Into the Wild, Session Seven B: Finality

General Summary

Qemuel and Kalistra approached the orc hideout as a pair, leaving Errato behind in the woods. They spent time investigating the entrance, noticing one guard posted. They then followed a trail around the back, leading to a small camp behind the knoll. There no orcs here, but the camp looks to be a small watch point for a rear entrance to the cave system. Discerning all they could, the two returned to Errato and they discussed the plan of attack.

Qemuel proposed a surgical strike, going in quietly and moving straight for the remaining leader. The group decided to sneak around the back to the rear camp, and Qemuel moved in alone, taking out the sleeping orcs. While Qemuel works, Kalistra confronts Errato on the situation at hand. She has brought him back from the dead before, and Kalistra does not want to chose between saving him and saving others. Errato informs her that she is foolish to choose him, and Kalistra pushes further. Qemuel then returns, covered in blood. He rolls around a bit in the snow, and Errato cleans off the remaining blood with magic.

Qemuel goes up to the entrance, checking the tunnel for traps. He does notice a thing steel trip wire but before he can disarm it Kalistra calls him out of the hole. She casts mage hand, sending it into the hole to trip the wire. As the wire breaks, a fuse lights and begins to hiss. They scramble away before an explosion rocks the forest. Finding hiding spots among the trees, they hold up and wait. Before they can get to hiding, though, the group runs into a guard from the cave coming up to investigate.

Without thinking Qemuel rushes forward, wrapping him up around his legs and tackling the orc to the ground. Errato and Kalistra draw their weapons, stabbing the orc on the ground. Errato misses, but Kalistra does not. She hits hard, but the orc survives. He draws his scimitar dripping with green liquid, slashing Qemuel across the chest. The poison sinks into the soldier, but he is able to fight off the paralyzing effect. Errato and Kalistra get off another round of attacks, and the orc falls dead.

They drag the body into the woods, with Errato kicking snow over the blood on the ground. They make their way over to the crest of the hill. They watch a second guard out front leave his post and make his way around the back as well. This time, with time to spare, they dash on either side of the trail and hits the ground to hide. Errato falls too loud, and the sound is noticed by the orc. As he turns to look Qemuel loses an arrow. Kalistra runs up and stabs him, but not before he begins to reach for the horn on his belt. Errato, in a panic, heats the metal of the mouthpiece. The orc brings the horn, glowing red hot, to his mouth and blows a call while searing his lips. It echoes through the woods. Qemuel looses another arrow, killing the orc with an arrow through the head as he was blowing the horn.

There is a pause, before beneath the ground the sound of drums begins to grow louder. They run back to check the hole, and while it could be cleared it would take time. And they don’t have time. Qemuel drums up a trap with a candle and a trip wire. A trip wire on the body knocks the candle over onto a ground soaked in lamp oil and alcohol. Errato and Kalistra find a hiding spot in the mean time. As Qemuel finishes setting the trap he runs to cover and preps. What he doesn’t notice is the candle being blown out as he walks away.

The drums grow louder, louder until it exits out into the wood and the sound fills the air. The marching steps of a large number of orcs also drifts out with it. Voices speaking in both common and Orcish fill the air as well. All of the sudden the drums stop, and a horn blows quieting the voices. A loud cry in orcish echoes from one voice through the clearing, and a loud response from the rest of the group follows.

At this point the enemy comes into view. A column of orc soldiers four wide is making their way up the hill, and scattered throughout them are some half-orcs in similar garb to the Drussan people living in Norwich. At the back is a large troll with two large drums strapped to his chest. Making his way through the group is a orc that towers above the rest, coming up to the trapped body. He draws a great sword, holding it in one hand as he pokes the body. Qemuel is able to make out the blade to be a coveted Croemerth officer sword. He flips the body over, and the extinguished candle falls over.

The party holds, waiting for someone to make a move. Qemuel fishes out his tinderbox, preparing to quietly light the line of oil. He takes his flint and steel out, looking over to the Vagrant and giving a nod before striking. The fire lights, but the orc spins round and stares straight at Qemuel as he lights on fire, staring him with rage filled eyes.

They run.

Qemuel takes off away from town throwing a field of darkness behind him with the orc leader taking off after him. The column follows their leader and Errato and Kalistra take off in a parallel direction. Qemuel is able to get some distance from the leader, drawing him away from the rest of the group. Errato when running trips over a branch, and Kalistra doubles back to help him. This brings them to the attention of the column, which splits in half to follow the two. The new threat gives them a burst of energy and they take off at a sprint. Even through Qemuel is fast, the leader is able to keep right on his heels.

