On the morning of the attack, activity swirled around the Zhentarim’s heavily fortified encampment that blockaded the Northern Tradeway linking the townships of Soubar and Triel. Those who had seen the camp during last week’s battle, when the Zhents had successfully held the line against an attack from allied forces from the south, might be amazed at how much the fortification had been built up in such a small window of time. Supplies and additional troops from Darkhold continued to trickle in through the week following the battle, and once the last of them had arrived the Imperceptor, the Zhentarim’s field commander for this operation, called for their plan to immediately get underway. Zhent scouts had spotted another large warband of Balduran interlopers approaching Triel from the south, so they knew time was of the essence if they wanted everything to go according to plan.
On cue Anuldraxius, the Zhentarim’s relatively young (by dragon years) green dragon ally took to the skies with a Zhent Skymage along for the ride, as well as some additional cargo – a critical piece of the strategy that they had been mapping out and implementing for a considerable period of time now. As the dragon and his rider approached Triel from the Forest of Wyrms, the Imperceptor rallied the strike team who would be tasked with assaulting the town and putting an end to its occupation by eliminating the orc tribe’s chieftain once the dragon had delivered its “present”. The unexpected approach of another Balduran warband forced a quick change in strategy, as the Zhents did not want to be flanked and their only avenue of escape cut off while engaging the orcs in battle, and so it was decided that the strike team would go into Triel alone while the bulk of the sizeable garrison from Darkhold would defend the encampment and ensure the road north remained clear.
Before long, the wyrm had flown over Triel and observers could see several objects dropping from its harness – small stones magically enchanted with the Antipathy spell, a powerful magical compulsion that forces a designated group target (in this case, black orcs) to flee the area. As the rocks impacted the ground below, chaos erupted within the ranks of the orcs infesting Triel. Quite a few, mostly the great orc chieftain’s strongest and most loyal of warriors, were able to resist the magical compulsion, but a great many more immediately succumbed to its effects and began a mad dash out of town, scattering in every direction. A murderous roar echoed out from the war chief’s position in the upper palisade of the town, a rage born of witnessing his seasoned and battle-hardened warriors scattered through more Zhent trickery and magic.
As scouts confirmed orcs fleeing en masse from the town, the strike team immediately moved out from the encampment to the north and so began the real battle for Triel. Fighting was prolonged and exceptionally brutal in some parts, as the enraged orcs bolstered their forces around key chokepoints and attempted to overwhelm the strike team with wave attacks, more than once forcing the Zhents to fall back and regroup and pick apart the orcs piecemeal on their bloody trek towards Gajutar’s position. The fighting at the war chief’s hilltop encampment was the most violent and pitched battle of the long process, though thankfully there was still no sign anywhere of the Balduran interlopers sighted moving in from the south. As the battle to claim Gajutar’s head seemed to be taking a turn for the worse, the enraged dragon circling overhead moved to intervene as the Skymage riding atop him began to rain down Meteor Swarm spells as Anuldraxius swooped in to unleash a billowing cloud of noxious, acidic gas upon the orcs. Unfortunately for the Zhents, the orcs immediately turned towards the dragon which had been tormenting them for weeks now, and the moment it swooped low to unleash its breath weapon they responded with a volley of arrows and spears that struck true, forcing the dragon to land and join the battle directly. Before long the young green was slain, no match for the combined fury of Gajutar and his elite honor guard – though, ultimately, it softened them up enough for the Zhents to manage to finally bring down the massive orc and his remaining guards.
After the last of the orcs occupying Triel were wiped out, the Zhents retreated to their encampment with their prize – the corpse of the slain war chief, Gajutar. The head was then separated from its body and the now-headless corpse spirited off towards Soubar by a small band of the Zhentarim’s finest scouts. Their business concluded, the strike team was ordered to hold the pass from Triel leading to the encampment while the forces of Darkhold packed up and readied their caravans for the return trip north, not wanting to give the interlopers a chance to attack them when they were at their most vulnerable. The strike team obeyed and returned to the town, occupying the bridge that was the only way (from Triel, at any rate) to reach the winding dirt road leading to the encampment. Fortunately for the Zhents it took quite a long time before the Balduran allies managed to finally reach the town itself, and quite a long time after that before they figured out where the Zhent strike team could be found. As the southern allies approached, word reached the Zhents defending the bridge that preparations were almost complete for the departure for Darkhold.
An attempt at dialogue with the combined force from Balduran lands proved as fruitless as before, though they were able to stall things long enough for word to finally reach them from the Imperceptor that the convoy home had finished its preparations and was underway, and after some initial posturing violence erupted after the Zhents refused to surrender to arrest by the allies. Having been exhausted by the prolonged battle wiping out all of the orcs and their chieftain, the weary defenders were no match for the attacking Balduran alliance and forced to retreat, fleeing back to the safety of the large army from Darkhold marching off to the north. The allies, thankfully, seemed to realize that attacking such a force would only result in their massacre – again – and so did not pursue them once they were chased out of the town. Thus ended the battle for Triel.
Later that day, as the scouts delivered the headless corpse of Gajutar to the citizens of Soubar, announcing that the Zhentarim had purged the town of its orcs and liberated Triel, there was a near-riot in the small village as the townsfolk – many of whose sons, daughters, and friends had been massacred by the black orcs in Triel when they turned against their supposed allies – tore the corpse apart in a bloodthirsty frenzy, burning some parts and stabbing other parts with spears and other makeshift weapons until little remained. Days later still, when word reached Soubar that the Zhent strike team responsible for killing Gajutar and purging Triel of its orc occupants was attacked and driven out of the town by forces from Balduran lands to the south, there was another eruption of anger against the allies. An angry mob quickly formed and a minor visiting merchant from the Gate was lynched, the unfortunate victim of circumstance. He was hung from a tree in the center of town and repeatedly stabbed by spears amid chants from the mob in support of Darkhold while small children used him as target practice for throwing daggers and darts. The corpse remained in place for some time until an unknown party cut it down and threw it in a nearby river. For the time being, those visiting the small town of Soubar from southern lands are met with an extremely hostile populace, particularly those wearing visible indications of being associated with one of the Gate’s knightly or paladin orders.
//I wanted to thank again everyone who participated in Sunday's events, including my co-DMs Boo and Novus. I'd like to emphasize again that the above is written from the perspective of the Zhents, so there's some degree of "editorializing" taken with the language. If a write-up is created for the good guys' side of things for this event, expect the same type of perspective in its language
