On the Road Again

After some deliberations, the party of adventurers decided that relocating the wild men and getting the freed slaves to safety took highest priority but taking them to Highport for shipment to Safeton might not be the best way to go. Rethinking where they are, they realized that they're only about 6 days march to the Jewel River and the relative safety of the Principality of Ulek on the other bank (compared to a week-long sail on a hired corsair or other sleazy merchant after about 4 days of walking). The group resolved, instead, to head for Ulek.
While the wildmen spent a day packing up and provisioning, Bob used some Identify scrolls he received from Larren to figure out what some of the loot was. In the end, an Amulet of Health was distributed to Tesrae, a Periapt of Proof vs Poison to Jie-An, and a Ring of major fire resistance was identified (but I can't remember who got it).
Dealing with the new prisoner Markessa hasn't been too difficult since she just kind of sits there quietly. However, she was carrying some interesting papers including a proclamation naming her to the Outer Council and a couple of letters from someone known as Edralve. She also had with her a scroll of disintegrate.
As preperations were being made to move out, Pale shapechanged into an eagle to do some scouting of the area. He saw a few interesting sights. Around the smouldering stockade, there was a body of orcs dressed in red livery and carrying a battle standard. They were appearently securing the place and had slain some beast in one of its courtyards. There were a large number of them as well. The standard was later identified (after he reported back to camp) as being the standard of Hextor, the god of tyranny, known as Herald of Hell and Scourge of Battle.
As his scouting widened, he saw a body of worg riders not more than a few miles from the wild man/slave village. He also saw more humanoid villages between them and the river. There may be ways to largely avoid them, but some danger is involved. In the villages nearest the stockade, Pale was able to see more red liveried orcs, about a squad of 10 in each village.
Finally, at the river, he saw that both sides had fortifications to make crossings from either side difficult.
On the following morning, the column set out with Bob Arby well placed in the middle of the refugees, Kendrick and Sargen sweeping up the rear, and the others in the van. After traveling a while, they came across an unusual site. Looking down from a bluff they were passing were three stone giants, casually regarding the group of walkers. The former slaves, being poorly equiped and weak, had some difficulty just walking by under the giants' watch, but were convinced to just keep walking. The giants did nothing to intervene, but stood passively, keeping an eye on things.
That night, the party organized camp so that the women and children were at the center, and wildman hunters and adventurers patrolled the perimeter in shifts. In the middle of the night as Pale (in cat form) patrolled with Cat, he heard some rocks scrabbling down the bluffside and then saw, in the moonlight, a form come down with a little glinting metal. As he was just starting to raise an alarm, he was attacked by a large wolf darting out of nearby bushes.
Cat and Pale fought the wolf but after some time it became apparant that their blows were not having an effect. Having fought lycanthropes before, Pale concluded that it was a werewolf and he transformed back into a man so that he could use his silvered spear.
Meanwhile, goblin worg riders were storming into the camp. Fortunately, Pale's warning had been enough to arouse the other guards and the other adventurers and spirited resistance was joined.
Bob killed a couple goblins and severely wounded two worgs with an acid ball, but that drew the response of a lightning bolt from some caster still up on the bluff. Badly wounded, Bob stayed in to fight by returning 3 unanswered fireballs on the other caster's location (as he made his way down the bluff). The figure seemed to simply shrug off the fire. Ineffective against the werewolf, Cat also attacked the enemy spellcaster, ending up slowed by a web for his troubles. Bob's magic missiles, however, carried the day and the enemy caster, who turned out to be an armored hobgoblin, wsa laid low.
Meanwhile, Tesrae was on a tear against goblin and worg alike, cutting through them like a fury. Gil had a little more trouble, suffering the attack of a charging goblin's lance. A few wildmen were badly wounded, two to death. Jie-An managed to remove the riders of two worgs with a sleep enchantment (and put a wildman to sleep, possibly saving him from continuing to be directly attacked).
Eventually, between Pale's silver spear and Gil's silver sickles, the werewolf was also slain and quiet again returned to the camp. The hobgoblin spellcaster turned out to have a wand of web, a magical steel shield, and a magic cloak.
The rest of the night passed without further interruption.

This Town's on Fire!

While the party of adventurers tried to unlock the coffer and negotiated with the medusa, the defenders of the fortress were not idle. Goblins and hobgoblins began infiltrating the area of the mess hall, only heard at the last by Tesrae. Bob Arby acted quickly by inundating the area with fireballs as more hobgoblins, goblins, and even dire apes poured into the room. Unfortunately, being adjacent to the larders, the fireballs ignited powdered flour and fats, starting the blaze that would eventually consume the main fort.
As the fight continued, with the chamber rapidly filling with smoke despite the smoke chimneys in the ceiling, the party spotted Markessa directing the attack! But to their knowledge, Markessa’s head was hanging on the hut of the wildmen’s witch doctor. Rather than confront this woman at the time, the party decided to get out of the rapidly worsening environment and used a dimension door to escape.
Watching the stockade burn from a safe vantage point, they spotted a number of groups departing. They estimated that they had whittled the defenders of the stockade from an unknown number over 150 or so to around 40 humanoids. One of the groups departing appeared to have Markessa with them, so they set out to file around and lay an ambush.
The fleeing slavers notice the party about 90 feet out from the ambush and the fight began in earnest. Markessa’s party also included the female goblin shaman that had given them trouble on a previous occasion in the dungeon and Bob Arby singled her out for his attacks.
Gil and Tesrae were eventually forced to advance under hobgoblin arrow fire to close with the enemy. As they did so, one hobgoblin apparently revealed himself as a ringer by first disappearing under observation and then reappearing by use of a cone of cold on the advancing heroes. He then quickly went down as Tesrae and Gil battered him with sword and sickle.
Meanwhile, both the goblin shaman and Bob Arby were taking their lumps in a variety of ways. Markessa managed to charm Tesrae and confuse the combat a bit, somewhat reducing Tesrae’s effectiveness. But Gil soon took Markessa down, some hobgoblins fled, and the goblin shaman disappeared. The hobgoblin ringer dissolved into a cloud of smoke.
With the conclusion of the fight, the party retains Markessa #2 as a prisoner and is debating the next steps to take. They are just about to set out on a return to Highport to secure a ship to send the wildmen and the freed slaves on to Safeton, though Suderham and the plight of Dame Gold and her party also beckons.
Also, with the help of a little divine guidance and concentration, Gil finally managed to open the coffer to find, among some other spells, a clerical scroll of raise dead.