rollohi-ch517-script

When we last left the great company, it had withstood two waves of attacks in defense against a multitude of orcs and allies of the Orc Chief. 

Great must be the Orc chief's wrath, for he is determined to avenge the insult to his honor and punish the miscreants who robbed him of his toys and his wealth, and perhaps also of some of those attachments written at great length from the Chaos Dwarf-Lord Masters. At the very end of last episode, he ordered the human cleric and his five human fighter retainers to attack. With a shrug, he allows the last of his non-elite orcs to go with them. Somewhat in despair, but unable to say no, the human cleric pleads that the hobgoblin soldiers also come with them. Although I haven't rolled his charisma, it has to be better than ten, and so when I roll a ten on a d20, I'll allow that. 

Irritated and checking back at his orc shaman in case that individual has a purpose for the hobgoblins, the orc chief gives the order. Four hobgoblins will join the half dozen orcs, the five level three human fighters, and a level four human cleric in an attack to see if they can weaken that battle line, which so easily withstands the assaults so far. 

The human cleric's ace in the hole is Hold Person. In OSE, it can be directed at an individual, but perhaps just as importantly, it can also be thrown at range at a group. Up to 1d4 of individuals have to save against spells to avoid being fixed in place. And it has a splendid range, although, since the defenders are surrounded by makeshift defense of pavises and baggage, the cleric will need to get reasonably close, say 120 feet, to actually see what he's aiming at. He's keenly conscious that he might be better off throwing Hold Person at the unseen antagonists, loosing arrows from the bushes. But that might mean wasting the spell completely if he aims through a patch of bushes where no halfling is. Thus, instead, he instructs the orcs and hobgoblins to rush the bushes on either side. Unlike most of the orcs who've died so far, his fighters are well equipped with both chainmail and shield. And he will, though well armored as well, be surrounded by that bulwark. There's no chance that he will take an arrow. Or, so he thinks, let's see how he gets on. 

Initiative suddenly becomes highly relevant to how this maneuver works. Even as the hobgoblins and orcs make a quick charge towards the nearest bushes, the halflings are on the move, loosing after they finish moving, already in further cover. 

The halflings clearly win this round. One orc and one hobgoblin fall on each flank. Morale. The orcs are extremely determined to finish as a roll in the morale of three. Hobgoblins have excellent discipline, and a high roll of nine means they're still in the fight. 

Round two. Chaos wins. With a further quick rush, they're practically on top of the halflings. This round, all the halflings can do is run. 

About a hundred feet away from these events, Jack clambers up on top of some of the baggage and peers over the top of the heavys. 

They're going for the halflings, he announces. You lads! Crossbows, you've got the range. The range of mine, either flank! Don't worry about the lads with the shields. 

So concerned is Jack that he almost drops his gentlemanly drawl. 

Round three. Chaos wins again. But now incoming crossbow bolt, longbow, and even shortbow arrow is reaching them. On the flanks, two orcs fall and a hobgoblin. That leaves two orcs remaining and one hobgoblin. And the halflings, as they fell back again, are back to about 60 foot range. One lot of crossbows and two longbow shots. Eight short bows. That is four twice. Wow, there's a few crits there. This time, a fighter is hit hard, falling out with two crits. 

With Chaos coming within range of Charm Person, Umbert attempts the spell. At the same time, the Chaos Cleric throws Hold Person. The Chaos Cleric spell takes effect before Umbert's. Time to roll the d4 and also a random dice, which may include potentially some of the women who are huddled at the back. Here's the d4 roll. Only two, alright, so just at the front. Number six, that will be a character. And number twelve, that will be Xantu and Jelu. We exclude halflings since they're way back away from the battle line. Alright. Save against spells. Oh wow. 04 for Xantu, 03 for Jelu. Safe. And in reply, the Chaos Cleric has to make a roll against Umbert's Charm Person. I think that's probably a mistake from Umbert, but we'll see. 07. He resists Umbert's spell. 

Round four. Even. The Chaos Cleric signals the underchief who moves forward with the eight elite orcs he has at his disposal and five bodyguard. They come on at a run, aiming to get to the line before those presumably held victims can be changed out. The fighting line, including the cleric, who is more exposed to fire, are now taking missile fire. Once again, a single round of crossbow bolts. A longbow twice, all of the halflings twice, and Jack and the three archers twice. The halflings will be able to direct their fire behind the line now. Ooh, that's a lot more crits. Alright. The cleric falls dead. A fighter is down to seven out of twenty. That wounded fighter dies, and a third fighter is down to fourteen out of twenty. Time for a morale check for the level three fighters. They are still in the fight. 

Round five. This will be the charge from the fighters. Two are unwounded and on 20 hit points, and one is wounded. Having paid attention to where the cleric thought he threw his whole person, they attack Xantu's end of the semicircle. At the same time, Jack is slipping out of the defense. And Kylie is having a discussion of a kind with Umbert. No spell declarations. 

Initiative. That means missile fire will be poured in point blank at the three fighters. While behind them, the halflings will be beginning to open up on the subject, or possibly continuing the fire at the three fighters. Here are point blank missile fires from the defense. Not as fantastic as it could be. The wounded fighter dies, and that's about it. Now the fighters are on the spear line. They're only fighting two spears. Nine damage each. So each of those two fighters is down to eleven out of twenty. Xantu crits. Dorgun crits. Each. They are both dead. 

We're now into round six. The sub-chief, five bodyguard, and eight elite come at the run. They're closely followed by the orc chief himself and his hearth guard. However, I roll a natural twelve on the morale of the shaman, and he bugs out. All he has done in the final analysis, apart from sending in zombies, is cast protection from good on the orc chief. It's time to determine how the Halfling arrows handled the AC5 of the Elite running with the sub-chief. Three crits plus six damage. Three of the Orc elite die. Five remain and all bodyguard and chiefs. Now we turn our attention to the three crossbows loosened once, the longbow loosing twice, and now that Jack has slipped out of the circle, only three archers loosing twice. Pretty similar. Three crits and eleven damage. Two bodyguards die, and the sub-chief, being exposed, is hit for six. He drops to five out of eleven. 

Round seven. The Orc host moves at its fastest pace, and halflings are now behind them all. Does Jack move further out? Yes, but just to the closer cover. 

Magic declaration. Having discussed her thoughts with Umbert as best she can, Kylie cues Umbert in to cast Invisibility. We're still not at charge to melee range, so it's not relevant which is initiative. That's 31 damage. And the short bows minus Jack twice. And twenty-five. The last of the elite orcs, all five of them, that is, die. The wounded bodyguard dies. The subchief dies. Crossbow fire and longbow. One more bodyguard dies, that leaves one. 

The orc chief and his hearthguard are untouched. And that entire group moving at the sprint and vaulting over the lines of dead is at melee charge range. Kylie is now invisible. She is now at the forefront, although she cannot be seen.