The Westgate Extraction – The Plan

Characters: Alyssic, Aramir, Forkbeard, Sentalial, Trizoon,
NPCs: Julbin Cometstrike, Mintassan the Planeswalker, Kyra, Merisio, Lt. Rizzi, Sgt. Rodney
Synopsis: Returning from the doomed Skarwall Keep, Alyssic recruits her allies for an impossible mission. They must journey to Westgate with Mintassan, plant the portal seed outside of the city walls, get into the city, discover the location of the New Kelvin refugees, and then evacuate them before the ravages of war take their lives. A desparate Alyssic relays unconfirmed rumors that devils and vampires vie for control of the city, with the result of the citizens of Westage fodder for the city’s occupants. She was unable to save New Kelvin, but she will do everything to save the people.

Familiar with facing the incredible the group is escorted by Mintassan to Westgate via the Plane of Shadow. While in transit shadows twist and crawl in every corner. Something is amiss, but nothing can be investigated now. As quickly as they arrived, the party vacates the Plane of Shadow and find themselves on the outskirts of Westgate. Mintassan quickly plants the seed, saying that they must wait an hour before the portal grows. He must move alone back to his home to retrieve precious maps of the planes, but they can use the portal to journey to Delzimmer. Whatever the group does for now until then, they cannot use the portal to vacate the Dragon Coast before one hour.

Remaining near the Shore, they spy a decrepit shanty town, home to the surviving drifters and homeless. With magic to disguise themselves as Blackguards, the group moves below the cliff face of Westgate through its poor outskirts. Bodies lay impossibly still, victims of starvation and lack of sufficient shelter. Sentalial speaks with the emaciated Kyra, herself a refugee of New Kelvin. Classified as “unfit” many of the refugees were sentenced to exile by the new regime. With no manner to leave the city and faced with the certainty of death by exposure, the exiles have congregated at the Shore. Kyra says that dissenters and representatives of the New Kelvin refugees have been rounded up and put in the prisons of the Ministry of Truth. Among them is Pretorius the Orator, a charismatic outspoke opponent of the Dragon Coast Alliance. The people will follow Pretorius, if he is still alive. The paladin of Torm instructs her to gather all survivors, for within the hour they will find a new home away from this disaster.

Maintaining the disguise the group winds its way up the cliff face to the north gate of the city, the Water Gate. Numerous guards run across the parapets; war is set to begin as an army has gathered outside the West Gate and Mulsantir’s Gate to lay siege to the city. It is the forces of the Circle of Holundi. Sentalial bypasses the two rear guards with intimidation and bravado, and the group enters the city. Inside they observe the massive deterioration of the Dragon Coast’s most famous city. The docks are annihilated, the warehouse district is all but vacant, and all of the city’s activities are focused on the assault. Using Kyra’s information the group moves to the warehouse owned by House Urdo. Moving to the interior they find able bodied men rounded up in pens as slaves under sword of a platoon of Reg Guard troops. Sentalial has had enough and engages the guards. The rest follow suit and the slavers are killed.

With the guidance of Trizoon’s word, the freed men mobilize under one Merisio, who then speaks of the Ministry of Truth. It has been relocated to the Tower, the five-story structure at the center of the city adjacent to the marketplace. The slaves number about 150 and identify the warehouse of House Cormaeril as another location where the sickly slaves have been rounded up. The liberation is quick and instructions are handed out; they must ready themselves to vacate the city via the Water Gate, where a portal awaits to take them far away from this hell hole. Remaining in disguise the group leaves the motivated slaves for the Tower. The city is under attack, the cause that the interior guard is disoriented and frantic. The five Black Guards realize their superior ranks and move rapidly towards the Tower.

On the approach they observe several platoons vacate the Tower. More disturbing is the drawn and quartered human, the remains atop pikes surrounding the Tower. Trizoon identifies the remains as interim Croamarkh Durgar, paladin of Tyr, most likely displaced by the Dragon Coast Alliance and forces of Mystenaculis. Passing through the portcullis they find the open level in complete disarray; a receiving guard moves papers frantically across his desk and a platoon of Red Guard stand at the rear, defending a stair case leading up. Lieutenant Rizzi questions why they are at the Tower. His face goes crooked when Sentalial issues a prayer to Torm asking for his god’s blessings.

Sgt. Rizzi lowers the portcullis and shouts the alarm. Sergeant Rodney leaps from his post and charges. The Red Guard platoon splits to flank the imposters. The battle is violent as the party splits to deal with the multiple fronts. Sentalial and Trizoon duel on one side while Alyssic and Aramir fight the law on the other. Forkbeard throws caution to the wind, happy to battle the living. The dwarf stone lord challenges the head guard Rizzi, but is on the receiving end of crippling blows. Blows exchange as blades find both shields and flesh. Alyssic ruins Sgt. Rodney and the majority of the Reg Guard falls to the blade. Rizzi retreats, pulling the battle towards the stairs heading down. The desperately bleeding Forkbeard gives chase unwilling to let his target escape. But the man lands a lucky strike, dropping the dward to the flagstone floor. The rest of the group surrounds the enemy and ends him. Alyssic is quick to administer healing, sending the dwarf into a resurgence. With the office level silent, the Defenders of the Dragon Coast face two flights of stairs, one heading up and one heading down.


Encounters: two Red Guards of the Water Gate, five Red Guards of the warehouse of House Urdo, eight Red Guards of the Tower, Sgt. Rodney, Lt. Rizzi
Achievements: planted the portal seed, discovered the truth of the refugees of New Kelvin, bypassed the guards of the Water Gate, liberated the refugee slaves, penetrated the Tower, and destroyed the structure’s guard platoon.