Skirmish Near the Ruins of Nazuk-Narbog

November 21, 498

After an early morning rest, the party moved North into an area of the Burnt Lands known as the Shoggoth's Jaw (so named because this area has rock chimneys that look like huge, jagged teeth). Most of the day was spent looking for the ruins where the Rods of Kadriel are supposed to be hidden.

At one point, Raelith knew the location exactly. However, his recent trauma, along with a number of curses that have been placed on him (not to mention his most recent injuries), has made it very difficult to be sure of anything.

However, at dusk, the party sees a large rocky structure that seems to be the ruins they're looking for. Just a few hundred yards away, the party encounters trouble.

Orcs, a Gnoll, and a Kobold Attack

The party is waylaid by four orcs, a gnoll druid, and a kobold sorcerer.

The kobold puts Cassandra to Sleep right away, and the gnoll Banes the party. Valen the Bard sings a song of encouragement, and keeps the party's morale high.

Cortes the Rogue uses his sneektheif abilities, and sneaks around a large hoodoo and backstabs the kobold, killing it instantly by severing the kobold from head to leg. This gives him excellent position to continue to do the same to some nearby orcs.

Meanwhile though, one of the orcs is sneaking around to the back of the party where a helpless Raelith is.

Raealwen's wolverine is injured by one of the orcs, which only servers to piss it off so much that it berserks  and engages the orc to the death. When it injures the orc barbarian, it does the same in return. The wolverine, in its blind fury, exenterates the orc, and comes out of the fight with a lung.

One orc manages to sneak around the back, and grab Raelith, who is spell-less, weaponless, and pretty much helpless. The orc demainds the party's immediate surrender. Oskar thinks fast, and casts Sleep on the area (knowing that his spell will be too weak to affect his master), and the orc is out. Oskar is able to get a coup de grâce on the orc.

Eventually, the party defeats the invaders, saving the gnoll druid for last. The party is relatively unharmed, save for a few minor injuries and lingering curses.

Some Nice Gear

The kobold was killed early, and never had a chance to use his Ring of Blink, which could have been very devestating to the party. He was also protected by a Ring of Protection +2, which didn't help when Cortes backstabbed him.

The gnoll druid had a nice Chainmail shirt +2, which did manage to protect him for awhile.

All the enemies were branded with a series of three concentric circles.

Given the late hour and the exhastion of battle, the party decided to make camp for the night, and head into the ruins in the morning.