Session One Hundred and Thirty-Nine Summary (Graveyard of Empires: After the Fall)

Session 139, May 24 2023

Introduction

We continue at 5:00AM on the 29th of Denrilden (00.000.09.02 on the Apocalypse Clock) with the party under attack by orcs somewhere in the Mikhel Peaks after marching for two days from the Underdark exit. During that time, the rain has been unrelenting and tragedy struck in the form of Ajax going missing while scouting. While the group doesn't particularly fear the dozens of orcs, who apparently hail from Hdrasta, they do see an opportunity for collecting sacrifices to resurrect the dead dragons if they subdue rather than kill. Can the party secure enough living orcs to bring Prixithalma and the others back? How much farther is it to Old Greybeard? Where do the mysterious steps that Velkin discovered lead? Perhaps there will be some answers next time ...

Larry's Summary

Intentions for dealing with Orcs.

We win initiative and Felix gets off prayer.

Velkin is checking things out.

The rest of us await targets to attempt to subdue them.

Velkin sees many of them with orc sized outlines and one is about 10 feet tall and is holding back the others. In orcish shouts "First Volley."

Cas and Calla are both hit and go down. Caspar is missed. Holmeda is hit and goes down. (Only mostly dead.)

Kauri and Ithirialma are minorly hurt.

19 smaller ones and the tall one, and may be more behind that. Did not see where arrows from them.

Velkin shouts 20 of them, about 60 yards ahead of you.

Velkin plans to shadow step closer to them.

c. 50 yards to the stairs, they are pretty wide, enough to go up 3 across.

Big one again yells volley.

Cas is hit twice and is dead, dead. Holmeda is hit twice and is dead, dead. Calla is hit twice and is dead, dead. Only Caspar lives. They were closest to the fire.

Renthark is missed.

Peronelle is missed.

Philomanthraxus is missed.

Caspar collapses, Lambertus tries to scoop him up and swings at Lambertus.

Lambertus grabs calla and Thorfus grabs the emotionally shattered Caspar

Velkin guesses there are about 50 orcs total with the archers bunched up behind the front lines.

The tall one is 10 feet tall in hides, and more misshapen. Humanoid, but weirdly deformed with a sloped brow and deep set eyes.

Velkin throws a continual light coin into the center of all of them, but they see where it comes from.

Suddenly the rest of us make out the line with the big guy and the orcs around him.

Kauri plans to cast sleep on the archers.

We stop at the top of the rise.

Thorfus hits the big one, Peronelle missed him.

Kauri cast sleep on the archers and got 7 of them.

Velkin moves around behind them, and the leader curses when hit by the arrow.

Shouts to archers and sends two groups to flank us and they move out of the light and shoot blind.

The big one goes to our left with one group.

Thorfus and Peronelle shoot at the big one and Lambertus and Felix cast hold person on the group and Kauri casts sleep.

Thorfus gets a solid his on the big on and Peronelle also hits.

Kauri sleeps 4 more archers with the big guy.. Lambertus casts hold person on the last 3 archers with the big guy. Felix casts hold person and gets 2 archers on the other side.

The big guy is shouting and says leave the fallen, we've got to keep pushing them back.

The last four archers fire and totally miss.

Velkin picks up the one he did before and throws it at the one with the archers.

The way they are approaching they don't have to climb up the steep area.

Still at 60 yards.

VElkin can see a bit of what is going on. The leader punches some fellows on the arm and 3 wake up the ones on the ground.

In the other group they pick up the coin and stick in their pocket and it goes dark.

Velkin can still see them.

They orcs keep moving in.

The unseen 4 archers take their shots. But are shooting blindly.

Velkin sees 3 more archers will get back up.

Druul's fingers get tired and Druul loses the bonus.

Lambertus tosses a platinum continual light coin at the group with the archers.

Thorfus shoots the big one, buy misses. Peronelle tries and also misses.

Kauri does sleep from Felix's blood and Lambertus casts blood magic hold person on the lit up orcs.

Thorfus shoots at the lit up orcs.

4 soldiers from the big guys side are going back to the original group Kauri hit with sleep.

Druul starts playing again, the same song.

Lambertus tosses his other platinum continual light coin towards the group with the big guy and Thorfus gets a solid hit and drops him.

Peronelle tries to shoot an archer and misses.

Kauri tosses his continual coin towards the original placement of the orcs.

Felix casts hold person at the archers with the big guy. 1 more archer is held, leaving 2 up and awake.

Velkin binds wounds of the big guy and it goes unnoticed.

One reaches down and starts dragging the big guy. One says, he said to leave the fallen. He didn't mean himself.

The archers target Kauri and miss. And Caspar and misses.

The one dragging the big guy is not keeping up.

The one dragging the body does not have the light coin in his pocket.

Velkin follows the 2 soldiers and 2 archers who move closer, hoping to pick pockets and drops the coin.

Velkin successfully picks pockets and drops the coin to light up the group with 2 soldiers and 2 archers. One swears at the other, clumsy oaf, you just had to put it in your pocket.

Velkin, now visible, shadow steps into darkness.

Peronelle drops an archer, Thorfus misses.

Kauri casts light on the clothes of one of the groups that isn't lit up.

The 5 who have a companion with light broke and they fled.

They drop the big guy.

There are no sleeping creatures left.

We have 7 held orcs and the unconscious big guy.

They scatter.

Kauri casts sleep on the biggest group, the 5 that has one who is lit up, but they get out of range.

Druul plays a different song, the Gaze of Myrintaxus.

The orcs listening for pursuit, but the effect does not work in combat.

Velkin follows some and eventually, they slow down.

They start talking. One of them says, that didn't go well. I don't know what he thought they'd do, he was at Hdrasta. He thought they'd pull back up the stairs to a defensible position.

They were keeping an eye out for us to come back but we are back early.

We gather up the held and unconscious big guy and tie them up.

With a closer look, the big one is an ogre.

Caspar throws himself off the little ledge and knocks himself out, and is dying. Lambertus runs down and binds his wounds.

They are gagged and bound and realize the futility of argument. It is now down and rain has stopped and we see the stairs and Old Greybeard is no longer in sight.

We thought we were going SW, but were going West.

The stairs are on the peak N of us and are not the peak we would expect to see the one with the Harpies.

We suspect the ones with the harpies would be to the South.

63 arrows, 2 bows, 8 long swords

Total Loot: 515 GP

Philomanthraxus can use a bow, so takes one.

We tie them with a rope into a coffle.

They complain, and then one grunts and shakes his head and the others quite complaining.

Druul plays to charm them.

2 of them but the other 5 succumb including the one who tried to get them cooperative.

Druul plays the Myrientaxus song and 1 of the 5 resist. 4 orcs look at Druul with big round eyes.

Velkin ungags the one who got the rest to cooperate.

Druul asks, If we walk up these steps, what's up there?

Pretty rocks, carvings, just one, the rock creature he hides in the pretty picture.

An earth elemental?

No, he is like one horn. They're waiting for you, you weren't supposed to be here for a long time.

You don't want to go up there, it is waiting for you, it can turn you to stone, but worse. We should go anywhere else.

The ones who didn't fall for the charm are glaring at him.

Thorfus recognizes this as the way to Myrientaxus lair.

Perhaps Druul can play a song for the Mother's to grow something to leave a sign?

The orcs thought we knew where we were.

So we are NE of old Greybeard, and peak with harpies is somewhere S of us.

Potentially have a dragon fly up to harpy lair invisibly and breathe fire on the unsuspecting harpies.