The Purple Orc Plot

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About the Saga

When the Knights of the Sword approached Tanevir about a disturbance in and around the town of Malcolm’s Crossing, he dispatched a crew of Blackrazors to investigate.

Timeframe

Cast of Characters

Notable Quotes

No. Kill ‘em all. Then Speak with Dead. -- Ellington, discussing the appropriate way to take and interrogate prisoners.

What Has Come Before

Adventure summary

The Saga

Sunsebb 11, CY 590

The Blackrazor guildhall was abuzz with the news that there was a Suel arch-mage in Obsidian Bay targeting the guild itself. Most of the more prominent guildmembers were hatching a plan to strike first at the arch-mage. Tanevir, however, as guildmaster, also had to deal with the day-to-day running of the guild. To this end, he met with Sir Alerson, a member of the Knights of the Sword, an OB affiliation of which Tanevir was himself also a member. Sir Alerson brought Tanevir news that there was a problem in Malcolm’s Crossing, a small farming town in the Domain, approximately 2 days southeast of OB, between OB and Blue. The Knight reported that the town was under attack by humanoid forces, and while this is not uncommon for towns on the Great Southern Plain, it seemed that the unit of Knights of the Sword there were in need of assistance. Sir Alerson asked Tanevir if he could send some Blackrazors to assist the Knights. Tanevir readily agreed, and sent a redshirt to round up any guildmembers not immediately working on the plans versus the arch-mage. In short order, Mugwort, Tamarind, Gaiseric, Kannet, Ellington, and Fonteyn arrived in Tanevir’s office. Tanevir explained their mission as set to them by Sir Alerson, and handed the group the map that the Knight had provided. The group left, making preparations to be underway to Malcolm’s Crossing as soon as possible.

Rather quickly, the party reassembled in Tanevir’s office. Tanevir teleported them to Malcolm’s Crossing. They arrived without incident, on the outskirts of the town. Almost immediately they were approached by two of what looked like the guards of the town. Indeed, the first of these men introduced himself as Cunnall, and welcomed the party. Kannet announced that the members of the party were Blackrazors, to which Cunnall replied that the humanoid problems were OUTSIDE of the town itself. Without much more conversation, Cunnall took the party into town to meet with the Mayor. On their short trip, the party could see that the town was largely made up of the homes of the farmers and ranchers who lived there, surrounded by a stockade and two small watchtowers.

The mayor of the town, Lummock, greeted the party and was thrilled they had come to help. He reiterated much of what the party had been told already, in a rather stentorian voice, causing Mugwort and Ellington to mock him, as if he were reading a prepared statement. He repeated that orcs had been raiding livestock and people from the fields around the town. He reminded the party that all attacks so far had occurred OUTSIDE of the city, and stated that the Blackrazors needn’t spend too much time in town intself. Ellington stated that he need not be worried about them, and upon seeing his Rune of Pursuit, the mayor uttered a small prayer to Pelor to protect the town as it received help from the zealous Trithereonite.

The mayor did have some new information for the Blackrazors, however. He informed them that the particular orcs that had been harrying the town were quite odd. First and foremost, these orcs were purple. Second, when they did raid, they seemed to attack a particular number and type of foes. For example, most recently they had attacked a sheep herder, taking 10-15 of his sheep captive, but leaving the shepherd and the rest of his flock. The mayor also highlighted the spots of most recent orc activity on the party’s map. Without more to talk about, the party took leave of the mayor and got to work. They found the site of the most recent attack, and Kannet was able to use his ranger skills to locate the trail the orcs had taken away from town. Following the impressions of dragged sheep, Kannet was able to backtrack the trail. The party followed Kannet, and thus the orc trail, quite a distance from town. As night began to fall, the party decided that the trail would keep until morning, and they set up camp for the night.

