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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 197694" data-attributes="member: 143">Book IV, Part 18    “They’re coming up the back trail!” Dana cried, alerting the others to a flanking maneuver on their position.“I’ll go!” Jerral said, firing one more shot that dropped an orc before darting back over the boulders toward the rear face of the bluff.  The others had to trust that she and Dana could hold whatever enemies were coming up the rear face, for they would have their hands full holding back the frontal assault that was drawing steadily nearer to their position. The orcs were now within sixty feet of their position, with the ogres remaining only slightly behind.  It was clear now that the orcs were being used for fodder by the ogres, to absorb the most devastating attacks from the defenders while the ogres behind kept their line intact.  Cal hastily counted and came up with a count of twelve of the brutish giants. No, this wasn’t looking good at all.  Several of the orcs paused to launch bolts from their crossbows, but that strategy came to naught as the companions were either protected by several layers of magical shielding or wearing thick armor that turned those few bolts that made it past their rocky cover.  Another half-dozen, desperation perhaps overcoming prudence, simply formed a wedge and charged, hurtling themselves up the last stretch that separated them and the defenders.  They were met by Delem’s flaming sphere, which rolled down the slope right into their ranks.  The orc at the point of the wedge exploded into flames as the ball bounced right into its body, and the two flanking it fell back, scorched by the fire as well.  The others darted out of the path of the flames, the momentum of their rush broken by the spell.Cal fired another bolt, and while he was rewarded by an orc falling, his eyes traveled back to the line of ogres that were drawing inexorably nearer.  He knew that those were the real danger, and that he had to buy his companions some time to take down their numbers some. Taking inspiration from Delem, he called upon the power of an illusion.  A wall of flames erupted into being between the remnants of the orc line and the ogres behind, blocking the final route up the bluff.  At first, Cal feared that these ogres, who’d already demonstrated that they were more remarkable than the average member of their species, would realize that the flames produced neither sound nor heat, and simply charge through.  He was rewarded, though, as the ogres hesitated, falling back from the illusory barrier.  As he watched, however, he saw a looming figure, tall even for an ogre, step forward and start shouting at its peers.  This ogre wore a thick mantle of black fur taken apparently from a single massive beast, and it wore as a helmet the skull of some large creature, perhaps the former owner of the fur.  Totems dangled on a throng around its neck, and Cal felt a shudder as his eyes briefly met the ogre’s as it scanned the battlefield.  Apparently Cal wasn’t the only one to notice the ogre leader, for one of Benzan’s arrows caught it in the shoulder as it tried to rally its reluctant troops.  Ignoring the wound, the ogre finally just walked through the illusion, drawing its allies after it through the sheer force of its personality.  The illusion had not stopped the ogre advance, but it had bought them a few more precious moments.  Delem had sent his flaming sphere to chase down one of the last surviving orcs, and now summoned another one that rolled down the slope into the onrushing ogres.  The first brute managed to dodge out of the route of the sphere, but it rolled on into a second, causing the ogre to slip as it retreated from the scorching flames.  The ogre cried out as it lost its footing and fell down the slope, sliding for a few yards before coming to a battered stop.  Lok stepped out into the open at the top of the slope, focusing the attention of the ogres fully upon himself.  He drew another long arrow and let fly, the missile slamming with the full force of the genasi’s strength into the fat muscle of an ogre thigh.  The ogre, already wounded, staggered and faltered but kept its footing.  Benzan plied his bow with unceasing fury, firing arrow after arrow into the increasing ranks of the ogres.  He ignored the few milling orcs now, focusing entirely upon the massive forms of the ogres.  He targeted those that were already wounded, blasting one with a pair of hits in rapid succession that arrested its charge and nearly toppled it.  He finished the first bundle of arrows he’d taken from Lok’s bag of holding earlier and started in on the second, his aim becoming even more deadly as the ogres drew nearer.  While the battle up the face of the bluff raged, Dana watched the darkness where she could sense the shadowy forms moving up the narrow trail that switchbacked up the rear face of the bluff.  She wished she had Benzan’s night vision as she tried to distinguish the night’s natural shadows from those of the attackers.  Then, however, she saw a long white shape moving up the trail in the faint light, and knew what that portended.  