Session 13

EPIC SESSION 13
Hardholme Season One Finale, 5/4/2018

In attendance: Chris (as Chris lol), Lauren (Aurelae), Caspar (Aequitas), Rick (Rael), Casey (Root), Elaine (Fallynde), Luther (Buckler), Megan (Maeve), Tim (Fitz), Ryan (Carric), Scott (Mithril), Georgia (Daenerya), Thayer (Gramarsh), Eric (Ulrich), Steve (Kamara), and Cathy (Aurianya).

The Day is Friday, December 7, year 71.

@The Town Green:

 * Goldie of the 5th is presiding as judge. He is wearing one of those old school white wigs. Everyone is there. LITERALLY everyone in the entire town.
 * It is a nice day – well, nice for Hardholme. It’s still overcast, but it isn’t raining.
 * Dar is brought out in chains and sits to the left of Goldie.
 * Goldie announces that this will be a Davros style trial. Dar will have no defense other than the evidence provided against him today, and his fate will depend on the strength of that evidence.
 * All presenters of evidence line up and present what they have brought one by one.
 * Rael: presents the ledger he found at Dar’s Rie Farm. It details how much Rie was grown and when, as well as when shipments were sent down The River to the Gem Mines. It is also undoubtedly in Dar’s own handwriting.
 * Carric: presents a piece of Riethroot found on the Rie Farm.
 * Carric pulls it out of his pocket… “Oh I’m sorry, that’s my penis.” He puts Willy away and reaches into his other pocket and pulls out the Riethroot. Fallynde aids him here by adding what information about the Rie she learned from the Blue Hyla, as they call it; “Parpar.”
 * Root: calls forth Idris, former Leader of the Children of the New World, who was presumed dead, but instead was held captive for 12 years by Dar and forced to work on the Rie Farm.
 * Gramarsh: brings the refined Veranium that they found at the Rie Farm in the engine of the boat tethered there at one of the docks. The refined Veranium was used to power the boat, and could only have come from the Gem Mines. He also tells of the large doors in the cliffside next to the Gem Mines that Aurelae found, that are big enough for a boat. And lastly, he discloses the location of said boat.
 * At this point Dar is looking rather aloof and unfazed. #OJ #iftheglovefits #waitdowehavegloves?
 * Ulrich: gives his personal testimony of being attacked by Dar in Steepridge. Ulrich was just trying to teach some orphans to read, and a hooded figure that was Dar’s size, with bandages on his left hand and right shoulder attacked him. Is it a coincidence that Aequitus had just a couple days before that stabbed a similar hooded figure, who had stalked and attacked him as well, in his left hand and right shoulder? Likely not.
 * Throughout Ulrich’s testimony, people in the crowd “oooohhhhh” and “aaaahhhh” at this information.
 * Fitz: calls forth Millicent of Hardholme, former Leader of the Children of the New World, who was kidnapped and held against her will at the Rie Farm and forced to make Rie for Dar so he could drug the orphans to keep them working in the Gem Mines.
 * BUT -- before she can even get started with her testimony, Fitz gets down on one knee and proposes to Millicent!!! SHE SAYS YES!!!
 * Unfortunately, Goldie is not as impressed with this interruption of the trial, and Millicent’s testimony is not as effective as it could have been.
 * But hooray for the happy couple!!! :D
 * Aurianya: calls Nix of Hardholme, a child Tabaxi, to the stage. They both reflexively hiss at Dar as the approach. Nix bravely tells Goldie about his experience at the Rie Farm, about being drugged and forced to work there.
 * In the background, what sounds like thunder rumbles. Aequitus is surveying the area for trouble, but sees nothing out of the ordinary.
 * Fallynde: calls forth Vash Morrow of the 43rd as a witness. Vash tells ALL, even going so far as to incriminate himself in his honest and heartfelt testimony.
 * Buckler: calls forth Uthar of the 47th, who tells of how he was kept under Dar’s thumb for years and years, placated by Rie and booze, revealing that Dar isn’t just using the Rie to control the orphans, but also Arrivals.
 * Maeve: calls forth Holden of the 33rd, who runs Holden’s Healing Hands. Holden testifies that Dar would frequently bring in orphans who had overdosed on Rie, and he would save them.
 * Aurelae: calls forth Rosa of the 67th, self-appointed leader of the only group of Prime Arrivals to decline membership in the Prime Collective, and former Town Council member. Rosa testifies about the entirety of her complicated dealings with, and eventually against Dar. Dar convinced her she was doing the right thing by helping him overthrow the Prime Collective, Rosa planted the bombs, made by Millicent at the request of Dar, in the pile of arrival ships in an attempt to murder the 71st. Rosa tells every sordid detail of this part of the story in great detail, from it’s beginning to the present moment.
 * Daenerya: calls forth Jaison – NOT JASON – to speak. Jaison of Hardholme, is another former Leader of the Children of the New World, and like Idris, was presumed dead, but had instead been held captive on Dar’s Rie Farm.
 * Mithril: presents items from the laboratory on Dar’s Rie Farm that Millicent was forced to use to synthesize the Riethroot for Dar. Millicent steps up and confirms this and explains how the items were used to do this.
 * Kamara: very dramatically and with flair presents the inactive bomb that they found at the bottom of the pile of arrival ships. This bomb was planted in an effort to kill the 71st upon arrival. Rosa confirms that she put the bomb there, at Dar’s request, and Millicent confirms that she built the bomb, at Dar’s insistence.
 * The crowd is sensational at this point, clearly excited over this evidence.
 * Vera gets up and leaves at this point.
 * Aequitus: expertly and with dramatic finesse presents the heads of Drak, Garrh, Kruh, and Fucking Gary.
 * Goldie: “Is that fucking Gary???”
 * Once everyone has presented their evidence and said their piece, Goldie speaks: “It is clear from the evidence and testimony presented here today, the Dar Agh’Don of the 15th is guilty of all charges, and his punishment is that he will be put to death.”
 * At this moment Red Hyla break through the palisade doors in the North (that’s what that thunder noise was), and they are also coming up through the South entrance in Steepridge, and are positioned at the East palisade gate as well, and are close to breaking through. The Red Hyla are outfitted with armor and weapons that are clearly from Hardholme. Dar looks highly amused and smug as shit.
 * Everyone splits up into three groups to head off the Red Hyla attacks coming in from three sides.

