Where did all those Orcs go?

Once the adventurers had seen to the preservation of their new allies, their attention returned to the column of corrupted orcs that had overran them on the plans four days previously. The column was clearly headed south, and the town of Kelish, in its already weakened state would certainly not last under any sort of attack. Thus, the party travelled south through the forest, hoping to gain time on their enemies and reach the town first. However, the party underestimated the stamina of the corrupted orcs, and as they left the forest and neared the town, they say columns of smoke on the horizon.

The party approached the town slowly, and were stopped by a well-camoflaged Keith, who was concealed in the tall grasses. He berated the group for their lack of caution, as there were patrols about. Keith had been formulating a plan of attack, and made room for the party in it. Based on his observations, the orcs had stationed siginficant guard posts at each of the three roadways into town, and that the surviving townspeople had been corralled into one of the wharf warehouses in the southeast corner. The party was to approach from the north as he and Ted made a distraction at the western end of town. The party agreed, and moved again towards the town.

As they neared the town, a pair of axe-wielding corrupted orc berserkers approached from their flank. As they prepared to do battle, a pair of panicy peasants sprang from their hiding places before the orcs stepped to close for their liking. The peasants ran as fast as they could towards the adventurers, and were fortunately able to get to them before the orcs could run them down. The orcs were killed before they could inflict any serious harm, and the peasants were instructed on how to reach the relative safety of Keith's cabin.

Finally reaching town, once they heard Ted's roaring, the adventures first attacked the guards at the north entrance, and were able to eliminate them before they could raise an alarm. They moved onto the eastern guard post, and had a tougher time with the guards there as they used the cover of a nearby building to shield themselves from Syllinea's arrows. The adventurers were still successful, and notced that a large winged monstrosity occupied the centre square of town, directing his minions against the large dire bear that had appeared in their midst. The party snuck through town to the warehouse, quietly dispatched the two guards, and saw that a large group of townspeople huddled inside. The party then made for the centre of town to assist Keith and Ted, but noticed that the noise of fighting and roaring had subsided. Suddenly, from atop a roof, the winged figure appeared, and threw unholy evil at the party, taunting them all the while. It appeared as though it may have been human at once time, but like the corrupted orcs his features had been twisted and changed to resemble those of a fiend. The adventures were already wounded from their previous skirmishes, and were clearly outmatched by their evil opponent. Luckily, Keith appeared from the west. Bloodied, he managed to help the adventurers bring down the fiend, with Oskar laying the final blow.

Kelish had been laid waste, and the handful of remaining townsfolk had no desire to remain and wait for the next attack. They travelled with the adventurers towards Kell, the next nearest village, and hoped to find refuge there. For their part, the party felt that they were undergeared for taking on the source of the evil, and thus opted to return to Welca in hopes of exchanging the unholy weapons that they had recovered for more useful fare.

Unlikely Allies

After learning that the Hammer Cleave clan orcs was under siege from the evil influence in the region, the adventurers traveled towards their location that was marked on their map. They traveled once again at the edge of the forest in an attempt to avoid detection, but it quickly became apparent that their enemies had caught onto their plan. A pair of armoured orcs appeared from the trees, and these had the same corrupted forms as the swarm that had overrun the party two days before. These two however, wielded longswords wreathed in a black, evil energy that scorched the souls of those cut by them. Fortunately, Oskar was unaffected by the orcs' unholy weapons and spells, and the group was able to cut them down.

After a few more days travel, the group approached the mountain home of the Hammer Cleave clan. From behind the crest of a hill, the adventurers took stock of the situation. The Hammer Cleave base had a single, small cave mouth, and any decorations and heraldry declaring their presence had been desecrated by the attackers. There were several of the corrupted standing guard near the entrance, along with a huge red coloured saurian beast. The beast had an enormous mouth, and plating on its back that formed an armoured shield, presumably for a rider. It stayed completely motionless, however, all the while the party watched. Periodically, corrupted orcs pushing barrows full of dug out rock would appear from the cave, indicating that they were digging out their prey within.

The adventurers decided to try and lure some of their enemies to them into an ambush. Mira conjured an auditory illusion, and a group of the corrupted orcs came to investigate. One, however, climbed upon the large beast, and as he took position inside the armored frill, the beast came alive, and also began to move towards the adventurer's position.

Unfortunately, glinting off of Aurora's armour revealed the adventurers presence, and the battle was quickly joined. Their foes were more of the armoured sword-wielding corrupted from earier, who were joined by lighter armoured raging orcs with unholy greataxes. The great red beast turned out to be a significant threat, as it exhaled large gouts of flame from its cavernous maw. When it was finally joined in melee, it swallowed Aurora with one great bite! The adventurers had wisely discerned that the orc atop it was controlling it directly, and Sylinnea directed her arrows at him. Once the rider was killed, the beast was once again motionless, and was easily cut down. Aurora was quickly cut from its crop before she suffocated.

The group then moved towards the Hammer Cleave's tunnels. The trek down was very long, and the tunnel was straight and narrow, save for defensive bulges. The party also found evidence of deadfalls that had been dug through by the corrupted, and occasionally ran into and killed a corrupted orc that had been taking rubble out from the tunnel. Eventually, they came upon sounds of mining, and saw a band of corrupted orcs digging at a wall of rubble. They were lead by a large creature that may have been an orc once, and except for his bat-like wings, he was much like the corrupted orcs the party had been facing previously. The party attacked, and overcame their enemies.

Once the battle subsided, a pounding was detected coming through the rubble - and a large, well scarred orc came through, wielding a great warhammer. Suspicious at first, he showed gratitude to the party for saving his clan from death (or worse) at the hands of their enemies. Further, given the Hammer Cleave and the party's common interests in driving these corrupted orcs and their masters from the land, a deal was struck for the party to meet with the Hammer Cleave chieftain and his champion in three months time - and together they would attack the source of the problem.