After another chilling night (down to -23F), the cold spell finally breaks, and by dawn on March 15th the temperature is climbing. Otherwise, it is a dismal, overcast morning.
You break camp and continue on your way.
The morning passes quietly...as the road curves to the southeast and begins to climb into the pass.
Around 1100, though, things start to get interesting.
The road at this point is climbing up a narrow, shallow ravine. A small stream - ice covered - flows to the left of it. It is a perfect place for an ambush...you realise a little too late.
Rounding a bend, you see a solitary, man-sized figure in gleaming field plate standing in the road facing you. He holds a broadsword, but he does not look threatening.
You approach to within 50', then he holds up a hand, indicating that you should stop.
You do.
"Grrrrrrr...this is a toll road...or din't cha know that?" he snarls. Suddenly you realize that this is no human...it is an orc.
"Th' toll is ever' bit o' magic an' treasure ye got, boys...an I'll take that elf, too," he adds, regarding Valdar. "An' don't git any stoopid idears about puttin' up no fight...yer surrounded an' outnumbered."
"A toll road? Ha! I'll tell you what, I'll sing you all a song and you can consider that payment enough."
Jesse prepares his lute, and begins to sing.
"Shaddap," says the orc.
While Jesse is distracting them, Scryte slips under the wagon and draws a dagger.
"Um, excuse me, sir," Gilstrock says leaning heavily on his spear, addressing the orc. "That's nice armor and all. I mean, I'm impressed. But, see, I'm just a dumb swordsman, so I'm not too good at counting. I sure looks to me, though, like you are one, and we are, um..."
Gilstrock makes a show of pointing his finger at each in his party, one by one, and getting confused. Eventually, he looks back at the orc. "Well, let's say, lots more than one. So, could you explain to us how we are outnumbered? If you have others waiting, where are they? Tell them to show themselves, so we can count for ourselves."
At this, Gilstrock steps back into the frey of his companions, so the others can speak.
"Use yer eyes an' look about ye, fish face," replies the orc calmly - for an orc, that is.
Sure enough, glancing about, you see a number of shadowy figures - more orcs, by the look of things - in the woods on either side of the road.
Occa says, "Oh foolish one, we will let you live if you will take this halfling off of our hands. Just to prove we have the power to decide that we will give you a demonstration."
Pharian slips a ring onto his finger and disappears from sight...
Occa starts incanting.
Before he is third of the way through his spell, though, five magic missiles slam into him...effectively ruining his spell and inflicting 15 hit points of damage into him.
You see a movement at the top of the south side of the ravine...but only Occa with his robe can identify it as a magic user winking back out of sight and ducking for cover.
Suddenly the forest erupts with war cries, as at least three score of orcs pour out of the woods and converge on you... All concerns about the toll are forgotten...they want your blood.
"Really, shouldn't put up a fight, I think we should, bye, bye," says Salaam, "Thoth, Burn 'em" he says as he points to the orc and casts a flamstrike at him.
"Oh shit," mutters Valdar, as he dives under the wagon as well, "Here we go again..."
Salaam is casting his spell.
Occa laughs and says, "Is that the best you can do mage?" He will spread his magic missles out among the first 4 orcs...two for each. That should activate his globe. Then he will begin his fireball spell over again.
Three orcs drop from the missiles.
"Great. Just Great."
Jesse casts a fireball such that the most number of attackers are caught in the blast, but it does not hit our lines.
Two fireballs explode...one on each side of the party...courtesy of Jesse and Occa. 14 orcs drop in flames on one side...and nine on the other.
Gilstrock calls, "Fighters, make a perimeter!" He drops his spear and places himself between Occa and the other spellcasters and one flank of the onrushing orcs. He draws his sword and attacks with that, trying to kill as many of the attack orcs as possible, and also to prevent them from getting any blows in at our spell casters.
Gilstrock chops down an orc easily...but there are lots more.
The other fighters - with one exception - form a perimeter.
Op Code will lunge for an Orc. He easily slays the humanoid.
Oh Well will attack an Orc...and another falls...split open.
Orlon attack an orc with his 'big bruiser' Mace of Disruption. Yet another falls...his skull crushed.
Phil will cast 'ice storm' at a group of orcs and then dives for cover. The magic user catches a large concentration of orcs...and 22 fall dead and encrusted with ice.
Who Knows will attack an orc with her sword of quickness and her dagger. She misses every time...but then so does the orc she is attacking.
Gonzo immediately hits the afterburners and jumps into the fray. He yells -
"KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARUMBA!"
- as he goes roaring after the armoured orc.
However, Salaam's flame strike hits him before the dwarf gets there...immolating him and two others. By the time Gonzo arrives the orc-captain is badly toasted...while the other two have been completely vapourized. Gonzo attacks...an easy hit...and the armoured orc drops.
