As Adolina continues to creep forward, she hears the rough grumble of ogre voices speaking in their native patois. Silent as a mouse, she ascends the rocky steps and after about 50' of climbing, she finds herself looking into a central chamber. Tunnels lead off from this choke-point in all the cardinal directions, her own approach is from the east. The clamor of hammers falling and the thick black smoke comes from the south. To west, curving stairs up obscure what might be int that direction, and to the north, the path splits once again after about 30' from the central chamber.
Sitting in the middle of the choke-point are another pair of Kreeg ogre guards replete with the now familiar ogre hooks and hide armor. Along with the expected ogres is another figure, taller and broader than the Kreegs. Looking twice, Adolina sees that it is, in fact, a hill giant. The two ogres seem to be playing some kind of verbal joke on the giant, who is scratching his head with a confused expression on his over-sized face. The ogres send most of the time yucking it up, and not really paying any attention to guard duty.
The chamber here is about 40' wide and about 50' long. The ceiling expands up from the usual 25' to over 50' high. As mentioned, columns of black smoke flow in from the south and out the passage to the east. The clang-clang of hammers on iron resonates from that same southern passageway, and there is a glow of flickering fires from that direction.
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With something finally concrete to report Adolina retreats the way she came and returns to the rest of the group before giving a detailed description of everything she has seen so far.
"Light will be very obvious, but we might be able to use that to our advantage." She suggests after explaining the situation. "If we placed a lit pebble or two we could likely draw the guard ogres forward and into a trap. The main issue would be stopping them getting away again."
And I have a silence. Perhaps Adolina needs to come back for it before we begin all this? Cadas adds, not wanting to pull the entire cavern at once.
Adolina creeps back to the group, appearing suddenly out of the darkness along with her shadowy twin. The move is enough to startle all of the others for a brief second, but then, as everyone calms down, the group begins to plan their assault on the ogres and hill giant.
Cadas nods, stiffening slightly as she prepares for violence.
"I also have a spell that can cut them off from the rest of the caverns if we need to use it," Marcellano adds, "though I'd suggest we try the ambush first."
Moving in the dark, holding hands or keeping constant contact so as to not leave anyone behind, the group forms up in the small alcove near the large pit.
Once everyone is place and all the buffs placed, Robin sends a grouping of flickering lights into the choke-point at the intersection of passages. Despite their distraction of teasing the slow-witted hill giant, even the lazy ogres cannot miss this sight. Shouting and scrambling they move to investigate the hill giant trailing slightly behind.
Even though the ogres are tough and the hill giant a handful, they company of heroes has their way with the guards in fairly short order. Fortunately, though the sounds of combat echo in the stone caverns, they clanging from beyond drowns the sound out enough that no other Kreeg ogres come to investigate, at least not right away.
After the fight, with the lights still active, the rest of the group can see the outlines of the choke-point chamber and the passages leading off of it. The noise of clanging hammers, black smoke, and even the murmur of voices comes from the southern passage. Nothing else is seen or heard from the other ways.
[ooc]So from here on out, we will use the resouces list kindly generated by Cadas and will have actual round by round combats if such become available.
After the fight Cadas pauses to look at the statue casting Detect Magic as she does.
Or strait? I see three ways to go. Cadas notes. But I am thinking left.
"I agree," Marcellano says. "We know that someone, at least, is down there. Better to go investigate there first and make sure that we're not cut off from retreat while in a potentially empty room off the other passages."
With the light openly showing now, Cadas wanders back down the hall to investigate the large basalt statue in the corridor. The statue is enormous, nearly 40' tall and stands in frozen vigil, it's black skin worn away by time so that it is covered in cracks and fissures like the bed of a dried river. He wears majestic armor, gilded and encrusted with gems, and grips a towering glaive in his armored fists. The giant's face is hidden by the ferocious full helm forged into the sneering grimace of a fanged devil. Around the giant's neck hangs a now-familiar medallion, the seven-pointed star.
The medallion does radiate a faint magical aura.
the necklace is magic but I am not quite sure what it is. Maybe necromancy... Cadas notes as Adolina leaves to explore. [b]Leave it for now. Its too large for one of us to wear anyway.[/ooc]
Leaving the others to backtrack to the giant statue, Adolina and her shadow companion creep up the stairs to the south, moving as silently as she can. The thick smoke is heavier here, not just hugging the ceiling high above, but still hanging down low enough to make breathing slightly more difficult. The flickering lights, she assumes are from fires, grow steadier as she nears the cavern opening.
At the top of the stairs, Adolina sees that fire and thick black smoke reign here, spewing from pits in the bedrock where forge fires glow. Anvils loom throughout this enormous cavern. The ring of steel on steel thunders here as giant hammers crash down again and again on glowing half-forged blades and axe heads.
All told a work crew of 10 ogres slave away here, toiling endlessly at the forges to craft giant blades and other weapons from raw iron ore. Two larger, more powerful Kreeg ogre taskmasters prowl behind the workers, snarling, belching, guffawing, and roaring commands incessantly. Dozens of red-hot blades are in various stages of the creation, and the walls of the cavern are lined with hundreds of finished products, way more weapons than would be needed for the amount of ogres (and their allies) you have seen so far. It is apparent that something greater is afoot here!
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"Two boss ogres and a lot of slaves." Adolina reports. "They're forging weapons, an awful lot of weapons. Something is going on here but I don't think we should tackle them right now - it'd be a massive fight for no good reason."
She gives the others some time to process, and then speaks again. "I'll check the next passage round."
