Orc Hunting
Adventure #10 - 9/24/11
The party returned to Greyhawk laden with treasure and companions in need of some of some serious divine healing. Pandora took the party to her friends at the Church of Pelor and helped some of the party members, but Marilka was beyond their capacity for aid. Through Jarvis’s fantastic skills of persuasion and savoir faire, the group was soon at the doorstep of the sage Corwyn Thoms, a mage of no small power whom the party had briefly met at Brightgem Industries. Using the journals, books, scrolls and notes taken from the Orcish necromancer’s lab, he soon deciphered the secret of the dark ritual that Marilka had undergone. Marilka was subjected to both arcane and divine spellcasting, which ultimately healed her. After this, Quanzar stayed behind to visit with the mage and to learn about the legendary staff that he had acquired at Evergreen Point. The staff is named Fanavantil, in Elvish, the Staff of the Clouds...
XP Totals:
Dukrag: 17622
Finn: 15382 - lvl 6
Jarvis: 15768 - lvl 6
Marilka: 13439
Quanzar: 15313 - lvl 6
Pandora: 17824
Hero Points: Jarvis & Quanzar
Adventure #9 - 9/17/11
The party healed overnight in the secret dwarven tunnels. Although Marilka’s health decreased overnight as the curse asserted its power, the party decided to try to clear the remaining orcish held areas of the mine. They finally defeated Uhruk the Vicious and his nasty undead minions and did a thorough treasure sweep of the orcish-held areas. The party recovered much treasure and magical items as well as the Journal of Uhruk the Vicious (see Player’s Resources).
XP Totals:
Dukrag: 17622
Finn: 14520
Jarvis: 14906
Marilka: 12577
Quanzar: 14451
Pandora: 17087
Hero Points: Dukrag & Pandora
Adventure #8 - 9/3/11
The party rescued Marilka from the orcish necromancer and recovered another chest stolen from Brightgem Industries.
XP Totals:
Dukrag: 16955 - lvl 6
Finn: 13703
Jarvis: 14089
Marilka: 11760 - lvl 5
Quanzar: 13634
Pandora: 16420 - lvl 6
Hero Points: Dukrag & Pandora
Adventure #7 - 3/12/11
When the party awoke, much refreshed after their humiliation of the day before, plans were set for taking on the ogre. Cleric Pandora cast silence on a stone and handed it to the dwarven spellcaster Quanzar. Pandora and secretive Finn, not able to see in the dark tunnels without a light source, clambered into a mine cart. The elemental pushed the cart back down the mine tunnel and Dukrag followed; Quanzar walked alongside the cart - and the silence on the stone in his hand prevented the ogre from hearing the party's approach.
When he could see the ogre up ahead, Quanzar motioned for the elemental to pause. The mage threw the stone of silence to where the ogre was standing and began casting a spell. On hearing his voice, Finn lit a sunrod and Pandora clambered out of the ore cart.
Roaring in soundless pain when the fireball struck him, the ogre picked up a stone and threw it at the mage. Dukrag instructed the elemental to push the cart with Finn still in it toward the ogre and ran behind as they went. Pandora ran over to Quanzar and healed his battle wounds with a single spell; she felt a calling from Pelor that she was meant to help those in battle. Quanzar, able to focus his magics again, fired spell after spell at the ogre. The ogre threw a rock at the approaching elemental as Pandora tried to catch up.
Dukrag signaled for the elemental to stop as the cart drew even with the ogre. As the dwarf closed with the angry, silenced ogre, Finn made use of the new anklet he had retrieved from the corpse of an orc fought the day before. The sneaky rogue bampfed out of the cart to be directly behind the enemy. Faced with an immediate weapon in front of him, the ogre tried to defend itself. However, in the eerie silent battle, it was unable to call for reinforcements and stood no chance against the well-choreographed might of the party. When the battle was done, the dwarves directed to let the elemental stay back where it would be safe and able to recover.
Picking up the stone of silence, Quanzar carried it forward while he and Dukrag scouted ahead of the light. A chamber directly behind where the ogre stood guard was obviously where it bedded down for rest. Deciding to follow the left hand fork of the track, the party scouted in a similar fashion to the next opening off the track. Barely had Dukrag stuck his head around the corner than a four-legged beast with the skin pulled back from its face came snapping at him.
Apparently the creature was the equivalent of a guard dog; as the party killed it, the light of the battle drew attention from the two orcs that tended the beast. They fired arrows at various party members. Pandora immediately cast hold person on one of the archers. Both of the orcs were dispatched by mighty blows by the males of the party before Pandora could get any closer.
