Despite the distance, Ali's tiny bolt darts unerringly between the bars of the portcullis and buries itself in the shoulder of one of the orcs trying to break in.
The Patrol members gawk as the priest grows to the size of a troll and strides forward like a colossus to face their common enemy.
The wounded Patrolman continues to move uphill toward safety.
Content to leave the finishing-off of the ensorcelled orcs to the Patrol members with better tools in hand for it, Vhailor reaches out to to befuddle the orc in the gatehouse, but his attempt to cloud the creature's mind is resisted.
With gusto, the Patrolman steps up and severs the unconscious orc's head from its body with a mighty blow of his greatsword.
His fellow runs the longspear he has in hand through the gut and up into the chest of the other downed orc and stirs it around inside the body for good measure.
Excited by the seeming turn in the battle's momentum, Kagak scrambles up to the closed portcullis and jabs his longspear between the bars at the orcs on the other side. "Yaah!" he shouts. "Trunau forever!" Due to the intervening bars, the orc just manages to twist away from the jab.
Atop the wall, the Patrol archer fires another arrow down into the Lower Quarter.
The orc in the gatehouse slams the door shut again in Dorn's face. A moment later, the grenade he tossed behind the first barricade goes off with a sharp pop and a rush of fire. No one is injured, but the first barricade catches on fire.
The archer on the wall outside that gatehouse shoots again into the Lower Quarter; but the explosion just before he looses the arrow causes him to jerk, and the arrow flies wildly.
"Damn it!" Frum curses as he sees the flames licking at his precious barricade. "Anyone have any water?"
Glancing back at the burning barricade, Dorn sighs in frustration. "Stupid orcs," he grumbles. "I got water, Frum, just keep after these blasted orcs. Don't want any of 'em ta get away." Dorn moves nearer to the fire and calls forth some magical water in an attempt to douse it.
Skyreaver backs up a bit and lands, staring blankly at the older looking dwarf next to him.
Dorn's conjured water douses the flames licking at the barricade, which remains blackened and smoky but otherwise little the worse for wear, and Omast lets out a satisfied sigh. "He's got it," he calls to the two Patrolmen. "Get back to the boulder and have it ready to light, at my orders." The old dwarf hops forward over the loose timber and yanks at the gatehouse door. "Blast!" he growls. "He's locked it. Hank!" he shouts up to the archer on the wall. "You got an orc in the tower! Take care of him for us!"
The two Patrolmen nod at the dwarf's instructions and move toward the alchemically-treated boulder. Having nothing more pressing to do, the Patrolman whom Alicia aided to shut the gate goes with them.
And not a moment too soon, as the orcs wrench the portcullis upward and prepare to spill through once more!
Hearing Omast Frum's cry to the guard in the tower, Ali rushes over and makes ready with her lockpicks.
Ali dashes across the battlefield, dropping her crossbow when she reaches the door.
The orc Alicia shot through the portcullis steps up to get a little of his own back, swinging a falchion at the nearest enemy, which happens to be Kagak. Fortunately for the turncoat half-orc, a twinge of pain from the tiny bolt in the orc's shoulder causes his swing to go wild and fail to connect.
Unfortunately for Kagak, an orc from behind the front lines surges up through those still holding the portcullis open. The half-orc has barely had the time to be register his good fortune at being unharmed by the first orc before the second one rips his gut open, leaving him prone and bleeding in the gate.
Marikel snarls and plunges his oversized longspear at the orc that felled Kagak.
He looks for any opportunity to stop any other orcs advancing.
The enlarged spear point makes a bloody crater out of the chest of the Twisted Nail tribesman, but the orc somehow manages to keep his feet.
Another orc pushes past those holding up the portcullis and meets Marikel's spear point for his trouble, coming to a gasping halt in the gate.
Frowning slightly Vhailor takes a knee by the nearest orc corpse and rifles through it's pockets... wondering if there is aught by way of map or written word.
Another of the Twisted Nail tribe darts forward to try his mettle against the giant. Marikel is not quick enough to interpose his longspear yet again, but the orc trips on the end of one of the logs from the trap and fails to connect with the oversized cleric.
"Stand strong there, Padre!" the Patrolman by his side encourages Marikel. "We're standing with you." He steps up and swings his own sword at the orc attacking the cleric with no greater success.
"We'll hold them here!" the other Patrolman agrees, moving up to jab with his spear at another of the orcs. "Get the defenses ready, Patrol Captain!" His spear drives all the way through the orc via the hole Marikel's spear already opened and comes out the other side. The orc slumps to the ground, and the Trunauans present let out a cheer.
Atop the wall, the archer fires again into the Lower Quarter.
"Get that gate shut!" Omast Frum shouts up to the other archer, who nods and moves to the door. Raising his bow, he fires into the tower.
