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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 210481" data-attributes="member: 143">Oh, I can assure you, things are going to get real dark real fast...Right now!* * * * * Book IV, Part 28Lok and Benzan quickly caught up with the others resting along the trail, and once reunited the group started out again along the trail.  This path wound along the top of a ridge that undulated back and forth but followed a steady course to the north.  To their left the ridge followed the course of a broad gorge, perhaps two hundred feet across and half that in depth.  To their right stretched a broad expanse of jagged hills that resembled the wrinkles in a very old man’s face.  In every direction massive peaks loomed over them like great white mounds, particularly to the north where they eventually formed an imposing wall that stretched along the entire breadth of the horizon as far as they could see.  “The Ice Spires,” Lok told them.  “Beyond them, only cold and ice hold dominion.”They had not covered much ground when Benzan, who along with Jerral had taken the lead, hissed a warning back at them.  Quickly the column scattered, its members vanishing into the rocks along the trail.  Cal and Gaera rushed forward, careful to stay low.  “What is it?” Gaera asked, glancing around at the barren and apparently empty landscape.  “I caught a glimpse of something… moving up the gorge in this direction,” he said, already stringing his bow as he crept forward and laid on his belly along the edge of the nearly vertical drop.  The others gathered behind a cluster of loose boulders a few feet farther back from the edge, giving them an only slightly less obstructed view of the gorge below. For a long moment, there was nothing to see there, although the uneven floor of the gorge and its twisting course made it difficult to see too far down its length.  As they watched, however, something briefly passed into view in the gap between between two boulders, a bulky form that quickly vanished again from sight.  A moment later, however, another form appeared in the opening, and then another.  “Ogres,” Benzan commented needlessly. “How many?” Jerral whispered, but Benzan shook his head.  “We’ll see soon enough—they’re coming this way.  They’ll pass right below us.”“Pass the word back—everyone stay in cover, and stay out of sight,” Cal said to the nearest dwarf.  The dwarf nodded, and soon word was moving down the length of the column. “What do you think?” Cal asked Benzan, as the tiefling crawled back to their position.  “I’d say they’re probably looking for us, maybe scouting the approaches to Caer Dulthain.  If we can slip past them, then we might have a clear route to the town—especially if Lok’s ‘back way’ isn’t widely known.”“They’ve been here a while, so I wouldn’t count on that,” Cal said.  “Plus, if we do slip past, we risk having them come up on us from behind.”“Well, yes, there’s always a down side.”“Here they come!” Jerral hissed, drawing their attention back down to the gorge.  The first ogres were just coming into view around a bend in the gorge, several hundred yards away but drawing nearer.“Oh, no,” Gaera said.  “What is it?” Cal asked.“That ogre in the lead—it’s Soroth.”“I get the feeling I’m going to regret asking this, but who’s Soroth?” Benzan asked.“Soroth is the spawn of the Beast, a half-fiend,” the dwarf cleric explained.  “He’s young, still a child by ogre standards, but he’s dangerous, a powerful sorcerer.”“Great.  Just great.”Cal glanced back down the length of the trail, verifying that everyone in their group was out of sight.  He and his companions crouched warily among the rocks, their bows at the ready, trying to keep even their breathing quiet.  Benzan slowly crept forward until he could see the pathway along the floor of the gorge, careful not to make any sudden movements that might draw attention from below.The full column of ogres was now visible, and a quick count netted a total of thirty-five, including the leader.  Now that he was closer Benzan could clearly make out the distinctions that set Soroth apart from the others.  He was at least two feet shorter than the other ogres, but still looked imposing with a broad, muscular frame wrapped in a heavy white coat of winter wolf fur.  Two small horns jutted from his forehead, and he carried a longspear with a glimmering head that seemed to flash with reflected light even in the gray light that filtered down from the overcast skies above.  Behind him, two columns of heavily armed and armored ogres marched in a lumbering cadence that shook the air with the sound of heavy boots on stone.  Several carried the massive crossbows that resembled ballistae, and all bore a variety of other weapons that were huge, powerful, and deadly. Benzan signaled back to the others what he saw. “Thirty-five,” Cal breathed.  And this time, they didn’t have Delem’s fireballs.  Jerral saw his look and nodded grimly, and her own hands tightened on the haft of her longbow.  The ogres drew closer, until they could all clearly hear the sounds of their passage.  They were traveling quickly despite their bulk, and within just a few moments their line was passing almost directly under them.  From their hiding places above, the companions held their collective breath as they waited.  Then a voice lifted up from below, uttering a short phrase.  Even without seeing its owner, somehow each of them knew that it belonged to Soroth.  At their questioning looks, Gaera whispered, “They’re stopping!”“Why?” “I…”But she never got a chance to finish her reply, for at that moment one of the dwarves, leaning forward to steal a glimpse of what was happening in the gorge, slipped.  A cascade of rocks tumbled over the edge of the precipice, rolling down into the gorge below.  “Oh, crap…” Benzan said.</blockquote>

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