Following Gonzo's advice about hiding when the spells start flying, Scryte stays under the wagon with his lordship. He will strike out at any orc with his dagger if they make it into the wizards.
"And let there ankles beware my wrath", Lord Valdar hears the little halfling mutter.
"Stay near me," says Valdar, as he finishes casting a spell. He moves forward until he is near the draught horses - who are standing patiently, having been through this before - then casts another spell. A cone of cold springs from his outstretched finger...catching a dozen orcs and freezing them in their tracks.
The ranks of the enemy have been thinned considerably...perhaps 10 - the biggest and meanest of the lot - remain.
There is no sign of the enemy magic user...even for Occa.
"YES !!" Salaam yells gleefully, quite uncharacteristically as everyone notices. "Thoth, grant me sight to seek my enemies." he chants as he casts a true seeing spell.
Jesse blasts magic missiles on one of the remaining orcs. His spell blows one orc to smithereens and badly maims another.
Scryte, seeing how quickly his companions decimated the majority of the orcs is over come with confidence. Crawling out from underneath the wagon the little halfling walks up behind the fighters, to where he can be seen by the remaining orcs.
Pointing a one nimble little finger at the orcs he begins to chuckle. "Yea, keep coming. Suuuuure, you all stand a chance in hell of surviving another attack. Fireballs, magic missiles, orc popsickle maker, enchanted weapons, oooooh yea, your really going to get us. I don't think I've ever such a void of intellegence in my life. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to put you out of your misery."
Scryte sticks out his tongue and walks back to the wagon.
Occa says, "I am going after that mage!" He disappears.
Phil will cast 'detect invisibility', 'invisibility', and then winks out of site.
Gonzo looks for more targets and gives another..."KAAAAARUMBA!" and charges into the fray. Roaring up behind the injured orc, he cuts him down easily with his new flame tongue.
Orlon starts to cast 'blade barrier' at the remaining orcs...then stops when he realizes that they are all too close to his allies, and decides to save his spell for another time.
Op Code, Oh Well, and Who Knows keep attacking. Op Code chops another orc in half with ease. Oh Well almost follows suit with his first swing...then the injured orc bounces his scimitar off of his field plate. The fighter misses badly with his second attack.
Who Knows, using her shortsword and dagger, nicks her orc. The orc somehow misses her. She then misses with both her shortsword and dagger.
Robert makes short work of another orc.
Gilstrock finds himself facing the orc-captain. His foe nicks him slightly for 5 hit points of damage. The human replies with a hard hit with his frost brand...follwed by a miss with his dagger.
Salaam is heading in the direction that you last saw the magic user.
Over there you see Occa reappear...followed by the sounds of spell casting...
Occa finds himself facing the enemy magic user.
Occa simply says, "Surrender...it is the only alternative you have to death."
"Whoopdedoo," the mage replies, pointing his wand at Occa.
Nothing seems to happen.
"Shit!" he says, and looks into the business end of the wand with a squinty eye. "WHOOPDEDOO!"
Again nothing happens.
The mage turns and runs away into the woods.
Phil casts 'continual light' at the eyes of the magic user.
Nothing happens.
Pharian casts polymorph other on the magic user, trying to turn him into (what else) a frog.
Yet again, nothing happens.
"Die, asshole!" Salaam says as he throws his hammer with all of his strength at the enemy magic user.
The magic user is conked on his right shoulder, but still keeps running.
Jesse jogs over in the direction of Occa, to offer protection or assistance with his sword drawn.
Meanwhile, the battle with the remaining orcs continues.
"You've harassed the wrong travellers, you foul fiend!" Gilstrock cries as he presses his attack. But it is the orc-captain who strikes first, for 7 hit points of damage. Gilstrock replies by plunging his frost brand into the orc's belly. The humanoid cries out and clutches the blade, as it freezes his guts solid and kills him.
Op Code, Who Knows, and Oh Well will continue attacking.
Who Knows misses badly with her shortsword, but her orc does almost as bad. However, she carves a nice piece off of the orc's snout with her dagger, and blood and snot pour out.
Oh Well polishes off his orc with ease.
Gonzo squares off against an orc-corporal...whom he splits in half from the crown of his head through his groin. It is not a pretty sight.
Op Code goes against the orc-leader...a large, burly specimen in gleaming chain mail. His thrust with his broadsword would have skewered a less-armoured man, but the ranger's full plate is impenitrable. Op Code, though, has no problem finding a chink in the orc's fancy armour, lopping an arm off and killing him on the spot.
Robert goes to the aid of Who Knows, easily slaying the last orc with his bastard sword.
Less than five minutes after it all began, 76 orcs lie dead. The only survivor is the magic user...now fleeing north into the woods.