As the party was getting settled in its camp, Fonteyn spied a light just a few miles away. It looked to be a campfire. He alerted his companions, and the Blackrazors decided to investigate. Mugwort and Tamarind led the way, as they could see best. Getting closer, the party could make out two distinct campfires close together. Eventually, they got close enough to identify about 12 figures, that seemed to them to be orcs. Indeed, by one of the fires was a spear stuck into the ground bearing a standard of a bloody spear on a black background, certainly suitable for a tribe of orcs. Before they could make better plans, Gaiseric and Mugwort noticed that some of the orcs had heard them approach. The party, therefore quickly moved to surround and engage the orcs. Tamarind, Ellington, and Fonteyn move to one side to attack magically, while Mugwort, Gaiseric, and Kannet approach from the other side to best the orcs in hand-to-hand combat.

Fonteyn opens the combat by assaulting the orcish party with a blistering Fireball that slew some orcs, and certainly weakened all of them. Then the melee squad attacked, Mugwort deftly slaying a orc, Kannet swinging at one but fumbling with his weapon, and Scrappy taking advantage of Kannet’s flailing to kill the orc he had swung at. Tamarind followed all this by loosing a Fireball of his own, decimating the orc party, leaving a lone survivor facing the Blackrazors. Ellington suggested that this fellow surrender himself, and when he wouldn’t listen, Fonteyn lit him up with a few Magic Missles. He turned and tried to run, and Kannet leaped on him and attempted to wrestle him to the ground. While he was struggling with Kannet, the orc was reminded by Mugwort that he had the option of surrendering, and that his time to surrender was running out. This time, the orc seemed to think surrendering would be a good option, and he quielty acquiesced.

Mugwort began to interrogate the orc, as Kannet bound him, the rest of the party keep watch, both on the orc and on their surroundings. Mugwort asked him about the odd purple orcs they had heard about, but the orc didn’t have much info. It seems that the tribe of purple orcs were not in league with the other orcs around here, stealing females and kids from the orcs as well as from the humans of Malcolm’s Crossing. The orc also stated that the purple orcs don’t talk, even under torture. When cut, they bleed purple. He claimed not to have fought many, but said that the few he had fought seemed to shrug off arrows. While Mugwort finished this interrogation, the rest of the party looted the orc bodies and went about setting up camp. They gathered some coin and an animal hide scroll from the bodies. Mugwort took the prisoner off a short ways, and released him, but told the party he had slain him. With nothing else to do, the party set watches and went to sleep.

After an uneventful remainder of the night, the party rose to continue tracking the purple orcs. Kannet and Gaiseric were acting as advance scouts for the party, easily following the trail that had been left. Not long into the day, the scouts were surprised and beset upon by a horde of the strange purple orcs. The trailing party reacted quickly, as Ellington loosed a crossbow bolt into the orcs grappling with Scrappy. The bolt, however, seemed to have no effect, and the orcs kept at Scrappy. Fonteyn followed this with a Fireball that lit up the orcs overpowering Kannet, and while the Blackrazor was also singed, he was freed from his attackers, half of whom were now dead. The air surrounding the party was then filled with a strange odor, as the purple orcs sizzled and seemed to boil out from the inside as a result of the fire. Tamarind adds another Fireball to the fray, and similarly drops most of the strange orcs hanging on Scrappy. With both scouts now freed, and with Mugwort stepping up to aid them, blades flashed as the Three Blackrazors made quick work of the remaining orcs. With some Magic Missle support from Tamarind, the battle was over quickly.

The Blackrazors gathered around their fallen foes to see just what it was they had been fighting. To their amazement, these orcs didn’t seem to be mammalian at all. Rather, they seemed to be plans, or at the very least, plnat-like creatures. With more questions now than answers, the party pressed on, as they could seem the trail continued past this particular group of purple orcs.

As they proceeded, Kannet noticed that some different tracks joined the trail. It seemed a number of riders on horses, or hooved beasts, obviously wearing heavy armour, had followed this path earlier. The party continued on, but this finding led Ellington to theorize that High Orcs might be growing these vege-orcs. For what reason though, no one could fathom. Most of the day passed, and no more, or recent, tracks were discovered.

Durning the late afternoon of the same day, the party came across some strange markings. Soon, they began to see blood, remains, flies, and other remnants of a slaughter. The fauna looked like a large battle had been found here recently, and the earth was scored as if to corroborate that theory. However, if someone did indeed lose a battle here, the Blackrazors could find no bodies. Beginning to become worried, the party made camp for the night. And, although they heard some eerie noises, the night passed without incident.

