As the melee continues with the Ogre Hag, Mornington cuts the rope loose from the two villagers being held in the pig pen. He leads them over the fence and behind the more intact side of the inn, instructing them to hide. Edward sees another goblin run down the stairs, flailing its sword around ready to strike. Edward quickly draws power from his Shadow Tome and dark tentacles extrude from the tome and his body alike, grasping at the space around him. As the tentacles start lashing at the walls they too grab a hold of the goblin. A moment of struggle occurs as the goblins body contorts under the power of the tendrils and the creature is left a crumpled mess on the ground.
Outside, Fenris makes an attempt to knock over the giant cauldron to spill the Hag's broth but the weight is too great to topple. Crom continues the assault with his Greataxe, as does Artax with his bow, both causing terrible damage to the Ogre as arrows are embedded deep into the collar bone and an axe wound almost spills the guts of the vile creature. With the combat keeping the hag engaged, Fenris makes a second attempt on the cauldron, this time managing to hit a sweet spot as he topples the cauldron spilling at least half of its contents into the mud below. A moment passes and then a low hum can be heard coming from the cauldron. It shakes in a jarring fashion before levitating and righting itself. The hag lets out another blood curdling cackle and runes can be seen glowing on the inner rim of the cauldron.
The Ogre Hag sends her leashed goblin to throw a mix of disorienting herbs and spices over Fenris, but he sees it approach and uses his shield as a barrier to stop him inhaling it. She then takes another swig from her broth, closing up her wounds once more. "You pathetic wash ups, you should have gone down with the Alacrity! You're too late to make a difference, Zorok will send you screaming into the depths of the Abyss!" the hag screams at her enemies before her.
Mornington and Edward have heard the muffled screams of another captive on the first floor. They both rush the stairs to help, finding a goblin with his knife to the throat of a portly bar keep. Mornington casts Charm Person and the goblins eyes glaze over and his demeanour changes. "Drop the knife and back away if you could" utters Mornington. The goblin does so, his expression of hostility changed as if talking to a friend. Edward takes the opportunity to move up into the corridor where the goblin is standing. With a quick flash of purple energy, the upper half of the goblins skull has disappeared, a scorched wall revealed behind him.
The Ogre Hag is visibly slowing now, further strikes landed upon her from Crom and Fenris. Mornington appears at the edge of the inn's 1st floor where the fire has completely removed the wall and ceiling. He looks down on the combat and casts Tasha's Hideous Laughter. The Hag falls to her knees cackling before slumping onto the floor in fits on her back. Crom raises his axe up high and brings it down on the hags neck, it crunches into her flesh and bone and the dry cackles turn to flooded choking as the laughter slows to silence.
The party and the rescued villagers gather together. Artax picks up the commoner girl from the muddy floor and takes her to a nearby house to wrap her in bed linen to help cover her. The humans are all visibly shaken, malnourished and weak to the point of struggling to talk. The dwarf speaks up and addresses the party's questions. His name is Boris, a butcher in the village, and he shares the information he has overheard the past few days. The ogres speaking to the hobgoblins in common has given him a glimpse into some of their movements. The Loyal Hammer Tribe have found a secret entrance into the castle, as the raised drawbridge has stumped their assault. Boris, as a dwarf, was close with some of the family that helped build the escape tunnel to the castle just under a century ago. He informs the party that he can help them find it if that's where they want to go.
Edward inspects the Hag's cauldron, looking at the runes on its inner rim. His eldritch invocation allows him to read the writing and tries to understand the spells at play. His best guess is that this magic item drains the life essence of living creatures placed within, infusing the broth with magic that will heal any who drink it.
The party makes the decision to head to the south side of the village as there is less hostile presence there. Boris helps navigate them and they sweep round the perimeter of the village to the east side. They can see huge tents set up maybe 500ft outside of the castle. Large hides, wooden stakes and rope form a crude set of tents that look like they could sleep several ogres. Burnt crops and a burnt down military camp are found to the east and south east, respectively. A smattering of goblins can be seen from this distance looking through the wreckage of the former human camp. The party make their way across the crop fields towards a small cluster of trees that Boris informs is roughly where the secret passage is.
Crom notices a figure way off in the distance emerge from the ogre encampment and stride towards the Capstan's castle. Then a huge arc of lightning rips across the field from the figure, striking the battlements as debris and a few stationed soldiers hurtle into the air. With the flash of light Crom glimpses that the large figure has red tinted skin. The party all whip their heads round after seeing the flash and the loud crack of thunder meets their ears less than a second later.
As the party makes it across the burnt crops they find muddy tracks on the ground. Artax determines it is at least 6 hobgoblins, heading in the direction they are aiming for. As they get to the cluster of trees they see a mound of hill with large rocks emerging out of the top. Boris points it out as the most likely thing nearby to be the entrance. The tracks have also split up at this point, seemingly scouring the local area for the entrance.
The party makes extra effort to stealth and keep the villagers they have been escorting to the rear of the group. As they make their way to the stone topped hill they realise one side of the rocks is depressed into the ground and as they round the corner there is indeed a cave and tunnel leading down. They can hear distant shouting coming from further down the tunnel.
They slowly descend, and as the tunnel levels out ahead the darkness is broken by torchlight. The walls change from natural stone and dirt to superior masonry walls. A cluster of figures are silhouetted against the light ahead and the party see hobgoblins all facing away from them looking down the corridor as a chieftian barks orders at them. One slowly backs up, his back still to the party. The chieftian slaps him hard on the back and he begins sprinting deeper into the tunnel, he flies into a long jump before falling through the floor and out of sight!
The party know they have the element of surprise and get within range of almost every ranged option they have. Fenris and Mornington are on the sides with crossbows, Artax crouched with his longbow in the middle, Edward just behind him drawing his eldritch powers from his tome. Crom tightens his grip around his greataxe and waits for the volley to be released...
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