A note is scribbled in the lefthand margin: “I did not realize then that I ought to have designated this as the FIRST troll battle”.

The trolls, at last, were not moving. The stench of burnt flesh hung heavy in the air, but it was almost (ALMOST) welcome now.

As is now customary, Rigel initiated a search of the (smoldering) bodies. Nothing was found. Sabin flicked a quick detect magic — also nothing. Bored, Rigel inspected the east door. No traps. And opened it.

As luck would have it, there were more trolls. This time, at least, we were positioned a bit more advantageously. That is to say, I was NOT closest to them. Rigel, however, was too close to them for comfort, and managed to get off a single arrow before strategically repositioning herself behind larger bodies.

Having just learned a valuable lesson about trolls and fire, I immediately started another burning sphere. Fireball would have been nice, but the arrangement of bodies in the room made it a little too risky. Were it to detonate prematurely it would not only have harmed the trolls (yay) but the party (boo). While I’m sure the clerics could have fixed it all up, I think I’d rather not have the party fear my use of fire. Especially since I seem to be particularly adept at it! Additionally, while a fireball does more damage over a larger area, having a bit of fire that can move around is particularly handy with trolls, as they seem to very much dislike fire and, well, tend to move around to avoid it. The burning sphere scorched the initial troll pretty well and though he seemed discomforted by it, he did not (yet) move away.

So it was, a few seconds later, I started a second burning sphere under another troll. It is really convenient that these burning spheres are easier spells, as it means I can create more of them (than, say, fireballs) before having to rest. As another troll roared in anger, I was thinking Father totally should have told me more about this fire thing. What else hadn’t he told me about?

I wondered if these trolls were smart enough to know that I was the one creating fire? No matter, I guess, as all the fighters were up front by then, and the clerics in back of them, doing the non-troll version of regeneration.

It didn’t take long at all for us to take out another four trolls. The burning spheres were still going, so we shoved various troll bodies and body parts into them. I don’t think there is any way to make burning troll flesh smell good. Oh! and as we were collecting troll parts, we discovered one troll had not been burned soon enough, as he rose again and went to take a piece of Nolin. Instead, Nolin took him down (again), cut off his head, and ceremoniously put it in the fire. We quickly made sure ALL trolls were decapitated and their heads thoroughly singed. It’s like dealing with germs — must kill them all with fire or it’ll hurt you in the long run.

This room has more of the fungus. I was a bit wary of it, but Kane said it was all native. The trolls may have brought it along as a way of feeling more at home. Eew.

A quick run through all the usual sensors — detect evil (Avia), detect magic (Sabin), and detect everything else (Rigel) yielded nothing. Sabin and Nolin went to the doors in the NE corner of the room, finding they were closed but badly beaten. While they couldn’t be opened, with a little more beating one could be damaged enough to be useless, and we created an opening to the other side of the top of the dam.

Less than 50 feet away was the breach that had been created in the dam. Water roared over it, and the stonework around it looked a bit stressed. Every now and then a good sized stone could be seen cascading to the ground below. It was apparent that the force of the water through this breach was continuing to damage the dam. Looking over the side we could see floodgates far below, but they barely had anything flowing through them. If we opened them, it would not only lower the water level, but lower the chance that the whole dam would give way.

We concluded that the control to the floodgates must be in one of the rooms we had not yet searched, so we returned to the trollhouse (as I’d come to call it) and began carefully opening doors.

We found that in general the dam was in mild disrepair. I don’t know if that was due to the trolls or not, but probably not. It’s just ancient. In one room on the downstream side, a wall in what appeared to be an observation room had crumbled and broken out and the room opened to a dangerous precipice. This, of course, only allowed more weather and elements into the structure. Its mirror on the other side was intact but reeked of mold. However, at the north end of the central room, we finally found what we’d (kind of) been looking for.

Well, yes, we’d been looking for floodgate controls, but if you find an ancient stairway behind a pair of very heavy doors above which was written in Giant a very long time ago: “Below dwells wet papa Grazul”, I mean, that certainly sounds like floodgate controls, doesn’t it?

Well, at the least, it led to the only part of the dam we had not explored, so follow it we did. The stairs went on for hundreds of feet, with landings and turns that made it difficult to keep my bearing. Finally we reached the base of the stairs, where another heavy set of double doors were waiting for us, as well as, presumably, “wet papa Grazul”.

Avia could not detect any presence of evil behind the doors, but warned that if these doors were as strong and massive as the ones upstairs, she may simply not be able to detect evil through them. Rigel confirmed there were no traps, and the doors were slowly pushed open.

What greeted us was a largish room with a pool in the middle. The pool seemed to have floating in it more of the mold we’d seen about, or at least some sort of similar flotsam. Concentrating again, Avia was able to announce that there was one strong source of evil in the pool. It was damp, and puddles were scattered about the stone floor, making footing a little treacherous.

So it seemed likely that wet papa Grazul either had survived a large number of years, or his progeny had, or something worse than any of them had killed him and taken up residence. None of these options sounded particularly encouraging, but if we were looking for encouragement, we’d come to the wrong corner of the world anyway.

And with that thought, wet papa Grazul came to greet us.

Rising out of the water was something that vaguely resembled the trolls upstairs, but clearly was not. It was large, like they were, but built differently. It seemed at home in the water. Half its face looked like it had been clawed away in some battle that it had apparently barely survived. As it approached Avia, still in the pool, it brandished a large military style fork and stabbed at her, wounding her. Sabin jumped forward and returned the attack. And so the effort began to give wet papa Grazul a long wet nap.

Grazul’s ability to disappear beneath the water at times made it difficult to hit him, and wielding the large fork gave him an attack range greater than any of our melee weapons. It meant engaging him in melee was both difficult and dangerous, since none of us felt entering the water was a particularly life-extending maneuver. Like the trolls, he had a vicious bite as well, and I kept half expecting tentacles to rise out of the water and thrash us too (turns out he had none).

His affinity for water made use of a burning sphere problematic, but the large room we were in made it particularly well suited to fireballs going off behind him — and two did. And still, it was nine versus one, and after particularly vicious hits by Avia and Nolin within seconds of each other, it at last lay still. Grazul is dead; long live papa Grazul. We confiscated his fork [520] which we later identified as +1, vicious, and adamantine.

We weren’t sure if there were baby Grazuls waiting to avenge Dad’s death, so we proceeded cautiously. This room had doors to the NE, NW, SW, and SE, as well as double doors to the south. It turns out that the room to the west simply held another pool, and the NW and SW doors both opened to that. There was another room to the east, entered by both the NE and SE doors, but that proved much more interesting.

In that eastern room, in addition to a much smaller pool with stairs leading down to it, there was an amazing model of the dam itself. But more than just a model, there seemed to be some magic employed such that it showed the dam exactly as it was at that moment. No surprise, it strongly radiated magic as well. The model seemed to be accurately reflecting that the floodgates were mostly closed.

Finally we turned our attention to the southern double doors. And here we found a most amazing arrangement. The room was shallow but wide, and at the east and west ends of the room there were inscriptions on the ground, behind two sets of portcullis. Inside one set of inscriptions was a pile of, apparently, ash. Inside the other was a leathery, winged, ugly creature that we all were able to recognize as a demon. It appeared motionless and perhaps dead, but upon detecting our presence, it slowly turned its head and croaked “f r e e m e”.

Instant turmoil in our group. People had some very immediate and very polar reactions to that.

I asked, “How did you get here?” and it replied “s u m m o n e d.
K u r z o c a p t u r e d u s, c u r s e h i m.” It was able to confirm that it was the means to control the floodgates — apparently its life force was used to run the machinery. Ordinarily, the floodgates acted automatically to relieve pressure on the dam, but with the companion demon “used up”, this demon had insufficient power left to run the mechanism.

Nolin pointed out that the floodgates had to be opened. We tried to get the demon to tell us what force was utilized — thinking maybe a lesser restoration performed upon the demon would provide enough power for it to operate the floodgates — but it seemed baffled by our question.

Kane felt we should kill it. It was a demon, and that’s all we needed to know. Some felt it shouldn’t be killed in its current state; Avia, surprisingly, held to the view that doing anything to it in its current state, including using it to control the floodgates, was akin to torturing it and she couldn’t abide that even to a demon. Nolin said he wouldn’t veto any decision but didn’t like the idea of killing it. I argued that it was a demon and while I was not against “healing” it in some way if it would allow the floodgate control to work, we needed to either kill it before we left or be absolutely sure it was not a threat to get loose. Did we need to have demons to make it work? Would one (or two) of us work just as well? Maybe we should kill it now and open the gates later. But then, wouldn’t experimenting on ourselves be akin to torturing ourselves?

And then in one quick motion, Kane announced that he was willing to take action, and stepped into the circle with the ashes. There was a rumble beneath us and the demon screamed horribly before turning to dust like his companion before him. Kane shuddered and paled but did not turn to dust. He was able to stagger from the circle without assistance. [Kane gained a negative level.]

I turned on him immediately for taking matters into his own hands while the group was still discussing what to do. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “It’s done. It worked.” I was angry that he would do that and cause the demon to die before we could question it further and briefly considered a fireball (no, too small an area, collateral damage) then a burning sphere (no, not lethal enough). Sabin shrugged his shoulders. Avia, too, looked angry that he had taken action before the group came to a consensus. In the end, neither of us took action against Kane, but I for one will remember his independent decision and keep a much closer eye on him. We joke about Rigel picking our pockets when we’re not looking, but a member of the group who decides he and only he knows what’s best for the group is not to be trusted.

Returning to the room with the model of the dam, we could now see water pouring from its floodgates. Remembering the size of the lake behind the dam, it was apparent it would still be some time – possibly measured in weeks – before the level of the water went below the level of the breach, but the process had at least begun.

I decided to study the dam model more. It was a fascinating use of magic, and I hoped to learn more about its construction. Kane found that his theory the pools were connected was correct, finding a five foot wide passage between the center pool and the ones to the east and west. Rigel was searching for, you know, hidden stuff when Sabin decided to simply cast “detect secret doors”. While there was nothing in the central chamber, the western one did have a secret door. At the bottom of the pool.

We looked at each other and thought the same thing — what mess could we get ourselves into opening a secret door that was at the bottom of a pool? Derrel figured it couldn’t hurt too bad, so he volunteered to swim down and open it. The door was only about 10 feet down. Although the door was locked, he also found a whole bunch of coins down there. After all was said and done (and later counted), it turns out he brought up 2503 gold coins, 7019 silver coins, and 1257 copper coins (after repeated trips).

As to the locked secret door, Sabin decided it was easier to use our wand of knock than to use our mistress of knock (Rigel) underwater, and when you throw in the likely lack of light behind that door, Sabin with his dark vision was a natural choice. Sabin unlocked the secret door and swam in. Inside the passage behind it, there was another door, also locked. He unlocked that as well, courtesy of the wand of knock. As that door unlocked, the one he’d just come through locked. Clearly they were linked in some way. Running short of air, he unlocked the top door and returned. We concluded that the outer lock might open to the lake behind the dam, and the dual locks prevented the lake from rushing into the dam. We also decided it was not wise to explore the lake from beneath the surface.

Meanwhile, Rigel was still searching above the water. She found a loose stone near the base of the south wall. It appeared to be a small cache, which included a gold comb in the shape of a behir with tiny little pearls as eyes [522] and dainty pink gloves [523] which are created such that they never get dirty, always smell faintly of lilacs, and allow the wearer twice a day to do Snatch Arrow (ala the feat).

