Orc Slayer
Orc Slayer Written by Darius Jedburgh on 30 October 1992 AP
Notes from the Guild party hired by Lord Peredur of Stirling to find and rescue his daughter Bronwyn from Bolgan the bandit.
The Mission
The Guild party was hired by Lord Peredur of Stirling to find and rescue his daughter Bronwyn from Bolgan the bandit.
The Party Members
- Jedburgh
- A large man tanking around in plate armour with a broadsword and shield. Was previously a common soldier and now party scribe.
- Ishamael
- A tall, wild haired human dressed in black. A dark celestial mage of limited ability but a competent fighter, if light on armour and shield.
- Antonio
- A human cursed by the gods and now has plants growing out of him. One plant in particular has alcoholic berries so he is almost permanently intoxicated. An air mage with one mean Bolt of Ice.
- Kilroy
- A dirty little peasant but an excellent rune mage. Adept at getting up to petty mischief and trickery.
- Uraagh
- A heavy combat orc. Has a great axe and knows how to use it. The party leader due to experience.
Map of the Area
A map of Stirling Barony and the surrounding area
Diary
October 2 1992 AP
Meet Conal of Stirling in the Guild pub. He says he is looking for a group of adventurers to help his father, Lord Peredur of Stirling. We decide to help him out and get a Guild rep to fill in the paper work. The payment of 3,000 silver pennies per member was agreed-ed upon for rescuing his sister Bronwyn and another 7,000 each for killing the dwarf bandit Bolgan and his followers. Conal pays us each 1,000 silvers up front.
October 3 1992 AP
We hired a ranger from the Guild to guide us up the coast. Kilroy and Garth fly up the coast on shadow wings from a ring given to him by Conal. Every 150 miles Kilroy creates a rune portal.
October 5 1992 AP
Late in the afternoon we meet an old hermit Brother Darlis living on a small island off the coast. We repair his hut and in return he gives each of us a healing potion (10 points).
That evening we reach Stirling, a small Barony consisting of a medium sized island next to Norden and Swenway. We are taken to Keep Stirling, Lord Peredur's castle some six miles from the nearest town, Durham on the coast.
After a good meal we meet Lyondel, Lord Peredur's elven advisor. The Lord himself was away at the time, and at the time of the kidnapping, on a trade mission with most of his men.
Bolgan the dwarf had demanded 100,000 silver pennies for the return of Lady Bronwyn. Lyondel also says there has been trouble around the mines near Castle Defiant, some miles to west and that Bolgan may be trying to take it.
October 6 1992 AP
During the previous night Kilroy managed to enter Lady Bronwyn's dreams to discover there more than a dozen kidnappers and that see was been held bound and gagged in a cell in a cave complex not two miles from the coast.
Lyondel is a solar celestial mage and is able to cast star wings so we fly over to Castle Defiant where we a met by Sir Kirrin. He currently had less than a dozen people defending the castle so Kilroy negotiates with him for us to help in its defense if it is attacked.
Kilroy creates a portal between Castle Defiant and Keep Stirling so troops could be quickly moved if either is attacked. Uraagh and Antonio decide to fly north to have a look around. On their trip they meet an orc which they kill and Uraagh manages to destroy his armour in a sulphur swamp.
Around noon Ethrin, Sir Kirrin's ranger, returned from scouting badly shot up so we took him back to the Guild for healing. We returned around three hours after noon. Ethrin says he was attacked several miles south of Castle Defiant.
After flying around the area south of Castle Defiant for a couple of unsuccessful hours I decided to head back to Seagate and buy ten heavy crossbows, five for myself and five for Uraagh. We then fortified Castle Defiant in preparation for attack.
Around eight in the evening ten orcs approach Castle Defiant. Kilroy performs a visitation to find another twelve hidden close by.
