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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Morrow" data-source="post: 704890" data-attributes="member: 301">Unfortunately the tide of battle had separated the group.  Mikek, Bloody Pulp, Rhuun, and most of the skeletons were engaged by a group of bugbears while the rest of the party engaged Gariarch.    Foleful cast an ice knife and the chill weapon noticeably slowed the massive bugbear’s movements, but not enough as he engaged Kriggle.  The kobald paladin attempted another series of blows with his lance, only to see them turned aside and to receive a devistating blow from Gariarch’s spiked chain.  Thar seized the opportunity and stepped behind the bugbear leader, casting inflict critical wounds.  The goblin cleric felt dismay as his opponent resisted much of the potent spell.  Thar saw Rhuun cut down another bugbear in a desperate rush to get to him.  However, Gariarch ignored to goblin to turn his attention on Kriggle, a massive blow sent the kobald’s shattered body flying from his steed to land in an unceremonious heap on the ground.  Gariarch did not pause an instant before striking down another cloud of Foleful’s summoned stirges.And thus the tide of battle turned.  Rhuun and Kriggle’s steed both suffered terrible wounds.  Foleful and Thar attempted to keep the pressure on Gariarch with an ice knife and another inflict critical wounds, but they could not stop the bugbear.  Thar noticed Mikek, across the cavern, drink a potion and disappear as Thar himself turned to run from Gariarch.  Thar felt the bugbear’s wicked spiked chain brush by his ankles, but avoided the attempt to trip him.Gariarch observed his foes, and then considered his own wounds and flew back to drink a potion.  The enraged Mighty Steed attempted to follow, and Foleful sent another ice knife after him so Gariarch called his remaining followers around him.  The party immediately dropped another stinking cloud and darkness around the bugbears, and Krikara and Bloody Pulp cut down the bugbears who could not return to the group.  Foleful noticed the disapearence of Mikek and started cursing, “I told you we couldn’t trust him!  I’m going to kill him!”Igor and Bloody Pulp set to work finishing off bugbears incapacitated by the earlier stinking clouds while the party dropped back toward the exit.  Thar arranged the remaining skeletons in a line at the edge of the darkness and he and Atarax turned their attention to healing Rhuun’s wounds.    When the healing was complete the party prepared their missile weapons and prepared for the inevitable charge.And it came.  The skeletons stopped the charging bugbears momentarily, but were no barrier to the flying Gariach.  Thar’s dispel magic brought Gariarch to the ground.  Krikara struck a telling blow with her bow, as Rhuun’s handcrossbow, and Thar’s sling also inflicted minor wounds.  Foleful’s ice knife missed Gariarch and exploded, showering him in icy shards.  Many of the skeletons were destroyed and the bugbears charged the party’s line, but a couple skeletons engaged bugbears in the magical darkness.  The party battled the bugbears while Atarax blew his horn of good, protecting the party.[Game note: At this point I commented that if the skeletons lasted any longer, I’d have to give them names.  Although the skeletons could inflict very little damage on the well armored bugbears, they did serve as a useful distraction, and the bugbears just couldn’t get through their impressive 13 armor class.]Gariarch charged into the fray, striking Foleful with his chain and disrupting the xvart’s spell.  Foleful attempted to flee, but Gariarch’s chain flicked out, knocking the xvart from his perch atop his flying elemental familiar.Inside the darkness, a single skeleton fought with its bugbear opponent.Thar attempted to strike back, casting contagion on Gariarch, but ducking and weaving under the bugbear’s lethal chain he was unable to concentrate on the spell.  Thar attempted to flee only to be tripped and struck by the ever present chain.  Rhuun landed a blow on Gariarch, momentarily distracting him while Atarax threw a vial of alchemist fire on the bugbear and Krikara fired struck their formidable opponent with several arrows.   At that moment Mighty Steed, almost forgotten with the death of his master charged Gariarch from behind, buying precious seconds for the withdrawing party.  Thar, closely followed by Rhuun, lead the charge to the rear.Gariarch yelled threats at the retreating humanoids as he struck Krikara.  Another stirge summoned by Foleful was only a momentary distraction to the advancing bugbear.  The party ignored Gariarch’s threats and questions until Thar yelled that Zorn had sent them, hoping to get some information from his opponent.  In a sense he succeeded, when Gariarch asked, “What’s a Zorn?”And inside the darkness, the single remaining skeleton fought on.Krikara tumbled past Gariarch’s chain and ran after the fleeing humanoids.  None of them spared a thought for Bloody Pulp and Igor, still engaged with Gariarch’s last few followers.  The only thoughts spared for Mikek involved cursing and promises of vengeance on the double crossing goblin.  Thar and Rhuun slipped through the secret door and prepared to slam the door closed.  Gariarch was momentarily distracted by Mighty Steed's attacks, but he quickly crushed the life out of the valiant reptile.Foleful cast a glue spell on the ground, but Gariarch merely leaped over it.  Foleful, Krikara, and Atarax dove for the door only moments ahead of the charging bugbear.  As the trio slipped through the door Thar slammed it home and Foleful sealed it with glue.  Immediately Gariarch began pounding on the door.  It would not slow him down long.  The party took to their heels, fleeing into the warren of caverns around Gariarch’s lair.And the one remaining skeleton fought on.They fled for over an hour, at first pursued by Gariarch, and later merely searching for a likely place to go to ground well off the beaten path.  Eventually they found a likely looking cave and spent a cold, nervous night resting and recovering their strength.5th of CharderIn the morning the party healed, and after a short conference returned to Gariarch’s cave.  Surely the four of them, without the distraction of dozens of Gariarch’s followers, could defeat the formidable bugbear.  Surely he would not expect another strike so soon.Indeed he did not.  The party entered the camp and discovered Gariarch’s body, dead and stripped.  All of the goblin and kobold slaves were also dead, slain where they stood chained to the walls.  Gariarch’s private quarters were also stripped of valuables.  Signs of Mikek, Blood Pulp, and Igor were conspicuously absent.  The party stood, looking at each other in despair.   They had fought hard, losing a valuable companion in the process, and had been robbed of any reward for their efforts.</blockquote>

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