Round 1 (ongoing):
Svarog-acted
Orcs-acted
Kira-acted
Omast Frum
Trianne-acted
Haftor
Jarrek-acted
Kira drops the bomb on one line of orcs, incinerating the primary target and wounding the other two. Frum snatches up his heavy crossbow and pots one of the wounded ones, leaving it staggered and bleeding.
Round 1 (ongoing):
Svarog-acted
Orcs-acted
Kira-acted
Omast Frum
Trianne-acted
Haftor
Jarrek-acted
The lead orc in the other line slips and falls on Trianne's conjured lipid pool.
The dwarf fires his heavy crossbow, but narrowly misses his target.
Round 2:
Initiative order
Svarog
Orcs
Kira
Omast Frum
Trianne
Haftor
Jarrek
Gritting his teeth, Svarog prepared for the rush, setting his polearm against a charge. His hands itched to fire arrows at the oncoming horde, but the glaive was steady in his hands.
Round 2 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orcs-acted
Kira
Omast Frum
Trianne
Haftor
Jarrek
Svarog-
The badly wounded one staggers forward, bleeding, unable to reach the palisade. The other burned orc shoves past that one and reaches the barrier in time to meet Svarog's glaive attack. The ranger has the skill to put the weapon exactly where it will do the most good, and the orc falls.
The one in the grease spell area stands up, tries to walk out of the spell area, and nearly falls again. The other two go around the area and double-time up to the palisade, snarling angry orcish war cries. With an answering shout of "TRUNAU FOREVER!", Frum steps up to meet them while drawing his greatsword. With a mighty swing, he strikes one's head clean off its body.
Trianne circled away from the barricade, gauging the ebb and flow of the melee. The rage and stupidity of orcs never ceased to amaze her, how they so willingly ran into the meat grinder. She imagined the giant would be an altogether different matter.
She reached out an arm and sent the distorting field of energy to strike the lead orc, hopefully disorienting it with the magical pulse.
Jarrek sets his spear against the charging orcs, baring his teeth and growling back at them. "You're not getting past us! You die here and now!"
Svarog had seen plenty of battle, but never as the last line of defense. His dwarf-inspired inclination to hate orcs sparked a fire in him, memories of fighting in the ranks of dwarves who could only shake their heads at his impetuous attacks against their ancestral foes.
He used that knowledge now, the reach of his weapon giving him space to swing at the orcs at the barricade, slamming the butt into one to drive it back before slashing with the sharp end at the other. He fought for not just Trunau, or the memory of the dwarves who had taken him in, or for his lost tribe; he fought for the release of rage that had boiled in him since childhood at this hated foe.
Trianne's spell bites on the red orc--as do both Jarrek and Svarog's weapons, leaving it bleeding and running on rage. Kira and Haftor target the most distant orc with crossbow bolts, both of which hit. The orc staggers, bleeding profusely.
Round 3 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orcs-acted
Kira-
Omast Frum-
Trianne-
Haftor-
Jarrek-
Svarog-
The only orc within reach of a defender is dazed, and the other two can do nothing besides press forward. Their war cries have made way for silence, punctuated only by labored breathing, but a hatred bordering on madness burns in their eyes as they near the barricade.
Kira takes a few steps forward, pulls out a vial of alchemist's fire and lobs it at the red orc.
Meanwhile, Jarrek stabs at the same orc.
Trianne saw the others in the way, but she moved toward the boulder just the same in case the line gave and they needed to release the rolling fireball. As she moved, her voice and hand lashed out, the words of power coalescing with a crackle to singe at one of the raiders.
In the flow of the melee, the discharge of energy fell just short of its mark. Her jaw clenched in distaste, and she turned her attention to the trap and the waiting torch.
The red orc goes down with Kira's crossbow bolt in one eye. Jarrek retargets to Green as it ducks to avoid Trianne's spell, and lands a lethal stab.
Only a single orc now remains standing in the Inner Quarter. Svarog, though, hears shouted commands in the guttural tongue of the orcs from beyond the shattered gates, and suspects that another wave may be forming up.
