Round 1
Storn sees the orcs move in on him, and he grins widely, despite the arrow sticking out of him. Seeing that the orcs are moving in on him, Storn quickly chants a spell.
"Hahah! It's a good day. Gorum vernda mig!"
HP: 22/29
AC: 23 (+9 armour, +2 shield, +2 deflection)
Active: Shield of faith, 3 minutes
HP 26/26
AC 21, touch 18, flat-footed 18
Fort +6 (+2 vs. poison), Ref +7, Will +3 (+2 vs. fear)
CMD 13
Bombs: 0/6; Mutagen: 0/1
Effects: shield
Sander, letting out a cry of alarm as he's nearly skewered, pulls a vial from his pouch and downs it in a single gulp.
Taking a quick step CX 50, she lets luck wash over her and fires a shot at the orc who had closed on her.
While most of the others drank potions or prepared spells to augment their battle skills, Storn laid into one of his foes with his new hammer. The blow staggered the orc and left its left arm dangling from a broken shoulder. Molly rolled past her foe, casting a spell as soon as she got to her feet. Her eyes took on the semblance of flame, and the orc before her reeled as it suddenly blossomed in fire. Twisting, it managed to not catch fire, somehow. Mariana shot at her opponent, backing away towards the others, but missed.
The orcs retaliated with a vengeance. Storn took a pair of heavy blows that left him reeling. Sander was punctured in the stomach by an arrow, despite his shield spell. Molly and Mariana, neither much of a melee fighter, each took a heavy wound.
Storn takes 2 hits for a total of 20 damage.
Sander takes 1 crit for a total of 19 damage.
Mariana takes 1 hit for 15 damage.
Molly takes 1 hit for 10 damage.
Initiatives:
Storn 14
Quill 9
Sander 8
Mariana 17
Molly 15
orcs 14
Here's the map
any square partially covered with foliage is assumed to be underbrush, and thus difficult terrain.
current combat hp status:
Storn -27
Quill -0
Sander -19
Mariana -15
Molly -10
Storn reels as he is badly injured by the orcs.
"Need healing!" he roars, blood pouring from his armour. Some of his wounds close, although to no great effect.
Snarling, Storn slams his hammer down on the same orc in an attempt to kill it outright.
HP: 6/29
AC: 23 (+9 armour, +2 shield, +2 deflection)
Active: Shield of faith, 3 minutes
Mari whimpers as she sees all the blood spray from everyone. "I think we all do, Storn..." she says as she coughs up some blood.
There she was, seemingly once again with her back to the wall and all her friends needing healing. Flexing her hand she contemplates the healing wand but can't help but think that finishing the orcs would be a better plan.
Then she sees Quill's arrows fly, covered with energy...and
Realizing that Quill is also some sort of divine caster...she decides it's time to make sure she stays up, then she can save Storn next.
She takes a step back, away from the orc and lets the wand flick into her hand and taps herself with it.
Molly hisses her pain, ducks and weaves to avoid another hit -- and suddenly doubles over, vomiting up a swarm of squirming black bodies. While the spiders hurl themselves upon the Orc, Molly backflips away from her assailant.
Storn lets out a disturbingly high-pitched shriek as Molly starts barfing spiders all over the orcs.
"... I'm going to stop calling you weird-eye."
Molly spits out a last, reluctant spider -- and just grins at Storn, her mismatched eyes twinkling.
HP 7/26
AC 21, touch 18, flat-footed 18
Fort +6 (+2 vs. poison), Ref +7, Will +3 (+2 vs. fear)
CMD 13
Bombs: 1/6; Mutagen: 0/1
Effects: shield
Bleeding badly, but realizing Storn needs help too, Sander whips a vial from his pouch, shakes it twice and then throws it toward the orc attacking the big man.
Flinching as it explodes in a burst of fire -- that somehow manages to not catch the Gorumite at all -- he backs into the underbrush to try to give himself a little more cover from the archers.
Fortunately, he's distracted enough not to see Molly's display, something for which he would be forever grateful.
Storn shouted praises to his god as he hacked into one of his foes, sending it spinning to the ground. The other swung at him, but the warpriest caught the axe on his own weapon and sent it spinning away. Two arrow spanged off of Storn's armor, and despite his wounds, the big man laughed.
He stopped laughing when Sander's bomb sailed over him to explode on the orc next to him, a wave of fire singing Storn's beard. Then, as the big man turned to grouse at the alchemist, he saw one of the most disgusting displays in his life. Not Quill managing to put an arrow in two different opponents. That was pretty good, even for the whiny elf. No, it was Molly vomiting up a bunch of spiders - SPIDERS! - onto the orc that thought she was an easy mark.
