Post by Dead Greyhawk on Jul 14, 2008 21:20:35 GMT -5
Settling their weapons once more, the Company hikes into the Oytwood, heading for Gripgore's tower and an inevitable battle with Gripgore's Raiders. With Org tightly bound with stout rope, he leads them into the darkening wood. The Company is wet and irritated, and they waste no time in trying to get to the tower.
Org stops at a small stream, saying that the tower is several hundred feet away. Once over the stream, the orcs on guard might see the Company. The Company dithers with what to do with Org, leave him here, kill him, or bring him along. Antonus, his hatred for orcs still strong since the events of Longspear, is aghast that the Company might consider slaying the orc out of hand, and Dell, surprisingly, agrees with him. "We'll bring him along," says Dell. "Show him why it's a bad idea to make the Company angry."
A plan is quickly made. Dell will sneak to the tower along with Pfiffwin. There, Dell will scale the tower and prepare to enter through its ruined upper story. Pfiffwin will obscure the vision of the guards with his magics, and the rest of the Company will charge the tower, killing all that resist. It is a straightforward plan, playing to the Company's strengths, and they quickly adopt it.
As Dell and Pfiffwin begin their stealthy approach, they see that Org has not played them false. The tower is indeed two storied, with a ruined upper level. Light flickers erratically out of the arrow slits on the lower level, peeking out past tattered black tapestries. In the twilight of the forest at sundown, the two mage-thieves have no difficulty reaching the tower unseen. Dell quickly begins climbing the rough wall while Pfiffwin mutters strange words and contorts his arms and body in rhythmic patterns. A billowing fog rises from the ground before the tower, coating it like a wall. The surprised muttering of the orcs in the tower is audible to Pfiffwin, at least until the Company begins to charge.
With a great clanking and clanging of armor, Al, Adrienne, and Raven limp and run across the clearing surrounding the tower. With a sturdy shoulder, Al smashes into the tower door, only to bounce off. "It's a tough one!" he cries, as he and Adrienne jointly try to open the door, succeeding in snapping it from its hinges. With Raven sending arrows over their heads, the warriors force their way into the tower.
"Don't you get any ideas," says Perrin, as he finishes tying Org Bugeater to a tree. "If you aren't here when we get back, we'll hunt you down." Org nods expressively, as if it would never cross his mind to try to gnaw through the rope holding him so he could run away. Perrin turns and runs after Antonus, who is joining the others in the tower.
The tower is packed full of orcs and their larger brethren. The bruisers seen on the shore before are here as well, and their mailed fists cause grievous injury. Raven finds the quarters too cramped for good use of his bow and instead pulls forth Frostbrand, swinging it into the orcs surrounding him. The battle is nip and tuck, as the Company still suffers wounds from the fight on the river and their magical powers are somewhat depleted. Antonus, seeing he will be of little help here, searches for a way up to the second level, and he finally spots a narrow staircase that he can ascend.
Dell peers into the upper story of the tower. Two orcs, larger and in better health than most, talk quietly in the ruined remains of the upper tower. Open to the air on three sides, only a relatively small space remains intact as a room with walls and roof. A small staircase descends from this room, and a pile of crates and packing lines one wall under the roof. As quiet as a mouse, Dell clambers onto the roof and sneaks over to the edge of the room, eavesdropping on the two of them. Before he can here anything of meaning, the sound of Al's bashing at the door causes the orcs to leap to their feet.
Giving a moment for his enemies' attention to move downstairs, Dell prepares the Hasty Blade for battle. Springing out of the darkness, he thrusts towards the back of the larger of the two orcs. Much to his chagrin, Dell trips over the rubble on the tower floor, and his thrust goes embarrassingly wide. Even the great speed of the Hasty Blade does not allow his follow-up strike to come home, and his moment of surprise is lost. The sound of footsteps echo up the stairwell as the orcs split their attention, the larger pointing his broadsword at the stairwell, the smaller turning to face Dell.
The smaller orc grins at Dell and gestures with one empty hand while lunging past him. Dell is somewhat perplexed, as the orc's unarmed attack is easily sidestepped. Dell feels a light weight across his neck as a black cloth spreads from the orc's outstretched hand, and suddenly Dell is pulled widely off balance. Pinwheeling through the air, Dell lands on his side, his neck cracking sickeningly, and loses consciousness.
Antonus dashes up the stairs to see Dell slam into the tower wall and lie still, his neck at an unnatural angle. A large orc next to him flicks his wrist, and a strange black cloth wraps itself around the orc's wrist. An even larger orc steps forward though and impales Antonus! The pain is excruciating as the orc twists his broadsword and steps back for another blow. While Antonus fails to focus enough to call upon his magic, the same cannot be said for Bobbwin.
"There was a man cam frae the moon,
An' they ca'ed him Aikendruem!"
cries Bobbwin, gesturing at the orcs. They stare at him a perplexed look on their faces. The larger one with the broadsword begins to drool and his eyes glaze over, but the shorter one does not. A broad sneer crosses his face, and he leaps at the other, arm outstretched. As happened with Dell, the dark cloth shoots out across the gap, and the orc catches it behind his compatriot's body. With a sudden jerk, the larger orc flies through the air and lands with a sickening cracking sound.