Group 1: Aequitus, Fallynde, Buckler, Ulrich, and Carric

 * The group plus Vash, Amos, Jackson and Kwilgok take Dar and move towards the jail.
 * They plan to drop Dar off in a cell, and have Vash, Amos, Kwilgok and Jackson there to prevent Red Hyla from breaking Dar out.
 * None of them (apart from Jackson) agree to guard Dar instead of fighting Hyla.
 * Vash agrees to stay in reach of Jackson’s place to both kill Hyla and guard Dar.
 * The fight is on!
 * Aequitus shoots Fireball (the Hyla don’t save) so 23 dead Hyla
 * Fallynde rages with nat. 20 and kills 33 Hyla
 * Buckler divine smites 20 Hyla
 * Carric slayed 3 Hyla with Thunderwave
 * Ulrich skewered 9 Hyla with his trident
 * The Hyla attack; Fallynde and Ulrich both take 20 dmg.
 * Aequitus blasts another fireball, 29 dead Hyla
 * Fallynde destroyed an epic 56 Hyla with her rage and another nat. 20
 * Buckler nat. 20’d for some carnage, 24 Hyla felt it
 * Carric buffs up his blade with some psychic scarring, sending 16 Hyla to hell
 * Ulrich jumps in, heals himself for 13 points with Second Wind, then follows it up by skewering ten of those red bastards
 * What Hyla remain have had enough, and run for the hills.

