GM Bigrin's Giantslayer (Inactive)

Game Master bigrin42

Quill grunts as the next orc falls, beginning to feel some measure of success as a warrior and fighter for Trunau. Sure, they were all going to die, but at least he would take a number of orcs with him as he leaves.

And that is good, Quill decides.

"Yelena, we have to keep going. There is more, I just know it."

Can't get map to load right now, but Quill will move up with the party.

Quill will hold his breath as he runs through the smoke.

1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 2 = 7 Fort vs. DC 15 - nausea

Storn clanks his way westwards, pausing to glance into the closest building before moving on.

Fort: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

"Thanks Marnarora! What's the point of killing all these orcs without winning some prizes we can brag about later on?"

Storn will head to T35. However, if the building at T40 has something of note in it Storn will stop there instead.

Quill moves to T37, following Storn.

"Let's go this way!" Quill says as if he is leading, rather than following.

Molly ambles along behind the others, regardless which course the group decides to take, fitting a fresh arrow into her crossbow.

Everyone needs to make a DC15 fort save or be nauseated for 1 round, if you haven't already.

Storn led the way through the smoke, after Mariana had recovered the loot from the orc beastmaster. The building he passed was empty, the back haf caved in from a boulder. Coughing slightly, he heard something off between that building and the next. Moving on, he spotted the source. A pair of half-orcs had an older human down on the ground, kicking at him and laughing. The venom in their voices is clear, though he couldn't hear what was being said over the roar of the fire. He held his hand up, and everyone stopped, standing in the pea green smoke.

Here's the map

Fort. save 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

Not sure if this should be considered a poison save? Though looks like it doesn't matter
Fort save (+2 vs. poison): 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 2 = 26

Holding his breath, Sander rushes through the smoke, trying to keep up with the others.

"Hey!" he cries out at the sight of the orcs, voice coming out in a gasp as he starts breathing again. "Stop it!"

It's not clear if he's trying to order the orcs to stop, or Storn and Yelena to go stop the attack.

Fortitude: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

Yelena shrugs off the putrid smoke. "No worse than laundry day at the barracks." She gestures with her hammer at the pair in the alley. "Oy! You two! Turn around and put your hands up. NOW!"

Do we recognize any of the three?

Quill waits a few moments for this nausea to pass before responding to the situation...namely with his signature move: an arrow in the back.

At this point, only Storn can see clearly enough to note that the two attackers are both half-orcs. The man on the ground appears to be human or half-elf.

"Why are we talking?" Molly asks, bluntly, as she runs past the others. "We can't delay to take any prisoners." Skidding to a stop, Molly takes aim and fires.

Molly moves to T36 and fires at the Half-Orc at P37. Crossbow attack 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 for 1d8 ⇒ 5 damage.

"Couple'a half-orcs beating up an old man!" shouts Storn.

"HEY! Uglies! How about you pick on someone much larger than you?!"

Storn calls out his challenge and raises his sword, ready to strike.

Readied Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 Damage: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (6, 1) + 4 = 11
Crit: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14 Damage: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (5, 2) + 4 = 11

Move to R36 and ready an actionto attack if attacked.

Storn charged the half-orcs, cutting one of them deeply through the back and sending it dead to the ground. Everyone else moved forward, eager to finish this bit of work and get to the gates.

Round 1, Init 8

Quill moves up to R36 and shoots some back.

"Oh! I can't miss! I'll Storn you good!"

1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 6 + 1 = 27 to hit; (PBS)
1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 1 = 3 damage.

Pot Crit:
1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 1 = 25 to hit; (PBS)
1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 + 1 = 7 damage.

Surprisingly, Quill does not miss.

AC 17, HP 15

"Don't get cocky, Quill. There are a lot of them, and they're busy killing people!" Sander censures the elven archer.

He looks around to make sure none are creeping up from another direction.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Molly fits her bayonet onto her crossbow -- and holds position for the moment.

'Don't get cocky, indeed. Need to move in when I can strike.'

Yelena advances [R37], shoulders her hammer, and brings it down in an overhand arc.

