The "voice" in Stigmar's head goes quiet. After a few seconds, Stigmar yells in pain, as as he is burned. Next to him, apparently from invisibility according to your years of combat experience, appears a glowing ball of fire bobbing gently in the air, the nebulous image of what might be a skull visible somewhere in its fiery depths. It speaks in a raspy ominous voice, Fools, you should have run for your lives when you had the chance! Now, I will feast on your fear!"
Round 1:
The fiery skull rams into Stigmar again, burning the wizard again, its laughter echoing through the swamp.
Stigmar suddenly starts and looks around just in time to get slammed by the flaming skull.
Gritting his teeth, he steps back and quickly casts Haste on himself and his fellows.
"Ye'll be the one who needs t... arghh!" he cries out as the skull slams into him for the second time.
Barad sees the creature attacking his companion, and quickly adjusts with a side five-foot-step to attack it with his reach weapon.
Feeling the speed running through his veins, the ranger attacks yet again.
"Creepy little skull, aren't ya?"
Round 1:
Rhen challenges the creature and then takes a 5' step and proceeds to thrust his dwarven axe into it!
+2 if an orc or evil outsider.
Kaz draws his bow and fires an arrow quickly. "Bless us Elk Father, we tried peace, but some creatures insist on doing things the hard way."
Stigmar takes another step back and murmurs a quick enchantment, summoning three balls that whirl around and slam into the creature.
Rhen's waraxe strikes the aberration three times, causing it to scream in horror, as its existence is snuffed out.
With some decent perception checks and detect magic, you search the area and find the previously mentioned treasure trove that the creature was guarding. The trove consists of:
Unfortunately, there is no sign of the dwarven artifact that you are looking for nor the missing dwarves.
Stigmar pores over their find. "Looks like it was taken from some druid. Must have fallen victim to the wisp. Well, at least these parts will be safer for travellers, and we have a few things that will help us against the orcs."
"Good to see that skull disappear forever. That talking in my head was creepy."
After we find the treasure, Rhen sighs, "Guess we're back to hunting orcs for the artifact. Kazidorr, you're gonna love those arrows. Nothing really calls my attention so I'm good with my equipment."
After the party distributes the magic items and you heal Stigmar (or he heals himself with potions or a wand), you continue the tracking of the orcs and the two dwarven survivors.
You follow the trail NW following the shores of the River Esk for the next 4 days. You leave the swamp of the Ghostlight Marsh behind you and begin walking on the plains. In the distance, you see the the northern peaks of the Mindspin Mountains and what appears to be a fort built at the base of the mountain. You feel your final destination is close, perhaps only a couple of hours away.
What is your approach to the fort? You can roll Perception checks. Anything else you want to cast, including hour-long buffs, let me know.
Kaz pulls out the wand he took from Commander Silverhammer. [b]"Rest a moment Stigmar." He concentrates on the magic and commands the wand to bind Stigmar's wounds.
Additional +1 to locate traps.
Rhen and Barad lead the party forth, trying to look out for dangers, certain that they will reach their destination in a couple of hours.
With Stigmar and Rhen's keen eyes, the dwarven unit sees what appears to be a patrol unit of four orcs in studded leather wielding falchions led by a hunched giant dressed in fur clothing wielding a greatclub and a bag of rocks. The patrol is about 3 rounds away from your current location.
Stigmar moves to the side of the path and positions himself behind a rock that matches the shade his cloak. With one hand on his spell-pouch, he scans the path ahead as he awaits the foes.
It seems we finally will get sum' action after dealing with that flying fey, lads! - he says, keeping a low tone in case anyone wants to try a silent approach - If we manage tae' keep one breathing, we may be able to learn more about the happ'nings here.
He taps his giantsticker and holds for a moment, pointing if forward and ready to move towards the enemies but waiting to see if anyone would try a different plan.
Rhen agrees with Stigmar's idea to strike from stealth! He hides behind some rocks to let the patrol get in melee range.
Kaz follows the lead of his friends and tries to duck behind some rocks about 20 feet behind the rest of the group. He prepares to cast a quick spell and holds his bow ready.
"I've got the orcs, brothers." he whispers.
The party, except for Barad, hides behind some nearby rocks on the road. The patrol of orcs and the hill giant pass close to the party and the trap is sprung, as Barad stands in the middle of the curving road with a smile.
Barad smiles and moves towards the orcs, immediately starting his cleaving attacks. He positions himself with a rock to his side, trying to avoid exposing himself to being surrounded. He uses his reach weapon, but is ready to attack closer if needed with his boulder helmet.
Rhen will move 2 squares diagonally (15') and attack the giant, thrusting his waraxe into the giant's knee. "Have at it!"
