6: Recap

The Ranch appeared to be occupied, by whom or what was unknown. Shield the paladin, Berick the rogue and Fen the Ranger approached from the road, with a lone cow in tow. The ride was uncomfortable and quiet after the events in Phandalin. Somehow the trio decided to ride to the ranch of Alfonse. The valley was quiet, too quiet. As they made their way to the ranch house they passed a pile of human and orc corpses.

On guard the trio approach the ranch house. Leaving the wagon and the cow a safe distance away. Berick decides to scout out the house before Shield and Fen approach. Orcs have taken up residence in the farm house, most likely due to Cryovein pushing them farther out of the mountains. It appears to be a whole band of goblins in the ranch house. Rested and ready for battle and something to help him redeem himself in the eyes of the townspeople, Shield attempts to approach the door of the ranch quietly. With the grace of a 350 lbs loxodon, Shield announces his presence as he walks up to the door.

Berick, decides to trap the orcs in the house and attempts to block one of the exits and set the building on fire. The raccoon gathers pieces of lumber and sets them at the foot of the door and attempts to light them on fire. The fire is set and due to the commotion of his companion other orcs can be heard making their way downstairs towards the exit. Berick quickly hides behind a nearby well.

The orcs attempt to get the drop on Shield by slamming into the door in to try and slam the attacker off the porch. Fen gets into position waiting for the orcs to make themselves visible. Shield kicks the door in, knocking the orc back from behind the door. The orcs see the shadow of a giant paladin in the doorway. A green skinned orc attacks the paladin but misses due to nerves and the perceived power of the loxodon. Another orc stabs at Shield with a rusty spear and strikes the paladin in the stomach, causing damage to the thick skinned hero.

Fen is able to see through the doorway past shield and fires an arrow past his companion and into the doorway. The arrow flies true and pierces the orc through the neck of the orc, staggering the creature. Shield follows the arrow with his shield crushing the orc into the floorboards. Another orc takes a swing at Shield and also misses. The leader of the orcs enters to room and rushes to attack the paladin ready for blood. Fen launches another shaft through the doorway piercing through the shoulder muscle of the humanoid. As the arrow passes Shield, the paladin brings his shield down onto the leader of the orcs splitting the creature in half with his battle shield. The orc with a javelin launches the weapon missing the loxodon. The axe wielding orc brings its weapon down onto Shields shoulder, splitting tendons and ligaments. Fen loses another shaft past his companion into the axe wielding orc. As the arrow flies true, it explodes into a bramble of thorns overtaking the orc.

Another orc bursts out of the door that Berick attempted to trap and burn. The fire gets scattered as the orc bursts through the door and down the stairs looking for an enemy to kill. Berick, hiding in the tall grass, fires two crossbow bolts from his new weapon. The first bolt enters into the skull of the orc from behind, followed closely by the second bolt. The orc dies not knowing why or how it died.

Fen fires again into the building through a window and into the belly of an orc. Shield heals himself with the holy power of the god Torm and positions himself next to a door that leads upstairs. The orc with the belly wound tries to crawl to safety towards a nearby window.

Berick enters into the house finding the wounded orc and Shield. Berick quickly kills the wounded orc without another thought for the orc. Fen starts making his way to the building after the remaining orcs appear to be hiding in the 2nd story of the building. 

Shield makes his way to the top of the staircase, an Orc lay in wait for the loxodon and swings at the champion of Torm. The axe of the orc buries itself deep into the shoulder of the paladin. Blood begins to pour from the wound dripping between the gaps of the large hero's armor. Berick climbs onto the back of Shield letting lose a crossbow bolt between the eyes of the axe orc.

Fen can hear the battle happening in the house and continues to run to the building.

The last orc at the top of the stairs attacks Shield, luckily missing the paladin that was close to death. Shield calls upon Torm to heal his champion. Berick attacks the orc from the top of Shield with his small blades and slips on the blood of his companion causing him to miss.

The spear orc attempts to attack the rogue atop the loxodon and misses as the battle rage takes over. Shield swings at the orc with his shield, missing the orc as the wounds from the ax have not fully healed. Berick misses another shot and attacks with a small dagger scratching the orc in the face. Berick disengages from combat to create room for the paladin. The orc pierces shield in the hand. Shield calls upon Torm again and grabs the orc in his mighty fists and throws the orc out of the nearby window.  The orc falls at the feet of Fen as he was making his way towards the home. Fen finishes off the broken orc as it lays at his feet.

Berick investigates the nearby hallway looking for other enemies in the area. Berick discovers another orc in a nearby room. Shield prepares to to enter the room anticipating another attack. Berick and Shield wait for Fen to find them at the top of the stairs. As Shield bursts into the room, they see another orc in the room. Shield attacks the orc knocking him to the floor with a mighty blow. Wounded and feeble, Berick and surprisingly Fen, suggest that they keep the orc alive inorder to get information from the green humanoid.

Shield complies and heals the orc, tired and close to death multiple times, Shield throws the orc at the feet of Berick and Fen and finds a spot in the house to rest from the battle. With experience from his time in the army, Fen questions the orcs and finds that the owner of the ranch is alive in the cellar. Fen takes the orc to the cellar and frees Alfonse and ties the orc to the chair in the cellar. 

Alfonse has been tied up in the cellar for some time now. Sad at the loss of his friends and workers, but grateful for the rescue from the orcs. Alfonse plays host to his liberators and granting them an old relic from his adventures days for saving his prized cow. He gifts Berick with a mithril chainmail shirt. The group is able to rest and recover from the hard battle. Shield takes the opportunity to commune with his god, trying to find his place in the world. 

After a long rest and some food in the morning. The trio convince Alfonse to go with them to find Falcon the ranger and then make their way to the logging camp to see if they can be of any aid.