This was the 2nd half of the epic fight. It did not go as expected when I originally envisioned it, but honestly I think it makes for a better game and adventure based upon the way it ended up going.
The paladin really came through in making this happen since his actions singularly changed the actions and reactions of the vrocks and the BBG who finally had come to be seen.
It was almost a TPK, but two characters did remain elusive throughout the fight and they will be pivotal in effacing a rescue for the rest of the group.
Write up to a very epic combat and fighting sequence follows - Enjoy - I know we all did!:
Aleron, deaf and his ears ringing, gathered up the fallen Norris and proceeded to bring his fallen companion back inside the gate. The horse with the broken leg was still screaming. Detheron laid his hands on Guyus and healed him, Draugmor came up to the druid (while still invisible) and announced his presence, Ludwig cast a healing on Gwyn, Thurin was taking stock of the many dead bodies upon the ground, and Mebali was heading towards the gate to help Aleron.
The battlefield was a mess. Draugmor then took Coscles (the Lycos Sun operative still affected by the held spell) arrows, bow, as well as his Lyreth medallion. Thurin took the other held operative’s Lyreth medallion. Aleron tried to let the group know that the orcs which had been patrolling the grounds some 15 minutes or so ago were nowhere to be seen. This caused the group to become concerned. Detheron called out for another Call Lightning spell, Thurin and Mebali came to the cemetery graveyard, looking past where Aleron was commenting that the nearest home had some movement within.
At that point there was a rending sound and the walls of the closest structure split open, revealing four, 14’ tall orcish giants, each armed with a 12’ great axe. There were then three flashes of rainbow light and three sets of 4 crossbow wielding orcs appeared on the next closest 3 buildings. And finally we heard a mighty cry of “GRUMMASH!!” as a horde of orcs came down the nearby street in and clashing of axes and shields, riling themselves up into a fury.
It was at this point that the air above our heads split open and a gap thirty feet long and 20 wide tore through the reality of space, out which floated a wildly dressed mohawked individual, body clad in flapping robes and murder in his eyes. He shouted down, “The cart and its belongings are mine – the rest of the foes are yours to take as you want!” The orcs sprung forward to attack, their cries deafening to the group.
Ludwig called to Freya, blessing the entire party. One of the groups of orcs went first, showering Mebali and Thurin with bolts. The wheelwright went down while Thurin was able to shift into sparrow form and tried to fly away. Coming from the rent in the air were a pair of vulture like humanoids, their bodies trailing black shreds of shadows. They swooped down from the sky at Djohrgahd’s call of, “Get the wagon!”, diving to the broken cart on the ground.
As the vrocks were diving, Guyus the paladin snatched the explosive rod from Gwyn, pressed the button, and burst the wagon into pieces. Gear and boxes went flying. Only about a third of the wagon was still in one piece. Djohrgahd gave forth a horrible scream of anguish as the paladin sneered skyward. Then four more of the orcs fired their crossbows from other parts of the battle. One of them hit the transformed Thurin – spinning the sparrow out of the sky with a bolt in him! Ludwig was also hit, the bolt staggering him, the Halfling tripped and dropped.
One of the closer giant orcs grabbed one of the charging orcs, picked him up, and hurled him over the gate and into Aleron! The orc, spun through the air yelling, “Grummash”, and slammed into the ranger. He tripped backwards and fell over Pisser. The next giant orc threw his armor class to the wind, charged forward, and snagged the wheelwright, picking him up and chucking him into Guyus. Mebali howled as he hit the paladin.
Detheron called to Frey and summoned an Ice Storm, the cyclone of driving sleet and hail slammed into the ground just outside the gate. It barreled into the giant orcs just outside the gate, blinding the area and all within, knocking them to the ground. Orcs charging forward tripped upon hitting the perimeter of the spell and fell over.
Digger charged forward and assaulted the closest orc that was thrown at Aleron, tearing into his chest and slaying it. Pisser struggled to his feet. Aleron also climbed up, glancing at the fallen orc. A few of the orcs did not run into the storm, instead back tracking and running behind the nearest building to try and arrive at the cemetery from another angle.
Four more of the orcs shot at Detheron, only one of them actually hitting him. The druid grimaced but did not fall. The two vrocks diving down activated mirror image, making 3 more of each of them appear. One of them gated in another vrock which also dove at the group. They shimmered the area, cursing the battlefield, overwhelming Ludwig’s Bless and empowering two more negatives on the party.
One of them levitated chunks of the fallen bones and gear, moving it towards the rent in the sky. Another snatched at Guyus, it’s claw slammed into him, and flew him about 30’ in height. The last vrock also levitated more of the fallen gear from the ground and sent it towards the sky.
Mebali struggled to his feet and made to run towards the tarp, flailing by Detheron and Ludwig. Gwyn drew his repeating crossbow, took aim at the giant orc, and held down the trigger. All 6 bolts slammed into the orc but to the dwarf’s chagrin, he did not fall, stagger, or died. Ludwig got to his feet, grabbing Mebali’s failing hand and tried to drag the wheelwright further under the tarp.
