OAWYM: Call the Orcan Army

Game Date: 3/4/2016
Location: The Game Keep
Campaign: OAWYM, Session 23
System: D&D 5e
DM: Rusty

The Party:
Byzun (Gary) - Human Sorcerer
Halfbeard (Cliff) - Dwarf Fighter
Malcer (Daniel, subbing for Graham) - Human Monk
Robb (Daniel) - Human Rogue
Val Ravensword (Matt) - Orc Paladin
Tatio - Malcer's Companion

The Session:
Last session we pitted a warship versus a slave ship, and ended up all wet.  Today we started with Malcer, Halfbeard, and Byzun climbing onto a sailing vessel while Val, Robb,and Tatio climbed to shore.  Malcer's group encountered a few Iron Circle sailors, but they were unprepared for a fight.  Halfbeard asked them where their captain was, and they pointed him in the right direction.

Halfbeard tried to intimidate the captain into surrendering, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight.  At first the other sailors just watched the altercation, but after a couple of rounds Val's group climbed onto the ship, and the sailors started to fight back.  It wasn't long before the captain and the four sailors were defeated.  More crew members emerged from below decks, but they surrendered right away. 

We ordered the crew to set sail, and even paid them for their work.  We spent four days sailing to the other side of the island, and docked at a town on the North side.  We ordered the crew to disembark, and sold the ship to a local merchant.

Now to our mission.  Several sessions ago, Dame Gold hired us to find her brother Hassan, in order to cure his lycanthropy.  Failing that, we were to put him out of his misery.  We are no longer in possession of the antidote, so unless we find another cure, we're probably going to have to kill him. 

We asked around town if they knew anything about Hassan Gold, and learned that no one had seen him in a few weeks.  Hassan was an amateur archaeologist, who had been investigating some nearby ruins.  Nobody knew which ruins he had most recently explored, but there were three sites in the area.  The closest was about one day's journey away.

We bought some horses and had our weapons coated in silver.  We headed out in the direction of a logging camp, and stopped at the ruins along the way.  We reached the ruins at night, under a full moon.  We saw what we first thought were some gnolls, and we called out to them.  They appeared to flee, and we started looking for a place to camp for the night.

Alas, it was a trap.  We were soon surrounded by a large number of orcs.  In total we faced 25 opponents: 23 orcs (including a chieftain and a cleric) and two krenshars.  Val spoke to them in Orcish, letting them know we were only looking for werewolves.  The chieftain complimented her Orcish and ordered his troops to allow Val to live.  Then they attacked.

It was a huge, harrowing fight.  Byzun started off with a fireball, which hit five and killed four.  A few rounds later he used another fireball to hit six, killing three.  As the fight went on, we started to form smaller groups.  Val faced three Orcs, while Malcer and Tatio fought seven Orcs and the two Krenshars.  Halfbeard took on the chieftain, Byzun faced the cleric, and Robb used hit-and-run tactics to snipe enemies from a distance. 

Byzun was the first to go down, and we started to get overwhelmed.  The chieftain was very powerful, and took Halfbeard down several times.  Most of us went up and down, getting healed for a few hit points only to go back down the next round.  The only party member to stay on his feet the whole time was Robb, who got chased around the battlefield by the chieftain. 

When Val went down, the Orcs actually went over to her to stabilize her, per the chieftain's orders.  Malcer spent most of the battle unconscious, until finally getting healed by Tatio.  Once up, Malcer dealt a death blow to the chieftain.  The last remaining Orc tried to make a run for it, but Malcer was much faster, and took him down.

The chieftain and the cleric had some nice loot.  Val picked up a set of lightning-resistant plate mail, Byzun acquired a Staff of the Magi, Halfbeard took a +2 breastplate, and Robb wound up with a Ring of Water Elemental Control. We ended the session there, intending to camp for the night.