Day 23
Arden and Company march on the Caves of Chaos.
I rolled the dilemma die, d6, and result=1. Instead of a table, I opted to roll a couple randomly chosen Story Cubes (Rory’s Story Cubes). I have 3 or 4 different sets of these and really like them. The two dice showed two people arguing and the other showed two figures shaking hands. I decided to use both of them. Sir Arnaud was the drunken knight, thrown in the Keep jail for a little while. He ordered Alan Dori to sell his armor and pay his fines. Alan, being the good squire he was, did just that. Then the knight left the Keep to go carousing in one of the nearby towns. When Sir Arnaud learns of his squire’s death, he returns to the Keep to demand compensation. The story cube that shows two men shaking hands represents friendship to me. I am thinking that the bailiff of the Keep will speak favorably of Arden and Company to the knight. Not that it will matter much to Sir Arnaud, but at least the authorities of the Keep will not be involved.
Sir Arnaud of Berrenvale makes his way into town as the PCs leave for the Caves. He will certainly make trouble for the company when they return.
6 hours travel towards the Caves. Encounter? No. Break for lunch.
4 more hours march and the company is near the large hill on the eastern side of the map. Still looking for a unique name here.
Rations/water usage roll. Set up camp and set a watch. Encounter? No.
My encounter checks are rolled two times per day and when ever else I feel like it might liven things up.
While in camp, Arden instructs the archers to…
- Concentrate on leaders of any force first if possible.
- Do not fire into melee!
Arden promises to reward archers for valor and woe to any who fail to aid the company.
Day 24
6 hours travel to the Caves of Chaos. Enounter? No.
Corwin sends his familiar Nicodemus to scout the entrance to Cave B.
Question-Since the last attack, have the Orcs taken advantage of the Kobold’s weakened numbers? d12 yes, d8 no. Result=yes! Did the kobolds fight back? Result=yes! I then rolled some dice to get a % lost for each tribe. D6 x 10% for orcs and d10 x 10% for kobolds. The orcs lost 20% of their fighters in the attack. The kobolds lost 70%.
The kobolds suffered a defeat and the survivors fled the Caves area.
The orcs in Cave B took all the kobold foodstuff and treasure but did not expand into the kobold caves. I need to remember to reduce their numbers by 20% in the module.
Nicodemus uses stealth to sneak into the cave (entrance to cave B). Success? 2d6=7 yes. Does the cat see the guard posted in a concealed guard post? Nicodemus has nightvision. 2d6=8 yes!
Does the cat hear noise to the east? No. To the west? yes. I used the FU die for this.
Corwin links with his familiar and can see through his eyes. He instructs Nicodemus to go east. Rolled another stealth and Nicodemus was able to sneak into the room to see 4 orcs in the guard post. He slips back out and scouts the area to the west to get the layout of the tunnels and then returns to Corwin.
Arden plans to block the west tunnel off until the 4 orcs are dealt with. Thane will use his caltrops in the west tunnel, Corwin will use his fear spell if the PCs cannot hold the line.
Thane and Arden will enter first and fire upon the sentry. He is in a secluded location and very difficult to take out. Note-Corwin still has a potion of invisibility he hasn’t identified.
Martin and Meklin will follow next.
Note–the ensuing battle took 31 rounds! Here are the highlights…
Arden and Thane enter the cave with Catamont shining the lantern from behind. Arden hits the sentry but only wounds him. Sentry runs to alert the guards. Orcs move to the entrance. Thane lays down a 10×10 area of caltrops.
The orcs from the east guard post are cut down by Arden and Martin, but the PCs take some damage. Thane, Meklin, and Handsome keep the orcs on the west blocked in. The caltrops are effective against a couple orcs, causing one point of damage and slowing them down. I rolled an attack against any orc that entered the area. Thane took some damage from the orcs and Meklin was severely injured. Handsome swapped out with him to save him.
Other orcs come to aid the guards. The chieftain arrives and moves to the front. Arden has a pitched battle with the chief. Martin supports him giving them an advantage to the combat. The chieftain is severely injured and moves back. Martin heals Arden for 2 hp.
The orcs finally fall back, leaving a trio to block the company. They are dispatched and the party moves into the great hall. The orcs had taken serious casualties.
Orcs are in defense mode. Arden and company are looking for the chieftain. There are only 7 orc males and quite a few women and children. Arden and company motion for the orcs to flee the cave, which they do. Nothing of value remains behind.
More to come…
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