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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gina" data-source="post: 1497138" data-attributes="member: 10990">Session 27: We decide to go up for a breath of fresh air...July 6th: Afternoon Alder’s Look: We decide to go up for a breath of fresh airWe completed the Mystery of Patience. The Mystery of Endlessness is next. We were walking back to our usual camping spot in the maze, when Thaile remembered the two dark figures we had seen on our first night at Alder’s Look. They were due back any time now. After a short discussion, we decided to go back up and see what was going on above us. Kefk was not very excited about seeing the above ground world, but he decided to come along anyway. We guessed that it was mid-afternoon, so we decided to go right away, so we could spend a night beneath the stars rather than beneath the earth.We moved to the stairway and began the long task of removing the rubble and replacing it behind us. Kytum-up was adamant that we do it this way. It took hours of work to get ourselves nearly out. During one of our rest breaks, when we were getting close to the end, I heard some voices speaking. The voices were low and rough and spoke in Orcish. They were in the throne room. They spoke of looking for “them” (us, I think) and having lost the trail. They also spoke of retaking their homeland, saying that the king would sit “there”. They called themselves the Bloody Spear. They then spoke of getting rid of the bodies. I wondered what bodies, I thought we had burned all of the goblin bodies. Suddenly, I was awfully glad that Kytum-up was so adamant about putting the rubble back behind us as we went down. They were unable to locate the door down. I thought about sending Asmathias to seek, but then, I remembered that I can also be a snake. So, I changed to a viper and moved through the rubble into the throne room, after the voices were gone. It was dark in there. I could see very little. I crawled over to one of the biers and cast a light spell on it. The throne room was empty. I crawled in the dark through the orcish baths toward the large room. I ended up at the edge of a new pit. Interesting. Then, after hearing and smelling nothing, I went back to the throne room. I crawled through the rubble again and tried to tell the others that it was all clear. Note to self: Really must work on some kind of signals for them to understand when I am in animal form, because they are not catching on. After they got the message that it was ok to continue to clear the passageway, I slithered back out and took up a position at the doorway of the throne room, to listen for anyone coming. An hour or so later, the others came out of the hole and soon after it was covered again, as if it had never been there. I turned back into a human and we began to move toward the outdoors. We moved carefully, listening for sounds that might tell us we were not alone. We heard none. Mor’Elandi was following the trail of the orcs and it went up and out. We noted that the “new” pit I had discovered in the darkness was actually the pit in front of the room with the scary symbol. I must have gotten turned around in the dark. We moved through the large room to the stairway, then up, always listening for danger. We made it to the intersection of death, then up through the hole in the ceiling (our nice flat rock was gone). Then up to the first level below ground, then through the tower. We saw nothing new, nothing that seemed to have changed radically while we were below. Mor’Elandi had determined that there were nine orcs in the group we were tracking. One of them was wearing half plate. He seemed very anxious to follow them. Kefk, our new kobold friend, kept asking why we were going above. He seemed most disconcerted about the whole idea. He is not nearly as brave as Kytum-up, though I suspect that he has different skills. Still, Thaile was the one next to him as we came up and she looked as if she was tired of the questions about why we do not live as Kobolds. Finally, I told him that we are not kobolds and so do not live as they do. He still doesn’t get it, but hopefully, he will soon see that it is better to be in the sun and wind than in the darkness of caverns deep beneath the earth.When we reached the courtyard in the center of the towers, it was dusk, we had an hour or so until dark. Mor’Elandi and I went to follow the trail of the orcs, while the others went to get a view of the area from the top of Tower 2. They didn’t see much of anything, except growing darkness over the valley below. Mor’Elandi and I moved on, his owl ranging ahead looking for the Orcs. We followed the trail to the edge of the keep, seeing that they had left and noting the direction. After she had gone about a mile, Mor’Elandi’s owl had, he thought, found the camp. As the others came down from the tower, we discussed what we should do next. Tieran and Mor’Elandi thought that we should go and take care of the orcs, since we might be able to catch them off guard. After a bit of discussion, we decided to go after the orcs. I suspect that it was more than an little bit significant that we had spent days picking through rubble and were just looking for something different to do. Well, we found some excitement.We moved off through the forest, in the direction that Mor’Elandi’s companion led us. They seem to have a signal worked out, she flies back and forth and he follows to find whatever it is she has found. When he is very near his goal, she perches on his shoulder to let him know that they are there. Interesting. Thaile’s ever burning torch was our only light as we moved through the darkened forest. The others were having quite a time getting through, since the underbrush is quite thick in these woods. I, happily, do not have that problem. As we walked, Tieran informed us proudly that he has thunder balls today. We all smiled and nodded as we do when he makes such pronouncements. Kefk and Mor’Elandi scouted ahead, having better vision in the dark than the rest of us. They moved forward, finding the orcs by the loud voices from their camp. Mor’Elandi cast a shield spell, but unfortunately, they heard his casting. They moved out of their camp and fanned out to find us. They had a dog with them, it would be able to locate us with scent. Mor’Elandi tried to distract them by having his owl fly out as if it had been flushed by their movements. It didn’t work and they found him. He fled, leading them directly to us. As they closed, one of them fired an arrow, hitting Kytum-up. Tieran cast one of his thunder balls. It was actually, quite impressive, and felled at least one, maybe two of the orcs.One of the orcs had a short spear, half plate, and was enlarged. He was near the back of the group though. There was also a spellcaster, though we didn’t determine which of them it might be. The archer and the dog stayed at a distance, shooting arrows at us to devastating effect, until Tieran cast a web, blocking his view of us. The battle was long and hard. I, once again, almost died, but in the end we prevailed. We had killed nine orcs. The archer had escaped. As they were fighting us, they called out insults and comments about clearing the homeland for the great king. I am not certain what this means, but it cannot be good. When we searched the area where we had seen the archer and the dog, there were no tracks from an orc, only the tracks of the dog. When we searched the camp, we determined that the dog had come from a different direction and had not been one of those at Alder’s Look. I wonder if the archer was a Druid. I suppose an orc could be one. It would explain the dog and the lack of tracks. In the camp we found two bags of goblin bones, maybe five or six bodies, partially complete, with skulls. I wonder what they were taking them for. In all, between the camp and the bodies, we found some coins, a very nice composite longbow, A chain shirt, not magical, but nice enough anyway, the half plate armor which is of human manufacture, with an image on it of a bloody spear holding some sort of bloody thing. Tieran was sure he saw the spell caster wearing, though it does not look to be magical. A greataxe of Cold Iron (Riva would have been so excited to see it) called “Black Metal Wedge”, a magical short spear with its name in orcish “Blood Stained”, and a magical belt covered with orcish writing and symbols for Strength and Power. Mor’Elandi is going to try it out and see if it can make him strong enough to pull Riva’s bow. (End of Session 27)</blockquote>

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