Orcs need your advice. PCs incoming!

[Sahansral]

As bonus adventure and to tie up some loose ends in a bigger campaign, my players get a chance to revenge for an orc raid.

A mean orc sorceress (11th level) fell for the lies of an evil human priest and send nearly all warriors of her clan (about 600 Orcs total) into a campaign against a small human kingdom during harsh winter.
After some quick successes and a great slaughter among the humans, the orcs warriors (about 230) were completly decimated by well placed player assaults and poor judgement.
The sorceress seeing that she had been fooled in a hopeless crusade and probably doomed her people to starvation, retreated by teleport in the mountain caves of her clan.
Their she nurtures her selfpity, trying to figure out if she let the rest of her people die in a blaze of glory or begin anew for the next generation.

With the majority of fighting males gone, there are only females and young left (over 350 total). About 20 Orc soldiers are the only capable defenders.
There are three low level clerics and some riding lizards who can endure the cold climate in the mountains.
I want to make several small battles, escalating and eventually leading to a massiv last stand of the clan.
On the other hand: The surviving orcs hate the sorceress for killing their sons and mates for nothing and leaving them defenseless, dooming their clan, but they fear her magic.
So there's the possibility of betrayal if the players act carefully.

The players will want to hunt the sorceress down. They are accompanied by three huntsmen (3-4th level) and two wartrained dogs.
The party consists of a fighter, thief, bard and druid/wizard/mystic theurge all four with 8 class levels.
The sorceress spell arsenal is mostly defensive (invisibility, teleport). Her main attack spells are fireball and contagion. The party knows this.
Oh, there's a manticore who has a personal feud with the party and promised them a grisly fate. He tracks the party and looks for the best/safest possibility to strike.

So, fellow DMs, how would you, as the leader of the 20 soldiers defend your orcish clan cave?
You can barely guard the main entrance. When your soldiers aren't guarding, they are organizing/leading hunting partys with some of the females to replenish
the dwindling food resources.
What nasty suprises would you throw at the players? I want to spice things up a bit.

And to add a moral dilemma: the three huntsmen volunteered to this mission to slay as many orcs as possible (even females and childs). The party can help them, let them do the dirty work
or show mercy. I don't want them to railroad in a certain direction. There are no negative consequences planned.
But I would like to know, what would you expect from adventurers or heroes? How would you act?

 

[Herobizkit]

Well, I'd have to say if the PCs want victory, all they'd have to do is throw the Orc fight.

Given the option, I'd grab the women and children and run for it.

If I can't run for it, I'd start looking for cannon fodder. Goblins and kobolds. Get kobolds to devise nasty traps for the cave. Send Goblins on scouting parties with an orc or two to supervise and plot ambushes/guerilla warfare to interrupt the Hero's rest periods.

If I had a way of finding out that the Manticore could be a potential ally, I'd go for him.

Really though, the Orcs are doomed unless they have class levels. So why not have an Orc "Hero" party? Or better, have the Orcs hire a mercenary band of adventurers to seek out the PCs?

 

[Sahansral]

Hmm, if the players make clear, they only want the sorceress... they could really let them have her - if the orcs can trust the players to spare the rest of them. Good advice! (Though the party has to overrule the huntsmen, who want to put an end to the clan, if possible).

There are several smaller goblin clans nearby, but they joined the fruitless campaign against the humans, too, and were nearly as decimated as the orcs. Additionally their leaders have been killed. So there's much internal power struggle there at the moment.
The orcs lack the man power now to bully them into service.

Traps are definitly a way. Even if they are only crude.

Concerning the manticore: the orcs know nothing about him, but if the players explore around the orc cave entrance for a longer period of time, perhaps he can deduce their intentions and make a proposal to the orcs.

There are some orcs with classlevels but no merceneries. A 5th level fighter veteran leading the remaining soldiers. And three 3rd level clerics. That's all. The orcs don't even know, that the players are coming. But they are very defensive at the moment, because there's a small dwarf settlement nearby, which would glady exploit their weakness. On paper it looks like the orcs are really doomed. The players must get the idea, that the orcs are desperate and will fight tooth and claw to survive if they must.
If the players are clever, get informations and use them, I expect them to master the adventure easily. If the rush in blindly...well, then i expect the raid to become memorable

Thx for the input!

 

[Dandu]

It is not enough to know her attack spells; all spells must be known in order to formulate a good strategy, as well as information on the surrounding terrain. (For example, are there any forests? Can you lure them into a cavern and set it on fire?)

Warfare is not about brute strength, but about misdirection and rapidity of movement.

 

[MarkB]

Parley.

The sorceress probably hates the PCs a lot, but the one she really blames is the evil human priest who tricked her, and she knows her remaining forces can't stand against those who killed her warriors.

Have her bargain for the lives of her remaining clan - she'll surrender herself and tell the PCs all she knows of the priest who directed her forces against the human settlements if, in return, they'll leave the others alive.

