Moonday, Pharast 3

After dispatching the ogre in the altar room, we turned our attention south. Our favorite evil radar, Avia, had located the strongest evil on this floor and we set ourselves up to go after it. In a coordinated move, Kane threw open the door as our strongest fighters strode in, prepared to dismember whatever they ran into.

It should be no surprise that we were expected. Despite the area of silence we’d been operating in, I’d be surprised if after all we’d done in the fort we were able to surprise any experienced foe. And sure enough, the three ogres we found here seemed prepared. Two brandished swords, while the third appeared to be a magic user of some sort (and female).

A brief glance around the room revealed a well-appointed room with longswords on the wall. I hung back by the door. I’ve been finding of late that my hand-to-hand combat seems far less effective than my range attacks. For some odd reason, fireball and magic missile seems to be far more successful for me these days than beating them with a stick. Sorry, quarterstick. I think the biggest obstacle I’ve found is that the closer I get to these opponents, the easier it is for them to kill me. When I see Father again, I’ll have to ask him to show me ALL the skills he has acquired. I wonder if I’m already more skilled than he was. Isn’t it every boy’s dream, to do better than his father?

Anyway, the battle was lengthy. 7 on 3 is an uneven battle, but against these foes, it wasn’t all THAT uneven. With all the friendly people in the room, it was difficult to choose a place for my fireball that wouldn’t also scorch the friendlies. I think Tekkad may have cast dispel magic on the apparent mage, which seemed to startle her (and make her appear less fuzzy.) I shot off some magic missiles until the right moment, when a carefully placed fireball seared two of the ogres. When one of them closed on me, fireball was still not an option, but burning hands managed to nudge them into the world of the dead on the first try.

The fireballs are effective, but I must keep in mind two things. First, they do not avoid my friends. I must avoid my friends. And second is that it’s easy to forget I have a limited number of them. We’ve been encountering so many enemies that it would be easy to run out of them if I don’t keep my wits about me as I fight.

We quickly searched the bodies with a detect magic and found the most interesting stuff on the mage (of course). An amulet, a cloak, and a wand all appeared to be magical and were hastily snatched up so that they could be identified later. On to the next room.

Avia confirmed there was still evil there. We positioned ourselves and again stormed the room. The two ogres here were admiring their gruesome handiwork, which involved releasing the blood of two of the rangers that was hung grotesquely from the ceiling. These two again seemed to be fairly tough, taking a lot of hits (and burns) before succumbing to our persuasive gestures and falling dead to the floor. In fact, in the intial flurry, Avia was grievously injured and fell, but quick action by our healers and a flurry of blows from our other fighters allowed her to regain her feet and rejoin the battle.

The rangers, almost thankfully, were dead but we released their desecrated bodies. We now had time to fully identify the things we’d found.

[279] +1 ogre hook, humanbane
[280] potion, cure serious wounds
[281] bracers of armor, +2
[282] belt of giant ST, +4
[283] masterwork longbow
[284] +1 ogre hook
[285] +1 ogre hook
[286] potion, cure moderate wounds
[287] potion, cure moderate wounds (which I took custody of)
[288] +1 hide shirt
[289] +1 hide shirt
[290] wand of acid arrow [43] (which I took custody of)
[291] amulet of natural armor +2 (which Kane took)
[292] cloak of charisma, +2 (which I took custody of)

Rigel found a secret passage to a map room, and Sabin and Tekkad found themselves fascinated by the scribblings. Turning her talents to another room, she found a few items in a secret drawer in the well-appointed room:

[295] Poetry written to “Miriana”
[296] small jewelry box
[297] locket with a lock of hair “for my Lamatar”
[298] soft green leather boots

We determined that the lock of hair was not human — probably nymph — and that the leather boots were enchanted: they give the wearer the ability to walk on water in a swamp (water no more than 5′ deep). The wearer is protected against rain and has a +2 save vs poison and disease. Rigel took these.

We discussed what to do next. We believed the inner fortress to now be clear of ogres, but that would change once they discovered what we’d done. We didn’t know if the ogres had reinforcements at their disposal, but we’d rather not find out.