Leaving the ogre forge crew until later, Adolina stealthily sets out for the next passage to check it out and assess any threats. The next passage is much narrower, but also climbs steep steps out of the choke-point where Adolina leaves the others.
As she ascends, foul odors permeate the air, like something gone to rot mixed with a wretched unwashed smell. Adolina and Shadowlina stick to the wall peering into the room where a flickering fire burns.
As you watch, suddenly, sharply, the middle sister looks up from the ritual they were intoning and cries out something in a strange tongue, clearly expecting a reply.
[spoiler=GM Screen]
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Hiding Things
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Neither Adolina nor her shadow can respond to the obvious question.
"Guys, get up here I think they found me. Might need that wall of force!" Adolina whispers, hoping that the magic will carry her words back to her companions.
Unwilling to take chances she falls back as quietly as she can down the corridor.
Speaking through the message link Cadas ponders <<Slaves. I wonder if they would fight against their captors...>>
Cadas advances. <<They?>> she questions as she moves.
"This is like the medallion we've already found," Marcellano murmurs to Cadas. "A necromantic simulation of good health, protection, and resistance to decay...and..." He jerks back suddenly. "And, it's the focus of some sort of scrying magic!"
Just then, Adolina's message comes through. Marcellano curses as he draws his enfeebling wand and follows the others.
The tone is without fear and rather insistent, but so far, there has been on immediate threat. Adolina can hear the others coming, but they are far enough away that it will be a suspiciously lengthy silence unless she answers or appears first.
Adolina's message carries back to the rest of the group, who are puzzled and alarmed at her cryptic statement. Hurrying to catch up, they are just far enough away to catch the words spoken inside the cavern.
The hags wait a heartbeat, then two. "So you want to play this the hard way, eh missy? That's fine! We wanted a parley, but will take a snack just as well." And the coven begins casting something.
Circle of Sisters - Round 1
20 Marcellano (1 round away)
18 Robin (2 rounds away)
17 Cadas (2 rounds away)
15 Grelthaga (Blue Hag)
14 Adolina
5 Briselda (Red Hag)
3 Larastine (Green Hag)
The hags beginning chanting and waving their hands around in unison, spinning up some sort of awful magic that takes all three of them to cast.
Circle of Sisters - Round 1 - continued
As soon as they hear the sound of ruckus and the magical message from Adolina, Robin starts casting his version of a teleportation spell, hoping to make the jump to where his teammate is in peril.
Moving to the bard, Cadas and Marcellano hitch a ride. Not having been in this room before, Robin can only visualize (or guess at) the space where the stairs (which he has seen) must end. Even then it is a great risk, but pays off as everyone lands in open space.
As her allies appear, Adolina and her shadowy companion lay into the green hag. The hag's thick skin resists the slicing and piercing of the glaive a bit, but nothing stops the shadow's strength drain.
Circle of Sister - Round 1 - concluded
After the half-elf and her shadowy companion appear from the entryway and assault one of the sisters, Red Hag mutters her own spell, and a cloud of dense fog fills the center of the chamber, concealing everything more than 5' away. Even adjacent creatures are hard to see in the heavy mist.
The Green Hag, wounded from attacks by Adolina and her shadow, moves into the mist and attacks Adolina with claw and tooth. But the fog helps Adolina's marital defenses, and none of the attack hit, or really come close.
End of Round 1
Circle of Sisters - Round 2
20 Marcellano
18 Robin
17 Cadas
15 Grelthaga (Blue Hag)
14 Adolina
5 Briselda (Red Hag)
3 Larastine (Green Hag)(24hp dmg, 4 STR dmg)
After arriving in the room Cadas casts divine power before advancing.
After arriving in the room Cadas casts divine power before advancing.
Circle of Sisters - Round 2 - continued
Robin casts a spell making he and Marcellano invisible, even though the fog cloud was giving them concealment because you can never be too careful.
Cadas prays for divine power and is infused by Gozreh with more prowess than she typically possesses .
Blue Hag stops her spellcasting when she hears that her sisters are not joining in. Instead she enters into the fog and slashes her long claws at Adolina but rends only foggy air.
Circle of Sisters - Round 2 - continued
Robin casts a spell making he and Marcellano invisible, even though the fog cloud was giving them concealment because you can never be too careful.
Cadas prays for divine power and is infused by Gozreh with more prowess than she typically possesses .
Blue Hag stops her spellcasting when she hears that her sisters are not joining in. Instead she enters into the fog and slashes her long claws at Adolina but rends only foggy air.
Circle of Sisters - Round 2 - concluded
Moving in close, so she can see better in the fog, Adolina manages to hit the green hag once more with her katana. Again the hag's withered skin lessens the damage somewhat. The heroine's second attack is lost as wisps of fog obscure her target.
Shadowlina hits the green hag again, draining more strength from her large form. Even though the hag hits Shadowlina, the claws pass right through her shadowy form.
Red Hag steps forward to keep the pressure on Adolina, but all of her attacks miss badly.
Green hag is just trying to get away from the shadow, when she stumbles into Adolina in the mist. Her bite and claws hit from flanking, but she cannot grab the slippery half elf in her weakened state.
End of Round 2
Circle of Sisters - Round 3
20 Marcellano (invisible)
18 Robin (invisible)
17 Cadas
15 Grelthaga (Blue Hag)
14 Adolina (16hp dmg)
5 Briselda (Red Hag)
3 Larastine (Green Hag)(33hp dmg, 8 STR dmg)