rollohi-ch513-script

Through the accident of the Triple O rolls to decide what will happen, the party has fractured into three. The rump of spears, crossbows, archers, and Jack are reasonably safe. They're lodged not far from the passage back up. That party has identified a T junction southwest, its branches running vaguely north-south, with the sound of roaring water more audible north than south. Jack is unharmed. A southeast vanguard of Eryn and Kylie fronting, and supported by Ingle with Rima on pavise and Elion on Longbow, further supported by the experienced but self-preserving halfling Hilu and the inexperienced Bram, has gotten no further than one cavern more than they began the hour, though it is aware that the next junction along and up east is a four-way. And there are no telling noises beyond that. This vanguard is resting in comfy quarters and is linked with Jack using runners, so both those pieces know what the other has found. A northeast vanguard, fronted by Xantu and with close support from Dorgun, supported by Cied, Pod and the inexperienced Gage, with Umbert the Squishy in the middle, has advanced ludicrously far to the north and is well out of touch. It is resting precariously in a long cavern, only partly explored, and with the noises of several orcs squabbling somewhere nearby. 

So far I have been okay with the triple O approach, because I can imagine Cied and Umbert going, just one more room, despite the urgings of Pod and Xantu. But now I think I have to put my foot down, or rather, put Xantu's foot down. After resting for the 10 minutes needed to get their wind back, Dorgun and Xantu creep north away from the torchlight. They discover a pit trap, but don't disarm it. Instead, they use two pieces of the piercer that Xantu shattered to mark it for future reference and go back. 

Now, Xantu speaks with Pod, somewhat away from the missus. "Your ears are keen, Pod. I'll guide you north, and you can see what can be heard. How many are we talking?" 

Xantu makes 12 on charisma, and I will give him a bonus of minus one because this is a practical exercise in safety. But Pod shakes his head, deferring to Cied's judgment. Here, Pod has an advantage check on his more meager charisma of 9. He rolls a 7. 

Cied agrees to creep forward with Xantu as guide to where to stop. She rolls a 3 on hear noise. A hear noise check, a D6 roll, is normally applied at doors, and a halfling has a 1 to 2 chance. But here she's listening for approximate numbers at an open intersection. So I'm happy to give her the 1 to 3 chance that a thief would have at the same level. 

Cied presses Xantu's arm to let him know that she has heard enough, and the two walk back quietly. Thus passes turn twelve. 

"Oi 'ear you two or three orcies from off left? That'd be westish," she reports. "Not nothing from t' north, but cain't say 'ow many."

"We have that very narrow passage eastish," Dorgun comments. He's looking mostly at Xantu, and his senior nods. 

"It's far too risky to stop here. Since we don't know what's east, and we know there are at least two sources of enemy north and west. We need to pull back."

"Still 'e ought to scout east," Cied comments. 

"I am not going to doff all my armour just to creep along a narrow passage," retorts Xantu, and Dorgun nods. 

But this is Charisma: Charisma, so we'll roll for Xantu vs. Cied. Each has a charisma of eleven, and each has support from their own buddy or hubby as the case may be, and Umbert is staying out of it. If he has a sure guide as to where the bosses are to be found, he can use his potion of ESP. 

Cied rolls an O2. Xantu fails with a 17. But let me ask a direct oracle question on a D6. Do both dwarfs doff armor? 2. No. 

"I can be spared. You can't," Dorgun states flatly, and Xantu helps him with his heavy armor's lacings. Thus passes turn 13. 

Turn 14. Dorgun silently walks along a narrow passage that snakes almost around in a circle, then heads east again. There is some light ahead. He creeps forward. He's looking into a large, richly furnished bedchamber with six massive orc guards. Whoever the chamber belongs to, they are not in at present. The signs of wealth and power are obvious. Dorgun turns to walk back, but his nerve gives way and he begins running. 

Two of the orcs cry, "Stop! Who is that?" And the crisis begins. 

Meanwhile, Jack, Messenger to Ingle. Are we joining you? 

Ingle messengers back to Jack. We do not know where Xantu went. 

