Session 39 – Approach To The Old Wall

[avisarr]

Session 39 – Approach To The Old Wall

After mopping up after the battle with the spirit wraiths, the characters quickly exited the area. They didn't like fighting invisible opponents and didn't want to stick around to see if there were more. So, they quickly continued on their journey.

Based on the map they were following, they would soon be coming to the "Old Wall". They walked all afternoon wondering when they would reach it.

Sure enough, as the sun began to set, the characters crested a hill and looked out upon a broad flat grasslands. Stretched across the land was an immense wall, almost as large as Garreon's Wall, back behind them a hundred miles or more. They had toured Garreon's Wall and gotten a good look at it. That was Chaddamar's current wall. But this ruin that lay before them had once been the barrier that had kept the Horde at bay. Obviously, it had failed. The characters did not know the history of this wall. They knew only what lay before them.

The wall stretched from horizon to horizon. Every five miles or so, there was a pair of small fortresses built into the wall. There were many breaks and gaps in this wall, some mere cracks and others gaping holes a hundred feet wide or more where the group could easily walk through. Directly in front of them was a pair of the fortresses, about 100 yards apart. Between these two forts, there was a massive gap in the wall. The twin forts seemed mostly intact.

The group paused on the hilltop to survey the scene before them. Callister pulled out his enchanted spyglass. He quickly flicked through all the modes. With X-Ray vision, he was able to see that there was a large group of somewhat orcish-looking humanoids. He studied them for a while. They seemed to be living and working in the fort: sleeping, forging weapons, cooking, cleaning, etc.

In the lower levels, he saw a dungeon with prison cells which held wights, undead, and two groups of humans. He also saw piled on a table in the dungeon, weapons and armor. Some of the armor had the Duthelm standard on it. It seemed that, perhaps, the Duthelm scout team which was ahead of the heroes had already been captured by these brutish orc like humanoids.

A tunnel ran through the base of the wall. The wall had a large gap between the two forts and the tunnel was exposed. The brutish orc creatures had apparently built a barricade in the tunnel, blocking the entrance into the fort.

It didn't take long to figure out. Callister turned his spyglass on the other fort. He saw hundreds of Desolation wights. These creatures were huddled in groups, gnawing on bones, sleeping, etc. They were living like the animals they were.

The party waited and watched to see what would happen. As the sky grew dark and the stars came out, the wights began to get active. They came out in droves and assaulted the orc fortress. While this was going on, the group decided to fight their way through the wights and make for the gap in the wall. Once on the other side, they would parlay with the humanoids and see if they might be friendly. If not, best to be on the far side, closer to the goal. That was the plan.

They were initially met by a group of about 15 wights. However, wights arose from a nearby pond, holes in the ground, from every conceivable nook and cranny. The party soon found themselves surrounded by no less than 40 of these walking beasts.

Meanwhile, the brutish orc creatures were fighting the wights as well. As the wights attempted to beat down the doors and scale the walls of the fort, the orcs were firing arrows and rockets down into the crowds of wights. Explosions lit up the night as the battle raged.

The heroes waded through the wights, hacking limps off and severing heads. The wights clawed at them as they hacked their through. The heroes were covered with blood and gore by the time they fought through the gap and made it to the open ground on the far side.

By the time they got through the gap, Teela and Martin were both badly wounded and bleeding. The fight raged on for awhile until the ground was littered with the bodies of dead wights. The wights eventually retreated. The brutish orc things came down from their fortress and greeted the heroes.

Ugita, always the speaker for the group, declared that they had come from Chaddamar and were heading to the ruins of Shidar in the far north. They had no ill will toward the orcs.

The orc creatures introduced themselves as phanglir ("fang-LEER – that's what they call their race). They congratulated the heroes on a good fight and were pleased that they had some help in dealing with the wights. The phanglir seemd friendly.

The heroes and the phanglir talked for awhile. The heroes learned that the phanglir were an indigenous race to the Desolation. They were several dozen large clans of phanglir scattered throughout the Desolation. They were a cultured warrior race who survived the harsh Desolation through sheer martial prowess, strength of will and a military structure to their clans.

This is where we ended Session 39. On the battle field, outside of the fort. On the north side of the wall.