25th-28th of Sypheros

Sypheros 28th late afternoon, city of New Cyre Sivis messaging station

As I hastily scrawl this journal we are completing our final preparations for the battle of New Cyre and scouts herald the approach of the great Red Hand Horde. I need to start at the beginning or what occurred later will make little sense to the reader, should I fall in battle, as seems likely to occur given our current circumstances.

After rescuing the Ghost Lord, we finally resumed the interrupted journey to the capital of New Cyre and the long postponed meeting with Prince Orgev. As we struggled through the Thorn Wastes created by the Ghost Lord, we came upon a human male archer clad in livery analogous to the Cryan scouts. There was no badge to confirm this identification but given our location it seemed certain enough to allay any suspicion. Upon speaking with the archer we discovered that he was indeed a scout for New Cyre by the name of Simon Ghendt. When I told him we were traveling to New Cyre, he indicated that he was traveling in the same direction and thus I offered him a place among us, at least for the length of the journey.

My companions and I had only traveled a short distance with our new ally when we nearly overwhelmed by a deadly ambush. A small horde of mutated goblins spotted us struggling though the Thorn Wastes and charged in our direction. I cast my Prismatic Mist spell to wound the warped goblinoids but their leaders were too cunning to be fooled by such a transparent ploy. After their leader and a few others were blasted by the rainbow moats, a warning was screamed to the twisted goblins ordinging them to avoid the purple mist altogether. Even still the prismatic spell forced the Xoriat-warped creatures on a long arc to circumnavigate the deadly violet mist. This gave us a brief reprieve to prepare our stand against the humanoids.

Our our weaponless warrior Pazenga charged into the mist in order to exploit its potential as a safe haven from which to launch attacks at the grotesque creatures, trusting to his innate githzerai magic resistance to protect him from the rainbow motes’ deadly effects. As the creatures passed the half way point on their semi-circular path, I blasted the mutated mob on the left with an explosive ball of fire, nearly destroying them to a man. As Simon and I retreated before the horde on our right flank, Zed, Elarin, and the three warforged closed with the mutated goblinoids to prevent their advance. Just as it seemed we had the battle well in hand, the bizarre humanoids drew out potion bottles and began smashing them to the ground. The creatures were blowing themselves up in order to wound us, their enemies.

The events of the next few seconds occurred so rapidly that that no rational counter could be brought to bear. As I fled in horror, our three warforged allies, Crucible, Prong, and Smelt, were blown apart, damaged beyond hope of repair. Then Elarin was imprisoned in some sort of force bubble and was unable to continue the fight. Pazenga continued to harass the enemy but was unable to induce the creatures to persue him into the deadly mist. Only Zed fought on in the thick of the goblinoid horde and he was so badly damaged it was difficult to credit that he still stood upon his feet. Simon and I counter attacked with missile fire, force missiles and cloth-yard arrows, in order to give Zed what assistance we could. Pazenga moved into position to protect Zed’s flank and somehow Zed managed to hang on until all the creatures were slain, either by our hand or their own. I was quite grieved by the loss of our warforged and my inability to save them from the exploding goblinoids. I take some solace in the hope that perhaps if we are instrumental in the defeat of the Red Hand Horde, Prince Orgev might agree to some sort of monument or honorarium could be dedicated to those stalwart warforged warriors.

At camp that night we discussed the upcoming war and our role in the events to come. My associates in the Honor Guard agreed with my conclusion that time was of the essence. Zed and I stayed at camp an extra day while the others continued on to the elven tree village of Starsong Hill. While Zed warded my person, I worked out the particulars of a powerful spell I had perused while working as an assistant librarian at Korrenburg Library. After preparing the spell, I cast it upon our warforged champion Zed and as expected it summoned a shadow horse able to run tirelessly at speed for many hours. Cradled like a babe in Zed’s mighty arms, we raced towards New Cyre leaving our companions far behind.

Upon arrival at New Cyre we discovered that the elves had already arrived and that they had brought my beautiful wife Bryanna and our driver Failin with them. This simplified matters nicely. I was summoned to speak to Prince Orgev before I was able to reunite with my wife. In my haste to begin working on my part of New Cyre’s defense I was somewhat abrupt with Prince Orgev. When our business was complete I begged his forgiveness and sped off to find my young wife. After reuniting with Byranna, we checked into the Sivis messaging station and there found that we could take over the building as our head quarters because my cousins were fleeing New Cyre before the city was invested. Our time was short and our need was great and thus I decided that the best course of action was to have my talented wife craft two fog wands and ten scrolls of invisibility. For my part, I would devote my time to learning Bryanna’s divine invisibility spell and the time altering Haste spell from that hobgoblin wizard’s spell book, so long overlooked. But first I needed to locate Failin and meet with the Canniths of New Cyre in order to sell off our unusable items of magical power and purchase new equipment. It was a good thing that I did so quickly because the Canniths were as determined to quit the city as were my own gnomish cousins. With little haggling and much overcharging, we were able to purchase a number of useful items from the Canniths as well as to empty Failin‘s crowded wagon. Our most significant purchase being a battle-belt for Zed that would bend time allowing him a brief but eye-blurring series of blows. Another significant acquisition was a force shield ring for Pazenga that further protects him from enemy attacks.

After the remainder of my companions from the Honor Guard arrived in New Cyre, we were summoned to a protracted and contentious war council by Prince Orgev. The only significant decisions that the Honor Guard took part in was the disposition of the Blademark mercenaries and the priests. Although I freely confess to having absolutely no practical experience in warfare, I have read a number of treatises on the art of war. Drawing upon the advice of generals of the old Galifarian Empire, I proposed that the elite Blademarks ought to be mounted for quick response and concentrated into two groups of two hundred and fifty and placed at strategic locations to be employed as a tactical reserve in order to plug any holes in our lines and prevent a break out. Conversely, I suggested that the priests ought to be spread out among the men to heal our soldiers more readily, and to prevent unnecessary fatalities. Our own part in the coming conflict has already been predetermined by Prince Orgev; we are to be the relief force for the tactical reserve. I have some reservations about our chances against a foe that can put two hundred and fifty Blademarks to flight but we will do what we can to help.

I am watching my darling wife scribe the final spells of invisibility as I complete this entry. The Red Hand Horde is clearly visible in the distance and many fear an attack will come as early as tonight. I pray to the Sovereign Host to succor this city in its time of need. If we few defenders fall, many innocents will perish and many more may well beg for death and find even that mercy denied them.