Tserdain, 3rd of Nuwmont, 1,000 A.C. (cont’d)
7 p.m. – The party decided on a watch order (Chow-Lin,
Markus, Eric) and then everyone went to sleep while Chow-Lin remained on watch.
Having an uneventful watch, she then woke up Markus at the appointed hour.
Moldain, 4th of Nuwmont, 1,000 A.C.
Markus continued his watch until the wee morning hours
before waking Eric for his watch. About two hours before sunrise Eric noticed
movement at the edge of his infravision. He wisely awakened the other party
members before casting an entangle
spell at the intruders. Although the spell failed to catch three of them, two were caught after they had thrown their hand axes. The remainder rushed forward.
Eric was attacked by small, brown-scaled, dog-like humanoids with tiny horns and
tails. They were armed with hand axes which they used to attack the hapless
druid. Coming to his aid, Markus woke up quickly (obviously well trained in
avoiding ambush) and helped slay the remaining creatures. Chow-Lin, hindered by
the darkness, casts burning hands on
the dying firewood to provide some amount of light for herself. All but one of
the five humanoids was slain; a bargain was struck with the survivor to lead the
party into the forest in exchange for its life and some food. The creature
agreed and led the party along the northern trail until daybreak. Apparently
the small creature did not like daylight and asked to be set free after
pointing out the path. The party allowed him to go while the others made a small
camp and regained spells cast during the previous day and night.
During the day, the party traveled
for about 5 hours before becoming lost. They backtracked and relocated the path.
However, they had lost travel time and before they knew it, it was time to set
up camp again. Same watches were kept as the previous night.
Nytdain, 5th of Nuwmont, 1,000 A.C.
During the mid-night hours, on
Markus’ watch, a group of men were seen carrying torches down the path from the
north. They stopped to investigate the path and eradicated their passage from the
previous day’s travel. Markus awakened the party to help him if the men stumbled
across them in the dark. One of the bandits appeared to be an accomplished
woodsman and he located the party’s trail heading off the path. He cautiously
approached with his assistant while the other two men started eliminating the
trail leading north. The two approaching men were quickly killed off by the
party and an elaborate bluff was used to throw suspicion off. Eric and Chow-Lin
pretended to be the two men, and waved the others on with their torches while
continuing to “search” the area. Markus kept his crossbow trained on the others as
they slowly drifted back into the dark forest.
After looting the mens’ bodies,
the party relocated their camp to the other side of the road and they all
decided to rest for the remainder of the day (Eric had taken wounds from both
the small humanoids the night before and one of the humans this night). Watches were resumed for both day and night.
Loshdain, 6th of Nuwmont, 1,000 A.C.
Feeling invigorated by their good
luck and day of healing and rest, the party struck out along the northern
path. By mid-morning they stumbled upon a guard post in the trees, hidden from
the path by a stand of pine trees. The guard post was a wooden platform built
into the crook of an elm. A single archer watched the path for intruders.
However, Eric’s keen vision in this, his natural environment, was able to pick
this man out despite his advantageous position. Using himself as a decoy, Eric
distracted the archer while Markus and Chow-Lin circled around the stand of
pines and got the drop on the guard. Chow-Lin blasted him from the tree with a magic missile spell. Markus then scaled
the tree to get a good look at the surrounding area. A break in the trees could
be seen to the north of this location, as well as two other possible guard
platforms to the east and west.
The party looted the body and
then buried it in the dead leaves of the forest floor. They then continued on
the path until coming to a large open meadow in the forest. Markus and Eric
were able to make out several small buildings and a makeshift stable. Following
along the tree line, the party made its way around to the north, crossing a
small stream (and obtaining water upstream) to get a better vantage of the situation.
It appeared that there were three small, wooden shacks, a stable filled with
the missing horses (or at least the majority of them from what could be seen),
several men and orcs standing about the camp with a human and orc (presumed
leaders) having an animated discussion about something. The orcs briefly left
the group of men (who were all sitting or standing around a fire pit) to meet
up with a much larger orcish camp in the treeline to the west of the meadow.
The party kept a cautious vigil,
keeping out of sight and watching the movements of the men. The human leader, a
dark-haired, bearded man, entered one of the shacks, leaving his men to talk
amongst themselves by the fire pit (it was close to noon and most looked like they were having
lunch). One of the men set off to the south, presumably as a guard relief for
the watch platform. After about 10-15 minutes, the orc leader and three
bodyguards returned to the camp. The orc leader entered the shack where the
human leader entered. The orc camp to the west sounded as though it was packing
camp and leaving. The meadow at this point was brightly lit by the midday sun, and only sometimes
obscured by a passing cloud.
TACTICAL
Time: Roughly noon
on the 6th of Nuwmont
Weather: Partly cloudy, but still sunny; not much wind.
Party Location: 10 yards into the forest by some pines on the north
side of the brook, ~30 yards from humans.
The meadow is roughly 60 yards
wide north to south and roughly 150 yards east to west (football shaped). A
small brook cuts across the northern portion of the meadow, flowing eastward. A
single large tree stands due north of the middle of the clearing on the south
side of the brook (looks fire damaged). In the tree is a barrel, and food
hanging from ropes. The buildings are all located in the center of the
clearing, disguised from the west and south by shrubs and thickets of
thorn bushes. The stable is partially built into a mound of earth that forms the
back wall. All the entrances of the buildings open to the north. The stable has
a wooden sliding door which only opens up one half of the wall. Within can be
seen white horses in the shadows. A stableman has been seen in the vicinity of
this building.
-- Total humans in camp: 6 around fire/1 in stable
(all are armored in leather, but are not holding weapons right now); it appears
that they have shields nearby and have short swords on their belts.
-- Total orcs in camp: 3 bodyguards armed with
spears and shields, wearing studded leather armor and leather coifs. They
remain alert outside the shack where the leaders are.
-- Human “leader” in building with Orc “leader.”
The human leader wore studded leather and had a longsword at his side. He also
had a crossbow slung over his back. The orc leader had a battleaxe with him as
well as a small shield and studded leather armor.
-- Eric and Markus (the half-elves) know that orcs
cannot fight effectively in bright daylight.
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