Jarrek bellies up to the rampart and stabs his spear at the remaining orc while Kira racks and fires another bolt at it.
"Beware. I hear more coming," Svarog warned as he lobbed a javelin at the last orc standing.
The javelin doesn't quite do the dying orc in.
Haftor's crossbow bolt sails past the orc when it staggers, but Omast hurls one of the captured javelins into it. As it tries to move forward, the effort is too much for it, and it finally collapses.
The party gains no respite, however, as another quartet of orcs appears at the gate! The party can see that while three are in the crude leather armor favored by most orcs, the fourth is dressed in hide armor.
Round 4 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orcs-acted
Kira-
Omast Frum-
Trianne-
Haftor-
Jarrek-
Svarog-
One of the orcs in leather hits the grease spell effect and barely manages to keep its footing at the expense of its speed. The one in hide shouts orders, and the orcs (perhaps because the uneven footing offered by the corpses of their fellows won't allow them to charge the barricade) advance and send a flight of javelins at the party, followed by an arrow from the apparent leader. One javelin goes over Omast's head, while the other one and the arrow thud into the barricade in front of Jarrek.
Kira racked another bolt and fired at the closest of the new orcs .
Jarrek rattles his spear at the orcs and bares his teeth, making an impressive display of strength and martial might. He points directly at the hide armored orc and launches a string of inventive curses at it in orcish, questioning the raider's parentage, fighting ability, virility, and any number of other things.
Haftor was not proud of the effect that he'd been having with his crossbow, but he was convinced that his luck would change soon. His actions were tactically sound, after all! He took careful aim and fired again.
Wishing he could eschew the javelins for his bow, but aware that the orcs would be in melee shortly, Svarog lobbed a javelin through the gap Haftor had so conveniently cleared, aiming for what he believed was the leader orc - the one Jarrek was enfuriating.
"Tell him gurapt mek beshu," he told Jarrek, offering the worst orcish insult he knew, after years of fighting them.
Trianne moved along the battle line, grunting displeasure as the next wave of orcs flooded through the gate. Pulling up next to Omast, she shouted and punched the air, sending a blast of power toward the nearest orc.
Misjudging the approaching orc's speed, a chunk of earth plumed up before the charging creature without causing any harm.
Round 4 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orcs-acted
Kira-acted
Omast Frum-
Trianne-acted
Haftor-acted
Jarrek-
Svarog-acted
Haftor's crossbow bolt finds some major artery in the orc's body, but the party is by now all too aware of the feral creatures' ability to defy death. It still blocks Svarog's line of sight to the leader, so the Kellid puts a javelin into its head, dropping it. Kira and Trianne can't manage to tag their respective foes.
Jarrek's torrent of invective leaves the orc leader shaken. Omast wings the red orc with a heavy crossbow bolt.
Round 5 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orcs-acted
Kira-
Omast Frum-
Trianne-
Haftor-
Jarrek-
Svarog-
The orc leader draws a rough clay spherical object from its belt and pinches a short strand of some sort of fiber protruding from the center of a set of red concentric circles painted on one end. The end of the strand begins to burn, throwing sparks in all directions, and the orc tosses it towards the party. Despite the terror-induced weakness in its arm, the object veers in mid-air and lands in front of Jarrek before exploding. The detonation also damaged the palisade, but didn't completely destroy it.
Then the other two orcs rush the palisade and attack! One hits Jarrek solidly , while the other tags Omast .
Trianne’s eyes widened as she caught sight of what the orc was planning. She was already moving when the bomb hurtled through the air. Instinct would have driven most away from such a threat, but the bloodline the transmuter hailed from was a salty one.
It was hard to tell if she was trying to catch it and throw it back, or to fall on it to absorb the brunt. Because as fleet as she was, she wasn't fast enough.
"GET BA--" was all the farther her cry got before the weapon detonated.
Trianne took the blast full on and went sailing backward where she landed in a crumpled heap. For several long heartbeats she didn’t move. Then she crawled onto her hands and knees and rose, already raising a thin vial of liquid to her mouth.
