The party heads north to meet the Benlag war party, as they prepare to meet a yeti army massing in the north. Although the way, they stop at the capitol city after meeting a rather passive snow leopard.
The city is nearly empty, as every warrior has gone north. They find a tavern still open and stay for the night. In the morning, they can't get a decent meal, as all the fresh meat has gone with the warriors. Silvertooth Dreadwind has some squirrel stew. Wanting a hot meal in this cold place, Elenya decided to have some squirrel stew as well. She was used to eating squirrel, as a ranger of the woodland.
From there, it was another day's travel to the north-most city of Benlag. They passed through a patch of wood and encountered a pack for ten wolves, but they seemed uninterested in attacking. When they saw the city, they found it surrounded by miles of tents, enough for ten thousand warriors. They were greeted by a patrol, and they revealed the sigil of Southpaw, and were taken to meet with the war council.
They were brought before a massive tent and ushered inside. They met over a dozen middle-aged warriors, who all sat or stood around a three-dimension map of the benlag island and the ice bridge from the north, crafted from carved wood. At the center of them all was a massive man wrapped in brown furs - Lord Benlag, the Last Brown Bear, whom had returned to the title of King as his forefathers had once been. He was set on leaving the Haven council.
The party told him of the Icurnas threat, and their plan to attack the isle while the soldiers were at bay. Benlag had a hard time believing them, for they spoke of workers of the Abyss, the threat that the Haven Council piped on about. However, since they seemed to want to help him defend his island, he allowed them to use his portal to go to Haven as his representatives.
There was a condition, however. Some of them had to run an errand for him. His army was awaiting an overdue caravan of food from the east, and he wanted them to find out what had happened. They decided that Sibyll Demier, Anton Esio, and Kirin Drakos would run the errand, and Silvertooth, Elenya, and V2Z4 would go to Haven.
When the three headed to Haven arrived through the portal, they appeared in a massive antechamber. All around the ceiling were symbols, and when they arrived, the symbol of the bear glowed and a trumpet blared. An elf greeted them. They showed Benlag's orders, and he recognized them as his representative. He then prepared an escort to take them to the Benlag Estate, and asked them if they wanted anything.
Silvertooth ordered enough food to feed him for days, Elenya some food for Kaz and some historical literature on the Battle of Haven, and V2Z4 asked for the works of Gizmo Wrenchsocket - a gnomish inventor whose books V2's creator had read to him. The elf then told them that they were passing over Oasis City, and that the anual derby was to begin on the following day. Silvertooth and V2Z4 decided to inspect the horses and place bets, as it would be three days until the next council meeting. Before they left for the Estate, the elf told Silvertooth that he had a message from the Fleet Commander of Lockeface for him.
Meanwhile, Kirin is given command of a platoon of twenty-five warriors, and their trio heads south. They don't make it far before their errand is cut short. In the woods, they find a dozen wounded soldiers. The hurt warriors told them that they were the remains of the caravan, and that the city they were from had been attacked by Abyssal forces that had leveled the city to the ground, and now marched on the capitol. Kirin took the wounded men and his platoon to the capitol, while Sibyll and Anton returned to Benlag to report.
The day of the races came, and Silvertooth broke even while V2Z4 won a whole fifty gold. Silvertooth opened his letter from the Fleet Commander. It told him that the infamous Admiral Krakenjaw was staying in Haven, under a false identity, and gave him the tavern he was staying at. It went on to say that his old him, captained by his former First Mate, now flew the banner of the Icurnas and was harassing trade ships near Lockeface. Thourin's Gift, the wall made by their former comrade, had done well to keep the Icurnas warships from attacking Lockeface.
Kirin found the capitol defended by a palisade wall and a garrison of one-hundred men. He took seventy-five with him to run guerilla warfare against the coming army, while the rest he ordered dig a trench around the city.
He and his men found an advance force heading towards the capitol. Kirin determined they were just the vanguard, and that the bulk of the army was holding back. They spotted him and sent calvary his way. He lured them into an ambush, and he only lost six men after destroying the calvary platoon before withdrawing back to the capitol.
Sibyll and Anton returned to Benlag and reported. The king had just received a report that the yeti numbered eight-thousand. He sent one of his lords, Lord Ironbrow, with two thousand men to defend the capitol, but he couldn't leave the north defenseless to the yeti. He sent Sibyll and Anton on a mission to take them east, and ask the two cities to prepare fresh fish to be sent to the warriors, as their food supply had been intercepted by the Abyssal army.
The vanguard reaches the capitol. Kirin and the captain of the guard took out to meet for parlay. A dark rider came forward. He told them they could flee and abandon the city, but Kirin refused and vowed to not let the city fall. The dark figure said that they had meet before, in the south. Kirin remembered him as the an with shadow wings that had attacked V2Z4, and survived when they had destroyed the barbarian army. The dark rider claimed, "No one will come to your rescue, dragonkin."
No sooner had he said that, trumpets sounds to the north. Ironbrow and his two-thousand men arrived, and begin to fill the city with their ranks. The dark rider returned to his army, and began to surround the city. Kirin relinquished command of the city's defense to Ironbrow. The lord surmised that they enemy planned to starve out the city, but he told Kirin that his friends, Sibyll and Anton, were on a mission to bring them supplies.
With the party scattered and the island of Benlag under siege, it falls to the uncertified adventurers to save the fate of a powerful player in the battle of good versus evil.
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