... One did not kneel.


Lorvas had half-expected this.  He tried not to show fear as the lone figure strode towards him through the ranks of the dead.  Tall, broad-shouldered and gaunt, clad in blackened armour of ancient design, blue witchfire shone balefully from eyes more than two centuries dead.  The sword he held showed no sign of decay.  
The dead warrior stopped, three paces from the Necromancer, regarding him coldly. Now it was Lorvas' turn to incline his head in humility.


"Commander Cormarrin. It is an honour."


"Why have you summoned me?"


"Commander - Nerath is fallen, but her sons still need you.  Your sons - the House of Cormarrin still endures.  But twelve score years have passed since you defeated the Ruin Horde.  Now the Red Savages swarm and multiply on the plains.  Even Bisgen has a Red baron, now.  The times are changed, the faithful are few..."


"It is not enough." 


Sweat glistened on the young Necromancer's brow.  This was the critical moment.


"There is more, Commander. Some among us have kept the faith.  For centuries we have laboured to restore fallen Nerath.  We have mastered the dread magics of Bael Turath.  We have harnessed the power of the Black Sun.  Bisgen is just the beginning, Commander.  Their own dead will rise to join our armies.  The time is now.  Nerath will rise again!"


For a long moment there was silence.  Fear dug icy fingers into Tal Lorvas' heart.  
But at last, slowly, Cormarrin inclined his head.


"Very well."


He turned then, regarding the far-off town.  


"The children... You must spare the children."


Dawn, 19/7/4434 BCCC: The Altanian Plains west of Barath



Hidden in the long grass, two orc scouts of the Arang-Tok watch the Altanian army assemble by the sea-shore.  The cries ring out:


"BONDOR!! BONDOR!!"


To the north-east, the army of the Arang-Tok is approaching, calling out to their god:


"MIDOR!! MIDOR!!"


One orc scout looks to the other.


"Grashduk?"


"Yeah, Buglut?"


"Grashduk... They're yellin' Bondor, we're yellin' Midor... 


"Grashduk, do you ever think, like..."


"What?"


"Do you ever think, like, we're all really worshippin' the same god of ultra-violence, each in our dif'rent ways...?"


"Buglut?"


"Yeah, Grashduk?"


"Shut up."


S15 Day 34 (19/7/4434): The Arang-Tok attack.  With rebel slaves on the flanks, the Altanians strike at the heart of the Orc army. Varek, Nathir, Gaspar, Arvias and the Red Bear Shaman Uncia attack and kill the Arang-Tok's chief and their high priest of Midor, leaving the orcs in some disarray.  The Altanians then fight their way out from the heart of the orc horde, leaving mounds of dead. The southern half of the rebel slaves under Henry Sallowroot drive off the hill orcs, then scatter into the swamps to the south. The Altanians join with the retreating northern half of the rebel slaves under Galadhil to continue north, the badly bloodied orc army shows little sign of pursuit.


19/7/4434: Nerathi march on Bisgen.  Undead army rendezvouses with the Human forces. That evening, Halvath Cormarrin demands that Parre hand over the town.  She refuses and closes the gates.


20/7/4434: Nerathi prepare siege ladders.


21/7/4434: First Nerathi assault on Bisgen repulsed with much slaughter.  Siege begins.


23/7/4434: Nerathi siege catapults begin firing flaming pitch-balls into Bisgen.


Day 38 (23/7/4434): The battle-weary Altanian force at last returns to Sarn's Tower, joining the men earlier sent back on the captured Antillian merchant ship. The Red Bear clan warriors are permitted to re-occupy the village. Grim tidings - an army of the dead is besieging Bisgen!


Day 39 (24/7/4434): Varek, the heroes, and the remaining 18 Tigerclaw warriors still fit to fight, travel 30 miles north-east to the camp of the Tigerclaw, arriving that night. The war-chief thanks Varek, makes him a Sword Knight of Bondor. The old priest Sydow presents Varek with the legendary Armour of Bondor, said to have been worn by Bondor in his struggle aeons ago against the Orichalan Dragon Lords.


Varek is inducted as a Black Eagle sword knight. He stands a vigil all night in his armour, helping the smiths reforge his ancestral sword of Vallos, which he now has the holy right to bear. And as dawn shows in the sky he can be found practising forms on the court outside the forge... 


