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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 9815647" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 30“Say goodnight, monster,” Ravani said, lifting his bow to strike. But Leana stepped forward before he could fire and touched his arm.“You’ve got to be kidding, Leana,” the elf said. “This thing just tried to kill us!”“Let’s see if we can learn something first,” Leana said quietly. She stepped forward toward the ogre, who was still conscious, though clearly in grievous shape. Greghan started to move to join her, his bloody-edged sword still in his hands, but she forestalled him with a raised hand and brief look that asked for trust.Ravani, who clearly still had some issues with trusting the ogre, even crippled as he was, kept his arrow ready as he stepped to the left to maintain a clear angle.Leana approached the ogre, which growled a bit but didn’t stir. “I am not going to hurt you, she said. “My name is Leana. What’s yours?”The ogre peered at her with his beady eyes for a long moment, then said, “Oggdug.”“Oggdug,” she said. “Why did you attack us?”“Paid,” the ogre said.“Who paid you?”“Red-robes.”“Ah,” Folgar said. “So they know we’re here.”“They’ve probably been watching us since we got here, and laughing their asses off as we stumbled around from wrong cave to wrong cave,” Ravani said.Leana shot them a look to quiet them, then turned back to the ogre. “Oggdug. Can you tell me where they are? The red-robes?”“No,” the ogre said.“Because he doesn’t know, or because he doesn’t want to tell us?” Ravani asked.Leana held up a hand, then said, “Oggdug, you’re pretty badly hurt. Is it okay if I clean and bandage your wounds?”“Oh, you’ve got to be…” Ravani said, but he cut off as Greghan turned and shot him an angry look and slashed a finger over his lips. “Don’t provoke it, lad,” Folgar added in a whisper.Oggdug looked between them and finally said, “Okay.”“This may sting a bit, but it will help, okay?” Leana said, as she pulled out her waterskin and a wad of cloth and began cleaning out those of the ogre’s wounds she could reach. She carefully plucked out a few of Ravani’s arrows. The ogre winced a few times as she worked, but he didn’t reach for his weapon or make any other aggressive moves.“Oggdug going to die?”“Probably not,” Leana said. “You seem pretty tough, and a long rest can work wonders.”“Not what mean,” the ogre said. “Ask if you kill Oggdug.”“We don’t like to kill people if we can help it,” Leana said. “But you did attack us.”“Oggdug sorry.”“We’re here to find the cult, the red-robes,” the halfling continued, tearing off some of the cloth and wadding it into one of the holes in its side. “They hurt some friends of ours, and we want to find them before they can do it again.”“Red-robes bad,” Oggdug said. “Red-robes bring back Zurf.”“Apparently not bad enough to work for,” Ravani muttered, but he quieted before the others could chide him again.“Who is Zurf?” Leana asked.“Oggdug brother. Live with Oggdug in cave, but he get killt by owlbear. Red-robes bring him back, but not same. No talk, not know Oggdug. Smell bad.”Leana shot a quick look at Ravani, as if to say, Don’t say it.“Raised him as a zombie, sounds like,” Folgar said. “That’s some pretty powerful necromancy.”“We’re not here to hurt Zurf, or anyone else but the red-robes,” Leana said. “Are you sure you can’t tell us where they are?”“No can tell.”“All right. You should get some sleep, Oggdug. And try not to attack people in the future, okay?”“Okay.” The giant slumped back, his eyes closing, and within moments a deep rumbling came from his battered body.Leana gestured for the others to join her as she moved away from the door, toward the passage leading into the rest of the complex. Greghan stepped in just long enough to carefully pick up the ogre’s club, then joined them.“We aren’t just going to leave him here?” Ravani hissed, once they were far enough away not to disturb the sleeping giant. “He’s a mercenary, and a killer. Not to mention that we might have to fight him again if we leave and come back.”“There’s no question about leaving,” Folgar said. “Our magic is depleted, and none of you are in shape for another battle.”“I understand your argument, Ravani,” Leana said. “And I agree with your points. But it’s not my way to kill a foe who has surrendered.“All right,” Ravani said. “You three go on, then; I’ll stay behind a bit and take care of it.”Leana shook her head. “That’s not how it works.”Ravani looked like he would say more, but finally he shook his head. “I suppose it would also be out of the question to drop by his cave on the way out and steal all his stuff?”“Normally I would agree, especially since we haven’t exactly been finding much treasure lately, but Folgar’s right. We’re in no condition for another fight, and for all we know the ogre’s got a couple of dire wolves as pets or something.”“Yeah, that would be about right, for our luck,” Ravani said.“So we’re heading back now?” Greghan asked.“Tail between our legs,” Ravani added.“We have no choice,” Leana said. “I’d like to have another chat with the Castellan, anyway.”Game Notes:I allowed two Persuasion checks for Leana to convince Oggdug to tell the party where the cult is headquartered (the second after she offered to clean his wounds); she failed both of them by a considerable margin. For a moment I thought about accepting Ravani’s suggestion to loot the ogre cave, but in their current state Cindertooth (the red dragon wyrmling who shares the cave) would wipe the floor with them. In an actual game I would have made a gentle DM suggestion for the players not to press their luck.</blockquote>

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