The potion seemed to reverse the worst of the damage, one bloodied eye becoming clear and crystalline again, but it did little for the blackened ash on her skin or the smoldering of her hair.
Jarrek ducks behind the palisade and takes the worst of the explosion on his back armor but still comes up with blood streaming down his neck as the orcs charge. He throws a wild, two handed backhand with his newly liberated greataxe at the orc that nearly speared him through the gut, pale magic flames dancing on its edge. "Nobody's killing me today!" In spite of his bravado, he looks pretty bad.
In spite of her intimate familiarity with bombs, Kira wasn't nearly quick enough to avoid the blast. One second she's on her feet and the next she finds herself pushing her way desperately off the ground with ringing in her ears and blurry vision. She gropes around to pick up her dropped crossbow and shoots at the dangerous grenadier.
But her blurry vision and still-shaky arm make her miss by a mile.
Round 5 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orcs-acted
Kira-acted
Omast Frum-acted
Trianne-acted
Haftor-
Jarrek-acted
Svarog-
Jarrek nearly kills the already-wounded orc facing him, and Omast does likewise for the one on him.
Svarog took cover behind the barricade from the worst of the blast, grimacing as his ears throbbed and splinters flew through the air. The entire world seemed to reverberate; what in the hells was that thing?!
Springing up, he stabbed his glaive at the nearest orc, hoping to take it down before it could do any more damage, and to allow someone, anyone, to deal with the leader before it pulled another trick like that.
The blue orc falls before Svarog's fury.
The dwarf looses a crossbow bolt at the leader, but it goes well wide of the mark.
Round 6 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orc-acted
Kira-
Omast Frum-
Trianne-
Haftor-
Jarrek-
Svarog-
The last orc up at the barricade turns an ashy pale green from blood loss and collapses before it can act. The commander draws a flask from its belt and hurls it at Jarrek, striking the half-orc and bursting into flame.
Haftor winces in empathy watching his companions take the punishing attacks. Cursing under his breath, he takes aim at the comander with his crossbow and fires.
Round 6 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orc-acted
Kira-
Omast Frum-
Trianne-
Haftor-acted
Jarrek-
Svarog-
Haftor's crossbow bolt takes first blood on the leader.
Trianne coughed and winced, patting out a few incidental flames on her gear. Then her eyes snapped up, and she began incanting as she strode toward the barricade. Her voice rose in pitch as she stepped up onto a jutting leg of the wooden structure to sight the offending raider. No, she didn’t want this one getting away.
As the power coalesced, she thrust her clawed fingers out to the orc and yanked them back, pulling at the very shape of him. At first there was no visible effect in the haze, but then black tendrils of his own shadow could be seen bleeding up his legs, winding and wrapping and seeking purchase on the flesh of their master.
Round 6 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orc-acted
Kira-
Omast Frum-
Trianne-acted
Haftor-acted
Jarrek-
Svarog-
Trianne's spell bites on the orc leader, pinning it in place!
Svarog hurled a javelin at the orcs' leader, determined to stop him from loosing any more fire than he already had. Trianne's shadows held it fast; now it was time to kill.
Svarog's hurled javelin is on target, wounding the orc leader still further. The orc remains standing, though. Worse, the ranger can hear more orcs approaching the gate, though he can't see them yet.
Nearly done in, Jarrek drops to one knee behind the barricade and pulls a potion vial out of one of his bandoliers, chugging it right down.
Kira stands, slaps in another bolt and fires at the bomb thrower again.
Omast barely misses the leader with a crossbow shot.
Round 7 (ongoing; rearranged):
Initiative order
Orc-acted
Kira-
Omast Frum-
Trianne-
Haftor-acted
Jarrek-
Svarog-
The alchemist's fire still clinging to Jarrek burns out after damaging him further. The leader drops another flask of the stuff onto Svarog.
Jarrek roared as he was burned again and he jumped over the barricade to rush the bomb thrower, greataxe waving as he ran. He roared in Orc "Gonna cut off those hands and wear them as a necklace!"
Kira racked another bolt and fired at the leader again.