The adventurers head back to Beverna. Instead of either staying in Duvik's Pass to recuperate or making full speed on the road, they decide to travel and train for their next level while sick. This makes the journey take a loooooong time. But at least they survive. Barely. And they obviously miss the battle.
Once there, they can already see the fruits of their work. Representatives from Naola and Travensburg had already provided reinforcements.
The party then leaves to visit Achna. There, they encounter a proper medieval tyrant. The adventurers arrive during a peasant wedding, just as the lord's men descend to take away the bride (Ius Primae Noctis!). After some prodding, the peasant agree that Lord Bersk leads his people with an iron fist: he keeps them safe, but demands much in return. They don't dare to complain much, and always emphasize that they are never attacked by outside foes.
Before visiting the lord, the party makes friends with the local priest. There is a single temple to Bane, the God of Tyranny (surprise!). The priest provides information and wine, and is generally happy, as he enjoys the full support of the lord. They even beat up the monks of the Master when they dared to show up.
After all this, the adventurers decide that they know enough of the lord to visit him. Unlike other towns and villages, Achna sports a proper fort[1] with proper guards who keep their crossbows trained on the visitors. The adventurers are brought before the lord, and promptly insult him by calling his staying back cowardice.[2] The lord is properly insulted, and bloodshed is very narrowly avoided. Later attempts at making peace fail miserably. Selene tries to convince the lord using her womanly charms, but also fails.[3] At least the skill challenge was memorable enough to give this episode a title :-)
And so the adventurers realize that their quests are not auto-win. They retreat to Beverna, where the war council is debating further plans. The party engages in discussion, and makes plans on how to make up for their failure by participating in the next battle. A quick brainstorming brings up several tasks, including healing, training the peasantry, looking for an advantageous battlefield, building fortifications, and so on.
[1] You may call it... a dreadfort.
[2] Almost like they didn't know him. Like at all. Like if they did not have any information on his personality. Literally nothing. At all.
[3] Almost like that insult increased the difficulty of the all subsequent checks.
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