There is the sound of a sudden rush of air and a familiar, momentary feeling of disorientation and nausea as Team Arda-Nuff suddenly appears on a rock-strewn hillside. At least the air is not so bitterly cold here as it was outside the crystal dragon's lair.

The ground slopes downward from west to east at an angle of about 45 degrees with a mountain peak rising hundreds of feet higher to the west. The downward slope toward the east ends in a narrow ravine about 250 feet away from where the team now stands. That ravine is only about 50 feet wide and runs roughly north south between a pair of mountains. Those mountains seem to be part of a larger mountain range extending to the north, east and west. There are just a few smaller mountains to the south and the terrain flattens out into plains and forest south of this mountain range.

The team's arrival was not quite silent as several loose rocks had shifted treacherously underfoot. However, everything is silent again moments later and there is no sign of any other creatures nearby.

The Black Mace in Dregz's hands points straight down at the ground beneath his feet.

The starlight from the night sky is sufficient for Raven to see clearly, so she does not need to draw her glowing rapier. Everyone else has darkvision and is not troubled by the darkness of night.

OOC: No new map yet.
Those present are as follows:

• Dregz and the Black Mace (Forya en' i' Leitha)
• Jurz and Rog the dire bat
• Moffdust, Cat the bat and her summoned dire wolf
• Bulldust
• Minmorc
• Raven

"Lets find da orcs." Bulldust whispers, relieved at not being ambushed by a war band of Minmorcs, and excited to be hunting again.  He sniffs around to pick up the scent of orcs, moving as quietly as he can over the steeply sloping rock, and listening for any sound of alarm.

16:33, Today: Bulldust rolled 27 using 1d20+14.  move silently.
16:32, Today: Bulldust rolled 14 using 1d20-1.  listen.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:38, Wed 10 Aug 2022.

Jurz nods at Bully's suggestion, and guessing that he won't be seen against the night sky, the bald goblin mounts Rog and takes to the air.  Circling upwards, Jurz makes a mental note of the lay of the land, and any orc bands (or other dangers) that he might see.

09:50, Today: Jurz rolled 23 using 1d20+3.  spot.
Whooo. Nat 20 ...

"Ooooh, I jus ad an idea - wot if I disguise me as an ork an go ave a look around?" Minmorc will follow Bully.

"Fearz an' tormentz be damned !" Dregz bravely quashes his qualms as he intones wisely to Moffa and Raven.

"Leavses all dat can be spurned beyind.  Wese travels light ... lightish.  Leddz hunt sum Orcses !"

The little priest leads off in pursuit of Bully and Minmorc.

Moffdust grins and grabs the birdie girl by the wing. "Lets us not gets spurned." She hurries them after the brave green goblin, whistling softly for Wolfie to follow along too. Cat the bat is safely hanging inside her cloak.

While Jurz flies off on Rog the dire bat to explore, the rest of Team Arda-Nuff carefully make their way down the slope to the east to the edge of the ravine. Peeking over the edge they see that the ravine is about 50 feet wide at the top and the east and west walls are almost vertical, so it only narrows to about 30 feet width at the bottom.

The east and west walls of the ravine are about 100 feet high at this point but about 60 feet below the top of the cliff (about 40 feet above the floor of the ravine) there are two sections of ledge about 50ft and 70ft long, 5 feet wide and 20ft apart, in the western cliff face. The team is directly above the northern ledge and can see an orc guard leaning back against the cliff wall at the northern end of the north ledge. They soon spot a second orc guard at the southern end of the south ledge as well.

Jurz and Rog fly a bit higher to make sure they are not spotted by the orcs but they are able to see a few more details than the rest of the team can. They see that there are two tunnel openings onto each of those ledges and a larger tunnel opening at ground level between those two ledges. Jurz can just make out a third orc guard standing in the mouth of that larger tunnel too.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Jurz returns to the others and reports his findings, leaving it to the big 'uns to decide the way forward.

That said, it would be fun to go rampaging as a bear again.

Dregz waits with keen anticipation to see what plan his wandering tribe alight upon.

Will they be fighting their way in ... or perhaps they'll elect for stealth.

Will the guards be swiftly slain ... or will an intricate tissue of lies see himself and his companions welcomed and waved by ... or even prevailed upon to escort them to the leader.

He suspects it'll all come down to Nuffleball.  It usually does.

Bulldust looks around at his friends and sister.  He shrugs.  Its not like they're elfs or something that needs to be just killed.  He looks at Minmorc with a 'they're your crowd' kind of look.

Minmorc has planted his spear and is drawing the princess Nurzan bow. It wouldn't occur to Minmorc to have some some sort of kinship or loyalty towards orks.

OOC: The way that I think of orks as chaotic evil humanoids who favor barbarians and racially get strength bonuses is that orks would follow the biggest and strongest. That they would settle all disputes violently and would kind of wander an area raiding and hunting until there was nothing left to kill or until their enemies killed their warriors and scattered their tribe. As Minmorc considers himself the biggest and strongest and member of team Ardanuff and captain of the rust ork Nuffle team his plan would probably be to tell these orks to go join the rust orks and kill any that refused. Plus, he'll need to kill an ork if he is going to dress up as a member of this tribe and scout them out.

Raven peeks over the edge of the cliff again studying the guards before stepping back to talk tactics. Whispering, of course.

"I don't think those guards can see each other at all unless the one down at ground level steps out into that pass. If we kill one of them, quick and quiet like, I don't think the others would know anything about it. As long as he didn't fall off the ledge. I can glide down  as quiet as an owl, when he is looking the other way, and sneaky-stab him before he even sees me," she suggests.

Minmorc will look at Raven, deeply impressed and deadly serious. "Dat is a gud plan. Death from abuv is der coolest killin an I'll shoot sum one if dey try to yell fer help. Dis is your time to shine, fly birdie girl, fly!"

Forya en' i' Leitha sighs melodramatically.

"You do realise, don't you, if the wielder of the Mace can see a place, I can teleport them there."

Minmorc is even more impressed, he was in awe of the teleportation magic and if the mace can do it frequently it's very powerful indeed. "Wot else can yer do mister Forya?"

Bulldust draws his wand of Magic Missiles and moves to where he can see the third orc sentry that needs to be killed (the one that's left over after Raven and Min have killed theirs).  He's got this.  He nods a 'ready when you are' towards Min.  Let the killing begin.

Moffdust and Wolfie stay close to Dregz, ready to get a lift when its time to move.

OOC: Just one point of clarification. From the cliff top you can see the 2 orc guards on the north ledge and south ledge but the orc guard in the central, ground floor entrance, is inside that tunnel mouth and can't be seen from above. Jurz spotted him while he was flying on Rog.

I think the current plan is for Raven to glide down and kill the northern ledge guard, with Minmorc ready with his bow for support. Bully is going to shoot the southern ledge guard. Everyone else is gathered round Dregz to teleport wherever seems best after the attacks on the two ledge guards?

The hairy little goblin priest is quite unused to the Magic Stick speaking up, let alone offering advice, and lets out a squeak of surprise and fear, though since Moffa and her wolf at least seem up for a short jaunt, he gets ready to stick his neck out over the edge for line of sight.

Though he does have one nagging doubt.  "If der orcses is very tuff," he suggests to Bully, "'e mights not ged killded at wunce ... p'raps if wese wuz tah use der Furyuz tah get der den wese could 'it 'im 'arder ?"

OOC: I believe that is the plan. Raven attempts death from above, Bully uses magic missile on the second guard, Minmorc shoots if either is still standing. If that's not enough Dregz and Moffa teleport in and Jurz has a crack as a last shot at keeping things quiet.

OOC:  Jurz doesn't have anything quiet  :)

However, he could levitate down with Raven or onto the second guard - but even then he doesn't do much damage without a shape change, and I would rather keep those for later.

Bulldust looks at the wand puzzled, then at Min in awe of the grizzled mountain of muscle that is his only reference point for what it might take to kill an orc at wunce.  "Dunno Dregzie, never used it before.  Better test it out." He walks south out of sight from those below, approaching the cliff at E16, and shoots the wand at the distant orc guard O2.

08:43, Today: Bulldust rolled 17 using 5d4+5.  magic missile wand to orc O2.

Moffdust casts Protection from Evil on Raven. "You gots dis Birdie Girls."

She and Wolfie are ready for wand-off when Dregz moves.

Dregz too is poised for action, fully clenched.

When the plan is finally agreed it doesn't take long to put into action.

Bully heads a bit further south along the top of the cliff and as soon as he is in range he speaks the command word for his wand of magic missiles, sending a string of five green-glowing bolts of energy to skewer the orc guard (o2) on the southern ledge. That orc slumps silently back against the wall behind him and slides down to a seated position on the ledge with his head slumped forward. Even at that distance Bull can see there is no doubt the orc is dead.

Raven takes that as her cue and leaps off the clifftop with a dagger in each hand. She glides down silently, landing right beside the orc guard (o1) on the northern ledge and plunges a dagger straight into the base of his neck moments before her feet hit the ledge. She just manages to grab him as he collapses and tips him back from the edge of the ledge so he doesn't fall over the edge. He is clearly dead, too. Fortunately, the whole attack was quiet enough that it should not have alerted the other guard below. Raven waves to those above to signal all is clear.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. Everyone else is still back up on top of the cliff, 60 feet above the ledges.

Raven has Protection from Evil from Moffa for 9 minutes.

Minmorc pumps his fist and gleefully though quietly says "Def from above!" He will then step close to Dregz, ready for teleportation.

"You'se stay here Rog.  But be ready when I'se calls". He instructs the great Dire Bat, then he too steps forward and lays a hand on Dregz shoulder.

Bulldust hurries back to where Dregz waits.  He seems pleased with the wand.  "Yup, it kills orcs."  He peers down to where Raven stands on the ledge and whispers "Good job Birdie-Girl."  He's ready to move.

Dregz quickly and silently waves back to Raven, much enthused by the success of The Plan thus far.  Once everyone has gathered about him before asking Furyuz nicely to take them down to the ledge where she awaits them.

The team quickly gathers around Dregz at the edge of the cliff.

