Session 35: The Ogre Army Report

General Summary

Session 35 – Wednesday March 29, 2023 – More Ogres

  3.5 Hour Role Play/battle session 5:45 PM to 9:30PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 5

It is the 26th day of the month of Uktar (The Rotting) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Mid November.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L7 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf, L7 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L7 Artificer – Josh Pozsony
• Thomas – Human, L7 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L7 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L7 Paladin – Will Johnson

Training from the previous day

The previous day Thomas had spent some time training the Hell hound, Johnny Cash. His first attempt trying to intimidate using his whip wasn’t very successful two subsequent tries were quite successful. This particular training session was a success, but Thomas recognized he’s going to need to spend a lot more time with this creature.

Trying to impress Vandore

Vandore asked the party to demonstrate how they are going to sneak into the camp as an Ogre. They party each used their various skills a few times and, in the end, Vandore thought “This might work.” He explained, the Ogres will be distracted of course as the disguise won’t hold up to close scrutiny but if the troops are engaged with the Ogres, the Ogres won’t be giving you a close examination, and this will work.

Vandore asked the Stone Bearers their thoughts on his plans to flank the enemy and basically cause a massive battle distraction allowing the party to use their disguise to get past the main horde and take out their leader in the cave. The party discussed several options including just creating a conga line, but in the end they agreed to his plan. Ajani recalled that Kishen had sent General Doz and his troops to test Zelbross’s defenses. They figured they could use that to get past the outside guards. They agreed to go at nightfall.

The army

The party left with Vandore and about 20 other soldiers to a camp south of Zelbross. The camp had over 100 soldiers, all men, mostly humans with a small scattering of Elves, Half-Orcs, Halflings etc. There were a few mounted soldiers but no real calvary to speak of. The army of the Lords Alliance did not seem to be an overwhelming force compared to the Army of Ogres, so the success of the Stone Bearer’s mission was critical to the success of the battle.

One of the scouts approached Vandore and explained the attack would happen in three waves. A War horn will be blown and the first wave, a feign of a frontal assault will allow the right flank to get in place. When the 2nd horn blows, the Right flank will engage pulling the enemy troops to the right. Then the 3rd horn will blow, and the left flank will engage. At that point there should be enough distraction to allow the special assault team disguised as an Ogre messenger to make their way with little resistance to the cave at the other side of the army.

The first horn blew and the first wave went in. Battle cries could be heard and ogre screams. After a few moments the 2nd horn blew and the Ogres were slow to react and regroup. Moments later the 3rd horn blew and there was mass confusion among the Ogres. They seemed to split as planned leaving a path available for the Stone Bearers.

The approach

Abrash became an Ostrich and Isabella and Juan both mounted on top. Isabella held the Ogre Head and Thomas stood beside the Ostrich with the Arm. He took the note they found written to General Doz and nailed it to the Ogre Hand. Juan then took the arm and held it out to the side. Gazlowe appeared as Ajani was putting the large blanket over everyone leaving the Ogre Head and arm exposed. Gazlowe was pushed under the Ostrich wing, and they quickly explained the situation as they walked hurriedly down a path between two massive battles.

Isabella peeking through the Blanket saw some Ogres protecting the entrance to the cave. There were 5 goons in the front, 2 bolt launchers on the far sides. In the front of the cave stood 2 Ogres holding long chains and in between them was another Elophar, the Eyeless undead Ogre abomination with runes all over its body. They got closer and one of the Bolt Launcher Ogres ordered what he saw as an approaching Ogre wearing a blanket to stop and go join the battle.

Isabella, using her best Giant voice, told them that they had a very important secret message “Keeshawn.” (The leader’s name is actually Kishen.) The guards refused to let the badly disguised team pass and told them to return to the battle as the camp is under attack. Isabella continued to stress the importance of getting to Keeshawn and continued to argue. The real Ogre went and physically turned the fake army around and told them to go find General Phall and give him the information. Eventually the others realized the guards aren’t going to give in so Abrash telepathically communicated, we need to attack now with surprise.