The winter wolves were coming her way.Dana crept silently over to the edge of the bluff where it overlooked a portion of the trail below.  She had not been idle during her earlier vigil, having identified several large rocks that would serve her purpose.  She went to one now, and putting her full strength behind the effort she bent into it and drove it toward the edge.  It resisted at first, and then gave way with a sudden lurch, so suddenly that Dana nearly followed it over the edge.  Careful, Dana, she thought to herself, listening to the startled cries from below as the rock pounded its way down onto the narrow trail.  Unable to see if her attack was having an effect, she immediately turned to the next stone.  On the far side of the bluff, the few orcs left alive seemed content to leave the rest of the assault to their larger companions.  Of the forty-four that had started the climb, only five were still conscious and all but one of those sported wounds.  That final unwounded orc, content not to test its luck further, nestled down into a crack between two boulders and spent the rest of the battle keeping its head down.The ogres had taken some punishment as well, but ten still remained to form up under the leadership of the brute with the skull-helm.  The leader had been hit by several arrows but seemed unfazed by the wounds, rallying its troops with a violent war cry before it and its followers charged up the final distance toward where Lok waited at the summit, flanked by his companions nestled in between the boulders.   On ogre went down, stumbling on a loose patch of rocks and falling hard.  Another fell with an arrow from Benzan’s bow stuck in its throat.  A third took a bolt from Cal’s crossbow in the side—a minor wound, it seemed, except that the bolt thrummed with power as it hit and the ogre staggered as if it had been struck by a ram.  The giantbane bolts worked as promised, it seemed.The other ogres had worked themselves into a rage, however, and nothing short of death would stop them now.  Lok launched a last arrow and then recovered his shield and axe in time to meet the charge of the first ogre.  Stoically he took the first hit on his shield, holding his ground even though the force of the impact threatened to drive him into the ground.  A second ogre was there almost immediately to his side, but Lok did not flinch even when it slammed a huge two-handed maul into his armored shoulder.  Either blow would have crushed an ordinary warrior.Lok was not an ordinary warrior. The genasi stepped within the reach of the first ogre, and ripped his axe into its belly.  Even through its rage the ogre felt the hurt of that blow, as the axe cut through layers of flesh to score the vitals underneath.  The ogre barely had time to draw back before Lok struck again, this time drawing the edge of the axe along the unprotected inside of the ogre’s left leg.  The ogre was hurt, but consumed in its rage, it refused to retreat.  With Lok holding his ground, the other ogres had to clamber around the boulders to either side to get at the other companions.  One loomed up over Delem, precariously balanced on the stones as it eagerly hefted its axe, but the sorcerer raised one hand—the hand bearing a certain bronze ring—and the ogre toppled over the edge of the bluff, its cry fading as it vanished into the night.  It was a long way to the ground below.  Another pair tried to get to Benzan’s perch on the far side of the battlefield, and the tiefling let them come to him, continuing his relentless barrage of arrows.  One hurled a spear, but the tiefling’s agility, augmented by Cal’s spell, allowed him to easily dodge the powerful missile.  In return, the ogre got another arrow in the side, bringing its tally to three thus far.  Still, the enemy rush came on.Cal had escaped notice thus far, having faded into magical invisibility once the ogres reached the summit.  Now he positioned himself to come to Lok’s aid.  He paused a moment to add a protection from evil ward from his wand to augment his defenses, then he crept into the rocks where another pair of ogres was circling around to come at Lok from behind.  Cal cast a minor cantrip, creating a sound a short distance away among a cluster of large boulders.  “Hey, over here, you stupid brutes!” came Cal’s voice from that direction.  Few creatures like being called stupid, so predictably the ogres turned and hurried in that direction, weapons ready to smash whoever was taunting them.  Cal let the first ogre go by and waited until the second ogre had passed his position, then he reached out and touched it lightly on the ankle.  Electric energy from Cal’s shocking grasp tore into the ogre, which cried out in sudden pain.  Looking down, it saw the source of its hurt as Cal’s invisibility faded, and smiled as it raised a heavy club to smash him.  And just a few yards ahead, Cal could sense the ogre’s friend turning to help it.  Not that it appeared to need any help against the diminutive gnome. Suddenly Cal’s plan didn’t seem quite so brilliant.</blockquote>

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