Wolfie + Moffa
  Jurz + Dregz
 Bully + Minmorc

Dregz whispers instructions to Forya en' i' Leitha and it simply tells him to "Say the word". He whispers the command word "Wyrd" and with just the familiar faint rush of wind and slight disorientation they all find themselves down on the ledge beside Raven. Almost the way Dregz intended.

Moffa, Dregz and Minmorc landed on the ledge but Jurz and Bully found themselves bumped sideways by the cliff that was suddenly crowding them for room. Jurz found himself on his backside at Dregz's feet while Bully was pushed into Minmorc and they both teetered perilously at the edge of the ledge before managing to regain their balance.

Wolfie, Moffa's summoned dire wolf, found itself squeezed into a narrow tunnel mouth, looking out at Moffa. The big wolf is able to squeeze along the tunnel, forward or backward, but is unable to turn around in that confined space and nobody else can squeeze past him unless they climb over or under him.

OOC: Main game map updated.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:45, Fri 02 Sept 2022.

Minmorc will give Bully a quick cuddle and will move down the ledge to D9. Axe in hand he will peer down the tunnel.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:54, Sat 03 Sept 2022.

After Min's progression to his next partner, Bulldust will stay where he is and peer over the edge to check whether the orc below noticed the dance party up here.  if anyone down thee looks up he'll shoot em dead wiv is orc killin wand.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:33, Sat 03 Sept 2022.

Surprised by the sudden meeting with the cliff wall, Jurz executes a prefect pratfall, then grumbles quietly as he clambers back to his feet, helped by his boots of levitation.

Taking in the position of everyone, including the summoned wolf, he rolls his eyes, and waits for the others to sort themselves out.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:23, Sat 03 Sept 2022.

Once they have sorted themselves out, Minmorc checks the southern tunnel mouth on this northern ledge and discovers there is a narrow tunnel that curves around to connect to the wolf-blocked northern tunnel mouth. Another narrow tunnel heads off to the west from that curved tunnel.

Bully peeks over the edge of the ledge to the bottom of the ravine 40 feet below. There is still no sign of the orc guard at the larger tunnel entrance at ground level.

Now that you are closer to the tunnel mouths you can faintly hear the noise of a crowd yelling and cheering, which was probably loud enough to cover the brief disturbance of your arrival on the ledge.

OOC: Main game map updated.

"Wese hafter watches outs fer dat!" Dregz mutters quietly as he surveys the damage, finishing up frowning at Wolfie blocking the tunnel entrance.

Bulldust gives a thumbs up to the gobbos to signal 'all good below' then joins Min for another swap-sides-cuddle.  "I'll av a look inside.  Did yer still wanna get dressed up as a orc?"  He sneaks down the south tunnel passage to have a look past the fork.

Minmorc will shrug. "Les ave a little look. If ders stuff ter find I can go in dis guys, if we jus gunna kill dem I won't bovver."

Moffdust shrugs and starts making use of what riches the Gods and Birdie Girl have provided. With help she pulls Raven's orc-kill  south past the opening where Wolfie is jammed in. Then she guides Wolfie out of the tunnel and installs him at the north end of the ledge facing south. "Youse stays heres Wolfie dears, an bites anyones who's not usses." She helps Raven search the dead orc and get the armour off in case its needed, and maybe some more bits off in case Wolfie gets hungry.

Dregz helps Moffa, on the basis that its always better to feed a hungry Wolfie.

Moffa, Raven and Dregz soon manage to drag the dead orc far enough along the ledge so Moffa can guide Wolfie out onto the northern end of the ledge. The orc is quickly stripped of his studded leather armour and weapons, and a leg is unceremoniously hacked off to give Wolfie something to gnaw on.

Meanwhile, Minmorc and Jurz wait outside the southern tunnel entrance while Bully goes in to explore. These tunnels are typically about 4 to 5 feet wide and 7 to 8 feet high, perfect for orcs and bugbears. There are no light sources in the tunnels.

The tunnel curves northwest for about 25 feet before it reaches a side tunnel heading deeper into the mountain to the west. About 5 feet inside that western tunnel there is a 7ft x 5ft wooden surface lying on the floor, almost like a door or tabletop flat on the floor, or a trapdoor, perhaps. There are two ropes from the northeast and southeast corners of that wooden floor, which loop through a pair of hooks set in a heavy wooden beam set at roof height in the tunnel above the western end of that wooden floor, then extending westwards another 10 feet to be anchored in a pair of iron hooks in the north and south walls of the tunnel. The ropes hang fairly loosely in this position.

Bully also quickly spots a solitary goblin (g1) hiding at the next bend in the tunnel. As soon as the goblin realises it has been spotted it steps a little further into view and Bully realises it is a green goblin girl, rather similar to Moffa. She seems very timid and her eyes are wide with fear or excitement but doesn't show any sign of yelling or fleeing at the moment.

OOC: Main game map updated.

Bulldust stays right where he is and waves his fingers at the goblin girl, grinning in a friendly way.  He whispers in goblin tongue,  "Hi.  I'm Bulldust.  You'se a nice colour.  Wot's yer name?"

OOC: I think most of us can understand goblin.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:08, Mon 12 Sept 2022.

The goblin girl waves back hesitantly then steps out into the middle of the tunnel.

"They call me Shroomza, cos that's my job. I look after the 'shroom room. You's a bugbears, isn't yous? That's like a big daddy goblins, isn't it? Is yous come to rescues us?" she asks, visibly trembling with excitement.

Turning his head to one side, Jurz bangs at one of his ears to try and get rid of the strange buzzing noise that has started in it.

08:51, Today: Jurz rolled 4 using 1d20+3.  listen.

"Yup!  I'm a bubgbear, but I'm turnin inta a draggin too.  An yup, dats why we'se ere, ter free de gobbos."  Bulldust grins back at Shroomza.  "Dere's a bunch ov us - my sister and two ovver gobbos, da birdie girl an a orc.  Da orc's a real scary nuffle-'ed but 'e's a friend ov gobbos.  Can I bring 'em along ere ter say hi?"
This message was last edited by the player at 09:54, Tue 13 Sept 2022.

Moffdust moves along the ledge towards Jurz and whispers to him, mostly concerned but a little hopeful. "Hey Jurzies, why is youse bangin yer headses? Can I does it fer youse?"

Shroomza looks excited and nervous at the same time but eventually she nods vigorously and says, ”Yes, brings them. We needs to makes a plans!”

"I'se gots de buzzies.  I was finking about de humbugs, at dat ovver place we didn't goes too.   And now's it soundz likes I'se got one in my ears."

Suddenly, he looks startled by the very thought, "Cans youse look and sees if dere is a humbugz in  dere?" he says, tilting his head sideways and pulling and ear upwards to show the inside.

Since priests often scare the common goblin more than even an orc, Dregz elects to bring up the rear and leave the talking to Bully.

Not the sort of plan that'd past muster on sober reflection, but to be fair he's still a little addled from all the teleporting around.

Minmorc will walk over to stand behind Bully and wave at Shroomza. "Allo."

"Dats Minmorc wot I woz telling youse about.  An back dere's Dregzie - he's got a book."  Bulldust nods solemnly.  "Can we come over dis bridge fing an see how its goin wiv youse back dere?"

Shroomza nods happily.

"Dat's a door-bridges. When it's down it's a bridges. When it's up it's a doors. Dere's a spiky pit unnerneath it to stops de baddies coming ins. Yous sees the gaps between the planks? Dat's wide enuff to shoots arrows through or poke de spears to kills de baddies or knocks dem inna spiky pit," she explains.

Seeing Minmorc go into the cave, Jurz follows, a short distance behind.

Moffdust scampers along after Jurz tiring to get a look in his ear. "Maybes its de orcs wid de eyes tryin ter get in yer headses, Jurzies. I's gonna has a lookses!" She looks and listens in the ear to see if she can see or hear any humbugs or orcs in dere.
16:25, Today: Moffdust rolled 24 using 1d20+12.  inspect Jurzies ear for magical anomalies.

Dreaz is poised with the other, healy Magic Stick, ready to poke and prod Jurz should Moffa advise he has need of it.

Bulldust grins back at Shroomza. "Dats real sneaky goblin tricks, wiv jus a few planks."  He crosses the bridge and offers a fist-bump to the goblin girl.  Looking back he sees Jurz and Moffa come around the bend.  "De red gobbo's Jurzie, an deres my sister, Moffa.  Lets go meet yer tribe, and tell us about de baddies."

Shroomza frowns and shakes her head at Bully’s words.

”Dat’s not a goblins tricks. Orcses made the door-bridges. Dese  caves is orc caves, not gobbo caves. We’s gobbo slaveses. We’s dis many gobbos,” she says, holding up two hands then two more fingers.

”All the orcses is down in the big cage listening to King Krulg. King angry again. King always angry. When King shouts, all orcses gotta listen! Us gobbos can listen or not. Me not listen. Heard it all before. Other gobbos is listening from up on the ledges around the big cave.”

Jurz grins broadly, "Dat sounds likes a good time to 'talk' to de orcses, when dey are alls togevver.  Which way is dey?"  He asks  Shroomza.

The hairy little priest might have some concerns about taking on a tribe of orcs and might not share Furyuz's hatred for their King controlling them ... but he doesn't care at all for the slavery of his own kin.

"Wese should talk to der goblins on der ledges," Dregz suggests to Moffa.  "Hows does wese get der ?" he asks Shroomza.

"OK, we'll follow yer quietly an take a look at da KK."  Bulldust follows Shroomza quietly.

Moffdust lets go of Jurzies ear and joins Bully and Shroomza. "Hey dere Shroomzies." She pats her shoulder encouragingly and grins toothily then follows on in her wake to peek at the orcs.

Shroomza nods eagerly and leads the way down the tunnel. It eventually opens out into a large cave with about 40 or 50 piles of sleeping furs scattered around the cave. The stench of orcs is strong here. There are two other tunnel openings leading out; one to the west and one to the south. The sound of orcs shouting and cheering comes loudly from the southern tunnel.

Shroomza explains, ”That noisy tunnels goes to the ledges where my gobbo friends is watching the King do his stuff. I takes yous to see real soon. Then if yous wants to talk to gobbos, we come back in here and goes down that quiet tunnel. Dat brings us into another cave like this one, but dat one is a orc girlz cave. Dis one is a orc boyz cave. From the orc girlz cave we can get closest to the gobbos and get them in to talks. Our shroom cave is on the other side of orc girlz cave, too. Dat’s where all us gobbos lives.”