Our mission was done here, and we discussed what to do next. The dam needed to be guarded against further damage, and ultimately repaired as well. The dam was a bit daunting for the casual visitor to reach, but certainly not inaccessible. Maintaining the fort seemed a key part of this effort, but Jakardos had already indicated he’d like to decline the role of commander and return to a more civil life.

We returned to the fort, briefly, and discussed this with Jakardos. With a glance at his daughter, he offered that his return to civilian life could wait a bit. He too felt that strong leadership at the fort would deter further mischief, but clearly the populace at Turtleback Ferry was going to be busy for some time. Where would the bodies come from?

And thus was concocted the Fear of Flood Recruitment tour. Oh, of course, we didn’t call it that out loud. But Magnimar was clearly relinquishing its role as benefactor for the region, and what better way to find recruits than to visit the towns that would be most affected by a flood from the broken dam?

Ilsurian, Biston, Melfesh, Whistledown — none of these were booming towns but none of them were devoid of skilled labor either. Over the next nine weeks, we made a point of visiting all of them regularly, and given that each of them had a vested interest in not having the dam topple, each was able to supply carpenters, tradesmen, and other skilled labor for free at one to two week intervals. We ourselves arranged to cover for food and basic supplies, and as expected, the occasional emissary looked around, was impressed with life at the fort, and asked about staying. Slowly, the rangers would be replenished by volunteers, and the fort would again become self sufficient. During those nine weeks, most of us were able to find masters of our individual arts and receive additional training that would better prepare us for the dangers ahead. One thing we all agreed on was we needed better ways to communicate silently in the field. We decided to all of us each spend time learning silent field communications.

For we were creating a little empire here, if one were to step back and look at it objectively. Benevolent little rulers, we were, but really we’d just gone to the small towns, pointed at the dam, and said, “Nice town ya got here. Be a shame something happened to it, y’know? Maybe you could throw some people at a problem we’s got.” And did we not hold the deed to that fort still?

I mean, the right thing is happening. I’m not saying that’s wrong. It’s kinda cool. But I’m just saying.

Vale and Jakardos said it would probably take about six months to restaff the fort and choose a suitable leader. It was during this nine-week training period that Shilelu sought us out with a “little problem”. And she presented a 2-ft tall man with butterfly style wings on his back, by the name of Yap. He was agitated, he was distraught, and he was a pixie. And apparently he was looking for Lamatar, the former commander of the fort.

As the group looked at each other, I stepped in to talk. “How can we help you?”

He looked morose and angry at the same time. “Only Lamatar can help my mistress! He lives at this place and I demand to see him.”

I explained that he had died here, defending the place, and so was there anything we could do? Shilelu interrupted and pointed out that while it was very likely he was dead by now, we had not found his body here. The pixie looked hopeful. “So perhaps he is not yet dead? That would make my mistress very happy, and the land would again .. I mean, the grasses and the trees – she would heal them and perhaps she would no longer be sick herself. Really, it would have been better had she died than to be in her current state.”

It was a little fuzzy as to what he was actually telling us, but it seemed pretty clear that his “mistress” was the nymph that had left the boots and the hair, and ..

The boots! A quick whisper to Rigel and she was able to surreptitiously remove them before the pixie could see them. Wouldn’t do to have that complication messing things up. Kane tried to get the pixie to talk more, but he kept mumbling about the land dying and the mistress dying and only Lamatar could help. She had apparently run to him to help when the fort was attacked, but she had arrived too late and returned .. corrupted and twisted, body and soul. We couldn’t get out of him if the illness was magical or physical (or both), but we finally understood an important point.

Yap’s mistress, it seems was not just a random fey companion of Lamatar. She was the princess of the Shimmerglens, resident in Whitewillow, the land near the Wicker Walk. The one we were told not to venture into because they didn’t really care for the non-fey. The land that required the Wicker Walk as a material demarcation between safety and danger. The land that was apparently connected magically to the princess’s physical and mental health.

That one.

Before there was much discussion at all, Jakardos and Vale hastily told us they would see to the security of the fort, and wished us well on our journey. Shilelu smiled a bit (or was that a smirk?), and also wished us well. It seemed we had little to discuss. Father, you rather left out some significant details about the life of a an adventurer.

Since Derrel wouldn’t finish his training until later that week and this all seemed fairly urgent, we equipped ourselves and headed south, back to the marsh near Turtleback Ferry. (Without magic means, we couldn’t have contacted Derrel anyway.) We entered the Wickerwalk, but soon our guide took us off the path. As we walked through the woods, I found them strangely silent. Sometimes a wood can be peaceful and serene, but this seemed more ominous, like it was abandoned. We began to see, here and there, twisted black trees. Despite the decreasing amount of healthy foliage, and increasing numbers of blackened, diseased trees, sunlight seemed to have a hard time penetrating this part of the woods. Myrianna, Yap explained, was a princess of the Shimmerglens but queen of this area. It apparently reflected her condition. He was her servant, and both feared for her now and generally cared for her well being.

We came across a pool of water in a clearing, surrounded by trees. Healthy trees. Was this an oasis in this increasingly broad area of pestilence? Yap stared at it, and announced it had not been here two months ago. Kane remarked that he detected poison on the water. He walked over to the pool and looked at his reflection. He staggered and gasped, and swung around to stare at us, and then back at the water.

We asked him what he was doing, and he replied that when he looked in the pool, he looked perfectly normal but the reflections of the rest of us looked like corpses. I went and looked into the pool and saw nothing unusual, but Kane seemed seriously affected.

The pool was about 15′ across. The horses did not react to it. We shrugged, and marched on.

It was probably another 10 miles into the woods before we came across a most odd artifact. There lay a ship, aground in the middle of the woods. It looked like it had been there a long time, but Yap suggested it too was more recent than its appearance would indicate. It was covered with thick moss. It was curious, but we did not want to dally when our mission was the princess so …

After a couple more miles, the swamp (and there was nothing healthy or vibrant about it anymore) gave way to a clearing. A pool with black twisted trees surrounding it lay in the clearing. Avia detected no evil, and Kane detected no poison in the pool. A detect magic indicated some background magic, but no particular center of magic.

As we walked into the glade, Yap paused expectantly. There was a deafening howl from the center of the water, and a ghostly form rose from the middle of the pool.

“My mistress, Myrianna,” Yap said apologetically.

Her arms appeared ripped off, and I realized that the ghostly form was only such from the waist down. Yet she flew, or hovered, or something.

“You’re all to blame!” she cried. “You stood by and did nothing while the fort was attacked! Just a little more assistance and they ..”

“It was not we,” I interrupted. “We have come to help. We were sent by Magnimar to investigate the silence of the fort. Had we been here we are certainly capable of help and would have. But we arrived too late — as did you, didn’t you?”

She paused, her anger temporarily vented. “Yes. I should have gone sooner.” Her eyes blazed again. “But if you were not responsible, what place do you have here? Do you come to mock me?”

“No! We come to help you. Yap here tells us you are .. er, distressed, and he believes we can help. We offer our assistance. What can we do to help?”

“Help? HELP? They did not even leave his body. There was nothing there. The pain, and the torture, and the desecration … If you want to help, I must have Lamatar’s body, or some portion of his body. Only then can the healing begin.”

Yap interrupted. “You see what I mean. She is -”

“Shut up Yap,” we said. “The surviving rangers too, would find some comfort from finding the body of their leader, and giving it a proper burial. But you’re right — we did not find it, and we don’t know where to look. Do you know where we might find him?”

“Hook Mountain,” she almost spat. “Climb the mountain. Return him to me. Take him from the giants and the ogres and bring him back here. Only then can we be rejoined and the healing take place!”

So, wow. Obsessive much? If you can’t rescue him alive, you need some portion of his dead body near you to rest easy or you’ll destroy everything living for miles around? I suppose, being fey, that she might have some interesting magic at her disposal that would actually benefit him — could she regenerate him from a single body part, like a troll? Sheesh, I hope we’re not really talking parts. They travel easier than a whole body, but it’s really sort of gruesome. “We got two fingers, one leg below the knee, and I’m pretty sure this is an ear. Is that enough?”

Avia did not detect evil initially, but now with this spirit out here maybe she should try again. If Myrianna is now evil, should we do what she says? Can we believe her that with the body she would heal the land, or is it the case that with the body she can finish what she started? On the other hand, we do know they had a relationship, and maybe this is what grief looks like when you’re a princess tied tightly to the earth. And she herself doesn’t exactly look healthy, but I don’t think a healing potion is going to set her right.

Well, I imagine we’re off to the mountain, but we’ll probably want to discuss it. Wait, did she say ogres AND giants? We haven’t actually run into any giants yet. Someone bringing them up again is not good.

Map: dam.pdf

== Fireday, Pharast 7, 4708; Turtleback Ferry; Evening ==

Night has finally fallen on this troubled day, and about us on the shore of the swollen Skull River survivors huddle in damp blankets. Smokey fires give off little heat and even less comfort after misfortune had piled upon misfortune to erase Turtleback Ferry from the map.

At least there are survivors — and far more than there might have been had the day gone much worse.

Hours before, as Kane and I watched the waters rising — threatening the sick and infirm that sought refuge in the beleaguered cathedral — we knew we had to act fast to save those who remained trapped in the drowning town.

Making judicious use of Water Breathing and Water Walking spells we recruited two young men to help us form a raft from the temple pews. The pews would help us float the weak to the relative safety of the shore, but of course they were in the flooded lower level of the cathedral. After about an hour we managed to manhandle four benches out to the front doors when we spied something wicked swimming straight at the cathedral.

A huge a snake like head with a gaping maw full of needle teeth rose up from the water as a dozen or more fanged tentacles wriggled about it menacingly.

I yelled to those within the cathedral to get out, but Kane stood his ground between the beast and cathedral as it thrust its ugly face towards us and belched forth a noxious cloud of greasy black vapor.

For perhaps half a minute I was in a state of utter panic and confusion, with no idea what was going on about me. I drew my knife and attacked the nearest thing near me, which always turned out to be Kane. I am not a fighter, and while I can scrape by in combat if hard pressed, I tend to leave the martial arts to those better suited for it. It was just as well, because to my lasting shame I actually injured my friend and ally when he was most in need of assistance.

All of this time the creature savagely tore away at the cathedral, attacking it with a cold deadly purpose, heedless of the helpless souls within.

Kane managed to dance away from me, and after a moment or two more I came to my senses. Seeing that Kane was only moderately wounded (by my own hand!) we quickly forced ten people onto one of the pews floating nearby and dragged it away to the western shore.

Of our two helpers I saw no sign, and learned later that they had fled as soon as the beast had risen from the waters.

As we turned to head back to rescue more, we saw the monster raise up to an incredible height and crash down upon the cathedral walls that were still standing, smashing them to stone dust. What was left of the structure disintegrated in the rushing waters, taking with it the bodies of those who had perished within.

The creature then screamed up to the rain laden clouds, as if in joy at what it had done, and slithered away down river.

And with that the rain lessened before stopping altogether.

We built a small fire, which heartened those we rescued, who gathered about the dismal smoking thing.

I calmed the horse upon which we had returned to town and rode about the area looking for other townsfolk who had survived. And so they began to return, all alone or in twos, or gathered together in bands. They came to our small camp fire, and about it their sense of community regrouped and reasserted itself.

