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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 905790" data-attributes="member: 5675">Yvgeny's 5th LetterTo His Eminence Pietr Orik,Temple of Ilmater,King’s Palace Square,Heliogabalus. Your Grace, I am writing this during a lay-up that has been forced upon us by the battering we have received this past couple of days. Although only that length of time has passed, half-a-lifetime’s suffering has been endured it seems, in trying to progress into this stronghold. Please excuse the poor quality of my script; my main writing hand is in no condition to hold a quill! I will relate the events in their entirety, but I will hold back on the details of our battles, excepting the important confrontations: To relive the slaughter of strong but stupid foes does no justice to my god, my country, or myself. From my last debrief, the Clearwater Crusaders had set-up a defensive camp to await the return of Halbrinn and the dwarf, Khondar. Our enemy was indeed out in force to find us, but it was not until the morning that they discovered our trail, and by that time all six of us were ready for them. They were defeated, and though we took some injury ourselves, it was not deemed severe enough to prevent our immediate return to the stronghold. However, the way was now trapped, as Stedd found out when he was first to approach the main doors (sealed again, after Khondar’s ‘shouldering’ of the previous day). Fortunately, Stedd has the reactions of a cat, and the fall of boulders that should have did for him purely dusted his sandaled feet as he jumped aside. No more traps prevented our approach, except the entrance way… The main doors were no contest this time. Halbrinn used his magic on the doors to unbar them (interesting trick; magic is far more subtle than it first appears!) However, he could do nothing to prevent the little surprise on the other side: As soon as Khondar attempted an entrance, he was again met by a volley of javelins. So then it was my turn to attempt some subtlety. I moved up to the door, and took a quick scan to check no javelins were primed, then completed the spell of calming emotions I had memorised, which succeeded in pacifying the two ogres across the chasm from us. We took this opportunity to burst forth from the door, with a view to closing with the now quiescent ogres. However, they were still thinking rationally as one of them opened the door on the far side of the chasm and stepped through, calling out something in it’s guttural patois as it went. Our baited breath then became sharply intaken: The accursed thing had only called a thrice-damned chimera! With a green dragon’s head no less!! Expecting a dose of dragon’s breath, we were not disappointed: Most of us were out of the way when a cloud of noxious gasses was blasted at us. We all survived, but the newly repaired rope bridge did not. Fortunately, the chimera did not have the battle-nous of its keepers; it flew to our side of the chasm, which gave us the advantage of surrounding it. It did, however, charge at Khondar with it’s goat-head delivering a butt of such savagery that Khondar was knocked down. The good dwarf got straight back up, however, and joined the rest of us in returning the foul beast to the breast of whichever Power represents such things. We then turned our attention to the chasm that was blocking us from our goal… Here is where our glorious ingression foundered, becoming farce. In his haste to cross the chasm, Miles lost his footing and plunged into the hole. We heard a distant splash from below; Adamo flew down to see if Miles could be saved whilst Stedd jumped the chasm with ease, carrying a magical rope. This thing tied itself to the bridge supports that were still left, giving us a method of crossing, whilst Stedd took on the remaining becalmed ogre. Here is where I disgraced myself. Partway across I looked down, only to see a huge version of Adamo (a spell, I learned later, had enhanced his size and strength) hurtling towards me, carrying Miles! This momentary loss of concentration was enough for me to lose my foothold on the rope, and I tumbled past Adamo to fall with a breath-dislocating splutt! into the shallows of the same pool that had claimed Miles. Fortunately, I remembered my training and deliberately forced my body to go limp: I’m sure I would have broken every bone I had otherwise. The chasm was at least two hundred foot deep, and I was surrounded by a fog bank for some reason, which just added to my complete dazedness! I shortly found the reason for the fogginess: There was a gaggle of bowmen waiting on the banks, so it was fortunate for me that Adamo had laid the fog cloud, as it gave me an opportunity to use my wand to cure myself of some of the falling injury. As it was I was being carried along by a current in the water, and thus did not have the ability to prevent myself from being impelled from the cloud. The bowmen shot at me the moment I emerged, so I dragged myself from the water to deal with them. They were more of these dark