Aspiring Heroes of Faerûn

Chrys leads the group towards the cover.  „No sense in lettin‘ them get th‘ jump on us,“ she mutters.

Lumen encourages the group to move into the woods, and he stays between them and the orc band. "Yes, we'll want to pick our spot, ideally at night. Do we want to let them get ahead and then tail them, rather than let them chase us? Would be easier, since we know where they're going."

Assuming you choose to stay ahead of the orcs, you keep moving swiftly south along the riverbank, while using the cover of the sparse forests that lie near the edge of the water. You keep well ahead of the orc band as they leave their camp and follow along the same route you're taking, but a few hundred paces behind. You're far enough ahead to remain out of sight of them, but you know that they're back there. 

This goes on well into the afternoon, when a light rain begins to fall, spotting your clothing and skin with small droplets of cool water. 

Nym follows Lumen as quietly as she can, also wary of the closeness of the Red Claws considering their apparent unfriendliness. She was already making mental preparations for what to do should things go south and they would possibly have to fight the entire band of orcs at once. Occasionally whispering to others in the group to see what their best tactics as a group would be to take on a dozen enemies such as those. 

Keeping a consistent pace, you continue to make your way south along the river, knowing the that the orcs are behind you. You're far enough ahead that you don't see them when you look back, but you hear an occasional battle cry as they try to rally enthusiasm within the ranks. 

Eventually, the afternoon pushes towards the evening, so I'll need to know what your guys want to do. Is your plan to try and locate the orcs as the night falls, do as Lumen suggested, which was to circle back and tail them, or just keep moving and stay out in front of them and hope they don't notice you?

Lumen had indeed suggested to the group that they let the orcs go ahead and then tail them. He does so again, looking for a place off to the side to hide from view while the orcs go by, not wanting to get sandwiched between an orc band and the dragon. "We could try to attack and scare them while they camp at night, and maybe they will flee." He tries to think, from his experience talking with them, of whichever ones in the group apart from the chief, seemed more gung-ho about the dragon. They would be first targets.

With the decision made to let the orcs pass, you move away from the river bank and head east, more deeply into the forest, looking for a vantage point where you can try and spot the orcs as the march by, while still remaining hidden from their view.

Need Stealth check from everyone. 

Lumen stealth: 20

(rkmobius, you can roll for Chrys since she's currently stuck in RL land.)

Stealth:22

Stealth: 15

Chrys Stealth: 11

Rushing a bit further into the woods, you easily find hiding places from where you can watch the orcs march by. Laying low in the brush, it doesn't take long before you hear the commotion of the Red Claws when they get closer. It doesn't seem like they're trying to be stealthy at all, in fact, Lumen knows full well that most orcs are too proud to try and hush their presence, rather preferring the shock and awe approach.

Fortunately, they don't see you as they pass about 100 feet away from your position. You count ten of them in all, including their chief, and after they stomp by, you creep out and follow them from a safe distance of at least a couple hundred feet, if not more. It's easy to keep them in sight, and as far as you can tell, they don't seem to notice you. 

After about two more hours of travel in this style, right as the last light leaves the sky, you hear the call of the orc chief, which Lumen can understand as his call for them to stop for the night, and so they quickly set about making camp in a small loose clearing by the river bank. You watch as they chop down a few small trees with their axes and build a fire. You also see one of the orcs, who apparently went scouting ahead, perhaps looking for the strange half orcs that they encountered earlier, return to the camp with two wild turkey carcasses that he proceeds to pluck and prepare over the fire.

It was agonizing, creeping so slowly and carefully so as not to be seen nor heard by the band of orcs that they tailed. Nym could appreciate a nice calm stretch of silence as much as anyone else. But without hearing Lumen's hum or notes of music, Chrys and Kess conversing and Vesper's.... Well at least she was the same. But the lack of the group's usual ambient noise, it felt tense. As the rowdy band stopped for the night, the drow slips next to Lumen to whisper as quietly as she can manage into his ear, "You truly think that they will flee and not stand their ground and fight if we attack? I just worry about our odds if they do. Do you think we could defeat them if it came to that?" 

"If we set up the ambush and were ready, I think it's possible. But I do not want to make this decision for the group. What do you all think?" Lumen says.

We'll assume that Chrys and Kess both agree with he idea of setting up an ambush, so let's go from there. 

"I don't see any other way out o' this," Chrys says, misgivings clear in her voice.  "Ta be frank, orcs are almost as proud as us dwarves.  I think they'd rather die fightin' than admit they're scared, 'specially o' things that ain't bigger than 'em.  Or elf-kin.  They really got a thing 'gainst elf kin," she added, looking at Kess, and Vesper, and Nym.  "If there ain't blood spilled tonight, I'm gonna be mighty surprised.  So our ambush better be somethin' special, or we're gonna be run over roughshod, 'lest that one lady ya told us 'bout turns on her fellas.  I wouldn't bank on that, though."

She crosses her arms.  "If we got some way o' poisonin' their meal 'fore they eat it, maybe makin' em sleepy-like or somethin', that would be a great help.  But I don't think none o' us are great with herbs, an' we ain't got supplies handy.  An' if they're already pluckin' them birds, then we ain't got lots o' time.  Barrin' that, I got me a couple o' caltrops we can use an' this potion o' strength that I was hopin' ta save fer the dragonfight.  But I don't much like our chances 'gainst ten orcs, ta be honest."

"It will be tough, I admit it," Lumen says. "We could just march into the night and take a different route to get there ahead of them. Get to our target first, get the kids out, and leave. Deal with the dragon and her army when we have more resources and help. If we die trying to thin out the ranks, the kids don't get saved, and no one gets warned about this."

"We're here and they'll be hot on our tails anyhow.  Let's commit.  I'm jus' warnin' y'all it's gonna hurt," Chrys says simply.  She gets out her caltrops, counting them in preparation to strategically place them before any ambush.  "Wait 'till most o' 'em are asleep.  Leastwise they might not have have their armors on that way.  Also if someone's real sneaky-like, maybe they can creep in an' take some o' them weapons away first."

Seeing Chrys' pointed glance at herself as well as their two other 'elf-kin' companions, Nym let out a nervous chuckle, tucking a lock of hair behind her fairly obviously pointed ears. As the dwarf and half-orc debated against their chosen path before finally committing, she through her two copper in, "It's far from the most honorable path, but I think Chrysoberyl is right, there doesn't seem to be any way of convincing them to turn against their chosen path. They've made their choice and we must hold to ours. Better to take care of them now than possibly worry about having more forces to hinder us saving the children or worse yet, harming them during the escape." 

As they got into the details of how they'd go about this venture, Nym gently tapped her index finger rhythmically on the pommel of her longsword before bouncing of what the paladin had said, "Best I stay a bit away then. I can help put whoever they put on watch to Sleep. And once we get weapons away, I can call down Eilistraee's moonbeam down on some of them if they're close enough."