# Orc Trouble in The Great Forest (Updated July 26, 2006)



## A'vandira Silvermane (Jul 2, 2006)

Reading all those great story hours inspired me to start taking notes during our own table top campaign. The idea was to only have a journal for my character, but comments from the other players prompted me to expand the writing from short journal entries to more detailed stories and finally resulting in posting here. Hope y'all like it.

The cast of characters (more info to follow if the players are willing to supply more details)
Relen Warhammer, a female dwarven fighter and head of the local militia.
Leiah, a female gnome bard.
Gloobali, a female gnome diviner.
Legorn Mitenhart, a male human barbarian.
Trik, a male human rogue.
A'po'strophia DiMaggio, a male human wizard.
Ke'lana Amyn'dur Redraluin - a female elven cleric of Corellon Larethian
Aangord - The DM guiding us through his own brand of fantasy world

The story starts on 3 Artalak (3rd day of the first month of summer).


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## A'vandira Silvermane (Jul 2, 2006)

*Humble beginnings*

Excerpt from the journal of Ke'lana Amyn'dur Redraluin

3 Artalak:

Today we saw a column of smoke rise into the air. The location seemed to be the vicinity of the Gnome village Oakenhill, to the north of Littlewater.

Relen, as leader of the militia, called upon us to join her as she set out to investigate.
On our way we were ambushed by some of those thrice-damned orcs. We let them have it good. They were no match for us and we showed them no mercy. We routed them! Because that's the only good orc, a dead one. Which reminds me of a joke I once heard: "What do you call an orc with 20 arrows in its back? Not dead enough!"

I had to call upon Corellon's power to heal the most grievous of wounds that Trik had sustained. That guy is just as much a danger to himself and us as to those we fight, with that chain of his. When used correctly it's an awesome weapon, but correctly is the operative word here. And just as I know that there's a lot for me to learn about using a longsword, so does Trik need to learn to use his weapon. But we came out triumphant. When we finally crested the last hill, we saw the Gnome village being overrun by more of those hell-spawned orcs. Once more our weapons sang a song of death, but this time it looked like we had bitten of more than we could chew and the tide of battle for a moment seemed to turn in favour of the orcs. But then Gloobali caught the most fearsome and powerful orcs with a spell and suddenly they kept falling down. Later she told me that she had used a spell appropriately called 'Grease' to make their life slippery and miserable. When the battle was nearly over, a contingent of the Elven Army appeared on the scene and took care of the remaining scumbag orcs.

With them was a human sorcerer who introduced himself as A'pos'trofia DiMagio. What names some of these humans have. Ah well, at least he said we could just call him DiMagio. Even though that's only slightly easier to pronounce. While we were talking with the Elven soldiers and the sorcerer, Trik was busy cleaning his chain. Must have gotten dirty with orc flesh and perhaps that greasy stuff that Gloobali used to disable the orcs. But I tell you, that guy needs to get his priorities straight. It's more than just a little rude to behave as he did. And to make things worse I get the feeling he is hiding something. But when I asked him he seemed clean and honest enough. Yet something keeps nagging at me. Better keep an eye on him and make sure we can trust him.

I almost forgot about the gnomes: once the orcs were defeated, I spotted a strange hillock near the edge of the village. Looking a bit longer and harder confirmed my suspicion: it was not a hillock at all, but only an illusion that the gnomes used to hide from the orcs. They were right in the middle of these marauding beasts and those lame-brains didn't even notice that the hill was not real.


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## A'vandira Silvermane (Jul 2, 2006)

4 Artalak:

After taking care of the problems with that orcish scum, we split up into two groups. Relen took Trik and DiMagio back to Littlewater, while Leiah, Gloobali, Legor and I took another route. This way we could scout for more danger. Leiah, the little gnomish bard offered to take the role of scout upon herself. But only after Legor was attacked by a plant. A plant! Can you believe it? It must have been one of those Assassin Vines that I have heard my father tell about when I was a little girl. Must remember to tell one of the army officers next time I see one. Or just send a message to my father. Anyways, Legor got his face pummelled by that blasted plant and we decided that it would be better to leave that thing alone and move around its territory. That's when Leiah offered to scout ahead. I had my reservations, but she was adamant about it and assured us she would be back shortly. So we settled down and waited. I took the opportunity to use an orison to stop the bleeding and then patch up Legor's face with some bandages and some healing salve.

