It finally seemed like the sheriff had run out of tasks for Seoni and Seelah. They were discussing their potential destinations when Shalelu Andosana approached them.
“I need your help,” she said.
Given how helpful she’d been, Seoni almost immediately agreed without hearing any details, but Seelah wanted to know more.
“Fort Rannick has fallen, and I would like to go to Turtleback Ferry to investigate. Rumors are that a clan of deformed ogres are involved.”
Seelah looked at Seoni who shrugged as if to say, “what do you think?”
“Sounds like something worth looking into,” Seelah said.
Shalelu thanked them, then said she would scout ahead for them. The trip was fairly short and Seelah decided to begin by searching the woods, her standard bearer at her side. Seoni took her toad to a rather rundown looking farmhouse.
Seelah was used to woods being treacherous, but she hadn’t expected to immediately run into one of the deformed ogres. This one had a hound with him, which was immediately sent to attack her. She easily dispatched the dog with her longsword. The ogre seemed a bit distracted by the loss of his pet and also fell quickly.
When no other ogres showed up, Seelah assume she’d taken care of the biggest threat and decided to head to the wooden bridge.
When she first arrived at the farmhouse, Seoni found a cryptic message. It didn’t take her long to decipher it, and it forewarned of an attack. Seoni prepared her fire spell along with her force missile, so she was ready when the cultist attacked. She decided to use the latter spell and defeated the cultist.
Since she liked being aware of impending attacks, she readied her spyglass. Which she used shortly after another troubadour showed up. Though the spyglass didn’t warn her of an enemy, it did show that she would encounter some useful objects. This didn’t particularly excite the troubadour, so he decided to look for someone more interesting to follow.
With the information from her spyglass, Seoni was able to acquire a Headband of Alluring Charisma and Wand of Scorching Ray.
She’d almost forgotten her toad was with her until it went hopping off. She wondered at this until the plague zombie attacked. Thankfully her fire spell was still ready and the zombie was quite flammable.
The wooden bridge was slightly less exciting. Seelah did meet Mayor Kendra Deverin but couldn’t convince her to stay to help Seelah investigate the ogre matter.
In her time spent looking around the wooden bridge she encountered and defeated a bunyip, a zombie, and a goblin warrior. Despite this excitement, her standard bearer decided to head back into town to see what information she could find there. Seelah would have been disappointed, but she was too excited about the chest of weapons she found. She wouldn’t keep them all in the long term, but they might be useful in the short term.
That was when she encountered her second ogre. This one had a sort of pumpkin like head. Seelah decided to use her spiked chain and threw it at the creature before it could close in on her.
Without any way to make sure the wooden bridge was secure, Seelah decided to cast her healing spell. She also found some leather armor which she packed away to examine later.
Seoni didn’t care for hags. They often had protections against attack spells. Thankfully this one didn’t, and she was able to cast her lightning bolt to destroy the withered creature.
That was when both Shalelu Andosana and Seelah arrived at the farmhouse.
Before Shalelu could tell them what she’d discovered, they were attacked by an ogre.
A bit worn from her recent spell casting, Seelah took on the deformed brute. Unfortunately it didn’t go well for the paladin, and they were forced to retreat. She cast a healing spell on Seoni, who then took on the ogre. The beast was easily defeated by her ice spell. Though Seelah’s troubadour, who’s wandered in just before the battle, was sure to make it sound more exciting.
Before Seoni could protest, they were attacked by a mercenary. Acting on instinct, Seoni drew on Shalelu’s energy to defeat the attacker.
“You couldn’t wait until she’d told us what she found?” Seelah asked, looking down at the unconscious Shalelu.
“I wasn’t really thinking,” Seoni admitted.
They did a quick search of the remaining rooms and determined the farmhouse was secure. They decided Seoni would go ahead to Turtleback Ferry while Seelah did a quick check back at the wooden bridge.
While Seoni waited for Seelah, she met a guide and found another wand. Her time with both was short lived, as she didn’t expect to need either in the upcoming battle. She was pleased when her acolyte joined her, as she expected the extra magical help would come in handy.
She wondered if Seelah’s luck was good or bad since when she showed up, so did Mammy Graul. While they didn’t have all the information about the ogres, they had heard about Mammy. She was just as disgusting as they’d heard. When she summoned two ancient skeletons to attack, Seoni decided Seelah’s luck was bad.
Seoni drew on Amy’s energy to blast the skeleton with arcane power while Seelah hacked at hers with her longsword. Once both skeletons were dispatched, they were able to focus on Mammy. Seelah was able to seriously wound the ogre, but Mammy must have used some sort of magic to retreat. There was no way something that big could run away so fast.
Seelah’s standard bearer joined them then, and Seoni found an extremely useful spell. She was so delighted by this, she completely missed what the standard bearer had to say. She didn’t get a chance to ask about it, because they were facing Mammy Graul again. Apparently she’d only retreated long enough to summon more ancient skeletons. Wanting to save her new spell for Mammy, Seoni blasted apart her foe with her force missile. Seelah stuck with her hack and slash method.
Once again they engaged with Mammy. Seoni used her new Swipe spell to weaken the ogre before Seelah defeated the disgusting creature with her longsword.
“That was extremely unpleasant,” Seelah said, cleaning off her sword.
“Better than blasting her apart with one of my spells.”
Seelah grimaced and couldn’t help but agree.
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