In which the players learned more about the political situation in the Protectorat than they can really grasp.

Characters: Mud, Obsidia, Genesa

Notable NPCs: Barbat and Dramyin the Galdulkas, Khuthalius the dapper orc, Anzad and Nykckeltharpa envoys to the Galdulkas

Monsters and creatures: Hadri, Harekki, Stone Giant, Vorodla, Giant Hornet, Galdulkas, Mimics, Constructs

“Because you know you play D&D to imagine young beholders frolicking.” Telecanter’s Receding Rules

• Walking through a forest of hexagonal crystal-like stone pillars
• Bell traps
• Ambushed by 6 orc berzerkers led by Khuthalius, the dapper orc. The orcs all showed signs of mutation.
• Genesa killed 3, but was badly wounded.
• Obsidia confused one of the orcs, which was weilding 2 morningstars in its 3 arms, causing it to bash and entangle itself
• Mud tried to fly over the orcs to stab the dapper orc, but one of the orcs with grasshopper-like legs jumped to intercept him and got stabbed through.
• Dapper orc saw the battle was not going well for him and was fairly impressed by the players, called off the survivors and walked away.
• Party continued on, following the road into a tunnel. Along the tunnel was a massive open door. A one-armed stone giant stepped out, bowed, and greeted them politely, knowing Genesa by name and title, inviting them into a sumptious sitting room.
• Inside were Barbat and Dramyin, their remaining servants and envoys. They wanted to hire the adventurers to rescue their kidnapped child, taken by Khuthalius using magic, poison, and a whole lot of orcs.
• They are treated well, healed, bathed, fed, equipped with whatever they could ask for. The Galdulkas even retreived Genesa’s heirloom sword from the minotaurs. Mud gets access to their construct library (one of the books written by Barbat). They are given an elven doll, chew-toy for their child Tanbur. As much information as they have about the orc stronghold is given.
• The party chooses stealth as the best approach, slipping past the outer sentries and sneaking up to the stronghold proper. As they discussed next steps, they saw the dapper orc show up, and all the other orcs came to attention and were watching him.
• They snuck down into the stronghold and threw a flash mushroom into the eating area, distracting the orcs while Genesa killed the guards outside the treasure hut.
• They dragged the guards bodies inside and found a circle of 7 large chests. Mud felt something was wrong, but Obsidia noticed a) that there were faint cries coming from chest #4, and b) all the chests vere (very slowly, very subtly) breathing.
• They used the bodies of the 2 orc guards to open and distract chests 3 & 4 (one guard) and 5, 6, & 7 (other guard). Obsidia threw the suspect brandy from the summoner’s hut into the gullet of the first chest when it opened its lid to bit here, poisoning it.
• Mud held off the second chest, while Obsidia and Genesa tried to kill the fourth chest without harming the baby inside it. The did some damage, then Obsidia jammed her telescoping poleaxe under the lid in its collapsed state, and triggered the release to expand it, ripping the lid right off the chest. Inside, they found the baby, filthy in its swaddling, a sack, and two metal bars (one that Obsidia had dropped earlier).
• Using Mud’s grappling gun (a gift from the Galdulkas) they fled up to the rafters of the stone hut and Obsidia conjured a wall of fire to herd the panicked mimics out the door. As it happens, orcs were just about to come in the door to investigate the missing guards: two of them ended up inside the first mimics. The dapper orc was behind them and looked bemused, but did not see the party hiding above.
• Escaping through the roof, they grappled (on the third try) the roof to swing to the wall they’d climbed up. Obsidia provided covering fire with the pyro she’d been given by the Galdulkas, killing several orcs (and wounding the dapper orc in the leg) with the grapeshot bomb and providing a lot of smoke as cover. Only a few orcs were able to recover enough to fire arrows as they swung to the wall.
• Running back down the wall, Obsidia waited until orcs had started down the passage below, then hit it with her sticky fire bomb, blocking the passage with flaming orcs.

• On the way down they encountered the orc sentries coming up to see what the ruckus was, one on each wall. Dispatched the sentries and continued on to the sitting room where the GAldulkas were waiting. The party was rewarded, re-equipped, allowed to keep their equipment, and got to see baby beholders frolicking in the garden.

• Treasure gained: bag of holding, immovable rod, phylactery of Krillenae, 2 healing potions each, 2 “grapeshot bombs”, 6 flash mushrooms, a bunch of coins and jewelry, an elven cloak and elven boots each (+2 stealth)

• Everyone levelled up!