Part I
(Click here to skip to Part II)The party emerged from the sewers in the middle of a neighborhood and were immediately attacked by small orbs of light that drained their health, what felt like permanently. In the middle of the battle a mapach opened his door and motioned them inside. They killed the last of the orbs and ran into his house.
His name was Bob Tail and he was happy to help them out and tell them what he knew. The orbs traveled throughout out the city and attacked whoever they came across, even gnolls. They wouldn't enter a building though, so gnolls made everyone leave their doors unlocked so they could run inside any house if they needed to.
Bob knew about the resistance but didn't know anyone who was involved. He also cautioned the party about being seen during the day, the gnolls would eventually ask to see their "papers" and would be arrested when they couldn't produce any.
All the party knew was that they were looking for Little Wing, no idea who they were or where they might be. They decided to use the rest of the night to look for him/her. Since all houses were unlocked, Cyrus went in and woke up the inhabitants and asked if they knew Little Wing. It took quite a few tries, but they finally got a tip. Go to the market and ask for Little Wing and they would be contacted later that night.
Before going to bed they searched for the market, keeping an eye out for the orbs, or Night Wanderers. They didn't run into those, but did come across two gnolls on patrol. They weren't sure what to do when they heard a spell being cast and the gnolls fell down asleep. A hooded figure went to the bodies, seeming to check on them. Dúne stepped out of hiding and the figure waved him off, then ran away.
Moments later some Night Wanderers appeared, five or six. They attacked the gnolls, who woke up, but it was already too late, their life force was drained and they quickly died.
The next day Amachai went to the small market, there were only three folk selling anything. He tried his best to look like he belonged there but his best was an abysmal failure. Asking all the folk if the new a Little Wing he attracted the gnolls attention. They sent the merchants off and surrounded Amachai frisking him when he didn't produce any papers.
One sleep spell later and Amachai ran away as fast as he could. More gnolls poured out of the barracks blowing whistles and sounding an alarm.
Other members of the party followed the merchants from the market, but didn't turn anything up. That night, a butterfly came to Amachai and told him to meet Little Wing north of the market.
A jerbeen met them and took them to a small shack with a hidden trap door. They went down to a small room that had been dug out. Little Wing told them Chicken Tender would meet with them, IF they proved themselves by helping the Saltar's Port Resistance (SPR) with a small problem.
An Inn had been taken over by the gnolls that was an ex-thieves guild hideout. The SPR wanted the party to find the hidden rooms, locate the teleportation circle, and if possible, make sure the gnolls never went into the Inn again.
The party lost no time getting started. They watched the Inn for a day and crossed the river to it that night. It was empty except for two gnolls that had passed out drinking. In the basement, behind a barrel, Dúne found a hidden door. They went through and into a nicely furnished cave system that had been deserted for some time.
While exploring they came across bipedal fish like creatures cowing in the corner. The party tried to talk to them, but they seemed more animal in nature. Meanwhile, behind the party, a creature with seaweed tendrils crawled out of the water and attacked.
Of course, Cyrus stunned it, and the DM was left to watch as the party pummeled it to death in short order. Once it was dead the fishy creatures stampeded past the party and into the water.
When the party walked back into the room there was a cervan sitting at a table. He'd been watching the whole encounter unfold.
It was an odd conversation as the cervan slowly dropped hints as to who he was. He claimed to be a dragon from another world. He'd been pulled through one of the gnolls Gates and had decided to stay in Humblewood for a while. He really wanted to meet a dragon from this world, promising a favor if they found one and told him about it.
The party dubbed him Q and he didn't seem to care if they called him that or not. Q showed them to where the Teleportation Circle was hidden and said the Resistance was welcome to use the space, although he'd probably be there on occasion.
With that, the party went back to the inn, dumped out all the hard liquor they weren't taking with them, and lit the place on fire. It went up in flames quickly and burned throughout the rest of the night.
It was time to get some sleep. The party should be meeting with Chicken Little the next night, if they hold up their end of the deal.
Part II
The party woke up the next morning to the gnolls having gathered each neighborhood together. In retribution for the inn being burned the night before, two folk from each neighborhood were burned alive in a pyre. The party wanted to take action right away, but the numbers of gnolls present would only lead to their inevitable deaths.
That night they met with the Chicken Tender. The talk immediately turned to folk who died that morning. "Casualty of war," Chicken Tender said. This did not sit well with the party.
Adina stepped forward, "Is that you, my little Chicken Nugget?"
"Wait, I thought his name was Chicken Tender," the DM said.
"No, it was Chicken Nugget," Adina said, "but I like Chicken Tender better."
"That's right," Chicken Tender said, "I changed my name so the gnolls wouldn't know who I was."
He asked about his brothers, Quack, Squawk, and Whack. Adina told him they had all died at the hands of the gnolls. This sent Chicken Tender into a fury, raging around the room at this news. Dúne stepped up and said, "Just another casualty of war." Chicken Tender eyed Dúne, but said nothing more.
Despite their differences, the party and Chicken Tender began talking about next steps in Saltar's Port. They quickly began planning to take out the Commander and all his Captains.
They all met together every morning for a briefing in an Opera House. The party started watching the briefings, hidden in a balcony. All the captains and some of their staff showed up every day.
The only catch, they would need to wait until the wizard was out of town. Chicken Tender described him as an immensely powerful wizard, had seen him actually cast a spell that stopped time.
Five days later their opportunity came. They snuck in that night and Amichai cast Glyphs of Warding in several spots while Dúne rigged some ceiling tiles to fall. In addition to this, Little Wing would join them and add her spell casting ability to the fight.
It was a well executed plan. Hell and fire (balls) reigned down on the gnolls as Snow focused on Garek Grimehead. Cyrus dealt strategic blows throughout the ranks and Dúne worked as a sniper from the balcony. Amachi cast spirit guardians and added to the chaos on stage with Garek while Adina cast a variety of spells taking whole swaths of gnolls out of the fight. Looking back, it was more of a massacre than a fight, and very satisfying.
Word went out and the town immediately rose up against the rest of the gnolls. Some were put up on the same crosses folk had died on, others were tied to a stake and burned to death, it was a grim retribution as Saltar's Port took their freedom back.
The party joined in for a while and then made their way to The Wizard's tower. It took a dispel magic from Little Wing to get them inside. They explored five floors, finding some interesting items and a treatise on psychic damage that had been heavily annotated.
At the top of a tower was a large crystal that Adina cast identify on. If energized by a spell it would take them to the next level in the tower. They did this and it was an empty room with eight other rooms connected to it, and another crystal in the center of this room. Suspicious of what all this was, Adina cast identify on the crystal. This time, it opened small portals in each room.
With no other choice, the party readied themselves. The portals opened and for a moment nothing happened. They recognized several of the portals to different parts of Humblewood. Then, creatures emerged from nearly every portal and moved toward the party. Overwhelmed, they began defending themselves but it didn't look good . . .
As the battle began, Amichai heard the voice of Tyton calling to him. At first he thought it was a call to the grave. Further into the battle it became clear, Tyton had opened a path through one of the portals, one that would provide an escape.
It was clear the party could not defeat this many creatures. They rallied and retreated the the portal that Amichai indicated, a hundred foot drop into snowy mountains.