Then she leads you out to the ledge so you can see what is happening.

This ledge runs along the northern side of a large cavern and there is a similar ledge opposite along the southern side. The western halves of the two ledges are about 30 feet above the floor of the cavern, but their eastern ends slope down to the cavern floor forming a ramp up to each ledge. 11 goblins are gathered near the western end of this northern ledge.

Over 200 orcs are crammed into the western half of that large cavern. It looks like there are at least twice as many females and young than male orc warriors, but they are all cheering enthusiastically. The object of their admiration is the orcish king, standing on a ten foot high stone platform at the top of a stone staircase at the western end of the cavern. That western platform is the only place in this whole complex where you have seen any light sources at all. Four torches at the corners of that platform illuminate the platform and ensure its occupant can be seen from anywhere in the cavern. At the back of the platform is a 10 foot tall statue of the one-eyed orc god Gruumsh, with a smaller stone altar in front of it.

Right in front of the altar stands the orc king himself, clad in the armour covered with bloodshot eyes, just as Dregz described from his vision.

OOC: See the game map for Group N.

I am currently away from home on holiday, so I prepared this map in advance. It doesn’t show the party’s location or the king, orcs and goblins, but I hope you can work those details out from the description above.

Moffdust has a good look then beckons the party and Shroomza back into the sleeping cavern where they can talk. "I tinks I'se can cuts off all de orcses from de kings wid a walls of fires. Mebbe Dregzies can gets us alls on de platforms wid de kings, or I'se can sends jus tree ov usses down dere and de udders stays up heres wid all dese gobbos." She grins at Shroomza. "Now youse gotta tells usses all we's needs ter knows. Is dere any shamans out dere wide de orcses? An tells us wheres all de kings treasures? An is dere guards behind de doors behind de statues?"

While the party discuss and plan she will start casting Protection from Evil on Bully then Min (already on Raven) then the 10'r version on herself.

"If'n there is still some grass seeds an stuff under the floor, I can ties up most of de orces in de hall." Jurz says thinking of his entangle spell.  "But, it'll get de ledges too ..."

Jurz casts Bark Skin on himself, while he waits.

Jurz considers the floor of the cavern briefly but soon realises there would not be any real potential for any significant plant growth in that rocky surface after decades of trampling by hundreds of orcs every day.

Shroomza is eager to answer Moffa’s questions as soon as everyone is back in the orc boyz cave.

”There’s no shamanses anymore. De kings killeded dem ‘cos they says Gruumsh was angry wid him. King say they woz liars. Gruumsh didn’t saves dem so the orcses agrees the king woz right. Now kings does all de talkin’ wid Gruumsh too. He took over de shamanses rooms behind the statue, too. Now nobody else can goes in there unless de kings says so. No guardses. King strong . Don’t need no guardses. Orc girlz sometimes, orc boss boyz sometimes, but no guardses. Dat’s where kings keeps his treasures too. Orc boss boyz got they’s own treasures but dey guards dem treasures demselves.”

Minmorc will cast bless on the party, he'll bless Shroomza too. He'll then tear a strip from a sack from his bag of holding and will wrap it around his head covering one eye. "If deys asks tell em I'm wunna Gruumsh boys an e's not happy."

Bulldust can't believe an orc could make up so many rules.  "So he has de boyz ere, an da girlz over dere, an he kills everyone dat don't like him ... what is 'e, a paladin or somefing?"

He nods appreciatively at Min's disguise.  "Youse good at looking like a angry orc!"  He volunteers to be one of the squad teleported to the stage with the orc king, but other than that he's not sure what the plan is.  "So... are we jus gonna kill 'im, or jus take da mask offa 'im?"

Just before its time to go he'll blow a little bugbear magic into his fist.

"Youse got ta makes dem strong in der head." he reminds Dregz and Moffa, as he indicates Min and Bully.  "We knows dat the big orc makes people do fings dey dont want."

Jurz considers for a moment, "I fink we kills him.  Den hes won't have any more of de gobbo slavses."  Then he ods firmly at his own summation of the situation.

Dregz doesn't look thrilled at the idea, but having seen the platform on which the king stands, he nods his head reluctantly to confirm that he can indeed use Furyuz to teleport everyone down there.

"Ifs wese can kills der king right quick, den Minmorc can tell 'em 'ow itz all der will uv Gruumsh soes der uvver orcses don' kills uz !"

"Den maybes I should be de big white bear an help de bigs batter him." Jurz comments as Dregz confirms the stick's ability to teleport them onto the platform.

"We shood gets all der magic ready now, when we jump over der I'm gonna use Nuffle power ter make im shut up. Dregz, can Forya take me big or do I have ter be me size?""

Bulldust listens and adds his own ideas and questions.  "I fink Shroomzie should get all de udder gobbos back off de ledge into de sleeping room when we start da attack.  Dere won't be room fer dem down dere, an dey might get hurt."

"Dere won't be room fer us all on da stage, especially if Min and Jurz an me get big. I'll try an move behind im straight off so de Birdie Girl can stab im good."

OOC: summarising what spells people have said they're casting...
Moffa: Protection from Evil on Bully, Min, Raven (already cast) duration 9 min I assume
Moffa: Protection from Evil 10'r on herself - stay close to her. Can she do another on Jurz?
Minmorc: Bless - affects us all, and Shroomza.
Bully: Fist of Stone (bugbear magic), duration 1 min.
Minmorc: Enlarge Person on himself
Bully: Enlarge Person on himself ... probably, not decided yet, can do this as a Swift Action.
Jurz: turn into a big white bear!
Moffa: Wall of Fire to start the attack, I assume duration is concentration +1r ... what if you need to cast another spell?


GM: how far back are the crowd of orcs from the 10' high platform in the great hall.

OOC There is just a 5 ft gap (row y) with no orcs between the platform and the mass of orcs, and no orcs on the stairs.

The Black Mace can teleport anyone with any body part within 5ft radius, so large size creatures are not a problem. The issue is that Dregz must have line of sight to the destination in an underground setting like this. So if you are teleporting from the 5ft wide ledge and tunnel mouth, it may be difficult to group the 6 of you in that constrained space. Might be time to play piggyback.

Moffdust explains her version of the plan. "We gets Shroomzie's gobbos back inta dis caves, but we doesn't wants de orcses ter get in dere, so I's gonna make de webs in de udder caves ter stop dems, an de slipperier on de ledges if dey comes dis ways." She points to make it clear where she means (detail below). "Den I'se gonna makes de walls of fires across de foots of de steps, so some of de orcses will gets burned up, but deres no spaces fer youse ter stands dere if youse big." She looks at Bully and Min and shakes her head apologetically. "Den I'se gonna hides like a little green gobbos under de stairs an just keeps de fires all hots. If'n I's gotta stops de fires den I's gonna lets youse knows wid a 'flames is goin!' shouts. When we's done den Dregzies can gets usses back to de caves wid Shroomzie's gobbos. Is we's all up fer a plans like dat? Does youse has de better plans?"

Shroomza's gobbos in cave at w5
Web centred on q4
Grease on ledge w8-9,v9
Wall of Fire x10-17.  Dregz will be able to see cave entrance above the flames which are 20 feet high.
Moffdust will hunker down in y12 with Protection From Evil 10 Foot Radius around her

Jurz grins.  "I'se coould stays up here and do de light-ning-zing.  I'se can get de orcses in de big room and the big orcy on de dias as well.  An I'se can get down dere, on mys own, to helps wiv the fight on de platform, if'n youse needs it.

I'se don't knows what is behind dat doorway on de platforms, though."

Jurz at x9 - with Lightning Storm and Call Lightning.  Perhaps a couple of Flaming Spheres down there as well.

Boots of Levitate will get me down, and I can save changing into a Big Bear until there is room on the platform for me.

Bulldust gives Shroomza the go ahead to start bringing her gobbos into the safe cave a few at a time so they don't attract attention.

He grins when Jurz talks about shooting off lightning and fire magic.  But he's still not sure about the plan.  He asks the party to please line up in the positions they want to be when Dregz teleports them.  So the rules are: everyone must be within 10' of Dregz (to teleport) and those without individual Protections vs Evil must be within 10' of Moffa (to stop mind control), and we can only land in row y or on the stage (wall of fire in row x).  If Jurz is on the ledge 30' up then does he have his own mind protection?  He scratches his head pondering the options.

"I wanna get behind da orc so we can flank im.  What if we did da fing Moffa said, an jus free ov us, me and Min an da Birdie Girl, get magiced down dere an land wherever we want?  Moffa an Jurz an Dregz can stay up on da ledge?  Min can be big if he wants, an he can make a speech about Nuffle or One-Eye if he wants before da flames go up?  Dregzie can magic his group down if he wants.  I wanna land behind da alter (aa14) an be flanking fer da Birdie Girl on da steps (y13). Is dat easier fer all ov us?"

The attack plan is starting to sound suspiciously like 'tactics' or even 'strategy', something that Dregz prefers to stay well clear of, if he can, so the  hairy little goblin stays quiet while the main perpetrators sort out what they're going to do, hoping it's simple enough for him to understand when the time comes to teleport those who choose to start the fight on the platform.

There is one thing, however, that he thinks he ought to mention.

"Furyuz ise ... keen tah kill der Orc king," the priest tells the plotters. "Wese need ter get goin' before it starts wivout uz !"  Well, not without him, for he's the one stuck holding the Magic Stick if it's patience runs out !

Jurz shakes his head, indicating that he doesn't have his own protection from evil magic.

OOC: Moffdust loves all the tactics. Summoners, as a rule, are master tacticians. So much so that her allies within 30 feet get +4 flanking bonus to hit, if they can see her.

She likes the plan that lets her stay up on the ledge where she can see what's going on. She'll go with that as long as Min and Raven agree. She explains that she can teleport 3 people (big is OK) and they can move up to their base move to any location they can see (Dimension Step), so start on the ledge and move 30' if that's your speed.

She will change the location for Grease on the ledge to u9,v9 so it allows the party to access the passage into the 'safe cave'.

