Session 258 - The Hidden Fort
General Summary
21th to 27th of Agrazhar (Third month of Summer) 725TR
The story so far
Jolanta is hunting her hated rival the renegade wizard Richemanus Hyrdeman. He has shown interest in one of Lothrim the Foulspawner lieutenants, the Egg Keeper, who concealed some artifact called the Nest in Eagle Point. Eagle point is said to be near some location called Sirion.
Jolanta has learned that Sirion was the location where Lothrim the Foulspawner was defeated and is located at the mouth of the Deret River, near the shore of Lake Benath. The party will investigate.
This is the continuation of Session 256 - Lost Observatory and Session 257 - Dirty Deeds.
Location - The foothills West of Lake Benath near the Rayesha Mountains.
Part 1 - Dead Miners and Griffins
The heroes make their way north, towards Sirion, through the Thardic Republic's isolated and somewhat backward Kom Province. Crossing the Deret River, they come on to a shocking sight, a looted wagon with five butchered men, likely miners. A cursory investigation of the footprints around the massacre reveals that dozens of Orcs were responsible. Surprisingly the Orcs did not loot, and the wagon has a fortune of crude silver ingots. Before the heroes can investigate further, predators arrive; hungry griffins fly in from the mountains. They are no threat and are soon slain by the experienced adventurers.
The Orcs have left an unmistakable trail leading in the same direction the party is traveling.
Part 2 - Fort Sirion
The tracks lead to a small stronghold, well hidden from the view of the river. Fort Sirion is under under-siege from hundreds of Foulspawn. Gargu-Khanu, a.k.a. Black Orcs, have encircled the fort and, from the corpses along the walls, have made several attempts to burst their way through. It looks like the fort has barely been held from the condition of the wounded guards manning the walls. The characters use magic to enter and immediately defuse any concerns from the startled guards by offering to help.
The Orcs appeared in large numbers five days ago and assailed the fort every night. They are hell-bent on killing everyone. Since he acquired his magical sword Orc Bleeder, Blaine has learned all he can about foulspawn. He tells the group most Orcs species hate sunlight and can't see very well in bright light, so it would be best to attack before sundown.
Part 3 - Jolanta Goes Nova
In the early afternoon, the heroes stealthily approach the largest of the Orc camps. Avon summons a water elemental as a distraction, and as expected, the Foulspawn swarm it. Biding her time, Jolanta waits for the perfect moment to unleash the full force of her arcane talents. A vast white blast of destructive energy, Jolanta's Corrosive Meteor Swarm, strikes, disintegrating all the Orcs in range. The party then quickly moves to eliminate any remaining witnesses. All orcs in that unit are dead, and the nearby smaller bands of Orcs sense something amiss and scatter.
Jolanta investigates the dead. She finds an oval-shaped black stone on what little remains of the orc leader. She immediately identifies this as an arcane device to allow the user to telepathically talk to a person with a similar artifact with a limited number of uses. After Moneypenny casts the Tounges spell on Acheron, he uses this device to communicate with whoever is on the other side. Speaking gruffly and mumbled, he conveys, in Gargu-Khanu, the language of the Black Orcs, that they were attacked. He receives an immediate response. "Was a white-haired mage part of the attack?" "Yes," mumbles Acheron. "Then flee West as fast as you can and leave a trail. Draw her away," the voice instructs.
The orc slayers triumphantly return to Fort Sirion. The miners are thrilled and commit to rewarding the heroes. They know where Eagle Point is and offer a guild to take the adventures there.
Part 4 - Eagle Point
The next day, the guide leads the group to a nearby valley, watched over by an oddly shaped structure vaguely resembling a bird. In the valley is a cave and another two dozen Black Orcs camped with two rough-looking human guards. They look like competent-looking warriors. The party sneaks up, and Jolanta unleashes more disintegration magic, blasting the orcs and men, while Avon darts in to kill key survivors. The warriors are dangerous, weathering some of Jolanta's most deadly arcane assaults. Avon finishes off one, but the other is badly wounded and retreats into the cave and down a shaft. The rest of the party eliminates the remaining Orcs.
The group enters the cave, noting a ladder and the shaft down; Jolantas conjures a Cloudkill and sends down a poisonous cloud of death passes. The heroes enter the caves below to find half a dozen dead orcs, but their human prey cannot be seen.
Some foulspawn warriors survived or evaded the Cloudkill and ambush the party. Moneypenny Dominates, the most brutal Orc warrior, and he joins the battle on the party's side. The Black Orcs are eventually eradicated, and Moneypenny commands her slave to walk into the Cloudkill to his death. Jolanta spots the human warrior sniping in a back passage and finishes him with one final Corrosive Bast.
To be continued.NPC Interactions
Malian Markax, son of Senator Turin Markaz.
Challenges Overcome
Killed 3 x Griffins.
Killed at least 70 x Black Orcs and several elite human guards.
Rewards
The Miners Guild will reward the heroes in due course.Created Content
Related Reports
List of Renegade Spellcasters.
Player Character Status
Acheron - Human - L6 Devotion Paladin, L4 Hexblade, and L8 Divine Soul.
Jolanta - Human - L18 Evoker.
Avon - Half-Elf - L18 Thief.
