Chapter Three: The Splitpaw Campaign

The Fellowship of Everfrost had served its purpose.

The mammoth hunts were complete. The gigantic ice spiders had been driven back. The mysteries surrounding the Splitpaw messenger discovered in Blackburrow still lingered unanswered.

Eventually Kazin and Dragoness chose to pursue their own adventures elsewhere in Norrath. The parting was friendly, but it left only three companions determined to follow the trail south.

Caradawc.

Cymru.

Izzy.

Together they crossed the Karanas in search of the distant gnoll stronghold whose influence had already reached Blackburrow.

Eventually they found it.

Splitpaw.

The entrance alone hinted at the dangers waiting within. This was no crude burrow dug into the earth. The tunnels stretched deep beneath the plains, defended by organised and disciplined gnolls far stronger than those encountered in Blackburrow.

The three companions descended cautiously into the darkness.

At first progress was slow but steady. They fought their way through the outer tunnels and established themselves within the lair. Every chamber captured represented hard-won ground.

Then the resistance stiffened.

The deeper reaches of Splitpaw proved far beyond the capabilities of three adventurers alone. The gnolls came in greater numbers and possessed greater strength. Every attempt to push farther ended in costly battles.

Fortunately, help arrived.

The first reinforcement was Tulvarian, a wood elf druid whose command of nature and healing magic strengthened the fellowship considerably. With four adventurers working together, they pushed deeper than before.

Yet even with Tulvarian's arrival, progress remained difficult.

The gnolls of Splitpaw refused to yield easily.

The breakthrough came when two more adventurers joined the campaign.

Jobu, an Erudite wizard, brought devastating arcane power to the fellowship. Alongside him came Faux, an Ogre warrior whose immense strength and endurance transformed the group's ability to survive prolonged battles.

At last the fellowship numbered six.

The effect was immediate.

Where they had previously struggled merely to survive, they could now advance. Chamber after chamber fell before them. The gnolls were driven back. The fellowship established an advance position deep within the lair and for the first time gained a foothold in territory previously considered inaccessible.

Holding that position became the new objective.

The deeper chambers of Splitpaw could not simply be conquered and forgotten. Every pull carried risk. Every patrol threatened disaster. Maintaining control of the advance position required constant vigilance and sufficient strength to repel any counterattack.

For a time the fellowship succeeded.

Then Faux was forced to leave.

The consequences became apparent almost immediately.

The Ogre warrior had been the anchor upon which the advance rested. Without him the balance shifted dramatically. Battles became harder. Pulls became more dangerous. The gnolls seemed emboldened by the fellowship's reduced numbers.

Despite the best efforts of Caradawc, Cymru, Izzy, Tulvarian, and Jobu, they could no longer maintain their position.

Reluctantly, they began to fall back.

What followed was not a rout but a fighting withdrawal. Chamber by chamber they surrendered territory. Every retreat had to be carefully managed to avoid attracting overwhelming numbers of gnolls.

Eventually they found themselves pushed all the way back toward the entrance.

Days of hard-earned progress had been lost.

The experience taught Caradawc an important lesson.

In hostile territory, victory was not measured by how far one advanced but by whether one possessed the strength to remain there.

Yet adventurers are stubborn creatures.

Rather than abandoning the campaign, the fellowship regrouped and searched for additional support.

Their answer arrived in the form of Ronninn, a human magician from Qeynos.

Accompanied by his familiar, Zibann, Ronninn brought powerful elemental magic to the expedition. Although different from Faux's brute strength, his contribution proved equally valuable.

With renewed confidence, the fellowship launched another offensive.

This time they were no longer advancing blindly. They knew the tunnels. They knew the patrol routes. Most importantly, they knew exactly where they had previously been forced to retreat.

The advance became a reconquest.

One chamber after another was reclaimed. Ground lost during the withdrawal was recovered. The gnolls once again found themselves driven back before the determined adventurers.

Eventually the fellowship stood once more at the very position they had previously been forced to abandon.

The advance camp had been retaken.

The hard-fought chambers were once again in friendly hands. The gnolls had been driven back, and for a brief time it seemed possible that the expedition might finally push deeper still into the heart of Splitpaw.

But Norrath rarely allows victories to remain simple.