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james_davis_nicollYeah, I suck. Holidays and stuff kept me from writing all this up.
Present:
Sage Renaldo Hashton Bryce
Scout Otho
Vault Guard Iatro Sirequake
Former Legionnaire Titus
Cleric Patience
[I don't recall who the NPCs were]
Session Fifteen
The party waits very alertly for a raiding party, which could give the party clues about where the other exits to the caves are. This model may be flawed, because there is no retaliatory raiding party.
Once enough time passes for caution to be overcome by boredom, the party heads back into the caves. Otho locates a a trap, in part because he is an observant fellow and in part because the orcs don't seem to have considered that a major feature changing in the caves would be seen as significant. The trap is a dead fall so the party triggers it safely and waits.
Some (low level, expendable) orcs do come to investigate but the party's attempt at an ambush fails (the problem being that everyone has to make their roll for it to work). Happily, the cleric is close enough to zap them. Less happily, Patience fumbles and the resulting explosion stuns Otho, Patience and Renaldo. The orcs use the time to retreat back across the underground bridge to the guard room, followed closely by Titus and Iatro.
The problem is the bridge is narrow so whoever tries to advance across it is probably committing suicide and these orcs seem to have some kind of life-wish.
Orcs generally don't go in for ranged weapons but these orcs have a shaman as the party deduces once eldrich energy starts flying (and missing). The party returns fire; Titus misses with his spear but Otho is having a good day and begins feathering the shaman with arrows (and he gets even better when I remember we leveled up and he does more damage now). This is enough to annoy the orcs without convincing them to just step into the guard room and close the door.
It turns out the orcs have given some thought to the bridge issue and their answer is one huge orc on the bridge, backed up by two smaller orcs with spears. This is pretty annoying, although as it turns out not decisive. Once the party begins to win out, the shaman casts some kind of protection from mundane damage spell on himself, which would have been very bothersome had the party not whittled the orcs down enough that the sleep spell could take all but one particularly tough one down.
Victory! Except the tough orc picks up the shaman runs off. The party follows.
After the usual war crimes to deal with the sleeping orcs, the party investigates the guard room. A peek through the door on the far side reveals a long dark corridor down which came be heard the sounds of a busy community. Heading to investigate is probably suicide.
There was a discussion at this point about what to do about the non-combatants. Otho and the cleric are squeamish about killing women and children. Other characters take the position orcs cannot be rehabilitated. Every time the obligate evil race thing comes up I think of this:
Sensible characters would have retreated at this point but not our heroes (and I don't think it was game mechanic-driven). Sure enough, a squad of orcs comes barreling down the corridor and unlike the previous lot, these guys have an owl bear. Also two berserkers. Yay!
This fight is lot closer than the other one. A valiant attempt at a tactical retreat on the part of the party does not go quiet as well as it could and Iatro ends up stuck in the guard room with a berserk. The rest of the fight gets strung out to the bridge - again - and while the party manages to win in the end, it is a lot closer this time than it was for the first few skirmishes, as though all the low level orcs were dead now.
I cannot recall why my notes say "owlbear leaps to Otho eager mating look" but I think it was a cunning gambit gone horribly wrong.
Having dispatched most of the orcs and the owlbear, the party races back into the guard room to find the last orc and Iatro locked in deadly combat with their hands wrapped around each other's throats. Patience, ever helpful, looses a Lance of Faith. Or rather, she tries to but the player rolls a one.
BOOM
Lights down
***
Session Sixteen
When the party regains consciousness, they find they have all been stripped of weapons and armour and bound by the orcs (poor Iatro came in for special attention so he didn't wake for most of the session, as though he was an NPC). The cleric is gagged. Interesting the mage is not and it turns out there is a reason.
It seems the orcs do not speak common and they do not expect the party to speak orc (As it turns out, Patience does but she is gagged). Happily for them the gnoll emissary the party saw enter the cave earlier does speak common and orc and is willing to intercede. Less happily, he's not on the orcs' side.
As far as the orcs can tell, the gnoll - Blackheath of the Bloodmeat clan, same tribe as the gnolls the party killed way back when - is questioning the party about why there are humans and a dwarf invading their cave. What's actually happening is Blackheath thinks the party could be more useful to him than the orc and he and the party are negotiating terms. In fact, he did the party a favour before the session began by convincing the orcs the wizard is merely a fop.
