The Second D&D Tarak Campaign

Welcome to the ongoing saga of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign I ran a little while back, using The Sunken Citadel module from the Tales From The Yawning Portal source book.

In the last post, the party returned from the Sunken Citadel with news of an incoming orc invasion and a request for help from the kobolds they'd befriended. The mayor of Oakhurst, Vurnor Leng, didn't believe the orcs were coming and refused to help the kobolds.

I hope you enjoy my D&D campaign write-ups, and the commentary I add to them. Questions, comments and feedback are welcome !

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After the dispiriting meeting with Vurnor Leng the party went back with Felosial, the commander of the village watch, to the Watch Tower. They realised that it and the small group of watchmen based there were of little military value (except for Felosial, of course), but that the tea they served was some of the best around.

As they were sitting around chilling out, drinking tea and wondering what their next move should be, there was a disturbance in the town square.

Everyone rushed out to see what was going on. It was a farmer, Grehais Mevh, who had a patch of land in an outlying area a few miles from Oakhurst. He'd come into town with a wild tale of a column of goblins and giant orcs who have crossed his land, burning his house and crops as they came. Now, they were headed straight for Oakhurst and would likely arrive within the hour.

This caused appreciable panic among the villages. Vurnor Leng appeared from his office in the town hall, strode up to Felosial and commanded her to attack the orcs and disperse them before they reached the town. She laughed in his face. The watchmen were dutifully standing to, ready to defend their families and homes, but were clearly scared.

This is where the party stepped in. The village didn't have a wall or any other defences, but Garnet could use the Move Earth cantrip to throw up some basic barricades.

Erioch, who as a battle priest was the nearest thing the party had to a tactician, asked the villagers to block off as many approaches to the village as possible with barricades, and to board up or close the shutters of buildings on the outskirts. Just one road into the village was to be left unblocked.

It didn't take long for the column of orcs to appear on the horizon. After a few minutes of observation it was clear this was just an advanced party, mostly riding on worgs.

Erioch asked the villagers to lock themselves inside their houses and for the watch to cover the other approaches - the ones that had been barricaded.

As expected, the orcs took the line of least resistance. They were led by a huge orc on the most massive worg they'd ever seen.

The orcish force rode into the village on their worgs, almost casual in their approach. When they were close to the centre, they saw the party, drawn up across the square in a line. While this may not have been an ideal tactical formation, it was excellent as a statement of defiance.

I think Erioch had deliberately set the whole thing up to look like the showdown in a Western movie. It was awesome, and I happily played along with it.

The orc chief rode slowly into the square, his hench-orcs at his back. Stopping on front of the heroes, he snarled.

"I am Fragargh, of the Bloody Peaks tribe. Give us gold and females or we burn this sad excuse for a town to the ground. "

For Fragargh's stat block I actually used a re-skinned ogre stat block, and made his worg maximum hit points. He was designed to be tough !

This was the point where it all kicked off. There were three mounted orcs besides Fragargh, and another ten on foot following a little way behind. The odds were almost immediately improved when Garnet, at the far end of the line, used a Burning Hands spell from the flank. It caught all the mounted orcs, and Garnet rolled close to maximum damage. Two of the three ordinary mounted orcs went down, as did their worgs.

Erioch moved forward to engage Fragargh, while Griff (the beasthide shapeshifter) charged the remaining worg rider. Griff's fight was brief, and he swung around to attack Fragargh from the rear. This was definitely a good move, because although Erioch was fighting valiantly he was clearly an even match for the giant orc, and was taking a lot of damage.

While this was going on, Fartacus and Garnet used magic to try to delay the dismounted orcs and prevent them joining the fight.

The fight was now evenly balanced, and for a couple of rounds it was very unclear which side was going to win. But then fate intervened. The villagers, hiding in their houses but hearing the sounds of battle, opened their top floor windows and started bombarding the orcs with anything they could find.

With a lucky hit (a critical hit followed by a really great damage roll), Erioch was able to massively wound Fragargh. The orc turned and fled, which cased his minions to do likewise.

It turned out the (possibly over-optimistic) kobolds had been lurking outside the village, hoping the party were successful in being able to negotiate with the mayor to let them settle down here. They used the cover of long grass and used their staff-slings to launch wasp nests at the retreating orcs. That definitely helped them on their way !

The immediate threat was gone, but it was clear this was just an advance party, and the main threat still had to be dealt with. It was time to see Vurnor Leng again, and this time to be less accommodating.

The Second D&D Tarak Campaign - Orcs ! Orcs !