Chapter 17 - Delve Deux into the Orcless Orc Stronghold

[AleBelly]

The party discusses what to do with the large snake. Set a trap? Enter the room and kill it? See if it will devour the orcs?

It is a minute or two before the orc is no longer held. Hyde stands ready to punch it, kill it, interrogate it, etc.

Kablamicus explains the plight of his owl to the others then listens at the door. The pounding has stopped.

DM rolls dice

The mage hears nothing on the other side of the door.

Date: 29 Culling, Year 44
Time: 6:49
Conditions: 44F, damp
Known Spells in Effect: Orc held through 6:51
Light bearers: Yenny's bracelet, Angus' bullseye lantern through 10:15, Hyde's torch through 7:15
Injuries: Yenny, Angus barely wounded; Hyde, Kablamicus, Dandelion lightly wounded; Galan, Figgis moderately wounded

[Bluehorse]

Kablamicus

Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrry slowly turns the knob and even sllllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwer cracks the door open to take a scooby doo peek inside.

[enn.in.me]

Yenny holds her breath, and flail, as K opens the door.

[onlyme]

Dandelion grasps her trident, ready to pro-act.

[tkrexx]

Hyde starts to bind the held Orc and drag him back to the others of his group (By his hair) when he spots the door activity. He remains with his captive (And out of the way) until he knows if they will need to engage a large serpent.

[AleBelly]

Kablamicus opens the door very slowly as Hyde quickly binds the last surviving orc and drags it up with the rest. The rest of the group congregates around the mage, ready for action. The flame from Yenny's greek fire burns itself out, leaving behind acrid smoke that irritates the eyes and nose. Map here:

viewtopic.php?f=176&t=7155&start=80#p350420

Fearing the worst, the mage peeks his head around. Light from Yenny's bracelet spills into the room, where the mage can see a horrific sight: in the center of the room the jaws of the huge snake are hinged open, slowly drawing the nightman corpse into its body. The snake will likely pose no threat to the party moving through the room.

The bound orc begins to jerk and spasm as Yenny's spell wears off.

Does anyone take the electrum pieces and green key? There were also three bows, three spears, two swords and a battle axe recovered from the dead/held orcs. They appear to be of unexpectedly good (for orcs) craftsmanship.

[onlyme]

Dandelion would have taken the coins and key.

[AleBelly]

Dandelion would have taken the coins and key.

Thanks. Please mark your sheet. Marking the coins are optional, I keep track of communal loot but something like a key will need to belong to an individual.

[tkrexx]

Lemme see, lemme see! Hyde buffaloes his way to the door, dragging his more Orcish prisoner. He forces the creature's head into the small space of the opened door. Ya see that, hah? He chuckles quietly, not wanting to disturb the snake's meal, You be next, yeahh, unless you be tellin' my good pals somethin' they wanna hear.

[enn.in.me]

Yenny sighs a little, says quietly, "This looks like our chance." and walks into the snake room, keeping to the southern wall.

[Bluehorse]

Kablamicus

With some cautious relief, he opens the door the rest of the way then moves aside for Hyde and his captive. "Rude!" He then enters the room and calls out. "Sophomore!" Looking to the others. "We have to find Sophomore. There are more intricacies than I can explain, but he holds a part of my soul and I his. If he dies...." Was that a bit of emotion? The hot-headed mage shook his head. "No worthless birds left behind."

[AleBelly]

Hyde treats his new captive roughly, demanding answers. The orc has fear in its eyes, but still responds hatefully.

"What do you want to know, slave spawn?" it sneers in reply.

Meanwhile, Kablamicus keeps a brave face as he calls out for Sophomore. The snake begins to back against the northern wall, dragging its hapless prey with it. It pushes aside debris as it winds backwards - there's a lot of it in here. The others advance along the southern wall, and the mage advances to the center of the room. He begins to feel a small measure of energy return to his body. Yenny's light illuminates the eastern wall of this room, and there is a small alcove that leads to a door - closed - where the party fought the strange evil creatures just days ago.

Actions?

Date: 29 Culling, Year 44
Time: 6:53
Conditions: 44F, damp
Known Spells in Effect: None
Light bearers: Yenny's bracelet, Angus' bullseye lantern through 10:15, Hyde's torch through 7:15
Injuries: Yenny, Angus barely wounded; Hyde, Kablamicus, Dandelion lightly wounded; Galan, Figgis moderately wounded

[enn.in.me]

Yenny goes and listens at the far door.

[onlyme]

DAndelion waits for someone to open the door for her, of course.

[Zhym]

"Ask if he'll draw us a map if we let him live," suggests Angus to Hyde.

He looks contemplatively at the big snake. "Y'all reckon we oughtta put the critter down while its mouth is full?" he asks.

[tkrexx]

Hyde grunts and nods to Angus, then slams the Orc's face to the floor. After checking to make certain there is blood, he growls, Now you be a slave, yeahh. Draw me a map a' this place, slave, and use your own juice to draw it.

[Nuke66]

Galan walks carefully through the debris on the floor, looking for anything interesting. "If we want to dispatch it, now would be the time."

[AleBelly]

After the captive orc insults him, Hyde slams its face into the floor. The blow could hardly have made the orc uglier, but blood now does trickle from its nose. "My hands are tied, slave spawn? How can I draw? And I draw nothing. You will just kill me after." They also realize there's nothing obvious for the orc to draw on to make a map.

I'm not advocating torture, but I won't allow the orc to refuse by fiat. There will be rolls to see if it can resist torture, or you can also try to reason with it.

Meanwhile, the party discusses killing the snake. While not threatening, it's still a danger and is eyeing the party. At this stage it would not take long to disgorge its meal, and its strong body would probably still be able to attack.

Galan kicks around in the debris. Virtually all of it is worthless and old, but among the junk and detritus he finds a capped leather scroll case.

Yenny listens at the far door, followed by Dandelion.

DM rolls dice

The gnome cleric hears nothing coming from the other side.

Actions?

Date: 29 Culling, Year 44
Time: 6:55
Conditions: 44F, damp
Known Spells in Effect: None
Light bearers: Yenny's bracelet, Angus' bullseye lantern through 10:15, Hyde's torch through 7:15
Injuries: Yenny, Angus barely wounded; Hyde, Kablamicus, Dandelion lightly wounded; Galan, Figgis moderately wounded

[Nuke66]

Galan picks up the case and discreetly stashes it away.

[enn.in.me]

Yenny opens the door and calls to Kablamicus, "Is your companion through here?"