The Fiendish Oerth Game Story (Updated 4-25-03)

[Quasqueton]

The Fiendish Oerth Game Story - part 2b

"You're going to just walk up there and talk to them?" asked Simon.

"Yes," said Salem. He had pulled his hat and cloak down and around to conceal his unusual features (gold skin, silver hair, pale eyes).

"What about that," Simon pointed to the Veluna shield device patch on the halfling's cloak.

"Oh, yeah." Salem pulled out his dagger and proceeded to cut the patch off.

"We should go get Lorgard and Cedrin," said Simon.

"OK," agreed Salem, "you go get them, I'll go up to the necromancers myself."

There was a pause as Simon seemed to think the halfling's plans were faulty. But the ranger hustled off to go back to the bridge to collect the mage and fighter waiting for them to return. Salem tossed the patch onto the ground, then casually walked towards the mysterious group in the distance.

As Salem got closer to the group he could make out more details about the figures. Six men in breastplate armor and Veluna uniforms stood around another man in black robes holding a tall staff. The armored men held no weapons, and turned to look at the approaching halfling. The robed man noted his guards' attention and turned to see Salem also. Salem tried to keep a casual stride even when he got within a hundred feet of the group and could tell that the armored guards were zombies, and the robed man was an orc.

The orc barked an order to the front three zombies, "Kill him."

The zombies shambled forward. Salem waited for the animated corpses to close with him, then he pulled out his symbol of Fharlanghn and channeled energy towards the undead. The approaching zombies pulled up short, turned and fled back to their master.

"Hold still little man," snarled the orc, and he cast a spell at the halfling. But Salem felt no effect and just strode closer to turn the remaining three zombies.

When the last of the zombies fled from the scene, the black-robed orc seemed a little nervous. "Flee yourself, runt," he grunted and cast another spell on Salem. But the small cleric shrugged off the fear effect and moved up within range of his whip.

The orc cast another spell, this time on himself, and disappeared. Salem could just barely hear movement where the orc had been standing, but then nothing. He guessed he was alone now. He watched the fleeing zombies get smaller and smaller in the distance.

To be continued . . .

 

[Quasqueton]

The Fiendish Oerth Game Story - part 2c

Simon appeared from around a tree near the river bank.

"We were beginning to wonder what happened," said Lorgard.

The ranger motioned for the mage and fighter to follow him. "We may have found the necromancers," he explained. "There's a small group of people on the battlefield, and we think we saw them animate a couple of corpses."

"Where's Salem," asked Cedrin.

"He went to talk to the group," answered Simon.

Cedrin and Lorgard looked at each other as they followed the ranger along the riverside. Soon they reached the spot where Simon had left the halfling cleric. Simon picked up the discarded Veluna patch.

"Is that him by himself?" asked Lorgard, pointing to the sole, small figure standing on the field in the distance.

"That's where the group of necromancers was standing," said Simon. They hustled towards their comrade.

Salem watched his companions approach. He was smiling when Simon asked, "So, what happened?"

"Six of them were zombies, and one was an orc necromancer," the little cleric explained. "The necromancer didn't even let me get close to them before he sent his zombies to kill me. I turned them way. Then the orc tried casting spells on me, but nothing happened. When I got close to him, he disappeared."

"Disappeared?" repeated Lorgard.

"Where was he standing?" asked Simon.

"About ten or fifteen feet right there," Salem pointed.

The ranger knelt down and examined the ground. He could tell the recent tracks from the battle field mess. "Did he have a staff?"

"Yes."

"He walked off that way," said Simon.

"That's the direction I sent his zombies running. They eventually stopped, then turned towards the village, and walked off as a group," Salem added.

Simon started following the tracks of the necromancer, noting the staff tracks beside the footprints. His companions followed behind him.

Lorgard was thinking aloud, "Surely it is more than one necromancer making all the zombies we saw walking through the village last night."

"Well," said Salem, "there was only one right here."

"If I'm remembering my studies on necromancy properly," continued the dwarf wizard, "it takes a small onyx gem to cast the spell to animate corpses. So many zombies is very expensive."

They reached the place where the orc necromancer had met up with his zombie guards. According to what Simon was reading of the tracks, they all walked away together towards the burned village. The group decided to continue their pursuit. The tracks went into the village, through the village, and out the other side along a dirt road. The group could see the fort on the hill about a mile away. Rayson had told them about it, and that it had fallen to the invading army. Simon lead the way down the road.

