Underdark to Temel - Eleasis 30th

"To return the town to people of Temel. The orcs moved in quite suspiciously, without reaction from Silverymoon. What do you know this orc that leads them?"

Niadirem laughs out loud, “Oh, how very noble of you! Well, fortune smiles upon you today surfacer, as we are here seeking to reclaim one orc.” The drow beckons you to the table, “shall we plan our joint strike?”

"A moment please, what say you my friends?"

With perhaps an even more dour appearance than usual...

"Bah, I've no trust for these dark skinned, treacherous, murderous, lying drow. I urge caution in our dealings with them. I think we should be as best informed about their intentions before we commit to anything.

with an untrusting glance at the drow Hasimir whispers to Umberto
"I think we need all the help we can get, even if it is from these guys, but shouldnt we find out who they are looking for?"

"Which orc do you seek?"

"Thar Grim-Rule. He belongs to me," says Niadirem with a grin.

Raising his eyebrow at the dark elf. "He is the one responsible for much our troubles. Tell me, how can an orc command such power? He has evaded you and has fooled the residents of Silverymoon. My people have also mentioned him as "different."

"Worry not about that surfacer, just help us apprehend him and he will trouble your world no more."

Niadirem steps back towards the table, "I need an answer from you now."

With hesitation Umberto shakes his, "Let us finish this."

I dying to know what you are shaking, your fist? Your ass? Handful of ones?

lovely lady humps?

i seen what he was shaking but then... i gouged out my eyes

Yar. I be deeply disturbed. Surely tis a bad omen.

Niadirem smiles and ushers you over to the table, which holds a map of Temel, and is amazingly accurate. Niadirem plans on splitting his team into two groups. The first is to cause a distraction in the main courtyard, the second, the one he is one, is going to sneak in to the mayor's office and take out Thar Grim-Rule. Niadirem has a couple of tasks that need doing that you all could do (your option):

1. Take out archers along the walls.
2. Flank the opposition that the first group of drow attack.
3. Cause another distraction (fire?) elsewhere in the town.
4. Deal with the hill giants.
5. Pin down orcs in barracks.
6. ?

So, you can do this however you want. You can have your group stay together, or split them up over all of the above five tasks (or make up tasks if you can think of any). The more people you have on a single task, the better thier results will be. Either way it's your call.

Here is a quick rundown of who all is here:

Umberto – 4th level monk
Kregnok – 3rd level cleric
Althalus – 4th level ranger
Hasimir – 2nd level rogue
Kelser – 2nd level barbarian
Otihand – 1st level fighter
Tian – 1st level wizard
Senesus – 6th level ranger

Also (very important) you can also say how you want to go about one of the tasks above. Maybe you go stealthy, maybe you bum rush, or something inbetween (like a percentage, "I want to take out the archers using 70% stealth and 30% aggressive). So either the boss (Umberto) hands out tasks or I guess individuals can request certain tasks.

My suggestion is that the rangers and the wizard take out the archers on the wall, 50/50 stealth, aggressive.

The rest of us will keep the orcs occupied, 30/70 stealth, aggressive

Any other suggestions?

I like the plan...!

One by one all twenty-something of you climb the ladder which leads to a storeroom behind former temple in Temel. There is one window at the far end of the room, and Niadirem and his men are using it. Hard to tell what you are going to run into.

Niadirem issues commands for his stealth group (to capture Thar) and your group to take out the archers to move out first to be followed with the drow group to stage the diversion attack, then finally your group to head off the orcs in the barracks.

The drow duck out into the night with hands over their weapons, seconds later Althalus, Senesus, and Tian head out as well. Three agonizingly long minutes later the main attack group of the drow exits quietly. This allows Umberto a change to move up to the window and take a look.

The stealth drow group is nowhere to be seen, and neither is your stealth group. Occasionally you can see shadows of the drow attack group running through the moonlight.

Umberto moves his troops out and heads over to the barracks to set up an ambush. His group gets close to the barrack when they run into an unsuspecting orc. Umberto tries to knock him out with a punch to the face but the orc sidesteps him and shouts. Kregnok swings behind him and clobbers him with a deadly blow from this dwarven axe. You can start to see a commotion from the barracks. Umberto moves his group quickly over to the barracks before they can get out. You take a quick look up and see Althalus on the on top of the wall that encases Temel, he makes a gesture telling you that they wiped out all of the orc archers already. Wow!

