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WHAT
HAS COME BEFORE
The
human ranger Kannett has returned to his homeland in the Dim
Forest with his long-awaited reinforcements to help repel the
giant invasion. Within two days after invading, the Blackrazors went to
work, closing a portal to the demi-plane of Shadow and slaying a dozen slow
shadows in the ruins of an elven village. (Read
the Mystery of Derelion)
Looking
for bigger game, the Blackrazors have turned their attention south Hochoch
where the Grand Duke has recently returned with an army of 400 and dozens of
adventurer mercenaries.
THE
STORY
Before
the Greyhawk Wars, Hochoch had been a bustling, but small city on the border
between Geoff and Keoland. Then came the giant invasion, when immense
humanoids overran the country’s defenders. For the next five years the
city’s inhabitants were enslaved, abused and occasionally devoured by
their giant overlords, but finally, in late summer 588, the Grand Duke
returned with his re-built army, well-paid and well-armed mercenaries, and
powerful adventurers. The force re-took the city, and within weeks refuges
were streaming back to the city.
Now
hundreds of cooking fires from the Geoffite refuges rose from their camps
outside Hochoch’s ruined walls, and children ran through the streets
begging for stray coins.
*
* *
“Sirs,
a copper?” a pathetic voice called up from the street.
The
Blackrazors
looked down and saw a young child. The
lead Blackrazor—the dwarven warrior Luc--took
a step forward and asked, “Can you give us directions in exchange for a
few coins young man?”
The
child looked confused. “I … I … I don’t know sir, my family is new
to the city and…”
“Never
mind,” the dwarf said, and threw him a few coppers. The boy took the
coins, tucked them into his shirt, and ran home.
Before the Blackrazors could continue on, another voice interrupted them.
“Sirs,
did I hear you needed directions?” a voice called out from behind. The
adventurers turned. It belonged to a young, eager looking man. “If so, I
would be glad to serve as your humble servant.”
“Does
our humble servant have a name?” Luc asked, his dwarven gaze focusing
sternly on the man before him.
“My
name’s Evert
sir, and I would be ever so glad to guide you to your destination, or to run
any errands you might have.”
Luc
looked to the others, who simply shrugged. The man before them dripped
snake-oil, but he could
be useful.
“Alright
then, you can guide us to the Giants’
Eyes Inn, but,” Luc said, drawing a silver from his guarded purse,
“don’t try to cross us.”
“I’d
never think of it sir. This way?”
* * *
The
Giants’
Eyes wasn’t the best inn in Hochoch, but it did cater to
exactly the kind of crowd the Blackrazors enjoyed: adventurers.
Jars
filled with a amber liquid and giant, floating eyes sat on a long, high
shelf that wrapped its way around the inn’s interior walls.
Everywhere
the Blackrazors turned they could see battle scarred warriors--some missing
arms, legs and other body parts--swapping tall tales, launching spit, and
slamming back drinks with abandon.
It
felt almost like home.
They
made their way to the bar, where the bartender was wiping down counter
between drafts. “Name’s Boral,” the man said as Luc and the gray elf Malaclypse,
pulled up two stools. “What can I get for yah?”
“Wine.”
Malaclypse said. “Celenish wine.”
“Pah,”
the bartender said, spitting on the counter and then wiping the spittle
away. “We got some wine in from Keoland, but it ain’t no elven wine. You
want that, you go slum’n in the Uleks.”
“That
will be fine,” Malaclypse said.
The
bartender called out to a serving boy, and within seconds two chipped
glasses sat before the elves.
“What’s
new here?” Malaclypse asked.
The
bartender smiled. “What ain’t new? The grand duke came charging back a
few months ago, sent the giants pack’n. Since then a lot of us have come
back and taken back our old places. I had to kick out a bunch of low-lifes
who’d taken a like’n to mah bar, but everything’s about back to
normal. Now the duke’s talking about invade’n, push’n back the giants
I’m like’n that just fine; more eyes for mah walls.” He smiled a
broad, uneven smile and then his look turned serious. “You folks look like
you can take care of yourself. They with you?” he asked, pointing to the
rest of the Blackrazors. The guild members had commandeered a table and were
slugging back their second mugs of ale.
“Yes,”
Malaclypse said.
“Hmmm.
You look’n for some work?”
“Depends
on the work,” Malaclypse said.
“Well,
there’s this woman. She’s looking for some traveling
companions—adventurer types to guide her on her way. Seems she’s looking
for a friend of hers, a mage who might be out with the giants.
Interested?”
“Definitely,”
the elf replied.
* * *
Twenty
minutes later they found themselves in one of the inn’s private dining
rooms. Before them was an expansive feast, complete with fine breads and
fruits for the elves, ale and steak for the dwarves, and excellent
Keolandish cuisine for the humans. Tall bottles of fine wine from Celene sat
at the table’s center, and a impressive keg of ale stood in a corner.