Target P37
Large dwarven longhammer w/ power attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 233d6 + 7 ⇒ (2, 2, 3) + 7 = 14 critical threat
Large dwarven longhammer w/ power attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 106d6 + 14 ⇒ (3, 5, 1, 6, 3, 6) + 14 = 38 critical confirmation

The pair in the alley had no real chance as Storn took out one, and the other spun to face the group. She looked down to see an arrow sprout through one lung, then looked up in surprise. Yelena came around the corner and recognized Urnsul, the former apprentice in Sara Morninghawk's smithy. Enraged by the woman's betrayal, Yelena swung her hammer with crazed force. The weapon hit the half-orc on the crown of the head, and Urnsul telescoped to the ground with a set of sickening cracks.

The man in the alley looked up in astonishment. No one recognized him as a Trunau citizen, though several of you recall him visiting with a number of merchants in town.

Welp, that was easy!

Not recognizing the man, Sander feels a moment of doubt flutter through his stomach.

I know Urnsul; I know she's been acting strangely, but could she really have turned on the town?

He steps forward as he looks at Sara's former apprentice, trying to see if she's still breathing.

Heal: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

"Are you OK? Who are you?" he asks the man as he attends to the potential patient.

Stepping forward to check on Urnsul, Sander nearly recoiled at the damage done by that massive hammer over Yelena's shoulder. There was no way that the half-orc could still be breathing, and he was not surprised to find that she wasn't.

The man said, "Yeah, I'm okay, thanks to you lot. Name's Aleril. I'm a trade factor of sorts, up from Lastwall. My partner and I have been trying to get an edge on the raw gemstones market here, and...well, you know. Stayed a few days too late it appears. Look, if the inn is still standing when this is all over, you lot come by and I'll reward you handsomely. I mean it. I pay what I owe, and I owe you for my life."

Quill reaches down to help the man up, a look of worry in his face.

"You've got to get to safety. Go that way! GO!" Quill points back towards the triage station and the remaining guards from whence they came. "We have to move...there are other orcs storming the gates!"

"C'mon!" Quill again moves forward to find the mass of orcs he saw earlier.

Sense Motive (untrained): 1d20 ⇒ 18

Storn actually readied an action to see if they were hostile, rather than attacking first. That said, it's also very Storn-like to just charge in so we can press on!

Letting others talk with the man, Storn kneels down to inspect Urnsul.

"She's one of our missing people to talk to in the Rodrik's death," he growls. Seeing that Sander seems to know what he's doing, Storn stands back up.

"If she's going to live, leave her. She'll be there for a while and we can return."

"She's dead," Sander says, sadly, shutting the woman's eyes. "I wonder what happened to make her turn against Trunau."

"We can always try a speak with dead spell later. She only needs a mouth for that. Not an intact brain." Yelena giggles despite herself. "She went down like a poleaxed steer. Bonk. Well, let's find some more targets!" She hefts her hammer to her shoulder, ready to go.

Storn looks up from Urnsul's body and grins at Aleril.

"I think we'll get along just fine. Let me know if there are any more merchants to save around here."

He also nods over to Yelena.

"I've got one of those! Forgot about that. Good riddance then. Let's move on."

Storn takes a moment to pat down the bodies for valuables, muttering a detect magic spell before he takes off for S34.

Mariana is quiet as she takes this situation in, not sure what to think.

Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 17

Mariana is fairly certain that the merchant is telling the truth.

The rest of the group presses on towards the gate to the Lower Quarter, and Mariana follows along. She had to steer Sander away from Urnsul's body, as the halfling seemed more than a little shaken by the sight.

About forty feet from the gate, another pair of hastily erected barricades lay strung out between houses. Much like the one at the upper gate, these were ramshackle affairs that might slow attackers, but certainly wouldn't stop them en masse.

Unlike the other one, though, this one was undefended. Well, almost undefended. Omast Frum, the drunken guardsman you had met earlier, stood alone between the barricades, lobbing insults and occasional javelins towards the mass of orcs beyond the gates.

