With their recent victories over the Orcs, the Thrappled Lemmings found themselves being feted in the Drunken Kobold and did not have to put their hands in their purses for a while. They made the most of this, but the tavern keeper still came out ahead as the locals flocked to the tavern to meet the heroes of the hour. Despite the free beer, Sir Thiebault and Drogo spent time training, while Lysanthir talk their most recent haul of loot to the market to sell it. He also took the opportunity to buy more Tonic. He had a feeling they would need it again, so best to stockpile. With the business done, the Lemmings reluctantly left the tavern and hit the road. They had heard of an Orc camp to the north in Orkheim and were going to burn it to the ground. The Orcs were causing a lot of trouble for the locals and hindering both trade and beer deliveries.
The journey to the camp was uneventful. It rained a bit and Wido complained a bit, but this was normal. The mountains of Orkheim were hard going, The advantage to them was that there was plenty of cover, so sneaking up to scout the camp was easier than usual. The main body of the Orc force was gathered around a camp fire in the ruins of an old mountain person's hut. Other Orcs were on heights around the place as sentries.
"Bad news," announced Fulrad, who was the Thrappled Lemmings' designated scout, "They are Orc main force warriors and they have a Ravening Beast Form with them."
"A what?" asked Onesipe.
"A werewolf, dumbass!" replied Fulrad, "Don't get bit!"
Onesipe muttered at that but held his peace. He knew better than to squabble when they were preparing to attack someone.
"Right, follow me. I think I have found a way to get close to them without being seen too soon," declared Fulrad.
He led the way. The party wormed their way around the hills and across the rocky ground. They had got as far as a rocky hill before Fulrad was spotted.
"CHARGE!" yelled Sir Thiebault, because it was now tradition that he do so.
Suddenly, there was a horde of Orcs charging towards the rocky knoll that Fulrad was standing on.
"Orcs, lads! Fahsands of 'em!"
As the Orcs raced towards them, the bulk of the party took up a position on the rocky knoll that made it hard for the Orcs to reach them easily. The archers of the party loosed arrow after arrow, but only Onesipe wounded an Orc. Sir Thiebault charged the flank of the Orcish advance and slew the first hostile. The Orcs were not made of stern stuff, and this caused one of their number to flee. Lysanthir took this opportunity to race for the Orcish camp.
"I'll check and see if there are more of them there!"
As the Orcs swarmed the hill, Fulrad was wounded, but his Harness of Vengeance inflicted a wound on his opponent and he pushed it back. The werewolf assaulted Drogo and cut him down as if he wasn't there. It's bloodlust up, it immediately leapt at Wido who fended it off for a moment and then thrust his spear through it. This was more than its regenerative powers could handle and it died impaled by Wido's spear. With their leader dead, the Orcs were demoralised. That did not stop three of them charging Sir Thiebault, who cut each down in turn, although he was wounded in the process. Wido slew another Orc and Lysanthir looted the Orc camp. The remaining Orc looked at the corpses of its comrades and fled.
"That's another Orc camp pacified," announced Sir Thiebault as he and the others bandaged their wounds and checked on Drogo who was very badly hurt and would clearly take a while to heal.
As they did this, Fulrad was checking around. He returned to the group a short while later.
"Hey, I found tracks leading away. I followed them and there is another camp with more Orcs nearby. I know we have weakened the Orcs considerably, but we should probably do something about that now."
So, the final random event of the turn turned up another Orc camp in the same area. I guess this is the dice's way of telling me to finish off the Orcs!
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