2023 08 26

Summary¶

The party worked out a plan with the help of Fiona Wachter before resting for the night. Early the next morning, they snuck into the Festival of the Blazing Sun in the Town Square. Everyone but Thistle hid underneath the stage until Fiona gave the signal (a large explosion in the distance). While there, the party noticed two coffin-shaped boxes in the center of the storage area, and Thorn was able to tell that they each contained an undead creature. ^7dd54c

The party fought Izek Strazni, killing him and a few of the guards who were still loyal to Burgomaster Vargas, but once Izek was out of the way, a large portion of the guards turned on the Burgomaster, putting him in the stocks.

After this fight, Thorn and Frost over the Grass went back underneath the stage to investigate the coffins, but in doing so, they accidentally awoke the Vampire Spawn.

Long-form Notes¶

The party rests after their last adventure and after coming up with some semblance of a plan. In the morning, they are invited to breakfast with Fiona Wachter. After much discussion, it was determined that the group should sneak into the square the morning of the festival with the use of a covered wagon that is driven by Thistle, because he is the only one among them who would not stand out at a glance. Once there, they would sneak out from the wagon into the storage area underneath the stage and wait for a distraction (a large explosion set off by Fiona) then jump out to attack Izek Strazni, hopefully with a portion of the guards having gone to investigate the explosion. From this point, the group is to kill Izek after which the guards who are not fond of him and Vargas’s rule would begin a takeover of the town.

The party sneaks into a blue covered wagon with Thistle as the driver. Arriving in the square in the early morning hours (~4:00am), the guards were somewhat suspicious of the wagon. Thistle was able to convince them to let him unload the wagon into Blinski’s stand. He positioned the wagon so that the rest of the group did not have too far to sneak to get under the stage. To further help the situation, Thistle pretended to find a large mound of red ants, which brought the rest of the guards closer to him, allowing the rest of the group to sneak more easily.

After getting underneath the stage, Frost over the Grass noticed two separate coffin shaped boxes that are placed in the center of the enclosed area, which was strange given that the rest of the boxes lined the perimeter. She pointed this out to Thorn who was having trouble seeing much due to her lack of dark vision. Thorn cast a spell to detect undead and determined that there was one undead creature in each coffin, so the group kept an eye on the coffins as they waited for their chance to strike.

The day of the festival looks as if it might rain, but Vargas assures the crowd that the weather will disperse as he makes his way to the festival area. Despite his assurances, the rain slowly creeps in, extinguishing the fire he had only begun to light on the giant wicker ball that was to be the centerpiece of the Festival of the Blazing Sun. As the flame is extinguished and the rain is really beginning to pour, Fiona’s distraction is set off, causing a large explosion of lightning off in the distance. Izek commanded a group of the guards to investigate, and after giving them a moment to head off, the group descends on Izek.

The battle leaves the party a little worse for wear, but Izek Strazni was defeated, and the guards disloyal to Vargas have begun to wrestle control of the city from him as Fiona planned.

After the battle, Frost over the Grass is still concerned about the two undead underneath the stage, so she runs back in, followed by Thorn, to investigate. While testing the lids, she accidentally alerted one of the undead who forced its way out. Frost over the Grass yelled that they should run, and they rushed out from underneath the stage to rejoin the rest of the party.