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.