When Leiah came back at last, she told us she almost fell into a stake-filled pit. She also reported having seeing little ferocious creatures that were covered in scales and talked like yipping dogs. Kobolds! More work was waiting for us, so we set out towards the little creek where she had seen them. While making our way there, we saw a couple of the little vermin, which we quickly dispatched. I borrowed Legor's bow and despite the heavy pull of that thing, I managed to take out two of the little monsters. As we were about to enter the vale where the creek springs from, we heard the tell-tale yipping of more kobolds from behind us and we quickly decided to wait for them in an ambush.
Well, that was a disaster. While we were hiding behind bushes and trees, that big oaf Legor stood straight behind a shrub not even half his size, asking where the kobolds were. So much for a surprise attack! But despite that, we worked like some well-oiled piece of gnomish machinery and we slew the kobolds with extreme prejudice.

As we came close to the creek Legor stumbled over a tripwire tied to some hollow wooden tubes hidden up in a tree. The noise alerted more of their ungodly kind and barely finished taking out the stragglers were we facing new enemies that came from the cave where the creek surfaces from some underground well. Again my borrowed bow served me well and the kobolds fell like wheat before a scythe. The last one decided to use the cave for its last stand. Soon we were laying siege, with the lone kobold shooting crossbow bolts from the darkness, nearly hitting several of us. I almost felt sorry for the little creature, all alone against the four of us. But evil has to be cleansed and when it tried to sprint from one cover to the next I was ready for it. The arrow nearly passed through its body and without a sound it fell to the ground.

Satisfied that my work was done, I went back outside to keep an eye out for more trouble as the others checked the cave. Suddenly Gloobali was calling out my name and fearing that danger was upon us again, I rushed back inside, instinctively reaching for my sword. But there was no danger. Only an ancient scene of combat. Inside a circle of orcish skeletons lay a single skeleton that I identified as Elven. If my interpretation of the clues is correct a single Elven warrior must have defeated the orcs, only to succumb to his wounds after them. Despite the apparent age of the skeletons the armor of the elf was still free of rust or taint. Feeling it to be the right thing to do, I took the skeleton outside to give it a decent burial. Since the armor and the sword seemed to be in better condition than my own equipment I decided to put it to good use and take them with me. Further exploration of the cave turned up nothing new and so we returned home, glad that we managed to stay alive and were able to remove the kobold threat.

I have taken the armor and sword back to Littlewater with me, to clean it and perhaps use them both. Using a simple spell, I have checked and seen that both items are enchanted. I will have to seek out a teacher soon, because this armor is definitely something I have never before seen for real, only in drawings and paintings depicting ancient war scenes. I will have to learn how to best use it. The sword as well seems to be very special, with ancient runes along both sides of the blade and its cross guard and pommel set with emeralds and I plan on finding out everything I can about it.


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## genshou (Jul 4, 2006)

I really like what I see of the journal style so far.  I should probably do some of that with my story hour.  Actually, I should just update it at all.

I'll be reading this one, definitely.


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## Aangord (Jul 4, 2006)

And who is all but forgotten in the first introdutonairy

Mmm any one a thought?


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## genshou (Jul 5, 2006)

Aangord said:
			
		

> And who is all but forgotten in the first introdutonairy
> 
> Mmm any one a thought?



Hah!  All that work and no reward, nor even a mention, eh?