Another orc rushes through the open gate and strikes down the Patrolman who had just taken up a position at Marikel's side.
Another orc tries to do the same to the Patrolman's fellow, but his falchion is just turned by the soldier's chain shirt.
Once the fire is taken care of, Dorn turns to the next wave of bad guys and moves to meet them head on. "Reaver!" the dwarf calls, sending the bird to flanking position.
Catching sight of the over-sized cleric as his maulaxe lands true, "Well, lad, now I'm thinkin' you are officially too big for yer britches," he says with a wry grin as he prepares to dodge any incoming attacks.
Skyreaver moves into flanking position with the dwarf and attacks.
Dorn rushes in to take the place of the fallen Patrolman and attacks the orc who felled him.
As the roc obeys the dwarf's command, the air between the two rows of orcs is suddenly rent by the the flashes of five blades seeking to reduce the bird to poultry. Somehow, however, the roc survives, with only a few feathers sliced free to float to the ground. His beak is more successful than the enemy falchions, tearing a gobbet of flesh out of the orc's shoulder.
"I'll leave you to it, girl!" Omast shouts to Alicia. "Job one is to get that gate shut! If Hank's firing arrows upstairs, you should have a clear run to the mechanism." He retreats toward the barricade and the boulder trap.
The three Patrol members arrive at the boulder. One picks up the torch, and another gets ready to light it, while a third takes up a position behind the boulder to give it a shove at the proper time.
Another orc rushes through the gate to find his way blocked by the roc. He takes a swing at the bird but has no better luck than his compatriots.
Yet another orc pushes his way into the gate but finds the way ahead of him blocked by his own fellows; he draws a javelin in case he finds a target for it.
Another orc simply waits for the way ahead to clear.
Alicia retrieves her thieves' tools and looks around, then gets to work on the lock.
Alicia whips out her tools and gets to work.
In the gate, an orc takes another fruitless swing at the roc and carefully starts to edge around the curve of the tower.
Another orc in the gate begins to move forward but then collapses from his wounds.
Unfazed, the orc in the back row steps up on top of his fallen tribemate and attacks the roc.
As quarters become close, Marikel shifts the grip on his longspear to one hand and draws his longsword with the other.
He swings the longsword low at the orc before him, like a farmer scything crops.
Marikel's overgrown longsword slashes deeply into the orc in front of him.
Looking up to see the situation in well enough hand that his aren't required, Vhailor strips the two nearest bodies of their herbal fetishes - stuffing them a pocket and reminding himself to ask questions of his companions at a time more suitable.
Vhailor pockets the items.
Despite his obvious wounds, the orc Marikel just slashed open returns the favor, sinking the blade of his falchion into the leg of the oversized priest.
The only Patrol member still standing in the gate steps back and stabs the nearest orc with his longspear, drawing a gush of blood.
The archer on the right-hand wall shoots down into the Lower Quarter once again.
A muffled explosion and a cry of pain are heard from the left-hand wall, where the archer standing at the door is suddenly engulfed in flame.
The burning man drops his bow and charges into the tower and out of sight.
The orcs nearest Dorn attack the dwarf, attempting to clear a way forward into the Inner Quarter. Dorn fends one falchion off one rim of his shield and the other off the opposite side.
Just managing to avoid two separate swipes, "Whew! Blast that was close ya awesome piece o' troll dung! My turn." Dorn drops his weapon and draws his warhammer, preferring it instead, as he continues his attack on the same orc while bringing out a small part of the animal within.
Skyreaver follows suit after the dwarf and attacks the same orc as well in a precision like manner.
The heavy head of Dorn's warhammer crushes the skull of the Twisted Nail tribesmen, who collapses, twitching.
The roc shifts its attention to the orc attacking Marikel, worrying it with beak and claws until it drops lifeless onto the road.
Omast Frum hops heavily over the obstacle and stands ready to remove the length of barricade downhill of the boulder. "Clear the way!" he calls to his allies standing in the gate.
Behind the dwarf, one of the Patrol members lights the torch, while the others two wait to set the boulder aflame and push it downhill, respectively.
An orc in the gate takes another swing at the roc but fails to connect with the nimble bird.
The orc with the javelin edges around the curve of the tower until he spies Alicia fiddling with the door. With a cry of excitement, he flings his javelin at her, but she easily ducks and continues her task.
Alicia attempts to open the door.
Scowling, Alicia tries again.
An orc in the gateway steps up toward Dorn and delivers a ferocious blow that draws the dwarf's blood.
Another tries to repeat his compatriot's success at Skyreaver's expense. When he fails to injure the bird, he displays an unorcly level of wisdom and steps away from the roc's possible retaliation.
