Quick Summary
Party continue their exit of the abandoned fortress
Party encounter two half-orcs battling one of the animated statues
Party try to exit unnoticed
Kellan is triggered by the statue, after his encounter the prior day
Kellan successfully "Holds" Sturk with his magicks
The action changes the balance of battle, and the orcs take damage
The party fire missiles into the backs of the orcs
Sturk is rendered unconscious
Artus' javelin misses Graal and glances off the statue
Graal is overcome by Kelnor's hideous laughter
Kellan is grievously wounded by the statue -- even on the raised walkway
Graal is able to shake off the spell, drinking a potion that renders him invisible
Artus charges the statue on the lower level, but runs into the invisible Graal
Graal evades and heals his brother orc
Sturk retreats to one of the fireplaces, but is slain
A tense stand-off ensues as the invisible Sturk tries to exit
Gaerfinas holds the door
Graal, invisible, stalks around the entrance hall
Kelnor charges where he thinks Graal is
Graal impales Kelnor with his pike
Sturk evades again, leaving through the fireplace flue
Loose Ends
Where did Graal go after he went up the fireplace flue?
Eager to get out of the fortress and on their way before the Duraman the Goblin King changed his mind about allowing them to leave, Kelnor eased open the doors and ghosted into the lowest levels of the main entrance hall. Still distracted wondering whether leaving the goblins peacefully had been the right thing, Kelnor signalled his companions through after him before realising that he could hear a dull thunder ahead. The group made their way carefully up towards the stairs which would lead back up to the walkway above, and from there to the main gates to the fortress and out into the open air. As the moved closer, the noises resolved themselves into the unmistakable sounds of clashing steel, crashing impacts and, barely audible over the din, the sound of deep voices making battle-cries.
Making his way carefully up the stairs, Gaerfinas paused as he reached the top. The gifts given by the elven side of his heritage allowed him to make out, even in dim light of the fortress, two orcish figures apparently locked in combat with the animated statue they had identified but left inactive on their previous passage through the hall. Gaerfinas gestured back to the group to move with care. Seeing this, Rio made his way to the foot of the staircase and then waited for the situation to become clearer before committing himself to any action. Artus did his best to muffle any clinks and thuds his weapons and armour might make as he ascended the stairs to join Gaerfinas, as Kelnor moved silently ahead to get a better look at the combatants. The orc's voices could be heard more clearly now, and Artus was able to make out some of their words, revealing to the group a passable understanding of the orcish tongue.
'They know they've got company' Artus muttered under his breath to Gaerfinas, poised at his side. 'It's lucky they've got their hands full with that statue, or I think we'd be in trouble.' As he spoke, the two orcs both struck the statue with mighty blows, leaving visible cracks in the creature's arms and side, and scattering chips of stone to the floor. It looked like they wouldn't take long to dismantle the thing.
'Big trouble.' Gaerfinas agreed quietly, thinking back to the trouble they had had escaping the enchanted statue deeper in the fortress and wondering and just two orcs were able to not just hold their own but cause significant damage to a similar entity.
Seeing the wariness in their fellow's movements, Rania and Rio joined them at the top of the stairs and stopped, gazing down on the combat below. Kelnor drew their attention then pointed to the orcs below, then at Rania, and made mimed kissing. 'is he telling us he's attracted to orcs?' asked Artus, sounding confused. 'Now's hardly the time for confessions, especially of that nature.' Rania's eyes widened in realization 'Not quite. Those are the two half-orcs I told you about, from the Turnfork Inn. Bodyguards for Jierdaan. Kelnor obviously remembered that I, er, rather caught his eye.'
'I don't think we want to get involved in that.' Rio whispered, looking at the others. 'We've done what we came here to do. Let's just get out of here as quickly as we can and put as much distance as possible between ourselves and whoever comes out of this mess at the end.' Gaerfinas nodded sharply at this and moved quickly along the walkway, doing his best to remain quiet and avoid drawing any further attention to themselves. Artus dashed after him, his new sword clanking loudly against his armour, as Kelnor made his way to the end of the walkway and turned, readying his crossbow to intervene should any of those fighting below should break from combat and move towards the stairs to come after them. On of the orcs below glanced up at the noise, but immediately had to focus back on the statue in front of him, or risk being skewered on a sword longer than his entire body.
At this point Kellan emerged at the top of the stairs. Glancing oddly at the group, as if wondering what they were whispering about, a clash of steel on steel from below caught his attention and he looked ahead. His eyes widened and he turned pale, and gasped as one of the half-orcs smote the statue with a mighty blow, cracking it's armour and taking a chunk out of it's side. Before anyone could even think to stop him, he jumped backwards, raising his arm and choked out a brief incantation. Immediately, the half-orc in front of the statue froze, his arm raised in mid swing. Rio grabbed Kellan's arm and pulled him towards the group, as Kellan shook himself and realised that may not have been a wise move.
