Getting There - part II

Gammon drills an arrow into one of the giants and Yorick attempts to silence it in hopes it will not be able to raise an alarm. Most of the rest work their ways around to the rear of the keep to batle the orcs inside. Gammon runs toward the giant who flees and kicks in the front door of the keep. The other giant run to its aid. Gammon holds his own against the two giants until they start connecting with their greatclubs forcing him to retreat to the rest of the group.

Meanwhile Ashmai and Fayed had made it to the opening in the second floor which they find empty. The orcs in the first floor of the tower start to pour out. Lido and Lucian hold this front. Farathin is providing cover for both Gammon and the the others in the rear. Fayed provides spell support from the second floor. The grunts are quickly killed. The barbarian orcs prove to be more of a challenge, especially as they are being supported by both divine and arcane casters. Some of the group presses into the main floors of the tower to finish the battle with the orcs.

Yorick moves into the main keep, opes a door only to see a large devilish beast standing guard at the bottom of a flight of stairs. He retreats and cast a few preparatory spells and returns the face the beast. With the door open, Ashmai who has been skulking on the second floor now hears the signs of combat from below the stairs and investigates. He sneaks down behind the beast to be confronted by a creature that was hiding. It too has devilish features including an overly large head with a huge smile of far too many nastily pointed teeth - not to mention the small pair of wings growing out of its head.

The battle in the tower is raging and by now the barbarians have been mostly dealt with. Only a shield bearing orc, a cleric and sorcerer remain. The sorcerer is becoming deadly as it unleashes numerous lightning bolds, scorching rays, acid arrows, and rays of enfeeblement, most of which do cold damage. Lido falls only to be revived by a cure from Fayed, Lucian is nearly dropped from ongoing acid damage and Farathin has to put down his bow and melee.

Inside Yorick, as he is casting a blade barrier around the large devil, walks past another hiding beast just as Ashmai did. These creatures simply attempt to touch their enemies and have some sort of will draining power that is mostly resisted. The blade barrier proves to be ineffectual as the large devil teleports around it. The good news is that with people closing on the beast, it is unable to use its monstrously large and wickedly barbed longspear. Gammon, having finally finished the giants with some assistance and a few cures arrives to help. The large beast is forced to flee which it does by teleporting away, leaving the cohorts better able to focus on the smaller beasts. The large creature returns a few rounds later to continue the fight. It again is forced to flee and again returns in a few rounds. By now the smaller beasts have been killed. The battle in the tower continues.

As the cohorst are finishing the large devil a man wreathed in flames appears at the top of the stairs and watches the battle for a short while. He then suggests that the cohorts accept their victory and leave. Of course they do not. Gammon approaches and the man closes. Gammon is struck by a deadly blow and luckily is able to avoid the full penetration of the blade. He then resists one spell before succumbing to an inflict critical wounds spell. Yorick keeps him in battle with a heal. Others that arrive start pegging this man with arrows as no one really wants to get too close the the cold flames. Gammon resorts to melee, taking nearly as much damage from the flames as he gives. The cohorts do a significant amount of damage to this man and he begins to become frustrated. He draws an exotic looking dagger and hits Gammon four times. Gammon hits the ground dead before the poison on the blade has a chance to take effect. Others close on him. He is forced to flee via a spell or similar effect.

Those in the tower have killed the cleric and shield bearer and only now, with several strategic withdraws and readvances are able to dispatch the sorcerer. Those in the tower note it a bit odd that the orcs never fled strategically, which they could have, but instead pressed forward.

The battle is over and the party has several casualties, including one dead and others near collapse.

Getting There

Day One
The cohorts head east in search of tracks or other tell tale signs. They find none.

Day Two
As you get up, Farathin notices smoke NW in the distance. You hastily break camp and head out only to discover a burnout farmstead. A search of the immediate area reveals the corpses of the farming family and some dead animals. Large animal corpses are conspicuously absent. Someone discovers the signs of something(s) large being dragged NW. Investigating you come across a small group of orcs camped out in a copse of trees. As hort fight later and they are all dead. Yorick held the last one who was running away in hopes of getting some information, but it broke the hold and Ashmai finished it. There were about a dozen orcs, most of no note. There were two large orcs viciously wielding greataxes who were practically dead on their feet before they fell. The last was a more deliberate orc with heavy sheild and scimitar. This bunch had slaughtered some cattle and stuffed the meat into several large sacks.

You follow tracks further NW trying to find out where they cam from. Night falls. Late in the evening those on guard notice an even larger band of orcs and a black rider. You quickly recognize the beast it rode as a nightmare. As the orcs closed, this rider moved fast back and forth through the group lancing people on the way. A few spells and the grunts were no more. A few more barbarians and another sheild wearing orc were a bit more difficult as they were aided by a cleric who never fully approached the main battle. Ashmai was finding that the orcs were skilled enough in combat that he was having an impossible time getting a sneak attack to land. An arc of lightning from Fayed severely hurt the nightmare and it faded from view and then flew off. Yorick, who had true sight, watched. In the morning you find the path that the band had taken to get to you and it was not in the direction the rider and nightmare took. You figure it was simply fleeing.

Day Three
Uneventful

Day Four
You realize you are heading more north and getting into softer ground. You spot some large creatures rooting around in the undergrowth. Ashmai sneaks up expecting bears. He was partially correct. less than 30 feet in front of him are six owlbears. An easy fight later and they are all dead.

Day Five
Uneventful

Day Six
Near dusk as you start turning you attention to finding a place to camp, you notice a large mansion off in the distance. The group moves up for a closer look and you spot at least one giant patrolling the grounds. Fayed turns into a small bird and scout ahead. He reports that there are several breaks in the main floor walls of the keep and a large opening in the second floor of the tower. The group approaches on foot noting that some of the ground may be too treacherous for horses. You dodge the glances of two patrolling giants and get fairly close before battle ensues.

More in the next installment...

Cohort Setup

As both a training opportunity and being pragmatic in that it frees up the Pcs, the cohorts have been placed in charge of Crossway. Everything runs smoothly. The most difficult part of maintaining order is the management of resources and inter-personal skills (diplomacy) needed to keep the locals happy. The few run ins with orcs, bandits and whatnot aren’t worth mentioning.

Schweitzer and Alorian, who are based here as mentors, head off on a prolonged tracking mission after receiving some information from Leo in Marnot. Alorian returns alone after nearly a week and informs the cohorts that there seems to be a large band traveling from near Seavering this direction destroying and killing along the way. Alorian knows there are at least a score, but of what he is unsure. The cohorts report they have not seen or heard anything like that. Alorian and the cohorts search the area around Crossway a bit but find nothing. The next day Pow Duc arrives from Marnot and informs Alorian that the group is gathering in Rastgoth and that they are supposed to wait for Leo and Iam. Those two, along with Iams' mount, pop in later that day. The cohorts are given instructions to start a larger search for whatever it was Alorian and Schweitzer were tracking. Iam hops on his mount and flies off. Leo shouts after him “Race ya!” and grabs Pow Duc and Alorian and ‘pop’.