Many came back with provisions which they had rescued from the flood, and some rode in on the horses they had taken at the outset of the catastrophe. My own horse, Butters, was among them, along with Trask’s trusty steed.

Hasty shelters were erected, and trees felled to provide fuel for more fires and longer term housing. The people of Turtleback Ferry are a resilient lot, and they voiced their determination to rebuild. As if to prove it they had in mind to start rebuilding right away.

In the midst of this hustle and bustle a stranger walked in from the west. His clothes were stained from days of hard travel, and he looked about the remnants of Turtleback Ferry as if it were no great thing to one as world weary as he.

He made his way over to Kane and I and introduced himself as a messenger from Magnimar. He expressed his condolences for the loss of the Black Arrows, but said that rumor of war kept Magnimar from sending any aid. As a reward for driving Lucretia and the ogres from Fort Rannick, our reward was the fort itself. He handed over a deed, signed by the Lord Mayor himself, and then walked over to the nearest fire and sat down.

Well, I can certainly see why they sent this somber fellow with such grim news and such a dubious reward as a twice sacked fort.

Townsfolk continued to trickle in from the woods as the day passed noon and our companions trudging on foot from Fort Rannick arrived. Pausing for a brief rest and a few spells to restore their vigor we began to discuss our next course of action, while Nolin set out to retrieve the rest of our horses.

The locals had no desire to journey to the fort, where shelter, food and safety awaited.

While talking with them we heard many curses and exclamations of horror about “Black Maga” — their name for the thing that had destroyed the cathedral. They shared many stories about the creature — some more believable than others — and said it served Lamashtu.

Sabin quickly pulled out a copy of Lamashtu’s Bestiary that my companions acquired during their adventures in Sandpoint, and found the pertinent entry.

Mothers of Oblivion. They are the favorite servants of Lamashtu, and have an unholy and insatiable hatred for all things uncorrupt. They can control weather, and as Outsiders can move through the planes (a warning was scribbled in the margins about not using teleportation magics near them).

Lovely. Local folk lore held that one of these things had been lurking in the depths of The Storval Deep. I can’t wait to tell the family about what has been hiding practically in our back yard all of this time.

We have decided that in the morning we will head up to the dam and deal with the threat of another, more catastrophic breach.

Nolin has returned with the rest of our horses (and a few stragglers), and so we will make good time on our travels tomorrow.

== Starday, Pharast 8, 4708; Turtleback Ferry; Morning ==

There was some good news this morning: the town’s cleric survived Black Maga’s destruction of the temple, and managed to save another parishioner along with himself. They plunged into the flood waters and spent most of the night making their way back. The cleric shook his head when we asked him what he knew about Black Maga, and said it was untouchable by godly magic.

We also found Malin Shreed, the mayor of Turtleback Ferry, and he insisted that the town would be rebuilt, and urged us to hasten to the dam to stop any risk of further flooding.

And so we are mounting up and heading back north.

== Starday, Pharast 8, 4708; Fort Rannick; Noon ==

We paused briefly at the fort to update our trio of rangers on the happenings in town. We urged them to continue to hold the fort while we proceeded on to the dam to take on the giants.

== Starday, Pharast 8, 4708; Skull’s Crossing; Late afternoon ==

The dam at Skull’s Crossing is another of those ancient Thassilonian works of engineering that grace the continent. Being from the Storval Plataea my family passed down its own tales of the Storval Deep and the massive work of stone that held back those icy deep blue waters.

And yet those legends do not do the mighty structure justice, and it pains me to see the recent damage wrecked upon it by the agents of Lucretia. Those who are incapable of creating such marvels can still destroy them.

We arrived in the thickening gloom of a building storm as we peered up at the wall of rock. Giant skulls were set in the stone, with water pouring out their gaping jaws. A huge fissure had been smashed from the top of the dam down through one of the skulls, and it was through here that the initial flood waters had spilled the day before.

Half a dozen hulking figures moved about the top of the dam, and the dim sound of stone crashing against stone echoed down to us. Even as we watched a fat raindrop splashed on the ground nearby, with many more of its siblings following in close pursuit.

A set of uneven steps, now wet and slick with rain, clung to the western wall of the rocky chasm, leading up towards the top of the dam. Rigel and Kane crept up the stairs while Trask and I huddled at the base, ready to offer magical aid if needed.

Skulls of every kind lined the stairway, each marked with a skull-like rune. Rigel and Kane soon returned with news that the stairs ended in a dark gaping hole in the side of the cliff, and that it would be best if we made our way through the tunnel in mass.

The others joined us, and Sabin recognized the rune carved into the skulls as belonging to the Skull Taker tribe of trolls. Trolls! Perhaps an easier foe than giants, but still a tough nut to crack. It is said that trolls quickly heal from normals wounds, no matter how lethal.

Trask slipped on the slick stone work and slid down some 60 feet, but Kane tended to his injuries and we were soon all grouped at the top of the stairs.

A pungent stench wafted out from cave entrance of sweat mixed with something else… something unpleasant.

At the end of a dim tunnel was a wall 15 feet high, and above that a little more light and the sound of something heavy moving about.

I quietly fashioned a set of stone steps leading up via a Stone Shape spell and Sabin crept up and peered over. An ettin stood guard with a large flail in either hand. It peered down at Sabin with its dull, stupid eyes set in both of its heads and said, “You not be here!”

A brief conversation ensued where we it proudly announced that it was the guard for the Skull Takers, and after we offered the ettin a bribe, it held a hot debate with itself about how it had gotten into trouble for taking bribes before. Apparently one of the heads was more susceptible to this sort of thing than the other, but unfortunately it was not the dominant head, and so I cast Silence about it before it could bellow out a warning to the trolls beyond.

It was sad, really, at how quickly it fell. I almost felt sorry for it. Almost.

Past the ettin was a sleeping alcove, in which we found a small cache of items it had no doubt looted over its sad little life.

693 gold pieces
1240 silver pieces
[500] 6 peals in a velvet pouch
[501] phylactery of positive channeling
[502] ivory scroll tube with jade
[503] scroll: Cone of Cold, Hold Monster, Telekinesis

Both Kane and I eyed the phylactery with great intent, and he graciously allowed me to wear it. The next time I am able to train I will focus on learning a new ability — a feat that will enable me to chanel energy more often each day — and so make better use of this device.

We scrambled up another shelf and found ourselves at the far cave entrance that lead out onto the top of the dam. Halfway across the dam was a tower in the shape of several giant skulls, and between us and the tower were half a dozen ogres.

One of the ogres was larger than the others, and appeared to be the foreman in charge of the others, who were smashing rocks against the dam. They looked weary, as if they had been forced to work for a long time with little rest and less food.

One fireball, courtesy of Trask, and a few arrows later and they all lay dead.

We cautiously approached the tower and peered in through the large windows. The interior was coated with matts of green ropey fungus, and we carefully climbed inside.

Avia detected four evil things hiding behind a curtain of the fungus, as four trolls stepped out and attacked.

We killed them, some more than once, and noted that the use of Trask’s Burning Sphere limited their ability to regenerate from injury. The lesson learned was that fire was good, and we needed to employ it whenever we fought these fell creatures.

We’ve rested only for a moment and are ready to move on.

Fireday, Pharast 7

So it was that Tekkad and Kane arrived in town on horseback some hours before we did on foot. In talking with them later, I learned that while there was the understandable confusion and panic, a fair number of villagers had already escaped the rising floodwaters. It was only those who could not move quickly, or could not move at all that were in danger. They set about doing what they could, but the town cathedral/church was about the strongest, safest building left standing so they directed people there for safety.

Their efforts were interrupted by some creature floating downstream that attacked them and, particularly, the church. When they realized what was happening, they tried, panic-stricken, to herd people OUT of the church but the beast was upon them too fast. In trying to drive it from its chosen task, they brought its wrath upon themselves: it rose up before them and cast its foul breath upon them, causing each of them to become confused and disoriented. Tekkad even wounded Kane with his dagger in the midst of his confusion.

The beast seemed to take pleasure in destroying the building and almost nonchalantly, the human souls within it. When all was said and done they still had their lives, but of nearly two dozen villagers, only eight survived. They had to remind themselves that that was likely eight more than would have survived without their efforts.

When we caught up with them and heard their story, I cursed. (Yes Father, I did.) We had seen this creature — a “Black Maga” said some villagers — floating down the river upstream and tried to do battle with it. It largely ignored us, except that my fireball seemed to annoy it a bit and sent one particular tentacle my way as it floated by, stuck it into the shoreline, and then out of the ground up to my leg. Fortunately it wasn’t poisoned, but we were in a hurry and didn’t have time to do more than quickly bind it and keep moving.

I wish we’d killed it, but it seemed impervious to fire and it didn’t seem wise to engage it hand to, er, tentacle. It is on its way to the Mushfens, and eventually Magnimar. Perhaps we will see it again someday. I hope not.

We gathered everyone on some higher ground and set up for the night. The water seems to be receding a bit. It turns out one of those saved was a (the expected) messenger from Magnimar. The message turned out to be: “Thanks for killing the ogres. Can’t spare any soldiers, as war is imminent. But very grateful: here’s the deed to the fort. Bye.”

And who are we going to sell a fort to??? It may be hard to turn this into cash. We’ll have to think this one through. In the meantime, the dam may still be falling to pieces at the hands of giants or ogres; we’ll need to proceed posthaste back whence we came. The townspeople, seeing the water receding, want to stay and rebuild.

The search for horses did eventually find all of our steeds. There was much discussion about the safety (and dryness) of the fort versus the uncertainty of staying in the town.

We’ll all sleep on it.

Starday, Pharast 8

Upon rising, we found the town more resolute than ever at staying. Maylen Schreed, the mayor (and pastor of the destroyed church) strongly favored rebuilding. When we pointed out the flood could get worse if the dam were breached further, he simply smiled and said, “Then go make sure it doesn’t.”

We learned more about the “Black Magga” (as we found it is spelled) from the books of Lamashtu we’d obtained back in Sandpoint. (Or was it from Thistledown? It all seems so far away now.) The Magga was considered “the mother of all oblivions” and “rumored to control the weather”. The relentness rain, which only made the water behind the dam that much higher, may now be explained. It sounds like a fairly powerful creature, possibly untouchable by us, which raises the question of what mission did Lemashtu find this creature was needed for?

In any case, the town is staying behind, and we take off for the fort. With horses now, we proceed at a much faster pace than when we arrived walking.

We briefly swung by where we’d left the bear and the prisoner. Neither was present, but blood near the area suggested there’d been some sort of battle. Oddly, the manacles were released, not broken. Kaven might have been a meal, or might have been rescued. We did not see any bear fur. We continued on to the fort.

Arriving at the fort around midday, we quickly briefed the rangers. Shelelu, Jakardos, and Vale agree to stay at the fort while we, the larger force, continue on the dam at Skull’s Crossing.

As we neared the dam, we saw giant skulls (not necessarily skulls from giants, just Big Representations of Skulls) decorating the dam. There was a treacherous looking path leading up to the left. In the distance, on the top of the dam we could see maybe a half dozen figures moving, but without some frame of reference we couldn’t be sure how big they were or what they were doing. We guessed they were too small to be giants, but then realized nobody here had ever seen a giant. There was a breach on the right side, through which water was still flowing, but not very quickly.