Throw all her remaining resources into a single show of strength that makes her appear powerful enough to be worth bargaining with.

 

[Sahansral]

Parley.

The sorceress probably hates the PCs a lot, but the one she really blames is the evil human priest who tricked her, and she knows her remaining forces can't stand against those who killed her warriors.

Have her bargain for the lives of her remaining clan - she'll surrender herself and tell the PCs all she knows of the priest who directed her forces against the human settlements if, in return, they'll leave the others alive.

Throw all her remaining resources into a single show of strength that makes her appear powerful enough to be worth bargaining with.

Great! I already thought about letting her reflect about leadership, but tended towards "It's my minions fault. I should put an end to their misery and my remorse."
Sacrificing herself would redeem her a bit, move her more into a grey area, making her more intresting and giving her more depth. Bonus for being able to give the players some info about the priest. I really like it.

It's gonna be hard to stage the fight on the exact right difficulty. If it's too easy, the players won't stop steamrolling the orcs. If it's too hard, surrender is implausible...
The players must see the desperation of the orcs.

This self sacrifice of the sorceress should seem to come spontaneous. She sees the last of the clans men dying, knowing that the bulk of females and children have no chances of survival. A bit unlikely considering the selfish and uncompassionate orcish nature. She left her men getting hacked to pieces and fled from the battlefield. It's hard to make that change of mind plausible for the players...

 

[Sahansral]

It is not enough to know her attack spells; all spells must be known in order to formulate a good strategy, as well as information on the surrounding terrain. (For example, are there any forrests? Can you lure them into a cavern and set it on fire?)

Warfare is not about brute strength, but about misdirection and rapidity of movement.

I post the list later. I could still change it, since the players didn't see her full repertoire, but I would prefer her to have a spell list which enabled/ensured her that position.
The orc cave is in a mountain range. The climate is rather harsh and cold(winter). Vegetation is sparse. Leaving the cave, only the strongest can hope to surive till spring. So they are pretty much stuck there.

On the plus side, the orcs know the terrain and fear the dwarfs. So they use scouts who can alarm them. Probably they will notice the players and have some preparation time (an hour perhaps).
The caves are crude but practical. There's a strong entrance portal, some traps. I could use your smoke idea in the ante-room *evilgrin*

 

[N'raac]

You can barely guard the main entrance. When your soldiers aren't guarding, they are organizing/leading hunting partys with some of the females to replenish
the dwindling food resources.

The sorceress spell arsenal is mostly defensive (invisibility, teleport). Her main attack spells are fireball and contagion. The party knows this.

And to add a moral dilemma: the three huntsmen volunteered to this mission to slay as many orcs as possible (even females and childs). The party can help them, let them do the dirty work
or show mercy. I don't want them to railroad in a certain direction. There are no negative consequences planned.
But I would like to know, what would you expect from adventurers or heroes? How would you act?

OK, first off, if they're hunting down the defeated orc tribe which is already defeated and largely doomed, I'm not seeing how they come out of this as "heroes" at all.

And if you want more orcs, seems like there's a lot of potential mates here for another orc tribe(s) to access if they wish to do so.

I post the list later. I could still change it, since the players didn't see her full repertoire, but I would prefer her to have a spell list which enabled/ensured her that position.
The orc cave is in a mountain range. The climate is rather harsh and cold(winter). Vegetation is sparse. Leaving the cave, only the strongest can hope to surive till spring. So they are pretty much stuck there.

If they got there by Teleport, can't they get out by Teleport? L11 Sorceress has 4 Teleports a day, but that only transports 6 Orcs (2 trips out and two back). It gets her out though - she already sacrificed the tribe, and if she blames her minions, who cares what happens to them? She can likely scout out a new orc tribe. Clearly, her spells should place her in a position of strength, so I'm surprised she would not have more "shock and awe" attack spells.

There are several smaller goblin clans nearby, but they joined the fruitless campaign against the humans, too, and were nearly as decimated as the orcs. Additionally their leaders have been killed. So there's much internal power struggle there at the moment.
The orcs lack the man power now to bully them into service.

Too bad they don't have a spellcaster with a high CHA, Bluff and Intimidate as class skills and a scary offense spell to cow the leaderless rabble into submission, isn't it?

Traps are definitly a way. Even if they are only crude.

They're desperate. Logs and boulders rolling down the mountainside should be a serious threat to L8 adventurers, they likely don't care if they make their way back harder, even impassable. and all those women and children can, if nothing else, carry heavy objects.

Concerning the manticore: the orcs know nothing about him, but if the players explore around the orc cave entrance for a longer period of time, perhaps he can deduce their intentions and make a proposal to the orcs.

Add a sniping manticore while the party flees those boulders and logs...

