Chapter 11 - Night Raid
Days 20-23
With Jrak off to the smithy in the morning for a day of grueling labour in the hot forges of the Wasteward weaponsmith, the rest of the party decided to take a casual morning stroll up to the Keep, to try to track down someone else who would not be enjoying is current situation. Gaining admittance to talk to the Keep's Jailer, who was responsible for overseeing a small number of jail cells carved out of the bedrock deep beneath the Keep. After warning the Jailer to be wary of elven magic, and finding out that the elven Ambassador Taramandil had spent some considerable time interrogating Elros in private the previous day, they paid a visit to their former captive, ensuring that he was secure in his cell.
Leaving the Keep, the scout, monk, and swordsage reported to Captain Bartal, commander of Wasteward's militia garrison. They took advantage of the occasion to relate to the Captain what they had learned of the Genasi during their two weeks of fighting their way back to Wasteward, telling him of the Genasi's abilities and tactics. Thanking the party and telling them that he intended to implement changes to the town's defences based on what he had been told, the Captain assigned them to a squad patroling the walls, watching for any sign of Genasi. The other two members of their squad were new arrivals to Wasteward, a young militia volunteer for a distant village and a mysterious borderlander who seemed more comfortable in his armour than your average volunteer soldier. Hearing that the borderlander had not yet secured accommodation, they invited him to join them in their makeshift accommodations in the warehouse. Their first shift otherwise passed without any sign of Genasi and they returned to the warehouse to rendezvous with Jrak, who was fatigued from his day of hard labour in the smithy.
The next day saw Jrak returning to his toil at the forges while the other party members passed a leisurely morning before reporting to duty at the wall. This day, the monotony of guard duty was broken up by the appearance of a pair of air elementals. They were first spotted by the keen-eyed Blixhaven, who raised the alarm. The defenders on the wall braced themselves for attack, but the huge elementals, appearing in the form of tornadoes, passed several hundred feet over the wall and the arrows of the defenders either fell short or passed harmlessly around them, knocked off course by the strong winds. One elemental headed over the centre of the town while the other peeled off to pass over the Keep. The one over the town ran into opposition in the form of the mages in their tower, who released the jagged spears of lightning that rent asunder the elemental over the town. The other elemental turned back north, retreating back in the direction from which it had appeared.
No further sign of elementals or the Genasi armies were seen for the remainder of that day, nor the next. In fact, by their third shift on the wall, the duty was becoming routine as the squadmates took turns keeping a watch on the horizon. Those not on watch could observe the town's defensive preparations. Labourers were busy outside the walls, digging out the long-deglected dry moat that surrounded the settlement. Inside the wall, the town was busier than it had ever been in their lifetime, with new militia detachments arriving every few hours and Captain Bartal's preparation of defensive positions within the town itself. While taking a break from the walls, Neela happened to overhear grumblings from a group of militiamen who hailed from borderlander villages far to the northeast. From the sounds of their conversation, there had been some sort of incident in one of their communities and they were considering leaving Wasteward to return home.
That night, as Blixhaven and Neela stood watch in the warehouse, shouts were heard in the distance. Cracking open the door that opened on the street, they could see soldiers running down the street in the distance and heard further incomprehensible shouts. Worried as to what might be happening, they decided to rouse the others and were in the midst of doing so when they heard the chains rattling on the wharf-side door. The party moved to encircle the door and when the chains parted and the door began to swing open, Blixhaven loosed an arrow that felled the shadowy figure beyond. As they moved forward to inspect the body, more figures emerged from the shadows and combat was joined. Genasi light troops met the party at the door and were quickly felled. One, killed by Trykaar in the midst of opening a satchel, released a glowing red bottle from his hand as he fell. Behind the light troops came a handful of regular soldiers in scale mail, led by what appeared to be an officer. These opponents proved tougher than the first, felling their newfound borderlander companion as they charged the door. As the party engaged them, a large figure was seen to exit the river behind them and move around the side of the building. When the Genasi officer was finally felled, the party moved around to the side of the building, where they saw a large man-shaped creature moving down the alley, a dangerous-looking battleaxe carried in its hand. Blixhaven and Neela fired on it, causing it to turn and lumber back towards them. Blixhaven moved aside, but the creature's momentum pushed Neela over the edge of the wharf. Fortunately, she was able to land upright on the riverbank below. Now under attack from the remainder of the party, the elemental began to circle around them towards the river as its mighty battleaxe first smote Neela to the ground, then Jrak, before it was finally felled by a final arrow from Blixhaven's bow. As it fell back into the water, a mist arose that obscured the immediate area for a minute before fading.
In the aftermath of the fight, the party could see other fights being waged up and down both sides of the river, and buildings on fire. With great effort, they managed to lift the unconscious Jrak back onto the wharf and drag both Jrak and Neela back into the warehouse where they could more easily tend to their wounds. Finding more glowing bulbs in the satchel carried by the Genasi light troops, they found them to be nearly identical to the bulbs found by Neela in the Genasi supply wagon during their journey in the Wastes. It seemed that the purpose of the Genasi raid had been to set fire to Wasteward. In the belongings of the leader, they discovered a torch that emitted a magical light.
The next morning, the party gathered up the arms and armour of the Genasi. When the merchant arrived at the warehouse, he bought the lot off of them for 250 gold, seeing an opportunity to sell them as supplies to the town's defenders. As part of the transaction, the party procured a cart for transporting Jrak to the Temple of Isten, where they were able to procure vials of a healing potion that brought him back to consciousness and made a small contribution to the temple from the gold given to them by the merchant.
From there, they went to see the governor, who told them more about the kidnapping incident that had heard about the day before. Apparently, a number of children and young women had disappeared mysteriously from a borderlander village. The only clue as to the cause of their disappearance was that elves had been seen in the village the night before. Now, the governor feared losing the local militia, who were threatening to return to their home. He proposed that their group go to investigate, so that he could appease the unhappy militiamen. When the party agreed, he told them to go provision themselves and return the next morning prepared for their journey.
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