Atrius will also delay, allowing the magic users to go first without him being danger-close.
Facing not one but three ogrekin, Marcellano is less enthused about the idea of charming one - after all, its fellows might snap it out of the daze. "Time to experiment," he mutters, and dips his fingers into his component pouch, pulling forth...cabbage leaves? Growling a word as he sketches a rune in the air over the leaves, he crushes them, and a wall of green smoke suddenly billows up from the floor of the barn ahead, enveloping the three ogrekin. He smiles in satisfaction.
"Don't worry, friends, they'll come to us," he says, "Oh, and don't go in there..."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
vs DC 19 - Two pass, one fail
Atrius will wait and then attack.
vs AC 22 Adolina
The nauseated one, stumbled out of the cloud, and is not able to do anything. The other one attacks Adolina with its shortspear and bite, but misses.
"Well, these fellows don't seem so tough," Marcellano comments dryly, as he steps forward to get a better look. "Let's move on quickly."
Opening his mouth, he sketches a symbol over his throat and cups his hands around his mouth. A narrow wave of force washes out and over the ogrekin with which Adolina is engaged.
Not giving the ogrekin any chance to respond, Adolina guts it and he goes down.
Cadas considers the noise they just made and glances nervously back towards the house looking for any activity.
The majority of this large, stuffy chamber is covered in filthy webs forming a funnel that dips down into the ground. A catwalk runs around the rim of the room near the ceiling, twenty feet above the ground. In northeast and southeast corners, the catwalk expands into a ten-foot-square platform that’s fenced in by wooden beams, forming cages. The walls within each cage are hung with iron manacles. Most of the manacles — while bloody — are empty, but three in the southeast corner imprison emaciated men. The cougar bounds joyfully over to one of the men and starts purring and licking him.
Cadas, before following the others, looks back at the house and neither sees nor hears any sign of activity.
moving into the room Cadas sees the men in the cages and their condition and channels positive energy to heal them and any that might be injured in her group.
Marcellano follows the others, keeping one eye on the door and one on the conversation. He looks wary, but not unfriendly.
There are likely still threats here. Cadas warns as she watches the webbing. To those she just healed she asks Do any of you know what created these webs?
Coming into the room, Adolina immediately begins working on the manacles of the three men who are cuffed to the wall inside of the cage, starting with the one that the cougar went to.
Cadas casts a healing burst of energy, which you see heals most of the wounds from the three men, however they are so emaciated that two of them remain unconscious, while the one that the cougar was purring and licking wakes barely enough to put his hand on the cougar back and scratches it behind the ear. "Good boy Kibb" he croaks. "Food and water, do you have any food and water" he appeals to the group, barely able to keep his eyes open.
After drinking small amounts of water, and eating a bit of iron rations, the man looks at you. "Ignore the spider webs. They are from a large spider that the ogres named Biggin. For some reason a few days ago, they killed it and took its carcass out. Yes, we are from Fort Rannick. The fort has been overrun by ogres, lead by an ogre named Jaagrath, and some woman. My men and I were on patrol, and returned late to find the fort taken. We tried to retake the fort, but after losing half of my men, we barely escaped, fleeing south to near here and were hounded by the ogres here till captured. Mammy Graul, a huge waste of a female ogre runs them. I was lucky that Kibb escaped and ran into you" as he reaches over to scratch behind the ears of his cat. "I am Jakardros, second in command of the fort, and these men are Vale and Kaven." As he points to the two other men, they barely wake, and seeing food and water in front of them, also reach for it and take the sustenance, with mumbled "thanks" to you. At the sound of his Jakardros name, Shalelu blanches, seems to be ready to say something, but holds her tongue.
Eat and be quick about it then. Cadas encourages The town, not having heard from Fort Rannick, sent us to see what was up. Good thing for you I think. Where is your gear? We need to get you armed and ready to get out of here. Cadas looks around nervously. Her gaze settles on Shalelu and she pulls the ranger away to the side and asks Is there something you need to share Shalelu? This is no time for secrets.
|
Adolina examines all three men closely as she works on their manacles , looking for any signs of torture or anything else unusual. "To have survived this long you must all be mighty men indeed. Did the ogres want anything from you or was it just for sport?"
Without waiting for the response to her question she leaves the men when she hears Cadas' question to Shalelu and walks over to squeeze the ranger's hand comfortingly. "Give her space Cadas. We have no reason not to trust her."
