Fenian Miarel
Bugged by Bugbears
I write this now while taking advantage of the respite and 'safety' of the caves of our 'allies' the Broken Tooth Orc tribe. It seems that my friend Sacyra's efforts to befriend the Orc Gorefang after having released him from captivity have proven successful. At least for the time being... Gorefang has proven to be a valiant asset to our efforts to clear the caves of evil though I can't say that I rest easy while here as I am not yet fully convinced that the orcs won't kill us at their earliest opportunity. They are Orcs after all and have no love for those of elvish heritage such as myself and three of my companions. After all our people share an ancient enmity that goes back to the dawn of our species. But I digress... I should start this tail from the beginning...
Having returned to the keep from our last outing against the bugbears, and needing to retire due to their efforts in resisting our incursion to their evil abode in which we again rescued hapless prisoners, we divided our spoils and nursed our wounds. My friend Sacyra was rather pleased with herself for having saved several of Gorefang's tribemates from slavery and possible consumption at the hands of the bugbears. She's a simple woman with a good heart and I find myself quite proud of her efforts to become, in her words, “a famous hero”. I have to admit that I would not have ever imagined myself in an “alliance” with Orcs of all creatures, but that is due entirely to Sacyra's efforts. Again I digress, but that is easy when talking of my Tiefling friend...
After resting for the night we broke our fast in The Stretched Goat as we normally do when we were chanced to meet a travelling priest named Thorfin and his two unnamed acolytes. The acolytes, having taken vows of silence, did not speak. Thorfin however was a most jovial and loquacious fellow and a pleasure to talk with. He and his companions are travelling the land seeking new converts and spreading his faith. They are resting at the keep and Thorfin has been engaged in talking with the inhabitants and travellers. By all accounts he is fine fellow if the locals are to be believed. Unfortunately I fear that dear Sacyra may have taken a dim view of the priest when he chanced to inquire as to any prejudices she may have encountered growing up as most Tieflings are met with fear and suspicion as they are of a devilish origin and the vast majority of them are of a rather unsavoury disposition. I feel that he was expecting her to be of that nature and she, being anything but evil in my experience so far, took exception to this stereotype. Thorfin meant no harm at all and apologized profusely for any insults, but I fear my friend's feelings are easily hurt when it comes to her upbringing and past and she quickly excused herself while Adokul and I stayed on to speak further. I did have to leave after receiving word from the trader Khalidd that my alchemical supplies had arrived. I made arrangements to secure a private apartment in order to set up my lab and gain larger living area. Soon I will be brewing potions if all goes w.
The next morning we again met Thorfin during breakfast and we invited him to join us on our foray back to deal with the bugbears but he declined as he and his acolytes were not prepared for such a spontaneous journey. Adokul extended the offer to our next outing and he accepted. Sacyra made herself scarce as I assumed she was still a bit bruised from her prior conversation. After a delicious breakfast served by the lovely Kira, we headed out.
We met no opposition or anyone at all along the road and quickly gained our normal campsite. We left our hired men guarding the wagon and campsite and proceeded along the path to the caves as normal. This proved to be a mistake as we were ambushed by javelin throwing Bugbears. Their javelins found their mark and nearly killed Sarkin the mage outright and managed to wound Stony the paladin despite being extremely heavily armoured. The Bugbears then immediately fled, expecting us to pursue. Thankfully we did not and chose to take a flanking route and went to the slope of the ravine on the north. From there we could see that the Bugbears had lain in wait in an ambush for us and would have easily bested us. It was a perfect ambush had we fallen for it.
Luckily for us we did not and we had managed to ambush our ambushers. We rained arrows and spells down on them and managed to eliminate the archers after trading a few rounds of arrows. We kept the melee troops pinned down and they quickly retreated to what looked to be the bushes in front of the ogre's cave as they lacked missile weapons and we held the higher ground. We waited for a good quarter hour for them to reappear but they did not. They must have indeed gone into the cave. We thought it best to gain some reinforcements at the Broken Tooth cave and also rest and heal up our wounded.
We spent an hour or so with the Orcs and informed them of our plans and then, with Gorefang and several of his fellows, travelled the slopes of the ravine while avoiding the bugbear caves until we were on the south slope and then entered the hobgoblin caves as we had previously defeated them and mapped the cave system. We knew it connected to the goblin and ogre caves and hoped to avoid a frontal assault on the bugbears. This proved to be a sound plan as we managed to again ambush the ambushers as the bugbears had indeed lain in wait for us at the ogre and goblin caves.
