| When the merchant caravan set out that day, the party (Avan, Ignatius, Jack and Nemo with Jilt and his guard Ara) quickly reached the burned ruins of a tiny village. After scaring off some zombie rats and the much more dangerous carrion rat, the party searched the village. It had been thoroughly looted and the villagers� corpses heaped in the center of town. It seemed cannon were used in the assault as well. Jilt was happy to find the village well unharmed. Avan and the others built a huge pyre and conducted last rites for the villagers and then press on further south. Nothing further happened that day but as the party rested that night, they sighted a fire half of a mile away. Using Jilt�s spyglass, they could make out some figures (goblins) about the fire and some people hanging from a nearby tree. Avan, Jack, and Nemo decided to head off and investigate. As they crept near, they were spotted by the goblins and a bugbear, which were tending the fire. After a prolonged battle the goblinoids were killed and the sole survivor, a teenage boy, was rescued. The next day, the boy, Rigg, regained consciousness. He told them that a horde of goblins, worgs, and ogres attacked the town along with a hill giant with a cannon. As they traveled for the next couple days, both Avan and Nemo attempted to comfort Rigg in their own ways. The group continued toward the desert to meet with an unknown desert tribe with which Jilt has some deal. Near the border they sighted a walled village surrounded by lush vegetation. Upon investigating, they were allowed into this isolated community, called Casey�s Settlement, which serves as a home for half-orcs seeking a peaceful life. Casey, an old woman whose decanter of endless water made this place possible, warned the party not to cause any trouble in town. (In response to a traditional orcish greeting by Jilt, Casey says, �We don�t speak that language here.�) While taking care of their various needs, Avan and Ignatius were approached by two half-elves. These individuals, seeking some acceptance themselves, told the party about the town. They learned that the goblins have been sighted here too and that another traveler was in town, a woman who wandered out of the desert. Nemo, meanwhile, began teaching Rigg about combat. Eventually Jack, who had been staying as far away from the half-orcs as possible, went and investigated the woman, Azara Oas. Azara was obviously nervous and a quick draw with her pistols. She told Jack and Ignatius that she came from Zandran a city across the desert on the Lesser Sea. She also mentioned the Iron Carriage, a mechanical vessel that charges across the Zelencian Desert on a road of steel. Few days later an ominous cloud appeared from the direction of the mountains, the goblins and a force of ogres. After a barrage of arrows, the murderous humanoids took cover in the foliage, while several hapless goblins were sent towards the walls loaded with barrels of gunpowder. The walls breached, the goblins began to pour in, only to die moments later under the precise shots of the party and others. A second wave including worg riders fared better, leaping onto the low buildings and attacking Nemo and Rigg. After a tough fight, with much help from the others perched atop a taller building, Nemo and his young ally defeated the worg and its rider. Unfortunately by this time several goblin archers and a goblin sorcerer had mounted a neighboring building and began to fire. The archers fell swiftly but the sorcerer inflicted some damage before attempting to escape. As Ignatius�s eagle familiar looted its kill, a final foe entered the village, an ogre. Easily clambering up the houses, it preceded to bash the party mercilessly, knocking Ignatius unconscious. Eventually the ogre, already weaken by arrows, was defeated and the day saved. The town rejoiced and celebrated. The two days later as Jilt began to finish his dealings (and extort the last battered copper from the village's money supply), a weathered halfling warrior wandered into town in search of Azara, who turned out to be a bandit with a heavy price on her head. While Avan occupied him with his insane curiosity, Jack informed Azara and let her escape. The bounty hunter having lost his mark, moved on. The caravan resumed its journey, traveling at night through the desert. On the second night, a mild dust storm blew up as they prepared to leave. They bundled up everything and prepared to wait it out. But over the wind they were able to make out the sounds over someone outside. Peering out they could make out a small band of desert nomads, obviously hostile. After getting the go ahead from Jilt (who told them not to attack anyone in the desert unless he told them to), Nemo and the others engaged the bandits. The wind hampered them, but after a brief struggle they managed to kill all but one the bandits, an invisible wizard who they couldn�t spot. The threat defeated, they rested and pushed on. |
| Half Orcs and Goblins |