Assault on Hargulka’s Fortress
The Warning
On 2 Lamashan 4710, two weeks after the trial of Gregory, Kundal and Nok-nok ran into Hexpan in a panic. They had seen trolls near the Sellen Hills—many of them—and one was heading for Hexpan. Djacques told the crowd the party was riding out right now. That was what they did.
The Fortress
After two days riding south, the party found not a cave but an old dwarven guardpost in the southern Narlmarches, now Hargulka’s Fortress. Kairos recognized it from her travels. The damage was decay, not battle. The trolls had moved into an empty ruin.
Djacques planned to go in by daylight, with Kairos scouting first. A goblin on the wall spotted her and yelled “And stay out!” She claimed to be a cartographer. An arrow answered. Once out of sight she turned invisible, crept back in, and stole all 18 of a hobgoblin’s crossbow bolts while he argued with a troll.
The rest of the party walked up openly. Leonardo called out in Jotun that they’d come to trade crossbow bolts. The troll let them in, grumbling that Hargulka must think they needed help. A hobgoblin sniffed the bolts. “Why do these smell like ours?”
The Entrance
Djacques summoned seven zealous defenders of Amedaria who flooded the courtyard. Kairos critically Spellstruck a troll with Shocking Grasp. A hobgoblin fired his last bolt, missed, and screamed into the fort: “AAHHHH WE’RE BEING ATTACKED BY CARTOGRAPHERS!”
Leonardo used fire so the trolls couldn’t regenerate, and cast Shield of the Spirits over the whole party, underlings included. Two more trolls came from the throne room with troll hounds. Kairos hasted herself, entered Arcane Cascade and chased down fleeing hobgoblins. Djacques hasted Leonardo, who burned down the hounds. The last troll died to Shield of the Spirits and persistent fire. Three trolls, two troll hounds and two hobgoblins were dead. One troll had fled upstairs to warn Hargulka.
Hargulka
Moments later, Hargulka himself came down and demanded to know how they dared barge into his fortress and slaughter his people. He had been sent by Nyrissa, he said, and she was supporting him in building a kingdom.
Djacques asked for safe passage. Kairos was having none of it: if he meant to keep what he held, he’d better prove it. He hadn’t beaten the dwarves. He’d moved into their ruin.
A female troll arrived. Hargulka said something about fresh food. Hobgoblin archers filled the rafters. Then Lizzy walked over and took her place at Hargulka’s side, and sent her old companions away. The party backed out slowly, without her, harpies jeering behind them. Outside, footsteps moved all around the fort, and Kairos picked out trolls among them. Hargulka’s army was something like a quarter of Hexpan’s population.
The Retreat
The party ran and hid their camp. It wasn’t enough: a bulette burst from the ground that night and went for Leonardo. It dove back underground when the party hit back, and they used the lull to heal. When it surfaced again, they killed it.
Aftermath
- Hargulka is real, organized, backed by Nyrissa, and commands trolls, hobgoblins and harpies.
- He knows the party’s faces.
- The next morning the party killed a flame drake and met Pokus again (Session-26).