You are at breakfast at the Glowing Helm. It is about 7:00 in the morning. You just finished off a stack of the "flat cakes" that Detee makes with tiny blueberries in them. Sitting back you pat your stomach. That should be enough to fuel your body, even on a cold day like this. You start thinking about your schedule today. Cobul has the first training shift. In fact, he should be forming the early company up about now. You’ll be taking the second shift, running two companies through their paces just before lunch. Now what was on the schedule for today’s training? Oh yes, small-formation maneuvering.

A strange sensation from your belt makes you frown and look down. One of your pouches is moving around.

"What the... ?" you mutter, reaching down to open it up.

Looking in you see the coin given you by Tessalynne dancing around inside. Your eyes widen as the implications hit home. You stand just as the town's alarm bell just across the street begins to toll.

You grab your gear and rush outside, along with several other patrons. You run into the street and look around. You see the watch members spilling out of their barracks and heading toward the parade field, where they will form their companies up as the militia members arrive. You also see the Cobul has already started the early morning company marching west towards the bridge across the river. Lucky for the town that they had a fighting force already assembled.

When you arrive at the City Hall it is a hive of activity. Tessalynne is just putting on her armor as you enter. When she sees you she fills you in on the situation.

The city received warning that the humanoids were marching towards the city from Castinar. The ranger's warning is giving the town the luxury of setting up its defenses before the humanoids are on the doorstep. One company was out on the parade field drilling when the message came in. They were immediately dispatched to stop the humanoids outside of town. However, Tessalynne is worried that if she doesn't get reinforcements to that company in time they might be wiped out.

When you volunteer to help with planning Tessalynne breaths a sigh of relief. "I really need to head out there and try to stem as much of the tide as I can before it reaches town." She leans over and places her hand on your shoulder. "If you stay, that will put you in command of the forces here within Jurgenville itself. While I hope to stop most of the monsters heading this way I'm sure some will trickle through - perhaps even pour through if we are not strong enough. Your responsibility will be to keep them outside of town, if at all possible, and if not, delay them as long as you can. More help is on the way, but it will take a while to get here."

You nod in understanding and Tessalynne smiles.

"So is there anything I could do right now to help out?" you ask. "I've been working with the militia companies, perhaps I can help get them organized."

"That would be great" the red haired paladin replies as a young girl comes running up to help her with her armor. "Go supervise the forming of the companies. We need to send people out as soon as we can to take advantage of the surprise we have. So don't wait for the individual companies to form. As soon as you have enough complete squads to form a company send them out."

You salute and turn to head out, seeing Sigurd enter through the back way as you do so. You nod to your companion and then run outside, heading for the parade field.

Over the next half hour or so you form companies up as quickly as you can. The town has six in all. You are pleased when you get two companies formed up within about ten minutes. As these initial groups are assembling you see Sigurd go galloping by, leading the Temple's cavalry towards the fight. A few minutes later the infantry from the Temple comes marching up. Tessalynne comes out and takes command of this group, along with the two companies you have fully formed by this time. They set out. A third company follows a few minutes later, marching at double time to catch up with Tessalynne and her command.

The other two take a bit longer. When the fifth company is formed you decide to hold on to it until you have a better idea what is going on. Leaving the assembly of the sixth and final company to the Watch sergeants you head back towards the Watch HQ. As you do so you see smoke coming from over the horizon to the north-west (the direction everybody has been heading).

(Message from Nikki when Matar asks her to go out with one of the companies...)

It is now about an hour after the initial warning. Matar has become commander of all forces in Jurgenville. Sane and Diana are helping him out. Nikki is on her way.

In the main room in the Watch center Matar is studying a map with the few Watchmen remaining in town. As they are doing this one of Athena's knights comes stomping in. He stops and salutes. "I bring news from the battle!" he begins. "Sigurd and the cavalry have arrived. They are going to make contact with Cobul combine our forces. The situation was desperate when I left, but on my way back I passed several groups heading toward the fight, the main one lead by Captain Tessalynne. Now, can I get back to the fighting?"