"Dregzies, will De Magic Sticks keep de orc kings out of yer headses? I'se not got any more ov dose spells fer youse, or fer youse Jurzies. But youse okays if youse stays close ter usses."

OOC: Waiting for Min and Rave to comment on this plan, then she's ready to go.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:59, Sun 09 Oct 2022.

Minmorc will cast enlarge on himself. He'll then move (if he needs to) to stand beside Dregz with Bully and Raven. "Der goblins gonna chill out, dats good. Jurz an Moffa up ere, dats good. Mr Forya gonna take me, Dregz, Bully an Birdie ter der Orc wid der mask an I gunna gives a big speach like Gruumsh is angry wid yer lies, shut yer gob an den we kills im an anyone oo looks at us funny. An ders gonna be fire an lightnin an blood. Dats der plan right?"

OOC: All need to read msg #72.  We can't arrange 4 people up on the ledge in the position they wish to arrive down on thr stage. Therefore Moffa suggested she would teleport them instead, and they get to arrive wherever they want.

OOC: if Dregz teleport away from Moffa then he does not have protection from evil. Don't yet know if he can DIY that spell, or if Forya can protect him. Need Dregz to reply to that.

OOC: The orc ‘king’ is at z13 in front of the altar at the top of the stairs. The stairs are solid stone block construction. Please advise which squares you are going to teleport to.

Forya reminds you that the item that must be destroyed is the orc king’s face mask. Forya says if you simply touch the face mask with the Black Mace it can instantly eliminate the wicked magic on the mask. Forya is not interested in what happens to the orc king himself.

The little goblin listens with the look of one who' only got a vague grasp of what's happening and is trying his blessednest to steer the ship towards the safest harbour.

"Furyuz c'n prolly keeps Ise safe from der brain controlses," Dregz opines reluctantly but hopefully, "but Ise c'n't do der protect from der evils or der goods fingy."

"Ise c'n do der silence spell ter stop der orc king tellin' uz wot tah dos ?" he suggests helpfully.

Hitting the big Orc king on the head sounds like quite a challenge.  "I c'n beg Bargrivyek ter let Ise flies over der, den Ise can iver drop on 'is 'ead," which sounds painful, "or use der Magic Boots ter float downses."

This does seem to be complicating further what was already a puzzle to the hairy priest, but Moffa at least seems to be enjoying juggling all the pieces.

Moffdust grins back toothily. "I jus knews dat youse would knows jus whats gotter gets done Dregzies!"

She finishes casting Protections (Raven, Bully, Min and herself 10 foot radius), Webs (q4), Grease (u9,t9) then gathers the party at the entrance to the ledge (w8) where they are just out of sight. She has Bully, Raven and Min at the front, and the gobbos deeper back in the safe cave. "When I says 'gos' youse tree bigguns walks out onta de ledges where youse can sees de kings. Den youse gonna feel my magics, an youse gonna magic-jumps youselves right where youse wants ter goes. Youse has ter be able ter sees where youse goin before youse can jumps dere, an youse can only jumps as far as youse can walks. Min, youse de fastest, so youse gotta go de long ways to de udder sides of de kings."

She suggests to Raven to land on the opposite side of the king from Min (maybe z12).

And she ponders with Min whether he can fit through the passage (w8) now that he's big, and she has a brilliant idea - she casts Grease on him! Now he's a big greasy one-eyed orc god that won't get jammed in a doorway :)

For herself, Jurz and Dregz she suggests, "As soon as de bigguns is gone den we's can goes out on de ledges ter watch de funs, an we does whadever us gobbos needs ter does." She nods emphatically. "After Min makes his gods speeches den I makes de fires across de rooms." She snickers wickedly.

"Let de chaos begins." she whispers gleefully, then abruptly "Gos!"

When the bigguns are on the ledge she casts Dimension Step on the three of them. Once they've 'jumped' she'll walk out onto the ledge and squat down in the corner at y9 to watch. OOC: that's her action and move for this round.

As soon as Moffa starts casting spells outside, Jurz casts Call Lighting Storm, then Call Lightning in the following round.  Following  Moffa out to the ledger to the ledge.  Jurz calls down a lightning storm bolt onto the head of the Orc king.

OOC:  Working on the basis that that Moffa's actions cover a number of rounds.  Assuning all of that ...
15:48, Today: Jurz rolled 8 using 5d6.  Call lightning Storm bolt damage.  (well, that was a bit of a damp squib!)

Bulldust's head is still spinning with the plan, but he's suddenly shocked into action and is first out onto the ledge.  He shuffles along to the end, y9.  He guides Raven out as well and points out the spot Moffa suggested for her, z12.  Its a long way down.  "Get yer wings ready Birdie Girl."  He lines up his spot too, y13 on the steps, and gets ready for the magic jump, chainflail at the ready.  After they arrive, he'll wait for Min to make a speech before he clobbers the king.

Minmorc just goes with it to the best of his ability. He'll follow Bully and when Moffa tells him to jump and bring Chaos he does. He will cast silence in the middle of the staircase and then will click his heels together and picture in his remaining eye where he wants to be.

Appearing in squares bb, aa, 14, 15 he will press against the statue then lean backwards,  seeming to appear from it and shakes his great axe. Roaring in Orcish he yells "Fool! You has insulted Gruumsh! All yous boys watch wot appens ter dem dat kills shamans an angers gods!"

OOC: Bully and Raven have had a move this round but not an action.  GM, can you please post a partial update and allow us to make an action ... just need to confirm we arrived where we intended to :-)

Entering into the spirit of the thing, Dregz gets his Magic Stone ready, waiting till Jurz starts chucking lightning bolts from on high like a goblin Zeus before flinging it at the target of everyone's ire.

"Goes getses der Orc King !" he commands, specifially at the Stone, but if anyone else wants to go that way, he'll cheer them on.

"Fer Bargrivyek !"

Moffa finishes casting Protections (Raven, Bully, Min and herself 10 foot radius), Webs (q4), Grease (u9,t9). The 12 goblins are sent to hide in the safety of the mushroom cave. She also casts grease on giant Minmorc to help him squeeze through the tunnels.

Jurz starts casting a spell of his own as Minmorc, Bully and Raven file out onto the ledge.

Then Moffa casts her Dimension Door spell to send the three bigguns to attack the orc king and they instantly appear on the stage around the orc king – Minmorc behind and to his right, Raven to his left and Bully directly in front on the stairs.

Minmorc immediately casts a spell of silence centred on the stairs and extending out in a 20-foot radius, which immediately cuts off the orc king's speech. Minmorc leans back into the corner of the alcove until he can hear the noise of the orcs again, then shouts a short speech of his own instead.

"Fool! You has insulted Gruumsh! All yous boys watch wot appens ter dem dat kills shamans an angers gods!"

The orc king doesn't react to Minmorc's words at all. Clearly he hasn't heard a word. But the eyes painted on his breastplate, helmet, mask and gauntlets all move as though they are alive. He glances all around and is clearly aware of all the intruders around him.

Then a lightning bolt flashes down from 30 feet above to light up the orc king.

That is Dregz's cue and he hurls something at the orc king. That something lands on the altar right behind the orc king and instantly transforms into a weird little humanoid creature with incredibly long, spindly arms. A choker, which reaches for the orc king's throat.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

This is a partial update, as requested.
Minmorc, Dregz, Jurz and Moffdust have had their full actions for this round.
Bulldust, Raven and the choker have only had a partial action so far and can still attack or act as they wish before I finalise the round.

Note that the orc king is holding a greataxe and is clearly ready for a fight.

Bulldust arrives right where Moffa said he would.  He gapes up at the king then giant Minmorc.  He can't hear a thing, but he can see Minmorc's mouth moving like he's making the speech, and he can see the eyes moving on the king but he knew about that too.  So he waits for the right moment to attack.  Dregz throws something creepy, then lightning hits the king - that's Jurz.  That must be the signal!  He swings his chainflail at the king, aiming to tangle it around his legs and pull him down.

20:46, Today: Bulldust rolled 21 using 1d20+16.  touch attack with chainflail.
20:49, Today: Bulldust rolled 32 using 1d20+12.  opposed str check.

The orc king reacts with uncanny instincts as the lightning bolt flashes down and he is barely singed by the electrical discharge.

The choker reaches out with both tentacle-like arms to grab the orc king's throat from behind but he manages to evade those grasping tentacles as well.

Then Bully lashes out with his chainflail to tangle the orc kings legs. The orc king stumbles and falls on the platform in font of Bully, who seizes the opportunity to smash the chainflail down on the orc king in a powerful blow that clearly draws blood.

Raven draws her glowing rapier and lunges forward at the orc king as well, pricking and shocking him twice in quick succession.

The orc king's head movements and body language suggest he is probably yelling furiously at the unexpected attack but his face mask hides his mouth and the silence spell hides all sounds in the battle zone. He glares at Bully for a moment before rolling forward onto the stairs beside Bully, rising to his feet in that same movement.

The reaction of the mass of orcs in the cavern is polarised, to say the least. Those closest to the stage are within the area of silence and did not hear giant Minmorc's short speech. They wave their weapons angrily and try to surge forward toward the stage and up the stairs. Those further back outside the area of silence look at each other in confusion and mutter amongst themselves but stay well back from the battle. Many of the orc youngsters were right at the back of the cavern where they had very limited view of what is happening on the stage but clearly heard giant Minmorc's speech. Many of those youngsters start racing up the ramps to the two ledges on either side of the cavern to get a better view of what is happening.

Four of the closest orcs from the audience get close enough to slash at Bully with their falchions. Bully's armour protects him from most of those attacks but one of the orcs on the stairs (w14) manages to hit him.

The orc king seems encouraged by the reaction of his warriors and shakes his greataxe above his head as he faces the invaders on the stage.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Those within melee range of the orc king get a single attack of opportunity as he moves and stands up from prone. (i.e. Minmorc, Raven, choker and Bully.) Then you can post actions for next round as well.

[Language unknown: Ckant u erain areesslat !] Dregz yells, pointing over the ledge to bring everyone's attention to it.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:21, Mon 31 Oct 2022.

As the Orc King stands Minmorcs Axe slashes. In eerie silence Minmorcs face contorts in rage and with spittle flying in all directions his axe flashes up and down over and over.

