As the party headed down from the mountains and into Ambria, they were caught up by Taveck who had brought two more members for the party. two dodgy looking rogue types, who the others recognised from the expedition. Eral, a human wearing a mask and looking very edgy, and Fenya, a manky Goblin, with the grace and smell of a rat. After introductions were made, the party continued with Master Argasto Edira, and the rest of the caravan. Lestra said her goodbyes, heading for the Black Cloaks monastery.
They came to Prios Pass, the gateway to Ambria, It was a small village on a river, but there were hundreds of refugees camped, who were either awaiting entry or had already ben refused. Argasto explained that he and Edira had a Queen's Permit, due to their roles as trader and priestess of Prios. He told the party he could get them in as his guards, assuming they played along well. After some questioning from the guards, no-one made too much a fool of themselves, and they got through the border with Argasto only having to pay a small sum in bribes. They crossed the river by ferry and officially entered Ambria.
The wasteland now turned to the lush greenery they had seen in the distance as they took the road north. They had 3 days of uneventful travel until reaching the capital, Yndaros. The city looked magnificent. Not as big as Sharn back home, but more impressive than they expected, given it's short 21 year history. There were buildings full of splendour including the queen's palace, as well as lavish statues. They saw the bustling docks, busy market places, overcrowded slums, ruins of the former city of Lindaros, and another massive refugee camp outside of the city. There was also a new fortress being built, incase of a possible future threats from outside the kingdom (e.g. elves) or even from within (pretender kings).
Edira suggested they stay just one night before heading onto Thistle Hold. She recommended the Dragon's Head inn. They said their farewells to Telk and Master Argasto, then went to the inn. It was a busy place with a lot of patrons and general merriment. Fenya and Lanky got in on a game of cards with some goblins. Lanky managed to lose some coin. Fenya cheated, got into a fight (but backed up by Eral), and subsequently thrown out, spending the night on the streets. Maddox tried his luck with the barmaids, but was unsuccessful, although a drunken old wench tried to follow him to his room. He spurnned her and she collapsed back down the stairs. Eral spotted a drug dealer who offered him Blue Drops and Wild Chew. Eral wasn't interested, but tried (unsuccesfully) to get the dealer outside, in order to kill him.
They set off at dawn the next morning, but Edira stated she wanted to visit a shrine at Jakad's Rest, an inn on the border with Davokar, but about a day's ride east of Thistle Hold. It would extend therr week long journey by a day. She mentioned that there was a spring at the shrine containing holy water, and it was a must-see for any devout of Prios. The party agreed to take her for some extra pay. Maddox and Wulf helped navigate, getting there off the beaten track with no problems.
The inn was surrounded by a wooden palisade, and the innkeepers children were taking it in turns to keep watch from the gate house. The innkeeper introduced herself as Koldra. She was a middle-aged ex-adventurer, running the inn with her husband and 4 young children. There was a vegetable garden there, ran by a friendly Ogre named Leaf. Lanky struck up an instant rapport with him. both of them enjoying a belly-butt. Leaf confided that not all was well there--A strange, creepy pilgrim had show up a few nights back demanding that a 'Lady Nightblade' was allowed in to take the holy water from the spring. Due to the strange and rude mannerisms of this stranger, Koldra had thrown them out, and they had gave threats as they left, that Lady Nightblade would come to kill them all, and take the water for herself. This explained the 24 hour watch.
Fenya attempted to urinate in the pool containing the holy water, but Leaf stopped her in anger. There was also a stone shrine by the pool. The party tasted the water, but did not feel any special effects. Then, when Edira came to worship, they headed to the main inn. There were a few pilgrims staying, and notably, a bard, singing tales of Davokar's great monsters and greater treasures. He was an impressive performer but drunk, and the tales sounded like nonsense. He introduced himself as Blackhawk, the greatest bard in the land. They got a story out of him, about the inn. He claimed that the spring did used to be true holy water, found by the Black Cloak, Jakad, 20 years ago, who was led there by Prios. But that the Elves were not happy with Jakad turning into a shrine, and killed him with arrows. As soon as he died, the holy water faded. But this had not stopped Koldra building an inn in order to monetise on the legend. Soon after they went to bed, though not after a patrol of the pallisade first. They looked out into Davokar for the first time. It chilled them to the bone, the forest seemingly going on for infinity, and and eerie fog coming from it.