Finding nothing immediate to deal with in that area and wanting to continue while silence remained, the party moved further down the tunnel. At the next opening, Dukrag pulled back and readied his weapon. The rest of the party moved forward, positioning at the entrance to see a crowd of skeletons approaching. Quanzar ditched the stone of silence so that he would be able to cast spells. Pandora raised her holy symbol and the might of Pelor flashed out in an extra bright burst, leaving the entire group of skeletons nothing but dust.
The dwarven fighter ran forward through the room beyond. There was a skeletal knight in the hall leading to the next chamber; those fighting hand-to-hand dispatched it as the typical dwarven mage summoned a demon. The fighters burst into that next chamber with a demon in tow. Upon seeing them, the necromancer withdrew through far wall.
Surprised to see the enemy disappear that way, the party gathered at the door on the far wall. A skeletal dog greeted them on the far side but once again the might of Pelor flashed it to dust. Dukrag entered to find a tough-looking orc; they greeted one another with their weapons. Finn moved in and used his anklet again to bampf onto the table behind the brute. Pandora ran into the room and spotted a familiar figure chained to the far wall: Marilka. The woman was in a sorry state; she hung from her manacles heavily, unclothed, unresponsive, and bearing a sigil over her breastbone.
As the fighters finished off the brutish orc, Pandora cast a healing spell on Marilka. The fighter moaned but the spell had no other apparent effect. Finn jumped down and unlocked the manacles as Pandora supported Marilka. The table where Finn had been fighting was covered with papers that might have been notes on what was done to the woman. At the point where the party was about to look at them, a voice called from the previous room.
"I can kill her with a word! Surrender now!"
Turning, the party saw the necromancer standing fiercely, daring their next move....
XP Totals:
Dukrag: 14425
Finn: 10733 - lvl 5
Jarvis: 11559
Marilka: 8790
Quanzar: 11104
Pandora: 13890
Hero Points: Finn & Quanzar
Adventure #6 - 1/15/11
Spike, the earth creature instructed the party which way to travel to find the orcs. He stayed at the back of the party ranks as they followed the ore-cart tracks into the depths of the mine. To the right and left of the tunnel there were infrequent “drifts”, partially excavated areas about 5 feet wide that apparently were fruitless attempts to follow (or discover) a vein of ore. After a few hundred feet, Finn shouted to Dukrag to freeze, as he was on the verge of setting off a trap that would have a wide beam of wood swinging down at them. The party left the trap in place but circumvented it, thinking it might be good to have it intact for future purposes.
Several hundred feet later, the tunnel sloped up slightly and a tunnel to the right became clear in the dusty dark, with ore-cart tracks branching off the main path up a slight incline. The party investigated part way up the new track when an ogre appeared at the top of the incline, positioning itself behind an ore-cart and shoving it down towards the adventurers. 2 orcs popped up from inside the ore-cart with spears and attempted to skewer the party members as their vehicle passed them. Then the ogre came charging down at the party wielding a great club. The party gave battle but the ogre’s efforts were reinforced by 2 orcs at the top of the incline with crossbows and an orc that was casting spells at the party. After a fairly long battle, the party triumphed and slew 8 orcs, the ogre and the orcish wizard. The Wizard had a fair amount of magical gear which the party quickly divided, and they continued down the main tunnel to search for the orcs and hopefully their missing comrade, this time taking a cart as a vehicle.
Shortly thereafter, the party reached a short incline in the main pathway, as the party was just about able to see another fork in the track, they were met with boulders being launched down at them from a huge ogre where the tracks diverged. The ogre howled a shout of alarm, and within seconds they could hear the sound of low drums beginning to beat an ominous ostinato, rousing war cries from the inhabitants. The party attempted a series of attacks on the huge ogre, but soon realized their attempts were too weak to be effective and the drums and war cries behind the creature foreshadowed a battle that they were not quite ready for in their current state. Quanzar the wizard cast 2 spells in succession to cover the escape of the party. He summoned a creature to keep the ogre busy, then covered the area in a mass of sticky webs which would delay the pursuit of their would-be assailants.
Back to the secret passage closest to the portcullis room the party fled, fairly certain that the orcish inhabitants knew nothing of the secret passageways. Here they rested, healed, and planned for their next assault.
