I send my next fireball at the group of orc crossbow men not being attacked by Kelborn.
Klyndak's fireball explodes on the far side of the catapult, destroying most of the catapult and five of the orcs loading and adjusting it.
Trouble is fearless and does not hesitate in his charge even when flames burst not far from him.
The orc Hru attacks seems tougher than the other orcs. He takes the blow and roars when he sees it is a half-orc attacking him. "Blood and souls for Gorum!" he screams into Hru's face.
Klyndak has sent a fireball into a group of orcs.
Kelborn and Ovirid can attack before the orcs do.
Kelborn and Ovirid can attack before the orcs do.
Ovirid reloads his crossbow and lets fly again, this time at a different orc than Kelborn targeted in the surprise round.
Light Crossbow attack 1d20+6=19, damage 1d8=3, sneak attack damage 2d6=10
"Aye, 'at's a wee bit better, Ah'm fer thinkin'!"
Shortbow attack 1d20+9=23, damage 1d6+4=9, sneak attack damage 2d6=2
He will hunch down to make himself less obvious, switch his bow to his off hand, and draw his melee weapon in case the orcs close with he and Ovirid.
IF the lance is splintered, OR there's no room: Sir Manfred will dismount, draw his sword and attack on the ground (catapult group first).
Klyndak's fireball sends five orcs diving for cover. It's difficult to see how they fare as they scurry behind rocks as soon as they can.
Ovirid fires a crossbow bolt at one of the nearby warband wounding, but not killing him.
Kelborn finishes off an orc he wounded previously.
The orcs Kelborn and Ovirid are facing off against are quite happy to toss down those silly crossbows that they never liked in the first place and unsling their axes as they leap down from their boulders and rush towards the stealthy duo. Kelborn manages to evade the axes but Ovirid gets hit hard across the face by the blunt side of an axehead. Had the axehead not been on the wrong angle, his head would have been taken off.
The massive orc shouts at the catapult crew to "take the human!" while he focusses his wrath on Hru. He swings hard but underestimates the half-blood.
Three orcs near the catapult hack at Manfred and Trouble but are too confused and terrified to get close to him.
Hru whips his blade around slashing at the orc with vengeful fury!
"Aid your servant Iron Lord! Blood and souls for GORRUUMMMM!"
1d20+11=21, 2d6+10=17
Sir Manfred dismounts at B11, planting the lance (or what's left of it) into the ground. He then draws his sword and moves towards C11 or C12 on defensive, depending on where the enemy is.
Sir Manfred dismounts at B11, planting the lance (or what's left of it) into the ground. He then draws his sword and moves towards C11 or C12 on defensive, depending on where the enemy is.
The orc commander looks at Hru in surprise as Hru's greatsword slices through his heavily reinforced leather armor from left shoulder to right nipple. The blade Klyndak forged for Hru is so sharp that before blood fills his throat the orc has time to say, "Gorum".
The three orcs that remain in the catapult area seemed frightened before, but as this orc falls any remaining fight visibly goes out of them.
One warband has gone to ground after being blasted with a fireball. Four of the other warband are fighting Ovirid and Kelborn.
Following my fireball, I begin moving towards the orcs fighting with Kelborn, casting bull strength as I move.
I shake my head at the apparent lack of dead orcs from the fireball blasts, thinking to myself, they were such fine blasts too.
Following my fireball, I begin moving towards the orcs fighting with Kelborn, casting bull strength as I move.
I shake my head at the apparent lack of dead orcs from the fireball blasts, thinking to myself, they were such fine blasts too.
"Don't forget about me!" hoots Quarrel as he joins the battle at Ovirid's side attacking one of the orcs with both shortswords. One sword draws blood and the attention of a very angry orc.
Sir Manfred will pass up the obviously beaten enemy to engage the enemy at Warband 2, preferably without climbing.
Sir Manfred will Move to engage; charge attack if the opportunity arises.
Kelborn will delay moving into the fray until his allies have engaged the enemy, then he will try to move into a flanking position, drawing his longsword as he goes, hoping to bury it in the lung of an unsuspecting orc.
Klyndak, could you act for Yintarah?
Yintarah directs the flaming sphere underneath one of the orcs attacking Trouble.
As Yintarah kills another one of the catapult crew, the two remainders begin to scramble over rocks to escape. Perhaps the spell of burnt orc was getting a bit much for them, though no doubt they've smelt it before.
Kelborn slips around into a flanking position as Manfred and Klyndak head forward to join the fight against one of the warbands. He uses his longsword to finish off one of the wounded orcs. The numbers are beginning to look better.
Several slightly toasted orcs from the other warband remain unaccounted for.
Ovirid drops his crossbow, readies his shield, and bashes the orc before him with it.
There are five heroes engaged in the battle against the orcs--Quarrel, Manfred, Kelborn, Klyndak, and Ovirid. The three remaining orcs aren't fussy about who they attack, but seem to prefer the dwarves. The swing their axes in large swoops attempting to drive you back and inflict some damage. Manfred and Ovirid and Kelborn and Klyndak are able to set up flanking positions, while Quarrel seems happy to goad and poke at random.
The orcs attacks are very effective and this seems to be a type of battle they prefer over shooting crossbows. Kelborn isn't as quick to dodge the wide swoop of the axe this time, and takes a grazing hit across his thighs ; an orc growls delightfully as he scrapes his axe across Klyndak's chest ; Ovirid continues to take a beating with the axe battering his left arm, not drawing blood but causing a lot of pain .
Meanwhile, a flight of poorly aimed arrows pepper the area around the catapult. They were fired from below the cliff and not well aimed, firing blindly. None of them hit you.
The flaming sphere rolls suddenly away from the catapult and towards the group of orcs engaged in melee.
Hru attempts to save the standard of Gorum if it's not already toast, then he creeps to the edge of the cliff to see who the orcs were waylaying.
Hru attempts to save the standard of Gorum if it's not already toast, then he creeps to the edge of the cliff to see who the orcs were waylaying.
Hru sees another group of ten orcs occupying a boulder lined cliff firing at a group of soldiers flying the orange and black flag of Kerrigan's Keep. The Keep guards are staying back out of range as the orcs have the advantage of cover provided by the boulders, higher ground, and no path up to the cliff. Assaulting them would be suicide for the Keep guards but they seem determined not to let them get off the cliff and head down the 'old road'.
In the midst of this band of orcs, is a nearly naked Wain Sarpis using a wand to pick off Keep guards with bolts of arcane energy of the type Klyndak sometimes throws.
Yintarah burns and Quarrel gets another serious poke in at one of the axe-swinging orcs. The trio is beginning to get seriously worried as they hear none of their clan rushing to their aid.
Ovirid's Round 4:
Ovirid draws a throwing axe and uses it as a melee weapon:
Attack roll 1d20+10=20, Damage 1d6+1=6, Sneak Attack 2d6=8
I forgot to incorporate his plans to use Combat Expertise and Fighting Defensively into the attack roll, but I did include flanking this time. He hits AC 13 and his AC increases to 24 for this round.
Warhammer attack (Bull strength)(flanking): (1d20+7+2+2=15)
Two-handed damage (bull strength): (1d8+7=9)
My attack on the orc that connected with me has more energy than skill behind it.
Dr. DM:
Hru pulls back from the edge and quickly begins to move toward the lower cliff.
Klyndak and Ovirid respond to the orc's ferocious focus on them as dwarves should -- with blows that fell their opponents.
One orc remains standing. He's only slightly bloodied but he's bloody scared.
Dr. DM:
** spoiler omitted **Hru pulls back from the edge and quickly begins to move toward the lower cliff.
Hru: