The Fall of Port Valor

== Arc Summary==

Session 40

 * Google Document (12-3-21)

The party is still 30 minutes to an hour outside of Port Valor when the blast happens, and we see other travelers who were ahead of us turn from the gates and run away. While Slumberjack makes an effort to move stealthily, Kilwin and Reides are too frantic and don’t bother. As they pass a guard tower, Kilwin overhears some frantic whispering inside that sounds like it could be in Common. He stops (and the rest of the party waits up) and asks if anyone is in there. An old voice asks who’s out there, and Kilwin introduces himself and says that hopefully they’re friends. The door to the guard tower creaks open and a face with a small gray beard peeks out. He says that they saw the light and saw merchants running away from the gates, but have no idea what actually happened. He and his companion, another guard, are reluctant to leave the safety of the guard tower. Kilwin explains what we know about the light and the Fireaxe Clan (more or less), but the guard says that can’t be because the Count took care of the orcs with help from the forces from Falas. We briefly discuss trying to close the gates to keep any orc forces inside, but decide to leave the gates however they are currently. The guard speaking to us, who is named Bellevue, thinks the blast didn’t cover the whole city, and that since the Temple of Alethus is on a hill outside the city, anyone there might be safe. Slumberjack thinks we need to check the city for survivors, but also to see what’s dead. Reides tries to convince Bellevue and the other guard to accompany the party, saying they should try to do something about this instead of just hoping it will go away. Bellevue’s death grip on the door loosens and he agrees, saying he needs to at least check on his family. The other guard, Harvella, also leaves the guard tower even though she’s scared. She has a scarred face and short black hair. Both of the guards have spears and armor. Harvella admits that this tower is usually an easy post, since this road is one of the safer ones. She and Bellevue are here because they’re considered past their primes. Reides is still in denial that this is happening, and Slumberjack offers to pinch him. He takes them up on it and unfortunately discovers that he is not dreaming.

Bellevue suggests checking the count’s palace for survivors and to learn more about what happened. We also decide to check the temple for survivors and to visit Bellevue’s house to see what happened to his family. As we approach the main gate of Port Valor, we see two stale bodies in guard armor flanking each side of the gate. Slumberjack prepares their greataxe. The trees have all died and lost their leaves. Multiple bodies are in plain sight, seeming to have just fallen where they were. Kilwin almost vomits, but clutches his holy symbol and manages to hold it back. Slumberjack suggests that Bellevue and Harvella stick to the rear since they’re out of practice, since someone more credible-looking than us will need to survive and pass on the news of what happened, and they agree. Bellevue tells us his family lives in the Portside District. Slumberjack’s knowledge of Port Valor’s layout is a little shaky, but Reides lived here for a year and knows that’s bad news. He still says we should check just in case, but suggests that someone other than Bellevue go in first. Because the death was so recent and sudden, none of the bodies have started decomposing yet and there’s no particular smell in the city. Except for the lack of movement, everything looks the same. Reides thinks this is somehow even worse. He wants to examine one of the bodies, but is reluctant to touch it. Slumberjack offers to touch it for him if he’ll guide them on what to look for. They can’t find much though, except that no signs of death have set in. They make a small cut on a man’s hand with Reides’s dagger, and it bleeds and the wound corrodes from the dagger’s poison. It seems like the body is trying to support life that isn’t there anymore. The bodies are still warm, but there’s no pulse. Kilwin examines the body also and determines that it’s as if the souls were suddenly removed, leaving the bodies as lifeless shells. He suggests that the souls might be collected somewhere and, if so, might be able to be returned to the people. Kilwin promises the man we examined that he will heal his hand as an apology for cutting it open and as thanks for helping us figure out what’s going on if it’s something we can do. Slumberjack is unsure if that’s a good idea because there might be complications for the people whose souls are restored if that’s something we can even do, but Kilwin thinks it has to be better than this. Bellevue agrees to let one of his family members be the first test subject if we find them like this and returning souls to people ends up being an actual possibility.

