Assault on Dire Wood

[Binder Fred]

"Boring though," commented Yann, scratching at one of his sideburns in saddened anticipation of a longuish wait. Then he got worried: "Ah... Question: How is RIKKA going to signal us if she needs help?"


OOC: What does the terrain look like around here, 3Spd? (Denser sections where they might conceal themselves while they wait, a hilly bit where they'd have the advantage of high ground, a stream to renew their water and use as an obstacle? Something else of note?)

 

[3SpdDragster]

Loud Yann looks around, taking note of the lay of the land. The area is undulating with small rises and fall but with a general slope downhill towards the south where he knows there is a river some distance away. The trees are not as oppressive as they were at the edge of the forest, but it is thick enough to reduce visibility to about one hundred feet.

Most of the trees are large and healthy looking with shrubbery providing low lying cover, for those so inclined. There are several areas were the vegetation is thicker than others and he believes it would be possible to reduce the visibility to the mounts and themselves relatively easily. every now and again their is a rocky outcrop but nothing significant here.

OOC: no hills but plenty of areas where you make yourselves less visible

 

[pathfinderq1]

Rikka gave a sharp nod of assent, then moved off into the brush. At first she seemed to be moving diagonally away from the encampment, and from her allies. But then she stopped, and the others could hear an odd garbled sound- not talking, precisely, but it did have some pattern to it...

And then, quite simply, she was GONE. The forest was still, as if she had never been- and even the sharpest of senses could not follow her as she began to stalk closer to whatever had created that campfire...

[sblock= OOC] Since we took a short rest, Rikka recovered her full allotment of ki points- she will use 2 of the 4 points to cast Pass without trace, giving +10 to Stealth; Stealth is therefore 1d20+20= 38, Perception 1d20+9= 18; rolls http://www.coyotecode.net/roll/lookup.php?rollid=112737 . She will move closer to the encampment, moving carefully and making full use of what cover there is. [/sblock]

 

[3SpdDragster]

Rikka silently ate up the distance between her friends and the source of the smoke. Carefully, moving she covered some six hundred yards before she heard sounds coming from ahead. She slowed even further on the lookout for scouts and wary of danger, she spotted one sentry leaning against a tree, facing the direction she had come from.

The sentry was a large creature with copious amounts of fur, rough leather garments covered the worst of it, a large wooden club was leaning against the same tree. The creature was close to eight feet tall with brutish features.

Beyond the sentry was an encampment, it was nestled in the fork of two creeks and several dozen tents were dotted around the area. With a quick glance, Rikka determined that each tent was capable of housing two or so humanoids of average size. At the centre of the camp was a cooking fire, which was the source of the smoke, several orc's and other creatures similar to the sentry were gathered around it, drinking and laughing.

Watching for some moments she doesn't see any of the winged creatures that had troubled them so and she believed there to be close to forty inhabitants in the camp area. A quick circuit of the perimeter finds no other sign of sentries or scouts and all the tracks lead to this camp.

After a few minutes a large orc approached the fire. "Give it another turn!" he growls in orcish. "I don't like my meat burnt!"

At this stage Rikka notices that the meat they are cooking is from a humanoid of some kind.

A careful accounting of the camp leads her to believe that there are thirty two orcs and nine of the larger creatures.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Just bring me one of them and I will convince him to let us pass quietly.
Kesem says, throwing his words to the air for everyone to hear as he scans the area to see where Rikka went. He believes there are enemies in the camp

 

[pathfinderq1]

It seemed like she was gone a long time- but careful scouting WAS slow work, and Rikka made her return before the others could grow truly worried. She seemed to simply appear from the underbrush, and even as she stepped forward she pulled her slate and chalk from her jacket again. "3 dozen orcs, give or take. Ogres, maybe 9 or 10. None of those other things. One ogre on sentry, most of the group is camped and eating... someone. All the tracks seem to lead in- but too many to take on at once."

Then she leaned froward, and a small scene took shape in the air- a map of the clearing. Rikka pointed out where the tents were, and the fire, and the sentry.

OOC: Using Minor Illusion to generate the map; maintain concentration on Pass Without Trace, just in case

 

[Skarsgard]

Looking at the image and the force present in the camp, Bumble gives the others a slightly worried look.

"Well, Rikka dear do you think you can get us around them?"

 

[Binder Fred]

"Poison their water supply?" suggested Big Yann, almost simultaneously with Bumble but obviously on an ENTIRELY different tack! Upon Rikka silently pointing out the two creeks, he amended that to: "Beer supply...?"

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Let's analyse the situation
The sage says as he does everytime he encounters a problem.
If we try send a scout and try to lure them, they can send after us the whole camp or a scouting party. Speaking to them and addressing their will to talk before fight is out of the question since you can't trust an Orc's word. Now, we do not know if there are other guards around ... what about a bait ? Rikka, you are especially good with hiding, maybe you can lure to one direction while we choose another path ?

 

[Steve Gorak]

Let's analyse the situation
The sage says as he does everytime he encounters a problem.
If we try send a scout and try to lure them, they can send after us the whole camp or a scouting party. Speaking to them and addressing their will to talk before fight is out of the question since you can't trust an Orc's word. Now, we do not know if there are other guards around ... what about a bait ? Rikka, you are especially good with hiding, maybe you can lure to one direction while we choose another path ?

"or perhaps we can take them out one at a time. It won't be fast, but we might be able to take them out this way. I for one can snipe them at a distance. I can shoot from very far away, and remain unseen while doing so"

OOC: FYI, Dorn can shoot hos bow with 100% accuracy (i.e. no penalty) from 600 ft away. With a minor illusion in front of him, and his bonus action to hide every round, he would be almost impossible to spot, and could cover skirmishers getting closer to the camp while harassing, and gradually taking out those in the camp.