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## A'vandira Silvermane (Jul 5, 2006)

*The third day*

5 Artalak:

This morning, after my meditation and prayers, I heard a noise at the base of my tree and found Legor waiting for me to come down. He came asking for more divine healing, as he was still suffering from the wounds he suffered yesterday. Calling once again upon Corellon, as I seem to be doing more and more these days, I used some of his divine energy to take care of Legor's wounds. After breakfast, I cleaned and polished my newfound armor and sword. How right I was to bring them with me from that cave! The dull and dusty armor turned out to be made from mithral! And the sword is something to behold as well, perfectly balanced and still as sharp as a razorblade. Ancient Elven runes grace both sides of the blade. The cross guard is set with emeralds, as is the pommel. And an engraving of Corellon's Crescent Moon leads me to believe this sword is somehow connected to the Elven Father. Joining my friends to discuss our plans we found we all have reasons to go to the garrison of the Elven Army, two days travel north of Littlewater, but Relen insisted that we first go to the kobold cave, because Leiah mentioned finding some old Dwarven mining tools in there. Finally it was decided to make a short stop on our way to the garrison.

As I was packing my gear and preparing for the journey, my attention was drawn by a little, brightly colored bird, sitting on the railing of the platform.

Looking closer I saw a little piece of vellum tied to one of its legs. Holding out a hand the bird jumped onto it and allowed me to take what turned out to be a note from a Shadowguard patrol. Once more our help was needed. As the patrol was moving through Arvalen's Drop, they had been attacked by a group of Orcs and now needed our assistance. Quickly gathering the necessary equipment, I raced down the tree, calling for the others as I went. On the ground I explained to my friends what was going on and within moments we were on our way, running the short distance towards the Drop. Slowing down as we approached, we took some time to survey the area.

It was a good thing we did, for it allowed us to make up a plan before heading into the fight. Splitting up and skirting around the vale we approached the battlefield from all sides. Relen, her warhammer hungry for orcs, led the two gnomes around the south side, while Legor and I took the northern route. As agreed Legor's charge would be the signal for the rest to launch a strike from all directions catching the orcs in a circle of death and destruction. The first time I saw a plan survive contact intact. As Legor charged one of the orcs, I followed him closely before veering off to attack another one of the scumbags that was shooting arrows into the crevice that the Shadowguards used for cover. Legor was swinging that big sword of his, like a farmer using a scythe to harvest wheat. The orc never stood a chance and was nearly cut in half. My own opponent didn't fare any better. Before he had the chance to react, he was lying on the ground, his blood pumping out. The elven weapon smiths of old sure knew how to make a blade. What a magnificent weapon this is. Taking a moment to survey the battle, I saw that Relen was doing quite okay as well. Gloobali was flinging spells at the orcs, putting them to sleep or have them slipping on a greasy ground, while Leiah was hypnotizing another one. Relen's warhammer sang death among the enemy, even as Gloobali and Leiah were finishing off the orcs they incapacitated. Turning my attention back to my own side of the battlefield I saw we were not out of the woods yet.

Unbeknownst to us, the orcs were smart enough to keep a few of them as a reserve. Legor suddenly found himself the centre of attention from two big orc barbarians. One of them was wielding one of those big orcish double axes, whereas the other swung a mighty greatsword. While the swordwielder was not much of a threat to my friend, (I think he was blind or something, constantly swinging his sword too high to hit) the one with the axe more than made up for the other's incompetence. He was really dishing out a lot of hurt to Legor. Rushing forward I came up behind Legor, where I was able to use more of Corellon's power to heal the worst of his injuries, only to have my work undone again as the orc scored another terrible hit on Legor, almost disembowelling him. From the corner of my eye I saw that my friends had managed to take care of most of the other monsters, Relen still hammering away at them, but Leiah and Gloobali were coming to our aid as quickly as their short legs would carry them.

Then a movement further away caught my attention: two Shadowguards had come out of cover and were running at full speed towards us as well. The orcs seemed to have noticed this too and were apparently determined to take at least one of us with them in death. They were hacking away at us with tremendous blows, unfortunately with better results then before. The greatsword this time struck true, right alongside the wounds from the double axe. Luckily I was able to heal some of the wounds these monsters inflicted. But this time, my healing spell had an unexpected resulty; this time I heard a voice in my mind, asking me if I were willing to make a small sacrifice to help Legor. Looking back in retrospect, I see now that I agreed without actually realizing that my sword was speaking to me. When I did agree to make that sacrifice, I felt a little bit of my own energy being drained, seemingly used to power my healing spell. When the elves joined the fray the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Soon there was no orc left alive and we were finally able to catch our breath.

