Randolph
Absolutely pleased with the progress of the battle (coupled with his doing absolutely nothing), Randolph begins to appraise the orc corpses for any valuable loot.
Spoilersearch check of any nearby orc bodies.
[roll0]
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Randolph
Absolutely pleased with the progress of the battle (coupled with his doing absolutely nothing), Randolph begins to appraise the orc corpses for any valuable loot.
Spoilersearch check of any nearby orc bodies.
[roll0]
Begin Round 3
Jackson- 19
SpoilerJackson shoots a ray of frost at the last remaining Orc, in hopes of knocking the foe out, but the ray barely misses the Orc, blowing right past it...
Tommy- 16
SpoilerTommy bashes at the Orc with his shield, but misses the Orc...
Randolph- 14
SpoilerRandolph runs to a nearby Orc and loots the body. He manages to find a club, leather armor, and 10 gold.
Aldaer- 12
SpoilerKnowing that the battle is all but over, Aldaer runs to disarm his previously set traps. He now possess 2 traps on his person.
Charles- 11
SpoilerCharles runs to get a clear shot at the remaining Orc. He fires off his sling and the stone soars through the air. As the Orc notices the stone, it connects directly in the center of its face, sending him flying backwards. As he lands with a hard thud, his tongue flops out of his mouth and blood pours from his corpse...
Battle over.
Is... is that... all... of... them?
Jackson pants, holding his side in obvious pain.
Charles
Charles exhales slowly, bending over to rest his hands on his knees. 'It's over,' he tells himself, willing his pulse to calm and his head to steady.
As the last Orc drops, everyone gets a share of the loot from the corpses (keep in mind you don't need to take anything):
Spoiler1 Leather armor/player
1 club/ player
20 gold/ player
Also, you level up. You are all level 2 Commoner now! Congrats!
Val watches impressed as Charles takes out the last Orc. As everyone recollects their equipment and meets back up with Val, he looks back to the hills.
"This was merely a scout team sent by the Orcs. When they don't return, the Orcs will undoubtedly be sending everything at us. I need you all to hurry to the castle now before this happens. Tell the king of the situation. I'll stand back and hold them off as much as I can. Now go!"
Val then drops to his knees and begins to pray silently...
Aldaer listens to Val talk and pulls a bowl out of his wooden backpack. He concentrates for a second, and a thick green gell fills the bowl. He puts it on the ground, and says to the group, "Come, and rub this in your wounds. I've manifested some healing salve."
SpoilerUsing a power point to use minor creation to manifest Healing Salve, Tome of Blood style. 50 applications, and 1d8 healing per dose.
With that done, he walks over to Val, and takes him by the shoulder saying, "Come with us, Val. You'll be more useful leading the survivors than defending this backwater. I'm not going to leave you to die, goddammit! Homes can be rebuilt, land retaken, but you are not replacable. We could even torch the lot to leave nothing behind for the scavengers. Good luck feeding a horde without spoils of war."
*Jackson nods and takes enough healing salve to ease the pain in his side.*
Aldaer, how long do your traps last? And, how many can you make?
For that matter, how much oil and hooch do we have left? I can fashion more firebombs for you, Val. Least I can do before we leave.
Ellie unties the rope and instead loops it over the bough, holding both lines as she carefully climbs out of the tree. She re-coils her rope and runs up to Charles, giving him a big hug.
"We did it! We beat the orcs!" She doesn't say how terrified she was.
As the group divides up war equipment from the orc party, Ellie tries on a suit of leather armor. It feels stiff and makes it hard for her to move, plus it makes it feel like she's pulling a carriage. Ellie always keeps her sack light because she isn't very strong. She tries running and rolling in the armor and realizes it's as likely to get her killed as to save her life.
Giving up on the armor, she tosses it aside and starts brandishing one of the clubs. The others might notice that she's imitating some of Val's moves from the orc fight, as she bludgeons imaginary orcs to death.
"My traps last until they're sprung. With some quick scouting, I'm sure we could find enough materials to make more than enough to occupy me setting them up until the whole host arrives. I'm not too sure we should leave Val behind though."
Tommy is overcome with a wave of relief as the last Orc falls. He takes a deep breath and collects his spear from the dead Orc. He then regathers his caltrops as well.
After hearing Val's request for the villagers to leave, Tommy shrugs his narrow shoulders.
"I... I agree with Val. We need to go warn the king about this, but if we leave Val behind, we need to set him up with as much as we can. You're sure you want us to leave you behind Val?"
Tommy looks around the town square at the dead Orcs. He still could not believe they had stopped the Orcs!