Group 2: Aurelae, Rael, Fitz, Aurianya, and Mithril

 * This group gathers the witnesses from the trial and move through the center of town to hide them in BETA’s secret room. They should be safe there until the battle is over.
 * Aurianya casts Message as they walk through the city, “The Tipsy Tabaxi is a safe place, go there if you need, but fight if you can.”
 * Mithril chooses to fight on ground level, and the others take the advantage the rooftop will give to ranged fighters.
 * From the rooftop of BETA they can see that Red Hyla are climbing over the cliffside on the far end of Steepridge.
 * The battle begins!
 * Mithril is swinging through Red Hyla on the ground and 30 of them fall in his wake.
 * Fitz and Rael do a combo attack #FATBOI and kill 39 Hyla
 * Rael also glamours his friends and they all gain +5 temp HP
 * Aurianya has clearly been practicing with her bow because she knocks out 10 Hyla
 * Aurelae wipes out 26 Hyla
 * At this point, Red Hyla have completely flooded Steepridge.
 * Rael, Fitz, and Aurelae take some serious damage.
 * Rael illusions a Leviathan to the Red Hyla, and now the group has advantage against them, as the Red Hyla now believe they have yet another foe to fight.
 * Fitz blasts 22 Hyla into oblivion
 * Aurianya shoots another 9 Hyla dead
 * Aurelae unleashes two waves of arrows killing 22 and then another 23 Hyla
 * BOOM!!! THE GEM MINES JUST EXPLODED.
 * Aurelae and Aurianya take damage, and Mithril kicks some Red Hyla ass.

Group 3: Kamara, Gramarsh, Maeve, Daenerya, and Root

 * The group heads to BETA, but before they can get there the East Palisade gate breaks open and hundreds of Red Hyla pour in.
 * Gramarsh wastes no time and runs at them with his axe, killing 17
 * Kamara psychic blasts 12 Red Hyla D-E-D dead
 * Daenerya shoots down 5 Red Hyla with her bow
 * Maeve summons Guiding Bolt and strikes down 10 Red Hyla
 * Poor Maeve is rewarded with 23 damage and is not looking too great
 * Kamara keeps at it killing another 15 with an Ego Whip
 * #BASHBROTHERS – Root & Gramarsh combo attack!
 * 44 Red Hyla bashed dead!
 * Daenerya uses her breath blast to kill 9 more
 * Maeve has had enough of this shit and strikes 17 Red Hyla down
 * A Red Hyla is headed straight for Maeve in what would almost certainly be a killing blow when Kamara valiantly pushes her out of the way and takes 28 damage that was meant for her.
 * The group continues the slaughter until the area is clear.

After the Battles, at the Jail

 * Once the primary threat of Red Hyla is mostly under control, all three groups make their way to check on Dar in the jail…and he isn’t locked in his cell anymore… Instead, he is engaged in an epic showdown with Vash. And Vash is…losing.
 * Rael, always thinking on his feet, casts Bane on Dar immediately.
 * Root casts Natures Wrath on Dar and vines come up from the earth and ensnare Dar and hold him.
 * Fallynde runs up and punches Dar right in the face.
 * That punch opened the proverbial floodgates. Everyone in the group (except for Maeve who stabilizes and heals Vash, and Rael and Carric are getting high) starts wailing on Dar.
 * Aequitus takes a break to check their surroundings and sees Vera walking up to them very quickly. Aequitus steps in front of her, blocking the gnome’s path and says, “You don’t want to see this.”
 * Vera replies, “I need to see this.” She then pulls out a gun and says, “Let me get one in.” With that, Vera walks up to Dar and shoots him point blank in the face. (Yes, she double taps.)
 * Silence falls. Dar is a bloody mess, dead in the street. They comfort Vera.
 * Then, from the North, is that…more Hyla??? YES! BUT it’s the Blue Hyla! They came to save the day, just a little late though lol
 * Liblub leads the Blue Hyla, decked out in all his Princely glory. He informs them that Matmar was lost to the Red Hyla. “We hope you will have us.”
 * Of course we will Liblub. Of course we will.
 * The camera pans over to Fallynde as a single tear sparkles in the corner of her eye and as it falls the camera pans upwards, over the growing crowd surrounding Dar’s body in the Town Square, and moves upwards revealing hundreds of dead Red Hyla littering the streets of Hardholme, the Blue Hyla army streaming in through what’s left of the North Palisade gate, and we can see the South West edge of Hardholme has been reduced to a smoking crater. It isn’t pretty, recovery and rebuilding will not be easy, but at least they’re alive…for now.