Crypt of the Everflame IC

[u-b]

Spoiler: Thomas

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There are about half a dozen places within 60 feet where some more orcs might be hiding without necessarily being good at it. These are mostly bushes. You cannot see through, but think you would be able to see if these bushes were moving. They are not. So, either nobody there, or they are not moving, or they are good at it. The places where it would require more skill to hide are more numerous, but again nobody seems to be failing skill checks.

Spoiler: Taes

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Not sure how you gauge someone's power just by looking at him, but here's what you see about the orcs. They are all muscular. Two to the sides are young adults. One in the center looks older. They are armed the same - all three have greataxes and javelins, they just chose to draw different weapons. Their equipment seems to be of ordinary quality. They do not have any packs or pouches worn.

Also, trusting your keen sight, you are almost sure nobody is going to pop up from immediate surroundings close enough for a surprise attack.

[kailkay]

Turor

Quietly, to his party members around him, he will mutter, "You can't trust an orc. Let the big one in the middle there come to me. Those other ones, they're yours. By Torag's Forge, do orcs ever get my blood a-boiling."

The dwarf will then step forward and ready his hammer and shield, hustling forward a full 30' (two move actions) and coming to a stop 20' away from the middle orc. He draws a line in the dirt and leaves with the toe of his right boot and falls into a battle ready stance, calling out a challenge, more to buy time than anything else.

"I am Torag's mighty servant. By my beard and his holy Forge, step aside, or be smote into the dirt where you stand, and be food for the worms!" Wonk, wonk, wonk, his hammer and shield bang together.

Spoiler

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Intimidate: (1d20+1)[21] to en-shaken them/the big one in the middle. Nope, that's a standard action, silly kailkay. Way to waste a good roll.

[u-b]

"Nag-ingon ang siya makagagahum!" - mentions central orc and both of his associates burst in laughter.

The orc advances towards Turor and swings his axe. Turor falls to the ground, almost split in half, blood pumping from his open arterias, guts falling out and you are almost sure you can see lung and ribs. Other orcs rejoice and shake their javelins.

"Single combat!"

Spoiler: Translated from Orcish

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"Nag-ingon ang siya makagagahum!" - "Says he mighty!"

Spoiler: Crunch

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Turor: -15 hp

1. Taes, Turor (any order)
2. Two orcs
3. Now: Ruhk, Filiberd, Thomas (any order)
4. The remaining orc

[Smileybastard]

Thomas

"Holy ****! Ruhk, start softening them up or slow them down or something. Taes, shoot the main one! Filli ... do whatever you do!"

Thomas then slinks into the forest on whatever side seems best to give him cover.

Spoiler

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Stealth [roll]1d20+7[/roll]

[fendrin]

Ruhk

"I told that idiot dwarf not to just charge in, now he's gone and gotten himself killed..."

Unless this is just an illusion... I'm pretty sure someone said something about illusions of enemies...

Ruhk moves closer, chanting. Throwing his arms out in front of him, a cone of bright, colorful light erupts forward, bathing the orcs.

Ruhk waits to see what the other orcs do...

[Moranica]

Filiberd

Filiberd screams as Turor is cut down in one blow.

"Nooooo!!!"

Hesistantly he moves closer (till behind Taes) and fires an arrow at one of the weaker looking orcs (left one).

Spoiler

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Attack (1d20+5)[9]; (1d4)[1] damage
Crit (1d20+5)[10]; (1d4)[2] damage

[u-b]

Filiberd's hasted shot from behind Taes goes wide. Two orcs, either seeng that there is no more "single combat" or following what their intent was anyway, move closer and throw their javelins at Taes, who is able to dodge one of them, but not both.

Spoiler: crunch

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Turor: -5/11 hp
Taes: 6/10 hp (was hit for -4 hp)

1. Ruhk, Taes, Turor (any order)
2. Orc
3. Filiberd, Thomas (any order)
4. Orc', Orc''

[fendrin]

Ruhk

That's it, get nice and bunched together...

Ruhk moves up past his companions, chanting. Throwing his arms out in front of him, a cone of bright, colorful light erupts forward, bathing the orcs.

The one with the axe drawn and the one on Ruhk's left collapse to the ground.
The one on his right... looks annoyed.

[kailkay]

Turor

The dwarf, in a heap, continues bleeding...

Spoiler

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(1d20-3)[12]

...And stabilizes!

[Kadiith]

Taes

Taes grunts in pain and quickly lets fly an arrow toward the orc on the left.

Spoiler

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Attack - (d20+5)[21] damage - (d8+1)[9]

[u-b]

The arrow hits the orc straight through the chest, only feathers protruding this side of the wound. The orc seems surprized by how things became so wrong so suddenly, but the ferocious creature does not seem to be falling just yet.

(two more PCs still to go)

[Moranica]

They seem shocked by our attacks. Time to save the dwarf.

Filiberd moves up to Turor. Being up close, the wounds look less lethal then when he went down. He squats down, putting his hands on his head and over his heart, while whispering arcane words.

Hang in there, ... fellow adventurer I guess. I'll bring you back.

Spoiler

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Casting cure light wounds on Turor. Healing (1d8+1)[8] damage.

[kailkay]

Turor

Turor lets out a sigh as his eyes flutter open weakly, staring into the face of the halfling.

"Th'nk y'r... hrn... y'r club'n'shield... my pack... need 'em?"

[Smileybastard]

Thomas

Thomas works his way around behind the orcs.

Spoiler

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Stealth (1d20+7)[20]

[u-b]

The orc draws his greataxe and steps back on the road, putting several opponents between him and that archer. You can see how difficult it is for him. The arrow sticking in him must be hurting every move.

