Robin, continues to uses his words to harm the ogre, while Adolina and Cadas put down the ogre next to the cleric. Shadowlina continues to drain strength from the ogre near Robin, and Marcellano uses a magic missile spell which knocks the ogre unconscious.
With the giant and one ogre dead, and the other unconscious, the battle is over.
Cadas will channel to heal people who are hurt.
Can anyone speak whatever language ogres speak? Cadas asks as she considers what to do about the living ogre.
Marcellano steeples his fingers. "I have an enchantment prepared that could subdue this creature - and I speak Giant, which I think should be the right language. Many of them can crudely speak Common as well, I believe."
Cadas, returned to her normal size stands ready to put the creature down should it resist. She glances worriedly into the cave maw and says Hurry.
Marcellano whirls his fingers and glowing rune appears on his forehead. "Rigardu en miajn okulojn. Parolu kun mi; mi estas amiko." he says, his voice heavy with magic.
vs DC 16
"Jūs neesat draugs. Es tevi nogalināšu." and the ogre tries to stand but just falls back down.
Unable to speak giant, Cadas watches the cave entrance for trouble.
Marcellano scowls. “No, no it didn’t. Damn. We’ll have to do this the hard way.” Turninng to the ogre, he tries to adopt an imperious attitude.
“Kiu estas via estro? Kial vi atakis la fortikaĵon de la homoj?“
Trying to stand, the giants finally gives up and falls back to a prone position and grunts at Marcellano "ES tevi nogalināšu".
Kill it. Cadas recommends. We have wasted enough time on this evil treat.
“Please focus,” Marcellano mutters as he readies his wand and prepares to venture deeper into the dungeon full of cannibalistic, sadistic ogres.
Agreed. Let us advance.
Cadas will cast Bulls Strength on herself before entering the cave proper once she is sure the group is ready to move out.
Having gotten nothing from the ogre, Shadowlina drains it of enough strength that it fails and dies. Adolina leads the group to where she found the giant and ogres, and stops. Both she and Robin listen intently and hear something from all three directions. The one to the east seems to have the most noise coming from it, while to the south and west, while noise can be heard, it is much less.
"None of them are truly silent, so be careful," Marcellano whispers back.
Robin makes sure that message is on everyone, and nods to Adolina as she begins moving towards the less noisy area to the west. The first thing she sees is a passage way heading south and some sort of creature caked in ice, moving around. Continuing on slowly and carefully, she sees a corridor heading north, and catches a glimpse of a stone giant and the woman / lamia, in her natural form, that you ran into earlier. There is also a stone giant guard there.
Adolina heads back to the group.
I can cast that spell once. Cadas confirms. But when I do I cannot cast other spells. So I will cast it on an item you hold. We should procure more scrolls of the spell when we resupply.
“I’ll be able to cast a few spells once the area is silenced, but only thanks to his,” Marcellano adds, holding up his rod. “We’ll have to strike hard and fast! But I’m prepared to do so.”
[ooc]Wait a moment. Who are you charging? Should we not all move up together to where we can see the enemy?[/b]
Avdol Kebek had forgotten if he actually was Avdol Kebek or if he was just riding along in his body, it had been what seemed like an eternity. Time and space started making less and less sense the more he communed with the Akashic Record, and whether he was a man possessed by a spirit or a spirit possessing the man also became less and less important as he learned of the danger approaching Golarion...
Though when he saw the light, it appeared his trance was almost done. Soon he would awaken, and the Master of Masters would send him a sign...
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The great rains around Turtleback Ferry turn to driving snow as winter comes with a fury upon Hook Mountain. Autumn is a forgotten dream as cutting wind lances through wool and leather, and treacherous ice crawls along the mountainside. Life is cruel, and short on the Hook. More now than ever as winter sinks her teeth into its crags.
Reaching the base of Hook Mountain is no big deal for the hardy Heroes of Sandpoint (etc) but the last few miles up the slope come with some hair-raising climbs, which slow your progress immensely.
