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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 143931" data-attributes="member: 2205">The Battle of Weathertop, Session 2 part 2The Battle of Weathertop, Session 2 part 2(*** Well, it's taking me longer to catch up to where we actually are than I had hoped.  Hopefully I can update this a couple of times this week and make some more progress...***)It didn't take long for the two groups to get back into the same general vicinity, but unfortunately, they weren't able to locate each other in the dark (***I had them make repeated Hide and Move Silently checks to avoid being seen by their enemies, but that was also the opposed DC for their Search checks to find each other.  Both groups managed to hide well enough that they missed each other for some time.***)  Fosco decided on a whim that maybe they ought to investigate the tower as well, just to see what kind of challenge they were facing.  Halbarad agreed, so they made their way quietly up the hill to the tower.  They were pleased, and pleasantly surprised to find a skeleton crew of friendly loyalists in the tower, who were blissfully unaware of the debacle occuring near the road.  Halbarad was recognized (vaguely) by someone there as a minor member of the king's court, so their words were believed.  However, their was only half a dozen or so men left, and they deemed the defense of the tower more important than the defense of the gatehouse.  Halbarad and Fosco were unable to negotiate for any back-up as they went back down the hill.At that moment, they heard the clash of arms and the cry of harsh voices.Hannar failed to hide properly and was detected by one of the guards near the gatehouse as he approached closer than he should have in an attempt to locate the other two members of their group.  When challenged, he responded by drawing his sword.  Duiniel, who was already winded and wounded nocked an arrow to her bow, but tried to hang back.  Out of the darkness loomed four men, one of them the sour Breelander.  Hannar recognized him and called him a traitor (and other more insulting names) and before he knew it, the four were rushing him with drawn weapons.  With two well-placed shots, Duiniel dropped one of the men, but two others charged Hannar while the last one headed towards Duiniel before her arrows brought down more of their number.  It was Hannar's first somewhat challenging fight, as he struggled to wound his assailants while taking blows from both of them for several rounds.  Finally, he hewed the Breelander and turned to concentrate on the last one.  Meanwhile, Duiniel was struggling with her assailant.  She was out of vitality and was starting to take hard wounds when she finally brought down her man with a lucky critical hit.Just as she paused for breath, she looked out and saw dark shapes running towards her.  Five orcs with black mail and hide shields, each wielding short spears were running towards her.  She tried to run, shouting a warning to Hannar, but was cut down by the first orc to approach within spear-throwing range.  Hannar meanwhile, finally dropped his final man, but was now quite spent himself to stand alone against five orcs.Luckily, the clash of arms had brought Fosco and Halbarad running.  Halbarad's acquaintance, one Mablung of Fornost had accompanied them, rushing headlong down the steep slope of the hill.  The four of them made short work of the five orcs, but Hannar was wounded yet again and fell to the ground.  Halbarad quickly made a (successful) attempt to stablize the two wonded members of his group, but it wasn't long before the main body of the orkish raiding party could be heard through the trees.  Fosco, Halbarad and Mablung dragged the wounded bodies of Hannar and Duiniel into the gatehouse and barred the door.  There were arrow slits and a crenelated roof for them to defend the small structure against the orcs, as well as bows and ammunition.The three of them made a valiant defense, dropping at least nine orcs to arrows.  Sounds of similar fighting could be heard from the tower up on the hill.  Because of the cover of the gatehouse, the orcs were not able to hit them well, although Mablung did take an unlucky shot that grazed his shoulder.But the orcs were cunning, and before long, they were finding ways to shoot burning arrows at the structure.  Choking from the smoke, Fosco located a small back door and it looked relatively clear, so recruited the big men to start taking Duiniel and Hannar out that way.  Halbarad nearly succumbed to the smoke, but with Mablung's help, they were all able to leave the inferno before it become deadly.There they found that there were less orcs outside than they had thought, but there were still six of them in prime fighting condition.  They had another tough fight, and Halbarad himself went down to the dirt before the last of the orcs was slain or driven off.  Mablung was able to stabilize him, but the two of them remaining were not able to bring the three wounded and unconscious any other aid for the moment.The sounds of fighting from the tower were also growing dimmer, and before long, as the first lightening of the sky shone in the east and the flaming remains of the gatehouse were dwindling to ash and cinders, men from the tower came down to collect them.  Apparently the battle for the tower itself had been easier.  The three injured party members would need to rest for a few (***to recover wound points.  Recovering vitality points is no big deal***) and then they could continue on their journey, or whatever else they decided they need to do at this point.To be continued...</blockquote>

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