To be continued . . .

 

[Quasqueton]

Fiendish Oerth Game Story - part 2d

They each heard it. An anxious growling noise from behind those bushes, just ahead on the left of the road. They stopped and waited, weapons ready.

The creatures trying to hide themselves for an ambush were too excited to be patient, so they leapt out of their concealment and charged forward. Three small, feral, gray-skinned . . . things . . . shouted and growled as they each tried to be the first to attack the party.

But the group was ready for them. The three bestial, halfling-sized creatures clawed and bit to little effect. Their bodies resisted much of the damage the party's swords, whip, and hammer tried to deal, but Cedrin's great strength and bastard sword managed to slay one immediately. As its head fell off, its body exploded in a spray of acid, stinging everyone nearby.

"What the hell was that!" someone shouted.

In several more moments, the other two creatures were struck down, and more acid sprayed about. Though no one was seriously injured, in fact the adventurers found out that their bodies had a bit of resistance to the acid, everyone was rather annoyed by the explosive deaths of these unknown creatures.

"These must be some of the 'minor demons' Rayson mentioned," Salem commented.

"Not fun," Cedrin said.

"Agreed," said Simon, "but let's move on."

They followed the necromancer's and zombies' tracks along the road some more. A trail turned off the road and lead up hill to the fort. "They went up to the fort, looks like," said Simon, examining the foot and staff prints in the dirt.

Some trees and brush along the road gave the group a little cover from the fort, about two hundred yards up the low hill. The hill had been long ago cleared of vegetation to make a clear view of the area from the fort. They could see the front gate looked to be destroyed, and a ten-foot section of the wall on this side was collapsed. The only movement they could spot was a lone figure standing at what had been the front entrance.

"Should we just go up to the front?"

"Let's walk around and check out the other sides first."

It was agreed that the Simon and Salem would scout around, and Lorgard and Cedrin would wait at the road as they had done at the bridge. The ranger and halfling cleric left the fighter and dwarf mage.

This time, though, both returned. "There's another hole in the wall on the other side, and there's a hole in the keep itself at the back," explained Salem. "And the one tower at the corner of the wall looks to have collapsed on the inside. It has a hole in the other side, and it looks like only the outer shell is still standing."

"Any guards?" asked Lorgard.

"None that we could see," said Simon. "And the windows at the top of the central keep are shuttered."

"Where do we go in?"

"Let's go straight in the keep part, in the back hole."

It was agreed that they'd sneak around to the "back" of the fort and enter through that hole. The entire group this time sneaked around through the trees and brush at the bottom of the hill. They then hustled up to the stone wall. The hole was an almost perfect circle, and only a little debris covered the ground. They approached the hole from one side and carefully looked in.

The chamber the hole gave access to was once very elaborate, but was now demolished and gruesome. The tile floor was shattered and scarred, torn tapestries hung in shreds, and six columns lining the length of the hall had bodies tied around them. The corpses had been cut open at their abdomens and their gore was hanging to the floor. At the far end of the chamber were half a dozen orcs.

"Orcs?" said Lorgard when Salem mentioned what he saw. "Great. Let's get the fight on."

The dwarf mage immediately cast a shield spell on himself, then stepped into the hole and charged forward. Simon, Salem, and Cedrin looked back and forth at each other, then moved in to the fight. The dwarf did well against the orcs; he felled two by himself. Cedrin slew two others, and Simon and Salem handled what seemed to be two sergeants of more experience than the base grunts.

There were two doors off either side of the chamber, and the party immediately moved to be prepared for reinforcements. They realized at this point that their vision was odd. The only light in the room was the red glow of the sky through the hole to the outside. At the back of the room, where they all were now, they could see in a strange black-and-white. Lorgard noticed nothing new, and commented that the humans and halfling were seeing with darkvision. Another surprising "power" they all seemed to have. But they didn't have time to think on it long. . .

"My spell will wear off quickly," said the dwarf, "I don't want to wait." He went to open one of the doors, but Cedrin grabbed him about the collar of his robes and kept him from moving forward.

