Playtest/Story – Wagon Ambush!
Maneuver Legend: AA – All Out Attack, ACA – Accurate Attack, DA – Defensive Attack, PA – Power Attack, RA – Routine Attack, SA – Standard Attack], TC - Toughness Check, WC – Will Check, FC – Fortitude Check
Intro: So now that my first set of playtesting is done, I’m going to start some adventures for my PCs. Taking a page from the
West Marches at itmejp on YouTube (love it, check it out), my plan is to rotate my PCs in and out, with a few core characters involved most of the time. My plan is to put them through a series of short adventures that will hopefully lead into a real campaign where they all make an appearance. I will rarely have them all together since combat rounds with 13 PCs plus antagonists will be very unwieldy, but once or twice might be fun. However, I know how my attention span is, so if I get through the next 3-4 posts, I’ll be proud of myself. Of course, the whole thing is just a way to get more playing in with my favorite RPG system and have some fun, so in the end, that’s the only real goal.
All the PCs are starting at PL5/90 pts (with a slight adjustment for the 6 that just completed Trouble Times Two) and hopefully some of them will actually advance over time without me just deciding to bump them up to PL6-7-8 just to try some higher level stuff. But, that’s probably how things will end up. Like I said, with my short attention…
SQUIRREL!
So anyway, on the next adventure. After the
party’s successful capture of the Twins and defeat of their Warband, the party rested for another day in Iredell. As they ate dinner at the Dogstar Inn where they had been staying, in came their occasional adventuring partner,
Pon-Bak, the rotund and jovial pandafolk Monk. While exchanging some quick pleasantries, one of Mayor Voden’s personal guard comes over to the table and hands Arisema rolled up letter from the Mayor himself. She opens it and reads it to the group. Mayor Voden again thanked the party for their assistance and was hoping that they might do the same for one of this friends, Count DeMoney (dee-monay, dee-monay) in Derrax, who has also been having troubles with local bandits. He asked if they would leave at dawn to begin the trip to Derrax. The party discusses and quickly agrees, especially since another of their allies, the Minotaur Sorcerer
Varduk, resides in the area and
Baruun, and
Jobymme always enjoy his company.
After one more restful night at the Dogstar, the group set out on their way shortly after dawn. Derrax was a 3 day trip by horse to the northeast from Iredell, and less than a day and half northwest of Thorpe. It’s later on the 2nd day of the 3 day journey and the party is getting antsy about getting to town.
Beaver the Bard has been complaining about his horse the entire ride, and causing
Extherene to threaten to turn HIM into glue if he didn’t shut up.
Near dusk, just before they were getting ready to find a place to camp…
Perception checks…Jobymme gets an 18 for high roll.
As they come up to a rise in the road, Jobymme picks up the scent of something burning. He motions for the party to stop. He informs Arisema and as the wind shifts, most of the party notices the same scent. They also pick up the sound of screams mixed with guttural laughter.
Arisema nods to
Xelennia who moves over to the edge of the road and begins to stealthily work her way over the rise.
Stealth check for Xelennia is a 15. Fortunately, who she’s trying to sneak up on is paying no attention whatsoever with a 7.
Xelennia breaches the rise and sees a disturbing sight. There is are overturned wagons, one on fire and what appears to be several humanoid figures engaged in various activities. She hustles back to the group and relays the information. Weapons drawn, the party begins to work their way up to the site. Xelennia continues up ahead of the group while Arisema, Pon-Bak and Extherene move up the left (northwest) side of the ride and Baruun, Jobymme and Beaver move the right (southeast) side. Before long, the party was within 40-50 feet of the scene details of the situation become apparent.
The party has come up on successful caravan raid performed by a band of orcs. Two wagons are burning, while a third is overturned. Four or five human bodies lay motionless across the area. By the overturned wagon near the left side of the road, an older man is trying to fend off 3 orcs with a pitchfork while a small girl and a woman cower behind him. Nearby, 5 other orcs are dumping bags and rummaging through items.
