Ghân thanks Gil-Gandel. “My people do not have such fine words. You honour us all.”
Ghân has four 2nd level spells left to cast today.
He casts two Cure Light Wounds on Nanthor and one on Theogrim.
If either are still injured he uses his herbal cures (2hp each; 11 left).
He is holding one 2nd level spell back for the moment.
If there is time while the funeral cairn is being made, Ghân will ask Moose and Thoroncir to cover him while he forages for more herbal cures.
The cure lights do 4, 3 & 6. So Nanthor is down only 6 after the first aid and Theogrim is full.
The orc makes a hesitant punch for a point of damage. Ghân can easiy help with this. The orc is visible.
The Trackers did pick up a trail but did not want to get to far from the party.
From the bottom of the post: *Caramir & Brin find several tracks leading back away from the battle, one human, three large orcs and 8 smaller sets of footprints. *
The orc, “What do you want to know and what will I get out of it? If I help you get Gash, set me free, I will go from these lands.”
“Gladly, my friend,” Thoroncir says, and with sword drawn accompanies him into the woods, maintaining vigilance.
Assuming Ghân can use more than one herbal cure on the same person, he cures Nanthor with 3 more herbs.
(I think this leaves Ghân with 7).
Ghân votes that the orc is helping the party (as much as an orc ever will) and that we offer him freedom in exchange for telling us all he knows about:
Ghân will ‘sweeten the pot’ by now casting Goodberry** and offering the orc two berries - each as a decent filling meal, which surely is rare for orcs in the wilderness!
Another berry will cure Gil-Gandel.
Can Ghân find any herbal cures from foraging?
*on behalf of Mulligan!
**Ghân has now used all his 2nd level spells for today…
Deor agrees with Ghan- if the orc can provide useful information, he could purchase his freedom with it.
I vote for pressing onward as soon as Nali is at peace- while I’m out of spells, Gash will be low as well. They’ll never be weaker.
That takes all the fun out of finding it. 
Is there anything interesting further down the path I was investigating?
Internet availability is spotty. Sorry. Will be better come Monday.
Lord Meriadoc, perhaps it would be better if Lord Caramir and I press forward a bit, while you let the rest know where we’ve gone. Better a Ranger to spot any more potential ambushes, and I shall provide him with cover. The others can quickly catch up, as our pace would be slow.
Ghân agrees with Deor - we assume Gash has cast at least Lightning Bolt, Invisibility 10 feet radius, Pyrotechnics and Shield.
He has also lost many troops.
If we can come upon him before he can reload, surely the advantage is with us.
Also Folca must have a chance of spotting a party of 12 fleeing…
Ghân sees if Brownie is ready to come back to roost.
He tells Brownie that flying off was clever.
Once Ghan is done gathering his medicinal herbs, Thoroncir will slay any remaining sleeping Orcs or goblins (other than the prisoner who is to be interrogated) who may be around. He will then see if he can recover any of the arrows he or others of the party fired, and distribute them accordingly, as best he can determine.
I agree with the questions for the prisoner which glee suggests, and would add only, “Does Gash have a boss? Do orders ever come for him from someone else, and if so, from where?”
So Brin & Caramir begin scouting ahead following the tracks. Moose is following them, hoping for some more orcs to kill. Mulligan also follows along but looking for anything of interest as he goes.
Folca is scanning for disturbances in the rocks & brush.
Ghân find no herbs and cannot heal Nanthor any more as Herbology is effectively once per wound and his wound was the lightning bolt. He does spread aloe to help with the burns.
The Goodberries spell produces 4 magic berries Gil-Gandel is full without the need and some very minor first aid. It was just a punch. The Orc refuses the berries, not trusting you or the berries.
The party is down to cantrips.
Ghân asks, “What spells have you seen Gash cast?”
The orc, “Lightning, sleep are his favorites, He makes a bunch of us invisible all at once. I have seen him make something broken fixed, he carries sack of powder that makes that huge smoke cloud, he made one of the Uruk Hai even stronger so that he could pick up and throw the goblins to cow them. He made my nose turn blue once and had a bee sting an annoying runt”
Ghân, “Are there any other spellcasters? How many other orcs are left?”
