Penny smiled pointing to the camp, "Oh! who do you think we're going to get this time? maybe humans or orcs or more elves?" her eyes widened "what if it's a grup of friendly rock people!" she strung her ukulele in excitement.

Brengalyn chuckled

"Friendly rock people, that would be nice. Perhaps they'd trade ores and gems for rope and other things we have on the surface world. It would be a nice peaceful time . . . "

"Barg can make friends with rocks! Or . . . Barg can throw rocks at friends!"

Barg was evidently confused about friendly rock people

"Barg will sneak ahead, sniff for danger?"

OOC: Survival check 12 to orient on what our path was, how close are we to the camp we were hired to find?

Thamkis crumbled up some hardtack and held it out to Graham to eat from her hand

"We should consider the place, and approach carefully."

The camp was what one might expect from a hunter's camp; people toiling away with everyday chores. But, there was one exception. Several Orcs were standing about near the trail that ran next to the camp. They looked to be on guard, that meant they were board, ornery, and looking for trouble to make.

A huge smile spread across Barg's face, and with a twinkling eye he dove down into the brush and crept forward to get closer to the orcs . . .

OOC: Stealth check 18

Penny smiled "I'm sure they'll be friendly. Why don't I just go say hi?" She thought back to last time "Or maybe that's a bad idea..."

"We might as well approach the camp . . . Penny and Thamkis at least. I might see what these orcs want."

Brengalyn drew her ankus and padded forward

OOC: Stealth check 14

Barg made himself one with the terrain. Or more specifically, its mud, its brush, its frogs, and its fetid puddles. As he neared the first cluster of Orcs, four in total, Barg could see tents and leans-tos among trees, and another thirty or so Orcs.

As Brengalyn, Thamkis, and Penny began moving towards the camp they began spotting signs of trouble. An Orc was shouting orders and cracking a whip at a group of hunters busily preparing hides. Another Orc was standing, drinking ale from a tankard, and bossing around a group of hunters as they loaded bundles of hides onto a wagon. The worst was the sight of a hunter that had been crucified in a tree.

Penny looked towards Bren. "This is not okay. What if we quietly lured some out to deal with. I could use the old slip-n-slide right into your blade Bren "

"Best we do it quick."

Thamkis reached into her sleeve, her fingers coming out trailing small strands of spider's web

"I'll catch a few in my web, send them to slumber afterwards"

She followed Penny with her cane digging into the soil as she inched forward

"Your spells would both help me deal with them, but thirty and more orcs would be a challenge. I shall have to commission a song from you Penny to mark the occasion."

Lacking any weapons to deal with their numbers, Brengalyn looked for a good place to fight from so Thamkis and Penny could do their work

OOC: Perception or Survival as appropriate . . . 9

Penny thought for a moment, taking out a copper wire she put it up to her mouth "Barg, this is Penny's magic we're planning on trapping orcs. Can you lead them towards us one at a time? You can reply this message. Watch for the oil and webs"

ooc casting grease and then message
This message was last edited by the player at 01:46, Sat 13 Nov 2021.

Barg grinned widely

"Barg will lead. Most good idea coming."

Barg then tried to shake a bush lightly to get one of the orcs to investigate . . .

OOC: and rolled a 7 total

(OOC: that was just too good. A 7! there is a god of retribution that loves GMs after all.)

Barg tried to nonchalantly rattle a bush to draw the attention of an. It didn't rattle. It swayed. It shook. It bent. It broke. With an agitated sigh the barbarian decided to rattle the bush none matter what the bush the wanted. There was a teeth-clenched grunting sound followed by a leaf showering rattle of the thin wooden strands that sent twigs cascading about. The bush still didn't actually rattle.

An Orc looked at the bush. Then several looked. And others. It seemed it was something to behold as a nearly invisible Goblin barbarian suddenly dissolved into bush killing existence. The laughing was soon drowned out when a warboss shouted commands. And in that instant Orcs and Goblins all new it was time to run.

Barg whooped with glee. He had drawn many of the green skins. Anger and belligerence fueled them. Barg giggled, such foolishness it was to let the fuel of such glorious rage go to waste. He could see the others. For some reason they didn't seem as excited about the Orcs chasing Barg.

