The Lower Level

Dralthar had made his way past the bridge guards. Now it was time to retake the tower Tor Varden.

The first chamber contained a grisly sight. Whatever it had once been, it was now a shaman’s workshop. The furniture was all covered with gore from unknowable experiments. In the center, the ork shaman was putting the final touches on some unnatural flesh golem.

Dralthar charged in, quickly cutting down the shaman. But Roger, the rescued soldier from the bridge, fell to the shaman’s guard, out of the fight.

The next room contained an armory, along with more ork warriors. In the fierce combat, Shivertusk and Laura were both wounded and out of the fight. Now it would just be Albert the Conjurer to assist Dralthar. Once the enemy was defeated, Albert searched the room, finding both the captain’s log and some fury leaves.

The final chamber in the lower level was a makeshift torture chamber. Several civilians were chained up along one wall, while an unarmed soldier was being whipped by an ork sergeant in the center. The solider used Dralthar’s sudden entrance to try to escape, but the ork sergeant cut him down.

Dralthar fired one shot, hitting the sergeant straight in the eye. Dralthar and Albert managed to kill the rest of the opposition.

Dralthar gathered up his wounded companions, patching them up for the upper level. Laura stayed to guard the civilians while Dralthar led his team upstairs.

The Upper Level

Up on the tower top, a Shadow Knight along with an ork soldier stood near the wood pile, with another helpless solider chained atop. Surrounding the tower, on wooden scaffolding, three ork archers stood by.

Dralthar took a hard crossbow hit, while Roger charged in towards the wood pile and was cut down. Shivertusk, undaunted, spread a philtre of fairy dust over his blade and engaged the Shadow Knight. The magic of the fairy helped Shivertusk to destroy the knight. When Shivertusk looked up, Dralthar, and Albert had both been laid low by crossbows. Now it would be up to him to finish retaking the tower.

Flames lit up in the distance — the beacon towers of Tor Dargos and Tor Hammel. But they had a sickly green glow. Shivertusk managed to shake off the ill effects.

Shivertusk hid around the corners of tower, baiting the archers into coming closer. When the time was right, he leapt out, and took each and every one down.

Now alone, Shivertusk gathered his companions, including his leader, Dralthar the Ranger. The tower was taken, but at terrible cost. Both Albert and Roger would never fully heal from their wounds. But they would still be needed to keep the Shadow Deep at bay.

Dralthar the Ranger got the order to proceed to the beacon tower of Tor Varden to determine why contact was lost. He gathered his companions and headed out. The first task was to get past a river bridge guarded by orks.

The weather was overcast. Dralthar hoped to use the rocky approach to get near unseen, draw off and eliminate a guard or two, then get to the other side. A camp on the far side of the river promised to contain hints about the tower, and possibly treasure.

Just when they were ready to spring the trap, Albert the Conjurer tripped and fell into a pit trap. He only suffered a cut arm from his bottles breaking, but it was enough to raise the alarm. The orks swarmed Dralthar’s band.

Zero the Warhound leapt into action, pulling one ork away while Laura the Barbarian ran to tackle another. Faithful Zero was swiftly cut in two.

The scrum continued, with heavy losses on both sides. Albert went down to a lucky crossbow shot through the rocks. Laura was overwhelmed. Dralthar let loose with a fireball, but it wasn’t enough and even Shivertusk was incapacitated.

That left Dralthar alone to continue the fight. His bowstring sang as he eliminated the one ork that could see him, then ran behind an outcropping. The remaining orks organized a search.

Heavy rain began to fall, hindering the search parties. Dralthar saw his opening and ran for the bridge. But it was too much, and the orks caught up with him.

Just when all appeared lost, a figure emerged from the mist. Jeddak, the quartermaster from Tor Varden, had survived whatever befell the tower and made it to the bridge. He rummaged through the ork’s campsite, finding the keys to the tower, then joined the fight on the bridge.

An epic battle ensued. There was a moment when Dralthar had the chance to withdraw towards the tower, leaving Jeddak to cover. But Dralthar couldn’t leave the warrior behind. It was an ill choice, as the fight turned against them immediately after. Evading a killing blow, Dralthar pulled the wounded Jeddak into the cold blackness of the river, ending the fight at the crossing.

Dralthar awoke on shore downstream, away from the crossing, with still lying beside him. They quickly linked up with the surviving companions. Albert was able use his magic to heal Laura, Jeddak, and Dralthar. Shivertusk’s wounds would take time to fully heal.

The battle at the bridge may not have gone well, but they did eliminate some of their foe. Perhaps more importantly, they had recoverer the keys to the tower, along with a new companion familiar with the area. Dralthar and his companions continued towards Tor Varden.