Session 10 - Hordes R Us

General Summary

After a long rest the group wakes and they hear a muffled voice, Astraea realising that it is coming from her backpack tips the contents out and a carved wooden head comes out which she received from Saresh. Halin is able to talk to the group through the enchanted carving and relays the news that the halfling assassin has escaped from the governor. Faen asks if they should return but Ninki comes on the line and tells them not to as the Vult seem to have things in hand. Astraea suggests that Halin examine the dagger they gave to Sandmere more closely and let them know if any information comes to light. They bid their farewells and Astraea packs her gear away while Faen gives Hanurak a bowl he's been crafting since the group left Breah which can double anything put into it. Hanurak accepts it gladly with the aim of doubling his medicine.
Looking around the group notice tracks leading off into the woods from the camp, following them for a short time they find Valanthe finishing a protection ritual. Carrying on their journey to Eidover the group hear a huge commotion and see trees collapsed across the road. Andre and Hanurak sense a trap as suddenly an orc warband appears on the ridge of the hill and charges towards the group. Astraea quickly casts haste on Hanurak and Andre who along with Artorias proceed to counter charge cutting a bloody path through the orcs. While Faen casts a fireball reducing an entire squad of the orcs to ash.

As the group disperses Astraea, Faen and Valanthe find themselves isolated, at which point they see a portal appear next to them as a black faced with a scar on one eye steps out and in one fluid motion pulls Valanthe into it and disappears. With this the remaining orcs retreat leaving the PCs to mop up the survivors, as this is going on and the group searches quickly for loot and some sign of where the orcs came from. Astraea notices that they all bear the symbol of Ma'lak the God of the Fire Elementals.

While this is going on Faen examines the area of the portal, recognising the spell from his years of study he believes that the Orc who used it could not have got far and senses that its user was heading further west and deeper into the forest.

As they are travelling Faen notices a huge shadowy figure covered in plant life just off the road in the woods. Hanurak approaches and sees a Firbolg who introduces himself as Rael Varis a famous bard from Eidover. While Rael is telling everyone of his magnificent plays Hanurak takes the Silas Oil he picked up from Valanthe's tribe, feeling a slight queasiness come over him his hair begins to fall out across the ground leaving the Half Orc completely bald for the first time in his life. After everyone has stopped laughing at this Faen asks Rael If he knows of anything which could help as he notices the Firbolg making medicinal poultices. He does give Hanurak a paste of the Rubart root which cures the side effect of the dwarf rot allowing Hanurak to regain his full height but he admits it is unlikely to have much effect on the rune curse. They question him further about the orcs and Rael says he has seen an elf with a Orc pass by and points the group in the right direction. He then bids the group farewell and wanders off reminding them to watch one of his plays especially his Ode to a Withered Tree.
Continuing with their hunt for Valanthe's kidnapper the group climb a small rise they see smoke on the horizon coming from a nearby village under attack. Reaching the walls of the village the group find it swarming with orcs who seem to have beaten their way through the palisade leaving gaping holes in it. Faen and Astraea send their owls and Astraea sees a congregation of roughly a hundred orcs in a circle around a raised platform with 2 orcs and a woman on it.

As her owl flies closer she realises that one of the orcs on the stage is the kidnapper and relays the information to the rest of the group. They decide to sneak into the village and Astarea casts haste on Hanurak while Faen bestows him with invisibility. Hanurak stays at street level and sneaks into the courtyard while the others enter a building and make their way to the second floor where they have a good view of most of the courtyard.