It turns out Blackheath had no idea the cave moved. He is open to a bribe from us but how to convince him he can trust us to pay a ransom proves a difficult point. Negotiations end for the moment.
After some discussion, the party is hustled down a flight of stairs to a combination prison/torture chamber. A fair amount of time goes by as the party assesses its resources (minimal, although Otho still has his magic ring and the mage still have most of his stuff).
There are three orcs who work in cells, a chief torturer and two toadies who he keeps very busy. Renaldo starts picking at the orcs, hoping to trigger a reaction the party can exploit. His player rolls a 20! One of the juniors pitches a hissy fit, a lack of discipline that gets him soundly beaten and then magical-pain-sticked into unconsciousness.
In the scuffle, a flensing knife slides over to the cell. Otho slides into the cell and passes it to Titus, because Titus is better with hand to hand stuff. When the two conscious orcs realize the flensing knife is missing, they come over to check the cell. They are duly careful about doing this but alas for them, Renaldo can cast sleep. His player rolls appallingly low but huzzah! It is exactly the amount needed to take both orcs out.
After snagging the keys, the party spends some time exploring. They find a walled up cell with Something inside; opening that cell gets put on the to-do list. Two peasants are found and freed. They are grateful but also less than useless because they are in bad shape and have no skills applicable to escaping from an orc prison, as indicated by their continued presence in an orc prison. Most promising is a tunnel that Otho - the designated You Go First team member - discovers leads into the river.
There are orcs fishing but they don't see Otho. It's not immediately clear that this is really an escape route but there are some promising features. From the sounds the party can hear of orcish celebrations, the party could sneak out, if they didn't mind being armourless and weaponless in orc territory....
Celebration going on upstairs. The party might be able to sneak out.
Present:
Sage Renaldo Hashton Bryce
Scout Otho
Vault Guard Iatro Sirequake
Former Legionnaire Titus
Cleric Patience
[I don't recall who the NPCs were]
Session Fifteen
The party waits very alertly for a raiding party, which could give the party clues about where the other exits to the caves are. This model may be flawed, because there is no retaliatory raiding party.
Once enough time passes for caution to be overcome by boredom, the party heads back into the caves. Otho locates a a trap, in part because he is an observant fellow and in part because the orcs don't seem to have considered that a major feature changing in the caves would be seen as significant. The trap is a dead fall so the party triggers it safely and waits.
Some (low level, expendable) orcs do come to investigate but the party's attempt at an ambush fails (the problem being that everyone has to make their roll for it to work). Happily, the cleric is close enough to zap them. Less happily, Patience fumbles and the resulting explosion stuns Otho, Patience and Renaldo. The orcs use the time to retreat back across the underground bridge to the guard room, followed closely by Titus and Iatro.
The problem is the bridge is narrow so whoever tries to advance across it is probably committing suicide and these orcs seem to have some kind of life-wish.
Orcs generally don't go in for ranged weapons but these orcs have a shaman as the party deduces once eldrich energy starts flying (and missing). The party returns fire; Titus misses with his spear but Otho is having a good day and begins feathering the shaman with arrows (and he gets even better when I remember we leveled up and he does more damage now). This is enough to annoy the orcs without convincing them to just step into the guard room and close the door.
It turns out the orcs have given some thought to the bridge issue and their answer is one huge orc on the bridge, backed up by two smaller orcs with spears. This is pretty annoying, although as it turns out not decisive. Once the party begins to win out, the shaman casts some kind of protection from mundane damage spell on himself, which would have been very bothersome had the party not whittled the orcs down enough that the sleep spell could take all but one particularly tough one down.
Victory! Except the tough orc picks up the shaman runs off. The party follows.
After the usual war crimes to deal with the sleeping orcs, the party investigates the guard room. A peek through the door on the far side reveals a long dark corridor down which came be heard the sounds of a busy community. Heading to investigate is probably suicide.