They keep running, but the Bard is not one for running this fast for long distances. He catches his feet, and Kalistra stops, interposing herself between her friend and the oncoming orcs. One closes the gap, and the vagrant takes a swing. In the heat of the moment, she misses. She yells over to Errato to get up, blocking one attack from the orc with her shield and the second attack with her shadow magic. She spins round, grabbing Errato by the scruff of the neck and dragging him up into a run.

The leader closes the distance to Qemuel, drawing his great sword with one hand and taking a swipe at the soldier’s legs. He misses both swings, and Qemuel is able to get some distance while the orc gets back up to speed. With a roar the leader takes off at a breakneck speed, attempting to tackle the soldier to the ground. He dodges out of the grapple deftly.

The orcs following Kalistra and Errato break the column, using raw speed to close the gap and catch back up to the two of them. Kalistra hatches a plan, splitting off from Errato and making her way to a tree. She scrambles half way up the trunk before slipping down the icy sides. She falls to the base of the tree, the orcs closing in around her. She notices Errato has stopped running, and Kalistra yells out to him to run. She tries to take off away from the tree, but the orcs have closed the distance. They grab the vagrant, and she makes a last ditch effort to break away, with Errato inspiring her to get free of the enemy. The shadows around the vagrant push away the arms of her captors, and she takes off after the direction Qemuel makes in an attempt to confuse the group.

The bard throws off a hypnotic pattern, confusing most of the group of orcs. Eight break free of the spell and take off after Kalistra. She starts to dash through the trees, trying to lose the orcs in the snowy woods. Errato follows but begins to become winded. The vagrant brings the group down to one, and she ducks behind a tree to get the jump on him. She stabs out with a smite, hitting the orc hard. Her sword bursts into flame and the vagrant follows up with a second smite, killing the orc outright. The exhausted Errato pushes through and keeps following Kalistra.

Qemuel still has the orc hot on his heels, but he is beginning to get winded from the non stop sprinting. The orc swings at Qemuel’s right leg, taking the leg off at the knee. The soldier goes down like a sack of potatoes, but follows up with a hellish rebuke. He screams. Kalistra and Errato hear the echo of their friends yell and take off in that direction.

The orc leader walks up to the soldier, pushing his foot down onto Qemuel’s chest. He draws a dagger, stabbing the orc in the leg. In a rage he swipes the dagger from Qemuel’s hand, pushing his greatsword through Qemuel’s arm pinning him to the ground. As the necrotic energy pulls the life from Qemuel’s body he screams once again. This gives Errato and Kalistra a bearing on where he ended up, and before long the vagrant lays eyes on her friend. A few hundred feet away she sees the orc pushing his sword into Qemuel’s arm. She comes up behind them, and the vagrant calls out to them. The orc spins around, making eye contact with Kalistra. He draws his sword from Qemuel, spinning it around into a fighting hold.

A pause.

Kalistra lets her shadow magic flow out, and the two stare down as snow begins to fall into the clearing. Qemuel draws his short bow, leaning on it to stand. He takes out his sword and stabs the orc captain in the back. He misses, not used to the missing leg and flooded with pain. He takes a branch on the ground, smashing it over the orc’s head to knock him off. He slowly walks towards the vagrant before Kalistra gets off a hit. She stabs him through arm, and he blocks the second swing. He plants his feet, stabbing hard at the vagrant’s chest. Kalistra dodges, but not soon enough and takes the hit in the arm. She begins to feel her limbs slow, but is able to shake off the effects. He spins, using the momentum to slash hard making contact again.

Qemuel throws a dagger out at the orc, hitting him in the back. He yells out, insulting the orc and making him spin round in anger. Kalistra gets off two hits when his back is turned. Errato viscously mocks him, but it has no effect. He then commands the orc to kneel, but again he shakes off the effect.

The orc takes another swing at Kalistra, missing but following up with a dagger throw at Qemuel. Again his limbs begin to slow, but the soldier is unable to shake the effects. Around where the dagger hit the skin begins to turn to stone. Qemuel responds with a dagger throw himself. He braces, using his bow as a cane so he closes the distance to the orc. He forms up next to Kalistra. She reaches out with her shadow magic, clearing the petrification from Qemuel’s wound.

Errato lets out a burst of magical energy, healing his friends. He then commands the orc to flee, but even though the spell seems to succeed it doesn’t break the orc’s blood rage. He takes a swing at Qemuel, cutting through him and hitting Kalistra with the same swing. He spins round, swinging at Kalistra but misses. The group then decides to look for an opportunity to run.

Qemuel takes a swing with his short sword, missing and backing off from the fight. Kalistra heals herself, and challenges the orc to a fight with just the vagrant. Her eyes flare up, dark energy flowing out. Errato recites a line from an epic poem, and his sword glows red hot burning the orc’s hands. Errato lets out another burst of energy, moving to Qemuel and saying it is time to go.

