The Baron's frown is replaced by a smile-Excellent! Come see me when you are ready and see the paymaster for a reward.
+500GP
Collect the gold. Go see if any of the clerics can cast lesser restoration to recover sooner. Otherwise rest and recover.
Would like a ruling on whether lesser restoration potions exist, technically I don’t think they exist in RAW as the spell takes 3 rounds to cast. If they do exist then will likely purchase some for future use.
None of the combat medics available have any lesser restoration either memorized or remaining. They are happy to memorize a few for you on the following day if you like. They do have several potions available, for 200 GP each.
Will return the next day to the medics to get the spell cast.
Will also buy a couple potions to take with him for future use.
You return the next day and a helpful medic tries his best .
Medic-I was told you wanted to buy a couple of vials of the stuff, how many can I get you?
“Thank you. Two please.”
Healed 1 point overnight as well?
Yes. Assume 24 hours-ish has passed.
Wait 5 more days until recovered then seek out the Baron to see what he has in mind.
The pede poison slowly burns through your body over the next few days, your natural nimbleness slowly returning. You had feared five days inside the walls would give you more than you could handle of squire Marshap, but you find your interludes with far fewer than expected. The new activity of the troopers has all the squires pulling double, sometimes triple, duty shifts and when he does have time to see you, Marshap is usually quite tired. Even the telling of his first patrol rotation is fairly muted.
On the last day of your rest another supply galleon arrives. This time bringing fewer troopers, but also more supplies and for the first time some settlers; mostly farmers and their families who look to claim steadings once the Baron's forces finish securing the perimeter more firmly. Once unloaded of its incoming cargo, the large ship is refilled with plundered goods, some exotic goods and trinkets native to Urath, but largely the hold is filled with gelded male orc captives that sold into the slave markets of Elap.
Fully restored, you find the Baron in the town area of buildings, talking to some of the newly arrived colonist farmers.
Listen to what he is telling the colonists and then approach when he is done.
“Well it took longer than I wanted but I’ve finally recovered from the poison. What did you have in mind for me?”
Listen to what he is telling the colonists and then approach when he is done.
“Well it took longer than I wanted but I’ve finally recovered from the poison. What did you have in mind for me?”
It sounds like the Baron is largely getting to know the newcomers, welcoming them, and giving them a sense of the current situation and when he hopes they will be free to move beyond the walls and begin the process of homesteading.
When he's done-I'm glad you are no worse for wear. You looked pretty haggard last I saw you and the vermin in this land are just about as bad as the tuskers.
I intend to break up, eradicate preferably, the remaining tuskers in that camp and kill as many of the uruks as I can. My strategy will be to bring the majority of my troopers to the field and threaten their position, hoping to draw out their warriors. I'm sure the uruks will send some reinforcements, but I'm pretty sure we can handle those as well. I'll have you land behind their lines by ship, with a small squad, and work your way towards their position. Once the fighters take the field, you will help a few of our junior wizards light up the cap with a barrage of fireballs. I hope their camp followers will break towards the fighter's lines, disrupting them, and between the troopers and the fireballs we can finish off or capture any remaining orcs in this area.
What do you say?
“Not sure I’m much a strategist for these large battles. I will say that I’m not sure what lies on the other side of their camp, could be surprises.”
Baron-You leave the strategy to me, I just need you to get that squad behind their lines and 'encourage' the camp followers to move in the right direction. As for surprises, why do you think I'm asking you to go? You seem to be quite full of them yourself; leader of the "lost patrol" and all. If you could bring that squad in without a loss on your first time out I'm sure you can get a squad where it needs to be for this mission.
It's your call, of course, but I'd feel better with you out there than most anyone else I can send. Plus, I'll make it worth your while and with the last of the tuskers scattered you should have more freedom to search around for ruins or whatever it is you're here for.
“Yes, I will go. When does the ship depart?”
Baron-The men can be ready within an hour and the sloop has returned from its recent voyage and can be fitted for the voyage in just about the same amount of time. I'd say this afternoon if you will be ready then. The ship can run up the coast under darkness and get you on the beach similarly. I'm not guessing the orcs have figured out how important the sea can be for this kind of work, but no use taking chances that some curious tusker sticks its snout in the wrong direction and exactly the wrong time.
