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Byzantium on the Shannon I
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<blockquote data-quote="TheBard" data-source="post: 55593" data-attributes="member: 2821"><p><strong>Episode 11: "To the Pit!"</strong></p><p></p><p>Time Elapsed: 6/08 - 6/09/495 A.I. </p><p></p><p>Summary</p><p></p><p>Upon being interrogated, the orcish captive revealed that his name was Dusan. He was reluctant at first to volunteer any information, aside from the fact that he was a devotee of Nyag, the orcish god of undeath. When he was confronted with the option of either talking and being allow to go free, or else being turned over to Lord Vihar, Dusan quickly changed his tune and became a veritable font of information.</p><p></p><p>Dusan was a servant of Kamak, a female hobgoblin cleric and one of the Necromancer’s underlings. He had been on patrol with his troop of orcs gathering bones with the help of a hill giant named Jolgeir. Recently Jolgeir and half of Dusan’s forces were dispatched back to Kamak’s encampment, where she is preparing a huge charnel pit integral to a ritual the Necromancer intends to perform in three days time.</p><p></p><p>This ritual, which requires not only a tremendous amount of dead bodies but also the presence of various undead, will summon one of the “Great Worms of Nyag” – a gargantuan undead serpent capable of creating nearly limitless numbers of undead troops. The Necromancer, who Dusan believed to be a half-orc, planned to use this new army of the dead to establish a permanent kingdom in the area. </p><p></p><p>Finally, Dusan gave the group information concerning the numbers of orcs and hobgoblins present at Kamak’s encampment, and also drew a crude map showing the locations of the camp where she was preparing for the arrival of the Necromancer as well as her permanent hideout. Dusan warned the party that the giant Jolgeir and his pet wolves would most likely be guarding the top of the mountain pass they were currently headed towards, and through which they had to travel to reach either Kamak’s fortress or her current encampment. </p><p></p><p>For their part, the group remained true to their word and released Dusan once he’d surrendered all of this information, although they did relieve him of his weapons first. Once the half-orc shaman was well on his way, the company resumed their climb, with the rogue Ingolf scouting a short distance ahead. Ingolf, well aware that stealth is less useful against a foe that could sniff him out, rode ahead rather than skulking, and nearly rode into a lupine ambush when two enormous wolves leapt at him from the underbrush. The alfar was barely able to control his mount, and rode back to his friends with the dire wolves in hot pursuit. Along with their howls, the group could hear the sounds of extremely heavy footsteps coming down the path towards them.</p><p></p><p>The two wolves reached the party first, and attempted to flank. Ingolf was borne to the ground by the leader and badly wounded before Zaccara put the spear of Balor to good use and slew the beast. The other wolf took longer in his attempts to circle the party, and Aoelif and Zaccara both were able to intercept it. They slew it just as the first hurled boulders from the onrushing giant crashed into the midst of the group, wounding Martaine and sending everyone scrambling for cover. Once his supply of missiles was exhausted, Jolgeir rushed towards the group with a low laugh, clearly relishing the coming combat. Zaccara and Aoelif engaged at once, and Theodorus attempted to ensnare the 10’ tall humanoid in a Web. Nicasia maintained a barrage of magic missiles while Zaccara and Aoelif occupied the giant’s attention. Both were sorely wounded when suddenly Zaccara saw a choice opening in the giant’s defenses and thrust his spear cleanly through the thing’s throat and out the back of his neck, killing him instantly. </p><p></p><p>Zaccara and Martaine elected to dismember the gigantic corpse, to make any future animations more difficult. Ingolf quickly located his over-sized hut and ransacked the giant’s treasure, a large collection of gold and silver coin, as well as a few gems, all contained in a magical bag of holding. At this point the entire group elected to rest and recuperate before pressing on towards Kamak’s encampment, though they had as yet no clear idea of what they would do once they reached it.</p><p></p><p>The group moved some distance form the giant’s hut and camped for the night in the sparse woods. Ultimately, the decision was taken to attack Kamak’s camp, hopefully disrupting the preparations for the summoning ritual and delaying the Necromancer’s plans. The next morning, the party rode towards Kamak’s encampment, with Ingolf scouting ahead – this time afoot and with all the stealth he could muster. The precise location of the camp was easily determined by noting the huge numbers of circling vultures overhead – no doubt drawn to the charnel pit being prepared for the summoning.