Daseem shook his head sadly at Menrozzar, he'd try the wand later, right now they needed to deal with the orcs. Sword in hand Daseem advanced, the orc in front hesitated and he thought he saw an opening. He tried to swing his sword but the blasted thing was too big and it hit a low beam in the ceiling rather than the orc. Inwardly Daseem seethed!
Scrabbler continued his assault on the orc's vitals.
Between Bupkis and Scrabbler the orc starts bleeding out. Not that it would hinder him. Daseem finds no stand between all those dead orcs and Menrozzar lying on the ground and doesn't hit anything with his large blade.
Ivan swings his axe at the green ugly that dared to attack him, but misses badly.
The orc uses this opportunity to land a painful cut.
Bupkis winds up and throws an unnaturally powerful punch at the orc that attacked him.
Frustrated, Daseem tries to thrust with his over-sized sword. To his consternation that simply doesn't work, and in the cramped confines of the house, the orc proves far too nimble.
Bupkis misses the orc, and the orc misses him in return.
Scrabbler continued to ride the orc he was busily stabbing and punching.
Scrabbler ends the heavily wounded orc, leaving only the one Ivan faces. Ivan drives his waraxe into the green flesh of the orc, leaving him staggered, but the orc only adds another dent to Ivan's large shield.
Bupkis moves to get a better shot at the remaining orc; he draws out another small crossbow bolt a accelerates it towards the foul invader.
Frustrated at his poor showing, Daseem bulls forwards and thrusts with his oversized sword rather than cutting. The orc was surrounded and he had nowhere to dodge as the point of Daseem's sword sunk deep into it's throat. With a savage cry, Daseem twisted as he ripped it out!
Bupkis gives the wounded or the rest. Daseem cuts a large hole in the neck of the orc, with the vertebrae braking. As he pulls the sword out, the orc's head hangs down limp and the body collapses.
Bukis suggested, "Heal Menrozzar with wand? Bupkis healing make tired; long battle ahead!"
While Menrozzar was being tended to, the little goblin searched the rest of the house for survivors. "Orcs dead — people safe now!", he called out.
Bupkis finds a scared couple with torn clothes in the back room who share a hopeknife in case the orc comes back. As the little goblin enters the room, they are frozen in shock as they don't know if he's friend or foe.
"Bupkis friend!", the goblin says to the frightened couple, placing his palm on his chest. "Orcs in house dead. Time to go Longhouse — safe there!"
The couple puts the hopeknife down but the fear doesn't leave their faces. They get up, covering themselves in the blanket from the bed. Then they wait for the goblin to lead the way.
______________
Meanwhile Daseem helps Menrozzar out of his state of unconsciosness by magical means.
Bupkis leads the couple back to the others. "Survivors! We take to barricade." He turns to the couple and says, "Healers there — they take care of you. This way!"
He opens the door and starts walking towards the barricade.
Menrozzar was badly wounded, so it was with some trepidation that Daseem tended him. The wand they had bought was a slender aspen twig, a rather expensive aspen twig. 'Here goes!' he thought as he whispered the command word. Suddenly a bluish light settled on Menrozzar and several parts of the great wound he had sustained closed. Encouraged Daseem did this twice more.
Menrozzar groaned as his eyes opened, the wounds he'd taken magically healed. "Thank you, Daseem. I appreciate the aid."
Standing, Menrozzar looks at the couple, then says, "Come on! We'll get them to the barricade and keep moving. There are more orcs to clear."
Menrozzar helps escort the couple to the barricade.
The group escorts the couple outside. As you leave the house you see again the crude cart stacked with orc equipment. Piled next to it are goods and supplies from the homes that the orcs looted. The pile contains mostly clothing and food.
In the other houses around the strong headed Trunans are taking care of the few looting orcs that are left.
Just then the violent beating of a war drum starts, striking fear into the
hearts of any Trunauans who hear the rhythmic pounding. On the top of one of the towers you see the source of it. There stands atop the tower’s crenellated roof an orc with warpaint in his face, violently beating his drums, spurring on his allies below. The door to the tower stands ajar, even though it should be closed and locked.
In front of the building the group comes out of the trees are on fire. Thick plumes of pea green smoke billow into the air here, where three hardy trees that flank the road have been set ablaze with green alchemical fire. The air reeks of sulfur and ashes.
The couple is brought back to the barricades without further incursion by any orcs.
After they return the couple to the barricade, Menrozzar looks about, fixing his eye on the drummer. "Let's retake that tower, and silence the drums. Come on."
Suiting action to words, he leads the others towards the tower, to finish the war drummer off.
With Menrozzar in the lead, closely followed by the goblins and Daseem and Ivan being the rear guard, the group reaches the tower. The door to this guard tower is ajar when they arrive, and several Trunauan guards lie dead on the bottom floor. Three orcs are stationed there, ready to attack.
"Orcses not wanted here!", Bupkis cries, as he pulls out another small crossbow bolt and propels it towards the nearest invader with the power of his mind.
