Rhondol Campaign
Chronicle of Khardihr City Guard,
Grey Company
Lieutenant Hollistan is dead.
As is customary with City Guard units, we rotate about the city and outlying territories under Khardihr’s control. This happens every quarter-year, unless circumstances dictate otherwise. Pirate activity in and around the Svlind Island chain usually dictates having two companies of Guard active in the area at all times, but a sudden increase caused that to rise to three companies recently. Red and White Companies were already stationed on the islands, and Grey Company was sent in to reinforce positions.
I understand why the Council thought this to be necessary. The Duke wasn’t too thrilled with the idea, but she never is. Companies do not necessarily get along with each other, but there is enough in the Svlind that needs guarding that Company rivalries didn’t really come into play. We got stationed on one of the larger islands at the bottom end of the chain and got set up.
We don’t call her The Duke because she’s a nob. Supposedly, The Duke is one of the last members of a fallen noble house, but we call her The Duke because she’s a natural at military tactics and command, like the Dukes of ages past.
She’s got this standard set of tactics for situations like we found ourselves in, depending on whether we’re mobile or not. In this instance, we were both. While third and first Cohorts set up defensive works on shore, under the direction of Lieutenants Stonecutter and Hollistan, second Cohort went out patrolling. I don’t know what the other Companies have for equipment, but Grey Company has a pair of Cogwheel-pattern sailing ships. High fore- and aft-castles, three masts, swivel guns for deck clearing, and enough light cannons for a decent broadside attack.
Firepot keeps insisting that he wants to modify one of the Cogwheels into a side-wheeler, but The Duke keeps shooting the idea down. Costs too much, or some such nonsense.
I’m in my customary position, up front on the forecastle of Grey Dove, when the lookout calls down that he sees sails chasing us. We heaved to and sailed back to where first and third cohorts were setting up their defenses. It didn’t take long for The Duke and Lieutenant Duhanden to identify the sails as part of Blackmaw’s pirate fleet.
I really cannot go into a lot of detail about the ensuing battle at the moment, largely because I am still compiling my notes. Blackmaw’s fleet – and I’m pretty sure it was just a tiny portion of his fleet, not the entire fleet – outnumbered us ten-to-one in terms of ships, but The Duke’s plans went perfectly. We drew them closer to the island and let the shore batteries open up on the enemy.
There was some boarding action. One of the pirate vessels tried to take Swan Song, but the Lieutenant and his halberdiers saw them off handily. We captured one pirate vessel, sank three more from cannon fire, but the remainder sailed out of range of the shore batteries. The Duke ordered us not to give chase. We spent the remainder of the afternoon fishing pirates out of the water. A few went into the brig, but quite a few were identified from the stack of wanted signs in the Commander’s mail and executed on the spot for crimes against the City.
Not that everything went our way. Swan Song and Grey Dove took damage from enemy fire, with Swan Song being holed twice, but fortunately both times above the waterline. Still, that meant we had to dock her for a while to repair the damage to the hull. We lost several guardsmen aboard both ships, with many more wounded.
On shore, the pirate crews were firing back at our shore batteries, but with little to no effect. That is, until one of the pirate cannons struck the powder store near the battery Lieutenant Hollistan was standing next to. Part of our lines on shore began to falter when a chunk of barrel stave went through the Lieutenant’s chest, but Sergeants Dice and Clock kept things together in the aftermath.
As I write this, the guards on carpentry duty are finishing up the patches to Swan Song’s hull. The Duke and Lieutenants Duhanden and Stonecutter are trying to decide what to do with the pirate ship that we captured, and who to promote to Hollistan’s position. Gravedigger detail has buried our dead, and as is custom, their belongings have been cataloged for Company dispersement or return to their families.