Stigmar pulls a pinch of gunk from his spell pouch, murmurs a spell and launches it over the orcs. It sparks into flame as it flies through the air, then bursts into a large explosion behind the patrol.
Kaz seeing Stigmar hurl fire at the orcs decides to fire on the giant for the moment. He steps out from behind the rocks and launches an arrow at the creature. "Stag Father, guide our hands."
Rhen moves and strikes a critical hit against the giant's knee cap.
Stigmar's fireball engulfs the enemy participants, as their screams fill the air.
Kazidorr's arrow shot pierces the wounded and burned giant's eye, killing it.
Kazidorr steps forward a bit more and draws one of the enchanted arrows from his quiver. "Cursed orcs! We smelled you well before we saw you." He aims at the closest orc and fires.
Stigmar stays back and mutters an incantation, launching a trio of magic missiles into the orc at the rear.
Kaz's second arrow pierces another orc's brain, killing it, while Stigmar's energy missiles drop another orc. The last 2 severely wounded orcs look around, see the dead giant and 2 dead orcs, and realize they're outnumbered, so they run for their lives!
Kazidor draws out another orc bane arrow, and fires it at the furthest orc. It's a distance but he's made further shots.
"If we want to give chase, no time would be better than now." Kaz says as he begin to trot after the orcs.
Stigmar fires off another set of missiles at the remaining orc
Kaz’s arrow kills another orc and Stigmar’s magic missile ends the threat as the fleeing orc collapses dead to the ground. Other than their gear (studded leather, javelins, and falchions for the orcs and greatclub for the giant), nothing else to loot. Continue west?
"Nice shot, Kazidorr" Stigmar remarks with a nod. "They still won't be expecting us. Let's move the bodies off the path, then keep going."
You continue west and four hours later (around 2:00 PM), you reach Redlake Fort, the base of the orcs and you assume the situs of your kidnapped dwarven brethren. Built from reddish stone (which also contributed to its name), Redlake Fort is a large stone fortification, perched atop a small rocky island above a deep trench surrounding the entire stronghold, which guards the approach to the fort’s gatehouse. A stone bridge is down and leads to the fort's barbican, but is guarded by 6 orcs with longbows. The outer wall of the fort itself is 15 feet high. There are five two-story guard towers equipped with arrow slits overlooking the dry moat and surrounding area outside the fort’s walls. There is also a bell tower in the western part of the fort with a massive bell that fills this chamber beneath a domed roof. Four open arches provide wide views of the fort and surrounding lands. Two large humanoids with bows man this bell tower.
You are currently laying low behind a ridge about 600' feet away from the fort.
"I see six orcs near the bridge, two giants in the bell tower." Stigmar notes. "I reckon we could take them, but they could easily raise an alarm and we don't know how many others there would be. We might be able to sneak up away from the bridge and bell-tower, as long as there's nobody in the guard towers. Or we could make some sort of distraction?" he ponders.
From a military perspective, Rhen would also suggest to scope out the fort for 24 hours, to gather intelligence, determine troop movements, guard shifts, etc. to determine when the fort would be most vulnerable to penetrate or attack.
Stigmar nods. "Aye, I'd need a rest to regain my spells. We may be able to catch another patrol as they leave, although that's probably a bad idea - some nearly got away last time."
"I could also try to get closer and scry. I do have a spell to turn invisible for half a minute that should let me get away if I get in any trouble."
A combination of tha' two may be our best approach for now, lads. - finally speaks the grumpy, silent Barad, looking from afar with the others - I mean, scrying for information, resting and scouting the surroundings tae' avoid being surprised. I'm not the stealthier around, as you well know, and even with invisibility means they might hear me' breastplate from afar. May I suggest we go this route, Stonefoot gets his shiny fireworks back, and we approach once we have more information?
Stigmar nods. "Aye, I'd need a rest to regain my spells. We may be able to catch another patrol as they leave, although that's probably a bad idea - some nearly got away last time."
"I could also try to get closer and scry. I do have a spell to turn invisible for half a minute that should let me get away if I get in any trouble."
The trench is 20' wide and 15' deep if you wanted to skip the bridge and jump to the fort at some other location.
"Rhen's stealthy too. We could both sneak down to get a closer look - I don't need to be too close to scry over the wall. I might be able to get
a sensor through the arrowslits of the towers too. If we do get spotted, I still have a haste spell which will let us outrun them, and we can lead them into an ambush of Barad and Kazidorr."
"We could do this now or wait until tomorrow if we want to be more cautious."
"Stigmar, I like your plan. Let's wait until dark to move up closer. I know they have darkvision too, but perhaps they let their guards down to eat or some other form of celebration that may distract them. In the meantime, we will observe and note guard shifts and troop movement in and out."
Stigmar nods. "Very well, let's move down tonight."