Previously: Chapter 49: Relics from the Past
The Battle of 12 Orcs
Relic, noticing the warchief and his lieutenant preparing to bring their wrath down on Kal, swiftly jumps into action to protect his new friend, and casts a fireball at them, trying to hit as many of the orcs as he can. Grommok and Zugor manage to resist the effect, with Zugor absorbing most of the damage done, but the two orcs that were ready to pounce on Kal were not so fortunate, being left with grievous burns causing them great pain.
Angered by this, Zugor summons his spiritual weapon, attacking Penny, who were trying to charm Grommok, while also using his thorn whip to attack Kal, dragging her closer to him. Grommok jumps down from his throne to bring his frosthammer down on Kal, but as he strikes her, she uses her divine powers to deal a powerful lightning strike back at him, while also pushing him backwards. In a mix of shock and anger, he screams at the cleric, preparing to attack once more.
Penny, now with her back towards Grommok sneaks up to him to inflict wounds on the warchief, causing him a great amount of pain, but Grommok has his eyes fixed upon the cleric of Uduk who were bold enough to speak against him.
Dandelion, standing in the back of the room, near the entrance, sends for help, summoning anything that can help them in a fight, bringing forth an allosaurus that runs over to attack some of the orc soldiers in the room, thinning their numbers. She also activates her blessing from Udall, preparing for the worst.
Kal, seeing the warchief ready to bring his wrath down on her, feeling the strength emanating from the shard embedded in Grommok’s chest, stretches out her hand, and makes a request to her god.
“In the name of Udall, grant me that shard!”
A beam of bright lightning suddenly penetrates the roof of the room, shooting straight towards Grommok’s chest, blasting it open, revealing the shard more clearly underneath. The shard then suddenly loosens itself, and flies straight toward Kal and her open palm. As soon as she makes contact with it, she tries to resist the influence of it, but it is too powerful, and so it embeds herself in her chest. Kal can feel that all her other items lose their attunement, but her power grows stronger. The rest of the room sees that red lightning is shooting out of her eyes, and she asks if Grommok is ready to see reason.
With the shocking development, Zugor looks to Kal, then to Grommok, who looks enraged at the cleric who took his power from him. In a desperate attempt to rectify the situation, realizing that she is too dangerous for them, Zugor attempts to banish Kal from the plane, hoping to take care of the rest of the party before taking her out when she returns. Unfortunately for the orcs, Relic counterspells him, after taking out two of the orc soldiers with a magic missile.
Grommok then goes on the offensive again, running straight up to Kal, demanding she gives it back, tearing at her chest in order to rip the shard from her, but with her new found strength, she easily manages to hold him at bay. Enraged and frenzied, Grommok begins to pummel Kal with his frosthammer instead, hoping to take the shard from her corpse.
Penny, seeing what is happening, and noticing how dangerous Zugor has the potential to be, uses her steel wind strike to attack every enemy in the immediate area, and teleports up to Zugor, hoping to finish him off. Meanwhile, Dandelion and Relic are being cornered by a couple of orc soldiers, but the allosaurus comes from behind and bites the head off the one attacking its summoner.
Kal tries to make quick work of the remaining orcs, as the power is in their hand now, putting her hand down to the ground and releasing a powerful blast outwards from herself, decimating the remaining orc soldiers, and greatly wounding Grommok, with Zugor again absorbing some of the magic, preventing too much damage. Free from the flanking orcs, both Relic and Dandelion focus on Grommok, but he is too focused on Kal to stop, and continues to attack her again and again, hoping to take her out to retrieve what is his. The party uses this to their advantage, healing Kal to prevent her from falling to his barrage, even using the Rings of the True Companions at one point to prevent her from going unconscious.