The attacking orcs were defeated but the gates of the castle were destroyed. Kilroy saw a dwarf (we assume Bolgan) and several orcs escape. Taticus, a town near to Castle Defiant, was also attacked and destroyed.
We go and rescue the women and children who had been taken prisoners in a mine not far away. Kilroy goes overboard with one of women, and later helps her set a shop somewhere around Seagate. Sir Kirrin pays us 2,800 silver pennies worth of tin for our aid.
October 7 1992 AP
A sketch of the entrance to the stronghold
The previous Kilroy again entered Bronwyn's dreams and was able to get that she was been held in a place called the Northern Stronghold.
We flew north to search of the old stronghold with Conal coming with us. As we approached the stronghold, which lies inset into a high cliff side with only a narrow mountain path for access, we were attacked (See figure ).
Kilroy saved the day with an item which makes a 5' opening in any door or wall. We stormed the stronghold and killed all the defenders except one orc. Bolgan was among the dead and Lady Bronwyn was also there, unharmed.
The loot included
- A rank six crystal of vision.
- A magical rock which if cast at creates a rank ten wall of stone.
- A magical two handed sword.
- A good set of orc sized rank eight armour smithed full plate.
- A set of dwarven plate, dwarven scale and a war hammer.
- Two great axes.
- A ring containing two charges of invested rank six troll-skin.
- A ring containing three charges of invested rank eleven armour of earth.
- A magical double bladed dagger.
- A silvered vanbrace.
- A nice belt.
- The skull of a snow serpent.
- A chest containing coins to the value of 1,920 silver pennies.
Kilroy creates a portal back to Keep Stirling. We took the loot but left the bodies. The stronghold had a cave complex around it but the doors into them were barred.
October 8 1992 AP
We returned to the stronghold via the portal but had star wings on in case of an emergency. We found the bodies gone so Kilroy destroyed the portal and we went down to the flat land below the stronghold.
Kilroy did a visitation into the cave complex. He says he saw some semi intelligent insects and a trapped illusionist baby dragon. While he was performing the visitation we were attacked by a monster from a nearby swamp.
Lyondel asks us to take a couple of books to a friend of his in Brastor. We decided to portal back to the Guild that evening but were interrupted.
October 9 1992 AP
I wake up in a cell. It turns out we had inadvertently put a portal in a restricted area on Margalane. After each of us paid a 1,000 silver penny fine for trespass we are put on a boat to the mainland.
October 10 1992 AP
We arrived back in Seagate during the morning. Ishamael decided not to come with us to Brastor. We find a portal going to near Brastor and some of us buy horses. That evening we take the portal and ride into Brastor. Lyondel's friend Captain Bloodaxe was currently serving out at Coth Gap That night we have a wild outing on the town.
October 11 1992 AP
We spent an uneventful day riding east and the night in a town tavern with a group of troops under Corporal Cottle.
October 12 1992 AP
Around noon we where attacked by a group of brigands. Five of them were killed with three taken prisoner. I upgraded my horse to a top of the line palfrey.
That afternoon we reach Coth Gap on the edge of the sea of grass. Corporal Beaucannon, the commander in charge, says Bloodaxe has gone out to find his pony with a person called Hightfoot.
Kilroy had set up a rune stick in his tent and went on a recognisence* flight. He returns saying he's seen Bloodaxe and that he was about to be attacked by plainsmen.
We go through the portal to ambush the attackers. In the fight I got killed by a spear through my eye.
October 13 1992 AP
I got resurrected and and over the next five days my eye repaired, at a considerable expense.
October 17 1992 AP
We met up with another party who had finished their mission so we decided to investigate some unusual disturbances not far away. The party consisted by myself, Uraagh, Kilroy, Torinsin, a rune mage looking like primitive man, Eliessa, a female mindless mage, Bragen, an earth mage of reasonable talent and Charis, an elven binder with two rag and string golems, Bob and Kate.
Torinsin had been the scribe on his earlier mission so he recorded the events of that side trip.