The
Blackrazors immediately tore into the food, savoring its excellent quality,
while slugging back mug after mug of ale. After they’d finished their
first round of food, the door opened, and powerful, intelligent and
well-dressed ogre stepped into the room. Before the ‘razors could reach
for their weapons, a exquisitely beautiful woman walked into the room.
“Thank you Hans,” the woman said, “you may wait outside.”
The
ogre nodded and left.
“I
trust your meal is up to your standards?” The Blackrazors nodded eagerly.
“Excellent. As I know Boral has told you, I am in need of companions to
accompany me west. I’m
searching for a mage … a mage who may be working with the fire giants who
have fortified themselves in a town to the extreme south east. I can pay you
quite well.” She threw down a necklace easily worth 7,000 gold coins.
“Do we have a deal?”
Mal
smiled greedily, as did the dwarves, at the sight of the expertly crafted
jewelry. “Yes,” Luc said,” we have a deal.”
* * *
After
dinner Kannett decided to walk off the fine meal, and headed out into the
city. He strolled its battered boulevards for two hours before deciding to
head back.
As
he turned down an alley in the direction he hoped would lead him home, a
low, menacing voice said: “Hey, why don’t you give me and my boys a few
coins?” Kannett turned, and noticed the pack of thugs that had suddenly
appeared. Their leader was holding a blade, and had the hungry look of a
predator in his eyes. “Hell, why don’t you just give me your entire
purse? And anything else you have.”
“Why
would I do that?” the Blackrazor ranger asked, his hand ready to drop to
his blades.
“Do
it. Or you’ll be dead.”
Kannett
didn’t bother to fully assess the odds. He drew his swords. The thugs
rushed him, lashing out awkwardly with daggers and short swords. The ranger
easily avoided their pathetic assault, and then struck, slaying three of the
thugs with expertly placed cuts. The fools pressed on. Again he avoided
them, and again his blades struck home, slaying another three.
The
others wised up and ran before he could strike again. He let them go,
sheathed his swords, and headed back to the Giant’s
Eyes Inn.
* * *
Valeron, Krysta
cursed. What
in
the Hells
are you up to now? She’d found, drugged and bedded an overly
eager lieutenant in the city guard, who had gladly told her everything he
knew about the Val.
“Yeah,
a one-armed mage came through here a few weeks ago. Caused a hell of a stink
down at the Orcs’ Head. Killed four men outright with green hands he
summoned up. Slayed two more on the way out with a bursts of pure light. He
was gone by the time our men got there. Last I heard he’d headed out west,
to Pest’s Crossing where those fire giants are.
Word has it his working them ‘em.”
“And
what about giants nearby?” she asked seductively.
“Oh,
there’s a major contingent out in Preston.
Once
he was spent--in more ways than one--he'd passed out. The next morning
Krysta gathered up her belongings and headed down to the bar. “There’s a
man in my room,” she told the young bartender on duty. Make sure he finds
his way back to his barracks before he gets in trouble. Understood?” She
threw a few platinum pieces down on the bar, and the young man nodded
enthusiastically. “Yes ma’am!”
With
that chore taken care of, she’d found a table and ordered up some
breakfast. Hans, how had obediently followed here down, sat beside her. Valeron.
Damn you. I should have known you’d backslide again. I thought your
experiences with that cursed Glove of Ati and the Ravages had taught you a
lesson. She sipped at the water before her, and began eating her
just-served breakfast. I
guess not.
* * *
The
party assembled just after soon up, and headed out into the countryside,
following a trail south along the river. “Preston is where the largest
local concentration of giants is,” Krysta explained to the Blackrazors.
“There are number of hill giants, possible led by a cloud giant. We will
go there, capture some of the giants, and learn what we can of my
‘friend’. Specifically, I
want to know about the fire giants in Pest’s Crossing, and about any mages
who might be working with them.”
Luc
nodded. “Sounds like a good plan.”
Hours
later, Kannett and Luc were in the lead, scouting ahead of the party for
possible when they came across several large, tracks that looked like they
might have been made by ogres. Very large ogres.
The
tracks scattered after a few hundred feet, turning to the light forest of
either side. The lead Blackrazors immediately plunged into the forest to the
south of the trail, and began following the tracks.
And
then the first rocks came flying. There were large rocks--not boulders to be
sure, but very large rocks--and they connected with body-shaking force. It
took Luc and Kannett seconds to pick out the rocks’ source—a group of
large ogres standing next to some large trees. The Blackrazors charged
forward, and engaged the ogres hand-to-hand. The lead ogre--a hulking brute
far larger than a normal ogre--unslung a large horn from his belt and blew.
