It’s over, finally. The invading monsters have been turned back on every front. The last few skirmishes have ended in the streets of Jurgenville. Rangers and druids continue to hunt down stray packs of humanoids in the mountains surrounding town. Guards from the mine will be cleaning out small tribes of goblinoids in the caves and tunnels underground for another week. But on the surface, in the streets, all is now quiet.

The party slowly gravitates towards the Glowing Helm. Nikki arrives first, flush with her recent victory over a large tribe of orcs. Diana drops in shortly afterward, but ends up leaving again to go see to the wounded being carried down from the small valley where the main battle was fought. The survivors of the battle are already calling the place Red Vale due to the large quantity of blood spilled there.

Matar finally wanders in after Tessalynne returns to town and takes command of all forces once again. The young warrior is still badly injured from his fight with an ogre magi and hill giants, but he refuses medical care, insisting that the clerics and healers deal with the wounded men and women in the watch and militia first. After a short break for lunch at the Inn he goes back out to see if he can use his herbal skills helping with any of the wounded.

It is almost three in the afternoon before Sane enters. He was badly injured over the Cormyrian Tower, but the troops there gathered him up and brought him to town for medical care. His wing is still broken, but he is out of danger now.

Shortly thereafter Castinar and Sigurd walk in together. Castinar is quite a sight to see. It looks like something exploded right in front of him. The front of his leather armor is completely blasted away, and all of the skin on his chest, face, and arms is a bright pink. What’s more, the ranger has a hard time hearing. He can hear if you shout at him, but usually Hunter relays messages. Unlike her mentor, Shadow looks to be in good shape, although she does have a nasty looking head wound.

Sigurd is escorted in by his new squire, Pyreen. Both bear numerous wounds. Sigurd has a serious look on his face. They call for a meal and devour it hungrily as they wait for the others to arrive.

Katrina arrives later in the afternoon looking better than most of you. She too has bright pink skin everywhere you can see, but she is dressed in rather nice clothing and looks somewhat rested.

The sun is already starting to set when Diana and Matar return from their work with the wounded. Sane begins to grow worried about Ariessus, even though Tessalynne tells him that Ari was fine after the battle and was last seen helping the injured in Red Vale. Diana, who still has the Mage’s Guild’s crystal ball, uses it to locate the drow. She finds her in a dark room. Ari is reclining in a pool of water, apparently asleep. Nikki laughs at the scene, making a snide comment about taking a bath after the battle, but Matar’s sensitive eyesight shows him another story. Ari ’s skin is dry and cracked. Later the group learns that the drow suffered a severe case of sunstroke after such a long exposure to the sun.

Sane apologizes that the party wasn’t organized to fight as a group, but as it turned out individuals had a great effect all over the battlefield. Trying to get a handle on what each party member has done, Sane asks for everybody to report on their activities.

Sigurd tells the group that Ariessus was at the Battle of Red Vale even before he arrived, and that Cobul, the commander who took that first militia company out, told him that Ari, along with a large mountain lion that Sigurd suspects was K’harn, were instrumental in keeping the initial monster advance penned up within the small valley. Sigurd continues, telling the party that he saw Ari either working on the wounded or fighting throughout the morning. As he left she was leading a group in the destruction of a large mass of zombies and skeletons. Tessalynne later tells the party that Ariessus was instrumental in driving off the figure that she suspects was one of the leaders of the attack, but that in the effort all of those who fought at the cleric’s side were killed.

Castinar tells the party that he and his merry band "helped out in the mine" and that’s all. Hunter, however, will have none of that humble pie, and he proceeds to tell the party a bit more. Snares set by Castinar and Shadow held up the initial attack, throwing the enemy forces into disarray. This, combined with harassment from JMC guards below, delayed the attack by several hours forcing the invaders to fight in the early morning sunshine rather than in the darkness before dawn as they had planned. After sending the initial warning, Castinar and company entered the mine where they helped a small group of guards to recover from a vicious attack by bugbears. They then lead that group in a counter attack against the same bugbear force. In rather grandiose terms Hunter tells the party that Castinar saved the attack by destroying a wand of lightning, but when the wand blew up in his face the ranger was almost killed. Shadow managed to save him by pouring several unknown potions into the ranger. Only now is Castinar’s hearing finally beginning to return. The group then traveled deeper into the mine, where they helped the guards turn back an attack by what appeared to be a mercenary force.

For her part Diana tells the group that she helped the Mage’s Guild organize and deploy once the initial alarm was raised. She was then given a crystal ball to be used to help the town’s leadership scout out the situation. She went over to the watch HQ where she found Matar in charge. She scouted for both Matar and then Alric after Matar’s departure. When the town was attacked by the dragon and wyverns she ended up fighting and killing one of the wyverns on her own. She then helped Angus and Saeros drive off the red dragon. Since then she has used her healing skills on dozens of warriors and civilians caught up in the hostilities.