On the bright side, we finally figured out where “Happy” Hollisten got his nickname from. Turns out old Happy had a stash of dried bloodthread berries in his belongings. One of those a day and the euphoria just kind of wraps you up in a blanket of cheer. At least until the seeds take root in your gut and the bloodthread vines reach your heart. We showed them to The Duke, and he ordered the Gravediggers to exhume Lieutenant Hollistan and cremate him and his stash of berries.
As Hollistan was the previous Company Chronicler, that task has been passed on. To me. As is tradition, the position of Chronicler is passed on to the Sergeant in second cohort with the longest tenure. On the condition that he or she is literate, at any rate. On the plus side, this means I get my own office back in the Company’s barracks back in Khardihr. It is full of previous volumes of this Chronicle, but it still means I get a bit of privacy. For now. Under The Duke’s orders, I am to study the previous volumes of the Chronicles during my free time and give readings from them once a month.
Thus ends the Second Book of Hollistan, and begins the First Book of Tapper.
Chronicles of Grey Company 2
Book of Tapper
This has not been a good day for Grey Company.
To start with, the Council ordered us to investigate several locations surrounding Khardihr, before we had any down time, and well before Swan Song or Grey Dove were repaired. On the plus side, as the Council was sending our Cohorts to different locales, they lent me, as Chronicler, a small airship to shuttle me back and forth between the three targets we were exploring.
As is usual, I started my tasks by following Lieutenant Duhanden and Second Cohort. Our target: the Mountains of Maraz. We were air-dropped within walking distance of the settlement we were aiming for, but we weren’t there long.
The people of the mountains sent word that the undead were over-running their tunnels. What they did not mention was that they’d poured out of the mountains in force and were attacking people outside the mountains as well. We barely had time to disembark when the advance scouts shouted a warning and they were upon us. Lieutenant Duhanden was a blur of action, leading our defense long enough for us to get the cannons set up. That great-flail he uses as a walking staff looks silly, with its trio of small, spiked balls hanging from short chains at the top, but in the Lieutenant’s hands it is shockingly dangerous.
Every time he moved, it resulted in downed opponents, but we all knew this was only the vanguard of the attack. It took us some time to figure out who was attacking us, but by the time Firepot identified our opponents as ghouls, and not zombies, we were already starting to fall back.
We never had the time to unlimber the guns from their caissons. Instead, we had to rely on an old trick from bygone days. The heavier guns we just sent away with the scouts to find someplace we could defend. Lighter guns, mostly six-pounders but a few eight-pounders as well, were used in pairs for strike-and-fade. Sergeant Ullini was a master of this tactic. He had the crew of one gun team back off about ten yards and prep the cannon, while we guarded the other as it fired. Then we swapped, allowing the second to fall back and reload while the first fired.
It did not help much though. We were losing, and we knew it. Limp went down first, torn to pieces by our attackers, his pistols scattering into the brush. He was soon followed by Tarry, Tarot, Plinker, and Yareg.
By the time we managed to reach the small hilltop the scouts had found for us, we’d lost almost a third of Second Cohort, and that was before the enemy’s bigger elements found us. Luckily for us, by the time we did, the gunners and scouts had managed to get the big guns set up and ready. When the first ogre-sized monstrosity broke the tree cover, it was met with a hail of grapeshot from one of the twenty-pounders, and was torn to shreds.
While the Lieutenant directed the defense, I was ordered to take the small airship the Council had lent me and send word to the city. We sped back there as quickly as possible, and by the time I was on my way to join up with First Cohort, they were sending a pair of sky-frigates to pick up whoever remained.
Hopefully they wouldn’t waste too much time trying to retrieve the cannons. I know they’re expensive, but this time I think it would be better to just spike the damned things and try to pick them up later.
Chronicles of Grey Company 03
Book of Tapper
After returning from the Mountains of Maraz, I was then sent to check up on First Cohort’s attempts to find and rescue other survivors in the ruins of Civilia. I was hopeful that Second Cohort would be able to extract itself from Maraz without too much difficulty, but I won’t be able to find out until I return to Khardihr.