'I'm sorry' he panted, his hand still held in front of him clearly shaking. 'I don't know why...I just...that statue again...' He gestured helpless towards the melee below. He trembled, remembering again how their previous encounter with the stone guardians of this place had left Kellan close to death, abandoned in the dark as the rest of the group fled the murderous construct like rodents fleeing a hungry cat. The fact that they had returned for him and cured his wounds meant a lot, but though the wounds to his body had been healed, the wounds to his mind would take a long time to fade.
The party relaxed somewhat, or at least their looks became less accusing as they realised to some extent what was going through Kellan's mind, and what he had gone through on this journey.
'What's done is done' said Rania, shrugging gracefully. 'It looks like we're involved now in any case. The only question is, on which side? If we help take down the statue that pair are sure to be grateful. I never did meet get a chance to arrange a meeting with Jierdaan, this might be a chance to ingratiate myself again.' Rio shook his head.
'I doubt they'll be very grateful now our arcane friend here is holding one of them helpless.' he growled, gesturing at the shivering Kellan. Rania sighed at this, but nodded her assent.
'T'is a shame, I'm certain that would have proved a useful connection in the future' she said, then shrugged again and turned, following Kelnor along the walkway to find a suitable vantage point from which to fire on the combatants below.
Gaerfinas closed his eyes and bowed his head, muttering a prayer to his ever-vigilant deity. After a moment his head snapped up and his eyes opened, glowing for a second with holy fire as he punched his hand forward towards the melee. On the level below, a sword of white light appeared in a flash, slashing at the orc attacking the statue's side and preventing him from focusing entirely on the statue. Rio shot the orc with a crossbow bolt, as Artus took a few steps and launched his treasured javelin at him. Their god's attention must still have been focused on Gaerfinas, however, as the javelin sailed past the orc and glanced off the statue's head, leaving a long scratch across its right cheek. The statue's head turned briefly as if to look directly at Artus, before lowering again to focus on the frozen half-orc in front of it.
Seeing his associates joining the fray, Kelnor placed his crossbow on the ground at his side. He closed his eyes and began a sonorous chant, barely audible above the din of battle. A blue mist gathered around his hand, which disappeared as he ended the chant and pointed at the orc which remained mobile. For a moment, nothing happened. Kelnor's shoulders slumped, and the orc barked out a harsh laugh, as though mocking Kelnor's failed attempt at enchantment. Another laugh followed, then another. Another second, and the half-orc collapsed to the floor, sucking in great lungfuls of air as he howled and giggled uncontrollably. Kelnor smirked to himself. It had worked!
The party continued to attack the now defenseless orcs from a distance, with crossbow bolts and holy fire. Artus, his one javelin used, moved to the head to the stairs to intercept any attack should the orcs recover. Finding his position, Artus looked up to see the statue slam a mighty blow into the side of the frozen half-orc with it's sword. Whatever arcane force was holding him still disappeared and the orc collapsed to the ground, bleeding from countless small wounds and with a gaping slash across his ribs -- unconscious or dead, Artus couldn't tell.
'Brother!' A strangled gasp came from the remaining orc as he reached briefly towards his companion, tears in his eyes before he collapsed once again into pained howls of helpless laughter.
The party continued to fire on the giggling orc below, as the statue turned towards him and raised its sword as if to split him in half with one blow. Eyes fixed on the still form of his brother, the orc shook himself and tried to control his breathing. Panting raggedly he shook off the effects of Kelnor's magicks and clawed at his belt. Bringing a small glass vial to his lips, he threw a dark glance towards the walkway where the party stood, before drinking the contents, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Kellan gave an unintelligible cry and threw his hand forwards, a bolt of fire arcing across the room to dissipate harmlessly across the statue's form. He stared, aghast, as the statue slowly turned, it's carven visage rising implacably to look directly at him.
'Not again...' he murmured to himself, staring frozen at the stone behemoth ahead of him. The statue lifted it's sword, it's form so tall it was level with the party even raised as they were on the walkway. Kellan raised his arms uselessly, as though to ward off the blow he knew was coming. The stone sword, as keen as any forged blade, sliced forward and into Kellan's chest with the speed of an avalanche, withdrawing just as suddenly. The mage was left standing, but the blood staining his robes and pooling at his feet made clear that he was barely clinging to consciousness.
