Heroes of Helmstown (Team 1).

[Milskidasith]

With your mighty blow, the Orc falls down to the ground, dead. As he falls, the vines retract from all of you, leaving you free to head on to the Orcish encampment.

As for loot, you found:

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A well crafted, but confusing, bundle of leaves arranged into some form of symbol (knowledge: religion check for more info)
A bright and shiny mace on the Orcish leader.
20 silver pieces on the leader.
His hide armor, that, while decorated unusually, is in fine condition.
Three smelly, but competently made, suits of hide armor.
Three chipped, but still usable falchions.
Three red gems set into the handle of the mace, one slightly larger than the others (Appraise check to value).

[Milskidasith]

If nobody feels like making any checks, then I can just fluff your way to the main encampment...

[Killsauce]

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Knowledge Religion (1d20+4)[20]

[Milskidasith]

Killsauce Only:

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You know that the symbol is a crafted version of a local orc "God," who was really just an incredibly powerful Orc warrior (not the class) who left to live in the wild. While it's not actually a god, the concept of him is still enough to fuel clerics ability to cast spells.

All:

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OK with me warping ahead to the next area, or do you want to RP it up?

[Killsauce]

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I'd say let's go.

[Milskidasith]

Well, looks like it's "skip ahead" time.

After a few more hours of marching, you manage to make it to the Orcish camp. The forest around it is cleared irregularly, sometimes with no trees within 50 feet of the wall, and sometimes with trees whose branches extend well into the encampment.

The encampment itself is also interesting. It looks like it could hold a good forty or so Orcs. The buildings are wooden with thatched roofs, and the walls are ten feet high with cruel spikes extending outward at the top, making them almost impossible to climb up from this side. There is an occasional post with an animal skull on it outside the camp, but you don't see any skulls of sentient species.

From what you can see, there is little activity in the camp, though. The paths between huts are worn into what could be called small streets, but nobody is walking along them. You can see smoke rising from the other side of the camp, but what awaits there is anybodies guess.

[Killsauce]

Come menNebo declaresLet us make short work of them. May Pelor grant us victory.

[Omegonthesane]

"You're talking about taking out a camp of fairly well trained warriors, who outnumber us to a ridiculous degree. We need more time to plan and scout." Adam loads his crossbow, still hoping he won't have to actually use it.

[Demons_eye]

"I am ready to do what ever" the giant says.

[Milskidasith]

Bump? I'm not even sure what your plan is, so I can't NPC you guys.

[Gorgondantess]

Cyrnobol just stares at the camp impassively. "Well, what are we going to do? I'm a fighter, not a planner."

[Killsauce]

Are their any among us who can sneak up and take a closer look? I've never been one for sneaky tactics myself, but it seems that would be wisest here.

[Milskidasith]

DM hint to move things along:

Wooden walls.

Thatch huts.

Bonfire in the middle of the camp.

I am suggesting something pragmatic, but not necessarily good.

[Omegonthesane]

"...There's obviously a fire in there, and everything's wood and thatch. We should set the place on fire. I'd prefer to do it with one of our own arrows, but if anyone can sneak past that wall, we could use their bonfire to do it."

[Milskidasith]

If anybody has anything they can use to start a fire, now would be the time to mention it, or object to this... I'm going to give you a few hours, and then NPC it.

[Killsauce]

I don't know. says Nebo, obvious disgust in his voice I don't like using such cowardly tactics. Is there any other way?

[Omegonthesane]

"You want to use non-cowardly tactics, when we're outnumbered and they're real warriors. I could understand if you objected on moral grounds, but you'd have to be completely insane to want to play fair when the stakes are this high and the odds are so long." Then, Adam thinks of a method that might be more palatable to people never tainted by Azeron's divine vision, although admittedly it's more effort. "I have one other idea though. I could charm an orc into giving us a secret way in. Then at nightfall we could slit the warriors' throats, without needing to slaughter the noncombatants. However, it's a lot more risky than just torching the whole camp."

[Killsauce]

I would still feel cowardly. But at least we would be sparing the innocents.

[Milskidasith]

*Puts on DM voice*

Later that night...

You are all outside the camp in a section of woods. There are a few orcs with torches patrolling the woods, but they don't seem very interested in their job. You could probably sneak up on one without too much trouble.

[Omegonthesane]

((I don't think we actually have anyone who's good at sneaking, so I suggest OOC we go with the Torch Everything plan. The AC of the camp itself won't be too much, so we could take a -4 for improvised weapons and just throw a torch, but torches have range increment 10ft as improvised weapons. Who has the highest Climb skill so they can throw it from a tree?

As for getting the fire, I could Diplomance or Psionic Charm an orc into lighting our campfire so we have a free source of fire.))

[Milskidasith]

OoC: Nobody has flint?

[Milskidasith]

Bumping it up... we need a decision on what to do, or at least the go ahead to NPC your actions.

[Killsauce]

I'm going to use my detect evil on the camp.

[Milskidasith]

The camp registers as evil.