</p><p></p><p>Ingolf crept to within a stone’s throw of the pit under the cover of the woods. What he saw nearly turned his stomach – a huge pit filled with every manner of dead body, both human, orc and animal, being guarded by a contingent of squinting orcs and their hobgoblin superiors. As Ingolf watched, one of the hobgoblins drew a powerful looking composite bow and felled one of the feasting carrion birds, adding yet another corpse to the pit. Ingolf crept back and reported his findings to the rest of the group.</p><p></p><p>A plan of attack was put together. The group would maneuver within striking distance of the guards, using cover and Nicasia’s wand of invisibility where necessary. Theodorus would signal the beginning of the attack by ensnaring what appeared to be the commander’s tent with a web spell, hopefully also entrapping the worgs lying nearby. This would also have the handy effect of dividing the encampment in two, causing delays for at least half of the orcs (unless they chose to cross the pit full of dead bodies.) As everyone was moving cautiously into position, stifling their gag reflex brought on by the stench of the pit, the apparent commander of the guard began rousing the sleeping orcs in several of the tents – it seemed that it was time to change the guard.</p><p></p><p>The group quickly realized that they would get no better chance to launch their attack than during the general confusion while the guards were arming and armoring themselves, and so they put their plan into motion. Theodorus ensnared the command tent and both of the worgs, but also unfortunately laid a portion of his web over the still smoldering cookfire. Ingolf, Nicasia and Martaine launched an opening salvo of arrows and crossbow bolts which eliminated several of the guards while Zaccara and Aoelif charged the nearest group of groggy, newly-awakened orcs.</p><p></p><p>As soon as the battle was joined in full, Ingolf and Theodorus could make out the harsh voice of the hobgoblin commanders calling out in alarm, and it became apparent that Kamak herself was trapped in her tent by Theodorus’ web spell. That bit of success was offset by the fact that, from a cage in the midst of the charnel pit, two emaciated, howling undead emerged and began making their way at once towards Zaccara. These could only be the wights that Dusan had warned the group were integral to the completion of the summoning ritual. To make matter worse, from out of the ground in front of Kamak’s tent suddenly erupted a bizarre, three-armed, three-legged creature the likes of which none of the group had ever seen. Its intentions as it dove back into the earth and began burrowing towards Theodorus were clear. </p><p></p><p>The campfire ignited Thedorus’ web, freeing one of the worgs which immediately launched itself towards him. Zaccara left Aoelif the onrushing orcs to deal with, and moved to position himself between Theodorus, the worg, and the rapidly approaching wights. Ingolf also charged out of his hiding place, singing a rousing alfar battle hymn, and moved between the wights and the mage.</p><p></p><p>As the orcs closed with Aoelif, Theodorus was forced to the ground by the worg and expelled the last charge from his potent wand of magic missiles against the creature. Martaine closed the distance towards the wights, and called on the power of his god to dispel the living dead creatures. Both of them were cowed by the glory of Logos and turned to flee. Ingolf and Zaccara combined to fell one of them before it could even move, and a moment later as the second fled past them they dealt with it in similar fashion. Aoelif was holding off a horde of orcish warriors with a little help from Theodorus’ sleep spell when suddenly, Kamak’s summoned ally burst from the ground between her and Zaccara. Inspired, perhaps, by his success against the giant, Zaccara wasted no time in driving his spear full-length through the creature’s body, with dramatic – and fatal – results. </p><p></p><p>Then the real carnage began.</p><p></p><p>Zaccara waded into the orcs like a man possessed, wielding the spear of Balor in both hands, and bring a degree of slaughter to the squinting, unarmored humanoids that no one- not even Zaccara himself - expected. Aoelif, Ingolf and Martaine did their best to keep up, but in short order the ground was littered with so many orcish bodies that the battlefield looked more like a slaughterhouse. The remaining orcs, on seeing this carnage, wisely opted to turn tail and run, and a few of them managed to escape.</p><p></p><p>Kamak herself never entered the fray. Finally free from her enwebbed tent, she lauched an ineffectual spell at Zaccara, but on seeing her minions driven like cattle, she opted to exercise the better part of valor herself and she, too, fled. Ingolf and Aoelif gave chase, but the crafty hobgoblin downed potions of invisibility and flight in order to make good her escape. Theodorus intoned a quick scroll he’d prepared while still in Tavia, and was able to pierce the veil of Kamak’s invisibility, and so the chase was on . . .</p><p></p><p>Notable Quotes: </p><p></p><p>"To the Pit!" -- the players refrain whenever an orc was slaughtered.