The party heads north. The lathes, sawhorses, and other tools in this workroom lie in scattered, shattered ruin on the floor. Another monstrous ogre picks through the supplies but is interrupt by the party's arrive. He turns and roars!
Kaplan moves to Ventus' side and unleashes a quick fire bolt before the party engages the foe.
;
Eli winces at the Ogre's roar before he readies and tosses a bomb at it.
Jessamy dashes forward as the flames from Eli's bombs clear and stabs at the ogre.
"Ha!" she shouts in exultation as her blade strikes home.
Kaplan and Eli's explosives sear the ogre but this one seems much hardier than the ones looting the armory. Before it can react Jess steps in and buries one of her blades in its side as well.
Pirknok hurries into the room as well, swinging his sword with the intent to take the ogre's head off!
Ventus swings hard with his shield attempting to take the ogre off its feet despite his common sense grumbling in the back of his mind.
Pirknok and Ventus wound the mammoth ogre further but Ventus finds that the beast is every bit as solid as it looks and doesn't move an inch.
The wounded giant retrieves a massive hooked blade and with a roar takes a swing at the ranger.
Pirknok winces at the crunching sound as the ogre hits Ventus, then takes an extra-solid grip on his weapon and attacks.
Forcing the blade away from his doubtlessly broken ribs with a certain suicidal persistence, Ventus spits blood and advances on the creature with his own fury.
Wincing at the power of the blow that hit Ventus, Jessamy whips her second blade from the sheath, stabbing both swords at the ogre.
Eli draws another bomb and lobs it into the melee, aiming to bounce the explosion away from his comrades.
The brute continues to weather the storm of the party's combined attacks until Eli's bomb catches it in the chest. With a groan, it crashes to the ground.
Sorting through the thoroughly scattered contents of the room, the party finds assorted goods. The ones that stand out are a few scrolls and a wand.
Moving up the hall the party discovers several guest rooms. All have been similarly tosses. All of lacking anything useful or interesting.
The last room looks to have been some kind of library. A long table with benches to either side sits in this room opposite a bookshelf filled with dozens of books, most of which have been torn from the shelves, mangled, and then messily stuffed back in place.
Pirknok shakes his head sadly at the sight of the ruined books. Mr. Quink would be so upset... why would anyone do something like this? Were they looking for something?
"We'd better take a closer look at these books when we get a chance." Eli says, frowning at the destruction.
"Gimme a hand patching up," Ventus requests of Kaplan.
"Aye, Ventus," the older dwarf says, handing the ranger the wand.
A search of the library uncovers little of clear value but a sweep with detect magic uncovers a magic tome.
Moving further west the party finds another storage area. Crates, barrels, and a stack of firewood have been smashed apart and heaped in a tangled pile in the corner of this room. A flight of stairs leads down to the west.
Pirknok tilts his head a bit, eying the two staircases and then turning to eye the direction the group came. Reaching up to scratch his beard, he frowns. Where would he be? He's an ogre... he'd come in here like this...
Hunching over slightly, he takes a few steps in the direction one would enter the fort. Hmm...
Pirknok shrugs helplessly and leads the way back to the remaining rooms on this floor.
"Yeah, let's finish looking through this floor before we go up or down," Jessamy agrees, looking around for any more signs of their quarry.
"Why are you hunching over?" she asks as they move on. "Is your back hurting?"
"Huh?" asks Pirknok, looking up from his study of the fort. "Oh, nah... ah wuz jus' wunnerin' wut if ah wuz uh ogre."
Jessamy screws her face up in confusion.
"Wouldn't we have to kill you if you were an ogre?"
Checking across the hall, Ventus finds another larger room. This ramshackle area is a mess of smashed tables, broken crockery, and rubble. No living thing stirs here. It looks like this is where the rangers took their meals, this chamber is now just another demolished room.
Checking the next room over, it looks like this area was once used to house the wounded and sick. This chamber is now a slice of blood-drenched nightmare. Bodies litter the sick beds and the floor is slick with gore. A dead fat man sits at one of the operating tables. It looks like he was caught unaware and slain where he was sitting.
Another ogre is on guard here. He roars in surprise when the party enters.
The dwarf blinks a few times in mirrored confusion. "Ah'm not uh ogre, ah'm a dwarf... ah wuz jus' thinkin' wut if ah wuz wun, then whar wud ah be in here. 'sides, we didint kill thuh uhther ogres we found, did we?"
At the sight of the ogre guard, Pirknok grunts and moves in to bring his sword to bear.
"We're going to kill this one, aren't we?" Jessamy shoots back with a grin.
Leaping forward, she stabs the brute with her blades.
Eli looks for a clear shot as he primes another bomb. He is increasingly grim at the sight of all the death and destruction.
The party rushes the guard wounding him gravely but despite the rain of vicious attacks, the giant stays on his feet. With a growl he brings his brutal hook to bear, swiping madly as he retreats a step.
Pirknok steps forward again, anger flashing in his eyes as he swings at the big brute.
Kaplan lets off another fire bolt.
;
Reeling from the blow that almost cut her in half, Jessamy staggers forward, swinging again at the giant, though the pain and blood loss throws off her aim.
Ventus catches the swinging hook with his shield and pursues the retreating ogre with a fire in his eyes.
Kaplan's shot is obscured by the frantic melee and Ventus and Pirknok fail to get past the ogre's ramshackle, but surprisingly effective, armor. Jess manages to sneak one attack in wounding the beast further.
Eli draws another bomb and aims it at the Ogre's side to keep the blast radius from endangering his allies.
Eli’s bomb careers off course ruining his quick calculations and exploding amid the melee.
Fortunately it scatters behind the ogre and the explosion misses his allies.
The heavily wounded giant roars in defiance and attacks again.