Thoroncir will put down his bow, draw his longsword and ensure that the spider is dead.
There having been no objection, as serjeant I will assume command of the party until Gil-Gandel and Ghan return, which I expect will be shortly. It will always be my preference to consult the rest of the party on major decisions, time and circumstances permitting.
You, of course, are unaware of Wizarding Directions ™, in which “west” actually means “east”. Deor is, naturally, merely in character… :smack:
Hmm. Well, to keep this moving, let’s go search for the spider’s treasure.
No. By now it’s nighttime, or nearly so. We should meet up with Gil-Gandel and the others, and then encamp outside, as he’d originally ordered. Our wizards need to rest overnight (as should the rest of us) and get a new set of spells, and then we can finish our exploring/orc-slaying/treasure-finding in the morning.
The party waits about 10 minutes and Gil-Gandel and the others show up.
Brin leads the party off to campsite he had found earlier. I believe at this point, I need a watch list for the night. We can assume that Deor, Renee and Ghân will rest and not watch. Moose, Missy & Brownie will help with the dark watches.
Thoroncir yields command back to Gil-Gandel, to whom he’ll report on what’s happened, and then will be glad to stand a watch.
So the spider’s dead? In principle I’d say any creature self-aware enough to ask for mercy shouldn’t be refused, but spiders are quite thoroughly detestable and I can’t be sorry it’s dead. There isn’t even a legend that such creatures are a perversion of something that was benign in its origins.
Let Gwaelur stand down for now - he has just run as I thought no-one could run in heavy armour. He can rise and don full gear for the pre-dawn stint. As you volunteered, Thoroncir, you will be on first and Theogrim on second. Mulligan, first, and Brin, third. I need little sleep - I will rest now for a couple of hours until it is fully dark, and again when it begins to lighten before dawn, so that my night-sight is put to its best use.
So that’s:
Thoroncir and Mulligan (and Gil-Gandel after two hours)
Theogrim and Gil-Gandel
Gwaelur and Brin (and Gil-Gandel for the first two hours)
with help from assorted animals - Missy and Brownie a little way from the camp where they can give us early warning of any intruders; let Brin advise us on the likeliest approaches for them to cover.
Sounds good- let’s get some shut-eye. I agree it’s a shame about the spider but it’s probably for the best.
Renee tells the tale of Ungoliant and a little history of her descendants. Most notable is the fact that it is believed by the wise that Shelob is the last of her daughters. The large intelligent spiders scattered through the mountains of Mordor and in Greenwood, once known as Mirkwood are all descendants of Ungoliant. They are evil by nature and it is said they can be detected as such by those that can well detect such things.
Ghân knows from Radagast that there is no redemption in the giant spiders. They are an evil hunger and no more. Trust them less than even dragons or orcs.
The night is peaceful and at 11pm Brownie arrives back. Brownie has a new message and is now visible. (He got hungry along the way and caught a nice snack.)
The message confirms the details of your message, they are moving up closer to the mountains under the cover of this night and stand ready to ride to your aid. Light the fire and they will be there fast.
At 3am Gil-Gandel sites some movement near down the path that the party followed up to the cave entrance. He watches for a bit and believes it is at least a score on foot.
Pass the word quietly for people to prepare for action. Hopefully the casters have had all the sleep they require to recover spells, though they’ll need time to reload, which they probably don’t have at the moment. Once people are up and about (assuming this goes OK) Mulligan and I shall slip in close and see exactly what’s afoot. Especially we’ll have a look and see if a score or so is all we have to worry about, or if there’s a larger force.
It’s good to know there are reinforcements not far away, but no sense crying wolf when all you have is a fox in the hencoop.
Thoroncir, bleary-eyed, will buckle on his armor, take up his weapons and see that Renee is well.
Deor will roll over groggily, wrap his cloak around himself and quietly sit up, observing the goings-on. He’ll bring his staff close to hand and sit quietly, trying to discover the intentions of this new band.
Renee starts her soft singsong chants to regain her spells.
Will I have time to study any spells before we’re attacked? If so, Deor will snatch his spellbooks and begin quickly and quietly studying, in this order:
1: [color=blue]Sleep, Enlarge
2: Invisibility
0: Tie, Untie, Bee, Whistle, Distract, Firefinger.[/color]
It will take roughly 15 minutes per spell, you might have time for the sleep or it might be a false alarm anyway. It does not hurt to try.
After 20 minutes the approaching party is nearing the orc lair entrance. Gil-Gandel and Mulligan return to report that it is a party of 22 orcs, wearing soft leather boots and armed with short bows and short swords. The have studded leather for armor and small leather helms. They are moving very quietly for orcs and have been stealthy in their movement. They will soon see the dead spider.
Renee has Cure Light back and Deor has Sleep and Ghân has Cure Light back.
Gentlemen, let us make our entrance and let the festivities commence. Deor, if you see a good opportunity to catch maybe half our enemy in your Sleep then by all means use it - it’s as good a use as we are likely to get out of it. They’re only lightly armed, no sign of any You-Know-Whats among them.
Thoroncir nods, readying his longbow and arrows.
Gwaelur smiles and readys his “little” axe.
Careful all, Orcs don’t move carefully like this.
Let’s go to work. I will keep a watch for anyone fleeing on the Orc side to try and make sure none escape.
Any Shaman get a explosive glass ball in the face. Normal bullets for the rest concentrating on leaders and archers.
Here we go again. 