The World of Telvar

Aerial scouting from the parties favorite familiar revealed several
bugbears manning a catapult on one of the stone towers surrounding the
pen. Ceydric then flew ahead to distract the bugbears so the rest of the
party could close the distance. This made him the target of the catapult
shot at point blank distance but fortunately it was loaded with flaming
shot and inflicted only minor damage to the protected Ceydric (Pro
Normal Missiles). Bugbear morale was significantly lowered by this, and
two of the bugbears tried to flee from the flying demon that appeared
invulnerable to their actions (throughout the game Ceydric was referred
to as some sort of demon, one time a cambion, as the bugbears were
obviously frightened by him). Ceydric cleaned up the top of the tower
while some of the party scaled the wall and opened the gate. The party
was then split into Ludo and Ceydric entering the tower from above and
everyone else entering the adjoining room from the field inside the walls.

The party immediately faced two hill giants in armor surrounded by
numerous slaves and a handful of bugbears just milling about. A stinking
cloud took down one of the giants and a massive assault from the party
took down the other. They didn't really stand much of a chance although
their hurled boulders almost pounded the spell casters. Meanwhile, up
some stairs and behind a set of heavy doors, Ceydric and Ludo had their
own little challenge. The bugbear that tried to flee down the trap door
was quickly killed, as were several of his comrades, but the Greater Ogre
that then stepped in Ceydric's way proved to be a little more difficult.
The situation looked kind of bad there for a second (since Ceydric had
already sustained lots of damage from the cloud giant and others) but
with Ceydric continually hitting and Ludo backing him up with some sling
shots, the Greater Ogre fell about the time Theo managed to get the door
open. We then left Sahrak to free the prisoners (a tactical mistake on
the party's behalf) and pressed on to the next tower.

A fire had been set in this tower but the party worked to free some of
the slaves. Xavier and Raven were left to continue this action while the
party moved to the next tower. Ceydric got their ahead of the party and
killed the bugbears, killed the funky grey slaves with big fangs that
were trying to eat other slaves, and put out the fire by the time the
party caught up with him. Things then got a little confusing, so my
details might not be accurate here. I am not sure if there was another
tower that we went to and left this one unprotected or what the deal was
but here are the results.

Sahrak, trying to better his thieving hobby, set to work picking all the
locks of the prisoners. Unfortunately, this took alot longer than just
using the keys the party had, but even that probably wouldn't have helped
him. A couple rounds after he began his work, one of the slaves alerted
him that a band of bugbears were approaching. Sahrak then (eventually)
gave a weapon to a slave that could use it and tried to bar the door.
The bugbears broke open the door and open fired on the slaves inside.
Mass carnage resulted and Sahrak was not able to escape with his life.
The party returned to find his broken body laying on the ground and all
the slaves killed.

Immediately distressed by this, the party broke in half, one group to
assist Xavier if he had been similarly attacked and the other to protect
the slaves that had been left without a guard. Xavier and Raven had been
very successful and fought off the bugbears that tried to attack them
with ease. A couple of _Commands_ and well placed arrow shots quickly
routed the small band of bugbears. The unprotected tower was a more
interesting sight. As sure as the other towers, a band of bugbears had
gained entry to the still chained prisoners but when we found them, they
had not made it past the doors. Their bodies were hideously damaged,
rotted, diseased, and wounded. In some cases, the bugbears chose to
kill themselves rather than fight the guardian of these slaves. It
appears that the black owl that had been following the party intervened
and prevented the bugbears from killing any of the prisoners. The nature
of the bugbears' deaths led the party to believe that the owl is actually
a Grim, a supernatural force of good that prevents great evils from
occurring. More than likely, its charge was something in Tan-El (or
perhaps keeping tabs on the supernaturally evil Eli), but regardless, it
assisted the party in keeping the slaves alive. The rest of the slaves
were recovered and brought by the party to the nearby elven lands.
Ceydric's standard bearer and religious guide took Sahrak's body to be
raised.

After a brief period of healing, the party headed back to the bugbear
village to crush the rest of the bugbears still inhabiting the fortress.
As we were climbing the hill to the fortress, a large number of bugbears
fired crossbows at the party and a smaller number charged the front
ranks. Simultaneously, the cloud giant attacked the back part of the
party. Ceydric flew and intercepted the cloud giant after Sean scored a
successful hit with his set for charge spear. Eli hammered the cloud giant
with a LIMM which broke his morale (he had a Spell Immunity to Magic
Missiles hoping to foil our quick kill of last time) but Ceydric pursued
the giant and defeated him in the tree tops. There was assistance from
Raven and Rangorn as well. The charge at the front of the party was met
entirely by Xavier and Alegra. Blasting away with lightning bolts
Alegra roasted the bugbears while Xavier was tackled and pinned. Not
surprisingly, the bugbears on Xavier began to go unconscious at a rate
of one per segment, and they were killed without much harm to Xavier.
With this force routed, the party then reduced the bugbear numbers on
top of the fortress with a couple well placed and coordinated
_Call Lightnings_. The party then advanced to the gate, Ludo disrupted a
trap, Ceydric, Aria, and Ludo took out the shaman and his two shield
bearers, and short work was made of the rest of the bugbears. Treasure
was recovered and the bugbears scattered to the four winds.

Essentially it was a fun game for everyone that brought about the end of
an enemy, the attainment of a goal, and renewed confidence in the party's
abilities.

-Zack Hubert-

henchmen in parentheses:

Alegra and Eli to 8th
Theo and Ludo to 7th
(Aria and Star to 5th)
Rangorn to 2nd to 3rd
Raven to 6th
(Sean to 2nd)
(Henry to 4th)

Kyle