Giants around here, remarked Tekkad, are legendary for coming from Stone, being one with Stone. Great. Not just giants, but giants capable of working stone. Hiding within it even! Of course these are but legends, but usually legends have some basis in fact. All in all, not an encouraging situation.

But forward we moved, for it is in our blood to right wrongs and dispel evil. Philosophically I’m with that line of thinking, but there are times when even I think my judgment might be clouded.

Kane and Rigel silently snuck up the rickety stairs. Tekkad and myself went halfway with them so as to provide fire (heh) in case they were discovered and had to beat a hasty retreat. The stairs seem sized for large creatures (gulp).

The stairway was lined with skulls of many creatures and sizes, but each appeared enscribed with a particular symbol that I presume had some important meaning. From the voices they heard, there seemed to be a few ogres in the cave, although they didn’t actually see any and the stench (and there WAS one) wasn’t particularly similar to the one we’d been hammered with by ogres. The skulls looked fairly recent. They returned with a small one.

Sabin looked at the symbol and remarked that these were fairly traditional warnings … from a troll tribe. Trolls! Nobody signed up for trolls! We quickly reviewed what we knew about trolls.

a) hard to kill. Heal quickly, sometimes visibly. b) fire does real, unfixable damage to them (I did a silent happy dance) c) beheading them can also make sure they stay dead d) big and strong. Then see a) again.

Distance weapons and fire would be our friends. So maybe the odd stench was a troll stench. (Why did there have to be a stench at all? Why couldn’t monsters learn to at least clean themselves like cats?)

We silently entered the cave. Well, mostly silently. I tripped and actually hurt myself pretty bad as I slid down the stairs to the base and got to start all over again. I was quickly healed a bit, but still felt sore and showed various abrasions – it would have to do for now. Sabin led, with his dark vision, and reported that a short ways in there was a 15 foot ledge and something or somethings were up there. Still, there was a faint light source from somewhere, because it wasn’t completely dark in here. There were some handholds, so Sabin took a quick look over the peak.

And was noticed. It seemed to have two heads, was huge, and was munching on something (someone?) when it noticed Sabin peering shyly over the edge of the ledge. It moved surprisingly quickly, but Tekkad hastily cast silence at the roof over the area with the creature. It was a longer than average spell to cast, and before he was finished and it took effect, there was a brief conversation between Sabin and the beast:

Beast: “Humans not enter!” “No take bribe like last time! Got in trouble!”

“That was last time” Sabin quickly countered. “But this is different. If this time, instead, you -” And the silence spell kicked in, much to the confusion of the beast. It paused a moment trying to make sense of it and even tried saying something, but of course nothing could be heard.

The rest of us, used to fighting together, silently came to the same conclusion: this creature needed to come down 15 feet for the fighters to engage it, and all the non-fighters needed to break out their distance weapons. I considered my options and decided the quarters were too close to risk a fireball. Burning hands, maybe, but that might involve me getting a might too close for comfort.

The creature did not seem to be considering Sabin’s partial offer anymore. For his part, he backed down the ladder in the side of the ledge, trying to draw the creature down and incidentally removing him from the silence influence.

The beast dropped a flail, picked up a javelin, and flung it (fortunately, ineffectually). Avia shot an arrow that found its mark, and I tried flaming sphere. Appeared, but seemed to do nothing to it. Fireproof? Hope not. Sabin threw his ax to good effect. Nobody else hit it with anything. It picked up two javelins this time (man, he really needs to clean his cave) and threw them, but they both missed. Phew. But then it made the mistake of descending to our level. Nolin smacked it. Avia smacked it twice. My flaming sphere suddenly seemed to cause it discomfort as it backed away from it, and my magic missiles caused it even more discomfort. Sabin laid in some amazing blows and Nolin finished it off as it laid there bleeding out. The flaming sphere seared the victory.

In a side cavern a dozen feet from the body, we found a treasure hoard. Those bribes? Must have been good. First, there was a pile of gold and silver coins. While Sabin and I identified the rest of the items, the group counted and found 1240 silver pieces and 693 gold pieces. In a velvet pouch there were 6 pearls [500]; we also found a philactory [501] that was empty, an ivory scroll tube with strips of jade on it [502] containing a scroll [503] with cone of cold, hold monster, and telekinesis on it. We discovered if the philactory was worn by a cleric, that cleric would have 2d6 more energy to channel!

Coming out of the cave we found ourselves at the top of the dam, and we could see now a team of ogres working on it — working at tearing it apart. Some of the construction was making it difficult for them, and there seemed to be grumbling at times.

Perfect situation for a fireball. The first one hit five ogres, killing four of them outright. While arrows and other distance weapons peppered the survivor (who barely had time to note his smokiness) a second came sailing in. Two ogres who had turned tail and run were killed, as well as two others. The foreman of the work crew seemed a bit buffer, but the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune sealed his fate.

Nine ogres dead. Nary a scratch on us. Not bad.

Now to find out what was in that central skull tower. A couple of the ogres had tried to get in some doors on one side but were incinerated before they raised any answer. The doors seemed locked and there was a convenient window just 10′ off the ground. Nolin and Sabin thought that was a better way to enter. They got up and then helped everybody else up into a room that, we found, was apparently decorated in hanging green fungus. Those of us from Sandpoint were rather apprehensive of the fungus, given our past adventures, but it turns out it was what was behind the fungus that was of greater concern.

Four trolls. Big ugly creatures that didn’t talk about bribes, didn’t consider counteroffers and which, yes, healed visibly fast. Or so we were to learn.

Due to Tekkad’s and Rigel’s alertness we were not totally surprised by them. But our party was in a suboptimal arrangement (that is, I WAS CLOSEST TO THE TROLLS!) so it took a little dancing and several blows before we got the magic folks behind the beefy folks and assumed the usual position. By this time, everybody was too tight for a fireball, but a few burning spheres got the flame into it.

The battle took a surprisingly short period of time, but at least once a severed head rejoined its missing body, healed, and rejoined the battle. Nobody found themselves near death, but then most people took some injury as well. Nothing the clerics couldn’t handle; we did a good job as a team. So the lesson learned was that you cut off their heads AND burn them. Their danger lies not so much in the damage per attack, as the fact that they heal so fast there’s the potential to get a lot of attacks. Get the fighters up front, keep healing them, and keep the fire coming.

In a way, I like these trolls. They make me a bit more valuable 🙂 If these were the “giants” we feared (they ARE rather big) then I think we’ll be okay.

Toilday, Pharast 4

Jakardos and Vale have gone to check on the dam while we stay at the fort to begin repairs and purge the place of any signs of the ogres’ occupation.

We are all exhausted from the fighting of the past two days. Despite our superior numbers and considerable talents, our foes were very nearly a match for us even when divided into small groups. Without the care, caution, and deception that we used to infiltrate the fort, we would have quickly found ourselves overwhelmed and forced to retreat, if not killed out right. Fortunately, our planning was sound and we were able to prevent the ogres from alerting one another so that we could dispatch them two or three at a time. How the rangers were ever able to keep these creatures in check was something of a mystery to me at first until it became clear that they never had to contend with more than a couple at a time. The ogres have never had this level of organization before. Individually they were tough but easily dispatched; organized under the guidance and influence of Lucretia, they were significantly more deadly.

The biggest coup was, of course, finding and destroying Lucretia on our very first night. I took a great deal of satisfaction in delivering the killing blow. For you, Olithar.

The plan to use her image to lure others in was crucial to our strategy of divide and conquer, and it worked so well on these simple creatures that we could probably had kept it up indefinitely (in the end, the opportunity to fireball the mess wagon was too good to pass up). Oh, how they were terrified of her. It never occurred to them that she might be destroyed, or that anyone would even dare to impersonate her.

Of course, this also served as a reminder that there are other sisters, and that Xanesha got away from us in Magnimar.

Fireday, Pharast 7

We are leaving now. As Tekkad had feared the dam has been breached. The river is rising quickly. Turtleback Ferry is in danger.

== Moonday, Pharast 3, 4708; Fort Rennick; Mid day ==

With the ogre butcher from the fort’s chapel slain, we quickly made our way to the southern room of the keep’s main tower. It was from here, beyond the sturdy wood door, where Avia had detected another strong source of evil.

In a well orchestrated move Kane rushed towards the door, opening it and stepping aside just as Avia rushed in, closely followed by Sabin, Derrel and the rest of the party. The room had obviously been the bedroom of the fort’s commander, Captain Bedan, but now it was occupied by a female ogre (or so we assumed from her dress) and her two minions, who were large and menacing even for ogres.

We were expected, and the two guards were standing alert facing the door with weapons ready, while the female ogre stood near the back of the room, her shape shimmering and shifting in an unnatural way that tricked the eye, making it difficult to focus on her.

An ogre mage! While the fighters took on the guards, I quickly cast Dispel Magic on the ogress, and she snapped into focus. She lifted her meaty hand and a bolt of electricity arced from her finger to Sabin, who crackled and smoked from the attack.

From the grunts and pig like squeals of our opponents Sabin learned that the ogress’ name was Dorella, and obviously in charge here, but in order to get to her we needed to first hack through her guards.

Avia, Sabin and Derrel were arranged about the first guard, while Nolin held the second at bay on his own. Trask and Rigel provided ranges attacks, and Kane hung out in the hallway by the door, on the lookout for unwelcome arrivals. I was positioned between Nolin and Avia, ready to offer whatever support I could where it was needed.

And support from we healers was definitely needed. The first guard sliced into Avia with a brutal slash from its ogre hook, and she staggered with the impact. Kane and I immediately assisted with healing as Trask, Sabin and Rigel counter attacked. Nolin was hacking away at his ogre and being repaid in kind.

These ogres were proving far more difficult than the louts we had encountered below. When Sabin replied, “I don’t know,” to Rigel’s question about the guards’ names, Avia shouted out in exasperation, “It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have a name, it still hurts!”

Slowly we were wearing the guards down, but Trask hastened the process with a carefully placed fireball. Soon the first ogre dropped, which allowed us to focus on the second, which Trask finished off with a Burning Hands spell.

That left Dorella, against whom Nolin was already pressing a powerful attack, while Sabin tried the more subtle approach of casting Touch of Idiocy. Dorella appeared to have the same thought and cast the same spell upon Sabin. But Dorella was hopelessly out classed and Nolin swiftly hacked her to bits.

We then searched this room and the chapel and gathered together the items we had found.

From the ogre in the chapel:

[279] +1 ogre hook of Human Bane [+1D6]
[280] 2 potions of Cure Serious Wounds (Avia and Sabin)
[281] +2 bracers (Derrel)
[282] +4 belt of giant strength (Derrel)

From the ogre guards:

[283] masterwork long-bow [STR +7]
[284] +1 ogre hook
[285] +1 ogre hook
[286] potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (Darrel)
[287] potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (Trask)
[288] +1 hide shirt (large)
[289] +1 hide shirt (large)

From Dorella:

[290] wand of acid arrow [43 charges] (Trask)
[291] +2 amulet of natural armor (Kane)
[292] +2 cloak of charisma (Trask)

While the rest of us were checking the bodies of our fallen foes, Avia scanned the walls to the north and announced that there were two additional evil beings beyond.

I cast prayer as we did the obvious and opened the double doors to what once were the the fort’s tribunal chamber. From the rafters above hung two humans, who had been carefully cut open with a knife so that their blood drained into a pair of buckets on the floor. A pair of burly ogres stood beneath the humans, admiring their handiwork.

