Umikh will muscle in wherever he can to get at the monster . Drawing his longsword and stepping close, he....
...sinks his sword into flesh, but the weapon ricochets off the cave wall when he tries to swing again. He grunts against the foul luck, angling for a better attack next time.
Chaos reigns as you are surprised by the two worm-like creatures blocking the tunnel. Quickly recovering from the attack, Turq explodes into action, first missing the creature, but then catching it with a mighty backswing. The creature roars in fury, concentrating its attack on the human:
Turq raises his shield quickly to block the attack, but a tentacle grabs him around the waist once more, crushing him and pulling him in to the beast's maw:
but, again, the sharp beak cannot find his flesh beneath the armour.
The creature's tail seeks out Rodalas:
catching the eladrin off guard, and throwing off his aim: Rodalas's arrow flies harmlessly down the cave.
Meanwhile, with arrow and anger and axe, Khitt and Netzer make short work of the smaller of the two creatures, and it collapses to the floor.
A flaming arrow flies from Quominor's finger and explodes into the worm. He follows this up with a quick prayer to Tyr, whereupon a glowing warhammer manifests, clubbing the enemy. Umikh's mighty longsword slashes its side but, in the cramped space of the tunnel, his backswing catches on the wall, fouling his aim.
Round 2
Turq (-28)
Big Monster
Rodalas (-11)
Khitt
Netzer
Quominor
Umikh
Turq growls before three swift slashes from his dwarvish axe, I'm your target, mate!
If this one hit...
Tentacles flare wide as Turq's weapon strikes again. With a squeal:
All four tentacles wrap around Turq, crushing his chest as it pulls him into its mouth:
The sharp beak finds a grip at Turq's shoulder and crunches. When it opens its beak again, Turq drops lifeless to the cave floor.
Meanwhile, it's tail lashes out again; this time targeting Khitt:
Round 2 (cont'd)
Turq (unconscious)
Big Monster (-44)
Rodalas (-11)
Khitt(-12)
Netzer
Quominor
Umikh
EDIT:
In the depths of his mind, Turq hears the sing-song voice of his new friend calling him back, It is not your time yet, Turq...
The stout warrior's eyes flutter open, seeing his body spattered with his own blood. Seeing the creature still above him, ready to feast, the dwarf-friend scrambles to his feet calling upon his inner reserve to redouble his efforts!
Umikh roars into the creature's side again, desperate to give Turq a chance to get free or get up. His first attack proves his anger, but the tight quarters thwart his second slice, barely cutting the monster. He risks a look around to see where everyone is and how they are doing.
In the depths of his mind, Turq hears the sing-song voice of his new friend calling him back, It is not your time yet, Turq...
The stout warrior's eyes flutter open, seeing his body spattered with his own blood. Seeing the creature still above him, ready to feast, the dwarf-friend scrambles to his feet calling upon his inner reserve to redouble his efforts! [dice=Second Wind]1d10+5
[dice=+1 battle axe swing 1]1d20+7
[dice=+1 battle axe swing 2]1d20+7
The assassin will fire an arrow from his magical shortbow
pierce
sneak attack if necessary
and if he needs to will either disengage or fey step 30' away
Khit reels backward from the tentacle blow, catching his balance quickly. A low whistle instructs Khat to attack the creature while Khitt sends two more shafts at the creature with renewed urgency.
Rodalas's and Khitt's arrows sink deep into the creature, bringing the creature to its ... knees? Figurative knees, anyway. And, with a final mighty swipe, Netzer's greataxe severs the tentacled head from the rest of the body.
With a quick word of thanks to his god, Quominor's spell brings Turq back to consciousness.
Aside from the leaking corpses, the tunnels appear to be dry and out of the wind -- this would be a good spot to rest for the night.
Khitt sets to preparing the worm flesh for the fire.
“what were these beasts?” He wonders to himself.
for prepping the flesh.
Umikh wonders What were those things? out loud. Does anyone know? He hopes the cooked flesh is at least palatable, and well done just in case.
Surprisingly, the creature cooks up quite nicely: the body is mostly boneless, so once you've cleaned it, it's mostly just muscle. The flavour is reminiscent of some river fish -- kind of muddy, but not unpleasant. The tentacles are tough and rubbery -- it's fine, but probably they'd be better if they were prepared in a different way.
As you shift the bodies around, you find:
Lying among a pile of bones in the cave (a prior victim) are a number of stone working tools in remarkably good shape. The tools are decorated with cast iron goat motifs of exquisite craftsmanship, and are worth 200 gp altogether.
Khitt isn't sure what the monster was.
After a large meal, you settle in for the night -- it's been a long, tiring day, and there'll be more snow to slog through tomorrow.
