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Orc Ambush

The trail leads you through the brush for more than an hour without incident, but suddenly there's activity ahead. Lise yells "AMBUSH!" from his position at the head of the caravan, and draws his sword. From the bushes in front of him erupt about 20 human-like creatures averaging about 6 feet tall. They have green-grey skin, short fangs and snouts instead of noses. All in all, that fits the descriptions you've heard of orcs, although with one exception. They seem well armed, bearing swords, spears, long bows and crossbows of respectable quality along with clean armour, in most cases decent chain mail under their furs. The creatures themselves are relatively clean too. They bear newly painted shields with a picture of a bloodthirsty panther. They quickly form a line across the trail, pointing their spears and bows towards the party, effectively blocking the path ahead.

ROUND ONE

(1) As the orcs block the road ahead, Cleo spots some other movement behind the party, drawing her weapon, she yells "Hey guys, there's more coming from behind." Glancing back, another group of 10-15 orcs emerge from hiding and pile onto the trail behind the party. They are about 20 feet behind the second wagon.

(2) Kibbit glances back to look at the orcs at the rear, before saying "Guard my back" to Balnor and Serena. He draws his bow and starts to let fly at one of the orcs to the front. The arrow thunks into one of the orcs at the front, who is knocked over backwards by the impact. The orcs start to yell and scream and some of them bash their shields with their swords making a drumming noise.

(3) Serena swings down from her horse and draws her sword, reading herself for combat and scanning the bushes to the right side of the track. Seeing some movement, she says softly "I think I see some movement to the right. I think we are surrounded."

(4) Lucretia draws his sword, and looks around. "Stay together, prepare for a charge and whatever you do don't let them separate the group" he yells.

Meanwhile nearer the front, Ceely readies her harpoon and net, as her horse shifts nervously under her. She glances around, looking for possible ways out.

(6) Balnor jumps from his horse, landing heavily in the snow on the left hand side of Kibbit's wagon. Rising, with rapier still in hand, he draws his main-gauche, and crouches in front of his horse in a defensive posture.

Meanwhile, Herod looks around for a moment, before starting to hold his holy symbol and start to pray to Tempus. "Bless me and my allies o'Lord of Battle, that we might have victory over our enemies this day" he murmurs
[OCC: Bless spell]

(7) Lise at the front takes a moment to control his horse, disturbed by the noise the orcs are creating. He then draws a bastard sword and kicks his horse, riding straight towards the line of orcs, screaming a battle cry. The orcs brace themselves, as the horse rides straight at them, but at the last moment, all but one with a spear of them breaks nerve, and dive to the side. As the braced spear pierces the breast of the horse, Lise swings his sword, decapitating the offending orc, before his horse collapses from under him, tumbling him into the snow.

(8) Milo dismounts, and starts to walk towards the front, intending to talk to the orcs, as he passes, Lucretia says through gritted teeth "I doubt they will listen to reasoning. Get back to the safety of the group." As Milo see's Lise's charge, he hesitates, trying to raise his voice and speak in the orcish tongue to the group.

(9) Gavert looks behind the last wagon, seeing the orcs assembling on the trail behind. Dropping the reins, he pulls a flask from out of his bag on the bench next to him and slugs back the contents, before climbing up on the back of the wagon. A moment later, he leans forward and a huge cone of fire erupts from his mouth. The orcs at the rear scream in anguish as they are engulfed in intense flame. A nauseating smell of charred flesh and hair fills the air as about 10 of the orcs are burnt literally to the bone, whilst several others at the edges stagger in the huge cloud of steam and smoke created, flailing uselessly at their burning bodies, before collapsing to the scorched ground. The horse tied to the back of the wagon thrashes against it's leash, it's eyes wild with fear.

Meanwhile, Yvandel grips his puppet tighter, looking nervously around him in astonishment and not sure what to do.

(10) The orcs at the front recover from Lise's charge, and several rush to attack the fallen warrior, attacking with spear and swords. Lise tries to get to his feet as he two orcs succeed in thrusting their spears into him (8hp), another managing to slice him with a sword (3hp). The other 3 orcs around him miss in the crush.

Meanwhile there is shouting from the sides as well, orcs rise from cover, firing arrows and crossbow bolts as well as the odd spear at the party.

Arrows thunk into both sides of the wagons. Gavert, standing exposed is hit by several arrows, most luckily bouncing off his chainmail, but he staggers slightly as two remain embedded in his side. (6hp) Yvandel also gasps in pain and shock as an arrow embeds itself into his left side (3hp) but he manages to cling to his horse without falling off.

