This is the second segment of our second session. We ran pretty long, so I have broken the recap into two parts.
Recap
When the party arrives at the skull
cave, they find Sydney standing at the entrance over the body of a
dead orc. He is covered in blood. “I've found something,” he
tells them. “There are more orcs down this way.” The party
follows him into the cave.
The entrance tunnel is broad enough for
three of them to walk abreast, but they assume a formation that puts
the fighters at the front, while Powder hangs back. The tunnel slopes
gently down to a T-intersection. Sydney turns right, leading them to
a room lit by a cooking fire in the far corner. Five orcs are
backlit, sharpening swords and teasing one of their number. A spit
rests over the fire, with a leg of lamb nearly finished cooking. The
companions stand unnoticed at the doorway for a moment, taking this
in. Then, a voice from Reggie's backpack says, clearly and loudly,
“kill them all.”
The room erupts in violence. Sydney
leaps over the orcs, executing an acrobatic flip that lands him on
the far side of the group. Humphrey and Reggie wade into battle,
while Grizena and Clint move to flank the orcs. In seconds, the fight
is over, with no injuries to the party.
Reggie, Humphrey, Clint and Sydney
search the bodies, but see nothing of value. Grizena steps in to do
the same. She begins tossing objects into a pile, punctuating each
discovery with a sten look at the men. Sword... glare. Golden
armband... glare. Quiver full of arrows... glare. This continues for
an embarrassingly long time for the sheepish men, none of whom
noticed anything worth looting, while a small pile of weapons on
ornamental jewelry grows. Powder steps into the room and watches the
spectacle.
When Grizena has finished demonstrating
proper search techniques to the others, They notice that they have
been joined by a shocked orc at the doorway. When they notice him, he
turns to run away. Humphrey throws a spear, but misses. Everyone
gives chase, following him down the other branch of the tunnel from
the intersection.
They run into a room full of red eyes,
reflecting dim light from torches set in wall sconces. Rank after
rank of orcs await them, armed with spears, knives, swords, and
shields. There is even less hesitation this time as they join battle.
Reggie races into a cluster of orcs and
attempts to disarm those around him. Humphrey and Clint engage
another cluster of orcs, lopping heads off with greatsword and
cleaver respectively. Sydney lunges in to fight the biggest orc, a
muscular warrior with a shield and sword. Grizena unhoods her falcon,
who begins swooping through the melee plucking eyes from orcs on
every pass. Powder casts a spell, shooting lightning at an orc who
dodges the attack.
As the fight wears on, Sydney finds
that his opponent is a very capable fighter. Although he is getting
some hits in, the orc will not drop, and continues to scream and
attack. Clint and Humphrey turn to help out. When they do, a couple
of orcs flank Humphrey and manage to deliver some minor injuries.
Humphrey turns back to deal with these attackers, as Clint is
surprised to find that he cannot sever the big orc's head as easily
as he is accustomed to doing.
Sydney decides to start using some
finesse, employing feints and deceptive attacks to get past the orc
champion's defenses. They are just bringing the big guy to his knees
when Powder casts a Grease spell, which immobilizes many of the next
rank of orcs. At about the same time, Reggie executes a disarm that
leaves three more of the attackers stunned. Grizena embeds her axe in
an orc while Peekaboo keeps snatching orc eyes and flying into the
dark corners of the cave.
One of the orcs Powder dropped, trying
to regain his footing, shouts out that they will surrender if they
are spared. He speaks passably good Common. He demands to know why
the adventurers have invaded his home, and promises to give them what
they want if they will spare the rest of the orcs.
The party quickly confer. Humphrey
tells the orc that they agree to accept the surrender. Apparently,
Peekaboo has not been following along, and he swoops in to collect
one more eye from one of the orcs that Reggie has stunned. Grizena
gets the bird under control, and negotiations resume.
The orc answers the questions Humphrey
poses to him. The tribe is called the Irontooth Orcs. There is
another orc tribe that are the Irontooths' allies, the Fearclaw Clan.
They were enemies until a tribe of goblins moved into the valley.
Those goblins were soon joined by hobgoblins. The two tribes of orcs
are engaged in a simmering conflict with the goblins from across the
valley. There are about 12 children further back in the cave, being
protected by 5 women. They will surrender the treasure they have. The
orcs would like the party to leave immediately, rather than stay to
rest.
Humphrey orders everyone tied up except
for the orc with whom they have been speaking. This orc is ordered to
fetch the treasure. He brings out the treasure, a little bit at a
time. He delivers three bags of mixed coins, some cloth, a barrel of
some sort of sticky liqueur, and some spices. Humphrey stops him. The
party has begun to feel a bit of remorse at all the killing. “We'll
take these two bags of coins, and we'll have to take your weapons. We
don't want your food or sewing.”
The surviving orcs bound, the party
stacks bodies and broken furniture in the tunnel leading back to the
intersection. They make a camp in the room where they first fought,
and set a double guard. They hope that the barrier between the large
room where they leave the tied up prisoners and where they will sleep
will at least give them some warning if the orcs get up to any
mischief. Powder and Clint prepare to take first watch as the others
settle down in the blood splattered room where a leg of lamb sits
forgotten over a cooking fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment