Eilenos visits the local temple of Berethenu looking for some guidance. He causes quite a stir as he has come in with his full armor on. The parishioners point and whisper. The priest approaches and asks if he is indeed the champion of Berethenu.
The rest of the group are just hanging around the city.
Suddenly the whole team is simultaneously transported to a mountaintop in a large mountain range. We seem to be in the mountain range just outside of Skraag. We are north of there, and are not sure how far. All of our compatriots are with us, including Nadia and the king of Dunmeshi, all of the mustered forces, and Josephus who looks more “with it” than he usually does. He looks like he has a plan.
Josephus addresses us the whole group and says, “We are about to embard on a monumental task. The Dwarven kingdom has been infested with creatures born of Grom, and I have underestimated my son’s desire to populate Juravia with his people. He, along with his brother Necros, have caused this chaos and now I need your help to set things right.”
We agree, somewhat shocked of the revelation that we have been in the presence of the All-Father himself, and that Josephus was him all along.
Josephus tells us that we are about a day’s march from Skraag, and since he is not a tactician he needs our help to do that. He casts a haste spell on Porodo’s best rangers, and they take off ahead of us to scout out the route. They have speaking stones with them, so they can report back immediately.
We have 8 pieces of siege equipment including towers, catapults and rams.
The scouts return and give us the exact layout of the city. It is in between mountains and there is only one pass coming north to the city, and it is on a narrow ridge. Our siege machines will not easily fit here. We decide to sneak in and break their defenses therefore allowing our forces to ride and teleport in unopposed to finish the job.
Porodo and some of his rangers climb up the east wall and go to the tower; Sarthisis flies up here as well. Imra flies up to the mountain and asks the Eagles there for help, and they agree. The Shadow Hunters climb up the west wall, preparing to rain arrows down on the city. Eilenos waits with Nadia and the king of Dunmeshi at the bottom of the mountain with the cavalry, awaiting the battle to start and ride in to attack. The other forces are further down the mountain, and will be teleported into the city by Sarthisis and Josephus.
Porodo communicates with his rangers and tells them to start firing flaming arrows into the city. Once Eilenos sees this, he rides in with the cavalry and breaks through the gate, attacking the enemy. Nadia is particularly effective, slaying enemy after enemy while gaining barely a scratch, inspiring our fighters to a frenzy. Sarthisis opens portals to the elemental plane of fire and they swallow the biggest enemies, the trolls, and their siege equipment, then he begins shooting fire into the crowd. Eagles swoop down from the mountain and pick off random orcs. The orcs are taking huge losses and the battle seems to be going in our favor.
Suddenly the ground begins to rumble and a group of orcs comes pouring out of the gates of Iron Hallow Hall. The orcs are screaming that “there are stuntees in the deep!” We see the dwarves are attacking from inside the mountain.
The shaking worsens and the ground in the Hearth Plain inside of the city cracks open. Berethenu breaks through the earth and flies a hundred feet or more in the air. Following him is the huge, gnarled form of Grom himself who climbs out with his legions of demons. Behind them comes Ennar and a group of his demon hunters. There is a purple necrotic mist that descends over the area, rotting everything. Just then, the huge form of Necros descends from the clouds.
The battle is joined!