Avia charged in and attacked the nearest ogre, who skillfully counter attacked, grievous injuring her. Nolin, Derrel and Sabin rushed in and engaged the two ogres, who seemed quite adapt at martial arts and inflicted a great deal of damage to our front line fighters.

Avia, who had not been fully healed after her encounter with Dorella’s entourage, was the focus for both ogres aggression, and she fell to the floor, her sword clattering loudly beside her. Kane and I quickly rushed to her aid, healing her wounds and helping pull her back from the main action.

Trask sent a flaming sphere in to distract one ogre while Nolin and Sabin hacked frantically at it. Derrel used his fists to deadly affect, slaying the oaf, as Avia stood and finished off the other.

We spent a moment or two catching our breaths and healing everybody fully, and Avia scanned the area and pronounced there were no more evil presences on the keep.

Rigel searched the room and found a secret door to the south, beyond which was a map room. Many of the maps had been taken out and ripped to shreds, but many more remained in the shelves.

Sabin and I were quite interested in what we found here, and when the others lost interest and returned to Dorella’s room to search for hidden loot, we continued to scan through the maps.

Two in particular grabbed our attention, and we decided to keep them for later study.

[293] Map of Viperwall — lower tunnels charted with notes (Takkad) Viperwall is a famous ruin of a fortress where poisonous gases seep from the mouths of its many fanged statues. The map was beautifully drawn and skillfully embossed.
[294] Map Lurkwood, including paths (Takkad)

Our companions found several additional items hidden away in Dorella’s room — items that probably belonged to the now deceased Captain Bedan.

[295] Flat wooden coffer with dozens of sheets of parchment, and poetry written on each to “Miriana”. (Returned to rangers)
[296] A tiny jewelry box (Returned to rangers)
[297] A locket on a silver chain with a lock of hair — golden andiridescent and definitely not human — “For my Lamatar” engraved on the back (Returned to rangers)
[298] Pair of soft green leather swamp boots (Rigel)

The wearer of the boots has the ability to walk on water in
a swamp (no more than 5′ deep). The wearer will leave no tacks,
and is protected against rain and fog, plus they receive a +2
on fortitude saves against poison and disease.

We called our ranger friends down from their watch on the towers and let them know we had cleared the keep itself, and also shared with them what was found in Dorella’s room.

Jakardros was amazed by the poetry and locket, and said the captain must have had a relationship with a water nymph. He thought it fitting that we keep the boots because we were driving out the intruders from Bedan’s last post.

We pressed on, completing our exploration of the keep by climbing up the highest tower. At the top was a massive wooden frame supported a cracked bell, where the clapper had been replaced with a dead ranger wearing a metal helm.

From the top we could see that thus far the remaining ogres in the fort were unaware of our activities in the keep, and so we improvised a very loose plan.

The rangers and those of us who worked best with ranged attacks (Rigel and Trask) would man the lower towers of the keep and support our attacks as they could. Trask, who has proven himself both handy and skilled with the Fireball spell, was told to use his own judgement and take advantage of ogres massing together to inflict as much damage as possible on as many foes as he could at one time.

Meanwhile the rest of us hid ourselves about the broken keep gates while Sabin, using the hat of disguise, posed as Lucretia and commanded three ogres to accompany him… ah, her back into the keep. There we all jumped out and killed the lot of them.

As luck would have it, the day had waxed to the lunch hour, and ogres began to gather outside by an open air kitchen. Perhaps seventeen ogres in all were milling about in one small area.

Trask set off a fireball in the middle of them.

The result was wonderful chaos: ogres attacked one another or stood still in shock, while a few (very few) jumped into the nearby pool of water or ran towards the nearby barracks. Another fireball and all of the ogres remaining by the kitchen were dead, while those that had ran off howled in rage and confusion, or just in general (it seems to be something ogres do a lot).

Then Trask did something brilliant: he created the image of a red dragon landing in the fort’s courtyard.

This was too much for the half a dozen surviving, but seriously burned, ogres who rushed to the gate, threw it open and raced off into the woods.

We quickly ran out and closed the gate behind them, while our new pet dragon glared menacingly out from the the walls of Fort Rennick.

We searched the remaining out-buildings for other ogres or surviving rangers, but found nothing. There was a tunnel that led up to the top of the cliff overlooking the fort and there, according to Jakardros, lived a family of great eagles who helped guard the fort. But they eagles were gone, having been killed or driven off in the initial ogre attack.

So victory was ours, and we had but to wait for the reinforcements from Magnimar and collect our reward, or so it seemed.

But I was uneasy. The rain, which was heavy when we first arrived at Rennick, had intensified since then, and seemed almost unnatural. And where were the giants that Kaven the traitor had mentioned as being part of the attack?

And what about the dam? My original concern over the fall of Fort Rennick had been that it protected the dam that held back the waters of the Storval Deep. Surely with all of the recent rains the Deep must be practically overflowing.

I wanted the rangers to guard the fort while the rest of us checked on the state of the dam, but the rangers seemed unsure that they could hold out against an attack. And so we sent the rangers off to scout out the dam while the rest of us remained behind.

I have a bad feeling about this.

== Toilday, Pharast 4, 4708; Fort Rennick; Evening ==

The rangers left early this morning for their trek to the dam. They estimated the trip will take them two to three days, slogging through the thick mud.

Meanwhile we have begun to clean up the aftermath of the ogre invasion. The slain rangers have been interred in their crypt, which occupied much of my time. The others cleaned up the debris and repaired what they could to make the fort as defensible and livable as possible.

== Wealday, Pharast 5, 4708; Fort Rennick; Evening ==

We spent most of the day making repairs via Make Whole spells or the old fashioned way with muscle and grit. While some of the damage is beyond our ability to mend, we have at least removed the grisly remains and blood from all areas of the fort, and made a great pile of what furniture we could not fix (it shall make excellent kindling).

We removed the markings of Lamashtu in the chapel and rededicated it to Desna (or Kane did, to be precise).

I spent much of my time placing glyphs of warding about the gates and the secret passageways into the fort. Nothing evil shall pass this way without feeling displeasure from Pharasma.

It still rains as if all the worlds waters were being funneled from the sky down upon us.

== Oathday, Pharast 6, 4708; Fort Rennick; Evening ==

And still the rains continue.

We worked more on the fort’s defenses today, and I set down more glyphs of warding.

Although we keep a constant watch on the walls, we have restored the interior of the keep to much of its previous level of comfort, and rest while we can in the library before a brightly blazing fire.

We are on the look out for the rangers and anxious for their return. If they are not back by mid day tomorrow I will insist that we set out for the dam ourselves, the fort be damned.

== Fireday, Pharast 7, 4708; Fort Rennick; Early morning ==

The rangers have returned, and it is worse than I feared. The dam is under the assault of both giants and ogres. On their way back the rangers heard a terrible noise and the sound of rushing water.

My first inclination was to return to the damn in force, drive off the opposing force and repair the dam as best we can.

But then came the messenger from Turtleback Ferry on horseback. The waters began rising in the pre-dawn hours and the town is flooding. Some have fled, but many can not, or know not where to go.

And so our decision has been made for us: we must return and lend our aid at once. The towns folk can come here, to Fort Rennick, which by our efforts is now a place where ordinary people can safely live for a time.

Kane and I are to take the man’s horse back to town now, while the others follow as swiftly as they may on foot.

The rangers must now remain at the fort and keep it safe for the town’s people we will send this way.

And even now, as we prepare to depart, my mind turns to the mundane: how shall we feed an entire town, when the area around the fort has been plundered by the ogres?

== Fireday, Pharast 7, 4708; Turtleback Ferry; Morning ==

We splashed into Turtleback Ferry scarcely and hour ago, and the scene was as desperate as described to us.

A mother and her children were in a small boat, which had drifted against the walls of the merchant, when a huge python swam over to attack. Kane and I drew the creature towards us and battled it the best we could. Neither of us are fighters, but we managed to drive it away.

We then pushed the boat to the town cathedral, which is where many of the refugees had gathered. And yet this stone building would only offer temporary sanctuary. Already the surging waters were scouring away the earth beneath the massive stone walls.

We are calling out to everyone we can see, telling them to gather here at the cathedral. From here we will set out towards Fort Rennick, although many of those here are too small or weak to struggle against the flood’s current. We must gather more boats or build rafts — already I find myself gazing up at the mighty timbers of the cathedral’s roof.

We pause now only for a moment as the survivors gather about us, and now we must organize those who are able to help the others.

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.

== Moonday, Pharast 3, 4708; Within Fort Rannick; An hour after midnight ==

After healing and restoring those injured in the fight with Lucretia we searched her and her room. She carried several items that were useful, but the room itself only held the tantalizing ashen remains of some papers.

[270] wand of scorching ray {22 charges} (Trask)
[271] +1 keen edge rapier (Rigel)
[272] sihedron medallion: like the one from Thistlestop (Darrel)
[273] masterwork dagger (Takkad)

Having removed Lucretia of her belongings we then removed her of her head, and stashed her corpse in the secret tunnel. We kept her head, just in case.

We knew the door to the north led up to somewhere into the fort, and so we tried the door to the west and found a cell block with the gruesome remains of the handful of rangers that had survived the initial ogre invasion.

Even though it was late, we needed to know more about our position and that of the ogres before we could plan our next actions. Jakardros and Vale set out to scout our immediate vicinity. Perhaps half an hour later they returned with their report.

The stairway led up into the northeast corner of the fort’s inner keep. Thick walls set with three guard towers protected this inner structure from the rest of the fortress, and served as a defensible place in case the outer walls were breached.

From the top of the nearest tower they saw perhaps half a dozen ogres on patrol in a careless fashion atop the walls. They had heard sounds of ogres from within the keep, and assumed the bulk of the force was housed in the keep itself and in the courtyard’s out buildings.

We decided to explore the first level of the keep, hoping to catch as many ogres sleeping as possible, and to quickly kill them off one at a time.

With Jakardros’ help I sketched a map of the keep, and using this as a guide we crept out into the main hallway. Shalelu, Vale and Jakardros we sent up into each of the towers — the doors and narrow ladders were too small for ogres, and so these were safe places for the rangers to keep watch. I used a Status spell to monitor Vale and Jakardros, who manned the further towers.

L. A library, from which the first tower was accessed.

1. The infirmary held a few beds, a desk and a table, and sitting at the table was a fat human with a spoon in one hand. He had been slit open and posed to look like he was eating his own entrails. Gore was carefully placed for maximum effect, and the hideous tableau looked as if it had been meticulously arranged by some artist with blasphemous taste.

Snoring came a bed in the far corner.

Nolin, Derrel and Sabin entered the room closed the door. A few moments later and we were down one ogre.

1. The mess hall had been torn apart, with tables and chairs smashed into kindling.

2. The kitchen was adjacent to the mess hall, and had likewise been plundered. A large cooking spit was in the center, and an alcove carved into the rock served as pantry.

3. 1. 1. Empty bedrooms with furniture broken and linen shredded.

4. The barracks. We did not open the doors yet because Avia detected six evil beings, and we could hear the snores, burps and farting of sleeping ogres within.

5. A large bedroom, in which Avia detected a single strong presence of evil.

6. A large bedroom from which we heard the sound of gruff laughter and something big moving about. Sabin, who can speak ogre, listened at the door and said it sounded like there were two ogres inside engaged in personal and intimate activities. Eeww.

