As the party left Veg Vellur headed west, the party passed through refugees and beggars on the streets and leaving the city, with Bardman (Dafydd) giving out 20 gold to them. As they left, Elster took turns chatting with everyone about their abilities, where they were from, etc. He advised that Nikon might consider visiting their capital, where silver dragonborn clans are well established. After being prompted by Bardman, he told them that the lands of Shevorth, while safe inside from outside invasion, were far from safe. In the high mountains attacks from giants and monsters are relatively common. He also told them that in the next couple of days, they could expect possible encounters with hobgoblin marauders or even orcs who had somehow managed to make it into their realm through old underground caverns and dungeons. Elster also expressed a slight amount of annoyance at Gleep flying over their party. In the afternoon the were traveling west in forested hills alongside a mountain side, and Nikon caught a wiff of something putrid on the air. The party went into the forest line on the south side of the road, with Gleep seeing them doing so and began to drop in altitude, at which point a barrage of arrows and javelins came out of the forest to the north. The party all successfully hid in the forested terrain, behind boulders, bushes, etch, with a group of 19 orcs approaching firing at Gleep who was hit a few times. Bardman distracted them, calling their location to the attention of the orcs. The orc infantry ran at the party, doing severe damage to the front line with their first round of attacks. After that, combat shifted in favor of the party during which Nikon eviscerated 6 of them with a lightning bolt attack (leaving 3 others with 1 hit point), Elster and Helios downed one attempting to escape, and Helios and Ugh used a vicious combination of darkness and spiked growth to take out 6 of them. The remaining 3 orc scouts fled but were unable to escape the party’s onslaught. The party decided to track the orcs to figure out the seriousness of the incursion. While traveling, Gillia, Reeta, and Nuggle looted the bodies finding (68.649 gold). Ughragog tracked the orcs to their camp at the base of a cliff, with a larger tent set up leaning against the cliff-face. Bardman saw someone in the tent, and snuck closer. The orc heard him slightly the first time, and came out calling out something in orcish but then grabbed some kind of roasted meat from the smoldering fireplace and then went back into the tent. Then Bardman made too much noise and an orc came rushing out angrily but was instantly put down by a chill touch from Nikon and flame blast from Helios. Inside the tent was a hole in the cliff face, leading into some type of old dungeon. Elster offered to be a look-out and backup for them. The party snuck into the dungeon, with Bardman going first, who noticed a tripwire not far inside. They ambushed two guards and then an ogre who was minding his business having dinner. They killed him before he could get a single shot off. On the side of the passage was a rope bridge leading to a central room and crossing a several hundred food chasm. After a few minutes, a voice came from across the chasm from an elf calling himself Lord Verikass. He bantered with the party, and freely admitted he was from Girkchar and knew of Alerie & Quarlton. He then attacked the party. Once again, Ugh made strategic use of spiked growth, cutting off Lord Verikass from his troops. As Helios pelted Verikass with fire, the elf almost took down Ugh who fled. He then cut down Helios, but not before getting hurt a lot. The party took down the elf, then with Nikon’s remaining spells they took out the orcs. Searching the remainder of the dungeon/camp, the party found the equivalent of 3701 gold (in mixed gold, silver, platinum, & copper), a Dragonscale Ribbon made from silver scales (250 gold), a Fine Steel Holy Symbol of X inlaid with Fine Steel (250 gold), an ornate silver mirror set with banded agate (250 gold), a fine cloth cloak threaded with electrum (250 gold), a lacquered wood red set with onyx (250 gold), an electrum cloth pennant (250 gold), a copper tiara (250 gold), and a bead of force. Split 4 ways, that comes out to 1362.75 gold each. To keep one of the items, deduct 250 gold from the amount your character receives. In addition, the party finds several of the “ice talismans” on the bodies of the orcs inside. They also find a single set of nice clothes in the elf’s room. They also find a couple of scrolls written in a mixture of elvish, orcish, and abyssal. From context, Bardman is able to figure out that the scrolls are both orders, but also directions to various places in Girkchar and Shevorth, but without the ability to read orc he can figure out no more.