The dwarf complained, but Simon and Salem urged him to wait, as they didn't want to fight on two fronts if someone came in the other door. But after several moments of no surprises, they listened at the doors. Nothing.

Lorgard wrenched his robe from Cedrin's grip and opened his door. He rushed into what was apparently a small dining area. Scattered dishes and unfinished food sat on a few tables, but there was no enemies. The dwarf moved through the room to the only other door. He opened it and moved into a pillaged pantry. He didn't bother looking around the small room, he just went to the next door and listened just a moment. Upon hearing orc voices he smiled and opened the door. His companions sighed and followed him through the rooms. Someone commented, "We probably need to take a prisoner."

A pair of orcs stood surprised in the kitchen. They had been leaning on their axes talking when the battle-hungry dwarf barged in with a warhammer held high. The first orc was felled in one blow. Lorgard spun on the second and shouted, "Give up!"

The stunned orc released his weapon and raised his hands to ward off an attack. The dwarf's comrades filed into the small kitchen and back up the dwarf mage. "Get down on the floor," the dwarf ordered.

The orc did as instructed, and Salem pulled out rope to tie the orc up. Simon checked the only other door from the room and found a quiet interior hallway with other doors. He closed the kitchen door and stood listening at it.

Lorgard knelt at the prone orc's head, "Where's your chief?"

"Down in the basement," was the answer.

Further questioning revealed the stairs down were on the other side of the main hall where they entered. They left the now hog-tied and gagged orc on the kitchen floor, and backtracked to the main hall where they had entered.

To be continued . . .

 

[Quasqueton]

The orcs they encountered all had the fiendish template. All creatures born in the Abyss on Oerth were twisted and evil beyond any normal natural bent they may have.

The vultures at the very beginning of the game were fiendish. The gnolls were fiendish. The orcs have all been fiendish. Pretty much any natural creature they can expect to meet will have the fiendish template.

Just a little info that I don't think I really managed to come right out and state in this story hour. The PCs were told this state of affairs by Rayson, and they had noticed the slightly twisted features of the creatures they had so far met.

Quasqueton

 

[Quasqueton]

The Fiendish Oerth Game Story - part 2e

Simon listened to the door. No sounds on the other side. He looked over his shoulder at his companions standing behind him in the main hall and shook his head. He opened the door and they all moved in quickly. The room beyond was just a waiting room. The carpet was bloodied, the tapestries torn and pulled down, and the once fancy furniture was now scarred and battered. The orcs were treating this once finely appointed fort very poorly.

There were two more doors, one in the right wall, the other to the left. A stairway to the left of the door they were entering through lead up to the next level of the keep.

"Well, do we go up or look for the downward stairs?" asked Simon.

Everyone agreed to continue to the basement to find the chief. They'd go up after that. They opened the door in the right wall and found another demolished room, with no other door, but with a stairway down.

"OK, how are we going to do this, exactly?" Simon again questioned.

"We need to take out the necromancer as soon as possible," said Salem. "He might be only one of a dozen, but we have to stop him from making more zombies."

"How do we know he's downstairs?" asked Lorgard.

"The chief is in the basement," said Salem, "and the necromancer is probably either the chief or working with the chief."

"Are we sure about that?" said Lorgard.

"Who's up there!" came a shout from downstairs.

Lorgard recognized the language as orcish. The others heard and understood the words, but they couldn't really identify the language. They had noticed this queer understanding when Lorgard was questioning the orc in the kitchen, but no one really knew what to make of it, and no one really commented on it. But now this ability to understand other languages was making them feel uneasy. But as with the revelation of their darkvision ability, Lorgard just shrugged at it. He was used to darkvision, and he knew the orcish language anyway.

The sound of a pair of booted feet walking up the steps jolted them out of their thoughts. Lorgard walked over to the top of the stairs just as an orc soldier's head came above the floor's level. In one quick swing, the dwarf mage smashed the orc's skull with his warhammer. The orc collapsed and fell noisily back down the stairs.

Immediately, Lorgard ran down the stairs. The others followed close on his heels. At the bottom was just another demolished room, with the dead orc sprawled on the floor. Bloody graffiti was marked on the walls. The vulgar and vile orc swears and curses were understood only by Lorgard. He had studied the language, both as spoken and as written with the dwarven alphabet. Though his companions could mysteriously understand the spoken words, the writing on the walls were illegible.