Jack, Messenger to Ingle. Then pull back and we will organize a search party. 

Ingle, Messenger to Jack. Yes, bringing loot. 

By end of turn 12, the Ingle Force has emptied the Orc Captain's den of loot and it is piled up on the slope out up to level 1. Jack's rearguard is arrayed around the passages leading to that slope. 

Turn 13. Using Kylie and Eryn plus Rima and Mesk on cresset shields and TruBrag and Elion on missiles, Jack sneaks forward and works his way south. He discovers a trap, and past that, a vast bench facing south, at least 50 feet long, probably 70 feet, and there's a river south of it. The bench holds many campaign supplies. This is a huge discovery, so letting the others know, he turns his attention to disarming the trap. 

Turn 14. Jack finds that he cannot disarm the trap. It's a pit trap. He just doesn't have the resources right now. The party will need to bring some of the goods from the south right up to the pit and pile them in high enough to fill it. Jack heads back to consult with the others. 

Meanwhile, far to the north. It is fortunate for Dorgun that he has a start and that the orcs are bulky! Xantu strides into the passage to the first real chokepoint and snarls:

"Stand ready with arrows and hell fire! Something is coming!"

Xantu at the choke point

Now this is a genuine choke point, and unlike the fight that featured Eryn and an orc captain, each of which holding a shield, the orcs are using two-hand weapons, and Xantu has a plus one shield. Only one of these orcs can fight at a time. None of them has a missile weapon, but they all use light. By that I mean the orcs cannot see in pitch blackness, and the party itself needs light to fight with. Most importantly perhaps, the halflings, who still have plenty of arrows, can loose from beyond Xantu. 

I will make a rule that only two of them could loose per round.

Umbert could use Fire Ball if Xantu is willing to risk it.

As Xantu prepares himself, Umbert mutters, "If this is us pulling out, I'll drop fireball as far past you as I can." He doesn't sound entirely convinced of his own words. Xantu turns and mutters over his shoulder, "The passage turns back. You must be blowing yourself up." Meanwhile, Dorgun is hissing, "Get a light going and cover north. There could be a flanking tunnel." And of course, he's trying to don his banded mail without much help. 

Round three. The first orc arrives. It is clad in black banded mail, wielding a two-hand sword. The vast muscles on its back, shoulders, and biceps ripple, promising extra damage should it connect. As it approaches, Cied and Pod loose past Xantu, but they're at disadvantage because of the extremely narrow window to shoot in and the fact that the tunnel curves towards the choke point. Cied hits for two, Pod misses. Xantu hammers the orc for two, plus two from his own strength, plus three from his mace, seven damage. The orc falls to four out of thirteen hp and swings. It's shield parried. 

Round four. Initiatives. Xantu wins. Cied hits for three. Xantu hits for eight. The orc is dead. A second orc leaps and strikes Xantu, connects for two plus three. Yes, it is really strong. Xantu's hit points drop to 17 out of 22. 

Round 5. Initiatives. Xantu wins. Cied again hits for 3, and Pod again misses. Xantu hits with his mace for 2, plus 2 from strength, plus 3 from the mace. The orc falls to 3 out of 13. In response, it swings, but with matching 3s, bounces off the dwarf's shield and banded mail. The sword is not an impact weapon, so Xantu does not get any min damage. 

Round 6. Initiatives. The Orc wins. Xantu easily parries, and in reply, Cied fells the Orc. The passage is now bad going for Orcs, but they risk an arrow from Pod, dragging the two corpses clear. Pod hits one of those orcs doing the dragging for three points. 

As that closes out the entire turn, let us drop south and see how the other party is getting on, searching. 

Turn 15, south. 

Halfling scouts with torches move around northeast but stop at the spiked cavern where all they can see beyond are potential passage exits, but bones and ragged remains everywhere. There's no obvious sign of where the others went. I roll hear noise for the halflings, and neither of them hear anything. They conclude that Xantu and Umbert must have pushed east, not north. They retreat from that spiked cavern and begin making their way slowly towards the four-way intersection. 

With that having been checked, let us go back to turn 15, north. 

