Session IV - The Feathergale Spire - Now Its Personal

 Running upstairs, Trash and Klaes start swinging without asking questions while a bell is being rang throughout the spire. 

In the stables, the feathergale knight and Savra are pushed in an empty stall. While a sobbing Savra implores Halvarth to forsake this course, promising things can be fixed with the commander, Tico starts concentrating on a detect thoughts spell which gives him a good idea of the numbers of enemies around them. 

Eventually  Thurl Merosska lands on a giant vulture along with 3 other knights. He demands the party drop their weapons, trying to avoid bloodshed. Tico confirms his surface thoughts are aligned with his words. Coming out of the stall with shackles in his hands, he tries to grab Elthas who's having none of this. Along with Halvarth, both start firing arrows and spells pushing the commander back in the stall besides the vulture. 

A brawl soon erupts downstairs while it's already raging on the first floor. Thurl and the knights swinging longswords, Zomith doing her best to protect Tico with her own body. 

While strong wind magic pushes Trash away who comes tumbling down the stairs, Klaes is absolutely cornered, withering a storm of daggers being thrown his way along unarmed strike of this spellcasting masked  Hurricane. 

The battles rages. Things are looking dire on both sides. Zomith keeps protecting Tico as best she can, Trash is holding the bottom of the stairs steadfast, Klaes invokes his god's powers while Halvarth and Elthas unload on Thurl Merosska. Tico eventually manages to dig deeper into the commander's mind and understand that he's in love with a so called Queen Aerisi Kalinoth and she demands sacrifices to summon her prince Yan-C-bin. 

Interestingly, the commander's forces attack with the flat of their blades, seemingly not wanting to kill the party members outright. 

Eventually, Elthas manages to lodge an arrow into the commanders shoulder who starts running and jumps down the stall. With his magical abilities to communicate with animals, Elthas tries to haggle with the giant vulture to let him pass. The latter accepts his deal a little too easily and, lo and behold, attempts to maul him as soon as he enters the stall. With quick wits, Halvarth uses his magical abilities to render the giant bird useless giving Elthas room to squeeze by just in time to witness Thurl being scooped up by another flying mount. Losing no time, he starts firing arrows after arrows and, sure enough, finds his mark. He witnesses the commander's lifeless body falling down hundreds of feet and his "trusty mount" following him to the ground just to start tearing him apart and feeding on his flesh. 

Meanwhile, Klaes finally gets the upper hand hacking and slashing at the crowd. The remaining knights and initiates eventually start running. Klaes witnesses the Hurricane jumping down the drawbridge and eventually flying away using a clever accoutrement spanning winglike features on his side. 

After the battle, searching the spire, the party finds a decent amount of gold, some potions and scrolls and, in a cylindrical leather case, a letter that reads as follows:

Merosska, 

    We are pleased to hear about the outcome of your altercation with the Black Earth cult, and we praise you for the capture of one of their prisoners. This noblewoman from Mirabar has an interesting tale to tell, and we shall enjoy interrogating him further. Keep a close watch on the Sacred Stone Monastery, I want to know what our enemy is planning next. 

Your beloved queen,
Aerisi Kalinoth

The party finally climbs up the stairs to the apex of the tower to reach the Aarakocra party. After briefly discussing with them, they decide they pursue their initial plans of investigating Womford while the Aarakocra try to scout this monastery they have been hearing about.  
 

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