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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RatPunk" data-source="post: 893081" data-attributes="member: 1246">Chapter 7 - Jackie and the Ogre, Part 1We returned to Fairhill and managed to track down Jackie, Rumblethorn and Shuglin. Ostler was nowhere to be found. We regaled them with the tale of our failed attempt to locate the blacksmith’s daughter and then decided to head to one of the local eateries for a good hot meal. Except for Pyro, who just wanted to lie down and recover from his encounter with the owlbear. _It’s always good to have a nice, hot meal after a few days in the wild and the fare at the Drunken Cockatrice was no exception. Afterwards, we were just settling in for some nice quiet conversation, when we heard a commotion outside. One of the Fairhillites ran in and announced that the shrines were on fire. Our curiosity got the better of us and we went outside to have a look.Sure enough, an orange glow filled the evening sky in the direction of the temples. As we approached, we noticed Shandril and Arlen (the mayor) talking urgently. Several members of the village guard also stood nearby. I went over to get some information and offer my services. The rest of the group followed close behind. Shandril explained that a band of orcs had come out of the woods near the shrines, set fire to them and stolen the Crucible. She was pretty sure they were headed towards the ruined keep located several miles northeast of town. She and Arlen were in the process of assembling a group of guards to go after them.We quickly volunteered to go. Orcs, ruined keeps and recovered treasure. That was what we were all about. Besides, the keep in question was the same one that reportedly had belonged to Corian’s buddy, Eralion the wanna-be lich, so it was already high on our list of places to check out. “Count me in, too,” said a voice from behind us. We turned to see who had spoken. It was a tall, thin man dressed in dark clothes. He wore a holy symbol around his neck.“Who the hell are you?” I asked.“My name’s Peshal. I was in the tavern just now. I’d like to help”, he said._“But you’re a priest of Wee Jas!”“Hey, we’re not all bad…”We mulled it over and decided what the hell. Ostler wasn’t around and we needed somebody to do the healing. Arlen wasn’t big on the idea of “outsiders” going to recover his town’s holy relic, but Shandril talked him into it. She obviously recognized our potential. He still felt the need to assign three of the town guard to lead us to the keep. No doubt they would also have orders to “take care” of us should we turn out to be untrustworthy. Laurial, Jarinor and Hathol were their names. Like Shandril, Laurial, the sergeant in charge, was another elven follower of Freya. She also seemed particularly displeased at the idea of us going on the mission. No doubt she felt threatened by the obvious aura of confidence and success that we projected.Since the orcs had been on horseback, Shandril provided us with mounts of our own. She even said we could keep them if we succeeded in returning the Crucible. Then she drew her longsword and held it out to me. “This is Valkyria,” she said. “You won’t be able to make use of all that it can do, but it will help you in what is to come. Return it to me when you’re finished.”Yes! It appeared that all the time I’d spent chatting her up was finally paying off!I accepted graciously, of course, and strapped Valkyria on in place of my own longsword. Then we quickly gathered up what equipment we needed and went off in hot pursuit of the dastardly orcs. Laurial and her friends led the way.Jarinor and Hathol seemed like decent enough people. They were just doing their jobs. Laurial, however, definitely had an attitude problem. She refused to offer any helpful suggestions or useful information and openly scoffed at practically everything we did.A couple hours out of town, the road crossed a wide stream via an old stone bridge. It wasn’t a particularly big stone bridge, but the opposite side was wooded and overgrown with bushes. It was the perfect place for an ambush. We stopped and debated the possibilities for a long time. I mean a really long time. But better cautious than dead, I think. While we debated, Laurial sat on her horse, rolling her eyes and refusing to offer her own suggestions or advice. Eventually Shuglin, in typical dwarven fashion, grew tired of all the talk and walked across the bridge. He examined the area for a minute and then yelled back that there was no ambush. Laurial shook her head and rode on. She’d change her tune once she saw how impressive we were in combat.As we rode, I kept my eye on the path. It was obvious that the orcs had gone this way. They had made no effort to hide their tracks and obviously didn’t consider the Fairhillians to be much of a threat. Eventually, we reached a place where both the path and the tracks split. Branching off to the left was a smaller, less traveled path. The tracks indicated that several of the orcs had dismounted and gone down this side path on foot. The horses had continued down the main path.We halted and I jumped off my horse to get a closer look at all the tracks. It seemed apparent to me that all of the horses but one had been rider free and had probably been led down the main path as a diversion. Immediately, the debate began. Some of us wanted to follow the orcs who were now on foot. We would be able to gain ground on them quickly and they most likely had the Crucible. Laurial, on the other hand, insisted that the main path was the fastest way to the keep and we might be able to get there first and ambush the orcs when they arrived. In the end we chose to follow the main path.It was the wrong choice. The main path ended up being so overgrown that we ultimately had to dismount and lead the horses on foot for the remainder of the journey, which ended up being several hours. Strike one for Laurial. Once we reached the keep, there was no doubt in our minds that the orcs had arrived well ahead of us. The sounds of their partying could be