Players - Sidonia

We see two orcs in the room � corridor beyond the room � they�re muttering amongst themselves � about kickass training, regrouping, etc. (reminds me of the map we found a while back with info about some of this). It�s not reassuring, is it?

Boisterous Bingle pushes open the door � finds in fact FOUR orcs in there � reckless Trax shoves by me, and then the game is on.

While the doughty ranger types flash their weapons, sever limbs, release gouts of blood and so forth, I and Stibmit take the more subtle approach.

I wham �em with a magic missile � sadly I must work on those magic missiles. I then throw a dagger, just in case, but barely nick the ugly creature (I feel somewhat validated when I look over to see Bingle slip and fall in a puddle of blood).Meanwhile Stib savagely knifes an orc with his dagger.

Finally we get them all the way we want them � dead. Stib cleans his dagger and we search their bodies. There�s not much to find � other than another indication that this crew was with the Flaming Brand clan. I take a scimitar off one of the bodies.

We put the bodies in beds to hide them (of course the pools of coagulating blood may give the game away), and we hear the sound of orcish yelling; and position ourselves by the sides of the door.

As they come in, Bingle & Trax leap forward to attack. I attack with the scimitar, and fortunately don�t slice myself with it.

After disposing of the attacking orcs, we go out in the corridor; after passing the roughly hewn statue of a disgusting Orc god, Bingle has me turn off my handy oil lamp. We pass a room with Orc �nests//bunks along the wall. We keep going, passing other rooms full of nests. Finally as we trek through the corridors, we come to one massive oak door, and to another set of closed doors, with a dead orc pierced with elven arrows lying before it.

The third of the arrows Bingle takes sparks as he pulls it from the orc�s turgid flesh.

Through these doors as we listen, we hear the roaring of the fire and orcish voices (a kitchen no doubt, and so it proves to be). The door is barred; Stib & I slide off the bars silently, and we surge on through. Bingle charges, Trax whips out her crossbow, I throw my ever-ready dagger � we either miss or are ineffective. However the wretched orcs are on the run!

We keep attacking, keep missing. When I try to shove the scimitar between an orc�s legs (ugh, I look forward to nice clean spells to kill the enemy), it takes a while before I actually kill.him. Stib does his stabbing trick against another orc.

We drag the dead orcs back to the kitchen, and haul them onto the fire.

We check out the kitchen � the oaken doors are grimed with blood � we figure it�s probably a meat locker. Listening at the door, Stib hears a groan � opens the door � in the room at the end of the corridor, we find about thirty butchered elves, some hanging from the ceilings, and one or two hanging down, groaning.

Bingle cuts down the gaunt groaning elf. Stib uses some of a healing potion to revive the elf. We bring him with us to the kitchen, where the dead orcs roast merrily (but don�t smell so good).

The elf�s name is SilverLeaf; tells us he�s one of a group of adventurers that was ambushed in the woods. I ask him what success they had in their adventures, but he says not much. He does tell us that he heard rumour of larger orc fortresses near the the mountains, and that he�s hear of the �special� training.

He comes with us as we keep exploring. A giant tapestry along one wall reveals to Bingle a concealed door. We go thru this door; and finally stumble upon a door through which hear elven voices. I open the door � there are two women there, who were part of Silverleaf�s original troup of adventurers. These women are Cassandra and Philomena.

When I ask what the orcs wanted them for, they get rather snippy. Apparently they were to be part of an orcish breeding program.

*****

As usual we are now at a point where we debate our next course of action � to go forward, or go back? In the end of the room, there is a portcullis � Philomena shoves a bed under it to keep it up while we crawl beneath it, with Bingle checking for secret doors along the way.

We come to the orc chieftain�s chamber, and open the door to a purple-bedspreaded room. We don�t stay�.

Cassandra turns out to be a spy; Philomena a figher. When Stib asks them what they�ve heard � all they heard was rumour of a cave troll.

Ultimately we retrace our steps to the kitchen., then we end up in the altar room. This time, Bingle recklessly grabs and pulls the lever behind the altar � after a �snick!� Bingle pushes, and the north part of the altar pivots, to reveal a small chest in a recessed area.

After testing for a trap, Stib picks the lock to open the chest. As the lid is raised, we wait with hushed anticipation (at least I do!), and behold, 4 flasks are nestled within, with elvish writing up on them �I am a healing potion�. It is good to know what we�re getting. Useful (if not as thrilling as one may have expected).

However, there is also a scroll case with two scrolls - �Scroll of invisibility� and a scroll that�s a map. The map shows an orcish fortress in the mountains � the scroll of invisibility I take.

Meanwhile we chat with our new companions, mentioning the spheres of ultimate evil. Philomena has heard mention of that � of orcs being used for some kind of attack.

In the meantime, I�ve acquired some poisoned darts (some discussion of ethics ensued, but really, I�d only use them on odious twisted creatures that needed to be slain at any cost).

We continue our exploration. We come to a well � that also has a rope and a bucket, we can detect the water at the bottom. Stibmith, in his slippery thieflike way, decides to explore the well � Trax & I donate our rope for his use�

He goes down and after an interminable interval, he comes up for air to assure us he is okay, then back to the water he goes. He tells us later that he finds a long dead guy, grabs a special dagger, a headband with gems, and is attacked by a horde of disgusting spiders (that probably killed to poor guy). He flees like crazy.

After he returns, we hear voices, people coming, and split up. I go with Bingle and Trax.

A killing frenzy compels us all to race back to the secret entrance, and the chief�s bedroom and wait for the orcs (in a veritable �circle of doom� as Tarx says gloatingly).

Stib lies down on a bed, pretending to be an orc, as the whole troop comes in. One of them exclaims, �Hey chief, someone�s in your bed.� Bingle yells �Attack!� and everyone gets into position.

I miss with my dagger, others of us are also not doing too well. At one point I nearly hit Bingle with a poison dart! Then Cassandra is killed. We target the chief orc for death; I stab an orc in the back with a poison dagger �not reassured to hear him roar with rage (a death rattle would have been better). Trax is brought down after killing a number of orcs; Stib throws a sleep spell and the chief orc and other orc go down.

I give Trax some healing potion to bring her back to at least basic consciousness, and then go to retrieve two of the three poison daggers.

In the end, after much bloodletting, howling, stabbing, hurling, all the orcs are dead.

*****

Finally we leave this benighted place, and head for the big orc fortress in the mountains � we figure it�ll take about 10 days.

[Stib returns 1500 gps to me; I give 100 gps to each Philomena and Silverleaf.]

After five days on our way to the fortress, Bingle, who is on watch that night, hears a rustling in the grass. In the end we all wake up and circle a group of orcs; I zap one with a magic missile, others use mundane weapons � the end result is of course their utter annihilation.

After a search of the orcs, we find that they have flaming brand shields (big surprise); useful to us are two flasks of orcish healing potions.

� finally after the 10th day, we are in the hills, the rangers notice paths trodden by many orcs, probably the attack on Imperial Ward came from this area� as we follow parallel tracks beside the main track, we see an outpost of some sort, with two main towers, how far into the mountains it burrows, we don�t know. We notice that there are six or so orcs on the battlements