Just before they leave Renard calls aside Azazel and rolls out a wide
parchment upon the table.
The map shows the progress achieved on the first and second expeditions. They discuss their options for going back. Renard suggest that they could go back to the Hobgoblin caves and try to ransack their common room first but Azazel feels that the better option is to go back to the Orcs.
“Whilst they are very tough opponents, they are so chaotic that we’ll
never be able to rest in the Caves until they are beaten. Perhaps, he reasons,
we could make alliances with some of the other races but we could never ally
with the Orcs. They must be severely weakened”, Azazel reasons, “and now we’ve
got Kirak to help. Whilst Kirack will never be one of us, he will be a fine
destroyer of the Orcs”.
Renard nods and they set off.
Taking a similar course to last time they approach the mouth of the
Orc cave.
Kriak will be in the first rank together with Ranald.
Hunulf and Ibba will remain in the second rank with their two-handed
spears. Whilst they had a lot of difficulty hitting the Orcs from the second
rank Azazel is convinced this is a sound strategy.
Harti will join Azazel in the third rank and the rear will be
protected by Goar and Frideric.
As they enter the cave they keep a close eye on the trophy wall to see
if there is any movement.
They wait a while but there isn’t any reaction to them entering the
cave. It seems eerily silent.
Turning to the east they find a small abandoned 20ft by 20ft room. In
it are a few stools, an old crate and barrel, fire place and some wood. They
search the crate and barrel to see if there is anything of any value but there
is nothing.
Reforming they head down the western passage where upon they come
across a passage to the north and an opening to a large underground cavern. As
they get closer to the room they can see a large fire burning along the
southern wall and a 20ft long banquet table and…….four Orcs hiding
(unsuccessfully) behind the long table.
Round 1a
Initiative: The Faithful 17, Orcs 6
·
Renard and Kirak double move forward and start
to flank the Orcs behind the table.
·
With his reach weapon, Hunulf charges at the
closest Orc and stabs it in the left shoulder for 4pts. Surprised the Orc
bellows in pain.
·
Ibba follows suit and charges the Orc in front
of him but he fails to connect with his long spear.
·
Harti and Azazel double move up. Next round they
will go either over the table or around it to get to the Orcs.
·
With their lighter armour, Frideric and Goar
move up a little quicker and provide a second rank and some flank protection to
Renard and Kirak.
Round 1b
·
The northern most Orc lowers his crossbow to
fire a round at Renard but as he does so Ibba panics and stabs ruthlessly at
the Orc hitting it in the stomach for 7 points and putting it down.
·
The other Orcs laugh at the misfortune of their
brother and pass their morale check.
·
With more circumspect, the remaining Orc’s take
a 5ft step back and fire at Ibba, Hunulf and Kirak respectively but all the
shots miss.
·
Looking deeper into the gloom of the great hall
Kirak smiles “We’ve found them, we’ve found them all”
·
Azazel isn’t so confident……
Round 2a
·
“Rush them before they can surround us” yells
Azazel
·
Kirak rushes forward, leaps over the table and
swipes at the closest Orc with his battle axe and hits the Orc in the right
leg, cutting it to the bone and doing 9pts of damage. The Orc squeals in pain
and drops to the ground.
·
Hunulf jumps up onto the table and stabs as the
opposite Orc with his two-handed spear but misses.
·
Ibba follows suit and stabs at Hunulf’s Orc and
hits it in the head, popping one of the Orc’s eyes and doing 3pts of damage,
killing it slowly.
·
Renard and Harti double move to block the
northern entrance from the Orc common room.
·
Frideric double moves to block the southern
entrance.
·
Following Kirak’s lead, Goar rushes forward and
stabs the remaining Orc in the left leg for 3pts, gravely wounding it but not
putting it down.
·
Pushing past Hunulf, Azazel jumps the table and
smashes it with his heavy mace in the right shoulder for 6pts, killing it.
Round 2b
·
Surprised that their vanguard had been
dispatched so quickly, the male Orcs are rushing around getting their
equipment.
·
Meanwhile the females move towards the far
corner and herd the infants towards the north-western corner.
Round 3a
·
Rushing forward Kirak attacks the nearest Orc.
His battle axe bites hard into the Orcs left leg, almost severing it, for 8pts
of damage, killing the beast.