The tiny, private skyship that the Council has granted unto me, as Chronicler for Grey Company, is not the most comfortable way to travel, but it is fast. I spent a lot of time clinging to the rigging out of fright, after making the mistake of looking down shortly after our second departure from Khardihr.
Turns out I’m scared of heights. Not a helpful time to find out, but nothing I can do about it while I’m stuck on a skyship, right?
Civilia’s ruins, wrapped in a shroud of mist and fog, rose from the wreckage of the river it once straddled like skeletal ribs reaching up from the ground. I know I am waxing a tad poetic about it, but anyone viewing it from the air cannot fail to see the imagery. It is an eerie and spooky place, and difficult to navigate to any specific point within the ruins without magical aid. Lucky for me, First Cohort’s mage, a jovial but bitter woman known as Seeker, gifted me with a stone enchanted to guide the way to her location.
Cautiously, we dropped downwards close to where the guidestone said they would be, and were soon hailed by First Cohort’s scout company. They guided my skyship into where the Cohort had made its base, in the shattered remains of the city’s Northern gatehouse. To my surprise, First Cohort had already made contact with the survivors within the ruins, but negotiations were not going well.
Khardihr’s Council really does not want to evacuate the survivors to someplace safer, instead preferring to leave them in place with supplies and more people. They hope to rebuild at least part of the city as a new trading partner and strongpoint. The survivors, on the other hand, really just want to get the heck out of there.
After reviewing the situation at hand, Lieutenant Stonecutter agrees with the survivors, but cannot go against the Council’s orders. At least, not at the moment. About two-thirds of the city is flooded and underwater, with only broken walls reaching up out of the choppy waves. It did not take Stonecutter long to realize that he wouldn’t be able to hold the city against the current issue. Out in the flooded ruins, there is a constant battle raging. Pirates in their cannon-laden ships against orruks in crudely lashed-together rafts and captured vessels. First Cohort has had to defend their base against both orruks and pirates already.
Their only saving grace is that the orruks and pirates are too busy fighting each other to take much notice of the survivors or Grey Company, but that won’t last forever. Stonecutter has asked me to return to Khardihr to advise the Council and request extraction for First Cohort and the survivors. I am reluctant to board the skyship so soon after setting foot on dry ground, but orders are orders, so back aboard I go.
Death toll among First Cohort is light so far. Known dead are Ylinor, Cube, Sneak, Dour, and Swindler. Eight more are currently missing. Lieutenant Stonecutter has promised to collect their names for me.
Chronicles of Grey Company 04
Book of Tapper
As per Lieutenant Stonecutter’s orders, I returned to Khardihr and told the Council about his assessment of the situation. My report fell on deaf ears, but to be honest, we expected nothing else. It is good for me that the Council never reads these Chronicles. As of late, the Council does not seem to be doing what is best for Khardihr as a whole, but what is best for the Council. Their orders of late do not make sense at times. The Duke was already there when I made my report. Orders from the Council are to hold Civilia at all cost. The only question the Council is debating at the moment is whether to move Khardihr to hover over the ruins of Civilia, or leave it where it is.
When the Council told us this, The Duke said her piece. She told them, point-blank, that moving Khardihr to hover over the ruins was a bad idea. The presence of the city would attract enemies to the ruins like moths to a flame. As usual, the Council told The Duke to mind her own business and not to try interfering in Council business. As The Duke is, to my knowledge, the most experienced military tactician in the city, I personally believe the Council is ignoring her advice to the detriment of the city as a whole.
Not that we had a choice in the matter. As the Council session progressed, The Duke was ordered to lead the defense of Civilia, and told to use any resources that Grey Company had at its disposal. Probably the first order that made any sense at all.
While The Duke headed over to Grey Company’s barracks, to spur the remainder of Grey Company into readiness, I returned to my office to grab some ink and other supplies. Within a few hours, we were airborne again. While the remainder of Grey Company gathered their belongings and prepped for war, The Duke and I boarded the small skyship at my disposal and flew off to Civilia. We landed in the encampment First Cohort had set up. We hadn’t even disembarked before The Duke was shouting for Lieutenant Stonecutter and calling out orders to people.
