Book 1:
Chapter 2
“To the
Long March”
GM: Dale Carroll
Characters:
Jennifer Smith - Ioreth,
High Woman Magic User
Baranora,
High Woman Fighter
Melody Soice - Elari, High Elf Healer
Anarion,
High Man Ranger
Kelvin Soice - Feor-fin, High Man Paladin
Crissaegrim,
High Man Cleric with eagle companion Eonwe
Session 10
Time is morning of day 8.
5 Wargs are about; orcs seem to be digging up other fort. The heroes duck back down into the
tunnels. Rests and heals. Elari is able
to reattach thumb but her healing process is a few hours away from being done
when Warg comes close to entrance.
Nightfall day 8. The heroes try
to flee quietly, fails. Pursued by
Wargs to the East. After about 1 mile
Ioreth lagging, party rests, transfers weight, Wargs catch up but will not
close to engage. The heroes come about
to the South West then goes another mile.
Ioreth continues to lag. The
heroes cross and follow a SW traveling stream, and decide to make a stand on
hillock on the far side of the stream.
Elari uses magic to light up area of hill facing stream. Orcs and Wargs attack in general rush across
stream and up hill. Warg leader has
glowing eyes. 15 orcs including 2 orc
leaders and an orc shaman, also one very large humanoid presumably a
troll. Wargs reach party first. Feor-fin kills the Warg leader with one
stroke. Arrows disable the Orc
shaman. Ioreth uses stored Fireball to
good effect on orcs crossing stream.
Elari sleep spell slows their advance.
Orc shaman recovers and wounds Ioreth with a bolt. Despite good defensive position there are
too many orcs, the heroes are about to be surrounded and overwhelmed especially
on their left flank that is held only by Anarion. But a fast moving cloaked figure appears across the stream and
kills the Orc shaman then moving up the center moves on to kill an orc leader,
both with one stroke.
Session 11
Rather than be overwhelmed Anarion jumps down off the embankment
to the other side of the stream, 2 orcs and 2 wargs follow him. The remaining orc leader and the troll move
in from the left and into the center from behind. Ioreth uses a spell of magical leaping to jump all the way over
next to Anarion. Elari runs off to the
right flank then forward and out, orc#16 pursues. Crissaegrim in the center, rather than face the troll alone he
jumps down the embankment but stumbles, falls and stuns himself. Troll pursues and knocks Crissaegrim out
with one stroke. Ioreth jumps back into
the center but finds herself surrounded by orcs and tries to quickly jump back
out. In her haste she misfires, ends up
jumping to the right, through a tree, lands in heap on other side. Orc#10 begins to pursue the downed Ioreth
but is hampered by stumbling over underbrush.
Troll is now between Feor-fin and the cloaked figure, Baranora, plus 4
orcs and an orc leader. The Troll is
weakened but Baranora takes a stunning hit.
Rather than be pummeled helplessly Baranora elects to jump down the
embankment but is again seriously wounded before she can jump and falls to the
bottom of the embankment unconscious.
Feor-fin with his great sword skewers the troll through the back and out
the stomach before it could turn around, killing the troll. Orc#4 jumps down the embankment to butcher
the helpless Baranora. Moments before
orc#10 can catch her Ioreth recovers enough to jump out to stand next to
Elari. Elari and Ioreth finish off
orc#16 and 10. Orc#9 jumps down
embankment to butcher the helpless Crissaegrim but before he can he is killed
by Feor-fin. Orc#4 severs Baranora's
carotid artery, blood everywhere.
Calling out for aid from Elari Feor-fin tries to jump down the
embankment to stop orc#4 but stumbles, falls and is briefly stunned. The orc leader tries to follow Feor-fin down
but also stumbles and hurts himself.
The already steep embankment is covered with bodies and blood. Elari begins to move down the stream, is
wounded slightly in passing by orc#15 but manages to keep on moving. In his haste orc#4 has lost his grip on his
weapon before he can deliver a final stroke to Baranora and spends time finding
it. Before the orc leader can act he is
struck hard by Feor-fin in the back and struck hard by Ioreth in the leg with a
shock bolt, the orc leader is crippled.
Orc#4 regains his weapon just as Feor-fin kills him. Elari needs the ring of Ioreth to help with
casting a spell to keep Baranora from dying; Ioreth jumps to Elari/Baranora's
side. Orc#15 catches up behind Elari,
Feor-fin turns back to distract and engage him but stumbles badly on the
slippery stream bottom. Anarion has
finally finished off the 2 orcs and 2 wargs and tries to move upstream to
Elari's side but also stumbles on the stream bottom. Fortunately, orc#15 strikes at Feor-fin instead of the helpless
Elari. Elari transfers the severed
artery to herself off the nearly dead Baranora. Anarion kills orc#15; Feor-fin and Anarion finish off the still
staggered orc leader. Baranora seen to
be a human woman, apparently she is an albino.
The heroes know that this was not all the orcs that were pursuing them
and as quick as possible begins to heal.
Elari has transferred multiple severe wounds and cannot be moved for 4
hours, left at bottom of the embankment hopefully concealed amongst all the
bodies.
Session 12
Early morning day 9 the heroes heal themselves, conceal Elari
amongst all the bodies in the stream bed, emplaces dropped weaponry along
flanks to make approach harder, lights fires along flanks for light,
Crissaegrim lies down and pretends to be dead, Feor-fin ties bloody bandage
about leg and limps. Hopefully the
heroes look so weak orcs will simply mass charge. Baranora has a map taken from a dead elf she found. The map is of the caves of an orc lair. Arrows come out of the dark; the fires were
built too close to us. They can see us,
we cannot see them. The heroes try to
hide behind troll body. A fireball
comes out of dark, party wounded, withdraws back off embankment. Anarion shoots an arrow with light spell on
feathers into the dark, 13 orcs and two figures with glowing red eyes
seen. Orcs observed to be maintaining
very good discipline, also seem to be dressed in a much more regular uniform
type amour. Anarion and Ioreth move up
right flank. Anarion kills one orc, withdraws. The orc left flank pursues, Ioreth shoots
off a fireball wounding orcs # 11,6,7,13.
Arrows continue to come in wounding party. Baranora pinned down behind troll body, Feor-fin under cover
behind tree. Orcs general advance. Anarion returned to center hits with a flame
bolt what we now see is a human mage.
Hits the mage again with an arrow in the stomach, a wound that will
eventually kill him. Feor-fin and a
badly wounded Baranora fight to keep orc 1,2,3,4 from coming up the hill. Baranora kills orc #3&4 but loses
conscious and falls down embankment after receiving more arrow hits. Anarion, Ioreth and a badly wounded
Crissaegrim fight and eventually slay orc 5,6,7,8 coming in on the right. The dying mage attempts one last spell,
fails and immolates himself spectacularly.
Ioreth struck by an arrow for an identical hit which was killing the
enemy mage. The other enemy leader, a
human 'Scout' gets his head caught between his bow and the string and staggers
around in pain for a while. Feor-fin kills
orc #1&2 including giving everything <<use of his fate point>>
for a heroic lung to stop orc#2 from butchering the downed Baranora. The heroes make their general advance. Ioreth is struck by more arrows and passes
out just as she reaches Elari who attempts to stop Ioreth from dying. Feor-fin kills the Scout. Anarion kills orc #11 and 9. Ioreth shudders, her heart stops.
Session 13
The heroes run back to see what they can do for Ioreth. Feor-fin in his heroic act of saving
Baranora has attracted the favorable notice of the gods. He uses that attention to plead for the life
of Ioreth. The sacrifice that Manwe
expects for this boon is that Eonwe, the special eagle companion that had been
given to Crissaegrim, be returned.
Crissaegrim accepts this price and Eonwe leaps into the air. At the first rays of sunrise of day 9 a parting
final cry from Eonwe as the eagle disappears from sight Ioreth takes a sudden
deep breath. <<After effect of
Ioreth’s near death experience is that on taking a critical role of 66 she
suffers seizures>> Crissaegrim can still feel the bond between him and
Eonwe, perhaps someday Eonwe will return.
<<Rewarded with an extra Fate point for his sacrifice>> Body
of the enemy human mage reveals another map, a map of the same cave map to the
orc lair that Baranora had found. The
cave map and the insignia on the orcs are to the ‘Broken Tooth’ tribe. There is a numbness in Elari’s arm that
started in the finger with the Spider ring and has now spread up to her
forearm.
<<Feor-fin, Anarion and Elari make 4th
level>>
Session 14
The heroes rest until later morning day 9, march to the
southwest then straight west to link back up with the road. Sees smoke rising from roughly where the
fort was. By afternoon, the party sees
smoke rising to the west about where they would expect the road to be. Hurrying the pace, they find a devastated
caravan on the road. Two ransacked
wagons, one burned, dozen bodies of human and orcs. Road is not much more than two parallel ruts in the dirt. One survivor, dying from multiple arrow
wounds, whispers “…the Children!”. A
quick search of the wreckage turns up the body of a courtier with an
introductory letter from a Lord Efan to a Lord Haman presenting his daughter,
accompanied by her cousins, in marriage to form an alliance. The heroes go after the orcs as quick as
possible. Trail of blood is easy to
follow; they are going northeast up the road.
Even the healer cannot save the survivor he will die before
tomorrow. Healer stays behind to
comfort him. For a while the orcs were
dragging something but that soon stops.
