The Witchfort Campaign Part 1

The following is the first part of a recap of the last several months of play in the online Nightwick group. One may notice a tendency for the narrative to focus on Stavros and Abraham, which I think is due to the fact that they were the two players who showed up to 100% of the sessions.

The Brambles of the Witchwood

In the spring of this, the 1395th year since the revealing of the Law to the Lady, a terrible battle took place in the ruined Hamlet of Vollage. The forces of Lychgate were soundly defeated by the White Lady and many of the knightly caste of the bishopric were taken hostage. Through some mixture of experience and intuition, Stavros Chrysophylax Balsamon, the fanatical and heretical leader of the Howling Kommandos, guessed Sir Albrecht of Nightwick was among their number and that they were taken to the Witchfort.

Despite Abraham the hunchback's warning that Albrecht had been involved in a scheme to see Stavros brought up before an inquisition, Stavros believed that saving him would greatly benefit the Howling Kommandos as he would be in their debt. Stavros and the other members of the command of the Howling Kommandos sought a meeting with Grumpke, Albrecht's wife.  Seeing that she was quite distraught with the loss of her husband, Stavros promised to rescue him but also made sure to integrate members of her guard into the Howling Kommandos and vice versa. He also made sure that his offer included a number of veiled threats to reinforce that it is the Kommandos who control Nightwick.

The leadership then left the Kommandos under the command of their lieutenant, Fingers, but that tale is told elsewhere. They made their way up the Long Road to Lychgate, pausing a while in the ruins of Vollage where they met a nervous but ultimately amiable group of Frogling merchants. From them they learned that Lychgate had reoriented it's trade such that it was receiving aid from the down river city of Nunhead, and that the Order of the Elk had even made a deal with the Bishop to bolster his army, despite the Bishop's previous belief they were in league with the Yimsley rebels.  

After breaking camp they made their way to Lychgate...