Session #15: The Battle of Pale Maw Cave

Session #15: Battle of The Pale Maw Cave

15 Memum, 530

The thunder of Fourth Knife’s blunderbuss faded into silence, only to be swallowed by the guttural roar of the Pale Maw Ogres. The deputies found themselves trapped in a cavern with no escape—three ogres charged from the northern passage, three more from the south.

Cordoch and Fourth Knife held the southern approach, blades and bullets flying as they fought to stem the tide. Imaranger, Bosk, and Twig braced against the northern onslaught, while Suffering Succotash and Alaric moved deeper into the chamber, seeking vantage points. Kruk slipped northward, aiming to flank the ogres from behind.

For nearly a minute, the cave echoed with the clash of steel, the bellowing of ogres, and the desperate shouts of the deputies. The battle was fierce—Bosk suffered grievous wounds, and Fourth Knife was forced to abandon his wild shape, reverting from a great elk to his true form. In the end, six ogres lay dead, along with two of the ghost-faced Goblin allies. Three or four goblins fled into the darkness, abandoning their comrades.

After the fight, the deputies took a short rest, with Alaric standing watch. As they tended to their wounds, cleaned their gear, and shared a meal, Alaric saw nothing amiss.

Refreshed, the deputies pressed deeper into the cave. They discovered a crude throne room, its walls lined with stacked skulls and dim torches flickering in the gloom. Near the wooden throne, they found a folded map fragment, its surface marked with charcoal circles around Green Creek Shrine. Among the skulls, they uncovered the ogres’ treasure and claimed it for themselves.

The cave reeked of death and decay, littered with the gnawed remains of the ogres’ victims. Scattered among the bones were the tools and trinkets of the goblin raiders, evidence of an uneasy alliance forged by some greater will.

In another chamber, beside a murky pool, the deputies found two strange bodies. Humanoid, with narrow, elongated skulls and yellowish-tan skin mottled with dark spots, they matched the descriptions of Githyanki from their textbooks. A careful search revealed fragments of documents, hastily hidden or swallowed before death.

Their search yielded nothing else of note, so the deputies regrouped in the cave’s entrance chamber, plotting their next move.

Here ends Session #15.