Matar shakes his head. "I'm afraid Tessalynne might have left the town short-manned in her eagerness to engage the enemy outside of the city limits. You are one of only two horsemen I have, and I'll need you to run messages back and forth. I'm sorry, but right now I need your horse's legs more than I need your sword."

The knight looks disappointed but salutes and goes outside to take care of his horse and await further orders.

Matar looks at the map and wonders what he should do know. Tessalynne should be able to stop the monsters outside of town, but what if she can't? And what if some slip through elsewhere?

"Sane," Matar says "I need a better picture of what is going on out there. Can you overfly this whole area? I suspect what while Tessalynne is facing their main thrust, there may be other groups heading our way. Find them for me!"

Sane nods and heads outside. He takes off, heading towards the column of smoke to the north.

As time drags on several more people show up at the Watch center. Laila comes in, accompanied by a serious-looking soldier. "I am here to help out in any way I can" she tells Matar. This flusters Matar a bit. Ordering soldiers around is one thing. Telling this powerful figure what to do is another. "Ah, just do what you think is best for now" he replies.

About ten minutes later Diana comes into the Watch center carrying a small box. She explains that she has a crystal ball to use. "Is anybody in the party out with the fighting? If so, I should be able to find them and from there be able to view the battlefield."

"Yes," Matar replies "Sigurd is out there. Try and find him."

I send the two companies to take up a defensive position north of the demi-human settlement.

The company commanders salute and head out.

Whichever or Nikki and Diana wants to do fire support goes with them and the other scrys for me.

Well, we have a problem there. Diana refuses to part with the crystal ball, so she doesn't want to go out. Nikki refuses to go put her neck on the line with a bunch of amateur militiamen as her only defense. So neither wants to leave.

Diana can't see the tower siege since she doesn’t know anybody there. Party status:

Ari: now back in the fight at the main battle. Fighting undead.
Castinar: somewhere underground, moving around and talking quietly with what sounds like a dwarf
Diana: with you
Kat: up on top of the Maiden's Kiss with her bow out and arrows handy. Watching the eastern road.
Nikki: with you
Matar: better be with you
Sane: flying towards the Cormyrian Tower
Sigurd: in the middle of the main battle, still mounted and fighting

"Damn it" you mutter to yourself. "Where’s Sane or one of the diplomatic types when I need them?"

Looking up you see several dozen dwarves scowling at you. Most have their arms crossed, and a few have turned their backs on you and are talking amongst themselves. Nikki is over in a corner pointedly ignoring the whole scene. She made the mistake of trying to reason with the dwarves a few minutes ago and you still haven’t made up the ground that little maneuver cost you. Shaking your head you try again.

"You have all got to understand the situation the city is in! It’s not just this fine Inn that is threatened, the whole city is!"

"And why should we be riskin’ our necks ta save some arrogant human’s pretty villa?" one of the dwarves asks. Several others mutter and shake their heads in support.

"It’s not just those homes which are threatened. Weren’t you listening? The Cormyrian Tower is under attack as we speak!"

You notice that a few of the dwarves look at little concerned at this, but most continue to be stubborn.

"So a couple o’ dem snotty guards get waxed. What’s it ta us?"

You swear again under your breath. What is it going to take to convince these dwarves to join you? You find the answer to that question a few seconds later.

"Why you all ought ta be ashamed o’ yerselves!" a new voice says from behind the bar. Looking over you see Detee standing there with her fists on her hips and a hard look on her face. "Who be carin’ who’s home be threatened or what race be under attack? We be dwarves! Dey be goblins, orcs, and worse! Tis our racial duty ta oppose dat kind o’ scum at every turn!"

Watching the dwarves closely you see that some have bowed their heads and won’t meet Detee’s eyes. Others continue obstinate. "Go Detee go!" you mutter under your breath.

"Ye’ve spend so much time minin’ dat ye’ve forgotten about fightin’! Well, in me ‘umble opinion, tis high time ye remembered! Now get yer sorry arses outta me Inn and go help dis courageous young man here!" Detee turns to leave and then pauses. "Oh," she continues, "and donna be messin’ with the elf-lady. Trust me on dis one."

