Renliat sighs in relief as his wounds all heal. If only the scars were so easy to heal. "Yes, much better. Thank you." Renliat looks over at the place Garri points to. "Are they a threat? I suppose the orcs are pillaging, not killing."
"I say we take the orcs for now, we know what they are. Also, I don't feel like having them behind us or able to get here to the healing check point without any real resistance."
"Agreed."
Nodding in agreement with the general agreement Lialda said, "Yes, we don't want those orcs behind us and there could still be survivors hiding in those buildings. We can't leave them to pillage to their black heart's content and possibly find a survivor somewhere."
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The party tries their best to catch the three groups of Twisted Nail orcs by surprise. The first battle they are successful and get the drop on the orcs and take the four down with only two retaliatory strikes hitting on the party. Both Renliat (8) and Sarada (10) are struck by well placed falchions from the opposing orcs.
The second battle they once again get the drop on the raiding party and once more sustain two injuries on their party. Sarada jumps in the way of a falchion that was clearly destined for Garri and takes a strike on his back while Lialda is unable to avoid a throw javelin that catches her in her thigh (9).
The final engagement the party is more sure of their victory and clearly lacks the element of surpise when Renliat accidentally knocks over a post that shatters a window loudly and reveals their position. Despite not having the upper hand the party demonstrates their experience in battle with these orcs and their tactics when they walk away with only a single injury from Sarada (8).
The orcs have already looted most of the useful goods and supplies from the homes and piled the valuables outside next to a crude cart stacked with orc equipment. Searching through the pile the party finds three doses of armor ointment, a bundle of 20 tindertwigs, a golden bird cage (appraise), four bottles of fine wine (appraise) and a well crafted masterwork lute .
Inside the cart they find a masterwork flail, two orc double axes, half a dozen broken falchions, three suits of leather armor, a heavy wooden shield, two climber's kits, two grappling hooks and 100 feet of hemp rope.
Between the twelve orcs you defeat you uncover twelve falchions, twenty javelins, and twelve suits of studded leather armor.
One fight in and Renliat is mentally swearing. Stupid. Trust your warriors. Don't get near the front.
Renliat looks over the cage and the wine as he waits for healing.
The golden bird cage fetches 60GP while the four bottles of wine are worth 10GP each (40GP total).
"Ow..."
"... ow..."
"... ow."
That was rather intense
Looking over the pile of goods the orcs had Kreagor thinks about what to take. "I suggest we take the armor ointment, tinder twigs, bird cage, wine, and the lute. Does anyone have need of the weapons or armor?"
If not one else will, then Kreagor will pick up the items he spoke of and store them in his pack. He will then scan the area, looking for more issues and trying to make out the indistinct shapes they had seen before.
Sarada shakes his head.
With his wounds healed, Renliat looks to where the shadows were. "Shall we check out the mysterious quadrupeds, or reinforce the eastern gate?"
"Thank you, Garri." Sarada happily says as as thel ittle goblin heals him and gives him a tasty snack.
"There's fires to the west with the creatures, don't know if that's good or bad at this point."
That gnoll can take a beating
Seeing the Sarada's condition Kreagor hands him his potion of cure light wounds.
"Here Sarada, take this it will help" Kreagor says as he hands it over.
Feeling the pain in her thigh from the javelin Lialda pulled a potion bottle from her pack to drink just when Garri sent out a couple of bursts of positive energy that healed the worst of her wounds. She returned the bottle to her pack for now but then she realized that Sarada was still injured. It bothered Lialda that she had obviously been neglecting her duties and said, "I could use my power to heal you some, but it only works on a person once a day. It might be better saved for combat when taking the time for a wand or to drink a potion may not be a wise decision." An idea hit her then and she said, "Oh, I do have a couple of healing potions left as well, one is yours if you want it."
That gnoll can take a beating
Sarada hurriedly bows gratefully to those around him offering aid. He drinks Kreagor's potion and then Lialda's
"Thank you, my friends. I will return your generosity, I promise."
"To the creatures than." Renliat indicates the direction and looms behind the others.
"Yes we should get moving", Kreagor says from the front of the group.
Throughout your battles with the orcs the banging of the drums ring on. Between the bangs you hear someone from atop the tower shouting encouragement in Orc variations of 'Kill them all!' The tower itself appears to be three stories with this orc up on top banging away.