Val finished his brief prayer and looked back at the remaining people of Ro. He listens to their requests and questions and brushes them off. He still wears an encouraging smile though as he says, "Please conserve your energy. After that hard fought battle, you need to use your energy on informing the king. I'm not staying behind to protect the building. I'm staying behind to protect you. Now please, trust me. Hurry to the king while there's still time."
Charles hugs Ellie back with a smile, then adds the gold to his pouch.
"I think we should take the armor with us," he suggests, "if nothing else, I'm sure the king's men could use some spare sets." He hesitates, then reaches to clasp hands with Val. "It's been an honor."
Tommy nods in agreement. "Thank you Val for all your help."
Tommy then gathers his equipment and is then ready to head to the castle.
*Jackson nods*
He claps Val's hand.
Thank you for taking me in when I stumbled into the village.
Please, retreat to the castle as soon as you can.
Aaron watches the slaughter going on further off in the town. As the conflict finishes, Aaron lowers his shovel. He moves in towards the town to see what's happening to the others. Val is speaking, and he hears Val say that they are to go to the castle. Aaron turns and heads back to the graveyard, accidentally tripping over a bisected orc. Looking down, Aaron finds a small bag on the orc's belt. Picking it up, he finds 20 gold coins. He quickly pockets these and continues on his way.
Reaching his crude hut that had served as a home for so long, he goes inside to gather his belongings. His lantern, some rope, a bedroll, a few vials of lantern oil. He carefully gathers these in a sack, swinging it over one shoulder and gripping his shovel in the other hand. He walks out, turning towards the graveyard one last time. Setting down his things for a moment, he walks up and down the rows of familiar graves, murmuring prayers in Celestial as he passes them. Then he reaches the grave he buried his father in. He kneels beside it, gazing at the tombstone.
"It appears I do not join you today father," Aaron says to the grave, "It looks like I'll have to leave the graveyard behind, the one you and I cared for. I'm sorry."
Aaron weeps briefly, digging his fingers into the soil near the grave. He pulls up a small handful of soil, letting it run through his fingers. He gets to his feet.
"I'll still honor the dead, just like you taught me too," Aaron says as he begins to edge away from the grave, "I promise."
Aaron walks away, going to pick up his sack and shovel again. He reaches the gateway within, turning back one last time.
"Goodbye father," Aaron says, his voice choked. He wipes his eyes and heads out into the town square, ready to leave his home for the first time in his life.
When Ellie senses that the group is about ready to depart, she goes and collects her caltrops from under the tree. Blech! Orc blood! She wipes them clean as best she can and is ready to go.
She looks up at Val with admiration. And then she stifles a shudder when Aaron approaches.
Spoiler: OOCIf anyone else has carrying capacity, they can take "Ellie's" armor, but the weight is a bit much for Ellie.
Randolph
Already composing a ballad called the Battle of Ro in his head, Randolph pockets the coins and boots it for the castle.
SpoilerWhoops. And the armour.
As the party leaves Ro behind them, you find yourselves walking on a beaten dirt path towards the castle. The area is cleared, save for some oversized trees, making the walk rather simple and relaxing.
The castle eventually comes into view, and in a matter of moments a small caravan of guards approaches the party. A guard makes a step towards the party, hand resting on a weapon.
"Halt!" the guard orders. "Identify yourselves!"
Jackson steps forward.
We are refugees from the village of Ro. We're fleeing an orc incursion into our lands. Our headman is valiantly trying to hold them off, after insisting we flee and send word to the king.
Charles lets Jackson handle it. He's sure he looks perfectly ridiculous, holding the suits of leather armor that wouldn't fit in his backpack, and isn't sure the gate guards would take him seriously.
Aldaer had pulled his pipe out of his bag shortly after leaving the village, and has been smoking in sulky silence ever since. His psicrystal senses his moods, and has only issued subdued "woo's...". As he hoists his wooden backpack higher, he spits on the ground, and it sizzles there a little. He seems to be following the pack, but not there mentally.
"It doesn't sit right with me, abandoning that man.", he thinks at his psicrystal, "Are we just savages?"
There is no response from the crystal.
The guard looks at Jackson, eyes squinted.
"You say... you say you're from Ro? And who is the headman?"
Randolph
"Val was the headman. I regret he may have fallen already, captain!"
Randolph always figure elevating the ego a jumped-up thug like this guard with a minor "promotion" helped them to pay attention. In reality, Randolph would be surprised if the man had any authority beyond the weapon in his hand.
"He tasked us warn the king before it was too late!"