·
Harti and Ranard wait. They’d learnt from their
previous experience in rushing into a room such as this that they may well get
overwhelmed by numbers.
·
Goar moves over to cover Harti’s rear.
·
Frideric, Hunulf and Ibba move to cover the left
flank and Kirak’s rear position should he need to fall back.
·
Azazel moves forward slightly to be able to
support either flank. “Perfect” he whispers to himself. “We’ve got a real twist
on them”.
Round 3b
·
Roaring in frustration, the three southern Orcs
rush Kirak. All three slash at the sturdy Dwarf but none can be his 21 AC.
·
The two northern Orcs charge and attack Harti
and Renard but neither can breach their scale mail and large shield armour.
·
The two remaining Orcs move up but are
frustrated that they cannot get at the enemy.
·
Female and juvenile Orcs remain cowered in the
northwest corner.
Round 4a
·
Laughing, Kriak slashes his battle axe in a
great arc cutting the southernmost Orc for 5pts, staggering it but not dropping
it.
·
Ibba steps forward 5ft and stabs with his two-handed
spear but misses.
·
In the north, Renard and Harti slash at the Orcs
with their new swords. Whilst Harti’s blow is blocked by the savage Orc in
front of him, Renards blow strikes home, hitting the Orc in the groin for 5pts.
Round 4b
·
The three southern Orcs again slash at Kirak but
cannot wound him.
·
The northern most Orc attacks Harti but again
misses.
·
The wounded Orc opposite Renard lashes out in
revenge and lands a devastating blow, critically hitting Renard in the stomach
for 18 points, making him instantly unconscious.
Round 5a
·
Renard doesn’t stabilise and bleeds out to -8.
He is close to death.
·
Frideric moves north 5ft and pulls Renard back
from the main line.
·
Azazel casts a Cure Light Wounds on Renard
healing him back 2pts and Stablising his wounds.
·
Goar steps forward 5ft and attacks the Orc that
defeated Renard but he misses.
·
Similarly, shocked at the sudden loss of his
friend, Harti misses.
·
In the south, Ibba attacks the Orc opposite him
with his two-handed spear and misses.
·
Kirak attacks the Orc directly to his front and
strikes it in the right shoulder for 9pts of damage, instantly killing it.
Round 5b
·
Not broken by the fact that they had lost half
their numbers, the Orcs pass morale.
·
The southernmost Orc attacks Kirak with a large
overhand loop of its weapon. Kirak dodges but cannot avoid the falchion this
time and he viscously struck in the head for 10pts. Kirak grunts, acknowledging
the pain and squints a menacing look back at the big Orc.
·
Boyed by its critical hit on Renard, the Orc opposite
Goar has finds a weakness in the humans defences. It again swings its mighty
falchion and decapitates Goar doing 23pts of damage. Goars lifeless body slumps
to the ground.
·
Roaring with laughter, the Orc opposite Harti
slashes with its great falchion and also hits, striking him in the right
shoulder and doing 11pts of damage. The Master of Arms is Staggered.
Wow!!!! No one is laughing now.
Up until this point I thought this combat was going to be a push over but it’s
proving to be very deadly.
Round 6a
·
Wounded for the first time Kirak must make a
morale check. He must pass a 15 – 9 (for Azazels diplomacy), +2 (for never
having fought with this party before), +2 (misalignment with the party), +2
(racial differences) so he needs a 12 to pass and…….a 1 is rolled.
·
Kirak turns to run from the combat, as he does
the northern Orc stabs at his back, critically hitting him in the left leg,
severing it just above the knee and doing 22pts of damage. The Dwarf screams
out in pain and dies within seconds as he bleeds out from the massive wound.
·
Seeing Harti killed with one blow Ibba (and each
of the Faithful) needs to also take a morale check. He needs a 15 – 9 – 2 (for
having fought before with the party) – 2 (for his religious faith which is in
total alignment with the party) = 2. He passes with a 7.
·
Ibba attacks the Orc opposite him but misses.
·
Hunulf (who also passes morale) 5ft steps
forward and attacks the Orc opposite him. He stabs with his long spear but
misses the brute.
·
Frideric (passes morale) 5ft steps forward and
attacks the great Orc which has just critically hit two of his party. He also
misses.
