"Sneak as close as possible, flurry of arrows at them, Aradurk and I charge the line aiming for the hobgoblins with Meepo backing us up and you two keep peppering away with your bows, we try and break them with early kills then once they are bloodied we try and intimidate them into backing down." Karst makes eye contact with each member of the group. "If any of you will not do this then we need to know now. If the man dies while we procrastinate then we will carry some of the guilt. But the orcs will all pay with their lives". 

"I will strike hard and true with my bow." Travus nocks an arrow in his bow, then prepares for the fight.

Bartram Shadecrest
Lvl 3 | Human | Rogue/Inquisitive 

Bartram prepares his shortbow and gets ready for a fight. "Do you want to target the same ones or each of us take separate targets?"

I unsheathe my blades and stand to the ready. “2 things: Any objections to calling out one of them in Orcish to bait one back here in order to thin the herd just a bit? Second, I think swarming individuals makes sense as you allude to Bartram.”

I agree about bringing them down as quickly as possible, the more that die quickly the better so two to an enemy then the next and so on. If you think you can get one or two over here then I'll take any advantage we can get Aradurk." The paladin smiles grimly,," Hoar himself knows this will be hard enough."

"I object calling them here. Looking at their weapons, the rest will aim their bows at this direction as one of them scouts this place. We should just jump in and go for the kill.

I just need someone to go in the middle of the hobgoblins so I can get a better chance of hitting them in the melee."

I stand up rigid with the training and experience of my years in the military. I pat Karst on the shoulder and whisper, “Time to kill”.

I move through the brush looking for the path with the least amount of hostiles between us and the old man. When I find this, I look for whoever is closest to him and immediately stab that person in the face, declaring in Orc, “The shaman is protected and it is indeed bad luck to kill a shaman”

Forgot to add my roll:
Long Sword Attack: Attack: 22 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.

Meepo jumps into the fray and stabs his spear with both of his hands to any enemies next to Aradurk, followed by two successive kicks. The kobold then jumps to the back line with a couple of twists and turns.

Bartram Shadecrest
Lvl 3 | Human | Rogue/Inquisitive 

Ready to fire, Bartram fires his shortbow at the enemie Aradurk is currently engaged with. 

Attack: 8 Damage: 3

 Bonus Action: Hide 20

Travus joins in on the action, attacking the enemy that Meepo is engaged with.

Standard Action

Shortbow Attack: 9 Damage: 5

Sneak Attack (enemy within 5 ft of Meepo): 6

OOC: Your stealth rolls were good enough to allow all of you to approach quietly, so all enemies are [Tooltip Not Found] for the first round of combat.

Once Karst has posted his action for this round, I will resolve, and then I will make the initiative rolls and we will proceed in initiative order.

Quick reminder on initiative since this is our first combat in this adventure, for simplicity in PbP I take the average of each group and resolve in order of posted actions, so when it is the players' turn we spend less time waiting for individual posts.

Karst bursts from the undergrowth charging straight for the biggest, undamaged enemy near to the one Aradurk has engaged.

As he does a quick prayer is whsipered to grant him an edge against his foes.

Bonus casts Hunter's Mark

Attack 21 damage 10 + 6

OOC wow first hit crit! Bonus damage dice 6 and 1

OOC: I'm assuming that Bartram and Travus moved up to the furthest distance they can fire their shortbows without disadvantage for that first round.

DM Screen:

Aradurk Intimidation: 13
Aradurk Damage: 8

Aradurk suddenly explodes from the brush, taking the enemies completely by surprise. His cut on the nearest orc to Old Poe drops it to its knees in pain, a fraction of a second before Meepo punches a new hole in its face with his spear. Before it has hit the ground, the kobold is moving to keep to the back of the line, throwing a heavy punch along the way that misses an orc. It makes the mistake of tracking the miss with its eyes, and takes an elbow to the head as punishment. Its eyes loll for a short moment before Travus's arrow lodges in its eye, dropping it dead. On the other side of Aradurk, Karst obliterates an orc. His longsword cuts furiously underneath the orc's greataxe, glowing with a radiant energy as it enters the orc's side and leaves its other. The orc falls dead in two pieces. Bartram is met with less success, loosing an arrow that falls meekly to the ground before it can reach the enemies.