By the time I had gotten down from the skyship, Second Cohort had arrived. Unknown to me, The Duke had sent them orders to go directly to Civilia following the retreat from the Mountains of Maraz. As they unloaded equipment from their own ship, I began to frown. From the looks of things, about half of Second Cohort was either lost or on the wounded list. Lieutenant Duhanden filled me in on those we lost while waiting for The Duke to finish giving orders to First Cohort.
Spindle, Flail, Target, Brannon, Blink, Tucker, and Quill are among the dead. He will give me a full list when we have more time. Surprisingly, Second Cohort was able to retrieve most of the cannons they’d deployed. They lost several horses to the ghouls, but that was to be expected.
Eventually The Duke tired of giving orders to First Cohort and caught up to Duhanden and myself. The Lieutenant and I fell in step behind The Duke, and we headed into the ruins to track down Sorrah Nikos. After asking around several times, we eventually were directed to a tower where she was meeting with the head of another faction that wished to ally with the survivors. As we stepped inside, we were greeted by a group of ghouls!
I tensed up, ready to run if need be. The Lieutenant stiffened his grip on his flail, but relaxed suddenly. When The Duke leaned in to ask if these were the ghouls who’d attacked Second Cohort in Maraz, Lieutenant Duhanden told her no, their Court markings were different. It took me a moment of scrutiny to realize that he was telling the truth. They informed us that Sorrah Nikos was meeting with their master, one Gaston de Heulierplaine. When one of them saluted us, I returned the gesture with our company salute.
By the time we’d introduced ourselves, Sorrah and Gaston had finished their meeting, forming an alliance of sorts. I was in for a bit of a shock. I hadn’t been with the Company as long as the Lieutenant, so when The Duke introduced herself as Commander Erasmina Keszler, I had to bite my lip to keep from gasping in shock. House Keszler was one of the founding families of Khardihr, long, long ago! They’d fallen into a slump as the family fortunes sank, but that meant The Duke really was a Duke. Well, Dutchess, if you want to be picky.
It wasn’t long before The Duke and Sorrah Nikos were discussing defense and tactics, and before I realized what had happened, we were standing back in Grey Company’s encampment, watching a pair of skyships lower the Hammer of Khardihr, a massive wall-shattering cannon, onto a gun carriage that Fourth Cohort had built for her. I introduced Miss Nikos to Sergeant Crank, head of Fourth Cohort (our Engineering Cohort, for those who do not know), and before I knew it they were deep in discussion over fields of fire, aiming techniques, and possible ways to improve the admittedly primitive support framework for the Hammer.
For the foreseeable future, our encampment in the ruins of Civilia will be Grey Company’s headquarters. We have constructed a palisade wall, using ruined sections of the city’s wall as anchors where we could, and are in the process of adding a small port to our enclosed area. We should be ready to start taking pot-shots at the enemy hiding out in the ruins by morning…
Chronicles of Grey Company 05
Book of Tapper
Well, this sucks.
I will update the deadroll if and when I manage to return to Khardihr. At the moment, that looks rather unlikely, but we shall see.
Where to start.
Sorrah Nikos is a traitor and a follower of Chaos? Yeah, that sounds like a good place. She and her crew took us by surprise. We were gathered together, discussing the defense, when Lieutenant Duhanden suddenly gasps, falls forward, and then – get this – vanishes in a clap of thunder! The rush of air knocked everyone sprawling, but the damage was done. We lost half our number in less than ten minutes. Many dead, many more captured.
I was one of the ones captured, but I suspect the dead may be the lucky ones. I was thrown into a small cage hung from the ceiling inside a building that Nikos uses for her base of operations. Sorrah Nikos takes the captured ones out, one by one, and does… something… to them? I’m not sure what, exactly, but when she’s done they’re twisted monstrosities of the men and women they once were. The cage was not comfortable, and they weren’t feeding us or anything. Not surprised at that, really.