"---!" Bulldust silently shrieks as the orc king faces him in that terrifying mask.  He lashes out nervously with the chainflail as the king tries to stand, then swings again hesitantly at the orc behind him (y12) unsure if it was that orc who nicked him but jittery about being surrounded.  He glances up uneasily at the ledge and mouths "-----!"

Moffdust grins at Dregz, "Yes, hehe, its gonna get hots down deres!"

She waves back at Bully, glad to see he's having so much fun, then she makes a Wall of Fire across the front of the hall (x11-x16) leaving a gap at each end for trapped orcs to flee if they've had enough.

She squats down to make herself less of a target in case the hot orcs get upset.

Dregz grins back uncertainly at Moffa ... and once he's finished pointing, the hairy little goblin follows her example and ducks back behind the ledge, poking his head up only occasionally to get a quick squizz at what's happening below, assuming anything is visible in the conflagration that's about to ensue.

Though since he's only a magnificent flat three feet in height, there might not be much ducking involved - more like jumping up and down in the hope of catching a glimpse !

Minmorc, Bully, Raven and the choker all attack the orc king as he surges back up to his feet.

Giant Minmorc's greataxe bites deep in the orc king's right arm and Bully's chainflail strikes the orc king's hip a solid blow. Raven's glowing rapier pierces his left shoulder and electrical energy arcs from the blade to his breastplate, making him jerk convulsively.  Even the choker scratches the orc king's neck but cannot get a good grip to hold on.

Then Dregz shouts a warning in the goblin language and a tiny glowing bead of fire shoots from his fingertip towards the centre of the crowd of orc warriors. On arrival that tiny bead explodes in a huge fireball 40-feet in diameter, engulfing at least 40 of the orc warriors, including the two on the stairs below Bully. Almost all of them collapse on the floor of the cavern and lie unmoving.

Giant Minmorc yells in fury (although nothing is heard because of his spell of silence) as he chops again and again at the orc king. Both blows strike true and cut deep. The orc king falls under those powerful blows and lies motionless in a pool of blood on the stairs.

Bully lashes out with his chainflail again and this time he kills one of the orcs that had tried to stab him from beside the stairs.

Then Moffdust conjures a wall of flame across the middle of the stairs and three-quarters of the way across the cavern. Half a dozen surviving orc warriors on the eastern side of that wall of fire shy away from the intense heat as it starts causing their skin to blister painfully and they start to run away across the bodies of their fire-balled kin, joining the mass exodus of all the orc females and young from the eastern side of the cavern.

Three orcs remain trapped on the western side of the wall of flame, in the silenced zone at the foot of the platform where the orc king was speaking. They are not harmed by the wall of fire at all. One looks to be a typical orc warrior but the other two (o1 and o2) are better equipped with breastplate and greataxe, as though following the example set by their king. They stand warily but ready to defend themselves should an enemy come within reach.

Most of the orc youngsters continue their dash along the upper ledges and into the side caves leading off those ledges, but one or two reach the greased area near Moffa, Jurz and Dregz and the first of those orc youngsters slips over in the grease.

The goblin girl Shroomza (g1) quietly emerges in the tunnel behind Moffa, clearly trying to see what is going on in the cavern below. Her eyes widen in shock when the fireball explodes in the cavern but she doesn't seem too scared as her goblin rescuers are clearly not upset by the fireball.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Jurz winks at Shroomza, then casts - maybe a touch more theatrically than normal, and creates a Flaming Sphere on top of the first of the young Orcs (t9).  Then he turns back towards the stage, and calls another bolt of Lightning down on the Orc King. "Eats Dat!" he calls excitedly, then peeks, out of the corner of his eye, at Shroomza.


16:22, Today: Jurz rolled 10 using 5d6.  Call lightning Storm bolt damage.
16:21, Today: Jurz rolled 9 using 3d6.  Flaming Sphere Damage.

The subject of Minmorcs anger is down so with a sort of disgusted, you dead already?! look his rage subsides. With a snort he will disable the silence spell and then he will reach down to snatch up the mask. Holding it up he will rear up above the fire and speech punctuated by lightning bolts will call out "All right you mob! Throws down yer weapons an go an av a chat. Comes back after yer ad a feed an we'll tells yer oos in charge."

Dregz hangs over the edge to excitedly admire the devastation the fireball has wreaked amongst the orcs, a maniacal giggle escaping the lips of the hairy priest as he peers down.

Loudly applauding Minmorc's speech, the little goblin waits only for the big Orc to clear the area (by word or deed) before getting Furyuz to whisk him down there that they might destroy the offending mask.

Bulldust blinks down at the dead king then gapes up at the giant orc.  This really is his day!

There's a blast of hot air out in the hall then a towering wall of flame.  Suddenly he can hear again.  The mask is not nearly as scary now that Min has it, so he relaxes a bit listens to Min's speech.  He looks to see if the nearest orcs are doing as Min said.  He points to orc o1 to catch Raven's attention and makes a stabby gesture.  Then he flicks the chainflail at the orc nearest to himself but misses.  So he shows some teeth and shouts "You heard 'im - scram!"

Moffdust too peeks over the edge as the cavern goes bang. "Ooo! Dats pretty Dregzies!"

She sees what Jurz is doing and winks at him then puts in a good word for him. "He's so good wid de kiddies. He doesn't lets dems slips off an hurts demselfs. Dat sets de examples fer dem alls."

She concentrates on the wall of fire but watches down on the stage. "I wonders whats in dere after dat doors?"

Jurz wonders what Moffa is up to.  He doesn't remember any kiddies ...

"I'se fink de door should waits, until de Orcs haves all gone away." he says watching the ones on the same ledge as him.

Are Jurz and Moffa going to teleport down to the stage with Dregz, or stay up on the ledge?

Jurz will stay where he is, for the moment.  He can get down to the stage under his own steam, later, if that is appropriate.

OOC: Moffdust also will stay up on de ledges fer de nows.

Jurz conjures a flaming sphere to make sure the orc youngsters from attempting to cross the greased patch on the northern ledge (frying the first one that had already tried to enter) then sends another lightning bolt slashing down at the dead orc king. Shroomza claps her hands in glee at the spectacle.

Minmorc dismisses the spell of silence and grabs the mask off the face of the dead orc king. The face behind that mask actually looks more like a halforc than a full-blooded orc. As soon as the mask is removed from the king's face all of the bloodshot eye emblems (on the mask, helmet, breastplate and gauntlets) cease moving and now just look like painted emblems instead. Minmorc's words ensure the exodus of the orcs from the cavern continues. Even the three orcs close to the stage (o1, o2 and an ordinary orc warrior) quickly retreat around the wall of fire and join those guarding the rear of the huge mob of females and young who are pushing towards the exit.

Bully swings his chainflail at the fleeing orc warrior but misses and Raven shrugs and waves the other orcs on their way without trying to stop them at all.

Dregz wastes no time in getting on with their stated mission and uses the Black Mace to teleport down to the stage beside Minmorc and the dead orc king.

Jurz and Moffa stay up on the northern ledge and Shroomza joins them on the ledge for a better view of the chaos in the cavern below.

The closest of the orc youngsters on the northern ledge retreat from the flaming sphere and some more vanish into the caves accessed from that ledge, but many of them are more excited and curious than afraid and remain on the northern and southern ledges to watch.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Bulldust grins up at the gobbos on the ledge and gives them a thumbs up.  He leaves Min and Dregz to deal with the orc king and the scary mask and heads backstage.  Passing Raven he says "C'mon Birdie Girl, let's go see wots frough dat door."  He squeezes round the back of the statue (bb14).  Guessing that the door is locked, and still pumped for a fight, be braces himself between the statue and the door and shoves hard to burst the door.

08:38, Today: Bulldust rolled 15 using 1d20+9.  str check to burst door.

Waving Furyuz (aka The Black Mace, aka Magic Stick, one of many) around excitedly the hairy little goblin yells above the furor to Minmorc to cast down the offending mask.

"Frows its in der fi ... on der groundses !"

Dregz smash.

Minmorc will nod and will casually toss the mask at Dregz feet. He will hook the Orc kings axe on his armor and will then start dragging the body after Bully. "Mask fer you mr Forza, der rest fer us. Dis is der start of a bootyful friendship, hur hur hur."

<clubs mask to death with a few more blows than is strictly necessary>

Moffdust grins at Jurzie, glad for him that Shroomza is impressed with his teaching methods for the orc kiddies. For her own safety, she's glad he is looking after the defense of the ledge, so she can keep watch on the stage below. She concentrates on maintaining the wall of fire because it blocks the stage from view for the orcs on the hall. She wonders where the orcs hid their gold, so she shakes Cat the Bat out of her cloak and sends him down towards the stage to find out. "Find der golds Catses!"

Jurz grins back at Moffa, and asks Shoomzie  "Whats should wes do nexts?" as he takes a moment to bounce the flaming sphere up and down on its spot, threatening any young orcs that might be thinking about trying to push their way further along the ledge?

With the orcs all retreating as fast as the narrow tunnels will allow, Bully decides it is time to see what the orc king was hoarding behind the door at the back of the statue of Gruumsh. He leads Raven around behind the statue then unceremoniously kicks the door open. It wasn't locked after all, although it does have a lock fitted so it could be locked from outside as well as a bar on the inside.

The 30ft x 15ft room beyond that door is rather crowded with fine quality furnishings including a large bed with a heavy fur spread neatly across it, a wardrobe, a round wooden table and 4 chairs, rugs, tapestries and 3 large iron-bound wooden chests complete with heavy iron padlocks.

At Dregz's urging, giant Minmorc tosses the orc king's mask on the floor at Dregz's feet then starts dragging the king's body back toward the room behind the statue.

Dregz wastes no time and smashes the Black Mace down on the mask.

As soon as the Black Mace hits the mask there is a loud explosion as the Black Mace and the mask both shatter and a number of large pieces of shrapnel strike the walls of the alcove and cavern with the sharp clang of metal hitting stone. Dregz is left holding nothing more than a 6-inch length of black rod.