The other dozen or so orcs are in a circle towards the right side of the road, hooting, hollering and placing bets on a fight between an orc than appears to be their leader and a large, male, white-furred [url=
http://roninarmy.com/threads/1780-J-Mar ... andafolk-S
hifter-PCs?p=74668#post74668]leonine[/url]. The leonine is sporting several cuts and bruises and has his hands and muzzle tightly bound. The large orc is wielding a very nice double-bladed axe.
“Isn’t that…?” Beaver whispers to Jobymme.
“It’s Jaharri,” Jobymme replied, gripping his hammer tighter. “Looks like he might have finally bitten off more than he can chew. That means Trixi has to be around here somewhere, too. If he doesn’t die, I’m not going to let him live down letting that orc wield HIS axe.”
“We can chide him later,“ Baruun said, already beginning to advance. “Right now, we need to go save his hide.”
With a flat (no modifiers on either side) 19 vs. 18 stealth vs. perception win for the party, the orcs do not notice them at all so they get a free round.
Normally, Arisema always has a plan but seeing the situation at hand, and knowing that with their beliefs, Baruun and Jobymme would charge in any moment, she simply drew her bow, caught the eyes of the rest of the party and motioned for them to advance.
Surprise Round: So 21 orcs total. The leader is an elite so he gets an HP. The 12 around Jaharri we’ll say are all minions. The other 8 will just be regular NPC orcs with no HP. Seems like a fair matchup.
We’ll go ahead with Initiative to get an action order, even though the Orcs won’t act this round. Initiative: Jaharri – 24, Pon-Bak – 20, Beaver – 17, Orcs – 16, Orc Leader – 15, Jobymme – 14, Baruun – 13, Xelennia – 10, Trixi – 10, Arisema – 8, Extherene – 4. I’ll give the party all an HP for doing the right thing against large odds. The orc leader will not be flat-footed since he is engaged in an altercation already. I’ll say the party is about 50 ft away so anyone wanting to move into melee with have to make a Charge action. We’ll start Jaharri at -3 toughness and dazed for the first round due to the beatings he’s taken so far and I’m also making him -2 to attacks as well while he’s bound. I’ll give him an HP for being the plot device. He’ll have to hold his action for now since he’s not technically part of the party yet. Pon-Bak can almost make it in one round but he still has to charge to get to one of the orcs by the family, but with the orcs being at half defense, it’s negligible. He’ll even go PA2 unarmed and even at -4 he hits with a 14. Orc 1 (I’m doing the numbering left to right from the 3 engaging the guy with pitchfork, the 5 tossing the wagon to the 12 around the fight and the Orc Leader will be referred to as such) makes the DC20 TC, though, with a 21. Beaver pulls out his crossbow and fires at one of the Orc minions, we’ll call him Orc 9, with a PA2. Natural 19 for a crit! Glad I rolled instead of taking 10. DC24 TC, he does get a 20 but not good enough so he’s down. Jobymme will move up 30 ft and angle himself to catch 4 of the orc minions in his 30ft cone of Dragon Breath. So 4 dodge check against DC15, Orcs 10, 11 and 13 make the check for half damage. But Orcs 10 and 13 bomb their toughness checks so they drop.
Baruun charges in and takes 10 with AA2 to ensure the hit. I’ll say he can get to 3 minions with his Takedown. First one, Orc 14, fails the DC22 TC, second one, Orc 15 fails, last one, Orc 16, succeeds. Xelennia moves in on Orc 2 and since she has surprise, I’ll give her backstab with her Dual Daggers. Natural 1. I’ll say she dropped one of them…
As Jobymme figured, Jaharri’s his traveling companion, the gnome Tinkerer,
Trixi Picklebottom Goldflower, has been hiding under the overturned wagon (16 vs. 8, stealth vs. perception). Seeing the cavalry arrive, she’ll jump in to help. Knowing she needs to get past the 5 orcs between her and her dear friend Jaharri, she’ll use her Bag of Tricks to whip up a Stun Bomb (Ranged Burst Area Affliction 5, Resisted by Will; 1st: Dazed, 2nd: Stunned, Flaw: Limited to two degrees) to use next round. Arisema will fire at Orc 3, PA2 and hits with a crit. He has to make a DC25 TC and he bombs it with a 9, 4th degree failure and he’s out! She gets an HP for awesomeness. Last but not least, Extherene will try to aid the family as well, so she drops her Sleep Spell on Orc 1 and 2. Both orcs fail their dodge checks, but Orc 1 critically succeeds against the affliction! Orc 2 fails by 1 and is dazed.
