Continuation of a letter to Queen Yolande from Envoy Skye Ni'Tessine
Part III

The Sea Prince exile Dervan Nial Cusar, unhappy with the strategy of holing up in the keep, looked about for volunteers to join a sortie and attempt to break through the enemy lines. Zook the halfling from the Principality joined a group of other rag-tag volunteers, leaving the rest of us to defend the Keep. With many of the Sea Prince mercenaries gone from the inner west wall, which they had been originally asked to guard, I moved back to that area to help shore up the defenses there. Joining other volunteers atop the wall, I saw Ansonia Raton, a fellow elf with whom I adventure. He quickly introduced me to the other defenders, and we set about waiting for the enemy.

Another series of distant warhorns were heard, and the barrage of bolts and acidballs stopped. Awaiting the enemy, we peered out roughly 40 feet from our walls, thanks to some sunrods and torches that were placed just beyond the wall. Scanning to the limit of our vision, we saw nothing, and yet we know what the lull in the barrage and the cry of warhorns signifies. Then, not less than 30 feet from our position, we heard the muttered sounds of spellcasting. Moments before we are affected by them, I recognized two Evard’s Black Tentacles and two Silence spells being cast, as the forms of four Duergar shook off their Invisibility spells and suddenly appear across from our position.

It’s no secret that mages are poor at freeing themselves from grappling opponents, and in fact I was not alone in this. All of us but one were affected by the two Evard’s Black Tentacles spells, and with the Silence effect I could not cast Dimension Door to free myself. Before we had a chance to react, two Ice Storms hit our position, and I saw my friend Ansonia Raton staggered and near death from the sudden impact. I realized, with a knot in my stomach, then none of us would be able to withstand another attack like this, and yet we were incapable of freeing ourselves.

One of our group, a spiked chain wielder, lay just outside the area of the two Silence effects. He put out a call for help, and fortunately he was heard. Within scant seconds, a spellcaster from a neighboring wall appeared and quickly assessed our situation. Casting Dispel Magic, he eliminated one of the Evard’s Black Tentacles. One of the diplomats, whom I do not recall unfortunately, also appeared and cast a second Dispel Magic freeing the rest of us.

Our foes were still present however, and so we quickly dispersed. Two of the fighters moved forward, only to discover that some of the Duergar had cast Spikes on the ground in front of us. The archer in our group remained on the wall, and with the aid of others took out the other Duergar mage. I flew backwards, and cast Dominate Person on one of the Duergar mages. “Do not harm the remaining Duergar mage” I yelled, and telepathically I instructed my minion to move towards us. Realizing what had occurred, the two remaining Duergar clerics called to their forces behind them to kill the enspelled mage, while they retreated backwards out of sight. Almost immediately, my minion was hit by a volley of bolts, and he fell under the onslaught before he had a chance to reach the safety of the walls. Nonetheless, our fighters eventually reached the bodies of the Duergar mages and ransacked their bodies.

Quickly dividing up the spoils, handing out potions to the fighters and wands to the elves, we heard cries of “Breach!” from one of the outer courtyard walls. The wall had been transmuted from rock to mud, and I saw people rush to the gap as unnaturally tall giants strode into the outer courtyard. I learned later than Knight Commander Wainwright had personally tried to stop them, and that he was captured for his efforts.

We had no chance to help, for while we saw that the outer walls would not hold much longer, we could hear the forms of densely packed heavily armed humanoids approaching us from just outside our position. We could still not see anything, and not wishing to fall prey to their Invisibility spells again, I cast See Invisibility. As they came into sight, I could make out their forms and following my lead Ansonia and I unleashed a stream of fireballs from our wands that decimated the approaching Duergar. None of them survived the deadly volley.

A messenger ran up to us, informing us not to proceed much outside the walls. Zook and the others who had attempted the sortie learned, the hard way, that several Forbiddance spells had been cast around our position. This prevented us from teleporting out, and harmed anyone that wasn’t lawful and evil-minded. Additionally, the Sea Prince exile Dervan Nial Cusar had been captured, though there were efforts to save him that were underway. With a pang of guilt, I realized that I was hired as Dervan’s guard.

As further cries of “Breach!” are heard from the outer walls, I quickly put aside my remorse and concentrate on the matter at hand. The sunrods and torches that we had laid outside of our position were suddenly snuffed out by Darkness spells, and we knew that something foul was afoot. Moments later, the archer next to me was then stuck by a well-placed poisoned arrow, and we realized with a start that our unseen foes must no doubt be within at least 30 feet of us. Yet even See Invisibility did not aid me in finding our assailants. We all rushed to the wall edge, peering out, and some of us eventually spotted our hidden snipers, laying prone in the moat and applying further poison to their bolts. Once we had spotted them, it proved easy to defeat these cunning Derro.