Pharian mutters a curse, turns to pursue the magic-user, then pauses and barks, "Phil! Get a ranger up here. Occa, Salaam, what do you say we go get this guy? But let's be sure we don't split up or get lost."
Then he dashes north into the woods.
Gilstrock, having finished off the Orc he was dealing with, runs after the mage along with Pharian. "Let's get him!" Gilstrock calls to the others.
Occa will lighting bolt the mages as he flees...
...but the bolt is stopped dead some five feet distant from its target.
Occa says, "I can track him..."
The mage stops a safe distance away, speaks something, and abruptly winks out of sight.
Occa, Phil and Salaam, with their various spells and magical accutrements, see that he has truly vanished, and is not merely invisible.
However, there is a very obvious trail heading back into the woods to the north, towards the hill...made by the enemy party when they came down this way.
Valdar climbs out from under the wagon and dusts himself off.
"Harrumph," he says, kicking an orc-corpse. "These fellows were more used to molesting peasants than fighting a real adversary."
He picks up a shield that an orc carried. It is emblazoned with the image of a snorting red dragon.
"It looks like we're here, folks," he says. "Shall we see where this trail leads?"
"Guess so," Gilstrock says. "Let's be on the lookout for that damn mage, though."
"Well hold on just a moment," Pharian says. "Nobody has ever bothered to tell me just how many dragons we're looking for. Nothing but 'don't worry, there will be plenty of treasure' and 'you'll see when we get there.' Well, as you so blithely say, looks like we're here. So how many dragons? Old or young? Big or small? Red, I take it. So I hope all you clerics have prayed for plenty of resist fire spells. Otherwise this valley is going to smell like roasted meat."
Pharian turns to Valdar. "If you want me to thrust my neck out any more for your poor subjects, I think you had better tell me a little more about what is going on here." Pharian's outburst subsides into inaudible grumbling.
Gilstrock gives a jolly laugh. "Pharian, where's your sense of adventure?"
He says to Valdar. "He's right, though; how many are there? Just what are we about to go up against? And why do these dragons have orcs and a mage working for them?"
"Good questions," replies Valdar. "Too bad I can't answer them all. Needless to say, there haven't been a lot of survivors from our raided caravans. But, as I mentioned to some of you at one point or another previously, these dragons have attracted or recruited other evil beings to do the bulk of their dirty work for them. Face it, an orc can do a pretty good job of terrorizing a peasant or a travelling tinker...especially with the threat of a dragon hanging in the background. And dragons are inherently lazy and cowardly...at least here on Earth...so if they can get someone else to do the bulk of their ill deeds, then they will. We have heard word from travellers and some of the locals around Inner Sanctum, though. They say that occasionally dragons - and I emphasize that I am using the plural - are seen flying around this hill...usually from a distance...so the exact type cannot be determined. However, there appears to be quite a range of sizes. I'm sure you also know that different types of dragons differ in intelligence...so I am sure that the head dragon will be one of the smart breeds...a red, perhaps."
Valdar pauses for a moment.
"Probably something I have omitted to mention is the frequent degree of cooperation amongst the various evil creatures that we see here on Earth. I am sorry for not pointing this out sooner to those of you - the majority in this group - who are not of this world. I do not know if it is the same on other worlds or not, for as I said a few days ago I do not often leave Earth. This cooperation, I am told by those more able to explain it, is a sign that the Great Powers of Evil are working together to overthrow the Powers of Good, here. Earth, for some reason, is one of the key worlds in this multiverse. The gods are vying for control of this world using the likes of us, orcs and dragons as their pawns...for whoever ultimately masters this world will also gain control of a good chunk of this multiverse."
Valdar looks up at the hill, visible through the trees.
"Centuries ago, a clan of dwarves - one of the first to arrive on Earth - delved a great stronghold and mining complex into this hill, for apparently rich veins of rare metals run through it. Several hundred years ago they abandoned it. Now, the dragons and other evil creatures are living there. I expect that this entire hill is riddled with tunnels and chambers."
Gilstrock hangs his shield up on the hook he has for it on his pack, and after cleaning off his sword, sheathes it. He picks up his spear.
"Oh, and, let's check out these weapons and armor that these orcs were using," Gilstrock says. "Since it was on orcs, it's probably not worth much, but you never know. Any of it magic?"
"I'm sure the orc leaders we polished off had some goodies on them," Phil remarks as he lands near the party.
Salaam checks over the items, and announces that the field plate and the elfin chain mail that the orc-leaders were wearing radiate magic. The rest of the weapons and equipment are standard orc-gear...capable of doing the job but of no great value.
Now that you look to the bodies, you see Scryte as he stands up with an orc helmet on his head and a sword in his hand. "Grrr...grrrrr, all rright you human scum. Hand overrr yourrr gold orr else you'll have to face me. Grrrrrrr." Scryte launches himself in a swift fury of clumbsy cuts and slashes with oversized sword. "Take that and that. Die you scum sucking human."
