That night the Beardians slept snug in their beds, while visions of golden sugar plum fairies danced in their heads. If one listened hard, you might have thought you heard the jingle-jingling of sleigh bells in the night ... sleigh bells, or gold coins clinking together.
In the morning, Chauncey and an extremely hung-over Andy entered the main hall of Rammerdung's abode to discover a present for each of them beneath the Goldsmas tree. St. Nickleas had, it seemed, sensed the prescence of their good souls and left the gifts. Over the grumbling of their three neutral-aligned companions, the two unwrapped the boxes -- Chauncey put around her neck a necklace of adaptation, which would allow her to breathe in any environment, even underwater; while Andy held aloft a shiny new flametongue, a long sword with the ability to shoot fireballs.
The excitement of Goldsmas morning behind them, the Beardians turned to the matter of their mission. Rammerdung volunteered to show them the way to the surface (their outpost was nestled underground in the midst of the Maurick Mountains, a few miles from Byron Valley), but still refused to assist in the fight against the orcs. Still, the Beardians took the offer, certain that the tunnel back to the mine would lead into an orcish trap.
They reached the surface world, bid a holly jolly farewell to Rammerdung, and headed east down the mountains. Not enthused by the idea of returning to Kerrac and the villagers with their mission unaccomplished, Eddi suggested they bypass Byron Valley and return straight to the entrance of the mine to launch a second raid. The rest agreed. The plan was to maneuver south past the valley, crossing the road they had taken to get there in the first place, and travel west to find the mine again.
They'd spent four hours climbing down through the steep hills of the mountains by the time they reached the road. As it came into sight, a scream pierced the peacefulness of the forest, alerting the Beardians to the scene on the road below: two gnomes and a frightened horse cowered before three evil-looking orcs. At their feet lay the unmoving body of what was probably the gnomes' bodyguard. Eddi cursed as the memory returned to him: the gnomes were undoubtedly Bill Beard's family, for whom the Beardians were meant to the clear the road of dangers. They rushed down to save the gnomes, but were too late to stop one from falling to an orc's axe.
The Beardians fell into formation, rocking the bewildered orcs like a hurricane. Eddi barrelled down the hill, screaming at the top of his lungs, providing a distraction for the second gnome to flee the scene and hide in the cover of the forest. As the orcs moved against the cleric, Lucky popped out of thin air and struck at one, attacking its weak point for massive damage. The orcs stood no chance. As the rest of the Beardians mopped up, Eddi found the bodyguard and the injured gnome to be alive and used his divine magic to stabilize their wounds. Then he called out to the second gnome, introducing the Beardians as hirlings of their namesake.
At the sound of the name, the gnome, a boy of perhaps twenty years, came hesitantly forward. He'd obviously been mortified by the attack, but managed to introduce himself as Bob Beard, son of Bill Beard, and the other gnome as Brenda, his mother. The light of panic in his eyes, he gibbered out a request to be taken to his father. Eddi growled impatiently: here was yet another irrational obstacle to overcome just to deliver a barber to Burlingham. He snapped that the boy could go to the town himself, and die there!
Bob looked like he was going to cry. Andy put a hand on Eddi's shoulder and the cleric sighed in acknowledgement. They lifted the unconscious gnome and the bodyguard onto Bob's horsecart and lead them into the valley.
Once in town, there were many embarressed looks and much shuffling of feet as Kerrac approached with Bill in tow. The barber hurried his family off to the safety of the church while Kerrac spoke. He was scornful at first, pointing out their failure in the mission, but admitted that the results had not been completely disappointing. The Beardians had not only killed off a good portion of the orc's army, they had provided a long enough distraction for the goblins to set traps through the valley. The goblins' guerilla tactics had shortened the enemy's troops even more. Now, the orcs were marching on the town in a full-on attack, but Kerrac believed that, with the Beardians' help, the goblins could win even in open battle. Impatient to get the war over with, the Beardians agreed.
Kerrac explained the plan: each Beardian would be assigned two support troops from the ranks of hobgoblin fighters and goblin rangers, rogues, and warriors. K'Phalvius was backed by a couple of goblin archers, Andy by warriors, and so on. The two armies would meet in the fields east of the valley, where the orcs would be approaching the village. These fields were surrounded by hills and cliffs and goblin traps were scattered throughout the area. Kerrac was confident the battle would be won, and so the Beardians led their troops to the fields and into the fight.
In the middle of the hilly expanse of grass and brush, a barn stood tall against the sky. Beyond it, the Beardians could see the orcs gathering, and among them a familiar blue shape. Dokt'mahn Haeten, the ogre mage, glanced across at the awaiting army and grinned. His feet hung limply as they left the ground and he flew weightlessly into the air. He called out a warcry in orcish, then, in mid-air, vanished, certainly to attack when the Beardians were weakest. Below, the orcs bellowed a challenge that shook the cliffs in its volume. They charged across the field.
Hell broke loose. Not all of hell, but a good amount -- enough to make the scene dramatic. Many orcs actually fell to the goblins' well-placed traps and others to the archers' hail of arrows. Meanwhile, the Beardian army scrabbled to find the high ground in the fields. Eddi caught sight of an orc squad heading for the cover of the barn; he smiled grimly at his cleverness as he lit an arrow with flaming oil and fired at the hay in the building -- the fire spread quickly and the orcs scurried out. Chauncey, meanwhile, sent her support troops to hold the ground ahead to keep the enemy from reaching her. She waited patiently for the opportunity, then summoned an enormous fireball, burning four orc troops to ash.
With a mocking laugh, Dokt'mahn Haeten appeared in the air above her and lashed out with his eight-foot-long greatsword. The wizard's panicked cry alerted the other Beardians, and their troops moved swiftly on Haeten, but the mage's armor and aerobatics deflected most of their blows.
On a cliff overlooking the battleground, K'Phalvius watched with curiousity and horror as the orcs performed a strange maneuver: certain squads were gathering the dead and even charred bodies of their fellows and dumping them into a pile. As they performed the act of descecration, a singular orc dressed in what K'Phalvius now recognized as necromancer's robes approached the corpses. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what was about to happen.
Had Kerrac underestimated the strength of the orc army? Dokt'mahn Haeten was a wrecking ball on the battlefield, and that was bad enough -- now one or more necromancers had appeared to bolster the army's numbers. How could the Beardians win against a foe whose troops could be constantly replenished?
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