The party can hear the Goblin patrol approaching with their worgs and try to act quickly to hide. They rush to bind the hands of the surviving Hobgoblin, and start moving everyone inside. Crom and Fenris work together to shift the extremely heavy ogre corpse, rolling and dragging it through the mud to hide it within the damaged house.
Once inside, the worg patrol rounds the corner and approaches the house. Mornington casts disguise self, assuming the appearance of one of the Hobgoblin foot soldiers. Artax gags the hobgoblin captive and waits on the first floor of the house while Edward heads to the roof for a good spell slinging position in case things get ugly.
Mornington burst out from the front of the house. "Humans! They went that way, they just hit and run, go after 'em!"
The worgs can be seen sniffing the air but the goblins burst into action. Two of them mount a worg each and slap the hindquarters, sending them sprinting South-West, away from the village and towards the tree line.
The party quickly try and interrogate the hobgoblin captive, but it's not long before the Hobgoblin wishes death upon them and ultimately has his throat slit by Fenris.
Artax takes to the roofless second floor and looks for the best direction to go. He sees the keep to the North-East and can see a clearing in the centre of the village where a cross roads meets a large building. A large figure can be seen swaying in the centre. Then, in the distance, a small spark shoots out from the ground towards the keep, catching Artax's attention. It continues onward before colliding with the battlements erupting into a bright fireball, briefly illuminating all the rooftops of the village.
The party moves out with haste towards the keep, but weaving between the buildings rather than sticking to the exposed road. They see some of the devastation the flooding has caused to the structures of the village, fences and walls collapsed, some half submerged. Further to this are the occasional buildings that have half burned down, with collapsed roofs and terrible scorch marks.
The party hides behind the last building between them and the cross roads and they can now clearly see this ogre-like figure swaying. It seems to be stirring a very large cauldren. The large building nearby seems to be an inn of some kind, half of it's exterior has been burned away and a half-dozen lesser goblins are scurrying around.
The party discuss their approach. Engage, sneak around, collapse the building with powerful spells? During their discussion the long haired ogre moves away from the cauldren and into the building. She emerges moments later, staff in one hand and a human girl in the other, held by her ankle. The party not only realise this is a hostage situation, but that they need to act now.
As the Ogre Hag Grelga holds the commoner girl above the bubbling cauldron the party erupt from their hiding place and fly into combat.
Crom and Fenris charge towards the Ogre, Mornington and Edward towards the inn, and Artax into a nearby collection of trees. Fenris has a short glimpse into the future and sees himself get a boot stuck in the mud, dropping his throwing axe as the innocent girl plunges into the deep purple liquid of the cauldron. He shakes his head and digs deep to alter this fate, throwing his axe straight and true. It collides perfectly into the wrist of the Ogre Hag and her grip loosens as the girl falls just shy of the cauldron and into the mud below.
Mornington makes his way along the building, ready to free hostages after seeing some tied up in an animal pen. Edward kills a goblin with an eldritch blast before using a wand of web to barricade the stairway. Crom and Fenris, now locked in melee, unleash a series of attacks, carving up the ogre while Artax continues to make a pincushion out of her.
Mornington vaults the fence into the animal pen with the bound villagers, seeing a glint of optimism in their eyes amongst the horror. Edward hears muffled screams from upstairs, more human captives reacting to the sound of possible saviours.
The Ogre Hag Grelga, laughing maniacally with each wound she suffers, turns to the cauldren. She dunks her head down into the viscous liquid, lapping up a large amount. Crom looks in horror as a large wound on the Ogre's back begins to rapidly heal as Grelga returns to the melee, invigorated with her dark magic.
Next Session 33
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