Chapter 1: A Wizard's Amulet

The large body of Olaf is buried in the earth, the party not knowing what the village of Two Brooks provides for the dead. A speech is given and a house is prepared for a night. Corian seems shook, but relieved to have maintained the amulet. Galdar stands outside practicing his swordplay against wooden pillars and against whoever might wish to duel; he seems quite frustrated that he was ineffective in the fight, and those with intuition can tell he feels that he let down his goddess. The night passes with no sign of the wizard nor his devilish companion.

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It has been two nights since the encounter with Vortigern and his devilish familiar, Talon. You still bear the wounds of that battle. Many of your group nurse lingering injuries, both physical and mental, not the least of which are the nightmarish images that plague Corian in his dreams. You recall vividly the bodies of the innocent farmers, the clawed hands of the skeletons as they rose from the earth, summoned by Vortigern, and the hellish shriek as Talon revealed his true form. Weary from your long journey and many experiences, your party makes its way along the path toward the village of Fairhill, searching for a warm fire and a safe bed—a place to brush the dirt of the road from its boots. The road you travel gradually slopes upward as you leave the tradeway behind, heading toward the foothills of the Stoneheart Mountains. The rolling hills are covered with green grass and spring flowers, lifting your spirits. You believe that you should arrive at Fairhill within two hours.

As you travel the road to Fairhill, your natural instincts— heightened by your recent adventures—cause you to scan the hills for possible areas of ambush. Your instincts prove to be good ones. You spot three humanoids with bows hiding slightly behind the crest of a nearby hill, their backs to the afternoon sun, making it hard to discern their exact nature. You find just enough time to shout a warning and dive to the ground as the volley of arrows hisses towards you.

If the angle is such that the arrows won't hit us if we stay on our bellies, then Nebbleshuven will crawl off the road to find cover.

If the angle is such that lying on the ground was only good for the initial shot, then Nebbleshuven will stand and run to the side of the road to find cover.

Either way, he's needs time to assess a way to get to these bandits, especially since he doesn't have a good ranged attack.

"Ambush! Take cover!"

Datura leaps off the road as the arrows whiz past, scrambling for any kind of cover she can find. The thief nocks her bow and scrutinizes the terrain between herself and the bandits in hopes of finding either a way to flank them or enough boulders to leapfrog her way forward...

The landscape surrounding the road is fairly sparse in this particular area, with some large stones and shrubby bushes. Trees are scattered and would not provide good cover unless you ran from one to the next. The archers appear to be roughly 150ft (50 yards) away.

Lying on the ground, Ryenne unslings her shield from her back. Taking a moment to grab it up properly, she stands, and charges at the archers, shield up!

"Curs and cowards!" she calls, wielding her mace above her head.

She hoped to startle them with her bravery, or at the very least to draw the fire onto her broad shield so the others might escape their notice for a moment!

Monaghan accompanies Ryenne in the charge, attempting to stay behind the cleric and her raised shield. He drops the enchanted short sword from the farmhouse before racing forward in order to free up his full movement, relying on his trusty bastard sword.

"Use the trees for cover!" Datura shouts at her charging companions before firing on the bandits...

When his next move is available, Nebbleshuven will use the trees for cover to reach the bandits or whomever they are.

Faionn is lost in shock for much of the journey, but this attack snaps her back to reality. It's hard to see the figures with the sun's glare, but does notice the most of the others already charging up the hill. Faionn leaps behind the cover of a tree, unhooks her sling, winds it up, and fires.

Galdar bears his shield and uses it to cover Corian, while also trying to protect himself. The wizard cowers under the protection of thick wood and metal. Meanwhile, Ryenne and Monaghan charge forward heading straight towards the archers, ignoring the protection of the rocks and shrubs for instead faster speed. Nebbleshuven and Faionn make their approach WITH the protection of cover, with the latter trying to at least knock one in the head with a slung stone; she does not. Finally, Datura finds some cover and begins loosing arrows towards the ambushing archers, striking and killing one immediately.

Round One of Combat
Combat Order
Archers
Party

Arrows whistle through the air as they begin striking the ground near whatever target meets their fancy. Galdar takes a few scrapes as arrows pin down around him, but he refuses to give in. Several more are deflected from both Ryenne's and Monaghan's armors and shield, but the two charging warriors allow none to strike true.

Ryenne swats the bow aside with her shield with a grunt. Bring around her mace, she tries to club one of the archers senseless before he can strike back!

The gnome keeps the pressure on the bandits as she releases another volley...

Now that Ryenne is upon them, a horrible truth sinks in. Orcs! Their pig-like faces snarl at the priestess as she tries to engage them in melee!

"Orcs!" she cries back to the others in warning, waiting for them to draw their wicked knives!

Upon hearing Ryenne's identification of orcs as their attackers, Nebbleshuven abandons his stealthy approach and charges, shield-first, towards the race that murdered his parents and enslaved him as a child.

"Dead orcs!" Datura shouts with glee.

"Let's see how you miserable cowards fare when you must look into your opponents' eyes!"