I have only moments to jot down. Should I fall, perhaps someone will find these pages. The orcs seem to have a tunnel below. Somehow connected to the monks chamber of works or something. We descended the stairs until we were a mere hundred fifty feet up or so. Here, the stairs left the cavern wall and leapt out into empty space, descending in 40’ spans and ending in fifteen foot platforms supported by tall, thin columns.

At the foot of those stairs was a scarred champion, several archers with those miniature balista, and fellows with clubs and axes. And of course, a large tunnel out of which issued sounds of metal hitting mettal, yelling, and orcish voices raised in anger?

Our fight here was viscious. The ballista knocked both McShane and Gil Jh’Dek from the stairs and into the chasm below. I thought for sure Gil Jh’Dek was dead, but he stirred after thirty seconds or so. McShane fell hard, but landed on a ledge a third of the way down.

Yamis was a god. Click, Click, Throoom! And off in the distance, an Orc would be blasted from his place on a stairway or pedestal to his doom on the rocks below! There were a few other difficult moments, including when I heard something behind us. I hid and made ready to charge with my rapier. Two large and nasty orcs with freaky war painted faces came around the bend and I nearly put out the first ones eye. As I recovered the blade, I delivered a very nasty bleeding gash on his shoulder. He returned the favor with a solid hammer blow to my left side. The breath wooshed out and my head spun. I decided to retreat to the platform to make it harder to knock me to my doom. I drank a potion of healing and pulled back after another parting jab into my enemies knee. As I retreated, the fiends ugly buddy passed his copadre and charged to me. Another blow from a hammer even as the healing potion knit my broken ribs on the left broke the ones on the right.

I became desperate, and in a large gamble thrust deeply into my opponents hip. He fell to the stair in agony, but not over the edge much to my disappointment. I held ground calling for aid even as I drank another potion. Click, Click, THROOOOM! The first war-painted freak flew from the ledge as though a giant had slapped him. I have no idea where he went. One moment he was there, the next, gone.

The remaining freak climbed to his feet with a sideways swing at my head. I ducked low beneath his swing. Once again I picked on his hip but not with the rapier. I pricked him with the rapier high in the clavicle distracting him from the low attack and kicked his wounded hip. He fell, slid from the stair and over the edge. He clung with one hand, and I told him that this little piggy went to market, but this little piggy fell down as I stomped upon his hand.

That’s when Yamis and I noted that Damakos was now all alone against the largest enemy we’d yet seen. I ran lightly down the stairs, and arrived just in time to see Damakos drop hard to the stair. Unconscious. Damn, Yamis and I against the champion ugly. I stood over Damakos protectively and looked the big scar faced orc in the eyes.

“Are you scared yet?” He growled at me.
“I’ve been scared since I came down the stairs. What’s that got to do with anything?” I returned.
“What are you going to do now?” He rejoined.
“I shall poke thee with my rapier.” I told him as calmly as I could manage.

And that is exactly what I proceeded to do even as I administered yet another potion of healing to Damakos.

Damakos scrambled to his feet behind me and blasted the champion with lightning. I heard Click, Click, Throom! and the champion batted away a bolt from Yamis at the expense of a very nasty gash on his arm. But fall, he did not. He layed open my bad leg with his greatsword. Great, that’s sure to leave a mark and ruin my pants. If this keeps up I will have to learn to sew should I survive. Anyway, through my haze of pain, I saw Damakos appear in flames behind him and hack at his back. I took the opportunity to thrust deeply into what I might presume to be his liver when he spun to engage. I then collapsed on the stair as he toppled over. I am done in.

And now, I hear that there is a living dwarf with yet another “biggest orc we’ve ever seen” beating him for information or something. The others insist on assisting. I say the dwarf is a dead man and we retreat to recoup. But nobody is listening. Yamis prayed over my leg and ribs, and a knot on the back of my head I don’t remember getting, and the skinned knucle, and my bruised face. I feel somewhat better, but not in top shape by any stretch. I have gathered one of those orc crossbow balaistas. They seem to be very useful in certain circumstances. Perhaps I can use one to fire from the shadows…