Where we left off…

The party has just defeated Alexei, the undead leader of the bandits who have been plaguing the road to Riverbend. After defeating the bandit leader, they successfully broke into the bandits’ strongroom before barricading themselves in Alexei’s chambers for the night.

Recap

Personal Spoils

Our heroes come across a number of interesting items among the contents of the bandits’ strongroom. Included in the riddled chest is a box of gears and other mechanical bits addressed to Ipswitch Cogsworth in Riverbend. The other crates contain mostly trade goods with a few valuables thrown into the mix.

Lanna takes the bandit leader’s flaming longsword for her own, and the group peruses his journal, which appears to chronicle a journey from Westholt in Cydon, where he was a soldier. As Alexei traveled, he slowly gave in to madness, and eventually undeath.

Wakeup call!

The party is awoken unpleasantly as their hobgoblin prisoner enters the room through a secret door, backed by several human bandits. At the same time, several other bandits begin to break in the main door to the chamber where the party is held up. Our heroes divide their attention between the two groups of invaders, and after a brief, but intense battle manage to first dispatch the hobgoblin and his minions, followed by the bandits pushing over the barricade.

The last of the bandits to fall is a spellcaster, who wears an unusual pair of black gloves. Later investigation reveals them as Gloves of the Starry Sky, which Rayne can use to convert spell energy into magic bolts of force.

Retrieving the Guard

The party decides to follow the now-revealed secret entrance, which leads up to cave containing a wagon and several cages. Within the cages, are a number of prisoners, including the members of the Bridgefort garrison, who the party was originally sent to find.

After freeing the prisoners, the group piles the injured into the wagon along with the crates of goods retrieved from the bandit lair and hitches it to Lanna’s “rented” pack horse. They then set out along the trail back to Bridgefort, arriving without incident later that evening.

Captain Tiberius is pleased to see his men returned relatively unharmed, and after dispatching them to the infirmary, thanks the group of adventurers for their deed, well done. After debriefing the captain on the mission, the party retires to the dining hall, where over several ales, Daethin agrees to join with the group on their travels.