The orc charges forward and bounces off the stonewall that is Ivan and his shield netting little more than a dismissive grunt from Ivan.
Ivan then swings his hammer down on the orc, letting out a small bellow
Bupkis, hoping that no-one is going to fall on him, climbs up after Daseem.
Hearing the Orc charge them, Menrozzar swings his lucerne hammer at where he thinks the Orc is.
Unfortunately, the smoke hinders his strike, and he misses.
As the orc slams into Ivan's shield, he swings his hammer at the orc twice leaving the orc almost dead. Menrozzar tries the same, but misses.
The situation on the tower is getting chaotic. Scrabbler is hiding outside behind the battlements. On the tower the drumming orc relentlessly beats his drum with two orcs standing there ready to defend the drummer, javelins and scimitars in hand.
And there is a cloud of smoke, out of which come hammers and blades attacking the third ors, that was denied to move into the smoke, by a large hard tower shield.
Bupkis climb up and stumblea out of the smoke next to Menrozzar. He waves at the orcs and then prepares to dodge their attacks.
The orcs are flabbergasted as a goblin steps out of the smoke. Only one of them throws a javelin at Bupkis. But the target is obviously too small for his skill.
Menrozzar swings his hammer at the orc attacking Ivan, but the smoke prevents a hit.
The orc steps into the smoke and hacks at Ivan. He hits Ivan really hard, on his armor, leaving a dent.
The drumming orc casts hideous laughter on the goblin .
One orc still waits for someone fromthe watch.
"Bupkis already hears that one!", the goblin replies.
Daseem surges up the ladder after Menrozzar. Once up top everything was in confusion. Hearing the sound of combat, he stumbled towards an Orc but the smoke stung his eyes and his wild swing missed by several feet.
In orcish, Ivan bellows out. Ye bloody bastard! Ye dented me armor, now I'm gonna have ta dent ye head! Come on then if'n ye thinking the lot O' ye are tough enough ta face a dwarf ye green skinned cowards!
Scrabbler scampered around the outside of the tower and into a good flanking position.
Ivan talks big, but hits little. The last orc throws its javelin past Bupkis and changes to his falchion. One orc charges Bupkis and swings his blade at him. The other one in the smoke attacks Ivan again adding another dent to the armor.
A sudden gust of wind blows away the smoke.
Bupkis swings at the orc attacking him. "Ha! Bupkis too small for you!"
With the smoke blown away, Daseem calmed down concentrated upon his forms and tried for a more controlled cut. This time his sword came thundering towards the orc that just bashed Ivan - either the orc would have to move or he'd get skewered!
Bupkis hits the orc, leaving him staggered. Daseem cuts down the alredy wounded orc in one mighty blow.
Scrabbler came up over the edge in a flurry of stabbing.
Ivan charges forward swinging his hammer at the orc nearest him in a fury to avenge his armor.
I told ye I'm gonna have ta start dentin' ye heads now! Bwahaha!
Scrabbler goes directly for the drummer.
But he was just waiting for someone attacking him and throws a spell at Scrabbler. A horribly loud scream cuts through Scrabblers head, but he doesn't let it stop him. Stabbing the orc twice using the dagger in his flesh as handhold, the goblin climbs upon his enemy.
Ivan makes short work of the orc in front of Bupkis.
The only other orc comes to the aid of the drummer attacking Scrabbler.
Daseem strode towards the drummer and lustily swung his greatsword. Unfortunately the drummer was much more nimble than he'd anticipated and the sword missed by several feet. Daseem cursed inwardly...
Bupis firs a ling bullet at the remaining guard and moves up next to the drummer. "Bupkis joins the party!"
Daseem misses with his large blade the drummer and Bupkis is also not lucky with his shot.
The ringing in Scrabble's ears just made him stab harder.
Menrozzar again unleashes his inner flame, swinging the Lucerne hammer at the remaining Orc Guard.
Menrozzar almost kills the orc with one mighty blow. Scrabbler almost brings the drummer down.
The drummer tries to get rid of the goblin, by leaning over the battlement and pushing him away. But Scrabbler clings to him like ivy to an old castle.
The guarding orc wildly swings his blade at Menrozzar, but close to his end he doesn't bring up the strength to accomplish something with it.
Daseem presses home his attack on the Drummer with a shout, "Hai!" His sword flashes before tearing through flesh!
Bupkis winds up and punches any remaining enemies. "Orc performance over!", he declares.
