Team Alfa Third Session

Notes

A Night Interrupted

The night's rest was interrupted by a loud explosion set off by an electrical blast that left a flame and foul smelling smoke behind. A voice in the darkness implored us to put down our weapons. It turns out to be a naked woodsperson named Bashir or "Batshit" to his friends. He's covered in tattoos, quite filthy, and smells of excrement. He's an acquaintance and dragon chess partner of PD's and is willing to put the word out to the dervish community to help find the goblins we are after. He also hands over a large "problem solver" which he thinks might help us get PD back if we get into a pinch.

Tracking the Orcs

The next morning we head out on the tracks of the orcs led by Cinder's dog Tim. The first day of tracking finds us not gaining any ground on the small party of orcs. The party decides to push on into the night and gets two more hours of progress before Thola's exhaustion has reached the point where she can no longer move at her full speed an the party stops to rest.

The next day the party strikes out at an increased pace, but at the higher speed Tim and Cinder miss spotting a trap that hoists them up into the air in a net. A clattering of bells and noises accompanies the springing of the trap.

Traps!

The party moves to either help or be on the lookout. Cinder cuts himself and Tim out of the net, but Tim is knocked out by the fall. Quynh who was up in the tree to cut them down looks up and sees something and scampers off drawing weapon and taking cover. Wolf seeing that tosses a shield of faith on Quynh and moves forward also drawing weapons. The rest of the party moves up similarly and Thola coming in last gets eyes on an ogre dervish and blasts it with eldritch energy. The ogre moves up and skewers Thola with a critical javelin throw.

Wolf jumps in to prevent the ogre from closing on Thola and Quynh loses a crossbow attack. Wolf gets a cut in with his axe, but the ogre just grins. Gorra jumps out and says, "Hey! Hey! Do you know PD? Likes to play dragonchess? Or his friend covered in shit?" Cinder moves up and misses a lance attack. Thola tosses another eldrich blast, landing some damage on the ogre, and uses a bonus action to heal herself with healing light.

The ogre steps in and tries to hit Wolf, but Cinder's shield gets in the way.

Quynh puts down her crossbow. Wolf hesitates to see what the ogre will do. Gorra continues her discussion with the ogre, "The orcs took Pete. You wanna help Pete?"

Cinder having none of this talking with ogres cries out, "He's an ogre!" and attacks with a longsword dealing a cut to the ogre.

The Ogre shouts back, "YOU LIE! YOU SAY YOU TALK AND THEN HIT!"

At the swing from the ogre, Thola looses another eldritch blast scorching the ogre.

And then:

The party, weapons back up, attacks with redoubled effort. Quynh hits with a very disapproving sneak attack. Cinder hits with his longsword.

Gorra takes another hit from the ogre despite Cinder's attempt to block for her and she falls down. Quynh's next bolt puts down the ogre right through its eye. Wolf vengefully slits its throat.

The party heals themselves up and gets a lesson on ogres from Cinder. Thola takes a moment to cast a ritual and acquires a new companion, an owl. With a short investigation the party find a buried sack with some salted meat, gold, and two small vials of liquid in it.

Wolf tries to give his share to Thola, but instead they roll on it and Wolf wins again.

After a much needed rest, Thola uses detect magic to help determine the potions are potions of healing. Cinder and Quynh each take one.

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Rescue

We set out again at a fast pace and near sunset the orc have multiplied. We forced march into the night and after two extra hours both Wolf and Gorra are starting to feel the effects of exhaustion. The tracks however, are now very fresh and the sound of a man crying can be heard in the woods up ahead. It sounds like the orcs are about a 100 yards ahead.

Thola gives Quynh a pebble enchanted with light which Quynh hides in her pocket. Thola also sends her owl up ahead to scout the position of the orcs. It sees 6 orcs with PD tied to a log being carried between two of them.

The party approaches the orcs, but attempts at stealth are no successful. As soon as the orcs notice they turn and rush at us with javelin tosses. Cinder takes two heavy hits, but is still up. the party moves in to engage and the party gets some ranged damage in. Cinder moves up to lance an ogre. Two ogres in the rear with longbows miss their shots. Next the other orcs move towards melee and Wolf gets hit with a critical and a regular axe hit. He looks like he's going to go down, but doesn't.

Gorra shoots at the orc near her and drops a healing word on Wolf. Thola misses a blast on a orc and drops healing on Wolf via her owl familiar. Wolf misses his attack. Quynh doesn't and gets a sneak attack that takes out one of the orcs. Cinder rides across the field and takes out another orc with his lance. The archer orcs move up and fire, one hit Cinder badly and the other missed Wolf. The two in melee on Wolf take swings at him, one hits taking him back down to 1 and breaking his concentration and the other misses.

Gorra hits an orc with her crossbow and tosses another healing word on Wolf. Thola drops one of the melee orcs with the combination of hex and eldritch blast. Wolf misses. Quynh hits with another sneak attack. Cinder moves up next to Wolf to attack and misses, but his shield spares Wolf an arrow from one of the archers. The other archer misses.

Gorra moves and shoots hitting an orc with her crossbow. Thola hits an orc with eldritch blast dropping it. Wolf moves up and heals himself. Quynh moves up, hides, and misses an attack on one of the ranged orcs. Cinder rides up and misses. The two Orcs move in and flank him, one hits with a blow that drops Cinder.

Gorra moves up and continues the crossbow attacks, hitting one of the orcs. Thola moves up and continues the eldrich blast attacks, missing, and has her owl deliver a heal to Cinder, picking him up. Wolf moves up to hielp Cinder and misses. Quynh gets a sneak attack on one of the orcs. Cinder gets up and mounted and Tim moves him to the other side of the orcs and attacks, but misses. The orcs swing and miss.

Gorra continues the crossbow attacks and misses. Thola misses with EB. Wolf misses with his axe. Quynh finally gets a hit in for the party and takes down an orc. Cinder misses his attack on the last orc. The last orc moves in on Cinder and puts him down again.

Gorra again with the crossbow, hits and does a bit of damage. Thola drops guiding bolt on the remaining orc and her hex finish it off. Wolf uses his remaining lay on hands to pick up Cinder.

The party unties Pete and recovers his papers. On the orcs they find greataxes, two longbows, 36 arrows and 39 silver pieces.

Experience & Loot

Experience

• 25xp for meeting "Batshit Bashir"
• 115xp for defeating an ogre
• 115 150 xp for defeating the orcs
• 50xp for rescuing PD Pete

Loot

• "problem solver" - a 15 pound object made primarily from a large, thick reed about the size of a small tree trunk. One end is covered with pitch and a crude fuse, while a steel plate is nailed into the bottom of the other side.
• 21gp
• 20 pounds of jerky of questionable provenance
• two small vials of bubbling pink pink liquid (identified as potions of healing)
• 36 arrows
• a longbow
• 39sp