May 31, 2024
25 Khordrak
Hugh lead the Torchbearers to Viraesse’s hold, which stood atop a hill. Beneath was a former dungeon, now cleansed into a bathhouse operated by a staff of beneficent water elementals. The ruins atop the hill had been cleared, and now a low longhouse stood there.
Vira emerged, greeted them, and led them inside. The near end of the hall was for feasting and sleeping; a large fire pit separated it from the other end, where a dais held her seat.
They delivered their messages from the oracle. Vira showed little reaction to the personal remonstrance, but activated immediately upon hearing that an army had crossed the Eisenfluss. She told them that in the morning, they must immediately set out and scout the army.
26 Khordrak
The Torchbearers left Symon to train with Vira’s childhood friend and fellow paladin, Faraine. As the they set out, Vira assigned them a passenger. Johann was a personal servant of the Baron of Alfsdyke. With his eyewitness report of an enemy army, the Baron would be able to request a Legion presence at the border.
The Torchbearers left the camp and moved north. An ancient road crossed the Eisenfluss on a causeway at a place 70 miles north of Vira’s camp, and they hoped that the orcs had used this crossing and left a rearguard that they could spot.
28 Khordrak
Gunter’s dog Greta caught a scent. The party followed it down into a dell where an army had made an undisciplined camp. A few discarded arrowheads were of poor quality metal, forged with skill but in haste; it matched an enemy sword they had found two years earlier.
They judged that the army was 5,000 strong, the equal of a legion, and had proceeded south. The party departed after them, hoping their speed would let them warn Vira.
29 Khordrak
But the orc army had moved faster than the party judged. Vira’s scouts (mainly Hugh standing on his tiptoes on top of a hill) spotted a flying column, 5,000 strong, approaching. Vira sent riders to prepare the few surrounding farmsteads for evacuation.
The column reached the turning to Vira’s longhouse… and continued south, toward Alfsdyke.
30 Khordrak
The party reached Vira, confirmed that her hold was unharmed, and followed the orcs toward Alfsdyke.
They passed the occasional corpse of an orc that had died on the march. The column had been force-marching for 36 hours, even through the daylight, which their breed tolerated worse than most orcs. The carcasses were indeed rukkator, their bodies twisted by long ages underground: stooped, their eyes shrunken, ears correspondingly enlarged and noses upturned.
It would take a great blow from Fortune for the column to take Alfsdyke; they would need to win quickly, before the sun was high in the sky, or else see their strength wane.
When the party arrived at Alfdyke, however, they saw that this had been done. The banner of Drukesh Ironhand, parallel bolts of lightning striking a tower, had been raised over the ancient wall.
The party retreated north. Johann’s testimony would no longer be required.
31 Khordrak
Vira took the refugees east, making for the old forest road that would eventually take them to Scheffelden.
The party took her store of gunpowder and struck north again, planning to destroy the causeway.
32 Khordrak
Vira received a sending from Scheffelen, warning her that the city was under siege by two legions of orcs. She turned her caravan west to seek refuge in the Queen’s Mountains.
3 Dulthila
The party sighted the bridge. More than a rearguard, an armed camp had been constructed around it. They judged that two orc legions now guarded it, and it could hold 30,000 orcs at need.
Deterred, they turned east and crossed the Eisenfluss, hoping to do some damage within Ironhand’s home territory.