7. An empty storage closet.

8. 1. Empty bedrooms with furniture broken and linen shredded.

Between rooms 8 and 9 were the keep’s gates, but they had been ripped from their hinges and lay in fragments on either side of the hall. Thus ended our hope of cutting off any ogres coming in from the rest of the fort.

We returned to room 8 where Sabin peeped in and saw an ogre sleeping in a bed against the far wall. But as he slipped in to cut its throat he bumped against a chair and woke the beast within. Nolin charged in and we closed the doors after. The muffled sounds of combat echoed out and down the halls, and worried that it would raise an alarm, and so some of us crept over to room 9, where the two ogres were stirring. Had we realized how formidable the ogre-captain within this first room really was we would have sent in extra support.

Just as Derrel and Avia positioned themselves on either side of the door it burst open and an ogre stood gaping out from the room. He… she… it was dressed in nothing but a suite human armor, which was way too small and was tied on with leather thongs. It was an inadequate garment, failing to cover much of its bulging, stinking hairy body, and we were treated to views of far more ogre anatomy than is good for one’s sanity.

I used a Hold Person spell on it while Derrel snapped its neck.

Its, ah, mate (?!) barged into the hall shouting, “Little people! Food! Intruders!” (Sabin told us this later, but at the time we just heard the guttural grunts and cries of what sounded like a wounded bull lusting after a sow in heat.)

So much for the element of surprise.

I quickly ran to the east side of the barracks and using Stone Shape pulled up a sheet of stone from the floor, effectively barricading the double doors as we heard the sounds of ogres stirring within.

Avia, Derrel and Rigel were slashing away at the ogre who had sounded the alarm, and it quickly succumbed to their onslaught.

Meanwhile Trask had used the hat of disguise to appear as Lucretia, and stood before the doors at the west side of the barracks. As the first ogre burst through he found Lucretia there commanding him to “STOP!”

This attempt at subterfuge may have worked had Darrel not run over and started beating on the slightly confused ogre. With a gruff “get out of my way, Lady” Trask found himself shoved into the corner, protected from his friends by an ogre. Another Hold Person spell later and the Derrel had broken the neck of yet another ogre.

At about this time Nolin and Sabin had finished with the uber-ogre and were rushing over to join our battle with Kane providing support, when the four ogres still in the barracks broke through the south wall. But before they could attack they were engulfed in an exploding conflagration of burning love, hand delivered by Trask, who was still dressed as Lucretia.

Our warriors held the angry ogres at bay while Trask launched another fireball at them, charring them into grotesque morsels of crispy fried ogre.

And that was how we killed 10 ogres in under 10 minutes.

After a bout of healing we searched the bedroom of the elite ogre Nolin and Sabin had battled, finding quite a few useful items.

[274] potion of cure moderate wounds
[275] +1 hide shirt {huge}
[276] +1 ogre hook
[277] masterwork composite long-bow {huge}
[278] a quiver of 20 arrows {huge}

We gathered the rangers who identified the ogres as of the Kreeg clan. Thinking of a way to stir dissension among the ranks of the remaining ogre force I asked if there was another ogre family particularly hostile to the Kreegs. They said there was an opposing tribe that cut off the hands of their fallen foes. And so we cut off the ogre hands and pinned them to the walls.

Avia had been busy all this time gazing up intently at the ceiling. “There are two very strong sources of evil above,” she said, pointing to various points at the ceiling as she walked about, “and three others at about the same level as those we fought here.”

But it was already well past midnight, and those of us not physically tired were mentally fatigued and low on spells. We decided to retreat to the secret tunnel for the remainder of the night and resume our attack in the morning.

We made our way back down through Lucretia’s abode and into the tunnel, making sure we left no tracks, and that the door was still hidden. Fortunately with the rangers on hand we can post a double watch through the night and still be well rested at day break.

== Moonday, Pharast 3, 4708; Within Fort Rannick; Late Morning ==

The night passed uneventfully for us, but when we returned to the main level of the keep we heard the sound of ogres investigating the carnage of the night before.

“I smell man stink!”

Ogres must have a much better sense of smell than I reckoned, and my plan to throw them off by displaying the hands of their fallen comrades was for naught.

We thought there might be two ogres out there, and decided to lure them down the hall where we could swiftly take them out one by one, using Hold Person on the rear ogre to prevent escape and the warning of others.

As it turned out there were three ogres, but events still went according to plan, and we hid their corpses as Avia confirmed the same presence of evil above as before.

The upper part of the keep was a broad round tower cut into the rock wall, with a narrower, taller tower embedded in its northeast quadrant. The stairs took us up into a wide hallway with several sets of doors.

Quietly Avia pointed out the doors behind which she felt the most powerful of the evil presences. One was to the west of the hall, and the other south of where the hall turned to the west.

Our plan is to quickly confront the strong source of evil to the west, which is by itself, and then quickly move to encounter the second malignant source to the south.

We hope that a Silence spell will extend our element of surprise past the first fight, and we can focus our fury on one opponent at a time.

All is ready and we are about to launch our westward attack!

== Moonday, Pharast 3, 4708; Within Fort Rannick; Late Morning ==

Success! Now on through the southern door while Silence still prevails.

Moonday, Pharast 3

After some discussion, it was decided that we should hide Lucretia’s body in the apparently unused secret passages while we rested. It was tempting to move forward after this invigorating victory, but the truth was, many of our spells and weapons had been used up getting this far. Prudence suggested we rest and regain our spells, sharpen our weapons, and carefully plan our next move. While taking out Lucretia this early in the campaign was an unexpected bonus, we could still not afford to be careless.

From her lifeless (and, to be certain, headless) body we took

a wand of scorching ray (22 charges) [270]
a +1 keen rapier [271]
another sihedron medallion [272] that conveys upon its wearer:

+1 resistance to all saving throws
ability to invoke false life once per day, and
preserve body if placed on a dead person (per gentle repose)

masterwork dagger [273]

There was also (unfortunately) ashes of paper (maps? scrolls? thanks to the power of fireball, we’ll never know) and some corked wine.

Still being relatively rested, we were determined to find out how overrun the fort truly was. With Lucretia defeated, we “only” had to clear the fort of ogres to declare victory. Jakardos estimated a group our size might be able to handle as many as three ogres at one time, but much more than that would overwhelm us. We needed to choose our battles carefully.

The room immediately adjoining ours was determined to be cells. Judging from the fresh blood, recently used too. But given how well they knew the fort, Jakardos and Vale convinced us we could gain much more information about the state of the world if they were to go do reconnaisance for a half hour.

True to their word, thirty minutes later they returned to tell us there did not appear to be guards in the towers. No real surprise there, as we don’t think the ogres could fit in the stairwells leading to the sentry positions. In general, although yes, there were ogres (real ogres, not ogrekin) about the fort, they were not in a state of readiness, and Lucretia’s death (and the battle that caused it) had not yet been noted. About a half dozen ogres vaguely resembled a patrol outside, and Jakardos and Vale agreed that there were probably many more housed inside, in the barracks or mess hall.

While fighting in darkness offered us no particular advantage (indeed, at least one among us said the ogres could see better in the night than we) the ogres were still diurnal, and more of them would be resting now than in the morning. It was decided we would see if we could clear out a few ogres. Quietly. Sneakily. Methodically. Leave no ogres behind us, then retreat to our known safe area (Lucretia’s former room) without leaving a trail.

Jakardos, Vale, and Shelelu were going to secure the front gate (if it could still be secured) to prevent outside ogres from coming in. A quiet, ten minute inspection revealed it would not be secure again anytime soon. The battle for the fort had damaged it beyond use.

Shelelu manned the near tower, while Jakardos and Vale were to man the more distant towers. They could alert us if an alarm roused significant numbers of ogres out in the courtyard or beyond. And off we went, hunting big game.

We were not disappointed. Although the first room was an uninhabited library (although trashed), the next room seemed to be an infirmary. However, a corpse there had been posed in a manner that suggested it was eating its own entrails. From the corner came some snoring. Sabin tried to sneak up on it, but failing that, he instead engaged it in battle. It was quickly dispatched as Nolin and Darrell assisted.

The next room we checked seemed to have been the kitchen. Destroyed, like the other rooms thus far. It hadn’t really been used .. just trashed.

The next rooms we searched seemed to have been bedrooms but were also trashed, and empty.

Finally we reached a set of double doors. Avia informed us there was 5 to 6 sources of evil on the other side .. too many for us to safely handle at once. We would return to this door later.

Avia sensed one evil entity behind another door, and two behind yet another. Sabin again tried stealth. No go. Nolin joined him and the two of them shut the door (to keep the noise inside).

About this same time, I had a cool idea. I used the hat of disguise to appear as Lucretia (in her human form). Even though I could not speak Ogre, I expected that the ogres would recognize her figure and if she’d curried the reputation I expect she had, they would try very hard to please her even if she spoke common.

Meanwhile, Nolin and Sabin made sounds of battle in the room with the one ogre. The two of them were apparently having some difficulty dispatching him.

Darrell and Avia positioned themselves on either side of the door to the room with two ogres in it. Before they could move to enter, the door burst open, and an ogre wearing human armor (hint: it didn’t fit well) stumbled out. It looked surprised, but then it found itself unable to move as Tekkad’s hold spell took effect. That one was easily dispatched by Darrell (once the initial shock of it all dissipated), but the second ogre emerged in time to see its companion eviscerated. It yelled loudly, and the element of surprise was lost. There was some distant commotion in the room we believed to be the barracks, and it became critical to dispatch these ogres quickly. The one that Nolin and Sabin were fighting met its maker about then, and while the one before Avia and Darrell was not held or restricted in any way, it still faced a handicap in the form of an angry paladin. It too died obligingly.

Tekkad quickly ran over to the double doors we’d inspected before, and using another spell, pulled up some of the floor to act as a barrier, preventing the doors from opening. I, still disguised as Lucretia, positioned myself at the doors at the other end of the room. I was hoping to get the ogres inside to stay inside long enough to let a fireball be effective, and I thought the appearance of Lucretia might be enough. And it worked, sort of.

As the first ogre came out, I yelled, halt! My grand plan might have worked, but for the fact that Darrell came up and attacked the mildly confused ogre before I could launch my fireball. The ogre promptly pushed me behind him and started to fight this “new menace” while protecting me. Doing so made my shot into the barracks unavailable. Sigh. I backed into the closet so that I was disengaged from the ogre. Before he was killed, however, we heard a massive thundering of the south wall of the barracks. Apparently the other ogres inside were impatient, and beginning to break down the wall. Things were quickly getting out of hand.

However about this time my protector ogre fell … and that allowed me clear passage to shoot a fireball into the barracks. About the same time, the south wall gave way and three ogres confronted our fighters in the hallway, with more still within the room. However, a second fireball and a couple of solid hits by our fighters finished off all the ogres.

And as near as we can tell, it had all happened quietly enough, in ogre terms, that no reinforcements were coming. Avia could detect some strong sources of evil upstairs, but by this time we were low on spells, strength, and stamina. We tried leaving bloody ogre handprints on the wall, as Jakardos told us that was the calling sign of a rival band of ogres and we thought that might make sow dissension among the ogres.

Useful stuff we found:

potion of cure moderate wounds [274]
a +1 hide shirt [275]
a +1 ogre hook [276]
a composite long bow [277]; big, maybe masterwork. 24ST to use.
20 arrows [278]

We quietly made our way back to our safeplace, recalled our watchtower people, set some guards, and recovered.

