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The orc woman simply nods at the Pathfinders' confidence.
"Thank you, once again. Come, join us at the fire and we would share more."
Once the Pathfinders have settled down, the orc leader summons for some simple stew and watery ale, before waving the rest of the orcs back to work. She then introduces herself as Grakcha before asking for the Pathfinders to similarly introduce herself.
She then sets out to describe (in orcish) how her band had just fought off a warg and his troop of wolves. The ogre invaded their caves in the middle of the night while nursing the orcs were nursing their wounds. Caught by surprise and more concern over keeping the young and elderly alive, the band decided to flee the caves but not people even more serious injuries were sustained. They had taken shelter in this ruins in the meantime, hoping to eventually recover sufficiently to take back their caves.
She then goes on to describe the caves, sketching a map of the place. However, she is not certain what the ogre might have done to the caves after the band fled.
While the Pathfinders mull over the map, Grakcha calls over an orc and gives him some quick instructions. He returns shortly, bearing a sack, which she then hands over to you.
"While we are in no shape to join you in chasing away the ogre, we can at least help you in your task. Here, you might find this useful."
Opening the sack, you find it contains two minor healing potions, a lesser tanglefoot bag, and a crying angel pendant talisman.
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"Thank you for the offering to help us. Perhaps we can share our drink as a celebration when we return? We have a nice spirit to share."
The wizard smiles back at the orc woman, gesturing towards whomever is carrying the gin.
"I think we should head there quickly and take care of this intruder, and get this tribe their home back. If not, I might be able to prepare different spells for tomorrow if we stay the night, though I think haste might be best."
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"I see no reason why you would need haste. The ogre has taken over our caves for a few weeks now. Another day would not make a difference. The caves are close to a day's journey, so I suggest you get an early rest and set off at first light."
Grakcha gladly accepts the offer of partaking the gin, and although there is not much, she invites a few of the elders to join in as well.
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The Pathfinders set off next day at the break off down. You find the orcs' directions are clear. Close to the cave are several well‑traveled paths that you follow as guided, and while it is late in the day by the time you arrive, there is still sufficient light.
Just outside the cave entrance are several animal carcasses, which have attracted large swarms of black flies. The stench is only just bearable and it only gets worse. The smell of the low‑ceilinged chamber you enter is nearly suffocating. The stench of rotten meat wafts in from outside, and the smell of excrement comes in through the tunnel to the east . The ceilings in the cave chambers are 15 feet high, and 10 feet in the corridors. The light is dim throughout. Shelves and racks that once held equipment now lie smashed on the ground. Other tunnels exit to the west and north, which further forks east and west .
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Reev begins chanting a traditional goblin "picking poem" while pointing a rusty dogslicer at each tunnel in turn with the meter of the song.
♫
Aoyg maynen mo meyn,
Khapn a shlang di finger fun fus beyn,
Aoyb er khilz, lozn im geyn,
Muter zagt tsu klaybn di bester mayn,
Aun ir zalt zeyn.
♫
Eye-nie meanie mine-nie mo,
Catch a dragon by the toe,
If he hollers, let him go,
My mother says to pick the very best one,
And you be it.
♫
At the end of his song, Reev's small sword is pointing toward the tunnel all the way to the left. "We shud go thataway," he suggests matter-of-factly.
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Gunthar scrunches up his nose at the stench. "Seems like the orcs are going to have their work cut out for them if they want to make this place livable again," he says quietly as they enter the cave.
With his flick mace drawn and shield ready, he nods in agreement to the tunnel to the left. If no one else wants to lead, he moves in that direction, ready for the ogre.
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Before pushing out from the room, however, Valdris spots a small but shiny stone statuette in shape of a panther, no larger than a thumb. Deciding that now is not the best time to figure out what it is, he stows it away for investigation later.
The Pathfinders then push on to the next cave. It is empty except for broken furniture, smashed household items, and filth.
Nothing hazardous or valuable catches the attention of Valdris and Sparkin who are carefully looking around. Mmph, however, notes a few burrows in the ground that might have been made by creatures the size of a dog. From the looks of it, they look relatively fresh. Besides, no orcs would have allowed such burrows while they were living here. What creatures made them is unclear, but they seem to converge to the north.
From here, there are passages continuing to the west or the north .
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Reev draws his other dogslicer and now he has both swords dance, not quite in time with his choosing song, this time whispering the tune.
♫ ♬
Aoyg maynen mo meyn,
Khapn a shlang di finger fun fus beyn,
Aoyb er khilz, lozn im geyn,
Muter zagt tsu klaybn di bester mayn,
Aun ir zalt zeyn.
♫ ♬
Eye-nie meanie mine-nie mo,
Catch a dragon by the toe,
If he hollers, let him go,
My mother says to pick the very best one,
And you be it.