From the barricade, you can see that despite whatever betrayal kept the alarms from being sounded, someone had managed to close the portcullises. One was apparently already pulled down, and the orcs seemed to be working on the other.
Bodies littered the ground around the gates, and more were draped over the parapets of the wall high above.

Here's the map

You have a few minutes (maybe) before the orcs break through. If you have questions, now's the time to ask.

Would there happen to be anything like, say, barrels of oil nearby that Yelena would know about?

Storn stares at the barricade for a moment, frowning. He splits a huge grin at Omast.

"Crazy bastard. I wonder if he'd ever consider joining the clergy?"

Letting out a low, grumbling breath Storn examines the scene.

"We need to make sure we have a choke point that is the best option for the orcs. Maybe we can move the back barricade up a bit to strengthen it. Yelena and I block the choke, we get people healing us and lobbing nasty things at the orcs. Well, no time like the present. OI! OMAST!"

The big shaggy Kellid clanks his way out in front of the orcs.

"Let's strengthen this barricade and kill ten of those bastards for everyone one of ours they've killed. Come on!"

Storn is going to take his couple of minutes to haul parts of the back barricade to the front to plug up Z to W 23, with the intent of forcing the orcs to go through AF/AG 23. That said he'll happily drop the work if something really clever is noticed.

Quill doesn't wait after he sees Omast defending the gate alone. He runs to AC25 to take his position next to his fellow militia member. He is certain that Yelena would think this is the right thing to do that he doesn't even bother to check with her first.

"C'mon! This is where we will make a stand for Trunau!"

Sander looks around to see if there's any alchemist's fire or anything else he could use to throw at the orc horde that would be more effective than his sling.

"I have one more grease trap that I can place to fully lock in a killing cup for you lot with the big weapons," Mariana says as she looks about and moves up to the barricades.

"Got a tanglefoot bag, and I can magic up a cone of flames. Once."

@Yelena - not here. There's probably some up on the walls, or at least there is supposed to be some up there. Of course, you have no idea if it was used or destroyed.

Round 1:

Closer in, you can see that there are two gigantic logs on small ramps lashed to the outer barricade. It seems clear that these could be cut loose to roll down and crush invaders. Frum turned and spotted you, calling out, "It's about time! I thought Kurst would never send me some relief! Damn traitors slit the wall watch's throats, except for Aprax. He's the one that managed to get the portcullises down before he died. Damn brave man!"

"Get in here and make yourselves useful!"

Between the barricades was half an armory's worth of weapons and material, from crossbows and longbows to a crate full of alchemical fire and acid flasks. Racks held longspears and other polearms, while common swords and daggers of all sizes lay in stacks. Whomever had furnished this holdout was serious about making sure the defenders had everything they needed. Of course, if the attacking orc got their hands on it...

There is also a large boulder in the middle of the path. Nearly 10 feet across, it sits precariously on the edge of its own crater. Someone, presumably Frum, had used a few longspears to lever it up out of its landing spot to sit ready to roll down the hill towards the gates. It must be a desperation plan, as there is no way to keep it from crashing through the barricade once it starts rolling. The boulder appears to be slathered in some kind of green oil that reeks. Sander immediately recognizes it as an alchemical fire oil. The merest spark would set the boulder ablaze. It was likely a boulder like this that set the trees behind you on fire.

Getting in between the barricades took a bit of work, especially for Sander, who was actually shorter than the barricade itself. Storn immediately went to work shoring up the barricade, while Yelena and the others took stock of the defensive capabilities.

Please post your actions by round, not "the next few minutes". I know I didn't say that up front, but there is a method to my madness

Also, feel free to discuss tactics among yourselves and with Frum as you go.

Here's the map

Round 1

Quill moves (move) to the armory and begins to sift through the weapons, eventually grabbing an alchemist's fire. (move)

"Oh hey! There are lots of weapons here! And fires! Lots of fires!" Quill's eyes glimmer at the thought of burning some orcs this day. "I can throw lots of fire!"

Round 1

Sander rushes to the armory and stockpiles as many alchemist's fire and acid flasks as he can. He'll grab one of the former this round; but the plan is to take everything of that nature that other people don't take.