The group moved on through the basement finding only barracks originally built for human soldiers, but now ransacked and recently used by nasty orcs. But they found no orcs in the barracks or halls till the very back of the basement. A pair of orcs they found in a guard room put up a decent fight, but they fell like the others earlier. One did manage to shout a warning to his chief, apparently in the next room, before dying.

The party quickly readied to barge into the chief's room. They readied at the door at the rear of the guardroom. Simon pulled the door open, Lorgard charged in, and Cedrin and Salem followed immediately. But the room they entered was just a sitting room with unfinished food and ale on a central table. There was another door.

Again Simon opened the door and Lorgard was ready to move in. But this time the dwarf paused, sensing a trap. He moved forward just a bit, not quite entering the room. Just barely he could see movement right beside the door inside the next room. He leapt in quickly, warhammer ready block an attack.

To be continued . . .

 

[Quasqueton]

The Fiendish Oerth Game Story - part 2f

The orc chief was waiting right beside the doorway with his axe raised to strike down the first enemy to enter. Lorgard parried the axe blow and Simon rushed in as the large orc recovered from his swing. The ranger and dwarf fighter/mage tried to flank the big orc, obviously more fiendish than the others they had seen, but the chief was wily to that tactic and kept his back to a wall.

Ranger and dwarf exchange a couple blows with the chief until Simon took a serious axe cut across his chest. The ranger was forced to fall back out of the orc's reach. Salem moved into the room snapping his whip at the orc to draw attention away from his wounded comrade. The whip wrapped around the chief's greataxe, and with all the strength the little halfling could muster, he snatched the axe right out of the big orc's hands. The axe fell to the floor with a clatter.

Lorgard smacked the orc with his warhammer when the chief picked his weapon back up. Simon pulled himself together and rejoined the fight. Salem's whip was driving the chief mad. Salem snaked the whip through the orc's legs and yanked him off his feet. Dwarf and ranger took advantage of the chief's problems and soon pounded and stabbed the big orc to death.

Cedrin hadn't entered the already crowded room. He stayed at the door watching and listening down the guard hall. When the battle ended, he looked in to make sure his friends were still standing. They were, and Salem had used his magic to heal the grievous wound Simon had taken. They then checked out the chief's den.

The room had been a barracks for four soldiers, but two of the beds had been overturned and pushed against a wall. The sheets and blankets for those beds were piled up on the floor. Signs of something having used them for a bed were evident. The chief obviously was using another bed for his own, and the fourth bed was used as a treasure trove. A pile of gold coins, silver coins, and a collection of valuable odds and ends scavenged from around the upper fort were laid on that fourth bed. Salem used a orison to detect for magic on the bed, but there was nothing radiating an enchantment. He used the bed sheets to wrap up the items in a make-shift bag.

Lorgard used a cantrip to examine the chief's body. He found some coins in his purse, and an earring of mundane creation, but a pair of bronze bracers were revealed to be magical. They added the chief's personal belongings to Salem's sheet sack. They then walked back out to the guard area to discuss what to do next.

"So, do we go back to the village now?" asked Simon.

"We haven't finished with first floor yet," said Salem.

"My spells are pretty much used up for the day," added Lorgard.

They were pumped up mentally to take on more action, especially after the victory against the orc chief. But they were almost exhausted physically and magically, especially after the battle with the chief. Before they could come to a consensus, a secret door opened in the brick wall beside them.

All four companions jumped to their guard against whatever might come out of the door, but it turned out to be human soldiers.

"Thank gods," one of the two soldiers said, "someone finally came back."

The second soldier stepped into the room and looked at the two dead orc guards. "Have you killed them all?"

"No," answered Salem, "just some. Most are out of the fort somewhere."

"We killed the chief," said Lorgard.

"We've been hiding in this secret corridor for a while now," said the soldier. "We retreated down here with our wounded when the orcs took the keep."

"Did Oswal find you," asked the other soldier.

"Who's Oswal?"

"He's a halfling who fought with us. He's the only one who could get out to look for help."

A quick discussion explained that the secret passage lead to the basement of the tower at the corner of the outer wall. But the interior of the tower had collapsed in the siege, and only the halfling could work his way out of the rubble. The orcs had been constantly guarding the room where they now talked, so the soldiers dared not open the door and reveal their location. There were wounded men down the secret hall; some who were unconscious. Twelve men in all, six wounded.

