Interlude

High Chantress Ethilian

14th Day, 10th Month Sister Athleen has come to me with news of her brother Athmund, she has finally found him and under her influence, his brotherhood has turned to the East. They travel with the blessing of Orome which works to ease the tombstone weight of their burden and speed their journey, just as well beacuse though they do not know it, they fly before the Swithern's goblin army travelling North East to the gathering.

15th Day 10th Month I have forbidden Athleen from drawing the brotherhood any nearer whilst they bear the eye, it risks revelation of sacred heart and that cannot be permitted. Athleen has instead taken Sisters Glorianna and Phoebe to meet them - they are borne by the great eagles and will attempt to destroy the eye before leading the brotherhood to Sacred Heart. I fear that they will not have the strength to overcome the artefact and no good will come of it. I have forbidden them from permitting it to come any closer, if they fail in it's destruction, then it will have to be delivered to the elves - they are closer to Aule, and will know how to deal with it.

17th Day 10th Month Yesterday, Sister's Glorianna and Phoebe returned on the eagles bearing numerous wounds, the body of Athleen and a terrible tale. They travelled West and met with the brotherhood on the evening of the 16th, they describe a difficult reunion between the two siblings, there were many questions and much discussion. Finally in the middle of the night they began the song of unmaking and bent their will to the eye - after several hours, the eye began to resonate with the song and before it could be struck appart it came alive. For several seconds Athleen was held transfixed in it's gaze before the Dwarf Braggi stepped forwards and struck it. The eye shattered into thousands of parts wounding all present, and Athleen fell into a dead feint from which she has not these two days recovered.

The brotherhood have been lead to Sacred Heart though I have not yet interviewed them.

Mopping Up Process

Sergeant Spignot

Well master, we did as you would have wished and obeyed our treacherous captain - it was him who insists that we storm the tower and take trophies. When they beats us, as you predicted master, the treacherous captain ordered the tower fired - it was me who made sure of the preparation of the brushwood fuel as you ordered master, and it was me who set the light and saw to it that it caught master, that was where Sergeant Tig was murdered by that treacherous hobbitses master.

We pulls back and then the captain finally does as he was told to and we steps back and takes our shots at them when they comes out the top of the tower. That had em panicy like and they starts jumping off the top - we got that snob elf good as he comes down all careful like and then the dwarf goes mad an just leaps. Well anyways them and another charge in and we have formed in ranks like. But they pick out the traitor captain who's in the front so as to make up for is screw up and save face like. Well the captain knocks out a lucky strike and whips off the snob elf's head clean as a whistle, but the he's gutted by a spear from this huge warrior they've got.

Well anyways I was thinking that I needed to make this report so I chooses this as a wise point to get away and regroup myself. Anyways - they don't persue us cause we fall back in good order and about a dozen of us gets away.

Funny thing is before we heads back to the main group, we went back to the tower, an hour or two laters and they've gone. What's more they haven't done no looting or nothing - we picked up the alchemics and our kit bags and yomped it back to camp.

Tir Elenath

Owain

There was smoke rising from the tower ahead. Was that where our Quarry had holed up for the night? Braggi and I agreed to scout ahead. We entered through the sally port at the rear. Having scouted the stairwell, there seemed to be no one about. The other joined us. Having entered through the less obvious entrance, perhaps we had by-passed our enemy's guard?

Secure the front gate 1st. No one there! Osiris was the first to spot the crude trap rigged by the door. Just as well we did not come that way. We were alerted that something was afoot, but what. Upstairs a warm fire burned in the hearth. Had they heard us on the stairwell? We rushed to the roof. That was our mistake.

The goblins had been waiting for us all along, and roused by their leaders they streamed from the snow covered trench in which they had concealed themselves. Osiris had a go at Braggi, but fortunately Athmund was able to calm them down. While the others rushed down to the safer defensive positions below, only Owain was left on the exposed roof top to slow up the enemy. With his little bow, and later his sling, Owain rained a stream of missiles down upon goblin hoard. Such was the effectiveness of Owain's archery, that two troops of goblins, almost 30 men, slowed up, and used volley fire to make Owain's position on the rooftop untenable.

Fiercely wounded, with an arrow that had gone right through his right shoulder Owain struggled down to the archery level. Athmund shouted up from the stairwell that Owain should get the Smaug Idol, and use it to flush out the goblins bottled up in the antechamber. Smaug's firebreath worked beautifully. As the goblins streamed out of the tower, they took heavy losses as the archers picked off the singed goblins. Positioning Smaug by the murder hole to be used again, Owain checked how Athmund and Braggi were doing, making sure Braggi knew where the idol was should it be needed again.

Back on the archery level, Owain heard the sound of breaking glass. Going to investigate their were shards of glass on the floor, and a pungent smell. Alchemical attack. Quick thinking, Owain spread his cloak over the acid, to
suppress the fumes, then another broke behind him. Getting bedding from the bedrooms, he was able to suppress this too before Athmund and Braggi (retreating up the stairs) were in danger of being affected.