Day 40 (25/7/4434): The heroes gather intelligence: it seems that the undead besiege Bisgen from the south-east, while the forces of the Nerathi houses are camped south-west of town, preparing ladders and siege engines. They decide to scout out the situation. The group swims the Onslaught Stream, Arvias gets into difficulty but is hauled ashore by Nathir and Gaspar. They meet Nasan Tara, the old Altanian Master of the Herds, and Varek persuades him to hand over the last six horses he was taking down to the river.
They ride north around 20 miles, seeing no-one. Around 3pm they spot the Cormarrin Estate and decide to investigate, scaling the back wall into private gardens, then running across the lawn towards steps that lead up to patio doors.  A woman at an upper window calls out an alarm...  


S16 Day 40 (25/7/4434): Varek and co invade the mansion, kill 15 of the 16 defenders (4 House soldiers, 8 lackeys, 3/4 archers), and capture Meg & Tessa Cormarrin, Lord Halvath Cormarrin's wife and sister.  They  are fairly powerful wizards - Meg raised the four dead Nerathi soldiers as zombies. Varek interrogates the women, then after looting the vast wealth of the Cormarrin vaults he and Nathir execute the noblewomen, but leave Meg's three children alive. They have the noncombatant servants build a corpse-pyre outside, then fire the mansion and ride off east (ca 4pm).  Black smoke rises into the sky once more.
Nathir leads the group east and north through the countryside round behind the lines of the besiegers, avoiding contact with the Nerathi and their undead host. After travelling about four miles they reach the Endgate river two miles east of Bisgen ca 5.30pm. At nightfall Nathir tries to swim downstream into the city, but is lost in the treacherous current.


S17: Varek & co joined by Ionel, Parre's scout, who has crossed the Endgate river via a soggy raft. Attacked by Nerathi cavalry - Varek kills their leader, the Paladin Lady Lucinda deLampton, while his men escape (a drunken old Red Bear warrior, Maari, wanders up & is cut down), then falls to a rain of sword blows, but awakens in the Temple of Bondor in Bisgen; the great diamond in the Armour of Bondor's chest plate has turned to dust. Varek consults with Parre, a challenge is issued to Halvath Cormarrin, presumably eager to revenge the death of his wife and sister. 


Day 41 26/7/4434
Ionel, Gaspar & Uncia ride south all night, evade an undead patrol, cross the Onslaught Stream, and reach the Tigerclaw.  They consult with Chief Kagol, Priest Sydow, and Mama Kala, and begin mustering the Altanian clans for war with the Nerathi.


Dawn - After a night with the Tharbrian girls in war-damaged Mult's Inn, Varek faces Halvath Cormarrin in a duel to the death outside the city walls. The battle is vicious, but Varek at last prevails and decapitates the Nerathi commander, to cheers from Bisgen's defenders.  Commander Cormarrin requires him to leave Halvath's head; Varek complies, on condition that Halvath not be re-animated.


Day 42 27/7/4434 Altanians mustering.


Day 43 28/7/4434 Red Bear and Winged Ape begin mustering at the Tigerclaw camp.  Rameses leads the Winged Ape; Haak the Warsinger the Red Bear. At sunset, from Bisgen's north wall Varek and Parre can see a sinister horde approaching from the  north, across the Samhain Fields.


Day 44 29/7/4434 The Altanians cross the Onslaught Stream at dawn and march north towards Bisgen. North of Bisgen, dawn reveals a thousand ghouls arrayed under Borritt Crowfinger. Seeing this, Varek has Parre withdraw all civilians from north of the river, Parre makes ready to destroy the Bisgen bridge if the north town falls.
An hour before sunset, the Altanians are confronted with the Nerathi human army 5 miles south of Bisgen, who have broken camp to intercept them. Varek and Parre can see that the undead south of Bisgen are also splitting up, one part moving south to intercept the Altanians in support of the living Nerathi.


S18 Day 44 29/7/4434: Arvias gives a stirring speech. The Altanian clans attack and swiftly annihilate the human Nerathi force, killing all 280 of them before the Nerathi undead warriors can arrive.  Cormarrin and his 130 dread warriors arrive, Cormarrin demands the Altanians withdraw.  They refuse and battle commences.  The Altanians target Cormarrin and quickly bring him down, though the dread warriors around him drive off the Altanians and kill many, including Uncia the spirit shaman.  Arvias and Ionel rally the Altanian centre; on the Altanian flanks Haak and Rameses skillfully envelop the small dread warrior force.  Disheartened by the loss of Cormarrin, the dread warriors fall back towards Bisgen with heavy losses.


