S08E04 – Interruptions

Previously on Zhymballa

The heroes return Gighur and the rest of the kidnapped villagers to Rockbreach and they accept Minnesota’s offer to cleanse the abandoned monastery from goblins and undead in order to join The Caretakers Syndicate.

Getting more muscle

Still at the party, the heroes regroup to plan their attack. They barely escaped with Salazar, their tank, alive, so they decide to get more muscle at the Academy of Pelor, where Salazar trained to become a paladin. The place is a day away in the mountains near Northpond.

To get ready for the action Salazar participates in the last round of the drinking competition which wast still going on at the inn. After a close match, Salazar beats the local Brecreg Peacewoods who falls unconscious from so much ale, and receives the coveted title of “Rockbreach’s fattest pig”.

Aah!

Hours later, while everyone is sleeping, Til gets awakened by creaking sounds in the hallway. A shadow is approaching Davos’s room. Til gets to the door but he only see Davos sleeping. He starts shouting calling the rest of the group. He then slams the half-open door against the wall, and a dragonborn grunts with pain. After a confusing

close quarters battle that resulted in the inn catching on fire, the heroes capture the attacker, a female dragonborn assassin called Yagwen, before she could escape. The heroes bring her to an isolated farm to interrogate her. She reveals that there are six others with her and the name of her patron, Falgrom. The heroes decide they will try to convince Falgrom to cancel the contract with the mercenaries, which seems the only thing that will stop them.

Night shopping

After interrogating Yagwen and looting her, light snow starts falling. Knowing there are more dragonborn after Davos, and Til not wanting to abandon his friend, the heroes decide to leave in the middle of the night rather than wait until the morning. The heroes grab some snow equipment, they tie Yagwen carefully, and they all leave towards the abandoned farm where they slept the day before.

When they arrive at the farm it’s almost noon and the snowstorm is only getting worse. The group decides to spend the rest of the day there to have enough time to get the monastery the next day.

Time passes quickly. The only distraction being a strange couple formed by a zombie and a skeleton apparently lost, who bump into the farm’s walls and take a few minutes to figure their way out of the situation.

At the foothills

When the group reaches the foothills of the mountains holding the monastery, they find an unconscious body in the snow. While inspecting it, Salazar injures himself with a poison trap and immediately arrows start falling on Davos from nearby trees. Before the heroes can react Davos is down to 0 hp and the attacker is escaping. But Salazar’s Command spell, and a coordinated attack from Bharash and Til result in the attacker getting captured. At the end of the fight Yagwen breaks free from her hand ties, throws her body to the snow, and she starts crawling away with a sledge tied to her legs. Bharash sets the sledge on fire, but the rest of the group recaptures her before she burns alive.

The new attacker, Alidaar, turns out to be another dragonborn mercenary, friend of Yagwen. The group ties the two attackers together, this time throwing extra laces, and they all then start climbing the mountain.

Several hours of climbing in deep snow later, the group arrives to the beacon of light that the Academy of Pelor represents, and are welcomed inside. The paladins take the prisoners to jail, and they invite the heroes to meet Mabur, the leader of the Academy.

Featured characters

The heroes (level 2)

• Bharash: male dragonborn sorcerer.
• Salazar Astorio: male human paladin.
• Til Grassthorn: male halfling rogue.

NPCs

• Alidaar: a male dragonborn archer, part of the group hired to kill Davos.
• Brecreg Peacewoods: male human farmer who lost to Salazar in a drinking competition.
• Davos Trickfoot: male halfling rogue, best friend of Til.
• Gighur Shatterheat: male dwarf merchant.
• Falgrom: dwarf merchant who wants to kill Davos for getting his married daughter pregnant.
• Mabur: leader of Pelor’s Academy in Northpond.
• Minnesota: female dwarf who hired the group to rescue Gighur.
• Yagwen: female dragonborn assassin, part of the group hired to kill Davos.

Places

• Abandoned monastery: ruined monastery northwest of Rockbreach.
• Northpond: small mountainous village north of Rockbreach.
• Academy of Pelor in Northpond: paladin training academy near Northpond, great views, terrible winters.
• Rockbreach: small coastal village, the heroes’s home base.

Quotes & mementos

• Til to Bharash: “Your cover has walked away.”
• Salazar: “Can I throw Til?”
• “Til, you need a t-shirt that says ‘The halfling is not a toy.’”