Status – Jaharri (-3 toughness, dazed, impaired, 2 hp), Pon-Bak (fine, 1 hp), Beaver (fine, 3 hp), Orc 1 (fine), Orc 2 (dazed), Orc 3 (incapacitated, dying), Orc 4 (fine), Orc 5 (fine), Orc 6 (fine), Orc 7 (fine), Orc 8 (fine), Orc Minions (5 incapacitate, dying; 7 fine), Orc Leader (fine, 1 hp), Jobymme (fine, 1 dragon breath, 2 hp), Baruun (fine, 1 hp), Xelennia (fine, 2 hp), Trixi (fine, 1 hp), Arisema (fine, 2 hp), Extherene (fine, 1 spell, 1 hp)
As Jaharri prepared to make a last stand, he suddenly saw a large Warforged warrior come charging in and begin waylaying orcs. That was followed by a cone of flame going past his head and roasting other orcs and he could hear more commotion coming from the orcs on the other side of the road. A few seconds later, he could hear Beaver’s familiar voice saying, “Man, that orc has a nice axe, fuzzy. Didn’t you used to have one like that?”
Jaharri growled through his bound muzzle and took a step in on the Orc Leader, fully intent to kill him and retrieve his weapon or die trying as either option would be the only way he would be able to avoid more grief from his alleged allies…
Round 1: Initiative: Jaharri, Pon-Bak, Beaver, Orcs, Orc Leader, Jobymme, Baruun, Xelennia, Trixi, Arisema, Extherene. Knowing that help has arrived, and actually, even if it hadn’t, Jaharri will fight. He’ll kick at the Orc Leader, AA2 to offset his impairment and kicks the Orc Leader in the gut with a 16. The Orc makes the DC18 TC with a 23. But it got his attention…Pon-Bak will go at Orc 1 again with his Rapid Fire Strike but misses again with a 9. This Orc 1 has got it goin’ on so far. Beaver will dash in and try to get Jaharri’s hands free with his rapier. He tells Jaharri to stand still, I’ll say it’s DC12 to cut the restraints and not him and he hits, barely, with a 13. The restraints are Toughness 5 and I rolled a 1 on the TC. They’re severed! The bonds, that is…
Now it’s the orcs turn. Going left to right. Orc 1 swings his axe at Pon-Bak, he misses with a 6. Orc 2 swings at Xelennia and hits with a 19. She only gets a 13 on her TC to take a 2nd degree failure. Orcs 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 divide up, 4 and 5 move towards 1 and 2 and they have to Charge as well to hit in melee this round. Orc 4 rolls a natural 19 and crits on Pon-Bak. He blows the TC, he’ll have to use his HP to reroll and he gets a 17 against DC26 to take a 2nd degree failure. Orc 5 will attack Xelennia and miss. Orcs 6, 7, and 8 move towards Jobymme, Beaver, Baruun and Jaharri. Because of their arrangement, only 6 and 7 will be able to attack. Both of them go after Baruun. First one hits, second one misses. Baruun makes the DC21 TC with a 23.
Now the minions. Only 4 of them can attack, again because of the configuration. First two on Baruun, one misses, one hits, Baruun rolls crappy on the TC, getting a 13 against DC21 for a 2nd degree failure. One hits Jobymme, and he gets a 17 on the DC21 TC for a 1st degree failure. The last one misses Beaver. The Orc Leader swings at Jaharri with his own axe and he gets a natural 1. He’ll barely hang onto it.
Jobymme rolls to recharge his Dragon Breath and he gets an 11 so he can use it again next round. He’ll use Teamwork to Aid Jaharri and he barely gets the DC10 he needs with an 11. Jaharri will get +5 next round. Baruun will try to clear the minions first and he can get to 3 more with his Takedown. He takes 10, drops the first, but the second makes his check. Xelennia goes after Orc 2 but misses with a 12. Geez, she’s not off to a good start.