Detee stomps out of the common room and returns to the kitchen. "Well," you say quietly, "who is with me?"

In the end about half of the dwarves reluctantly take up their weapons. You end up with about twenty of the sturdy fighters. Not exactly an army, especially considering that these are mostly miners, not warriors. But, better than nothing. After forming the groups up into two small platoons you lead your little band out of the Inn and westward towards the Cormyrian side of town.

As you pass the street leading towards Athena’s temple several clerics walk towards you. "Lindara has learned of your mission" one of the older ones says. "She has sent us to assist you." You look at the group skeptically. Most of them are no older than you.

"Can you fight? Or at least defend yourselves?"

The leader bristles a little. "All clerics of Athena receive basic martial instruction as part of their initial training. We may not be Crusaders or Paladins, but we all know how to fight."

You nod your head, reminding yourself that beggars can’t be choosers. A score of grumpy dwarves, half a dozen cleric-wannabes and a wild mage more interested in finding out about the rumors of a spell-casting ogre than in saving the town. What an army.

"OK, we’re going to have to double-time it to make it to the tower on time. I hope you are all in good shape! Nikki, you go ahead and lead them off."

"Why? I should think it would be more dangerous up in front."

"Because I am going to bring up the rear to make sure we don’t loose any stragglers along the way" you say through gritted teeth.

Nikki looks like she is about to argue further, but seeing the look in your eyes she reconsiders. Shrugging, she renews her Mirror Image spell and then sets off at a quick jog.

Needless to say, nobody in your army is ready for a five mile jog. By the time you are barely a mile from town you have to tell Nikki to slow down. By two miles you’re barely at a fast walk. By the time you see the party’s partially completed compound up ahead you are walking at what seems to you to be a leisurely pace.

"Nikki, keep the group moving along the road. I’m going to run over to the compound and see if I can tell what is going on at the tower."

Sprinting over to the compound you walk through the open archway leading to the courtyard. Looking around you see tools and materials dropped all over. At first you are angry, then you realize what must have happened. Most of the workers out here are members of the militia. When they heard the alarm bell they must have dropped whatever they were doing and ran towards town. You had hoped to find them here and recruit them into your little army, but no such luck.

The stairs leading up the side of the main tower aren’t completed yet, so you have to climb up the scaffolding. Reaching the top you look around. Castinar sure did find a great place to locate the compound. You can see most of the valley from this point. Looking westward you try to make out what is going on at the tower. A slender tendril of smoke curls up into the sky over the tower, but for the most part it seem to be intact. Then movement between you and the tower catches your eye. Squinting you make out what looks like a fairly large group of humanoids heading directly towards the compound. As you are considering what to do you notice yet another group moving south of your location. Quickly estimating distances you come to the conclusion that you will be able to intercept one force or the other, but not both.

Wishing you have the eyesight of one of the elves you watch the two groups closely, trying to determine their composition. You decide that the group heading towards you is actually smaller. It is made up of what appear to be orcs and ogres. The group to the south is larger, around three score in number. You can’t make out what the human-sized figures are at this distance, but you can easily make out a pair of hill giants in the group.

After quick deliberation you make your decision. You’ll attack the group heading towards you from the safety of the compound. Hopefully you’ll surprise them and get the battle over quickly. Then you’ll take your forces and hurry back towards town. You might loose a house or two before you can get to them, but something will have to be sacrificed.

"Nikki!" you call out loudly. "Come back to the compound!" You see the elf stop and then head towards you. The dwarves and clerics gaggle along behind her, walking up the shallow slope towards the compound. When they all arrive you explain the situation and the plan. Somewhat to your surprise and amusement the dwarves seem more concerned about the "run back to Jurgenville" part than the "fight thirty orcs and ogres" part.

You begin to spread the forces out along the wall. You wish Sane were here. You could really use an illusion of a gate in the main archway. Instead you position half your dwarves and two of the clerics just inside the entrance. Hopefully they can hold the orcs there while the rest of your force drops bricks on them from above. You try and position Nikki up along the rampart above the archway, but she starts lecturing you on how you have no training on how to employ mages during a battle and have no idea where she should best be in order to effectively utilize her spells and so on and so on. Giving up you snap at her to position herself wherever she thinks she should be then, but not to coming whining to you if she gets hurt. Nikki sniffs and walks off.