♫ ♬
At the end of his song, both dogslicers are pointing at the door to the north.
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As you approach the next chamber, the stench, which had lessened somewhat, starts to increase again. A massive pile of refuse lies in the middle of this room. Animal parts and partially eaten fruit and vegetables make up most of the pile, and flies lazily buzz around the perimeter.
Focused on his latest meal, a boar carcass, an ogre sits with his back to the refuse pile, casually leaning on it. With Valdris' staff glowing in the dimness of the cave, he easily notices the Pathfinders entering the chamber but he does not seem particularly perturbed, continuing with his meal. In fact, waving one the carcass' limbs, he growls out, rather pleased.
"Nice! More meat!"
In addition, the refuse heap the ogre created seem to have attracted several giant rodent-like creatures which are busy picking out titbits from the refuse. While they seem to tolerate the ogre, the source of their larder, they clearly do not feel the same over the Pathfinders and hisses when they step in!
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Valdris focuses on the rodent creatures first, sending an electric arc between two. Caught by surprise, the two fail to jump out of the way and both got a bad shock. Reev follows up quickly, decapitating the two animals in rapid succession.
Sparkin calls upon an primal enchantment onto Arun's weapon. Taking advantage of this, Arun charges straight towards the ogre and stabs his spear deeply into his flesh twice, injuring him severely!
The ogre, clearing not expecting such fierce fighting, roars furiously despite it's bad injury. He grabs his battleaxe, and starts carving into Arun, slicing two deep gashes across his chest. The rodent beside Arun leaps up and tears a large chunk of his thigh out. The wounds are too serious and he falls unconscious. What's worse, poison from the jaws of the animal start coursing through his body.
The rodent then turns to attack Reev, but the goblin easily ducks away. However, the other rodent takes the opportunity and manages to bite into his arm when Reev was distracted. He similarly feels the saliva burning when it enters his system.
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With everyone behind him, Gunthar is caught off guard by the sudden attacks of his companions. As the group kills 2 of the rats quickly and severely injures the ogre, he begins to feel confident about their ability to clear the caves easily. His confidence quickly fades when Arun falls to the mighy attack of the ogre.
With the boost of magic from Mmph, he hopes to finish of some of their opponents as he maneuvers around the closest rat so he can attack the ogre.
Feeling as if time has slowed down,Gunthar is able to adjust his second swing at the last moment.
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The rodent ducks from one of Reev's slash, but fails to spot the other one until it's too late. The dogslicer proves very adept at slicing up rodents as well, cutting it down in one strike. The goblin then quickly falls back.
With his weapon boosted by Mmph, Gunthar easily cuts down the remaining rodent and strides towards the ogre. However, Valdris' magical bolts fly faster slamming into the large humanoid's torso. The magical forces tear large wounds into the ogre and it collapses with a loud thud!
With Sparkin' magic and some immediate first aid, the Pathfinders are able to restore Arun back the consciousness, and the poison fades shortly after.
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The ogre’s gear are in good enough condition to be salvageable. The refuse heap contains bodies of the orcs that were slain before. The metal in their gear has started to rust and the leather to rot. Two other bodies also lie in the pile. They are half eaten, but most likely human. One of the bodies still wears a pair of gold earrings set with gems, the other a set of silver bracelets.
With the main threat taken out, the Pathfinders carefully search through the rest of the caves. Other than a particularly foul roomm, which was presumable once a storeroom for leftover but which the ogre had turned into a latrine, there was no other danger found in the caves. Furthermore, in the makeshift bedroom that the ogre had made for himself, you find a pile of copper and silver coins of Chelaxian, Isgeri, Druman, and Molthuni denominations .
More importantly, with the ogre and shrews defeated, the threat to the orcs, and therefore the caravan route, is eliminated. When you return to the orc camp, the orcs are happy that they can return to their home. The Pathfinders receive a lot of heavy congratulatory pats on the back, and the orcs invite them to spend the night to have a good feast. The orcs scrounge up several bottles of strong alcohol, and the group sings rowdy songs deep into the night. Grakcha promises she and her band will leave any caravan coming through their territory in peace, swearing this on her ancestors, a promise she cannot break without dooming herself and her band.
The remainder of the trip to Molthune, and its capital Canorate, is uneventful. At Canorate, however, you bump into a few familar faces. The young nobles that you encountered early in your expedition arrives a few days later, via a longer but safer route. They are extremely grateful for the help the Pathfinders gave them, and they realized that without their help, they might have died on the mountain. They reward the PCs with a magical staff , an heirloom from Amyas' family. .
And of course, the team had successfully charted a viable route across the mountains to Canorate. It takes the Chelaxian officials quite a bit of time to go through the best submissions and sending teams of their own to travel the routes. But in the end the Pathfinder’s route is deemed the best. This has certainly raised the esteem of the junior Pathfinders in the eyes of the Society!