There are some orcs with classlevels but no merceneries. A 5th level fighter veteran leading the remaining soldiers. And three 3rd level clerics. That's all. The orcs don't even know, that the players are coming. But they are very defensive at the moment, because there's a small dwarf settlement nearby, which would glady exploit their weakness. On paper it looks like the orcs are really doomed. The players must get the idea, that the orcs are desperate and will fight tooth and claw to survive if they must.

3 clerics? Purify Food and Drink should help with the food supplies, at least. Three Auguries should help them make better choices. Silence frustrates PC spells (just cast it on a rock or a point in space to Silence them and not the Sorceress - pick a good cave location for that). Three Hold Persons while you're fleeing an avalanche could cost the group a PC (especially if a Mantocore swoops in after to steal the body - hey, maybe it has some magic the Manticore or the Orcs can use... If the PC's choose to Parley, 3 Zones of Truth may ensure they stick to deals they intend to keep (just agree to parley on the morrow so you get a day to change spells).

As to Sorcerer spells...

Grease seems like a great spell when PC's are fleeing rolling logs and boulders; Ray of Enfeeblement is nice. Both are short range, though. Any chance she has Metamagic to help out with that? Maybe (Greater) Invisibility and Fly or Levitate?

Avalanche behind and Web ahead seems pretty painful, and Web has better range. Even Darkness while you run down a mountainside seems promising. Mirror Image buys some time.

Slow with that avalanche chasing would be no fun. Dispel Magic could be handy. Her DC with Hold Person would be quite a bit better. Invisibility Spere makes for a nice ambush. Stoneskin seems like a nice defensive spell, but a bit expensive. Dimension Door is nice for a quick escape (are they sure she Teleported away?). One more 5th level spell (two if PC's mistook D Door for TPort). Wall of Stone would be nice in those caves and less useful on a battlefield, explaining why the PC's have not seen it. Prying Eyes makes for an excellent scout. Overland Flight is nice.

Spells that augment her orcs would be nice as well, but using her spells to help rather than harm seems less likely for an Orc.

 

[Empirate]

How about the "blaze of glory" idea, turned evil, and up to eleven?
The whole clan makes a last fighting stand, children included. Those too weak or wounded to fight on commit ritual suicide. The Sorceress pledges her life and that of her clan to revenge. PCs plus huntsmen move in, steamroller fight ensues, after much bloodshed the orcs are eradicated.

...which is where the fun begins. Because the Orc gods Heard and Saw. The Orc gods did not interfere, for who are they to stop the killing? However, they will not let such sacrifice go to waste, nor will they let puny humans get away with an easy victory. No, indeed, they will make a story of this to make future Orc generations proud, and make the humans fear the next Orc horde to lay waste to their fertile lands! The Orc gods will give of their divine dark essence, and do a work of terrifying splendor among the mortals!

Enter 350 Orc Wights (or Wraiths, if you're that evil), led by 20 Orc Spectres and one Orc Ghost Sorceress. The Ghost Sorceress rejuvenates if it's slain, as long as any of its clan are still un-alive.

Now would be a fine time for the PCs to discover that the entrance was blocked from outside with a carefully prepared rockslide as soon as they entered the cave.

 

[Sahansral]

Spell list of the sorceress (level 10, not 11, after checking the notes)
1: Protection from Good, Spirit Worm, Endure Elements, Charm Person, Expeditious Retreat
2: Resist Energy Chain of Eyes, Invisibility, alter Self
3: Skull watch, Dispel magic, Fireball
4: Animate Dead, Contagion
5:Teleport

at N'raac: In defense of the PCs, they only want to bring justice to the sorceress. I don't know, what they would do to the rest of the clan. In my campaign, the common orc has been portrayed rather onedimensional, so I can't really blame them. The huntsmen on the other hand lost all they cared for, pursue revenge and want to "solve" the orc problem once and for all.

The sorceress can teleport from the group, yes. The could survive, but all her goals and dreams have been shattered. The only other orc clan lies deep in the south. And it has been battered as well. Her lover, a mighty barbarian the only other orc she ever cared for, lead this clan and was killed in the raid against humans. If the teleported there, she would meet open hostility.

The PCs will arrive days after the great defeat. She is still licking wounds, not sure, if and how to continue. Even if she would start rebuilding and bring the goblins into submission, she wouldn't have started yet.

you have some nice ideas about spell usage and using the terrain as an advantage. They players already experienced an avalanche. I used the environement rules from Frostbite. Very dangerous!
I think, I'll plan three diffrent scenarios depending on the time between noticing the PCs and the actual attack (immediatly, one hour passed, one day passed).

at Empirate: Wicked! I just can't get around the idea of self sacrificing orcs. The distrust to their leader is too great and their morale is at the bottom. Besides, i want to continue my campaign after this episode *g*
Nonetheless, should the players really butcher childs and even take pleasure in it, strange things may happen...