Chapter 2
"A Cancerous Secret"
page 7 - 'Don't mine those Orcs' part 1 of 2

The PCs slept well at Harfein and gathered their equipment, food, and goodberries before they left. With only twenty or so days before they meet Clive at Crocs Crossing they left Harfein but only three days out they found some trouble. A group of Orcs were attacking a caravan of food and peasants. The Orcs were able to defeat the guards and a few peasants that were there before the PCs were close enough to fight. Enutrof was able to take out almost all of the Orcs that stole horses to escape, except one. With that Myr jumped back on his horse to chase after the last Orc. Myr chased him into some hills and past some ruins before the Orc decided that it could take the elf on himself. Jumping off of his horse the Orc hide behind a pillar to surprise Myr. The Orc waited until the right time and then charged out at Myr with Axes in hand. He was able to throw one Axe, that missed, before Myr blasted the Orc off of its feet with his remaining Magic Missiles. Hidden from view atop one of the ruined pillars was Dio Elaclaire. He told Myr that he has been searching around here since the PCs last saw him. Myr offered Dio a horse to ride back but he said, "my sister said that i am not allowed to do that." and followed Myr on foot. He was able to follow the PCs back to the mountain village arriving right before the celebrations.

The peasants thanked the PCs and offered them rooms for the night and a celebration in their honor. The PCs agreed and led the peasants back to their small moutain village. A large bonfire was started with kegs of beer being handed out to everyone . Cade played some enjoyable music, while Myr gave Dio all of the beer he could get him to drink. Dio didn't agree to drinking the beer at first but was finally presured into it by Myr who said, "comeon you don't have to do everything your told". Dio enjoyed a couple of beers and the rest of the celebration too, though he didn't get drunk enough to spill all of the beans.

Since the PCs still had a little over 2 weeks before they had to meet Clive they decided to do some Orc cleansing. The villagers were not too helpful since they tried to stay away from the Orcs. Since Dio knew much of the land from his walking around he knew where the Orcs weren't and gave a likely place where they could be. So they left going east south-east around a small mountain chain for a day and a half they found nothing but came upon an Orc encampment that seemed to be a mining operation of some sort.

Waiting until the cover of darkness the PCs were able to sneak in past the few guards that were there. Their cover was about to be blown when some Orcs approached but Myr, acting confinitally, was able to convince them that they belonged there, even though he knew absolutely no Orcish. They made there way to the upper levels of the mine and found the house where they believed Lita lived and a long house where they saw Treat, the young man, enter. It didn't take them long to figure out that was where all of the Orcs were eating. With not much prepreation they kicked the door open and Myr let loose his burning hands roasting some of the Orcs as Enutrof and Cade fired volleys of arrows and bolts. All twenty Orcs rushed them and their bodies started pilling up with only the last few getting accross and getting in some lucky hits. Treat got an arrow in the shoulder from Enutrof and he took cover behind a table only to get a max damaged arrow in his back. With many cuts, bruses, scrapes, and gashes the party was victorous. However with all of the ruckus the rest of the Orcs in the camp would be most likely alerted. With Cade, Enutrof, and Myr each were very hurt and out of spells and bleeding and to top it off Dio was no where in sight, all they could do was pile bodies against the door to slow the incomming onslaught.