Molly grinned as she and Mariana moved towards Quill. Her foe staggered out of the carpet of spider, vomiting and brushing the eight-legged vermin from himself. Mariana's opponent rushed Quill, gashing the lef on the leg with his axe.
Storn may or may not(?) have damage from Sander's bomb.
Quill takes 1 hit for 7 damage.
Initiatives:
Storn 14
Quill 9
Sander 8
Mariana 17
Molly 15
orcs 14
Here's the map
any square partially covered with foliage is assumed to be underbrush, and thus difficult terrain.
current combat hp status:
Storn -23 (-2/-4)
Quill -7
Sander -19
Mariana -6
Molly -10
Bleeding and pissed off, Storn turns, Agrimmosh descending for another orc head.
HP 7/26
AC 21, touch 18, flat-footed 18
Fort +6 (+2 vs. poison), Ref +7, Will +3 (+2 vs. fear)
CMD 13
Bombs: 1/6; Mutagen: 0/1
Effects: shield
Sander, seeing numbers now seemingly on their side, pulls his morningstar and moves toward the nearest orc, and hits it with a glancing blow.
The carpet of spiders marches. It marches right along to the Orc engaging Quill in combat and up his legs, biting the whole way!
Meanwhile, Molly directs her gaze at the Orc fighting Storn, and they blaze once more.
Somehow I completely missed that.
Mariana moves through the brush, then with luck, she tumbles past the orc's weapon. Upon landing, she pops the healing wand out of the wrist sheath and taps Storn.
Storn feels the healing magic flow through him and he grins wildly beneath his helment.
"Thanks Marranarra! I owe you once more!"
You manage to take the upper hand in the combat, with Storn killing one orc and Sander finishing off another. The swarm continued to eat away at the fleeing orc, bringing him to the ground and covering him in a writhing mass of legs.
The remaining pair of orcs in the high hides threw their bows over their shoulders and turned. Both jumped off the platforms and somehow sped off into the forest, almost as fast as a horse could run, disappearing in the foliage.
4 down and 2 fled after catching you in an ambush. Not too shabby!
Loot:
Storn crushes an orc skull with his hammer, gore spraying over the battlefield as he kicks the corpse to the ground.
"RUN! RUN, YOU MINCING GOLDFISH TENDERS!"
As the orcs flee, Storn slumps a little.
"Damn things hurt... all right, who needs healing?!"
Storn finds a kink in his armour and jams the wand in.
"Quill...are you good at tracking? Perhaps you could check on things where they attacked us from? If not...I could try, but I would like someone to come with me to ensure my safety...I do get lost in things from time to time..." she trails off quietly.
"I can quickly brew up another healing potion if we need," Sanders says as he carefully extracts the arrow and then heals himself.
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"Quill...are you good at tracking? Perhaps you could check on things where they attacked us from?"
Quill looks excited that Mariana is speaking to him. He nods in the affirmative as he answers.
"Oh sure, I was partially raised in these woods before I came to Trunau, in the beforetime. Now, I'm not the best in the woods, but I can track okay."
Quill, set upon a task, goes to fulfill it.
Survival - tracks of orcs
Quill runs over to Sander to get a hit of the wand of CLW before he dies.
Healing
Quill moved over to investigate the area just off the trail where the orcs attacked from. He saw orcish footprints about, but nothing untoward. There wasn't any evidence of anything other than a standard ambush along a small, but frequently used trail.
What was unusual was the high hides - the platforms hidden in the tree foliage about fifteen feet off the ground had perfect line of sight along the trail. What was even more unusual was that the orcs had pre-planned escape routes from the hides. Thick ropes had been tied to the tree trunks and led off through the woods, with nearby branches clipped away. These channels apparently allowed the orcs to slide down the ropes and get away far more quickly than any pursuing force on foot could follow.
"If we're done looting and healing, I say we move on," Molly says. "We have a ship to catch, and sailors move with the tide and the wind, not their passengers' convenience."
"There's always more orcs to kill," agrees Storn. "Onwards!"
Mariana empties the first wand the group had taken.
The rest of the hike to the river was uneventful, though you moved slower as the group paid closer attention to the woods around the trail. Finally, in late afternoon, you exit the woods to see sunlight reflecting off the Kestrel River.
Moored to the bank is a large, modified keelboat with what appears to be a sturdy wooden hull. It looks as if it has been assembled from the scavenged wrecks of other vessels, few of which look as if they were very seaworthy in their former lives, much less in their current one. The boat is about 120 feet long and 30 feet wide, with a single mast with a large sail, as well as two rowing banks.A small herd of eight horses are picketed on the bank, their harnesses nearby showing that the horses are likely used to drag the keelboat upstream.
A number of humanoid figures are gathered around a fire, with a large kettle steaming over the fire. One stands as you emerge from the woods, raising his hand in greeting.