At this point Djohrgahd cast Suffocation on Detheron, the spell also affecting Mebali and Ludwig. The air was sucked out of their lungs and the three of them fell over gasp and wheezing. Guyus tried to slam the vrock holding him with Gwyn’s rod, striking the demon, but only popping one of the mirror images; leaving three of the vrocks still over him.
Aleron was being shot by the roof bound orcs, two more bolts streaking towards him, one of them hitting him again. Thurin finished his transformation, polymorphing into a grey ooze and sluicing the bolt out of his body. Four more orcs shot, two more at Detheron and two at Guyus. The druid was struck once and the paladin and his vrock carrier was missed entirely.
The two “held” members of the Lycos Suns from earlier were suddenly able to move as the hold ended. The closest giant orc with all the bolts in him roared, stormed towards Gwyn, and whipped his giant ax the dwarf, slamming him for 20 points of damage. The druid tried to keep crawling, gasping from the suffocation. He pulled out his potion of resuscitation and fumbled about the muddy ground.
Digger raced towards the giant orc, the giant wolverine biting and snarling at his ankles. The giant orc slumped to the side, Digger tearing his throat wide open. One of the held Lycos Suns members drew his sword and backstabbed Gwyn, the short sword slamming into his shoulder and cutting deep. Pisser then whirled on the other Lycos Suns man (Krag) and tried to savage him, failing. Aleron assaulted Krag, not doing much.
The orcs in the street, about a third of them attempted to fight through the driving ice storm, most of them making almost no advance. Another third had come around the back of the nearest building and were stopped at the icy fence, frowning. Another four count of crossbow bolts were shot, peppering around Aleron and Gwyn. Coscles, the back stabbing member of the Lycos Suns was struck by an errant shot and pitched to the side.
The vrocks continued to lift the broken gear towards the rent in the sky while one of them slammed into Gwyn. Luckily the dwarf was missed by every blow. However the 2nd vrock did hit Gwyn twice. Inside the ice storm, one of the giant orcs actually crawled to the edge of the driving sleet, his monstrous head poking free. Mebali continued to gasp for air, crawling across the floor.
Gwyn pulled his scimitar free and leaping into the air hacked and stabbed at the mirror images and actual demonic figures. The Lycos man, Coscles, was caught in the wild swings of Gwyn, struck. He did pop two mirror images from one vrock (leaving a single mirror) and popped the same two from another vrock. From there he raced towards the tarpped area, leaping over the gasping druid.
Mebali slumped down, hitting zero hit points. Djohrgahd then shot Guyus with multiple magic missiles as well as the gasping druid. The paladin was staggering, barely conscious but still holding his sword. He used his sword, twisting himself free, broke the demon’s grip and fell to the top of the wall. Aleron was still being shot by random crossbow wielding orcs, Krag also taking a shot.
Thurin changed himself back into a sparrow and then bee lined for the small window in the mausoleum. One of the giant orcs did crawl out of the ice storm. Aleron was fighting off Krag’s assaults, blocking them easily. As for the other third of the orcs they began climbing up the broken roc, using it as a ladder to scale the cemetery gate.
Detheron crawled to Gwyn, potion vial in his hand, gasping for breath. Digger assaulted the nearest vrock, biting and snarling at their ankles, popping one more mirror image vrock! Coscles struggled to his feet, sword in hand and began stalking towards Gwyn. Aleron slammed at Krag, sword and dagger working. More of the orcs continued crawling across the storm field. Meanwhile orcs nearest the fence started lifting other orcs up, piling them on top of each other – but they slipped and the mass of 5 of them fell down.
A group of orcs took long range shots at Guyus, most of them missing, a few dinged off his armor. The nearest vrock dropped a darkness spell over the paladin and then telekinetically shoved him sideways. He tried to make a jumping leap to save himself, but slumped over and stepped off the wall – dropping 25’ to the ground. He hit with a clang and passed out – hitting zero.
The vrocks them turned their attention on Digger, tearing the dire wolverine badly. The other vrock physically lifted the rest of the cart and began flying it up. The giant orc that had crawled backwards from the storm, climbed the nearest building up to where the first crossbow group was perched.
Gwyn tried to breath air into Detheron, but it failed. Ludwig slumped over and died. Detheron struggled to shapeshift, succeeded, but the suffocation spell continued and he slumped over dead – knocked out. However, he did immediately shift back to human and recovered a large portion of his hit points.
More orcs struggled over the roc, pouring into the cemetery. Draugmor, invisible, ran back towards the tarpped are and made some attempt to remain hidden. A single crossbow bolt did fly towards Aleron, hitting the ranger again. The orcs on top of the building with the giant orc were surprised that the giant orc screamed at them to keep shooting, so they did so – hitting nothing.