Jurz's question to Shroomza is drowned out by that loud explosion but Shroomza seems too excited to care. The orc youngsters on the northern ledge are now all fleeing into the northeast side tunnel but those on the southern ledge are mostly staying to watch, although there is a bit of a disturbance halfway along that southern ledge.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Jurz switches his attention to the disturbance on the Southern ledge, trying to see what is going on over there, prepared to throw a lightning bolt, if it is needed.

17:14, Today: Jurz rolled 7 using 1d20+3.  spot.
*grin* I knew I should have taken 10 ....

Moffdust claps her hands gleefully "Dats anudder big bangs Dregzies, youse on fires todays!"

She sees Dregz holding just a short black stick. "Ah! So is dat's how de bits ov de Magic Sticks gets all over de worlds". He gaze moves to where Jurz's is watching the south ledge. She wonders out loud "Did a pieces of de Black Sticks lands on dat ledges Jurzies? We doesn't want der orc kiddies ter carries der pieces aways! Can youse stops dems? I'se gonna watch de udder orcses."

She looks out across the eastern end of the hall to see if any orcs are picking up bits of shrapnel. Its time to let go of the wall of fire and get a closer look. She shouts "Fires is goin outs!" then changes herself into a tiny bat and flies out over the orcs packed in the end of the hall.

"Awww Dammit, we only jus fixed dat!" Minmorc will search the ork king for keys, if he finds any he will throw them to Bully. He will then start stripping the corpse of its armor and possessions. "If we start chasin peices quick like we might be able ter get lots before udder buggers has a chance ter carry dem inter hidey holes."

Bulldust is glad to be behind the big statue when the bang goes off and pieces of metal start flying around.  He can hear Minmorc talking so he knows his friends are OK.  He whistles appreciatively at the neat bedroom.  "I wonder if Nurzhan came from dis tribe?  Hey Birdie Girl, can you check dose boxes fer traps?"  He moves to the bed to start sniffing around (literally) and searching.

The hairy little goblin's cry of triumph turns with deplorable rapidity into a terrible wail of despair as the Magic Stick shatters asunder.  Holding aloft the small remaining piece still clutched in his hand, Dregz looks up with fevered desperation, using his Magic Boots to launch himself towards the ceiling of the alcove.

Jurz switches his attention to the southern ledge and soon spots a couple of the orc youngsters stooped over another of the youngsters, who appears to be dead. They are busily tugging at something sticking out of the body. Probably whatever killed him.

Moffa transforms into a tiny bat and flies over the retreating orcs to the eastern end of the hall. A few of the orcs glance up at the east end of the cavern above the main entry tunnel but none of them pause in their retreat.

Minmorc starts searching and stripping the orc king's body. Among the items he finds is a keyring with 4 keys on it. One is a heavy iron door key and the other 3 are smaller iron keys. He tosses the keys to Bully.  Apart from the breastplate, gauntlets and helmet (all marked with the bloodshot eye) his other possessions include a beautifully made greataxe, a dagger, an amulet carved from bone on a cord around his neck and a black chain bracelet with a fist-shaped black clasp on his right wrist.

Bully heads into the room behind the statue and starts sniffing around the bed. It stinks of orc, but not as strongly as Minmorc does. Bully quickly finds a fine quality composite longbow (+4 Str bonus) in the corner beside the bed, a quiver with 15 normal and 5 silvered arrows, and an old backpack containing a climber's kit and 2 potion flasks.

Raven starts searching for traps on the 3 chests. After 3 minutes of searching, she squawks that she cannot find any traps on any of them.

Dregz levitates up to the ceiling in the northwest corner of the alcove beside the huge statue of Gruumsh. There he starts tugging at several inches of black rod that are poking out of the ceiling. (DC15 Strength check to pull it free. Eventually Dregz will manage to pull it free and can then decide what to do with it.)

OOC: Map not updated. (The above description is a bit fluid in terms of time elapsed, with different lengths of time addressed for different areas or events.) All of the adult orcs will continue to retreat out the main eastern tunnel, except the numbered leaders who remain at the eastern end of the cavern to see what the vengeful giant orc and his minions do next. All the rest of the adult orcs end up out in the narrow pass outside the tunnel but don't spread more than 200 feet from the main entry tunnel. The youngsters on the northern ledge retreat into the northern caves and tunnels. The youngsters on the southern ledge mostly still stay to watch.

"OI!  Dat's Mine" Jurz shouts at the orcs on the opposite balcony, and drops a lighting bolt on them.

Then he glares at the young orcs opposite, before glaring around the scene before him, looking for more, similar, disturbances.

16:26, Today: Jurz rolled 23 using 5d6.  Call lightning Storm bolt damage.
Spot -  take10+3 =  13!

The little goblin finally manages to prise the Other Bit free from where it's lodged in the roof and examines both it and the remaining part of the Magic Stick with a critical and concerned eye.

Jurz's lightning bolt has the desired effect and immediately causes the orc youngsters on the southern ledge to dash away into the two southern tunnels leading off from that ledge. Except for the three dead youngsters at t19 where the lightning bolt struck, of course. Jurz doesn't see any other disturbances apart from the general chaos of the orcish rout.

Dregz finally manages to prise the 6-inch-long section of black rod from the ceiling of the alcove and soon determines that it would fit neatly on the end of the similar section he still has in hand. As the complete Black Mace was about 3-feet long and consisted of 5 straight sections, 3 slotted discs and the small end piece holding the enchanted gemstone, it is clear the search is far from over.

As if to reinforce that point, the dispassionate voice of Forya en' i' Leitha speaks clearly from the location where it is now embedded in the southern wall of the alcove.

"Ah, that is always so very satisfying. Clever idea that, doing it inside a cave. Makes it so much easier to gather all the pieces of the Mace again, I am sure." Then there is a significant pause before Forya adds, "Oh, dear. It hit him in the groin."

OOC: Forya is 15ft above the floor in the south wall of the alcove at z15. As Forya's voice draws your attention to that section of wall you quickly notice two other black segments sticking out of the wall. A slightly jagged black disc is embedded 2 feet below Forya and another short segment of black rod 5 feet below Forya.

"Doze is ours as wells!" shouts are anyone near Forya, and waves his arms around threateningly.

Then, in a slightly puzzled tone, he asks "Hits who in de groans?"  Before speaking quietly to Moffa.  "Watz a groans?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 16:16, Sun 04 Dec 2022.

Minmorc will get a blanket off the bed and lay it out next to the chests. He'll put the Dorkings stuff on it then will help Bully loot the chests.

With all the fervour of a religious zealot and with his tongue sticking out as he concentrates furiously, Dregz carefully joins the two bits of the Magic Stick together then proceeds to use the partial whole to guide him to the next piece in turn, levitating where he must and enlisting the help of the bigguns if they're needed either to prise bits free or scare off any orcs that want to dispute ownership.

Dregz easily slots the first two segments of black rod together then lets it point toward the next segment, which is stuck in the southern wall of the alcove 5 feet below Forya.

The 'groans' are the sound that Dregz makes as he walks between the altar and statue on his way to the next piece.

Jurz needn't worry about the orcs. They are all too busy running or supervising the rout to give any thought to stray bits of black metal that might be stuck in the walls above them.

With the battle won, the bits of rod safe, the bigs collecting the loot and Moffa still playing with fire, Jurz turns his attention - and his well known charm and charisma to important matters.  Stepping back a bit, so that he is close to Shroomzie, he casually drapes his arm across her shoulders and asks, "So wats a nice girls, like youse, doin in places like dis?"

Prises and reprises ! :P

"Jurz, jus asks her ter Nuffle wid you!" While looting Minmorcs voice gets deep and he starts singing my darling I doo doo, can't get a nuffle yer love baby!

Bulldust finishes ransacking the bed end of the room, putting the valuable items in the magic bag.  Then he helps Min and Raven empty the chests onto the blanket then into the magic bag.

He goes out of the treasure room and takes in the scene.  Is the flame wall gone now?  He can see Jurz getting on well with Shroomza and he grins up at them.  Dregz is groaning (?) but getting on with rounding up the bits of the black stick, so Bulldust helps pluck the bits out of the south wall and hands them to the hairy priest. "Any uvvers?"

The wall of fire has gone out. Moffdust stops watching the orcs and flutters back to the ledge and hangs upside down above Jurz and Shroomza - like mistletoe - but only for a moment, not wanting to cramp Jurzie's style she flutters into the safe cave to speak with the other goblins gathered there.

"We's killed the kings and scared off all de udder orcses. Youse can come out nows an loots de empty rooms! An youse can has a tinks... does youse wants de caves or does youse wants ter comes somewhere elses wid usses? Wes can takes youse anywheres youse wants ter goes."

Shroomza talks to the other goblins, who are all female. It doesn't take long for them to decide what they want.

"We's don't wants to stay here. We's are just prisoners here. When the orcs come back we's just prisoners again. We's wants to come away with yous. Take us somewhere we can be with other goblins again."

Once that message is delivered, she leads the other goblins into the nearby cave that is home to the female orcs and they start rummaging through the piles of sleeping furs and other gear in search of anything they can use in the new life that lies ahead.

Dregz eventually manages to track down and retrieve the other 7 segments of the Black Mace. Three were in the south wall of the statue alcove, one was embedded in the eastern end of the cavern above the main exit tunnel, one was in the roof of the cavern near the southern ledge, one was sill stuck in an orc youngster it had hit and killed on the southern ledge and one of the disc-shaped pieces of the mace head had sliced into the groin of the statue of Gruumsh.

Jurz's flirtation earns a warm smile from Shroomza but she is distracted by questions from the other goblin prisoners and ends up joining them as they start looting the nearby female orcs’ cave.

Meanwhile, in the room behind the statue, Bully uses the keys from the orc king's body to unlock the padlocks on the three large chests. He, Raven and Minmorc open two of the chests easily but the middle chest provides a nasty surprise when opened. There is a deafening explosion that leaves the three of them reeling.

All three survive the explosion. Inside the chests is a substantial hoard of coins, gems and jewellery. Most of the coins are copper and silver but there are enough gold and platinum coins in there to be noticeable. Added to the king's armour, greataxe, bow and other items it certainly promises to be a worthwhile haul.

