Staying out of the behemoth's reach...
Laro shoot at he first Orc bowman (J89) and misses badly.
"Oh bugger snots! Remember to aim higher, silly."
Gilbert's temple sword flashes brilliantly as he makes two attacks on the Orog.
Thallan's arrow and the wizards crossbow bolt barely fails to penetrate the armor of the orog. The other attacks against the beast fail to draw blood. The orog assesses Jasper as the larger threat and tries to finish him off.
A crushing blow hits the rogue and he crumples to the ground lifelessly as Emerald's screams come from the wagon. The orcs return fire on Thallan with their bows.
The paladin is hit
Emerald leaves the wagons and rushes down the road.
The orcs that attacked the rear of the wagon are easily dispatched.
Party up in any order
Ye durned orc! what makes ye think ye can best me!?
Laro again fires at the first orc bowman and misses.
"Need to watch for when he moves."
With a glance over at the melee down the road to make sure they're in the clear, Lorkan draws a touch of divine energy, and a wave of energy flows from Lorkan, washing over the fallen Sergeant and just touching Thallan before dissipating.
Sgt Uther groans and rolls to his feet. He nods a thanks to Lorkan and resolves to get himself a bow very soon.
If he sees a bow, he will move and pick it up along with a quiver of arrows (off a dead orc)
Realizing that the distance between himself and the orog is a problem, Shandor moves down the road and whispers something into a ring on his finger. shortly after the intimate whisper, a second cloud of fog spreads out from his location.
Gilbert continues his attack on the orog:
Ivan finishes off the last orc with a devastating blow. The caravan guards hammer on the sleeping orcs without any mercy. The orog dodges all attacks sent his way.
Thallan feels healing and then burns as the fire continues to ignite for a few seconds.
Seeing the paladin still afoot, two orcs target him.
Thallan falls unconscious. Having finished the rogue, the orog retreats to open the distance to use his huge poleaxe.
He provokes a shot from Gilbert.
The orog swings at Gilbert with his poleaxe.
An eagle appears and swoops in to harass and archer. The archer takes a shot at the eagle.
Party up and orog has dropped back to keep the reach
Uther will fling a javelin at the Orog before Gilbert moves back in and it becomes firing into melee.
, hitting for damage
The cleric sees the paladin fall yet again, and moves forward to assist him, only to realize the movement suddenly became more labored. Sighing, the servant of Sarenrae draws forth more healing energy, and sends another healing wave to encompass those around him.
Thanks mate! You be handy to have around! calls out Uther
Gilbert will attempt to avoid the attack from the Orog and move up into attacking range.
Then he'll make a single attack (if conscious).
Shandor moves up ten foot. Trying to keep enough mist between himself and the archers, he reloads his crossbow.
Laro moves up to the next obscuring mist.
"Must move close. Make sure they don't see me. More mist closer up would be good."
"Sorry my boy, I have exhausted every ounce of control over the mist that I have. I wish I could have placed it closer as well, but a single arrow from one of the orc's bows would have easily put me in an early grave."
Bah, would'nt be nothin' bout it early old man. Hell I think ye be older than I am! With that Ivan runs towards the combat at the front, now comon, I'll be keeping the durned things attentions of ye.
Ivan barrels down the caravan faster than a dwarf ought to have a right to bellowing the entire way. (20ftx4 IIRC)
Closing on the orog, Gilbert draws a jab of the huge axe. The javelin hits at the extended range but doesn't get through the orogs armor.
He falls before he can close taking a swipe to the chest and drawing a massive wound.
Emerald rushes to get behind the orog, taking a wild swing with her shortsword.
The orog smiles and says: "I pulverize the female too."
The orc archers seem out of fire arrow, and fire unlit arrows at Lorkan.
Lorkan takes a hit for
Party UP
The cleric flinches at the arrow, and mutters to himself as he draws forward another difficult step. "Woe is me Sarenrae. Now the vile lot is after me as well."
He channels another wave of divine energy, which just catches all his nearby allies but most divinely avoiding the orog.
Ivan continues his barreling charge as he sees his comrades begin to fall. He bellows out at the orog.
oy! Ye big dumb pile O turd! Why don't ye fight me! Ye cowardly pig! Ye smaller than than the wee dwarves back home! Ye so tiny I thought ye was a goblin!
"Too far. Too far. Too far. Must get closer."
Laro takes off at a dead run toward the action.
Shandor moves up to the edge of the mist and fires another bolt at the orog, then reloads.
The orog charges toward Lorcan, provoking an attack from the half elf abd takes a glancing blow.
