As the Ice Shield Orcs retreat over the horizon, Rollen redeploys the archers evenly around the defenses. The second wave, forty strong, crashes from all sides almost immediately, as Kurbin Dellmon predicted. Orcs quickly breach the defenses and wreak havoc in the compound. Arrows, bolts, and magic fill the air but the relentless onslaught falls villager after villager, claiming even Kurbin himself. Again team Dellmon repels the attack with an impressive count of 30 Orc casualties, a victory muted by the forever loss of 3 villagers.
The smell of burning grass interrupts an uneasy reprieve. Lookouts spot an Orc creeping up through the smoky cover to torch the building sheltering the women and children, and the building begins to catch fire. A bucket line forms while Barrin leads the sheltering civilians to another building. A new line of Orcs appears through the haze on the opposite side and the third wave falls upon the ranch. Veteran Argyle implores the defenders to hold the walls and focus on any Orcs that get through.
Meega and Barrin rush to hold the left palisade while Argyle and Simon hold the right. Blameless, now inexplicably a hue of blue, and Allana shift spell targets as needed from the center. A particularly nasty couple of fiery orbs to the left from Blameless reduce a pair of otherwise healthy Orcs to nothingness and a few of their cohorts suddenly remember other appointments and depart. Simon’s witch bolt latches on to a couple of unlucky blokes on the right and lightnings their troubles away. Barrin, wrecking face inside the Orc line, rains a flurry of blows upon three Orcs leaving just one very injured Orc. Allana joins the right palisade and bludgeons Orcs with her magical shillelagh. Rollen calls for reinforcements to the left but his archers’ confidence fails when Rollen’s bowstring snaps from the constant barrage he serves up. Meega ducks around a swung axe that whistles past and buries into the face of the attacker’s adjacent friend. Adding injury to insult, Meega ripostes her own axe into her would-be assailant before he can grieve his error. The brutes surround and overwhelm Barrin but even so they begin to withdraw, and Argyle rescues Barrin.
Another night passes and the ranch awakes to a line of hundreds of Orcs on the horizon. A horn blows from the Orc line and is answered from the other side of the ranch, a duet of doom. Rollen recognizes and answers a third horn, a foursome of fortuitousness as the abundant forces of High Forest flank through the Orc armies with complete surprise and win the day.
Once the Orc forces are dashed, a contingent of Elves, answering Dreena’s summons, visit the ranch where Rollen catches up with them on his 4500 year absence. The commander, Lqogqynq of Leafy Bottom, answers what he can and furnishes Rollen with two quivers of arrows. Overhearing the unanswered questions of haunted keeps, a nearby rancher realizes these are questions HE should be asked and jumps in with a little information:
The Knights of the Silver Horn built four keeps to protect the valley, but years of neglect fertilize rumors of haunting. Rivergard Keep lies north along the river in the Sumber Hills and is held by unidentified adventurers. Druids occupy Scarlet Moon Hall, and they are praised for restoring the balance of nature there. Feathergale Spire is (er, was) held by a really nice society of air mount enthusiasts, widely respected for their charitable fundraising for orphans. Finally, according to rumor, a lich commands nearby Mountain Keep. The Vale of Dancing Waters, although not a haunted keep, also features prominently in local lore, but the Besilmer dwarves residing there, the rancher warns, would not welcome uninvited visitors.
Confident in the security of Dellmon Ranch, the adventurers resume their original junket to the Sacred Stone Monastery. They arrive a short time later to find a large stone building with a red tile roof nestled in a hidden natural amphitheater. Stairs lead to three entrances, the central main heavy wooden door and two smaller entrances to the west and the more decrepit east. Hoping to meet someone on the outside to gauge the local monastic receptiveness toward travelers, or to mug for his uniform, the group circles around the building finding a rear garden and servants’ entrance but no monks.
At the main entrance Rollen knocks on the door. A golden mask answers through a sliding slot that they are not an inn and can accept no guests. The slot shuts abruptly.
Simon knocks on the door. The mask again answers through the slot and Simon explains that the air elementalists sent the adventurers to disrupt the monastery but instead they would like to join this fine medley of meditators. The mask runs a quick LexisNexis search on the group and claims they would not be suitable members.
Rollen offers an unbroken arrow, point first, and this time, in addition to the shutting slot, there is the additional uninviting noise of a set door lock.
Rejected, the adventurers retreat to the east door to reevaluate.