With massive statues of orcish female and male warriors, witch doctors and sages looking on, the Fellowship watch as the massive creature rises from the circular hole in the ground. The stone floor is covered in a black ooze, making the footing treacherous with the smell of sulfur and rotting flesh.
Screams and cries can be heard rising from the hole as well as a black mist that seeps along the ground.Elsewhere a single hero rides to catch up to his friends. The demon raises an arm and a mass of smaller creatures rise from the hole and engage the Fellowship.
Soon after battle is engaged, Cedric arrives and all fight these
demonic entities. A horde of smaller creatures attack and try to overrun many, while a small creature soars above annoying the adventurers. With the spells of Graxus the many-titled (DM: I think he got 2 new titles this session), the arrows of Gothi and his powerful shark-hound - which had multiple kills - JawBone, to the protection and massive blows of the paladin Cedric, and finally the fantastic shooting and swordplay of Doc Holliday, the tide of demons is stopped. The party tries to determine then how to stop this flow of evil oozing out of the hole. Carefully looking over the edge a strange and horrid landscape is seen by the Fellowship. Below five hundred or size hundred feet is a writhing mass of humanity, orcs, goblins, kobolds. They are continually being harassed and attacked by a host of demons. Looking down with his spyglass, Doc Holliday is at first uncertain and then confirms the sight of his Grandfather Holliday, he is on the top of a small hillock and organizing some to fight back.
Doc Holliday and the Fellowship try and devise ways to rescue the once caretaker of the Tomb of the Raven, but are unable to.
Kantif rejoins the party and his rogue skills are key to some further exploration.
As Cedric realizes a way to close this gate to the abyss, he prays to his god and at first reluctant, then Doc Holliday joins and with the power of the 2 gods,the black ooze receding and mist dissipating and finally the demonic gate closes,
Venturing further into the Raven Tomb, the adventurers come across 2 passages, angling down. Taking the left, they spiral down and come into a round room. There are 4 statues of orc warriors spaced around the wall as if holding the ceiling. In the centre of the room is a large sarcophagus. The stone lid is in the form of a 7' tall orc warrior.
Doing some research, the party determines that this is the WarLord Targak Selnagrak, leader of the orcish empire that once rules these lands over 500 years passed, before the elves defeated them. Further investigation shows that the lid had been recently moved. The party lift off and see much wealth about the skeletal orc, except the fingers were broken and the sword - HIS sword - had been taken.
Tomb robbers.
The Fellowship return and take the other passage, it takes a similar path to similar room. There are 2 sarcophagi here. One for Matron Silitar - an oracle and seer, and General Tenin - son of Targak and a heroic warrior. Both looked to be untouched.
Returning up, using the tracking skills of Gothi the party finds a secret door that it seems the tomb robbers used. The narrow passage led upwards to a secret door in the watch tower of the camp. It seemed that the orcish camp was built on what was once the orc citadel - centre of power, 500 years past.
Meeting a grey dwarf and Jankin in conversation. Realizing that the tomb raiders had a few weeks head start, the Fellowship met with Doc's grandmother, herself a powerful seer whom assisted the party. Doc was told to look for a face tattoo on a person in Wayberry, a very distinctive tattoo. Jankin and Gothi tracked the tomb robbers, and it seemed there were 4 - one with a boot heel with 2 nails awry. After some interesting conversations, the party decided to visit the Standing Stones a landmark to an ancient battle (North West) and then head off to the ancient Elf Keep to the Northeast. Doc Holliday had fond memories of this place - of a sort - he dared Gilwin to climb to the top of tower and she did, coming back down she told him of ghosts she had seen..
Saying goodbye to Jankin and his small tribe, before the party left the grey dwarf gave them a newspaper - the Wayberry Gazette - a magic paper that would update with new news on occasion.Heading Northwest the Fellowship camped and came to the River Seran. A rope barge cold been seen on the far side 100' across. The nearside had a small hut, but no one was in. The party tried to get the attention of the barge man, but no one came out from the larger building on the far side. Goth jumped on JawBone and the shark-hound swam easily across, Gothi holding on in the cold Spring rush of water.
Entering the inn, he came upon the 2 proprietors: Carl - a gnome, and Sando - a dwarf. Striking up a conversation with the 2 interesting characters, the party finally made it across. They learned some key information - 6 drow had come by and used the barge to travel across south towards the orc camp. This made for some animated discussion. Carl was more than willing to pass on details on the supposed tomb robbers:
- Leader was a female - bald
- 2nd in command, male with an eye patch
- 4 male warriors
There were none in the lake but he did locate at least one in the area of the Standing Stones. Graxus used his sorcerous power to dig and came upon a sword. A unique blade - looking to be an executioner's sword. The former owner it seemed did not appreciate and an undead spirit attacked. Not taking long the fallen foe was put to rest.Moving on the Fellowship headed east along an old path and finally in the distance the old elf Keep could be seen in the distance..
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