We returned to Fort Rannick to prepare for our trip to Hook Mountain. Jakardros brought out a map and showed us the location of the Krieg ogre tribe caves.

We then proceeded to Hook Mountain. Before starting our climb, we stocked up on supplies, and hired some sherpas and pack mules. Gulnyr picked a route for us to take, and the sherpas enthusiastically agreed that it was a good choice, but we weren’t sure if they were just humoring us.

We began our ascent, using a Rope of Climbing. At one point Devin slipped, but held tightly onto the rope as he slid down it, causing his hands serious rope burn.

Eventually we came to a ravine that was 20 feet across. We secured the rope to both sides, and Ash tightrope-walked across it. However, as she reached the other side, that ledge collapsed, increasing the distance to 35 feet. Ash managed to land safely on the far side, while Gulnyr quickly grabbed the rope before it fell into the ravine. We secured the rope again, and climbed across.

We reached the level where the cave entrance was. At this point, we were above the clouds, and below us was a swirling maelstrom. From here, we could see into the cave, and noticed that the ceiling inside was rather high. There was some kind of smoke pouring out of the cave and rising into the sky, and two frozen ogres were patrolling in front of the entrance.

Ash turned herself invisible and moved away from the rest of us, to try to draw the ogres’ attention. She blew a whistle, causing them to look for the source of the sound, while the rest of us snuck around towards the entrance. One of the ogres jumped down to where Ash was, and she created a fog cloud to hide in. The ogre managed to find and attack her, while the rest of us fought and killed the other one. By the time we killed it, the first ogre had knocked Ash unconscious, so Devin moved in to heal her while Gulnyr and Eliatris fought and killed that ogre.

We then entered the cave. Inside was a 40 foot tall statue of a giant, which radiated evil. Beyond it were stairs leading down. We followed them, and came to a room with a 30 foot wide pit in the floor. The stairs continued further down, and ended at a set of winding tunnels. We immediately spotted two Krieg ogres, accompanied by a hill giant named Lunderbud. We proceeded to fight them, but soon 11 more ogres joined the fight from around the corner, including another Krieg. We eventually managed to kill them all, though Gulnyr lost an eye in the process.

We explored the tunnels, and came to a cavern with body parts and animal carcasses strewn about, and a nook containing a bubbling cauldron. As we stood in the middle of the room, we heard three elderly female voices cast a spell which enclosed us in a force cage. Three hags then appeared, and cast a spell that severely lowered Eliatris’s Charisma. Though we were trapped, the cage was made of narrow bands of force with some space between them, so we were able to attack through it. Devin used a Flame Strike on he hags, while Eliatris fired arrows. Meanwhile, Gulnyr attacked the cage itself to try to destroy it. We killed two of the hags, at which point the third one dismissed the cage, and we then killed her as well. The cauldron stopped bubbling, and we realized that it had been the source of the smoke we had seen coming out of the cave entrance, and that it was the cause of the maelstrom.

We ventured further on through the tunnels, and came to an alcove containing a statue of a woman with the head of a jackal. Lamatar Bayden was there, though he was undead, and we had to fight him. Devin and Eliatris both channeled energy to good effect. During the fight, Devin took some damage to his Dexterity. After we killed Lamatar, Ash put his body into a bag of holding.

Continuing on, we came to a room with two high ledges on the sides, and stairs leading upwards between them. The ledges had statues on them. At the top of the stairs, Lucretia was waiting, accompanied by two stone giants, one of whom was named Barl Breakbones.