Deciding to try and keep a bit of distance between himself and the orcs this time, as well as providing Ivan and Daseem space to move into melee, Menrozzar unlimbers the Lucerne hammer and swings it at the nearest orc.
Unfortunately, the limited space causes his attack to miss.
Bupkis and Menrozzar are eager to take down these orcs, but not very effective. The orcs turn on them in return.
Scrabbler ducks behind cover and opens his bear trap.
More combat! Daseem's heart leapt with joy, as he glided forwards almost like a dancer. He ducked past Menrozzar and Bupkis, sword trailing behind him. Suddenly he pirouetted with one foot, his sword flashing as it described an arc that should intersect and slice through one of the orcs! In that instant before the sword hit, Daseem felt at one with the simplicity and beauty of combat.
Daseem hits the orc hard with his sword dance performance, leaving him staggered. His eyes glare with anger and scorn for that human effeminate fighting style, that leaves him half dead.
Bupkis winds up and takes a wild swing at the nasty orc attacking him.
Menrozzar grunts from the blow struck against him, then steps back, putting space between himself and the orc before swinging the Lucerne hammer. As he does so, he gives into the flame within him, uttering a guttural roar as his pupils again change into a reptilian gold, and his hands shape into claws.
Menrozzar ends the wounded orc with a mighty swing of his hammer. Ivan comes in like a train, but the swing of his axe is off. Also Bupkis doesn't manage to hit.
One orc hacks at Ivan with his blade, drawing blood.
The other one is shielded off of Ivan and swings at Bupkis. But the agile goblin avoids the blow.
Menrozzar continues his enraged assault against the next orc.
Menrozzar kills the next orc in one blow, splashing everyone around with blood.
Bupkis takes another swing at the remaining orc, yelling, "Pow!"
Ivan lets out a low growl as the blade finds a chink in his armor before swinging back, but his aim is off and the hammer goes just short of the orc. He then interposes his shield between him and the orc, granting himself total cover from that facing.
Scrabbler recreated his trick from the previous fight. He dove between the legs of the Orc fighing Ivan...
...tripped him up and left a bear trap beneath his feet.
Then he stabbed him in the neck....
...and scrambled up the orc's back.
In one fluid motion, Daseem moved to stand beside Ivan before swinging his sword in a great arc, hoping to slice through armor, flesh and bone!
Between Scrabbler and Daseem the last orc loses his life too. With a bear trap at his leg and a large gash at the neck he falls down.
At the wall a ladder leads up to the next leval of the watchtower through a trapdoor. Going up to end this annoying pounding of the drum, you find the second level empty. Another ladder leads to the top of the tower.
Bupkis imagines orcs standing around the top of the ladder with weapons ready, waiting for someone to climb up. He confers with his comrades in a low voice."Bupkis throw smoke stick up top so orcs can't see; maybe first person up ladder not get killed!"
He looks out a side opening to judge if it would be possible to climb up the outside of the tower.
The tower is built from stones hewn out of rock. It is not smooth, but also not easy to climb.
Ivan downs a potion after the fight to heal the wound, before offering.
I've got the hardest skin, I'll go first if'n ye all want.
Menrozzar ends his rage, breathing heavily. He then asks Daseem for some healing from the wand.
Once that's done, and they ascend, he looks at the ladder and the likely ambush above, then looks at Bupkis. "Agreed. Throw the smokestick up. Ivan, you go first, followed by myself and then Daseem. The three of us will attempt to create enough room for the rest of you to follow."
He prepared to embrace the inner fire yet again, and use those claws to his advantage - he wouldn't be able to swing a weapon on the ladder.
Bupkis tries to determine which side of the platform above the drummer is on.
He waits until Ivan is starting to climb the ladder, and then fires the smokestick up onto the side nearest the drummer.
The group organizes itself to put the plan into action. Ivan climbs up the ladder, ready to open the trapdoor. Bupkis holds the smokestick and Scrabbler lights it with a flint and steel. Ivan flings open the trapdoor and Bupkis sends the already smoking stick with his telekinetic ability through the opening.
All the way up the ladder and the area in front of the trapdoor on top of the tower are covered in smoke.
Scrabbler retrieved his trap again and looked up the tower. He looped the trap's chain a few times and then draped it across his shoulders like a rope. The trap hung against his back and he started his ascent.
Ivan moves up the ladder and sets his shield forward facing the orcs while he waits for his companions to follow.
The orcs still wait, ready to attack when someone comes out of the smoke the smoke. The drummer changes his rhythm and his song.
Daseem watches Ivan start to clamber up the ladder. Fiercely he cries, "Gorum be with ye!" and claps him on the back.
Ivan continues up and disappears into the smoke. Menrozzar was up next and Daseem right after, as he waited bestial noises echoed down from above.
Menrozzar climbed the ladder, heading up behind Ivan. Once there, he unlimbers the Lucerne hammer and took up a pisitiom behind Ivan, waiting for Daseem.
Not willing to give the intruders the time to set themselves up one of the orcs charges into the smoke, trying to push whoever set himself up noisily back into the opening. The orc crushes into the shield of Ivan.