12/13/2023 Evening of Clayday, Fertility Week, Sea Season, Year of the Overlord 2164 The party had just liberated Strum by luring most of the defenders away from the city and then easily overpowering the remaining forces. The party tended to the freed townspeople and looted the bodies of the halflings. They found a Wand of Detect Enemies, some sort of magic communication device shaped like a green dragon head, a healing potion [heals 2d4+2], a superior healing potion [heals 8d4+8], and a jar containing some sort of healing ointment [heals 2d8+8 and cures poison and disease]. Among the freed townspeople was Samuel, a herbalist, who offered the party some herbs to aid them: 4 aldaka, which restores sight 1 amrans, which heals [3d6 per dose] 4 colewort, which allows one to remain sober no matter how much alcohol is consumed 2 ironhurd, which, if rubbed onto oneself, boosts defenses [+1 AC for an hour] 5 oles veritim, which compels one to tell the truth 5 seraphas turbith, which puts one in a coma for a day and fully heals them The party also extracted 9 doses of dire spider venom for later use. The party began preparing for the defense of Strum, knowing that there would not be much time before the search party returned and tried to retake the town. Among the freed townspeople, 5 were healthy and strong enough to offer to help defend the town. The party decided that they should remain in the town hall as a last stand to guard the other townspeople. Meanwhile, Chance, Maeddes, Rudolph, and Gunther took up positions on the roof of the town hall, while Tempest took to the sky to spot enemies from the air. Garack and Igny took positions on the ground, behind the remnants of the wall surrounding the town hall. Before long, a column of enemies was spotted returning to Strum. At the head were several dire spiders, some halfling soldiers, the Black Pudding and a halfling mage. The party’s spellcasters unleashed their attacks at the approaching column once they came in range. Chance cast “Fireball”, Rudolph cast “Sleet Storm”, and Tempest cast “Storm Sphere”. The combined effect was devastating for the enemy, doing massive damage and slowing their advance, setting them up for additional follow up ranged attacks. With the enemies still out of melee range, Igny cast “Moonbeam” to try to get in on the action. However, several of the dire spiders were able to advance beyond the magical chaos brought down on them, and attacked the party by shooting webs, hitting Igny and Tempest. Tempest, caught in the web, immediately crashed to the ground with a dull thud. Garack immediately rushed to Igny’s side to help him escape the web, while Maeddes nimbly jumped down from the roof to aid Tempest. Just then, an enemy magic user cast fireball on the party! With Garack’s help, Igny quickly escaped the spider webs, and the two charged at the spiders together. Meanwhile, the Black Pudding fell under the barrage of spells from the party. Not long after, the party cut down the spiders and the halfling soldiers. A remaining halfling mage fled the battlefield, seeing that the fight was lost. The party was victorious in defending Strum! The next morning, Windsday, a large complement of people was spotted approaching Strum from the southeast. When they reached the town, it was Baron Kirin and Helegan at the head of the group, and behind them followed 16 knights, led by Sir Nixos. Baron Kirin and Helegan explained that they had brought three companies of soldiers to immediately fortify Strum. Chance sent his familiar, Bruce the gremlin, to Montlieb to inform the refugee villagers that Strum was liberated and they were welcome to return if they wanted. Following Garack’s advice, the Counts ordered Baron Kirin to send a contingent of soldiers to scout to the west of Strum. Additionally, the party began to think about their next steps and worried that Baron Markowitz’s reinforcements to Strum, scheduled to arrive at the end of the week, might launch a counterattack to retake the town. The party realized that they needed to see to Strum’s defenses for a little while longer, but unfortunately this conflicted with the party’s scheduled investiture with the Duke on Godday. So, the party ordered that word be sent immediately to the Duke of Chagna Fel requesting a one-week delay in the investiture while they oversaw the defenses of Strum. And with that, the session ended. TL;DR: The party successfully defended Strum, and began fortifying the town.