A few moments after Saliq cloaks his fellow adventurers under an invisible veil, three more ogre-wives emerge from the ruined keep. They too plop down near the other matron, as the ogre children wrestle on the hill.

In total, the group now spots three ogre-wives and five ogre children. Ben does not see any sign of the squat, knobby-skinned humanoids he observed in the shell of the southeast tower.

"Ben we aren't going to kill children, even ogre children." Saliq said very firmly. "We'll need to use more trickey than force here, to scare them away or somehow persuade them to leave."

The illusionist was silent a moment, watching and thinking. "If only I spoke orcish, I could use my magic to take on the form of an ogre girl and get inside that place. Unless...I suppose I could pose as a former slave who was taken by evil humans as a child and only now escaped."

Eagle moves close to Saliq, and watches and listens impassively.

He raises his eyebrow archly at this friends squeamishness, wondering what they thought was going to happen when they marched out to take on a camp full of Ogres in order to take their land, but he says nothing.

Norion watches but also moves into the cover of the magic.

"All things are born, Ben, orcs, dragons, spiders, but we may not have to kill these families to accomplish what we are set to do.  If we draw out their warriors, and kill enough of the men, they may flee these lands, thus clearing the threat from the cities we've promised to help.  If they all fight, they all die though.  As we are not under any deadline to complete our mission.  I propose that Inas tracks his way to where we killed the other Ogres, he and Morvo, and Bruno and bring back to us the chains that we left behind when we freed the slaves.  The rest of us shall take turns watching the comings, goings, the routines of this keep, part time scouting, the rest setting traps under Ben's leadership. Beyond the ankle breaking hazards, we will create a zone where the chains can be laid about in a pattern, so any walking into that area will be standing on one and have them all crossed.  The first lightning strike will damage all within that trap."

While the party discusses this new plot development in hushed whispers, the ogres continue their activities, for the moment, completely unaware of the presence of nearby invisible intruders. The ogre-wives seem content to allow their children to frolic on the hillside, while they watch from near the keep's exterior wall. After several minutes, a male Dread Ogre appears, its towering frame taking up the majority of the gatehouse tunnel entrance leading inside the keep.

The ogre grunts something unintelligible to the ogre-wives, which stirs what sound like a chorus of insults back the other way. The male ogre belts another verbal barrage at the wome, to which they cheerfully return the favor. This continues for some time, before the male Dread Ogre eventually retreats back inside the keep.

A few moments later, the ogre-wives call the ogre children to them and then also make their way back into keep. Curiously, the ogre-wives appear nervous now, each glancing worriedly into some point on the distant horizon, as though expecting an arrival.

What could cause them to appear so anxious?

The heroes can only guess, for none are capable of reading minds.

"Is that the direction the ones we killed would have come from?" Ben asks the others...

Monvo vigorously nods his head in the affirmative and replies, "Yes. That flyspeck of a village we got roped into helping is back that way."

"I could take to the wing to find out more if it's helpful?" Eagle offers.

"Seemed to me they were more upset about what wasn't there than what was..."

The sight of the females and younglings had thrown Inas. Although it was logical that ogres would have families, to actually see them in the flesh made it seem more real. Suddenly the thought of slaying them came into his head, and that made him uncomfortable. He turned to his companions and spoke quietly. "This complicates matters. I'm not comfortable with the thought of murdering younglings and unarmed females, even if they represent a race of beings that cause mayhem and destruction. I think we need a new plan, one where we can drive them away rather than kill and maim."

"For now I suggest we camp for the night and see what develops. It may be they will send out a scouting party we can fall on. At the very least we night something of their routine. If putting together an ambush is beyond our ability to coordinate, I think I can get us up into one of those towers, with a little bit of luck."

"You suggesting we make camp right here, within a stone's throw of the ogres' lair?" Monvo scolds in apparent disbelief.

"Yeah," he says while tossing a pine cone to the side, "that's sounds like a dandy of an idea!"

"They haven't noticed us all day. Hard to see that it would change now. Nothing says we can't hide first though..."

"I wonder what will happen once the sun sets, if the ogres will be as content to lounge around all evening after resting for most of the day?" he asks with through a cocky smile.

"Probably be too pooped to do much of anything..."

"Look, you little shit-head for hire, you wanna have a cocky smile, head back to the back alleys of Stormhaven and put your knee pads back on. You've had nothing useful to say all god-damned day, but now you think you have the right to complain? You want ogres to fight, fine, you stupid sack of shit, I'll go get you some..."