Go to the ship at the appropriate time. How many men are in the group going ashore? Are they all wizards or are there melee types as well? Anyone Curumir recognizes?
Curumir recognizes a few of the troopers that went out with him on that fateful patrol; no one from First, but friendly faces none the less. There are three junior wizards, and assigned to guard each, is a group of six troopers-one NCO and five regular troopers. The overall group commander is a Lieutenant named Ibrel (22 total combatants: 3 wizards; 1 Lieutenant; 3 NCOs; 15 troopers).
Ibrel, professionally-Nice to meet you Curumir, Yarsh tells me good things about you.
My men know what they are about so you shouldn't have to worry about them stepping on their dicks. They've been beyond the wall plenty, just never where you are going to take us.
You get us in quietly and we should be able to handle the rest. The sloop will stay anchored off the coast for about half a day in case anything goes horribly wrong. Our job is to protect the mages, your job is to get us in position. Any questions before we sail?
“Well met Ibrel, I’m ready, let’s go.”
Ibrel smiles-An elf of few words; Yarsh wasn't kidding.
Ibrel and his men board the sloop, and although it isn't comfortable everyone is able to fit, if just barely. There is a little animosity between the three sailors crewing the sloop and the troopers until a few of the troopers demonstrate their facility with a ship and help the crew get under way into the dusk.
You use your superior elven vision to help the crew chart a course up the coast, maybe ten miles or so, thinking that should be far enough to skirt an7 patrols the orcs have in place to monitor human activity. The sloop drops anchor and a small jolly boat prepares to ferry you, the mages, and troopers ashore in three separate waves. You board the first trip and make it ashore without any mishap.
Look for orcs, orc tracks and best path inland.
Once the squad is completely ashore you notice one of the mages holding a rod and communicating with someone. Ibrel-It's how we communicate when we have mages in the field; pretty handy. Should allow the main force to coordinate their timing with when we are ready. We'll do our best to follow you, just don't get to far out ahead of us. Not all of us are elves you know. -he chuckles to himself at the last part.
You move out at what you think is a reasonable pace but quickly realize that your woodcraft is far superior to that of the troopers as they almost immediately lose sight of your stealthy movements. You realize you will have to pull double duty, doubling back to visit Ibrel and give him directions, or mark the path you take in some manner.
You make maybe a mile or so through relatively smooth terrain before another series of rolls are required. You could make better speed if you didn't have to double back.
“That seems quite handy, do we have an extra I could use to communicate with you?”
Don’t want to leave markings if it can be avoided.
+2 vs orcs
Ibrel-That'd be great, wouldn't it? Make life SO much easier! Unfortunately, I think they only give them to mages and you have to magic powers to use them in any case. Don't seem to work for your average sod.
You make another mile or so and find the area ahead gets split by some washes and small ravines. Easy to get separated or ambushed in this type of terrain.
Go back and warn the group of the area and tell them to wait there until I find a safe way through.
You can tell that Ibrel is a little distressed by the delay, but understanding none the less. Ibrel-Is there anything we can help you do?
You find a path that looks promising at first, but after a short while splits into three branches: right; left; center.
“I don’t know, there are many paths, the wrong one could get us ambushed. Do the wizards have any spells that might help or familiars that could be used as scouts?”
If no additional information try the right.
One of the mage's has a crow familiar which he risks to fly over the area. He reports back to you that the middle path looks to be the most rocky and difficult to traverse.
Allow for retcon or let me know if you continue right.
Sure try the right path.
Shortly after starting down the right path (5 minutes or so) you clearly identify the tracks of a scorpion of massive proportions; 7' long at least.
Go back and try the left path.
About 500' into the left ravine you come across the desiccated corpses of three giant ants (about the size of ponies). You can see what looks like puncture holes and slashes on parts of the remains. A little further ahead you can see the twitching antennae of two living giant ants. They appear to be steadily observing you.
Go back and take center path, have the group follow.
“The other ways we will have to fight scorpions or ants to get through so let’s try this way.”
Ibrel appears relieved to be on the move again as the cover of night is largely spent at this point. The center path is filled with treacherous terrain and difficult to traverse, giving you a sense of why no creatures appear to inhabit it, but you are able to get through it and up to the other side just as the first rays of dawn creep over the horizon.
