Session 006 - Through the Closing Gate

Snapshot

Detail	Value
Party Level	4
Main Focus	Breaking through the battlefield outside Brindleford and choosing a route to Redmark Keep.
Ending Point	Long rested at The Bent Wheel, ready to take the Hunter Trail.

Recap

The battle at the overturned wagon resumed with gnolls and giant hyenas still holding the slopes. During the fight, Leonidus Deneith arrived on the northbound road and joined the party. Together, the group broke the remaining pack and recovered about 50 gp in mixed coin and trade goods.

Leonidus was searching for his younger brother, Rhaegar Phiarlan, who had also traveled into the Northern Reaches. Since everyone was bound for Brindleford, Leonidus continued with the party.

A fortified Red Banner checkpoint soon blocked the road. The hobgoblins demanded gold and the surrender of the party's weapons, but careful negotiation won passage without another battle. The checkpoint captain warned them that Command is coming and revealed that Rhaegar had passed through roughly two days earlier.

The woods opened onto abandoned farmland consumed by open battle. Gnolls moved through drainage ditches while hobgoblins controlled roads and firing lanes between the party and Brindleford's walls.

The party fought through the ditches, crossed a lane choked with broken wagons, and defeated enemies from both factions. At a collapsed shrine, they stopped to rescue Mara Vell, a trapped Brindleford roadwarden, even as the town's horns signaled that the gates were closing.

The final stretch became a race through arrows, barricades, gnolls, hobgoblins, and battlefield magic. Wazeau transformed into a warhorse and carried Mara toward safety while the rest of the party forced a path to the gate.

The party reached Brindleford—but Bruce O'Mordha did not. Struck down behind the others and caught by the gnolls, Bruce died outside the walls.

Inside town, Mira Fenwick, Captain Orven Hale, and Old Brenn explained the three known approaches to Redmark Keep:

View the Brindleford–Redmark route map

• The Old North Road is fastest but exposed.
• The Field Ditch Route is concealed but blind and infested with gnolls.
• The Hunter Trail is longer and harder but offers the best chance to observe the keep before committing.

Brenn also remembered Redmark's old waterworks and runoff channels. From the ridge, the party may be able to notice forgotten features around the keep.

At The Bent Wheel, Leonidus found Rhaegar waiting upstairs. The brothers were reunited after following their mother's summons to the Northern Reaches.

The party received three healer's kits, chose the Hunter Trail, and completed a safe long rest.

Next Session

Leave Brindleford by the Hunter Trail and approach Redmark Keep from the western ridge.