saving the unworthy

we are in a town full of sin and corruption. The town of Merrick. If I was not a religious woman, I may have left them to their own destruction.

We were on our way with the dwarves to reclaim the temple. The journey was going smoothly... until more of the demonspawn showed up. Alyssa is not our friend and I have a hard time trusting what she says, but the idea that a Nothrog army could be coming up and attacking Merrick was too big of a risk to ignore, the city does not have enough defences to prevent Hate's army from overtaking it. We decided to turn down to the city of Merrick to see if we could help in their defence. We were too slow with the dwarven contingent, so we agreed to split up - we would take ethereal mounts to Merrick to help plan the defence, and the dwarves would arrive in time to aid the city, but not in enough time to aid in the planning.


We arrived and got a lukewarm reception. The night guard were not at all friendly, and the leader of the guard drunkenly greeted us in front of the gate. I am surprised he was able to stand on his own at all. Despite the fact that we came to help their city, I am not sure that any of the residents of the city truly cared that their town could soon fall and all their lives would be forfeit. The next day we saw the leader of the town - Councilman Jessod. Obegard detected his thoughts and it turns out he was speaking and taking the word of another - one Killian. The elected leader was not in charge at all -- from what he was saying, I was rather suspicious, was Jessod in league with the Nothrog ? He wasn't evil, so it seemed less likely, but possible. We set out in search of Killian.

After searching a few taverns, we found his room. IT turns out he is one of many people smugglers - hiding anyone with the money to pay for his services, no matter what they have done or who they are. Money seems to be the true power behind the throne. He had tasked Alysa with finding us to help him defend the city (the city that he himself will not bother to defend). I have a feeling that Alysa worked for the money rather than caring about the fate of the city itself. She also left another changer in our midst -- one Erson. I must be wary that he does not turn on us when the opportunity arises.

Well, we tried to plan some defences of the city. The guard was unprepared to fight - they were practicing their drinking more than their fighting. The city was not reinforced and there was no strategy. The commander of the guard was piss drunk. The city didn't seem to care about living.

We went out to scout the army - as it seems that nobody has done this yet. One elf has scryed and claimed to have only seen about 3000 soldiers, about the same number that are in this city. He also claimed that they were days away. I cannot belive that the city has trusted an elf to be their only source of this vital information. Of course he would mislead them. The force was many times larger, with seige equipment and giants. They appeared to be more than ready to overtake a city, especialy one so lax and unprepared. They were less than a day from the walls.

We headed back to Merrick with haste. We would be drawn into this battle unprepared -- Obegard had not memorized the proper spells and I had already used my ring of divine growth that day. We needed all the people of the city to prepare, the guards to form ranks, and the farmers and other peasants who lived outside the protection of the walls to evacuate inside. Anyone who could hold a crossbow needed to be equipped.

At our return, Gerrick admitted that his plan of riding to meet them was doomed to fail and decided to listen to us. The walls could not stand when faced with such large force, but we could perhaps allow some pieces of wall to fall, and draw them into the city where they could be barricaded into certain streets, lessening the advantage of having more people. The city will now prepare , but will it be too little, too late?

We are going with a group of guards to try and slay some hill giants whose boulders are tearing our walls. Unfortunately, success is uncertain this time.