Chapter 4 - The City of Orcs

[CAI4]

Chet, minding his wounds, will attempt to stay out of melee. He tries to quickly load his crossbow and get a shot off before the orc closes.

[1d20]=2, crit [1d100]=98

[Zorroroaster]

Arnulf plays it safe. He runs past the party and away from the Orc. "No, no, no, nonono..."

[AleBelly]

Unsure of exactly where the last orc will attack, Hellebore and Yenny take defensive positions I forgot to add last round that Yenny fumbled throwing her hammer, smacking it against her shield but otherwise no ill effects. Arnulf, not skilled in the art of melee, turns tail and runs back towards the tower, finding safety in the courtyard near the pack animals.

The orc rushes Korok, his closest enemy. Snarling, angry and wounded, he spears through Korok’s armor with his halberd in one fell motion.

Orc charges Korok [1d20+2] = 12+2 = 14, crit [1d100] = 3

It’s a wound that would kill a normal man, but Korok handles it stoically and returns with a thrust of his large sword, which misses badly.

Korok sword attack Init [1d6] = 3, [1d20+2] = 2+2 = 4, crit [1d100] = 94, damage [1d10+3] = 9+3 = 12

Angus joins the melee, but his weak strike sings off the orc warrior’s armor. Hyde, badly wounded, circles to protect Hellebore and Yenny, eventually making his way behind the orc. The orc watches Hyde carefully and easily dodges the swing of his axe.

Actions?

In melee: Hyde, Korok, Angus
30' away: Hellebore, Chet, Yenny
in tower: Arnulf
??: Ilfrien, Liulfr

Date: 18 Glowinghearth, Year 42
Time: 07:15
Conditions: 21F, cloudy, breeze from south at 8 mph
Known Spells in Effect: None
Light bearers: Dawn, pre-sunrise
Direction of Travel: 250 degree bearing, staying a mile south of the road; 1.2 mph movement rate; 10.5 miles traveled (0.0 today)
Injuries: Hyde seriously injured; Chet and Korok moderately injured; Yenny and Hellebore slightly injured;

[Keehnelf]

You don't have Korok's injury on the status list at the bottom, just FYI

[enn.in.me]

Initiative [1d6] = 1
Flailing [1d20] = 5
Crit [1d100] = 25

After watching to see which way everybody's moving (darn initiative roll), Yenny charges in towards the orc swinging her flail. She misses wildly (darn to hit roll) and ... (darn fumble roll).

[AleBelly]

You don't have Korok's injury on the status list at the bottom, just FYI

Fixed. Thanks.

[Marullus]

Seeing the orc veer towards and injure Korok, Hellebore charges with her spear. Her nimble frame uses the wooden pole to aid her leap as she runs, giving her an unexpected down-angle on the orc's clavicle with the spear.

Initiative [1d6+2] = 6+2 = 8
Spear vs Orc! [1d20] = 16, damage [1d6] = 3, crit [1d100] = 3, result [1d100] = 43
(continuing to describe crits with hobbit parkour. )

[Zhym]

Angus swings his axe again, barely avoiding slicing off his own foot.

Battle axe v. evil humanoid (THAC20 20): Init: [1d6] = 6, TH: [1d20] = 1, Dmg: [1d8+1] = 1+1 = 2, Crit: [1d100] = 95

[CAI4]

Chet yells to Korok "Let's see if this thing works!"

He joins the melee, trying to disarm the orc with his new toy.

Init: d6=1, [1d20-1]= 13-1 = 12, d100=46

[AleBelly]

I forgot to mention during the last update that The orc closed into melee before Chet could get his crossbow shot off.

[tkrexx]

AAA!! Hyde again attempts to send the Orc to the other side.

Init: [1d6+1] = 3+1 = 4

To hit: [1d20+2] = 16+2 = 18

Dmg: [1d8+5] = 8+5 = 13

Crit: [1d100] = 37

Hm. Something about these rolls has convinced me the Orc will be dead before Hyde gets to him.

[AleBelly]

The party proves too strong for the last orc. Hellebore joins the melee, spear first, cutting the orc a second arsehole. I took parkour out…this was a better armored orc than most and her hit wasn’t critical.

The orc snarls and swings his mighty polearm at Angus. It misses, leaving an opening that the injured Hyde exploits. The half-orc buries his axe deep in the chest of the orc and it falls into the snow, lifeless.

Arnulf, watching from the tower, re-emerges and helps the party search the bodies. All bear tattoos of red axes that have been seen on previous orcs. On one of the halberd-bearing orcs they find a leather scroll case. Pulling it out , they see a red wax seal is broken. They also recover 79 orcish electrum pieces and find backpacks scattered along the treeline. They contain nothing of value – old musty bedrolls and meagre, inedible rations that would only be considered if the party was starving. The orc weapons are serviceable and of pretty good quality. They recover two short bows, a crossbow, a spear, four battle axes and two halberds. Hyde and Angus replenish their arrows; Chet is able to restock his bolts. Arnulf finds that five of his darts are useless, Korok has lost two javelins and Hellebore loses three stones. Please deduct from character sheet

The party pauses to reflect. Yet another group of foes vanquished, but this came not without cost. Several of the party are injured.

