KINGMAKER:
The Wardens of the Greenbelt
Entry 11.
The End of The Stag Lord
The attack on the Stag Lord's fortress was planned as an evening assault. The half-moon gave William some visibility but the rest of the Wardens had good night vision. The plan was to avoid the bandits in the village and attack the fortress on opposite corners of the palisade after climbing the slope.
Unknown to the Wardens the undead protected the slopes which were the burial gound of the original inhabitants of the village and castle; but it had been cursed by Gyronna. Zombies appeared out of the ground and attacked each group. Jarn & T'lef easily dealt with adversaries but no sooner had William, Ione and Hadrik dealt with their's than another group attacked them. These were also dealt with but the fighting caught the attention of one of the bandits guarding the nearest watch tower. He started jeering at the group thinking they were from the bandits in the village and that they had taken the wrong route. He fired at them anyway but missed. The return fire from the Wardens soon silenced him. Hearing a commotion one of the other guards ran to the tower but was bemused by the body of his dead comrade. By now the Wardens had reached the palisade walls. Using Ione's magic they broke through the wooden wall. The bandit was rushed by Havrik and Sidthe and quickly silenced.
Meanwhile at the other side of the fortress, Jarn and T'lef had also broken through the palisade. T'lef then climbed the nearest tower and dispatched the guard. Jarn cast a spell on himself which made him difficult to notice and he moved into the central area of the fort. Here he found Dovan from Nisroch, one of the Stag Lord's lieutenants. His reaction to Jarn's presence was to open a gate and run for an adjoining room.
By then T'lef has spotted Aroch, another lieutenant. He was on the upper floor of the tower playing with some carved model knights and dragon. T'lef leapt the wall and engaged Aroch who defended himself and his toys. Seeing this two more guards moved from their towers to assist Aroch. Havrik and Ione then climbed onto the tower floor and joined in. Although Aroch put up strong resistance, he and the two bandits were soon defeated. Ione leapt of the castle floor to the ground below but fell heavily and injured herself. She was right at the feet of another bandit but before he could react Havrik jumped down and promtly killed the bandit.
Meanwhile Jarn pursued Dovan, He in turn had alerted Akiros Ismort, another lieutenant; a lapsed paladin and barbarian. Dovan ran for the back gate leaving Akiros to deal with Jarn. An Owlbear had appeared from the gate Dovan had opened but by then T'lef was there to deal with it. Ione was also there by now and she attacked with a thunder cloud spell and it soon succomed to its wounds.
Earlier Ione had left Sidhe with William and the wizard and the cat were now above the gate that Dovan was trying to open. Jarn dazed Dovan with a spell and bound him with his rope whilst engaged with Akiros who he eventually killed. The commotion had by now woken the Stag Lord and he came from his room wanting to know what the trouble was. He was about to attack Jarn when Sidhe dropped onto him from above and William rained magic missiles down on him. Although Sidhe was injured, the Stag Lord was killed.
So ended the Stag Lord's reign of terror and banditry. His men were mostly killed although some had escaped and his lieutenants were killed except for Dovan who was now a captive.
Under interrogation, Dovan led them to an underground passage where the bandits stored most of their treasures. In the underground rooms the Wardens sensed an evil presence and the casting of a number of spells. Hey were confronted by a giant scorpion which attacked T'lef; injuring him but not badly enough to stop the barbarian finishing it off with help from the other Wardens. Ione had summoned a dire badger which helped T'lef and then charged into the stone wall where the magician had been sensed. But Nugrah had managed to dodge out of the stone, climbed across the ceiling, released spider swarms on the Wardens below and ran for another room. The Wardens were in a difficult fight but finally managed to overcome the evil magician.
Now the Wardens were able to search the underground chambers for the bandits treasures. These rooms rewarding them with considerable quantities of weapons and armour, jewels and coins. The fortress rooms above ground gave up even more; money,valuables and not forgetting the personal weapons and armour of the Stag Lord and his lieutenants. All this was loaded onto the Warden's wagon and pack horses.
William and Jarn agreed to take the wagon and treasures back to Oleg's whilst the other Wardens completed the exploration of the Greenbelt. Dovan would also be taken back to Oleg's to be handed over to the garrison there.
On their way back to Oleg's William and Jarn came upon a group of three mercenaries led by a well spoken Orc. They exchanged greetings and introductions, congratulated the Wardens on their success over the Stag Lord and offered their services in the future; giving them a number of ways that they could be contacted.
Back at Oleg's they were greeted by the garrison and the rest of Oleg's growing settlement. A good deal of feasting and drinking followed after the news of the Stag Lord's defeat spread.