You portion out the night into equal shifts, but your rest is uninterrupted -- the snow piles up around the partially blocked cave entrance, but the night is dark and peaceful. Sometime in the night, the snowfall slows and stops, to be replaced but an increasing wind that blows the loose flakes around, making you thankful to be in a sheltered cave (even though it was occupied).
With the "dawn," you pack up your gear and prepare to head out.
After a quick consultation, you determine that your route now lies almost directly south -- there don't even appear to be any major hills in the way between here and the base of the mountains. The wind has picked up, and the gusts are strong enough that some of you fear the tall-folk might blow over. There isn't a lot of cover between here and your destination, where you hope the mountains and the small wooded areas will be enough to dissipate wind -- or, at the very least, the snow that it's carrying.
Luck is with you today, however, and you don't encounter anything on your way south. The wind is brutal and tries to force you from your path, but you've plenty of landmarks to keep you on track. Turq's attempts to rouse your spirits with a dwarven marching song are torn from his lips and swept away by the gale, so you mostly trudge along in silence, with only the sound of the wind in you ears.
After four hours, you pause near the small forest of spruce trees to take a break from the march and the wind and to enjoy a quick meal. Umikh returns from relieving himself with news that he's spotted owlbear tracks heading deeper into the woods to the west. You surmise that the tracks are probably a few hours old, and that the owlbears are likely foraging for food in the forest.
”You know, the down of an owl bear cloak is said to be one of the warmest things in the Dale. It’s days and journeys like this that make me wish we had time to find that beastie and fashion one for myself.”
Keeping a more cautious eye on your surroundings, you finish eating and press on a bit more quickly than you might have otherwise -- no sense in tempting an encounter with those vicious creatures if you don't have to.
Two hours later, as you approach the pass in the mountains where the platoon should be, you see two figures near what appears to be the remains of an avalanche.
As you approach, one appears to be a young dwarf woman, her leg splinted as she sits in the snow, sobbing. The other figure is a bronze dragonborn, kneeling next to the partially uncovered body of another young dwarf who looks to have been caught up in the avalanche.
The larger of the pair can be heard muttering in a deep voice:
As he rises and turns to face you, you notice considerable Lichtenberg scars, the patterns branching across the dragonborn’s face and neck. Your eyes flick from his face to the amulet bearing the symbol of cloud and lightning bolt, and from there to the shield and warhammer.
"HA! I wondered if the dwarves would come," he bursts out, loudly. "Although," he twists his head to squint at you with one eye, birdlike, "I guess you aren't all dwarves."
"I found these two on my way by. I can’t do much more to help here, other than carry this one back to town," nodding to the injured dwarf.
She looks up at this, stricken: ”No! You can’t leave them out there -- the ogres have them trapped!”
Turq was uncharacteristically quiet during the trek. His mind was on his close brush with death and what it almost meant for his friends. I'll just have ta get better, eh?
--
Looking at the young dwarf, Who, lass? Where?
She glares at the dragonborn for another few seconds before turning to you: "We were out here training -- getting to know the mountains, the squad. They ambushed us: ogres. Regular ones and then these big f%~!ers -- musta been two dozen of 'em. Well, we're just trainees, but we weren't gonna back down! But, well, Cap'n Marblehead says 'RUN' so we ran. South through the pass, and then east -- I guess the idea was to get around the mountain or else find a way under it. Instead, we got cornered. Oh, it's a good defensible box canyon: narrow entrance and all that. But no way out the other side. Plus there's some weird stones and stuff in there. Anyway, we cut down the first few ogres that tried to come through, and the rest backed off, but now they're just waiting. Sometimes they throw boulders, try to pick us off for sport, or try to rush through the gap. Hasn't worked so far, but we're ... they're low on supplies and they don't get much sleep."
She draws a somewhat shaky breath: "Anyways, me and Peroll, we snuck past the ogre camp so we could go find some help. But... ah, we got caught in this avalanche and... well, and Peroll didn't make it through."
She casts a sorrowful look toward her friend before her face hardens as she turns back to the group: "And anyway -- who are you? I see dwarves but I don't recognize them:"
Yep, ye got us is all. Whatcher name? Tell us more about them 'weird stones', and how many ogres ye think there are. Do ya have any healing elixirs wit ya?
She eyes you suspiciously for another beat, then sighs: "I suppose Master Silverstream has his reasons; and anyway, you're here and they ain't."
"M'names Emilia Marblehead. My father, Captain Ezra Marblehead, and is the one leading the squads on these exercises, along with Adrienne... that is, Lieutenant Ogathoin. It's been a bit hard to get an accurate count of the ogres, as they have some out on patrols or foraging for food and rocks, but we estimated about 18 of the big jobs and twice that number of the regular ogres. Plus some big, white wolves."
