hewligan
First Post
On the trip up there, Jakardos reminds you all of what has occurred.
A notorious clan of ogres known as the Kreegs launched a devastating assault on the fort three weeks ago, an assault that left little doubt of treachery in the mind of the few survivors. Someone must have given the Kreegs detailed information about the fort’s defenses—the assault was too perfect in its execution and timing for any other explanation to make sense.
Fort Rannick is located at the northern end of a wide valley that runs along the southern edge of the mountains. This bleak landscape stretches on for miles along the border between the mountains and Kreegwood. This rugged, forlorn landscape fits well with the morose and grim attitude of its guardians, the Order of the Black Arrow.
Jakardos says that he can draw out a detailed plan of the fort. Also, Jovik and Jokad are very familiar with the place.
Jakardos mentions that the Sluice Gate may offer one way in. On the south wall of the fort, a sluice gate opens to release refuse and sewage downhill into the creek. The PCs can attempt to circumvent the gates of Rannick by breaching this narrow access way instead, but its proximity to the South Gate might be a problem.
Vale mentions a secret (not really so secret, Jovik already knew of it) tunnel. These tunnels have not been used in decades. They are infested in some places by shocker lizards, but they might provide the perfect means of infiltrating the fort without alerting the ogres. The tunnels can be entered via a waterfall cave some distance from the fort.
There is also the option of stealth. Ogres can see in the dark, so night is likely to be a bigger problem than advantage.
Also just brute force, but you have NO idea of how many ogres are inside, and the Kreegs are a notoriously strong clan.
Trickery may work, or flight, or perhaps you can ask the Gods to drop a giant boulder on the thing.
Vale, clearly quite a tactician despite his quietness and reputation as a fighter, does offer a few alternative. He mentions the wooden barracks inside - never used as soon after being built it was realised just how much of a deathtrap they would be if a fire ever started. He also mentions that perhaps the Kreegs, or at least a few of them, may be able to be lured out. Or the shocker lizards could somehow be used against them. He has no idea how, other than that every year during the mating season the fort sets small fires at the 'secret' tunnel entrance to keep them away (they hate the smell).
During the scouting, this is what you see.....
Dozens of skulls and mangled corpses hang from trees near the fort, gigantic rusty hooks spitting them like meat awaiting a butcher’s block. The stench of sweat, urine, blood, and ogre-musk befouls the air for hundreds of yards around the fort. Hulking deformed brutes of the Kreeg clan roam the walls of Rannick, visible even from a safe distance.
A thunderbolt shakes the stone and earth underfoot, its low growl echoing through the valley. Talons of lightning claw at the sky, casting pale light on the mountainside below. The lightning storm reveals a grim fortress of dark gray stone standing sentinel over the valley, huddled desperately at the base of two sheer cliffsides. Crumbling, fifteen-foot- high walls ring the citadel, the stone pitted and cratered from hurled boulders and ogre hooks. Like the face of a veteran with decades of winters under his belt, the fort’s craters, cracks, and scars are testament to its battle-weary history. A stone keep, a stubborn shadow against the mountainside, rises from behind the worn walls, a single tower jutting up from its ramparts like an ugly broken tooth. nearby, a rushing curtain of white water cascades downs the mountainside into a large pool of water just outside the fort’s walls.
A notorious clan of ogres known as the Kreegs launched a devastating assault on the fort three weeks ago, an assault that left little doubt of treachery in the mind of the few survivors. Someone must have given the Kreegs detailed information about the fort’s defenses—the assault was too perfect in its execution and timing for any other explanation to make sense.
Fort Rannick is located at the northern end of a wide valley that runs along the southern edge of the mountains. This bleak landscape stretches on for miles along the border between the mountains and Kreegwood. This rugged, forlorn landscape fits well with the morose and grim attitude of its guardians, the Order of the Black Arrow.
Jakardos says that he can draw out a detailed plan of the fort. Also, Jovik and Jokad are very familiar with the place.
Jakardos mentions that the Sluice Gate may offer one way in. On the south wall of the fort, a sluice gate opens to release refuse and sewage downhill into the creek. The PCs can attempt to circumvent the gates of Rannick by breaching this narrow access way instead, but its proximity to the South Gate might be a problem.
Vale mentions a secret (not really so secret, Jovik already knew of it) tunnel. These tunnels have not been used in decades. They are infested in some places by shocker lizards, but they might provide the perfect means of infiltrating the fort without alerting the ogres. The tunnels can be entered via a waterfall cave some distance from the fort.
There is also the option of stealth. Ogres can see in the dark, so night is likely to be a bigger problem than advantage.
Also just brute force, but you have NO idea of how many ogres are inside, and the Kreegs are a notoriously strong clan.
Trickery may work, or flight, or perhaps you can ask the Gods to drop a giant boulder on the thing.
Vale, clearly quite a tactician despite his quietness and reputation as a fighter, does offer a few alternative. He mentions the wooden barracks inside - never used as soon after being built it was realised just how much of a deathtrap they would be if a fire ever started. He also mentions that perhaps the Kreegs, or at least a few of them, may be able to be lured out. Or the shocker lizards could somehow be used against them. He has no idea how, other than that every year during the mating season the fort sets small fires at the 'secret' tunnel entrance to keep them away (they hate the smell).
During the scouting, this is what you see.....
Dozens of skulls and mangled corpses hang from trees near the fort, gigantic rusty hooks spitting them like meat awaiting a butcher’s block. The stench of sweat, urine, blood, and ogre-musk befouls the air for hundreds of yards around the fort. Hulking deformed brutes of the Kreeg clan roam the walls of Rannick, visible even from a safe distance.
A thunderbolt shakes the stone and earth underfoot, its low growl echoing through the valley. Talons of lightning claw at the sky, casting pale light on the mountainside below. The lightning storm reveals a grim fortress of dark gray stone standing sentinel over the valley, huddled desperately at the base of two sheer cliffsides. Crumbling, fifteen-foot- high walls ring the citadel, the stone pitted and cratered from hurled boulders and ogre hooks. Like the face of a veteran with decades of winters under his belt, the fort’s craters, cracks, and scars are testament to its battle-weary history. A stone keep, a stubborn shadow against the mountainside, rises from behind the worn walls, a single tower jutting up from its ramparts like an ugly broken tooth. nearby, a rushing curtain of white water cascades downs the mountainside into a large pool of water just outside the fort’s walls.