Asbrook town square before the Orcs

Getting closer to the stage Hanurak recognises the bigger of the two orcs as Bavrak the Butcher who destroyed his home city of Bazaar ladh. Hanurak sneaks closer to the centre of the village while Faen detonates a fireball into the centre of the ring of orcs killing many of them and setting fire to a large part of the courtyard. On the other side of the courtyard Astraea creates her own no man's land as she manifests a sphere of wrathful storm energy sowing confusion and destruction in the ranks of the orc horde.
Hanurak, feeling his barbarian rage build within him rushes up and begins again his grim harvest as his greatsword cleaves through orc after orc as some charge him and others attempt to escape. Moving to attack Bavrak, the orc casts blindness on him only enraging the barbarian further as he continues carving his way to the warchief.
In the chaos Faen jumps out of the window casting more spells as he goes, releasing an orb of chromatic energy at the nearest orc that then proceeds to carve a path through several others before dissipating. Seeing his position about to be overrun he casts Misty Steps but due to the way the Prickling Forest interacts with the weave of nature he finds himself teleported to the other side of the courtyard in a burst of wild magic.
Andre the Dwarf follows the blue headed wizard out of the window a moment later feeling his bones and skin stretch as his body morphs into its inner werewolf and firing his crossbow just misses Bavrak's lieutenant Uggra. Bavrak gives his orders to the other Orc to finish quickly before using his portal again to escape. Sensing the tide turning Uggra orders his remaining orcs to concentrate their fire on Hanurak who collapses in a hail of arrow fire.
Seeing their Half Orc Barbarian friend go down for the first time in battle the group feel a sense of hopelessness at their situation that quickly morphs into sheer determination as they unleash their spells and swords at any orc within range in a burst of bravery Andre braves the hordes coming at him to feed Hanurak a potion of healing bringing the barbarian back into the fight but at the cost of his own life as several orc swords pierce deep into his body.
In a final burst of heroics the group vanquish Uggra through Faen's clever placement of a fireball that encompases the remaining orcs while managing to avoid the group and the old woman on the stage but causing another wild magic surge that turns himself, Hanurak and half the village square invisible.

Artist's impression of the fireball

The old lady comes towards them from the stage, thanking the group for saving her village, or most of it, as the wild magic fades and Faen suddenly pops back into visibility along with Hanurak startling the woman. She introduces herself as Gilsi Erdoon the mayor of the village of Asbrook, she explains that the orcs often raid the village from the old Dwarven fortress of Gael Norvus carved into the nearby mountain of Uldebal and that as they decided to resist this time Bavrak took a number of the villagers and had sentenced her to death.
She offers the friends some refreshments which they accept gratefully as they loot the nearby bodies they find on Uggra some gold and a letter to Bavrak from the Head of the Order of Draco. Elanil Esalich informing Bavrak to move his troops further north to draw out King Silas' forces from Eidover by raiding the nearby villages.
As the group rise from their long rest Gilsi informs them that the orcs usually sacrifice their victims at sunset. They come to a river with a destroyed bridge which Faen and Astraea use Mage hand on to tie ropes across so they can pass. Thrisk scouts ahead and sees some orcs on the battlements but quickly lands after being shot at. They skirt around the outside and find a rock with runes carved into it, Faen solving the puzzle with Hanurak's help uncovers a secret door and while they can hear snoring coming from inside they debate whether to sneak in through the secret entrance. But instead decide to leave Thrisk and Artorias at the door while Hanurak and Faen take Astraea and Andre into the fortress as prisoners. Faen disguises himself with a spell and Hanurak puts a helmet on he took as loot from the village.

Gael Norvus

As they approach the entrance two orcs stop them and ask what they are doing. Faen, feeling his social anxiety growing, starts bumbling for answers which puts the group in danger of being discovered but Hanurak manages to cover by saying that Faen's tongue has been cut out so does the rest of the talking. Passing through the courtyard of the fortress the group negotiate their way through giant oak doors into the mountain on the pretense of taking prisoners to the jail.
They enter a series of hallways and upon reaching a junction decide to go down the less well lit of the two that leads them into an ornate if a little dilapidated room with priests performing their duties near a blood soaked altar, as they look they can see a human and gnome in cages in the corner of the room but realising they cannot save them yet without giving themselves away they turn and head back down another corridor.