XP Totals:
Dukrag: 12815
Finn: 8753
Jarvis: 9949 - lvl 5
Marilka: 8040
Quanzar: 9394 - lvl 5
Pandora:12280
Hero Points: Dukrag, Quanzar, Marilka
Adventure #5 - 11/13/10
The party ventured out from the secret tunnels and headed down the corridor into the large central chamber, following the ore cart tracks. They were soon greeted by a small army of orcish skeletons, likely undead created from those that they had slain the previous day, came running from the main entrance to battle the party. As the party was close to slaying the skeletons (again), there arose an unearthly roar from one of the side chambers further down the track. In came the skeletal dragon to the central chamber, breathing a cone of negative energy that injured some of the party members. After a long battle, the skeletal beast was dispatched. The party investigated a room off of the central chamber to discover some zombies, which Pandora slew by channeling positive energy. The group explored the former ore-processing rooms and encountered an earth elemental creature that spoke dwarven; it agreed to accompany the dwarves in the party and show them where the orcs were, but it had no knowledge what has happened to Marilka.
Marilka woke from her unconscious state, beaten, bloody and in manacles, to be questioned by a group of orcs. She was held on either side by Karsh and Krag and interrogated by a huge orc, presumably Uhruk the Vicious. “Do you speak Dwarven?” “Are you and ally of the Axeforger clan?” “Are your dwarven allies descendants of that clan?” Uhruk’s lieutenants encouraged him to kill Marilka, but they were told to summon the wardrummers instead.
When next she woke, she faced Moorak and Ootah, who were ordered by Uhruk to “recite the riddle”. They said:
The snake never makes it
the fish and crow cannot either
Dwarves always find it
in every place and time
Dwarves never make it with their hands.
Marilka, in her drugged and barely conscious state had no idea what this meant and asked for clarification. The lieutenants again asked for her execution, but they were stifled by Uhruk, who said that she may yet prove useful -- they would summon Jagris Vauth for aid... Marilka passed out from exhaustion.
When next she woke, she was kneeling, hands cuffed in iron manacles, before a bas-relief depiction of a dwarf holding a mighty axe. The dwarf’s face was sad and tears dripped from it’s eyes. The area around this larger figure were sculpted scenes of a great battle between dwarves and creatures that looked as if they sprang from the rock surfaces around them. Marilka was pressed once again to decipher “the riddle” she had heard earlier. She noticed a line of dwarven language scribed in the rock underneath the sculptures in the wall above. She realized that this was the riddle that she had been read to her earlier, but the orcs had translated it incorrectly. If she could only figure out what the riddle meant, she might have a chance of prolonging her life... Darkness surrounded her as she again lost consciousness.
XP Totals:
Dukrag:12165
Finn: 8003
Jarvis: 9299 - lvl 5
Marilka: (incapacitated)
Quanzar: 8844
Pandora: 11630
Hero Points: Holiday Hero Points and special Action Cards awarded - Happy Holidays!
Adventure #4 - 10/23/10
The party camped out overnight near the site of the orc ambush from the previous night. After being healed and getting the chance to briefly rest, they set out back to the tunnel where they fought yesterday. Dukrag and the rest scouted the area above the tunnel attempting to find other means of ingress, finding only the vent holes believed to be used as part of underlying tunnel network. They came down from the hill and routed the new guardians of the tunnel, a quartet of skeletons lurking in the turret next to the opening in the rockface where the skeletal giant had come from just yesterday. After some investigation, a secret door was located on what would have been the 2nd level of the turret, had there been a floor to support a 2nd level. The party scaled the wall with the help of burrowing pitons and entered the secret area. The secret tunnel led to the gateroom of the complex and the party surprised the group of orcs and skeletons that were assembled in case of a return frontal assault. Dispatching the enemies was quicker this time as the replacement foes were fewer in number than the party’s first assault. The discovery of another secret door led the party to the area that was outfitted for ore cart repair. The group opened another door off of the secret passageway which led to the orc captain’s room. The party got the drop on the captain and his 2 lieutenants and soon the orcs were dead.