Orc, “No other spellcasters, but goblin shaman chants and cures some hurts. There are several Uruk Hai that were with him and a few more still at camp. Another 20 goblins or so.”
Ghân, “The camp, where is it? Are there any prisoners? Is there any treasure?
Orc, “The main camp is a large cavern in the northwest face of Mt Mindoluin. It is hidden by a screen of pine trees and bushes. The opening is through the bushes. We have many prisoners, at least 8, 4 human wenches, 2 males and 2 dwarves that we keep to make and repair stuff. There is some treasure, we had some, we stole some and Gash had some gold to help buy stuff when we first got together.”
Thoroncir asks, “Does Gash have a boss? Do orders ever come for him from someone else, and if so, from where?”
The orc, “Don’t know, might have boss, but he got no orders.”
At this point Deor & Folca spot two lines of movement heading west after going back downhill for a while on the stony path. The rangers are well behind but following the right way.
*Brownie returns as soon as Ghân finishes with the questions. *
Arrow recovery: Many were fired, I will make that another post later and assume others helped with this. The orcs were already killed. Mainly by the dwarves.
I thought the herbal cures were probably one per person. Makes sense in game balance terms!
Ghan uses all 4 remaining goodberries on Nanthor.
He tells the party he is down to one herbal cure (for 2hp) per person (plus any first aid he can manage).
Although Ghân has used all his five 2nd level spells plus a couple of 1st level (Entangle and Locate Animals for Brownie), he still has four 1st level and two 3rd level spells.
Ghân suggests that:
we have got enough information from the orc to justify letting him go. We tell him he must leave this area and that he will be followed all day* to make sure he obeys (*the orc has seen the two bird companions with us, so this is a reasonable claim, even if we don’t actually do it!)
we need to make haste to stop Gash reloading and to rescue the captives (also Gash knows we slept some of his orcs, so we could find out the camp location from them)
combining Folca, the orc’s information and the trackers we have a great chance to reach the camp quickly
Yes, let us keep up a hot pursuit, by all means. I am unhurt and, after recovering whatever arrows are usable, and scavenging some spares off the Orcs, will gladly accompany our trackers. Our previous plan of campaign was sound and we can reasonably hope that Gash cannot prepare a similar ambush to the last, which in any case did us little damage (save to him whom we have sent to his Fathers, but better to seek to make our foes pay than to sigh overmuch over what cannot be mended).
I will post before 2pm EST with the NPC reactions. I want to let players weigh in and roleplay first.
I’m also in favor of trying to track and pursue Gash. Giving him the luxury of time and distance only increases the chances we walk into another ambush, and maybe a nastier one this time.
I dislike letting the coward go, but am more concerned with catching Gash. Do with the orc what you will.
I will collect whatever bolts I have available and move to follow the trackers.
Ghân knows the orc is scum - but he did surrender and give us useful information.
Brin will try to learn from the Ranger. A pathfinder from Dale could learn much from a Ranger from Ithilien.
I agree- he cooperated and there’s no need to kill him now. Disarm him before letting him go, however.
I’d also like to put in a particular request to try to take Gash’s spellbook- lightning and 10 foot invisibility are spells I don’t have.
So we don’t kill him or hurt him, but I don’t know that we can trust him running free. He has proven himself a coward and has already broken his word to Gash. Cowards and traitors are the most dangerous captives, especially if you let them go, and he is both. Yes, he is a very dangerous orc indeed. But it is not my choice. And catching Gash quickly is a higher priority than keeping an eye on the orc.
Agreed. Thoroncir could, if there’s a consensus among the party or if Prince Caramir orders it, follow the orc - does he have a name? - to be sure he really goes away, but I’d rather my Sea-Knight stay with the party, where I think he can do more good. Whoever’s bringing up the rear of our party would maintain normal vigilance against attack from behind anyway, and I suspect the orc would know he’d be dead meat if we caught him again.