The Carnival of Slaughter

The Knights of the Elk have finally received orders from the capitol to place a cease and desist on this disgusting excuse for a carnival that is the "Cavalcade of Justice". Naturally I decided to offer my services to deliver this order along with our sheriff to be Jor Haldon. An honorable man if I do say so my self. We are joined by two... interesting fellows. A human by the name of Cayden Ambrose who keeps his face hidden, I'll have my shield maiden Illyana keep an eye on that one. The other was an ash lander. A half-orc barbarian from my home land of Midgard. Interesting to find one of his kind this far south across the seas. None the less I will not deny that his brute strength could prove useful if things go sideways with the ogres that run the carnival, as I expect they will.
 
We purchase some horses to help speed us on our journey, and head south to the last known location of the carnival. We decide to stop and rest for the night before engaging in the morning. Our rest goes uninterrupted except that Illyana informs me she spotted a blue light flitting about the camp at some point. Likely the quickling that the ogres employ as a scout. now they know we're coming. At daybreak we gather our things and continue onward.
 
Arriving at the site, we find that the carnival has moved on since our last visit. We go about trying to track their movements when we are rudely interrupted by a rough looking human. Mercenary by the looks of him, and not the type to discriminate how bloody his coins are. It seems that the ogres were not too happy with us after our last visit since we ran off with one of their prisoners. this man and his fellows were here to collect the bounty on our heads. Fair enough, I was expecting a fight one way or another.
 
Striding forward on my new steed Horthnir, I ready my javelin as more mercenaries step out of the tree line. A total of five melee combatants including the leader and two archers. The archers took me by surprise at first, with one of them landing a shot between a gap in my chainmail. after that I was able to bolster my defenses with magic to deflect another onslaught. I could hear the ashlander Krug behind me working himself into a rage as he began lumbering forward just behind me. I lost track of Jor and Cayden but I can only assume they began to occupy the archers as the rain of arrows had stopped.
 
After taking a few shots with my javelin I had just about closed the distance between my foe and I when the realization hit me all too late, they were holding their position, this was a trap! Before I could react the ground beneath me gave away. Horthnir was able to leap to safety but I was not so lucky. I was tossed from my horses back as I fell into the pit, spikes at the bottom pierced my flesh. I was injured but not beaten yet. I waited for the arrogant fools to come and check on their catch and when they did I called forth the icy winds of Midgard to lay them low.
 
Being taken back by my spell They were caught off guard when at that moment Krug leapt over the pit and began laying into the leader with his hammer. This bought me the time I needed to climb out of the pit. By the time I was back on solid ground the barbarian had taken heavy damage from the enemy. It seemed he was on his last leg, but so was the mercenary leader. not wanting to stab the man in the back, I politely taped him on the shoulder. When he turned to face me I summoned my blade and relieved his shoulders from the burden of his head.
 
From here it was quick work moping up the rest of the rabble. One of them even tried to run although he was quickly taken down by a well placed shot from Cayden's bow. At the battle's end I admit I was a bit worse for ware, however Krug had sustained grievous injuries. I began to search for his weapon to lay it by his side so that he would not go into the afterlife unarmed, but Cayden was able to bring him from the brink of death with some quick field surgery. I shall need to buy that half orc a glass of mead once he recovers. He truly proved himself a mighty warrior this day.
 
Jor was able to shackle the one mercenary we left alive and we made our way back to Glenhaven to report our findings. The ogres would have to wait for another day...