We make our way to Bellevue’s house next. Slumberjack is ready to fight, while Reides is clutching his spellbook and Kilwin is clutching his holy symbol. When we reach the house, Kilwin volunteers to investigate. He knocks on the door first, but gets no response. Bellevue is visibly becoming distressed. Kilwin enters without getting a response from inside. He hears a bubbling noise, which he discovers is a cauldron on the stove. He also finds a human woman with a fresh burn on her arm lying on the floor next to it. Kilwin takes the cauldron off the fire and puts the fire out. He assumes the woman hit her arm on it when she fell, causing the burn. He also checks upstairs where he finds an old woman laying on the ground, also dead. Finding no other signs of life (former or current), Kilwin moves the bodies into more comfortable positions and comes out to report. Bellevue identifies the women as his wife and mother, but asks if there was also a young boy. Kilwin didn’t see anyone else, so Bellevue’s son might still be alive. We discuss checking the count’s palace next, and Kilwin suggests that we need to check the center of town since that seems to be where the light originated from. We decide to save that for last though, and that we should head for the Temple of Alethus next to see if Bellevue’s son is there. We head for the eastern city gates and the path to the temple. Wisps of smoke begin to rise from around the city, which we realize is probably the result of unattended cooking fires. The party spends some time debating if there’s anything we can do to put out the fires, but decide that the best thing we can do is see if there’s any survivors at the temple who could potentially help.

Kilwin knocks on the temple door and asks if Lathendria is there. She answers the door and is surprised but very happy to see us again. She confirms that there’s some survivors who made it to the temple, including a young boy. There’s only five people aside from Lathendria, though. Bellevue describes his son (including describing his son’s hair as brown like his, even though his hair is completely gray- Slumberjack and Reides get a kick out of this), but Lathendria breaks the news that it’s a different boy who made it to the temple. Kilwin asks if Bellevue’s son likes to play outside the city, and Bellevue says he’d often go to a park on the west side of town and might have been there. We decide we can check there for him too! We propose getting help with putting out the fires that are starting in town, but Lathendria says she thinks we should prioritize survivors. Slumberjack interprets this as Lathendria saying we should abandon the town in favor of the people in the temple and lashes out, saying the people aren’t actually dead, their souls are just missing. Lathendria corrects them and says that, while she thinks she should stay at the temple to receive further refugees, she meant that it might be better for us to look for more people in town than worry about the property damage. Reides apologizes on Slumberjack’s behalf and says they’re just very passionate about this. Lathendria offers to take a look at one of the bodies if we can bring one to her and see what she can determine about what happened to everyone’s souls.

We meet the survivors- a young boy who’s by himself, a woman with her daughter, and two familiar faces. Kargath sets down Zenine, comes up to us, and embraces us all. Reides hugs him back, while Slumberjack tries and fails to escape the grapple. Slumberjack threatens to start biting, but Kargath will take the bites because he is just happy to see us alive. He and Zenine were at the park on the west side of town when the blast happened, and he covered Zenine’s eyes while he carried her to the temple to spare her the knowledge of what happened. Zenine almost seems cheery and doesn’t seem to grasp what happened. While the rest of the party keeps talking with Kargath, Reides breaks off to talk to her. She remembers him and she liked him! She seems to notice something is off and admits to Reides that while her dad is never scared, she thinks he is now. Reides tells her that when Daddy is scared, she has to be brave too. She seems to understand and straightens up and forces a smile. To thank her for being so brave and strong, Reides hands her the bag of salt water taffy he bought for himself and tells her to hand it out to everyone here. Zenine is very excited to give some of the candy to the other kids, but gives the first piece to her dad. Jorah (who was here the whole time) and Kilwin notice that Kargath’s wall slightly drops for a moment and he almost starts crying, but he manages to hold it in. He thanks Zenine and eats the candy in one bite. He also tells us that the only other survivors he’s aware of were also at the park, primarily the other people at the temple.

