Zan moves forward trying to get into a position to help Acacius bottle the orc raiders in. "Remember we must combine our blows to take the raiders down swiftly"
After Nakoma ends the life of the half-orc thug, Acacius gives her a short nod of approval before moving to assist the bar-owner.
Thanking the healers, Acacius is concerned at the sheer numbers of invaders.
I know what I will do if worst comes to worst. A fighting withdrawal with me covering the rear - or holding as a distraction.
There is no time to share such thoughts. And there is no need. Yet.
At Zan's words, Acacius advances into the house, trying to position himself as a living bulwark against the foe.
And a bane.
At the sounds of battle, Nakoma prays to Desna for protection before moving into the battle with her starknife in hand.
Looted Homes - Surprise Round - concluded
17 Acacius
15 Red Orc (surprised)
14 Blue Orc (surprised)
11 Yellow Orc (surprised)
11 Nakoma
9 Zan
6 Zirelle
Acacius throws open the door of the small home, ready to get some revenge on the looting and murdering orcs. Setting his jaw, he moves close enough to threaten the nearest orc with reach.
Nakoma casts a spell on herself to gain just a bit more vitality. AT the house, she also moves inside, her starknife ready for what promises to be a serious fight.
Zan stays on Acacius flank, protecting the big fighter from getting cut off and surrounded by the wily orc warriors, who look up from their looting and smirk with apparent pleasure as the fight looks to commence.
Zirelle stays outside, lining up her shot to spit at the target.
End of Surprise Round
Looted Homes - Round 1
17 Acacius
15 Red Orc
14 Blue Orc
11 Yellow Orc
11 Nakoma
9 Zan
6 Zirelle
Acacius lunges with his polearm at the nearest orc, striking him hard in the gut. The wound might be mortal to most creatures, but the stubborn orc fights on, though staggered.
Seeing the long pole arm, Red Orc does not try to advance, but instead grabs a javelin from his back and flings it with all his strength at Nakoma. But it misses badly.
Racing through the doorway, oblivious to the attack it provokes, Blue rushes Acacius hitting him hard.
Yellow Orc staggers forward five feet and strikes at Zan with all of his strength. The blow is mighty, but the ranger's armor turns it aside at the last moment.
Zirelle spits acid at Red.
Not even coming close.
She steps inside the house to see if she can get a better angle.
Zan swings his scimitar at the orc raider in a counter attack. He bellows out a war cry.
Unable to reach either of the enemies, Nakoma looks at the half-orc who just threw a javelin at her. She raises an eyebrow, then returns the favour, flicking her wriest to send her starknife flying at the red half-orc.
Then she draws her second starknife.
Looted Homes - Round 1 - concluded
As Blue Orc rushes towards him, Acacius slices his guisarme at the moving target swinging mightily with the two-handed weapon. The orc is a brutish fighter and does not avoid the glaive, taking a likely lethal wound, but returning savage damage to Acacius.
Nakoma surprises Red Orc by flinging her weapon at him. It spins to a stop in the orc's shoulder, wounding him.
Zirelle cannot control her acidic spit well enough to cause any damage, but she enters the house, to see if the reduced distance will help next time.
Zan strikes the already staggered Yellow Orc, wounding him again. As its blood pours onto the floor, the orc still shouts angry words waving its falchion menancingly.
End of Round 1
Looted Homes - Round 2
17 Acacius (10hp dmg)
15 Red Orc (5hp dmg)
14 Blue Orc (-5hp, staggered)
11 Yellow Orc (-11hp, staggered)
11 Nakoma
9 Zan
6 Zirelle
Acacius continues his slashing work against the mortally wounded but still standing orcs, targeting Blue once again. This time the pole arm decapitates the Blue Orc, dropping him from the fight, cold dead.
Red Orc roars whipping out his falchion and rushes at Nakoma, provoking another attack from Acacius, who cuts a serious slash across the chest of this orc. The orc doesn't stop coming, and makes an attack on Acacius instead, trying to drop the fierce fighter. The ferocious cuts do strike Acacius, wounding him again.
Yellow press the attack on Zan once more but his wounds get the better of him, and he collapses in a heap, the weak stroke easily turned aside.
Zirelle tries spitting acid at Red again.
Zan renews his attack against his injured foe hoping to put him down once and for all.
Nakoma lunges at the orc with her starknife, trying to pierce him in the kidney.
Pleased with his swift glaive-work, Acacius sidesteps back to strike again.
