Bronn moved to cast a powerful Life Transference spell on Farooq which brought him back to fighting strength but left himself weakened and vulnerable. More orcs were appearing, some from a narrow flight of stairs leading to the second floor, some entering though a window and a large important looking orc burst through the north door of the dining hall they were battling in.
Nash used his zephyr speed to gain some distance from the enemies and shoot his arrows. Bronn healed up a bit with some help from Finder, just in time to heal Farooq again before he fell to his enemies. Finder had to cast spider climb on himself and cling to the roof in an attempt to escape his foes. Things were looking fairly bleak as all the heroes were bleeding from various wounds.
Just then a shimmering in the air appeared across the room and out of nowhere stepped a finely dressed elf along side Finder's sister, Keeper! They both began engaging the orcs in combat. Keeper's rapier had never looked finer than in that moment, flashing from one opponent to the next. The elf expertly brought his sword to bear on the orcs as well, dancing among them. Everyone fought with a renewed surge of energy and battled hard against their foes. The elf appeared to be some kind of mage who cast bolts of blue energy from his fingers at the largest of the enemies. Soon the battle was over and hard won by the Phandalin 5 and co.
It was an unexpected and much loved surprise to see Keeper among the group once again. They could only spend a moment or two in greeting before they needed to search out any more orcs and/or survivors. Keeper introduced the elf simply as Ajeroth and seeing that things were well in hand, the elf took his leave back through the slightly shimmering portal in the air, telling Keeper that he would be watching out for her and he would contact her again in the future.
They searched the rest of the farmhouse and found no orcs. There was an external entry to the cellar that needed to be investigated. They gathered around and Farooq went into the cellar to investigate. Below, he found a typical farm cellar with a very un-typical occupant. A paunchy man of middle age sat bound tightly to a chair, facing away from the stairway up. Farooq stepped off to the side to get a better read on the room and as he did, the room was swallowed by magical darkness.
Before he could register what was happening he was viciously attacked from behind in the darkness. A blade, no doubt intended for his throat, slashed a vicious line across his face in an instant. Blinded by darkness, blood, and by pain, Farooq stepped back to where the stairs were and rushed clumsily back up and out. He was terribly wounded and both Finder and Broon attended his wound.
A tense negotiation began between whatever creature lay below and Finder. The assailant in the cellar spoke in common with a strong orcish accent. He knew he was stuck and bargained the life of the hostage for his freedom. This bargaining went for some time with a long pause where nothing happened. Finally, Finder once more gave his terms and they were just not what the orc was willing to agree to. He wanted to wait until dark and then he would release the hostage and escape into the night.
They felt the time for negotiating had passed and by combining a silence spell and an invisibility spell Farooq made his way down into the cellar once more. What he saw through the dim light was the orc on the other side of the hostage, blade to his throat, and looking intently in the direction of the stairs. He did not see or hear Farooq as Farooq advanced on him and attacked in a flurry of strikes. In a matter of seconds the orc lay dead at Farooq's feet with his spear through its throat. Unfortunately, the orc had managed to slice the hostage's throat and he was quickly bleeding out.
Farooq rushed the man upstairs and Bronn quickly healed the man, closing up the gaping wound in his neck. The man introduced himself as Big Al Kalazorn, owner of the Butterskull ranch. It was quickly determined that the orcs had slaughtered his ranch hands and he asked the group to help him bury them. He gave the group a great treasure - a suit of mithril chainmail, that he had as a treasure from long ago, in thanks for their saving his life and farm. He offered the group to stay the night and head off in the morning. Big Al would be heading east to Triboar with his few remaining animals until he could muster up some help to begin again.
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These orcs had made a serious problem for travelers along the Triboar Trail and having defeated them will make a big positive impact. But the group knew that this warband was connected to the other group of orcs. The team gathered up the weapons, armor, and coin from the orcs and decided they would come back for them after they had finished dealing with the orcs at the ruined shrine.
They set out on the trail back to Conyberry and from there along the trail south to the ruined shrine. The approached stealthily and moved around to the far side of the structure. On the north side they could watch the approach to the fortification. They watched and waited and observed an orc patrol returning to the ruins. They decided to try the same trick again and moved into the trees north just off the trail. They lit their campfire and set up their ambush. This time they used sticks and cloaks to make it look like figures sitting around the fire and hid in the surrounding terrain to wait.
A short time later a group of orcs was observed approaching stealthily through the woods. Soon the orcs were within sight of the makeshift camp and split up into two groups, one circling around to flank the fire. Just as the second group circled around and started to notice Bronn and Farooq in their hiding place, battle was begun as Nash felled one of the orcs with an arrow to the chest.
Farooq rushed up to join the battle and heavily armed orcs were there to meet him, swinging their great axes and longswords. Finder cast a quick and very successful Faerie Fire spell on the original group of orcs, catching almost all of them in its pink glow. The second group rushed toward Farooq and Bronn even as Nash felled two more of the approaching orcs. With great speed, Nash dashed off deeper into the trees to give himself room to fire his bow unfettered.
The heavily armed orcs from the first group started to rush across the camp to get at Farooq and Bronn. Finder was in a tree near the fire and was being assailed by two orcs who remained behind with long bows. A translucent magical spear appeared next to him in the tree and he dodged its attack. The enemies caster was hiding behind full cover near where they were first spotted.
Soon a great melee was joined around Bronn and Farooq and as bloody as they were making the orcs, they were suffering from bleeding wounds as well. Finder, with magic force blasts, finished off the two bowmen who were hanging back by the enemy caster, and Nash kept sending in arrow after arrow into the orcs in the melee. As more of the orcs fell before their might, the enemy caster bolted off south through the trees to escape. The remaining orc in the melee soon threw down his weapons and surrendered. He was knocked unconscious to be interrogated later.
A chase ensued and the fleeing orc was taken down. He just barely survived the attack and was captured as well. The two suits of platemail and selected objects taken from the orcs were stashed in the trees a couple hundred feet off the trail for them to go back for later. Platemail was expensive. They took the captured orcs with them back to Conyberry to interrogate.
They interrogated the orc warrior first and Finder found he did not have to try very hard as well. As soon as this one surrendered he had already decided he would not fight or hinder them. He had no love for this band of orcs nor the leader who led them. When the dragon came to the sword mountains, the orcs were displaced and forced down into the lowlands and hills, bringing them closer to human settlements. His clan was wiped out by the dragon and he was picked up by this group. The leader of the orcs at the ruins was named Torban and he was a spineless twit according to this orc.
Torban was furious that the adventurers had defeated his warband at the ranch. One of the orcs there had escaped and made it back to report to the leader. In fact, the other orc the PCs had captured, an "Eye of Gruumsh", was the very same orc. The warrior went on to describe Torban quivering in fear at the adventurer's might and that he might easily be manipulated into leaving the area with a sufficient application of strength. The orc's words rang true to Finder and for his honesty, the orcs request was that he be left only with his loin cloth and to be given a direction and he would not stop until he was well out of this region.
*NOTE: No videos for these two episodes. Sorry. Technical difficulties.