Zugor, being cornered and seeing the desperate situation he and his master is in, wild shapes into a giant constrictor snake, and attacks Penny, restraining her to prevent her from helping. Unfortunately for him, she uses a thunder jump to escape from the grasp, while damaging both the remaining orcs at the same time. With their defeat nearly at hand, Zugor walks over to Grommok, places his hand on him to transfer some of his life energy, and tells him to finish this, before running behind the throne. Relic quickly shoots a fireball at him, changing the flames to be radiant instead of fiery, preventing the shaman from absorbing it, gravely wounding him in the process.
Kal, getting real close to succumbing to the barrage of attacks from the warchief, summons a lightning storm inside the chamber, striking Grommok several times, causing him to be even more enraged and more determined to take her down, but with her companions behind her, helping keep her up, she knows that they will win the day. Grommok keeps striking her, trying to kill her properly, shouting at her.
“WHY WON’T YOU DIE?!”
Dandelion quickly runs over to Kal in order to help heal her along with Penny, getting all the way close to him, seeing him being fixated on Kal for taking his strength. Penny casts a repelling spell at him, causing him to move away, which grants Kal, Penny and the allosaurus an opening to strike him. Penny jams a dagger straight into his groin, Kal breaks his knee in order to lower him to their level, with the allosaurus screeching as it comes down at his throat with its teeth. It bites down and rips out the windpipe of the warchief, causing him to fall over, drowning in his own blood. Dandelion calmly walks over to the hiding shaman, and executes him with her wand of magic missiles. The room grows eerily quiet, illuminated by the sparks of the lightning storm above them.
Rescue
Penny quickly runs to the north of the room, and tries to open the double doors, but discovers it to be locked. She then runs over to Grommok, finding a key, and using it to unlock the doors, running inside to find the hostages, hoping to quickly bring them out of danger. Dandelion and the allosaurus go to retrieve Barak who was hiding in Zugor’s chambers, gesturing for him to follow her, as they know they have to get out fast. Relic and Kal go after Penny to help with the hostages.
Tied up in the personal chambers of the warchief, they find a kobold and a halfling, sitting next to the wall. They look dreadful, having been tortured and beaten, and not allowed to rest for all their time in captivity. Penny quickly asks if they are okay, and that they’re there to help, but they refuse to answer. Thinking that it is the orc disguise, she drops it, revealing her to be friendly, but strangely the captives still refuse to answer their questions. Penny tries to read their minds, and finds them fixating on the fact that they cannot reply. Thinking that they must be under some sort of spell, she asks if they aren’t allowed to talk, with the minds confirming the idea. Dandelion enters the room, as Penny explains that they must be under geas or similar, so she creates a pouch with diamond dust, allowing Dandelion to use greater restoration to release them from the magic.
Ethalyn quickly chimes out saying it is a great relief to be allowed to talk again, with Ash being a little cranky at being captive for so long. They look up at the party, who asks who they are and if they are here for them. The party tells them that they were hired by Thervan to retrieve them, causing them great relief, but as the party mentions that someone named Calamity is nearby, they both look at eachother, and then tells the party they have to leave, immediately. The party quickly leave the chamber, grabbing the bag of holding that lay within, to carry the hoard of gold lying beneath the throne.
Thervan, who has been watching over Penny from time to time, suddenly teleports in. Ash and Ethalyn are especially glad to see him, and ask if they can leave. Thervan says that he can bring them home to Ravenforge if they so wish, and asks Barak in orcish what he would like to do. Barak just wants to go home, so Thervan suggests that he comes with them to his private sanctum, and then he can teleport him to his village the next morning when the orc has rested, unless the orc has any object tied to the village. Barak takes out a small hand carved statue, saying his sister made it for him. Thervan says this means they can go immediately without risk as it will allow him to make a strong connection, but suggests that they drop off the group in Ravenforge first. He looks at Kal and the shard that she carries, telling her that they have to talk about that later.
Kal sends a sending to Murzol, telling him that Grommok is dead, and that they held up their part of the bargain, now it’s his turn. He responds by thanking Kal, and telling her that he will welcome the negotiators in order to talk out a treaty. She also sends a sending to the frost giant Fjorn, telling him that Grommok and Zugor are dead, and that he is free. He responds that he owes them a life debt, and should they need him, he will answer the call. Kal imagines the frost giant simply grabbing his axe and leaving his post, happy to be free.
