Session 15 — Inept Intimidation

Argora relayed to the party that the six orcs in the next room were arguing and that at least one wanted to depose their current leader, Ulfe, and replace him with another, Yarrack, who had the favor of the queen, Shagol. The party hatched a half-baked plan: to burst into the room claiming to be Ulfe’s enforcers so that those still loyal to their current leader might turn on the conspirators. Little did they know that this room contained only opponents of Ulfe, including Yarrack himself.

Argora led the charge down the narrow hall and into the room, knocked in the door and shouted, “Sup bitches, Ulfe sent us!”. Before most of the party could enter, the orcs drew their weapons and the boldest among them retorted, “You tell Ulfe he’s an emasculated piece of shit and we’re going to cut his balls off!”. Combat erupted, with the doorway acting as a choke point, preventing much of the party from engaging. The clamor quickly attracted another group of four orcs that surprised the rear of the party in the narrow hallway. These were loyal to Ulfe, the large ogre that accompanied them, along with his two dire wolf pets. The party was now surrounded by two warring factions, neither of which saw them as allies.

Blumf noticed a halfling prisoner, gagged and tied up. He pushed his way into the room and managed to free him. The halfling would later introduce himself as Reed Goodbarrel [played by Wyatt], a bard who drank a little too much and wandered where he shouldn’t have.

Qeew conjured a sustained gust of wind to repel Ulfe’s group, and Zin created illusions to help keep them at bay. During a sword bind, Yarrack asked Argora, “Whose side are you really on?”. Failing to recognize the orc or the opportunity to join forces against the ogre, Argora stuck to the original plan and responded, “Ulfe!”. Yarrack replied, “Wrong answer,” and continued the fight.

Though the odds were against them, the party eventually defeated Yarrack’s faction, including Yarrack himself. In an attempt to pacify Ulfe and his supporters, Blumf shouted at the ogre, “Why are you attacking? We both work for Shagol!”, forgetting that the queen supported Yarrack, not Ulfe. This only enraged the ogre, who demanded the party lay down their weapons. Reed immediately dropped his, but after seeing that no one else did he picked them up again.

Having failed at diplomacy numerous times (a theme for their time in Khundrukai), the party had no choice but to continue fighting. Argora fell victim to friendly fire from both Blumf’s fist and Kerath’s crossbow. Using his spiked armor, Blumf slammed into an orc, killing it and pinning it to his chest. At last, with Ulfe nearly defeated, Blumf declared, “It’s all ogre now!”, and delivered the finishing blow. Two orcs cowered in fear while the few other survivors fled, and they confirmed the identities of Ulfe and Yarrack before the party dispatched them. As a memento, Kerath cut off Ulfe’s hand and stored it in the bag of holding.

The party barricaded itself in the room for a short rest to recover from the battle. Exhausted, Argora quickly fell asleep. As the others looked on, his body began to levitate and emanate a faint blue light. Argora’s mind plunged into a nightmare that recalled the fateful day when his father Aternus was betrayed in battle and executed before him. With his dying breath, Aternus’s final command to his son was “Trust,” but ever since the betrayal Argora had found it impossible to fully rely on others. As the images of that day faded, the dream continued, and Argora heard his father’s voice ask, “My son, why do you not trust?”. A brilliant light filled his vision, and from this Light another voice spoke. It told Argora that he must overcome his stubbornness and distrust of others by teaching another who was following a dark path how to heal using the Light. This other was Zin.

The vision ended, Argora’s body descended, and he awoke to find his companions gawking at him, mouths agape. Argora explained what he saw and heard, and he told Zin that he had been instructed to mentor her in divine healing. She was skeptical, and when Argora used Zin’s full name, which the vision revealed to him, she sharply rebuked him for speaking it.

The party explored the remainder of the orc quarters, including the bunk room and personal quarters of Ulfe. All were abandoned, and among the items left behind they found a fourth weapon bearing Durgeddin’s emblem: a rapier.

Having fully explored the upper level of Khundrukai, the party reflected on their options and decided to return to Blassingdell, rather than invade the duergars’ homes again in the caverns below. They set out for the mining town, following the tracks of the orcs’ human prisoners, Garadel and Corana, who they’d helped escape the previous evening. Just outside of town they lost their tracks and could not be certain they had made it home safely.

On the outskirts of town, the adventurers considered their next moves. They had made deals with two individuals to recover weapons bearing the mark of Durgeddin, the legendary dwarven smith. The first was Lord Kane, who said he would pay handsomely for each weapon retrieved. The second was Dark Warren, with whom Zin and Kavagal made a deal to give him first choice among the weapons in exchange for his assistance in quickly transporting them to Khundrukai. They decided to seek out Dark Warren first, as promised, but to present to him only the corroded greataxe and spear in case he tried to exact their entire haul. They also decided that Zin and Kerath should go alone and try to sneak their way to Dark Warren, since Lord Kane would likely have spies throughout the city that might report the party’s return before they were prepared to see him.

Thus, Zin and Kerath left the javelin and rapier with the rest of the party outside of town and ventured toward the town square, where Dark Warren was known to be found frequently studying the Founderstone. Despite their efforts to be stealthy, Zin was spotted by Rumble, the innkeeper at the Stagnant Pool. Rumble had enjoyed the company of Zin and the others when they lodged at his establishment, and so he eagerly welcomed her back to town and insisted that she celebrate her return at the inn. Unsure how to tactfully excuse herself from his hospitable reception, Zin obliged and signaled to Kerath to continue without her.