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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 1770403" data-attributes="member: 99">The party set about executing the plan they had concocted.  Lazarius passed out potions to Change himself and the others into semblances of Orcs.  Speaks then transformed them back into bird form, personally taking the form of a tropical Quetzal bird, and they all flew from the cave to the ridge that held the Foundry within.  They located the vent-crevice and fluttered past the soot-stained snow at the edges to land on the floor within.The stone floor was smooth with generations of use by the Orcs and the dim shapes of the huge bellows and cauldrons of the Foundry equipment hovered nearby in the darkness.  They pulled forth Everburning Torches from their satchels and could make out the long chamber running off to the north.  From Magdar’s description, that was the direction in which the mines themselves lay.  They could see a series of tracks that ran along the floor by which carts of raw ore would be brought into the Foundry to be smelted.Another set of tracks resumed on the opposite side of the metalworks and ran toward a broad corridor headed south.  That was the path by which the iron ingots would be transported back to the City of Endless Summer to be worked into armor, weapons and tools.  It was into this dark passage that the party proceeded, disguised as a ragged group of Orcs.(until further notice the remainder of this update is written by the player of Cathal.  Give him a big round of applause for his first entry into the Story Hour Forums as a writer…)"Busted by Ogres", or "Who's Getting the Shaft, Here?"A raid, in their opinion, would only cause the denizens of the City of Endless Summer to become suspicious, so the party decided not to take Ilrath and his greenskin companions up on their offer to cause a diversion, and instead, they changed their appearance to that of a party of orcish laborers and hoped that they could blend in with the rest of the orcs in the City.  Once they had made it safely down the vent of the foundry, the party traveled for nearly four hours through the mineshaft, a 20' wide hewn stone hallway w/ mine cart tracks down the middle, running from the foundry towards the City.  At this point, the hallway flared out to about 30'-40' wide and ends with a worked stone wall with a sturdy metal door barring their way.Did I mention the ogres? Four Ogres wearing full plate and carrying massive shields stood guard here, and one of them stepped slightly forward, challenging in orcish, "Oi, what're you lot doin' here?"  Marius replied that "we were cleanin' up the foundry, as ordered.  Getting' all them tools and carts cleaned up."  The ogre, suspicious that he hadn't seen anyone go to the foundry or heard that it needed cleaning, said, "cleanin' up the foundry?"  Marius, with a mixture of orcish defiance and Emoran bravado, finished, "yeah, as ordered".  The ogre captain, having had enough of this charade [natural 20 on the Sense Motive check!] lowered his spear at Marius and shouted over his shoulder, " You, go warn the masters that the Infidels are here!  You two others, hold them here!"  The ogre guards, being surprisingly well disciplined, quickly formed two ranks, two advancing, while two turned to lift the huge bar on the door.  [Turn 1]Marius shouted in orcish, "Aiee, the guards hate us!",  mumbled in Imperial "back-back-back-back-back!" under his breath, and fell back to a narrower part of the hallway, hoping to minimize the possible frontage that the Ogres could bring to bear.  Cathal fell back to just in front of Marius, cast shield, and started a traditional Brigantes battle chant.  From the back of the party, Lazarius jabbered something about "Albatross," the previously agreed-upon rallying cry to signal that the party should teleport away.  Marcus fell back to beside Cathal and called on St. Cuthbert's shield of faith to protect himself.  SWS cast heat metal on the apparent leader of the guards, who then stepped up, planted his pavise, and assumed a defensive position as his lieutenant stepped up and planted his pavise, as well.  The two other ogres turned and grunted as they lift the heavy metal bar on the door, then swung the door open.[Turn 2]Marius squinted as he looked for a place to strike, and Cathal, still chanting the first phrase of the battlecry, entered a rage and launched a ferocious pair of attacks at the ogre lieutenant, hitting on both attacks [for a total of 39pts].  The mage, seeing a choice opportunity, cast Electrical Orb at the third ogre, who was wracked by the lightning [for 36points of dmg] and slammed into the door with a resounding clang.  Marcus stepped up and attacked the ogre captain with all his might, denting the ogre's breastplate with his mace [critical hit for 29pts].  The druid looked back and forth between the ceiling and the hapless ogre who was still outlined with faint traces of arcing electricity,  smiling as the Ogre captain curtly commanded "back" and stepped back 5' in lockstep with his lieutenant.  The captain reached past his shield and jabbed Marcus with his spear [for 10pts] as his second swung at Cathal but was foiled by the barbarian's shield.  The ogre who had been struck by Lazarius' spell struggled ineffectually as his magnetized armor clung to the huge iron door, and his companion, understanding the situation, stepped through the doorway to go warn the masters.  Marius, seeing his chance, tumbled up beside the ogre captain and thrust with his rapier, but missed.[Turn 3]Encouraged by the success of his first flurry of blows, Cathal pressed the attack, chanting as he stepped up and attacked again, but failed to find his mark.  Lazarius cast stoneskin on himself to ensure his further participation in the battle, and Speaks, cursing his concentration on one ogre that allowed the other to get away, waited for another chance to act.  Marcus moved forward and swung again at the ogre captain, his blows ringing against the huge shield and driving it back.  The ogre captain, somewhat startled by the ferocity of the attacks made by the poorly armed and armored orcs before him, fell back another step and made a few cursory thrusts at Marcus' face to distract him.  