If Malacandra is cool with it, it’s OK with me.
This is fine with me.
Brin (firing at first), Fang and Ghân can guard Deor and Renee, while everyone else piles in with melee or missile.
I’m going to wait on Malacandra, as he might not want to very quickly try to sneak into the cave. He is not there now, but up on the overlooking ledge with the rest of the party. It would be a close thing to try.
I approve of the idea - a little danger is the spice of life. I want to find somewhere near the cave-mouth that I can shoot the light-arrow into as previously mentioned (while I’m still outside), then hopefully the sudden appearance of a bright light which they’re in and I’m not will give me enough distraction to allow me to scurry into the cave. I’ll make sure I am well inside before turning around and starting to fire - so if I’m seen running in, at least I’ll give myself the chance to get out of their line of sight and line of fire.
Does Ghân know if Entangle will work?
Ghân sees that entangle will not work near the cave opening, but if they tried to approach the party, he has plenty of excellent brush to use.
I post the first few rounds a little later, so get in your last minute instructions. Remember arrows will be flying.
Not much to say- I’ll try to catch as many as possible with a Sleep, then keep hiding if I’m still well-concealed and they don’t know where I am, or sprint back into the cave if I’m spotted.
Once melee starts, no one but Gil should be shooting arrows anywhere near the melee.
Gil-Gandel can probably shoot with accuracy at this range, but I don’t know if I trust anyone else to.
OK, Ghân should have a Barkskin cast* already. He follows with Faerie Fire to help the Archers, then Entangle if orcs approach the Casters. He will use his Blowpipe if there’s no risk of hitting the party.
Fang stays with Ghân + Casters.
*If this will alert the orcs, cast it in a later round.
So Gil-Gandel works his way with maximum stealth between the orcs and the cave entrance, he pops up and fires the light arrow from very close near the orcs and runs immediately for the cave entrance.
Deor sees a good knot of orcs and casts his sleep spell, he gets an amazing roll 13 orcs and would have got 14 if they were any closer to each other.
Brin, Mulligan, Thoroncir, Gwaelur and Theogrim all fire.
Brin hits killing his foe.
Mulligan hits with ease and does 8 dropping it.
Thoroncir misses.
Gwaelur sends a bolt through an orc killing it instantly. (Natural 20)
Theogrim hits one for 4 points.
That is 16 of the 22 already out of action.
The 6 remaining run out of the area, 4 for the cave entrance two at the party.
Ghân lights up 3 orcs with Faerie Fire that flee the light nearing the cave.
Brin hits on his second shot, killing one of the faerie fired.
Gwaelur puts the crossbow down and pulls out his Battle-axe and shield.
Theogrim puts down his bow and pulls his two handed sword.
Thoroncir takes another shot, at the one Theogrim had injured. He hits and it drops.
Mulligan moves out.
Only 4 orcs remain.
Brin fires on another close to the entrance to the cave and faerie fired. It drops.
Gil-Gandel hits and injures the one coming into the cave that was not lit.
The remaining orc shoots at Gil-Gandel and hits for 4 and he saves vs. poison.
Gwaelur crashes down on the one orc and hews him with his axe and pounds him with his shield. The orc did not hit.
Theogrim misses the other orc, it stabs with a log knife and does 2.
Thoroncir hits it with his long sword and drops it.
Gil-Gandel hits his foe and drops him.
The orcs are done in quickly, too much magic for them to overcome.
Only Gil-Gandel and Theogrim are injured and light enough for herbology and healing to be the better choices.
13 orcs are sleeping and must be dealt with and some of the orcs may only be unconscious.
Glee, bad news/good news. I missed your post and thus you save the barkskin.
Wow, good round. Can we get Brownie and Moose to do a quick perimeter sweep to check that there aren’t any more around? Do we wake them up, or kill them as they sleep? We could light the signal fire and ask the cavalry to bring them in.
It’s ok, maybe Renee wasn’t watching.
Well done, everyone. Is it worth it to interrogate any of these orcs, or is summary execution again the order of the day?
Sword drawn, the Sea-Knight will warily check the downed orcs, disarming them all and seeing if any have any badges or other indications of rank or allegiance. Perhaps Gil-Gandel could cover him with his bow and pincushion any who resist?
Given that we have a fair amount of rope and somewhere to stuff them out of sight, I think we can let this lot live. Certainly long enough for them to be picked up by the cavalry out there. Plus we can get some useful info out of them, in terms of where they came from and how many more colleagues they have.
Deor, Nice use of spell there, that is getting to be really useful.
Thoroncir, why don’t you cover me while I check them out. Hopefully I can do it without waking them.
Since orcs are inherently evil, presumably the Cavalry simply take them off to execution - so what do we offer them as a reason to co-operate?
Ghân tells the party that there are a couple of Monster Spiders left guarding lair entrances. Also the large numbers of spiders that were with the Monster Spider we killed are normal spiders, so maybe Ghân can learn somethimg from talking to them.
Ghân uses 4 Goodberries on Gil-Gandel.
Renee, “They orcs will not be simply taken off to execution. The King & Queen are trying to find a better way and they would likely be employed in the roads programs for now. If you wish to signal the calvary, I would suggest save the fire for now and set the lighted arrow up there instead.”
Some would note that she seems strangely defensive in her statement.
I agree with Renee, we can deal with them at this time without having to resort to killing them.
We have enough rope here and troops close by to ensure they will not be a threat and they can provide information to us which will be of use.
Does anyone disagree ? :dubious:
Nope, it sounds good to me.
Ghân has the grace to blush :o and immediately congratulates Renee and the Royal family.
He now enthusiastically asks that someone interrogate the orcs and tell them that any failure to co-operate could lead to severe penalties.
Ghân suggests asking:
- how many orcs were in this lair
- did you ever see the Shaman use the painted Red-Eye, and what did he say
- do you know of any other bands nearby, and do you ever work with them
- do you know anything about Hunter-Killers
- how many Monstrous Spiders are there in the lair
As you wish - thanks. I have no objection to keeping them as prisoners, and turning them over to the Gondor cavalry after interrogation. Then would it be useful for anyone to get more sleep, or are we all up for the day? We still have some caves to explore.
As to sleep the spell casters are actually OK if a little tired still, but most of the guards are short on sleep and could use a few more hours. Gwaelur and Brin are rested and would be going on watch anyway about now. Thoroncir, Mulligan and Theogrim could use more sleep.