Round 1. Initiatives. It's even. The next orc leaps forward, missiles are too early or too late, and bounce off the rock. The orc and Xantu exchange cuts and swings. Xantu dodges, stepping aside from a vicious sword swing and crits. He scores six, the maximum, plus two from his strength, plus three from his mace for a total of 11. The orc is down to 2 out of 13. 

Round 2. Inits. the orc wins. I roll a morale. It's not going to wimp out and comes in again. This time, Xantu has to parry. Cied, however, kills the orc. 

With so many orcs fallen, it's time to make a morale check for the remaining orcs. I roll snake eyes, natural two. They are blood mad. No strategy. 

As for Xantu, he has been through now an entire six rounds of fighting. The con check after a minute's full fighting is not mandatory, it's not part of the OSE ruleset. But I think it honors the spirit of what I'm trying to achieve here. Xantu rolls a Nat 1 on con, he is fighting fit. 

Round 3 inits. Xantu wins. As the fourth orc attacks, the Halflings both score, but on armor only. That black banded mail is very hard to get through at disadvantage. But Xantu scores with 3 plus 2 plus 3 equals 8. The fourth orc swings and Xantu easily parries. 

Round 4. Inits, Xantu wins again. Cied misses but Pod scores 2 damage. The Orc is now only 3 out of 13. Xantu kills it, rolling a 4, and enforcing his blunt object minimum damage of 1 plus 3 equals 4. 

As long as a blunt object hits the armor, the 1 minimum damage applies and with a magic weapon that includes all of the magic bonus. 

With no regard to bad going, the fifth orc charges in over the bodies of his comrades. Xantu manages to catch twin fours on his shield. 

Round 5. Initiatives. Xantu wins. Cied misses. Pod rolls 4 at the worst, which he can tweak to a 3. His next worst damage is 2, and so that being a worst score, applies to the orc. This orc is 11 of 13, or if he was previously wounded, 8 of 13. Xantu scores 3 plus 2 plus 3 for 8. It now becomes relevant whether or not this orc has previously been wounded. No, the wounded orc must be the very last, still waiting. So the orc is 3 out of 13. In reply, its swing is a 4 at worst and that is parried. 

Round 6. Initiatives. The orc wins. Xantu ducks. Cied tweaks her worst a 4 to a hit and the orc falls dead. 

That being the end of the turn, let us now zip back to the south and see how our party, now exploring towards that four-way intersection, is faring. Hear noise. Yes, a chance echo of the fighting is heard. Realizing that he was wrong earlier, Bram, coming back from where he's been exploring around the junction, alerts Hilu to the change of plan. And very fortunately he does not walk onto a pit trap that he himself had not noticed. 

Same turn. Alerted to the noise, Ingle and Co. decide to leave the same rump but bring Jack with them. Bram will guide them to where the noise came from. 

Turning back to turn 16 in the north, the fight is continuing. It has not been another full minute.

Round 1. Initiatives. Even. The sixth and last orc, screaming in rage, hurls himself at Xantu to be hit. First by Cied for one, but leaping the pile of dead, sends his blade into the rock roof, and Xantu crits him.

A round goes by, while the defenders wait to see if there are any further movements from further down the tunnel. Then check back with Dorgun, double-checking how many orcs he counted. It was six. And that appears to be the end of the combat. The scene falls relatively silent. A dim clashing as of steel on rock can be heard from the south. It is the inexperienced halfling Gage who recognizes that sound.

"That sounds like somethin' hittin' one they rock creatures, Oi'll just slip down, see what's to do." Dorgun has not yet got his banded mail back on: but he stands ready to back the halfling. The passage south is like a figure five that's been rotated 180 degrees. It faces south at the far end. The halfling heads silently down the passage, Dorgun holding a torch behind him to give him enough light to see by.

As he reaches a kink that leads to the final straight path. He sees a familiar figure. Blessing all the saints that are patron to his halfling village, he slips back and whispers to Dorgun, "It's that priest fellow, Ingle is it?  It's he, and the others! They're comin' to join us!"

The two unequal parts of the party are about to link up.