Attack!

Ajani was the first to pop out and he cast hypnotic pattern over 3 of the Goons, both of the Ogres with the chains and the Elophar. The 3 goons were unaffected, but the others captivated by the patterns about them. Thomas whipped at the Bolt Launcher Ogre and just nicked him a bit. Isabella tried to bonk the Bolt Launcher with the Ogre head but missed. Gazlowe popped out from below the blanket and punched the Ogre in his knees knocking him prone. Juan clobbered the Bolt launcher with the Ogre arm he was holding. Abrash as an Ostrich finished off the Ogre with a critical claw attack. Then the Ostrich ran to the line of minions and with a single claw took out two of them.

Ajani took cover behind a tree and Thomas ran up and took out two more of the minion goons. Isabella jumped of the Ostrich and ran to the 2nd Bolt launcher and said “I need to See Keeshawn” as she hit him twice with her great axe. Gazlowe shot a fire bolt at the Bolt launcher and bloodied him. The sole remaining Goon hit Isabella but barely even hurt her. Juan cast Armor of Agathys on himself. Abrash charged to the sole remaining Goon and killed it with a claw attack. Ajani stepped out from behind the tree and shot a lightning bolt at the 4 remaining Ogres. Badly wounding the main three and killing the Bolt Launcher. The Elophar exploded acid on the two chain brutes to either side of him. The Elophar tried to cast Reduce on Gazlowe but Gazlowe resisted.

Thomas whacked the Elophar with his chain whip a couple times. Again, the Elophar squired acid onto Thomas and the other two Ogres. Isabella took out one of the Chain Brutes with her axe. She then ran and shoved Thomas out of the way and hit the Elophar with her Axe. Acid squirted onto her, but her rage absorbed some of it. Thomas dodged some of the acid. The Ogre with the Chain spun his chain at Thomas, Gazlowe and Isabella. He hit all three and knocked Gazlowe prone, but Gazlowe had recently installed an anti-prone device that sprang him right back up. Isabella took some damage, but Thomas wasn’t paying attention and got severely whacked and knocked prone.

Juan waited for the Ostrich to move. Abrash, as the Ostrich, clawed twice at the Chain Ogre and critically wounded him. Juan then used his lance to pierce into the face of the Ogre killing it. Ajani cast an acid based chromatic orb at the Elophar and left it in a critical state. Terrified, it started to flee. Thomas went after it and – from 30 feet away – put a crossbow bolt in the back of the creature’s head, putting it down permanently.

Into the cave.

They heard a horn on the battlefield and heard the Soldiers of the Lord’s Alliance rallying. The party saw that the battle was going well but there was still more to be done. Gazlowe said, “Let’s go kill the leader.” Thomas led the way into the cave. Abrash psychically told Gazlowe to put the two little ones on his back. As Gazlowe helped Isabella and Juan onto the Ostrich, Juan corrected Abrash saying, “The preferred nomenclature is Gnome.”

The party all went into the cave. As Thomas rounded a corner, he was greeted by an Ogre who stopped them saying, “You not Ogre!”

Thomas struck him with his chain whip twice. Abrash went around the creature to attack from the other side. Doing so, he saw 2 more Ogres guarding a door. Juan cast spiritual weapon and attacked with his lance critically hitting the creature and bloodied him badly. The Ogre (Alley Basher) went to punch the Ostrich but thanks to a curse from Thomas, only one punch landed. Isabella hit it twice with her Axe. Gazlowe stepped up and landed one punch with his gauntlets killing the Ogre.

More Ogres.

An Ogre with a massive battering ram charged the party. Ajani screamed and the Ogre missed. The Ogre Manggus in front of the door started to grunt as his skin turned red. He arched his head back and his stomach extended out and then 3 heads burst forth from it each screeching and looking to bite into the party. Then, Thomas ran past the Ogre with the Battering Ram by walking through a wall. Rounding the corner closer to the door he spotted three more Ogres in the room all waiting to join the fray. Seeing he was alone with so many Ogres he cast Shield of faith on himself.

