Stinging in the Rain (of Stones)

1 October 2008-

With a minute or two of breathing room, our group set up a defensive line on the far side of the ford from the orcs, who we knew were getting close by now. When they broke cover, they sent archers to the bank to fire at us, rushed a group of wargs around for a flanking attack, then charged their shock troops straight into the river. Fearing the worst, our archers let fly into their lead ranks, but only a few of them went down. Their return fire, directed at Jeff's half-giant, was useless, though, thanks to his missile shielded shield, and we scoffed mightily.

Then, with the orcs plunging through the water towards us, Brian's bard fired off a concussion spell into the thickest part of the orcs, stunning many, and eMicahel's Ellyllon let loose with an incredible (12 yd. radius!) rain of stones that pulverized almost the whole war party. Only those who were lucky enough to be both un-stunned by Brian's spell and near the edge of the spell's affect were able to survive, and they were easily picked off as they slogged back to shore and then fled in sheer terror. As many of us remarked, Dam!

After that, the arrival of an elven airship was positively anticlimactic, since they had no need to rescue us at all, just to give us a lift home. They stopped to bombard the orc village with firebolts as a sort of object lesson in why not to annoy technologically- sophisticated magical beings, then headed back to their home port to lavish us with thanks, praise, and gifts. Woot!

Pursuit

24 September 2008-

We picked up with our escape from the makeshift orc prison through our magically dug tunnel. With orcs closing in on all sides, our rear guard made a last few attacks and then fled the building. EMichael collapsed the tunnel behind us to block immediate pursuit, then sped up the chimney. Jeff, with his new Vampire Fangs (TM), morphed into a bat and escaped through another chimney. The captives were free and we were well on our way to a successful escape.

Unfortunately, the orc shaman deduced our escape route and organized a pursuit, so that by the time we had all cleared the tunnel, they were already after us. We ran through the fields, leading the orcs on a merry chase through the traps that eBill's and Craig's wood elves had set, and then into the forest. Along the way, both sides loosed arrows and bolts at each other, but ours were more effective, and we slowed down our pursuers somewhat. The real break came, however, when Brian's bard Flashed (the spell, not the crime) the orcs, with Khavi blasting one with her crossbow. They had to pause for a minute to get their sight back, and that gave us a break. We eventually crossed a shallow ford where we stopped to hold our ground- hoping that the water would give us the advantage.