Haela will charge and attack the fallen roc.
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Grum flew after the Roc that was still in the air. He reveled in the feeling of the wind against his face as he shot up into the sky. While he did not understand *how* he was doing it, that didn't stop him from enjoying the feeling of flying. Luckily it didn't occur to him that if such a magical effect could happen so suddenly, then obviously it could stop just as quickly.
William shoots more arrows at the giant bird hoping to kill it.
The downed roc is swiftly dispatched.
Grum charges the other roc, but is torn by its talons after he deals a nasty wound to it.
The smell of the blood of its mate is too much, and the remaining roc retreats to look for easier prey.
Aerel lays where the roc dropped him when it expired. ”Ow. Sorry, don’t know how I missed it. We still need to get to cover, even if everything for ten miles heard the fight. Did anyone pick up my bow, by chance.”
Haela picks up Aerel's bow and moves to heal the elf.
For 26 HP healing to Aerel.
Seeing Grum is injured as well, she then heals him.
For 26 HP healing to Grum.
"Let's hope there isn't too much more ahead of us. It will be hard to scout in the mist, but let's keep our ears open."
Benedict will collect his bow from where he dropped it.
He will keep riding the dragon, although not flying for now - just walking on the ground alongside the party.
Like Haela, he tries to keep an ear out for any threats ahead as the party walks towards the buildings that they saw.
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Grum gave a toothy grin to Haela as he poked at where his wounds once were. "Let's hope that there are more monsters out there to play with." Grum said. "That was fun. Oh! Do you think that they had a nest around here? If they were trying to carry our elven friend away, then I would bet that there are plenty of magical items in their nest, from the corpses of adventurers and the like. Think we could find it?"
Aerel pauses to consider the cliffs around the valley. ”They might have ranged far from the east to hunt here, or it might be right over that ridge. We might not have the time to search.”
"I think that might be a little overly optimistic, Grum.
There are not that many people like us - I would find it improbable for the roc lair to be filled with corpses carrying magic items.
But, then again, there were a lot of Ironfang Legion hobgoblins here, and many of those that we fought were decently well-equipped with potions and the like. So I won't rule it out.
Let's get to that cover first and make sure the area around us is safe. Only some of us can fly, and I don't want to split up with the flyers searching the cliffs for the nest until we have cleared out any remaining hobgoblin forces and any morlocks."
The party makes their way into the Valley of Aloi proper, climbing down from the rocky pathway that serves as the entrance. Once fully immersed in the mists, the valley walls fade and the journey becomes an eerie trek through seemingly endless white fog.
The group of warriors make their way towards the wooden structures as best as they can in the murk. As the sun begins to recede in the west, the fog also begins to dissipate. Soon, hazy shapes begin to resolve themselves in the lifting mist that eventually resolve themselves into the wooden buildings they'd seen upon entering the valley.
The buildings seem hastily built and also abandoned amid a sea of tent poles and tattered canvas hanging listlessly in the wet air. Hard-trodden earth and dozens of spent campfires speak to an army of hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- having recently occupied this eerily quiet military camp. Black stones piled higher than a tree fill a circle at the camp's center.
The pile of black stones brings to mind the towers the Ironfang Legion used to move troops around. The remnants of such a tower? Are any of their forces still here?
Benedict looks for tracks heading towards the buildings, to see how many other creatures might have been here recently - morlocks, hobgoblins, or other land-based foes.
"Aerel, the fog has lifted. And although the sun is setting, I know your vision is good in dim light or none at all. Are you willing to scout out those buildings a bit?"
Benedict hears some deep bass voices deeper into the camp but is unable to see their sources. They're likely inside one of the buildings or on the far side of one.
Did Benedict see any tracks that indicate the size of these beings?
I am guessing they are bigger than hobgoblins, by their voices.
Still hoping to have Aerel scout - getting us their numbers and position (relative to any cover) would be good.
My hope is that we can get into position with a surprise round (melee in front, archers in back but within 30' of foes) and then win initiative for regular combat. With Aerel getting Sneak Attack on flat-footed foes within 30', that would be a ton of damage. He hasn't had the chance to do so yet but this would seem an optimal situation.
Aerel scouts forward and spots six heavily armored ogres milling about a cookfire in the center of the military camp. They seem on a moderate alert, but the stealthy elf easily avoids their lines of sight.
Aerel returns to the rest of the party and describes the camp, drawing a map of the camp so his allies know what to expect.
"A fireball might soften up three or more if we want to expend the resource. Otherwise, maybe we can use a pair of buildings as a chokepoint so they are delayed if they try to come around our front line."
"A narrow chokepoint is an excellent idea," the dwarf responds to Grum. "Dwarves are trained to fight like that, and I have particular training against giants. I can hold the line."
"Your call on the location, Aerel," says Benedict. "Where do you want us? I am also happy to take the front line. And, Grum, we let them come to us. Let our archers whittle them down. It won't be like the other giant; there will still be something left for you and I and Amkarang to do."
Benedict will use Alter Self to take the form of a gnome. He won't actually gain Defensive Training, but he will get +2 Dex, and another +1 AC for size, for a total of AC 30. Adjacent to Haela, he will have AC 32 against evil foes thanks to Lastwall Phalanx.
"William, now would be a good time to use your spells."
”Here, then. I will take cover and hold my fire until they have approached and gotten into range.”
The ogres bellow a challenge when they see the party form up against them.
In preperation for the battle William casts haste on the group. Once in position he opens with a volley of arrows.
Arrows fly from William's bow and suddenly there is a dead ogre.