Then you hear a deafening growl from the other side of the village, a hill giant sees the drow attack group and steps out to meet them. There is a lot of commotion on that part of the village, about 150 feet from there barracks. The attack drow shove the baphitaur out into the fray and it takes a swipe at the hill giant with his greataxe and catches the giant on the leg, which causes him to shout out in pain. That causes a second hill giant to appear over there, followed by a third. The attack drow are starting to get cornered as they take up defensive position waiting for the onslaught. Shouts and torches come from that side and the barracks you guard start to stir.

Althalus whistles down to Umberto and shrugs his shoulders, what do you want me to do? Do you have him and his team help the drow attack group or provide covering fire for your team?

Shakes his head, and mouths "Hermit"! We will hold off the barracks for as long as possible, we need to get the hermit.

Althalus nods his head and runs off just as the first orc emerges from the barracks area. Kelser is dead center of the door and lays a vicious blow from his greatclub on the unsuspecting orc, knocking him back into the building and into two other orcs.

Kregnok, Otihand, and Kelser keep the orcs at bay at the front door but they are starting to inch their way out. You hear glass breaking and spot orcs scrambling out of the windows on either side. Hasimir drops one with a bow as Umberto karate chops one at the other.

You are holding them at bay, but you fear you can’t last too terribly long at this rate.

The orcs fending off the hill giants are starting to lose ground quickly, and they look like they may get their escape route cut off from them.

The drow stealth group is nowhere to be seen.

Any changes?

Umberto grimly looks at his compatriots. "We must ensure that we retrieve the hermit, Kregnok Otihand and Hasimir, return to our escape route and hold there. Kelser you and I will hold them for a moment and then run them to the giants in hope of swaying them to that battle," Umberto takes a deep drink of the Mage Armor potion and prepares to Stunning Fist the next orc in the doorway, hopefully to buy sometime for his companions. "On my mark, GO!"

The dwarves grumble at having to leave combat but eventually they disengage and run back to the storage room behind the temple. As soon as they are gone the orcs start to pour out of the barracks, and Umberto and Kelser are forced to make a fighting retreat.

The battle field is really starting to become chaotic as you notice a pack of worgs run by towards the drow attack that are now pinned down by hill giants. One of the drow shouts out, “Umberto! Flank the giants! We’re trapped!”

Just then and orc’s great axe comes crashing down on Kelser’s shoulder, dropping him to his knees. It takes all his energy to fend off attacks with his good arm.

Help the drow or help Kelser escape?

Never one to leave his compatriots, Umberto aids Kelser in escaping

Umberto leaps forward and karate chops the orc nearest Kelser and swings around behind the barbarian and starts to drag him away. Seconds later the orcs start to pour out of the barracks in droves. Most of them run towards the pinned down drow but a few of them bolt in your direction.

If I only had more time, Umberto thinks to himself. The monk drops the now unconscious Kelser to the ground and stands over him, hoping to be able to fend off the four orcs long enough to get him to safety, but knowing he probably won’t.

The ground trembles for a moment but not from the hill giants stomping around the town. The earth in front of the orcs shakes for a moment and a mass of roots and thorns erupts and reaches for the sky.

“Where did that come from?” asks a thankful Umberto.

“Hmmm, didn’t say,” comes a familiar voice from behind. Lane the Hermit smiles, “Let’s go, the rest of us are waiting in the tunnels.”

By the time you are down in the tunnels, Lane has already had a chance to bind the wounds of the barbarian. Taking a quick look around you see all of the Rock Hammer people here and minus some cuts and scratches, everyone if fine. None of the drow are here.

“I thought I saw the blue field down for a second when I poked my head out the tunnel,” says Senesus, “but I could be mistaken.”

“Let’s make haste out of here,” interrupts the hermit, “lest those drow return, or the orcs discover the trapdoor.”

You bolt out into the night and get back to the valley as quickly as you can. Everyone is exhausted and you think it best to let them all crash for the night, but you are eager to hear what the hermit has to say.