In the night, Maddox was woken by a dull thud, and quickly alerted the others. Fenya looked out of the window and saw movement a couple of hundred metres away, coming from the forest, it looked like many small figures. Fenya jumped out of the window, out side of the palisade with little regard for her own safety. The others ran to the wall, weapons ready. At this time, the alarm bell began to ring as well, one of the children had also spotted the danger. The group noticed two dozen or more goblins charging to the back of the compound, some carrying a ladder. Further away, they saw many more, along with two humanoid figures, and a strange red mist coming from a cauldron. Fenya decided to hide then try to blend in.
As they approached, the party unleashed hell on them, taking them down with bow and spell. As they got even closer, Lanky dropped on several of them, crushing them to death. Lanky then laid into them, soaking up their shortsword stabs all the while. Meanwhile, Fenya noticed something strange. The goblins were foaming at the mouths, and going crazy, as if they had taken some sort of narcotic. She then noticed that one of them was prentending to act like the others. Posing as one of them, she started a dialog with him in the middle of the fight. He assumed Fenya was one of them, and started asking if she had any Blue Drops as he was running low, and he wanted to subdue some of the other goblins. In fact, he couldn't believe that he wasn't the only goblin who had counter-acted the drugs. He didn't believe Fenya was from inside the inn at first, but when he finally did, he introduced himself as Shuggludd. He said the others were drugged by Nightblade and that they were being used to do her bidding as they were addicted to the drugs she had given them. Fenya assisted Shugglidd in forcing blue drops down another goblins throat, subduing him. By now, enough goblins had been slaughtered that they made a retreat.
After the battle, Shuggludd went into more detail. All the goblins were addicted to WIld Chew and Blue Drops. When on the Chew, they behaved like savages, and the blue drops were used by Nightblade to subdue them. Even when calm, they had become so dependent on the drugs, that they still did Nightblade's bidding. And when on the Chew they could barely control themselves anyway. Lady Nightblade had another human helping her, Ashfaru the alchemist, and it was he who brewed the drugs in a giant cauldron, creating the red mist from the wild chew.
It looked like the main bulk of the golbin army were preparing for a second assault. There wsa activity going on - it appeared they were making more ladders from trees, and a battering ram. The party worked with Koldra to sure up some defences. They put bales of hay around the palisade, with oil on ready to light and throw down. They organised themselves into two groups, one for the back, and one for the main gate. Leaf, Koldra, and Edira all supported, but Blackhawk went back to bed. Fenya, Shuggludd, and the other goblin (Boba) decided to steal back to Nightblade's camp to try to find Blue Drops.
As the main force of 50 or so goblins came to attack, the three goblins headed to Ashfaru, killing him and two goblin guards. Ashfaru managed to kill Boba first, but Fenya and Shuggled took revenge, the red mists both starting to affect them. They then grabbed the cauldron and blue drops, and headed back to the inn behind the main army.
The battle then began. Some goblins came to the gate with a battering ram and some to the back with two ladders. Leaf threw down the flaming hay bails on the ram, obliterating several goblins and setting the ram alight. However more came to take the place of those who died, the main gate starting to splinter, the bar looking unlikely to hold. Meanwhile, Maddox reigned down his magic on Nightblade. At the back of the inn, goblins started to clamber up ladders, onto the walkways. Wulf, Lanky, and Koldra started laying into them, but again, they seemed to keep on coming.
Wulf then saw Fenya and Shuggludd, running with the cauldron. With quick thinking, he fired an arrow with a rope on the end to them. The pair of goblins grabbed the rope and hopped in the cauldron. Wulf pulled them back, speeding their return. As they arrived, they needed a plan for how to get the blue drops into the air, in order for the aggressors to inhale before it was too late...