Aerel waits to see how William's arrows affect the monstrous creatures and opens fire with a salvo of his own arrows.
Aerel's arrows wound another ogre.
The wounded one bellows and charges forward, aiming for the human-looking one since he can't reach the archers.
The one in the northeastern corner of the camp manages to get close enough to slash at Amkarang with his greatsword.
The rest of the ogres crowd behind the front two, hoping to get a chance to attack.
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Laughing with the sheer joy of being alive with his life on the line, Grum stepped forward to attack the nearest ogre. However, he completely misjudged the reach of the ogre. He had planned to swing as the ogre came barreling into their line, but was surprised when it stopped to use it's longer reach to swing at them from a distance. This left him with an awkward lunge that brought him in arm's reach, but which lacked anything even closely resembling finesse.
Grum's follow-up swing is unnecessary, as he brings down the already wounded ogre with one heavy blow.
Gnome-shaped Benedict steps up to the nearest ogre, feints left, and strikes right.
He isn't used to this small size, and it shows in his attack.
Haela steps up and, not trying any trickery, just hits the ogre with her axe.
Though the blow from the ogre stung, Amkarang steps in, swinging his meteor in a vicious flurry of attacks.
Haela and Amkarang team up to bring down the flat-footed ogre. Unfortunately, Aerel has to switch targets to one not stymied by Benedict's feint, so after his barrage the ogre is still standing.
William watches the ogres drop and aims at the wounded one then tries to finish off the last one.
William finishes off the one wounded by Aerel, then puts a couple arrows into closest living ogre. It withstands the damage, then steps forward and attacks recklessly, reaching out wide across the space between it and his target. Then the last remaining ogre does the same thing.
"Archers, finish them!"
Benedict will delay until after Aerel and William.
Aerel focuses on Grum's foe. He's not going to like this, but that big boy's hitting hard right now.
Gnome-sized Benedict charges, swinging his warhammer.
Haela follows with her axe.
The remaining ogre manages to bring his greatsword down on Grum before he's hacked to pieces.
The ogres seem to have moved in to the campsite rather than being stationed there as a type of rear guard. It's evident because they've looted the buildings rather thoroughly. There is a large pile of treasure near their campsite. It includes 127 gp, 121 pp, a +1 bashing heavy steel shield, a bodywrap of mighty strikes, oil of magic weapon, potion neutralize poison, scroll of blessing of fervor, scroll of prayer, a wand of greater magic weapon (29 charges), and an onyx statuette worth 630 gp.
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Grum fell down to one knee and gasped for breath. He had a bruised rib at best, a broken one at worst. He tried to laugh but couldn't. Instead, he fumbled for a wand and started tapping himself...
"Eugh. I...probably should remember defense and not just attacking." He coughed, once he was sure that nothing was still broken.
"Eugh. I...probably should remember defense and not just attacking." He coughed, once he was sure that nothing was still broken.
"Or," says Haela, "you could remember that there are others with you capable of slaying giants.
You could have waited for William to take his shot.You could have let me advance and clear the way for you - I have trained since childhood to fight larger foes and I carry a shield.
You could have used that magic I have heard of to teleport Benedict, Amkarang, and myself past the ogre's reach.
But I get it. You are a Gorumite."
She reaches into her healer's kit for a scalpel, needle, and thread.
"So let's see how brave you are, Gorumite. We're going to do this the hard way."
Haela will use Healer's Hands on Amkarang for 26 points of healing. That leaves her with 1 use for the day, which she is going to save for any dire in-combat needs.
Then she will use the regular Heal skill on Grum. This expends 2 charges from the Healer's Satchel, and takes an hour, but restores 30 HP.
Benedict shrugs. Grum's gonna Grum.
He switches to his bow, then goes to look around the camp. He tries to make sense of the pile of black stones.
Much less beat up than Grum, Amkarang chuckles at the exchange. He manages to say despite a busted lip as Haela heals him, "Heh, glad I get the easy way, then."
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Grum glared at Haela. He knew a challenge when he saw one. He had heard tales of bravery involving the healing arts before, and he refused to back down. Doing his best to keep eye contact, he sat as still as he could until the procedure was done. He would not let it be said that he would show weakness in front of a dwarf.
There was much that he wanted to say. Such as that she made solid points. Or that he didn't really know how his magic worked. Or that...well, he'd rather rip off her face and eat it than acknowledge weakness. Not that he would do something so unhygienic, but the point stood. All that he could do was be as stoic as possible, for the sake of his pride.
Benedict recognizes the pile of black stones as being similar to the kind that made up the onyx tower that the Heroes destroyed on the outskirts of Longshadow.
If this was a tower like the one from Longshadow, it did not collapse in the same manner as that one. From what you can tell, it wasn't knocked down so much as it collapsed upon itself.
One of the nicer wooden buildings looks like it was used as a command post by Kosseruk before her assault on Longshadow. A few stray papers can be scavenged that offers some information to those who speak Goblin.
• General Azaersi rules the Legion with an iron fist but leaves the day-to-day operations to her commanders. Kraelos commands mliltary operations. Taurgreth directs the Legion's special forces like spies and scouts. High Priest Azlowe sees to the Legion's spiritual needs and oversees an army of faithful. A fourth advisor, Zanathura, works outside the command structure.
• Several letters speak of a place called the "Onyx Citadel" as a central location from which the Legion launches its attacks, but there is no mention of the citadel's location.
• Phaendar, now called Fort Phaendar, continues to consume huge amounts of resources and appears to have a well-supplied garrison.
• Zanathura's morlock servants dwell in caverns below the collapsed dwarven ruins at the far end of the valley.