Turn 13 -- Orcs, Dead Orcs Everywhere

As the adrenalin rush and excitement from the battle eases from everyone the party sets about to care for the wounded. Dain uses his skill with herbs and such to prepare a poultice that he applies to the wounds of Oleanne while bandaging them up and gives her a sip of his now-famous tea when she awakens. After resting a few minutes, she joins Dain in bandaging all the wounds of all the party members.

Beleg moves to the side of Rasmussen who is still barely conscious and grievously wounded. "Rest easy my friend," says Beleg as he bows his head in prayer and lays his hand on Ras' forehead. Beleg's hand glows slightly as the energy is passed into Rasmussen's body. The young halfling appears to be rejuvenated somewhat from the warrior's administrations and the wound in his leg has quit bleeding. Ras immediately goes to the aid of his friend Kre who is in dire straits. Kre was the most serious of the wounded and is barely breathing as Ras and Brother Randor get to him. Ras bandages his wounds as Randor begins praying over the still form of the young half-elf. Randor prays deeply for several minutes over the body and as the time passes, sweat breaks out on the forehead of the young cleric despite the chill weather.

"Come on, wake up, your going to be fine," pleads Ras to the still form of his friend, "WAKE UP I SAID!"

Finally, Kre's eyes open and he smiles up at his small companion who is obviously relieved that his friend is going to be OK. Randor settles back against a tree, exhausted from the effort of reviving the almost-dead thief.

"Tyr has judged you, half-elf, and it was not your time. You have been given a second chance, do not waste it or Tyr's judgement will not be so generous next time," Randor says meaningfully to Kre.

Ortho quickly moves to Talimar's side and lays the young elf's body outstretched in front of him with Talimar's head in his hands. After a few moments of murmuring in Dwarven his hands begin to glow and Talimar's eyes shoot open as his body tenses.

Alive, but weakened, Talimar sits up to prop against a tree and rest now that his wounds are healed. Dain comes to his side to bandage the wounds that were not totally healed by the ministrations of Ortho, all the while muttering something about "Swords hurting more than clubs" and chuckling to himself. Talimar simply ignores the mage for the moment. Ortho then wearily moves to once again administer his healing touch to Kersath. The ranger was not unconscious but he was severely wounded and in desperate need of the dwarves magical touch.

Now that everyone is awake and ok for the moment, Ras leaves the side of his friend Kre and lays a blanket over the still form of Zir'zool. Looking at Talimar he speaks, "If you think it is proper I would like to begin to dig a grave for our dearly departed comrade." Wincing as his wounds are tended, Talimar looks sadly over at Zir'zool's lifeless body, "Thank you Ras, her body is now an empty husk but the cycle must go on. In the earth her body can nourish the land and give forth new life."

"I will assist you little one," says Beleg as he and Ras move off to dig the grave.

Gnore waves off any healing from Dain and Oleanne muttering that it is only a couple of scratches and cleans the black blood off his sword before sheathing it. He then begins to don his armour, cursing the entire time. "Vile, disgusting ORCS!! Just like those sneaking cowards to attack while we sleep! Filthy vermin's got no honour, got no courage!! Now they see what comes to them when they face true warriors like ourselves! They got what they deserved, godless goats!! Idiots all of them and not one of them could think of a proper ambush!! Sixteen of their garbage ilk cleaved clean by our blades!! Only common sense considering the calibre of warriors these rotten maggots were up against!!!" Gnore ends his tirade with a kick to a severed orc head. Looking at Zir'zool's still body, "She gave a most precious gift. Life for a life, she will be honoured among the warriors of Valholl." Gnore says with a bow and lightly thumps his chest with the hilt of his sword. He then straps the great bastard sword to his back again and walks off. Passing an orc body he spits at it and whispers through clenched teeth, "Hur'tk i' Orl'nkk al!!!" (Roast in Hell)

"A horrible raid, must've been planned by the same rats that sent out Carlanis, I think we're in deeper than someone wants us to be," says Kre as he moves unsteadily among the bodies looking for any clues or anything of value.

