2011-08-26

Day 28

The parties make their way out onto the field in front of the town.
For Ironhedge Bridge/Ostvale are Harold (Duellist), Culain (Second), Faria and Tharo (Assistants).
For Draccliff/Norwynn are King Dracclough (Duellist), King Devello (Second), Rishon and Chachlye (Assistants).

After some small-talk, the duel begins.
Dracclough and Harold circle each other trading blows, neither gaining the upper hand.
Both badly beaten, Harold manages to strike the final blow.
Dracclough's crown is left to rot in the mud. (Or so we think)

The fight begins in a fairly straightforward manner until Devello unleashes a wave of power which affects all of our heroes.
The duel becomes a melee, with all involved rushing in to assist their respective allies.
Devello is not what he seems, leeching power from his opponents, the heroes are having a hard time of it.
Rishon does a number on Tharo before Tharo shoots him square in the chest.
Culain finishes the job by punching the arrow the rest of the way through Rishon's body.
Chaclye hurls fireballs before he is cut down. His corpse explodes into a flaming avian.
The fiery explosion knocks Harold out of the fight for now.

With a flicker of magiks, Devello shifts form into that of Aeslynn, Culain's amnesiac wife!
Consternation assails our heroes as they attempt to protect her.
Tharo deals with Chaclye's phoenix form. Apparently, fire does not mix well with cold.
Aeslynn assists Harold back to consciousness.

There is a pause as everyone attempts to make sense of what happened.
Culain is having the worst of it.
Suddenly, beetles begin to pour from Aeslunn's robes and attack the party.
Culain iasks his wife to stop it but she continues surreptitiously while insisting she isn't doing anything.
Everyone is thoroughly confused.
Finally, everyone breaks out of their confused stupor to confront the mad beetle lady that may or may not be Culain's wife.
After a fierce battle, the beetle thing is vanquished.

The victory is announced to the walls by Harold as Tharo roots through the pile of decaying beetles to find Devello's crown.
Culain takes the crown for himself, declaring that, by right of conquest, he is the new king of Norwynn.
The party follow his grace to the Norwynn camp where he asserts his right to lead.
He decides to leave with the army and shore up his claim to his kingdom.
The Draccliff contingent is making a hasty retreat from the scene, Tharo takes the opportunity to take their stuff.
Farya and Harold head back to Ironhedge bridge to relay the good news to Sir Reldler.