The party is deciding on a plan when they hear footsteps approaching. They ready their weapons and turn towards the sound only to see that it’s Ajax. He tells them that it took forever for him to catch up, and that he’s sorry for being too sick to come with them. He promises not to drink so much the next time — especially on the night before they are to leave for a quest. As he curiously eyes Traubon, the group fills him in on all that he has missed. Lilvari leaves out the battle with the hobgoblins and the note they carried, but there are more important things to discuss anyway: How to handle the orcs of Wyvern Tor.

The five party members and Traubon hide in the bushes while Lilvari uses Thaumaturgy to cast her voice loudly at the cave’s entrance. Since they forgot to dispose of the orc’s body before hiding, she decides at the last moment to call for help in the orc’s voice. Dare tries to hold in a laugh as she struggles to make her voice deep and throaty. She gives him an icy glare, but only for a moment because it’s at that moment that an orc scurries from the mouth of the cave. He immediately sees his companion motionless on the ground. He almost kneels down to check on him when a glint of sunlight catches his eye from the bushes. The orc immediately sees that the light is reflecting off of Dare’s and Ajax’s armor. Quickly the orc runs towards the cave, but before he can get more than a few steps, Lilvari sprints towards him from the bushes, summoning curse bringer as she nears. With it, she cuts him deeply across the back while at the same time Ajax looses an arrow that pierces him straight through his head. The orcs falls dead where he stands.

They try the trick again (after hiding the orcs’ bodies this time), but nothing else leaves the cave. Dare decides to head in. He doesn’t sneak. Instead he walks casually, figuring if anyone is inside, he can play the part of a lost traveler whose looking for assistance. He goes into the pitch-black cave alone and gets about sixty feet when he hears the sound of snoring. He can’t discern much, only that its coming from multiple creatures. He goes back and tells the rest of the party. They join him. Ajax and Mercarri decide against lighting a torch. Instead, Mystic guides them by the hand. Lilvari, who goes a bit ahead with Dare, also hears snoring only she’s able to discern a bit more. Immediately she knows that the sound isn’t coming from all orcs; an ogre is in there with them.

Dare’s ahead of her. She tries to warn him. “Ogres. They have ogres,” she whispers.

“Odor?” Dare whispers back, confused. He shrugs. “Yeah, I know… they have odor. It’s horrible.”

She shakes her head. “No. Ogres,” she mouths. He still doesn’t comprehend so she hurries to him and whispers it in his ear this time. Realizing the danger of the situation, they scout ahead of the others, going as quietly as possible. They round a bend and see two orcs sleeping on cots far to the north. Dare continues on, so focused on the orcs that he doesn’t see the rock in front of his foot. He accidentally kicks it. It flies across the small bit of distance between him and the orcs and hits the wall above the first orc’s head. It wakes up and immediately sees Dare. Quickly, Dare gives his false claim for being there, but the orc is having none of it. He and the other rise from their beds and sound the alarm. Lilvari call back to the others to fall back, and all five of them begin heading for the exit just as an ogre’s mighty roar fills the cave. 

Just before rounding the bend, Lilvrai turns and casts Eldritch Blast, which hits the first orc square in the chest. He tumbles back behind the bed, but she can see that others are already running towards them, great axes raised. Hearing the commotion but not knowing what it’s about, Ajax lights a torch only to see Lilvari and Dare running towards him. Without another thought, he turns and runs out too. Mystic pulls Mercarri along in pursuit, but as they run, Mercarri’s feet tangle up with Mystic’s and they both stumble and fall to the ground. They can feel the rumble of their pursuers coming. Lilvari runs past. Mystic and Mercarri get up and hurry out as well. Before doing the same, Dare turns and fires his crossbow, catching an orc in the throat. It crashes to the ground, dead.

The party exits the cave and quickly tries to hide behind the bushes. Mystic, flustered all that’s happened, dives behind a rock barley larger than her head. Everyone calls out to her that she needs to hide better, all the while her ass-end is sticking out in plain sight. Before she can react, an orc bursts from the cave. He hears Dare calling to Mystic from the bushes and charges in that direction. Before he can reach Dare, however, Mercarri summons her mystic mace from the brown mist, and it clubs the orc in the jaw. It reels just as an arrow fired from Ajax’s longbow catches it in the shoulder. It howls in anger and in pain. Mystic stands from behind the rock and throws her javelin at the orc, but it sails wide. 

The sound of the orc’s scream is lost under the roar of the ogre who has just exited the cave. Lilvari lifts her hands and utters a curse. The look of rage on the ogre’s face is replaced by one of horror. Other orcs pour out of the cave as the ogre starts to back away. One of the orcs delivers a nasty blow to Lilvari, who is busy focusing her attention on holding the ogre at bay. Concentration broken, the ogre is no longer scared, and comes charging towards the party, its giant club raised.

The party is outnumbered but not outmatched. Ajax uses his rune magic to make himself as large as the ogre then delivers a massive cut to it’s belly with his longsword. Mystic transforms into constrictor snake (which does little good but looks as intimidating as hell). Lilvari, completely destroys the ogre with swing after vicious swing of curse bringer. While this is happening, Dare finds himself surrounded by orcs about thirty feet away. One of the orcs wears a black band around its bicep — a decoration representing leadership amongst their tribe. This one must be Brughor. Despite his massive strength and quickness, Dare fights him and two others at the same time, dodging their axes and rallying his fighting spirit to lead him to victory.

The battle continues. Mystic is unable to land any attacks in snake form, but the snake’s appearance alone is enough to disrupt the orcs’ usual mastery of combat. They’re slaughtered one by one though they do manage to land some vicious blows throughout the battle. If not for Mercarri’s healing spells, she, Ajax and Lilvari might have all succumbed to their wounds.

With a savage roar, Dare decapitates one of the orcs,  leaving two remaining. Lilvari rushes up behind Brughor, curse bringer raised. She slices at him with a dizzying blur of strikes. Then just one orc remains. He barely has time to take in the gravity of the situation before the one-two combination of Mercarri’s spiritual mace and Ajax’s longsword end its existence.

The battle has ended. The orc menace is no more.