A cry is heard. "Fall back to the inner walls!". Those that had been trying in vain to hold off the enemy in the outer courtyard reluctantly withdrew, fighting defensively as they pulled back and took up new positions. Another cry is heard, and we realized that some diplomats had taken refuge in the gatehouse and had been left behind. I saw Airk Tynan and Gesandte, as well as Oskar and Zook, move to rescue the diplomats. I was not able to see what occurred next, but I learned later that as these brave individuals entered the courtyard a Death Knight arose from the ground, stirred from a centuries-long sleep by the fighting. He seemed a little confused, asking what year it was, and was quickly and easily dispatching Duergar who ventured too close to him. He challenged Airk to a duel, who accepted in order to delay the Death Knight, while Gesandte, Oskar, and Zook fought their way through a group of duergar to reach the diplomats. After no more than a few swings, Airk was laid low while the Death Knight was still unscathed. A Keoish adventurer joined the fray, and tried to speak with the Death Knight about Keoland. Surprisingly, the Death Knight was interested in what he had to say, and while they continued their discourse the others managed to rescue the diplomats. Enraged at being rebuffed, the Duergar attacked the Death Knight en masse, and with the collective weight of all the grappling foes they fell into the hole from whence the Death Knight had originally arisen.

A long dark figure steps out of the inky darkness beyond our walls, and one of my companions told me he felt as if his soul was being sucked out of his body; fortunately, he managed to resist the effect. I recognized the creature as a bodak, dressed in robes and wearing a golden torc of Ur-Flan design. He quickly stepped through a gap in our wall, as the rest of split up and dispersed in all directions. Doing our best to avoid looking at him directly, we attacked him from range, eventually felling him with our spells and arrows.

But there was scant rest for us as five twisted undead forms assaulted our walls, wearing vestments and silver regalia of Ur-Flan make, followed by four incorporeal shadowy forms behind them. Closing with us, we recognized them as wights and shadows. As we were fighting these new foes, a ghast who had managed to break in elsewhere walked over from another location of the keep, attacking our archer atop the wall. We were severely hurt and depleted of resources at this point, and while we could have no doubt handled them at any other time, we were facing grim odds.

A clarion call was heard, different from the deep low warhorns that we had gotten used to. From out in the darkness we could hear cries for Gran March, Yeomanry, the Principality, and a number of other nations. Suddenly arriving within sight, we saw humans, elves, halflings, half-orcs, and dwarves running up to our position, driving a wedge through our attackers. As they reached our inner wall, a powerful cleric amongst them flashed with holy energy, and the undead foes we were fighting crumbled to dust or panicked in disarray. Finally, exhausted both mentally and physically, realization dawned on us. The siege had been lifted!

The acting commander Knight Jaansen surveyed the field, and looked at us. "You have done heroes' work this night, but damn and blast!" he exclaimed. "Neither the Keoland standards nor the Duchy of Ulek army has mustered to the fight in time. It appears these barbarous murderers will escape, after raiding and burning our homes. Now they also have our ambassadors! Well, not while I am on the field!" He exclaimed, drawing his sword. "I know you have just fought one of the hardest battles in your life, but I must call upon you again. Will you assist me in recovering those taken?"

As one, we raised our fists and swords in support.

[Note: possible spoiler ahead for some older PoU scenarios]

However, that tale will be recounted in a separate missive. There are a number of observations which I feel should first be noted. After we took stock of what had occurred, we learned that the Kron Hills delegation had been rescued, as well as the Sea Prince exile Dervan Nial Cusar. However, the County of Ulek diplomat was still missing, as well as Knight Commander Wainwright. There was talk that both were abducted by mind flayers, and if so this means that they were working together with the duergar. As you know from my previous missives, the duergar and mind flayers underneath the Lortmil Hills are at odds with each other, and work at cross-purposes. Thus, it seems likely that we can discount their involvement. Rather, this looks like the act of the Coven, a group of mind flayers and duergars who claim to be Mind Merchants. However, their actions have been subtle and covert in the past, and they work for pay. Why they have chosen to act so brazenly, and how they managed to convince so many humanoids tribes to aid them, escapes me. The existence of a Death Knight underneath the Keep should be noted, as it is not likely to remain there now that it has been roused. And the presence of so many undead, the corpses of which data back to Vecna's empire, indicate the work of powerful and ancient necromancers.

Yours in trust,
Envoy Skye Ni’Tessine