We are now short on players. We lost Ivan this week after the "Great Loot Debate," as it will henceforth be known. While certain party members won't miss him, the loss of the amazonian Beulah that he portrayed and the petite beautiful Scarlet interpreted by Peter, who also left us, will be sorely missed. Also the strange Dully/Bert that wasted everyone's time all week backed out at the last moment. He won't even answer messages and has blocked Alex. Strange fellow. I believe that things generally work out for the best. At least, that has always proven true for me. So though I regret the lose of Ivan's great role play, and the sexy character of Scarlet, I am happy to announce that we have a new player and a new female character. Ridge/Fox will be playing Zanna, an emo Roguelock with emphasis on the 'lock, who is always smiling, though as if to herself. While she might not be as sexy as Scarlet was, truth be told, Peter never did a good job of interpreting her, so the party really never got a "look" at who Scarlet was. Welcome Ridge! We are glad to have you and also glad to see that you are someone who enjoys giving life to your character, which is something that was missing from Sir William and Scarlet. I feel that they were played more like characters in a video game than DnD. Today's session started with the returning Orc hunting bands and patrols converging on Wyvern Tor at the same time. The cooks had been killed, again, from what they saw. As they started to make their way down the long corridor to the armory and the eating hall, they were confronted with Beulah being dragged along by Talon. Terribly outnumbered and fearful for her life, Beulah had no choice since she lost the contest of wills with her sword and she engaged in combat with the Orcs. Between her and Talon they were able to free a human female who had been caught by the Orcs. The woman ran, but turned and attacked the Orcs also. Beulah fought bravely, then was knocked unconscious and with a nat 20 awoke to fight some more. Eventually though she was overrun and outnumbered and fell to the Orc menace. Her sacrifice gave the party time to react. They advanced hearing her screams and the battle cry of Talon until they could engage the Orcs with ranged attacks form the dining hall. The party then tried to make a fighting withdrawal. Unfortunately, some members of the party were too far forward and the party found that with every retreat the enemy could close the distance and still attack. Eventually the party did fall back to the chief's room where they had been rage looting until they heard Beulah's call for aid. Assuming that the "enemy of my enemy is my allay," they didn't question the Human female to sternly and accepted her as part of their tactical retreat. Once in the Chief's "Love Shack" our brave adventurers had hoped to lock the magic door and try to recuperate. Unfortunately for them, a troll and a few orcs had made it part way into the room. By using a bead of force the vociferous Dwarf "pokeballed" a troll and a dead Orc and was able to free the doorway with the blast so that Scarlet could come up and lock the doors, taking the key from the unconscious body of the Wizard. After barricading themselves in the room, our tired companions got a short rest, followed by a long. With new energy and a new level they prepared to confront the menace that kept trying to break down the door. The magic of the doors couldn't last forever and they eventually burst asunder. Luckily for our brave friends the barricade prevented them from being overrun completely and the battle raged for 24 seconds. During that time Rook went toe to toe with a Cave Troll while the party focused on killing the remaining Orcs that had not been trapped in the bead of force with the other two Trolls. On his last round Rook took a swig from a potion of healing and then threw the empty vial to ground while pointing his fingers towards the Troll. When his thumbs connected motes or magical fire streamed out from his finger tips forming a fan shaped cone that burned the troll to death and prevented him from coming back to life. The battle was over after Bryndon finally killed something. But all jokes aside, his arcane fire had been very helpful in preventing the Troll regeneration and at doing some much needed AOE damage to the Orcs. This is where we called it for the day. Not long after Mike had to leave. We will pick it up from here next week. There were a few voices that wanted to "get the hell out of Dodge." But because of Role play opportunities I wanted the party to be all together for the next phase. XP: 3600 xp - 3 Trolls 2400 xp - 24 Orcs 1000 xp - Succeeding on one of the most difficult tactical manuvers, the "fighting withdrawal." 7000 xp - Total divided by 5 = 1400 each. Talon gained 700 xp. Loot: Very Little. What there is will be found next week as you try to leave or finish investigating Wyvern Tor I will accept nominations for inspiration from any player for any other player. Please leave your comments here and I will then make a new post with the final inspiration winners. (Please give reasons, examples, etc.)
