Yuku free message boards

Scott: Welcome to the message boards and thank you very much! I'm glad my reports haven't been too boring!

I have always found it useful to read of other groups' expolits on these boards and am very happy to hear that my reports are now useful to others.
Hopefully we will hear how your group fares in RA in the near future (and IMO it sometimes is crucial to provide a bit of background information to capture the right "feel" of the campaign)!

Damien: I didn't split them up either since they all stayed together during the assault (but I wouldn't have split them up anyway - it was enough stress for me already this way ) - only when Welf met Rainier... but since the fight only took two rounds I could have stayed in the room.

Eshaya F Human Cleric of Elhonna 7/ Ranger 1 (Franziska) Domains: Sun, Good.

(Ras Badar M Human Sorcerer 8 (BoEMII) (Tanyew) not active at present)

Salome F Elven Rogue 6/ Ranger (urban variant from MoTW) 1/Fighter 2 (Miriam)

Thum Sadhul M Human Conjurer 7 (Matthias)

(Ludwig Olsen M Human Fighter 6 (Ino) not active at present)

Alessandro di Malpietra M Human Bard 7 (Daniel)

Welf von Welfenstein M Human Fighter 4/ Paladin 3 (Jan)

Mordred M Human Cleric of Time 6/ Fighter 2 (Ino) Domains: Time, Knowledge.

Cnud Snottbrand M Human Commoner 1/ Fighter 1 (NPC/ Welfs Squire)


So, after the initial assault worked out quite well, the comrades heal their wounds and discuss about what to do next. Welf at first wants to get his horse Binky inside the Fortress, but since the mare is at the entrance of the secret tunnel two miles away a trip of at least an hour with dozens of ogres in the woods as Salome pointed out to him - he refrains from doing so. For the same reason they decide not to contact Ras Badar (the most important reason for him to not be contacted actually was that Ras' Player didn't make it to the session) because and the rest of the caravan, which is hidden in the woods a couple of miles down the main road. Instead the Paladin orders the rest of the men-at-arms on the battlements to look out if the ogres are coming back. They also cut the chains holding the portcullises and jam the wheels for the drawbridge, so no one can easily open the main gates from the inside. Then Salome asks the leader of the remaining guards about the original use of the buildings in the courtyard and what Grimulak had used them for. After being told that the Ogre-Mages quarters are in the main building, the party decides to assault it as long as Grimulak is still wounded (forgetting or rather not knowing of his regeneration/ fast-healing ability) after getting some more information on the tactical situation. Salome turns invisible and walks around the building, scanning the interior with her x-ray ring while Welf uses his detect evil ability to search for more ogres. They soon find out that Grimulak and his presumably last six ogre-followers are inside the building discussing something. While the comrades themselves now are discussing an assault-plan, the alarm-gong of the gatehouse is sounded. The party runs to the gate-house. Alessandro is left behind in position to watch the three doors of the main-building, ordered to sound his battle-horn if he spots any movement nothing would be worse than having an ogre-mage on the loose in the inside of the Fort while it is attacked from the outside. As soon as Welf reaches the battlements the guard shows him the reason for the alarm: 10 15 Ogres are standing approximately 150 Yards from the Fort seeming to wait for something. Welf orders the men-at-arms to the catapults and they manage to hit an ogre, forcing the humanoids back another hundred yards. After ordering the men-at-arms to keep an eye on them the party turns its attention back to the main building. Again it is Welf who scans the building with detect evil: the six ogres and their leader now are standing in the middle of the building, more or less motionless. The PCs go to the main-doors and try to open them but they are heavily barred from the inside. Then they turn to the two doors on the northern side of the building. After checking both of these for the same result as before, they discuss their further tactics.
After scanning the building inch by inch they find no other entryways but the three doors. So they decide that they somehow must force one of the doors open and then move in confident that their abilities will prove to be great enough to cope with a possible ambush. Mordred at first places a silence on Welfs handaxe: the orders for Welf are to hurl the hand-axe at the blue-skinned devil as soon as he is able to see it, hopefully keeping it from using its spell-like powers. His six ogre companions should be no problem for the adventurers.
Welf and Cnud start hacking away at the north-eastern door with their swords. As soon as the door itself is destroyed everything turns pitch black: magical darkness cloaks the door and a five-foot deep 40-foot wide area in front of it. Welf turns to Eshaya, Thum Sadhul and Mordred for help, but they have to tell him (after he puts his silenced hand-axe aside) that they are out of spells for the day. So they turn to the north-western door. The same procedure unwinds - and also as soon as the door is smashed a globe of darkness is evoked from the inside. After a moment of hesitation Welf signals Cnud and the others to come along as he tries to shove the door-barring (consisting of bunk beds, tables and benches) to the side to allow entry to the building. Nobody wants to join Welf in his venture into the inside - no wonder considering that sight and hearing are disabled inside the darkness/ silence. Nonetheless Welf slowly advances and doesnt notice the oily substance covering literally everything - the floor and the wooden benches and beds piled up behind the door and all of the furniture in the three northern rooms. He passes the room in an eastward direction, constantly in contact with the northern wall as guidance, nearly stumbling over piles of trash and overturned furniture. After passing through the second room in a snail-pace he finally reaches the door to the north-eastern room, where the other door to the courtyard is which is still barred from the inside.
The Ogre mage standing at the southern door of the north-western room can easily track Welfs progress since the 15 foot radius of silence moves along with the paladin. As soon as Welf is in the middle of the north-eastern room Grimulak goes a few feet back south out of the globe of darkness he has evoked and orders one of his ogre companions to light the carefully laid out line of oil leading from the main hall to the northern part of the building. The three rooms more or less explode and Welf is in the middle of it all, not able to see or hear anything. He catches fire and hastily tries to get out of the room taking to the northern wall as guidance. The others outside the building hear the loud explosion and see the smoke coming out of the two globes of darkness but are reluctant to go in after him the only thing Eshaya can think of is to cast a create water centred on the inside of the north-western room and hope their valiant knight is fine. Welf in the meanwhile quickly advances along the northern wall and after another 3 rounds of burning damage, not seeing or hearing anything, at last finds the door to the north-western room where the flames have been extinguished by Eshayas water. He scrambles to the outside and inhales deeply.
Only moments and a couple of healing-spells later Welf goes inside once more, again carrying the silenced hand-axe in his belt. The others wait outside once again. Welf carefully goes southward, detecting evil along the way: 6 enemies are standing in a half circle about 35 feet southward of his position, the seventh one the biggest evil of the bunch standing another 50 feet behind the half-circle.
(DMs Note: Until now I played the situation with all of the other PCs present, now I ordered all but Welf out of the room. 10 Seconds later the Player of Eshaya comes back into the room telling me, that the party leaves their position and starts hacking at the main doors on the eastern side of the building trying to clear the main entrance as quickly as possible. They dont even leave one lookout at the northern doorsthis confused me quite a bit, but well)
Welf starts lunging forward and steps on one of the caltrops laid out in his path. At last he comes out of the darkness and faces his enemies, positioned as he had detected them before. 6 Ogres in a half-circle directly in front of him and Grimulak flying 10 feet above ground 50 feet south of his position. Battle ensues with Welf hurling his silenced hand-axe, but the shot goes wide. The Ogres close in and start banging the Paladin with their greatclubs two solid hits for 25 damage while Grimulak stays in position keeping an eye on the main entrance (in front of which the ogres had put all of the tables and benches of the main hall). Welf no longer silenced hacks at the nearest Ogres without crying out for assistance. Two Ogres go down, but on their turn two more of them hit him. Severely wounded, Welf retreats back into the darkness to use his lay on hands ability. He then hears a couple of loud commands barked by the ogre-mage and is about to go back into the light (still not having required assistance), when the darkness disappears and in front of him Grimulak launches a devastating (lots of 5s and 6s with the damage-dice) cone of cold against him, leaving him at single digit HPs. His movement impaired because of the caltrop he is now in a desperate position with 4 fresh ogres and an enraged unwounded ogre-mage set up against him. The five of them hack him to pieces in a matter of moments.
When eventually the other part of the group manages to clear the rubble off of the main doors and proceed into the room, fighting has stopped for over than 10 rounds. They are what a surprise- greeted by a globe of magical darkness. Salome tells the others to desist, because with no spellcasters around it would be futile to assault the ogres position. Mordred doesnt heed her words but rather proceeds along the corridor and peeks out of the globe of darkness into the hall behind it: three ogres eagerly waiting for someone to appear out of the darkness swing at him two solid hits for 32 Damage! Enough for him to run back into the darkness at full speed. The comrades after this decide to leave it be for the night.

Here we made a break: 15 Ogres outside the Fortress waiting to attack, Grimulak and 4 Ogres in the central building, only 14 half-starved men-at-arms to man the battlements, nobody has yet been informed about what has happened in the Fort and the main Fighter of the group is dead. NOT A NICE SITUATION! And I didnt even have to tweak the ECLs to adjust it for the party.