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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids" data-source="post: 6316980" data-attributes="member: 6776411">(Savaged) Rise of the Runelords > The Hook Mountain Massacre Rotation 2 / Session 6 (27/09/2012) - Part Two Back in the crypt, Rast is hard-pressed to fend off a group of undead rangers, garbed in tattered leather and brandishing rusty swords with nothing short of the skill they must have honed in life. Asha and Ben are the first to reach the dwarf's side, hacking the skeletons into an untidy jumble of mouldering bones. To their vexation, the fragments immediately begin reassembling themselves, like some ghastly jigsaw puzzle. Ben's keen eyes spot a spectral figure floating nearby, so he targets it with Jet. Pierced by the sorcerous beam, the baleful ghost implodes, showering the ranger in ectoplasmic residue (re: ghost goo). Rast scoops some into a flask, so as to explore its alchemical qualities at his earliest convenience. The rest of the skeletons collapsed when the spirit was banished. Digging through the pile of bones, Ben finds a fine bow with one skeletal fist still firmly attached. Attempting to prise the bony fingers loose, the shrivelled hand suddenly scuttles up his arm and grabs him by the throat! As the ranger begins to turn a funny colour, Asha lunges across the crpty and wrenches the murderous fist off Ben's jugular before pulverising it into a fine, white powder (which Rast surreptitiously scrapes into a small, leather pouch). Grogg barges through the weakened wall into the dingy dungeons beneath Fort Rannick. The familiar figure of Kaven Windstrike dangles upside down from a knotted rope, blood from many wounds pooling between the flagstones below. Before the party can cut him down, the Lady Lucrecia (former owner of the 'Paradise' riverboat) appears on a balcony overlooking the heroes, flanked by a group of heavily armed/armoured ogres. She explains how Kaven first betrayed his brothers-in-arms for little more than a few nights of sordid passion, then returned to sell out the heroes - not that the ruthless Lamia ever had any intention to reward the ranger's (dis)loyalty with anything but a lingering death. Three armoured ogres carelessly swinging spiked flails wade into combat, while the other (less formidably attired) brutes hurl blocks of rubble down from the balcony. Karrack drives the shocker lizards into the fray before joining the battle himself. He becomes entangled in the chain of an ogre's flail and topples to the ground, struggling helplessly as the fight rages on all around his prone figure. Another ogre drops a huge block of masonry on a cluster of his reptilian allies, squashing them into jelly. Ben casts Blast, but the ogres duck behind their heavy shields and advance. Rast lingers in the stairwell, buffing his stealth modifiers - when he tries to join the fight, he discovers Lucrecia has summoned a Barrier to prevent the party retreating into the tunnels - and him from leaving them to help his friends! Grogg brawls his way up onto the balcony and charges towards the Lamia Matriarch, who attempts to restore her compulsion over the half-orc, via the Sideheron star inked onto his skin. But Grogg has already broken her spell once - and he resists again! The expression of surprise scarcely has time to register on Lucrecia's face before 'Monica' cleaves her beautiful head from her shoulders! Even with the Lamia defeated, the armoured ogres remain a daunting threat and someone (I forget who) plays the REINFORCEMENTS Adventure Card to pull in some much needed support. Up out of the caves spill a small army of goblin warriors, with Snot at its head! The party finish off the ogres and secure the area before contemplating how to deal with Kaven Windstrike. The traitor pleads for his life, swearing that Lucrecia used her magic to seduce and trick him into betraying Fort Rannick to the ogres. Jakardros and Vale are unmoved by his pleas - the Order of the Black Arrow was almost destroyed thanks to his duplicity - and chop of his head. Mounting the goblin fighters on shocker lizard cavalry, the heroes emerge into the inner bailey and engage the rest of the ogres in a brutal contest for occupation of the castle. While individual shocker lizards do not present a dire threat to the ogres, so many of them congregated in a confined space has a curious effect on the storm-wracked skies - bolts of lightning bombard the compound, blasting whole groups of armoured ogres into wide, smouldering craters! Grogg imbibes more of Rast's marvellous medicine and bulldozes through the enemy lines, scattering ogres like tenpins in the wake of a particularly ugly, green bowling ball. In the midst of the battle, the five heroes find themselves separated from their allies, facing off against the leader of the ogres, a mountainous specimen looming a whole head and shoulders taller than any of its kin; Papa Jargaath Kreeg! While the rest of the party engage Papa Kreeg's entourage of ogre mages (their eyes and mouths sewn shut with human hair), Grogg and Ben Kotek clash against the huge ogre patriarch. One of the ogre wizards casts Shrink Person on Grogg, reducing the half-orc to the height of a gnome! Papa Kreeg roars with good cheer and raises his foot, preparing to stamp the pint-sized gladiator into the muddy ground, but Mini-Grogg braces himself against the sole of the ogre's enormous boot and pushes back - shoving the patriarch off balance! Enraged, Papa Kreeg sweeps his ogre-hook in a deadly arc, grievously wounding Mini-Grogg and eviscerating Ben Kotek, whose lower intestines make a surprise guest appearance. Plucking the helpless ranger out of the mud, Papa Kreeg smacks his lips and readies to suck Ben's delicious entrails out of his stomach..... To be continued....</blockquote>

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