XP Totals:
Dukrag: 10985
Finn: absent
Jarvis: 8059
Marilka: (incapacitated)
Quanzar: absent
Pandora: 10458 - lvl 5
Hero Points: Not awarded (only 3 players)
Adventure #3
Dukrag boldly leapt up the stairs on the left of the tunnel with Pandora following close behind. He engaged the orcs with axes swinging. Within a few rounds, the orcs were defeated and the party headed down the tunnel further into the hillside. The tunnel eventually opened into a large chamber with a high vaulted ceiling with no light sources. They crept through the camber to the left, locating a door with some orcs inside. The party set up a bottleneck combat situation, which worked until the sounds of battle drew orcs from other areas off of the large main chamber. The party was soon surrounded and badly beaten when the unearthly roars of some fell beast erupted from the back of the large dark chamber. With an orc captain and his lieutenants badly hurting the party and the grim situation of a skeletal dragon that had just emerged into the battle area, the party opted for retreat back whence they came. All except Marilka, who was heroically trying to buy the party time for escape. The group ran down the main entranceway, while Marilka stood frozen in place, trapped by a spell from an orc shaman who walked alongside the dragon.
XP Totals:
Dukrag: 9336 lvl 5
Finn: 6763 - lvl 4
Jarvis: 6293 - lvl 4
Marilka: 7840
Quanzar: absent
Pandora: 8692
Hero Points: Jarvis, Marilka & Dukrag
Adventure #2
The party recovered hit points and rested for the night after the encounter with the spiders, continued down the orc trail the next morning following Dukrag the dwarven ranger. The dwarves in the party spotted some orcs hiding in the forest along the trail and Quanzar trapped them with a web spell. Further battle ensued with the orcs that they didn’t notice, one hiding in the trees overhead who was lobbing tanglefoot bags at the party, some archers amidst the brush and some club-wielding orcs that sprang for the bushes across the trail. Quanzar’s web spells held them at bay so the party could organize and fight them effectively. Jarvis fell into a pit trap but then killed an orc that tumbled in after he cast sleep on it.
After dispatching the orcs, the party soon arrived at what they deemed their final destination at trail’s end, a cavern in the rockface of the hill with a quasi-castle-turret looking structure seemingly carved out the rock. From the turret advanced the guardian, a skeleton of enormous size. It attacked the party but was soon dispatched. The party briefly investigated the turret, then what appeared to be the main entrance into the hill, an opening approximately 20 feet high by 20 feet wide. A short time after the party entered, they were trapped in the cave by a portcullis that slammed down behind them, as a rain of hot liquid came down upon some party members from the ceiling above. Orc laughter and battle cries ensued from all sides of the cavern, and as the party advanced, some were wounded by arrows coming from murder holes in the walls. Entrances to the right and left of the cavern were discovered and the party started to address the assailants with spells from the bard and wizard. To be continued...
XP Totals:
Dukrag: 8136
Finn: 5563
Jarvis: 5093
Marilka: 6640
Quanzar: 7604
Pandora: 7692
Hero Points: Marilka & Quanzar
Adventure #1
After dividing the coinage and other loot from the Dwarven Cargo adventure, the party restocked on supplies and ammo in the City of Greyhawk. The party regrouped and discussed the disturbing "negative imagery" of the Goblin Clan of the Bloody Skull, noting the other negative images discovered during the side trek adventures in the City. The party set out for the lair of Uhruk the Vicious, the leader of the orcish Clan of the Bloody Axe. The party departed the Greyhawk's Druid's Gate along the Ery Trail to pick up the Orc path detailed on the map recovered from Garnath's (the goblin leader) room at Evergreen Point.
Before fording the Ery River, the party was beset by a scouting party of elves identifying themselves as the Alliance of the Silver Arrow who were tracking a pair of owlbears through the woods. Fortunately, they were friendly - the lead arcane archer trapped the party with a web arrow before the party could react - one of their members was Thuvien Anoril , a prisoner of the goblins at Evergreen Point that the party freed. The party was warned to be on guard along their journey through that area of the woods off the Ery Trail; there were orcs, and worse evils to avoid...
Later on, the party encountered (what was believed to be) the very owlbears the Alliance was tracking. After a fierce battle, the owlbears were defeated, with none injured too badly.
The next day, the party encountered one of the "worse evils" as a group of monstrous spiders and ettercaps attacked the party from multiple angles in a dark section of the forest. One of the vermin attacking from above managed to hoist the web-entangled Quanzar in to the air, only to be blasted by a scorching ray from the wizard, freeing himself. The party managed to slay most of the foul beasts save for one who escaped into the high trees with Dukrag's recently acquired canine animal companion.
XP Totals:
Dukrag: 7544
Finn: 4938
Jarvis: 4468
Marilka: 6048 - lvl 4
Quanzar: 7112
Pandora: 7544
Hero Points: Dukrag & Quanzar