Scryte show of swordmanship comes to a quick halt as he nearly takes off a few of his toes with an uncontrolled down stroke.
Unfazed by the near amputation of his little digits, Scryte goes to check out the orcs encased in ice. After poking at the ice a few times, Scryte looks up to see you staring at him. "Uh...orcsickle anyone?"
"Uhhh...no thanks," says Robert.
You search through the bodies...and find some coinage...namely 745ep and 15gp.
Valdar inspects the orc-leaders.
"Greater orcs...from Urguth," he says. "This will be news to my friends. I have heard of such creatures but did not know that they had worked their way so far south."
Occa sighs and says, "I wouldn't have let that mage live had I known this was the hill." He looks over at Valdar and says, "A bit more notice would have been helpful..."
"I told you yesterday that this hill was reputed to be where the enemy had its lair," Valdar says somewhat abruptly. "But my information was not definite. How did you expect me to know for sure? Do you take me to be some all-seeing, omnipotent being?
"For that matter I could still be wrong."
Occa sighs again and says, "Okay, now we can assume enemy knows about us. Hmm, that could mean a few things...it could mean that they will sally forth and try to attack us again with stronger forces. Or it could mean that they will tighten up their defenses."
"Or they could just assume that we are a party of adventurers passing through the area on our way elsewhere."
Occa scratches his head and says, "Valdar, did any survive to tell anything of their exploits? What happened after they first met resistance? Did they get attacked in the night or press on to the tunnels?"
"Who are you talking about...my people? The ones who were attacked were usually simple merchants or traders...the type that these fellows prey on," the elf kicks another orc-corpse. "A few escaped during the heat of battle and got word back to us. It would appear that these orcs gave us more options - namely paying a toll to be allowed to pass - than they gave the all-elf parties," he adds grimly. "A few groups were also attacked by dragons...whites and reds. Again...only a few elves survived to get away. They do not know the fates of their companions.
"The attacks took place along this road...as well as along the Elven Coast Road. I have also heard that Inner Sanctum has been threatened, as well."
Occa turns to the rest of the group and says, "I expect they will probably do both...of course, it might be to our advantage that they may think we will just move on. Hmm, maybe we should do that. I would like to distribute the magic we have currently among everyone so that we are stronger for it. I think a quick trip to Sandas for spell components is in order. I don't like the idea of leaving the group here without mages for fire power, though."
"I originally suggested yesterday that we go to Inner Sanctum to get information on the situation," says Valdar. "It is a fair sized town...over 3000 people live there. The party would be safer there than out in the woods...waiting while we went to Sandas."
Occa pauses again and says, "I suggest we move up a bit and then send a small group to Sandas for supplies...spell components and the like. Then we should divide this magic up as best we can."
"Let us move on to Inner Sanctum."
He pulls out a parchment and says, "This is the magic so far...I would think we should give Scryte the wand of wonder so that he can be of some sort of help in future battles...I have had one before and can teach him how to use it in a way that will minimize damage to our own party."
He then reads from the parchment: (this is the treasure list and what I have ascertained so far)
Treasure:
Dani's Stuff:
3 wands - wonder, hat of disguise amulet The platemail 2 swords
wand - lots of charges, blasto, wand of ice ring - associated with water, water walking or swimming rope - cursed, entangler...really is cursed robe - harder to see pearl - increase abilities..probably wisdom
scroll vial vial vial
shield mace axe broadsword 3 javelins
crystal rod of cancellation longsword (the flame tongue) longsword (the 2nd flame tongue) ring of water walking scroll of protection from magic pipes of the sewer scroll of protection from possession potion giant sweat vial giant sweat vial troll blood a ring of protection a rod - helps fighters to hits..has charges (rod of flailing) bracers of AC 2 cube of frost resistance ring of human influence
Dani's Spell books:
Her spell books contain: 1st. Burning Hands, Magic Missile, Shocking Grasp, Protection from evil, Unseen Servant, Write, read magic.
2nd. Continual Light, Forget, Invisibility, Rope Trick, Web.
3rd. Feign Death, Fireball, Fly, Hold Person, Invis (10ft), Phantasmal Force, Lightning Bolt, Dispel Magic.
4th. Wizard Eye, Polymorph Self, Polymorph Other, Dig, Minor Globe of invulnerability.
Spell components for the following 10 times:
The three travelling spell books that you found in the warehouse contain:
1) read magic, magic missile, Leomund's trap, invisibility, fly, fireball; 2) minor globe of invulnerability, ice storm, teleport, cone of cold, spiritwrack, globe of invulnerability, move earth; 3) read magic, magic missile, invisibility, pyrotechnics, fireball, protection from evil 10' radius.
You move on after stripping the bodies and burning them. The rest of the day's hike is uneventful.