Katrina is rather evasive about her actions. She tells the group that she was posted up on top of the Maiden’s Kiss, where she provided missile support to the defenders on the east side of town when it was attacked. Hearing this, Diana perks up and manages to drag out of Katrina that the cat-woman was the one who shot the dragon in the eye, and was flamed for her trouble. Kat tells the party that she almost died from the dragon’s breath, but was saved, although she won’t tell them who saved her. After her rescue she moved around the streets of town, taking out small groups of humanoids which had slipped past or around the main fight.

Matar indicates that he spent most of his time in the city watch HQ, directing the defenses of the town. With Diana and Sane scouting for him he discovered most of the side attacks and sent forces to deal with them. Knowing that he was short on troops he left the attack from the west to himself. He passed command to Alric and after recruiting a group of dwarves and clerics to help him headed west with Nikki to try and relieve the Cormyrian Tower. But they were too late, and instead ended up fighting the column of ogres and orcs at the party’s compound. Matar personally slew what Nikki tells you was an ogre magi. The group then headed back into town, where Matar and Nikki helped to drive off a second column of attackers, including two hill giants. He then took command from Alric and helped to organize the final cleansing of the city.

Nikki just tells you that she was with Matar the whole time. A dwarf overhears this and, leaning back in his chair, tells the party that the "blue witch" fried a whole tribe of orcs and ogres with her blue fireballs.

Sane too defers, telling the party that he mainly scouted around. But you manage to pull out of him that while he was over the Cormyrian tower the column from that direction (which at that time included the ogre magi, the two hill giants, and a large number of orcs and ogres) attacked the tower. After only a short time it became apparent that the tower would fall. Sane tried to help by using illusions to make it look as if the tower was not damaged by the attacks of the hill giants. This frustrated the hill giants to no end, but the ogre magi eventually caught on to what was going on, so Sane had to attack him personally. Unfortunately this dispelled his invisibility and one of the hill giants saw him. Sane was knocked from the sky by a boulder thrown by the giant. Still, Sane’s tactics delayed the group enough that they had to leave the job at the tower unfinished and they moved on toward town, where they were eventually stopped by Matar. The guards in the tower patched Sane up and returned him to town.

Sigurd also has quite a tale to tell. He lead the cavalry to support the first militia company on the scene and covered their retreat when they pulled back. He then was involved in fighting all morning long. Pyreen interrupts and tells the party that Sigurd blessed the whole Jurgenville Army at one point. Sigurd looks a little uncomfortable at this and presses on. After fighting in the main battle for a while he was pulled out to go head off a column of gnolls descending on the demi-human settlement. He took a small band of cavalry and met up with the last two companies of militia sent by Matar to help him. They ended up setting up a trap for the gnolls. The trap worked, but the gnoll leader used some kind of strange magic to summon a cyro-hydra. Sigurd fought and killed the cyro-hydra, but the battle took him right in the middle of the gnolls. The pack jumped him and he was almost killed, but Pyreen led the remaining fighters to his rescue.

As others trickle in and out the party catches up on some other events in the battle that they didn’t know about. They discover that the Sembian tower was completely destroyed by the same force that Kat helped turn back on the eastern edge of town. Many of the mercenaries hired by the Sembians were killed as well in that eastern battle.

There were a handful of attacks that the party wasn’t involved in. Both the Sembian and Cormyrian mines were attacked, although neither in force. These appeared to be holding actions, trying to keep guards from the mines from reinforcing defenders in the city. There was also a second group of humanoids coming around Dragonspeak that Sane and Diana missed, but they were taken care of by the local druid’s circle, along with considerable help from the local flora and fauna.

Nikki fidgets quite a bit while everybody is telling their stories, impatient to return to Neworion. Once Sigurd finishes she hops up and bids the party good evening. She hopes to get a few hours of research in before she has to go to bed. Diana, exhausted by her battle with a wyvern and the endless hours of caring for the wounded, decides to stay in town tonight. The party takes several rooms in the Helm and heads to bed. Castinar and Shadow, of course, leave town, heading back out into the hills, where they will spend the next several days hunting down stragglers.

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The next week passes slowly for the party. Diana returns to Neworion to finish up with her research. Matar and Sane spend most of their time helping the townsfolk rebuild from the damage caused by the invaders. Fortunately most of the damage is light, and everything except for the Maiden’s Kiss and a handful of Cormyrian summer homes is repaired within a few days.

The mood in town is rather somber. Yes, the invaders were driven off, but the cost was high. Almost two hundred defenders from the watch and militia were lost, along with an unknown number of Sembian mercenaries. Yet, over all, losses were light compared to the losses suffered by the monsters. Well over five hundred corpses are burned, most of them in Red Vale.

Following a gnomish tradition, the town spends six days in mourning. All doors in town are draped in black. At the homes where a loved one was lost a red sash is hung as well. Gifts are often left on the doorsteps of such homes, particularly those where two and even three sashes hang. People spend their time attending wakes for the slain, rebuilding their homes and lives, and contemplating the fragility of life in such a violent world.

But, even through the grimness, most realize that the town was lucky. Against his wishes, Castinar becomes somewhat of a celebrity when it is learned that his warning is what gave the town the opportunity to meet the defenders in Red Vale rather than in the streets. When officials from the Jurgenville Mining Company spread the tale that snares set by Castinar and Shadow helped to delay the attack, the ranger’s fame is sealed. Many other party members are recognized as heroes as well, and the town searches for a way to thank them.