Looted Homes - Round 2 - concluded
It doesn't take long for Nakoma to down the last orc, stabbing him in the vital organs and downing him with a piercing stroke of her starknife.
End of Combat
Besides the corpses of the orcs, this house is empty. There are two other small houses next door, each appears to have an orc raiding party inside looting. A cart stands in the center of the houses, loaded down with the things already stolen.
The resounding beat of war-drums echoes from somewhere above. The guard tower behind the orc-filled houses stands with the door ajar, the drumming seems to come from that direction.
"Let's make for the guard tower. Silencing the drums may shake the orc morale. There are always more orcs right now we need to keep people safe, if we can help shake the orcish resolve that could do much."
Okay, but...
Zirelle casts detect magic, and if there is anything magic or which seems like it would be useful to the party on the cart, she grabs it on the way.
Acacius nods at Zan's suggestion.
"Let us silence the drums - and any objecting orcs."
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"Let's hurry." Nakoma replies as she moves to the back of the house, towards the drumming.
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Leaving the first small house, the party starts for the open guard tower and the drumming from atop it. AS they pass the loot filled cart, Zirelle waits for a round to determine if any magical auras emanate from inside. While waiting, she rummages just a bit. She finds a number of minor valuable objects (a gold bird cage, several bottles of fine wine, etc) and several weapons and armor, but has not hits on her magical divination.
Its clear there are orcs busily looting the nearby homes, but the group moves past them to the base of the tower. The body of a dead Trunaun guard holds the door ajar. Peering inside, torches light a set of spiral stairs along the outer wall that lead to a second story. On the ground floor, four more dead guardsmen litter the floor. Three orc warriors pick over the corpses, turning to fight as you appear at the doorway.
Eastern Lookout - Ground Floor - Round 1
20 Zan
17 Yellow Orc
16 Acacius
15 Zirelle
14 Nakoma
9 Red Orc
9 Blue Orc
Zan moved into the building letting out a warcry and banging his shield with his sword.
Despite his wounds, Acacius feels he can battle on. Adrenaline keeps him going as he advances to engage.
Zirelle steps up and spits acid at Red.
Nakoma reaches out and touches Acacius' polearm, causing it to glow with a clean, white light.
Then she moves back out of Acacius' way.
Eastern Lookout - Ground Floor - Round 1 - concluded
Zan strides into the room boldly, clashing his scimiatr against his shield in defiance of the orcs, who look at him and instead of being nervous about an attack, only smile or laugh seeing a lone victim.
Zirelle spits at the further orc, but her ranged acid spit is not accurate enough to even touch the enemy warrior.
Nakoma provides a blessing on Acacius weapon, imbuing it wiht divine energy that will add extra damage on a hit.
Taking a short step to close the distance, Yellow Orc takes a mighty swing that catches Zan inside his shield. Cutting him deeply, the orc does significant damage to so-far uninjured ranger, who wobbles weakly.
Acacius moves in after Zan gets brutalized, and manages to skewer yet another orc on his polearm. Like before the orc is clearly struck a mortal blow, but stubbornly keeps in the fight, even with the holy blessing on the glaive-guisarme.
Red Orc moves around the flank of Yellow, and throws his javelin at Acacius who has a long reach. The flying spear misses the fighter by a safe margin.
Blue Orc steps up to try to finish of Zan, who is seriously hurt already. The orc has no mercy as it drives its blade past the wounded man's shield and into his belly, blood pouring out around this fresh wound. Zan crumples to the floor, unconscious.
End of Round 1
Eastern Lookout - Ground Floor - Round 2
20 Zan (-8hp, bleeding, unconscious)
17 Yellow Orc (-8hp, disabled)
15 Zirelle
14 Nakoma
16 Acacius
9 Red Orc
9 Blue Orc
With one of the humans down, Yellow Orc, though staggered, steps forward and makes an attack on Acacius, bleeding heavily from his piercing wound as he does so. The kamikaze orc succeeds in hitting Acacius, who was still quite wounded from prior fight, and this blow also drops this fighter to floor. The orc roars with pain and triumph as he has taken out the two most dangerous foes in short order.
Zirelle, seeing her friends go down, wonders whether she should run away, but she remembers the lesson of the hopeknife, which she thinks is that you should stay and fight and even die if need be, defending what you care about. She didn't do it when she left Lastwall, and she hates herself for that, so here she will stand.