"Are we going to be able to hold them off?" he asks, worriedly. "We can't let them into the town!"

Sander, the people you are with may not know your special affinity with splash weapons. You may want to explain how they might be more effective in your hands than, say, Molly's

Sander wouldn't tell them that, though, as he's not super confident in his abilities and, well, who is he to deny others? That said, he is pretty good with splash weapons as they've seen from his bombs. :)

Sorry for the wait. I've been adulting.

Yelena barks out questions over the din of battle, waiting for an answer between each.

"Frum! How many vials of alchemist fire and acid are in that crate?"

"Sander! How long would a vial of alchemist fire continue to burn once it hits the ground? I don't want those greenskins flanking us. We need to encourage them to line up like toy soldiers before we unleash the boulder."

"Frum! How much work would it take to get that boulder rolling? How many people?"

"If we cannot divert them with fire, then we need to concentrate our forces behind the north barricade. We leave the center conspicuously lightly defended. They swarm the center. The guards in the center trip the boulder. Everyone on the north side rushes the center and follows in the wake of the boulder, driving toward the gate."

Round 1

Storn strokes his mighty beard as Yelena starts giving orders.

"What the short one said! Hrrrm. Sander, I saw you throwing bombs and being all smart. Make sure that tanglefoot bag lands right before the boulder starts rolling."

Storn scratches his mighty head while he has a think.

"Those logs. Yelena, do you want to send them rolling? If not, maybe we set up a false rope - make the orcs think the logs are gonna roll so they head for the centre."

While he tries to think, he makes his way over to a crate and grabs a glaive.

Rounds 2 and 3

Everyone moved with purpose, grabbing weapons and preparing for the defense. At the gates, the outer portcullis was being torn away by frenzied orcs. The inner portcullis was in imminent danger of failing, with at least two of the bars being bent inward.

Any other actions? You have anywhere from 1 to 20 rounds left. Of course, you don't know how many, but... :D

Round 1

"Just what the ah, doctor ordered," Molly murmurs as she snatches up a fresh quiver of crossbow bolts (if such an item is to be found in the armoury). "I was running low."

Round 2 & 3

"I've got two spells left, all told," Molly reports. "That cone of flame I mentioned, and a spell to summon a critter from the Beyond. Won't be anything big and it won't stay long, but it'll do as I tell it to. S'long as I tell it to attack enemies, anyways."

Round 2

Quill takes another alchemist fire, holding his bow in one hand and the fire in the other. Quill moves to AI25 to prepare for the onslaught. If he cant shoot over the logs, he'll move to AF24 instead.

"I'll get this side! Don't worry!" Quill shouts with more confidence than he feels.

The logs are only about 3-4 feet tall. Plenty of room for everyone to shoot over, except Sander.

Omast finished loading his heavy crossbow and pointed it at the scrum of orcs. With a twang the bolt hissed the short distance and buried itself to its fletchings in an orc's chest. The monster sagged against the bars, the press of its companions too great for the corpse to even fall to the ground. Omast looked at you with amazement in his eyes and shouted, "Shoot gods dammit! It's not like you can miss at this range, not even Ms Shukov!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep yer panties on," Molly mutters as she slots an arrow, turns her crossbow's crank and looses in an unhurried sort of way.

Ranged attack 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14 for 1d8 ⇒ 8 damage.

Round 2
"Oh, they last for about 10 seconds, give or take," Sander says as he snatches up the last alchemist's fire. "But they should be really effective if we actually hit them while they're all grouped together."

He grabs a vial of acid for good measure. Can I grab more than one thing per action? I'd like to just grab all the acid too, giving me two flasks of alchemist's fire and 4 of acid.

Sander, plenty of time for that

OK, then I'll do that. My plan is to stick them in my pouches, and then head out and use my sling until the orcs get closer.

Mariana is completely out of her depth with this entire situation. Without words to talk, she begins to help anyone that will have her. If no one needs her, she begins taking up crossbows and placing them beside herself and Molly, loading and drawing them back. "Here is something, at least."