Another giant orc did crawl to the edge of the ice storm – inside the cemetery! Krag assaulted Pisser next, the war dog did not get hurt. More orcs swarmed over the roc, reaching the ground. Digger tried to hit the last vrock, failing. Coscles came after Gwyn, the two of them clanging away at each other. Pisser then assaulted Krag, biting and clawing at the warrior. The pile of orcs near the gate failed again, more orcs falling.
Crossbow bolts fell around Digger, nothing hitting the wolverine. The vrocks left levitated the last of the broken gear from the floor and headed towards the rent in the sky. Digger was struck by numerous vrock hits, the wolverine fell over and slumped unconscious.
The giant orc on the roof jumped to the wall, ran along the length. And leapt to the ground also inside the cemetery. Gwyn ignored Coscles’ assault and poured Detheron’s potions down the druid’s throat – waking him up! He hurled the empty vial at the thief, shattering it on his chest.
Djohrgahd made an attempt to dispel the ice storm – but actually failed! Pop, Thurin’s familiar, was an invisible owl, and snatched up his fallen spellbook and succeeded in grabbing it. The closest orc giant orc made a swing, popping one of Pop’s duplicates, but the familiar did escape. Crossbow bolts did fly around the flying Pop – none of them hit!
The giant orc inside the cemetery then stood up, giant axe leading the way, and swung mightily. Pisser was flattened and knocked out, then Krag was crumpled over, axe slamming him in the midsection and he fell over unmoving. More orcs came down the roc and started running into the battlefield.
Coscles, seeing he was overwhelmed by Gwyn, gave a grin and stabbed down at the Halfling, slitting his throat. Coup de grace on Ludwig and the clerical Halfling was permanently dead. Aleron turned his attention to the giant orc that took out Krag and Pisser, sword and dagger working over and over. The two of them traded a dozen blows back and forth, the ranger making a great show of himself until the giant orc hurled his great axe crossways and sent the ranger flying, his armor crumbled and down to the negative hit point, bleeding and dying.
More of the orcs were crawling through the ice storm, making little headway. Two of the vrocks were gone, only one was left. One of the last giant orcs picked up the very dead Norris and hurled him at Coscles! The bard’s body slams into the thief, breaking his neck, the two bodies bouncing off Gwyn. Detheron crawled to his feet, laid his hand on Gwyn and called a fast healing upon the dwarf.
Gwyn knew there was lots of orcs coming, but was feeling a bit alone as most of his companions were either gone or elsewhere. He loaded a bloodfire crossbow bolt into his weapon and shot it at the giant orc, just hitting him. He staggered from the effect of the poison, hurting badly.
Draugmor stayed invisible and hidden, while Djohrgahd finally dispelled Detheron’s ice storm spell. With the ice storm spell gone, more crossbow bolts flew about the battlefield. One of the giant orcs threw one of the regular orcs at the tarp, tearing more than half of it away, revealing Detheron and Gwyn.
Detheron’s Called lightning bolt was finally available, and he charged it, shooting it at the largest batch of orcs outside the fence, frying five of them. Gwyn reaches into Norris’ bag of holding, feels for the rocket, and leaves it there, changing his mind about taking it out and shooting it. Instead, he pushed his back against the mausoleum and readied his scimitar.
Djohrgahd watched Detheron and caused the entire ground to rumble and shake, dropping 15’ down as a localized earthquake shook him. And then the mausoleum fell over, burying the druid and dropping him to zero hit points and knocking him out. And then Djohrgahd left with a satisfied grunt along with the last vrock.
Orcs attacked around the mausoleum en mass, assaulting Gwyn. He dodged and blocked and dashed around. He swung wildly, hitting orcs left and right but getting hit as well. Thurin snuck out of the mausoleum and cast a Charm spell on one of the orcs, calling on him to, “Help, hit and kill the others!”
More orcs swarmed in, including one of the last giant ones. Gwyn was holding his own but being driven further and further back. Thurin ran back and hid again. Then the dwarf was tackled, with two, three, and then more orcs piling on top of him. He slumped down struggling to get to his feet but was unable to and then the dwarf was bashed repeatedly until he slumped over unconscious.
With the last of the visible party members down and Djohrgahd gone with his vrock contingent, Thurin from his hiding place and Draugmor invisible watched as the orcs grabbed each of the party members that were here, dead or alive, and trussed them up. Rudimentary bandaging was applied and then about 40 more orcs came from the depths of Kreladale to help out. Every sword, bow, bolt, scrap of cloth, fallen foe – everything was taken from the battlefield. Each fallen orc, Lycos Suns member, and party member was taken EXCEPT for Guyus – the paladin had fallen outside the city wall. And except for Iohannes, the werewolf had been shot by Detheron’s earlier lightning spell while fleeing across the local rooftops.
With nervous eyes the two elves watched over 70 orcs leave, with carts and travois and just litters of riches, running out of Northgate and loping across the scrublands to the northwest and beyond.
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