The dragonborn responds to your question about healing: "And I'm Jarprax. The damage to Emilia's leg is too severe for that kind of healing magic -- that she is conscious at all is thanks to the Storm Lord. There is more I could attempt in the morning, but I worry she won't survive the night without proper shelter. I plan to carry her as far as I can toward the Towns."
Emilia frown and mutters: "yeah, well we'll see about that"
Then, more loudly, "The stones? I ain't a scholar, but yeah, weird: First, there's these standing stones in a ring that're all covered in runes -- Dethek script, but not so's you could read it. Adrienne -- oh she's a smart one -- she figures it's an old form of giantish. Said that we were in some giant holy site or burial ground or something -- the Birthright Stones? And there's a smaller tablet, maybe 4'x5', that had something to do with rune magic?"
The dragonborn's eyes widen and he bears his teeth (is it a smile? a grimace?): "OHO! Well, that explains one thing at least. I didn't know what was going on in these mountains, but the giants are ... agitated. Like a bank of purple clouds over the ocean. I assumed they were angry, or perhaps looking for something -- maybe both, eh!? Anyway, I didn't like to say, but sounds like a couple of bakkegiganter... eh? Whatchercall -- Hill Giants? are on the way to find your dwarven friends. They’re still about..." he waggles a hand, "half a day? ish? away."
Emilia, incensed: "YOU WHAT!? Weren't going to say?! Why I..." she tries to struggle to her feet, looking like she means violence. She manages to get about half-way up before swooning. Jarprax catches her before she falls, and lowers her quickly onto his shield: "HA! Well, that's why I didn't want to say, eh?" He quickly ties some rope to either side of the shield, fashioning a quick-and-dirty sled.
"I'd like to head out before too long, but I'll answer any other questions you have before I do. If it helps, here are two potions: one will help you climb, one will make you brave. And, if you can find a way of bringing back that tablet Emilia mentioned, I know some people who would reward you handsomely for it."
Well! Umikh just stands there a minute, taking in all that new information.
Quominar just sits and listens, half-amused at the fact that they're switching to dwarvish, and half-afraid of this information being given. He hadn't ever even seen a giant, and now there were an uncertain number of them coming to end them? He sighs deeply. "Do you think a healing spell cast upon you would help? I'm not sure how much I can do for the bone but I could at least try."
If need be, the limb could be amputated he thinks to himself.
Turq nods resolutely, We tarry too long and the beardlings'll be lost. 'Prax, get her to the Towns and we'll get the recruits home, don't ya worry.
Quominar turns to Turq. "Well, this got a lot more serious than it was, didn't it?" he says, half-joking trying to lighten the pretty heavy mood.
Jarprax nods, brusquely: "From Emilia's description, you're only about three miles away, south and then east around the mountain. The ogres've got some patrols out, so be sure to either avoid them or deal with them quickly. I expect they usually swing by this pass, or head into that forest just north of here for food. We didn't see them, but it might be that they changed their routine because of the avalanche.
Do you think we can make it above the ogre camp? Look down on them to see what we are dealing with?
"I haven't been out there myself, but from Emilia's description, the ogre camp is in a gorge that leads to the box canyon where the dwarves are holed up. There are four inclines down into the gorge from this side, so if you can avoid the patrol, you should be able to look in from there."
"It should be possible to skirt the edge of the gorge, though. But it'd be awfully exposed -- the ogre's'd throw everything they had at you if they see you."
”Seeing us shouldn’t be a problem.” Khitt chimes in. He also seems concerned for the wounded dwarf, perhaps even trying to splint the leg, but she seems to have someone looking after her already so he leaves the issue to the experts. After all, besides basic levels of first aid and relying on magic are his personal means of triage. No, his skill set is much more in line with finding these ogres and missing dwarves.
While not necessarily the most strategically-minded, Quominar chimes in with: "I would agree with Turq that perhaps getting a view of the enemy would be beneficial. There's nothing but benefits with knowing what we're up against before it gets here."
We got this, y’all head on out. Team, shall we make our way to the view?
Aye, let us!
Without clear directions, and not having been to the gorge yet yourselves, you resolve to look for the ogre camp first, then see about getting above and/or around it.
You rise past a crest in the mountains, the Spine opening up to a large gorge before you to the east, and you catch your first glimpse of the siege site. Nestled into the far eastern end of the gorge, surrounded by walls of treacherous ice and snow, lie the Birthright Stones. Even from a distance, the giant scale of the site is readily visible. Menhirs — upright stone monoliths — stand at attention as high as 50 feet tall throughout the holy site, quiet monuments to forgotten figures of the past. Just outside the chokepoint entrance to the site, a wide path littered with fallen ogre bodies trails west and descends down to the siege forces’ encampment. A dozen crudely erected tents are spread out at about halfway through the gorge’s length. A larger tent dominates the middle of the siege encampment. Dozens of ogres are visible lumbering about the camp.