Serena is spun round by a crossbow bolt as it slams into her torso (5hp), and Kibbet takes a thrown spear in his torso. He staggers, manages to remain standing on the wagon bench and twists slightly firing a second arrow which slams into the orc who threw the spear.

A second volley of arrows fires from the orcs, and Gavert is knocked from the back of the wagon, a further 4 arrows sticking in him.(16hp). He groans and tries to rise, several of the arrows still sticking into him, other's broken off.

One orcish voice can be heard above the noise, shouting something over and over...it sounds like a command of some sort.

ROUND TWO

(3) Lise bursts heroically to his feet, scattering some of the orcs around him and swings his sword in a wide arc, slicing open the guts of a sword wielding orc. Two spears remain stuck in his body, and several other wounds bleed freely through the rents in his chain mail, but through strength of will he fights on, a somewhat desperate look on his face.

Meanwhile, Ceely spurs her horse forward, steering with her legs, (successful proficiency check!) and she tries to throw her net over one of the orcs attacking Lise. The orc manages to raise it's spear, catching the edge of the net and preventing it from entangling him. As her horse charges forward, intending to run some of the orcs over, a couple are bashed to the ground and trampled, but a third stands his ground, and braces his spear. Desperately trying to pull the horse aside, Ceely can only watch with horror as the spear pierces the chest of her noble horse. The horse stumbles, knocking over the orc with the spear, and then collapses to the ground, Ceely jumps free, holding her trident ready. (Successful dex check)

(4) Seeing that this situation is quickly getting out of hand, Milo turns to Yvandel behind him. He throws the staff to the puppetmaster. "Protect yourself and get back towards the wagons." he shouts over the noise the orcs are all making. Milo then starts to re-mount his horse.

(5) At the front of the caravan, of the 14 orcs previously on the road, 2 lay dead at Lise's hand and 3 at his back have been trampled by Ceely's horse. Of the remainder, 3 turn to face Balrum running towards them, one raises a spear towards Ceely, and the remainder continue to battle with the bloodied Lise. Lise gasps as another spear enters his side, causing him to drop his guard slightly and he hit again by sword and spear. (18hp total)

Back at the first wagon, as Kibbit desperately tries to put another arrow to his string weakened by the spear sticking into him, a further 3 crossbow bolts and an arrow slam into him (17hp total), causing him to stagger and fall from the wagon's seat (failed dex check). He lands heavily in the snow at the side of the wagon, snapping the spear in his body and crumpling in a heap, the arrows and bolts still sticking into him.

Ceely ducks as an arrow whizzes through the air near her, as does Herod, Lucretia flinches as a crossbow bolt slams into the side of the wagon next to him. Serena is again unlucky however, as a second crossbow bolt punches into her side (4hp), just before she throws herself flat. As she lands in the snow she gasps from the pain, but manages to avoid pushing the bolts further in.

As Milo goads his horse forward, intending to try and get everyone moving to burst through the ambush, he suddenly bellows out "CEASE FIRE! PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND TRUST ME!", followed by something unintelligible in orcish, and brings his horse to a halt. (Succeeds riding proficiency -6).

(6) Herod ignores Milo's shouts and draws his battle axe, attempting to goad his horse towards the front

(7) As Balrum rushes up, whirling his blades in circular motions, hoping to distract them with the kerchiefs he nimbly avoids one orc's spear, before blocking an attack with his main-gauche from another lond-sword wielding orc. He thrusts with his rapier, punching the point through the third orc's chainmail who had flailed wildly and missed him. The orc drops his sword and falls back, clutching his chest, the other two are more wary and fan out a little

Suddenly a booming voice can be heard, magically amplified, repeating once a command in orcish that is recognised as the same command that someone has been trying to shout above the noise for a little while. The voice switches to broken common, and adds "DROP WEAPONS, YOU SURROUNDED!"

The shouting and banging noise fades away, as most of the orcs stop their shouting. Almost all of the orcish archers lower their bows, though they keep them nocked. Those still in melee continue to defend themselves.

(9) Lucretia looks around for a way out of this lethal situation, holding his weapons ready, he moves closer to Herod and Yvandel, ready to help defend them, whilst keeping his small buckler held in front of him as small protection from bolts and arrows.

(10) Cleo rides towards Serena to assist her, keeping low in the saddle as the last few arrows fly through the air, luckily not hitting anyone. At the front, Lise, deep in battle frenzy and distracted by the pain of his numerous wounds continues to hack at the orcs around him, skewering another with his sword with a desperate thrust.

