"Land ho!" the sailors cried. The party made their way to top deck to prepare themselves to disembark. When they arrive on top deck, they realize the captain is making orders to have the ship drop anchor, but they were still some ways away from the fort, which they could see in the distance. They inquire why the ship is stopping, and the captain hands them a spy glass.
When they look upon the fort, they see it is in ruins. No flags fly over head, and the walls and towers have been chipped away at and the entire fort lies still. They survey the nearby shore and spot a ten-foot sail boat pulled to shore a mile or so away from the fort. They decide to investigate.
The captain has one of his men row them to shore, then leave. Silvertooth Dreadwind, having recovered much since the last adventure, however still feeling the effects of his wounds, approaches the sailboat with the intention of seizing it for himself. When he steps too closer, he triggers a ward that causes a wall of stone to shoot from the ground and surround the sailboat. Thourin Stonefist used his earth magic to make half the wall crumble.
Elenya Lindale, Bayson Mogul, and V2Z4 decide they are not interested in the ship and start making their way to the fort. They don't make it far when suddenly seven figures emerge from the tree line beyond the shore. The newcomers rush over and confront the party, telling them that the ship belongs to them.
There are seven men: a dwarf, a man, a centaur, a crocodile-man, and boar-man, an elf, and a blue-skinned gremlin. The party learns that they are certified adventurers, here on a quest. The party ditches the group of adventurers, finding them quite annoying. They head for the fort.
Upon arriving a hundred feet or so from the fort, they notice dark figures circling the fort overhead, two-dozen in all. Elenya says they appear to be winged men with tails. Thourin and his earth elemental continue on to the wall, when seven of the winged figures dive down to attack the party. V2Z4 decides to turn and get the adventurers to help them, not liking their odds against all twenty-four. He is intercepted as a pair of the creatures dive at him. The creatures are gargoyles, and they begin battle with the party.
The gargoyles proven to be little challenge for the party, but they decide to head back and try and join forces with the adventurers anyway, imagining a fight with the remaining gargoyles would prove dangerous. When they meet up with the adventurers, the adventurers say they don't want the party to take their treasure. The party learns that there is a ship of shadows docked in the canal that runs through the fort.
As they chat, they notice a ship just off shore. The party spots their animals paddling themselves to land. Attached to Infant, the elephant, is a note explaining that the animal ferry decided to just drop off the animals, because they couldn't afford to feed the elephant any more.
From the adventurers, they also learn that there survivors from the attack on the fort, somewhere on the island. They also learn that there are enraged stags attacking people. They decide the adventurers are all but useless, and set off to find the survivors themselves.
The party returns to the fort, and Elenya picks up tracks leading southwest. The follow the tracks until they hit a lake, where they find a camp that has since been abandoned. Bayson determines the camp is a couple of days old. When they prepare to leave, a dozen nixies emerge from the lake. The nixies seem pleasant, and tell the party that there is a large treasure in the cave found along the lake. Silvertooth and Sibyll decide to sneak off and find the treasure. Thourin is suspicious, and casts the spell that lets him talk to plants. He asks a willow tree about the nixies. The tree explains that they can make shiny stone from the earth appear out of thin air in a cave nearby, and when beings of flesh enter the cave, they are trapped inside until the nixies eat them. Thourin realizes Sibyll and Silvertooth are gone, and sneaks off to find them. He arrives just as they are preparing to enter the cave and convinces them not to. Elenya finds more tracks, and they leave the lake in haste.
The tracks lead them to the base of the sole mountain on the island. As begin to search the mountain, and by sunset they find the survivors camp. They find fifteen men-at-arms. The survivors are all badly hurt, one is even missing a leg. The sergeant of the band explains what happened.
He says that the shadow ship docked, and a mage emerged and made all the stone gargoyles crafted along the walls to come to life, ninety in all. He then summoned hellhounds and the two kinds of creatures begin massacring the population. He realized the battle was lost, and rallied his platoon to try and get as many civilians out as possible. They escaped, and made for the lake, but the gargoyles pursued them. None of the civilians made it, and he lost five men, three to the gargoyles, and two fell to the nixie's trap.
The party spent the next day using herbs and spells to heal the band to fighting capacity, however five of them fell to infection. Despite that, they decided to march on the fort and try and take it back, realizing that the fort personnel managed to thin the herd of beasts substantially before falling. On their way back, they decide to talk to the adventurers one last time, hoping to even the odds. Under the agreement that the adventurers would get their shadow ship, the adventurers join.
The party and their small army attack Fort Highbank Watch. First the gargoyles attacked, but they were no match. Thourin and one of the adventurers used their earth magics to make an opening in the wall. Within the walls of the fort, it was as dark as night. They rushed in and began battle with the hellhounds. The hellhounds were a far greater foe, and in the battle Elenya, two of the adventurers, and four soldiers were all killed. Two more of the adventurers were in comas.
Despite losing Elenya, the party realized they could easily over take the remaining three adventurers. Their leader, the dwarf, approached them to make a deal. He had with him a cloth blessed by the High God that could revive one person. He offered to give it to them if they let him sail away on the shadow ship. V2Z4 agreed. The dwarf said he would give it to them after they had set off.
Silvertooth, Sibyll, Bayson, and Acealos decided not to trust them, and attack them anyway. Acealos used his divine magic to flash fry their leader. The other two surrendered and said, "Why would you incinerate our leader? He had the cloth you wanted!" It was true. The holy cloth was burnt to a crisp, but when it was destroyed, its power exploded across the fort. All the fresh corpses were perserved for at least two weeks.
Suddenly, Acealos was forced into a vision where he stood in a plane of solid light. He heard a voice, "You have dared to use my divine magic to not only take a life in cold-blood, but to also destroy one of my sacred gifts?!"
Instead of defending himself, Acealos said this: "Fool! I'm a librarian! You don't exist!"
And so, he came out of his vision. A piercing light came through the darkness that remained over the fort and fell upon him. In an instant, he was obliterated. The High God smote him where he stood.
The session concluded with the party making another deal with the adventurers. They would joined forces and man the ship until they found a healer that could revive their comrades, then the ship would belong to the adventurers. This time, the adventurers demanded the deal in writing. They man the shadow ship, which they see is named Dread Mist. They begin their search for a healer, having two weeks to revive Elenya before she begins to decay. They also need a replacement for Acealos, one less blasphemous, preferably.
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