heard, albeit faintly, from where we stood.We halted at the edge of the woods and secured the horses out of view, then we took in the keep and its surroundings. It was located in a clearing and we couldn’t see any place where the woods got close enough for us to make a stealthy approach. The keep itself was in need of repair. We could see where the walls had cracks and the towers were beginning to crumble, but for the most part, the place appeared to be intact. At least from our vantage point.The orc celebration sounded like it was going on in the back of the place, so we decided that the wall in front of us, which included the main gate, would be our best bet. At this point, Laurial informed us that she would not be going. Neither would Jarinor and Hathol. They would guard the horses and come to our rescue if we needed them. Yeah, that sounded about right…Jeb and Jackie moved forward to scout the place out. They quietly made their way to the front gate and gave it a quick once over. Whether it was locked or simply rusted shut, I don’t know. Either way, it wasn’t moving. They crept along the wall toward the corner towers, one in each direction. Before either of them had made it halfway, Shuglin got up from where we were watching and walked to the main gate. He made no effort to be quiet about it, he just went. When he reached the gate, he looked it over quickly then went over to Jeb and told him there was a door in the tower on the right. Next he walked over to Jackie and told him the same thing. Finally, he came back across the open area between the keep and the woods and returned to our hiding place.All we could do was look at him in stunned silence. Jeb and Jackie returned and told us that they had seen no sign of guards on the wall, which Shuglin’s stroll had pretty much confirmed. We made our way around to the tower with the door. Of course the door was locked, but Jeb made short work of it and soon we were inside. The room was round and the floor above us had partially collapsed. The most interesting aspect, however, was the greenish brown gunk that occupied the center of the floor. It definitely wasn’t a rug and it didn’t look like any form of plant growth. It just didn’t look right. Plus there was a very obvious path cleared along the wall all the way around it.Still, Rumblethorn felt the need to test it. He jabbed the end of his quarterstaff into it. When he pulled it out, the gunk that was stuck to the end began eating through the staff. It was green slime. Rumblethorn didn’t know what to do. He began waving it around, showing everyone what was happening. With about half of the staff now gone, Shuglin grabbed it, sliced it in two with his axe, and kicked what was left of the eaten part back into the slime. He then handed Rumblethorn his new eighth-staff and announced that he was going back to the horses to keep an eye on Laurial and her cohorts.Dwarves. Go figure.We made our way around the slime without further incident and approached the door on the far side of the room. It was also locked, but again Jeb made short work of it. We opened it and stepped cautiously through.We were in the main courtyard. The noises of partying were louder than ever and obviously came from behind the wall across the courtyard from us. From inside, it was easy to see that the back part of the keep was in much worse shape than the front. Through holes in the wall, we could see the dancing glow of several large campfires. At least we knew where most of the enemy was.We set about locating any guards that might be lurking in our vicinity. Jeb began inching his way down the wall on our right, while Jackie did the same down the one to the left. They did this so slowly that it took several minutes. The rest of the group was content to huddle quietly in the corner until they finished. I, on the other hand, was getting antsy. I decided to follow Jackie down the wall.I caught up with him just as he reached a stairway leading to the top of the outer wall. We both ascended and took stock of the situation. Looking over the wall, we could see the spot where Laurial and the horses were. They were well out of sight. To our left was the top floor of the green slime tower, on our right, the upper level of the gatehouse. We decided to head that way.Bow at the ready, I covered Jackie as he opened the door. The room was empty. It was large enough that it provided cover for the entire gate area, complete with murder holes in the floor and two ladders leading down into the guard rooms on either side. Jackie started browsing around. I opted to keep going.I went out the door on the other side of the gatehouse, onto the next section of wall. I was slowly making my way towards the far tower. I learned later that my companions considered this to be somewhat rash, but I thought it sounded like a good idea at the time. It was fairly obvious that the front part of the keep was empty; why not nip down to the tower just to make sure? If I ran into any trouble, the group would be right there. Or so I thought.When I reached the tower, I took a moment to look around. I couldn’t see any of the others in the courtyard. They must have still been huddled up over in the corner. Since the gatehouse was blocking my view, I couldn’t tell for certain, although I could make out Jeb still slinking along the far wall.I opened the door. Layout wise, it looked to be about the same as the tower with the slime in it, the major difference being that the second floor, which I was currently looking at, seemed to be intact. The key word there is “seemed”. I took a step forward and plunged straight through the floor. Apparently, the section of floor I had fallen through was also the only part holding the remaining floor up since the entire thing collapsed around me. On the plus side, I was saved from any permanent injury I might have received from hitting the floor. On the negative side, I was saved by a giant spider web that stretched across the room. A web occupied by two large spiders. And I was now stuck.</blockquote>

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