Being the last of the main group, this team continued on to the last cave. Having spotted some Orcs in the two prior caves, peeking around the edge of the entrance shows that some Orcs seem to be barricaded toward the rear of the cave. The dim light and the barricade makes it hard to tell just how many, but the size of the cave probably limits them to about 6-8.

A darker spot behind them fairly screams another tunnel.
This message was last updated by the GM at 06:26, Fri 08 Oct 2021.

Nyssia peeked around the cave entrance, barricaded in defence. The gnome sniffed and then allowed a little smile. She looked at the other two. "When i say go, move quick - you'll only have about a minute" She looked at the cleric with a smile. "We've got this...lets show them what girls can do."

She took a deep breath, then began to sing. The tune was low, melodic and haunting, almost lulling as she sent her voice into the cave, projecting towards the barricade and those enemies behind it.

---

OOC: Action - Cast Sleep, Level 2

Nyssia rolled 33 using 7d8 with rolls of 4,3,7,7,5,5,2.  sleep spell, level 2.

Effects 33 hp worth of enemies

Bonus action - Bardic Inspiration for Lureene (1d6)

Ulrik nods at Nyssia to show he understands.

Then he rolls his shoulders and hefts his axe and sheild to ready for a charge.
Mutters under his breath "not a girl."

Although she can't quite see the result of her song, she 'feels' like she's affected two of the Orcs.

At her gesture, Ulrik and Lureene charge into the cave and head straight for the back.

Lureene's spiritual weapon leaps out ahead of her and attacks one of the Orcs.

A pair of javelins streak out at Ulrik.

12:26, Today: StarMaster rolled 22,20,4,6 using 1d20+5,1d20+5,1d6+3,1d6+3 ((17,15,1,3)).

It's not like you weren't expecting them to be ready for you. Still, apparently Ulrik was just too big a target to miss. Both javelins hit him doing 10 points of damage in total.


The distance was only about 30 feet, so Ulrik covers the distance to the barricade of a few crates and stacked bedrolls with no problem.

Ulrik lashes out with his axe at the nearest orc as he reaches the barricade.

Ulrik Donnarsson rolled 16,9 using 1d20+6,1d8+4 ((10,5))

Did you allow for his heavy armor mastery feat? -3 to B,P, & S damage.

As Nyssia casts her spell, she heard teh distinct sound of a drop of at least one body. She watched Ulrik run and the gnome followed after him, drawing her short sword in one hand, and her hand crossbow in the other.  As she got close, she spied movement and took aim with the crossbow. The bolt thudded into the baracade, and she let out a small gnomish curse.

Dropping the crossbow, she continued on towards the enemies.

---

<OOC: Movement (Part) - Move 10 feet

Action - Fire hand crossbow

Nyssia rolled 10 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 6.  attack - hand crossbow

Movement - Move onto enemies>

Following Urik, Lureene storms forward, both her physical and spiritual weapons swinging.

OOC:

09:23, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 16,7 using d20+6,d6+3 with rolls of 10,4.  Mace attack.

09:24, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 26,7 using d20+8,d8+5 with rolls of 18,2.  Spiritual hammer attack.

((OOC: No, I didn't take Ulrik's Heavy Armor Proficiency into account. That would  be your responsibility as you know your character better than I do. So, that's 6 points less damage he took.))


Ulrik hits one Orc, but the damage isn't enough to kill it. It strikes back, swinging its great axe in desperation.

17:46, Today: StarMaster rolled 6,13 using 1d20+5,1d12+3 ((1,10)).

Ulrik's hit not only deals damage but it knocks the Orc's axe out of its hands!


Nyssia's crossbow attack misses and she moves to engage in hand-to-hand combat. That puts her in melee range of one of the Orcs, who manages to hit her for 9 points of damage.

17:52, Today: StarMaster rolled 23,9 using 1d20+5,1d12+3 ((18,6)).


Both of Lureene's attacks hit an Orc and the combined damage is enough to kill it.

The onslaught has kept the other Orcs from getting into position, so none of them can attack Lureene this round.


There's one disarmed Orc fighting Ulrik.

There's one Orc fighting Nyssia.

There's one dead Orc.

There's one Orc stepping over his dead buddy to get to Lureene.

There are two sleeping Orcs.

Ulrik strikes again at the orc in front of him. But he has to duck out of the way as the orcs axe goes flying from its hands.

Ulrik Donnarsson rolled 11,9 using 1d20+6,1d8+4 ((5,5)).

Nyssia winced at the attack, a deep wound in her arm. As she faced off, she hummed a soft tune, feeling the healing magic revitalise her, closing the wound a little even as she swung at the orc. Despite the swing, her focus on the spell made her swing miss the orc.