"Oh hells and pits!"

Brengalyn choked up on her ankus and braced herself for a fight. She looked for Penny

"Well, at least we know he'll pull a few down with him when he goes . . . "

Penny went pale, "Desna help us! Will he even make it here?"

Thamkis grumbled and winced as Barg began his foolishness again . . . shaking her head she drew the spiderwebs out and began winding them.

"Oh no! Barg is discovered!! Barg will FLEE because he is scared!"

OOC: Bluff 10

Barg ran off, giggling as he went, back towards where the others were hidden, trying to lead the orcs towards his comrades

"Whaaahhhhh!" The leading Orc roared after Barg as he chased the Goblin. "You will not mock Orcs. You will be next under my axe!"

It wasn't lost on Barg that his attempt to lure them in had failed. Had actually had the opposite outcome; the Orcs were even more enraged. Running headlong after Barg, the Orcs were heedless of all else in the forest. The first several neared the webs as Barg scampered along careening off of tree trunks, galloping through the mud, and bounding past the others avoiding the trap that was set.

Not so much could be said for the Orcs as they ran headlong barely able to keep up with Barg and suddenly became entwined in Thamkis' webs. The other Orcs came to a shambling, stumbling halt avoiding those caught up in the webs.

Barg wheeled on his heels, charging for the orcs now that the trap was sprung!

OOC: attack roll 16, damage 11

Feet kicking in the air, Barg had latched onto an Orc. One hand gripped it by the face while the other gripped it by the shoulder of its hide armor. His teeth sank deeply into the Orc's neck. Green blood fountained across the Goblin, another Orc, and onto the ground. The Orc gave a strangled cry, trying in vain to dislodge the teeth as it died.

The other Orcs roared, one swung a mace as the corpse with the attached barbarian fell. BArg felt the impact like a trebuchet thrown bolder in his ribs (8 points of damage) and found it difficult to ignore the new opportunity that life had presented him. In the webs a single Orc of the four trapped there manage to drag himself free. Stepping towards Brengalyn he hefted a battle axe to shoulder height.

"You, girl, are going to be skinned, raped, eaten, and killed." He yelled as he stepped in to attack. "And in that order."

The Orc cut loose with a mighty swing that glanced off of Brengalyn's armor in a resounding fashion. Quick to recover, however, the Orc immediately launched into a back-swing that caught her flush side, though it lacked the power to get through her armor as well. He grunted, mystified by her grace and speed.

In reply to GM (msg # 243):

"I think you need to rethink the order of that . . . sounds messy."

Catching the battle-axe inside her guard, Brengalyn hooked her ankus around the haft and twisted, applying leverage as she stepped out of the orc's face with a sneer.

OOC: disarm result 23, if the orc tries to attack unarmed Brengalyn will trip with a +8 bonus

The battle axe came out of the Orc's hands and elicited a snarl of rage. Immediately the green skin drew a pair of short swords. Well, one short sword and shortened, broken long sword. Behind him there were several shouted curses and roaring anger as Orcs trying to bypass the webs got caught up in the grease trap laid out by Penny. Fighting to stay upright and navigate the uneven terrain was far more difficult than it should have been.

With a grunt the Orc with the swords came in to attack Brengalyn again. One blade darted in to stab, a feint for the other blade that came cutting down and across Brengalyn's leg. (6 points of damage). The Orc sneered back at her and gave a sort of arrogant shrug.

A spear came hurtling through the din of fighting and the branches of a several trees. It arced past Brengalyn and Penny to land with a squeak of metal on wood as it lodged deeply in he trunk of an elm tree next to Thamkis.

Penny stood back from the group away from the Orcs, her banjo out and tuned. She began playing,
"
I was caught
In the middle of a railroad track (thunder)
I looked 'round
And I knew there was no turning back (thunder)
My mind raced
And I thought, what could I do? (Thunder)
And I knew
There was no help, no help from you (thunder)
Sound of the drums
Beating in my heart
The thunder of guns
Tore me apart
You've been
Thunderstruck.....
 "

ooc perform string 32 (Nat 20 :D )
Bardic courage +1