Initiative Rolls:

Round 2 Order:
Players <=====
Enemies

Tracking:
Three orcs have been slain, leaving seven orcs, four hobgoblins, and the half-orc alive.
No characters are engaged in melee.
All enemies are within melee range of Aradurk, Karst, and Meepo.
Bartram and Travus are 80 feet away from the enemies.

OOC: Great first round! Players are up again for round 2.

The taste of battle running through my veins, I move toward the next closest orc. I use my bonus action to swing my offhand short sword at the ankles of my next opponent, expending a superiority point to use my trip attack. If/when my opponent falls, I use my regular action to attack him on the ground.

Attack: 14 Damage: 5

Superiority die: 8

Attack: 16 Damage: 11

“Bad luck is coming to you all!”

OOC: let me know if I am off my assessments here. 

Karst roars as his blade cleaves through the orc, immediately scanning the area he moves to the closest unengaged foe continuing his spell on the new target then launching another vicious strike.

Bonus moves Hunter's Mark to the next target

Movement to nearest unengaged enemy 

Attack 16 damage if hits 7 + 1 slashing damage from spell. 

"Wolololololololo!"

Meepo emits a war cry before diving again with his spear to the nearest enemy next to his comrades. He makes another forceful stab followed by two consecutive unarmed blows before hastily disengaging back away from the melee.

Bartram Shadecrest
Lvl 3 | Human | Rogue/Inquisitive 

Bartram tries again, not liking his first attack. He will attack any enemy within melee range of the others. 

Attack: 24 Damage: 7

Travus fires at any of the enemies within 5 ft of Aradurk, Meepo, or Karst.

Standard Action

Shortbow Attack: 8 Damage: 4

Sneak Attack (enemy within 5 ft ally): 2

OOC: Aradurk - unfortunately unless you have the Dual Wielder feat, you must have two one-handed weapons with the "Light" property in order to attack with a bonus action. However, your Trip Attack is still in effect and I will use the damage roll from your Longsword for your attack.

DM Screen:

Orc STR Save: 8

Aradurk suddenly drops, slashing low toward a nearby orc. His strike misses the hamstring on the attempted trip, but still cuts the orc with a deep wound on its leg. Meepo finishes it off, first stabbing with his spear before following up with a punch that crushes the orc's windpipe. He twists, elbowing another orc hard in the knee before dancing out of the melee.  Karst, too quick for an orc's parry, hacks into its chest cavity, killing it instantly. Bartram and Travus both nock arrows and fire at the crowd, but both arrows strike the ground.

Enemy Attack Rolls:

Three orcs quickly surround Karst, trying to take down the dangerous paladin before he can do any more damage. He masterfully sidesteps the first incoming greataxe and parries the second with his longsword. A third comes in behind him and he tries to shift away safely, but takes 12 slashing damage as the axe slips through his armor.

The remaining two orcs approach Aradurk cautiously, but take a defensive approach, heeding his earlier words of warning about harming a shaman. (Dodge). The half-orc thug is not so cautious, charging at Aradurk with a wild swing of his mace that is easily ducked.

The hobgoblins, in a coordinated fashion, fall back a short distance from the melee and draw their longbows, aiming for the archers across the way. Two arrows fall short of Bartram, but Travus takes 8 piercing damage from an arrow that strikes his leg and another 13 piercing damage as a second arrow buries itself in his chest. He crumples to the ground.

In the midst of it all, Old Poe seems deliriously unaware of what is happening around him. Faintly, you can hear him croaking, "Thirteen...th...thirteen..."

Round 3 Order:
Players <=====
Enemies 

Tracking:
Five orcs and the half-orc remain in the melee with Karst and Aradurk.
The four hobgoblins are 20 feet back from the melee.
Meepo is 20 feet away from the melee on the other side, 40 feet away from the hobgoblins.
Bartram and Travus are 80 feet away from the melee, and 100 feet away from the hobgoblins.
Travis is unconscious and dying.
Ammunition - Bartram (2 arrows), Travus (2 arrows)

Death Saving Throw: 17