Druids Gate

Next mid-morning the Adventurers Guild are woken by a banging on the door of the inn. The Kings Herald pins a new notice on the Inn notice-board. A troupe of Chaos Warriors has been seen marauding through the area. Straight away, the usual team of adventurers led by Charley decide to seek them out and rid the land of a hideous enemy. 

At the crossroads in the forest, tracks left by the Chaos Warriors show which way they went. Shortly after, the party bump into a Barbarian who is immediately recognized by Charley as his dad! 

He tells them he saw six Chaos Warriors including a Chaos Knight heading through a less used path into the forest which leads out of the forest to the rocky hills. 

While Charley’s Dad gives his son “your grandfathers moonstone pendant” which will help him take his werewolf powers, thus revealing the mysterious source of Charleys lycanthropy is it runs in his family bloodline, the party Druid does some calculations and explains to the group there is a Sacred Site in the direction the Chaos Warriors are travelling, an ancient shrine known by the Druids. 

 Indeed the locals call it Druids Gate because the Druidic brethren keep a watchful eye on it, although they did not build it themselves, they have taken it upon themselves to guard the world from whatever might come through it. 

In times of old the Ancient Druids once had the knowledge to activate the Gate themselves, but because traditionally the Druids main hobby is arguing with each other, much of their wisdom has been lost over time due to simple bloody-mindedness and lack of focus. 

The Druid says there is a short-cut to get to Druids Gate more quickly than the Chaos Warriors, if that is where they are indeed going. If he is wrong about this, they will lose the war-band but if he is correct, he must warn his Brothers about what is coming their way! 

The party make the decision to trust the Druids intuition and they take the shortcut, arriving at the rocky hillside overlooking Druids Gate shortly before the arrival of the Chaos Warriors. Half a dozen Druids are out-posted there, arguing as usual and being mediated by two Elves and a tree Dryad who lives on top of the watch-point overlooking the gigantic organic structure of the Gate. 

The party's Druid, previously known to them as the kings Druid for he was sent to keep an eye on the King and advise him where necessary to prevent him screwing everything up entirely, is recognized at once by the Druids at Druids Gate. 

Night falls. 

The Chaos Warriors arrive, as expected. Intuitive Druid was right.

They gather in a semi-circle in front of the Gate and discuss the necessity of the gathering of the Twelve before they can summon the Thirteenth. Overhearing this, the adventurers realize there is another Chaos Warrior warband on its way!

The Chaos Warriors begin chanting in nightmare tones. It is as if they have gone into a trance. As they chant the air within the portal begins to shimmer. 

Then, their chant is chorused by another group of Chaos Warriors on the other side of the portal, not in this place but from another world or another part of the world. They are not dressed in the usual black armor of Chaos Warriors but in white, as if they are in a mirror universe.

Charley leaps mightily from his hiding place on top of the Gate, rolling as he lands. The Chaos Knight, boss of the troupe of Chaos Warriors, stops chanting and strides over toward him. Charley slashes the Chaos Knight and with one amazing blow, kills him crumpled to the floor. 

The rest of Charley's team run in to attack the other Chaos Warriors, even before their trance ends. 

The chanting from the other side of the portal stops. There is a huge explosion of wind outward from the gate, knocking everyone to the ground several feet from where they had been standing, including the semi-circle of Chaos Warriors as they come out of their trance-chant.

Standing directly in the center of the Gate, is a Giant Chaos Warrior! 

The heroic Knight, one of Charley's allies, climbs down the other side of the Gate and stabs at the Giant Chaos Warrior from behind by leaping into it. His sword passes through the Giant Chaos Warriors body, followed quickly by his own body, landing on the ground where the Chaos Knight had fallen before being blown several feet further toward the hill which even now the Druids are racing down and standing on to cast their elemental magic into the fray. 

Charley's Dad, the Barbarian comes running around from beside the towering stone of Gate to one-hit-kill the nearest Chaos Warrior.

The Elf lets loose a shot from his vantage on the hill, toward another Chaos Warrior and misses entirely. Next to him one of the Druids begins chanting arcane words, hands raised to the skies, eyes toward the clouds. He alone witnesses the air condensing into a thin mist high above their heads.

Charley starts stressing out because this was supposed to be a stealth mission and now his allies are wading in swords swinging, bows blazing, without any concern for the concept of stealth. Apparently the moonstone pendant from Charleys Grandfather is converting his usual werewolf-blood rage into anxiety instead of the bestial anger usually associated with his shape-shift. In his stress he cuts down another Chaos Warrior.

The Seasoned Adventurer comes charging down from the hillside and engages in a battle with a Chaos Warrior, who has been standing watching his comrades fall.

The other Elf comes charging down from the hillside and engages in battle with a Chaos Warrior stood next to the first, and is slain in one hit. The first fatality on the side of the heroes. 

Charley runs over and skewers the Chaos Warrior who killed the Elf.

The Giant Chaos Warrior steps through the portal, entering the world and in doing so takes on physical form. He holds his arms in the air as far ass his armor permits and yells an evil Rar! The Strongman sneaks up behind the Giant Chaos Warrior and stabs him in the back, doing only a little damage. The Elf archer fires another arrow which thuds into the Giants armor, doing only a little damage. The Giant continues yelling fiercely. 

The Seasoned Adventurer finishes off the Chaos Warrior with whom he has been battling. The Knight charges the final remaining of the original troupe of Chaos Warriors and slays him. 

The Strongman does a running slide and pushes his spear up into the Giant Chaos Warriors groin with all the might he can muster. The piece of armor covering that part of the Giant Chaos Warriors body gets caught on the spear and ripped free of the main body as the Strongman slides, ending up several feet away from the Giant but with his codpiece stuck to the end of his spear, magnetically pulling back toward the rest of the enchanted plate metal. Chaos Warrior Armour is made from Eldritch Black Iron, with evil purple smoky sigils moving over its surface. 

The Wizard fires off a huge firebolt from his position on the hillside which explodes into the Giant. The fire is sucked into the evil purple smoky sigils, causing the Giant Chaos Warrior to grow even larger! Charley shouts to the Wizard that he is supposed to be on their team and he is supposed to be a mighty wizard capable of defeating such foes. The Wizard pathetically explains he didn't know that was going to happen! Next to him the Kings Druids hands are glowing with green energy, his Healing Hands spell in case his friends need their wounds mended. So far apart form a dead Elf they are all getting by with only light scratches. 

At that moment six Chaos Warriors including another Knight run out of the Portal, taking on the same black iron color as their fallen counterparts now they have entered this world. They run either side of the Giant and immediately attack the Barbarian, the Knight and Charley at exactly the same time. Amazingly all three strikes are deflected. Everybody pauses for a moment to look at that situation and wonder what the chances of that happening could be.

The Druid finally finishes casting his spell. A powerful bolt of lightning streams directly down from the cloud he has summoned and strikes the Giant Chaos Warrior, electrifying it. The Giant falls backward, landing on the Chaos Knight and one of the Chaos Warriors. 

Systematically the Seasoned Adventurer, Barbarian, Knight and Charley take out he last of the Chaos Warriors. The portal closes behind them. The scene falls quiet. 

 

 

The Elf laments the death of his friend and immediately sets off with his body to compost it beneath a soul tree in the Elven Grove of Remembrance, where in future years those who eat the fruit of his tree shall remember him.

The Druids explain once again how their purpose here is to protect the world by defeating any monstrosities which come through the Gate. They are grateful for the help of the adventurers this night, who have now seen for themselves the sort of thing the Druids have to deal with.