They had lain in wait for us with only one bugbear capable of engaging us at range and then only with two javelins. He fell to arrows and Sarkin's spell. That left at least six more with one very close in a nearby pocket like chamber. He was an extremely tough looking foe and would easily flank us had we tried to move up and engage them. It was then that Gorefang and Sacyra carried the day.
Gorefang bellowed some ungodly orcish battle cry and charged the bugbear with Sacyra hot on his heels. Gorefang, clearly outmatched, managed to score a deadly blow against the bugbear wounding him greatly while Sacyra followed up with some deadly slashes with her daggers. At this point Miayra charged in and finished him off with her spear with the great beast not even landing a blow in response. This broke the morale of the bugbears and the remainder fled the cave while our nigh invulnerable paladin let the unarmoured rogue, monk and orc carry the day. (Remind me to speak with our good paladins about valour.)
As they ran toward their own cave we managed to cut most of them down with arrows and spells. Only two managed to gain the safety of their caves. At this point we decided to retire to the Broken Tooth caves and come up with a next course of action while recovering from any wounds though I don't believe anyone was injured in the slightest but spells need to be recovered.
So here I am writing this while Sacyra and Gorefang celebrate their valour, great as it was, and the Orcs as well celebrating the slain bugbears. It would appear that they have no love at all for them and quite hate them if appearances are to be believed. These victories seem to be solidifying our “alliance” further and so far that seems to be a good thing though I can't help but distrust the orcs because of their evil and brutal nature, not to mention the millennia of enmity between our peoples... but Sacyra has done much to dispel my preconceptions of her own people and now the orcs as well. Perhaps, Lathander willing, we can forge a peace between the good people of this region and the orcs at least.
The journey thus far.
I had arrived at the keep on the boarderlands two days past, bone tired, dirty, and weary from the long journey. My travelling companions, a paladin named Adokul of mixed heritage like myself, an odd and somewhat manic woman bordering on deranged, who goes by the name of and keeps her features hidden, and an woman of wood elf descent, by name, were challenged upon arrival at the gates by ever alert and ready guards and made to state our man names and business prior to gaining entry.
Once inside the gate proper we were instructed to keep our weapons properly secured and stowed and to keep out of trouble or face the consequences. We also learned that region has be plagued by bandits and gangs of humanoid like orcs and goblins that have been waylaying travellers and caravans, robbing, capturing, or outright killing the unfortunate people in the process. For their crimes the castellan of the keep has instituted a bounty of 1 gp per bandit and humanoid head or other proof of defeat in order to bring them to justice. It is clear that my decision to come here was the right one as my services are dearly needed.
We also managed to to find two shops, the provisioners, and the traders that can sell us any needed gear and supplies we may need.
We also secured lodging at the Traveller's Inn which is adjacent to the tavern, The Stretched Goat, of which a fine meal can be had, served by the lovely Kira, a barmaid in the employ of the proprietor, Bumbo.
After a night's rest and a bath, my companions and I headed outside the keep and patrolled the road to the northeast and encountered naught but a trail, which lead into the woods on the slopes of a large hill rising to the northwest. Following the trail brought us to a ravine lined with caves along the slopes. We chose one cave along the bottom of the ravine, near the mouth, for our initial foray and while approaching the entrance, I noticed eight kobolds in a tree that were attempting an ambush.
Luckily for us we got the drop on them and attacked them instead. At one point during the battle, the deranged woman set the tree alight, and the rest of us dispatched the would be ambushers. The odd woman took a blow to the head, which I am sure did nothing to make her life any easier, but it was a minor one.
After defeating our foes we then entered the cave, proceeded 20 or so feet, and the elven lady sprung a pit trap, and narrowly avoided falling in. Unfortunately the sound of the trap drew the attention of a group of kobold guards who quickly attacked us. Sadly they were less of a problem than the pack of giant rats that attacked us from the left flank and layed me low. Thankfully one of my companions had the wherewithal to administer a healing potion to me and I was back in the fight only to be quickly, and severely wounded once more.
Fortune smiled on us again as we were able to defend ourselves against the kobolds and the rats but two kobolds managed to get away, presumably to summon reinforcements, so we decided to let discretion be the better part of valour and we fell back to gather our strength.
We decided to go back to the keep for rest and recuperation and while travelling the road southwest we spotted a band of ruffians and other surly individuals that could only have been the bandits we had been warned about. We quickly hid in the woods in order to avoid their notice. The remaining journey back was uneventful and we succeeded in claiming our bounty for the 12 dead kobolds.
I have to hand it to the odd woman, as she was able to haggle with the I keeper and secure us half price rooms on an extended stay basis.
Hopefully our next forays will be as productive.
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