Eventually, when there is time to identify, count and evaluate this treasure haul, the full list is as follows:

• Helm of wounding sight = 6,500 gp
• Gauntlets of destruction = 6,610 gp
• Breastplate of terror = 13,200 gp
• +1 greataxe = 2,320gp
• Amulet of Natural Armor +1 = 2,000gp
• 2 potions of cure moderate wounds = 2 x 300 = 600gp
• +1 mighty composite longbow (+4 Strength) = 2,800gp
• 30,000gp in coins, gems and jewellery
• Total value is 47,015gp in cash and sell price of items, so that equates to 7,835gp each

OOC: In addition, the treasure from the frost giant and clear crystal gemstones yesterday, after paying 10,000gp to the crystal dragon for Forya en' i' Leitha, gave everyone another 821gp each.

And more good news, everyone has now gained enough experience to level up to level 10 (ECL10). Everyone is now on 47,283XP.

”Deres lots of Goblins by de Crystal Mist Mountains by der Hornwoods forests.” Jurz declares  ”I’s gonna be king dere one day. I havesn’t told dem yet, but dat’s OK, dey’ll finds out when I’se ready.”

Once he is sure everything is under control, Jurz wanders along to watch the goblins looting the female orc caves.  Just in case any of the orcs come back.  It has nothing to do with the fact that all the goblins are female …

When it comes time to talk about treasure, Jurz puts in a claim for the Amulet of Natural protection.  One day he will get to be a Big Bear and fight alongside the bigs again …

Bulldust heard the click and covered his ears avoiding the worst of the bang.  Coupled with the orc wound he's still only lightly damaged.

He starts searching the bodies in the great hall and in the side caverns to the south to see what other goods or valuables the orcs have left behind - all these he'll give to Shroomza and the gobbo slaves to add to their new start in Jurz's forest or wherever they choose to go :-)

He does not need any of the named items and is happy for Jurz to claim that amulet.  "I fink I'll get some new armour made up, wiv a dragon on it!  I fink I can get dat in Gorna."

07:53, Sun 11 Dec: Bulldust rolled 29 using 1d20+10.  ref save chest bang.

Moffdust changes back into her goblin self. She grins at Jurz and the goblins. "I tinks dats near wheres me an Bully comes from. When youse de kings Jurzies, we's gonna visits youse an eats all yer humbugs!" She snickers softly at her joke.

She doesn't want any of the orcs' treasures. She tells the party that she will teach herself how to make 'magical tingses' and can maybe make some things for the party if she has enough time in Gorna. "I'se gonna makes de amulets ter keeps our brains in ours headses, like de Protections from de Evils, or from de udder tings dats gonna gets yer brains. Does youse wants dose?"

Considering the black stick's predilection for destroying things that get inside people's heads, Jurz decides that one of Moffa's amulets might be a better option than an amulet of natural armour.

"Yeah Moffa, dat would be great! Can I gets mine shaped like a nuffle ball?"

Moffdust grins atJurz "I tinks maybes youse can gets both!"

She explains that the amulets can be any design you have in mind, or she can choose for youse, and can protect youse from whatever youse afraid of (Evils, Laws, Goods or de Chaoses), dey takes me 2 days each in Gorna, but dey only cost youse 1000gp (her cost to make) "...cos I's gonna summons de magics inta dems!"

She nods at Min an taps her pointy nose shrewdly "Yes dear Mins, I knows jus what deys looks like."

"Can I pays in Humbugs, when I'm der king?"  Jurz asks with a grin.

But you can only wear one amulet at a time  :)

"Dats okay Jurzies, youse can pays us when youse de kings ov de forests." Moffdust grins back. "An I'se can summons de magics inta anytinks youse likes!"

Not limited to 'amulet'... could be jacket, helmet, epaulet, bucket, magnet, puppet, blanket ...

"Dats great, fanks Moffa!  Can yer put mine in a silver ring?  An make it ter keep da evil ones outa my head - dey're da worst!"  He gives his big sister a hug and gives her 1000gp from his share of the haul.

He helps the goblin women to finish looting the dead orcs and side caves, offering to help them carry their loot in the magic bag until they get where they're going.

After he orcs have had long enough to clear out, Moffdust goes to see how Wolfie is getting on and what the view looks like outside. She goes cautiously, and if there are any lingering orcs she will go back and ask Bully to help her with that. When she finds Wolfie she'll tell him all about the orcs inside and about how she's going to make some riding pants that will help her ride him next time she summons him and won't that be fun. Then she lets him go back to Hell for a rest.

Back inside she sits down where the party are sharing out their loot. "I'se had a tinks about de Protections. I can't makes dems outa jus anytings, deys gotta be de right sorta tings, in de right sorta places. So youse can has sometings around youse necks or sometings wrapping up yer bodies, or der costs is 1500gp if yer wants it somewheres elses. An Bully dears, I'se can't makes youse de rings, youse gotta chooses anudder tings." "She grins toothily. "If youse likes I'se can summons de spiders ter knits youse der Vests ov Protections!" (for 1500gp)"Like de hobbitses on de Stairs of Cirith Ungols."

OOC: GM has clarified body slot affinities for Protection magic and the specific items that work with those body slots - thanks! :)
- Around the body: Cloak, cape, mantle = 1000gp
- Around the neck: Amulet, brooch, medallion, necklace, periapt, scarab = 1000gp
You can create an item that uses a different body slot but that increases the cost by 50% = 1500gp
3.5e DMG p214 for body slots, p288 behind the curtain.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:21, Sat 24 Dec 2022.

"Oooorrrrr... I's can adds de Protections ter de magic am-u-letses or magic cloakses dat youse already gots! Dat'll costs youse 1500gp ter adds de Protections."

OOC: please read this in addition to the previous post.
3.5e DMG p282 behind the curtain.

Bulldust is happy to go with that last option, adding Prot vs Evil to his Cloak of Resistance for 1,500 gp.  "Den its a cloak ov protection from everyfing!"

Eventually all of the orc king's treasure is hauled out from the room behind the statue of Gruumsh and all nine segments of the Black Mace are retrieved and reassembled by Dregz, including the topmost piece that holds the gemstone Forya en' i' Leitha.

Moffa scouts the caves in the form of a little black bat and soon determines that most of the orcs are now outside in the 40-foot-wide pass through the mountains. Only a few of the better armoured orc leaders are still at the eastern end of the cavern still watching what is happening, and several groups of orc youngsters are still in the upper caves and tunnels or outside on the upper ledges with no easy way to climb down to escape.

"Thank you. That was most satisfactory. So where are we going next?" Forya en' i' Leitha enquires.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

"Gorna."  says Bulldust.  "In da old humie church.  But what about you, Shroomzie?  Deres gobbos in Gorna an in Jurzie's woods, or is dere some ovver place yer wanna go?"

Hearing Bully's suggestion, Jurz pipes up, "We's gots to take de ovver gobbos somewhere first.  I know deres Gobbo's by der Chrystalmist Mountains.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:22, Tue 27 Dec 2022.

"Dat'd be gud, woodenit ?" Dregz suggests to Furyuz, inordinately proud of himself for having reassembled the Magic Stick correctly.  "Now der slaves ises free, we'se have ter takes dem tah der safes places so dat dey don' ged kilt or slaved all ovver agen."

"Mights takes der few tripses," he notes.

The little goblin makes a mental note to be sure to take the next artifact to a similar cave (or indeed back to this one, now there's not many orcs to worry about) in order to destroy it.

"Den wese goes tah Gorna tah makes uz stronger ... and den wese goes killz der Elfses!"

"Yeahhhh!"  Bulldust's eyes light up. "Den we kill da elfs!"

Minmorc is happy to wait while Jurz and Dregz relocate goblins and is very keen to head to Gorna. He will spend some time sharpening various weapons and artistically smearing on blood to make himself presentable for the Queens court.

Raven squawks in agitation when Minmorc seems to be suggesting he will stay behind while Jurz and Dregz magic the goblins away with the Black Mace.

"No, no, nobody goes unless we all goes! I think Forya said we can all goes if we all crowd in really, really close around the Black Mace. The problem is how to get outa this cave without we gets mobbed by the orcses. Forya can't jump us outa this cave. We needs to be outside then Dregzie can jumps us to anywhere he can thinks of."

Jurz grins,  "Wells.  Dere is anovver one of dose big fiery balls, an dere is some more lightnings.  Dat should worries dem a bit.  And den dere is  de Jurz Bear dat can help out der bigs."  Then he looks across at Min to see is that is the way he wants to do it, or whether he intends to try and form a nuffle ball team up here in the wilds.

Minmorc has a blank look on his face when the others express concern, he hadn't thought all the logistics through, very happy to leave the cunning to the goblins. Scratching his head he'll say "Well... der Orks went out der big tunnel so team ardanuff an team gobbo go over der cool bridge gate an sit on a ledge an Dregz an mr Forya go pops and drop off Gobbos an go pops an come back an den we go pops an we in der temple place in Gorna. Now dat I seen dese orks dey too weak fer Nuffle. If yer wanna go kills dem I'll help but dey weak so I'd rather goes av a nap."

"Wese needs ter form der pyram ... der pyro ... der big pointy ting wid der bigguns belows and der littluns on der top," Dregz surmizes.

"Den wese all gives der big cheer an' off wese goes !"

Clearing the orcs out the way sounds like fun, though bypassing them entirely would take less effort ... and there's a small nagging doubt in his little goblin brain regarding the wisdom of loosing big balls of fire in the narrow confines of a tunnel.

"Ise needs ter ava read of der Holy Book," the priest decides, divine inspiration by far a better option than relying on mere logical consideration.

"We can go back ter da ledge where Wolfie was."  Bulldust gives his opinion of where to stage the pyramid-stacked lift off.  "Moffa said de orc younguns were out dere, but we can ask em ter stay outa de way while we go up to da top ov da cliff wiv de gobbos - taking turns with Dregzie using his Furyz Stick Fing."

"Or, we's can gets some helps ter scare de orcses!" Moffdust grins. She goes down into the hall and summons a large dog, with a smooth black coat and a mouth full of sharp teeth. She gives it a scratch behind the ears (which she can actually reach) and tells it "Youse a scary doggies! Yes youse is. So youse can goes down de tunnels an scares all de orcses!" She points towards the main tunnel entrance and howls "Aaaarrrrooooooooo!"

