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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids" data-source="post: 6314847" data-attributes="member: 6776411">(Savaged) Rise of the Runelords > The Hook Mountain Massacre Rotation 2 / Session 4 (13/09/2012) - Part One Player Characters Val : Karrack (Lizardman monk with grand revolutionary ambitions. A political pioneer fighting for the rights of the little (green) man. Vive la Goblin!) Vic : Grogg (Gladiatorial champion of the downtrodden masses, this muscular half-orc is rarely parted from his beloved axe 'Monica' or his 'lucky' talisman, strung with tokens from previous champions.) Mal H : Ben Kotek (The black sheep of a wealthy family from distant Minkai, after reading the journal of a demon-possessed serial killer, he has developed some disturbing hobbies....) Crusader Hank: Rast (Dwarven rogue with a diverse catalogue of curious scars/twitches. A dabbler in alchemy, with an unsavoury habit of drinking the foul humours he extracts from fallen foes - all in the spirit of scientific enquiry, or course! Recent wed to Ameiko Kaijitsu.) Andrek : Asha (Crusading priest of Sarenrae, also turns out that 'he' is actually a 'she' - and not above using her body to get what she wants!) Steboucha : Antony (aka Solaris, the elven warrior monk! Formerly a handsome vagrant with no recollection of his own history, a chance encounter while adventuring with the party unearthed many painful memories - memories that perhaps may have best been forgotten....) Having waded ashore after crashing the 'Paradise' riverboat in the shallows of Lake Claybottom, the party trudge north along the banks of the river until they spot the picturesque town of Turtleback Ferry nestled on the opposite bank. They cross the water upon a raft fashioned from the shell of an enormous turtle. Waiting for them on the dock is their old comrade-in-arms; Antony/Solaris, the amnesiac elf. After leaving the fellowship in the (somewhat dour) company of a mute, dwarven monk (whom the party rescued from the goblin dungeons beneath Thistletop) and returning to his mountain-top monastery, Antony found that his birthright had been usurped by a powerful rival! Rather than drag the order into a bloody contest over its leadership, Antony chose to leave, returning to the wilds of Varisia to contemplate his future. Making their presence known to Mayor Maelin Shreed, the party learn that the rangers stationed at Fort Rannick (a group of gruff, capable men known collectively as the Black Arrows) have fallen ominously silent of late. The men that the Mayor sent to investigate have not returned. The party vow to leave at first light and determine the (likely grim) fate to have befallen the silent fort. Unwilling to expose his new bride to further peril, Rast arranges for Ameiko to remain in Turtleback Ferry, while he goes gallivanting through the ogre-infested forest. Shalelu rejects Karrack's suggestion that she also stay in town while her wounds heal, as the half-elven ranger has pressing business of her own with the men of Fort Rannick.... It is STILL pissing it down with rain as the party set off on the morrow (despite their assurances to the Mayor, Rast's insistence on a hearty breakfast mean it is hours after first light when they finally depart). Several hours into their damp and dreary journey, they hear something crashing through trees, in their general direction. A wounded man - the tattered rags of his leather jerkin bearing the insignia of the Black Arrows - staggers out of the undergrowth and collapses across the trail. Asha and Antony both rush forward at the same time, bickering over which of them will administer first aid to the mortally wounded man. After the cleric has cast Heal, the ranger recovers sufficient wit to warn his saviours that he is being pursued - just as a pack of snarling hounds erupt from the dense foliage! As the large, vicious animals circle the party, snapping and snarling menacingly, the master of the hunt - a powerfully muscled ogre - lumbers out of the bushes and demands that the party return his 'property'. The heroes are not prepared to yield the wounded woodsman into the custody of this shambling brute and brandish their weapons defiantly. The hounds lope into the fray. Ben Kotek and Shalelu put several down with their opening salvo, while Grogg and 'Monica' (his axe/trademark weapon) hack the rest apart with enough lunatic enthusiasm to land the bloodthirsty half-orc in hot water with Golarion's equivalent to the RSPCA. Meanwhile, Asha and Antony find themselves facing off against one large and irate ogre. The cleric comes dangerously close to being eviscerated by a devastating sweep of the monster's crude (yet serviceable) spear! This wild attack creates an opening in the ogre's defence that Antony is quick to exploit, striking like a coiled serpent and driving his sword up under its chin and into its thick skull. With a flick of his wrist, Antony frees his blade, slicing off the lower half of the ogre's face and splattering Asha in gore. Having evaded recapture, the ranger reports that Fort Rannick has fallen to an overwhelming force of ogres from Hook Mountain. The few surviving Black Arrows not immediately butchered and eaten have been scattered like the seeds of a dandelion clock, relentlessly pursued through the wilderness by hunting parties similar to the one the party just annihilated. He and the rest of his patrol had been captured several days previously and detained on a dilapidated farmstead to the north. He implores the heroes to rescue his comrades, before the ogres grow weary of tormenting them and simply eat their heads.</blockquote>

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