Gundar keeps up his hail of crossbow bolts, but each shot brings a sneer at his own ineptitude.
Thuradin draws and loads his crossbow while whispering a prayer to Torag. As he finishes his weapon glows with a golden light. Leveling his bow at the half orc he says "Look around you. You're trapped on a cliff face, the only way out is through us. There is no way this is going to end well for you. Surrender now and you just might live through this day." But as he said the words even Thuradin didn't believe them.
Coughing and sputtering, Kragmyr got unsteadily to his feet. His right shoulder was a burnt mess, with blistering skin visibly showing. It was evident that he was in a great deal of pain. Through clenched teeth he said "Thank ye, Thozar. Now let's kill that tusker."
Ulark continues to burn as he advances, longaxe at the ready.
This orc is nimble, avoiding almost every attack, but Torith again comes in with a blast of earth and rock that injures the villian.
Seeing himself getting trapped, he snarls at Torith, then turns and grins at Ulark as he draws his blade and moves towards the dwarf. Then he slips on a loose stone, destroying his attack!
Kragmyr moves up, and times his attack to coincide with when an ally flanks the orc.
It was obvious though that he was extremely fatigued from the day’s battle and his injuries.
Thozar quickly repositions himself around Thuradin for a better angleon his burning ally Ulark. As soon as he catches sight of him, he too gets doused with water to put out his flames. "Take the orc out! He had his chance to surrender!"
________
Now having to adjust his aim for the melee, Gundar frowns at his chances - but it's too late to run to apply his axe to the situation instead.
"That's going to leave a mark" Thuradin thought to himself as the cooling waters of Thozar's spell douses the flames from the half orc's bomb. He levels his crossbow and takes careful aim at the mad bomber before he let's his bolt fly. It strikes the half orc in the side, near the kidney "Hopefully it's in deep enough to cause some real damage"
As the orc stumbles, Ulark strikes forward to press the advantage, a true sign of Angradd's favor.
for
Thank ya Thozar! he bellows as he and prepares for the counter-attack. That was beginning to tickle!
Torith takes aim again and fires another missile of earth at the half orc.
But the shot is nowhere near!
"Ooops..." mutters Torith under his breath.
The half-orc spins and dodges every attack... Even the lucky shot by Thuradin is consumed by some unseen barrier.
The orc spreads a black oil on his falchion (move action) and then stabs at Belir, who cleanly parries the blade.
Frowning in frustration, Ulark stabs out again, but his longaxe misses even as Belir risks himself to distract the enemy.
for
With only one more comrade on fire, Thozar eases Thuradin's pain too. "Get in there brother, this is a feisty one!"
________
Thuradin slings his crossbow across his back and steps up to the cliff face. Grabbing hold of the wall he begins to climb. He makes it up a few feet before his hand slips off the rock he grabs and he tumbles back to the ground. Cursing in dwarven, he dusts himself off and tries again. The second time, going hand over hand, he makes it halfway up the cliff.
Come on Torith, let's get him this time!
Torith steps nearer again and gathers his energy to hurl the rock as far as he can.
Torith manages another excellently aimed explosion of earth and rock, knocking the orc unconscious.
Just as he does so, a flood troll enters the scene and yells something.
Cursing at the ne arrival, Kragmyr yells ”Form ranks! Let’s nay fight this beast alone, lads.”
Torith yells at the creature in triumph.
"What's wrong, ugly? Did we hurt your little orcy friend?"
Making a mental note to practice his aim in the days ahead, Gundar almost welcomes the arrival of the troll. Taking axe and shield in hand once more he heads for the new enemy.
The unconscious orc bleeds.
Torith realises he's at extreme range for his rock throwing abilities and decides to run to catch up with the group.
"Sometimes i curse my short dwarven legs..." says Torith, slightly out of breath.
Ulark turns to face the new threat, leaving the half-orc to continue bleeding on the floor. Troll! Your armies' shattered, bomber dead. Slink back to where you came from!
Thozar moves up and waits for just the right moment to heal an ally. Our little stand off is about to turn to blood, better heal who I can!
________
Readied Action
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The troll pounces on Gundar.
Gundar sidesteps the attack to the best of his ability and returns the favor, hewing at the troll's legs.
Using his weapon’s reach, Kragmyr swung. But with his strength sapped, and his magic all used, his blow was made clumsily.
Gundar gets in a good hit.
Ulark moves into position as well, his longaxe reaching out to harry the troll.
for
Judging Ulark to have the most grievous wounds, Thozar eadges around the Flood Troll's reach and releases healing magic over him. "That's the spirit, show that monstrosity what it means to cross us!"
________
Thuradin scurries past the Troll despite his desire to end the creature once and for all. Instead he hurries to the mad bomber on an attempt to keep him from dying...yet. "He has a lot to answer for." he shouts as his companions look on in confusion.
Torith moves up the stairs to try to get a better view of the ugly creature trying to kill his fellow dwarves.
He gathers some earthen matter and hurls it as the beast.
Thuradin gets to the half-orc at the very last minute .
Meanwhile, the troll is torn to pieces from the rest of the group.
Kragmyr collapses to his knees at the dead troll, panting. ”Ach! This day...bloody fookin’ hell!”
Thuradin reaches the half-orc just as he's about to expire. Casting Stabilize on the body he looks up to his comrades "We were asked to find Roderick's killer and I'll bet you he was behind it. Now we can get some answers."
Seeing the final foe in view fall, Thozar heavily slumps to the ground and lays on his back. "Dwarves, this has been quite the day. Thuradin, bring him over here and I'll patch him up for questioning." May this all be over now. How many orcs and their kin can there be?
