Against the demon rabble

The Vast

The adventurers split up to meet a few of their absent friends.

The two elves are joined by Brother Gates and set out to rendezvous with the others at the altar found in Pig Stickers.

As the three buddies wander along the roads leading northeast they come upon a donkey being chased by a trio of bloated little Manes.

After dispatching these lowest of demons with missile fire they calm the poor donkey down and set out to find it's owner.

After a day or so they find the remains of a temporary camp on the bank of a small creek, which seems to have belonged to a gold miner, presumably the donkeys former owner. They decide to use the camp again and rest for the night. On Brother Gate's watch he hears the faint sounds of battle in the distance and Legolars is roused and sent out to investigate.

After some time the stealthy elven ranger comes upon a band of orcs who seem to have ambushed and wiped out yet another band of Manes. Legolars chooses not to draw the orcs' attention to his presence and withdraws quietly. It seems even the brutish orcs in the region are revolted by the abyssal scum.

The intrepid trio pushes on and comes upon the main camp of the donkey-owning gold miner. A nother donkey is found as well. Dead and in the process of being eaten by a large band of manes.

After a tough battle the gang of bloated little demon scum are wiped out and the camp investigated. They find the corpse of the unfortunate gold miner and several small pouches of god nuggets as wel as considerable supplies of food. The dead man is given a proper burial and once again the heroes use the camp to spend the night which proves mainly uneventful.

The next day the hunt for the source of the demonic infestation continues and while camping out the following night the sounds of moronic chanting and idiot revelry can be heard in the distance. At the first, pale light of approaching dawn the demon hunters set out to settle matters...

On the summit of a hillock a bunch of Manes are cavorting and chanting, led by a somewhat larger being in a hood. A simple plan is devised: The Manes are to be distracted by a small rock, with a Light cast upon it, tossed to down the slope of the hillock. As the dumb Manes wander off to investigate the adventurers will attack the hooded creature by the altar.

The simple plan works like a charm and as Rob and Legolars move to attack the rite leader gates gets in position to strike any returning Manes with divine magics after having properly cast Aid and Bull's Strength on the others.

The creature by the altar is an extremely bloated Dretch which responds to the attack by releasing a Scare spell. Luckily the band manages to resist the demonic magic.

A fierce fight between the swollen and unusually powerful Dretch and the two elves ensue while Gates wipes out haldfa dozen Manes with a Sonic Burst as the latter rush back to help their boss. The remaining Manes engage the holy man in melee.

After trading several savage blows with the Dretch the elves gain the upper hand and Legolars manages to kill the horrid entity with a mighty strike.

With the Dretch gone the last Manes are dispatched after yet more tough fighting where the little brutes prove more resilient than anyone liked.

Finally victorious the three heroes search the hillock and the makeshift altar. They find an amulet with wicked runes in the melting remains of the Dretch as well as a small, rugged book with wrting in an unidentified language.

Eventually the three demon slayers decide to hurry to meet up with their friends and brief them on the latest events so that they all can continue the search for the source of this demonic activity.