Running back up onto the rampart you see that the orcs and ogres are about half a mile away. "Bait!" you exclaim, slapping yourself on your forehead. Jumping back down to the ground (you love doing that with your girdle) you point at the three clerics who look to be the least winded. "We’ve got to go lure those humanoids towards the compound" you tell them. They look rather concerned about this, but follow you outside anyway. You sneak around the side of the hill and back onto the road. You want it to look like you are coming up the road towards them when they spot you.

Your plan apparently works, for when the humanoids spot you they cry out and begin to charge. Several of the ogres try to stop them, but the orcs are already running. You dramatically look around and "suddenly" see the compound to your left. You point that way and the four of you start running towards the hill. The orcs angle to intercept you. Their speed surprises you. It is going to be close.

Then you see something that really worries you. One of the ogres is flying towards the compound. Sane’s words about a spell-casting ogre come to mind, but you have no time to worry about that now. The ogre lands about 50’ in front of the compound archway. You thank the gods that the dwarves inside have enough sense not to attack it.

"Um, sir, do you see that?" one of the clerics says from behind you.

"Yes, I see it" you respond. "I’ll have to go take care of it. You keep on running. Get inside the compound and don’t stop for anything!"

With that you really turn on the speed, moving rapidly away from the clerics and heading straight towards the strange ogre. As you get closer you notice that the thing is larger that most ogres and... it looks like it has horns on its head! You draw your katana and begin to yell as you get closer. As you do so the thing points at you. You are wondering what it is doing that for when the air around you suddenly turns to ice.

You’ve never felt such intense pain. It’s worse than when you fell through the ice on the pond behind your house when you were a young boy. Even your eyeballs ache from the cold. You stumble and begin to fall, but in that instant the cold air disappears. You’ve been practicing your tumbling and rolling so much over the past few days that you naturally turn your fall into a roll. You come back up on your feet and continue moving towards the ogre.

This obviously surprises the ogre, who’s eyes widen considerably when you keep coming. As you rapidly close the remaining yards between the two of you it does something else very unexpected - it fades from view!

But not quickly enough. Closing your eyes you concentrate on the sounds around you as you cover the last few feet. A faint rustle of grass to your right is all you need. You spin and launch two quick slashes, the second of which is rewarded with a solid thunk and a cry of pain. Opening your eyes back up you see blood dripping on the snow. Using that as your target you move in again, your sword weaving a deadly dance of steel ahead of you.

You are rather surprised when you are hear something behind you. You spin, lashing out with your blade, and manage to score a light hit. How did it get behind you? Ah! It’s still flying! How the heck are you supposed to fight an opponent who is invisible and flying? What’s worse, the orcs are now only a few hundred feet away.

As you stand there, reaching out with your senses to try and locate your opponent the ground around you begins to steam. "What now?" you think to yourself. Soon the steam grows into a thin fog. Just great! That makes hearing all that much harder. The thing is going to walk all over you now! But then you notice something rather strange in the air about seven feet away - a clear spot in the fog, hovering off the ground. Yes!

You grasp your katana in both hands and leap towards the empty space, slashing down for all you are worth. You hit the invisible ogre so hard you drive it back down into the ground. Now that you can see it you move in unmercifully, going full offensive, trying to kill it before it can get away again.

Much to your dismay the empty spot begins to waver and then slowly fade away. What now!? As you continue slashing at the spot where it was you hear the sounds of booted feet coming up rapidly behind you.

"Nikki! It’s getting away!"

"Then I’d strongly recommend you DUCK!" comes the reply from inside the compound.

"Duck?" you silently ask yourself. "Why would she want me to... oh SHIT!"

You throw yourself to the ground just as your world erupts in blue flame. From just behind you come the screams of several orcs and the deeper cries of ogres caught in Nikki’s fireball. As the flames lick at your back you curse your luck this day. First frozen, now fried. What’s going to happen next? An acid bath?

