The Pathfinders assault the Kreeghold at dusk, in a tough battle killing Dorella, the Three Hag Sisters, 7 ogre slaves and one last Kreeg, driving off their ogre slaves. The undead frost wight Lamatar Bayden is defeated. A weak later his body is returned to Myriana the undead Nymph. The spirits of the two lovers unite and ascend in the form of light, and the swamplands are restored to their natural state. Thoughts turn to Kaer Maga and the Sihedron shard that lies there...
Sephiria's Account
We decide to raid the Kreeghold as soon as possible after the fight with the patrol so the remaining ogres aren’t aware they have been killed. Using Neril’s Pass Without Trace ability we creep up the slope toward the cave entrance where we see a couple ogres standing guard. Leaving the Grey Maidens behind we circle around over a scree slope to get to the other side of the entrance and ambush the guards. On the way Quillax loses her footing but as we’re roped together Claw is able to arrest her fall.
The ogres are unaware of our approach. I manage to disable one with Tasha’s Uncontrollable Laughter while the other is quickly defeated by the rest of the party who in turn despatch the one I had enspelled. While we wait for the Grey Maidens to catch up with us Neril casts Darkvision in preparation to entering the caves.
The Grey Maidens are ordered to stand guard on the entrance while we enter the caves as stealthily as possible. At the crossroads in the centre of the cave three more ogres are standing guard planning to quickly kill them using the same tactics as worked on the guards outside. During the fight we hear the sound of reinforcements being mustered from somewhere deep within the cave. One of the ogres tries to flee but Quillax blocks its way with a Wall of Stone. We think the room it was trying to reach was the base for the hags and the ogre witch Dorella so hope that the Wall will stop their joining the melee for the time being.
A Kreeg ogre arrives from the direction of the Foundry and engages Claw and Clank. From the other direction the undead Lamatar shoots Sephiria with a fusillade of icy arrows before ducking quickly back into cover. While Clank and Claw continue to wear down the Kreeg, supported by Neril and Quillax, Jarrick hastens after Lamatar having a particular dislike for undead.
Using magical Haste, Jarrick is able to catch up with Lamatar and uses Misty Step to teleport behind him to block his further escape. Calling on the power of Iomedae he smites the undead who flees back towards the main cavern seriously injured, trying to achieve sufficient range to use his bow but Jarrick pursues him. Catching sight of Lamatar I use Misty Step to attack him with my rapier as I’d previously noticed he seemed to be resistant to fire magic. Neril is only moments behind and under our combined onslaught Lamatar falls.
At the same time, the Hags (who have been spying on us) attack Claw with a Phantasmal Killer spell but he is able to shrug off their attack. The ogre reinforcements from the deep caves finally gather behind the injured Kreeg ogre so I take the opportunity to Fireball them as they’re clustered together. I shout a warning of worse to come and they fall back in disarray. The irate Kreeg attacks one with his ogrehook trying to discourage the retreat but as it was so badly injured from the Fireball, he kills it instead. The remaining ogres run for cover.
The Hags then try to attack me with the Phantasmal Killer but I resist it aided by a Ring of Spell Turning. Quillax drops the Wall of Stone and we take the battle to the Hags and Dorella who had been trapped in the cave beyond. Quillax Confuses Dorella while Neril teleports into the cave and manages to tip over the cauldron that the Hags had been using to focus their magic. The Hags retaliate using Cone of Cold which proves far more effective than the Phantasmal Killer.
In a moment of clarity, Dorella Lightning Bolts Quillax, Jarrick and Claw while Neril is able to stun two of the Hags despite being serious injured after the Cone of Cold spells. The remaining melee is messy with the Hags catching Dorella in their Cone of Cold spells while she returns the favour and one of the Hags is likewise caught by “friendly fire”. The hags are much less resilient than the ogres and the two stunned ones are soon defeated.
When I reach the cave I animate the debris on the floor and send a tornado of bone shards to attack Dorella and the remaining Hag. Dorella Shields the first attack but the Hag is killed. Seconds later the bone shards tear into Dorella and she falls. In the cave we find a statuette of Lamashtu that Claw smashes. The magical backlash caused by its destruction injures him but he survives.
We return Lamatar’s corpse to Miriana in the Shimmerglens and break the curse on the place as the spirits of both are finally able to move on the next world. In thanks Miriana blesses Jarrick.
With the threat of the Kreeg ogres lifted from the region and the Shimmerglens returned to the light we make plans to head for Kaer Maga and the next Shard.
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