Our most recent expedition was a great success. Having previously brought poisoned meat for the fur-man degenerate kin and their pet beasts, we decided now to return to the furred ones’ compound and probe deeper. We first checked the stables, determined to kill any remaining monstrosities, but to our fortune, they had all died already, likely from our tainted carcasses. It appears that the beast-men kept war apes, ready to unleash in their future raids, but we have successfully eliminated them all without having to unsheathe a single blade. Unfortunately, their stabled held nothing of value, but the weakening of the fur-men’s forces is a reward onto itself.
This complaint, however, cannot be levelled at the second half of our expedition. While we were investigating the stables, we notices three towering, corpulent giants loitering around in front of the compound ruins, having seemingly appeared from a makeshift rubble hut. Since there were a dozen of us, including myself and the powerful priest, Koko, we decided to attempt to slay them, in order to further weaken the raiders’ forces. We split into three groups: one composed of our most durable fighters, which would attract the attention of the giant-folk and hold any stragglers off; a second group made up of less sturdy warriors, and some with ranged weaponry expertise, who could harry the giant-kin and reinforce the first group from nearby; and a third group, composed of myself, Koko, and a few rearguard, situated off to the side. Koko and I would enchant the giants in an attempt to take them out of the fight, while those who were closer could take down any who remained, and slit the throats of those incapacitated.
The plan was, unfortunately, flawed. We had not accounted for there being more of the giant-folk, and when our first group began making a distraction, we found that three more giants emerged from their ruined hut. At that point, however, we could only continue with our plan or run, and the warriors among us showed no sign of retreat. It is thankful then that the gods smiled on our endeavour. As planned, I charmed one to sleep, but it is Koko who truly turned the tide of battle. With a powerful holy prayer, he paralysed four of the giants, leaving only one who could fight. This remaining one didn’t even realise that he was headed into battle alone, and the rest of our company took him down swiftly, with the remaining five being dispatched in short order afterwards. Investigating their makeshift shack, we found several sacks of coinage and gems, to our delight. While some of us dragged them out, the rest moved the corpulent corpses to a nearby region of dense foliage and wild growth, which they set fire to. By the time all this was achieved, the furred men had discovered out intrusion, sounded an alarm and gathered a force on the surface to harry us. They were only able to take a few shots however before we escaped, and thankfully, nobody was injured. We even managed to kill a few with fire of our own, as we left.
As we returned to Redwood Keep and counted our spoils, we were pleased to find that we were significantly richer, and our foes much weaker than at the start of the day. May all our future expeditions be as fruitful as this one has been!