The adventurers begin again in the frigid north – on a mission from the Orc Lord to slaughter all the orcs in Ironvale. The certainty of their own demise if they don’t do his bidding may be their only motivation at this point…
- Just as the heroes are about to find a place to settle and discuss next steps, they meet another group wandering in the frozen wastes.
- Unfortunately, they don’t seem friendly…
Bardic Thunder!
ENGAGE!
- The march to Ironvale
- Orc Army occupation of the surrounding area
- The adventurers head away from the orc army. What horrors do they witness, what challenges do they overcome?
- Each player to provide a challenge that the party faced and overcame on its way to Ironvale. Go around the group until everybody has had a chance to provide a challenge, and everybody has got to highlight how their character was useful.
MONTAGE!
- Ereveron (Dave L.): Trying to avoid roaming parties of orcs
- Brath (Joe): Shapechanges into a hawk, native to the area and scouts ahead, leading the party around some small marauding parties of orcs in the forest then drops again below the treeline to alert Magnus, Ereveron and Astrid who are all keenly aware of my whereabouts when in scout form, and distinguish between me and other wildlife.
- Brath (Joe): What Brath doesn’t notice, however, is they are heading in the direction of a small cottage where the adventurers discover an orc band raided the home, killed the children, strung them up as a warning, but didn’t finish off the parents who are horribly injured
- Rainier (Fab): continuing along their path, the heroes hear some rustling and things falling in the brush nearby. Slowly, we realized they walked into more devastation, thankfully not humans, but we come across an abandoned orc camp where they’ve left the carcasses of their own meals for the wildlife to finish off. Taking advantage, a pack of hungry wolves has found the campsite and notice the heroes
- Astrid (Eric): approaches one of the wolves, telling the rest of the party to stay back, and on her hands and knees, certain not to look the alpha in the eyes in a show of subservience, and tries to get the Alpha to know the party is not a threat, and if successful, she doesn’t have to use fire magic to ward them off. If not, she gets the party to back away and allow them to continue feasting on the carcasses left by the orcs.
- Astrid (Eric): As the party continues, more evidence of what the orcs have done is evident. A small hamlet has been run through by the orcs, businesses forever damaged, wailing women and children lamenting their fathers being taken captive by the orcs. The party tries to provide healing, helping to lift boards to board up windows, the druids help cure poisons and wounds… a quiet promise that Gul can’t do anything like this again. One of the problems in the village is that a hedge wizard in the town had created a “Living Spell” that he was trying to coax into residing in a magic wand, but when the orcs came, he lost control of it and the living spell is zig-zagging across the hamlet.
- Gallydyn (Max): teleports up to a vantage point on an intact building, trying to discern a pattern as to how the spell is moving through the village, and identifying one, prepares a containing shield to ‘capture’ it until he can return it to the wizard
- Gallydyn (Max): Once the party has helped as much as they could in short order, making their way through the forest, they realize there is an uncomfortable odour, Brath and Astrid immediately recognize the ‘mark’ of this creature identifying its territory, and the creature rears up before them
- Magnus (Roberto): As we get closer to Ironvale, there is increasing evidence of orc patrols in what seems clear to be a wide perimeter around the town
The dwarven mining outpost of Ironvale is tucked away in the jagged foothills of the Frost Range. It relied upon its isolation to protect it from orcs, and its sturdy walls to protect it from frost giants and mountain remorhaz. As the adventurers enter the clouded valley they see the walls of the outpost have been breached. Venturing closer still they see a large number of orcs have set up camp here, there are no dwarves to be seen. A force of orcs are riding out on aargwolves, headed east at great speed. As the adventurers cautiously approach they hear the discordant sound of musical instruments and cheering in orcish. A group of orcs are standing around a fire pit. As the heroes watch the orcs toss another dwarf corpse into the fire. The orcs whoop and holler as the smoke goes up. This is a victory celebration for the orcs.
Entering Ironvale:
- How do the adventurers approach? Despite you all seeing the orcs, the orcs are not alerted to your presence. It is still daylight but dusk is approaching within the hour.
- Enter at dusk?
- Enter while daylight?
- Enter brazenly?
- Enter cleverly?
Orc Shamans, Orc Battle Screamer, Pit-Spawn Orcs
ENGAGE!
Now, having secured the fortress, dead dwarven bodies litter the small keep. No survivors can be found, but the food stocks for the army are piled high inside the keep.
Brath goes into scout form to see how close the advancing army is.
Cons
Loot from the ruins of Ironvale:
- Chain Armor of Iron Will
- The steel links of this heavy chain armor have an opalescent quality that reflects light around the wielder in a splay of muted colors, which some believe to be spiritually divine in nature. The armor bolsters the mental defenses of its wearer.
- +1 AC and MD
- Quirk: Prone to abstract speculation
- Supple Boots of the Slippery Eel
- These soft boots are made from the skin of the giant black eels that live among
- the Wake Islands in the Midland Sea. The eel skin soles are surprisingly resilient and surprisingly slick
- +1 to disengage checks. Add your Dexterity modifier to your disengage checks
- Quirk: Loves puns
- Elven Cloak
- Each elven cloak, often called a “forestfold cloak,” is said to be sewn by the handmaidens of the Elf Queen and holds the memory of her forest court within its threads
- +1 to PD
- Add +10 to checks to remain hidden in natural surroundings
- Quirk: Prefers the finest things in life; of course, they are elven
- Helm of the Undaunted Hero
- Those who have the will to follow the Crusader can do anything, many of their helms become imbued with their endless courage. Many of them also don’t have owners anymore
- +1 to MD
- Recharge 6+ (after save roll): At the start of your turn, you can roll a save against one ongoing save ends effect as a free action. Make the recharge roll immediately after you
- use the power instead of during your next short rest
- Quirk: Favors traditional battle hymns
- Shield of Protection
- This stout kite shield bearing the likeness of the Great Gold Wyrm once belonged a paladin who fought beside the Gold in a past age
- Enemies engaged with you take a –1 attack penalty against your allies
- Quirk: Tends to others with too much familiarity
- Symbol of Gathered Power
- This oddRecharge with full heal-up: During a short rest, you can regain an expended daily adventurer level spell. symbol has a different precious gemstone forming each of its three prongs
- Quirk: One-track mind
