Adrian: Baldur's Gate

Besheridan approved of Adrian's plan. It was closest to he himself would've handled it, if they had had the resources.

Adrian had correctly worked out, based on what Besheridan and Edwin had told him, that this was an army camp. Almost entirely fighters, with possibly one mage or cleric in a possition of command. And as such, they would rely on their command structure more than the free-wheeling bandits.

Thus it was the mages that approached the base first. Standing several yards away in the tall grass, Xzar cast what was, for him, an unusual spell, stinking cloud. The poisonous vapours spread from him, towards the camp.

Behind him, Edwin and Kirya began summoning; Edwin monsters, Kiriya undead. Xzar summoned his giant undead beast next, and then he and Edwin worked together to summon their pet jellies. Kirya, meanwhile, summoned yet more undead, with a little help from Tiax and Viconia.

Finally, the three mages each unleashed a fireball into the poison gases, creating tremendous explosions.

Quickly, Edwin rendered himself and Kirya invisible, and Tiax slipped into the shadows. Then the entire party scattered. Edwin Kirya and Tiax skirted the camp to the left, avoiding the poison gases. The rest of the group split to the right, being more interested in just getting out of the way.

Four Throne warriors had already been killed, and another six incapacitated. But now the entire army was roused. They charged through the mists, ignoring the shouts of their commanders, to find the summoned monsters and undead waiting for them.

With the singular exception of Xzar's giant skeleton, none of the monsters were a match for the Throne warriors. But they managed to take a few of the enemy down. Acting on previous instructions, Xzar's pet skeletal warrior vanished back to whence it came when it was injured seriously. By then, three more Throne warriors were dead.

But still, more than half of the Throne troopers were still standing, and now they were angry. But they were disorganized, and had no idea where the real foe were. They scattered into the tall grass, again ignoring the usual disclipline, trying to find Adrian's party.

Adrian, Kagain, Rakal, and Besheridan were waiting for them in the tall grass, and had no problem killing them singly or in small groups.

Adrian came face to face with a tall, brutal sargeant type, Besheridan at his side. They engaged the foe, but he was more than he seemed. He grabbed Besheridan by the throat, and threw him hard, into the ground. Adrian gave him a Minor Drain, but it made the brawler do little more than flinch. He swung his scimitar at Adrian's head in a viscious climbing arc, and Adrian's attempt to parry was only partially successful. His own blade was knocked away.

The Throne warrior wrapped Adrian in a bear hug and squeezed hard, trying to break his ribs. Adrian's hands were still free, however, and he jammed his fingers into the Warrior's eyes. The warrior screamed, but did not let go.

Besheridan's flail whip-cracked around the warrior's legs, and he fell on his back, still gripping Adrian. Angrily, Adrian gave him a ghoul touch through the fingers still stabbing into the Warrior's eyes. He froze, but Adrian was still trapped in his arms. Adrian hissed in frustration. He could only hope the others were doing better.

In fact, they were. While the troopers were much tougher than the bandits had been, Adrian's troupe was also that much tougher then they had been at that time. Kagain and Rakal picked off troopers one by one. A few troopers scattered far and wide, searching in vain, and almost got lost.

The troop leaders, a fighter and a wizard, frowned in distaste. They were standing in front of their tents, surveying what little they could make out of the battle.

"Reiltar will be displeased," said the fighter. "We will need reinforcements after this."

The wizard's fingers twitched. "Let me try a divination spell--"

But before he could try that or anything else, a skull trap flashed between the two of them and exploded. Before the wizard could recover, a horde of magic missles slammed into him, killing him outright.

The warrior had fared a little better, he was still upright. He staggered around dazed, waving his two short swords, trying to find an opponent. Kirya gave him a lightning bolt, and then Tiax was on him, swinging his new hammer, screaming bloody murder in the name of Cyric. Tiax was no match for the fighter, normally. But "normally" did not cover this situation, where he was already dazed and wounded by Kirya. He never had a chance to get a proper swing at Tiax before he went down.

Besheridan was finally able to pry the huge fighter's arms off Adrian, and the two of them hacked the big man to pieces. They went in search of more warriors to kill, but Kagain and Rakal had already done most of that job. Hunting down the few remaining stragglers was no problem. They found Viconia pounding in the skull of the last of the survivors, who had been laid low by the stinking cloud.

They reaped gold from the leaders tents, but they knew the victory was not yet theirs. Going by the nubmer of tents, at least two raiding parties of soldiers had been out when they struck.

So Kirya and Xzar set a few more skull traps floating in the tents, they withdrew with the rest of the party to the foothills themselves, and waited.

The first group, of six warriors, came in around sunset. All but one were killed by the stun traps, and Rakal chopped the last one to death.

The second group, numbering eight and led by a low-level cleric of Talos, obviously the third-in-command of the entire camp. Edwin dropped a fireball on them as they approached, and it was easy work to mop them up after that.

They set fire to the tents and began to head back to Baldur's Gate, not stopping until the moon had rose. Adrian was still worried about the mercenary village, but Besheridan assured him that the Black Network would see to that.

They went to bed that night late, and rose early the next morning. Adrian was in a hurry to get back; it was time, he felt, to confront the Iron Throne directly. He was sure that by now the Flaming Fist would give them that comission. He had waited long enough, played around long enough, done enough other quests.

It was time.