His lieutenant, too, stepped back to maintain position and jabbed at Cathal, hoping to keep him at bay for another few seconds, with grumbling and cursing filling the air as the third ogre pushed and shoved against the door.  Through the doorway, the party watched the last ogre trot down the hallway as Marius stepped forward to make another lunge at the ogre captain's armpit.[Turn 4]Frustrated by his inability to finish his foe, the barbarian growled and stepped in close to the ogre, cutting at his legs, unable to find a weak spot in the heavy armor.  Speaks uttered the words to summon some friendly wolves to the battlefield as Lazarius sent a lesser acid orb  splashing through a chink in the armor of the ogre in front of Cathal [for 6 points].  Marcus, inspired by the spellcasting going on behind him, stepped forward and drove his mace into the ogre captain's shoulder [14pts], driving the beast back to the door beside the third ogre, who had managed to turn himself to face the advancing party as his comrade clawed at the burning acid and fell heavily to the floor.  Shouts of "Infidels, infidels are here!" echoed down the hallway as the fourth ogre continued on his way.  Marius lunged past the huge shield and struck deep into ogre captain's back [9pts], pulling his rapier free just as the ogre fell to the ground.[Turn 5]His way now clear to pursue the ogre sent to raise the alarm, Cathal leapt over the fallen ogre captain and stepped through the doorway into the hallway, where his quarry lumbered away, continuing to shout his warning.  Speaks' pack of summoned wolves arrived, and quickly launched themselves at the remaining ogre, snapping at his heels as Lazarius aimed his crossbow at the ogre's head.  Marcus ran up to the ogre's side, hoping to get around the massive shield as the ogre skewered one of the wolves and tried to shove his spear through and into Marius, wolf and all.  Marius easily sidestepped the awkwardly weighted spear and drove his rapier home for the kill [19pts].[Turn 6]Cathal's magic boots allowed him to easily outpace and charge the fleeing ogre, although his bastard sword glanced off the massive backplate twice as the ogre continued his flight.  Just ahead, wooden doors appeared out of the darkness, and the ogre lowered his shoulder, slamming into the doors with a thunderous crash as the two stumbled into what appeared to be huge abandoned forge with another pair of doors on the far wall and a door on each side wall.  Behind them, Lazarius (with Speaks on his shoulder), Marcus, and Marius began running down the tunnel... [Turn 7]Seeing the doors on the far side of the room, Cathal knew that time was on the side of the fleeing ogre, so he charged again and slammed his bastard sword into the fleeing ogre's neck [24pts], but the ogre only stumbled briefly as he continued his dash across the forge.  Marius burst into the forge, drew up even with the ogre, and readied his net as the rest of the party continued to run down the hallway. [Turn 8]Cathal charged the fleeing ogre again and was rewarded with a satisfying crunch as his blade found its mark [27pts] and drove the ogre to the ground.  Lazarius ran into the forge room, panting, "We must get out of here!" as the remainder of the party entered just behind him to see Marius pointing dramatically at the two side entrances without speaking.Speaks, still in Quetzal form, winged up to one of the vents in the ceiling and peered out, amazed at the lush green landscape above—it was a stark contrast to the frozen waste that they had crossed only four hours ago!  To get a better look, he flew through the gate and into the canopy of trees above, as his companions below heard a noise from the double doors and moved towards one of the side doors.  Marius opened the door as quietly as he could, revealing a dimly-lit room that showed signs if having been used as a coal bunker, but before the party could get through the doorway, the double doors behind them opened, revealing two more ogres, clad in enameled scale armor and covered from head to toe in blood.  In an attempt to distract the ogres, Marius tossed his clockwork burglar* down the mineshaft from which they'd come, but the ogres caught a glimpse of the motion of his arm and came over to investigate."You, there, come out!" one of the ogres commanded to the group huddled in the doorway.  Since they were unsure of what lay ahead, the party, still disguised as orcs, stepped out into the side alcove and Marius took up the conversation.  The ogre pointed at the body that lay in the middle of the forge floor, still bleeding from the two wounds on its back, and demanded, "what happened here!?"  Marius, who'd had a few breaths to think about this, quickly shot back, "the infidels!  They came from down there, and they attacked!" and pointed down the mineshaft, from which the clockwork burglar's* footsteps could still be barely heard.  The ogre nodded to the other and barked something in an unintelligible language, and the second ogre nodded and set off down the hallway to investigate.  "So, what are you doing here," the ogre asked Marius, who knew better than to try the clean-up angle again.  Instead, he tried a different tack, "we were down one of the side passages, and we heard some noise—when we came to investigate, we saw the infidels attacking the ogres, who told us to run in here.  Once they'd killed him, they must've heard you coming, because they ran back down the hall!"  The ogre, like his cousin down the hall, seemed skeptical, and suggested that the orcs should come with him back to the room beyond the double doors.  Reluctantly, the party filed towards the double doors until they had gotten about even with the ogre, who merely stood with his arm outstretched, pointing towards the doors.  On a sign from Marcus, they sprung into action…(DM note:  *The Clockwork Burglar is a silly item from the Arms and Equipment guide.  It is a wind-up disk with “feet” circling the rim, designed to be released whereupon it will spin off down a corridor as a potential distraction.  It rather clashes with the general flavor of my campaign, but I was in a charitable mood and let it work on the stipulation that they were never to buy another one.)</blockquote>

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