The Ogres of Fell Pass Report

Wanesun 5th

After concluding negotiations with the Dwarves of Ironstar Hold, Allamir takes their request for the council to deal with an ogre problem back to Mav Mayot. It seems that ogres are moving into the hills around the mine, led by a new ogre lord who seems much more cunning and intelligent than the typical ogre.    

Wanesun 8th

Virion, Pavuu, Gymno, Lerikan, Lucca and Abebane choose to go on the mission to deal with the ogres. Abebane replaced Allamir at the last minute, thinking his presence would be important. They travel back to Ironstar Mine to meet with Hathor. Hathor assigns two of his scouts, Baern and Vistra, to help the companions track down the ogres,    

Wanesun 8th - 11th

Hathor Ironstar sent us out with two of his scouts who led us ogre caves. The first cave housed four ogres, two of them younger and their six goblin slaves. After a brief fight, the ogres fell and the goblins not forced to fight is fled. The ogres had a bit of treasure, and we picked up 750 sp, 1,000 cp, and three gems a 30 gp malachite, a 20 gp turquoise, and carnelian 50 gp. Another ogres cave was occupied by two ogres. It was obvious that they had just arrived, and had not collected much treasure, just what they carried 99 cp, 78 sp and 40 gp. The next cavern had five ogres and after defeating the ogres a quick search turned up 69 sp, 78 gp, 2 pp, and an ornamental dagger with gems inset in the pommel (50 gp).   The last smaller cavern they found turned out to be their biggest lead. After a few days of following ogre tracks and hitting the smaller lairs of ogres, they found an ogre shaman's cave. Together with its pet cave bear, they shaman proved to be a fiercer opponent. Luckily, while Pavuu, Lerikan and his defender, and Lucca distracted the bear, Virion was able to stun the ogre with a well-placed fist before it could bring its more deadly spells to bear. Buried in the cave bear's nest was a small wooden box containing a pouch with 40 pp. The shaman's chamber contained a chest is sealed with a good padlock containing 600 sp; three well-made daggers wrapped in fine silk (50 gp a small-sized chain shirt; and, in a leather scrollcase, a map to a location called Fell Pass.    

