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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids" data-source="post: 6316983" data-attributes="member: 6776411">(Savaged) Rise of the Runelords > The Hook Mountain Massacre Rotation 2 / Session 7 (04/10/2012) - Part Two Trudging through the murky forest, Rast and Grogg glance over their shoulders as Ben's magical flare explodes overhead. They spot the towering wall of water rushing towards them at tremendous speed and absolutely brown their britches. Rast clambers into the upper branches of a convenient tree and spreads his makeshift wings, waiting for the opportune moment to launch himself into the air. Grogg (who cannot fly) has little alternative but to make a mad dash towards the Graul farmstead and hope to find shelter from the monstrous wave. Rast waits until the last moment to make his Flying check - and he rolls a CRITICAL FAILURE! The harpy wings become fouled in the branches and the dwarf has barely enough time to curse his misfortune before the wall of water hits him like a colossal warhammer. Meanwhile, Grogg reaches the farm mere moments ahead of the wave. Fred the Ogre lumbers out of the barn (having crept back to scavenge for food after the party had left). The two of them leap into the bed of the wagon parked beside the neglected cornfield and hang on for dear life as the water snatches up their little boat! Grogg spots Rast's limp body rushing passed (Vic spent a Benny to facilitate this fortunate coincidence), his ruined wings keeping him afloat. The half-orc scoops Rast into the cart and applies mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Rast regains consciousness - but immediately wishes he hadn't. This unlikely trio eventually drift into the flooded town of Turtleback Ferry, where the townsfolk are too preoccupied saving their possessions from the rising water to much care about the group's unusual mode of transit. Rast and his wife are briefly re-united, before he packs her off to the (dubious) safety of Fort Rannick with the rest of the villagers, while he and Grogg help the Mayor evacuate the town. Meanwhile, Karrack ascends the tower overlooking the castle to better survey the damage to Skulls Crossing. He can make out familiar, ogre-shaped figures at work along the top of the dam. He also spots a huge shadow being swept towards Turtleback Ferry. The leviathan breaks the surface momentarily and the Saurian monk glimpses the aquatic terror known locally as Black Maga, a primeval terror whispered to occupy the lightless depths of the Storval Deep. Karrack, Ben Kotek, Asha and Antony/Solaris pile into the Black Arrow's only boat and start rowing after the monster. Having crowded the residents of Turtleback Ferry onto the free giant turtle-shell rafts that gave the town its name, Rast and Grogg begin the arduous voyage back to Fort Rannick, a crippling struggle against the swift current. One of the three rafts is capsized, spilling screaming villagers into the swift water as Black Maga makes her presence known! Three huge, scaly heads on the end of long, sinuous necks snake out of the flooded river and begin preying on the terrified townsfolk. One head exhales a cloud of poisonous breath over the little boat that Grogg and Rast have commandeered. The dwarven alchemist has developed an immunity to fouler fumes than this creature can produce (re: every time he passes wind) and is unaffected. Grogg leaps to his feet and cleaves the offending head clean off in a single stroke, nearly upsetting their own vessel in the process! A second head pluck Fred the Ogre out of the boat - but has trouble swallowing the struggling brute, whose thrashing legs protrude comically from the monster's fanged jaws. As the rest of the party s-l-o-w-l-y catch up, Karrack slips overboard and swims ahead. Ben and Asha target the monster with ranged attacks (both magical and mundane) from the rocking boat, while Antony/Solaris rows them in circles. Misliking the (acquired) taste of ogre-flesh, Black Maga retches what's left of Fred back up. Dripping corrosive stomach acid, the ogre's trusty hook snags on the leviathans scaly armour and fillets the serpentine neck as he plunges into the river, opening its throat like the zipper on a winter coat. Two down, one to go! The final head smashes the small boat into flotsam, tossing Rast and Grogg into the roiling water. While the prudent dwarf paddles for higher ground, Grogg splashes recklessly towards Black Maga! Ben, Asha and Antony/Solaris float up just in time to witness the half-orc severing the final head, hacking into the scaly trunk as a lumberjack would an ancient oak. As the dying leviathan's death throes churn up the bloody water, Karrack rolls a CRITICAL FAILURE on his Swimming check to get clear of the flailing tentacles. The Saurian monk is entangled and dragged down after the sinking body. Rast immediately dives after his scaly friend, a tense thirty seconds pass and neither emerge from the turbulent depths. Grogg instructs Fred the Ogre to help, then watches the ogre sink. Thoughtless of his own safety (or just generally thoughtless), the half-orc (still wearing full plate mail!) wades out after him. Rast - hacking at the thick tentacle wrapped around Karrack's torso - pauses to watch as first Fred, then Grogg plunge passed on their way to the bottom of the river. Once freed, Karrack rolls his eyes and swims after them. Somehow, the lizardman manages to haul the armoured half-orc up to the surface (Doug rolled really well on his Swimming roll, even with the -5 penalty). Having defeated Black Maga and saved (most of) the villagers, Mayor Shreed pleads with the party to make all haste to Skulls Crossing and prevent the ogres from demolishing the rest of the dam. If they succeed and the Storval Deep spills into the valley, Turtleback Ferry, Fort Rannick and all of the neighbouring villages along Lake Claybottom will be utterly obliterated! The heroes shanghai a couple of fishermen to ferry them to the foot of the crumbling Thassilonian edifice, where they disembark and begin the exhausting climb. Along the cliff-side stair, they encounter evidence of a violent struggle between the ogres and the tribe of trolls that have long laired within the dam. Atop Skulls Crossing, the two forces are still in conflict - even as the dam cracks and crumbles below their feet! The heroes must triumph over both bestial factions and find a way to avert ABSOLUTE DISASTER - before the dam falls apart with them still inside it!!! To be continued... in a future rotation!</blockquote>

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