One of the Shadowguards addressed me, urging me to follow them back to the crevice and their wounded comrades. After binding their wounds and using more divine energy to keep them from dying, the patrol leader explained about the ambush. As the patrol was making their way through the forest they were beset by a group of orcs. To prevent being surrounded, they withdrew into Arvalen's Drop to make their stand. Though they managed to take out several of the evil monsters, they were forced to retreat as some lucky shots took out their two archers. That's when the ranger asked a bird to relay his call for help to Littlewater, hoping we would be there to come to the rescue.

While we were talking the others disposed of the orcish bodies, after taking everything worthwhile from the corpses. Not that there was really that much to be found, mostly some minor gemstones and a some crude weapons, Two exceptions to this were the greatsword and a bow that the orcish archer used. The bow was badly in need of caring but otherwise fine and very well-made, allowing me to return Legor’s bow to him.

The conversation with the patrol leader confirmed our suspicion about the increased orc activity and we were asked to help patrol the border to prevent more orcs from coming into our lands. As I am nearly old enough to begin my tour of duty anyways I accepted, thinking about the chance to slaughter more of those damned orcs. As we were talking, his eyes were drawn to my sword and my armor, and he told me to go to the garrison and seek out Thamior Galanodel, the captain. He’s a swordmaster and should be able to teach me much more about the use of my sword. Now all I need is to find someone able and willing to teach me how to best use this ancient armor of mine. Perhaps Thamior can help me there as well or point me in the right direction.

After speaking to the patrol leader we went back to Littlewater via the Kobold cave, to satisfy Relen’s curiosity. We found some old, rusty and broken Dwarven mining tools. Closer examination revealed markings that, according to Relen, were in use at the Dwarven colony in the Razorpeak Mountains. Despite a careful search nothing else was found and we returned to our village, with Relen lost in thought.


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## Aangord (Jul 5, 2006)

and than to think that Avandira is still several days behind in posting the Journal entries of Ke'lanna


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## A'vandira Silvermane (Jul 13, 2006)

6 Artalak:

After a night spent in quiet solitude, Legor came over to me, asking me to check on the greatsword he took from the defeated orc. Alas for him I could not find any trace of magical enhancements on the blade. It's just a well-crafted and formidable but mundane blade. After breakfast we gathered our stuff and left for the garrison (at last).

The trek through the forest was really nice. Even though I'm not a ranger, my father's love for nature and the wild forest has influenced me greatly and I love to be outside. Our trip was rather uneventful, apart from a pack of timber wolves that crossed our path, without paying us much attention. But the bear was something different. It was big! It was huge! It was a giant of a dire bear. And it was in a grumpy mood. I sure am glad we saw it in time and were able to get out of its way. No telling what would have happened if it had decided to have us as a snack. Nothing much positive I guess though. The rest of the day we marched on, some of us chatting softly and me enjoying the scenery. Until we came upon a marker for a secret tree platform, used by elven patrols to rest in safety during the night. Since the day was nearly over, we decided to rest there. Once I got up there, I lowered the rope ladder, allowing the others to climb up as well.

After a meal of dry rations and some fresh water, I moved to the side of the platform, telling the others that they could sleep while I would take first watch. This gave me the opportunity to think further about my future and what I plan to do once we get to the garrison.

All in all it was a relatively quiet and uneventful day, which is quite a welcome change from the past couple of days. Mind you, I am not complaining, but adventures alternated with time to reflect makes for better learning from the experience.