When we awoke, it was mid morning and there’d been no incidents. However, there were roving ogre guards investigating the carnage we’d created the night before. Sabin said they were complaining about “man stink” which means our efforts to make it appear the work of a rival clan had gone for naught.

Our goal this morning would be to go after the sources of evil that Avia detected upstairs. Before we could make much progress on that goal, our scouts ran into one three ogre team that, fortunately, thought they had easy pickings on their mighty mitts and did not raise an alarm but instead pursued “the food” for themselves. The scouts led them right back to us where we dispatched them fairly quickly. Tekkad was becoming adept at casting hold on the creatures, which made several of the battles much simpler.

We hid the bodies, and quietly headed upstairs.

The first room we checked had an ogre quietly humming to himself .. most unbecoming of an ogre. He apparently was happily desecrating an altar. The walls in the chapel were covered by many many .. antlers I guess. Bits of flesh still hung from many of the antlers. Tekkad cast a silence spell, but I fear in hindsight it may only hinder ourselves. The ogre seemed unconcerned when we presented ourselves, and we soon found out why. He or one of his belongings seemed to confer upon him a berserker ability that made him quite dangerous.

Nevertheless we were able to overcome him. Jakardos took a significant wound in the fighting, but has been partially healed. We found

[279] hook
[280] 2 potions
[281] bracers
[282] belt

but will have to identify them later. We are preparing now to assault another room.

28 Calastril (still)

Jakardos, it seems, is Shelelu’s stepfather. He left when she was young, and it seems they have some issues to resolve. However, finding his stepdaughter seems, to me, to have lightened his step a bit.

However, Jakardos wants to retake the fort. I can understand the sentiment, but do we have enough people? (If we don’t, are there any other qualified peoples near enough to help?)

In any case, first things first. This farmhouse and homestead may have once been home to a hopeful, thriving family, but now it’s just … infested. We set it to fire in an attempt to destroy any physical indication of its presence. While the bonfire raged, Jakardos told us of the attack on the fort.

It was known among the rangers that ogres were about. A small clan called the Kreegs was known to live near the fort, and was the source of occasional skirmishes. They were just that — skirmishes — and never developed into full blown assaults. However, one day they noticed plumes of smoke from their area, like they were working on something. A scouting party of three was sent out … and never returned.

Fort Rannick was staffed with about two dozen rangers, so losing three was significant but not crippling. Patrols were increased and –

At this point, Kaven got upset and impatient with Jakardos, complaining that all these details were neither pertinent nor important. The ogres attacked in numbers, he said, and overthrew the defenses. The patrol that he and Jakardos and Vale were on had six rangers for safety, but perhaps in hindsight that just left the fort undermanned. “Well maybe,” replied Jakardos, “but we were delayed. Had we not needed to go back to town -” “Not this again!” exclaimed Kaven. “We had to! The captain of the guard had asked me to pick up the weapons! Curse him for the request now, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him we’d decided that doing so would just take too much time!”

Clearly there was some friction here. It seemed there may even be more information here.

Tekkad and I volunteered to gently interrogate Kaven some more. Tekkad talked to him a bit during the day, learning more of his background like why he joined the rangers (5 year service or jail owing to some repeatedly reckless rowdiness) Then in the evening, we used my age (close to his but a little younger) as a pretense for my hanging out with him at the pub. With Sabin ready to detect thoughts, I began a conversation which eventually turned to events surrounding the situation at the fort. It seems that Kaven was much more of a regular at the Paradise boat than he’d previously revealed, and was particularly taken with the proprietor of the boat, a woman named Lucretia. Even though the ship burned several weeks ago, Kaven had been in touch with her since then, and she’d asked a few “favors” of him. The biggest one was to learn more about the makeup and defenses of the fort, the better (we presume) to plan the attack.

He was actually supposed to be back in time for the attack to meet with her, but he decided it might be better not to be there when arrows and swords and magic were being tossed about. It’s not clear whether his treasonous revelation of fort defenses or his cowardly diversion to avoid getting back in time was more responsible for the deaths of his comrades, but he seemed to think little of it. He very much was concerned with himself and asked me to put in a good word with “our leader” about possibly joining our group himself.

With Tekkad occasionally interrupting with quiet statements about having found someone who knew about the attack and the conspirators, Kaven became very concerned about meeting this person and “learning the truth” himself. Sadly, for him, we had made sure Jakardos was listening nearby, so when our “conspirator” — actually Derrel, using my hat of diguise — got the conversation going, Jakardos was there to hear Kaven’s self incriminating statements.

He was immediately placed in shackles by an angry Jakardos. While Kaven seemed concerned about his immediate future, he did not seem to express the same concern about his fallen comrades. He seemed to feel he was owed a good and comfortable life, but his actions had earned him neither. I got the sense I was about to witness some “frontier justice” but for now, he was just jailed.

The fort is 4-5 hours away riding, but while riding will get us there quicker, it will also be noisier. Tomorrow, we will leave on foot.

1 Pharast

We are bringing Kaven along in shackles; I’m not sure why. It seems to me he would be nothing but a risk.

As we set up camp about dusk, a whistle was heard. Vale responded with a shrill of his own, and a messenger stepped out of the woods. Apparently our message to Magnimar had been expedited, and a response sent similarly. The messenger reported that Magnimar wanted us to scout out the situation. “If you retake the fort,” said the message, “Magnimar will be greatful.”

That sounds like more reward money to me!

2 Pharast

Jakardos was prepared, I think, to execute Kaven in these woods and leave his body, but a couple of the religious people in our group believed he deserved a chance at redemption rather than death. I know I was friendly to him in my talk and all but really – would you want this guy at your back? I don’t see how he can be trusted again after this major major moral breakdown. But Jakardos eventually yielded with an idea that still carried some punishment — he would be chained to a tree here, off the beaten path, and guarded by the bear. If we died, he would too, probably, but much more slowly. If we found a chance for him to redeem himself, we’d come back to get him.

There supposedly was an entrance to one of the secret passages to the inside of the fort behind the waterfall at one end. However, there were ogres patrolling, and a storm was raging and we thought a flash of lightning might well highlight us at an inopportune moment. So we waited an hour or two for the storm to subside, and then made our move.

Behind the waterfalls was a latticework of wet boards, which almost proved our undoing barely as our mission began. Fortunately, nobody fell, but we proceeded cautiously.

We surprised two modest sized lizards that seemed to be blocking our way. Before Jakardos could adequately warn us, we attacked them — and they apparently quite capable of harnessing and projecting static electricity in large bolts. Six of our parties took significant damage from the electrical discharge as Jakardos belatedly told us not to bother the “shocker lizards”. Yeah. Good advice.

We found ourselves in the fort’s secret armory. Since Jakardos seemed as surprised as we were, we asked him if this had been created since the takeover. He shrugged his shoulders and admitted he didn’t really know WHAT was in the tunnels, as he’d never been in them before.

In the armory we did find [267] six arrows, shocking burst, +2

But. Interesting. No guide. Hmm.

We came to a point where there appeared to be a dead end, but sharp-eyed Rigel was able to find a lever that opened a secret door. This seemed to lead into a crypt area, and, why, sure enough, a spectre emerged to attack us. Jakardos took a “hit” from it that seemed to weaken him greatly, but we did manage to kill it nevertheless after a while.

We followed several other passage for a while, and at one point Tekkad cast silence over an opening that appeared to go outside, and indeed it did. It was a way into a courtyard, at least, but we’d heard tales of tunnels that went under the fort, so we redoubled our search efforts.

Finally, we were rewarded — Rigel found a secret door and upon opening it safely and quietly we found we were looking into a room from behind a tapestry. There was exotic incense and a red-hued light. A wall of red silk blocked our way, although it was easily lifted if we wished.

Doing so we saw a beautiful lady in the room. Now all this time I’d been unable to fire off a fireball because it would have been to dangerous to my friends, but now they turned to me and quietly signalled that the time was right for an explosion of fire. Quietly I mumbled the words and made the gestures and … whooosh, the whole room seemed to catch on fire. Kane blessed everyone and the fight was on.

First Nolin, then Sabin, and eventually everyone ran into the room. The lady, which we suspected to be Lucretia from previous descriptions, branded us “brigands” and “evil doers” before reverting herself to her more natural state — half snake, half human. My contribution to the battle was magic missiles, which seemed to be more likely to do damage of some sort than many of the weapons that my companions carried.

Eventually, she was defeated, but it took a surprising amount of effort on our part. She tried to escape out the door, but we followed her and took her down in the hallway at the top of the stairs. Yeah, I know, I’m winded too, running stair drills. But on the plus side, resting and wheezing give me time to write this all up.

== Fireday, Calistril 28, 4708; Turtleback Ferry; Evening ==

While the rest of the party prepared to burn the farm-stead to the ground, I assisted Jakardros and the other rangers create a pyre for their fallen comrades. As the flames consumed their mortal remains I performed the Rights of Passage and asked Pharasma to receive their souls.

Afterward, as the fires eagerly fed upon the house and barn, ridding the world of the taint contained therein, we prepared for our return to town. While we we made ready to depart we questioned Jakardros closely on the ogre attack, and how it was possible that the fort could have been captured while so stoutly manned by the renown Black Arrows.

He informed us that the Kreeg valley had been home to a large family of ogres for many years, and by using Fort Rannick as their base the Black Arrows had kept them in check. Some forty years ago ogres from across the area banded together and assaulted the fort, but were foiled by the fort’s defenses and utterly defeated.

Recently there had been an increase in ogre activity, and a week before the attack a thick plume of black smoke was spotted off in the distance, and a scouting party sent to investigate. The scouting party never returned and the Black Arrows increased their patrols.

A day before the attack Jakardros and his patrol had set out, but were delayed in Turtleback Ferry. Here Jakardros looked sharply at Kaven, who walked off in a huff saying, “Not this again.”

It appears that Kaven had kept the patrol in town a day longer because he had forgotten to pick up an order of weapons for Captain Bedan, the fort commander, from the blacksmith.

As it turned out, Kaven had volunteered for that particular patrol, and was the most recent “recruit,” although “draftee” may have been a more accurate description of his enlistment into the Black Arrows. He had been a troubled youth and had committed a series of misdeeds, escalating in severity, in town, after which he was forced to chose between five years of service with the rangers or prison.

We immediately became suspicious of Kaven, and after a brief interview we learned that he had been a regular customer of the Paradise, and that he thought highly of the boat’s owner, Lucrecia.

On the ride back to town we continued to question Jakardros about the fort, and because we suspected it had fallen by treachery on the inside, we asked about any secret entrances. And of course they existed: ancient tunnels delved beneath the fortress itself, which in the past had been used for burial of the fallen Black Arrows and as storage. Jakardros had never been in these tunnels himself, but knew at least one entrance was hidden behind a waterfall near the fort.

This brought the conversation around to the layout of Fort Rannick itself. It was nestled near the head of a valley, with a wide and fast creek flowing at the fort’s feet. The fort settled back into the cliff wall of the surrounding mountains, and a massive two story wall with watch towers ran from cliff wall to cliff wall. A smaller wall within separated an inner keep from a yard. Well fortified gates led out to bridges that crossed the stream and plunged into the woods on the opposite side of the water.

Further up the valley was a large reservoir, held back by a large stone damn.

