03.4 The Gnome Lives at the Smithy

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Carlton Blacks Mercenaries
Company members:-
Krachtig (Vervalsing Voorwerp de Meesten Krachtig) – Gnome Illusionist/Thief
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannanan 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.
Lanneus Tuard – Paladin of Manannan Mac Lir
Derek Summers – Squire to Taran.

A Wanted Gnome

The company are back at Jans Landing tending to day to day matters, they each return to their respective quarters for the evening.  Barrigan and Krachtig head to the Smithy, Corinne joins the Bard and Healer at Lord Arlos’ manor house, Lanneus stays with the priest at the shrine, while Taran, Galvish and his squire retire to the stables.
During the night Taran and his squire are awoken by noise made from the horses below, they are unable to see much in the darkness but shrug on some armor and awake Galvish.  Taran makes his way to the stairs and sees two armed figures at the bottom, he draws his swords and attacks, meanwhile Galvish and Derek have made their way around the other side and drawn their bows, they spot some targets and fire, receiving shots aimed back at them, Galvish is quickly in difficulty having nearly fallen over the edge.  With Taran slicing his way through the armed invaders he leaves the stairwell open behind allowing some of the intruders up to attack Derek, Galvish manages to regain his feet just as Derek falls down.  All the shouting and commotion has attracted more attention, the Vet and his assistant – the lovely Jillian, open the main doors.  Taran is just wilting under the onslaught as the others swing into action to defeat these brigands.  Jillian uses all the curing available to her to bring Taran back to consciousness.
Several of the intruders have been captured and are questioned as to their motives, apparently they are looking for a Gnome as there is a 25,000 gold piece bounty on his head – dead or alive.  There is some discussion over putting up signs at the entrances to Jans Landing, telling where the Gnome can be located, as from the tracks these mercenaries from Skullport had made, they had wandered quite a distance.
Taran is occupied by the thought of Jillian rousing him from his deathly embrace and consults with Carinne.  After writing some abject poetry he seeks the Bards help and comes away with some beautiful words to deliver to Jillian.
Sometime later the party are contacted to find the new barmaid from the Roads End Inn, who took over from Jillian, apparently she has gone missing, last seen in the company of two brothers after leaving the pub.
We make haste to her parents farmhouse and they confirm they she never showed up last night so get to work tracking along the path she would have taken.  Carinne stops after a while and motions us to stay on the trail while she goes into the woods, some minutes later she reappears and orders Barrigan, Krachtig, Galvish and Lanneus to the docks and says to let the guard know that the brothers need to be apprehended.  After a nod from the newly promoted First Sergeant Taran they hurry away, she sends the squire to the parents farmhouse to get a stretcher or something similar while she beckons Taran to follow her back into the woods and warns him that the girl has been seriously assaulted and left for dead and he will need his healing spells.  They keep her from dying and get her back to the farmhouse, whilst her body has healed her mind is still in shock.  The rest of the party wait at the wharf for the brothers boat to dock, they wait till both of them are on the quay before moving in to apprehend them, this is not the case as they sense something is up and try to sail away, Galvish takes to the air and batters one of them into submission whilst Krachtig uses a spell to sleep the other.  A cousin who was crab fishing with the brothers is soon released when it is found he had no part in the previous nights actions.  Lord Arlos takes this matter into his hands and after some examination decides upon a public execution for the two miscreants, his wife reminds the party that this was an attempted murder and justice will be swift.  The next day the two are beheaded.
Things return slowly to normal, drills and training is carried out by the mercenary company and life flows on.
Soon disturbing news is heard of Giants and Goblins coming out of the mountains and following the river downstream, the river which passes through Jans Landing.  It would seem that this is another raiding party and the company is called on to stop them before they get within sight of our town.  We set out with our eight spearmen, eight crossbow men, the new Lieutenant who joined us, the Bard and the Healer.  Kalan Ghent elects to stay back at the town to organize its defenses, if we fail.
We head up to the dead woods and Krachtig flies off to scout for the marauders.  We set up positions on either side of the river with some trees and rocks for cover, several hours pass before he returns with the news, we have a couple of hours to prepare for their arrival.
Soon the horde loom with about 150 Goblins heading straight towards us, Carinne lets fly a fireball and devastates their ranks, Taran who has been waiting forever to cast his Lightning called from the rain cloud overhead smashes more of the creatures down, earning a reprimand from Krachtig who was aiming for the same ones with his virtual fireball, the priest not being used to this area of effect stuff.  Arrows and bolts are fired but there are still a score or more of the creatures who engage in hand to hand combat, they are cut down in swathes and the giants are spotted. There are a dozen or more of them and they hurl rocks at us, Barrigan lets out a huge yell and charges at the nearest group of them, severing the head of one foolish enough to bend down to fight him, he manages to slice some chunks out of another one before he is pummeled to the floor, similarly the squire is outmatched by two of the beasts and slides unconscious. Taran and Galvish slay one each before Galvish takes one too many blows to the head.  Krachtig runs to help the Paladin, who is alone in a copse of trees, before being struck on the knee by a rock hurled by one of the giants.  The minions charge across the stream and stab one of the giants to death, whilst Taran hacks off the leg of another one.  Corinne is in her element, with Giants being one of her sworn enemies and a giant slaying sword in her hand she cuts them to pieces.  The healer has to jump into action to save the Dwarfs life as well as assisting many others with their numerous wounds, before we emerge triumphant.