The Abandoned Fortress

(Oret, 15^th March, 730)

In a rather down-at-heel tavern in the little village of Brascet in southern Oret, four rather unlikely companions were gathered. A heavily-armoured human warrior, a sturdy dwarf, a weatherbeaten and silent half-orc and a dark-complexioned redhead of nomad appearance were persusing a tattered map the dwarf had just produced.

As treasure maps went, it was pretty basic, but Hildraft had great confidence in the contact he'd got it from. He'd also done some research to confirm the story. Gorntar Castle, built by the elves during the period when they had actively hunted and destroyed evil creatures, had reputedly been abandoned after the war between the elves and the northern humans some sixty years previously. Most other elf outposts had been taken over by the local humans, but Gorntar was on the verges of the treacherous Trakar swamps, and there were no nearby lords to cast a covetous eye on it; it seemed to have been forgotten. The village they were now in was only fifty miles away from the point indicated on the map. The locals referred to the place as "the Valley of Eagles", but were unaware for any reason for the name.

Saddling up, they rode north for two days, finally arriving at the valley itself. The castle was visible from the crest of the ridge where they stood (marked X on the map), and they paused to look it over. The half-orc Sack's keen eyes immediately picked out the tell-tale signs of habitation; smoke rising from the outer bailey and the ramshackle huts clustered at one end. He also caught a clear glimpse of around ten orcs moving around, and one much larger figure lumbering across the camp; probably an ogre. One gatehouse tower and a thirty-foot section of curtain wall had collapsed, and there appeared to be no attempt made at securing the outer walls. The inner bailey of the castle was intact, and, peculiarly, was thickly crowded with mature trees and thick, luxuriant vegetation - in contrast to the outer ward, which sported scrubby grass and small bushes. There were no signs of orc activity within the inner walls.

Moving cautiously nearer, they examined the cliffs descending into the valley to the river. Initially, the descent looked daunting, but with some hunting, they found an easier descent and, tethering the horses in a hollow, worked their way down to the riverbank. From there, they could see the face of the cliff below the castle; a stone quay projected into the river directly below the castle, with archways leading back into the cliff. Tiny slit windows were just visible, seeming to delineate two more floors between the quay and the castle.

The group decided to bivouac until night, and entered the arched tunnels to set up camp. It turned out that the two outer ones joined up with the centre one - and that there was a vast rockfall completely blocking the main tunnel. Hildraft looked over it with a professional eye and determined that a) it had been intentionally collapsed by experts and that b) there was no way anyone was getting through it.

Once dark had fallen, Kobort sent Nose-biter up to do a quick recce. Through the empathic link he got a spike of surprise; the owl had tried to put his head through one of the windows and inexpicably found his face pressed against the stone to the side of it instead.

Shedding his armour and equipment, Sack rigged himself with ropes and climbing tools and assaulted the cliff. Instantly he was aware it was a more than averagely tough climb; almost to the level of being trapped. If he hadn't have pinned spikes and tied himself off every ten feet, he'd have fallen to his death before he was halfway up. However, he made it with only a few shaky moments, and lowered a rope for the others.

Once up, Kobort took the time to run a quick Detect Magic around the clifftop - to no result - and they scrambled over the lip and onto the promontory under the walls of the inner bailey. Kobort experimented by lobbing a stone over the wall into the inner ward; apart from the fact that the sounds of its' impact faded unnaturally quickly, this didn't achieve much either. A quick discussion followed, regarding whether they should head straight over the walls into the inner bailey or deal with the orcs first; they decided to engage the orcs.

The group split into two; Surya and Sack, the two longbowmen, went across the outer ward to the opposite corner from the orc encampment, and entered one of the curtain wall towers. They climbed to the top and attempted to get out on the roof; but after Sack had come within an ace of falling through they returned to the top floor and found a suitable window; then they started making up fire-arrows. Kobort and Hildraft, armed with crossbows, moved around the outside of the inner bailey until they could just see around the corner to the semi-ruined stables near the gatehouse. Kobort noted two orcs moving about in the building, and got comfortably settled where he could get a shot at them. Shortly after, he drew first blood, dropping an orc in its' tracks.

Hildraft and Kobort cleared the second orc from the stables, and then prepared themselves to make a dash for the gatehouse; Kobort brought up his Mage Armour in preperation. Then things changed again.

Out of the village came a large group of orcs. Better organised this time, the front rank had heavy wooden shields, and a cluster of javelin-throwers were bunched behind them. Four huge ogres marched along behind that, three with giant clubs and the fourth with fighteningly large throwing spears. Spaced among the orcs were three more of the better-equipped leader types, and at the fringe of the village, watching, was a single orc, larger than all the rest, with a fourth sergeant beside him.

This impromptu army began to move forward rapidly towards Sack and Surya's tower; as they did so, three orcs and a sergeant broke off and ran towards the stables...