Wanesun 12th

The Fell Pass was a series of caves high in the Gnarled Hills a few miles southeast of Ironstar Hold. A naturally-formed ramp lead up along a sheer rise to two caves. Following the ramp up, the council passed a caved-in opening before encountering a pit of bones in front of the first cave mouth, the pit was at least four-feet deep and contained bones of pack animals along with humanoids. Passing by the bone pit they entered a large cave which opened further back into the hill, descending as it headed east. This cave was filled with the signs of battle, arrowheads, sword shards, yet no bodies. Further back and down, a side cave opened to the south while the main passage continued east. Out of the south, a pair of manticores fired their tail spikes at the party. Virion was able to catch one of the spikes and hurl it back, while Gymno opened up combat with a fireball. Singed, the creatures retreated behind the corner while Pavuu, Lerikan's defender, and Virion pressed the attack. Virion teamed up with Lerikan's iron defender to take on one of the creatures while Pavuu and Lucca attacked the other. Luckily, the damage from the fireball had bloodied the creatures. A few well-placed shots with his fists of stone finished off the first, while Lucca snuck in under Pavuu's attacks to deal a killing blow from cover. Sifting through the manticores' nest, the party found 297 cp, 134 sp, 65 gp, a Light Hammer +1 and a Potion of Healing.   Heading back to the eastern passage soon brought the party into a dark and cold cave. The temperature being significantly colder as they entered. Just before the attack, Abebane realized that there were more shadows cast on the walls than could be explained by the party and their lanterns. Seven undead shadows then attacked, trying to drain the life force and strength that they so desperately craved. As the party was engaged with the shadows, a secret door opened up in the northern wall and six ogres emerged, ready for battle.   Abebane summoned guardian spirits to defeat his enemies while Gymno quickly webbed up the secret door to hinder the ogres. Pavuu's strength was drained, but he used his magic to guide his strikes against the ogres and took up a defensive posture while Virion rained down blows with his gloves of stone. Lucca was able to get a few well-placed surprise attacks on the ogres while Abebane's guardians overwhelmed the shadows. The interesting thing was the shadows attacked the ogres as much as they attacked the party. These two groups were not allies. The battle ended, Abebane called upon Angharradh to restore Pavuu's strength. The other companions relied less on their strength, so Abebane chose to wait to restore theirs.   While the eastern passage continued, the party decided to pass through the secret door, following its passage north before it turned west. The walls here were well carved, possibly dwarven. They heard a great revelry from the passage to the south, while further west, two doors stood in the north wall before reaching a four-way intersection. Lucca scouted to the south and spying around an opening, he saw the main hall of the ogre lord. Sitting on an black stone throne and clad in a white bearskin sat a large ogre wielding a great maul. Nearly a dozen ogres filled the hall. Lucca heard one ogre exclaim, "I hope these bastards taste better than they fought." The ogre lord seemed to be the only ogre not reveling.   Sneaking back, the party soon decided that a full assault would be best. Not worrying too much about noise the part moved to the doorway and attacked. Gymno opened up with a fireball while Lerikan outlined the ogre lord in faerie fire. Pavuu took up a defensive position while Abebane called on the Seldarine to protect his companions, creating an aura of vitality around himself. As Lerikan's iron defender, Pavuu and Virion moved to engage the ogres, Gymno blocked the other doorway with a web. Pavuu let out a thunderclap even as he struck with his warhammer. Lucca kept on pouncing between his companions to land devastating surprise attacks.   Soon the ogres lay dead, but when Pavuu picked up the ogre lord's maul, he immediately began to attack the party. Having to fight their own companion, the others used non-lethal attacks even as Pavuu tried killing them, but it was one against five, and Pavuu had been hurt in the battle with the ogres, so he soon fell.   Lerikan and Lucca jury-rigged a carrying sling around the maul using rope and they were able to put the cursed item into Lerikan's bag of holding until they could better understand it. Binding and then healing Pavuu, the learned from him that a female voice whispered to him as soon as he touched the maul and took control of him. Abebane was also able to discern that some of his willpower had been drained from him, in that short a time. The ogre lord must have been mindless if he had that thing for too long. The ogres had 104 sp, 219 gp and 7 pp between them, while the ogre lord had 6 sp, 24 gp, and 9 pp in a beltpouch along with a jeweled torc and belt with 30 gp and 50 gp respectively, large gem-studded bracers worth 300 gp, and a gold earring worth 50 gp. Then of course was the maul, who Pavuu said was named Casrac the Mountain-Splitter.   Not able to rest, the companions needed to clear the rest of these chambers in order to be safe. They encountered ten other ogres in the dwarf-carved chambers, as well as a band of demented goblins who quickly ran when they saw the invaders were not ogres. They also uncovered some dwarven artifacts, clear evidence that these chambers once belonged to a clan of dwarves. They recovered some more treasure as they cleared out the chambers, another 1220 cp, 967 sp, 109 gp, 4 - 50 gp bloodstones, three spidersilk ropes, a Rapier +1, two potions of healing and a potion of fire resistance. Baern and Vistra joined them once the threat was contained, fascinated by the stonework and traces of dwarven culture. Then they rested.    