·
Azazel moves up and casts a cure light wounds
upon Harti, healing him for 6pts and bringing him back into the fight.
·
Harti passes his morale and attacks the Orc
opposite him. He hits the beast, slashing it in the chest and doing 5pts of
damage, almost dropping his foe.
Round 6b
·
The southernmost Orc takes a 5ft step forward
and slashes at Ibba, hitting him in the right leg for 8pts of damage. Ibba is
dangerously wounded but not yet down.
·
Following on, the Orc opposite Hunulf also take
a 5ft step forward and attacks Hunulf but he misses the Treasurer.
·
Sensing victory the remaining southern Orc moves
up behind its tribe members impatiently waiting to get to the humans.
·
The Orc opposite Frideric lashes out and smashes
its falchion into the left leg of the Keeper of the Faith, dealing 9pts of
damage and dropping the Curate in training.
·
The Orc opposite Renard stabs with its falchion,
catching Renard with a nasty groin wound for 10pts, dropping the warrior.
·
The remaining Orc laughs as it watches its
brothers easily tear apart the interlopers.
Round 7a
·
Harti doesn’t stabilise and bleeds out a point.
Frideric also doesn’t stabilise and bleeds out a point.
·
Realising the imminent danger to the party,
Azazel casts Burning Hands, unfortunately catching Harti in the flames. Harti
takes 2pts of damage, dropping dangerously close to -7hp. None of the Orcs
save. The two at the front are instantly incapacitated and begin to die and the
Orc at the back is reduced to 4hps.
·
Ibba withdraws to beside Azazel and hopes that
their leader will heal him.
·
Hunulf similarly withdraws to provide a
protective, flanking position.
Round 7b
·
The northern most Orc pushes past Harti’s body and attack Azazel,
hitting him for 7pts of damage. Luckily, Azazel is still on his feet.
·
One of the southern Orcs sees his chance and
chases Hunulf. Hunulf gets an attack of opportunity as the Orc closes in on him
but he misses the Orc. In a last-ditch effort, Ibba stabs the Orc, with his
attack of opportunity and hits it in the head, piercing its skull for 6pts of
damage. The Orc slumps to the ground dead and Ibba, from the effort and the
strain, takes a point of damage and become unconscious.
·
Unperturbed, the next Orc rushes Hunulf, and
swinging its might falchion gets a critical hit, striking Hunulf in the right
shoulder dealing 15pts of damage, practically severing his arm. Hunulf falls
unconscious, almost dead, helpless at the Orc’s feet.
·
The last Orc rounds the corner and makes for
Azazel, pushing aside Renard’s body to get to the priest it lifts its falchion
and strikes Azazel in the left arm for 7pts of damage, rendering him, the last
party member unconscious.
·
The Orcs would feast on their human prey tonight.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agghhh friggin hell. At about Round 5 I figured I had this in the bag
but then in very quick succession I lost Kirak, Harti and Renard. Once Kirak
went down I should have figured that Ibba and Hunulf couldn’t hold the southern
flank and I should have pulled out immediately.
I’ve come to the conclusion that Orcs are bloody deadly. I mean stone
the crows they are +5 to hit and 2d4+4 damage. They were hitting most of my
guys on between an 8 and a 10 and then pretty much putting them down straight
away. And my Level 0 companions were hardly up to the job. True they helped but
the real stars, I felt, were the men at arms, particularly Harti and Renard
once I’d hooked them up with proper armour and weapons. But a couple of lucky
hits and down they went. With the Orcs doing an average of 9pts per hit it
doesn’t take long, especially with the big threat range of the falchion between
18-20. There were a number of critical hits from the Orcs and they were
normally confirmed and this lead to some devastating consequences.
I thought at first that the two-handed long spear was a great weapon
but the -4 to attack from a second rank meant that they didn’t once get a hit
from that position. True they did kill a number of Orcs that tried to rush them
but once they were engaged they were in real trouble because their armour class
was so low. There is a big difference between an armour class of 15 and 13 at
first level, especially when your opponent has +5 to hit.
The worse thing is that I was really starting to get attached to
characters as well. As a band of unskilled misfits they were doing pretty well.
Anyway I’ll start again.
What new character could have a chance against the Keep on the
Borderland?
DEW
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