Session 10 – The Shadow of the Gray Garrison

The council chamber at Defender’s Heart was thick with the smell of smoke and sweat, every crusader gathered knowing they might not see the dawn. There, the plan was laid bare: the last of Kenabres’ soldiers would ride out, striking at cultist patrols and raising chaos across the city, while the party—the heroes who had survived collapse and flame—would cut the heart from the enemy. Their task was grim: infiltrate the Grey Garrison, locate the shard of the Wardstone, and destroy it before the witch Areelu Vorlesh could turn its power into a weapon of ruin.

This was no lonely task, however. Allies gathered like steel to a lodestone. With Anevia safe, Irabeth herself pledged her sword and shield to the infiltration. Aravashnial unearthed a Riftwarden cache from the ruins of Blackwing, arming them with relics of hidden power. Horgus Gwerm, dour and calculating, supplied coin and resources to fuel the diversionary skirmishes. And from the depths of Neathholm came the mongrelfolk, each of the companions entrusted with a stalwart bodyguard sworn to stand at their side. Kenabres had been broken, but in that chamber flickered something new: unity.

When the day of the assault came, the diversions thundered across the streets, drawing the cultists away in clouds of dust and fire. The heroes hibachi moved swiftly through the abandoned avenues until the Grey Garrison loomed ahead, its blackened stone hunched like a beast awaiting slaughter. At its gate stood two vermleks, foul worms squirming inside the stolen corpses of Lord Hulrun and Kandro Nyserian. Silent arrows struck like lightning, felling the abominations before they could cry out, and the party slipped inside.

The garrison’s halls reeked of smoke, blood, and desecration. A quick reconnaissance revealed six tieflings gambling around a battered table and, deeper within, a shrine to Iomedae fouled by cultist hands—yet still bearing a hidden message for the faithful: “Let us inherit Thine Arms, Iomedae.”

But stealth could not last. A pair of abrikandilus howled as the doors were opened, drawing the card-players into a chaotic melee. Steel and sorcery broke the fiends, but the alarm was raised. With the element of surprise lost, the heroes pressed forward, carving a path to a blood-smeared staircase where a tiefling and his dretch minions barred the way.

When the din fell silent, the heroes stood bloodied but unbroken, their path forward lit only by the glow of guttering torches. A stairway loomed ahead, curling up toward the second floor, guarded by fiendish wretches who had now been cut down. Yet not all of the ground floor had been explored, and shadows still clung to the halls behind them. The Gray Garrison’s secrets were not yet fully unearthed—and the heart of its darkness still waited above.

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Rewards:
Exp: 1600 each

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Quests

• Infiltrate the Grey Garrison, locate the wardstone fragment, and destroy it.