The Valley of Orcs -

We took on the Isle of Gersey and won. Well, we rescued the Princess Nadia, and the armada took on the spire, and won. We took the opportunity to interrogate orc Mega to no avail. We also searched for the book Mega stole... to no avail. Then we learned from Princess Nadia that she had seen the book, but eavesdropped a conversation which suggested the book had been taken somewhere else. Unfortunately, that's where the trail runs cold. Perhaps the savvy orc Chieftain took it with her?
 
We spent the night at the spire recouping spells and hit points. Early in the AM, we set out to see if we could recover anything from an airship wreck we found on the way in... through the swamp.
 
On the way there, we figured we would be safe since the armada had arrived. Nah! The armada was really only dealing with the Spire. The island was still orc island.
 
We ran into a couple of guard posts neighboring each other. No problem!?
 
Yikes! Instead of us assaulting two separate guard posts, we were swarmed by dozens of orcs and a wolf! Since we were stealthing up to the guard posts except for Dagos and Verxatitus (in the wide open), we were caught off guard when orcs swarmed from around a hill, and even the posted guards came running for us. Plus, the orcs were aggressive... they ran like 60 feet to join battle while swinging to take our heads off. These orcs were ready and hungry for battle. That persisted the whole time. And they were skilled (or very lucky!).
 
We were on our heels multiple times, depending on healing to rescue various party members multiple times during the epic battle.
 
Oisin also demonstrated the power of thorns. He laid down a huge thicket of thorns which the orcs were forced to circumnavigate (long word for the day). Plus, it trapped some orcs (and Dagos) in the thicket. That thicket turned into a lifesaver as it bought us time, protected Dagos from attack when he recovered (Oisin? Barton? healed him remotely) and generally kept the orcs at bay from the group by forcing them to climb around the thicket.
 
So, we were divided but not conquered. The orcs were divided and... eventually... conquered, but it was a battle for the ages. At key points, each member (except Griswold who tried to stay in cover) was surrounded, and even Griswold was forced to melee at one point. And each member both took care of themselves and rescued others. So, even though we were conspicuously separate, we came together as a team to overcame wave after wave of orcs.
 
Quite the battle. Whew!
 
We took another full rest without incident.
 
In the morning, we found our airship in its swampy resting place. Before we could investigate it closely, an animated suit of armor attacked us. All movement in the swamp was slow, including the mysterious armor. Then another animated suit of armor. And again and again. After the suits kept coming, Oisin deployed the wicked thicket again. By this time, we had ascertained that the suits had no brains (no IQ). The battle was pitched but, once someone (Barton? Oisin? Dagos? Verxatitus?) noticed their weak/MIA IQ, we lured them back and forth through the thicket to their... demise. The pitched battle became a battle of wits (or no wits against thicket damage).
 
Once the battle was over, we gave the airship a thorough search, but we found nothing. Apparently the animated armor we destroyed was the treasure of the airship, and so we left empty handed but a little wiser. Wicked thickets are lethal against witless adversaries.