The orc takes a swing at Kalistra, missing and realizing he cannot hold onto the red hot sword. He drops it, drawing a dagger and swinging at the vagrant connecting hard. This time she fails to fight off the petrification and around the wound begins to turn to stone. Qemuel gets off a shot with his bow, bracing against Errato. He still misses, but yells out to the orc to distract him. Kalistra circles round, interposing herself between the orc and her friends.

Errato casts bane on the orc, and he fails to fight off the effects of the spell. He realizes his sword is no longer on fire, dropping his dagger and picking up the sword. With a bound he closes the distance to Kalistra. He tightens his grip on the sword, taking one hard swing and cleaving the vagrant to the ground. She begins to fade into the beyond. In a raging frenzy he takes a blind swing at the vagrant on the ground, missing. Errato and Qemuel turn, returning to the fight. Qemuel takes a shot with his bow, missing. He cries out a final time as Kalistra slips into the beyond.

Errato recites another poem line, pulling Kalistra back to the land of the living. He viscously mocking him again. The orc takes two more swings at Kalistra on the ground, but the vagrant holds up her sword blocking both attacks in desperation. Qemuel takes another shot, missing. The vagrant stands, disengaging from the orc and making her way towards her friends. Errato lets out another burst of energy, healing his friends for a final time. Again Errato viscously mocks him. He begins to shake the effects but bane makes the spell go through.

The orc closes the distance to Kalistra, missing both swings from the magic effecting him. Qemuel, still propped up by Errato, composes himself and looses an arrow. It connects hard. Kalistra goes to disengage again, realizing that this won’t work out. The orc is faster then the group and they all will die if someone does not stay. Kalistra holds her ground, swinging twice but missing twice.

Qemuel tells Errato to leave him behind, and as tears flow down his face Errato cries out that he will not have his friends die again. Errato throws off a spell, but it does not effect the orc. Errato begins to escape, but Qemuel refuses. He is not a whole person and wants to be the one who stays behind. As this happens the orc swings, missing the first and missing the second.

Qemuel tries to break Errato’s brace and succeeds, using his sword to limp over to the orc and his friend. He makes it almost to the two of them before losing his balance and falling. The orc and Kalistra are only a few feet away. Qemuel calls out Kalistra to let him save her. For her to run. She looks at him, calling him a better man before turning to run. Errato screams at him with tears streaming down his face as he runs.

The orc closes the gap to Qemuel, taking a swipe at him as he walks and the distance to the vagrant. Qemuel lets off a attack in desperation, but misses. He cleaves Kalistra again, knocking her to the ground once again. Qemuel stands, trying to move closer to his friend. He tries to interpose himself between the orc and Kalistra but falls. Errato pulls Kalistra back from the brink of death one last time, getting off one last viscous mockery. The orc swings wildly at Kalistra again, missing wide both times the rage flowing through his blood.

Qemuel begins to run, getting off a stab with his sword and smashing his knee with the bow. Kalistra swings twice, missing the first and missing the second to a parry. Kalistra runs in the opposite direction, making the orc choose between Qemuel and her. Errato heats the sword again, but this time the orc holds on, his palms beginning to burn. The orc closes the gap to Kalistra, and Qemuel missing his attack as he leaves his range. He swings once, but Kalistra’s shadow magic comes up and blocks the first. He misses the second, dropping the sword to the ground and grabbing Kalistra by the neck, lifting her into the air.

Qemuel stands, loosing an arrow and connecting. He hobbles over and closes the gap to the orc and Kalistra. Kalistra calls out to Errato to run. Kalistra swings twice in his grasp, hitting both but saving her magic. As Errato runs he burns the orc’s hands once again, holding out on the edge of the clearing. The orc yells in a fury of rage, and the wounds close healing back to just scars. He swings twice at Kalistra, missing both but holding onto the grapple. Qemuel stabs once, misses, and throws himself into the orc to knock him off balance.

Kalistra swings twice, connecting and filling the attack with magic. The orc parries the second swing, keeping his grasp on the vagrant. Errato turns to see the orcs from the column move into the clearing. The bard makes a run for it, tears streaming down his face. As the orcs enter the clearing Qemuel crawls for the tree line, escaping the fight.

As the orcs close in Kalistra tries for a final time to break the grapple, but fails. The column surrounds the vagrant, and the orc captain drops the glowing red hot. Kalistra looks around, the red in her eyes fading.

“No this can’t…be….I haven’t……”

He snaps her neck and Kalistra’s body falls limp, the light fading from her eyes.

Campaign

The Asteria Tales

Protagonists