Watching from Bisgen's south wall, as night falls Parre and Varek see the undead retreating north to rejoin the larger force under Tal Lorvas. Then reports arrive from the north wall - Borritt Crowfinger's ghoul horde is advancing on the city...  


Nightfall

Altanians:
The Altanian clans to the south have 662/800 men still fit to fight, luckily they are not fatigued despite the long march and 2 battles. BR 91.
Parre has 550 men in Bisgen, mostly levy militia. BR 82
Total: 1212

The Nerathi Necromancers:
Tal Lorvas has 90 severely fatigued Dread Warriors, plus another 140 or so fresh, 230 total.
Borritt Crowfinger has around 1000 ghouls.
Total: 1230


The Altanian horde has a slight issue now - many of the men want to break off combat and begin looting the fabulous wealth of the defenceless Nerathi noble estates (deLampton, Wynson, Foxwood, etc) that are scattered across the countryside nearby. Meanwhile the sun has set, and it will soon be full dark, and old Sydow receives a Sending from Parre's wizard Eldrin Halfelven that a ghoul horde is about to attack Bisgen from the north.

The Tigerclaw War-Chief Kalgol suggests an immediate attack to destroy the remaining Nerathi Dread Warriors, before the Altanian horde can fall to looting the Estates. He suggests gathering a strong force of Sword Knights and other heroes (Arvias, Ionel etc) to strike directly against Tal Lorvas; if the Necromancer can be destroyed hopefully his army will fall to dust or be otherwise incapacitated. 


Party XP end Session 18: 21,756. 10th level is at 20,500.  11th level is at 26,000.


S19 Nightfall Day 44 29/7/4434
Arvias and Ionel are joined by a friendly Goliath from the Castellan Mountains and 5 Sword Knights as they assault the centre of the Nerathi Dread Warrior line south of Bisgen.  In bitter fighting 4 sword knights fall, though the last, the Altanian hero Tal, destroys Tal Lorvas' Burning Skeleton; 3 Skeletal Cyclops Tomb Guards and 2 of 3 advanced Chillborn Zombies are also destroyed, before the tide turns against the Altanians.  The Dread Warriors of ancient Nerath drive back the Altanian horde.  War Chief Kalgol consults with Arvias and decides the Altanians will retreat south to lick their wounds. 
Meanwhile, in Bisgen Parre decides to commit all her men to defend the north wall. The ghoul horde swarms the wall, but the first wave is driven back with terrible losses on both sides, 200 ghouls are destroyed.  The second wave takes the wall.  After hours of fighting and with hundreds dead, Parre's surviving men fall back to the Bisgen Bridge.  Parre gives the order to the stonemasons to destroy the bridge; a small contingent of heroes will need to hold the bridgehead until the collapse...


S20 Night Day 44 29/7/4434
Bisgen's defense of the north wall has been led by Gurstang, a Skandik Paladin of Mitra. Parre leads Varek, Eldrin Halfelven, and Gurstang with a force of her veteran Lancers to hold the bridge against the onrushing Ghoul horde. They fight fiercely, but the ghoul horde is hundreds strong and supported by the vampire lord Nexull and by Boritt Crowfinger, whose death magic roots Varek to the spot. First Gurstang falls, then Varek. Then Parre is  overwhelmed.  Eldrin, the last one standing, is on the bridge amidst a sea of ghouls when the masons finish their work and the bridge collapses, sweeping him and several ghouls into the deadly torrent. 
The ghoul horde is trapped on the north side of the river, and Parre has already given the order to abandon the town.  With Tal Lorvas and his Dread Warriors miles to the south pursuing the retreating Altanian barbarians towards the Onslaught Stream the people of Bisgen flee east, screened by their remaining soldiers, towards Winged Ape Clan territory.  The future will be harsh and uncertain for them, but they evade the armies of the dead.  As dawn rises over the eastern mountains, with the noble Rameses now Clan Chief of the Winged Ape it seems likely that many will survive.
Tal Lorvas at last returns to meet his old master, Borritt Crowfinger, in the semi-ruined city of Bisgen.  The new capital of Restored Nerath is now a ghost town, where only the dead walk...