We also introduce ourselves to the woman, whose name is Anna. She did see another boy playing at the park, but lost track of him in the chaos. We suggest this might be Bellevue’s son and finally ask Bellevue what his son’s name is. His name is Andrew. We tell the survivors about the fires, but Kargath thinks we’ll be hard-pressed trying to convince anyone to leave the temple. The other reason everyone had to clear out from the park was that an army of orcs rode in from the west as soon as the explosion happened. Kilwin very tentatively says that we can handle the orcs, and Reides jokingly compliments his confidence. Slumberjack suggests that Bellevue and Harvella stay at the temple where they’ll be safe, but Bellevue refuses to stop searching for Andrew because he can’t lose him. Harvella feels like she should with Bellevue and ultimately decides to, since she doesn’t know what else she can do. The party offers some of their weapons so that Kargath and Anna can defend themselves and the children if anything happens. Kargath takes one of Jorah’s spare shortswords since it’s the closest anyone has to one of his knives. He also asks if anyone has a dagger that Zenine can use and, with Kargath’s okay, Reides gives her the dagger of poison, which she immediately starts tossing in the air and catching. Anna takes Kilwin’s handaxe, reasoning that she’s used to cutting firewood, so using it for fighting is hopefully not that different. She tells us to stay safe, and Kilwin tells her to stay safe as well. Kilwin also approaches the young boy who’s by himself and asks his name. He mumbles that he’s Dylan. Reides notices that Kilwin is struggling to talk to this child and pats Dylan on the head. He recoils from the touches but still probably needed it. Kilwin asks some questions and learns that Dylan was also at the park when the explosion happened and that his family wasn’t with him. Dylan’s family lives in the center of town, so Kilwin says that he'll tell them that Dylan is safe if we find them because Dylan will be safe here. Dylan doesn’t seem very comforted by this. Reides creates an illusion of a sparkly fish to swim around Dylan, which catches his attention. Reides presents him with Pepega and feigns shock that Dylan has never seen Pepega before. Pepega strikes a little pose and, while Dylan pets Pepega, Reides explains that she’s a very special owl who can make people feel better. Reides decides to leave Pepega with Dylan for now and gives her instructions to find us if anything happens. He tells Dylan to take care of Pepega and keep her safe. Dylan returns to his original hunched over position, but is holding onto Pepega now.

We decide our first order of business is collecting a body to bring back to Lathendria, which we can transport using Jorah’s horse. We leave the temple but tell Lathendria we’ll be back soon. She offers the temple as a place of rest if we ever need it. Kilwin and Lathendria wish each other Alethus’s blessings. As we approach the town again, we can see that the fires are getting worse. There’s also one column of smoke that’s moving. It’s fairly close, coming toward us, and Jorah estimates that it’ll reach the city gates before we do. We decide that we don’t have much other choice than to head right for it and hope for the best. Slumberjack goes ahead and hides in the shrubbery. They spot three orcs on the city walls with javelins, two half-ogres with axes, and an orc with chainmail and a shield, kneeling down and clearly searching for something. Slumberjack does a hand signal to warn us to stop (which Reides briefly misinterprets and he waves back) and holds up six fingers. The rest of us stop where we are and also attempt to hide in the brush. The orc and half-ogres are talking to each other and the orc appears to be tracking something that went toward the temple. As he walks past Slumberjack’s hiding spot, they jump out and attack him with their greataxe. They lay into him. Harvella emerges from hiding to attack the orc with her spear, and Kilwin summons his spiritual weapon. The orc gets out of the way of the swing, but then gets hit square in the back with Sacred Flame. Jorah discerns that this orc is a Blade of Ilneval. Ilneval is Gruumsh’s compatriot and battle captain, and his Blades call on his powers to rally other orcs. Jorah tells us not to kill the Blade of Ilneval because we might need him for information. Bellevue rushes into the fray too. Reides takes a shot at the Blade with Harpoon, but misses with it for the first time ever. Slumberjack slashes the Blade across where their first strike landed before Kilwin knocks him out with his spiritual weapon. Jorah snipes one of the half-ogres. Bellevue attempts to attack the other half-ogre, but hesitates too much, and the half-ogre dodges easily. Slumberjack and Bellevue are hit with javelins thrown by the orcs on the battlements. The half-ogre decides to strike at the easiest target and cleaves Bellevue down, killing him outright.

Reides is shaken, but aims an Ice Knife at one of the orcs on the battlements. It stabs him in the chest before exploding. The orc decides to forget about tactics and throws his javelin at Reides, but misses terribly and jostles one of the ice shards lodged in his chest, killing him. Slumberjack throws themself at the half-ogre that killed Bellevue, cutting off his axe hand before cutting off his other hand and kneeing him to the ground. They tell him to tell his gods they say hi before burying their greataxe in his head. They also stab him with one of the thrown javelins after he’s dead. Harvella starts attempting to tend to Bellevue’s wounds, but gets out of the way as Kilwin rushes in to magically stabilize him. Holy light spreads through Bellevue’s body, but nothing happens. Kilwin shakes his head to Harvella before returning to the fight. Jorah snipes the one orc on the south battlement, and the remaining orc on the north tower decides it is time to hit the bricks. He ducks down out of view of the party, but Reides climbs the ridge behind and casts Misty Step to teleport to the top of the tower. Reides sees the orc rushing down the stairs, confident that he’s going to escape. Instead, Reides hits his legs with Ray of Frost. The cold starts with his feet and climbs up his legs, tripping him down the stairs before freezing him to death. Reides waves at the rest of the party from the top of the tower.