Top 'o da Cairn Ma!!

From the bandit they captured, the group are able to gather some details about the first Star Cairn that the bandits are using as a hide-out.  There are about two dozen bandits left, led by a female human fighter called Raxen and supported by Donyer, an idle and lecherous mage, Tarsot, a cleric of Urgathoa and two recently hired mercenaries, Arnoth Sudheim and Fiyori Lanklander, both deserters from the Nexian army.  Donyer has also charmed several ogres as extra muscle.  Before they tied him up, they also got a basic description of the lay-out of the cairn.

The group decided to circle around the rough hills to the south so as not to appraoch the cairn from the most direct route and while this avoids any guards that the bandits may have posted, they unfortunately get their first glimpse of a wandering and erratic iron golem, which Naz’el identifies as being of a similar age and quality to the magical sword, Silver Tongue, that they had recovered from the bandits in the previous fight.  Despite the suggestion that they could lure the golem against the bandits, the party wisely decide that that is a fight that can wait for another day.  After only a short while in hiding, the golem loses interest in looking for the group and wanders down between the hills, taking, as Moreta puts it, ‘the path of least resistance’.  Out of sight is out of mind, as far as the simulcrum is concerned.

Watching the cairn from a hill quarter mile away, they can see a ten foot high pile of large rocks surmounted by a wide tabletop of stone. As night falls they scout out the approach to the cairn using a combination of stealth and the invisibility sphere provided by Naz’el.  Except Moreta doesn’t watch where she is putting her feet and trips over a rabbit hole.  This disturbs the Donyer and his latest love interest who are supposed to be on sentry duty and the heroes withdraw to rest up overnight. 

While watching the next morning (and while Tay Vorn guts the rabbits that they caught as trail rations; something else for Lissa to learn to cook!), they see the two deserters and most of the bandits leave the cairn and form up outside, heading off to raid the supply wagons that serve the Temple of the Shrines to the north.  Taking advantage of invisibility, and with the rest of the goup preparing to charge the cairn, Talum and Tay Vorn assault the two guards from the air, cutting one’s throat and Talum pushing the second guard from the height of the cairn, the fall breaking his neck.

Moving down the stairs, Tay Vorn passes up taking the sword that hangs temptingly on the wall and suprises the majority of the remaining bandits at their breakfast.  Tay Vorn leaps onto one table and with his signature whirlwind strike, he takes out three of the bandits and wounds Tarsot the Cleric.  Talum bombs the second table of bandits and kills all four of them.  Naz’el is confronted just for a second by a vision of a displeased Urgathoa before his fiery rays strike the opposing Cleric. 

With the dining room cleared, the team check out which exits have had the most traffic and first investigate the dormatories, where Moreta is ambushed, unsuccessfully, by a single enemy who had taken the death of his colleagues as a signal to loot their possessions and try to flee on his own.  While the party are investigating this small collection of treasure, Talum notices the sound of someone fleeing.  Heroic as every, the little gnome fetches Tay Vorn to help but the fighter is suddenly presented with a choice: pursue the unknown fleeing enemy up the stairs or fight the three ogres that were only now coming to investigate the explosions and the sounds of combat.  Tay Vorn blocks off the ogres and orders Talum to pursue the fugitive.

Tay Vorn and Laris take out two of the ogres, with Tay Vorn blocking the ogres exit into the room and Laris stabbing past him with his Bec Corbin.  Despite this solid tactic, Lissa leaps past Tay Vorn to attack and ogre only to find here magical rapier still failed to pierce it’s thick hide.  The last ogre finally overcomes the charm spell cast on him by Donyer when it becomes obvious that fighting Tay Vorn is suicidal.  The party convince the final ogre that it can surrender and will be allowed to flee and it is just climbing the stairs as a cloud of noxious gaqs pours down the strairs.

Up on the roof, Talum has confronted Donyer, alchemist vs mage.  Donyer strikes at the gnome with an enchanted rope but fails to trap him.  Talum responds to each of Donyers tactics by bombing him until Donyer finally drops a stinking cloud on the area.  Blinded by the thick fog and retching from the poisonous cloud, Talum charges where he thought the mage would still be (despite the fact that casting a spell and then moving out of the way is a standard tactic for the party) and plunges out of the cloud, straight over the edge of the cairn.  His acrobatics skill saved him from much damage but the few seconds extra that the noxious effects persisted allowed Donyer to escape, likewise taking advantage of the huge bonus to his stealth that his own invisibity skill gave him, not using the ladder but dropping to the ground and disappearing into the surrounding wilderness.  Hope he doesn’t run into the wandering golem out there! 

With the aid of the layout described by their earlier prisoner, the party should have no problem exploring the rest of the cairn; but there may well be some surprises waiting for them!