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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Milo Windby" data-source="post: 1692" data-attributes="member: 202">Keep of the Borderlands -part thirteen (session three)A familiar sight greeted Milo as he crept into the cavern.  The tunnel ended in a "T" intersection.  It was the grisly display of severed heads that was really familiar.  Milo recognized several races on the wall, human, elf, dwarven, even some kobolds and orcs.  He shuddered.  Milo carefully advanced, searching for another pit trap as before.  Some distant sounds reached his ears from the left passage."Running feet!" Milo whispered back to the group.  Brigit and Jeremiah wordlessly moved up into the intersection.  Mazi walked up behind them and readied her bow.  Four orcs came tromping down the tunnel before Milo could retreat to the relative safety behind the two warriors.Jeremiah swung his greatsword a little too early, coming up short before the orc reached them.  Mazi fired past Jer at the same orc.  Her arrow hit the monster with such force that it actually fell backwards a few feet as it died.  Then Milo fired a grazing shot at one of the rapidly approaching orcs, barely wounding it.  Brigit's nostrils flared as she sighted her ancestral enemies.  She went into a dwarven rage as she sliced into the first orc to reach her, its belly opening up in an unnatural grin and its guts spilling to the floor.  Her ax wounded the next orc viciously as well, nearly toppling it on top of the other.  Three more orcs rounded the corner as the other two made their way to Milo.  Both attacked the halfling.  Milo was able to avoid one blow but was nearly knocked down by the other.  The orc's spear came back bloody and he could hear it chuckle at his pain.Brigit moved up in front of the orc that wounded Milo, brandishing her ax at the beast.  The orcs attacked their hated enemy.  Both spears glanced off her shield as she swung her ax at the orcs.  Jeremiah cut a swath through the two in front of him, creating a great "V" in the air as his sword slashed down diagonally through one, then up through the other.  The second was neatly cleaved in two by his critical attack.  Mazi and Milo fired their attacks at the orcs.  Milo's grazed another orc while Mazi's arrow flew past, barely missing Jeremiah's head.  She grimaced as she knocked another arrow to the string.Jeremiah cut through the final orc facing him, easily felling the beast.  He looked around, a hungry battle lust apparent in his eyes.  Milo was unable to find a target as he shot his crossbow.  Mazi had the same problem firing past her comrades at the last two orcs.  Brigit swung her ax once again at the hated creatures, her ax deflected by their armor and spears.  The orcs had no more success than she did, her shield once again protecting her from their thrusts.Mazithra loosed another missile into the fray, this time she hit.  The orc that Milo's crossbow bolt grazed previously fell from the wound her arrow inflicted.  Jeremiah moved to engage the last orc, but was unable to find room to swing his greatsword.  Milo took a moment to cast a heal spell on himself, worrying that the wound he was bleeding from may take a turn for the worse.  He sighed as he felt the magic penetrate the ragged hole caused by the spear.  A frown crossed his face when he noticed that the wound did not close completely.  The final orc attacked Brigit in a rage.  It was still unable to penetrate her armor.The orc took one more attack at Brigit, feinting left with its spear before attacking to the right.  She saw the move for what it was, not fooled for a moment.  She easily deflected the orc's attack.  Mazi carefully took aim with her bow.  After a slight pause she let the arrow fly.  Her bowstring made an audible twang a split second before the arrow pierced the orc in the back of the neck.  Brigit could see the arrowhead protrude from the beast's neck as it keeled over.  Milo was in the process of quaffing a healing potion when the last orc fell.  He felt much more refreshed.The party heard some noises coming from the west passage.  They had a hurried discussion and prepared themselves for another force of orcs.  This time Milo made sure he was behind the big beefy warriors, Brigit and Jeremiah.  He and Mazi had their range weapons drawn at the ready while the dwarf and human kept their melee weapons at hand.After a few minutes of tense waiting it was apparent that no more orcs were coming.  Milo listened intently down the hallway.  Nothing.  A plan started to formulate in Milo's head.  A particular spell had been knocking around up there since he was "awakened".  