After successfully defeating the band of Gnolls, and at the vehement behest of their employer, our adventurers marched onward through the rain and mud, their sights set on the North. After an hour of travel two horsemen came upon them, heading southward. Naivara called out for the driver of the caravan to stop which made the caravan driver fearfully quickly reign in the horses, stopping the caravan with a shudder, unseating the nobles within. The Merchant, very angered with this occurrence, yelled out to the adventurers inquiring to why they suddenly stopped. Leonithas, frustrated and slightly angered by the Merchant's unpleasant demeanour, strode up to the caravan window and answered the Merchant in an intimidating voice informing him that there were riders on the road and they were waiting to see what was happening. Larg attempted to step in to diffuse the situation; however, the Merchant was too focused on Leonithas' intimidation tactic and reluctantly, and very rudely, conceded. Naivara moved forward to speak with the riders where she saw they were disheveled and extremely on guard. In asking them who they were, what they were doing, and why they looked the way they did, the group found out that the men were messengers on their way to Ravensholme and that they had come across a band of Goblins further back along the road. "They were on foot so we were able to outrun them on our horses, but be wary if you're going north. We have heard there are many monsters on the road, but we only saw the Goblins." They said before they rode off to complete their errand. On the move again, the party advanced slowly at first (rolling low on their perception checks) {DM NOTE: I have come to realise that it should be nature, not perception!} However, they quickly got back on track and with three consecutive successes advanced an hour forward without issue. Luck was not their friend, though, as soon after, while travelling through an area with small cliff faces on either side their way was blocked by figures standing about 100 feet ahead. Larg, leading the way, informed the driver that an ambush was possibly underway, and attempted to get a better look through the rain but, unfortunately, his vision was too obscured (rolling 6 on his perception) and all he saw was figures blocking the road ahead. With the caravan driver taking the caravan into the surrounding trees for cover, Bardryn and Naivara stealthily took the trees on each side of the road - well, Naivara was stealthy (rolling a combined 20), Bardryn, in her dwarvish fashion, was not as stealthy (rolling a 6) with her handaxes clanging against her armour as she moved. Luckily for Bardryn, the figures were too far away to hear any noise she made! Larg and Leonithas made the decision to move closer and see if they could talk to these figures and see what was happening; however, as they drew closer Larg (rolling 19 on his perception) finally realised that standing before him, were his most hated enemy; Orcs. Instantly entering a rage, Larg bounded forward with death in his eyes. Leonithas, seeing that his new friend was suddenly raging and unheeding of Leonithas' questions as to why, called upon his god and channeled his divinity onto his flail, as combat was suddenly entered into. With the highest initiative score, the Orc War Chief let out a Battle Cry on seeing the goliath lumbering toward him, and the Orc minions immediately moved to successfully impede the goliath and paladin. The War Chief let loose a javelin at Larg which missed its mark harmlessly hitting the ground behind the goliath. A long and weary battled ensued as the adventurers met their toughest foes thus far. The rain and mud hampered many challenges on both sides with attacks going awry, and the dice deciding not to favour any one side. Despite this, the Orcs made many strong attacks, and equally strong attacks from our fearless adventurers saw the Orc minions falling to the mud in bits and pieces with Leonithas making a crit throw and destroying one orc minion before him, as did Larg. This brought in the lumbering form of the Orc Savage, Llaoj Toyo, a solid mass of plate amour and fighter instincts. With duel handaxes (+3 attack on each) spinning, the savage brought down Leonithas in one fearsome attack, knocking the paladin unconscious. The first deathly fall the adventurers had to face! Then with his remaining movement, he went toe-to-toe with Larg. While Bardryn began to carve her way through the Orcs surrounding her, and Naivara making her first attack attempts coming out of cover from the right and hitting the Orc Sorcerer with a fire bolt (after a few failed attempts), Larg raged against the Savage standing before him. However, it was not to be as the Orc deftly parried the goliath's attacks aside and returned the attack hitting his mark with his handaxes. Larg was prepared though and used his Stone's Endurance to withstand the damage. Bardryn, seeing her large friend being attacked by the smaller but still large Savage, drew upon her Dwarvish might and, with the precision honed by her Dwarven Combat Training, made a critical hit on the Orc reducing him to an inch of his life (1hp!). During this time, with the battle raging around him, Leonithas lay unconscious in the mud and rain holding onto life as best he could with one successful and unsuccessful save. Naivara battled defiantly against the Orc sorcerer, the rain and wind hampering both their attacks (unsuccessful rolls on both sides!). And the Orc War Chief began to retreat to better position himself for the attacks he knew were coming. In the battle of the three stoic fighters, Larg and Bardryn made further - albeit unsuccessful - attempts on the savage, while the Orc again hit his mark on the goliath with a critical slice of his handaxe. Larg then had a moment of clarity in his rage and with deft accuracy swung his own handaxes down upon the waning Orc's neck, the steel cutting through the flesh severing the head of the savage whose lifeless body fell to the mud, the head rolling off the side. Seeing the path to the Orc War Chief now clear of obstacles, Larg made his move and ran. Bardryn, turned her attention to the one remaining Orc within her reach; however, found that the Orc somehow managed to hide himself among the corpses of the orcs already laid at her feet and missed her mark. The Orc, though on his last legs also (1hp), managed a final unsuccessful attack on Bardryn who saw the battleaxe coming and knocked it aside pushing the Orc away from her as she did so. Not wanting to lose sight of the Orc this time, Bardryn followed him and with a final blow ended him. Erego Sruraol, the Orc Sorcerer, saw Larg engage his War Chief and immediately went to the Chief's aid. Knowing he would risk Naivara taking the opportunity to attack as he did so, he kept one eye on her and managed to dodge out of her opportunity attack and run to help his Chief. The Sorcerer then called upon his dark powers and spoke toward Larg commanding him to flee. Unfortunately, Larg was unable to overcome the command and soon found himself 30 feet away from where he wanted to be! Meanwhile, Naivara, who was low on health at this time, turned her attention to her fallen friend and poured a potion of healing down his throat reviving the paladin. She then began unleashing fire bolt after fire bolt with some of the ranged attacks making their target as she started to get used to this new spell she had learned. Bardryn, seeing that the paladin was revived and Naivara had returned her attention to the fight, ran to help Larg battle the War Chief and the Sorcerer. With well aimed precision she took two mighty swings at the War Chief nearly ending him. However, with a well-timed command to flee, the Orc sorcerer sent Larg running in the opposite direction! Once Larg realised what had happened he came back with a fury, and with skills honed by hunting ensured his longsword fell true and split the War Chief's head in two. The sorcerer retaliated with no harm done to the mighty goliath who effortlessly brushed aside his attack and Bardryn turned her sights on the sorcerer, who was hurting from the fire bolts of Naivara and ahd his back to Bardryn, and she quickly finished him off before he could flee. The battle over, there was nothing left for the victorious adventurers but to make a request to their employer to rest for a while before moving on - oh, and loot the dead of course!