Dragon of Icespire Peak ***CLOSED***

Connak whispers to himself, "Well.. ****."  And prepares another arrow.

Vaxis raises his shield and advances.

"You are not having mercy in combat! Repent!"

SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION - 100% on me. Let me try to make things right: It is the beginning of the surprise round. Tabesha'l readied a spell to take effect upon Connak's attack, which will be applied as soon as Vadernul takes his turn. It is currently Vadernul's turn.

1. TABESHA'L (readied toll the dead to be applied when Connak makes his first attack)
2. VADERNUL <--------- ACTIVE COMBATANT
3. CONNAK
4. ANDO
5. VAXIS
6. BARRIC
7. ORC

If you did not get to move as close as you wanted before I rolled initiative, you have a pass to move up as far as you like in this round.

(OOC: Vadernul is given the dodge action by default)

Connak's arrow hammers home in the sleeping orc's thigh, jarring him back to full alertness. At the same time, a mournful bell clangs...

Orc WIS Save 5 vs. DC 13 taking 7 necrotic damage on a failure.

The orc tries to utter a word, but no sound issues forth, only a heavy stream of thick, dark blood...and then he topples over and lies as still as the grave.

END OF INITIATIVE

Tabesha'l gives Connak a little satisfied nod and rises to her feet, primly dusting off her wizard robes, before readjusting her large wizard hat and approaching the orc's body while lifting her petticoats.

"Methinks one of thou strong warriors couldst mayhaps drag the body of yon unfortunate enemy and hideth it in the high grass thereof, less we raiseth its fellow tribesmen's ire." she says with her mellifluous tones.

Connak doesn't even go near the downed orc and instead moves ahead of the party towards the farm, once again taking point and looking for dangers.

Perception: 19

Stealth: 27

Staying quiet and well-hidden, Connak is able to move closer to the farmhouse without being noticed, but is distracted as he tries to keep the rest of the party within his line of sight. He comes to a fork in the road where one path veers north between two fields (presumably towards the farmhouse) while the other leads east as it skirts around the perimeter of the wheat field on his right.

Connak will place himself to be seen by his party but not from the direction of the farm, then signal 'move forward' as he continues his advance.

(Let me know if you want me to reroll stealth/perception again)

Tabesha'l gives the wood elf a sign to signify she understood and makes her way forward, while occasionally looking back to make sure the others follow suit.

** If needed, here is some Stealth roll 4 **

(well, yeah never mind... !)

(OOC: Connak's stealth roll is good until he gets spotted or chooses to reveal himself)

The surroundings are deathly quiet - no breeze, chirping of birds or even the drone of insects can be heard. Only the party's footfalls break the silence and the lack of other ambient sounds has the effect of amplifying their every move.

The party easily hears a voice, not in the Common tongue but rather one with distinctive hard consonants and guttural vowels, drifting up the road from the direction of the orc they dispatched and left in the field only moments before. The staccato rhythm and elevated pitch would indicate that the owner of the voice is rather alarmed and perhaps a bit angry.  

Connak gestures to the others to hide, then draws an arrow and waits until he can see the source of the voice.

The voice goes silent as the others take cover up against the fencerow. Waiting quietly and with keen observation back up the path from which they came, the wood elf spies no movement.

Several minutes pass but no enemies emerge to the southwest.

Connak worries that another Orc came to replace the one that they killed, so he turns around and heads back to spy out where they found the previous sentry.

When Connak arrives at the scene of the orc's body, he finds it intact but notices that his arrow is missing and appears to have been torn out. He spots a pair of footprints nearly the same size as the dead orc between the fencerow and the tall cornstalks growing at the edge of the field. These prints lead away from the body in the direction of the rest of the party.

Connak will pick up his pace, risking being seen, and prepares to hit a new foe in the back as it catches up to his party.

Stealth (faster pace): 15

As Connak follows the footprints northeast for roughly 150 feet until he finds an intersecting path running northwest to southwest that separates two of Kalazorn's fields. The tracks veer off from the fencerow to follow the path to the northwest. The tracks' deep, exaggerated gouges in the ground tell the wood elf that the creature that made them was in quite a hurry. Other than the tracks, Connak perceives no other disturbances to indicate the presence of other creatures, outside of his own traveling companions.

Connak returns to the party to say, "We missed a patrol.  It found the dead orc.  Things are going to get serious.  We should get the f' out of here.  Come back after they've had a chance to waste their time looking for us.  Frustrate them a bit."

The party retreats to relative safety of the Conyberry ruins to regroup and discuss their plan of attack. It is still early in the day - the current time upon their arrival back in Conyberry is approximately 10:00am.

Barric paces around the campsite, deep in thought, and seems to come to a decision. He clears his throat and addresses the group.

"With the information we have, we can make a guess on what will happen next. The orcs are either going to send out a few patrols and do nothing else, hunker down and fortify, or move further into orc territory seeking reinforcement. Possibly a combination. Two of the three options would speak to attacking immediately before they have a chance to reassess the situation. I fear they may move the captive if they have not already. I know it is risky, but we have the tactical advantage of having Tabseha'l" Barric nods towards the elf "while the escapee said nothing of the orcs using magic. This is my suggestion."

Having made the longest speech in his recent memory, Barric looks at the rest of the party, waiting for their input.

Tabesah'l gives Barric a soft smile: " Thy confidence in my limited control of the Weave is all to thy honor, friend Barric, and 'tis a pleasure to hear such words from the mouth of one accustomed to the battlefield such as thee. I do have some small powers at my disposal, 'tis true, and as such I am not loathe to share some of yon ancient secrets with thee all, so as to build a proper plan of attack."

She looks at the others before adding, her face neutral: " Our first approach seemed to lack a certain... coherence, did it not ?"