The chance to use it hadn't presented itself."Hey everyone, listen up." Milo said quietly. "I'm going to change myself into an orc." That particular statement brought some strange glances from his companions. "Trust me on this one.  I'm going to change myself into an orc, head down that hallway, and see if I can draw them here.  Once I run back here, you open fire on the buggers and we'll wipe the floor with them!""Sounds good to me, I've heard of the spell to which you're referring.  I'd be interested in seeing it in action." said Mazi."How about you two?"  Milo asked Brigit and Jeremiah.Brigit shrugged, "Suit yerself, halflin', I'll be ready wi' my bow.  Jus' don' kill any before ya get back.  I'm itchin' ta send more O' these vermin back to their maker."Jeremiah just shrugged and put away his sword.  His bow was soon in hand as well."It's settled then, here goes nothing."  Milo said as he formulated the words to the chant in his head.  Soon a medium sized orc was standing in front of the crew, complete with rusty armor and drool.  Milo was proud of that last little detail.  "Ok, I'm off!""Uh, Milo," Mazi interrupted before he could turn. "I don't think you should talk at all when you get to the orcs.  They may notice the decidedly high pitch of your 'orc' voice." She finished.Milo nodded gravely.  Brigit just snorted at him and pulled out an arrow, ready for the first real orc to show its face.  Milo started down the hall, leaving his lantern behind.  For the first time he began to reconsider his artful scheme.  The tunnels were awfully dark, and he couldn't see all that well without some sort of light source.  Then there was the fact that he couldn't talk to the other orcs either.  Even if he knew their language his voice would be a dead giveaway.  That last thought was cut short as he stumbled into branch off to the north.  He decided to check it out.  The tunnel came to another "T" intersection before long but he couldn't see down too far.  Milo returned to the original passage, figuring that he could come back to that passage later.The main passage terminated in a large room.  This room was lit by a couple of torches in the wall, their flickering flames guttering and belching off dirty smoke into the ceiling.  Two tables lay in his path, behind each were three orcs, spears at the ready.  He flinched slightly before he remembered his current form.  Beyond the tables were half a dozen more orcs.  One of them was a female, her grotesque form belying her gender.  Another was a huge beast of an orc.  It was this one that called out to Milo in its guttural tongue.  Milo gestured wildly back the way he had came.  He hoped to convince the orcs to follow him back to their ambush.  The lead orc bellowed out another line of unintelligible commands, pointing with its sword.  Milo once again motioned frantically down the way he had come.  The leader finally turned to two of its ilk and spoke to them.  The two orcs started towards Milo.Not waiting to see if the orcs were following or chasing, Milo turned and bolted down the passage.  He passed his friends before too long, the orcs about 15 paces behind.  Once he was about ten paces past the intersection where his companions lay in waiting, Milo spun around and fired off a bolt from his crossbow.  The bolt flew into the ceiling as he nearly lost his balance from spinning around at a full run.The orcs didn't have time for the attack to register.  Two arrows stuck straight out of their skulls as they fell to the floor.  They wore a slightly surprised expression on their porcine faces.  Milo breathed a sigh of relief before returning back to his friends.  He told them of the forces that awaited them.  Once again they formulated a plan, all four of them giving their input this time.  Milo noticed another passage coming into the main room from the north.  He figured that it must be connected to the "T" intersection he ran into earlier.  If they could come in from the north and the east they may have a better chance of surprising the wary orcs and gaining an advantage.  Mazi mentioned the oil she had been carrying.  She thought it might work well as an impromptu firebomb.  If they lit a cloth stopper on fire it should almost explode on impact.  The oil would spread and inflict a good amount of damage whether it hit an orc or not.  The very least they could do is light one of the tables on fire.Their final plan came down to Brigit and Milo throwing oil bombs from the northern passage as Mazi and Jeremiah fired arrows from the eastern passage.  The group prepared themselves for the onslaught.</blockquote>

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