Daseem cuts off the head, left shoulder and arm of the drummer, stopping the drumming for good. The remaining orc isn't long alone though, as Bupkis cuts him down too.
From atop the eastern lookout, one can see lower Trunau and the craggy hills beyond the town’s walls. To the northwest, just on the other side of the Barterstones (area N), a group of orcs is operating a catapult, bombarding the guard tower above the Hopespring (area O) with flaming boulders. To the west, another massive boulder smashes into one of the town’s guard towers, which collapses into a heap of rubble (L13). In addition, small groups of orc raiders can still be seen charging toward the town’s main gate.
One can also make out the forms of mounted Trunauan guards — Kurst and his companions — charging a group of orcs to the north who are accompanying a monstrous giant hurling boulders at Trunau’s palisade.
Ivan picks up the drums, looking over them while muttering. Perhaps... I've a few ideas for these. Need some tinkerin' though. An' ifn' this be what I think it be, it may just be useful at a point. He picks up the thunderstone
But we had a job ta do here no?
Menrozzar throws the items in a bag, then says, ”If anyone needs healing, make it quick. We need to take out that catapult attacking the watchtower by the Hopespring. If we lose that, Trunau is truly finished.”
Bupkis looks for signs of orcs remaining in the Inner Quarter.
"Must hold main gate, or more orc pour inside walls!" Bupkis declares. He badly wants to check Alicia's house in the Lower Quarter. Or perhaps her family might have gone to the Sanctuary?
As he was cleaning his blade with a rag, Daseem examined his handiwork. He'd mad a real mess of the orcs and now they looked small and pathetic. The glory he'd been seeking was not here, and he felt a stab of ennui.
"We need to take out that catapult attacking the watchtower by the Hopespring. If we lose that, Trunau is truly finished."
Daseem nodded firmly and rose to leave, it would level all their defenses with impunity if they didn't sally forth.
Scrabbler wend back down the side of the tower and started moving toward the main gates with the others.
”Agreed - we’ll secure the main gate, then take out those catapults.”
Menrozzar headed towards the main gate with the others.
As the group nears the main gate, they find that one of the two portcullis is lowered, but a group of orcs is already working on it with a ram. The place is deserted by all, but one familiar face. Omast is there to fight the orcs on his own. Wich would be suicide, even if he where sober.
On the hill above the main gate stand two barricades to hinder a direct charge of the intruding orcs. Omast has a collection of reach weapons in a barrel to the right containing a glaive, a longspear, and a halberd. And on the barricades lie two loaded light crossbows. In front of the barricades are piles of logs, which could be released on the slope with hazardous effect on those below and a large bolder that was shot from outside town landed on the road, close to the slope to the gate. The bolder is covered in a strange smelling green substance.
Bupkis hurries to the main gate with the others. Omast builds defenses, but can't fight orcs alone. We help!"
Daseem looked dubiously at the green stuff on the boulder. "W-w-what's that?!" he stammered. He doesn't stop to consider it long, Omast needed their help and he ran forwards!
Scrabbler waved his hand in front of his nose. "Stinky."
Bupkis moves to different spots at the barricades, checking lines of sight. He wants to know ahead of time the best places for him to take cover and still have a good shot at the invaders.
Ivan takes up a position in the middle of the area to act as an anchor for his allies to fight around.
Be there any breath left in my lads, I won't be pushed back from this spot unwillingly. after a moment a thought ocurred to him.
Oi, what ifn' we took control O' the waves? Like, what if one O us what could use ranged combat got up on the wall, an' opened them gates up for a bit O time, let some O the bastards through, then closed it again after some got in? Like a controlled flow?
Bupkis replies to Ivan, "Orcs opening portcullis with ram already!" He calls to the others, ""Take positions — orcs coming!"
He got ready to launch a rock at the first orc that came into range.
"It's a good idea, Ivan, but I worry that even if we opened the gate a little bit, they would seize the advantage to come pouring in and we'd be unable to shut it again. That being said..." Menrozzar eyes the portcullis, then the crossbows. "They may have cover from the portcullis, but that doesn't mean we can't shoot them from where we are."
Daseem felt Menrozzar was talking sense, he had no doubt of Ivan's bravery but likewise he had no doubt of the probable outcome, "Y-ye'd die out there for sure Ivan. In here we can b-bleed them."
The orcs are close to breaking through the gate.