Now Trixi joins the fray. With her Stun Bomb, I’ll say she can get Orcs 6, 7, 8 and one of the minions, Orc 11. Orc 6 and Orc 11 both fail their Dodge checks, 7 and 8 make it. As for the Will check, again Orc 6 and 11 fail their checks and are Stunned, 7 and 8 are fine. Arisema fires another arrow, this time at Orc 4 and hits with a 20. The orc gets a 15 for a 1st degree failure. Extherene will move up and use her Burning Hands spell and can get Orc 2, 4 and 5 in the cone. Orc 2 passes his Dodge check and gets a 13 on his TC for 1st degree failure. Orc 4 blows the dodge check and the TC with a 5 for a 3rd degree failure. Orc 5 makes both checks.
Status – Jaharri (-3 toughness, dazed, 2 hp), Pon-Bak (-1 toughness, dazed, 1 chi usage, 0 hp), Beaver (fine, 3 hp), Orc 1 (fine), Orc 2 (-1 toughness), Orc 3 (incapacitated, dying), Orc 4 (-2 toughness, staggered, disabled), Orc 5 (-1 toughness, staggered, disabled), Orc 6 (stunned), Orc 7 (fine), Orc 8 (fine), Orc Minions (6 incapacitated, dying; 1 stunned, 5 fine), Orc Leader (fine, 1 hp), Jobymme (-1 toughness, 1 dragon breath, 2 hp), Baruun (-1 toughness, dazed, 1 hp), Xelennia (-1 toughness, dazed, 2 hp), Trixi (fine, 1 hp), Arisema (fine, 3 hp), Extherene (fine, 2 spells, 1 hp)
Round 2: Initiative: Jaharri, Pon-Bak, Beaver, Orcs, Orc Leader, Jobymme, Baruun, Xelennia, Trixi, Arisema, Extherene. Jaharri reaches down and grabs a greataxe from a fallen orc and swings it at the Orc Leader, going PA5 since he gets +5 from Jobymme and he hits with a 20. The Orc Leader gets a 24 on his TC against D26 for a 1st degree failure. Pon-Bak will use his Rapid Fire Strike and he’ll use it on Orcs 1 and 2 since they’re in range so he’ll be at -1. He hits with a 16, though. Orc 1 gets a 16 against DC18 for a 1st degree failure, Orc 2 gets a 13 for another 1st degree failure. Beaver will attack Orc 8, PA2, and hits with an 18. It gets a 15 on the DC20 TC for a first degree failure.
Orc time. Orc 1 attacks Pon-Bak and hits with a 17. Pon-Bak rolls a nat 20 on the TC. Orc 2 misses, Orc 4 will withdraw since he’s hurtin’ bad. Orc 5 will still try to fight and misses Xelennia again. Orc 6 will try to make his check against DC15 for the Stun, but he fails with a 2. Orc 7 attacks Baruun and hits with a 19. He rolls a 1 on the TC, HP to reroll and he gets a 24 to make the check. Orc 8 is able to move in after one of the minions fell that last time and swings at Jobymme and misses. 5 Orc minions swing, 2 miss, 1 hits Jobymme and he gets an 18 for a 1st degree failure. 1 other misses and the other swing at Beaver and crits with a 19. He has to make a DC26 check, he only gets a 12, HP to reroll gets him 19 overall for a 2nd degree failure. The one stunned blows his check with an 8 and is still Stunned. The Orc Leader growls and swings the dual-bladed axe at Jaharri, AA2 and gets a crit! Jaharri has to make a DC27 TC and he gets a 7. HP to reroll, 19 for a 2nd degree failure.