---

<OOC: Movement - none

Action - Attack orc with shortsword

Nyssia rolled 6 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 2.  Attack - shortsword.

Bonus action - healing word (1st level) on self

Nyssia rolled 4 using 1d4+3 with rolls of 1.  Healing word.>

Lureene glanced over at Nyssia, but seeing as she was healing herself, she decided to meet the orc head-on, forming a pincer maneuver with herself using her spiritual weapon.

OOC:

22:25, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 25,7 using d20+6,d6+3 with rolls of 19,4.  Mace attack.
22:25, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 28,8 using d20+8,d8+5 with rolls of 20,3.  Spiritual hammer attack.

Crunch!

22:27, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 7 using 1d8 with rolls of 7.  Critical hit extra die (spiritual hammer).

Ulrik just manages to hit the disarmed Orc, mainly because he has Advantage until the Orc grabs up another weapon. This hit kills the Orc.


Nyssia misses the Orc she attacks.

It attacks back!

15:59, Today: StarMaster rolled 10,8 using 1d20+5,1d12+3 ((5,5)).

And he misses.


Lureene's twofold attack kills the Orc that was moving to attack her.


Another Orc steps forward to attack Ulrik.

16:06, Today: StarMaster rolled 19,10 using 1d20+5,1d12+3 ((14,7)).

He hits for 10 points of damage (minus your Heavy Armor Mastery).


At the end of the round, there are two Orcs still fighting--one fighting with Nyssia and one fighting with Ulrik.

Plus, there are still two Orcs sleeping and three dead Orcs on the floor.

Nyssia ducks a swing from the orc she’s facing, and swiped under its guard. The swing was (however) short and missed his abdomen by a fraction. She grimaced but called out to her newest companion. “ulrik, take his head off - you can do it!”

---

<OOC: Action - attack orc using shortsword

Nyssia rolled 8 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 4.  Attack - shortsword.

(Damnit…,missed again!)

Bonus Action - inspiration to Ulric (d6)>

Lureene went to help both her teammates. She walked over to Ulrik, and looked him over. She decided that while injured he was in no urgent danger, and it was best to end the fight quickly before focussing on healing. So, she took a position as far opposite Ulrik as she could and swung her mace at the orc.

OOC:
22:43, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 23,8 using d20+6,d6+3 with rolls of 17,5.  Mace attack.

Nyssia she helped by sending her spiritual hammer over to swing at her own orc.

OOC:22:44, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 15,6 using d20+8,d8+5 with rolls of 7,1.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:12, Fri 05 Nov 2021.

Lureene's mace attack on Ulrik's opponent hits but doesn't quite finish off the Orc.

Ulrik's attack after that does hit and finishes the Orc.

Lureene's spiritual hammer attacks the Orc fighting Nyssia. It easily hits, and though it doesn't kill the Orc,  it does cause him to shift his focus from Nyssia to the spiritual hammer. Based on his actions, it would seem as if he thinks the hammer is being wielded by an invisible opponent.

Nyssia, seizing the opportunity with her enemy distracted, thrust in with her short sword, causing a small gash on the orc - though the hit was true, there was little power behind the strike.

---

<OOC: Movement - None

Action - Attack the orc

Nyssia rolled 18 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 14.  Attack - shortsword .
Nyssia rolled 3 using 1d6+2 with rolls of 1.  Damage - shortsword.

Bonus Action - None

….well, at least I hit this time. Just bummed in damage>
 

Lureene smirks and strikes again with her hammer at the last orc.

Then, if he is still alive, she moves over to also strike at it with her mace.

OOC:

21:17, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 18,7 using d20+8,d8+5 with rolls of 10,2.  Spiritual hammer attack.

21:17, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 9,8 using d20+6,d6+3 with rolls of 3,5.  Mace attack.

Lureene's strike with her spiritual hammer hits and does finish off the Orc, so her mace attack isn't needed (and wouldn't have hit any way).

"Well, glad that ugliness is over" said Lureene. She moved over to Ulrik solicitously. "Will you let me examine your wound, my friend?"

Nyssia sighed, wincing at the pain she felt from her wounds, started searching the bodies of the fallen orcs while the Lureene saw to the healing

The Orcs are all wearing leather armor. It's not in bad shape, but it's dirty and clearly hasn't been taken care of very well.

Each Orc is armed with a long sword, a dagger, and three javelins. Only one of them has a backpack. It's full of junk. Some old food, some small rocks, a battered tin cup, a broken clay pot, and a coil of rope.

Each also has 16 silver pieces.

You do notice that one of them is wearing a silver ring. It seems significant because it isn't tarnished.

"Ouch!" Ulric says involuntarily as Lureene examines his wounds.

"Treat Nyssia first. She also got hit."

Nyssia takes the ring, the silver two daggers and places them in her pack. She piled the gear up. “Just a few minor hits….but I’ll be ok. We have a little gear if we need, it, but let’s get moving and finish searching this cave.”“

Behind the crates and barrels, there's a narrow tunnel leading out of the back. You don't hear any sounds from this tunnel, but it's also dark. However, Nyssia can see that it goes just about 50 feet, slanting upward slightly, and ending in... darkness.

The halfling crouched as she looked in the darkness. “I can see about 50 feet, then darkness.” She looked at the others. “If you can cast a light spell on an arrow, I can send it up”

Lureene nodded at Nyssia and, since she had said she was fine, called upon the Lady Firehair to restore Ulrik and succor his wounds.

OOC: cast Cure Wounds for 1d8+5+3 (Life Domain) : Ulrik is healed 15 damage.
23:07, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 15 using 1d8+8 with rolls of 7.  Cure Wounds.

She turned to Nyssia. "Show me your arrow and I'll light it up."

Lureene will cast Light on Nyssia's arrow.

Nyssia held out an arrow, but held her hand up, a slight smile on her face. "I may have another idea....crazy as it is." She replaced her arrow and looked at them. "Stay here a moment and I will look ahead."

With that she hummed and clicked her fingers. With the snap, the shadows seemed to come alive and surround the gnome, then seperated again, the gnome gone from from sight.

<OOC: Using shadowtouched feat, casts Invisibility on self>

From nowhere, you heard her voice. "Be ready"

Nyssia slips up the tunnel to where the darkness begins... hearing nothing as she goes, nor seeing anything threatening. By the time she reaches the end, she is able to determine that the darkness is merely a room where the light simply isn't reaching.

She gets a sense that it's not a large room, maybe 30-foot square.

Nyssa returns and reappears in front of the others. "Looks empty ahead....a room, maybe 30 feet square. should move up slowly and finish this."

“Nice trick. Did you happen to see or hear if anyone was in it? Ah, but it doesn’t matter, we must press on.” She sets her mace on her shoulder. ”Right then, cautiously.”

Nyssia smiled at the priestess. "It was dark, but i heard nothing, and couldn't see anyone from where i was. I say we move forward slowly."

"Very well. Let's go then. Ulrik and I first."

Ulrik and Lureene enter the tunnel, followed by Nyssia, and walk down to the room at the end without incident.

Although it's not 100% dark because a teensy bit of light still filters in from behind you, it might as well be dark. Lureene and Nyssia can see reasonably well, but Ulrik can't see at all.

The two of you can just barely make out that there are carvings on the wall, but it's unclear what they are supposed to be. It's not pictures nor does it appear to be writing.

The only oddity is that there appears to be a bedroll in the far left corner.

There do not appear to be any other exits out of this room.

Nyssia takes her pack off and takes off a torch, and reaching into a pouch removes a flint and steel, and striking it, lights the torch and looks at the room in light

With the light from the torch, the carvings on the wall become clearer though no less incomprehensible. It might be a language, but if it is, it's in hieroglyphics.

There is, indeed, a bedroll in the corner, but it is unoccupied.

There are no other exits out of this room.

The dust on the floor does not appear to have been disturbed in a long time.

The gnome looked at the writing, confused by what she saw, and shrugged. Though her teachings were based in finding new lore, her skills were focused more on word of mouth and lost treasures - she neglected languages. Looking at lureene, she shrugged. “Don’t know what this means….do you?” As that happened, she searched the area for anything of interest.

---

<OOC: Nyssia rolled 24 using 1d20+6 - investigation check >

"Give me a moment. I doubt I can read it but perhaps I can identify the script..."

She moved to examine the carvings.

OOC: Trying to use History skill to see if they resemble any ancient languages Lureene might know of.

Lureene has a vague notion that this might be a script/language from far away Kara-Tur.

Nyssia investigates the bedroll in the corner. It's empty and old and practically crumbles to dust as she tries to search it. However, the small cloud of dust seems to move toward the back wall, which tells her that there's an air current there albeit faint.

With that guidance, she easily finds the secret door. The seams are hidden by slight overhanging edges that the dust easily finds. Once she determines the edges of the door, she can now see that the 'center' of the door has a pyramid with an eye at the top.

Nyssia coughs as the dust erupts from the rotting bedroll, but notes the air flow. the gnome smiles. "There's something hidden here - a secret door. Theres a symbol...a pyrimid with an eye."

"If you are saying that this pyramid-eye is the release for the secret door, then don't keep us in suspense! Push it!" Ulrik says.

