Chapter 09: Filling In Time

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Session Number: 62
Date: Sunday 8 August 2010
Venue: Fergus'
PCs & Players:

Arrian Rog1/Clr7 (Fergus) (kills: none)
Emily Ftr3/Rog5 (Tammi) (kills: none)
Feren Rog8 (Yeran) (kills: 1 ogre)
Jakardros (Fergus) (kills: 1 ogre)
Rowaine Pal8 (Craig) (kills: 1 badass ogre artiste)
Troll Wiz8 (Densial) (kills: 2 ogres)

XP Awarded: TBC

Combat!

Heavy footsteps approach the ajar double doors. Shalélu takes four paces backwards, opens one of the double doors into the mess hall and looks in. Save the broken furniture, there is not much of interest in this wrecked room. Through the open door Feren sees several beds along the left wall. He flits past the door and spies an ogre striding in his direction. He glances around the corridor's right-hand corner, wary of an ambush. He sees another long corridor with a large alcove to the left. Perhaps an entranceway? Feren returns his attention to the double door, ready to stab should it open. Rowaine remains where she is and casts Bless. Vale moves in front of the door, raising his battleaxe over his shoulder. Emily gets closer and points a couple of arrows in the general direction of the door, backing up Feren. She too hears the heavy footsteps approaching the door. Huge fingers wrap around the door's edge and throw it open with a bang. An ogre stands in the doorway, bearing a huge treeroot for a club. But is it an ogre? It has the head of a horse! It yells a ragged sentence but strangely, its lips don't move. Emily releases her taught bowstring and two arrows sink deeply into the creature's belly. Vale stands firm as the huge humanoid raises its club in two massive hands. Feren's rapier stabs out from behind the doorframe, puncturing its thigh. The greatclub descends in a predictable trajectory and Vale neatly dodges it. His satisfaction is marred by the sight of three more ogres behind the first! Arrian casts Recitation. Jakardros plants his feet and looses an arrow at the ogre. The projectile plunges into its chest and the creature staggers. He fires again and the second arrow finishes off the ogre, it drops to its knees and topples sideways. Troll draws two wands as he walks up behind Jakardros. He casts Fiery Burst, tracing the spell's symbols with the tip of one wand. Boom! inside the doorway. A bed smoulders but the fire does not catch.

Shalélu paces forwards and readies her bow. Rowaine steps closer to the door and hefts her waraxe, daring something to step through. Vale catches her eye and throws three fingers up, indicating their number of remaining foes. Vale notices that the ogres carry oversized javelins in their off hands. He echoes Rowaine, preparing to chop should the ogres choose to engage. Emily also sees the ogres through the door, noting that none of them have equine heads like the first. Emily has no clear shot so moves until she does. Her manyshot arrows pierce the lead ogre's throat. It spits blood through its teeth and continues to pace forwards. Feren notes Vale and Emily's expression, remains where he is and anticipates where an ogre's kidney might be. Boom boom BOOM, in three large paces the ogre makes the door, greatclub rising. Feren's well-aimed rapier stab causes grievous internal injury to the ogre. Its eyes roll back as it slams head-first to the stone floor, stone dead. A third ogre steps into the doorway. Rowaine's axe cleaves its face. The ogre yowls in pain and its eyes turn bloodshot. Arrian steps towards Rowaine and touches her, casting Bull's Strength. Jakardros fires an arrow that grazes the creature's hip, his second arrow flies too high. Troll levels his Scorching Ray wand at the ogre. A deadly stream of fire crosses the divide and engulfs the ogre's upper torso. For scant seconds the ogre's face is concealed by the flames. When it reappears it is horribly charred. The ogre screams its last, its knees buckle and it sinks to the floor.

Noting a distinct lack of targets, Shalélu figures that the others have the situation under control. She steps back to the previous double doors, leans in and looks around. What Jakardros identified as a mess hall is ironically well-named. The long tables and bench seats are overturned and smashed, the room a whirlwind of chaos. Shalélu keeps an eye out behind. Vale growls at the remaining ogre, willing it forward to meet his axe. Emily fires two more simultaneous arrows at the ogre. The fletching must have torn as the missiles fly in unexpected directions, bracketing the creature. She ducks in front of Vale towards Feren, wary of the ranger's axe. Rowaine stays next to the right-hand doorframe and prepares to lop off an ogre arm, should it present itself. The ogre looks at the ranger beyond the pile of its dead comrades and hurls its javelin. Vale easily sidesteps the missile. The ogre looks over its shoulder, back towards Vale, then turns and runs towards the room's far double doors. "It's fleeing!" yells Vale, giving chase. Arrian responds, stepping into the doorway and casting Searing Light at the ogre's back. The ray parts the ogre's hide armour like webs near flame and stitches a line in the ogre's flesh underneath. Jakardros carefully lines up a single arrow but the shot is spoiled by his allies. Troll burns another charge from his Scorching Ray wand, easily targetting the big creature. The jet of flame immolates the ogre. It falls to its knees, screaming and desperately clawing at the door, before it collapses against it. Smoke casually wafts upwards from its dead form.

