I, Knight Justicar Percival of Horizon, report a great victory from the tip of Pelor's spear thrust deep into the heart of evil. Some might call our success the blind luck of aimless idiots, but not in my hearing, because I know as sure as the sun rises in the east that we owe our success to our most awesome god of Light and Warmth.
We knew the ogre village from our previous excursion would be a problem and unfortunately it was. While we were seeking allies from anyone nearby interested in the fight against the beastmen, the brutes lashed out at the nearby halflings of Starnsville, effectively destroying our vassal town before we had time to react.
To blunt their march should their rampage continue, Fr. Cassian boldly called forth griffons with his Pelor-gifted miracles and set to routing them with June's borrowed Mask of the Basilisk, strafing them until they broke and fled for home. This tactic had limited long-term value as their chieftain was not the typical drooling specimen of Ogre-kind and regrouped his forces at their village. They were unlikely to stare up at any approaching griffons in the future.
Our call for aid was answered by the filthy insidious arrogant local elves of the Dreadwood, led by their Emperor Xi Tzu, who promised aid within a few days. With reinforcements on the way, we deployed our adventuring party to destroy any recon sent out by the ogres and keep them blind. The ogres were not scouting so we put the pressure on them, using a rotating shift of griffons to strafe their camp, screech, and otherwise disturb them. This had the desired effect of depriving them of comfort and exhausting them so if it came to battle they would be weakened and vulnerable.
I desperately wanted a chance to kill their leader. If we could cut the head from the snake, they would be unable to organize effectively and maybe even retreat. Unfortunately two full companies of ogres had survived Fr. Cassian's strafing. There simply was no way we could just attack them.
We camped at our forward point and continued our airborne psychological attack on the ogre camp. Charlie the Explorer, my faithful henchman and hero of the operation, shook me awake sometime in the night. He was alarmed to find the entire ground shaking. It could have been many things but Pelor guided my instincts and I blurted out the command to halt. Everyone was to stand perfectly still.
The rumbling subsided and I thanked our Sunny Lord for the added wrinkle on my otherwise smooth brain. Rumbling ground could be any number of things, but for some reason I imagined a subterranean assault, a worm or tunneling creature. As it turns out I was right, and the creatures, great gray monstrous worms, left us and attacked the ogres who were stirred to unrest by the griffon harassment.
This was our chance. We armed ourselves and rushed to engage the ogres while they were distracted, cutting a path to their chieftain. Our lances, arrows, and spells struck true and we were able to effectively eliminate the entire command structure of the enemy force. They routed in confusion after suffering many losses to both us and the worms. Unfortunately our temporary alliance could not be cemented and we struck down the remaining worm before it ate us, our horses, and everything around it.
Emperor Xi Tzu arrived to Horizon with an elite band of hippogriff-mounted cataphract cavalry, displaying all the haughty demands and condescension expectations an Emperor of a Chaos-tainted corrupt soulless long-lived race of sub-humans demi-humans. He demanded fancy cheeses and wine and I was happy that our little backwater fort had none of these things.
Xi Tzu was eager to pursue the fleeing ogres and blood his well-trained but green blades on an enemy already routed, weak, and broken. I was eager to see him gone. This is what we call a mutually beneficial arrangement and we happily waved him good-bye.
With the elves out of our hair, Fr. Cassian departed for Gradsul on griffon-back to deliver a foul blade recovered from the ogre hoard to the church heads there. It should be destroyed immediately as it creates undead from foes slain with it.
Horizon continues to grow. We have founded a settlement and attract the faithful monthly. We truly are carving out civilization from this dark land. Next, we will approach the lost of Skalafell who allege that they were abandoned by Keoland in the previous war. We will show them a better way.
Yours in victory,
Knight Justicar Percival, Lord of Horizon
Musings:
DM was going to run any engagement with the ogres with ACKS abstracted combat using Battle Ratings. This system is great for resolving larger scale combats quickly but it heavily favors those who are stronger. The ogres had us outmatched in this system maybe 8:1? Maybe more. We had some advantage in a defense, but waiting to get punched ain't really our thing. We put ourselves out there to see what we could achieve before it got to BR where we'd almost certainly lose and got lucky. The random encounter with the worms was just the opportunity we needed.
This session shines a light on players taking the initiative. Do not simply react to the DM. By destroying the enemy leadership, even if they rallied and attacked us they wouldn't have the commanders to effectively lead and would suffer in BR combat. Unfortunately the elves will get the glory of running them down, but we got all the treasure so I'll call that a win.
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