"Hello," Sander calls, "Are you Capt. Bloodtusk?"
Taking a breath, she watches as Sander moves forward and then she does the same, stepping into the area and brushing the dust of the road off to make herself a bit more presentable. Then moving forward, she steps behind Sander. "Oh, good day! So glad to find you here...things can be a bit tough in this neck of the woods..." she trails off, hoping to sound warming with her words and paying respect by giving danger, honest danger, but danger to the area.
As you approached, the figure turned out to be a big half-orc male. He smiled a toothy smile and said in a gravely voice, "Naw, I ain't the captain. He's aboard doing captainy things. I'm Oorug. You must be the 'new crew members' we was told to expect. Looks like you ran into some trouble coming in. Better come aboard and talk to the captain."
The other seven figures around the fire - five male and two female - stared at you as you approached, but none offered any word of greeting.
Oorug leads you onto the boat, which, despite its ragged appearance, feels solid and stable under your feet. He led you to the captain's cabin at the rear - he called it the stern - of the boat. He knocked on the door, then entered as a voice inside instructed him.
The ceiling was low - six feet or so - cramped for most of the party, but just right for someone of Sander's stature. A scarred half-orc man sat at a side table, turned to greet you.
"So, you're the Heros of Trunau, eh? Halgra couldn't stop talking about you. Neither could Barka, truth to tell. She was in town for the raid, and she feels lucky that you stopped that scrumling human from killing Brinya. Barka seems to feel that as a half-breed herself, she'd have been next in line. So, what are the plans for this journey upriver? I probably don't have to tell you that the region's a bit prickly right now. We're going to need the gods' own luck to avoid trouble."
"'Fore we go flapping our lips, captain, we've got some mail for you," Molly says. "Irregardless, thank you for having us aboard. Much obliged."
Sander boards the ship, looking around, but content to leave Molly to do the talking, other than blurting out "Of course we stopped him. She didn't do anything wrong!"
Storn crouches beneath the ceiling, a low grumbling sound coming out from his armour.
"Saving Brinya was right. It is no warrior's death to be torn apart by a pack of cowards turning on their own."
"Still, good on you. Ain't no reason at all, at all, but the folk of Trunau have been mighty welcoming to half-breeds like myself and my crew. Unusual, given their history, but I'd hate to see that one bigot and some misguided fools could change a hundred years or more of tradition...and good sense."
"Ah, thank you" the captain said as Molly handed over the introduction letter and the sealed envelope. He read through the letter of introduction and grinned.
"Says here that Halgra thinks you should be working passengers. Well, we already knew that based on our original discussions with her. I wonder how she thinks we are supposed to disguise a half-giant and a halfling in with my crew. Be the smallest half-orc anyone's ever seen!"
"Still, there's work enough to be done out of sight of the riverbanks for them that needs it, and I think I've got some face paints to doctor up the rest of you. Good enough from the banks, not so much if we get boarded. So, let's not get boarded, hey?"
"I'll have Oorug show you to your quarters, where you can dump your stuff, and then introduce you to the rest of the crew. But, before that, let's go over the rules of the boat. One, you may be paying passengers, but I'm the captain of the ship. You do what I say, when I say, and how I say to do it, and I'll not be overstepping my bounds. Two, you'll work for your passage. Halgra's paying me some, but the expectation is you'll blend in with the others by doing your share of the work. Three, no pissing on my deck. She may not look like much, but she's mine, and I'll not have you besmirching her. Four, no fires outside of the galley. I don't know what you lot can do, but I'll be damned if some wizard is going to set my boat on fire. That's pretty much it. If you have a problem with the crew, take it up with Halrex. She's my Coxswain, and she's in charge of the crew."
"Questions?"
"You got a ship's medic, cap'n?" Molly asks. "If not, I can serve in a pinch. Any leaks or trick bits of the ship we oughta know about? Do your ship's colours have any sworn foes we should look out for? When and where's the grub? If not the deck, where do we ah, do our business? There a privy, or is it all chamberpots? And where do we sleep?"
Sander shakes his head.
"I guess that all makes sense. Don't know if I can be a half-orc, but I guess I'll try. Same with working on the ship. I've never done that, but I've got some experience with herbal remedies, so maybe could help your ship's doctor?"
"Talk to Halrex about what work you intend to do. She'll take care of that. As for the other, there's pots in the rooms, or you can go over the side like most of the crew does. Not a lot of room for modesty on a barge like this."
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"Questions?"
Quill thinks of all the experience he's had working on a boat (none) and what he might be good at (nothing), and then to his still full purse.
"How much would it cost to just get passage? I'm not good at boaty stuff," Quill says honestly never been on a boat before. "Maybe I could just pay for passage?"