Marikel drops the long spear behind him and pulls his shield to provide some cover.
He thrusts the hilt of his sword out and a burst of warm energy flows over the battlefield, closing wounds.
"Kagak, Patrol, move!" he orders them, glancing up the rise at the ready boulder.
The dropped longspear shrinks back to its normal size as it hits the packed earth. Kagak and the fallen Patrolman gasp in confusion as they come to on the battlefield, the Patrol member between Dorn's feet.
Feeling sudden movement below him, "Oops! Sorry, lad. Don't mean ta be steppin' on your face. Silly me... I thought you were dead," he shrugs, grinning.
More concerned about the orc approaching Alicia than she appears to be, Vhailor magically dazes it, then moves into a position at the girl's elbow as she tinkers with the locked door, Carbonel in tow.
The confused Patrolman on the road crawls out from under the dwarf, taking advantage of the soft cover he's providing.
Also worried about Alicia's apparent vulnerability, the standing Patrolman stabs the dazed orc and moves out of the road to continue covering the rogue's position.
Kagak finds himself surrounded by Twisted Nail tribesmen and a fierce roc without clearly remembering whose side he's on and cowers helplessly in the road.
The archer on the wall fires another arrow into the Lower Quarter.
An orc takes another swing at Dorn but misses.
"Welp...," he starts, looking upon his orc enemies, "Gotta go! Reaver! Fi!" the dwarf calls out as he retreats; his avian ally right behind him.
The dwarf and his bird wheel in opposite directions around Marikel and out of the danger zone.
"That's it, boys!" Omast Frum calls back to his men, as he lifts the barricade out of the way. "Now!" It's at least plausible that, at this distance, he is unaware of Kagak cowering among the corpses.
The Patrol member with the torch touches it to the boulder, and Gorkis Meeson's concoction flares up in an eerie blue-green flame.
The three men push in concert, and the stone rolls forward ... then settles back again into the depression it has made in the dirt. With a worried look among them, the soldiers push again and just manage to get the stone rolling, their relief so powerful they barely notice their singed fingertips.
As the boulder clears the line of the downhill defenses, Omast Frum replaces the barricade.
The boulder starts slowly but picks up speed as it heads downhill. The first orc manages somehow to sidestep the rock but can only watch as it flattens the orc beside him into oblivion. One might comfort oneself with the idea that Kagak never knew what was coming before he knew nothing else in this life. The orc downhill from the unfortunate half-orc takes a direct hit from the boulder but manages to spin with it out the way, leaving him still conscious but prone in the gate. Past that, the Twisted Nail massed at the gate scatter in panic, some of them falling beneath the boulder as it bounces downhill toward the Hopespring pool, others fleeing away from it.
The archer atop the wall whoops in triumph from his prime vantage point on the orcish retreat.
One of the remaining orcs in the gateway cautiously moves to the opposite side of the road from Marikel and tries to skirt the guard tower out of reach of his oversized sword.
The orc dazed by Vhailor's cantrip can do nothing but wait for the gnome's magic to fade.
Alicia attempts to pick the lock again and open the door.
Frustratingly, Alicia can feel the mechanism slide off of her maneuvering probe at the last moment, preventing the latch from opening.
The orc beside Marikel swings his falchion at the priest, drawing blood.
The orc which had been knocked down by the alchemical boulder gets back to its feet.
"Aren't you the lucky one," Marikel sneers, and lashes out with his sword at the orc before him.
More cursing under her breath, and Alicia starts working on the lock a third time.
Marikel's enlarged sword does surprisingly little damage to the orc.
"It only works the once," Vhailor explains apologetically to Alicia, antsing anxiously from the ball of one foot to the other, as the nearest orc shakes free from the gnome's mind-muddling magic. "Fool him once, hurrah for me; fool him twice, can't fool him twice...."
The Patrol member behind Marikel moves back into the road in the wake of the alchemical boulder and slashes open the orc Marikel is fighting, finishing the job the trap couldn't do.
Feeling the vulnerability of Alicia's exposed position, the Patrolman with the longspear jabs again at the newly undazed orc but fails to harm him. With a sigh of frustration, he drops his spear and steps into the maze of loose timber, drawing his sword and making a stand between the approaching orc and the rogue. "You're going to have to go through me first, you bastard," he spits.
Atop the wall, the archer takes another shot, the angle of his bow indicating that he is firing farther into the Lower Quarter rather than down in front of the gate. "That's bought us some time, Captain!" he calls back. "With any luck, they'll run for the hills instead of regrouping."
Moving back towards the orcs still standing, "Ewch i gael yr un hwnnw, Reaver!" he points toward the bird's next victim.
Skyreaver heads straight toward the orc Dorn points out and attacks.