2-- Raiding the Raiders of a Star Cairn.
The four friends agree that they will find no answers sitting still, and make plans to leave Greyhawk City. Kyreel and Thelbar both have dreams that indicate a journey south would prove rewarding. They bid farewell to their feebly remembered childhoods, and soon find themselves on the road traveling away from the Domain of Greyhawk towards whatever fate awaits them, and hopefully some answers.
They travel leisurely, and pass the time in conversation about their past, trying to jog one another's memory about this or that event, but in the end, the conclusion is the same. They all have thin and wavering 'memories' of growing up together in Greyhawk city, although considering their racial makeup that cannot possibly be true. They all also have a sense that the lives they remember are not their own, and that Greyhawk is not their home.
For his part, Taran is sure that he was once a great lord, although why anyone would want to serve him now is beyond him. Thelbar also, remembers bits and pieces of magical lore that no mere apprentice should have learned. Kyreel and Indy have similar memories and recollections, and all four agree that it is a relief to be leaving Greyhawk City and getting on with . . . something.
Their second day out, Taran is scouting through the woods, ranging a few hundred yards ahead of the group as is his custom, when he notices a pair of stout, tusked humanoids standing together near a barrow-mound. He watches them for a moment, then returns to his companions to report.
Memories or no, it doesn't take a lifetime of experience to know that orcs are bad news. The group sneaks up on the two feral brutes, and Thelbar enchants their simple minds, putting them to sleep. After 'taking care' of the sleeping orcs, Taran notices that they were guarding a small opening in the side of the mound. A circular slab of stone, recently pried free from the opening, lies on the ground next to the bodies of the two dead orcs.
As the party is looking at one another and deciding what to do, an empty waterskin flies from the opening and lands on the ground at Thelbar's feet! A guttural, hoarse voice barks a command in orcish: "Fill the skin, you sheep-raping kobold-spawn, we're thirsty. And keep your damned eyes open, Tarkh, or I'll have your manhood off!"
Thelbar is the only member of the group who can understand the strange, croaking language, and he smiles to himself. While the rest of the party stares at him incredulously, he calmly takes the waterskin, places it under his robes, and relives himself in it. He motions the group to hide themselves and he tosses the skin back into the hole. "Here you go, boss," he says in his best Orcish.
Thirty seconds later, there is a harsh scream from down below, followed by a string of Orcish curses so fast and foul that Thelbar is only able to follow about half of the diatribe against Tarkh's mother, spawn, ancestry and eternal orcish soul.
The big orc who emerges from the hole barely has enough time to wonder what happened to his companions before he, too is cut down by Taran, Kyreel and Indy. The group searches the dead orcs, and finds insignia and coinage that indicates that they are travelers from the Pomarj, far to the south.
The group climbs into the hole where they see that they are in a low, circular domed chamber, completely consistent with the hill's outside appearance. Like many of the old ruins around Greyhawk Domain, the walls here are covered with enigmatic runes and carvings. A piss-filled waterskin lies open in the center of the room, and at the far end, a rude excavation has obliterated part of the runic symbols and opened a passage deeper into the earth.
The passage is a thin tunnel of the sort used by tomb-builders as they seal a cairn. It leads into a network of passages completely below ground, and the party must light a lantern so the humans can see. The group listens carefully for any sounds of further orcish presence, but hear nothing. A quick search of the walls near the tunnel to the surface reveals a hidden door that slides open when forcefully pushed.
The group steps through the secret door and finds themselves in a hidden area. Magical writing covers the walls here, and at the far end of the chamber a large blue gem is ensconced in an ornate holder. A quick detect magic spell reveals that the gem retains some magical properties, but is currently inert. Thelbar studies the writing on the wall, and after a few minutes tells the group that this orb is only part of a complete magic item-- a rod, or staff of some sort, likely very powerful. It seems that this burrow is the holding place for a magical artifact, one that is stored in two parts to avoid its detection through magical means.
The group reasons that the orcs here are tomb-robbers, and likely have no idea what treasure is hidden in this place. Not that the friends could, in all good conscience, allow a war-band of orcs to come into possession of a magical artifact of power. They resolve to find these orcs, eliminate them, and unite the blue orb with its other piece. Kyreel says a short prayer of thankfulness, and invokes the Mother's blessing on the group.
Leaving the secret chamber, the party hears booted feet approaching from one of the passageways. They hear a orcish voice shout "Look! There! Lights, dead ahead! Let's kill it!" and an answering yell from several voices as weapons are drawn from sheathes. Within seconds, the party is embroiled in a terrible melee as orcs attack them from both ends of the passageway. Taran and Kyreel stand toe-to-toe with their orcish foes, as Indy uses stealth and trickery to fight the monsters. Thelbar sends several more orcs to a sleep that will prove their last, and when the final blow is struck, a half dozen orcs lie dead, and everyone is bleeding from wounds inflicted by Pomarjian steel.
The group quickly casts about, and Indy reports hearing more orcs down one of the corridors. Hoping to avoid a fight they can't win, the group snatches a few trophies from the fallen and retreats back out into the woods. After finding a suitable hiding place not too far from the embattled cairn, Taran does his best to hide their tracks, and the group tends to their wounds.
In the night, Thelbar dreams of the goddess Ishlok, and wakes up the next morning with a renewed sense of faith. He and Kyreel discuss the priesthood of the Mother Ishlok, and realize that they know of no one else who worships her. Between the two of them, they are able to reconstruct several rituals of blessing and sacrament sacred to Ishlok, and they both undertake vows to worship Her and search for knowledge of Her faith.
The group returns to the cairn and after a careful search discover that the orcs have left the place, stripping their dead, and marching to the southeast. A similar chamber to the one containing the orb is found, but unfortunately, the orcs found it first. The haft of the item is in their possession, already a full day ahead of the group.
The band moves quickly, and as fast as Taran can lead them, follows the tracks of the remaining orcs. Taran guesses that a full half or more of their number fell in the fighting, and the orcs seem hell-bent to get away from the area as quickly as possible.
After a few days of travel, the party discovers a camp where the orcs they had been following met with some other humanoid creatures. Trails leave that campsite in two directions. One group, the original orcs, travel due east, while the newer group leads a wagon to he south.
The party follows the original group, and catches them a day later. An ambush is sprung, and after a brief battle, the party is in possession of a prisoner, but not the item they seek. The prisoner is willing to talk in exchange for its life, and tells the group that he is the sub-leader of a raiding party that left the Pomarj twenty strong. After some losses due to infighting, and one particularly nasty fall, the group happened upon the cairn with sixteen of their members alive.
When the party killed nine orcs, the remainder panicked and bolted. The orc describes the other half of the orb-- a shaft of some strange metal, covered in runic inscription that "looked valuable". Unfortunately, the band traded it for healing magic to a mixed group of orcish and goblin traders at their last encampment. He says that the traders were from a clan of orcs that lives in an abandoned dwarven complex in the mountains to the south. He says that the orcs call the place "Frowninghome", but to the dwarves who built it, it was Khundrukar-- the Forge of Fury.
The group releases him with a promise to return straightaway to the Pomarj, and returns to the meeting place, hoping to follow the traders from Khundrukar and claim the staff for their own.