Setup
The party stands atop a small hillock about a mile from Highbridge. The outer wall of the city shows a huge scar where a hole had been blasted in it and then quickly repaired. On the far side of the High Bridge, Overtown has been completed destroyed and only rubble remains. The Farthing Yards are now filled with the huts and lean-tos of people from Overtown or farther east. This overflow of hastily constructed buildings extends outside of the Farthing Yards gates and a small village has grown up outside the gates. The largest building is the apothecary belonging to young wizard Pinna.
In the meantime, the flag over the city is no longer that of the Empire of Polonia, but is instead the red sun on a brown field of The Hate Incarnate.
First Off, Shopping!
The party meets the wizard Pinna as they shop for potions in her apothecary. Rhagal, apparently having eaten bad shellfish in the Feywild, is spewing from both ends and spends his time looking for an herbal remedy. While Corliss enlists Pinna in a joke to tell Rhagal that his condition may be permanent, the party buys her full supply of healing potions and gets two sleeping potions for free. Hurodash buys some herbs from the back room - apparently he feels the need to counterbalance his rages - while Ser Shadow tries his luck flirting with Pinna.
While shopping, the party is recognized by Joc, who goes running from the building to tell his friend Kelmen Longbottom that the folk heroes have returned. Hurodash quickly gives chase though and tackles him. After the party realizes that they have achieved a certain level of folk hero status in their absence, they follow Joc to The Reluctant Pig to meet Selma Longbottom. More hero worship ensues and Yancey Figbottom appears and invites them back to the college later for a debrief with Mistress Valenna. While walking about town, Hurodash retrieves a hooded, white lion skin vest that he had made years ago.
At the college, Valenna gets a recap of what happened in the Feywild and also explains what had happened in the city during the five years that the party were gone. Essentially, she explains the The Upheaval of Nations. She takes a copy of the A Guide to Etiquette for Ancient Ceremonies manuscript and haughtily informs the party that she will be informing them of her next set of plans for them.
Making Friends is Fun
The party returns to The Reluctant Pig and is enjoying a free meal - and in the case of Ser Shadow, enjoying the attention of the barmaid Stephanie. Then, the door is thrown open and Brother Pelliton strides in surrounding by a few of his cohorts and the sniveling, bootlicking sycophant that Martin Shimlock has become. At a gesture from Brother Pelliton, Martin strides forth and reads the following pronouncement:
“Behold Brother Pelliton, Blessed Dawnseeker of Lathander! Scourge of Scattered and Defeated Polonians. He bears a proclamation from your new lord: the Prophet Ezekiern, he who is fated to be the new Morninglord. The Prophet demands the head of Bonebreaker Dorokor, lieutenant of the so-called Ancient Empire of the Unending Lands, the lawless beasts that breached the walls of Highbridge, slaughtered hundreds, and was only driven off by The Hate Incarnate under the Blessing of Lathander. The prophet promises the glory of brortherhood, the blessing of the Prophet himself, and five hundred gold marks to whosoever brings to him the head of the lieutenant.”
The Brothers of the Hate Incarnate then stride around generally show their disdain for the citizenry by eating their food, drinking their ale, and ruining their meals. Selma Longbottom, the proprietor of the inn, is known to be no shrinking violet but she stands with her back pressed to the wall, face white, and makes no objection. Only a snarky exchange between Yornan and Corliss breaks the silence.
Brother Pelliton quickly confronts the party and while Corliss makes a few choice comments before backing down, Pelliton still feels as if has cowed them into submission. A curious glance or three passes between Pelliton and Yornan, enough such that all notice it. Nonetheless, Yornan states that he knows Pelliton from before and offers no further explanation.
Things Go Boom
Close to midnight, a pink flash and an explosion light the night sky. The Reluctant Pig clears out as everyone rushes to find that Pinna’s apothecary is on fire and she is missing. Hurodash follows a set of booted tracks - perhaps numbering as many as fifteen - to the High Bridge. On the way, the corpses of city guardsman are found strewn about.
The party discovers a rear guard of orcs - each dressed in the ancient armor that the party had seen in use in the Temple of Eternal Embers. A battle ensues - punctuated by Ser Shadow diving off the bridge and swimming the river to appear behind the orcs - and while Yornan is felled by a mighty single blow and then revived, the party is eventually victorious.
As the last orc falls, a militia consisting of armed citizenry and some of the City Constabulary arrives. The party decided that it is too late to press on and that they’ll return to The Reluctant Pig and decide their next course of action the following morning.
Setup
Having received permission from the Archduchess Leylandra to head upstairs to the library tower, the party prepares for the ascent. Unfortunately, Yornan is pulled into an alcove by Severus, the tattooed would be paramour of Ser Shadow during the previous session. As Yornan protests, the party waves for him to stay at the party and Corliss even casts a Silence spell upon him.
Upstairs
The party peruses the books on the main floor of the library tower and talks to the librarian. After Corliss, Hurodash and Ser Shadow acquire library cards, the librarian informs them that they are free to take the staircase upstairs, but that there are anomalies on floors 3 and 6.
The party attempts to sneak up the staircase to the third floor but is quickly intercepted by Baby Sphinxes that pepper the party with riddles. Corliss answers each with astonishing ease and paves the way for them to effortlessly attain on audience with the mother Sphinx on level 3. She has punched a huge hole in the wall for access and has shredded all the books on the level in order to line her nest. When asked about information about the Convergence, she replies that she has repurposed that book but that thankfully she read it (and all the other first) and can still help them out. In exchange she wants to party to head up to the sixth floor and clear out a nuisance that she is afraid is attempting to snatch and harm her children. The party agrees and heads up the stairs.
The nuisance turns out to be three beautiful, young women that are innocently sitting cross-legged around a boiling cauldron chanting poetry. Much like the third floor, this floor is also in poor shape as the books and shelving have been broken down and used as fuel to heat the cauldron. Attempts to sneak onto the floor fail as both Rhagal and Ser Shadow trip over broken bits and each other on the way in.
The nice young ladies attempt to lure in the party with their wiles, but the party is having none of it and quickly launches an attack. The lovely lasses turn invisible and then reappear, raking the party with claws and spells and neutralizing Corliss and Hurodash. With the upper hand, these sweet, young women seem mere moments from victory when Ser Shadow proposes a bargain. The party will lure the baby sphinxes up to this floor in exchange for the lifting of the spells and curses on the party. The group of studious gals agrees and lifts the curses but Corliss pays no heed and instantly relaunches an attack.
However, this time, with their best spells already cast, the young women have a rougher time of it and the damage that they take not only injures them but also appears to make the age. At the end, the dead bodies on the ground are three leathery, almost lizard-like corpses. In their inimitable style, the party drags the carcasses back down to the third floor to show their prizes to show them to the Sphinx. She fishes a few pages out of her nest and gives them to the party before informing that there may be a way home for them amidst the mirrors on the fifth floor.
Going Home
The party finds the mirror on the fifth floor that will send them back to the outskirts of Highbridge. Cappen Varra arrives at the last moment and drops off Yornan so that the party does not forget him. Corliss and Cappen trade insults and Cappen reveals that they share a patron before the party leaps through the mirror.
When they return, things appear different than before. From their perch on a nearby hill, they see the city of Highbridge, but its tall, stone walls look heavily damaged and hastily repaired. The Polonian flag no longer flies over the city, instead Yornan recognizes a familiar brown banner sporting a glowing red sun. Overtown is missing altogether and the Farthing Yards look packed with temporary housing and refugees.
And, perhaps more ominously, the skies are a sooty gray and plumes of smoke emanate from peaks in the Badcrag Mountains.