Session 2: The Ruined Tower

When the party begins to break camp in the morning, Forester notices a pair of boot prints in the frost; someone’s been watching them in the night... Ardyn’s first thought is that someone swung down from the trees, watched them for a while before shimmying back up the rope, pulling it up behind him.

The characters looking in stunned silence at Ardyn.

Ardyn attempts to use his tracking talent to follow the trail but rolls double 1 and wanders off into the deeps of the forest like a blind man.

Whilst the other characters are discussing what might be going on, having ruled out the Tarzan solution, Ardyn does indeed stumble upon the night watcher: an elf clad in a mantle of leaves wearing stag’s skull for a helmet. The elf has this to say...

‘One of our kin came to your land in times past. He met with the man that was Nuromen and neither elf nor crown were seen again. Your path will soon cross that of the necromancer. If you should slip through his grasp, recover the crown and earn the friendship of the forest...’

‘A word to the wise: do not attempt to defeat the dead with weapons of the living lest you be undone. Nuromen may yet perish at your hand but not this day, nor soon.’

Amazingly Ardyn finds his way back to the camp where the others are ready to head north-west looking for the cave from their vision at the stone pool. They contemplate Ardyn’s encounter and the elf’s message on their journey. They conclude that Nuromen is too tough to face at this stage but those with stealth and magic might prevail where a direct assault would meet with certain defeat.

After a time, they come upon a cave in the crags; a narrow, low opening that looks to be the den of an animal (or several animals). Ardyn lights a torch to explore the rear of the cave and Forester observes that the smoke from the flame vanishes through a crack at the back of the cave, there, Miskar finds half-chewed entrails, still warm...

At the mouth of the cave, V and Adrin spot a massive she-wolf in the forest valley, like the boar they met earlier, the creature is impossibly large. V readies her sword and shield; the wolf has spotted them with it’s one good eye. Adrin says that it is an evil spirit - just like the boar (and he’s almost right).

Old One Eye, is a nature spirit that manifests (mostly) in wolf-form but unlike the spirit-boar, Old One Eye is not evil - not good either, she’s a spirit and fickle with it. This time she chooses not to harry the characters and lopes away.

Adrin concludes that his connection with god sent the beast packing. V shrugs.

Continuing north-west once more, the party comes across yet another cave, the approach to which indicates a human occupant.

At the cave they are met by John the poacher who at first isn’t happy to see V in her King’s Army uniform, he assumes she and her ‘party’ are scouring the King’s woods for poachers just like him. But after the initial misunderstanding, John reveals that he has seen the Lawsend Ogre and he followed it to its lair: a ruined tower to the south-west. The characters accept his hospitality and decide to stay the night.

John proposes a challenge to Ardyn (whom he recognises as a fellow hunter): both should venture out and return with their best catch. It is agreed and Forester also takes up the challenge, although rather that partake in the hunting match, he nips off into the woods and casts his Provisions spell again, returning just a few minutes later with a sting of freshly cooked rabbits (I don’t bother with asking Brad to roll for Forester’s spell casting attempts, it’s not life or death).

Within the hour John returns with a string of six rabbits and is disappointed to see everyone (except Adrin, who thought Forester’s rabbits a tad suspicious) has sated their appetite. Ardyn returns shortly thereafter with a whole stag (having rolled double 6)!

The following morning the characters head off once more and after about half-a-days travel they do indeed spot a ruined tower... As they make their approach, what they thought was part of the tower lurches off on massive thews into the forest; the ogre!

At the ruins, the characters are surprised to see a deep hole in the earth with three knotted ropes descending into darkness. It’s then that the ground begins to shake as Morbain the Ogre returns.

Forester’s dog, Bane, tries to drag him away but instead Forester makes a snap decision and climbs into the pit; Miskar follows him. Ardyn and V stand fast whilst the priest is torn between staying to carry out the mission and fleeing into the hole. Ardyn shoots off an arrow and misses terribly, the target really is the size of a barn door. V and Adrin recognise the better part of valour and rappel into the pit!

It’s about now that I realise two things;

1. I keep forgetting that Adrin is with the party and
2. his name sounds way too much like Ardyn... Bad choice there.

Ardyn also leaps into the pit but after climbing furiously for a few metres turns and tries to draw a bead on the ogre, which is now blocking out the sky. It’s not easy trying to fire a bow handing by your legs from a rope that’s being tugged on by an ogre so Ardyn swings to the next rope and continues his climb down. Meanwhile, Morbain pulls up the rope and is confused to find no food at its end...

Next: Dungeons Deep!