With a whoosh the flames disappear and you find yourself still alive. Lucky for Nikki. If you had died you would have come back as a ghost and haunted her for the rest of her days. The fireball has melted the frozen ground and you find yourself in ankle deep mud. You unsteadily get back to your feet and look around. Behind you lay half a dozen orcs and a pair of ogres. One of the ogres is still moving, so you walk over and dispatch it. Looking back towards the compound you see another figure laying in the mud about ten feet away. It looks like the strange horned ogre, but its features are strangely distorted, almost like they were made out of melted wax. You walk over and make sure it is dead.

The sound of orcs crying out yet again pulls your attention back to the compound. You can see that most of the humanoids have run around your position to attack the seemingly open archway. But standing in that archway is Nikki (or, rather, five Nikki’s), all weaving their hands in rapid spell movements. You see a fan of blue light flash out from her hands, and most of the remaining orcs tumble to the ground. This leaves half a dozen ogres, who are now less than thirty feet away from the lone mage. They yell and charge, but are quickly swallowed up in yet another blue fireball. Two manage to stagger out of the flames, their furs smoking. Nikki finishes them off with a barrage of magic missiles.

Silence descends over the battlefield as the dwarves and clerics slowly look up over the parapet and down at the scene below. "So what were ye needin’ us fur anyway!" one of the dwarves asks, a mixture of awe and respect in his voice as he looks at the scores of humanoids that Nikki laid low.

Nikki just looks around and smiles. "Oh, by the way, you might want to finish off those orcs. They’re just unconscious, not dead."

As it turns out most of the orcs are dead, cooked where they lay by the second fireball. As the dwarves make sure that none are left living the clerics come out to tend to your wounds. They cast their healing magic on you, but it is so weak you are still left with signs of frostbite on your front and burns on your back. You consume a few of your herbs to try and get yourself healed up to the point that you can fight again.

"Come on" you summon everybody. "We’ve got to get back to town now! That group with the hill giants will get there any moment now."

The trip back goes much faster and smoother than the trip out. Perhaps the dwarves have more of a sense of purpose, of unity now. Or perhaps they’re just scared of Nikki, who brings up the rear this time. As you are jogging back one of the clerics cries out and points towards town. Looking you see what appears to be a flight of three dragons fly into town from the south. They split up and descend, dropping below your point of view. A little later you see one of them hovering over town. As you watch it breathes fire, but a few moments it turns and flies off after what looks like a lightning bolt hits it in the head.

Whatever the case you see smoke rising from one of the new summer villas on the south-west edge of town when you finally jog back into the city. Picking up the pace you turn and head in that direction. You soon encounter the first of the humanoids. You thank Tymora when you see that they have broken into smaller bands and are busy looting. Had they stuck together you would have had a difficult time fighting them. As it turns out you are able to easily destroy most of them by catching them in small groups. The hill giants are a little harder. The dwarves swarm all over and defeat one. You and Nikki end up facing the other. It lands two solid blows on you, the second of which disorients you for a minute. The giant turns and runs away while it has the chance. You try and get Nikki to follow it and finish it off, but she tells you she is low on spells and is NOT about to take on a hill giant one-on-one.

Soon other forces arrive to help you mop up. You are relieved to hear that the attack on the east side of town was turned back and the dragons (two of which were actually wyverns) were killed or driven off.

You return to the watch HQ, where Alric wants to turn command back over to you. At first you defer, but he insists. His offer to heal you up completely if you’ll take command finally convinces you. With a nod you acquiesce. The feeling of his strong healing magic coursing through your body is better than a warm bath after a day working out in the snow. Somewhat to your surprise you find that almost all of your wounds are gone, even though he casts only one spell. "You’ll have to teach that spell to Ariessus" you tell him as he walks out to return to his temple.

With a sigh you get back to work. You are heading towards the watch tower in order to get a good view of town when somebody tells you the top of the tower was destroyed by one of the wyverns. So you climb up onto the roof instead, and from there organize the troops as they trickle in. You send them out all over town to clean up any remaining humanoids. By noon the job is complete. The city’s defenders have carried the day. Jurgenville is safe.