At the end of the last session, we left our heroes resting at White Moon Cove while they recovered from their ordeal at the hands (and fangs) of the forest drakes. After a week, they were ready to depart, but disaster struck when Tzaran was struck down with violent stomach pains. Over the next few days, his condition worsened and so the party sought the aid of the village priest, Kandra. Luckily, Kandra had the magic to cure the disease and a few days later the party were again ready to travel.
Leaving the village, the party headed generally north and east on the way to Fangwood Keep – the last Ratikan outpost. They travelled slowly–in no hurry–but on the second day were caught in a torrential downpour. Luckily, Krorz and Delvier found a sheltered cave in which the party could dry out and wait for the rain to pass. A bone-filled chasm split the cave in half, and after a careful search of the area they declared the place safe. Sadly, they were to be proved wrong.
That night–as the first watch drew to an end–Delvier heard a strange whispering emanating from the chasm. Telling Ulmo (also on watch) Delvier got to his feet. Sadly, Ulmo threw a light stone into the chasm before the rest of the party were alerted. This drew two orc shadows into the main chamber. Panic ensued as the rest of the party were roused from their sleep in the midst of a desperate battle. Krorz was badly drained by one of the beasts–and nearly died before he retreated out of the cave. Although, several other party members were also seriously enervated by the attacks, Ulmo’s magic proved to powerful for the creatures and eventually his magic missiles destroyed them.
Although no one had died, several of the party were severely injured and so they decided to rest in the cave while Tzaran’s (limited) healing magic and the passage of time replenished their strength. For three days, they rested in the cave. however, they did manage to find several sacks of treasure (including a magical brooch and robe) hidden under the bones in the chasm. By the time they were ready to continue, the bad weather had cleared and Fangwood Keep stood but a day’s journey away.
Sadly, the day was not to be without incident. About midday, the party came across a man standing on a tree stump with a noose around his neck. Next to him stood a giant (later identified as an ogre). The ogre demanded payment to allow the party to pass or he would kill the man. Ulmo cast a spell on Krorz (suspecting battle was imminent) and his pre-emptive casting caused the ogre to knock the wooden block away from under the man–causing him to start choking. The party leapt into battle, but were dismayed to see three more ogres emerging from the woods. One wielded a gigantic crossbow, another was clad in half-plate and wielded a bastard sword while the remainder carried longspears.
Krorz crept round the rear of the battle, protected by a temporary invisibility spell cast by Ulmo. He managed to save the choking man, but was himself then cut off from his comrades. In the meantime, Delvier advanced while Ulmo hurled magical acid at the plate-clad ogre. The ogre retaliated with a javelin of lightning that caught both Tzaran and the hapless halfling. Both were severely injured. On the other side of the battlefield, Dregak aided by Tzaran’s snake companion closed with the crossbow-wielding ogre who was forced to turn to her battleaxe to defend herself.The battle seemed in the balance until Krorz was almost decapitated by one of the ogres. The heroic half-orc fell – moments from death and things seemed grim. Almost at that moment, however, Ulmo, melted the plate-clad ogre’s head with a tremendously aimed blast of acid. By then two of the other ogres had already fallen and the final ogre only lasted a few more moments. Tzaran rushed to Krorz’s side to discover the half-orc was alive, but only barely…
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