The stout defence by all, and the frustration of the goblin subterfuges, lead to a general retreat by the enemy. Braggi, an expert in the ways of crafty goblins pointed out that the haste in escaping may mean worse was to come. While the rest of the party rained fire on the goblins, Owain snuck down the stairs to investigate, only to find himself toe to toe with the goblin chief. A grim struggle on the staircase took place, as Owain protected the archer's backs. Owain's skill at arms and advantageous positioning eventually gained the upper hand, and Braggi snatched the goblins scimitar as tongues of flame licked at him. The tower had been set alight.

Owain rushed up to warn the others. As the goblins gained the safety of the trench what would this band of heroes do?

Tir Elenath

Osiris

It was Owain’s screech that alerted us to danger. There below us, on the approaches to the tower, a dark mass streamed towards us. Goblins.

“A trap! To arms!”

Athmund grabbed up his spear as Ceri and myself unslung our bows from our backs. The dwarf, Braggi, hesitated.

“You see to the holding of the main gate whilst Ceri and I give them fire from above.”

The group ran as one from the roof of the tower. The goblins were fast and would be at the entrance nearly as soon as we.

“Why should I go?”guffed Braggi “I’m no fighter!”

“We’ll all be dead, fighters or no, if you don’t hold them. Here, take my shield, it will serve you well enough.”

We all ran headlong down the stairs, leaping them two at a time. Ceri and I took our posts at the arrow slits that guarded the approach. The goblins were almost on us already. Behind the vanguard, ominously came a group behind Mantlets. We set to shoot them straight away but their cover was good and it took us a few shots to get the range.

Downstairs, Athmund and the dwarf barrelled into the gate room to find the goblins almost upon them. The main gate, half broken from it’s hinges would not hold them long so Braggi, an engineer by all accounts, put his dwarven skills to use and desperately tried to shore up the door to buy the archers precious time. Behind him, Athmund searched for timber to help bar the way.

Above the gate Ceri and I did our best to thin their numbers but it seemed there were a great many of them, perhaps three-score in total. Nor were they weak creatures by any account and had had combat training by their formation and order. Finally, we were able to bring down, first one then two of the Mantlet carriers but it seemed all they carried were smoking bundles of grass. A diversion! ‘Tricksie Goblins’, as Owain would say.

By this time the goblin war-band had broken through the main gate and Athmund and Braggi were forced to retreat to the inner door of the gate room which the dwarf had had the foresight to prepare as an extra defence. So close were the goblins on their heels that they nearly lost that door straight away but by force of will and strong arm they were able to slam home the bolts and a take a quick breath before the ominous sound of axe on wood met their ears on the other side of the door.

Ceri and I finished the last few goblins that had not already reached the tower when at my side I heard such a wailing I believed for a second that I stood on a child’s toe. Instead though it was Owian, hopping from foot to foot and clawing at my side.

“Give me the dragon. Give me the dragon!” he screamed.
“Athmund told me, the dragon, the dragon.”

I tossed him the little statuette that held the dragon’s breath and returned to the job at hand – a few goblin archers brought up the rear and were still fair game for Ceri and myself.

“Just don’t give him the damn shard no matter what he says”, I said to Ceri who grinned and felled another goblin.

Suddenly a great “woomf!” filled our ears immediately followed by high-pitched squeals of pain. At first I though Owain had hurt himself again but no, he had used the statuette against the goblins in the gate-room below. In that confined space there was no escape and the fetid smell of burnt animal wafted up through the tower.

“I got them!, I got them!” shouted the hobbit, “ I saved your lives”.

The fight was far from over however and elsewhere real work was still to be done. The goblins that hadn’t been killed by the flames rushed from the gate room and gave us new targets for our arrows.

It was not long however before the main force attacked and were able to break down the now charred and weakened inner door. Athmund and Braggi met them on the stairs and began to fight a slow retreat upwards.

Outisde we heard the clink of piton in stone and realised the evil creatures were scaling the walls. “To the roof!”, shouted Ceri.

As we reached the roof, Braggi and Athmund fought on the stairs. The front line of the goblins, now able to reach their quarry, pressed hard against them. Braggi fought with short sword and shield whilst Athmund used his spear but found it too constricting on the tight spiral stair of the tower.

Elsewhere Owain was quick to spot, pots of some foul ichor, thrown through the arrows slits on the floor above and set to dealing with them. As soon as he tried however, he was nearly overcome with their fumes, and had to search for debris in the tower to smother them.

From the roof Ceri and myself looked down upon goblins climbing the walls and many more at their foot, including the rest of the archers. We began to pick them off as they came up although the goblins returned fire, and even though we had the cover of the battlements, their numbers told and Ceri was struck with a lucky shot that took him deep in the shoulder.

By now, though our arrows were beginning to tell and Athmund and Braggi’s defence was paying off. Even the goblin captain was unable to push past the two defenders and no sooner had the assault started than they began to pull back.

A brief respite was quickly replaced by alarm as we smelt smoke and a cloud of it began to billow up the stairwell. They would smoke us from the tower or see us burn!

All of our party then came to the roof and as myself and Ceri picked off a final goblin or so as they fled the others prepared an escape route from the back of the tower.