Orc Temple

They come out into a room with a huge chasm in the centre and a small bridge spanning it with two orcs on the opposite side, they cross and the orcs again ask what they are doing, as this is the fourth time of being asked Hanurak loses it and shouts "we have prisoners why do you think we are here." The Orc says that this is Bavrak's private entrance and they are to go back through the barracks but before Hanurak has time to reply Bavrak enters from behind the orcs wondering what all the noise is about noticing Astraea and Andre bound up, he tells Hanurak and Faen to enter his throne room while Hanurak explains that they left the battle with the prisoners which displeases Bavrak as he sees them as deserters so says that one of them must kill the other or both will die. With quick thinking Hanurak grabs Faen and drags him back to the chasm whispering to him to cast fly quickly before throwing him over the edge. Faen quickly casts his spell but injures himself pin balling off the wall. Bavrak is impressed with Hanurak's ruthlessness and decides to promote him to one of his lieutenants.
Looking around the throne room Hanurak can see some orcs milling around and in the corner Valanthe passed out in a cage. Bavrak starts questioning Andre who gets the giggles but won't give anything away so Bavrak makes Hanurak prove his loyalty by making him torture Andre. Hanurak obliges and punches Andre a few times but still gets nothing from him. Bavrak reveals he has the amulet of Wotash which he proceeds to ask Astraea about but she says nothing. Bavrak turns his attention back to Hanurak and Andre not trusting Hanurak's show of aggression towards towards the dwarf and so tells him to remove his helmet. With quick thinking Astraea manages to free herself enough to cast minor illusion on Hanurak to hide his face from Bavrak. Getting frustrated with the situation Bavrak banishes Astraea to the elemental plane of water where she begins to drown leaving her with only minutes to live.

The Elemental Plane of Water.

Faen in the meantime has flown back out of the chasm and tricked the guards into moving across the bridge while he hid himself in the entryway to the throne room watching the preceding events. He becomes invisible and launches a fireball at Bavrak after seeing Astraea disappear and a fight ensues with Bavrak calling his orcs to arms. Hanurak meanwhile uses his Gauntlets of Giant's Fury and enlarges to a humongous size knocking over some of the Orc archers in the rafters.
Knowing that they need to disrupt Bavrak's concentration Andre and Faen unleash a barrage of attacks, but trained by the head of the Order of Draco he manages to maintain it leaving Astraea banished from the material plane. Following a series of harrowing strikes Faen is felled by Bavrak's greatsword. In a moment of inspiration Andre manages to remember Astraea had a healing potion in her bag which he scrambles over and uses on Faen.
Hanurak is hit by the orcs guarding Bavrak and still feigning loyalty manages to convince him not to attack him even though he kills many of the archers firing from above. Faen, chanelling the last of his energy in a chromatic orb manages at last to free Astraea who pops back into existence prone, soaking and gasping for breath on the floor. At last tiring of Hanurak's attacks on his men Bavrak assaults the barbarian at full force casting darkness around himself as he begins carving into the Half Orc.
Unable to see where he is exactly and knowing her friends are there somewhere in the darkness Astraea casts storm sphere and manages to damage Bavrak and a few of his minions. Bavrak collapses the darkness around him sending a blast of necrotic energy throughout the throne room killing many and knocking Andre unconcious, but through his rage Hanurak, with a mighty roar of defiance, launches his final attack his first strike is parried but his second finally impales Bavrak through the chest, the barbarian informs him that the dead of Bazaar Ladh send their regards to which Bavrak informs him with his dying breath that the Group of Four now know his face.
Seeing their warchief killed Hanurak tells the other orcs to send word through the fortress that he is now in charge and to free the prisoners from the village and Valanthe. Astraea suggests they question the priests about their involvement with Ma'lak as the sounds of war emanate through the fortress...

Rewards Granted

A Fortress

Character(s) interacted with

Gilsi Erdoon Bavrak the Butcher Halin Rusthouse

Report Date

01 Sep 2018

Primary Location

The Prickling Forest

Secondary Location

Gael Norvus