A few hours ago, Cloak and his crew – Fourth Cohort’s saboteurs – snuck through the area. One of them managed to free me and several others from the cages before they ran off. Apparently, Nikos stole the Hammer of Khardihr, and The Duke wants it shut off using the failsafe runes. While the others who were released took off out of here as fast as they could, I was running a bit slower. My cage was hung higher up than the others, and it took me a long time to climb down.
I’m not stupid. I still have some scraps of parchment, a charcoal pencil, my spyglass, and for some reason my bronze breastplate from my armor, but my leg is injured, and I have no weapons. I’m not going to get far on my own. Instead of trying to escape, I’ve found myself a hiding hole within the ruins. I can see the North entrance to this section of the ruins from here, and found a jar with some grain in it that hadn’t been breached. Not the tastiest meal, but better than nothing. One of Nikos’ monstrosities found me, but I managed to kill it with a brick and took a pair of daggers from it. At the moment, I am hiding, biding my time.
Oh, and dodging lightning strikes. Stormcast are attacking Nikos. I don’t know which group of Stormcast this is, off the top of my head, but they don’t seem to be faring too well against Sorrah’s allies. Lots of drake-fire raking the ruins, and I’ve had to duck behind the wall to keep from getting killed a couple of times.
I think Lieutenant Duhanden was a Stormcast. I remember now where I heard that thunderclap before. Bit of a surprise to me. I wonder if The Duke knows? I know she is alive. For now, anyway. I can see her and the remainder of the crew from here. They are trying to hold one of the approaches into the ruins on the North. I know Fop is dead. Someone wearing that stupid flashy hat he likes went down under the spear of the enemy, so either he bought it, or he died earlier and whoever took his hat just died.
I don’t think anyone is coming to help me. The Duke is falling back, trying to find a defensive point. If I am getting out of here, I may be on my own…
Entry 06, Book of Tapper
…or not. Gaston de Heulierplaine, the commander of the Ghouls that were holding our flank, just arrived at this ruin. Interesting. He has a pair of unusual dog-things with him, and seems to be looking for someone. Hmm…
I do not know if he is an ally or an enemy at this point, but his ghouls were captured alongside Grey Company soldiers. Even if he proves to be my enemy, the enemy of my other enemy (Sorrah in this case) may be my friend for a time. Gaston has been an honorable ally prior to now. I may regret this, but I think I will sneak down and see if I can join him in whatever he is doing.
Entry 07, Book of Tapper
Joining up with Gaston was a good idea. He is still our ally, though it sounds like there isn’t a Company for me to go back to anymore. I was following him discreetly, keeping to the shadows. I don’t know why his canines did not sense me, but they ignored my presence.
He found the chamber he was looking for, opened it to rescue one of his higher-ranked soldiers, and Sorrah Nikos herself confronted him.
I listened for a time, struggling not to try slipping my daggers into her back. It is a good thing I resisted that urge. Before I even knew he was there, Mist slipped from the shadows. He is supposedly a member of Grey Company, one of Cloak’s Fourth Cohort saboteurs.
And I just found out he is a follower of the Daemon God of Change.
This explains a lot about past events in the Company. I have been slowly reading through the older Chronicles as free time permits, and Mist has been around for a long time. He always seems to come through things in one piece. This might have something to do with it. Apparently, he spirited The Duke and the few survivors of Grey Company out of the ruins and back to Khardihr. I do not think The Duke knows about his duplicitous nature. I waited until Sorrah had vanished before showing myself to Gaston. He did not seem completely happy to see me, but I think he knew that neither of us was getting out of here on our own.
