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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 996351" data-attributes="member: 99">The group rested but just a few short hours.  They awoke and had a brief conversation about their next move.  It was decided that most likely the orcish army was now to the south and west of them, closer to the fortifications than to where they currently were.  If they were to continue their harassment, they would need to move in that direction.  Since the group that had attacked them during the night had approached from that direction, they simply followed those tracks southwest.As they traveled, Krase noticed that a pair of orcish tracks joined the main group they were following.  These were likely the tracks of the pair of archers who had managed to slip away under cover of the Obscuring Mist during the combat.  The party continued on with Krase on point some 50 feet ahead of the rest of the party.Several hours later, Krase heard a sound off to one side of the trail they were following.  He crept off the path and approached stealthily.  A hundred or so feet away, he spotted a pair of orcs sitting on a log talking.  Laying on the ground nearby were another pair dressed in the manner of the orcish shamans.Krase managed to signal Rhys who crept forward while Speaks and Ilrath hung back.  When Rhys was close enough to see the orcs, he cast a Sleep spell on them.  Only one fell asleep (pitching forward onto his face in mid conversation) but Rhys managed to fire off another spell before the other orc had a chance to react.The whole party now approached the group of sleeping orcs.  As they got closer though, one of the shamans must have heard the approach and woke up.  He called out a warning to his fellows but that was all he had time for before the party was upon them.Ilrath downed the first shaman with a single swipe of Slashbane.  The party (especially Krase) had been anxiously been looking forward to taking a prisoner or two for questioning.  All hopes of this died when the second shaman, seeing that he had little hope of survival or escape spat in Ilrath's face.  (one failed will save later) Ilrath flew into a rage and hacked the second shaman in two, cleaving into one of the magically slept orcs.  He then set about chopping the last sleeping orc limb from limb.Krase was frustrated by this but with a resigned sigh they looted the bodies and continued on.  As evening came on, they found themselves nearing the edge of the forest.  To the west was a plain that eventually became the foothills of the Blackpeaks.  The party made camp for the night and resolved to patrol across the plain the following day to look for any signs of something resembling orcish supply lines.They awoke in the pre-dawn hours and made their way to the edge of the forest.  They struck out across the snowy plains and made a shallow arc to the north.  Near midday they came across the path the orcs must have taken south.  It was a wide patch of muddy slush where obviously hundreds of feet had recently trod.  There were no signs of any kind of supply lines.  Apparently, the orcs planned to subsist on whatever or whoever crossed their paths.Having no other concrete plans, the party decided to continue their arc to the southwest until they ran into the branch of the forest that stretched across the plain, describing the extent of the Brigantes lands.  Presumably the other harassing group, composed entirely of barbarians was in the area somewhere.  Perhaps they would find them and discover some news of what had been taking place.As they traveled, they noticed several small specks circling in the sky to the south.  These were assumed to be the spy ravens the orcs had been using.  By Ilrath's estimate, they were very close to or directly on top of the fortifications where the barbarians and folk of Glynden awaited the orcish horde.  Clearly the two armies would soon be in sight of each other if they weren't already.A short while later, they spotted an area of discolored snow some distance off.  They investigated and found a trampled area where a skirmish had taken place.  Krase scouted the area and was able to determine that six barbarians had approached from the south and four had later retreated that direction.  He was unable to determine exactly how many orcs had been involved but it was at least a score.Also, curiously, he found some bear tracks in the middle of the trampled area but found no such tracks leading into or out of the area.  It was recalled that the totem spirit of the Brigantes was the bear.  Ilrath received some questioning glances but he made no comments.  The group proceeded to the southwest.They made the forest by nightfall and after another cold camp they awoke and made ready to travel.  This time, they would make a smaller arc across the plains and back to the eastern reaches of the forest.  Krase was resistant to getting too close to the orcish army, lest they attack the party en masse.  But it had been two days since they had killed any orcs and they felt like they weren't doing their jobs.In late morning, they again crossed the wide track left by the orcish army as it made its way south.  They paused there and looked off to the south.  In the sky they could see large plumes of smoke rising into the sky and blending with the winter clouds.  They were unsure of what this meant but it couldn't be good.They also were now close enough to positively the birds to the south as ravens.  Likewise, apparently the ravens could now identify them.  A raven flew north until it circled over the party.  Krase and Rhys fired a pair of bolts up at the bird but it was too far away to effectively target.They hurried on across the plain and reached the cover of the forest by late afternoon.  They assumed they would be attacked during the night and quickly found a campsite.  Krase decided to place traps all around the perimeter of their campsite (Krase's player had to leave early this session but this is where we discovered that despite the fact that he has many time threatened to make traps and has lugged his trapmaking kit all over the northlands, Krase has not a single rank in the trapmaking craft.  The group decided that Krase's player would never admit to that fact and would just go through the motions of setting up the traps anyway, so that's what one of the other players had him do.).The night passed without the party being attacked by the orcs ("They were probably intimidated by the wall of traps Krase put up.").  They decided that it was time for them to approach the army and see what was up.  The hiked for half a day through the woods until they came to a clearing…a huge clearing.At one end stood the fortified hill, held by the barbarians and forces of Glynden.  But the orcs had apparently burned a gigantic swath of trees to create room for their encampment.  A clearing approximately 400 yards wide and 800 yards long now smoldered before them.  Speaks frowned at this desecration of nature.And there before them, swarming the clearing just out of bowshot of the hill fort, were hundreds and hundreds of orcs.Aerial Battle and Missing Man</blockquote>

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