Midnight: A Lost Faith's Shadow. Book 1, The Awakening. Chapter 1, The Charge

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Into the Darkness

Reznik
At Kaela's suggestion, Reznik drops the six feet into the stench filled cave. Once at the bottom, he turns to help the women make the final descent.

"Hurry", he says quietly as he looks up at them.

OOC: Reznik will drop the last 6 feet to the eastern moving cave and then help the two women down. At that point he will draw his blades and move east (slowly until the others catch up). Reznik assumes that the others may not be able to see in the darkness, so he will suggest Kaela hold his cloak until they find illumination.

The above is provided something doesn't maul Reznik before he helps Kaela and Aislinn down.

 

[Ranger Rick]

OOC: I will be offline until Tuesday Please use Brian to further your own actions.

 

[Hrothgar]

Inside the Pit

Reznik's eyes scour the inside of the stone hole the Heroes have sought refuge. A few feet from the opening, the rough stone passage rises almost eight feet and extends far to the east, its end lost even to Reznik's shadow sight. The source of the smell is not evident, but a dire warning claws at the back of Reznik's mind.

Kaela leads Aislinn in the absolute darkness of the cave. The girl is calm, strangely calm in such a dire place. Kaela finds it difficult to move, scraping her arms and legs on unseen rocks. Brian and Starhl drop down into the cave, swallowed by its darkness, half expecting an orc horde to pour in behind them. As if to answer their fears, the screams and howls of orcs descend into the pit, the orcs swarming into Caft's ancestor ring.

Above

Valurel waits until the last moment as the orcs pour into Caft's ancestor ring, their roars and screams of bloodlust on Valurel's heels as he flees. Dropping into the depression, Valurel readies himself before plunging into the fetid hole. Just as he is about to descend, another runs up beside, human from its shape. Startled, Valurel barely hears it speak, its voice lost partially lost in a boom of thunder. ...you seem to have brought unwanted guests.

 

[Dirigible]

Jon Rane

An irked grimace crosses Jon's features as he sees the mismatched stream of people plunge into the ash-pit. Seems as good a place as any to go with a band of blood-crazed orcs on your tail. Maybe they have some way to hide... either way, better to join them than face the beasts alone. A shiver runs down his spine as the first orcs break through te ancestor ring, green fire tinting their grey hides and the storm echoing their howls and horn-blasts. His waterlogged coat squelching wetly around him, the vagrant explorer hurries forward. Too much, the image reminds him of the Shadow's forces breaking through a breached gatehouse...

Just as he bunches his legs to hop down into the pit, Jon spies the pale, bestial wraith poised on the other edge. His stomach, already upset by the treat of violence int he air lurches; there is something graceful yet repellant about the inhuman creature. "What is... yaaaaf!" Jon is cut off as he overbalances on the wet, loose soil of the pit's edge, and tumbles into the pit with the others.

 

[Hrothgar]

Valurel slips down the hole quickly behind Jon as orcs pour into the ash depression above in the ancestor ring. A heavy rains begins to fall, the skies unleashing their fury at the coming bloodletting. With a crash of steel and a roar, two orcs drop into cave, sliding and slipping in the ash mud, their cruel vardatches and fierce barbarian faces illuminated by a flash of lightning outside. The orcs seem to gain strength from the shadows, apparantly able to see in the pitch darkness of the pit. Outside, thunder cracks, the earth itself trembling at the fury of the coming storm.

 

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"East, east", he rasped..."always east".

Reznik
His heart pounded so hard that Reznik heard the thumping in his ears. He knew this quest would end with his death, but not so early. Not before he could finish the list.

The sound of orc screams filling the cave caused Reznik to push faster into the cave, deeper to whatever unknown destination waited for them. He continued to peer in the direction he moved as he called the names of his companions to ensure they remained in his company, unknowing to him that a new member would soon join the refugees of Caft,"Kaela, Aislinn, Starhl, Valurel, Brian" he hissed into the reeking darkness. "Stay close and hold onto one another. We may have to move quickly if they follow us into the pit".

 

[Hrothgar]

OOC: The orcs charged into the ring, down the depression, and two (so far) have dropped into the cave with the Heroes. In the pitch black cave, only the orcs and Reznik can see. The rest are stumbling in the dark. As a warning, the odds of blind characters outrunning the orcs piling in the cave are nil.

I made mention of the orcs gaining strength in the darkness - just trying to play up their bonuses in total darkness and darkvision.

 

[Bobitron]

Kaela rushes behind Reznik as quickly as she can in the darkness, but she can't help but feel the escape is hopeless. I might have to use my magic...

 

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So be it...

Reznik
The orcs had followed the group from Caft, through the forest and plains and now into the grave. There was no outrunning such a relentless foe. If they fought the orcs here at the cave entrance, perhaps they could bottleneck the creatures and kill them by ones and twos.

"Starhl, Brian, Valurel kill them!", he screamed. His hoarse, raspy, voice sounding near inhuman when raised above the low tone he normally spoke. "We must end it here! Kill them as they drop into the tunnel!" As Reznik screamed to his companions he began to maneuver to the pit entrance and closer to the orcs, staying as far to the right as possible to let the large Dorn have ample room to fight.

OOC: I need specifics on our setup so we can maneuver and fight. There is no where else to run, so our current set up should have Jon and Val nearest the Orcs with Brian and Starhl right on top of them. Kaela and Aislinn should be farthest from the melee, with Reznik moving into the fight.

Init: +8

 

[Hrothgar]

OOC: Good time to assess the situation. This could be the end of Heroes of Caft.

Two orcs have dropped into the cave system, floundering momentarily in the mud as they try to steady themselves. The Heroes surmise that more will follow quickly. Nearest the two orcs are Valurel and Jon, the last Heroes to enter the cave. The cave is wide enough that three characters could fight abreast. Behind Valurel and Jon stand Brian and Starhl in the darkness. Furthest back in the cave are Kaela, Aislinn, and Reznik.

The cave system extends beyond Reznik's shadow vision, twisting and turning. The walls of the tunnel are rough sandstone, apparently formed by water runoff during the spring snow melts. The floor is uneven sandstone with little debris except near the entrance in the ceiling; here falling stones and ash have created heavy debris and a mud slick directly below the opening to the ancestor ring above. The ceiling near the entrance is a mixture of loose soil and rock giving way to sandstone back further in the cave near Aislinn, Kaela, and Reznik.

The orcs have darkvision and the characters are essentially blinded in the darkness (except for Reznik and no one has the Blind-Fight feat to lessen some of the penalties of complete darkness), the characters only see their enemies when the lightning flashes, which is quite often. Therefore, I am going to halve the penalties to armor class and negate the total concealment of the orcs in the darkness (also because they have limited movement in the confined space).