The Dungeons & Dragons campaign picked back up with the characters being stuckin Wolfangel for three weeks due to inclement winter weather — bitter cold and heavy snow. The characters have been given the decamped blacksmith’s home to reside in as thanks for their efforts in destroying the Dark Man. During the stay, Carrus the Dwarf made money doing smithing, like his father…he’s both pleased and worried to find he’s good at it. Carona the satyr became a celebrity on the celebration of Faunus, playing guest of honor to the feast. The rest of the time, she and Calvinus the Bard have been playing music in the taverns. The monk, Icio, has been conducting Christian ritual for those interested, while Augustinian is aiding the local priest in getting ready for Saturnalia, and trying to pick through the writing and mind of Valdo, the former wizard who is now old and half-senile. Marcellus and the soldiers have nothing to do but wait, so they have been training the town guard.

Then one evening, the guard spot a man out on the frozen Moenus River, and there looks to be more people camped in the burned out buildings of the former town of Morhenburg that once occupied the opposite bank. When they’ve found is an injured party of Celts (elves) who have been attacked by some new foe they’ve never seen. They were man-sized, ugly, and tactically proficient. After questioning them, they learn that these creatures were camped near their next destination, the city of Locoritum — population 20,000 or so, with a guard of maybe 2,000-3,000. The camp the Celts saw was about a legion’s strength (1000-3000 men!) They also think they were being pursued by the creatures.

The next day, the party goes out with the elves — now healed by Augustinian — and 20 of the town guard under the mayor, Stellan Hanau. They find the creatures camped in the woods east of the river. Marcellus takes the elves and flanks the camp, setting up to use their bows on the grotesque, gray-skinned, red-eyed creatures. Their camp shows discipline and organization, with good walls of snow, and men paired for guard duty. they are wearing heavy metal plate armor, and when the town guard is stopped, they set up guard along the edges of their camp, using cover well. The Roman legionnaire was impressed with their professionalism.

The leader met Stellan, flanked by Carrus (who thought them goblin-like), Augustinian and Icio, and Calvinus. After a tense bit of talk, in which the leader was calm, polite, but also imposing and unafraid, they were told to — essentially — piss off back to their town. Marcellus then gave a fateful order to strike and the elves let fly…five of the 30 or so creatures were dropped, but their organized counterstrike dropped many of the elven archers (some lucky crits happened…)

This led to a full-scale attack by the creatures, who were slowed by Calvinus’ use of shatter, but which saw half the town guard mowed down in the first few rounds, and the elves all but destroyed. Even with their leader down, the creatures fought with precision and fervor, even managing to injure the previously nigh-untouchable monk, Icio, badly.

The blood bath was reaching a crescendo — Icio surrounded by assailants, Carrus trying to reach him, the mayor of Wolfangel down, half their forces destroyed and the rest ready to flee, and Marcellus isolated from the group and facing more of these creatures —  when we knocked off for the night, to pick it back up again next week.