The gnomish mourning tradition calls for six days of mourning followed by a day of celebration. It acknowledges the sorrow of those left behind by the slain, but the final day of the ceremony celebrates the continuation of life, and the eternal hope that life will go on. So on the seventh day the town of Jurgenville holds a large celebration. It kicks off late in the morning with a parade. The Truth Seekers are invited to be guests of honor, sitting along with the city council and watch leadership up on the reviewing stand.

The parade is primarily a way for the militia troops to be recognized for their participation and contributions. They march down the main street, cheered by the rest of the town, for it seems as if everybody has turned out for the celebration.

Tessalynne, her voice magically amplified, reads the accomplishments of each company as they march past the reviewing stand. She first tells what battle or battles they fought in and what enemies they defeated. Then, on a more somber note, she reads the names of those in the company who have been killed. On the average each company, which had numbered fifty, has lost between ten and twenty of their members. The two companies which fought with Sigurd against the gnolls have a much lower casualty rate. Those who fought in Red Vale have a higher one.

The last company that passes through is very different. It is the first company, the one which was marshalling for early-morning training at the time that Castinar’s warning came through. They met and contained the main enemy column alone in what has become known as the First Battle of Red Vale. Then they participated with the rest of the militia when they arrived in the Second Battle of Red Vale. This is the company that Ariessus fought with. While most companies still have most of their people left, when this company passes by all become quiet. Out of the initial fifty militiamen only six remain. Out of those six, only one is able to walk on his own. The rest are carried in a wagon. But even those barely able to sit on their own try to do so proudly.

As the first company moves towards the reviewing stand the party notices something else different about them as well. Unlike the rest of the militiamen, these are now dressed in a uniform of sorts – a uniform that looks quite familiar. They are all wearing black pants and shirt with silver piping. They are also each wearing a short cape, lavender trimmed in black, just like Ariessus’. Any doubt that the cloak is in tribute to the drow is dispelled when the party sees that each cape also has a hood, a white hood. What’s more, the only militiamen walking is carrying a banner. Ariessus gasps when she sees it. It is her cloak, the one she wrapped Tran in as he died in her arms.

The company stops in front of the reviewing stand, and the lone walker painfully climbs up the steps. As he approaches Ariessus recognizes him as a half-elf who’s life she saved during the battle. He bows deeply to her, although his face blanches in pain as he does so. "Dark Lady," he says, addressing Ariessus, "we would be honored if you would accompany us."

Ariessus, with tears in her eyes, walks down with the half-elf and climbs up onto the wagon with the rest of the survivors of the company to the cheers of all around. They present her with one of the cloaks, which she proudly puts on. The wagon then keeps moving, taking Ariessus and her company down the rest of the route. As they ride off Tessalynne tells the rest of the party that this particular company will be reformed, and that it will be the first named company of militia – The Company of the Dark Lady.

After the militia the private forces in the battle parade pass in review. Kat stands and salutes as the Turmish warriors march by. The leader of the group returns her salute. The Cormyrian guards, the Purple Dragons, and the surviving Sembians pass as well.

Once the parade is over the whole town gathers around the reviewing stand. Ariessus is ushered back up and again sits with the party. Many metals are handed out to the militiamen and others who fought in the battle. The last of the accolades are saved for the party.

First, Tessalynne (who is acting as master of ceremonies) presents each of the party members individually with the metal given to all those who fought in the war. The metal itself is made of platinum and portrays a pair of cupped hands holding the city of Jurgenville in front of Dragonspeak. Then, each party member wounded during the attack (everybody except for Nikki) is given another metal. This metal was created in memory of those in the first company which gave their lives during the battle. It, like the company’s new uniforms, is purple with a black lining. In memory of the courage of those who gave their lives it is shaped like a heart.

After the awarding of the metals the survivors of the city watch move towards the reviewing stand. They form up and at Tessalynne’s command they present arms. Tessalynne then calls Matar, Sigurd, and Ariessus up. The three are each given honorary commissions as captains in the city watch. From now on they are entitled to be called by their new rank anytime they are in town.

And finally the company as a whole is recognized. The city council presents the party with a lifetime adventuring charter, the first and so far only charter ever issued by the city. It also adds to the party’s name a title; The Truth Seekers: Defenders of Jurgenville. Several months later the party learns of another gift from the town, a large keystone depicting the party crest to be mounted above the archway leading into the party’s new compound. The keystone glows upon command, lighting the area in front of the compound gates.

After the official ceremony is ended the informal partying begins. Drinks flow freely and the food is plentiful. The late-winter night is surprisingly balmy, so many of the festivities spill out onto the street. Several of the Truth Seekers end up with sore backs after getting about a dozen too many congratulatory slaps. All, even the enigmatic "blue witch" are celebrated by the local citizens.

The partying is throw into high gear when Jonathon returns to town with the news that the drow wars is over, and that the surface elves have won. The celebration lasts late, late into the night.