"This was a well planned attack on our group and not an event of mischance, I'll guarantee you that. Does anyone know why the orcs wished to capture Talimar and Dain? The plot has certainly thickened. I vote we rest a bit, get spells back, then backtrack the trail of the orcs." says Ortho as he finishes working on Kersath.

"Well fought, all. Surprised as we were the orcs were no match fer us! I count two kills each fer Randor, Kuiper, Gnore, an' meself. And three fer Beleg! Aye, a good fight but costly too," he says as he looks at the still forms of Zir'zool and the wolves.

"Aye, rest. Then we'll catch the varmit that sent this orcish scum!" Having aided his fellows and said his piece, Ortho finds a tree to rest against as he lets the tension of the battle flow out of his body.

"Excellent point! For some reason, the orcs tried to take Talimar and myself alive. Since we are the only spellcasters in the group, perhaps whomever is behind all this wishes to make use of us. But why? Can this all be related somehow...Ambushed by brigands, an apprentice disappears without a trace, a young man suddenly becomes a werebear, and a group of orcs attack and try to take the mages prisoner. It just doesn't all add up," says Dain as he takes a seat and lights his pipe.

Druckner looks up from tending his minor wounds and says, "You all speak right, it looks like they were after our mages. I agree that it isn't a coincidence that Jelenneth disappeared and she's a mage. There's a lot we don't know here. I mean how they would know how to find us in the middle of the forest? And how did they know they wanted to grab Talimar and Dain? They don't really stick out. And how does that fit in with Carlanis who was after a chest of magical paraphernalia?" Anyone watching the dwarf closely at that time sees his eyebrows go up his forehead and disappear under his red hair, "Humph!" Druckner then sighs and gets up to assist in the search of the bodies of the orcs.

After hearing this discussion, Ortho returns from the edge of camp with a look of indignation on his face. "If anyone else says that Tal and Dain are the 'only spellcasters in the group' I'm gonna start gettin' insulted! Ye may be mages and able to wield powerful magiks but ye have me an' Randor at yer side to support ye. And by golly, after this fight I'd say you all need us!"

"I'm sorry friend Ortho, I did not mean my words to come across in that way. Without priests, we would be in a world of hurt. I am very, very thankful for the priest among us. I'm sorry if I have offended you," Dain apologizes to the hurt dwarf.

"Don' worry 'bout, it's over now," says Ortho as he huffs and begins to walk off into the woods to make sure the camp perimeter is safe and spend some time lost in his own thoughts.

Kre sighs and points to the orcs, "We're going to have to get rid of them somehow, maybe burn them?" At a glance to Oleanne he amends, "...but burning isn't a solution, I suggest we do what we need to do immediately and move on." With another sigh, he sets out to drag the orc bodies into one spot and cover blood spots with dirt.

Ras returns from his search of the bodies and reports that he has found a total of 96 cp and 128 sp on the orcs. "They also all had this strange design on their shields," says Ras as he drops one of their shields to show what appears to be a drawing of a human skull with arrows coming out of each eye socket and an axe caving in the top of the skull. "Except the leader," he continues as he drops another ordinary looking shield to the ground, "his was just a plain one."

A light rain begins to fall as Kuiper moves to the center of the camp and speaks for the first time since the battle, "Pile the bodies in a corner and I will have some of my men return to take care of them. As for hunting down whomever sent these orcs after us, I think this rain is going to wash away any chance we could have of that. The trail will be cold within an hour. I suggest we continue on to find Maxim as the trail of a scared werebear should be easy to pick up."

After muttered protests from Beleg, Randor and Gnore about exacting revenge on the orcs Kuiper continues, "I know you want revenge for your lost comrade my friends but I just feel that we would be wasting our time in a futile search. What I suggest is having the lady Oleanne travel these woods and search for any sign of the orcs as we continue to find Maxim. She is much better suited to travelling these woods at a rapid pace and can use her talent of communing with the animals to find them. If she finds anything she can report to me at my farm and I will contact you. What say you to that? I cannot make you stay with me, but I am continuing on to find Maxim and I do need your help."

It has been an hour since the end of the battle and the sun has begun to fully rise in the sky now.

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