Antonus is shocked by the violence and knows that if this fearsome orc comes close to him, it will be his neck in the black cloth. Summoning his concentration, he sends a barrage of magical bolts into the orc, hoping that Bobbwin's glamour will hold the orc. Fortunately for Antonus, it does. The orc stares about in confusion, the cloth hanging unnoticed from one wrist, while Antonus sends another barrage of magical bolts into the orc. Perrin's sudden arrival next to him on the stairs is reassuring, as Antonus's last set of magical bolts is enough to slay the orc.
"That's impressive!" says Perrin to Antonus. "Killing both of them by yourself and with Dell unconscious!" Perrin hurries over to the prone half-elf, searching for a pulse. Dell's heartbeat is weak, but present, and Perrin uses his holy prayers to stabilize his health.
Down below the rest of the orc bandits have been quickly slain. Their efforts futile in the end when faced with the might of the Company of the Blue Sun. Raven begins poking through the orcs' belongings, searching for those of the Company. A cry for help from up above sends Adrienne up to the second story, where she joins Perrin in treating the sorely injured Dell.
Antonus casts a jaundiced eye over the piled crates, judging that the Company's belongings must be hidden somewhere within. He can only see rope, foodstuff, and other common items though. The large tomes of spells carried by both he and Pfiffwin are nowhere to be seen.
Al and Raven finishing tossing the belongings of the orcs downstairs and begin working on the crates, unconcerned of any possible traps or tricks placed upon them. Fortunately for them, no poisoned needles or scything blades are hidden among the crates. After much smashing, pulling and breaking, the crates are emptied. Some of the Company's belongings are there, mixed in with the other mundane supplies, but none of the precious magical items or tomes of magic.
Raven frowns at the mess surrounding him. He turns to look over the others and sees a bedraggled and exhausted band, demoralized after their pyrrhic victory. "It's dry here," he says, "and Dell needs to receive more of the blessings of Lydia and Phaulkon before he can travel. We'll rest and recover here." Pfiffwin lets out a squeak of displeasure, but it is plain to him that he will be unable to recover his belongings without the help of the Company.
Al, Raven, and Antonus sit the first watch while the clerics and the gnome rest. They quietly talk to one another about what might have become of their belongings. "The only explanation is that there were some other beasties that were underwater or on shore among the bog-goblins that had the ability once the fog of war settled over the boat," says Al, sipping some atrocious orcish brew. "The orcs said that they had an agreement on how ambushing worked so they were definitely not the brains of the effort. I expect that the deal was that the orcs get the leftovers and the swamp folk took all the good stuff. That means there should be some good loot in the swamp from all the other boats."
"Well, there was that large creature that swam into the swamp," says Antonus, remembering the murky stream bottom that he saw earlier. "I'll bet you that's Kaluta."
"What!" splutters Al. "You never told us this before! If we knew there was a large unidentified creature swimming underwater into the swamp, do you think we would have walked five hours into the Oytwood?"
Antonus looks only the least bit abashed. "No one was listening to me," he says primly. The rest of the watch passes in silence.
In the morning, Dell is further blessed by the clerics and returns to a state of health and heartiness. He hears of his apprentice's omission with a glower on his face and then turns to scan the rest of the Company, pondering his options. "Where's Org?" he asks. The rest of the Company freeze for a minute. Indeed, Org has been missing since the battle the previous night.
Perrin runs out into the forest, looking for the tree that Org was tied to. Surprisingly, a hungry, thirsty, shivering orc, Org Bugeater, sits tied to the tree, patiently awaiting discovery. "You win?" he growls winningly. Perrin drags the orc back into the tower, where his orcish brethren lie dead and mangled. They find the Company preparing to leave to hike back to the Javan.
"They met with the orcs at the river every day, so their outpost is less than a day away, up that stream. You don't need to be a ranger to follow a stream," says Dell, finishing his conversation with the others. "Jasper might need to talk to some fish or something." Jasper makes large gaping motions with his mouth. "You, orc, come here," menaces Dell, pulling out a large dagger. Dell drives the dagger deep between the rope stands and cuts Org Bugeater loose. "There's a castle a few days south of here. A man named Diego is looking for good help. Behave yourself, and you'll do well. Bring all your friends and tell him that Dell sent you. Act poorly, and you'll end up like Gripgore's Raiders: crow food. There's a new sheriff in town, and he wears a blue sun." On that note, Dell leads the others back towards the river, leaving Org behind.
The hike back to the Javan is long and arduous, land over which they have already traveled. When the glint of light off the river becomes visible, they all sigh a breath of relief. Soon they will be at the water again. The Javan comes into view; the chain across the river still present but now sunken. Their boat, carefully tied by Al, is missing, and, of course, the raft no longer exists. "Going to be a little tough to cross the river now," quips Antonus, just as Al treads heavily on his foot.