The Siege of Nede

The Siege of Nede is the quest that occurs in Session 5 of The Truth, The Eye, and the Beholder.

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

Previously
In Sesssion 4 (One Last Performance), The Late-Night Crew arrived in the mining town of Jarthis, where they helped Patches run the Dine-In Theatre for a night whereupon the local miners take their monthly holiday from work and toil. As they cleaned the tavern and prepared their performance for the locals, Jundus uncovered an amulet that was haunted by a ghost. The ghost possesses him and overcomes him with the insatiable need to perform on stage. Although the crew struggles, they inevitably destroy an armoire which housed the source of the ghost. Once the armoire was destroyed, the haunting subsided and Jundus returned to normal.

The Late-Night Crew later interrogated Patches by force, and eventually learned that Patches - upset at his former wife for her inability to keep guests entertained at the tavern - locked her in the armoire and left her to die. While the group argued what to do with Patches, Marvoticlutz locked Patches in a trunk. With the majority of the Late-Night Crew happy with this outcome, they left Patches to his fate, where it is assumed that he died from shock or a heart attack.

The Fires of Nede
Returning on the Road to Jarthis back toward the capital with their caravan of ore and the necromancy survivors in tow. The Late-Night Crew soon comes upon the City of Nede in flames. Screams can be heard from far away, and a crowd of civilians has gathered outside of town, speaking of a group of guards who are keeping people from entering the cities. The Late-Night Crew leaves their wagon behind and enters the city.

They encounter soldiers in full-plate mail armour wearing blue banners, the banners of Kraljic. Without hesitation, they attack the crew. Their fighting skills seem to suggest that they are amateurs, and not well-trained soldiers. Although the soldiers superior armour proves difficult, the Crew vanquishes the soldiers. They then head to a nearby apothecary, finding it looted, but regaining their health on potions found in the basement. They also find some corrosive concoctions. They pocked all available potions and mixtures.

Continuing into the city, they encounter a second group of soldiers, also bearing Kraljic banners. The soldiers are launching firebombs into the city with a catapult, and further along the street is a tremendous pile of bodies, mostly of civilians, all dead. Seeing explosive material nearby the catapult, Maroo is lifted onto a roof, gains a vantage point, looses a flaming arrow, and destroys the soldiers' encampment by igniting their firepots.

Rendezvous at Outpost #61
The Crew arrives at The New Nede Inn where their adventure first began. They encounter the Innkeeper and her daughter, Sasha. The Innkeeper was injured, and the group uses a potion to revive her. To thank them, she points them to a trap-door in the kitchen, informing them that the enemy soldiers used this secret door to enter the inn, and presumably used the catacombs beneath to move undetected through the city. The crew informs the Innkeeper that they located and saved her second daughter, saving her from the necromancers, and that she was safe outside the city limits.

After settling things in the inn, the crew descends into the catacombs of Nede. They pass through the dark passageways, finding various traps, until they come upon a grating, which they burn with their acids. Moving forward, they find a wall made of weak masonry, and together, Marv and Maroo break down the wall. They find a mechanism, which is used to drain a tunnel and reveal a ladder.

The ladder leads to Outpost #61, where the Crew was originally imprisoned by the Nights Watch. The party frees a group of soldiers who were forced into the prison cells, and then find Commander Vael ending a fight outdoors. In the time the crew was underground, the remaining Nede soldiers of the Watch were able to gain the upperhand and begin fending off the ill-prepared Kraljic troops. Barchibold recognizes one of the Kraljic soldiers as a criminal, a Nede citizen, who was sentenced to death. This suggests the invasion may have been orchestrated from inside Nede using unskilled prisoners as soldiers disguised as Kraljic soldiers.

The City of Nede slowly put out its fires, and the party came to returned to the start of their adventure. But hearts hang heavy, knowing that many hundreds of Nede citizens died, still resting in the mounds throughout the city.