Characters
All of us hailed from the North, and had met throughout our travels. At the request of Big Guy, we came south to help find a missing member of Big Guy's clan. Somewhere outside of Waterdeep, we encountered a rogue war party. After dispatching a group of goblinoids and a hill giant, we questioned a survivor. It told us their queen or chieftess was a hill giant named Grugh. We could find her in their fortress of Grudd Haug. It was roughly Northeast from Waterdeep.
During the journey to Grudd Haug we noticed several things.
We chose to travel near the road, but away from it. About three days out of Waterdeep, roughly half-way to Goldenfields, we interecepted a halfing rider galloping down the road to Waterdeep. We persuaded him to stop and speak with us. His name was Rondor Goodson, and he was taking a message to Waterdeep from Goldenfields. He'd avoided many war parties along the way; in fact he'd just evaded one such party that was seemed to be sacking the small town of Bounty. It was about three hours up the road from us. We thanked him for the information, gave him the knowledge we had of the road behind us, and set out.
We chose to take the road to increase our speed; we were not spotted by Arthraxus. When we heard some sort of wolf or large dog, we slowed and stopped. We believed they were actually worgs, and Leoren believed it was a hunting party, not a pack, arrayed and moving to flush out prey. They were about 300' from us. The forest was thick, and we could only see about 30' other than the road.
We intercepted them and killed all but one goblin and its mount. Following that goblin, we encountered a group of bugbears and an ogre that were tying up a few townsfolk. We dispatched the group and saved the townsfolk.
They told us that Bounty had been under predation for several days; many townsfolk had been captured, butchered, and fed to the war band. The fight was short and brutal, and came out on top. Once the townsfolk were settled, we managed a brief rest (heroic long rest), and hit the road again.
Jorunn successfully captured the hobgoblin war chief's horse, and took it for its own.
Three war bands had set out from the town, all going in generally the same direction. We decided haste was the best choice, since the longer they travelled the more villagers would go into the pot.
Within a few miles, we ran into an unusual black condor patrolling some 1000 feet ahead of us. We tried to stay out of its sight, but steadily gained on it. It seemed it was following a war band, or patrolling for it.
Based on the tracks, there were about 30 villagers, 30 goblins, 5 wargs and riders, 5 bugbears, 2 ogres, and a hill giant. This was a serious band. As we drew closer, we could tell that they were travelling in a loosely ordered column. The wargs and their riders patrolled steadily along the perimeter.
We dispatched most of the war band with our customary efficiency, and were able to save all but a few of the villagers. We captured the ogre, who told us Goldenfields was under siege, and this party's purpose was to bring back provisions. The ogre also knew a bit about the other magic users with the army at Goldenfields; one of them was Mormik, a well-known necromancer. There were also several additional magic users, and a band of "shadow warriors", or a hobgoblin monk variant.
There were two additional elements on their way separately to Goldenfields. This group was the largest element; the remaining ones were nearer in size to what we'd destroyed in the town. We had a chance to get both elements before they reached Goldenfields, if we hurried.
There was no notable loot from our defeated enemies. With a bit of healing assistance from us, the villagers were on their way back to their town, with their provisions, in short order.
One of the villagers told us of a nearby outpost of the Emerald Conclave that, if we hustled, could give us horses and some supplies. It was out of our way but we'd make up the time and then some.
We reached the next element near the end of the day. Using Pass Without Trace we got around to the front of the column without raising any alarms. In thise case the column had the villagers in ropes, and more interspersed with the marchers. There were a around five goblins, a few worg riders, 3 ogres and a captain.
We knew some of the scouts from the other element had escaped, and that was made clear by the more orderly formation. They were alert. This time we attacked from the front, swiftly killing the captain and then working our way through the rest of the column. We helped the villagers get on their way and took a short rest before pursuing the last element.
Big Guy believed we were trailing three hill giants, and two strings of about fifty villagers each. They seemed to have a hobgoblin commander, but no other troops. We weren't sure how far we were from Goldenfields, but we figured we were pretty close and had some way to go. We'd have to move fast if we wanted to catch up before they reached reinforcements.