Approaching the guard tower you find the door ajar and several Trunauan guards like dead on the floor.
This does not bode well
"We need to shut that guy up", Kreagor says to the others. "I'll go in first, and Sarada should probably follow".
Kreagor stows his crossbow and draws his long sword and shield before kicking the door fully open and entering the tower, making sure to move far enough in for Sarada to have room to swing.
Sarada gives the Hobgoblin a nod and a low yip before following after him.
Kreagor cracks open the door with a bang and charges into the room. Once inside he sees three Twisted Nail Orcs all moving towards him. Aside the dead guards on the ground, the rest of this floor is empty. A stairway leads up to an upper floor and the banging above rings loudly inside the tower. Raising their falchions they prepare to engage the party.
Spotting Kregor, one of the orcs turns his head up the stairs and shouts something of an alarm loudly.
Kreagor will start to chant angrily, the others weapons feel more powerful in their hands.
He will then move forward, covering Renliat from the orcs on the right and in the middle with his shield and longsword out.
Sarada charges the first orc he sees.
Pulling her crossbow from her shoulder Lialda lined up a shot and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately her hasty shot missed wildly and fell well short of her target.
Sarada chrages in with such speed and ferocity that the opposing orc before him cannot even mount his defense quickly enough to save his life. The gnoll hunts and devours his prey, killing the orc outright in a single blow.
Lialda's bolt wasn't fire with expert precision, but the orc on her left was clearly distracted by the entrance of the party into the tower. The bolt impacts the top of his left shoulder, and the orc grunts loudly from the wound.
The orc on the left charges towards Sarada, but the wound in his shoulder causes him to pull the swipe of his falchion short and he misses. The orc to the northeast follows in step, charging towards Sarada and buries his falchion in the chest of the gnoll .
Kreagor moves around to the right flanking one of the orcs that charged Sarada and swinging his longsword at it.
Garri and Kreagor easily take down the two remaining orcs. With the floor cleared of hostiles, the party rushes up the stairwell towards the sound of the drums. Reaching the top they find twos more orc guards situated around and protecting the stairs. Not directly visible, but clearly audible, a creature around the southeast corner of the tower who is partially visible behind a wall is banging loudly on drums. Chanting and hollering in orc to embolden all of the orc warriors nearby.
Due to the overwhelming noise from the drums, the orcs do not hear the approach of the party on the stairs.
Sarada begins again with a charge.
Not wanting to let go of too many spells, Renliat fires a crossbow at the one not engaged yet.
Kreagor will once again start his chanting as he shifts forward slightly.
Eep! Sorry. I'll get a post up in the morning.
Lialda put the front of her cross bow on the ground so she could step on the metal ring and recock the weapon then stuck another bolt in it and fired a shot off at one of the orcs.
The party doesn't miss a beat and quickly springs into an attack that catches the orcs by surprise. Sarada blasts forward and eradicates one of the orcs from his charge just as Renliat looses a bolt into the orc across the room. Garri ignites the room in a blaze as he catches both remaining orcs with his spell. The two orcs both are unable to dodge the blaze as from the goblin. Taking advantage of the already burning orc, Lialda's bolt slams into the forehead of the closest one as he flops backwards to the ground.
The drummer faces Sarada and screams out a few strange words as he flicks his wrist back and forth.
A primeval urge almost overcame the Gnoll, the urge to cackle, something he could all too easily and all too well. Almost.
Letting out a yelp of annoyance he charges the drummer.
Lialda reloaded her crossbow and shifted position slightly to get a clear shot on the drummer. With a brush of the trigger and a loud twang the bolt shot forth at her intended target.
Sarada resists the spell from the drummer, much to the drummer's dismay. With a growl of frustration he points to Sarada and shouts a command for his orc to slay the gnoll. No sooner does he issue the command than Sarada charges into the drummer and cuts him up with his greatsword. Lialda tried to place a bolt on the drummer, but Sarada was too close and she pulled her shot high.
The orc springs into action and swings around Sarada, flanking him. With expert-like precision he slashes his falchion across the back of the gnoll .
Kreagor will continue his song and move into a flanking position with Sarada.