RC Jalpiar - On the Road Again

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If I think we can handle it, I'll light the fire in the back- If not I'll come running out and we'll get outta here as fast as we can.

 

Knorr acknowledges that the ogre-disguise thing wasn't a realistic suggestion, he just thought it sounded adventuresome.

"There's also the possibility that the fire will attract ogre patrols in the area, but frankly I'm not worried about it.

"The best idea so far sounds like having Verna creep in to assess the situation and then reporting back. Let's do that bit first [i.e. in this thread!] and see what she learns."

 

Verna was chomping at the bit a little, and Knorr's acceptance of her idea was all the encouragement she needed to proceed with the plan.

Slipping into the shadows, Verna moved through the already dark forest toward the rear of the hill that was before them. The back of the hill was a cliff, but not one difficult for her to climb.

She picked a good looking spot and began to ascend the cliff toward the top.

[This message has been edited by Serena Lynx (edited April 08, 2002).]

 

Verna manages to climb up the cliff to the top of the hill. From there she has a commanding view of the Ogre compound. She can see three large figures at the fire pit and one on each tower.

[This message has been edited by Baldak Oakfist (edited April 09, 2002).]

 

Verna decides to get a closer look. She creeps down the side of the slope and sneaks into the east cave entrance. Inside, she spots one adult and one child in the western portion. Before they notice her, she sneaks out of the cave and wanders the eastern side of the encampment where she notices an animal pen. It’s filled with the usual goats and a cow, but with a squint of her eyes, she notices another child ogre, but this one has ivory horns. Satisfied with her discoveries, she heads up to the top of the hill and makes sure none of the ogres noticed her. As she starts down the cliff she thinks to herself, “This was too easy.” At that moment, she slides down the last ten feet of the hill. She rubs her bruises and waits to see if the ogres were alerted to her presence by her slip. After a few moments of nothing, she gets up, shrugs, and trots off to see the others.

 

Knorr looks up from where he's been whittling a toy goat to placate Olanth. "Welcome back, sticky-fingered one. What have you got to tell us?"

 

After giving them the information she found, not including her little slip, Verna askes about the horned ogre-child. "Any ideas about what it is?"

 

OOC: I am confused, are the adult and the child in the cave both ogres or humans?

 

The map posted on my site has been updated to include what Verna has seen.
http://home.attbi.com/%7Ebaldak/Jalpiar/Ogre_Lair.GIF

 

Karak nods "Well what is are course of action now? I don't know, I guess it's the mention of children, albeit ogre children, that's giving me reservations about this. We really have no reason to attack the ogres. But I am curious as to why one ogre child is penned up. Maybe at night Verna could sneak back into the place and talk to ogre child and find out what is going on. Her size, combined with the animals in the pen and the night cover should stop her from being seen. What say you Verna?"

 

"I don't think it's wise to have Verna speak with the penned child as of yet. Ogres are *always* evil and unless lawful... will attempt to hurt her under any circumstances. Perhaps the horns are a trait of some sort of other ogre. I'm not sure if ogre mages look different than other ogres, though. Knorr, do you know?"



[This message has been edited by Xenecor (edited April 09, 2002).]

 

I'm sure the ogre child in the pen is attending the animals not locked in with them. And they are all ogres, no humans.

 

Karak shrugs, wanting to believe that somewhere out there is an ogre with a good heart.

 

After a little more discussion on tactics, it was decided that Karak and Verna would sneak into the compound the same way that Verna had done before. They would wait near the animal pen. Naffin would sneak up to the stockade and hurl a container of Alchemists Fire at the wall augmented by a flask of oil. During the ensuing fire fighting attempts made by the Ogres, they would attack. Verna and Karak were to watch the “horned” child Ogre just in case it was an Ogre Mage.

The plan was set into motion. Not everything worked out as planned. Karak and Verna got into place OK, but there was some confusion as to who had the Alchemists Fire. Finally Naffin started the wall ablaze, but the Ogres did not seem to respond. The “horned” child Ogre exited the animal pen and moved toward the entrance. Verna decided to attack from the shadows, hitting the young Ogre for minor damage. The “horned” child Ogre turned and scanned the area, but did not see Verna. At that moment, it made a small gesture and the area surrounding it turned to darkness. This darkness then began to move toward the entrance to the compound. Upon reaching the entrance, the darkness settled near the fire. Naffin hurled another flask of Alchemists Fire into the darkness and was greeted by a spear flying past his head that stuck into a nearby tree.

An icy Cone of Cold, blasted at the area on fire, and put the fire out. The darkness then moved toward the forest where the party was hidden. They fired blindly into the darkness, and luckily scored a few hits. The darkness then re-entered the compound and the gates were closed. In the twilight, the Ogres were having trouble seeing targets in the shadows of the forest.

Verna and Karak decided to use the confusion of the situation to sneak into the cave and search it out. Verna found a hidden chamber and Karak managed to move the large stone blocking it. Inside they discovered three chests. While preparing to loot the chests, they heard something enter the cave, so they hid themselves.

Outside, the Ogres hurled a large goatskin sac filled with oil toward the area where the fired arrows came from followed by a flaming spear. The party members there quickly exited the area, but not before firing a couple of shots, one a critical that killed one of the Ogre Guards. The fire caused some minor burns to Nyora (9 points), Olanth (4 points), and Knorr (4 points).

