Lair Of The Orc Lord - Deep 3 (Part 3)

Hanu and Kodos have yet to be healed fully from last session as Hanu is bleeding at 4 hits per round (hits/rnd) and Kodos 2 hits/rnd. Xera decides to use her herbs and so gives Hanu some Fek which stops all the bleeding while Cavell performs First Aid on Kodos to stem his blood loss. Healing and Injury rules are now applied and Hanu has to wait 4 days before she can undertake any strenuous activities otherwise she will reopen the healing wound – for Kodos it is only 2 days wait.

At this point in the game there is a short discussion about the use of herbs versus magical healing spells. The herbs used in this case are non-magical in nature and so require the application of the Healing and Injury rules. If, however, magic means are used to heal, the aforementioned rules do not come into play and so there is no danger time in which wounds can re-open and start bleeding again. Now Xera has a spell that will stop bleeding up to 3 hits/rnd. Her thinking is that because Hanu is bleeding at 4 hits/rnd, she cannot apply the spell. My thinking is that she can apply the spell and heal up to a maximum of 3 hit/rnd of bleeding leaving Hanu bleeding at 1 hit/rnd, which can be dealt with by applying more magical means or the use of non-magical means. If non-magical means are applied, then Healing and Injury rules come into play for the remaining 1 hit/rnd of bleeding.

Cavell decides to search the barrels and gear in the small alcove and finds they contain orc food – which doesn’t look all that nice to eat. Meanwhile Xera is concentrating on a spell to heal some of the damage Hanu has taken. It takes 1 minute of concentration to heal one hit point of damage – not bad when you consider the normal healing rate is one hit point per three hours, if active, otherwise it can be increased slightly when resting. The rest of the party are on watch. Noises can be heard coming from further into the cave complex but as to what is making them it is unclear.

Fifteen quiet minutes pass and then the party move on down the tunnel. Cavell is looking ahead and notices an opening to the left further on. He fails to spot the thin rope going across the tunnel and triggers the trip wire. A grating noise is heard ahead of them along with a roar of anger. As the party move further around the bend they see an ogre climbing a ladder out of a deep cave that has obviously been its prison. Ahh! So Gorgut is hoping the ogre will eliminate the party for him.

The PCs let the ogre climb out and Asmodeus speaks to it in the orcish language he has picked up in his youth. Asmodeous says something friendly and the ogre looks quizzical at them before roaring and moving into attack. Not a good move there Asmodeus! You have incited the ogre by using the language of its captors!

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The ogre has a nasty looking two-handed battle axe, compliments of the orcs and takes a swing at the largest target in front of it – Cavell. No damage is done due to his Defensive Bonus.

How the rules work: The ogre is a large creature (level 8) and so when the heroes do criticals to it, they are large (LA) criticals – LA criticals are only obtained from inflicting B and higher criticals (an A critical is ignored). This in effect multiplies the experience points gained from the critical by 1.5. To make the situation scarier, the ogre also reduces the critical taken by two levels of severity, hence a PC needs to get a D critical or better in order to get the required B critical or higher after the critical reduction has come into effect. Clear as mud?

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Rikku moves in right behind Hanu and Cavell so that he can fire his longbow at the ogre without hitting his friends. Kodos teleports eight or so feet to his right so that he is in the alcove where the orc food is – he is too scared to re-open his wound. Asmodeus casts what is becoming his favourite spell – Vacuum. Hanu re-opens her bleed wound because she attacks the ogre with Cavell. After four rounds of combat, dropping one weapon and breaking another, Cavell finally downs it quickly and for me, unexpectedly. Actually, if the ogre had been a little quicker, it was intending to surrender before it died – but that would have been another story. Oh well.

Rikku pounces on the ogre’s remains and finds a valuable precious gem in its loincloths. Cleaning it off (yuck!) he greedily stashes it in his backpack.

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Hanu can’t help herself and so climbs down the ladder to investigate the ogre’s prison. She finds only rubbish and faeces at which she pokes her spear in the hopes of finding more gems – no luck there – but she is optimistic that the stuff on her spear tip will disease some orc very soon! Cavell notices the light in the passage dim slightly – he is not sure what that means.

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The party move on down the tunnel where, surprisingly for the PCs, Skabnoze is waiting with three orc buddies. A curtain restricts vision into the next section of the map. Skabnoze is here because Gorgut has ordered it. Either Skabnoze vanquishes the PCs or dies trying otherwise Gorgut will deal with him and that scares him even more. Over the last few days, Skabnoze has increased in power greatly. He is no longer the weedy level four minion he once was. Now, after an arduous task of raiding an ogre stronghold nearby, he has returned here a masterful level eight. I am thinking the PCs won’t know what hit them!

The combat starts off with the PCs backing off back the way they had come because they don’t want to get stuck fighting in a restricted area (-15 to Offensive Bonus). Skabnoze orders his orcs to stay put and use their bows.

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The party hear the unmistakable sound of Skabnoze preparing to cast a spell. Asmodeus doesn’t like the sound of it so targets the area with his Vacuum spell. Rikku uses his bow to target Skabnoze but hits the orc in from of him more often than not. Hanu is targeted by one orc while the other orc targets Rikku. Xera and Kodos move back even further and stay alert, ready to commit themselves if the need arises.

Skabnoze is too slow to release his spell and is stunned for one round by the effects of the Vacuum spell – similar effects inflict the other two orcs within the five foot radius of the spell. Rikku hits Skabnoze the one time in all his attempts (a lucky shot if you ask me).

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A few rounds later and one orc cannot take it any longer and charges Hanu. Another Vacuum spell disrupted Skabnoze, but eventually the Shaman gets a break and tries to over-cast a level nine spell on Rikku. The fool fumbles his Spell Casting Static Manoeuvre roll (getting a -62) and fries his own nervous system – turning himself into a paraplegic. Rikku continues peppering the orc in front of him with arrows and Hanu is knocked to the ground by an orc. So much for being a masterful shaman - with Skabnoze stunned my (the GM’s) plans of eliminating the PC threat goes to hell!

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The remaining orcs are taken care of quickly and to the PCs surprise, another two orcs belatedly come from above and start attacking. There must be a hidden passage to the surface here and that is why Cavell noticed the light dim earlier – because the orcs had closed the cover – it is also probably the reason why they lost sight of and couldn’t find the orc lookout several hours ago on the surface. These two orcs are quickly dealt with. While that is going on, Asmodeus bashes the life out of Skabnoze using his quarterstaff – it takes him four rounds to complete the task!

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Experience for the combat is awarded and the bodies are searched. Moneys are transferred to the PCs. Actual use of tactile coins are a great new (several months now) gaming feature for our group and they get to keep the coins in their very own treasure chest! You can find the treasure chest and coins products at WorldWorks Games.

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So far the map has grown as shown below:

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More in a fortnight’s time – hopefully.