02.2 The Raiding Party

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Carlton Blacks Mercenaries
Company members:-
Krachtig (Vervalsing Voorwerp de Meesten Krachtig) – Gnome Illusionist/Thief
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannnanan Mac Lir, cousin to Carinne and Galvish
Carinne Rhianne Talynnart – Half Elf Ranger/Mage, Cousin to Taran and Galvish
Galvish – Half Elf Fighter/Thief, Cousin to Taran and Carinne
Barrigan Stonebeak – Dwarf Fighter/Priest, Company Engineer.

The Raiding Party
Some cheering and noise is heard from the docks, we mosey on down to investigate and spy some tall masts, a Barelinian warship has pulled in and a long boat is making its way to the jetty.  We are asked if the Lord of the Manor is available and we show the crew the way.  There are three knights present, Sirs Graccus, Bolans and Ulastor, as well as priests representing Nike and Vashonka.
We listen in on the conference that is had amongst the upper ranks and it is apparent that the rebels have been openly building a coastal settlement complete with lighthouse, whilst it is not in Barelin territory it is fairly close and needs eradicating.
The knights will attack the main town, whilst our mercenary company will take the lighthouse tower down.  The orders are to destroy everything.
It will take several days to reach the area by boat so we restock on supplies and visit Isabella for more healing herbs, Taran goes blackberry picking to stock up his new pouch.
We board the fishing vessel and sail around the coast; we have all our troops with us plus a lot of the militia from the town – archers to a man.
We are to attack at dawn and have time on our hands till then.  Krachtig swims to shore to do some preliminary scouting – is there anything worse than wet gnome smell?
The lighthouse tower is maybe 60’ tall with a two story extension, some movement is spotted up by the beacon on top and Krachtig completes his preliminary reconnoiter.
We move to the shore and Kalan Ghent takes the foot soldiers down to cut off the road and prevent escape or reinforcements arriving.  We position the militia in some shelter with a good view of the top of the tower with instructions to fire at anyone on the top not wearing a blue cloth around their left arm (our signal) as soon as we have entered the main doors.
We have to Knock the barred doors open and are soon in a store room with another set of barred doors in front of us, we quickly move through this area and can hear shouting from somewhere, the archers must be doing their job.  Again we have to use magic to get through this door.  As soon as we do we have a fight on our hands, there are several soldiers in the lower level of the tower, we make short work of them and then as we ascend the stairs do we see how difficult it will be to take this place, again we come into more combat, but as we are finishing this group off enemy archers starting firing at us, they are using the interior winding stair to conduct the defense, thus engaging the front members of our party in hand to hand combat, while using the elevation to the advantage of their archers.  We also discover a mage on their side as we guard ourselves against his spells.  Carrinne and Galvish return fire whilst Krachtig uses his dagger to carve through the wooden floor to gain the next level.  Taran is kept busy healing people, not least Barrigan who is in our front rank battling valiantly.  
Soon the enemy receives more reinforcements including a priest, who quickly attracts the missile fire towards him.
Krachtig reaches the same level as out antagonists and is quickly spotted, he casts a cold spell from his wand which wounds the enemy but is attacked himself, he manages to duck back into a darkened room, just as the main party are finishing off the last of the enemy on the stairs, with some quick healing spells we fortify the gnome and he reenters the area where one of the enemy was searching for him with Taran as back up.  A rapid exchange of bowfire renders the enemy dead and the gnome seriously wounded, our priest prevents him from dying before Barrigan can cure him.  
We cautiously make our way to the top of the tower where the enemy mage was seen to head, we soon discover him cowering in a corner having been hit by the arrows from our militia.  We take him prisoner.
We are cleaning up the mess when we are summoned to the town to assist in the sacking of the place, here we witness the true horror of war as people who beg for mercy and attempt to flee are cut down by these so called knights, sickened by this we opt to guard the roads leading out of the place and let some of the innocents flee with a minimum of energy expent by ourselves.
It is soon over and the town and tower are put to the torch, the militia and our group of soldiers are quietened by what they have seen there.  When we get back to the Lords residence our group is called into question over our lack of enthusiasm in slaughtering the innocents, we claim that we were guarding against any one escaping the massacre.
The knights make their way back to the capital and we are left dejected by the turn of the events in that place, although we do perk up a bit when we discover the magic we had looted from the inhabitants of the lighthouse.  
We also have time to do some trading and re equip ourselves before we are called on again, sure enough we hear tales of orcs and men scouting some outlying farms but that is a tale for another day.