It doesn’t take long for attention to shift to Ilfrien and Liulfr. A half hour passes…then an hour…the cold is starting to set in as a light snow begins to fall. Finally, a figure appears at the treeline. It walks deliberately but slowly towards the party. As it draws nearer, they recognize Ilfrien’s familiar face, set and determined. They also see Liulfr’s lifeless body draped over her shoulders, its fur smeared with blood. Its head lolls lifelessly with each of the elf’s steps, tongue barely protruding from its mouth.

Actions? Those who haven’t used aid kits today can do so.

Date: 18 Glowinghearth, Year 42
Time: 08:35
Conditions: 23F, cloudy, breeze from south at 6 mph, light snow falling
Known Spells in Effect: None
Light bearers: Sun
Direction of Travel: 250 degree bearing, staying a mile south of the road; 1.2 mph movement rate; 10.5 miles traveled (0.0 today)
Injuries: Hyde seriously injured; Chet and Korok moderately injured; Yenny and Hellebore slightly injured

[Keehnelf]

Ilfrien trudges slowly and determinedly across the clearing to the party, her hard eyes seeking out Hellebore as she makes her way. She stops in front of the halfling and the wolf carcass slips from her shoulders into the snow at the druid's feet with a heavy crunch of compacting powder.

"Your dog was stupid and engaged the Orc before I could get to them--was already dead by the time I arrived." Her hard eyes narrow, she scans back and forth around the group and shrugs. "I was stupid too, but I got the Orc." She pulls out a cloth-wrapped bundle and reveals a severed orc arm with a red axe tattoo and a small pouch jingling with coins. She tosses this last to Angus and simply let's the arm and cloth fall in the snow beside the dead wolf. "Divide that up how you like. I'm cold. And tired." She continues trudging toward the tower, apparently exhausted from her platemail marathon, streaked with blood all over, but uninjured.

[AleBelly]

OK, that makes 88 ep in total for bookkeeping purposes

[enn.in.me]

"Ilfrien - there is a fire going in the courtyard, and here is some food.

This was a rough morning, and we have lost another party member. Do we stay in the tower for another night, and then head out? Maybe set up some defenses? It's not the cheeriest place, and we don't even know what's in the upper floors, if anything."

OOC - I had just typed this when Keehnelf's post popped up: Yenny got a fire going while they awaited Ilfiren and Liulfr and nibbled on some food.

[Keehnelf]

Ilfrien warms herself by the fire and eats a few bites of food before she speaks again. "I think we should return to Alleborg before we run out of daylight to do so. We've left a trail of blood a mile wide out here and if there is a larger group of orcs not far off we're less safe in here now than we were when we woke, and our enemies likely to have more forewarning of our presence. I say we return, recover, and then try again along a similar path perhaps north of the road."

[enn.in.me]

Yenny - "I'm good with that. Ilfrien speaks well. Also, I always prefer a warm bed to one of ice."

[Zhym]

Angus, unofficial party treasurer, hands everyone 11 ep as their share of the coin.

He casts a lingering look toward the path the orc took. Although he doesn't say anything, it's obvious that he'd like to go track the orc's path to see where it came from. But then he looks at the party, and then down at the dead Liufr. It's clear this group wouldn't make it through another fight intact.

"Yeah," is all he says. "Back to town."

[MonkeyWrench]

Korok takes the moment while everyone sits and plans out the next move, walking towards Ilfrien and the fire. Once he's there he gives Ilfrien a short nod, "Welcome back." He begins to take off his armor, shedding each buckle and strap before letting the banded mail fall to the ground along with his under shirt, his intricately painted torso now bare.

He kneels down to take Ilfriens sword, tossing the tip of it into the flame to be heated as he calmly inspects the deep wound in his side, still bleeding from the halberd strike against him. He sits and waits, only speaking when spoken too, content to let the others plan their next move. When enough time has passed and the flame has heated the blade up to a temperature that he believes will work Korok takes the blade from the flame and forcefully presses it to his wound, a grunt escaping as his skin sizzles.

Once down he sticks the sword into the ground to let the earth and snow cool it, muttering some words of thanks to Ilfrien as he stands back up to put his clothes and armor back on, "We should move soon."

[Keehnelf]

Ilfrien's eyes narrow further as Korok grabs her father's sword, and she makes an involuntary half-move with her hand to stop him, but restrains herself, simply nodding as she absorbs as much of the heat as she can from the fire before the party decides to move on.