ROUND THREE

1) Herod manages to slow his horse and dismount landing to Balnor, with axe in hand (successful riding proficiency check at -6 and successful dex check). "Tempus favour the bold!" he says, wielding his battle axe menacingly.

(2) Yvandel drops the Firestaff accidently, and tries to keep control of his horse.

(3) All the orcs have now stopped firing their bows, but looking around, you can see at least 30 orcs with bows, and a further 15-20 with cross bows, all pointing at various members of the party. The two orcs standing in front of Herod and Balnor look worried as Herod arrives, but don't attack, merely stepping back a step or two, holding their weapons ready.

Lise at the front looks as though he is about to swing his sword to decapitate another orc, but suddenly pauses, glancing over his shoulder towards Ceely with a confused expression on his face. His target orc, having just seen the whole of it's miserable existance pass before it's eyes, can't believe it's luck, and despite another orc shouting and trying to grab his arm, thrusts his spear at Lise, the spear entering Lise's chest. Lise twists his neck to look at the spear and then at the orc, before his eyes glaze over and he falls into the bloodied snow.

(5) Ceely sees Lise's demise, and strikes at the orc facing her with her harpoon, piercing it's chest. The orc gurgles and blood dribbles down it's chin as it claws at the shaft of the harpoon through it's body. Ceely rips it back out and as she holds the bloodied weapon facing the remaining orcs, the orc falls face down into the snow.

(6) The loud voice repeats the orcish command, and then returns to broken common. "NO FIGHT! NO FIGHT! Blood Panther no want kill you!! Xred want you come visit him. Come see Xred! You no fight. We no fight. When you fight, you captured anyway. Visit Xred anyway. You no fight, we no fight. Okay what you say?"

Balnor holds his weapons ready next to Herod, facing down the two orcs who are backing off slightly.

Meanwhile, Lucretia dismounts next to Kibbit, and looks to examine his body before rising and standing defensivly.

(7) Milo again calls out something in Orcish, followed by "DON'T FIGHT! DON'T FIGHT!", as he rides his horse forward nearer to Serena.

(8) Cleo dismounts next to Serena, who whilst lying on the ground, removes the crossbow bolts from her own body, nearly fainting with the pain. (2 more hp). Barely concious, she claps her hand to her wounds to staunch the flow of blood. Cleo stands guard with weapons raised.

Ceely drops her harpoon by her side, shouting "Milo, you better be damn sure about this." She looks at Lise. His last wound looked lethal, and as he lies there, his life blood draining out into the trampled and bloodied snow, some of the orcs gather around her, with weapons levelled, but otherwise not attacking. She does her best to stem the flow of blood for Lise, but there are too many wounds, and too much blood.

Balnor and Herod stand side by side holding a couple of orcs at bay, who back off slightly and stand quietly, weapons still raised, as they are joined by some other orcs.

Balnor yells out loud "Who is Xred and why does he want to talk to us??!!! If I think that the reason you have brought us is a bad one you will be the first one to die a quick yet painfull death!"

Lucretia seethes with anger, peering round trying to pinpoint the orc's leader, who up to this point has not shown himself. Kibbit, with several arrows, crossbow bolts and the broken haft of a spear sticking in his crumpled body is looking like a lost cause.

Milo drops his scimitar and speaks to the leader in orcish. "We will go with you peacefully, but we must have an hour to tend our wounded. After I have tended my own I will tend to yours, but only in exchange for our continued safety." Switching to common, "I understood what the orcs say, and there were too many. I fear that we could have avoided these deaths if we use the muscle between our ears instead of the ones in our arms. Blood is on our hands now, and an uncertain future. We have no choice but to go. Let us tend the wounded and bury the dead" Milo approaches Serena and assesses her wounds. He notices that she is very near death and only magic can aid her in the short term. Quickly, before anyone can stop him, he prays for supernatural healing and lays hands on his friend (cure light wounds). He hopes it is enough. Noticing the others, he decides that there is nothing he can do for Lise ,and the others will wait.

Meanwhile Cleo watches over, holding her weapons up and watching the approaching orcs.

Further back, Yvandel stoops in pain and manages to retrieve the staff he had dropped. The barbed crossbow bolt is still in his side though, and he realises that it would probably hurt a lot more coming out than it did going in.