7 Artalak:

Breakfast was a hurried affair this morning. As if everybody, myself included, was so eager to continue the trek towards the garrison, that there was hardly time to enjoy the food. Not that it was so enjoyable anyways; dry biscuits, dried fruit and some water hardly seem to constitute a nice breakfast in my opinion. So as soon as we finished our meal we descended from the tree and continued our journey. After following the path for a while, we heard some rustling overhead and looking up, saw a giant birds nest in the trees, more or less straight above the path. On the edge of the nest were a couple of owls. But they were not your regular type of owl. Oh no. Quite the contrary. These were giant owls. And gigantic they were. Almost as big as a horse, and with a temper like they had a swarm of fire-ants under their feathers. As soon as we approached the tree the nest was in, they started screeching and flapping those big wings, clearly very agitated at the prospect of us coming too close. While most of us left the path, DiMagio decided that the owls were attacking him and he started to cast a spell. Silly human. All he had to do was follow us and move around the nest at a fair distance and he would have been okay. As it was, he came away with only a few scratches, but that serves him right.

Back on the trail Leiah suddenly came to a stop and gestured towards the vegetation to the left side of the path, indicating that she'd heard something. No sooner did we stop to listen as well, when all of a sudden a huge wild boar burst forth from the foliage, running straight towards us. Diving aside in every direction we were able to avoid being trampled by the beast, which strangely enough seemed not interested in us at all. The reason for this soon became clear as more sounds came from the direction that the boar had come from. Barely back on our feet, we were nearly run down by a centaur hunting party. They seemed to be pretty surprised as well, but they managed to jump aside at the last moment before hitting any of us. Without so much as a word they continued after the boar, bows and arrows at the ready. A shame they left before I had a chance to talk to them, because they are magnificent creatures. Wild, independent and strong but yet so graceful. I would have loved to have had the chance to talk to them, but alas.

Just as we were about to continue our journey a little centaur colt came trudging across the path, on the trail of the big ones that had just left. We had barely walked for a few hundred yards when we heard a tiny shout from nearby and as we went in to investigate we came upon a pit trap, the little centaur colt at the bottom; whimpering in pain from an apparently hurt leg. Since I am the only one able to channel healing energy, it was decided that I was going to go into the pit and help the little fellow. But it turned out that climbing in armor is not a good idea as I found out. A stone I was using for support broke loose and with my armor on I fell down, twisting my ankle as I hit the ground. Fortunately that was all, so I guess I came away pretty lucky. Talking to the little centaur, whose named turned out to be Nymbus, I learned that he had snuck away from the centaur camp to follow the grown-ups and observe the hunt from close-up. After checking his leg, which was indeed broken, I used a spell to heal the wound and soon he was okay again. With my friends hoisting and me pushing and shoving we were able to get the centaur out of the pit and back on its way to his tribe's encampment.

Finally we were on our way to the garrison and without any further incidents we reached our destination. Introducing ourselves to the guards we got an audience with Captain Thamior Galanodel. We were introduced to Armyl Arvalon, the Head Priest of the Garrison and Arevin Thessur, the resident Battle Mage.

The captain explained that lately the orcs are on the move, coming down from the mountains in increasing numbers, without any apparent reason for it. He's asked us to find the 'Old Man' who seems to be a hermit, living in the mountains. This person knows the answers to all questions, according to the captain and we have two weeks to report back. To help us in this task the smith, a Dwarf no less, gets instructions to provide us with any equipment, within reason of course, that we might need. Relen gets a new masterfully crafted shield and the smith is also able to provide her with a new breastplate of superior quality. Gloobali got Arevin to give him two new spells 'Invisibility and Spider Climb' on a scroll and DiMagio got a book 'Basic Spell Grammar'.

I found the captain willing to teach me more about the use of my new longsword as well as my armor, although he hinted at more knowledge than he showed me. After the evening meal I went to dance with the captain. When I came to the top of the stairs the commander was waiting for me.

Thamior was dressed in his own armor, instead of the comfortable clothing he wore earlier. He drew his sword as I stepped in to the small antechamber in front of his office and the war room.