Wanesun 13th

Heading back to the main passage, the party took the eastern tunnel down into the earth. While the slope was noticeable, it was navigable. After a few hundred feet it opened into a large fungus cave, with fungi ranging from a few inches in height to one almost 15-feet tall. This time Baern and Vistra stayed with them and led them through the twisting tunnels below the hills. Lucca and Vistra kept a careful map as they found side caverns with the skeletons of humanoids dangling from chains. They were assaulted by several bands of gargoyles, but managed to defeat them, although they came out of each battle with a few more scrapes and bruises. After about a mile, the passage seemed to level off, no longer descending. They thought of going back, but had a nagging feeling that there was something to be found here. Deep under the Gnarled Hills, this air was still fresh. Though there was no breeze, the dwarves told them that the air quality was better than it should be.   Soon after the passage leveled off, they were attacked by four werewolves. Pavuu again stood his ground with Lerikan's Defender, using spell and hammer to smite the creatures, while Gymno and Abebane rained down fire bolts and sacred flames. Virion's gloves proved effective against the creatures as well and soon they fell. Abebane checked everyone's wounds for signs of wercreature infection, and made a note to keep an eye on those wounds. Tracking the werewolves back to their lair, they found three dismembered elven corpses, whose remains were unidentifiable. Abebane remembered that the Tuathi were searching for a missing elven princess, and used his magic to preserve what was left of the remains to return to Mav Mayot.   While Abebane was taking care of the elven corpses, Lucca searched around and discovered that a large stone had some kind of recess behind it. It took Vistra, Baern, Pavuu and Lerikan's Iron Defender to move the stone. In the space behind the stone are a multitude of sacks, purses, bags and wallets. Altogether, these items contain some 4,450 cp, 1,600 sp, 460 gp, a small sapphire worth 50 gp, and a finely crafted jeweled dagger worth 95 gp.   Another mile or so of scouting the caverns brought the companions to its center. There, a large tree stood in the middle of a huge cave. Eight large gargoyles rested on ledges around the cave. Then the tree moved. One of its branches began lowering to the ground and out stepped a beautiful woman. "Greetings, I am Soridansk, she began to say until Pavuu screamed out, "That's the voice in the maul!" The woman hissed and her shape grew into a blue-skinned hag. At that point, their eight large gargoyles launched from their purchases to attack.   A fog covered the area around her, but Lerikan's faerie fire caused her to glow through it. She moved to attack Pavuu, somehow seeing through the fog. Her strength was immense and she tried to get the goliath in a crushing bearhug, but he was able to fend off her attempts. Abebane again called on his spirit guardians to assist, and soon the gargoyles began crashing to the cavern floor. Lucca flanked the hag with Pavuu and together they kept her off guard. Gymno, Abebane, and Lerikan used their spells to attack the flying gargoyles while Virion and Lerikan's iron defender interposed themselves between the creatures and the casters. With the hag's final screech, the cavern turned silent. Inside a boil on the tree they found the hag's treasures, 15 gold ingots worth 100 gpv, 854 cp, 634 sp, 213 gp, a Shield +1, a Brooch of Shielding, and an Alchemy Jug.   With the hag defeated, Baern and Vistra find the party a save cave to camp in, and they rest.    

Wanesun 14th

The caves east of the hag's lair were also infested with gargoyles, and one large nest of giant spiders, but eventually, after a mile or so, the passages started ascending. Eventually they could feel a breeze, a sure sign they were aboveground again. An encounter with an orcish raiding party led to bloodshed, but the orc soldiers were no match for the companions. The leader proved a tougher fight, saying that the companions faced Thurast Dwarfslayer. His four dire wolves were more challenge than his troops, but all fought without quarter for their chieftain. The orcs had 199 cp, 122 sp, and 56 gp between them, while Thurast carried a magical Scimitar +1, 15 sp, 26 gp and 6 pp.   Before making it out to the eastern ledges, they fought through a cave of four wraiths. The wraiths guarded a bier with one corpse on it. The corpse wore a Ring of Protection, and had a Dagger +1 it a sheath. Under the corpse was a bed of 460 sp, and 13 Arrows +1 rested at its feet. Finding their way out to a ledge, they encounter a wyvern that roosted at this eastern end of the Fell Pass. After defeating the wyvern, a ramp led down to the floor of the valley. Vistra and Baern estimated that they were about five miles east-northeast of the western entrance. A passage under the hills that could be exploited at a future date.    

Wanesun 15th - 17th

It took another day to travel back to Ironstar Hold. After a retelling of their adventures in the Pass. The next morning, Abebane met with Hathor Ironstar, who reassured Abebane that the dwarves would willing join the Gnarled Hills domain when the Council claimed the region. Hathor asked for one final favor, however. He wanted to send word of the dwarven ruins at the entrance to the Fell Pass north to the dwarven cantons of Angbadur and have some of the kingdom's researchers investigate the caverns.   With that settled, the companions made their way back to Mav Mayot.