We asked the ranger what purpose would capturing the fort serve, but his only thought was that it would allow the ogres free range over the entire area.

I had a much darker thought, and asked him what would be the consequences if the reservoir damn were destroyed. Jakardros blanched at that question, and my worst suspicions confirmed: it would wipe out all settlements and towns in the area, including Turtleback Ferry.

I then rode over next to Kaven and asked him about his life with the Black Arrows. Overall he seemed content, but he found the daily drudgery of life in the fort a bit dull, and longed to lead a more adventurous life. I told him about our suspicion that the enemy had found a way into the fort, and asked for his help in solving this riddle. At first he was a bit suspicious, but I told him he was only one of three survivors of the massacre (true enough), and that we needed his assistance if we were to understand what had happened and retake the fort.

He too mentioned the tunnels, but was less aware of their particulars than Jakardros, but then he gave a queer look and suggested someone could gain entrance via the kitchen’s trash chute.

We arrived back in town without incident, and paid extra to send a fast and secure high priority message to Magnimar about the fall of Fort Rannick at the hands of an organized force of ogres.

Trask, who was perhaps closest in age and temperament to Kaven, took him to the bar at the inn for a night of drinking and conversation. Sabin and I were seated at a nearby table, quietly watching and waiting. Rigel was on hand as barmaid and served up extra potent drinks for Kaven while keeping Task sober with a watered brew.

Trask, who has a gift for the gab, was able to turn the conversation this way and that, and quickly learned that Kaven was self centered and longed for the care free life of adventure, or at least his idealized version of it: pillaging the countryside in a life of drunken debauchery. He was trying to cozy Trask to the idea of his joining our group.

As Trask turned the talk to recent events, he discretely signaled Sabin, who began to listen in on Kaven’s thought’s via a Detect Thoughts spell.

Kaven was more than just taken with Lucrecia: he doted on her and would do much to please her. His primary thought was what would happen since he was not able to meet with her after the attack on the fort. He had apparently disobeyed her when he kept the patrol in Turtleback Ferry an extra night to avoid the attack: Lucrecia had wanted him present for that little affair.

I fueled the conversation by dropping by and whispering to Trask in a not too quiet tone that Avia and Nolin had discovered someone involved in the attack and that he had agreed to give the names of the other conspirators.

Kaven seemed quite upset by this and begged to attend the questioning of this informant. We agreed and set our trap on the edge of the forest just outside of town.

Derrel, the monk who had been captured by the ogrekin, agreed to play the part of the informant, masked with the hat of disguises and a scarf around his face. Avia served as his captor and guard.

Nolin told Jakardros of our suspicions, and he and Vale hid behind the trees as we brought Kaven over to witness the questioning of our fictitious witness.

The entire affair went as predicted. Kaven admitted to providing Lucrecia with information on how to get into the fort unseen, and justified his actions by pointing out he had saved the life of those on patrol. Both ogres and giants were involved in the attack, but the success was only assured with secret access to the inside. His primary desire now was to join us on the road and get as far away from Turtleback Ferry and Fort Rannick as possible.

At no point in time had Lucrecia threatened him or his loved ones, and so he did not betray the Black Arrows out of fear to protect himself or others. He had completely and willingly betrayed everyone he knew to impress Lucrecia.

There was no guilt or remorse over his actions that led to the death of virtually every ranger in Fort Rannick. No shame that he directly led to the death of three additional rangers of his own patrol, and put the entire population of the Kreeg valley at risk. Nothing but an eagerness to join in with what he saw as a life of privilege and partying.

Jakardros had heard enough and had Vale shackle Kaven in irons and place him in the local jail. He wanted Kaven to be completely sober in the morning to face his charges.

We feared Lucrecia or her minions might be lurking about and free him, but he was beneath her care or concern and we spent an event less night on watch.

== Starday, Pharast 1, 4708; Off the Road to Hook Mountain; Evening ==

In the morning we decided to travel up to Fort Rannick and see what could be done in retaking it, especially with the knowledge of the secret tunnels beneath, of which we hoped Lucrecia was still ignorant.

Jakardros and Vale would accompany us and serve as guides up to and around the fort. Derrel and Shelalu would also come along and provide much needed tactical support.

We decided to travel on foot and packed accordingly.

As we were readying to leave Jakardros and Vale joined us with Kaven still chained in irons. Jakardros answered our questioning looks with “We’re going on patrol,” and left it at that.

We would have an easy journey of two days to reach the fort on foot, and so we set out into the damp and gloomy morning. We covered much the same ground as the day before, but this time after crossing the river we remained on the main road.

The day remained thickly overcast and wet, and we made our camp off the road just before sunset. And it was a cheerless and fire-less evening, with an ever present fear of discovery haunting us.

Perhaps an hour later we heard a whistle from the direction of the road, and Vale stood and returned the call. A few tense moments later a runner from Turtleback Ferry came into camp with a reply to our message from Magnimar, “Proceed to scout the Fort. Retake it if the opportunity arises, and you will find Magnimar most grateful.”

It was most convenient that the reply matched exactly our intended actions, and that our efforts would be appreciated.

The messenger was invited to spend the evening in the relatively safety of our camp and return to town on the morrow.

We have set the watch as the dank and dark closes in around us, but sleep does not come easily. It is the first day of Pharast, and I wonder at how fast the year is flying past.

== Sunday, Pharast 2, 4708; Off the Road to Hook Mountain; Morning ==

The day has begun with an unexpected debate about what to do with Kaven.

Jakardros and Vale had planned to take him out on an early last patrol this morning, but in the night several of my companions had pleaded for his life, and so we have wasted precious hours debating Kaven’s future.

The man is a psychopath. The plight of others, or how they are affected by his actions do not even enter into his thoughts. I have seen this before and seen the fruits of any mercy shown to the likes of him. He will not change, and if allowed to live he will continue to heap misery and woe (or worse) onto others.

In the end it was decided to tie him securely to the base of a tree with provisions near at hand for several days. The bear is to guard him to ensure he does not escape and betray us all.

Pity. We could have used the bear.

== Sunday, Pharast 2, 4708; Outside Fort Rannick; Afternoon ==

The weather worsened as we approached Fort Rannick. Thunderstorms dogged us for the past few hours, drenching us with sheets of torrential rain and pelting us with unrelenting hail. Blast after blast of cold air buffeted us as the wind screamed among the tree tops. Lightening struck all around us as thunder boomed and echoed about the surrounding hills.

And once we have arrived we find that all of the storms had gathered here: bunched up before the bulk of Hook Mountain and unable to pass further west. And here they vented their frustration at wood, stone, river and us.

But the racket of the storm is good, because it covers any stray noise we may make as we look out from the forest onto Fort Rannick.

The fortress huddled against the foot of Hook Mountain as if it too were trying to shelter against the storm. Despite the gloom from the storm we saw that the layout is exactly as Jakardros described.

We saw many ogres patrolling along the top of the outer wall, and a few on the inner wall as well.

Jakardros pointed west, from which the river rounds the mountain spur, and said beyond was a pool, into which the river fell many feet in a fall. And behind the fall was the entrance to the secret caves.

The forest in which we are hid peters out in that direction, and the land becomes rocky and barren. We feared that we would be easily spotted from the ogres on the wall with the constant flashes of lightening, and so we decided to wait until dusk to set out.

As we waited we watched foraging parties of ogres head out and down river, and then return hours later.

== Sunday, Pharast 2, 4708; Inside Fort Rannick; Night ==

It was dark when we set out to the waterfall, and we moved slowly among the rocks before we found a narrow path that lead around to the pool and waterfall. We then carefully picked our way around the fall’s basin and slipped behind the cascading sheet of water.

We found ourselves in a large natural cavern with rotting wooden planks leading further in. It was near pitch black, but we dared not show any light, and so with Sabin in front we crept single file down a long straight tunnel deeper into the mountain.

In the next chamber we risked some light and brought out ever burning torches. We were gathered in the middle of large chamber, part natural and part chiseled out of the surrounding rock. The rangers obviously used this as an emergency armory, and we quickly surveyed the contents, finding mostly average weapons.

There were half a dozen magic arrows, which we gave to Rigel, and Sabin took a bow and quiver of arrows, which freed up his crossbow and bolts for me to use.

[267] 6 arrows of +2 shocking burst (all used in the ensuing battle)

As we searched about the crates a pair of large lizards scurried into the room. Jakardros made some disparaging noise about them, and Sabin attacked one. The result surprised us as an electrical arc jumped from the struck lizard to the other followed by a blast of lightening the seriously singed our party.

Heading Jakardros’ advice we left the lizards alone as they fled down an eastern passageway. This left us with an exit to the north, which we followed to a long cavern split by a vast fissure in the ground. A wood plank bridge crossed this deep dark gap and another tunnel awaited us on the far side.

After some distance this tunnel forked, and finding the right fork dead ended in what looked like a large secret door, we followed the left to a large room carved with many niches. In each niche was a fully armored body. One body lay crumpled in the center of the room. Jakardros said that the Black Arrows used to bury their dead here until the crypt was full.

As he said this a specter faded into view, and Jakardros approached it, naively greeting it as a fallen cousin. It quickly abused him of this notion as the rest of us counter attacked and killed the thing.

We returned to the large secret door and I cast a silence spell on the area as Nolin pulled the lever and a large rock door swung out and up. The fort’s inner yard lay before us, with the inner wall just to our right. But this was not where we needed to be, and so we closed the door and returned to the armory to try the other tunnel.

This quickly dropped down into a twisty maze of passages, all different. There were a number of lizards here, but moving slowly we safely explored the area and found a passage to another secret door to the north.

We used a flask of oil to lubricate the hinges and rock on which the door would swing, and after dowsing our torches, Nolin gently pulled the door inward.

A warm light spilled into our passageway accompanied by the smell of burning incense. A silk hanging was before the opening. Rigel lifted the bottom of the silk up a few inches and peeped into the room.

This had been the fort’s jail keeper’s chambers, but it had been redecorated with red silk hangings on the the walls (fortunately for us) and soft cushions lined the floor. An elegant well dressed lady stood in the center of the room with her back towards us (again, fortunately for us).

Avia was gesticulating wildly, leaving no doubt that the lady had a very strong aura of evil.

We were already prepared for combat, and so Trask peeked beneath the silk and launched a fireball into the room. As soon as it detonated we charged into the room and launched our attack.

Oddly enough the lady appeared to have been unscathed by the fireball, and called out to us to join her. We did, but not in the way she intended.

This was indeed Lucrecia, and we were determined that she should meet her end there and then. And yet the battle did not go entirely our way. Like Xunesia before her, Lucrecia was a Lamia Matriarch, and her touch drained will power from her foes, and she attacked viciously with a deadly skill to devastating effect.

And yet we were getting the best of her when she launched a lightening bolt at Avia and fled out the door and up a corridor. Unfortunately for her all of our fighters had been Hasted by Sabin, and Nolin chased after her (having been given Desna’s Blessing from Kane just a moment before), striking her dead at the foot of the stairway at the end of the hallway.

We have hauled her corpse back into her chamber and are searching about for clues or items that might aid us in taking the fort. The seriously injured are being healed, and we are doing what we can to restore the lost willpower for those afflicted by Lucrecia’s touch.

I must say that I am rather disappointed in how little our two rangers aided us in battle. Both Jakardros and Vale hung back safely in the corridor until the battle was practically won before springing forth to help. I certainly hope they fare better with the ogres.