“Ke’lana, good evening. First I will tell you something about your armor. Normally warriors defend themselves with their weapons and shields. If an enemy breaks or slips through that defence, normal warriors just trust to luck that their armor will save them. Good warriors do not. Also, when they break through an enemy’s defence, armor won’t stop them.
This armor is of an old design, meant to be used as an active part in a warriors defence instead of a static last resort.”

 Thamior then touched the pieces of thin curved armor plating that lay over the shirt and skirt of fine mithral chain links with his long sword. “That is why these plates are curved and shaped to deflect rather than absorb. This armor is not for absorbing blows. Let an Ogre smack you with a tree stump and you will not survive. As a normal suit of plate would absorb that damage, this armor instead gives you a chance to dodge that same swing as it does not obstruct your movement.”

Then Thamior started swinging while talking and teaching how to use the deflecting plates of the suit to deflect the blows of his blade that I could not parry, and his title of swordmaster being disserved I parried very few of his blade swings with my own sword. That sword though went trough the air almost singing, as light as a feather.

“Now try the offensive” Thamior said, even as he wove a wall of steel with his own blade. He was going on the defensive with the expertise of an experienced fighter. Even while parrying every single one of my strokes effortlessly, he suggested sleight alterations in my sword swings and techniques. He showed me more techniques of handling a sword than I could grasp at that moment. It would take a long time of contemplation and practise before I would master them all. As I was using his own tricks and tactics on him he revealed even more. More accurately, he used counter parry’s to those same moves he had shown me only moments a go.
Then suddenly it ended; looking at rocky ceiling overhead while lying on my back on the stone. It took me a moment to realise where I was and how I had gotten there. He had swiped my legs from under me with his own. He helped me back on my feet like a real gentleman. “Always have other weapons and never assume that the weapon you see is the most dangerous or the only one.” His sword was sheathed while mine lay several feet away. While looking at it, I noticed a poking feeling in my calf. Looking down I saw he had snuck a dagger in between the plates of my armor, without me noticing or being wounded. I looked at him with an incredulous look on my face. Thamior simply winked and smiled, joy and mischief dancing in his eyes.

He picked up my blade and ran his eyes and fingers over the blade, almost fascinated.
“This is a very special blade, ancient yet strong and powerful, balanced to perfection even and not the slightest scratch even after an hour of parrying” he said astonished. “The emeralds and moon crescent inlay are beautiful but the identical runes on the blade are not for show. They are elder elven runes meant to give strength and al manner of magical abilities to the steel, or so it is said. It is a sword worthy of a king. Or a queen for that matter. Better take very good care of it. For now I bid you good night. Rest well and think about what I taught you today.”

And so the training ended, with me soaked in sweet and bruised all over walking down the spiral staircase carved in the stone and the commander turning to his own quarters not even tired.
After freshening up I went to bed, exhausted and eager to get some rest.


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## A'vandira Silvermane (Jul 14, 2006)

Aangord said:
			
		

> And who is all but forgotten in the first introdutonairy
> 
> Mmm any one a thought?




No longer is the DM missing from the list, so stop harrassing me already, alright?


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## Son_of_Thunder (Jul 17, 2006)

*Me likey!*

I like this too. Looks promising. Keep it up.


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## A'vandira Silvermane (Jul 25, 2006)

8 Artalak:

I came out of my reverie this morning with last night's training still fresh in my mind. During the night, the tactics shown to me by Captain Thamior had sunk in and I feel that I will be better able to deal with them orc scumbags. Or with other cretins for that matter. But not only were his lessons on my mind. For each of my failures at defending myself, there was a big blue-black bruise to remind me of the holes in my defense. After rubbing some ointment onto the bruises to help them heal faster, I spent my time in meditation and prayer, selecting the spells I thought would be most useful in the coming day. When I came into the mess hall, I was greeted by Leiah and Gloobali. Though they are gnomes, their appetite would be more appropriate for a Halfling and they were already wolfing down a breakfast big enough to feed an ogre. Waiting for the others we finished breakfast together, then, having collected our stuff went on our way to find 'The Old Man'.