</p><p></p><p>NPCs Encountered </p><p></p><p>Dusan — Priest of Nyag, turncoat</p><p></p><p>Kamak — one of the Necromancer's captains, a cleric of Nyag</p><p></p><p>Jolgeir - giant, pushing up the dasies.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheBard, post: 55593, member: 2821"] [b]Episode 11: "To the Pit!"[/b] Time Elapsed: 6/08 - 6/09/495 A.I. Summary Upon being interrogated, the orcish captive revealed that his name was Dusan. He was reluctant at first to volunteer any information, aside from the fact that he was a devotee of Nyag, the orcish god of undeath. When he was confronted with the option of either talking and being allow to go free, or else being turned over to Lord Vihar, Dusan quickly changed his tune and became a veritable font of information. Dusan was a servant of Kamak, a female hobgoblin cleric and one of the Necromancer’s underlings. He had been on patrol with his troop of orcs gathering bones with the help of a hill giant named Jolgeir. Recently Jolgeir and half of Dusan’s forces were dispatched back to Kamak’s encampment, where she is preparing a huge charnel pit integral to a ritual the Necromancer intends to perform in three days time. This ritual, which requires not only a tremendous amount of dead bodies but also the presence of various undead, will summon one of the “Great Worms of Nyag” – a gargantuan undead serpent capable of creating nearly limitless numbers of undead troops. The Necromancer, who Dusan believed to be a half-orc, planned to use this new army of the dead to establish a permanent kingdom in the area. Finally, Dusan gave the group information concerning the numbers of orcs and hobgoblins present at Kamak’s encampment, and also drew a crude map showing the locations of the camp where she was preparing for the arrival of the Necromancer as well as her permanent hideout. Dusan warned the party that the giant Jolgeir and his pet wolves would most likely be guarding the top of the mountain pass they were currently headed towards, and through which they had to travel to reach either Kamak’s fortress or her current encampment. For their part, the group remained true to their word and released Dusan once he’d surrendered all of this information, although they did relieve him of his weapons first. Once the half-orc shaman was well on his way, the company resumed their climb, with the rogue Ingolf scouting a short distance ahead. Ingolf, well aware that stealth is less useful against a foe that could sniff him out, rode ahead rather than skulking, and nearly rode into a lupine ambush when two enormous wolves leapt at him from the underbrush. The alfar was barely able to control his mount, and rode back to his friends with the dire wolves in hot pursuit. Along with their howls, the group could hear the sounds of extremely heavy footsteps coming down the path towards them. The two wolves reached the party first, and attempted to flank. Ingolf was borne to the ground by the leader and badly wounded before Zaccara put the spear of Balor to good use and slew the beast. The other wolf took longer in his attempts to circle the party, and Aoelif and Zaccara both were able to intercept it. They slew it just as the first hurled boulders from the onrushing giant crashed into the midst of the group, wounding Martaine and sending everyone scrambling for cover. Once his supply of missiles was exhausted, Jolgeir rushed towards the group with a low laugh, clearly relishing the coming combat. Zaccara and Aoelif engaged at once, and Theodorus attempted to ensnare the 10’ tall humanoid in a Web. Nicasia maintained a barrage of magic missiles while Zaccara and Aoelif occupied the giant’s attention. Both were sorely wounded when suddenly Zaccara saw a choice opening in the giant’s defenses and thrust his spear cleanly through the thing’s throat and out the back of his neck, killing him instantly. Zaccara and Martaine elected to dismember the gigantic corpse, to make any future animations more difficult. Ingolf quickly located his over-sized hut and ransacked the giant’s treasure, a large collection of gold and silver coin, as well as a few gems, all contained in a magical bag of holding. At this point the entire group elected to rest and recuperate before pressing on towards Kamak’s encampment, though they had as yet no clear idea of what they would do once they reached it. The group moved some distance form the giant’s hut and camped for the night in the sparse woods. Ultimately, the decision was taken to attack Kamak’s camp, hopefully disrupting the preparations for the summoning ritual and delaying the Necromancer’s plans. The next morning, the party rode towards Kamak’s encampment, with Ingolf scouting ahead – this time afoot and with all the stealth he could muster. The precise location of the camp was easily determined by noting the huge numbers of circling vultures overhead – no doubt drawn to the charnel pit being prepared for the summoning. Ingolf crept to within a stone’s throw of the pit under the cover of the woods. What he saw nearly turned his stomach – a huge pit filled with every manner