The companions told the soldiers to go back into the tower and wait. They'd be back later to help bring them out. But right now the orcs who lived in the barracks would be back sometime, and they had to take them on before risking to bring wounded men up through the fort halls. The soldiers agreed, and went back in and closed the secret door.

Simon, Salem, Lorgard, and Cedrin hurriedly went back up to the first level.

To be continued . . .

 

[Quasqueton]

The Fiendish Oerth Game Story - part 2g

Back up the stairs they went; back through the doors into the waiting room where another door and the upward stairway was.

"Shouldn't we go back to the village now?" said Simon.

"Yes," agreed Lorgard, "we're pretty much spent right now."

"We should clear this level before stopping," argued Salem.

The group debated for a while before deciding to go along with Salem's idea to finish exploring the first level before stopping. They opened the next door and again found a once-fancy room but no orcs. But this room did have a large set of heavy double doors, like would be found at the front of a inner keep.

"These might lead outside," said Simon.

Simon and Salem listened to the doors. They heard sniffing on the other side. The ranger and halfling looked at each other for a moment, then the sniffing on the other side became a loud wolfish howl that even Lorgard and Cedrin at the back of the room could clearly hear.

"Let's open the door just a crack," suggested Simon.

Salem stepped back and held a spear ready to throw. Cedrin stood ready to charge, and Simon and Lorgard took the door handles. They pulled the doors just enough to get a view beyond. About five feet away stood a large black wolf in the red light of the outside sky, staring at them and growling. Simon and Lorgard pulled the door more open, and Salem threw his spear. The weapon went high and missed the wolf.

Behind the wolf, standing in the courtyard were five orcs and at the back a towering ogre. Lorgard charged the wolf with his hammer, Simon ran into the group of orcs, Cedrin stepped up beside his dwarf comrade to take on the wolf, and Salem ran out but stayed back so he could throw another spear.

While Simon took on the five orcs single-handedly, Lorgard and Cedrin tried to quickly take down the big wolf. But where the ranger's dual swords were cutting down orcs with but a single stroke, the dwarf's and fighter's hammer and sword were doing only minor wounds to the wolf. It was like the beast could shrug off all but the hardest attacks.

Salem throw a spear at the ogre and hit it precisely on its thigh, but the point didn't stick. The weapon just bounced back and fell to the ground at the giant's feet.

The ogre stepped up beside the wolf and slammed his greatclub down on Lorgard. The dwarf staggered under the massive blow, but he held his balance.

Simon had taken down three of his opponents, but another came running up from where it had been standing at the front gate.

Cedrin was backed into a corner by the vicious wolf. Salem threw his third and last spear at the ogre but again the point didn't harm the thing.

The ogre smashed his club down again on the dwarf, and this blow crushed the fighter/mage. Lorgard crumpled to a bloody heap. The giant then turned to help the orcs who were falling around the ranger, but Salem snapped his whip at the ogre to bring his attention away.

The wolf knocked Cedrin down to the ground and tore a ragged bite across his throat. It howled in victory.

As the last orc dropped, Simon stepped up to the ogre with both swords ready to slash. But the ogre brought his greatclub down again in a mighty blow, and the ranger was sent sprawling unconscious to the dirt.

Salem, the lone companion still standing snapped his whip at the ogre once more then ran around the giant to retrieve one of his spears. The big black wolf caught the little halfling in mid-act, and Salem fell unmoving.

THE END.

 

[Quasqueton]

<sigh>

Total. Party. Kill.

Yep. TPK in the second game session of a campaign that I had epic plans for.

Ain't that a pain.

Quasqueton

 

[Solenopsis]

Too bad Quasqueton. I was enjoying that. Simon and Salem's players should be slapped. What were they thinking? I would have hid out in the secret corridor a couple of days and healed up the soldiers.

I suggest you raise the characters once again, but this time as undead under the control of the necromancer, just so you can punish their stupidity for a bit.

 

[grodog]

Yeah, they were awfully cavalier about fighting foes in the Abyss. Sheesh....

Let us know if you start the plot up again Quasqueton, or intend to continue it somehow.