== 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.