IC XII

[Wyzard]

Severi, Elf

Severi kills the bound orc before it can warn its compatriots, and then withdraws outside to guard Mursley. "You should put them to sleep as soon as they emerge. Long fighting benefits the orcs more than us."

[shaidar]

Mursley,MU

Severi, Elf

Severi kills the bound orc before it can warn its compatriots, and then withdraws outside to guard Mursley. "You should put them to sleep as soon as they emerge. Long fighting benefits the orcs more than us."

Mursley nods, "It will be the last of such magic for today, but I agree"

[thirdkingdom]

The bulk of the party retreats through the open door, leaving Rhys inside. The mettlesome mystic secretes himself to the left of the door, largely obscured in shadows and detritus. Moments after he arranges himself as desired a band of six orcs burst through the door. Espying the orc corpses littering the ground before them, and especially the bound orc whose lifeblood is even now pumping out onto the carpet of trash, the six gaze about them with expressions of surprise and exclamations of warning. "Intruders!", barks the largest one, a swarthy orc clad in rusted chain mail and wielding a short thrusting spear, "They must still be present! Let us take their heads back to the Chief, and he will shower us with gold and lady orcs!"

The group advances to the interior door through which Rhys gained entrance, and peer cautiously through. Seeing nothing, they retreat back into the main room and carry on a heated discussion, debating whether or not they should advance outside, or retreat and warn their kin.

From outside Thurgan and Severi, not seeing the odious orcs pass through the door, press their ears to the opening. Both hear what sounds to be a lively debate in the harsh orcish tongue.

[Wyzard]

Would throwing the door open give Mursley a clear shot to cast? If so, he'll do that.

[thirdkingdom]

Would throwing the door open give Mursley a clear shot to cast? If so, he'll do that.

Yes.

[Grognardsw]

Aquar, cleric

With the others, Aquar peers at the orcs and readies to attack. He mentions his Hold spell, though is hesitant to use it, feeling the day ahead may bring more orc battles.

[Wyzard]

Would throwing the door open give Mursley a clear shot to cast? If so, he'll do that.

Yes.

Well, then Severi casts wide the door.

[MonsterMash]

Thurgan, dwarf

Thurgan readies himself to fling the door open once Mursley is ready to cast his spell, then to follow up attacking the orcs with his sword.

[shaidar]

Mursley, MU

Mursley checks that the archers are ready to attack any orcs that end up unaffected by his spell, once they are he will indicate he is ready to cast, and once his targets are visible will cast Sleep, hoping the gods are on thier side and it proves efficatious.

[thirdkingdom]

Round One

Severi swings open the door with gusto and Mursely casts his spell before the orcs within have a chance to react. Perhaps it is something in the air of this play, or that these orcs are unusually resistant to enchantments, but Mursely's spell of somnolence is rather less potent that it normally is. Only five of the six orcs slump to the ground; the sixth takes to his heels, heading for the interior corridor and, one can only presume, to rouse his kin in defense of their lair. Rhys strides forth from his place of concealment and strikes the orc's head from its body before it has a chance to flee more than a dozen paces.

A quick search of the orcs reveals that they carry another fourteen gold coins between the six. The larger orc bears a crude bronze key and some sort of leather pouch containing a matted mass of hair and twigs. A closer inspection of his personage yields the discovery that the orc is missing his right eye.

Are you guys killing all the orcs or trying to take a prisoner. Also, it is approximately 3:30 in the afternoon.

[Wyzard]

Severi, Elf

"Let's pack up the gold, and then go downstairs with this key and see if it opens any immediately obvious chest or vault door. Failing that, we should go rejoin our companions and find a place to stay the night. We've killed enough orcs for one day."

[chap126]

Anohir, Priest

"We should burn the bodies. I'll take charge of that. We'll drag them a little ways out, opposite of our camp, and burn them there."

[Wyzard]

I think our camp is, like, a LONG way away. Like a couple hours' march.

Second thing: Is anyone keeping track of gold and putting it on their sheet? Severi is taking the key. I'll get it up on his.

Did we figure out if we were taking ears or what, and how much encumbrance they were eating up?

[thirdkingdom]

I think our camp is, like, a LONG way away. Like a couple hours' march.

Second thing: Is anyone keeping track of gold and putting it on their sheet? Severi is taking the key. I'll get it up on his.

Did we figure out if we were taking ears or what, and how much encumbrance they were eating up?

I think the mercs were taking care of the ears, Wyzard. The taking of such trophies skirts on what I'm comfortable with, but I think in terms of honoring the bounties its the only sensible thing to suggest. Anyway, but having the mercenaries be the ones who handle the de-auriculating keeps it well off-stage. Just assume that they're handling it, and won't screw you guys when it comes to the count. I'm also not concerned with tracking encumbrance of the ears.

[Grognardsw]

Aquar, cleric

Aquar assists in finishing off some sleeping orcs. He investigates the pouch with hair and twigs.

[thirdkingdom]

Aquar examines the pouch and finds the leather used in its construction to be pale and supple; it feels oily beneath his fingers and handling it imparts a deep sense of unease. The curious cleric believes he understands the function of the hair and twigs; primitive races often devise objects called fetishes that they claim impart magical or spiritual abilities to the owner. This is obviously such a fetish.

[Alethan]

Rhys the Traveler

Rhys examines the largest orc's missing eye to see if it is a recent wound or if it has been that way for a while...

I can make note of the gold we've picked up so far as well as anything else we keep that nobody specifically takes for their own.

[MonsterMash]

Thurgan, dwarf

Thurgan goes back over to the passageway the orcs emerged from and checks to see if any traps seem to exist.

[thirdkingdom]

To the best of Rhys' estimation, the orc's missing eye was caused by an old event. Thurgan scouts down the corridor again, but finds no sign of traps. The corridor itself, and the ramp, are constructed in the same, inscrutable manner as the rest of the building. Approaching the edge of the ramp and peering down, he notes that, at almost the limit of his infravision, the ramp levels off again and the corridor beyond is partially blocked by some sort of crude construction.

[Grognardsw]

Aquar, cleric

Aquar stuffs the fetish in the mouth of a dead orc. "This didn't work too well for you," he mutters.

The cleric waits with weapon ready to follow the others.