"When we get back to Trunau, there better be a barrel of mead for each of us. It'll take no less to shake the weariness from my bones, haha!"
________
Ulark plants his axe in the ground and takes several deep breaths. Beads of sweat drip down onto the dirt and stone.
Thank's for that Thozar. It's...it's been a day. As the cleric moves towards the orc, the warrior calls out. Make sure to strip the thing of all the bells and whistles first! 'E's fanatic enough to keep going when surrounded I wouldn't put it past 'im to try to blow you both up if he wakes.
Torith sits down at the top of the stairs. He slumps backwards and feels the earth behind his back support his weary body.
"Lads i'm definitely ready for more. I'm just taking a slight breather is all. If you need me to chuck rocks at anything i'll just be here, ready to go." he says as he stares at the ceiling not doing very much.
Belir tries to give first aid and opens a vein. Thuradin steps in and stops the bleeding again. You search him and find a large hammer and many vials of unknown substances. You also find a note, written in Giant.
Get me Uskroth's Hammer and Rock. I want everything else in the barrow too, but I have to have the hammer and the rock. I think it looks like the rock I already have shown you. I have to have both rocks to know the way to Giantkiller's Tomb, so make sure you get the right one. Then bring the hammer and the rock back to the fort.
Signed,
Grenseldek
Glorious Chieften of the Twisted Hearts.
You do a check around the rest of the cavern complex, and then drag your unconscious foe out into Trunau. You also find that the giant skeleton in the center is still dressed in very find armor, and one eye socket contains a rock it in.
The battle is over. The main threats have been eliminated, and the remaining orcs are on the run. Over the next few days, you are able to rest and recuperate as the town praises you for being heroes!
Eventually, the half-orc is roused, and you are able to interrogate him. You are able to confirm that his name is Skreed, and that he murdered Rodrik because the man discovered secret meetings in the plague house and was getting to close. You also find out that the tatoo Skreed has on his face let's him transform to look like a human, which is how he went undetected so long. The attack was orchestrated by him in order to find the tomb of Uskroth which was rumored to be in Trunau - and in fact it was!
Through either your own knowledge, or with the help of some of the townspeople, you are able to discover that Grenseldek as the hill giant leader of the Twisted Nail orc tribe, an orc tribe dwelling in the northern Mindspin Mountains. You also find that the Twisted Nail orcs inhabit a ruined border fort called Redlake Fort. Once part of Harchist’s Blockade, Redlake Fort stands near the River Esk, north of Trunau.
Kurst and Jagrin Grath and the rest of Trunau’s militia are glad to receive closure over the death of Rodrik.
Kurst tells you, "Although Trunau has weathered many orc raids in the past, the Twisted Nails’ attack was by far the most devastating in recent history, and left the inner quarter largely in ruins."
Skreed Gorewillow’s half-orc saboteurs dealt a terrible blow to the town’s morale that will likely heighten tensions between Trunau’s human and half-orc residents for some time. Trunauans are nothing if not perseverant, however, and the efforts to rebuild the town begin the day after the raid. Trunau’s leaders order Uskroth’s tomb sealed once more, and the ruins of the Plague House are consecrated and ritually cleansed with fire to put the structure to rest once and for all.
Jargrin Grath has little to say on the subject, but offers "The “Twisted Hearts” tribe of days past was a combined tribe of orcs and giants that was led by the giant hero Uskroth. Maybe there is a connection?"
Skreed had the following gear:
potion of cure moderate wounds, acid (2), alchemist’s fire (2), black adder venom (2 doses), bloodroot (2 doses), blue whinnis, liquid ice (2), oil of taggit, tanglefoot bag, thunderstones (2), mwk studded leather, mwk cold iron falchion, dagger, light crossbow with 10 bolts, formula alembic, true love locket containing a lock of hair, alchemy crafting kit, antitoxin (2), formula book (contains
elemental touch, protection from arrows, bomber’s eye, cure light wounds, expeditious retreat, enlarge person, invisibility, shield,
and stone fist), mwk thieves’ tools, portable alchemist’s lab, letter from Grenseldek, 37 gp
The skeleton of the Hero Chieftain is still clad in Uskroth’s armor
(see the Notes and Exhibits for details) and was holding Agrimmosh, the Hammer of Unmaking in its bony hands.
In addition, Uskroth was entombed with much of his treasure. The chests, vases,and other containers piled around Uskroth’s funerary spire are overflowing with coins, gemstones, jewelry, and other fineries worth a total of 1,300 gp. In addition, scattered among the treasure are several items valuable in their own right, including a
masterwork breastplate, a suit of masterwork splint mail, four +1 human-bane arrows, 13 adamantine crossbow bolts, a masterwork orc double axeUC, a heavyload beltUE, a scroll of phantasmal killer, a scroll of tongues, and a wand of inflict moderate wounds with 7 charges remaining.
The rock lodged in Uskroth’s eye socket is no simple stone. Removing the fist-sized hunk of dark, igneous rock and examining its other side reveals it to be a magnificent geode whose rich violet and verdant emerald crystals form glittering crystalline patterns.
Torith spends a lot of time examining the geode. He finds it one of the most beautiful things he has ever seen. He admires the craftsmanship of the dwarven hammer and the armour but isn't interested in either of them.
All this destruction for a hammer and a rock, Gundar thinks. He steams over the fact for day following the attack. With what he knew of giants, this "Grenseldek" would remain a threat to Trunau until he was ended. Gundar hoped that the entirely too-capable Skreed had been the best of the giant's underlings.