9/12/4712 Party retreats 5 miles then sets camp. Next day they return to Fort Rannick and launch a raid that kills the last 6 mook ogres before retreating to Turtleback Ferry; Jakardros narrowly escaping Jaagrath Kreeg's vengeance. On return to Rannick a couple days later, they find the fort abandoned; Jaagrath Dorella and the last three Kreeg ogres have apparently fallen back to the Hook Mountain clanhold.
M12 4712 Winter sets in, with freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. The party plan an expedition to Hook Mountain, while Jakardros Sorvak journeys west to Magnimar with news of events and letters for Vimandi Kaddren & Mayor Haldemeer Grobaras - send Oriana's Gray Maidens to garrison Fort Rannick, getting them out of Magnimar (where the Hell Knights are rumoured to be plotting a war crimes case against them for events in Korvosa) and onto a useful role defending the frontier.
1. Quillax Druid 10
2. Sephiria Kaddren Rogue 1/Wizard 9
3. Jarrick Rogue 1/Paladin 9
4. Neril Monk 9
5. Claw Barbarian 8
Journal (15-Jan)
Following our successful skirmish on the Fort, we retreated for a long rest and a planning session, which saw us heading back to the Fort well before dawn. It had stopped snowing but overnight, the snow had settled.
As we were travelling, we spotted tracks in the snow. After examining them, we decided that possibly 6 ogres had attempted to follow us, but they had turned back. We checked around us but found no sign of a possible ambush or scouts hiding, so we followed the tracks back and ended up at the Southern gate of the Fort.
As per our plan, Neril took me up on the broom to the upper level of the Fort where the small door that led out onto the parapet was set. There were no visible sentries. I used stone shape to make the doorway far smaller, so it would be a squeeze for a medium sized creature and impossible for a large one to fit through. There was no way to open the door, so the stone shape caused the door to explode and fly off the hinges. There was an angry bellow from inside the corridor and foot steps approaching but we did not stick around to see the approaching ogre. We hopped onto the broom and zoomed away, dodging a javelin thrown from an arrow slit from the Central keep as a warning bell sounded.
As we retreated to our meeting point, I used my shard to cast Major Image to darken the sky like Call Lightning had been summoned by the front gate, implying that was our planned attack position. We used the illusory clouds to cover our retreat.
Sepheria, upon hearing the bell, sent her Arcane Eye down the "Tunnel of Love" path. The door at the end of the tunnel was sealed so well the eye could not find a gap. As there were no enemies in the tunnel, we hurried through the waterfall and down towards the door. We ran into some of the Shocker Lizards, who thankfully remembered me, and after feeding them our rations (replaceable with GoodBerry if we were desperate), we passed safely by.
The door was somehow barred from the inside, so I stone shaped the walls around the door and it fell towards us, caught by Claw before it could make any noise. There was a large pile of barrels and crates which the Ogres had obviously used to barricade the door. Neril squeezed past into the room beyond and reported it was empty. Everyone but Sepheria and Neril worked on both sides to move the barrels and crates out of the way quickly but quietly so we could get past. Sepheria took the time to use the Arcane Eye to scout further ahead, however, she was once again met by blocked doors. Neril took a quick rest and kept watch on the other side of the door.
As soon as we were able to get into the room, we used a crowbar to push the draught extruder out of the way, but once again, the doors were well sealed.
We managed to open the door and walked up the stairs, at the top, Neril spotted an ogre and was able to surprise him. While the rest of the group moved up to attack, I secured our escape route by using stone shape to narrow the stairway so we would be able to squeeze back through but the ogres would not.
Claw and Neril were in position immediately to attack and did so. Jarrick, Jakardros, and Clank were not and so had to hurry into the hall way. Sepheria cast Mirror Image and I hurried after the others after the stairs were secured.
Claw killed the ogre, Neril tied the handles of a door together with some rope, and everyone else readied themselves for the fight we knew was coming.
Harlock Hookmore Kreeg opened a door and approached, hitting Neril with his hook, damaging the monk heavily. Neril managed to dodge the next strike, seeing another ogre in the room beyond (Dorella, the witch). Two more Kreeg were in the shrine room and they both struck at Claw, damaging him heavily and knocking him down. Jaagrath Kreeg stepped out of that room also, hitting Claw whilst he was down. Dorella moved into view (in the distant room) and threw a lightning bolt, which Sepheria dispelled. Dorella ducked back out of sight.
Four ogres burst out of the room that Neril had sealed with rope. Sepheria cast a hypnotic pattern, which unfortunately also caught Neril as well as the ogres, but not the Kreeg Harlock.
Seeing as we were vastly outnumbered at the moment, I cast Wall of Stone - strongly buttressed against the stone walls as the floors were made of wood - blocking all of the Kreegs from reaching us, so we only had the regular ogres to deal with for the moment. Claw attacked one hypnotised ogre and Jakardros shot that same one while Clank shook Neril awake and got out of the way so Jarrick could Lay Hands On Neril.
We could hear the loud thumping as the Kreegs attacked the wall in the areas where they were trapped behind it.
The one awakened ogre shook the others around him awake then tried to run, but Claw managed to pin him in place. Neril heard at least one more ogre in that room.
Sepheria threw a fireball at the ogres and killed one while I ready myself to recast the Wall of Stone in case the Kreeg burst through. Claw and Neril struck at the same ogre before Neril teleported to double check our retreat while Jakardros kept targeting ogres with his arrows.
As expected, the Kreeg were able to bring down the wall, so I cast the spell again quickly before they were able to strike anyone. Seeing as we were looking at a retreat shortly, I sent Clank down and out of the way so if we had to run, he wouldn't be in the way. We continued to attacked the ogres in the hall. Claw killed one and Jakardros another with Jarrick taking out the final one with his dagger.
We started to retreat but Jaagarath Kreeg managed to knock down Jakardros before he could fully retreat, luckily Sepheria was still within earshot and she doubled back to cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter on the Kreeg, giving Jakardros the opportunity to get through the narrowed stairs.
We returned to the town to rest and restock our supplies. When we approached the Fort again, it felt abandoned. We scouted it carefully and could find no sign of the Ogres.
We discussed what we were going to do. If we were going to follow the Kreeg and try to rescue the Commander's spirit from the witches, we would need to leave almost immediately as the weather was turning colder and high in the mountains would soon become bitterly cold and the witches could make the weather worse. Jakardros wanted to rebuild the Black Arrows and declined to travel with us further.
Rumours reached us that there was trouble brewing for our Grey Maidens - the Hellknights were looking to form a legal case against them - so we decided to request Sepheria's sister to send them out to Fort Rannick where they would be both useful and safe from politics. I spent a week casting stone-shaping spells, repairing the damage to the Fort and shrinking the secret entrances to be too small for Ogres.
[3008xp each]
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