A wave of terror momentarily washed over the Blackrazors, but they stood
their ground … the horn had no affect.
Or
at least no magical affect.
With
the sounding of the horn large crashing sounds started coming from the south
and north. The Blackrazors on the trail had seen the tracks, and now guessed
what had caused them--and what the fool-hardy rangers had decided to do.
They could hear the crashing sounds as well, and decided to take action.
The
now-flying mage Aesop headed off into the southern forest to help the
rangers. Meanwhile Mal circled around to the north and D’klar
charged headlong into the woods.
It
didn’t take long to see what was causing the crashing sounds: bands of
ogres – one for each side of the rode, and each led by a hill giant.
Mal
made quick work of the hill giant to the north, slaying it with a
devastatingly lethal backstab. D’klar--backed up by the new recruit and
fellow dwarven cleric Moriam--proudly fought and slew the ogres.
To
the south, the battle seemed about to go bad when the Blackrazors suddenly
rallied, and sliced their way through the ogre ranks. The hill giant, not so
stupid that it couldn’t see and hear its forces were losing, threw down
his weapons, and sent out a bellowing call for the others to do the same.
“We
give up. You no kill, we leave.”
Luc
nodded. “To the road.”
* * *
“We
should kill them now,” D’klar growled. “Especially the hill giant.”
“I
gave him my word we wouldn’t,” Luc said.
The
dwarf scowled at his friend. “Doesn’t change the fact we should kill
‘em. Only good hill giant is a broken, smashed, disemboweled one.”
The
giant looked at the Blackrazors nervously. “What’s your name giant?”
Krysta asked
“Grasa,”
he said in a low, humble rumble.
“And
who leads the giants.”
“He
who watches all.”
Krysta
let the cryptic statement slide. “Why do you raid?”
“Eat
humans, eat sheep! Plunder! Good to be a giant!” Grasa replied.
“Alright,”
Luc said, “here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to leave and
head back to the mountains. You will attack no more humans, no more elves,
no more good people, understand?”
“But
hungry…”
"Do
you understand?”
The
giant nodded meekly.
“Then
go.”
The
giant left, taking with him all but one of the ogres. The one that remained
behind had been enthralled by Malaclypse’s latest spell: chastise. The spell forced
the ogre to apologize regularly and profusely, and to make up for its
wrong-headed attack.
Mal
cackled happily at the ogre’s discomfort. He loved the thing’s pathetic,
humbled appearance.
Until
the downside of the spell became apparent. “Shine boss’ boots? Mog shine
shows! Mog shine good!” the ogre said, dropping to Mal’s feet and trying
to clean his shoes with a muddy, disgusting piece of cloth.
“Don’t
do that.”
“Ok
boss. Mog carry boss?”
“No.
Don’t touch me.”
“But
Mog must make up for attack. Mog clean boss’ hides?” he asked, picking
at Mal’s cloak. “No. I said don’t touch me.”
And
so it continued. For hours. Mal tried everything to keep the ogre occupied,
but nothing worked. He threw sticks, the ogre returned them. He beat the
ogre, it tripped him trying to give him a better shot. And then tried even
harder to apologize for tripping him.
By
the time the Blackrazors crossed the bridge over the rain-swollen Oyt river,
the Blackrazors could take it no more. Luc said “Hey, why don’t you go
get that rock out of the river?”
The
ogre, seeking to make up for its earlier bumblings, did exactly that. It
jumped into the river, and was instantly swept away.
Just
after the ogre’s death, the Blackrazor Guildmaster Tanevir,
the Oeridian expert hunter known simple as Skinner, and the mage Falgar
crossed over the bridge, having just teleported in.
“Nice
work with the ogre,” Tanevir said. “The barkeep caught us up on our
mission. Good day Lady Krysta,” the elf said with a polite nod. I
understand we’re to escort you west.”
“Yes,”
she said. “But first we’re going to Presten. It’s an old elven tree
town that was overrun by giants early in the war. Now its their largest
outpost in the east.”
“Excellent,”
the elf replied. “Let’s go.”
* * *
The
details of the Battle of Preston are sketchy at best, and comical at worst.
What is
known is that in the late afternoon of the 16th day of
the 5th month of the Common Year 589, a team of Blackrazor Guild
adventurers in the employee of a courtesan known as “Krysta” engaged a
large group of giants who had attacked, smashed and then occupied the elven
village.
Apparently
the Blackrazors had done some cursory scouting of the village and had
concluded that the few hill giants they saw guarding one side of the village
would offer up little resistance. The Blackrazors decided to launch a
three-pronged attack, with a team coming in from the east, west and south.