Near nightfall the group finds a place where it looks like signs of at
least one human leaving the road, moving fast.
The heroes follow this branch, hopefully an escapee. Leaves cairn on the
road for healer to find. However, after
a mile finds signs of a struggle, another trail eventually leads back to the
road. Party moves on, Feor-fin is the
fastest so he goes back to remove the cairn.
Survivor dies, Elari moves out as quick as possible. Party finds an orc on side of the road
relieving himself. Anarion shoots him
in the back. Orc screams and curses
loudly; another arrow shot nearly kills him.
By the time Crissaegrim and Ioreth move up the orc is too far-gone to
answer questions so he is put to the sword.
Feor-fin catches up. The heroes
keep moving on, Elari catches up. By
~2AM of day 10, the heroes are exhausted and move off road to rest. Up at daybreak of day 10 the heroes
continue. They bury ‘Egg’ at a distinct
location well off the road. The ruins
of the fort are seen in the distance, leave the road and approach from the
southeast. Evidence of digging and a
hasty exit. Not all bodies of guards
accounted for. Further on a single orc
is seen running away, Feor-fin makes an incredible sprint to catch up with him
but not before the orc winds his horn.
Orc turns to fight but Feor-fin staggers him with one blow. Feor-fin tries to disarm the orc but the
creature recovers quickly to make an unexpected stroke that would most certainly
have swept Feor-fin’s head off his shoulders <<a triple open ended roll
for an attack of 375 after Feor-fin’s DB and the orc’s wound are taken in
account>>. But Manwe saves his
servant <<use of fate point>> to doge the blow. Orc captured. A spell is laid on the orc to make him talk. However, this Orc only speaks an orcish
dialect of Black Speech, a language that only Ioreth knows and only a little of
at that. No useful information possible
from this orc so Baranora puts him to the sword. Heroes move on until nightfall and moves off the road to
rest. Near midnight of day 10, a group
of 35 orcs is heard moving quickly southwest down the road. One orc stops near the heroes to sniff then
moves off. Thinking perhaps the party
was detected and the orcs will circle around them the heroes try to move off
parallel up the road. In the darkness
Feor-fin stumbles and with a loud oath falls to the ground his amour and shield
clattering loudly. The heroes run. All 35 orcs are behind the heroes chasing
them. The terrain is fairly open; the
heroes stop at a small outcropping of rocks, which is the most defensible
location they can see. Early morning
day 11. With a brief flurry of arrows,
the orcs charge. Arrows and Ioreth’s
fireball spell blunt the first wave of the orc’s attack on the heroes’ right
flank. The first swords in the battle
are crossed.
Session 15
A most glorious and bloody battle. The orcs main attack comes in on the heroes’ left flank. Except for Feor-fin the heroes are forced
into a small ring. Surrounded by a
swirling mass of orc flesh the heroes are forced away from the rock as orcs
with spears mount it even as Anarion immolates several of them spectacularly
with his fire bolt ability. Baranora
falls, Ioreth falls, Crissaegrim falls, but the orcs pay dearly for it losing
about 20 of their number. Four more
orcs run away after being wounded by strong blows and terrified by Anarion’s
immolation of their comrades. Elari and
Anarion are standing back-to-back trying to protect themselves and their fallen
brethren against 6 more orcs and one orc leader. Feeling the power of Manwe in him <<he thinks>>
Feor-fin manages to fight his way out of the right flank, turns and plunges
back, kills several of those who had tried to pursue him and is left with
facing one orc and one orc leader.
Session 16
The last of the orcs are killed, the remaining heroes heal their
comrades. Early morning day 11. The exhausted heroes go back to their
original campsite and try to rest there but after two hours are awakened by an
orc within their camp. Baranora chases
down and kills the orc. Party decides
that in this obviously orc infested countryside there is no easy rest so they
press on to find more secure quarters.
They find an area of large stones, Anarion scouts out. Anarion finds a hollow under two large
stones, has some kind of tracks leading into it. Meanwhile Ioreth tests out her magical staff, a powerful light
beam streaks out into the night sky for all to see for miles around. The party proceeds inside the hollow. Hollow opens up into a teardrop shaped
cavern, the first narrow part is natural then widens out into a worked area
with a sarcophagus in back. Worked area
is on the opposite side of a worked narrow trench bisecting the room with
outlets on each end. Crissaegrim can
feel the presence of something evil, cursed on top of the sarcophagus. Party gets into trench and starts to go into
Northeast outlet with Feor-fin first.
Heroes are ambushed by giant spiders in front, from behind and dropping
in from the ceiling. Six giant spiders
each about 3½ feet tall, extremely fast and agile with powerful poison tipped
fangs. Ioreth and Feor–fin are
staggered from the spider’s attacks.