The night's protagonists:
John : Rorick-stable hand half orc
Kyle : Sten- investigative journalist half elf
Laura : Thalie kraftwerk gnome tinkerer
Jes : Kaya Tenderreed halfling new recruit
Sten’s workplace, the Therengrad Post, is on fire. A wizard is burning it as an act of terrorism, stem runs in to grab his notes. He is pro wizard but is now kind of wondering if that is the best plan.
Thalie and Sten had been discussing troubles happening with materials missing from Thalie’s shop when the fire broke out.
The wizard, Donlan, one of the ash hounds, throwing fire is rounding up for another fireball to be thrown at the newspaper, Thalie tries to stop him by yelling “hey, stoppit!”
Next door, the horses in The stables begin to panic, and Rorick runs outside to see the scene.
Sten recovers some papers and things, but also sees a co-worker who was killed.
Kaya trots over, “seems like overkill to me. She’s on fire.”
The wizard looks impatient and annoyed. He is distracted and so Rorick walks over and punches him in the face, ending the fireball.
Thalie yells out “Stop this ruckus!”
The wizard is angry and claims the wizards are taking the town.
While the others argue, Sten runs out, crashing through the wall with sheaths of notes and things.
Donlan is trying to decide whether or not to kill the two not wizards, he splits his fireball.
Kaya talks him out of killing Rorick and Thalie and Sten talk him out of killing Sten.
Rorick runs off to make sure the horses are safe,
Sten sorts through the things he has saved
Thalie checks on her shop and Kaya decides she should go to the gate as Donlan stalks off through the growing crowd.
Fires are blooming all over town as the TSR decides to carve the farmers out of town.
Sten stashes his notes in Thalie’s shop and the group of us head out to the gate to find out what is happening.
As we near the gate we see a gravely injured wizard with three arrows sticking out of them. He is a retired magical weapon smith who now entertains children - Thorin Undergrad.
At the gates there are groups of town guards with bows.
Thalie calls for a healer and a guard fires off an arrow at her.
The guards are rallying around the gates and the wizards seems to have fallen back.
Thalie conjures up a cloud of fog and we run off, Rorick scoops us Thorin and brings him with us to heal him. Thalie binds his wounds.
Kaya asks what happens and finds the 12 archers managed to kill the mages who attacked the gate.
Thorin insists it is time for the mages to take over, they should no longer bow to the farmers.
Kaya suggests we should go talk to her intake counsellor Landiss to find out what is going on.
We head to the TSR manor at the edge of town square.
The streets are chaotic, townsfolk are running for cover
Kaya sees a classmate of hers, Serayna, being beaten by a crowd of townsfolk.
Kaya sneaks into the middle of the crowd and attempts a thunderwave that just sort of pops and annoys the townsfolk. Rorick tries to jump in and attack the townsfolk but misses, Kaya attempts to create a hole through which to escape but only really angers another farmer again. Sten throws a dagger that slides right through the melee without hitting anyone. Both Rorick and Sten are invited by the farmers to join the fight.
Thalie fires magic missiles at the crowd and three go down.
Rorick steps forward slams the last two townsfolks heads together, knocking then unconscious.
Kaya is crying, feeling Sereyna is dead but Thalie reassures her she is still alive.
Rorick picks up Sereyna the half elf wizard and they all run to the manor.
They reach Landiss in his office, drinking,
Landiss tells them where to bring Sereyna for care and asks why Kaya was out
He sees Thalie and knows her too.
He asks how things are going and gets distracted by Rorick.
Sten is taking notes.
Landiss says it wasn't supposed to be like this.
He says it was supposed to resolve peacefully
He says the ash hounds were supposed to be out of town and the first years should have been in the dorms.
It should have been talked through, with maybe a show of force.
Landiss asks Thalie if she remembers Bertrand Prescott.
He was supposed to reason with the city council.
He tells her that she is not Alone, but he is no good to her.
There is still a chance no one else has to get hurt.
She says it is not too late for them. There is some strange subtext between Thalie and Landiss… lost love perhaps?
So they head off and drop Sereyna with the healer and then head off to find Prescott.
The fighting in town is heating up, the town guards getting organized.
We head out to find the city council members
On the same street as Thalie's store is one council members homes, which we head to and knock. This is councilman Emmett Howell’s home, a second generation councilman.
After some whispering from the darkness the councilman comes to the door, but he is not really the councilman.
Rorick tries to bluff badly, Sten, who doesn't realize the deception is starting to tell the truth.
Kaya runs inside to see what is happening as Rorick tries to grab the man, this man changes into a half-elf. Lucas Wheeler.
Kaya finds the councilman’s family hiding inside. Kaya tries to convince the wife to tell them where her husband is. The wife doesn't give up information but the older daughter speaks up. Her mother shushes her but she points to the trap door beneath the stairs.
Kaya isn't sure if they can trust Lucas but he insists he doesn't want to kill anyone.
While discussing the events Sten looks down into the trap door to see how the councilman is. He tells him Lucas had been killed (he went invisible and ran away) and the councilman comes out but is then startled by the sight of magic users in his home.
Sten tries to bluff him but fails, he steals Sten’s notes and gets more and more angry. Before things can get worse Rorick knocks him out.
Kaya convinces the councilman’s family to hide and promises she will do everything she can to prevent him being killed.
We take the councilman to the council chambers where we are asked who we are and told to come forward.
We all walk into the council Rorick sets councilman Howell in his chair.
Bertrand Prescott is there, along with many other wizards. (Including Sebastian, an assassin)
Kaya stands beside and slightly in front of Howell’s chair.
Rorick backs off, Sten scribbles notes do Thalie keeps a weather eye on Sebastian.
Bertrand asks us why we came and helped.
He speaks to the assembled council, saying he is asking not for conquest, we are asking for space.
He moves to sit down and continues talking. He suggests the mages could leave and allow Sebastian to take care of the council. Kaya tells him that she made a promise to the councilman’s wife that no harm would come to him.
The councillors and the guild leaders and the priestess stay in the room, discussing.
Bertrand tells us all we could leave but we all decide to stay until the end.
It is a few hours later when the high priestess emerges with the signed papers. The concessions have been accepted.
Kaya looks at Bertrand and asks who is in charge now?
He says it looks like we are.
Rorick feels that though leadership has changed nothing much will have changed for him.
Sten is rushing to publish the story of his adventure, including hooks and paperbait.
Kaya thinks , shit. No one in class is going to believe I was involved with this
Thalie is conflicted. It seems like a new day but she wonders what might have happened to her customers. And wonders if she should see Landiss.