After an uneventful trek we reached the hills at the foot of the Razorpeak Mountains. There, we were greeted by an ogre, calling himself Ook, who demanded money to let us pass. I expected Relen to teach that brute some manners, but all she was doing was looking at the big oaf and mumbling something about him being very tall and strong. If I didn't know any better I would think she is either afraid of just worried for the rest of us. Then Leiah started mumbling too, but in her words I recognized the keys to a spell and when she finished the Ogre was looking at her like she was a long time friend of his. She explained to me that she had hypnotized the monster and I have to admit that I am kind of impressed. Continuing on our way we soon came upon a man sitting on a big boulder alongside the path. A strange man, I might add. He was sitting there as if he were at home with no dangers around at all. When we asked him about this, specifically mentioning Ook the Ogre, he looked at us with  his silver eyes as if we were joking. Because his face was partially hidden by his beard,  seemingly chisseled from solid silver, I couldn't tell if he was smiling or not. When he finally answered his beard looked like a silver work of art coming to life. It split, revealing a set of perfect white teeth in his mouth and only now was I able to tell that he was indeed laughing. According to him there was nothing to be affraid of where Ook was concerned, but I have my reservations. Perhaps he has some secret deal with the Ogre to leave him alone.
As we stood there talking to him a sense of unease came over me, as if there was more to him than we were seeing. It turned out that he was indeed 'The Old Man of the Mountains'  and apparently he had been waiting for us and was more than willing to answer our questions. His answers did not take away my feeling of unease. Nor did they provide any clarity. I mean, who can make something of: "Dig for answers at the end of your road"? I for one can't, nor could the others. Even Relen, to whom he said this, didn't have a clue what to make of his words.

We left the Old Man where he was and trudged further along the trail on our way to Dwarrowdelf when we came upon a stone way marker inscribed with Dwarven runes. According to Relen, the meaning of the runes was something like: "To be in Dwarrowdelf tonight, walk right away". Almost as clear as the old man's words. After discussing which way to go, it was decided to take the right-hand fork in the road and soon we found a cave in the face of the mountain. As Relen entered the cave, darkness descended suddenly on her. Loosing sight of her, but still hearing her we called for her to come back. Then the sounds of combat came from the darkness and immediately I called upon Corellon to grant us his favor in the battle we were about to join.
DiMaggio ran into the darkness, swinging his quarterstaff, but he only hit darkness and air. As the others were calling for Relen to withdraw, Gloobali was chanting the words to a spell of her own and suddenly a shimmering layer appeared around her. Leiah seemed to be unable to decide what to do and finally opted for preparing her sling. Drawing my sword I tried to hit whatever it was that was fighting us in the dark cave, but to no avail. Then the sound of running feet indicated that someone was running out of the cave, which later turned out to be DiMaggio, followed by Gloobali and Leiah. As I couldn't see anything I decided to draw the enemy out into the light and withdrawing I made my way back out of the cave, calling Relen as I did so, to guide her out of the darkness as well. Once outside and back into the light the whole group was prepared to face whatever enemy it was we were dealing with. Suddenly two black flying/hovering creatures looking like living robes came out of the cave and one of my friends - in the general ruckus I missed who it was - called out that we were dealing with Darkmantles. The fight was short but intense, with everybody doing their part to kill the monsters as quickly as possible. DiMaggio was launching his so-called Magic Missiles -bolts of pure magical energy - at the monsters while Gloobali was sending long streams of fire from her hands. Relen had a completely different approach; using her typically thick Dwarven skull as an anvil while battering the creature on her head with her warhammer. Soon the first monster was dead, quickly followed by the second one, slain by my sword and DiMaggio's energy bolts.
Once the monsters were dead I called on Corellon again and used his divine energy to heal the wounds that Relen had sustained, both from the attack and her own hammer. Looking back on the fight now, it was a good thing we did not enter the cave all together or it might have gone quite differently.
I only hope Trik and Legor catch up to us quickly, so that we may be better able to deal with the threats we encounter.


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