The orcs fire at Emerald and two arrows hit her in the back after the orog charges Lorkan and Emerald falls to the ground. Luckily the orog misses the cleric, but Lorkan finds himself inside the threatening range of the pole axe.
Jasmalus finished bashing a sleeping orc and rushes down the road to join the fight.
Party to GO
Facing the approaching harbringer of destruction, the servant of Sarenrae closes his eyes momentarily and draws a deep breath as he unsheathes his morningstar. "Surrender to Sarenrae, and be redeemed by her cleansing light." The cleric offers as he begins an awkward rendition of The Sarenite Battle Dance, Morningstar Adaptation, as taught by his master.
Shandor fires another bolt at the orog then reloads his crossbow.
Uther flings his second javelin at the Orog.
to hit, but misses.
"Gotta get to the hill. Gotta get there."
Laro finishes his run at the bottom of the hill.
The orog moves back to get a better swing at Lorkan.
The archers target the smaller figure approaching. The hobbit evades all shots.
Jasmalus fires a small bolt toward the orog that expands into a small sticky web.
The orog is restrained by the gooey web strands on him!!
Shandor fires another bolt at the orog then reloads his crossbow.
Sensing an opportunity, Lorkan moves forward and strikes at the trapped orog.
Ivan continues his flight.
"Gotta make it to the top. Yes sir, yes sir."
Uther draws his two handed sword and moves in on the orog, but only gets into the slope and is still well away from the creature
(lost my image on my desktop due to getting a new PC but I will re-do it for future posts)
The fire archers see the approach of Jasmalus with fear--his similarity to the dead man found earlier may explain some of their fear. The orcs fire a volley of arrows that cause a huge smoke clouds to appear in a wall of impenetrable black. The orog snaps some of the webbing loose, still hampered he rushes through the smoke and seems to be in full retreat with the fire archers. As the group returns to the caravan, a huge hole in the last wagon is discovered along with another mass of large boxes and supplies.
Returning to the caravan, everyone feels the sense of accomplishment of defeating such a well planned ambush.
The caravan is readies for travel, and the last few hours to the village of Batlet is thankfully without incident.
The dilapidated hovels surrounding the fort are the home for about one hundred hardy fishermen and farmers. The fort in the center is officially known as Border Fort Three, but the residents call it by another name: Fort Disaster.
These small border forts didn't have much and were not even named as they provided basic local defense and protection for caravans plying the local trade route. It seems to have suffered much damage from a recent raid, and the damage has yet to be repaired. The centerpiece of the fallen walls and broken gate is a thirty foot high tower in the center with a massive ballista and small catapult. You sense the desperation of the locals and the garrison, placed on the frontier to provide local defense, when what you have seen are highly organized orc war bands.
As the adventurers move into the 'fort' they see a group of spearmen, mostly local fishermen with long sharp sticks, and a few militia in poorly maintained scale mail.
The locals press you for information about the outside world and the war in the south, which you know has been going quite poorly for Taldor.
An old man with scars and a large net approaches. "Is this our relief? Is this is all that is coming?"
Uther waits for the officer to answer, but he understands the man's concern.
He shifts his sword to a slightly more comfortable position and eyes the defenses, trying to judge how well they will hold up.
This is all that is coming, for now.
Where are the wounded?
As the orog and his orcs beat a hasty retreat, Lorkan stares at their retreating forms, before shaking his head and returning to tend to the injured.
The cleric sighs in relief as the group reaches the village of Batlet without further incident.
As the fight ends Ivan makes his way back to the sleeping orcs, and makes sure none of them will awaken again.
-----
Ivan blunders his way through the gates still muttering about the cowardly orog and not getting a good fight. However upon seeing the group of spearmen he bellows out.
NO NO NO. Ye be doing it all wrong! Here, ye hold it like this when ye be in a formation! Here,_ ye stand closer together, protect ye mate with ye shield, let the back ranks focus on doin' tha poking with the sticks! he ignores the older man and moves off towards the group of spear men.
He goes on for awhile giving a long lecture and lesson to the clearly undertrained men on dwarven discipline. After he stops and gives a nod. A sigh of relief emanates from the group. Only to have him speak again.
alrigt lads! Time to learn how to keep yer armor from fallin' to bits!
For most you hear Ivan's booming voice late into the night making sure to keep their attention.
"Perhaps we can rest. Or if there is more healing to be had, I could use it." Gilbert goes up to the older man, and says, "I'm afraid that I'm rather beaten up. Do you have some stout armor that I could use? -- If it has armor spikes on it, all the better."
"This is the fort?!?!???? We'll have to protect them from the orcs. Let's get back on the road where it's safer. That's what Laro thinks."
Laro bounces around the "fort" trying to find out all the gossip and generally making a pest of himself.