Greyhawk: Against the Giants: Huecuva's Blight

The member 'CondieBerks' has done the following action : Dices roll

'd20' : 3, 3

Arlie's results

Listen 17
Spot 15

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Fort Olvewater
Time: 08:27:00

Himo's Spot Check:
Spot Check: 22 - 10 (distance penalty) = 12 (Good Success)

Himo can spot 10 humanoid forms over 100 FEET into the forest. The force of humanoids is directly west of the party.

Arlie's Spot/Listen Check:
Listen: 17 - 10 (distance penalty) = 7 (Success)
Spot: 15 - 10 (distance penalty) = 5 (Fail)

Arlie doesn't notice any more details about the shapes moving ahead of the party, but he can hear their movements and perhaps talking.

Map is Coming!!

Here is the map.

Himo whispers to Orden "I am moving forward 20 feet to get a better look at the 10 human like beings."

Himo moves carefully 20 feet

Himo moves to (50,34)

Then Himo tries to use his spot check again

spot check 6-4 =+2

The member 'EvilBob' has done the following action : Dices roll

'd20' : 4

Himo's Results

spot check 2+4= 6

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Scout Group
Time: 08:27:12

Himo's Spot Result:
2-9 (distance penalty) = -7

Himo cannot make out any more details from the movement ahead.

Orden and Gornak move up to meet Himo. Gornak motions silently to the troops and they split into flanking positions. Aaron (FT4) moves into position between possible foes and Forlin.

Arlie and Himo receive a telepathic message from Ta'Heed.
They are elves. Wood elves by the look of them.

Himo looks at both Orden,Gornak and says "Let's make new allies."

 
 Himo sends telepathic message to Ta'Heed  Let's be careful with this wood elves.

Himo starts to move closer to the elves

Himo moves to (50,30)

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Scout Group
Time: 08:27:18

Orden and Gornak move with Himo.

Gornak grumbles,
"Then you better take the lead, elf. My experience with wood elves thus far has been that they shoot first and asks no questions."

Orden responds,
"I suppose diplomacy is not one of your strong points, Sergeant."

Ta'Heed moves behind the trio keeping an eye on the elves. Arlie and Himo receive a telepathic message.
Two of the elves (E10 and E9) do not possess any evil aura.

Gornak continues to grumble
"That's not comforting."
He comes to a sudden realization, turns to look at Ta'Heed with a questioning glance, but turns back around to the task at hand.

FT4 moves forward in front of Forlin while the other troops continue to jump between covered flanking positions.

A shout comes from the elven camp and the camp mobilizes into a combat stance. Bows are strung and pointed toward the trio moving forward.

Himo says in Elven "We come in peace please hold your fire." As Himo moves to show the Elves, he not holding any

weapons in his hands. Himo continues speaking in Elven "I am Himo my two allies you see with me are Orden and

Gornak."

Himo moves (26,49)

With the commotion at the wood elf camp, Arlie tries to spot & listen again for some precautionary intel.

Spot +12
Listen +14

The member 'CondieBerks' has done the following action : Dices roll

'd20' : 9, 17

Results
Spot: 21 -10 distance = 11
Listen: 31 -10 distance = 21

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Scout Group
Time: 08:27:24

Gornak and Orden move forward with Himo. The fort troops are still flanking, but they are using cover and fall a little farther back.

E1 responds by moving forward, stepping cautiously behind his line of archers. E1 stands defiant, but has not raised his bow, although it stays in his hands with an arrow readied. He shouts in ELVEN right back to Himo.
"One of your kind is keeping strange allies. Where is your tribe, wild one? I pray you are not taking advantage of the war for your own gain. Is the dwarf a member of the Gran March military or did he steal off of a corpse?"

Gornak is noticeably fuming.

Arlie can see the wood elves moving around, but cannot make out many details. Due to the shouting between Himo and E1, he cannot make out any other sounds. However, E1's voice sounds familiar, but Arlie cannot recognize E1 from this distance.

Recognizing a voice, Arlie gambles to prevent friendly fire.  He starts waving both arms as he comes out of cover & double moves 40' to (28, 47).
As he moves, he shouts in Elven "Wait!  Peace!  Calm!  From both sides!  In the name of Lynlai & the survivors of Lutrell Lake!"

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Scout Group
Time: 08:27:30

Arlie bursts out onto the scene shouting so quickly that the elves turn their armed attention to him.

E1 eyes him suspiciously as he mentions Lutrell Lake and Lynlai.
"What do you know of Lynlai, dwarf? You are not the one who accompanied the gnomes."

E1 moves forward with three of his archers in tow. Their weapons still trained on the party.

Arlie at this point can make out the face of E1. It was several weeks ago, but Arlie remembers why the elf's voice was familiar. The E1's name is Maykhan, an elf ranger who has been leading a team of elves to strike at vulnerable spots of the giant forces. Maykhan hooked up with Arlie and Forlin before to help save Lynlai's children from the orc Elfslayer. Arlie last left Maykhan at Lynlai, but he was a halfling then.

Himo looks at Arlie and says "You could have said something Arlie."

Himo continues to the Wood Elves in Elven "This is Arlie. Arlie was a halfing the last time some of us were

at the Wood Elven city Lynlai. I was there with Arlie was there as a halfing,At time we were saving 

Lynlai's children from the Orcs."

Arlie replies "I was getting to it!"
He waves & shouts enough for the elves to hear "Hey, Maykhan!  Um, yeah.  You missed that right after we left!  Fire giants, big swords, Fawn cast reincarnate.  But I'm taller now!  I can carry a spear!  And I can see in the dark too!"

People nearby can hear Arlie mutter "Oh wait."

He turns & shouts "Hey Forlin!  We need you up here!  Your body's still the same!"

