Even though the thought of a heroic moment of diving past the gnoll enters Tronar's mind, prudence the better sign here. He steps up and wields his long spear at the gnoll.
10'reach (bless and inspire)
(inspire)
"Ahhhhrrrg!! This is stupid and mundane! Cover me. The next move I make will engulf these beasts in flame."
This is less than good..." Avendryl thinks to himself while continuing his song.
[i]Here's hoping for a little luck.[i] he thinks taking aim at the ogre on the right.
(inspire, bless, PBS, cover)
(inspire, PBS)
And Bless? Dangit! Ok, +1 more for my spell!
Fezzik swings again at the ogre he hit previously, trying to finish it off.
Avendryl injures the ogre on the right again, but still it stands. Fezzik swings and hits hard with his sword, knocking the ogre's club to the ground, followed by the ogre itself.
Tronar's spear thrust misses, but Zinnath blasts the ogre on the left, and it too collapses.
The gnoll takes the opportunity to swing at Tronar...
The ogre boss steps up to trade blows with Fezzik!
Tronar changes his mind about stepping into the breach and prefers to continue trying take out this gnoll.
Zinnath will fire a ray of cold at the gnoll, unless Tronar took it out, in which case, he will fire at the remaining ogre.
vs touch
Fezzik grimaces in pain as the ogre's battleaxe cuts into his side. "Forgot how hard they can hit," he thinks to himself as he tries to respond with a hit of his own but the pain in his side causes his strike to miss.
Avendryl continues his song while taking a pot shot at the ogre leader.
(bless, inspire, PBS)
(inspire, PBS)
With his reach, the ogre boss easily chops into Domeric again as he tries to stand up.
The ogre boss absorbs Zinnath's frost ray and Avendryl's arrow but keeps fighting. The gnoll is not so lucky, as Tronar blasts him into ground round.
Allies: ”I am going to stop attacking and start trying to keep Fezzik up.”
Bataleigh retreats a ways and then holds forth her emblazoned buckler, calling on the healing power of Pelor.
Bat's healing power washes over the group to give them another inkling of hope, while the ogre boss roars, "Me bigger than you! Me stronger! Me WINNER!" as he hacks at Fezzik again.
It's a good thing for Bat's healing power or the party's front line would be in real trouble!
Bat keeps the healing flowing.
Avendryl stops his song, feeling that providing more healing to the boss's obvious target, Fezzik.
"Come on, big guy, drop this bastard."
Zinnath readies to cast vanish on Fezzik, when the ogre goes to attack him again.
Tronar expends the last of his arcane reservoir trying to finish of the boss.
The ogre reels on his heels as Domeric smashes his sword down into the mismatched scale suit. Pieces of armor fly off and skitter along the floor or bounce off the walls. Then, like a machine that's damaged but can't stop, the ogre raises his axe again slowly.
Tronar blasts him with magical bolts of force, but he reels and then turns his slow spinning motion into momentum for his axe.
Fezzik grits his teeth and attacks the ogre, hoping to finish it off following the other attacks.
The ogre boss leans in, then suddenly stumbles back, draws back his axe, and prepares to swing at Fezzik. That's all the opening that Fezzik needs; he plunges his sword all the way through the ogre boss. The boss grunts, weakly grabs the sword blade, then slides off and falls over backward with a loud BOOM and the clatter of his wrecked armor as he hits the floor.
"Huzzah!! Loot the bodies!
Group: ”Fezzik, these guys might have things you can use big guy!”
Fezzik pauses to catch his breath after the tough fight. At Zinnath's comment he walks over to the ogres to inspect their equipment. "I just got new armor but maybe the javelins," he says as he leans down to pick up the large weapons.
A thorough search turns up mostly mundane martial gear...
* 1 large battleaxe
* 1 large scale mail armor
* 2 large clubs
* 2 large armored coats
* 5 morning stars
* 2 longswords
* 2 composite long bows (no strength modifier)
* 30 arrows
* 5 hand axes
Most of the skeletons' gear is low quality and not really worth salvaging, but among the piles of bones you find:
* 15 arrows
* 4 silver arrows
* 5 morning stars
* 3 longswords
* 2 shortswords
* 3 light wooden shields
* 1 ring mail
* 2 chain mail
* 1 half-plate.
