Difference between revisions of "Against the Three Mountains"
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==About the Saga== | ==About the Saga== | ||
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Revision as of 07:59, 10 February 2007
Contents
About the Saga
A band of dwarves and humans hunt down the mystery of the Three Mountains orc tribe.
Timeframe
- Greyhawk Date: Flocktime 24, CY 591
- Real World Date: February 9, 2007
- Read other Dark City Sagas
Cast of Characters
- [[Heydrich, sneaky rogue-ranger.
- Moriam, dwarven cleric of Ulaa
- Kull, dwarven barbarian mountain man
- Vogg, dwarven tempest
- Rencore, devout paladin-cleric of Heironeous
Notable Quotes
"Have you heard of the dwarven fatness?" -- Moriam / Damon
What Has Come Before
The dwarvves of Khelez-Mar have learned of a new, well-organized warband of orcs operating in the lower Drachensgrabs. They have sent a small group of adventurers to investigate this strange warband, which is comprised of several different tribes of orcs working together ... something almost unheard of on the Pomarj.
The Saga
Flocktime 24, CY 592
Party rests and recovers at the Cathedral of Liberty. Learn of fires and rising pillars of smoke in the foothills of the Drachensgrabs, perhaps belonging to the Tribe of the Three Mountains. Kalib urges them to investigate on the way back to the fortress of Khalez-mar. Curious, with their mission to be to understand why mixed tribes are working together, and what the "Tribe of the Three Mountains" refers to.
Head out with Kull ad Vogg find evidence of battle, bodies of "Grimstrike" tribe of orcs, who apparently lost fight with orcs. Find that the humans -- probably Knights of the Fist or Sword -- headed back to the Cathedral, but also discover tracks of chimera. Decide to head toward the smoke. In the night, hear sounds of bear-like creatures, grey renders.
Night passes uneventfully.
Flocktime 25, CY 592
The party heads out again. In the morning, they catch a glimpse a pillar of smoke -- not the one they were looking for -- to the west, while towards the Domain of Obsidian Bay they see flying creatures far off. Also find tracks of orcs as well as owl-bear type creatures. Tracks veer off, but party decides to keep heading toward the now diminishing smoke.
Arrive at the battle scene and find two bulletes, 20 orcs, several Grey Renders, and two chimeras dead. Find no natural fire cause, but Heydrich finds evidence of spell components, leading them to believe it may have been fireball. Moriam, looking at the same components, realizes that its more likely meteor swarm'. Meanwhile, Heydrich finds evidence that a wall of firewas evoked to surround the combatants.
Heydrich and Kull believe that the orcs were attacked by a high-level, flying arcane spellcaster arrived, destroyed them, and then left.
Night passes uneventfully.
Flocktime 26, CY 592
Next morning, Heydrich catches glimpse of smokey pillars on the horizon. Continue on through the overland, catch signs of orc patrol from the day before, but press on regardless.
As they travel on, they are suddenly surprised as crossbow twangs ring out and Moriam, Vogg and Rencore are hit by bolts. Six orcs spring into view. Moriam calls down the Power of Law through dictum, stunning, deafening, and paralyzing two. On the flanks, two start running, immediately trying to hide from view. Kull summons the boar Kuldar from his bag of tricks, then runs up a hill trying to track the one who'd fled south, loses sight of his, but Heydrich draws a beat on the one heading to the north.
Rencore and Vogg battle the three remaining orcs and are joined in battle by the boar. One orc breaks a finger bone, causing darkness to descend. Moriam drives it away by evoking the power of Ulaa to dispel it.
One orc runs up to attack Kull, but misses badly. Another orc summons darkness again, breaking another finger bone, but now Rencore dismisses it by the will of Heironeous. Rencore then drops his opponent.
Kull turns on the orc that charged him and lashes out with his axes, killing him. In a fury, he cleaves toward the fallen orc next to him, but misses. Up on the hill, Heydrich catches a glimpse of the orc running to the north and drops him with an expert shot.
Moriam, Rencore and Vogg interrogate the suviving orcs, They learn that they are of the Deathstalker tribe, but little else but curses. Recover five '+1 magical great axes' (filthy and of orcish design) as well as three magical finger bones, different from the ones who had caused darkness. Also find five suits of chain and shields, which they sunder. They then strip the orcs of their clothes, and send them scrambling naked into the wilderness to be judged by the Mountain.
As they watch the orcs run off and prepare to head out, half the group catches site of a new threat ... chimera inbound, with orcs on the nearby hills. Chimeras come sweeping in, one striking at Heydrich, another lashing out at Moriam.
Kull draws the wolverine Zirak from the bag of tricks, and sends it on point. The orcs close, its leader striking the wolverine. Heydrich throws a bead of force at a chimera, managing to damage it, but not trap it within a sphere.
Kull closes with an orc, slashing with Orcbane, which leaves a significant wound, but does not kill his enemy. Rencore evokes the righteous wrath of the faithful, filling the party with the divine power of Heironeous. An orc charges past Kull, drawing a wounding attack, and strikes Heydrich, hitting him with an impressive, well-prepared blow.