She starts casting Burning Hands, and right at the very end she steps forward, loosing the spell, her arms stretched forward so that she doesn't hurt her downed colleagues further, and blasts fire right in Yellow's face.
Nakoma narrows her eyes at the half-orcs as they cut down her companions. This didn't look good... Still... She'd survived worse. Barely.
Nakoma steps forward to stand beside Zirelle, and overtop of Acacius. She stabs out at the yellow half-orc with her starknife.
Eastern Lookout - Ground Floor - Round 2 - concluded
As Zirelle waits, Nakoma uses her last fervor to create a divine deflection shield for herself. She then steps forward and sinks her starknife into the wounded orc, killing him outright.
With the path cleared, Zirelle also steps forward and lays down a carpet of fire towards Red Orc who cannot avoid any of the sheet of flame that magically burns his way.
Scalded by the fire, Red Orc advances angrily, smoke roiling from where he was burned. He chops a killing stroke at Zirelle, who unarmored, cannot hope to stop it. The blade cuts her deeply from shoulder to gut, and she falls seriously hurt and immediately near death.
Blue Orc chooses to lock up with Nakoma in melee combat, smashing her, the blade only sparing her life due to the divine deflection bonus she just put up.
End of Round 2
not confirmed, thanks to SoF
Eastern Lookout - Ground Floor - Round 3
20 Zan (-9hp, bleeding, unconscious)
15 Zirelle (-8hp, bleeding, unconscious)
14 Nakoma (7hp dmg, SoF active)
16 Acacius (-2hp, stable)
9 Red Orc (4hp dmg)
9 Blue Orc
Zan still bleeds, his wounds causing him to slip closer to life's end. Acacius is able to stop bleeding but still lies unconscious. Zirelle slips a little closer to death as her grievous wound allows her lifeblood to spill into the earth of Trunau.
Nakoma lashes out with her starknife at the red orc...
...and prays for good luck!
Eastern Lookout - Ground Floor - Round 3 - continued
Nakoma, knowing it all comes down to her, stabs the wounded orc in front of her, sinking one of the starknife's blades to the hilt in his shoulder. The attack staggers the Red Orc, clearly sapping his life force, but not dragging the disabled fighter to the ground just yet.
Red Orc tries to end thet fight with one swing. And he succeeds. The mighty falchion hits Nakoma hard, and she falls moaning the tragic unfairness of the goddess of luck that allowed her and her companions to be cut down so quickly.
She despairs at the fate of her allies, her town, and herself as blackness falls.
End of Combat
The fighting in the Inner Quarter is hot and heavy, and there are more wounded than anyone can possibly care for arriving at the aid station of the Southern Barricade.
Two prone figures, both alive, if barely are dragged to the aid station by Kurst Grath and his men. "Nakoma and this man Acacius are the lucky ones. They still live, if barely. Marauding orcs did away with the others of their group. We lost Zan, and the new girl, Zirelle. We will lose many more before this day is over. Heal these warriors quickly, they have a big part to play in the safety of Trunau, I can just feel it!" Kurst rushes off taking some men with him, with the aim of getting outside the walls and disabling the siege engine which is hurling fiery loads into the village. "When they come too, we'll need some volunteers to aid them. I've tasked them with clearing the Inner Quarter and getting the lower gates closed. Who will aid them?"
Meanwhile the maddening thrumming of war-drums still beats from the eastern watchtower.
A figure in fine red silken robes embroidered with golden thread around the hem sits off in the corner. The designs carry themes of fire and arcane symbols. The fine quality of the robes is patched with blood and soot now. He has a Tranau hope knife on his hip tucked into his belt. An alchemical silver mace is attached by a hoop to his belt. A stout backpack sits by him.
The cowl turns revealing a jaw covered in burn scars to match those of one of his hands, the flesh on the other hand is unmarred. "I might be able to lend some assistance provided I can continue to receive healing here and get full salvage rights?" When he speaks the accent that of a man from Vigil to the south in Lastwall.
Acacius hears his mother's voice call to him:
Acacius! Breakfast, then training with the other boys! Do not tarry!
Acacius hears his father's voice call to him:
Acacius! Swing harder! Your blows must fell orcs, not tickle them!
Acacius hears a stranger's voice, but one that sounds familiar:
"Acacius...warriors...Who will aid them?"
Groggily, he sits up.
"I will." he says softly, to no one in particular, and looks around, still a little dazed.