Ben turns and heads towards the tower, calling out the ogres 'come out and play!!!'

Eagle watches the discussion between Ben and Monvo with the same growing irritation that the young thief is feeling. He's slightly taken aback though when his rash friend breaks cover and heads for the tower, but then shrugs - they're only here to destroy the ogres in any case and bring balance back to the valley, 'in for a copper, in for a platinum' he mutters ruefully.

He waits a moment to see what his companions do, but assuming they're now on a track that will result in a coming together with the ogres he will start to prepare a call lightening spell.

OOC: Unless Ben is called back I'm assuming combat with ogres is in our near future: if so I'll cast call lightening now, but will take a turn to eventuate, so happy to try and dodge and weave a bit in the meantime! DM, with Eagle's knowledge of the natural world, is it likely that there are any animals or woodland beings in the locality that he could summon who might come in handy against ogres (like Woolly Mammoth/Hippopotamus type large mammals for example!)

Rath puts a hand on Monvo's shoulder, giving him a glance warning him against reacting to Ben's explosion. "Ben," Rath says calmly. "Wait. The magic circle. You're invisible unless you cross ... . You're not waiting, are you?"

Rath glances at Eagle. "Back to Plan A," he mutters. "Monvo, Bruno ... stay close. Ben's going to draw them out. Don't show yourselves. And wax your ears, boys!"

With any luck, Rath thinks, the Ogre leader will emerge, leaving the harem and the offspring safe in the bowels of the ruins.

Norion grins at Ben, not exactly a well thought out plan, but the man has spirit! Norion does a quick check of his gear, readying for battle.

"Ben?! Saliq gasped in disbelief as his friend started moving. The illusionist had been distracted thinking of way to magically gain access to the castle, so was  caught of guard by the sudden movement.

"Goddess help the rest of us keep our wits!" Saliq prayed to his patron Sehanine as he started running through his spells.

Inas rolled his eyes. A new plan seemed to have evolved, but not in the way he desired. "Damned fool," he muttered under his breath. As the rest of the band stirred into action he flexed his bowstring. It looked like they were about to get some action!

Several moments pass following Ben's outburst, when finally, the male Dread Ogre emerges from the gatehouse tunnel. The beast places his hand over his brow, so as to shield the sun, and peers int he direction of the stand of trees the party had been hiding behind. Ben is still within the range of Saliq's spell, and is therefore invisible, adding to the ogre's confusion.

The ogre spends a few moments looking out into the distance, before finally raising his hand above his head while clenching his fist, almost in greeting. But is the Dread Ogre waving hello to Ben?

No. Astute party members will notice three giant humanoid forms approaching from the south, rising over a low hill, in the general direction the ogre-wives had previously been looking before being ushered back into the keep.

These figures are much larger than ogres, standing what appears to be at least two to three feet taller: Hill giants!

Each of the giants is dragging a metal chain, attached to which are what look like the lifeless form of a handful of humans: the catch of the day!

None of the humans appears to be alive, not that this makes any difference to the giants. Meat is meat and besides, all this dragging over rocky ground just serves to tenderize that tasty man-flesh!

The giants are presently about 200 feet distant from the invisible party and headed toward the keep, which is about 300 feet distant from

The hill giant's present path will lead them very close to the party's current position.

Mouth open in surprise, Ben comes to a stop.

"What the hell? Hill giants?"

he wanders back to the others.

"I fear the gods are playing odds and evens with our fate, they just pulled hill giants out of their arse. I suspect if we were to fare well against them, a titan would be next. I say we leave Monvo here on guard duty, and head back to town. We can come back in a year or two to see if anything develops..."

Monvo stares incredulously at Ben before harshly whispering, "No thanks. I'd just as soon return to the back alleys, as you say. I didn't sign on with you anyhow, and I am damn sure not taking any orders from the likes of you!"

Having freely spoken his mind, Monvo returns his concentration to the approaching hill giants, which register as the greatest threat at the moment.

Ben considers terminating the little bastards contract with the point of his blade, but figures the others might object.

"Looks like they are planning a party. Maybe while they are basking in the aftermath, we should consider striking. If the tales I've heard are correct, these big boys drink big big drinks..."

Dark clouds begin forming in the skies above, a precursor to the coming storm that Eagle has summonsed.

With regards to local fauna that might be useful in a battle against the ogres and giants, Eagle knows the primary predator in these parts, aside from monsters, are wolves and to a lesser degree, mountain lions.

Woolly mammoth and hippopotami are not known to reside in these parts.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:35, Wed 08 Oct 2014.