Chapter 6: Assault on Urgruem Caverns

A bolt whizzes past her, lodging itself in the body of an orc to her left. Her ear pricking at his grunt of pain, Nerea swings around with a snarl, drawing her bow and letting fly with deadly precision. Directed by the force of her fury, Solonor's longbow turns midair and fires on command. Both arrows strike true, penetrating the same eye to deal 7 points of piercing damage and 6 points of force damage respectively.

The orc's body drops with all the gracelessness of a boulder. Her brow furrowed in concentration, Nerea whirls on the rest and shouts, "Your Cave Father is dead! Lower your weapons and release the people you've held captive or you will all die, too!"

Rushing towards the path to the east Imarra stops for a moment when she hears Avis shouting to her. Glancing back to see the sorceress shoot past the group of allies into the oncoming orcs, Imarra hurried along down the path.
"We are here to free you! The Harper, Doedance brought us!" she shouts ahead of her, trying to see in what state they are in and how they are imprisoned, as well as doing her best to not run right into the axe or sword of an orc.

"Thank goodness!" One of the prisoners remarks joyously from within the large cage and all nine of the prisoners seem utterly relieved. A blond dwarf in plate armor steps closer to the iron bars, positioning himself in front of the others.


Bran Brighthand: "Thought I was gonna die on a cold stone slab in one of these dark caverns for sure - offered as tribute to some foul orc god, never to see me old lady or wee lads and lasses again! Seems like Tymora has yet to abandon me after all! Bran Brighthand at your service, young lady - Commander of the Argent Legion garrison at Fort Falknar."

Relieved that the prisoners are still alive Imarra catches her breath "Telthors be thanked. I am Imarra ..." before remembering the urgency of the situation and asking "Is anyone injured? Can you move?".

Bran Brighthand: "No one severely so. Let us out quickly though, so we can help with whatever's going on out there! Did you get the key from their chief?"

Her free hand goes palm first to her temple as Imarra exclaims "Of course. The chieftain would have it on him.". However she quickly waves it off, proclaiming "But I can get you out, I can open that lock with magic.".

Bran Brighthand: The shield dwarf nods. "Aye. That would be highly appreciated! Never was one for cages! I mean they're great inventions and all, I just prefer to be on the other side of the bars is all..."

Amra Braegen: Amra produces a tiny ball of bat guano from a belt pouch and proceeds to cast fireball on the approaching orcs. "Cavern's a bit cold wouldn't you say? Let's heat the place up a bit shall we?" The bead soon reached the orcs and explodes, dealing 18 fire damage to all orcs except for orc 5 who makes his Reflex save and only takes 9 fire damage.

Her dragazhar familiar emits a loon-like battle-cry and flies towards the panicked, freshly seared orcs, attacking one of them (Orc 2) with its tail for 2 slashing damage.

The majestic celestial bison again paws the ground with its platinum hooves before charging  Orc 3 and goring the still burning cave warrior for 15 piercing damage. The orc does not get back up...

Orc 2 and orc 4 attack the dragazhar but the night hunter familiar nimbly dodges their attacks. Orc 5 and orc 6 attack the bison and deal respectively  11 slashing damage and 9 slashing damage.

A naked female orc covered in white ritualistic tattoos enters the cavern, crawling on the ceiling like some weird orc-spider - undoubtedly the Cave Mother... Four female orc warriors enter at the same time on the ground beneath her, armed with glaives and with faces and arms covered in the same white ritualistic paint as their leader. The Cave Mother dangles from the ceiling, upside-down, glaring at the adventurers with rage in her eyes.



Vuthkra "Skulldrinker" Urgruem: "You shall pay with your lives for having slain my husband! I swear to Luthic!"

The Cave Mother begins casting a spell...

Without delay, Cyrus takes a special small vial out of his belt pouch. Glancing at the Cave Mother and her warriors, he takes a couple of steps back and tosses the vial into the oil. The alchemical fire splashes around, igniting the wall of fire between the group and the advancing orcs.

"Search the chief!" Cyrus exclaims as he retreats into position to shoot at the attackers. "He must have the keys!"

Turn between which course of action to take, Kardalis growls and then calls out.
"Don't let her finish casting that spell or we'll all be in for it!"
While yelling he searches the body of the fallen 'cave father' for a key of any sort, wincing as the ground beside him ignites into a line of fire.

"Quite an entrance," Avis mutters at the sight of the Cave Mother. She spies the orc beginning to make motions of casting a spell. She can't be certain at a glance, but she suspects it may involve a certain centipede demon.

"Stop her, you fools!" she calls to the others. "Interrupt her spell!" She traces sigils in the air, muttering a few words and summoning two arcane missiles. They shoot towards the Cave Mother and strike her for 4 and 5 force damage (9 total).