His vision clears and the fog in his mind dissipates. He recognises the beneficent effects of healing magic, having experienced it several times in quick succession.
And then he remembers.
Zan. The orcs. My chest. Zirelle and Nakoma. What happened?
He stands up from where he had been lain and looks around, seeking his companions. He sees Nakoma, similarly recovering. He does not see Zan or Zirelle. But he does see Kurst, and others.
"Kurst! What happened? Where are Zan and Zirelle?", he asks, concern obvious in his voice.
Acacius stands 6' 3" tall and is a broad 225lb before his considerable weight of arms is accounted for. He bears most obviously battered scale mail, a hard-used glaive-guisarme and a heavy steel shield bearing the sigil of Lastwall. His black hair is tied off so as not to interfere in combat. His soft brown eyes are set in a tanned face, with well-treated scars and a tattoo of the emblem of Lastwall on his right cheek.
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Nakoma is a tall and fit Shoanti woman with brown skin and dark brown eyes. Her head is shaved in the manner of the Shoanti, and her head is covered with an elaborate white star tattoo--a symbol of her faith in Desna. Other tattoos dot her face and neck, disappearing under her blue leather cuirass and practical clothes. Her arms are covered in many battle scars--most quite old, some newer--and more tattoos wind and curve between them, drawing attention to the scars, not hiding them. Her back is covered in old burn scars, though only the topmost parts of old melted skin show on her neck and upper arms right now, covered up at they are by her armour and gear. She wears matching star knives on her hips and a bow and quiver slung over her back. Her hope knife dangles around her neck. Blood pours from her many wounds, particularly from a massive slash across her neck that looks like it nearly took her head off. Surely Kurst was mad! This woman couldn't be healed. She was dead already...
As the healers work their magic on Nakoma, her eyes fly open and she lets out a sudden gasp of surprise and confusion. Jolting upright she looks around and flails her arms, striking out at enemies no longer there. She mutters in a foreign language with unfocused eyes.
Suddenly she snaps out of her daze. She feels her neck -- where her recently healed wound rested -- and then her hips, feeling for her weapons. Her hands come away slick with blood. Her blood. She looks around. Acacius is there. Kurst. Plenty of others. No Zan. No Zirelle.
She thinks back to the last battle...
Everyone had fallen. I was the last warrior standing. I fought my hardest... And I failed. I'm weak. Their deaths are on my conscience. And yet... Acacius survived. I survived. Did the others?
"The battle! Is it still on? How many casualties?"
The healers bustle around her, wiping off blood and checking for more wounds. Her neck is fully healed, but in it's place is a new tattoo. A brilliantly detailed blue and black butterfly on her neck -- currently smeared in blood. It was not there a moment ago. The healers startle at the sight, but move on, checking for other injuries that may require magical healing.
Nakoma can hear the sounds of battle. Can hear screams. She shakes her head, clearly decided her questions don't matter. She pushes the healers off her and jumps to her feet.
Drawing her bow she asks. "Where am I needed?"
Azen, busy helping at the healing station, hears Kurst say that Zan and Zirelle had died. She didn't know Zan well; had only known of him, but her mother had spoken of Zirelle often recently, and Azen had met her at the house several times. Mom was going to be sad.
When Kurst asks for volunteers, Azen speaks up, thinking that it might make her mother happy if she stepped in, and it was needed.
Azen is tall, olive-complexioned, dark-haired, and beautiful. She has a hint of Kellid features, and anyone who grew up in Trunau will know her as one of Halgra's children. (She was 5 when Halgra came back from her adventures 20 years ago, with children in tow.) She picks up her bow from where she had set it aside, and moves over to join Nakoma, who still seems a little bit in shock.
Kurst has asked that we get the lower gates closed and clean out the inner quarter. I'm coming with you. Is there anything you learned that might help?
Nakoma groans. "Azen?" She gives her head a shake, as if trying to clear it. "Yeah, don't get hit."
She thinks back to the battle. "We cleared out the area nearest the barricade of hostiles, but there were more. They were looting homes. And... their wardrums! They were playing in one of our watchtowers. It got the orcs all riled up."
Focusing on the present, Nakoma looks at Azen and Acacius. "We need to start our battles from afar, if possible. The orcs hit hard. They brought some of us down in one swing." She shakes her head at the memory and puts a comforting hand on Acacius' shoulder. "Better to make them come to us this time around."
Looking at Azen, Nakoma asks, "You ready for this?"