Rio and Rania fired down into the hall in the hopes of hitting their now-invisible assailant, as Gaerfinas sprinted to the entrance and slammed the door shut to prevent anyone from escaping. Seeing Kellan grievously wounded, Artus cast aside all thought of his own safely and leapt down the stairs, landing like a cat and sprinting towards the statue, bellowing a cry to his Lord Helm. He didn't reach his intended destination, however, for just as he reached his target, Artus slammed into an unseen obstruction.
'' 'Ware! The Orc!' the Paladin gasped, as he struggled to maintain his balance.
To the North, Kelnor leaned out over the balustrade and stared down, trying to use his mage hand to press the button on the wall below which had deactivated the statue on their previous encounter with it. This time however, the button appeared to have no effect, and Kelnor looked up in frustration to see the still form of the unconscious orc, its head raised as though resting on some unseen lap. While the gloom prevented him form making out any details, he could clearly see, after a moment, the half-orc's arms move, as he picked himself up off the floor and looked about. As the now-conscious orc pulled a flask from his belt and took a deep draft, even from across the room Kelnor fancied he could see the the half-orc's vigour returning as he moved across the room and pulled himself into the shadow of the large fireplace.
Gaerfinas reached out his hand once again and a holy fire rose up around the statue's head. The stone began to blacken and char, and the statue fell to the floor and shattered. Kellan gasped a sigh of relief to see his tormentor laid low, and reached into his robes to retrieve the wand of healing, staunching his wounds and bringing himself back from the brink yet again. Rio and Rania attempted to rain crossbow fire down on the newly-revived half-orc from above, but the shadows of the fireplace in which he skulked prevented them from drawing a clear shot. Freed from combat with the statue, Artus turned and charged across the room to attack the orc, slicing a huge gash in the half-orc's arm with his bright new blade. The Orc returns this attack, slamming both blades past Artus' defenses and severely wounding the warrior of Helm.
Rania sent a bolt winging past Artus' head to bury itself in the half-orc's shoulder, and Artus raised his shining sword high above his head, before bringing it crashing down, battering aside the orc's attempted block before slicing through the shoulder and burying his blade deep into the half-orc's chest. Kelnor ran down from the walkway and grabs a healing potion from his below, holding it to the exhausted Artus' lips to allow him to drink.
Their visible assailants defeated, the party pause and cast about themselves, looking for their remaining, invisible foe. It is staunch Gaerfinas, barring the door to the north, who hears footsteps moving towards him, before a rough voice shouts in common 'you'll pay for what you did to my brother!'. Hearing this, Rania races north to join Gaerfinas at the door, while Rio circles nearby, listening for any movement.
Having regained his breath, Artus turns and rushes back up towards the stairs to join the party. Watching the Paladin leave, Kelnor turned back to his wounded opponent.
'I can't let you get back up, not again.' Kelnor said through gritted teeth. 'If I do, and you kill someone, that will be on me.' his mind made up, Kelnor took the creature roughy by the hair and raised his head. The half-orc's eyes flickered briefly, but did not open, as Kelnor swiflt drew his dagger and sliced through the bared throat, the dagger's keen edge meeting no resistance. Kelnor rifled deftly through the body's belonging's, looking for any potions or trinkets which might help end this fight, before turning and following Artus towards the staircase.
At the doorway, Gaerfinas heard a whisper of leather on stone to his left. He almost missed it, but after travelling with Kelnor and observing his skills, the cleric recognised the stealthy tread of a leather boot moving with the utmost care. He swung his mace toward the sound, meeting no resistance, but the sound of footsteps moving away from the door told him he had succeeded in fending off their assailant for now. The members of the party near the door look about themselves, alert and ready to react to any sign of their attacker as Rio shouts into the darkness;
'Show yourself, coward, and fight!' There is a brief pause, and then a voice, rising from the floor below rasps out,
'You've no idea who you've messed with!' Turning back, Kelnor glared into the empty space from which the voice emanated. Moving forwards with his daggers in hand, Kelnor strains every sense to try and discern where the half orc could be when suddenly, white hot pain exploded in his side. Falling to the floor, Kelnor's eyes are open long enough to see the half orc appear in front of him, outstretched pike now stained crimson with Kelnor's blood. As his vision fades to darkness and consciousness flees, Kelnor hears a snarl 'that was for my brother'.
Hearing a cry and a thud, the party rush forward to the balustrade to see Kelnor, collapsed in a pool of his own blood, and the half orc gathering the body of his brother. Glancing up at the party, the half-orc pauses only to spit on Kelnor's unconscious form before turning and scuttling up the great chimney, cradling his brother, with an agility that could only come from magic.
Artus (154)
Gaerfinas (154)
Kelnor (154+100) -- extra for narrative style session log
Rania (154)
Rio (154)
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