rogues that the Clearwater Crusaders have been dogged by for some time now, from well before the time I saw them at Lord Morn’s, apparently. Like a punch-drunk kick-boxer from Kara-Tur, I just waded into these creatures, screaming profanities and not calling on my god, uncaring as to whether they dropped me or not. Finally, I felt a hand grasping at my toga, and just prevented myself from throwing a punch at Adamo, who had returned to rescue me from my predicament. I am afraid that I have disgraced Ama’s teachings in that moment; I must walk the Hard Path a little longer before Ama would judge me at journey’s end. To say nothing of the Gentle Path, your eminence! I have much more to learn there, too, of that you can be sure. On returning to the stronghold entrance, we resolved that we would go no further. Both Miles and I were severely concussed, and diverse others had taken serious wounds. We set about using the little time we had to facilitate an easier ingress into the entrance area, but were surprised when a flying blue ogre suddenly appeared. I have not seen an ogre mage before, but knew exactly what it was as soon as I laid eyes on it—they are quite considerably different from their lesser kin. Its first action was to blast us with a maelstrom of frigid air, laying several of our members out on the instant. I quickly swallowed a potion of invisibility, the better to revive my fallen companions before more magic could be used to kill them. However, it seems the ogre mage was purely interested in who had invaded its citadel, for it did not press its advantage after we had returned fire with our own abilities, simply disappearing so completely we were unable to locate it. We took this opportunity to make our escape, before more conventional forces returned to finish us off. Thus ended our second attempt at invasion of the Rudenheim clan stronghold, with the ignominious record of not getting any farther than the entrance for the second time! Damn these dwarves for creating such an eminently defensible front door! We then spent the rest of that day recovering. As mentioned previously, Miles and I were mostly concussed, so recovered without the aid of Ilmater. I was obliged to use some prayers on the others, but it was not so much that I was completely devoid of the protection of my god. We then returned under cover of darkness, to see if we could surprise the occupiers. With the Triad’s blessing, we were able to get past the doors into the stronghold with no battle required, as the guards were asleep. Those who could easily cross the chasm finished off these guards in short order. The rest of then crossed the chasm with considerably more care than last time, blessed as we were with the luck to have got thus far without a great deal of noise. We moved stealthily past the doors on the far side of the chasm, and then Miles scouted ahead, searching the caverns that were immediately behind the doors. He returned, telling us that there were a group of sleeping ogres on one side of the cavern and an ogre and giant on the other, and that many stalagmites and stalactites, with a large central column that we could use to hide our progress, divided the cavern. I blessed the Crusaders with Ilmater’s favour for this impending battle, and then we all progressed as stealthily as possible towards our sleeping enemy. So it was that we were able to make a commendable ambush of our foes. I tackled the giant with Khondar; Stedd took an ogre to himself, while Miles, Halbrinn and Adamo battled the remainder of the other ogres. This fight went in a fairly straightforward manner, notable only for the fact that I managed to stun a hill giant. Ilmater! But the tools I have been provided with are most useful! When we had finished, we listened for signs that our approach had been discovered. There were sounds of our enemies from two directions, one from a large room attached by an umbilical tunnel from our current location, and protected by a portcullis. The other sounds were coming from a corridor on the east side of the cavern. The sounds from this direction seemed to indicate that a large war party was approaching, from the south, up this corridor. We resolved to go north, checking the first room we came to. Before we had a chance to move, however, a small shiny object was seen to fly, north to south, along the corridor. Before it could escape from sight, Halbrinn flashed a fireball at it, blowing it from the air before it could report our existence. Halbrinn had good presence of mind, here, as it turned out to be a silver raven, which he quickly pocketed. He explained its usefulness as we swiftly sped north: It was a ‘figurine of wondrous power,’ a generic catchall for an animated object that appears as some form of beast, any one of which having diverse powers. Apparently, a silver raven is a common minor form of such an object. My heart still skipped a beat, however: I have spent too long in Scardale Town not to see Silver Ravens (q.v. letters sent circa Elesias 23rd - Eleint 9th, 1372 DR), or symbols