of dead body, both human, orc and animal, being guarded by a contingent of squinting orcs and their hobgoblin superiors. As Ingolf watched, one of the hobgoblins drew a powerful looking composite bow and felled one of the feasting carrion birds, adding yet another corpse to the pit. Ingolf crept back and reported his findings to the rest of the group. A plan of attack was put together. The group would maneuver within striking distance of the guards, using cover and Nicasia’s wand of invisibility where necessary. Theodorus would signal the beginning of the attack by ensnaring what appeared to be the commander’s tent with a web spell, hopefully also entrapping the worgs lying nearby. This would also have the handy effect of dividing the encampment in two, causing delays for at least half of the orcs (unless they chose to cross the pit full of dead bodies.) As everyone was moving cautiously into position, stifling their gag reflex brought on by the stench of the pit, the apparent commander of the guard began rousing the sleeping orcs in several of the tents – it seemed that it was time to change the guard. The group quickly realized that they would get no better chance to launch their attack than during the general confusion while the guards were arming and armoring themselves, and so they put their plan into motion. Theodorus ensnared the command tent and both of the worgs, but also unfortunately laid a portion of his web over the still smoldering cookfire. Ingolf, Nicasia and Martaine launched an opening salvo of arrows and crossbow bolts which eliminated several of the guards while Zaccara and Aoelif charged the nearest group of groggy, newly-awakened orcs. As soon as the battle was joined in full, Ingolf and Theodorus could make out the harsh voice of the hobgoblin commanders calling out in alarm, and it became apparent that Kamak herself was trapped in her tent by Theodorus’ web spell. That bit of success was offset by the fact that, from a cage in the midst of the charnel pit, two emaciated, howling undead emerged and began making their way at once towards Zaccara. These could only be the wights that Dusan had warned the group were integral to the completion of the summoning ritual. To make matter worse, from out of the ground in front of Kamak’s tent suddenly erupted a bizarre, three-armed, three-legged creature the likes of which none of the group had ever seen. Its intentions as it dove back into the earth and began burrowing towards Theodorus were clear. The campfire ignited Thedorus’ web, freeing one of the worgs which immediately launched itself towards him. Zaccara left Aoelif the onrushing orcs to deal with, and moved to position himself between Theodorus, the worg, and the rapidly approaching wights. Ingolf also charged out of his hiding place, singing a rousing alfar battle hymn, and moved between the wights and the mage. As the orcs closed with Aoelif, Theodorus was forced to the ground by the worg and expelled the last charge from his potent wand of magic missiles against the creature. Martaine closed the distance towards the wights, and called on the power of his god to dispel the living dead creatures. Both of them were cowed by the glory of Logos and turned to flee. Ingolf and Zaccara combined to fell one of them before it could even move, and a moment later as the second fled past them they dealt with it in similar fashion. Aoelif was holding off a horde of orcish warriors with a little help from Theodorus’ sleep spell when suddenly, Kamak’s summoned ally burst from the ground between her and Zaccara. Inspired, perhaps, by his success against the giant, Zaccara wasted no time in driving his spear full-length through the creature’s body, with dramatic – and fatal – results. Then the real carnage began. Zaccara waded into the orcs like a man possessed, wielding the spear of Balor in both hands, and bring a degree of slaughter to the squinting, unarmored humanoids that no one- not even Zaccara himself - expected. Aoelif, Ingolf and Martaine did their best to keep up, but in short order the ground was littered with so many orcish bodies that the battlefield looked more like a slaughterhouse. The remaining orcs, on seeing this carnage, wisely opted to turn tail and run, and a few of them managed to escape. Kamak herself never entered the fray. Finally free from her enwebbed tent, she lauched an ineffectual spell at Zaccara, but on seeing her minions driven like cattle, she opted to exercise the better part of valor herself and she, too, fled. Ingolf and Aoelif gave chase, but the crafty hobgoblin downed potions of invisibility and flight in order to make good her escape. Theodorus intoned a quick scroll he’d prepared while still in Tavia, and was able to pierce the veil of Kamak’s invisibility, and so the chase was on . . . Notable Quotes: "To the Pit!" -- the players refrain whenever an orc was slaughtered. NPCs Encountered Dusan — Priest of Nyag, turncoat Kamak — one of the Necromancer's captains, a cleric of Nyag Jolgeir - giant, pushing up the dasies. [/QUOTE]
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