05.0 Of Dragons and Things

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Carlton Blacks Mercenaries
Company members:-
Krachtig (Vervalsing Voorwerp de Meesten Krachtig) – Gnome Illusionist/Thief
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannanan Mac Lir, cousin to Carinne and Galvish
Carinne Rhianne Talynnart – Half Elf Ranger/Mage, Cousin to Taran and Galvish
Galvish – Half Elf Fighter/Thief, Cousin to Taran and Carinne
Barrigan Stonebeak – Dwarf Fighter/Priest, Company Engineer.
Lanneus Tuard – Paladin of Manannan Mac Lir

An Ogre Treaty

Back in Skullport we are discussing the situation with the rebel hierarchy on what to do next.  We still have some time to wait before Kalan Ghents body can be returned to us and then we will be able to take passage back to Jans Landing on some of the boats from Skullport.  We are asked if we could deliver a treaty to a band of Ogres, to prevent them harassing some villagers.  We readily agree after completing the mission at the Grove successfully.
We arrive at the allotted time and after waiting a while see a group of Ogres appear, they quickly say that they will not sign the treaty, as the Giants and a human have warned them against this, their old chieftain was killed in a cruel fashion by the mage, whose description matches that of Kerrigan Blacksoul.
We follow the giant tracks aiming to square things once and for all with this evil mage.  The second day into our journey we are attacked by a giant roc, who swoops down and attacks the party, carrying Taran off in it’s claws.  Much missile fire later the giant bird plummets from the sky with the unfortunate Taran, who perishes.  Barrigan reaches for a scroll and raises his fellow warrior.
Several days later we have followed the tracks to the head of a valley where we notice several cave mouths in the cliff face, one of them being particularly large.  Carinne scouts ahead and reports back that there are several other hidden openings behind foliage, some with human or humanoid footprints leading into them.
We retreat a bit and take some rest and cast defensive spells.  Once refreshed we use the darkness of the night to approach one of the hidden caves.  Just inside we see a number of giant figures with a human sized person, there are a number of broken statues and a destroyed altar in the room, together with a large black obelisk.
We rush into attack, Barrigan confronts an undead giant as does Taran. Lanneus charges a priestly type giant, likewise with Carinne, Galvish uses his stealth to move around the rear of the group while Krachtig keeps near the cave entrance and uses spells.  The two undead giants soon hit the floor as do two of the priests.  Soon the evil sorcerer has Taran, Barrigan and Galvish surrounding him and hitting consistently.  Blacksoul uses a spell to escape and the two cousins glance at each other before following.  They find themselves in the Stone Giant chiefs throne room and are soon attacked before Taran can open a Dimensional Folding to retreat from there.
The party is reunited and Barrigan is busy sinking the obelisk into mud as Lanneus had warned him of its intensely evil nature.  Taran is busy curing when Krachtig hears Giant voices coming from a passageway, many giants emerge and attack just as the obelisk is sealed into the depths of the earth.  The Giants grip their heads as though confused.  Taran casts a Tongues spell to enable communication and it soon becomes apparent that the evil wizard had somehow convinced the giants that they should worship Ka the evil god of the dead.  Barrigan discovers the dead giant priests in an ante chamber and the priests we had originally attacked turned out to be several humans with illusions on them, something Krachtig had noticed in the battle.  It takes a lot of pleading from Taran to Carinne that she should not finish off the giant that had attacked her, as one of her sworn enemies are Giants.
We parley with their leaders who ask that we deal with a large blue dragon that came to this area with Kerrigan Blacksoul and inhabits the huge cave nearby.  It eats a lot of their sheep and pigs they raise to feed them selves.  We rest awhile with the giants before arming ourselves ready to face the dragon.
Taran, Galvish, Lanneus and Barrigan rush into the cave and attack the dragon while Carrinne and Krachtig hang back to use archery and spells.  We are dismayed to find that the dragon is fairly impervious to magic and has a cold shield operating which deals as much damage to us as we can land on the creature.  Galvish is particularly nervous as he has been handed a dragon slaying longsword with which to attack the beast.  We lay massive damage on the creature but it is not until Barrigan mananges to lop off its head can we step back and assess the situation.  It is not long before we are rushed by a Dracolisk followed by a pair of Wyverns from other parts of the cave.  We manage to vanquish these foul creatures and start gathering the loot from the place.  Additionally the giants give us some fine treasure as a reward for getting rid of the dragon and the cursed wizard.
We finish off by presenting the treaty to the ogres and make our way to Skullport once more.