Meeting with Harbek

The party was ushered into a meeting with Hasborac, Harbek, and Alec.

Harbek rises from behind a table. It is good to see you my friends. I looks like we will once again be fighting together, however, this time, we’ll be trying to take the city instead of defend it. There is much for you to do tonight, so listen well and get some rest while we go over this.
As you know, Richard will be attacking at dawn. Rard, the Dread Pirate Roberts, and Michael are taking the city to the northeast. There was much discussion regarding this, but in the end, we decided the element of surprise would allow us to make a huge impact. The monsters here on the mainland have had no threat from us for generations, so they will be ill prepared for our attack. Word has spread and our ranks have swelled. The recent addition of Kriv’s Dragonborn warriors by Ekeraath has given us a skilled, trained, attack force.
The plan for dawn is simple. Richard will lead the main force in through the harbour. The Kriv and his dragonborn, who have already been dropped off, will come in from the east. My dwarven warriors are currently digging a tunnel under the western wall and will collapse a portion of it to gain entrance to the city.

For this to work, there is much for you to do in the city tonight:

1. Sneak into the eastern watch tower and eliminate the watch. From there, you can easily assault the catapults that are near there. You must destroy or disable them. I suggest you bring a rope and grapple. Half of you should scale the wall and attack from the top, to prevent anyone from lighting the warning fire. The other half of you should wait at the bottom to thwart anyone from exiting and alerting the city.

2. Beneath the watch tower is an entrance to the city sewers. According to Hasborac, it is a fairly easy trip to the western watch tower, which also has an entrance to the sewers. You will have to pass through several chambers and as such, may have to deal with the denizens of the sewers.

3. Eliminate the watch from the western tower. Since you will be coming up inside the tower, you may not have to scale the outside, but you will have to act quickly to prevent anyone from raising the alarm. Once you have done that, there is a catapult on that side of the bay that must also be destroyed.

4. With the 2 watch towers eliminated, and the catapults destroyed, Richard’s forces should be able to enter the harbour unannounced. However, the 2 ships there still represent a possible problem. Hasborac has informed us these ships work for competing factions in the city. Sneak aboard one ship and attack the other, or simulate an attack. This should result in a battle starting between them. Once one ship begins to take significant damage, it should head out to sea and the other should pursue. Richard will make sure neither returns. This will open the harbour for his ships and forces to enter and land. Remember, it is critical that there are NO ships in the harbour. Otherwise Richard’s ability to unload our forces will be impacted. With the blatant animosity between the 2 groups, you may be able to incite the conflict without fighting your way onto a ship.

5. Sabotage the city gate so it cannot be closed. During the excitement of the ship battle, you should be able to move around the city without too much effort. It must not be obvious the gate is broken. Even now, it may not work as no one can remember the last time it operated.

6. Make your way to the cemetery. Once there, Leenia must perform this ritual from the small shrine in the center. You will most likely have to fight your way there and defend her while she focuses all her energy to complete the ritual and consecrate and bless the whole cemetery. Erdan sends you his best and wishes you well on this endeavour. Harbek hands Leenia the scroll with the ritual.

7. With the undead eliminated, your night is almost complete. The palace where Damakos and his followers are staying is well guarded. You should be able to ascend this ruined tower, outside of the inner wall. From there, wait for the horn to blow at dawn. This will begin the battle. Using whatever means are possible, flaming arrows, thrown oil canisters, magic, whatever you have, light these 3 barracks on fire. That should cause enough confusion for us to make our way through the perimeter and into the city.

8. Finally, from atop the tower, Mara, fire this zipline over the inner wall and all of you enter the castle. Once there, press on until you find and kill Damakos and his followers.

A couple more things before I allow you to ask questions.
1. As I stated before, Kriv’s dragonborn forces will come in from the east. My forces will collapse the western wall and enter the city there. Richard will lead the charge coming in through the empty harbour.
2. Hasborac’s men have had several setbacks of late, however, they are going to attack the mercenaries at the Slave Pen Inn/Bar. They are most familiar with them and as such, can target them far better than any of us can.
3. Our success depends on you accomplishing all those tasks in the city. Failure by you would be catastrophic for us.
4. Handing Alexander a small smooth stone, I believe you were inquiring about one of these? You, Richard, Kriv, Alek, and myself have a linked set. We should be able to communicate throughout the course of the night.
5. Alek has his own list of tasks, as such, please do not interfere if you see him during the course of the night.
Any questions? Good, get some rest. You depart soon.