None of this gear is magical, but it is saleable.
"Nothing in this vicinity detects as magical wares. It appears to all be mundane equipment. Might I suggest we explore the room the 'boss' came from?"
”None of those things will look overly impressive in my hoard either!”
"I don't know, Zinnath. Having that huge battle axe on display will prove that you overcame some impressive foes while garnering your hoard."
After pausing a beat, the cleric adds, "I'm not going to carry it for you, though."
"I've only got two channels left, so let's be careful about picking any more big fights today, understand?"
”I suppose that every horde needs a certain amount of ‘filler,’ don’t you think?”
"That seems like a reasonable suggestion, Tronar. Given the amount of resources that were expended, after investigating that room it may not be the worst of ideas to head back out for the day."
Fezzik picks up the large battle axe and swings it a few times, testing it out. "Guess ok if I need one hand," he says as he straps it to his pack and redraws his great sword.
He nods in agreement to returning to town soon and waits for his queue to enter the room.
You give a quick look to the rooms to either side.
To the west: (124)
This place is plastered and the floor paved with polished brown granite slabs. It is now dirty and cluttered, but must once have been a plush guest chamber. Many cushions and pillows are piled so as to make beds in the northeast and northwest corners of the room. A half-empty wine barrel and a like container with a few salted fish stand along the south wall. Another barrel there holds seven long spears. Pegs on the wall hold one shortbow and three quivers, each containing 20 arrows. Beside the barrels is a chest.
The chest is unlocked and contains 2 heavy maces, 5 hand axes, 1 battle axe, 6 morning stars, 2 shortswords, and 1 cutlass.
To the east: (126)
This place appears to have been another visitors' chamber, but the plastered walls are broken and smoke-stained from the struggles of the past. Several couches have been shoved together to form a huge bed in the northeast corner. Several empty sacks lie on the floor, and a nearly full barrel of ale is near the west door. A large table and rude chair are in the northwest corner; a big, yellowish cheese and several hard sausages lie atop the table, beside an empty gallon jug. Under the table is an iron chest. Nine spears, 3 morning stars, and 2 longswords lie piled by the south door.
The iron chest is locked but not trapped.
Additionally, the description was split and I missed that the ogres were carrying 30 sp and 30 gp. The boss wore a copper belt with a purse containing 11 sp, 19 ep, and 38 gp.
Avendryl wrinkles his nose at the cheese and sausages atop the table...no telling what or who they were made from.
Taking note of the untrapped, but locked iron chest, Avendryl retrieves his tools and goes to work on the lock.
The iron chest contains 311 gp and 2 huge and remarkably perfect agates.
”Those gems though, look perfect for a dragon horde though!”
Bataleigha grabs the gems before Zinnath can claim them and tries to appraise their worth.
"Yes you have to watch that one there. Otherwise small shiny things tend to go missing."
Tronar can make an independent assessment of the value and then compare notes.
Zinnath rolls his eyes, and peers around at the group... ”What?”
Grabbing your hard-fought rewards, you make your way back to the seedy riverside village of Nulb, leaving the trail of corpses in your wake.
You return to the Waterside Hostel and barricade your doors and take the opportunity to go over your gains.
Andrew, the river boatman, tells you, "It's been the usual raucous pirate activity here while you've been out. It's likely that there are agents of the Temple living in the village here, but if so I haven't sussed them out yet. But I expect after you make a couple more trips and wreak some more havoc, there will be eyes on us."
Your mercenaries, having returned from taking the rescued slaves back to Hommlet, likewise report that while the roads are clear for the moment, there's been some activity in the town of Hommlet itself. A few of the workmen (working on the keep for Rufus and Burne) have vanished - possible agents of the Temple that Emory never noticed because you didn't really go over the work details; or maybe just seasonal laborers moving on to the next job. Rufus has detailed a small group of workmen to go repair the moathouse, or at least make it defensible for a small group.
~~~~~~~~~~
After taking precautions you are able to get a good night's sleep without much disturbance (other than the sounds of the occasional fistfight downstairs, or pirates singing drunkenly on the river outside).
For your next trip, do you want to take any of your hirelings, or would you prefer that they lie low in Nulb, or send them back to Hommlet? Or Fezzik could even have them garrison the old moathouse for now.