Summary XXXIX: The Bugbear War Party and the Ziggurat of the Witches
It's late. This will be brief, to say the least.
50 Bugbear War party:
a couple escape, rest die painfully.
1 man-at-arms (Mo) dies. Men-at-arms plus Gauss (standard bearer) and Mo's
body go to elven lands (these creatures will just kill them).
Head back towards Ziggurat. Feeling of being watched (scrying). Try not to
give any landmarks and stop the scrying. Every once in awhile it happens
again. We decide to attack rather than have them ambush us.
We ford the river north of the Z and head for it. We detect a sizeable
force (say 75) bugbears behind us. We make straight for the Z. There are
fortifications. Bugbears and ogres die. Ceydric (flying, prot. from
missiles) opens the gate, gets hit by ballista, fights deformed Cloud Giant.
Cloud Giant hammers Ceydric, but no wound. Eli and Deirdre unload scroll
magic missiles at it, doing about 90 some-odd points of damage, a couple of
bow shots, it flees into the air and out of range too soon --darn it!
We press forward, through the gate, the bugbears behind charge. We close
the gate and get through. Lightning bolts (from the earrings) are being
thrown left and right. A thin "moat" of oil is trying to be lit, but the
bugbears trying to light it are killed. Fortifications to either side we
hammer with bolts and they start to burn. We go through another gate.
Various shots at various bugbears, shouts, disorientation. Out of the Z
comes a phalanx of bugbears with large shield, Ceydric is about to attack
them...
AND NOW FOR THE BEST MOVE OF THE ENTIRE EVENING --
A _TRUE_ JOEY MOVE!!
Ludo, realizing the situation (it looks quite bad) loads the Token of
Boulder into his sling and takes a shot at the entrance of the Ziggurat
(tunnel leading in). Ludo grossly fumbles his shot (yes, the true Joey roll
of a ... 1!), the token fires, flies through the air, turns into a 7-foot
diameter boulder, hits the Z high, getting a good bit of momentum, rolls
back and ... FALLS INTO THE TUNNEL, right on top of the 3 bugbear guards and
the bugbear witchdoctor. Massive damage is dealt, the boulder rolls back
INTO the Z, causing screams and rumbling.
Moments later, flames shoot out of both sides of the tunnel (they enter from
both sides of the Z -- our side and the opposite side), instantly consuming
one bugbear and panicking the rest, even as chaos reigns in the camp. Yes,
Ludo could not have fumbled better!
[The bugbears yell, "The demon is unhappy -- we are doomed!" Ouch. Though
we joke about it, hope it isn't a REAL demon, or a very strong one.]
Other good things: Ceydric pastes many people. Missile shots are quite
good at pasting pre-lightning-toasted bugbears, and the weak bugbears trying
to light the "moat."
Despite the ambush, stopping at this point (real world) left us in a
position which while an extremely tough battle still lies ahead, much has
been gained. Several of their leaders are dead.
Later--
Kyle/Alegra
Joey's Response:
>Hehee.. well, I tried to save the 1's for thief skill checks, but I'm
>glad we've finally found another use for this curse of rolling low. >:-)
Well, it didn't help Ludo in the first encounter with the Bugbear War Party,
in which he attempted to backstab the Leader and missed. Of course, it
appears (to the party anyway) that Thurmond then bit the Leader and caused
him to fall thrashing on the ground. Later, when Deirdre webbed the entire
section of the field, with Ludo in it (knowing of the Ring of Free Action),
Ludo six-segment killed the leader and others.
---
Other appearances at the Ziggurat:
It appears that either the Cloud Giant was a real leader, or the Witchdoctor
thought he was the leader, and the Cloud Giant thought he was powerful
enough to waste us (anybody but Ceydric, probably).
The armored "human?" leaders (2 of them) on the Z called out orders as such
when things looked bad:
#1: Defend the Ziggurat! Protect the Witchdoctor!
#2: Fall back to the Fortress! Leave the Witchdoctor to fight his own battle!
(Sean: Fall on your swords! It is hopeless!)
The Fortress: "A tower, a fortress, an elaborate pile of rocks, who can say?" --Edwin
An armored Giant was seen near the Slave Pens. It is presumed that this is
probably a different giant: either a Mountain Giant or a Fire Giant, I
might guess, though FG seems unlikely and Hill Giant is even a slight
possibility. I think it was too small to be a cloud giant or comparable size.
Kyle/Alegra