Arrian heaves the bodies apart and begins to search them. Along with their weapons and armour, he finds 15 silver. Emily checks the ogre with the horse's head, spotting a rough-stubbled chin covered in blood. Apparently the ogre had hollowed out a disembodied horse's head and took to wearing it. The ghastly "mask" is a gory, flyblown thing.

Arrian enters the mess hall, takes in the destruction, crosses and examines the wooden door opposite. It is hung with hinges loose from overuse. Arrian opens the door, it scribes a circle in the stone floor. Beyond is the kitchen, in absolute disarray. The floor is littered with wrecked furniture, pots, pans and cutlery. Even the stone fireplace in the far wall has been smashed. A small door is set in the rough corner in the far right corner. Arrian checks it before pushing it open, revealling a ten foot wide circular stone pantry. The only items inside are a smashed crate and an untouched barrel. Arrian bends over the barrel and smells something fishy. Its lid is intact and it has no plug or tap. He opens the lid, it contains pickled fish. Arrian closes the barrel and returns to the corridor.

Feren watches west while Arrian checks the two remaining doors on the corridor's eastern wall. Behind each is a once-modest but now thoroughly wrecked guest chamber, with destroyed furrniture. Feren glances into the wide corridor to the south and sees two massive oak doors, hanging slightly askew. The wooden bar holding it shut does not sit square in its brackets. Arrian peers around the end of the corridor to the east, finding a narrower corridor that turns south. Arrian checks the double doors to the south and pushes the left one open. Inside, lathes and sawhorses lie in scattered, shattered ruin. An ogre stands at the right-hand wall, holding a headless human corpse. It has been smearing gore on the wall in some form of hideous graffiti. Arrian yells "ogre!"

Emily sights the doubles doors with her bow, ready to loose twin arrows at an enemy. Troll wants to cast Fireball into the room, but Arrian is in the blast radius. "Fire in the hole!" he yells. Arrian steps left, clearing the doorway, and casts Spiritual Weapon. His ghostly long sword slashes a wound in the ogre's forearm. Troll Fireballs the back wall of the room. BOOM! The ogre is surrounded by waves of flame. The fire spills out of the door and engulfs Arrian, who flattens himself against the wall to avoid some of the flames. Vale waits in the barracks, watchful. Feren moves adjacent to the double door, his rapier ready. Shalélu moves close enough to just barely see the ogre through the doorway and shoots an arrow. ac20 ac21 ac23 hits! Rowaine hustles towards the action. Jakardros takes bead on the doorway and waits, tense. The ogre looks at Arrian, hoists his 'stylus' high and with a roar, launches it at Arrian. The body splats into him, slamming him into the wall behind. The ogre then reaches behind and pulls out a huge hook. It snarls at Arrian.

Troll yells "Fire in the hole!" a second time. Emily tells Blink to investigate down the western corridor. The pseudodragon flies away and tells Emily telepathically that there is a wide corridor, a narrow corridor and lots of doors. Arrian steps away and attacks with his Spiritual Weapon but the blade is turned away by the ogre's hide armour. Troll casts his last Fireball at the workshop's back wall. The ogre bears the brunt of the blast and again the fire spills out the doorway, this time catching Feren, who cannot avoid being singed. Troll stalks forward. Feren throws him an angry look, and is briefly tempted to change targets. "It's not my fault you didn't duck!" Troll yells.

Troll fantasises about Caustic Mire next…

Feren steps back and swaps his rapier for his bow. Shalélu has a shot and takes it, but Arrian is in the way and the arrow scuds off the stone wall. Rowaine steps up to the door and crouches down, ready to smite low. Jakardros launches one arrow after another, his first grazes the ogre's cheek. The ogre lumbers ahead and opens the remaining door. Rowaine sweeps her waraxe in a low smite. The heavy blade chops deeply into the ogre's calf but it remains on its feet. The ogre looks down and arcs its hook at the paladin. The tip defeats Rowaine's defences and punctures her shoulder painfully.

Emily thinks about sending Blink across the doorway to scout the east passageway, but thinks the ogre would swipe him out of the air. She dismisses the thought and continues to guard. Arrian concentrates and casts Recitation. Troll yells "Fire in the hole!" again, aims his Ray of Enfeeblement wand at the ogre and lets loose. With the ogre framed in the doorway he can hardly miss; the ray visibly saps the ogre's strength. Feren's arrow glances off the ogre's tough hide, as does Shalélu's and Jakardros'. Rowaine's upward stroke collapses the ogre's lung and cleaves it heart.

The ogre is smitten, and not in the love-me-sideways kind of way.

Troll Detects Magic while Arrian searches. The ogre's hook and armour prove magical, as does a potion it carries in a sack tied to its belt. A nine-foot long masterwork composite longbow stands unused in the corner of the room, beside a quiver of oversized arrows. Jakardros looks at the graffiti scrawled over the walls in very broad 'brushstrokes'. He turns away in disgust, shaking his head and muttering "filthy bastards!" Vale translates:

"Me Big-A-Big, You Small-A-Small, I Eat Your Head!"

On another wall,

"You Never Think You Write All Over With You Bloody Neck, I'm Holding You By Mig-A-Bug And Use You As Paintbrush! HAR!"

fort_rannick_ground_03.jpg

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