Jobymme decides to try some heals, first on Baruun and gets a 21 to now be at -1 toughness. He’ll move up behind Jaharri and use EE for an extra action to lay a heal on Jaharri and he gets that one, too, 24, and Jaharri is now back to -3 toughness. Jobymme is fatigued. Baruun will continue to try and clear the minions, and he’ll take 10 again and can get to 3. All 3 fail their toughness checks and they’re down. Xelennia gets her Backstab, so she will quick draw her twin short swords and go AA1 and hits with adjusted 22. That’s a 2nd degree success so she adds +2 to damage. Orc 2 has to make a DC22 check, he gets a 14 for a 2nd degree failure. Trixi will now move out towards Jaharri and drops another Stun Bomb, this time where she can get Orcs 7 and 8. Orc 7 makes the Dodge check, but only rolls a 2 on his check and he’s stunned. Orc 8 makes both to remain unaffected. Since Trixi can only move 15 ft she’s kinda out in the open, not able to reach Jaharri and not enough to get past the orcs. Arisema will shift her bow towards Baruun and the others there. She’ll try to take out the minions and will take 10 with a PA2 to still hit with a 15. She can get all 3 remaining with her Takedown, the 2 that are fine fail, the one that is stunned gets a nat 20 to remain in the game. Arisema will use EE for another action and will fire at the last minion again, PA2 and hits and this time he falls. She is fatigued. Extherene just does a SA with her Magic Missile on Orc 5 and hits with a 14. He only gets a 10 against DC21 for a 2nd degree failure..
Status – Jaharri (-3 toughness, dazed, 1 hp), Pon-Bak (-1 toughness, 2 chi usage, 0 hp), Beaver (-1 toughness, dazed, 2 hp), Orc 1 (-1 toughness), Orc 2 (-4 toughness, dazed), Orc 3 (incapacitated, dying), Orc 4 (-2 toughness, staggered, disabled), Orc 5 (-1 toughness, dazed), Orc 6 (-1 toughness, stunned), Orc 7 (stunned), Orc 8 (fine), Orc Minions (12 incapacitated, dying), Orc Leader (fine, 1 hp), Jobymme (-2 toughness, fatigued, 1 dragon breath, 2 spells, 2 hp), Baruun (-2 toughness, dazed, 0 hp), Xelennia (-1 toughness, 2 hp), Trixi (fine, 1 hp), Arisema (fatigued, 3 hp), Extherene (fine, 3 spells, 1 hp)
Round 3: Initiative: Jaharri, Pon-Bak, Beaver, Orcs, Orc Leader, Jobymme, Baruun, Xelennia, Trixi, Arisema, Extherene. Jaharri swings back at the Orc Leader, PA3 to try and do some damage and it works out with a natural 19 for a crit! The Orc Leader has to make a DC29 and he gets a 14. He’ll use his HP to reroll and he gets an adjusted 19 for a 2nd degree failure. Pon-Bak goes back at Orcs 1 and 2 with his Rapid-Fire Strike, PA2, and he hits both of them again with a 14 and 21. Orc 1 only gets a 6 on his DC20 check for a 3rd degree failure, Orc 2 also bombs it with a 5 for 3rd degree of his own. Pon will use Agile Feint as a move action at -5 against Orc 1 to try and set him up for a big shot next round and he succeeds, 21 to 11, acrobatics vs. the orc’s perception. Beaver will go with an Aid action for Baruun and he gets a 15. Baruun will get +5 next round thanks to Beaver’s Teamwork.
The fading Orcs’ turn. Orc 1 will go down fighting, but going AA2 and rolling a natural isn’t going to help. Orc 2 will use his action to retreat 15 ft towards the northwest. Orc 4 did the same thing last round and will do the same again, limping off another 15 ft to the northwest. Orc 5 will go AA2 at Xelennia and he hits with an 18. She gets a 13 on her DC21 TC for a 2nd degree failure. Orc 6 fails his Will check against bring Stunned again and remains unable to act. Orc 7 passes his and can act next round. Orc 8 goes AA2 against Jobymme and hits with a 19. Jo blows the TC with a natural 3, HP to reroll gets him a 22 to avoid damage. The Orc leader will continue to fight Jaharri, going PA2 and he hits with a 17. Jaharri gets a 16 against DC24 for a 2nd degree failure.
Jobymme swings back at the Orc will his hammer, AA1 and misses with a natural 2. Baruun is going PA2 against Orc 7 and hits with a 22. The orc gets a 22 against DC24 to take a 1st degree failure. Xelennia will use the round to Recover. Trixi uses her move action to get into the grouping of Beaver, Baruun, Jobymme and Jaharri and her standard action to configure a new gadget from her Bag of Tricks and pulls out a number of bird shaped pieces of metal (Shapeable Area Piercing Damage 5, Extra: Shapeable Area [30 ft volume]). Arisema uses the round to Aim at Orc 4. She uses a free action to shout an order for Xelennia to go help the other group and that she Pon and Extherene will handle what’s left on their side. Extherene steps back 20 ft and aims at the fleeing Orc 2.
Status – Jaharri (-4 toughness, dazed, 1 hp), Pon-Bak (-1 toughness, 3 chi usage, 0 hp), Beaver (-1 toughness, 2 hp), Orc 1 (-2 toughness, staggered, disabled), Orc 2 (-5 toughness, staggered, disabled), Orc 3 (incapacitated, dying), Orc 4 (-2 toughness, staggered, disabled), Orc 5 (-1 toughness), Orc 6 (-1 toughness, stunned), Orc 7 (-1 toughness), Orc 8 (fine), Orc Minions (12 incapacitated, dying), Orc Leader (-1 toughness, dazed, 0 hp), Jobymme (-2 toughness, fatigued, 1 dragon breath, 2 spells, 1 hp), Baruun (-2 toughness, dazed, 1 hp), Xelennia (-1 toughness, dazed, 2 hp), Trixi (fine, 1 hp), Arisema (fatigued, 3 hp), Extherene (fine, 2 spells, 1 hp)
Round 4: Initiative: Jaharri, Pon-Bak, Beaver, Orcs, Orc Leader, Jobymme, Baruun, Xelennia, Trixi, Arisema, Extherene. Jaharri will keep swinging away until he falls or the leader does. He goes AA2 and hits again with a crit! The Orc Leader has to make a DC26 TC and he bombs it with a natural 2. He’s out! Jaharri rips the binding off his muzzle and lets out a victory roar and retrieved his beloved axe from the fallen orc.
Pon-Bak, having his foe, Orc 1, vulnerable this round goes PA2 and hits with a crit! Orc 1 has to make a DC25 TC, but he only gets a 14 for 3rd degree failure and he’s out. Beaver again goes with the Teamwork route, this time for Jobymme and he makes the DC10 Aid check with a 14 so Jobymme gets +5 on his next round.
The remaining orcs are up. Orc 1 is down, Orc 2 flees another 15 ft, Orc 3 has BEEN down, Orc 4 flees another 15 ft and I’ll say he’s gotten to partial cover of the woods. Orc 5, not seeing his leader fall, goes after Pon-Bak, AA2, but misses with a 9. Orc 6 is still stunned and he STILL can’t make the check to act. Orc 7 and 8 did see their leader fall and they decide to hightail it, double moving 60 ft each into the woods on the northeast of the road. Orc Leader is down, all the minions are down so that’s that.
Jobymme will try to convince Orc 6 to surrender, with an Intimidation check. I’ll give him a +5 circumstance bonus considering how everything has gone for the raiding party, but he still fails, 14 to 17 against the Orc’s intimidation. Baruun will go ahead and try to take him out, going AA2 and he misses with an 11. Xelennia will come up on him for the backstab with her Dual Shortswords and she crits with a natural 17, plus the 2nd degree of success gives her +2 so he has to make a DC27 TC. He only gets a 7 so he is WAY dead. Trixi will hold on her tricks and go hug Jaharri. Arisema fires her bow, PA2 at Orc 4 at 7+5-2-2=+8 and hits with a 15. DC20 TC for the orc, he only gets a 7 for another 3rd degree failure and he drops. Extherene will go AA2 on top of her +2 for aiming to fire her Magic Missile at Orc 2. She hits with an 18, and the orc has to make DC21 TC. Natural 3. He’s toast.
Round 5: Jaharri will starting recovering this round. Pon-Bak will give Orc 5 the chance to surrender. After seeing all the other dead orcs, Arisema’s bow now pointed at him, Extherene’s hands crackling with mystic energy and a Warforged and Dragonborn walking his way. He drops his axe, no questions asked. Jobymme comes over and begins binding hands.
Final Status – Jaharri (-3 toughness, dazed, 1 hp), Pon-Bak (-1 toughness, 3 chi usage, 0 hp), Beaver (-1 toughness, 2 hp), Orc 1 (-3 toughness, staggered, disabled, incapacitated), Orc 2 (-5 toughness, staggered, disabled, incapacitated, dying), Orc 3 (incapacitated, dying), Orc 4 (-3 toughness, staggered, disabled, incapacitated, dying), Orc 5 (-1 toughness), Orc 6 (-2 toughness, incapacitated, dying, stunned), Orc 7 (-1 toughness, fled), Orc 8 (fine, fled), Orc Minions (12 incapacitated, dying), Orc Leader (-2 toughness, incapacitated, dying, 0 hp), Jobymme (-2 toughness, fatigued, 1 dragon breath, 2 spells, 1 hp), Baruun (-2 toughness, dazed, 0 hp), Xelennia (-1 toughness, dazed, 2 hp), Trixi (fine, 1 hp), Arisema (fatigued, 3 hp), Extherene (fine, 2 spells, 1 hp)
After the last orc stood down, Arisema, Baruun, Pon-Bak and Beaver started checking on the surviving members of the caravan, while Jobymme finished binding the Orc and Jaharri, Xelennia and Extherene finished off any downed orcs that still drew breath. Some of the people in the caravan were beyond help, but Baruun and Jobymme were able to save a few, leaving 8 of the 18 that began the journey to finish it.
Trixi explained to the party that they were escorting the small caravan to Derrax when they were set upon by the orcs, just a few minutes before they arrived. She thanked them repeatedly for their assistance, while Jaharri grudgingly admitted that they were helpful, but that he had the situation under control, much to the delight of Baruun and Jobymme.
Arisema assured them they would assist them in seeing the survivors to their destination. The party cleared the road of the orc’s bodies and helped the survivors gather up what they could.
With dark fast approaching, the group set up camp and dual watch schedules, with Xelennia and Baruun taking the majority of the time due to their lack of need for sleep. Before they bedded down, Arisema, Xelennia and Extherene took the orc off a ways to get some information from him. Arisema was the only one that spoke orcish, but Extherene and Xelennia were able to get past the language barrier by getting their points across in a more physical manner. After a couple of well-placed mini-Magic Missiles near the orc’s crotch, he told them all he knew. In short, his band of orc warriors were working for an Ogre name Grorr, and that this raid was just one of many that they had performed in the past few weeks. He wasn’t able to give them a firm number on the overall number of his band since he couldn’t actually “count”, but using some crude finger (and toes) counting, they figured there were at least another 20 or so remaining, along with the ogre. He reluctantly “volunteered” to lead them to their camp if they promised to keep Extherene away from him from now on.
After that, the night passed uneventfully and after burying the all the dead, Jobymme was able to use his Mending spell, along with Trixi’s tinkering skills to repair two of the wagons in short order. After getting a better idea of where the orc was, Xelennia realized that if they all traveled the rest of the way to Derrax, it would take them well out of there way if they were going to the orc camp, giving them way too much time to prepare or relocate, especially knowing that there were at least 2 orcs that would make it back ahead of them. After a short discussion, it was agreed that Baruun, Pon-Bak and an EXTREMELY reluctant Trixi, would see the rest of the caravan to Derrax, while Arisema, Jaharri, Jobymme, Beaver, Extherene and Xelennia would go deal with the rest of the orcs. Shortly after mid-day, the group split and the orc began leading Arisema’s group towards his camp.
Comments: It didn’t start out very well for the party, but they finished really strong. Lots of rolling in that one, which was kinda fun, although after wrapping this short arc up, I probably won’t repeat that many participants very often. As I alluded to earlier, I’m planning to split them up into smallWagon er groups, especially since there’s Varduk, and the other 3 PCs (well, 3 others
currently, I have ideas for many more of course, because you know…I have a building problem) to work in. I’m wanting to try out some different monsters and types of situations, so I’ll get to those after I tie up this plot.
For the 9 that participated in this encounter, they each get 3 power points and an HP for the success. The orcs all had crappy armor and weapons, so nothing to add to anyone’s inventory yet.
And now, onto more adventure…
Me fail English? That's unpossible. - Ralph Wiggum