There was a discussion at this point about what to do about the non-combatants. Otho and the cleric are squeamish about killing women and children. Other characters take the position orcs cannot be rehabilitated. Every time the obligate evil race thing comes up I think of this:
Sensible characters would have retreated at this point but not our heroes (and I don't think it was game mechanic-driven). Sure enough, a squad of orcs comes barreling down the corridor and unlike the previous lot, these guys have an owl bear. Also two berserkers. Yay!
This fight is lot closer than the other one. A valiant attempt at a tactical retreat on the part of the party does not go quiet as well as it could and Iatro ends up stuck in the guard room with a berserk. The rest of the fight gets strung out to the bridge - again - and while the party manages to win in the end, it is a lot closer this time than it was for the first few skirmishes, as though all the low level orcs were dead now.
I cannot recall why my notes say "owlbear leaps to Otho eager mating look" but I think it was a cunning gambit gone horribly wrong.
Having dispatched most of the orcs and the owlbear, the party races back into the guard room to find the last orc and Iatro locked in deadly combat with their hands wrapped around each other's throats. Patience, ever helpful, looses a Lance of Faith. Or rather, she tries to but the player rolls a one.
BOOM
Lights down
***
Session Sixteen
When the party regains consciousness, they find they have all been stripped of weapons and armour and bound by the orcs (poor Iatro came in for special attention so he didn't wake for most of the session, as though he was an NPC). The cleric is gagged. Interesting the mage is not and it turns out there is a reason.
It seems the orcs do not speak common and they do not expect the party to speak orc (As it turns out, Patience does but she is gagged). Happily for them the gnoll emissary the party saw enter the cave earlier does speak common and orc and is willing to intercede. Less happily, he's not on the orcs' side.
As far as the orcs can tell, the gnoll - Blackheath of the Bloodmeat clan, same tribe as the gnolls the party killed way back when - is questioning the party about why there are humans and a dwarf invading their cave. What's actually happening is Blackheath thinks the party could be more useful to him than the orc and he and the party are negotiating terms. In fact, he did the party a favour before the session began by convincing the orcs the wizard is merely a fop.
It turns out Blackheath had no idea the cave moved. He is open to a bribe from us but how to convince him he can trust us to pay a ransom proves a difficult point. Negotiations end for the moment.
After some discussion, the party is hustled down a flight of stairs to a combination prison/torture chamber. A fair amount of time goes by as the party assesses its resources (minimal, although Otho still has his magic ring and the mage still have most of his stuff).
There are three orcs who work in cells, a chief torturer and two toadies who he keeps very busy. Renaldo starts picking at the orcs, hoping to trigger a reaction the party can exploit. His player rolls a 20! One of the juniors pitches a hissy fit, a lack of discipline that gets him soundly beaten and then magical-pain-sticked into unconsciousness.
In the scuffle, a flensing knife slides over to the cell. Otho slides into the cell and passes it to Titus, because Titus is better with hand to hand stuff. When the two conscious orcs realize the flensing knife is missing, they come over to check the cell. They are duly careful about doing this but alas for them, Renaldo can cast sleep. His player rolls appallingly low but huzzah! It is exactly the amount needed to take both orcs out.
After snagging the keys, the party spends some time exploring. They find a walled up cell with Something inside; opening that cell gets put on the to-do list. Two peasants are found and freed. They are grateful but also less than useless because they are in bad shape and have no skills applicable to escaping from an orc prison, as indicated by their continued presence in an orc prison. Most promising is a tunnel that Otho - the designated You Go First team member - discovers leads into the river.
There are orcs fishing but they don't see Otho. It's not immediately clear that this is really an escape route but there are some promising features. From the sounds the party can hear of orcish celebrations, the party could sneak out, if they didn't mind being armourless and weaponless in orc territory....
Celebration going on upstairs. The party might be able to sneak out.
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no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 05:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 12:02 pm (UTC)The safer solution is sleep spell, then quietly roll.
The issue is, you are in a tunnel with orcs at both ends. This seems bad from a tactical standpoint. Sure, you might sneak past the fisherorcs... but how good is the worst person in the party at sneaking?
no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 04:28 pm (UTC)Re: Looking for self-motivated individuals
Date: 2013-10-19 12:03 pm (UTC)scamlegitimate business!