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Scout Group
Time: 08:28:00

Maykhan (E1) looks between Himo and Arlie we confusion and disbelief. His grip on his bow lessens a bit.
"If that's true"--he swallows hard as he stairs at Arlie the dwarf--"Arlie, then all of you have achieved great power since we parted ways. But I hardly recognize the company you travel with now."

Forlin steps forward, between Himo and Orden. Maykhan recognizes the human cleric of the Wanderer immediately. One hand releases the bow and it falls to his side. He immediately signals for the other wood elves to lower their weapons.

Forlin
"Hello, Maykhan."

Concerned erupts on Maykhan's face.
"What of Lady Glassblower and Lowlyn?"

Forlin
"Lady Glassblower is safe at Fort Olvewater, a temporary fort the Gran March troops under Lieutenants Martin and Jacob have constructed. Lowlyn is with Lieutenant Jacob Keonogard in attempting to remove Nerraune and his cursed undead from Oytwood. The undead put a dent in our plan to get Glassblower to safety."

Maykhan shows relief at hearing that Glassblower is safe.
"What happened to Fawn? Arlie, surely the two of you would not have parted ways."

Arlie's excited expression collapses.  He looks like part of him just died or got ripped out.  With his head hanging, he replies "She died...  The undead attacked a few days ago.  One was some kind of assassin."

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Scout Group
Time: 08:28:30

Maykhan's eyes dart from Arlie to Forlin, who only nods in solemn agreement. Maykhan remains quiet and shocked.

Forlin interjects through the silence.
"Lieutenant Lowlyn and Martin moved out to engage the undead sent by Nerraune to stop us when Fawn perished. We have not heard from them for a few days. Hopefully they will return soon."

Maykhan raises his heads and growls,
"Nerraune, his madness takes another life."

Forlin,
"What are you doing this far east, Maykhan?"

Maykhan appears to relish the attempt to move more pressing issues.
"The new captain, Obidias, is obsessed with increasing the defense of Lynlai and very little intelligence gathering. Building defenses are fine, but the leadership in the city still believes they can ride this out. After the wizard Nanen and his team found undead populating the ruins of Luttrell Lake, Obidias and the council made certain to seal up Lynlai even more. We left to find out what else in going on out here."

Forlin,
"What about a possible alliance with Hochoch?"

Maykhan shrugs and sighs with a hint of irritation,
"I don't think the leadership in Lynlai actually believe in you and Glassblower's chances of success. I'm afraid it may have been a political move as a thank you for saving Lynlai's children."

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Scout Group
Time: 08:29:30

Forlin sneers slightly after hearing about the possible motivations of the Lynlai Council.
"And where do you stand, Maykhan?"

Maykhan nods,
"I love the Oytwood with all my heart. The giants are a blight that must be removed. I have my misgivings about more humans coming into the Oytwood that have not lived with us for years. I just don't see how we wood elves can do this alone. Even if we wait out the giants, at what cost to the forest?"

Forlin continues,
"Well, my friend, we are still here fighting along with you. You are welcome to join us again to chase the giants out of your forest. I still believe the alliance is necessary, and it is even more important to show the leaders on both sides the resolve of those on the ground. We showed them with the children of Lynlai of what we can do together. We are out here to gain information on giant movements and perhaps harass their supply lines. You want outside intelligence, you will get it if you join us. Also, with Glassblower back at the fort she would appreciate the initiative of elven warriors such as yourself. What say you, will you help us continue the fight against the giants, yet again?"

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Scout Group
Time: 08:30:30

Maykhan lets out a hearty laugh, uncommon for an elf, as Forlin finishes his speech.
"You had me the moment I heard of your mission."

Maykhan steps closer to the group while dusting off some of the snow from his shoulders.
"Let the politicians bicker; we know what must be done to show them the way."

The other wood elves lower their bows in agreement.

DM Note: If no one has anything else to add, I'll continue the with another post sometime tomorrow that will switch gears to the assault Nerraune's Lair.

Sunsebb 7th, Freeday, 586CY
Oytwood
Scout Group
Time: 14:00:00

The icy chill is still heavy in the air. The morning snow finally ended shortly before noon. There is now a thin blanker of snow on the ground (1 inch).

The team is preparing to move against Nerraune, yet again. Jacob and Lowlyn are planning the next attack. 

Lowlyn,
"I say we leave now and arrive about an hour earlier. It may throw off their preparations. We have to have really hurt Nerraune's forces. His cursed wood elves are gone, many of those blue-skinned humanoids have perished."

Jacob,
"From what I understand he still has numerous undead, including incorporeal creatures."

Marilyn chimes in, rising from the morning fire.
"That may be true, but daylight hinders must incorporeal undead, meaning he would not be able to use them on the surface. It won't matter if it's cloudy or not, the undead won't like the light."

Jacob holds his fist close to his chin as if in a silent prayer. After a pause he speaks up.
"Well then, I really want to get back into the caves underneath their base camp. Blow through the undead forces and finally meet this accursed druid. He will answer for his crimes."

Jacob turns to Pa'cheen and Lusula
"You said you came here once before. What did you find?"

Pa'cheen smiles,
"Combat, same as this time."

Lusula shrugs,
"Undead, ghouls, ghasts, and wights mostly. Similar to the ones we fought the last time we got below. The cursed wood elves were also throwing spells at us. We came in the evening so Nerraune did marshal his spectral undead, there were not many, a handful. Ta'heed saw the effort as useless for our purpose, so we withdrew. I can't imagine his forces have increased much since we laid siege to the place."

Fennigan quietly adds,
"We must be on guard for spell wards as well. Wards could help where a lack of troops hinders."

Jacob,
"Well, I say we move out now and pound whatever forces Nerraune has put on the surface. And then, hammer all the way down to his lair."