AD&D Session 106 – Unplanned Aftermath
16th–21st of Misuthar, 835 PD
With Lord Truscan destroyed and the fighting across his estate finally over, the rebels were left with a victory they had prepared to win, but little idea what should follow it. The party had succeeded in overthrowing Daestok’s vampire ruler and inciting a local uprising, yet had made few plans for what would become of the town or its inhabitants once Imperial authority inevitably returned.
Their first priority was dealing with the remnants of Truscan’s rule. The surviving vampire spawn and townsfolk who had already been turned were hunted down, while Koro and the others performed the necessary rites to cleanse what remained of the undead presence.
While the party concentrated on the aftermath of the fighting, Serene searched the Truscan estate for correspondence, writs and official records. With the Crown’s Guard certain to eventually arrive with its own account of the rebellion, she hoped to preserve evidence of what had actually happened in Daestok. What she found made the situation considerably worse. From the documents she was able to examine, the spread of vampirism appeared not merely to have been tolerated by Imperial authorities, but deliberately encouraged as part of an attempt to create something resembling an undead military force.
Once the party had reviewed the recovered papers, they concluded that the surviving rebels and civilians could not safely remain in Daestok. If the Crown’s Guard returned to restore Imperial control, anyone connected to the uprising, or simply capable of contradicting the official version of events, was unlikely to be treated leniently.
Rather than attempt to hold the town, the party urged its remaining population to leave. Drawing upon Koro’s contacts within the Dynasty-linked underground network that had aided them since their earliest investigations in Daestok, they began organising an evacuation. The plan was ambitious: move everyone willing to flee through hidden routes beneath the Empire, cross the border unseen, and eventually bring the refugees to safety on the Menagerie Coast.
22nd of Misuthar, 835 PD
Once the preparations were complete, the party and the gathered refugees abandoned Daestok and made for the nearest secure entrance into the Underdark. Their drow guides led the growing column through the subterranean passages until they reached a vast underground lake, apparently familiar territory to at least some of their escorts.
Boats had already been prepared along its shore. The party and refugees began boarding for the crossing, leaving Daestok, and whatever response the Empire might send in their wake, behind them. Their rebellion had ended in victory, but its survivors were now fugitives, beginning a far longer journey beneath the border in search of a new home.