Verna and Karak were now inside the cave with an Ogre Mage. It entered the treasure chamber, and was about to grab his loot and leave when Karak and Verna attacked. Karak, using the Ogre killing mace, managed to hit the Ogre Mage with a critical, severely damaging it. Verna scored the next hit with her bow, causing minor damage. The Ogre Mage Swung its Great Sword toward Karak, and struck it on the low ceiling of the cave, breaking it in two and stunning itself. Karak was shocked by the sheer force of the blow and failed to hit. Another hit by Verna followed by Karak hitting also, dropped the Ogre Mage. Verna noticed that several of the wounds on the Ogre Mage were healing (the ones caused by her arrows) and others were not (the ones caused by the Alchemists Fire and Karak’s mace). Karak decided to turn the Ogre Mages Face into pulp with his mace, just to make sure it was dead.

Outside, the four other members of the group decided that a frontal assault was in order. Olanth went into rage and charged at the weakened section of the stockade, splintering several of the posts, and knocking out one of the legs of the east tower, the east tower crumbled and the guard was knocked out during the fall. Olanth took some damage from falling debris (9 points) and the battle was on. Olanth was attacked by the two remaining Adult Ogres while the three young Ogres headed toward Naffin, Nyora, and Knorr. Olanth took one hit (11 points), but cut an Ogre in two with a critical. Naffin took out one of the young Ogres with a flurry of blows, and Nyora killed another with a pair of arrows.

At this time, Karak and Verna emerged from the cave and moved toward the battle. Karak missed the one remaining Adult Ogre, but Verna managed to hit it with an arrow. Olanth took another blow from the Ogre but in his enraged state did not seem to notice the damage(15 points). The remaining Young Ogre attacked Naffin, hitting him with a great club (6 points). Olanth hit the one remaining Adult Ogre, but did not kill it. Naffin sensing that Olanth was in trouble decided to break off his combat with the young Ogre and aid Olanth. The Young Ogre took the Attack of Opportunity and knocked Naffin out(14 points). Nyora cast Cure Moderate Wounds on Naffin (heal 9 points) returning the color to his face. Knorr hit the young Ogre with an arrow, but it was still up. The adult Ogre scored another hit on Olanth, knocking him out (9 points) while the young Ogre hit Nyora with his Great Club (14 points). Naffin took out the young Ogre with a flurry of blows while Nyora healed herself (heal 9 points). The Adult Ogre was the next to hit, striking Karak with a huge Great Club (11 points). Nyora then healed Olanth with a Cure Moderate Wounds (heal 10 points) bringing him back to the conscious world. Knorr scored the final blow on the Ogre, killing it with an arrow.

Inside the cave, Verna and Karak found three chests containing three sacks (1600 sp, 300 gp, 8 gems), 4 potions, a helmet, a rapier, and a quiver with 20 arrows. Inside the animal pen are 14 goats and 3 cows. Stored under the west tower is a barrel of oil.

Each party member received 1450 Experience, and Verna gets an additional 150 for her scouting mission.

 

Knorr, feeling a little singed and a bit agitated that their carefully laid plans went awry, makes sure all of the ogres are indeed dead. He has to put an arrow through the throat of the guard who was knocked off the watch tower.

Knorr takes a look at what Karak and Verna found. "I think the gems are worth about 10 gp each. The potions are cure light wound, cure medium wounds, cure serious wounds, and cure critical wounds. I'm not sure if anything is special about the helmet, rapier, and arrows."

Knorr then goes over to check out the animal pen. After a little bit of watching, he opens the gate and enters. Careful not to step on any goat or cow deposits, he finally selects a youngish billy goat, leads it out of the pen, and puts his saddle bags (that Nelax used to carry) on it. He keeps his gold, his recorder, and his weapons on him but ties the cooking supplies and other articles onto or into the saddle bags.

He then leads the goat over to the others. "This little fellow will make a good meal some day and a fine beast of burden until then. Everyone, meet Skeldas."

[This message has been edited by Shralp (edited April 10, 2002).]

 

"Knorr, do you mind if I take a look at those arrows? Perhaps Alvernus will aid me in identifying them (if they need identifying at all, ofcourse)."

 

Verna looks back on the nights activities and remembers the gems looking more valuable than Knorr indicated. “Can I see those gems again?” She asks and picks up the sack. She takes another peek and uses her appraise skill. “Uh, Knorr... these gems look like they’re worth 100gp. not 10.” She then hands them to the bard for another look.

 

Knorr shrugs, "You're the thief, half-pint. My appraisal skills aren't very high. Well, unless you're talking about saffron."

Knorr gives Nyora the quiver of arrows for inspection.

 

"Thank you, Knorr"

Nyora accepted the arrows and examined them to determine what sort of arrows they are.



[This message has been edited by Xenecor (edited April 12, 2002).]

 

After finishing up at the stronghold of the Ogre Mage, the party continued on to the Dwarven City of Sibor Alga. After paying the entry tax of 1 gp per person, they proceeded to the Laughing Halfling, located in the “Outsiders” section of the city. The talk about town indicated that there was a reward for slaying the Ogres in the forest payable at the Office of the Constable.

At the Constable’s Office, the were greeted by his secretary. After a brief conversation about the Ogre reward, they left a message that the Ogres would not be a problem anymore and asked for directions to a Dwarven Historian, She directed them to the official historian for the city.

Upon reaching Hammer Hall, the main government building, they were directed to the top floor where Ulfgar Ungart, the city historian would be found. The party had Ulfgar look at the book they found. He was very interested in it. Ulfgar explained to them the story of Kheldigan Tolm, perhaps the greatest dwarven weapon smith ever. Blasingdell was his stronghold/forge where he and his apprentices went to perfect their craft. He further explained that a tribe of Orcs invaded the forge from the surface while a tribe of troglodytes attacked from below. The actual location of the forge is unknown although many have tried to find it. None have ever returned, although there are rumors of a black dragon living in the mountains north of the city.

Ulfgar made a copy of the useful information contained in the book, and bought the book from them for 200 gp. He further pointed out a possible location for the secret forge indicated by the map contained in the book.


(sorry the summary has been posted late)