Unfortunately, we were intercepted on the road by Arthraxus. The huge dragon exerted his fearful presence. We controlled ourselves and managed to drive it off thanks to very aggressive attacks. We recovered the horses that had fled and got on with our push.
We caught the group in time, and successfully cut the ropes for the captives before the giants realized we were there. The combat went surprisingly fast. We were surprised by Arthraxus however, who swooped in at the end with a gas attack. We were mostly alright, but half of the villagers were caught in it and perished. There was nothing we could do.
We took a long rest.
Sixth Level
The next morning, we approached the outskirts of Goldenfields. Hobgoblins had taken over the main inn, outside the walls, and made it their base of operations. The army had harvested a great deal of wood to build covers, shelters, and siege engines. The giants had more of the dragon-hunting crossbows.
The flying tower of Zephyros hovered over the walled area of Goldenfields, and seemed to be trading insults with Mormik with the help of Thaumaturgy. We sent Elieo's imp to speak with Zephyros. Zephyros told us that he could create a distraction if we could attack Mormik. Since we knew Goodfellow had taken wored to Waterdeep, their armies couldn't be far behind, so there might be an opportunity once they arrived. Mormik was also surrounded by six undead hobgoblins. Zephyros advised we could also find out what Grugh was using to compel Mormik's help.
Next, we sent the imp to Mormik, pretending to be an ally. Mormik was willing to give us a way to get into Grugh's lair, if we got Zephyros to come over the wall low enough for his hill giants to grapple the tower.
Mormik told us the Ordning had broken. The hierarchy of the giants was in flux, and Grugh was out for power. All the other giants were in the same kind of fight. Grugh's plan was simple - get all the food she could, to get as large as possible, and therefore win the favor of the All-Father. Mormik also told us that he and the hobgoblin commanders were obeying Grugh because she had their children. Killing Grugh, or at least freeing the children, had a good chance of breaking the siege.
We convinced Mormik to hold the siege for two weeks, to give us a chance to free the children. We relayed this information to Zephyros, who was willing to take us to Grudd Haug. That would give us a true rest, and cut our journey in half. We agreed on a rendesvous. Additionally, he was willing to contribute some magical items to our effort.
Zephyros filled us in on some additional details during the flight. The Frost Giants seemed to have captive white dragons.
Arthraxas was casually following us, curious where we went. He wasn't likely to directly attack us while we were near Zephyros.
We also observed a supply line, traveling from the siege to Grugh's lair. Unlike normal supply lines, this was bringing food from the front to Grugh. It was a mish mash of underlings; ogres, wagons, hobgoblins, and orcs. They were generally disorganized; groups varied widely in size, form larger trains to small groups.
We overtook a small group and relieved them of their supplies. We also found an orc prisoner in the bed of their wagon. He was weak, but told us that he'd refused Grugh and was being taken back to her lair for retribution. His child was one of her captives, and he was eager to help us kill her. We healed him up, and he made a great contribution to our party.
We entered uncontested. The orc told us we weren't likely to be challenged as long as we did what was accepted. The lodge was in hill giant proportions, so we could take our cart right up to her room on the top floor.
The children were roped to her, on her ample upper torso. There was another giant in the room, guarding the entrance, as well as a hag with giant frogs, and a trap of stirges in cages near the top. There was also a chef and some minor servants, working to feed her continuously.
We got into position without triggering an alarm. The hag and stirges were taken care of with a couple of fireballs, and the chef and giant didn't last long once Big Guy and Baemiir got to them. She was seated on a cart hitched to oxen, and the the floor was of suspicious stability. The orc cut the traces to the oxen, keeping the cart from rolling; we coalesced on her as Elieo's imp kept a Darkness over her head while it cut the rope holding the children.
With some very lucky grapples, and the continued Darkness, the party prevailed. She killed the orc's child, but we saved the hobgoblins. If we could find some diamonds, quickly, Jorunn could Revivify the child.
Next time... loot!