It was decided that there was two strategies that might work. One would be to lure them in one or two at a time and kill them — we knew we could do that with our group. The other would be if we could find a way to put them in the same area, a fireball or two might save us a lot of work.

Rigel and I positioned ourselves in the central tower where we could see out into the courtyard. Sabin borrowed the hat of disguise to appear as Lucretia again and lure 3 ogres inside. We did successfully lure them inside, and we did successfully dispatch them without too much damage, when Rigel and I noticed something very very interesting. There appeared to be a bunch of ogres congregating around the ogre equivalent of a lunch wagon. A “cook” seemed to be working over a fire and others were milling around nearby.

Knowing I might be out of communcation range, I’d been given the latitude to throw a fireball if it seemed prudent. It now seemed prudent.

I aimed it so it almost looked like it might have been an accident. The fireball exploded near the grill, so some ogres blamed the cook and started beating on him. Some ran into a disgusting puddle of water nearby. Still others started beating on the companion next to him, thinking, I guess, that it was some sort of careless ogre fart too close to flame.

Well that made the second fireball all the more effective. After two fireballs in a row, nearly fifteen ogres lay dead, several others were severely burned, and confusion reigned among the remaining five or six. But not for long. Their resolve was united when, after two mysterious fire attacks, I caused the image of a smallish red dragon to fly down and land in the courtyard. Given my family lineage, I was more than familiar with the form one would take, and I silently thanked the party for giving me all the wands .. one of which was a wand of silent image.

Seeing this, the remaining ogres were uniform in their desire to vacate the fort. Posthaste. I don’t know if any of them had ever actually seen a red dragon, but my guess was that they’d all at least heard stories of them. I’d not heard ogres scream before, but I think that was the sound they were making. They left in a great hurry, tripping over each other in their haste to save their blistering skins. And perhaps a new legend started that day, to be passed down from papa ogre to grotesque little ogrekin, of the human fortress which is guarded by a vengeful red dragon. If it makes them all the more reluctant to attack the fort in the future, I’m all for it.

The fort was deserted. We’d won. But it didn’t feel like it.

So much destruction. So much carnage. So much death. A few scant weeks ago, this was a bustling place of safety and protection. Now …

We discussed things with the rangers and realized that the only way to hold the fort was to wait for the reinforcements from Magnimar. Too many defenses were destroyed, and too many ogres remained alive, somewhere, for only the three rangers to be able to hold the fort.

And Tekkad still expressed concern about the dam. The rain was relentless, and the reservoir might be near full. It it were to give way (or be destroyed) now, it would cause significant damage downstream. We decided to rest overnight, and then send Jakardos and Vale, who knew the area best, out to scout it out.

Toilday, Pharast 4

Jakardos and Vale left, and we set about repairing the fort. Tekkad in particular is putting glyphs of warding about with, I trust, suitable restrictions about their going off around us! Bodies are being laid to rest; there is much to do.

Wealday, Pharast 5

Waiting for word, and continuing repairs. And wards.

Oathday, Pharast 6

I know they are rangers, and used to scouting, but, um, if they get caught how will we know?

Sigh. More wards. More repairs. Boring.

Fireday, Pharast 7

At last! They return! Maybe now we can leave.

Hmm. Well as luck would have it, we MUST leave. Yes, the dam was under attack by both giants and ogres and as they left, they’d opened a breach. It will only get bigger, and it will affect the towns downstream quickly.

In fact, it was about this time that a messenger from Turtleback arrived and announced just that: “The water is rising! We’ll be underwater by morning!”

Go to town and help? or go to dam and fix? Are we up to defeating giants? Seems we keep upping the ante; first ogrekin, then ogres. Now giants?

The group decided to go help the town (wisely, I think.) Tekkad will go on horseback and Kane will go along (due to his size it won’t really affect the horse). The rest of us will proceed at best speed, but perhaps the healer will be needed before the rest of us. I hope that their getting there sooner doesn’t simply mean they drown sooner.

Living near the sea, I’d learned some rudimentary strokes. Perhaps my swimming skill will be tested soon.