You can see the haze from the camp fires a few miles in the distance, South and West of your current position. The way ahead is largely low rolling hills, dotted with a few small woods or sections of brush.
“How close do we need to get Ibrel? Do we know if the Baron’s force is in position and if he has started to draw the orc fighters towards him yet? It will be easier to get closer if their attention is elsewhere.”
Ibrel-Closer than this, for sure. Let me get with the mages. He motions one of the magic users over and relays your questions. The man pulls out one of the communication rods and goes quiet for a few minutes.
Then with eyes closed and in a strange voice, Mage-The Baron has the Major in the field and we are headed towards the camp. It looks like the uruks are aware of us and doing their best to get their warriors together to fight. The Major says we should be to their camp in less than two hours and you should be ready by then. He will tell you when exactly to strike.
“Guess we should get closer, try to be stealthy.”
Ibrel motions to his men-OK, this is it. I know none of you are elves, but let's not embarrass ourselves out there; it's not the first time for any of us.
The goal is to get the mages safely in position and let them do their thing. Everything else is a bonus. Understood? The men seem to give a firm acknowledgment, although a few grumble about having to be babysitters and couldn't the mages just magic some illusions, etc.
For the first hour or so the squads keep pace with you and are relatively stealthy, but towards the end of the hour, the third suffers a misfortune as the mage in that group turns an ankle, forcing two of the squadies to partially carry him, significantly slowing that group.
The haze is now distinct camp fire smoke building into a gloomy cloud. You can hear the battle cries of some orcs and see the first few warbands make their way towards where you would suspect the Major is forming up his troops.
The shortest route to where Ibrel would like to place his squads would take you through mostly clear terrain. There are two longer routes, one sticking close to a treeline and some thick shrubbery (NIH!), the other coming around the side a small hillock, both would keep you relatively out of sight.
Would cast CLW using wand on injured mage to prevent slowing down.
Go around the hill.
You take a few moments and move over to heal the injured mage, keeping the group relatively on time. As you move towards the hill to make an end around, you notice at least two grey-skinned orcs at the top of the hill. They appear to be relatively well camouflaged, but only from a southern view. Similarly, they appear very focused on whatever the Major is doing engaging the orc forces in that direction. They haven't seen you, but there is a chance that they might see 20+ people moving around the base of the hill.
Curumir points out the orcs.
Then he whispers to Ibrel, “Can any of the mages cast a sleep spell or something else that would take these orcs out without a commotion?”
Ibrel-Yes, but I'm not confident they could get close enough to the lookout position without being sighted. Plus my experience is the uruk have a good tolerance against enchantment magics.
“I suppose a few of you could try to sneak up there with me and we can try to silence them the old fashioned way, with blades, but that’s likely to make some noise. Unless you have another idea?”
Ibrel-Fair enough. I'll give you three men. You creep up there and we'll mover around the back side of the hill to get in position. When you are done, meet up with us.
After a terse discussion with his squad leaders, three troopers stand nearby you awaiting instruction. The three groups with the mages prepare to move out on your signal.
“We can only see two up there but could be others so keep your eyes open. I’ll take the one on the left you guys take any others, when we strike be quick and as quiet as possible.”
The three young men simply nod and follow you up the hill. The orcs are so focused on the coming conflict on the far side of the camp that they don't catch sight of you until the closing moments!
Your side's up-hill rush gives you the initiative as three grey-skinned orcs prepare to receive your charge and a fourth mounts a worg that was previously unseen!
Attack the warg if possible (can use swift action ki point to increase speed by 20’ if necessary). Otherwise attack orc on the left.
No ki needed, move action is enough to get you there.
Your blade flicks out, slashing through the throat of the worg. The rider tries to kick free, but gets entangled in the harness!
One of the troopers drives his blade through an orc's chest, ending it. A second delivers a brutal cut, but his foe still stands. The third trooper's blade breaks at the hilt!
The third trooper's orc overswings, excited to engage an unarmed foe. The second trooper takes an equally nasty return slash but still stands. The entangled orc works his way free allowing you an AOO in addition to your next round action.
If AOO takes out the worg orc, then move on to orc fighting weaponless trooper. Use ki point for additional 20’ movement if necessary.
You kill the vulnerable worg rider and help the rest of the troopers fell the remaining orcs.