13 Sunsebb CY 590

That morning, the party of Blackrazors investigating the purple orcs harrassing the town of Malcolm’s Crossing continued to follow the tracks left by the orc raiders. The path lead the party into a valley filled with vegetation. About 100 yards into the valley, the party came across signs of an even bigger battle than the one they had seen yesterday. Again, there was all sorts of destructiuon and gore, but no bodies to be found. The party decided to search this scene to the best of their ability so that they might learn more than they had gleaned to date. Ellington used a Detec Magic spell as well. The party found shields amid the debris that bore the sigil of the Knights of the Sword. They also found a scroll case. Tamarind opened the case, and found a sheet of vellum on which had been written orders to Sir Alerson to investigate Malcolm’s Crossing. But, wasn’t Sir Alerson the Knight whom they had met in Tanevir’s office? Perplexed, Ellington cast Divination, to see if his god Trithereon could help them with this puzzle. When he asked his god is they could still find Sir Alerson in Obsidian Bay, the response Ellington rreceivedwas, “No, look to the Red Ones.” Horrified, the party realized that could only mean the Scarlet Brotherhood. Sir Alerson must have been impersonated, and these purple vege-orcs must be some sort of evil SB-bred creature. Knowing they were undoubtedly in over their heads here, the party quickly backed out of the valley and made camp. They set out the teleportation markers to contact the guild about the presence of the Scarlet Brotherhood here, and to warn them about impostors in OB.

The night passed, and it wasn’t until the next morning that the party heard from the Blackrazor guildhall. Aesop teleported out to the party, and was quickly updated about the events of the last few days. Excited, Aesop wanted to immediately Defoliate the valley with his wand. Unwiling to act so quickly, Ellington cast Divination again, and learned that this party would die if they entered the valley, and that if they were to teleport back right now, the guildhall would be free from infiltration. Aesop went invisible, and flew down into the valley. Not wishing to wait for the mage, even if he was their magical transportation and guild superior, the party broke camp and began to march quickly towards Malcolm’s Crossing.

Shortly, Aesop reappeared to the group. Ellington cast True Seeing to ensure that this was indeed Aesop. With the Scarlet Brotherhood involved, and with crazy mages, it never hurt to be too sure. Aesop, turning out to be himself, reported that there was a large area of animate vegetation down in the valley. Glad to have averted certain disaster, the party teleported back to the guildhall.

Upon their return, Ellington used his True Seeing to verify everyone currently at the guildhall. Other than seeing Greggor as the bear that he had been reincarnated as, everyone seemed OK. The rest of the party went right to Tanevir to report their findings. Upon hearing the news, tanevir rounds up Erilar, Greggor, Kalib, and Gideon to join him and the party as they all went to see Demetry and the Knights of the Sword. They meet with their guildmate, and inform him about the incidents surrounding Malcolm’s Crossing and his Knights stationed there. Demetry is shocked to hear all the news, and uses his sources to confirm that Sir Alerson was indeed killed out in Malcolm’s Crossing. He also learned that there were no impersonators currently remaining in OB.

Back at the guildhall, Kalib Communed with Trithereon to learn more about this latest veture of the Scarlet Brotherhood’s. From his god, Kalib learned that all of the Knights that had been stationed out by Malcolm’s Crossing were not in fact dead, that the Seul arch-mages were not involved in this, that this action was related to the Blackrazors’ plans to rescue their original bodies, that the SB did intend to kill the BR’s, that the SB hoped to destroy the entire guild, that Kannet and Gaiseric were not permanently diseased by their contact with and attack by the purple orcs, that only a party of the strongest BR’s could have thwarted what was in the valley, that now that Kala is dead the forces in the valley won’t attack, that with planning the BR’s might survive a raid on the Tilvanot, that eventually the SB will assault the guild directly, and finally that some BR’s will die if they try to fight arch-mages like the necromancer directly when they storm the SB stronghold.

Home and happy, the small party of Blackrazors that had fought the purple orcs joined their fellow guildmembers for a drink, and listened to an accounting on the assault on Kala the arch-mage even as they recounted their escapades on the Great Southern Plain.

Experience

Not available.