D&D Session Notes - 6/20

[hopepunk]

I have been staring at this blank page for some time now, to the point that the ink dried on the nib of my pen by the time I decided what to write. Today must be commemorated, and I have no way of knowing if anyone else survived who would do so.

My home, Exodus, the stronghold on the river, is no more. But we did not fall, as so many others did, to the hordes of evil spawn that have befallen our lands over the course of my lifetime. No: we fell in flame, in a globe of it which grew in its descent until it consumed all and may have reduced it to naught but bittersweet memory. I do not know who conjured this great orb, or if it was the doing of some other deity who felt we were in need of sore and aggregious judgement, but the matter remains true, apart of the cause. I count it the blessing of Palor that my misconception of the intent of one of the refugees in his church ultimately led me to be spared from a fiery fate.

I was reading up on the hordes, as had become my custom, while the refugees began to come in in droves. One of them, a tiefling, engaged himself in a game of cards, and his monstrous visage did pique my attention. (At first glance I thought it might be someone else, but I was mistaken, and slightly disappointed to be so.) As the attacks from the goblins drew closer, one young woman in monk's garb grew excessively irritated, until she began to try and gather others to help do something about the situation. She started conversing with the tiefling, whereupon I learned their names - Eliara and J'ael - and introduced myself. Eliara went to speak with another, a dwarf ... and then a great, rattling explosion shook the Church to its core. The little group fled for the door, and I, thinking they were heading for safer places, gathered up what rare books I could, and followed. Unfortunately, the most precious of the tomes I had gathered were borrowed by the mages a few hours previous - but my notes may still remain.

To my great dismay, our retreat was not to safety, but to battle. While passing the ruins of a noble's mansion, we noted the aforementioned giant fireball hanging in the sky. My newfound companions engaged themselves almost immediately with the first knot of goblin warriors they encountered. (Is knot the correct term for a group of goblins? Or am I confusing that with kobolds? I must correct this if necessary later.) Another half-elf who joined our number at egress helped dispatch them with startling efficiency. Eli was wounded in the battle, but I used Pelor's gifts to heal her, and many fled from the effective onslaught of my skilled colleagues. Above us, the flaming orb grew in both size and proximity.

In a surprising turn of events, the dwarf spoke goblin, and convinced one of the survivors to lead us to the exit. We were on our way there when we realized that we were being led straight into a trap - the buildings on either side of the alleyway were filled with lurking goblins. The other half-elf sprinted for a well, saying she knew a way out, and we followed, making a perilous descent via rope to the aqueducts below the city. There we found a boat just scarcely large enough to hold us, and began to make our way down the waterway.

Not long after, we heard a vast explosion, and the world shook, raining small. loose rubble down upon us from the aqueduct structure. Even in our safe tunnel, the air grew as hot and close as a furnace, and I felt a twist in my gut as I knew that the gargantuan fireball had touched ground. We came aboveground about a mile outside the city walls at a small pier, and turned to see all of Exodus an inferno. Goblins rushed toward us on the horizon, but up to meet them from behind us came the blessedly belated sight of the calvary the mages had sent for a week ago. They fought back the goblins, but I must confess I did not see all of the event. Overwhelmed by the heat, the noise, the shock of what had occurred, and I admit, a fair amount of hunger since I had missed lunch, I fell into a swoon. I awakened here in Thaerun, and after a meal and a bath, feel more solid in body but still quite faint in spirit. Only time will tell what is to become of us...