The Biscuits	Dollin - Druid 6th Level (PC) Gimar - Fighter 8th Level (PC) Jaron - Paladin 6th Level (PC) Little John - Fighter 6th Level (NPC) Nicola - Cleric 6th Level (PC) Rheaphlyndar - Thief 8th Level (PC) Wed - Mage 6th Level (NPC) Yodavan - Mage/Cleric 1st/3rd (PC)
Locale	Somewhere in the Cairn Hills
Date	2nd day of Reaping, 585 CY (Common Year)
Time	Late afternoon

The Biscuits followed the Hill Giant's tracks backwards for most of a day, losing the trail more than once on the rocky slopes of the Cairn Hills. Whenever that happened, Nicola took up the spare time by dropping healing spells on various members of the party -- mostly Gimar.

After a while, they came to a rise and heard voices on the other side. They gave a low hoot, indicating that Jaron and Dollin, who were leading the horses, should tether them and catch up to the party.

Gimar and Rheaphlyndar crept forward and peeked over the hill, hearing the unguarded discussion of several ogres. Gimar noted that these particular ogres were dressed in unusually fine armor, and sported gleaming two-handed swords at their sides.

Once Dollin and Jaron arrive, they were quickly informed of the situation through hushed whispers. Dollin smiled and began preparing his spell of Heat Metal. Nicola warmed up her Bless spell and Gimar chose a nearby rock to throw.

When one of the Ogres began beating at his warming armor, Gimar hurled his rock and the party loosed a volley of crossbow bolts. Wed attempted to contribute a large fireball, but his spell went awry.

Wed	Damn!
Gimar	Charge!

Gimar delivered a heavy slash to one of the ogres, who retreated into the cave along with one of the ogres whose armor was now searing hot. The ogres in turn swung their mighty swords at the dwarf, mostly missing him harmlessly.

Soon Nicola and Jaron got into the act, taking down an ogre apiece. Gimar managed to swap blows with the largest ogre, and won the exchange in the end as that ogre fell.

By the end of the battle, Little John was badly wounded and four of the ogres had escaped into the cave.

Gimar	Eh, they're wounded, we'll pick them up soon enough.
Nicola	They could have a shaman in that cave.
Jaron	True enough I suppose. Shall we charge?
Rheaphlyndar	You humans will need light, I suppose.
Gimar	(pulling out a continual light rock) Might as well defeat the ogres' infravision, too.
Jaron	(drawing scather) I'm ready for those sucker punches.

As the Biscuits entered the cave, they saw it widened considerably under the hillside. To the left were some sort of stalactites, and although the far wall was out of their light radius, they thought they saw some sort of twinkling glint, like a light spell reflecting off of water.

Gimar

(whispering) Let's go around the wall, towards the pillars.

As the party moved forward, the battle was suddenly joined as three rocks sailed down from the ceiling, two of them striking the paladin square on the helm.

Little John and Wed both made to attack the ogres who were revealed to be standing on small ledges some twenty feet up. Dollin also made ready to throw his spear upwards. Gimar and Jaron were just considering their options when javelins sailed from the area behind the stone pillars.

Jaron	Charge!
Gimar	Right behind you.

Dollin missed with his first spear attack and Little John with his first sling attack. Wed warned them both to look away and loosed a fireball, doing some damage and hopefully flash-blinding the ogres temporarily.

Dollin made to retrieve his thrown spear and found that it was moving towards him at the same pace! He glanced back and spied a smiling Yodavan as he readied for his next attack.

Little John and Dollin had other problems, however, as more javelins flew from the back of the cave. None of them struck home, fortunately.

Little John

At least three more back towards that pool.

Jaron, Nicola and the other warriors had closed with the pillar and so the ogres stepped forward and made ready to attack. The paladin noticed that none of the ogres appeared to be injured in any way, and was about to say something when one of the ogres punched him square in the jaw.

Jaron

(his vision clouding) Bastards!

As the holy warrior of Pelor slumped to the ground, Scather lashed out and landed a solid blow, reeling the ogre but not felling him. Nicola ran forward to administer first aid.

Gimar

The human element seems to have failed us here.

The Biscuits	Dollin - Druid 6th Level (PC) Gimar - Fighter 8th Level (PC) Jaron - Paladin 6th Level (PC) Little John - Fighter 6th Level (NPC) Nicola - Cleric 6th Level (PC) Rheaphlyndar - Thief 8th Level (PC) Wed - Mage 6th Level (NPC) Yodavan - Mage/Cleric 1st/3rd (PC)
Locale	Somewhere in the Cairn Hills
Date	3rd day of Reaping, 585 CY (Common Year)
Time	Daybreak

Jaron woke with a start. His dreams had been of ogres all around him, pummeling him with rocks and javelins. A quick glance down confirmed that it had not all been a nightmare.

Jaron	Holy light, how long was I out?
Nicola	(on watch) Since yesterday afternoon. You also missed dinner. Dollin's working on a quick breakfast before we hit the road.
Jaron	What of the ogres?

Nicola told Jaron of the previous days combat, and he nodded as the memories came flooding back. The paladin also grimaced at hearing how he received the whopping bruises.

Nicola	So about the time you went down we discovered there were even more coming from the back of the cave.
Jaron	(pondering) Sounds like a bad tactical situation.
Nicola	That's just what Gimar thought. He rushed forward and grabbed you, yelling for everybody to get out of the cave.
Jaron	I don't see him, did he make it out?
Nicola	Oh, I don't think anything can kill that dwarf.
Little John	(yawning and walking to the fire) Least not without taking a lot of damage first.
Nicola	(smiling) He's over there, examining the hillside. 'Morning, Little John.
Jaron	What happened to the cave?
Nicola	It seems like Gimar had yet another power in that magic axe of tricks. On the way out he triggered some sort of major earthquake.
Yodavan	(appearing out of the undergrowth) Lucky to get out alive were we!
Rheaphlyndar	(poking his head out of the tent) Hey, at least you were near the entrance.
Wed	'Morning, all. Any sign of the ogres?
Gimar	(returning to the fire) All buried and probably dead. They're certainly not coming out of that mess.
Rheaphlyndar	No sign of treasure, I suppose.
Gimar	None.
Wed	I've marked this spot on my map; perhaps we can come back this way some day.
Gimar	(glumly) Another cairn for the hills.
Dollin	Breakfast is ready!

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