As Thervan is about to begin drawing up the teleportation circle, Dandelion says they cannot leave as their owls are outside. Penny quickly runs to the private chambers of Grommok, and uses stone shape to make a passageway through the most narrow point, running through the hallway, jumping over the trap, and sends a message to the owls to follow her, as they’re leaving now, before they face an ever bigger danger. They quickly swoop down and fly with her through the hallway towards the main chamber.
As Penny is running to retrieve the birds, Relic looks through the corpse of Zugor, finding his belongings in his pouch, as well as the circlet he was wearing, thinking it looks powerful. Penny returns with Argus and Ira, ready to depart. Having filled one of the bags of holding with gold, there is little left in the chamber of value. Ethalyn and Ash look at the entrance of the chamber in anticipation, hoping Calamity does not return, not wanting to face his wrath. Kal asks Thervan to write a message in blood on the wall, telling his followers that they have killed their leader, and that they should return to Murzol’s rule, and placing his corpse in the empty throne as proof.
There and Back Again
Thervan quickly draws up the teleportation circle, with Relic making a point of not looking as a respect of privacy and respect to the wizard. When the circle is complete, the party quickly runs through, Ethalyn and Ash being carried by the allosaurus, and Dandelion holding the owls as they enter. Coming through the other side, they reach a beautiful large chamber filled with spellbooks, a large ornate desk overlooking a beautiful view of the coast. Thervan’s private sanctum.
He thanks the party for the help, looking at Ash and Ethalyn, who looks at the party with gratitude. He looks to Relic, and gives his condolences to his deceased mentor, and offers him a private chamber in the castle if he requires, unless he would like to go with the party to their house. Relic thanks for the offer, but feels it fitting to join the party, if they will have him. They tell him that there’s an empty room full of pillows in their house, and it feels wrong leaving it empty. Penny stays behind, wanting to see Kargaa as they deliver her brother.
Penny, Thervan and Barak wait in the sanctum for the party to leave. After they do, Thervan asks Barak to borrow the statue, with Penny holding his arm, as a way of promising that things will be okay now. Thervan focuses his mind, closing his eyes, and Penny can feel herself being drawn into a whirlwind of energy, before suddenly appearing in a snow filled landscape, next to a village. Barak looks at Penny and Thervan, before starting to run, albeit slowly, towards it. Karga, who is wandering around the outskirts, suddenly notices them, and comes running.
Karga and Barak embrace in a loving hug, neither thinking they would ever see the other one again. Karga then turns towards Penny and runs up to her, embracing her in a hug. Penny hugs her back, happy to have helped her new friend. Karga then looks into her eyes, asking her if she would like to stay for a while, but Penny points to Thervan, who waves, saying she has to return home, but she will definitely come back later. Karga says she hopes that she does. As she leaves, she squeezes Penny’s arm, getting one last look into her eyes, before turning around, helping her brother back to the village. Penny joins Thervan, and they depart.
The party has been provided a carriage that takes them back to their home. Relic sits in the carriage, and tries to identify the circlet he took from the shaman, finding it to be a Circlet of Dwarven Focus that can help with concentrating on multiple spells at once. She shares this with Dandelion and Kal, who think it could definitely come in handy for them.
Finally returning home after over a month away, Dandelion quickly runs over to the The Party's Horses and plants, asking if they have been well cared for, which they confirm that they have, but they are mostly happy to see their owners again. They tell Dandelion they have a visitor, and when asked who it is, they say they don’t know, but they seem nice, and they’re a tiefling like Penny. Relic and Kal have been discussing the stone fence near the house, remarking that he can fix it with some effort, before Dandelion suddenly walks quickly past them towards the front door, dragging them with her. When they open up, they see Raam looking from the kitchen, smiling at them.
“Aah, you’re back! Finally!”