(everyone to act, any order)

[Moranica]

"You'll be alright, sir dwarf. Are you able to fight again?", says Filiberd as he readies his bow again with a new arrow.

"We need to take 'm down now!", and the arrow flies at the standing orc that just drew his greataxe.

Spoiler

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Point blank shot is in effect. Hoping to shoot before Turor gets up.
Attack (1d20+6)[25]; (1d4+1)[3]
In case of crit. (1d20+6)[19]; (1d4+1)[4]

[u-b]

The arrow hit the orc through the thigh, he looks badly hurt, but is still standing.

[Kadiith]

Taes

Taes sees the Dwarf in better condition, and smiles grimly as he notches another arrow. He strafes to the side so that he can see the orc and lets the arrow fly.

Spoiler

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attack - (d20+5)[19] damage - (d8+1)[8]

[kailkay]

Turor

(In the event that the orc is close enough for Turor to stand and swing in one round...)

Turor gives his head a shake, clearing the groggy stars associated with almost dying, and climbs to his feet, hammer still in hand. And then he takes a vicious series of swings with that warhammer.

Spoiler

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(1d20+5)[18](1d8+3)[6]

"Single combat."

[u-b]

The orc swung his greataxe mightily, trying to exploit the opportunity while Turor was standing up from the ground, but was hit in the chest again with yet another arrow and his attack went wide, axe slipping from his weakening hands as he stumbled, falling to one knee, getting a hammer blow straight in the head and finally collapsing to the ground motionless.

So much for single combat.

Suddenly... (click thrice to select) all the orcs and orc corpes and all their stuff disappear, and Turor and Taes start to feel better. So that was an illusion, after all. Seems like a good one.

[fendrin]

Ruhk

"Illusions... it figures..."

At least we don't have to have a moral debate about what to do with survivors.

He turns to Turor.

"You ready to travel?"

[kailkay]

Turor

Turor gasps loudly, watching the orc before him disappear in a blink. Confused momentarily, he stands up and glowers at the bushes, until Ruhk gives an explanation that makes sense to the dwarf.

He looks down to his mended front, tentatively sweeping a finger over his chainmail, before putting his warhammer away.

"Soon." He looks up to Ruhk and then down to the bard who saved his 'life'.

"You are a very brave little fellow, Fil. I think you should probably take your shield and club with you, and wear them at the ready; if this little shadows-from-the-forge show is any indication, I may..." his voice shakes a bit, "I may not be able to protect you as much as you'll need. I'll take your tent for you, so that you can hopefully move around a little freely."

He stands up a little straighter and looks to the rest of the group. "I think I saw one or two arrows fired before I blacked out; check your quivers. If it turns out you actually fired them, we should take a couple minutes to see if we can't find them. They're more useful than an extra canteen."

He glances to Ruhk and tips his head to the side. "Do you think there's any way to tell if further combat encounters are going to be illusory or not?"

Perhaps it is all a test for the village's younglings. So much ceremony, these humans.

"Let's catch our breath a bit, maybe, have a look for those arrows and then get back at it? Hopefully the next bunch that jump out at us are close enough for me to charge into them before they can get a swing off."

[fendrin]

Ruhk

"Well..." he says, scratching his neck stubble, "the best defense against illusions is to be wary of them. They may not behave completely true to reality, especially if you touch one, or hit one with something. Look for little glitches, delayed reactions, not enough resistance to your hit, things like that. Keep your mind and senses sharp."

...but will everything be illusions?

"I doubt that we will only face illusions though. Honestly, that's a trick that works best used infrequently. Now that we've faced illusions, we're more likely to figure them out if we come across them again. Not to mention that we are in the wilderness, not a controlled environment. There is always the chance that we will find something that's not part of the script."

[Moranica]

"Alright, that sounds reasonable, Turor. Here's the tent."

"So, sounds like we'll be hitting more trouble sometime soon. I must say our tactics were ...., quite unlike those in the books. One sprinted to his death and another ran off into the woods. .... So, what should we do next time?"

I really want to and such a battle with the fat Annibelle Width,'s words:' I love it when a plan comes together'. Yeah, that should make for a good story also!

After speaking Filiberd casts detect magic and starts looking around, where there once were mean orcs.

[u-b]

Filliberd starts to look around, and indeed, there is a barely detectable trace of magic present. After some more concentrating, Filliberd can see the area that is magical mostly extends south along the road. It does not extend much in any other direction. Then the aura finally fades into nothingness.

[Smileybastard]

Thomas

Thomas walks out of the trees upon seeing the illusions vanish. He looks annoyed. "So ... what caused the illusions?"

[kailkay]

Turor

Turor frowns rather deeply and hefts his shield up onto his shoulder as he glances up and down the road.

"We'll have to be on our guard moving forward, then. I do not envy the idea of being split open again, even if it's all clay and no iron."

The dwarf scans up and down the road, shielding his eyes from the ambient light, in an effort to see any spent arrows.

[u-b]

Of four arrows spent, three hit their target and now form a small pile on the road where the orc has been. You have no slightest idea about where to begin to look for the arrow that Filliberd launched into the forest.

[Smileybastard]

Thomas

Thomas moves carefully towards the fallen log, looking for something that could create an illusion.

Spoiler

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Stealth (1d20+7)[23]
perception (1d20+8)[17]

[Moranica]

"It seems the illusions came from something from the south. The trail follows the road. So whatever it cast, we'll find it if we continue."

"I'm ready to continue and still good to go."