At the sound of Avis's voice, Nerea locks eyes with the Cave Mother. Her own bow drawn, she fires and misses, but her will is unshaken.

"On her," she orders, and Solonor's longbow - shimmering with radiance - turns one final time to fire at her command. This arrow strikes, dealing 5 points of force damage. The bow then evaporates, the divine spell fading above her head. "Amra," she says, glancing briefly at her employer. "We need some way to halt her spell!"

"The outside still has some orcs about, but it'll be better than the parharding cage, I wager." Imarra responds to Bran before pronouncing the magical phrase for the Knock spell in rashemi, focusing her magic towards the lock of the cage and forcing them to unlock. Leading them towards the main hall (Move action back towards the main cavern)she shouts to inform the freed prisoners "Our exit is out the left (south) and down the cliff with ropes! I have weapons in my backpack there if we face trouble!".

An invisible shield seems to absorb the magic missiles hurled at the Cave Mother. Even the magical arrow from Solonor's spirit bow is deflected by her wards.

Vuthkra "Skulldrinker" Urgruem: "You'll have to try harder than that, meat!"

Amra Braegen: Amra produces another tiny ball of bat guano from her belt pouch and proceeds to cast fireball again, this time aiming at the female orcs and the Cave Mother above them. "You look cold, Cave Mother! Here, let me warm you up a bit!" The bead soon reached the painted female orcs and explodes, dealing 20 fire damage to the Cave Mother and two of her warriors. The last two (Fem Orc 2 and Fem Orc 4) make their Reflex saves and only take 10 fire damage. The massive damage from the fiery blast also causes the Cave Mother to lose her spell... "Said to try hotter, didn't you, love?"

Amra's dragazhar familiar attacks Orc 2 with its tail and bite for a total of  11 damage, killing it.

The celestial bison attacks Orc 5, dealing 14 piercing damage to it, killing it.

As soon as they're out of the cage, Bran Brighthand and the other eight prisoners pick up their weapons and shields and follow Imarra towards the main section of the upper caverns.


Bran Brighthand: "Get to safety, the lot of you! You heard Lady Imarra - ropes by the cliff! I'll stay and fight with our saviors, Tymora grant me luck! Wait by the stone circle and travel to Jalanthar without us, if we don't show up shortly!"

The painted female orcs with the glaives reach the line of oil which Rhenwald has poured out, and as soon as they do, the ranger throws a bottle of Alchemist's Fire, dealing 6 fire damage to all of them, killing two of them.

Myrdin then kills a third of them with a slash of his enchanted longsword.

The fourth, now burning female orc warrior, lets out an enraged shriek and furiously goes for Nerea, but Lissie leaps at the raging orc and tears out her throat...



Vuthkra "Skulldrinker" Urgruem: "I shall hunt you down later and have my revenge!"

The Cave Mother yells angrily, before she and the remaining two orcs withdraw from the battle...

Rhenwald nocks an arrow on the string. The assault seems to subside, and the orcs retreat, but the ranger is not the one to get carefree with no immediate danger around. Jerking his head to the side, he sees the prisoners freed by the witch run towards them and starts waving towards the entrance:

"Everybody out, out! Good job, Imarra!" he moves in sidesteps towards the stone arc, intent on staying until the last person leaves the cave. His eyes still peeled on the west tunnel, he remains in position with bow ar the ready. When the blond dwarf reaches the exit, Rhenwald speaks without turning his head. "Having a mighty good day, aren't we?"

Crouching over the body of the Cave Father, Kardalis pockets the potions and hangs the keys on his belt for the time being. He picks up the axe with one arm and systematically unstraps the half plate, heaving it onto his back and leaving the dead orc unarmed and unarmored.
Entirely uncomfortable, Kardalis eyes brighten slightly and he sets the items down, opens his bag's central compartment and shoves the axe in, and then puts the armor into one of the side pouches.

The fleeing orcs give Imarra confidence in the idea that her allies have won the encounter. Cyrus ordered everyone out, but the wizard, seeing Kardalis starting to loosen the buckles from the Orc Chieftain's armor, is curious what else the orcs might have taken to their cave. Moving out to the cliff Imarra takes a look at their escape route to see if it is clear for the freed prisoners and then picks up her backpack and moves back into the cave. Crossbow back at her side she instead holds a wand (Detect Magic) and unrolls a sack with her other hand, looking for an entrance to the walled off parts of the cave "The fire might burn everything down, we shouldn't stay too long.". (Looking for entrances to areas 16 and 14)

Bow still well in hand, Nerea turns away from the retreating orcs. She strides partway to the exit, lingering near Avis. "What do you suppose are the chances that the orcs will meet our rescues at the bottom?" she asks in a dry tone, carefully drawing an arrow from her quiver. "I'm guessing low, but I'd really hate to assume."