After some frustrating climbing, you stumble upon a old hunting trail and the climb eases. Further on, there are some insurmountable areas of pure ice, but persistence and sheer strength pay off in the long run, and you matriculate up the slope towards the cavern mouth at the top. As you get closer, you can see a steady stream of dark black smoke belching forth from the ogre stronghold. Whatever is happening up there, someone has quite a blaze burning.
The climb takes about 3 hours and everyone is out of breath, cold, and irritable by the time you are near the large opening in the rock face that decry the Kreeg ogre clan's home base. A pair of large and very alert ogres stand guard here. Unlike those guarding Fort Rannick,these ogres seem to be paying close attention to any movement and are ready for fight.
After dispatching the sentinels, you make ready to enter the clanhhold. Columns of thick black smoke pour from the 70' wide opening into the mountainside, but are instantly blown aside by the wind, so that only a pale grey column rises into the snowy sky. Despite the fact that you are entering the home of man-eating ogres, you are almost glad to be getting out of the driving snow and merciless wind. With Adolina leading the way, you enter, hoping for the best.
At the mouth of the cavern, jagged spurs of bone protrude from the stone on either side of the cave entrance, each towering twenty feet in height -- apparently the ribs of some monstrous behemoth.
Generations of ogres have decorated these bones with scrimshaw carvings, and you note, with some dismay, that the seven-pointed Sihedron Rune is incorporated into the markings in several locations.
The ceilings inside the clanhold are black with decades of soot from the fires that must be burning somewhere inside. The ceilings are rough and uneven but average about 25' above the rock-strewn floor in the passageways. Inside the caverns, the ceilings tend to vault to a domelike shape usually at least 50' high. The entire complex is unlit (unless mentioned otherwise) and while you can see well enough from the ambient, though heavily cloud-obscured, natural light, inside the passages are quickly lost in inky blackness.
The rib-rimmed passage leads inside the complex for 50' or more, and you can just make out some sort of statue on the left hand side, just out of the light beyond.
"By Nethys's right eye..." Marcellano whispers. "These are the bones of a blue dragon! And not a young one, either...these ogres must have been stronger than we realized, to slay one. Though perhaps they're not so fearsome today - it's clearly been here for a while."
He glances around at the others. "Do we dare risk a light?"
Cadas stands shivering but only just and enjoys the break from the wind. She turns her back to the cave and conjures a small light on a coin but covers it before it can be seen.
Cadas illuminates a small item, covering it before its light gives away their position, and as the group gets warm from being out of the biting wind, it sounds like Adolina and her shadow will venture off into the dark for now, and report back while the others wait on the doorstep.
The deft half-elf slinks away, passing the large basalt statue on the left, but paying it little heed as it doesn't seem a threat. To her right, a deep pit perforates through the solid bedrock of the cavern floor, and disappears down deeper than Adolina can see. The stale reek of decay and old burnt wafts up from depths below, but there does not seem to be a fire going down there at present. The passage continues on from the fenestration, which is about 30' in diameter, up some rough-hewn stairs deeper into the complex.
As the sly warrior gets farther into the caverns, her senses are made aware of two things. First, the awful stink of dozens of ogres living in confined spaces can't help but linger here. It is the worst case of stale body odor she has ever known. As Robin said, they can smell in the dark, and as you move away from fresh air, that becomes quite apparent. Second, the black smoke continues to pour out above her head, blowing towards the main entrance and out into the driving snowstorm. Along with the soot, now Adolina can clearly hear the clang-clang-clang of metal being worked coming from farther inside.
Not willing to give away their scout, Cadas resists the urge to investigate the statue until her return. She tests the connection of the Messsage spell speaking a brief word to the party's wizard. Are we still connected? she whispers.
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Realising as she goes that she's underestimated the ogres, Adolina goes slowly and carefully, letting her shadowy and scentless doppleganger lead the way. Unwilling to return to the group without more to report she continues onwards, breathing a prayer to whatever god may be listening to soften her footsteps.
"I'm still here," Marcellano mutters.
He gazes up at the smoke pouring out above them. "What do you suppose this could be from? I feel like it bodes ill, whatever it is..." He eyes the statue with curiosity, but isn't willing to risk more light until Adolina reports that it's safe to do so.