Thirty-fifth session - 25 June 2004 - Orcs in the Hills

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All six players in attendance:

After some discussion, the party agrees to open the leather collar to better study the magic within. Inside, they find a chain made of an unusual dark metal. On exposure to the outside, though, its magic disappears. Shortly thereafter, the chain itself begins to corrode and fall apart. After some experimentation with shade, the culprit appears to be sunlight making Dhersion suspect that the chain was fashioned in the underworld - possibly by the dark elves.

Before the party sets out again, Roderick casts a Divination spell to ask whether it is safer to cross the plains or the mountains. Imhotep replies that the plains (actually the high desert) is safer than the mountains - a fact the party already suspected.

The travel across the desert is difficult, but with Roderick's magical food and water, it is not dangerous. In fact, for the next five days, the party sees no sign of any orcs - so their choice of route appears to have been the right one.

Late on July 11th, though, Aramil's wolf (who has been scouting ahead for the party) returns and reports that there is a medium-sized party of “men” ahead. Vincent sneaks up and determines that they are a small war party of orcs from the Green Leaf tribe - complete with three horses.

Rather than risk encountering them at night, the party decides to go on the offensive. With careful planning and a little luck, they manage to spring a ranged assault on the orcs. After numerous arrows and a few choice spells from Roderick and Bigby, the war party (which numbered sixteen) are all either dead or magically asleep.

One sleeping orc is awakened and charmed by Bigby and despite a language difference, he provides much useful information about their mission. It seems that they were crossing the desert so that they can join a larger party of orcs at the pass over the mountains. A Stone Giant recruited around 100 orcs from the Green Leaf tribe and is meeting other such armies at the pass so that they can launch an invasion of the elven forests. Since orcs are notoriously bad about organizing campaigns of this magnitude, the party suspects some evil force (perhaps the dark elves) is behind this plan.

As it now appears that the party's immediate destination (the pass) will be host to at least 100 orcs, the decision is made to do a forced march to the mountains. The hope is that they can beat at least the Stone Giant and his army to the pass. The fear is that others may have already arrived and will be waiting for them.

With three fresh horses from the orcs and some magical light sources, the party heads into the night toward the mountains. The going is tougher than expected, and Roderick and Dhersion are forced to use their healing spells to keep the horses from faltering. When the morning of July 12th arrives, the party has made good progress, however they are still too far away to make out any activity at the mountains - or even determine exactly where the pass is.

After a short rest - during which Roderick prays for his spells - the party sets out again to close the gap to the pass. By late afternoon, they have been forced to use half of their magical healing - but they have found the pass! Kesi levitates and uses her spyglass to scout the area - where she discovers five distinct encampments with numerous giants and roughly 500 orcs! She also learns that at least one of the giants is wearing a collar which appears similar to the one found on the Ettin.

Since surprise is on their side, the party formulates a bold plan! Dhersion activates the Rain King's staff to fill the pass with a fog, Roderick casts a Silence spell to partially shield the sound of the horses, and the group charges through the camps at full gallop to get to the pass. Before the charge, Aramil reluctantly releases his wolf back to the wild since it will not be able to keep up.

As they approach the pass, Lashmere's horse (which is one of the original eight purchased in Baka) stumbles and he is thrown. With no time to stop, the horse must be left behind, but Vincent manages to scoop up the young man and bring him aboard his own horse. In the process, however, two orc archers manage to fire off some arrows and wing Vincent. Roget drops one of Roderick's Deeper Darkness rocks on the orcs - which ends the only real danger the party faces from running the gauntlet. The plan is a resounding success!

Once through, they continue up the pass to put as much distance between them and the armies as possible. On the way, they encounter five small groups of orc sentries - and deal with each one quickly and without incident. Despite 24 hours of almost constant riding, they continue on to the summit - which is five miles into the pass. There they find a barrier of thorny vines completely blocking the path. Dhersion sounds his signal horn, hoping there are elves on the other side who will hear and respond. When no immediate response is forthcoming, the party settles down to rest and plan how they will get past the barrier and into safety.

XP awarded: 2,000, Running Total: 46K for Dhersion/Vincent, 43K for Kesi/Bigby/Roget/Roderick, 41K for Aramil. Dhersion/Vincent make 10th level.