The Order of Initiative in: "Just a Simple Escort"

[Greyhawk]

The Battle at Skull Gorge

Limara suggested that this head was a boundary marker for the giant's domain and the party passed onward, ignoring the sidetrail.

But very soon there way was barred by a group of five goblins mounted on worgs. Clearly the goblins were determined that the party would go no further. The fight was short but furious, the goblins charged in on their worgs attempting to trip the horses and deposit party members on the narrow track. This was not to be! The Paladin and both clerics blocked the road so that the two magic wielders were protected as they fired spells on the enemy. Then with practised strokes they swung their blades cutting into the enemy ranks until soon none stood against them. Healing spells were called and the party soon stood renewed to journey on to meet their destiny at Skull Gorge.


The party make good time after the encounter with the Worgs and continue North along the Dawn Way. Finally the forest peters out. Ahead is a stretch of barren ground ending in a gorge. The gorge drops away precipitously to a fast rushing stream far below. The ancient Dawn Way crosses the cleft on a bridge of stone. Anchored at both ends to large stone towers with pentagonal roofs, the bridge seems sturdy despite its obvious age. It is clearly, the only easy way to cross, since the gorge continues as far as the eye can see to the east and west. The four stone towers that anchor the bridge are each forty feet high. A narrow wooden stairway winds around each leading up to an open-air watchpost at the top.


A small encampment of a half dozen tents clusters near the northern side of the bridge. Curls of smoke from the campfires attest to some sort of activity. A single humanoid figure stands at the watchpost on the top of each of the four watchtowers, longbow in hand. A powerfully built hound with glowing red eyes and short ruddy fur sits watchfully near either end of the bridge. Yet the most impressive creature present is certainly the sleek and menacing green dragon that perches on the roof of the northwestern watchtower on the far side of the gorge. Its bright yellow eyes are fixed on the bridge.

It is clear that this will be no easy encounter and that a plan will be needed to defeat the enemy. Limara and the others discussed the situation and decided that the best solution was to move in quickly and take out the guards on the Southern tower. It was likely that the dragon would be alerted and the spells casters and clerics would have to focus on its destruction while Elinor held the bridge against the inevitable attack.
The paladin and clerics crept forward but the keen hearing of the hell-hound detected their approach and its howl alerted the other guards. Elinor moved forward and struck the hell-hound wounding it gravely but the clerical Spiritual weapons flailed ineffectually at the hobgoblin guards.

Then the dragon flew in severely injuring Beltain and Nosnibor with its acid breath. The two summoned Hippogriffs attacked it in response wounding the huge creature. Belatin retreated and used a protective scroll while Nosnibor and Rizzit conjured magic missiles that slammed into the creature. Back on the bridge Limara sucessfully 'Fear'ed the Hell-Hound but Elinors sword (and mount) felled the creature before it could flee. The dragon was undaunted and again struck sucessfully at Beltain, bringing the cleric close to death, before fleeing North. With the dragon hiding behind the North western tower the party started to battle the hobgoblins only to find that as soon as their foes were wounded they stepped back and healed themselves with potions.

But suddenly, out of nowhere, the dragon reappeared blasting The Wizard Nosnibor and Belatin. The wizard fell but Beltain was able to bring him back from the brink of death with a quickly cast spell. Elinor wheeled her charger and arming herself with a special dragon-slaying sword, closed the distance to the beast and dealing it a mighty blow. Nosni and Rizzit zapped it with magic and the dragon fell to rise no more.

Meanwhile Limara was holding the Northern end of the bridge against a host of hobgoblins. Beltain's joy at the demise of the dragon was brief and Limara's plight he rushed to her side, his face pale with worry. But help was at hand and the two magic-users responded quickly, Nosnibor with a swarm of spiders that injured and nauseated the attacking goblins and this was swiftly followed by a fireball from Rizzit that felled all but one of the attackers. Limara stepped forward and with a skilful thrust of her sword despatched the Sergeant.

This left just three remaining hobgoblins in the towers to deal with. Magic missiles from The Wizard Nosnibor killed the one in the Southern tower and Elinor sprinted with Beltain following closely for the North western tower while Limara raced for the North-Eastern. Skilful bowshots wounded the two clerics as they sped up the stairs but soon it was a close-quarters battle. It was soon over with one hobgoblin dead and the other in chains. The party cured wounds and inspected the bridge. It appeared far to well built to be destroyed by brute force but an inspection by Limara discovered a weak point that, if further weakened by use of the the Shape Stone spell, would send the mighty bridge tumbling into the chasm.

 

[Greyhawk]

To the Keep then back to town

• The party settled down to rest and relearn their spells and Limara was indeed able to destroy the bridge by the use of the shapestone spells on the weakened portion of the structure. The bridge crashed into the gorge with the sound echoing from the hills and causing brds to fly up in panic from the trees. Satisfied that the horde would be significantly delayed by their action the group settled down to sleep for the night. At dawn the rested party gathered the loot together and prepared to set off back to the town but before they could do so Jorr emerged from the trees. He offered to show the comrades a secret way that would allow them to spy upon the horde.

Needless to say they were suspicious, distrusting Jorr's motives and suspecting an ambush. They almost sent him packing but a Zone of Truth spell established that the woodsman was really trying to help. Agreeing to meet Jorr again at his cabin the party set off quickly to inform the town of their success. After this they planned to carry out a scouting mission on the horde and its progress. As they passed the huge stone head at the roadside Elinor quizzed Jorr about the giants, but he said that he knew no more than what he had already told them.
They pressed on along the road eager to be at the town by nightfall but at the junction to the keep Jorr was insistent that he was going to do some gobbo bashing. They approached cautiously under the cover of an invisibility spell that covered everyone, but an inadertant stumble and pebble throw to silence the single, visible defender started a fight. Soon they were pressed on all sides by hobgoblins, worgs and hell-hounds.

Rizzit headed off on his own and quickly despatched the hobgoblin that confronted him. The silence spell meant that the clerics and paladin had to rely on their swords and, with a little help from Nosni's rolling fireball, their enemies started to fall. There were no nasty surprises in this battle and soon the last hobgoblin surrendered, the party healed up and collected the weapons and equipment of their fallen enemies.
Then Nosni, who had been searching the buildings, gave a shout - he had found a trapdoor concealed in the floor of the tower! Soon The Wizard, Elinor, Jorr and Rizzit were down in an underground chamber, with the long-dead skeleton of the keep's former master. A Detect Magic revealed that the skeleton had a magic sword and gloves and that one of the three wall niches contained magic too. Unfortunately the niches were secured by iron gates and Jorr was only able to open one of these with his thiefish skills, it looked as if brute force would be needed... Inside the iron coffer in the opened niche was a dragon skull, two-dozen giant teeth on a thick string, +1 Mithril chain shirt, A staff (detects magical), and a Huge (to big to fit any of the party) +1 spiked gauntlet. Embossed on the back of the gauntlet is a distinctive symbol that looks something like a frowning tusked mouth.

Very pleased with their finds, the party set off back to Drellins Ford and surprisingly arrived there without further incident!