We spotted the orcs across the chasm gathered round their little candle for light, but this time we were quiet enough that they hadn't heard us. Remaining silent we backed off very slightly so we couldn't be heard. And whispering we discussed the best approaches for dealing with them. We talked about some of the magic we have available, but the conclusion we reach is that the orcs probably have a way to get to us that doesn't involve crossing the chasm so hitting them with surprise, and as many arrows as we can as quickly as we can would be the most useful way of handling it. There are a couple of magic options that might help, but nothing to directly attack the orcs. Something that would really assist those shooting bows would be to get some more light on the other side of the chasm so we could see better. There are several other ways into and out of this cave, so setting up an ambush for them is impractical, but we have a good idea which entrances they'd use. And we'd likely hear them coming before they get here anyway, so we'd be able to prepare a defence.
Our plan is decided, we planned to use surprise to shoot them, then engage them in hand to hand when they inevitably come to turf us out of their home.
We sneaked up silently once more so the wizard can use his enrage spell (the 'go' signal for the operation), and then we let fly with a volley of arrows while he completed his spell casting. That first barrage worked a treat - one of the orcs was felled, and we injured another just behind him. Unfortunately the enrage spell failed, but other than that the shock effect was perfect.
I backed off to prepare my next arrow while, the orcs reached for javelins. The orcs also put their candle out at this point.
By the time we got some light on the other side of the ledge, the orcs had moved out. We reorganised ourselves, preparing our defence and at that point we heard a large creature approaching.
A few seconds later it appeared - a huge ogre.
Bob takes on the responsibility for this enemy and closed in to fight hand to hand with it. He hit the ogre with his first blow, who then missed him in return. Redamber sneaked up behind the monster and stabbed it in the back, lightly wounding it. And by now the orcs were here.
They split up to attack us all, we would like to have joined in against the ogre, but Bob seemed well suited to this kind of enemy. We had no choice other than to focus on the orcs right in front of us. I stabbed one of the two that came to attack me, but the other one sticks his scimitar in me.
We were now backing off, fighting as we go, executing our fighting withdrawal perfectly. The next attack from Bob caused the ogre to drop his weapon, a huge club, it was a super blow. Scrabbling around by its feet, eventually the ogre recovered his club but in his next swing missed the dwarf. My two orcs were now down to one, thanks to support from behind me, and I stuck my last orc deeply with my longsword. Bob hit the ogre once again, and by now it was looking badly hurt. Willie hit his orc, but his light weapons struggled to penetrate the orcs shield.
Redamber had been dancing around behind the ogre, keeping clear of its heavy club and trying to stab it as he went, finally now he got a good blow in. The ogre staggered and died.
The fight wasn't quite over though. As Redamber turned to join in the fight against our last couple of orcs, we clearly heard the growl of an approaching war dog down one of the corridors.
This final orc appeared just as we dealt with the last of his comrades. We moved in to engage it, and the dog dies from the bowshot of Excretia the elf, as Bob finished off the dog's orc handler.
We felt spent, we really hoped there were no more orcs coming as we needed the rest.