The
dwarves D’klar, Luc, Moriam, the courtesan Krysta and her ogre companion
Hans attacked from the east while the mage Aesop
and his ranger friend Kannett
attacked from the west. Meanwhile, the guildmaster Tanevir, the mage-thief
Malacylpse, his gnomish follower Whisper, and the Oeridian hunter Skinner
attacked from the south.
The
initial attack went well as ogres--who guarded the village from platforms in
village’s large central tries—were consumed by circular walls of fire.
One of the groups of frost giants (undetected by the scouts) was ensnared by
a wall of fire as well, and two hill giant guards were hit by a fireball spell.
And
then things started to go very badly. The mage Aesop negated the
effectiveness of the wall of fire encapsulating the frost giants by
attacking said giants with an ice storm. The storm had no affect on the
giants, but subdued the fire long enough for them to escape with minimal
damage.
Kannett,
who had been counting on Aesop to back him up, attacked the hill giants on
the village’s western side, but was soon faced with not only two hill
giants but a number of large ogres and a fire giant as well. Aesop raced
back to help his friend, but it was too late--Kannett fell, and the mage
soon dropped as well.
*
* *
While
the western front collapsing, Mal and Tanevir tried to negate the middle
with Evard’s
Black Tenatacles and other spells. They succeeded in immobilizing
the hill giants and two of the fire giants, but the last, and largest fire
giant turned out to be a shaman. That giant dispelled the hold spell on the
largest of his friends, and then turned east to attack the stalwart dwarves,
Falgar and Tanevir’s herald, Alaric.
The
lead frost giant, who’s followers had been weakened but not terribly hurt
by the wall
of fire, turned his attention eastward as well after hurling a
few boulders at Mal and Tanevir. He
battered the eastern group with several javelins of lightening, slaying Alaric
outright, and badly wounding the dwarves.
*
* *
Meanwhile,
Krysta has wisely split of from the eastern group and engaged one of the
bands of ogres. She transformed two lion figurines into flesh-and-blood
mountain lions, who fought along side Hans. She supported them from afar
with well-placed dagger throws, and then ordered Hans to unleash his secret
weapon – a packet of choking and sneezing powder—on another band of
closing ogres. Hans did so … with disastrous results. He fumbled his
throw, and instead of landing in the middle of his attacking kin, the packet
exploded at his feet.
The
effects were catastrophic. The attacking ogres were slain outright, but Hans
was as well. Some say Krysta’s screams of frustration could be heard all
the way to Hochoch.
*
* *
The
battle seemed doomed at that point, but the Blackrazors, bloodied and
battered, managed to rally and destroy their attackers. Equally important,
they were able to catch up with the giants on the western front. Those
giants, seeing the battle was going badly, had stuffed Aesop and Kannett
into sacks and fled into the forest. Tanevir and Falgar were able to slay
the giant carrying the bags, and then the ogres who picked up its burden.
Kannett
escaped from his bag, and by the time he caught up with the rest of the
Blackrazors they had recovered Aesop’s sack. But as they opened it, they
realized they were too late … the mage was dead.
* * *
The
dwarves—frustrated by the chaos of the battle—slew all of the remaining
giants before they could be question. The Blackrazors on the western front
returned, and Tanevir ordered an immediate retreat; they had heard another
patrol closing on their location, and the guild was in no condition to face
them. The Blackrazors deftly scooped up any treasure they could find, and
fled the village.
After
returning to Hochoch, they sent Falgar back to Obsidian Bay along with the
bodies of Aesop and Alaric, as well as the magical treasure they had found.
Falgar examined the items using the Blackrazors trusty slate of identification, and
then (with help of an elemental movement spell from the terramancer Sven
Kildare), teleported back to Hochoch.
The
magical haul included :
3
potions of extra healing
2
javelins of lightning
a bag
of holding
a ring of swimming
a necklace of missiles (4 beads)
a bag of beans (9 beans)
Oil of impact
After
dividing up the treasure—and taking the necklace of missiles—Falgar
teleported back to Obsidian Bay.
The
Blackrazors in Obsidian Bay first took Aesop’s corpse to the Temple
of Cuthbert, where the church demanded an outrageous fee for raising him
from the dead: 15,000 gold coins, his treasured amulet of magic resistance,
his valuable bracers of defense and a
year’s worth of service to the church.
The
Blackrazors negotiated with the church, which agreed to drop the demand for
the bracers and a reduction in the term of service to six months in turn for
20,000 gold and the mage’s wand
of paralyzation.
To
raise Alaric, the church of Heironeous demanded that he turn over his sword
of the planes, his instant
fortress, 10,000 gold coins, and pledge himself to six months of
service.
He
reluctantly agreed.
*
* *
Next
up: Kannett makes some new friends on the Deadly Streets of Hochoch.
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