thereof, as something entirely different! Enough of the conspiracy theories! On opening the door we were in front of, we found ourselves before an oversized desk, with an ogre behind. This ogre clerk was quickly dispatched, without excessive noise alerting the group to the south. No pause for thought was allowed, however, as we still needed to find a place to hide from that pack of ogres, so when we came to two doors, I quickly listened at one while Halbrinn went to the other. Halbrinn was unfortunate to trigger a trap, enveloping himself in a cloud of gas, which attacked his respiratory system (at least I judged it so from the hacking cough that emitted from the poor gnome!). There was little I could do to prevent the progression of the gas in his lungs, but fortunately his own body forced his recovery better than my healing skills. He then got up off the floor and disabled the trap: Truly impressive! However, our perils were not over, for the door refused to budge when we tried to open it. Khondar charged at the door, shifting it a little, but before he could bash the door again, it was jerked open and he charged headlong into set halberds, impaling himself horribly. The ogres simply kicked his body from their weapons, then reset them. We were now faced with a doorway full of bristling blades, with a steady stump-thump pounding echoing up the corridor to the south. Soon, we were going to be trapped like rats in a barrel, as the corridor we were in ended with a blank wall, just around the corner from us. We had no choice but to get into the room; it was the only defensible position and the other door was closer to the southern pack. I dragged Khondar out of the way, reviving him as I pulled him clear. So close to death, he could not help in this fight, so went with Halbrinn to guard our rear. Adamo then summoned one of his otherworldly creatures (a ‘snake’), to deal with the commander of the ogres, who was standing well into the room and out of our reach. Miles, who was better trained in house-to-house warfare, had taken up a position where he could stab the ogres when they lunged out of the doorway, using the walls to either side of the opening itself to provide cover against the longer and less wieldy weapons. Fair credit must go to him, for he braved many stabs before he fell. I then forced myself amongst the halberds, in order to drag his body from the fray, and got skewered quite badly in the process. By this time, the snake had crushed the leader to death, which demoralised the ogres. With the beast behind them now turning its attention to them, the ogres in the doorway were bested in the ensuing pincer. With the ogres out of the way, we pushed into the room; using the furniture the ogres had piled up against the door to again barricade it. Halbrinn had apparently used some form of illusion to delay our pursuers to the south, and we used this respite to block-up the door properly. It did not stop the invisible ogre mage however, which had apparently entered the room unbeknownst to us (probably by teleportation, or some gaseous form). It demanded we drop our weapons and our valuables, assuring us we would be allowed to depart if we did. Not one of us obeyed: All still standing attacked on the instant as if we were all one creature. Stedd leapt at the blue-skinned ogre, which had manifested near the ceiling behind us. The creature then dropped to the floor, standing in a corner to prevent flank attacks. Adamo, assessing the situation with a speed rarely found in those not militarily trained, launched a swarm spell at the creature, then advised us to rush the beast to prevent its escape from the mass of vermin (bats, in this instance) thence created. Blocked into the corner and unable to cast spells due to the battering of numerous bats, it looked like the ogre mage would be swiftly destroyed. However, it had one last surprise for us: It lashed out at Adamo with foot and fist, knocking him flat. Clearly, the sly beast had had some training in the Art! However, that was its last attack; with a final concerted effort we dropped it before it could escape the swarm and teleport away again. Dropped it, but didn’t kill it: Fortunately, Stedd and Miles noticed that its wounds were not leaking blood: It was regenerating like a troll! We quickly applied some fire to its wounds, searing them enough to ensure that they could not close up. At last, the ogre mage was dead. Miles had brought Adamo around, which was fortunate! The ogres were by now beginning to break through our barricades, one getting into the room in a vain attempt to get to his leader. This one managed to put Adamo down again, but we finished him off before he could do more damage. I then brought Adamo round, and just in time. Halbrinn had slowed down the first few ogres through the door with a spell that threw a wave of colours at the ogres, causing some of them to pause as if stunned. Adamo then shored up the defences by creating a mass of black tentacles in the doorway and corridor. The few ogres who managed to get themselves in a