Journal of Ehran the Scribe

 I am recording the brutal battle at the main gates of Daggerford. The members of squad 5 carried themselves with commendable courage and great success during this fight. In it squad 5 faced what appeared to be a smallish dragon and what Lharren maintains was a Yugoloth. In addition there were some two dozen skeletons and a few zombies, two squads of mercenaries of well above average quality, no fewer than 3 mages and a cleric of Myrkul. When the fight ended all save the leader(apparently) had fallen to the swords of squad 5, Maxmillian and myself. There were a number of merchants guardsmen who assisted as well.

With Maxmillians customary glee he flew about slaying a goodly number of the mercenaries but was largely unable to close with the mages or monsters till the end of the battle when he went to Mithandrils aid. Then he was able to close with a number of skeletal bats(nasty little beasts). Cyric destroyed the undead coming through the gate and turned to assist the main battle in the courtyard only to be pounced on by the smallish dragon creature. This turned out to be a horrible and irrevocable mistake on its part as he quickly put it down. Lharren engaged a couple of mercs by the doorway and then attacked the yugoloth when it appeared in the courtyard. I went to assist and was surprised to find the beast immune to my blade. Fortunately i was in possession of a ring of shocking to which the beast was not immune. This proved to be the final stroke on the creature. Rather a bit of Tymora smiling down as Lharren says its quite the nasty in a fight. Mithandril dissappeared early in the fight seeking an advantageous position. Once he had located the enemy leaders he flew to attack them. Rather a bold and impetious action as he found they had a half dozen skeletal bats in reserve. While he had done some hurt to one of the leaders he was quickly swarmed under by the bats. Some headed toward others in the courtyard and i got a shot at an incautious one that flew too near. I laid a goodly hurt on it with the ring of shocking but it flew on largely unfazed. Perhaps they were creatures i have heard referred to as "Bone Bats"? In any case they are fairly dangerous and quick moving.

The courtyard was largely clear by this time and archers had downed the enemy mages(note to self fly spell may not be the tactical edge you would think). Maxmillian went to Mithandrils aid and slew a couple of the bats. The enemy leaders went down quickly enough save for one. This fellow(?) had been hit to no great effect by one of the archers earlier in the fight and had dodged out of sight into an alley. When he came back he was apparently out of phase or some such as attacks on him failed completely. At this time Maxmillian shed his armor in a real rush and i found he had been hit with a heat metal spell at some earlier time. He had been battling for much of the fight with the considerable pain of the armour burning him. That must have pleased his god (Clangeddin) greatly.

Regrettably things went rather to pot about this time. Cyric had drunk a flight potion so he could attack the bats on their own turf so to speak. Even as i turned to bind the mage i had knocked out with the glass sphere at the start of the battle he and a mercenary rose from the snow. The mercenary was cut down instanter but the mage flew up out of reach. One of the merchants guards hit him with a sleep spell and then it was a matter of retrieving him before he blew away or woke up. While some of the merchants guards wanted to shoot him and then drag the body down i was able to get Cyric to fly up and grab the fellow. What should have been a simple matter got complicated rather quickly. It seems Mithandril had fallen prey to some spell that inflicted madness and it took effect here. He flew up and attacked Cyric stabbing him rather badly in the back. Regrettably the merchants guards shot him several times with their bows and killed him. Cyric, the lady Kiri (Mithandril's cousin) and myself rushed to the body in hopes of helping him. He was dead as the proverbial clam. We prayed together over the body and a truly wonderous thing occurred. All the three gods answered out prayers and aided Mithandril. Lathander restored his life, the elven god cured his wounds and Azuth did something else. Blue fire rose on my hands and flowed into his mouth and eyes then flowed back into me. It was a most interesting sensation but it troubles me as i do not understand its consequences.

It was truly humbling experience to witness Divine Intervention not once but thrice at the same moment. I had fully expected to live out my alotted centuries without ever seeing it. To have that wretched excuse for a bard cheapen the moment like that was intolerable. Only out of respect for the moment did i not strike him down on the spot. "NEAT TRICK" indeed.

The out of phase "leader" watched us for a minute or so as we mopped up the courtyard then vanished. Cyric maintains we should go immediately to the glen where he thinks the Gate is open. It would seem there is indeed a Gate open as the yugoloth's body has not returned whence it came. That or Lharren is incorrect in its identity.

I believe we should heal the injured and see to the town's security before we boldly go where no man in his right mind would. The militia seems to have had little ability to stop the raid and we can see fires in the town and even the castle. We may be the only effective unit available to the duke and it would illbehove us to strike off blindly at this time. There are several hundred people in Daggerford and it appears their lives may well be on the line. There are quite likely people trapped and injured not just by the fighting but by the quaking of the earth after the battles end. In the dawns light we can make plans but now its time for picking up the pieces.

Another thing of note was that lady Kiri is a wild mage and is fairly willing to use wild magic. Though i must admit in this case i rather wish she hadn't. She cast a spell which went badly awry resulting in a Disjunction. Lharren and myself were caught up in it and we lost almost all our magical items. The only item i still have is my blade Iceheart. I look forward to studying wild magic though i hope to reduce the cost to a more manageable level.

The fighting started some fires and the quaking of the earth has flattened a number of structures including the inn so we will not likely be able to move out before dawn at the earliest. I fear the clerics will have used their powers up before we can move out so the earliest i can see moving is day after tomorrow. Hopefully the evil ones do not have time so summon reinforcements.