Down Comes the Rain, Part 2 (Thursday, Kuthona (XII) 5th, 4707 AR)

Skull's Crossing

The colossal dam was decorated with thousands of skulls. Five immense skulls adorned the center of the dam's face. If the heroes hope to save Turtleback Ferry, they must not only defeat the ogres bent on destroying the dam and the trolls who have claimed it as their lair - they must also find a way to open the floodgates one more time.

Western Shore. Spanning the great breadth of the gorge was Skull's Crossing. The massive wall of stone held back the waters of the Storval Deep - but only just. Thousands of skulls had been carved into the dam's face, with five larger ones decorating the middle length. The easternmost of these immense skulls was all but hidden by a steady flow of cascading water pouring through what appeared to be a recent break in the dam. For now, the ancient dam seemed to be holding its own against the Storval Deep, but unless these rains ended soon, the recent flood looked to be but a minor precursor to a fantastic disaster.

Filling the entire valley between the Iron Peaks and the Wyvern Mountains, the Storval Deep is a massive lake held back by an ancient dam, Skull's Crossing, at its southern tip. The eastern shores of the gorge were sheer and slick with rain, but to the west, a narrow stone stairway, its edge decorated with hundreds of poles bearing the skulls of as many different creatures, wound up to a cave mouth near the western rim of the dam itself. Ogres were located to the west side of the damn, working. The rain started again not long after the heroes arrived, but before it did, they noticed several lumbering shapes moving about on the dam's upper reach.

The Stairway of Skulls. A seven-foot-wide winding stairway of stone climbed the cliff face, reaching a height of nearly two hundred feet before ending at a cave mouth above. Hundreds of stakes lined the edges of the stairway, many of them decorated with skulls - some animal, some humanoid, all marked with a strange skull-shaped rune on the brow.

The heroes read Giant and thus recognized the runes on the skulls as warnings - these were territory markers for the Skulltaker trolls who dwelt in the region. The stairs themselves were sized for large creatures, and as such required medium or smaller folk to climb to ascend.

Ettin's Doorstep. The short passageway ended in a small alcove, but to the west, a fifteen-foot-high ledge provided access to a larger cave beyond.

The heroes had to climb to scramble up the ledge, since the surface was so crumbly. Worse, the crumbling pebbles made stealth difficult - the ettin heard them trying to get into his home via this route.

Ettin's Lair. The air in this forty-foot-high cave was thankfully freshened by a brisk breeze whistling through from the north, yet the dozens of mostly eaten firepelts, deer, and even a few humans heaped along the walls filled the room with a stomach-turning stink.

This cave was the lair of an ettin. He attacked them on sight with the battle cry "YOU NO BRIBE ME! I SMASH YOU FOR SKULLTAKERS!" The heroes killed it.

The ettin kept his treasure in a disorganized heap near his collection of sleeping furs in the northeastern cave. The loot consisted of 693 gp; 1,240 sp; a velvet pouch containing six 100 gp pearls; a phylactery of positive channeling; and an ivory scroll tube inset with strips of jade (itself worth 300 gp) that contained a scroll of cone of cold, a scroll of hold monster, and a scroll of telekinesis.

Upper Passage. As with the one at the ettin's doorstep, the 15-foot-high ledge at the southern end required climbing to scale. The stairs above led up to the top of the dam itself.

Ogre Demolition Crew. The upper walk of Skull's Crossing was relatively clear of rubble, though a three-inch layer of water had pooled across much of its surface. Here and there, sections of the dam's surface had crumbled away, although this damage appeared relatively old. A tower of skull-shaped domes sat at the center of the dam's walk. To the north surged the choppy waters of the Storval Deep, while to the south, the slope of the dam's face dropped away nearly three hundred feet to a muddy lake below.

A group of four miserable, tired, and sick ogres were led by one of their own. The leader took a nice long break sitting on a block of stone in the rain, while his four remaining hench-ogres worked hammering their hooks against the stone.

All five ogres were exhausted from the work and conditions. They moved slower and their physical power and agility was diminished. The heroes killed them.