The guard looks over at his partner for a moment before looking back at the party. He pulls out his sword and scowls.
"I hereby place you all under arrest under the orders of the king. Into the prison cart, peasants!" the guard orders as he points a large sword to a small cart.
The other guard looks menacingly at the party and adjusts his armor, a sort of warning that the peasants should think twice before doing anything funny.
Charles steps back, drops the armor. He is not, under any circumstances, getting into that cart. "Under arrest? Wh-What do you mean? What could we possibly have done?"
The guard slowly exhales as the peasants begin to protest. He calms himself before responding.
"We have been placed under the order of the king to prevent round up any peasants from the nearby villages. Nothing personal folks, just following orders."
"You said arrest!" Charles takes another step back. "Arrest means I've done something wrong, and I haven't."
Randolph
"The beasts are just the first wave! Val warned that giants are in their vanguard!"
He tosses down the leather armor that he pilfered from the orc.
"He said the invasion has begun! The King must be alerted, sir knight!"
SpoilerBluff? What the hell.
[roll0]
Someone better than my -2 WIS hopefully will try to sense motive...meta-hint, meta-hint...
Jackson tilts his head at the guard.
Spoiler: Sense Motive:Here goes nothing... maybe roll better than a 1, eh?
[roll0]
Spoiler: *sigh*And... is still apparently something of a drooling moron. :smallannoyed:
Rodney hoots in celebration at the victory and snatches up some supplies. The equipment he finds doesn't suit him well, so he just stuff's them into his backpack. The gold he finds causes him to emit a low whistle. This is more gold than he'd usually earn in a week. "No wonder they become adventurers…" he chuckles aloud. But, when he hears Val's proclamation of unnecessary self-sacrifice, he loses his mirth.
Rodney had no intentions of staying in Ro a second longer, but he hadn't expected someone to want to stay behind and throw themselves in front of an impending horde either. He starts to protest Val's decision, but the rest of the group speaks first. After Val proves his resolve, he walks up to the man, holds his hands out to shake it, then says with a sarcastic sobriety. "Val… yer an idiot." His wink and weird smile shows that he's only teasing, but as he slings his crossbow back over his shoulder, he looks back at Val. "We would'a died here without yer help. Don't stay in Ro too long."
Rodney hangs in the back of the group as they march along the merchant road to the city, and he whittles away at some sticks he picked up along the way. He'd recovered as many bolts has he could from the battle, but the shafts were too badly damaged to be usable. Still the bolt heads could be reused at least, and he had nothing better to do to pass the time. Besides, Aldaer wasn't offering much in the way of conversation except to occasionally mutter or gesture at that weird crystal he always keeps with him. He thought a few times about cheering Aldaer up, but ultimately decided the guy was best left to his own thoughts. When his odd traveling companion spits acid onto the ground, he jumps aside and eyeballs the man nervously, increases the space he gives the guy, and tries to play it off by whistling a fun tune.
Craft (Weaponsmithing) check to make some replacement bolts (DC15?)
Spoiler1. Item Value: 1 gp (10 SP)
2. DC: Assumed 15 (Crossbow ancillary gear)
3. Craft Cost: 3 SP (or 2 SP if this is considered a repaired item)
4. Craft Check: [roll0]
15 x 17 = 255 (25.5 times the value of bolts in SP.)
7 days / 25.5 = 6 hr 45 min. to craft 10 bolts.
When they're stopped by the guards, he looks up from his work and lends an ear to the conversation. He never trusted guards. They're little more than thugs with badges anyway. But any sword is better than none right now… maybe they could go lend Val a hand…
His eyes pop open when the guards tell Randolph they're under arrest. He starts to pop off with a retort about how his tax money pays their salary, but Randolph beats him to the punch with a line that might get them out of this without a severe beating. "Yeah!" He says sticking his thumb into his belt like he's someone important. "You got a lot o nerve interferin' with the emissary of Ro. War is on, and yer king is about to be ass deep in orcs if you don't get to the front lines now." He looks past the guards. "Maybe lend us some of yer horses so we can get there even faster. We got important intel on their only weakness. An' I'll be damned if we're gonna' trust an' oaf like you an' yer lot to the details. Chop, chop, soldiers. You got work to do, an' we ain't got more time for ya." He claps his hands sharply as he barks orders to the guards.
More Dice Rolls:
SpoilerNot sure if this should count as my own bluff or aiding Randolph. But I'm hoping to blend a bluff with an intimidate check here. I'll roll everything and let the DM decide.
Bluff: [roll1]
Intimidate: [roll2]
Aid Another: Bluff vs. DC 10