position to trouble us were dealt with, and the rest ran away, demoralised by seeing their leader in a pool of blood with a whole nest of writhing tentacles blocking their way. Adamo said the spell he had cast would prevent ingress or egress for several hours, so we used that time to rest up. We examined the corpse of the ogre mage for valuables, and anything useful to illuminate the M.O. of these beasts. One of the objects in the possession of the ogre mage was a staff, which paused to speak as I was putting the thing in our magical bag of holding. I felt the thing use a spell to affect my mind; momentarily, I was moved to listen to it. However, the spell was broken as soon as I asked it whether it knew of Ilmater; it said no, and I was able to move freely again. I promptly dropped the staff into the bag before it had another chance to attempt an enchantment. Come the morn, and we were ready to fight on. I prayed for my spells as usual, and used the great majority of them in straightway healing my injured comrades and curing Halbrinn’s lack of breath (caused by the gas trap from the previous day) with a restoration spell. I reserved a few prayers for emergency, then declared myself ready. Adamo’s tentacle spell had dissipated, and so we were free to leave the room we were in. We explored the corridors off the eastern end of the cavern, and the cavern itself, finding nothing of interest save for several chests containing a goodly amount of Rudenheim mithril. We therefore went back to the umbilical-like corridor off the southeastern end of the cavern, and followed this tunnel to the abovementioned portcullis. This was raised in short order, and we entered what was a large room, with a door at either end, and with a large section of floor dug up. We checked the doors, but found them nothing more than elaborate traps: Both were protected by magical fire, and both hid nothing but a blank stone wall, when opened. There was nothing for it but to hope the hole in the floor could lead us somewhere. The hole had steps cut into it, which we followed down, arriving shortly at a narrow walkway. We followed the walkway for a little distance, before coming upon a small river. Well trained in the peccadilloes of this place by now, we were expecting a little je ne sais quoi, and that is what we got. A water ogre wielding a huge spear suddenly burst from the river, as we were about to cross, forcing us to hurry. Miles, Stedd, Khondar and I all tumbled or jumped past the thing. However, there was little room on the far side, and Stedd and I were forced to tumble from the path we were on, fortunately falling just a couple of dozen foot or so, to land safely on a flat stone floor below. Before we had a chance to help the magic users, we were forced to reassess. We heard the guttural speech of perhaps a couple of ogres and a giant, and suspected it was going to be mere seconds before we were discovered. Trusting Halbrinn and Adamo to deal with the merrow, we arranged ourselves to rush the other group. We crept as close as possible, and then charged in a surprise attack. Stedd went for an ogre, while Miles and Khondar went for the giant. I went for the giant, too, hurdling the stream that the giant was standing by with a ten foot flying kick. I delivered the kick to the giant, but fell awkwardly in the stream, slipping down the bank and into the water. Clearly this giant was smarter than the rest, for he ignored his more immediate foes (Khondar and Miles) to finish off the one that had just disadvantaged himself (namely: me!). I then learnt what is meant by a ‘crushing defeat’. I will not describe it any further than that, other than to say that when I woke up I was in possession of several broken ribs, a dislocated arm and severe bruising over most of my body: The rest of the day was one of the ‘holiest’ I’ve ever experienced! Ilmater, have mercy, that hurt! I cannot describe the rest of the battle, but it appears Adamo had managed to charm the water ogre into aiding the rest of the Crusaders, and this swung the battle in our favour. After being brought round, I heard that Miles had scouted a bit further into the cavern we were in, discovering a mixed group of six foes. At this point we decided that it may be wise to adjourn to the surface again, and camped this time in the entrance to the stronghold, the better to spy for any foes that approached. Fortunately, none did. It is now the evening after the day mentioned above. I have spent the afternoon resting, and searching for food, which is scarce in this part of the wilderness. I have also communed with Ilmater, for I am planning a confrontation with the ogre mage’s staff. I know that this may not be wise, but we need an insight into our foes methodology. If the ogre mage is just the edge of the glacier, we must have warning as to what we will face next, or more may die. For now, I’ll just lie still and pray to Ilmater for guidance. Ouch, these aching ribs! Yours,Yvgeny. Ilmater save the King.</blockquote>

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