At the back of the caravan, there is a sudden commotion, as a number of orcs who had been approaching Gavert's body jump back and cry in alarm. A sudden swirl of mist marks where Gavert's body was. The mist doesn't seem to dissipate, but swirls off as if carried by the breeze.

The magnified voice of the Orc Leader speaks again. "You all drop weapons NOW! Walk to front, We go see Xred NOW. You no walk, you die. You resist, you die."

Each of the party look around trying to see which orc is the leader, where the voice is coming from. Eventually, as the other orcs come nearer, all with spears raised, arrows nocked and crossbows loaded, you spot an smaller group of orcs, standing off to the south side of the party. One of them is has no armour on, and is wearing feathers in his hair and bits of bone through his nose and ears. He looks like some form of shaman or witch-doctor. To his right is a powerfully built orc, with the head and skin of a panther tied over his head and shoulders. It is he who is speaking, you guess some magical spell of the witch-doctor amplifying his voice.

The Orc leader gestures impatiently, and waits for the party to drop their weapons and move to the area in front of the first wagon as he instructed.

As the party slowly start to comply with the Orc Leader's command, the orcs move in, many with leveled spears and swords, several still with aimed bows and cross-bows.

Balnor makes a suggestion to Yvandel "Carry your staff it will help you walk it will be much easyer then walking unassisted." As he sheaths his weapons rather than dropping them, the orcs watching him, yell in orcish, making guestures at his weapons and the floor.. "DROP!" one of them adds in heavily acented common. The other pokes his spear at him menacingly, until he drops his weapons into the snow.

Yvandel, stoops quickly and retreives the staff he had just dropped, wincing at the pain from his side. Using the staff, he hobbles to the front, his puppet dangling from his chest.

Meanwhile Ceely starts try and bandage Lise, ripping some of his cloak with her dagger to make into makeshift bandages. The orcs standing nearby look on for a moment, before another slightly further away walks up and barks commands at them. Turning back to Ceely the orcs make menacing noices, guesturing with their weapons for Ceely to leave the body and move... One of the orcs picks up Ceely's harpoon and hefts it appraisingly. Ceely manages to conceal a dagger in the makeshift bandages, but as she tries to lift Lise's body, another orc grabs Lise's leg, and jerks the body out of her grip. "GO!" it commands, guesturing again with it's sword.

Milo quickly performs a prayer and a spell of healing on Serena, who, feeling refreshed, (+7hp) although still injured, gets up and joins the group standing infront of the first wagon.

Lucretia mutters under his breath in anger at the orcs as he sheaths his weapon. Again, a few orcs approach and shout and guesture for him to drop his weapons on the ground and after a few moments of stand-off, he drops his weapons.

Cleo also drops her weapons and moves to join the others.

Once the party are disarmed, the leader approaches closer. "You come see Xred. You walk now. You no walk quick, we kill you." As a group of orcs lead the party away from the wagons, you can see several orcs quickly stripping the wagons of anything useful, including the various packs, weapons and supplies that belong to the party. The only things they seem to leave are the water-clocks. Loading up the horses, they lead them after the party.

The trail leads into the Neverwinter Woods, and it with trepadation that you are marched into the woods. Fairly soon, it becomes apparent that Yvandel is struggling, and as he suddenly passes out from his injury, Herod drops by his side and muttering a quick prayer, heals him and brings him around. The crossbow bolt has been ejected from the wound, and the wound has healed over. The orcs, impatcient at the delay, and waving their weapons are mollified to see Yvandel up and walking again, but Yvandel keeps up the pretence of using the staff for support so as to keep it with him.

The orcs continue to lead the party along a trail through the forest. The path is narrow. The orc warriors at times have trouble marching two abreast. It's also apparent to you, that the orcs are afraid. They remain constantly vigilant, constantly ready to defend themselves against something. And you - the captives or guests, whatever the case may be - definitely are not the source of their concern. The forest is still. You too begin to sense something to be feared. When the trail becomes narrow, each of you is guarded by 3-4 orcs, with a further 20 at the head of the trail, and probably 30-40 near the rear, trailing along with the horses and their loot.

The trail into Neverwinter Woods is dark, but the party also notice a substantial increase in temperature once you enter the forest, although no trace of sunshine comes through the thick canopy of deciduous trees and tall spruces far above you. After only a few hundred yards, the snow vanishes from the ground, and the temperature rises considerably. The feeling of being watched grows, and that's a feeling that's no doubt shared by the orcs. Their spears are constantly ready for battle. There is a leathery, green-grey hand on every sword hilt. Each bow and crossbow has an arrow or bolt nocked.