We are heading out now. Captain Levi, Gaston’s soldier, is in bad shape. I do not know if he will make it out of here with us, but we shall see. I’m going to try to scrounge up a better weapon or two on our way out of here, but for now I’m just trying to keep the enemy from sneaking up on us.
Chronicle of Grey Company… 08…..?
Chronicle of Tapper… 01?
I don’t know what to do anymore.
Linking up with Gaston de Heulierplaine was the right choice for me. We got away from Sorrah’s nightmare of a citadel safely, though we had to say goodbye to Captain Levi a ways into the forest. His wounds, aggravated by our flight from Civilia’s Ruins, finally proved too much for him.
I suppose something important must be said. How is it that I, a lone Sergeant in the army of Khardihr, could survive all of this without being recaptured or spied upon by Sorrah Nikos? The answer is simple. I have a secret. Back about four or five generations ago, one of my ancestors was a wizard of great prowess, and created a talisman of what most would see of dubious virtue. All it does is make others simply not notice the wearer unless they wish to be noticed, and while worn, the talisman itself cannot be seen by others.
It is this that allowed me to remain unseen while lurking around Sorrah’s lair after my escape, and kept her minions from dragging me off to whatever fate awaited the other members of Grey Company. It protected me while I was spying on Sorrah and the traitor, Mist, and allowed Gaston and I to escape Civilia without getting recaptured or killed.
…
It also allowed me to see the truth about The Duke, and Grey Company.
Gaston and I were ultimately rescued by Stormcast, who offered us a ride back to Khardihr. Things were rather chaotic when we arrived, and neither of us were sure what to do next. I left Gaston to present himself to the Council, while I used the talisman to sneak into The Duke’s residence, intent on informing her of the traitor Mist’s true allegiances.
…at least, that was the plan, until I spied upon The Duke meeting with Mist and a few of the other survivors of Grey Company. Lieutenant Duhanden’s absence was an interesting side-note, but given that rumors are placing him as an undercover Stormcast agent, I shouldn’t be horribly surprised by this. I was shocked, though, to find that not only did The Duke know of Mist’s true allegiances, but that the mage addressed her as “Fatemaster Kezsler,” implying that The Duke was also an agent of the Changemaster.
I do not think that Mist is aware that I know his true master, but I cannot risk that chance. I left a warning note – unsigned – for Lieutenant Duhanden in his quarters, and sent another to the Stormcast that delivered Gaston and I back to Khardihr. Then I did something that rankled my very soul.
I went to House Vermillio with my findings. I am not a fan of the vampires, as they have always struck me as being a little deceptive, but I did not know who else to speak with. The Council has, from what I gathered, fallen apart and is doing little more than argue and fight amongst itself these days. Vermillio might be vampires, they might be deceptive, but they have always – ALWAYS – done what they think was best for Khardihr. This cannot be denied.
So I spoke to several lesser members of the House, until finally being admitted into the presence of Lord Haddrick Carminnio himself. I laid out what I had discovered, and stressed that they had apparently been working subtly against the Council for years – perhaps decades. To my surprise, Lord Haddrick acknowledged that he has suspected something of the sort for many years, but never had any idea where to start a proper investigation. I asked him to use the information I gave him for the good of the city.
And then I left. I left the House of Vermillio, I left the noble’s district, and I left Khardihr. I don’t know where to go, or what to do, but I cannot remain in the city anymore. For the time being, I am in the company of the duardin of Barak-Thryng. I have boarded one of their skyships, my travel paid for out of my savings, and for now I will travel with them until I reach a good point to disembark.
I have left a copy of… most… of this missive in the Chronicler’s office, along with a warning regarding the true allegiance of Mist and The Duke. I doubt whoever follows in my task will take it seriously, as from what I was able to determine, about sixty percent of the remaining members of Grey Company are The Duke’s minions, or perhaps her cultists, serving the Changemaster.
Thus ends the Chronicles of Grey Company, First and Only Book of Tapper.
Thus begins the Chronicles of Tapper, adventurer and chronicler of the Realms.