"Dat would make it easier if da orcs ran away." Bulldust watches to see what the black dog does.

As Moffa's shadow mastiff trots toward the eastern end of the main cavern, it is confronted by two of the senior orc warriors at the tunnel mouth. The shadow mastiff slows as it approaches then bays with a blood-curdling howl.

The orc in the slightly less impressive armour (o4) immediately panics and runs away down the tunnel but the other orc curses profanely, raises his greataxe and attacks the shadow mastiff.

OOC: Everyone within 300 feet must make a DC15 Will save or become panicked. This cavern is only 125 feet long, so start rolling!

wats woz dat? Jurz says, looking worried.

Jurz failed.  Spectacularly.

"Mmmmoooofffffaaaaaaaaa!"  Bulldust wails as he runs into the treasure room and slams the door.

OOC: also failed

Minmorc isn't as fast to react as Bully. Running after him in panic he yells "Bully - don't you close that door, DON'T YOU CLOSE THAT DOOR!" He'll hammer on it for a second and then try to force it open.

It was a strong wooden door. Now it is a broken, strong wooden door. It would need to be repaired before it would be able to be closed and locked again.

"He he he!" Moffdust snickers at the chaos surrounding her. She summons a howler right beside the orc who stayed to fight and snarls at it in a language it knows. [Language unknown: "Ingioueen es dickpl!"]

13:34, Today: Moffdust rolled 27 using 1d20+7.  save black doggie.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:10, Sat 14 Jan 2023.

"Waaaaagh!  You broke da door Min?!!  I liked dat door!  It was keeping out dat black dog!"  He hides under the bed instead.  "Don't break da bed Min!"

"Move ova, move ova!" Minmorc will charge across the room, dive, belly slide then commando crawl under the bed with Bully.

"Well awright den, but no fartin!"

Dregz is equally un-afeared by the howls, if not quite as amused as Moffa.

"Dat Orc ises tryin' tah 'urt der big doggie !" he declares, pointing the Magic Stick (aka the Black Rod, aka Furyuz) at the offending specimen.

"Dat ises not very nices at alls !"

"Shoulds I burns 'im ?" he asks Moffa, loudly and with a fair bit of enthusiasm, eyes gleaming as he remembers the huge ball of flame he conjured earlier.

Raven shudders at the awful noise of the shadow mastiff's baying but quickly shakes off the effects. She walks over to join Moffa and Dregz.

"It's not a pretty sound, is it? I can't thinks how to describes it."

Bully, Minmorc and Jurz end up hiding in the room behind the statue while Dregz, Moffa and Raven stay out on the platform to watch the fight.

Moffa summons in a howler to join the fight against the orc leader, which provides an opening for the shadow mastiff to dash past and head off down the tunnel to scare off all the orcs, as instructed by Moffa. The screams of terrified orcs outside the tunnel sound even louder than the baying of the shadow mastiff.

The orc leader turns his anger and frustration on the howler instead and seriouly wounds it but is not yet able to turn his back on it to chase after the shadow mastiff.

"I don' fink 'e 'eard me," the hairy little goblin ruminates disappointedly to Moffa and Raven.  Galloping shadow mastiff's and howlers do tend to concentrate the mind wonderfully.

With a shrug, Dregz unshoulders his crossbow and, tongue out as he concentrates, sets to cocking it and fitting a bolt to the channel.

"Yes, we'se should burns him!" Moffdust replies. She summons a hell hound snd sends it forth to do the burning. [Language unknown: "Ev istoin wa siio, ain tryin o helepl ngilno."] She sits on the edge of the stage and swings her legs over the edge. "Youse gets a good shots from up heres Dregzies, so sticks im goods!"

Bulldust can still hear the black dog howling out there somewhere so he stays put.  He elbows the orc  "Budge over Min, gotta make room fer Jurzie."

Jurz, who had been looking around for somewhere to hide, sees Bully and Min head into the back room, so follows them in, then dives under the bed between them.  "Room for a small one ...." he croaks, not sure whether to shout or whisper.

First round: Howler bit the orc leader inflicting a serious wound. The orc leader attacked twice with his greataxe, lightly wounding the howler with his second blow.

Second round: Howler bit the orc leader again and one of its neck quills lodged in the orc's flesh as well, leaving him grievously wounded. The orc leader fought on desperately, striking the howler once more and leaving it moderately wounded. Then the hell hound arrives with a blast of flame to cauterise the orc's wounds. Somehow the orc leader survives the roasting but from the way he is staggering it looks like he is on his last legs.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.
Bully was panicked for 4 rounds (2 remaining), Minmorc was panicked for 3 rounds (1 remaining), Jurz was panicked for 2 rounds (now recovered).
The first orc that fled (o4) dropped a masterwork greataxe.

Moffdust claps her hands and cackles in glee. "Youse finishes im off Dregzies!" She waits for Dregz to take his shot before darting down the steps towards the battle. Move 60'.

Having dived in between the two 'bigs' seems to have worked for Jurz.  He isn't sure if it is the 'perfume' of hot sweaty orc and bugbear bodies, or the fact that he is getting squashed by his two much larger allies.  What ever it is, the thing that is out there can't be any worse ...

"Phew.  It stinks in here ...." he mutters as he crawls back out from under the bed, and makes his way, carefully, back to Moffa and Dregz
This message was last edited by the player at 08:29, Sun 22 Jan 2023.

Minmorc starts sniffing and shrugs "smells like home ter me..." then another panicked thought dances on his little brain "errr... you don't smell nuffin else in eer wid us do you?"

"Waaahh!"  Bulldust screams.  "Its da black dog!  Its in ere!"  He starts ripping straw out of the mattress...

Still with his tongue sticking out as he concentrates, Dregz levels his crossbow at the offending Orc and pulls the trigger, watching excitedly as the bolt flies across the cave ...

As Moffa races forwards across the cavern in anticipation of victory, Dregz aims his little crossbow and shoots at the staggering orc leader. Incredibly, Dregz's bolt flies true and hits the orc in the neck. The orc staggers once more then collapses backwards onto the floor of the cavern. The howler and hell hound both pounce on the body and start tearing it apart.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. Combat is over, so you can get on with plans for departure. Most of the orcs outside will stay at least 300 feet away for at least the next ten minutes or so, even though the panic from the shadow mastiff’s baying wears off after 2-8 rounds.
Bully was panicked for 4 rounds (1 remaining), Minmorc was panicked for 3 rounds (now recovered), Jurz was panicked for 2 rounds (now recovered).
The first orc that fled (o4) dropped a masterwork greataxe.
The orc leader had a +1 greataxe and was wearing a +1 breastplate.

Once the path is clear, Jurz starts rounding up the other goblins and herding them towards the exit, so that everyone is ready to leave when Dregz, and his magic stick, do the business.

Minmorc will shake his head, crawl out from under the bed and wander out into the great hall. He'll give the orcs corpse a good kick then he'll strip it of the breastplate and stash that and the two greataxes away in loot storage.

Bulldust crawls out sheepishly too, tossing away handfuls of straw he doesn't know what to do with.  "Lets go outside."  He tells Shroomza its safe out there now (he believes this to be true).

Catching up with Moffa he asks "What was dat Moffa?!"

"Youse hasn't seen nuttin yets." Moffdust grins at Bully. She helps encourage the other goblins to gather their belongings and come outside.

Having stood his ground and dispensed the killing shot, the hairy little priest is inordinately pleased with himself, smiling happily as he shoulders his crossbow and joins the general exodus, ready with his Magic Stick.

Moffdust smiles back sweetly at Dregz as he swaggers past. "Teamworks makes de dreamworkses."

Now that's a dogma that Dregz would pat on the head and throw a bone to !

The goblin smiles and grins back at Moffa. [Language unknown: "Omein ionna ofund masi mohou castro histheset !  Ure vortedday pr relo andnd of ad !"  :E]

Once everyone has recovered from their fright, with the dozen female goblins helping it doesn't take long to strip the dead orc leader and carry the three chests of loot out of the orc lair into the 40-foot wide open pass through the mountains outside the orc lair.

It takes a little bit longer to gather everyone close enough to Dregz so he will be able to teleport the whole group using the Black Mace.

Furtunately the remaining orcs all keep their distance (most are at least 300 feet north or south along the pass) and just watch this extraordinary performance.

Finally, everything is ready and all that remains is for the destination to be agreed and for Dregz to say the magic word.

OOC: Main game map updated.

There is also a map of the temple in Gorna uploaded as the Game Map for Group M. Let me know exactly where you want Dregz to teleport to. Just specify the map coordinates for Dregz and everyone else will be in the same formation around him as shown on the main game map.

OOC: love the stacked goblin montage on the game map ... that could be a team logo!  :-)

"Inside da temple, right in da middle.  What d'ya fink Dregzie?"

If nobody else has a better suggestion or a compelling reason not to do so, Dregz will cheerfully comply with Bully's plan, screwing up his eyes in concentration (though what with his long hair and his jaunty Gloom Mask, that might be a little hard to tell) before intoning the magic word ...

<Green"I tinks we's can't jumps insides de temples."</Green> Moffdust scratches her head. "But deres de lanes outside de walls. An Slipknotz showed us how ter gets across de graveyards using de ladders." She describes a courtyard in the lane behind the temple compound, P12, and the large mausoleum where a ladder is left on the roof and hopping across the gravestones but keeping off the grass. She remembers it was fun, and the ghouls guarded the temple and kept it private.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:12, Sat 25 Feb 2023.

"Not if der roof 'asn' fallened ines yet !" Dregz admits, remembering the blackened ceiling of their home away from home, though he nods his agreement as Moffa reminds him off the courtyard.  "Dat shood be bigses enuff."

"An I can fly der littles over, ones at a time ..." Jurz add to the conversation..

"Ooo, dat's right Moffa."  Bulldust agrees with Moffa.

"Dats better dan Minmorc flinging em over da wall!"  Bulldust agrees with Jurz.

With everyone gathered tightly around Dregz and the destination finally agreed, Dregz speaks the magic word "Wyrd!" and with the faint sound of a rush of air Team Arda-Nuff vanishes from the pass in the Barrier Peaks.

OOC: Continued in new thread – Night 25: Back to Gorna