Game 4: Rise of Arkon

Rise of Arkon is the fourth game in the Azulia campaign. It occurred on November 8th, 2015, real time. It was proceed by The Puppeteer, Part Two. It is followed by Echoes of Madness.

Intro
''Looking over the edge of the airship, you can now see the mighty black dragon Arkon rising into the sky. It breathes its black, acid breathe about as it roars, flapping its mighty wings. The gnomish operators yell to one another, redirecting the airship away from the dragon. Just as the airship begins its evasive maneuvers, the dragon snaps to a halt in the sky, facing towards you.''

Rise of Arkon
The mighty dragon pauses only momentarily before powering itself towards the airship. Not risking to take the ancient dragon head-on, Morgoth orders Rocko to descend down into the trees, below the cover of the fog. The dragon flys about viciously tearing apart the forest and spewing his acid breathe with reckless abandon, yet to no avail. Some time passes before the adventurers believe they can hear the dragon no more. Morgoth, endeavouring to climb atop the trees runs across a half-elf concealed within the fog. The half-elf, a Paladin named Deltrice who is largely a mute, fails to speak with Morgoth who ends up trying her up and bringing her aboard the airship. The heroes eventually untie her, satisfied she is not a beligerent. A fter assuring the leave of the dragon, the heroes opt to rest for the night. During his watch , however, Roscoe starts combat with another character moving through the fog. The two eventually call a truce. The character introduces himself as Aldron, the elf ranger, eventually opting to join the group in their adventures along with Deltrice.

Skulk Encampment
The heroes eventually make their way back to the encampment at Skulk. Coming towards it, however, it seems off from a distance. As the encampment presses closer, the carnage becomes apparent. Mangled and burned corpses of humanoids and zombies dot the landscape, as well as ravaged and burned tents and quarters. As the heroes circle down preparing to land, a figure wearing a naval uniform runs into the open, waving towards the airship. As the airship sets down and the boarding ramp is lowered, the human in the naval uniform, Charles, informs them of the carnage.

"Last night, zombies suddenly were upon us in droves. We grabbed our arms to fight back, but suddenly the encampment once being bombarded from the sea, by the Rilian Navy. Only a handful of us managed to escape, but it was long before a search party found us. Everyone was slaughtered save for Admiral Otto, who was taken prisoner. I only managed to escape by hiding in the nearby brush." Morgoth questioned Charles for a while but eventually returned satisfied he was being forthright. Upon the further inspection of the area, the heroes located several landing craft, some with dead zombies inside, indicating they were floated ashore.

Chasing Otto
The party departs the ruined encampment in the airship with Charles, who informs them the ships departed to the northwest, towards the mainland of the Kingdom of Rile. It takes some time for the heroes to locate the ships, it is nearing sunset before the first glimpse of them is gathered. Throughout the night, hovering out of sight several miles up and away, the heroes peer down trying to ascertain the location of the admiral. The helmsman, Rocko, speaks while peering through his looking glass. "It seems their heading would place them toward the port city of Glasston. Naturally, of course, there is a strong command precense in this city, and of course a stockade. No doubt they will bring him down there."

It is not until morning, as the ships pull into the harbour, that the first glimpse of the admiral can be made out. One of the gnomish crewmen spots him, informing the rest of the party. As the heroes look on, the admiral is led out into the town square where a crowd has gathered. As the admiral is secured in the stocks in public, the crowd begins hurling objects towards the admiral, vegetables and shoes can be made out from the distance. Rocko quips, "I sure hope he can survive to make it into the stockades." Shortly after noon, a crewmen alerts the others that the admiral is being moved into the stockades. The adventurers begin formulating their plans to break into the jail to free the admiral. Within some time, a plan is formulated to drop the heroes off in the nearby farmlands, several miles north.

Infiltration of Glasston
As the adventurers attempt to insert themselves onto a beach north of Glasston, they are spotted by a group of villagers who attempt to flee and alert the authorities. Aldron quickly fires towards one, missing. Morgoth aims a cannon towards the group and fires, successfully defeating the majority of them. Two remain, however, one immobilized and the other fleeing. Morgoth directs the ship in pursuit, succesfully rapelling down onto the fleed villager immobilizing him and tying him up. After questioning the two and learning of the dock and sewer accesses into the prison, Morgoth and Aldron elect to execute the fleeing villager who do so despite the please of Deltrice. The remaining villager is bound and brought aboard the airship.

Unsatisfied with their method of entry, the adventurers press in towards the farms. It comes to be that the heroes tie up a villager, using his vegetable cart to sneak into the city in plain sight with their armor and weapons. The plan is nearly thwarted in the morning, as a farm hand shows up to help as the heroes are hiding their equipment in the cart. The situation is sucesfully defused, howeer, when Deltrice convinces him the farmer will be meeting them in the city.

Pressing on towards the city, all seems normal until the party runs across a calvalry unit who questions them about the presence of a reported airship in the area. Satisfied with the party's bluff, the guards leave them on their way, continuing towards the farms. The heroes continue onwards arriving into the city. Shortly thereafter, the group swings into a side alleyway, donning their gear and sneaking into a sewer grate.

Glasston Sewers
Moving through the vile, filthy waters of the sewers the adventurers eventually come across a containment pool they must cross. As the heroes prepare to do so, Aldron spots a gelatinous cube in the murky depths of the sewage pool. As the heroes attempt to dispatch the creature, guards who came across the abandoned cart and unlocked sewer drain, decided to investigate. They run across the heroes from behind as they combat the gelatinous cube. In short order, the heroes find themselves victorious and press onward.

Outro
Covered in the vile sewage, having just swam through pools of it, the heroes come across a ladder and access hatch they believe belonging to the prison. Aldron endeavours to sneak in, surprising a guard smoking a pipe in a store room. Quickly dispatching him, Aldron calls the rest of the party up. One door exits the room. As Morgoth cracks it open, the smell of death and decay fill the stagnant dungeon air and screams accent the surrounding area.