Of course I trust her. Cadas says in confusion. She needs to trust me too. This is a combat situation. She knows something that might be material. She needs to share it.
Jakardros responds, "several of our fellows have already been eaten. We are the last three alive. I do not know where our gear is. When we were captured, they ogres took it from us. I figure they have it somewhere in the house."
Shalelu responds, "I believe that Jakardros is my step-father. I heard he had joined the Black Arrows and that is why I wished to come with you, to see if it was true and to confront him about his leaving me when I was younger. In his and his men condition, this is not the time for that. While you take the house, I will stay here and protect them till their gear is returned."
Marcellano barely overhears the conversation between Cadas and Shalelu, but his eyes widen. Indeed? Well...that is quite the story. How could a human man be an elf's step-father...? He says nothing to her for the moment, though.
Turning to Jakardos and his men, he says, "We can endeavor to kill these cannibal ogres--though I should say that in truth they are not full-blooded ogres at all. Tell me, can you give us any insight into what we should expect? Are there any tactics of the ogres' that you can warn us about, either here at the farm or the ones who took Fort Rannick?" He glances at the others. "And...can you describe the 'woman' who led the ogres? Is she a human woman, and did you get any sort of name?"
Robin checks out the cell to the north and finds nothing in it.
To Marcellano, "There were six of these creatures that captured us, but none were the three jailers, so there is at least that many over in the house, as well as their 'mammy' who from what we have learned is an extremely large ogre that has wizard abilities."
He quietly chews on a bit more food, then replies to Marcellano, "don't know about the woman, one of the ogres mentioned it to his fellow just before we ambushed them. All I know is that there are enough of them to drive us off and kill most of the patrol."
Marcellano frowns. "...a lot, then. Damn! I wonder if this 'woman' might be our missing lamia..." He looks uneasily at the others. Then he turns back to Jakardos. "Well, we've slain four of the ogrekin - no, five, actually. One we encountered some distance away. If you'll step this way...can you identify these ones? Are they among the nine you count besides...'mammy?'" He says the name with clear distaste.
I am sure she is the lamia matriarch Marcellano. The one at the fort and not the mammy here. she clarifies. Let us prepare ourselves for the coming fight. Shall we enter the front door or is there another way in?
Light on her shield (70 minutes)
Magic Circle against Evil 10' r on herself (70 minutes)
Freedom of Movement on Adolina (70 minutes)
Barkskin on herself (70 minutes)
Resist Energy Communal (Fire, unless someone has a reason for some other element) on all of us (12 minutes each)
Bless on all (7 minutes)
Divine Favor on herself (7 minutes)
Bull's Strength on herself (7 minutes)
Guidance on Adolina (1 minute)
Cadas casts spells on the group in preparation of moving across the yard and entering the farm house. Adolina quickly moves around the building, peeking into windows, but finding that they all are either covered on the inside, or blocked. The south side of the building is a porch.
This moss-encrusted, decaying farmhouse slumps drunkenly at the edge of the damp forest clearing. Rickety steps crawl up to a porch covered by a huge eave held aloft by thick pillars of pine. These timbers are decorated with crude carvings of manticores impaling children with their tail spikes and women being ripped apart by wolves. The carvings look like a child’s work, but the subject matter grows more gruesome and depraved from one depiction to the next. An unsettlingly large rocking chair of lashed wood and bone sways erratically in the breeze at the far end of the porch under a vast menagerie of wind chimes composed of decidedly humanoid bones. The house’s windows have all been boarded up with thick timbers, although it’s unclear whether this was done to keep intruders out or imprison whatever things make their home within.
Marcellano stares at the carvings on the porch. "...charming." Shaking his head, he mutters a word and scans the porch with detect magic, indicating that the group can proceed if he sees nothing untoward. Narcizia flutters on his shoulder uneasily.
Cadas agrees with Adolina. You read my thoughts.
While all others look on, Adolina and Robin move up to the edge of the porch. While they do not find any traps, Adolina sees a column of ants marching happily away here and there on the porch, many the size of a grown man’s thumbnail. A moth the size of a shovel head clings to the porch ceiling, watching the party with alien eyes, but it allows them to pass unmolested.
The scent of bad meat, urine, sweat, and decay wafts now and then from between the cracks in the boarded-up windows.