Birthmonth the 3rd, 8:30 PM and the group put their plan into action. Half of them (Ygraine, Connal, Eoghan, and Darius) went up with care to the 2nd floor and then onward to the 3rd. Meanwhile, the other half (Wilhelm, Shim, Rhygar, and Grendel) manned the landing on the 2nd floor. Looking through the open wall to the south, we could see the cold and dark forest, feeling as if we were being watched.
The first group went to the 3rd floor and in no time, 2 ogres: 1 with a heavy crossbow, attacked. Their assault seemed to trigger something in the woods because the other half of the party could see goblins coming out of the woods. Lots of them. Wilhelm waited for the right time and then used a scroll of Silence, casting it down the steps and in the area of the apse in order to silence any goblin chanting. In addition, Shim shot a Darkness outside the walls, making any shooting of them an impossibility.
The battle went fairly quick. Ygraine took a few stabs and then slaughtered the ogre with two thrusts of her blade. Meanwhile Eoghan and Darius fired and slung stones, hitting the other ogre with the crossbow. As we reshuffled the hall, the crossbow wielder fired again and then after weathering a few shots, ran to the open wall and jumped into the dark! He actually snagged a rope and began to climb.
While another ogre had snuck down the stairs from the 4th and engaged the party from the back. Connal and Eoghan fought him off as the ranger shuffled around to get a better line with his bow.
From below the goblins hit the stairs and ran up. The silence made any spell casting up the steps not happen and only a few made it to the top, the narrow steps actually holding them back and at bay. Grendel and Rhygar were near the front line and Shim summoned a monster to help out. We took out a few of the goblins and were feeling pretty good about things.
The Ogre that had snuck down took terrible wounds from Eoghan, the ranger having an innate knowledge of where to administer the most pain and suffering on the monstrous humanoid. It staggered from the blows as we reshuffled the lines again and finally took the ogre down. Huzzah! Upward! We rebalanced the marching order and ran up the stairs to the 4th floor. The tower floor here was pretty bad off and we faced two of the Ogres here – 1 from below who had climbed up. The other was wielding a 2 handed maul and was sweeping blows about.
As the goblins tried to run up again, Wilhelm called to Frey and summoned a ball of fire 6’ tall. It burned the goblin at the top of the stairs and then he hurled it down the steps, where it ran over other goblins and set them ablaze before hitting the 1st floor and turning slowly in place. With only a few goblins up here now, we redoubled our efforts to finish them off. One of them was hit and hit hard, sent over the edge of the wall and into the dark, where he fell down and smashed another goblin outside! The call was given to retreat and the last of the goblins, already suffering too many losses, turned and ran away back to the woods.
Ygraine was shot at short range and the valkyrie was driven backwards to the edge of the floor, where the ogre there then swung and knocked her out and away. She spread her wings and kept flight, gathering her wits and burning away some of her precious divine power to do so. We hit and stabbed and cut, Eoghan’s bow skill being decidedly deadly. It was when Darius found himself grappling with the Ogre (critical) who smashed him in the face, gripped him by the crotch, and then lifted him up and hurled him through the open wall and down the 40’ to the ground. At the last moment Ygraine dove for the fighter, snatching his hand and the two of them plummeted down, hitting the ground with a snapping bounce.
“You ok?” She asked him, wiping the blood off her cheek.
He waved his hand and grunted, rolling to a seated position. “I’m good. I’m good!” He pointed up. “Go on!” She saluted him and spread wings, flying up to rejoin the party on the 4th floor.
The 1 Ogre up there was finally slain while the crossbow wielding one ran up the stairs during the fight, racing to the 5th floor. Ygraine flew through the wall, grabbed the weapon from the floor, and nodded to Eoghan and Connal. “He’s alive. Hurt, but alive.” She pointed up the stairs. “Ready?” Connal took the lead this time and we moved onward.
Hitting the 5th floor, the tower was beginning to tilt a bit as we travelled it. Stone was crumbling as we climbed. Also, it narrowed down here. We could hear the ogre above running onward and we could also hear the rest of the party catching up to us from below. Wilhelm, Grendel, Rhygar, and Shim; the gnome getting green as he climbed higher. Darius was still far below, the battered fighter back up to his feet and trudging his way to the tower.
We climbed the stairs to the 6th level and the floor was narrower again – barely 20’ wide. A final Ogre was here but he was slain very quickly after getting another shot at Ygraine. Wilhelm used the scroll of healing, getting the valkyrie to a better place. We moved with care across to the stairs to the 7th floor and it was here that we debated on all of us actually going on. Shim was barely able to move on and the party was in poor condition. Darius finally caught up to us and after having some words with Wilhelm, convinced the druid we needed to go on.
8th floor and then finally a central circle of stairs to the roof. 9 floors up on the broken tower. We made sure Ygraine was up here and a nimbus glow was slowly forming around her. The last ogre was here and we could see some 200’ feet out was a 70’ wide wingspan wyvern circling the tower, a huge ogre riding on its back. Ygraine removed the ring of shields and gave it back to Shim, calling him a brave one, and then we could see the Aurora Borealis suddenly burst overhead.
A shaft of rainbow light blew down and hit Ygraine who thanked the entire party for saving her. She was awash with light as the divine power flowed back into her and she strode up the Bifrost back to Asgard. As for the party – we could see the major 12 gods all there looking back at us and we were just…humbled. Changed. Invigorated in some way.
Rikar Mankiller was also no longer looking to fight. We talked to the Ogre who was stunned on seeing the gods and agreed that this needed to end. We got word from him that he’d give the Far Dam orc tribe no trouble and considered them now under his protection. We were tired and slept. Darius and Rhygar headed back the next day to Paxian to purchase some basic ornamental stones from our depleted stores of coins. Upon returning we all made our way north to Glagdir Province.
We arranged that night a meeting with Sonnab, the young shepherd taking us north to Swelter Ridge. We met with the Justicar and handed over the stones, letting him know of Rikar Mankiller and the resolution of all things. We left feeling the matter we resolved and then on the trip back to the Dykstra farm, let Sonnab know that his time here was going to end. Wait for the 8 months or so, make sure if any children were born and were half breed that he would take them. And then he should leave.
Our journey had changed us in some ways. Actually seeing the gods and being so close to the Bifrost altered each of us a tiny bit. We rested that night under the eaves of the Wandering Ewe Inn and discussed our trip back to Erylond on the morrow. We had gotten the ok from Lord Glagdir about the food and timber allotments for the next year starting in 2 months. And the 300 silver would be given to us when we were ready to leave in the morning. We had to get back to Erylond and report to the GRSAG and then figure out what the next step would be.
And that step was going to eventually lead us to the Desmondian Diamond that Shimlagesh was holding on to. And hopefully a way to prevent the coming of Fimbulwinter.
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