Meanwhile, Vogg unleashes a blizzard of dwarven axes on the chimera, killing it in a shower of blood. Kull drops his oppoent, cleaving into another whom he doesn't kill. On his next strike though, his axe misses badly, throwing off the rest of his assault. Chimera breaths fire, then falls back, drawing attacks but surviving.
Moriam moves up, attacking but not killing an orc with his divinely afire warhammer. Kull, eager to attack, rages but fumbles badly, dropping his axe. The orcs surrounding him pummel him mercilessly, hurting him badly. He moves out of the pack as Rencore calls down a flamestrike on the clustered orcs, burning them badly and allowing Vogg to easily slaughter the remainder.
After the battle, his rage spent, Kull leans on his axe, wipes the sweat from his brow and says "Not sure why the hell I'm with you people ... this never happened on the mountain."
Moriam healed the dwarf of some of his wounds, and then Rencore casts vigor on him allowing him to heal his remaining wounds over the next few minutes. They find that all the orcs were wearing 'magical chainmail'. They strip the creatures, then leave the scene of the battle, six suits of mail divided between Rencore and Kull.
After the fight, the party advances toward the suspected camp site, Kull and Heydrich taking a southerly route over the hills while the party stays in the valleys. They find they're an hour from the camp, and start moving quickly back to the camp.
Finally find a basin filled with about 40 orcs along with several pens; some are empty, others with chimeras. Grey shapes -- presumably grey renders -- wander among their ranks.
The adventurers fall back to discuss their options. Realizing they are badly in need of rest, they decide to camp for the night. Heydrich finds them a good camp area, hidden from the orcs, and the night passes uneventfully.
Flocktime 27, CY 592
The next morning, the party heads out, finding that the orcs came close to finding their encampment in the night. They head out to the camp, moving north for an hour. Getting close, Moriam casts his silence spell on the rest of the party, and then Kull and Heydrich moves up, the dwarf significantly less stealthily than the human. At the camp, they see that only 15 orcs remain, with the rest of the humanoids, all the Grey Renders, and the chimera have left.
Head away from the camp and start looking for patrols. They find one heading away from camp quickly. The party force marches to keep up, healing after four hours, then continuing on for another four hours. Then they rest for the night.
Flocktime 28, CY 592
Next morning, Kull and Heydrich find the orcs' camp from the night before ... and it occurs to them that these orcs have been traveling during the day. They keep tracking, the rest of the party steeling themselves for another forced march. After five hours they rest, and Kull and Heydrich inform the party that they are closing with the orcs.
Finally catch up with the orcs at the base of the Drachensgrabs. After casting defensive spells, the adventurers move up to the ridgeline. Heydrich and Kull peek over, and spot the orcs, some wearing the symbol of the Three Mountains, meeting with three unknown humans.
Unfortunately, Heydrich is spotted by the orcs, who begin moving up the hill while one of the humans drew a great bow and fired at Heydrich, hitting him. Vogg charges down the hill, followed by Kull accompanied by his wolf Barak. The barbarian charges and strikes an orc but though badly staggered, the creature does not fall.
Heydrich peppers an orc from the ridgeline, but while he struck home several times, the warrior did not die. Rencore casts swift march, speeding his friends movement, then calls down holy smite on the humans in the back ranks,
The orcs struck back, raging. The hated orc fighting Kull attacks witih his great club, striking the dwarf in the head and dealing a hefty blow. The dwarf is nearly staggered, but stands his grown. Meanwhile other attacks the tempest Vogg, hurting him. Meanwhile, another kills Kull's wolf outright while his friend steps up and hits Kull yet again.
The back rank of humans is blinded, and just as they regain their sight, they are flamestriked by Rencore. Badly injured, the humans turned and fled. As they did, Heydrich tumbled away from the orc who'd charged to engage him and then sniped at one of those who were fleeing. He hit ... but could not kill him.
Suddenly, two mages appear next to the fleeing humans and hit Heydrich with spells, evoking a stinking cloud around him (which he deftly avoids breathing in) and then a slow spell, which the crafty ranger is also able to avoid.
Kull, badly injured but still fighting, kills his opponent, sidesteps then drops another with a crippling blow. Meanwhile Rencore casts righteous might, becoming larger before the disbelieving eyes of his orcish enemies, including the urak-hai leader who'd engaged him a few rounds before.
The enemy human fighters developed a backbone, and charged toward Heydrich, who responds by throwing a bead of force that knocks two to the side and ensnares one. The wizards assault Heydrich with magic missiles, hurting him, but not knocking him down. Kull kills one of the surviving orc minions while his fellow adventurers target the High Orc leader, barely managing to hit him.
The wizards, impressed by Heydrich's maneuver, fly up and carry off their two minions while at the top of the hill Vogg batters the High Orc about. Kull moves in to aid his friends, landing a good hit against the High Orc. The paladin attempts to hit as well, but misses badly. He's finally dropped by Vlogg. As the orcs fall to the dwarven allies, the humans withdrew to the south