"Let's go find some more Orcs!"

Nyssia frowns at Ulrik but takes out a set of fine tools and sets to work on trying to open the door. She tries, but after a moment, grunts and sighs. "This is no ordinary door, i don't even know how it opens. All i know is it is here."

She chews her lip, then realisation daens on her as she rummaged through her pack. "It's in here somewhere.  oh for the love of....wait, a-ha!"

She pulls out a small chime with a smile and gongs it.

---

<OOC: Tries to open the secret door.

Nyssia rolled 12 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 6.  investigation.

Nyssia rolled 6 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 2.  open locks (If needed - not that it will help!)

Uses the chime of opening>
This message was last edited by the player at 04:54, Fri 17 Dec 2021.

”Is there any sign the door was used recently?a” asks Lureene. ”That pyramid strikes me as an arcane symbol and it would not surprise me if the orca did not know of the door or or how to open it. We should be prepared to find something else in there…” She readies her mace and waits for Nyssia to do her thing.

Lureene and Ulrik both look around on the floor to try to tell if there is any sign of Orcs having been this way.

When they first entered the room, they noticed that the dust on the floor didn't look like it had been disturbed in years. Now that they've scuffed it up themselves, it's harder to tell, but the two of you are pretty sure that any Orcs that had entered this room would have left footprints. You see none.

Meanwhile, Nyssia uses the Chime of Opening that no one else had wanted and strikes it with the little attached mallet. A clear 'bong' sounds and the pyramid-eye moves inward and the secret door moves in and then slides aside.

Beyond is a tunnel. This one has clearly been made by people.

Nyssia smiled, placing the chime away. "Handy little thing" she muttered as she began exploring the passage.

---

<OOC: Nyssia rolled 12 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 6.  Investigation roll.>

"Let's have a look inside then, and carefully. If there are traps, they won't have been tripped."

The dark tunnel appears to be a man-made, as opposed to natural formation like the caves were. It goes in about 40 feet and makes right-angle turn.

The walls are just plain carved stone. There are no writings or symbols on them, there are no tracks on the floor to indicate that any Orcs--or anyone else for that matter--have been this way in a long, long time.

There does not appear to be any traps in the first section.

Nyssia, Torch in hand, makes her way along the passage looking for traps, secret doors or dangers.

Lureene followed, equally watchful and ready for anything.

Shortly after you make the right angle turn, you spot dim light coming from ahead. A minute later, you hear voices.

It appears to be a long tunnel, but it's hard to tell just how long because the dim light distorts distance.

"I'd better go first," he whispers to the other two.

"No, really, Lureene. If I get injured, you can heal me. If you get injured, neither of us can help you."

As if having won the argument, Ulrik steps ahead of Lureene and continues down the hallway, listening for more voices and trying to understand what they are saying.

The gnome snorts at the warrior and holds her hand up. “You’d make more noise than a henhouse with a fox in it…no, I’ll go. I can make myself invisible if needed, and I’m quiet when I need to be. You wait until the count of 100. If you don’t hear anything, come up - quietly. If you hear something, then hurry.”

She took a dagger out, placing her bow on her back, and looking back at Ulrik, snorted as she disappeared into the darkness, quietly.

---

<OOC: Nyssia rolled 17 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 11.  Investigation check.
 Nyssia rolled 17 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 13.  Stealth roll.>

 

The light from up ahead suddenly gets much brighter and a moment later Nyssia hears the sound of battle. Another 30 feet brings her to a T intersection. The light and battle sounds are coming from the right, and a quick peek around the corner shows a room 10 feet away. Victor and Nemeia are fighting two Orcs in the middle of the room that is lit by a number of torches on both walls that also reveal a number of weapons hanging on both walls.

Another battle cry comes from her left. That hall goes about 30 feet and seems to lead to a dark room. The light coming from the other room down on the right gives enough light to figure that out, but doesn't penetrate to the other room.

From the darkness you hear the voice of Nyssia call out. "C'mon - You'll miss all the fun!"

Still itching for battle with the Orcs, Ulrik charges forward at Nyssia's call.

He rushes out into the room, spots the battle but is a bit disappointed that there are only two Orcs. Then the weapons on the walls register. Even as his eyes widen, he spots the opening on the left, and, for some peculiar rationale in his own mind, thinks there are more Orcs down there... and charges through the opening.

"I'll take care of the rest!" he calls back over his shoulder.

Lureene runs after Ulrik, following him along. She briefly takes stock of the situation when they reach Nyssia, then follows Ulrik to the left. "Come", she tells the gnome, "in case our big friend finds more orcs that way than he can chew."