As Gargouth is the worse for wear Thanodel asks if there is a cleric amongst the servivors. Githraniel points to a dead elf on the ground a little way off; his chest porcupined by many orc arrows and explains that he was the village’s cleric. The party decides to rest and Githraniel offers that the villagers can keep watch so that the heroes can sleep soundly. Thanodel seeing how badly wounded Gargouth is (and begrudgingly admitting to himself how usefull having an orc warrior in the party has been) offers to go and find Braylec and Shaylea. Gargouth lends him his horse and Thanodel heads back to where they parted.
Easily finding the dead orcs from their earlier encounter Thanodel follows the pair of tracks that leads into the smoldering forest. He sees lots of evidence of a terrible battle, there are a dozen orc bodies lying around and a worg; split in twain by a great sword to the north. He sees one of the bodies half submerged in a defiled pool, it’s arm still clutching at the bank with several orc arrows protruding from it’s back. He follows the track nortwards and after a mile or so the trail splits; the main group continuing north but a couple of horses head northwest. He chooses to follow the two horses and after another mile he sees that they were met by several worgs but there was no struggle so these must not have been the tracks of Braylec and Shaylea. He heads east and picks up the trail of the main group, following it north he finds the body of a man lying across the tracks with a couple of arrows sticking through his throat. Searching the body he finds a secret compartment in a boot that contains a gold medalion. Thanodel can tell that the trail is eight hours old and though they are using a wagon he will be hard pressed to catch up and he is now getting further away from the elven village. He heads back and arrives as everyone is waking up. Thanodel flips the medalion to Gargouth who compares it with the one he took from the cleric but they have very different symbols.
The prisoners were taken east and as they decide the best way to proceed Githraniel offers to join the party until her villagers are found. While Thanodel and Githraniel follow the tracks a ways Jutiapa transforms herself into a giant eagle and flys to the east to see what she can see. She glides and soars, passing a copse where a couple of orcs are harrassing a deer with their bows and finally reaches a keep. It sits on a riverbank and has many orc guards. In one window she spots another dark robed man talking to a wizened looking man. She wheels in the sky and heads back.
The rest of the group is following the tracks and Thanodel and Vildar spot a gold coin half trampled into the grass. Inspection shows that one side of the coin has the same symbol as the medalion that Thanodel found earlier but the reverse side has the name Cathamaxos. Githraniel hears the name and tells the party that it is the name of the mage who has erected a keep some miles to the east.
"Now we know where we go!" cries Gargouth and sets the pace on his warhorse.
Seeing the eagle returning Thanodel tries to do an eagle call and Jutiapa dives to join the grroup. She relays what she had seen of the keep when they explain their destination.
After some miles they pass a farm where Thanodel shouts through the perimeter fence for the occupants to trade. They are delighted when they swap a magical mace and a shortbow for an old nag and three turnips with Valdin. The rest of the party are amazed at his haggling skill. :D
At dusk the weather takes a turn for the worse and it starts to rain heavily. The party aproach the copse where Jutiapa saw the deer hunting orcs. Thanodel can hear the that they have a fire going in the middle of the copse and are talking easily between themselves. Gargouth plans to enter the copse and pretend to be a lost contingent so to catch them unawares. He then elaborates that Thanodel should be his prisoner but Thanodel is definitely not fond of the idea and so each of the group encircle the copse and approach with stealth. Jutiapa heads straight in and trips over a root letting out a cry of surprise. Before the orcs can investigate she polymorphs into a bat and flys up to a tree branch where she resumes her own form read with a spell. Using their darkvision he orcs can plainly see her up in the tree and fire at her with their bows. Valdin enters the clearing where the orcs have the campfire and the orc that is there is peppered with arrows from behind where Githraniel and Thanodel were circling round. Jutiapa puts the other orc to sleep with a spell but the worg is unaffected. The beast and Valdin attack each other, the worg raking with claws and Valdin swinging his sword but before he can knock the creature unconcious at the earlier request from Gargouth, arrows zip throught the air from Thanodel’s direction and the worg collapses. Gargouth lets out a howl of dismay at another worg killed before he can take it as his mount. He stays out of the clearing watching for further danger as the rest set about looting the corpses for Jutiapa has slit the throat of the sleeping survivor. Gargouth digs a shallow trench to hide the bodies and lessen the smell of blood so that other worgs are not attracted. Jutiapa conjures a magical hut and the party all sleep soundly.
By the morning the rain has stopped and the misfits move out heading east again. Following a path along a hollow between two hills Thanodel and Gargouth see a couple of worg riders appear over the hill on their right. Thanodel gesticulates for the column to stop and take cover but Gargouth remains mounted and refuses to hide. The orcs spur their worg mounts in a charge down the hill but before they get halfway Thanodel casts a spell that makes the barley on the hillside grasp the worgs but one of them breaks free and continues on. Gargouth enters the area where the barly is writhing and his horse gets caught too throwing him off. He is then wrapped in barley himself. Jutiapa casts a lightning bolt at the advancing worg rider and he is instantly fried and his worg also starts to smoulder but is finished off by Thanodels arrows before if can do any damage. Gargouth and the orther worg try to break free but Gargouth struggles against the entwining stalks. That thrash at each other and the orc is cleaved in two but before Gargouth can knock out his remaining opponent Thanodel again finishes it off the an arrow. Gargouth rages and it is only then that Valdir tells him of Gargouths plan to retrain a worg for his mount.
Approaching the keep Gargouth asks Thanodel which way the wind is blowing and as it is from the north he decides that we should skirt round to the south of the keep. Jutiapa remembers that the keep is on a river so the plan is to find a way in from the riverbank. Thanodel talks to a water vole who in return for one of Valdirs very expensive turnips tells him that there is a tunnel under the water that enters the place where the bad men live. He goes there as there is lots of food but two toothy green beasts patrol near it who would try and bite the little furry guy. The party pleads with Jutiapa to use her powers to see if this can be a way into the keep for them.
She wades down the river and after two hours reaches the keep but she can’t tell where the tunnel would be so she polymorphs into a pike and is able to see a sewer pipe covered with a grate. She swims back to her anxiously waiting team who are stunned at the lack of information he has managed to get. They send her back and as a pike she swims back in a ferw minutes and changes into an eel to get through the grate. Emerging from the foul water someways up the pipe she transforms into a rat to scuttle upward into a wooden box with a round hole…