Choosing caution, the party circled north into the hills above the
ruined city. From there they looked down on Mor. Columns of smoke could be seen
rising from points throughout the ruins. A few still standing buildings could
be seen, as well as a few towers of the central citadel. At the southern end,
Fort Gainsay South looked to be mostly intact. The ruins were still surrounded
by 100’ high walls, except for a breech on the eastern side. The city was also surrounded by water, on the
south by the lake and the north by a wide moat. The old west road passed by the
city, and another trail could be seen climbing into the hills. Just outside the
city walls was a military encampment, and from it patrols could be seen fanning
out over the surrounding area. In short order, one began to climb up the
hillside trail, so the party prepared an ambush. An hour later, the hobgoblin patrol climbed
into view, and Erijay and Bjeorn dropped them all with a pair of sleep spells. The sergeant and a couple
of others were bound and gagged, and then Gurruks’ wolves took care of the
rest. Waking the three, the party started to interrogate, but got nothing from
the crusty sergeant except name, rank and unit (Brak’un, Sergeant, 2nd
Century-12th Cohort). Discussing whether magic or muscle should be
used to get him to talk, magic won and Erijay charmed the sergeant. Sergeant Brak’un was convinced that the party
was on his side, working with the commander to investigate the readiness of the
hobgoblin forces. When pumped for information, he did tell the party a little
about the city; how many hobgoblins and where they were found, general layout
of the ruins, the half breed orkin inhabitants of the city and their generally
slave-like status, and that “He Who Walks in Metal” was headquartered in Fort
Gainsay South with a Century of hobgoblins and a raptor squadron. He couldn’t
provide much information on “He Who Walks in Metal”, just to say he was neither
hobgoblin nor man.
Deciding the sergeant might still be useful later on, they convinced him
(with the help of forged written orders) to remain in the hills with the
supplies and Sweet Jenny until the party returned from ‘inspecting the
defenses’ in a couple of days. This plan changed when late at night on
Darnorth’s watch, a fire giant stumbled into camp and started to hurl boulders
into the crowd. Luckily few hit, and although the giant took out several of
Gurruk’s wolves, it was destroyed with little damage to the party. Looting the
body, a pile of gold and jewels were recovered. Figuring there was no way the
hobgoblins could resist absconding with the treasure as soon as the party left
for Mor, the captives were put to the sword and the treasure buried.
The next day (the 8th day since leaving Westmist) was spent
in preparation for that night’s raid into Mor. Once darkness fell, the party
circled west of the city, put the folding
boat into the lake and rowed over to the sloped pile of rubble that formed
the breach. While everyone else stayed with the boat, Kern climbed to the top
of the pile, and spied a hobgoblin patrol down the other side. Watching for
awhile to get a feel for the patrol pattern, Kern signaled everyone when the
coast was clear and they all headed into the ruins. Several hours were spent
working through the rubble with no encounters, until finally the party stumbled
upon crude barricades at the approaches to the ruins of the central citadel.
Following the barricades, they found they completely enclosed the centre of the
city. Finding a gate, Darnorth knocked. The challenge was answered from within
in a strange patois of old common and orcish. Darnorth tried to convince them
to open the gates and help the party overthrow their hobgoblin oppressors.
These orkin (the Locust Clan) however, seemed to be in collaboration with the
hobgoblin armies, and had no interest in harebrained schemes of revolt.
Disappointed, the party moved on. As daylight was now approaching, they
started searching for a place to hold up for the day, looping to the south to
avoid the hobgoblin encampments to the north. They came across a pair of
building mostly intact, but with a grisly front yard. Ten iron poles were stuck
in the ground, each with an ancient skeleton impaled on it. Figuring the dead
wouldn’t disturb their rest, they learned the folly of that assumption when a
spectre appeared in the midst of the iron poles and drifted over to
attack. With sweaty hands on weapons,
they party destroyed the life draining horror, and then proceeded to bar
themselves in the largest building for the day. When a pair of pit vipers
interrupted Gurruk’s watch, he simply used his powers to master them and added them to his menagerie. Turrick’s watch was
likewise interrupted, this time by a band of orkin. Seeing an easy meal, the
mixed-blood humanoids crawled in through the window, tackled the poor halfling
and proceeded to drag him out through the door. Turrick was able to raise the
alarm, however, and before the orkin got too far, Erijay charmed one and got them to bring the halfling back. These orkin,
it turned out, were from a very minor clan (the Grub Clan). And they chaffed
under the hobgoblins yoke. Their clan members were frequently dragged off to
labor for the occupiers, and often did not return. They agreed to help the
party, and told them of a secret entrance into Gainsay South. Leading them to a
spot scant yards away, the orkin uncovered a sewer grate. They told the party
to follow the main line north, and then turn right and continue on for another
hour. There they would find a pair of grates covered with flagstone on the
surface, but easily accessible from the sewers. These led into Fort Gainsay,
and as far as the orkin knew, the hobgoblins were not aware of the entrance.
The party quickly dropped into the darkness below, thankful for the
help. And thankful that there was a narrow ledge to walk on so they could avoid
slogging through the slimy water. Proceeding north, after about an hour they
came into a large round chamber, with stairs going up. They also were surprised
by a band of reptilian humanoids with a gut churning stench. Fighting nausea, the party quickly slew two
creatures and the rest fled into the darkness. Turning right, another hour
found the party below the blocked sewer grates. Kern listened at both, hearing
the sound of booted feet and other activity above the first grate. That made
the second grate an easy choice, and after a few minutes work, the way was
clear to enter the fortress …
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