Lair Of The Orc Lord - Deep 2 (Part 5)

Today's gaming is essentially a fight to escape this orc lair. Due to work commitments and illness it is more than 5 weeks before the gaming group can come back together to see what progresses.

Healing the injured becomes a first priority before moving on. Experience is starting to make the players less carefree about their characters' survival and think wisely. Having no way to go but up the secret passage, the party first rediscovers how to open the closed secret door leading into the northbound corridor. Rikku and Kodos decide to take point and head cautiously forward. Glad to get away from the intense heat of the firechasm, the group come across a door which opens easily.

The room before you is dirty and odorous, with a skeleton on the floor. The strangest thing about it though is that it is illuminated not so much by your lantern as the greenish glow coming from the open archways beyond. The glow also quite clearly shows a welcoming committee!

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The first combat round Kodos moves into the room so Hanu has freedom of movement. A Lugroki (orc) immediately moves to intercept Kodos seeing how he looks to be an easy target. Neither do much damage to each other.

Hanu burst forth into the room and tries to take on two orcs, hitting one. Rikku notices an opportunity and runs up behind the one attacked and downs it easily. (In RMFRP a +20 bonus is added when attacking from the rear.)

A fourth orc moves to intercept Cavell right before he can move into the main room where all the action is happening.

Asmodeus and Xera can't do much and have no opportunity to attack this round.

The last to move is the minotaur who moves up behind Rikku. Since he has already downed one orc, I suppose the minotaur sees him as being the biggest threat at this point. The minotaur takes a mighty swing and crushes Rikku's skull. Rikku is given several rounds left to live (about 90 seconds of time).

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The situation looks grim with the mighty Rikku down and out in the first round. As a GM I had to balance out the effects of having a minotaur this early in the game (that is, the PCs are only level 2 or 3). Since the module I am using is from Games Workshop's game Warhammer Quest I wanted to stay true to the scenario. I achieved this by reducing the minotaur's level from 8 to 5 as well its offensive capabilities. It was a bit of a gamble and right at this point in the combat, I am worried that the minotaur is still too much for the PCs to handle, especially since they don't have any escape route available. There are still five orcs, one minotaur and one goblin shaman to face, now with only five of them - this certainly looks to be the end of the PCs. I do, however, still have faith that they will pull through this situation - I have seen it before and I will undoubtedly see it again.

Concern for their own lives ripples through the party. The now rag-doll-Rikku needs help which means another PC is unavailable to fight. That leaves four versus seven.

Round 2 of combat sees Kodos throw fear to the wind and ignores the orc trying to attack him, moving to the dying Rikku, lifting him onto his back and teleporting him to the now familiar Fountain of Light in the hopes it will restore him fully.

Hanu attacks the orc nearest her, slays it then focuses on the minotaur with the assistance of Asmodeus while Cavell and Xera attack the orc nearest them.

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Kodos enjoys a bath with Rikku.

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Meanwhile, back at the combat, the remaining four party members battle it out killing the minotaur. Yes that's right, killing the minotaur, dead, by Round 3 - awesome! Actually, Hanu did the slaying, however, Cavell has finally entered the room, spotting the goblin shaman further in, followed by Xera who takes on the orc close to her. Asmodeus continues support from the room entryway.

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Not willing to risk a couple of rounds failing to teleport back to the combat - it is hard to predict where space is available to re-appear and the room is not that familiar to Kodos that he can easily get back without a higher chance of failure - Rikku and Kodos decide to run back, so in a couple of rounds they will be fighting again. Cavell takes on and kills the goblin shaman, Hanu takes on an orc archer and Asmodeus and Xera try cooperatively, yet unsuccessfully, to down the last orc swordsman. Kodos appears then disappears as the players try to make my storytelling difficult by placing Kodos in the picture.

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Kodos and Rikku finally turn up right before the end of the battle while the remaining orcs are elliminated.

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After the battle the dead are searched and some items are found. A Power Point storage amulet, money/coins and a Ring of Regeneration were found. Smartly, again, the party return to the Fountain of Light to heal their wounds and splash around a bit. Xera is particularly happy because it has been such a long time since her last real bath and what little she did wash feels refreshed.

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Going back to The Circle Of Power room the PCs find an exit in the northwest corner that leads up and out of the Lair. Much to their surprise, the blocks of ice have stopped falling from the sky and they hope to return to their unscathed horses in anticipation of returning the Stone of Life to the High Priestess at the Temple of Eissa.

Combat experience points were distributed. A few PCs earnt enough XP to develop their character again.

The night ended here after several hours of game play (dinner included). Below is the entire map experience of the PCs for level two of the dungeon.

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