Juan took the blanket off of Abrash and tried to throw it over the Large Ogre but missed. The blanket floated to the floor. But he was able to bonk him in the head with his Spiritual Log. Isabella jumped onto the Ogre’s shoulders and struck him with her axe twice bloodying him. Gazlowe filled the adjacent room where Thomas was with a fog cloud effectively blinding everyone (except Thomas who has blindsight.) Ajani shot a chromatic Orb at the Ogre with the Battering Ram and finished him off. With extraordinary grace, Isabella jumped off the Ogre as it fell.

Blind Fighting.

In the room completely engulfed in gas cloud, one of the two Chain Brute Ogres started swinging his chain blindly. He knocked Isabella over and also struck Thomas and the other Chain Brute. Thomas got up and went all Ethereal as he walked through the wall into the next room. He saw a large room with Torches on the walls and 5 Goons waiting to attack the person who walked through the door. Thomas however didn’t walk through the door, and he struck one of the Goons, killing it and then went back through the wall into the cloud filled room. He made his 2nd strike against the Mangguss Hitting one of the heads in the stomach. He hit it with so much force the head fell off.

The creature with only 2 heads now protruding from its stomach blindly struck out but hit nothing. Abrash blindly clawed and hit the creature wounding it slightly. With amazing accuracy Juan made a critical attack against the creature while blinded. A 2nd head fell from the creature. Isabella crawled blindly across the floor like Velma without her glasses. All she could find was Abrash the ostrich.

Gazlowe drank his potion of fire breath and was able to hit one of the Ogres. Ajani cast Mage Armor on himself. One of the Chain Brute left the fog and tried to attack Gazlowe but only hit his shield. The other Ogres struggled to hit anything in their blindness until the other Chain Brute swung at the Ostrich and hit Juan with his full force. The damage wasn’t severe, but the concussive nature of the blow knocked Juan unconscious. Juan’s Armor of Agathys shattered a bit causing pain to the Ogre and Juan fell off the Ostrich landing prone on the ground. Thomas walked inside of the Manggus and struck him and then walked out. Gazlowe ended his concentration and the fog dissipated.

Finishing the battle now that you can see.

Seeing Juan on the floor, Abrash the ostrich kicked him to wake him up, but he didn’t move right away. Gazlowe used his Flash of Genius and, encouraged by that, Juan was able to wake up. Isabella struck the Alley Basher Ogre with her Axe. Gazlowe cast Heat Metal on the Ogre with the chain whip. The Ogre was able to continue to hold on the whip and the Gazlowe breathed some fire on him. Ajani scored a direct hit on the Ogre with a Chromatic Orb dealing the maximum damage he could leaving the Ogre bloodied. The Alley Basher pounded ostrich and destroyed it forcing Abrash back into his normal form. The 2nd Chain Brute whipped Abrash.

Thomas struck the Manggus with his whip. Thomas watched the Manggus and where the 2 heads were removed, 4 grew in their place. The creature now how 5 heads protruding from his stomach. They tried to attack Thomas but only one was able to bite him. Abrash polymorphed himself into a Giant Ape. Juan climbed up on Abrash’s back. Juan then stabbed the Alley Basher with his lance and used his Wrathful Smite causing the Ogre to stand there frozen in fear. Juan then stabbed again this time making a critical hit. Gazlowe picked up the chain from the Chain Ogre and put it around his neck and then heated it up again. Ajani finished off the Ogre with a Chromatic orb. Frightened, the Alley Basher could only land a single punch on the Giant Ape. The Chain Brute also struck the Giant Ape.

Thomas critically struck the Manggus with his chain whip killing it. He then killed the Chain Brute with a second attack. Abrash the Giant Ape pummeled the Alley Basher with 2 fist attacks. Juan used his Lance and poked the Ogre in the eye, finishing it off.