Finding the King's Brother

So, it is Thursday, and we all know what that means....... New Post Day!
I know you have all been waiting with bated breath, so without further ado, her we go...

So, the following morning the party (light two members, who had one player call in sick at the last moment, and I mean as we were starting told us that he wasn't feeling well and left. The other informed us that he would be late do to work. But the party decided to press on with 3) started the two-day trip to the capital. It was a boring journey as the roads in Vale are well traveled and well taken care of and guarded. Arriving in the capital, the party went immediately about doing everything they could to locate their lost quarry. While Namsuri and Tariel tried to "Gather Information" around town about the captors who were holding the brother. Raistlin decided to try a different approach, and after finding a scroll of the appropriate spell, cast commune with birds. Giving them a description of the brother, he sat down in the capital square and waited for the birds to return to him. Namsuri and Tariel, although getting a lot of information of people seeing the two captors whom they sought, had no luck finding out where in the capital they might be hiding, but as they came into the capital square, they witnessed Raistlin talking to a dove that he was holding on his hand. Before they could reach him the dove flew away, Raistlin stood up, and walked straight toward the pair. He informed them that he knew where the King's brother was, and if they hurried he might still be there when they arrived. Making their way to the edge of the capital, the trio found themselves walking up to the open gate of one of the mansions that set upon the edge of the town. Raistlin had explained to the pair that the birds had informed him that the King's brother, and his captors, were within the residence. Namsuri was the one who came up with the plan for them to get it, and soon they were knocking on the door. A servant answered, and when they asked for the Sir Godwyn Arnuld, the owner of said estate, they were told that he was still at his office in town. However they were invited in for refreshments and to wait for Sir Arnuld to return. Not long later Sir Arnuld walked in, and Namsuri immediately went into his plan of inquiring as to whether or not Sir Arnuld was interested in a investment partner is his obviously very profitable company. Well, with this Sir Arnuld, who had been a bit dubious before, opened up to them with multiple friendly gestures. He really is a good man, a horse breeder of some renown, and he was thrilled to have people of understanding and spirit in his residence to speak with on all matters. Inviting the party to stay for dinner, they supped on the finest food and drink, and it was not till after the meal, that Raistlin, quite carefully in fact, broached the topic of the King's brother upstairs. Without any signs of mistrust Sir Arnuld told them of all three men who were upstairs, the King's brother, who had been introduced to him as Titus Chrysan, along with his traveling companions, two Clerics of Lucineo, who were escorting him to their temple in North Portsmith. The party was now completely confused, as they had been told that the brother had been taken against his will. But when he came down from the upper floors of the mansion, he explained what had happened. It turned out that after being kidnapped, he was rescued from his captors as they were about to behead him by the two clerics who lay upstairs. He explained how they had stopped in Vale when the two clerics had become ill, and having a friendship with Sir Arnuld, stopped here to make use of his friendship. As Namsuri and Tariel continued speaking with Titus, Raistlin made his way upstairs. When he found the two clerics, he could tell that something more then sickness was at hand. Sending a servant to go and fetch holy water he watched and waited for the servants return, upon which time he took the holy water and splashed it liberally on both of the clerics. He had known from their cracking and ashen complexion, and their high fevers, and comatose bodies, that these men were in the last stages of possession. The shells of their bodies had been used dearly, and the demons possessing them would soon have to give them up. By bathing them in holy water he exorsized the already weakened demons. The next morning when they woke, they had no idea where they were or who any of the people near them were. The only person they recognized was in fact Sir Arnuld who truly was their friend and acquaintance. He explained to them what had happened, and the two clerics, the last thing they each remembered was speaking to their own high priest in Lucineo's temple in North Portsmith, knew they needed to get back quickly and inform the high priest of what had happened. Meanwhile, the party decided that one port was as good as another, and decided to join the clerics in their travels to North Portsmith as they took the northern route to bring Titus back to his brother. The now larger party traveled for about a week and a half out of the capital, and had passed into and through the Island Elven lands with hardly any trouble. But on the following morning as they rose, Namsuri saw a structure through the trees deeper into the woodlands. As the party decided to investigate they came upon a set of ruins, a crumbled battlement of a larger structure which had been completely lost to time. But down a flight of stairs and into what had before been its basement, but now was just a large deep pit, was a solid iron door, which just screamed for the party to explore. As Namsuri picked the lock, the rest of the party made ready to enter, and the clerics, with magically lit torches were volunteering to go in first. It was as they began to cross the the threshold that their lights cast upon the wall, to see a symbol of Krom, the God of the Orcs. Seeing that, they decided that it might not be the best idea to traverse any farther, but they promised to wait for the party to return. Titus agreed to stay with them as well, as he had no great love of underground spaces. This of course left us with the three party members to explore the dungeon all on their own. As the walked down a long flight of stairs they finally came to the bottom, simply to see a large waited blade, that had obviously swung down from the wall in front of them, and was currently resting in the chest cavity of an enormous half-orc. Stopping long enough to loot the corpse the party moved on. At the bottom of the stairs the party made a right hand turn and walked down a hallway that had a bevy of spiked balls hanging on long chains from the ceiling, and as they turned the corner they came to a portion of the hallway that had 4-ft razor blades in a criss-cross pattern across the hall. Further down that hall they came to a blackened patch of wall, upon where they found the burned and charred remains, of what appeared by size at least, to be an elf, and turning the corner they found a human, who was trapped under a spiked gate which had fallen from the ceiling. Further down that hallway they saw a large tree trunk, sporting iron spots that hung in the middle of the hall, and  turning yet another corner they saw crossbow bolts stuck along the left side of the wall, and as they passed by they saw crossbows in hidden recesses on the right side. The second trap in this hall was a sword trap, that seemed to fill in the hall with blades from all angles, and even with the blades not in motion, it was hard to squeeze past. The final hall held for piles of ash and the remains of tattered clothes, that when looked at for magic, had faint hints of necromancy. Coming from the final hall, the party came into a room filled with corpses. Half-Orc's, Humans and Elves. Along the fair wall there was a raised dais, where sat an iron chest, banded with copper, and sporting a massive golden padlock. Having found the poison trap on the lock, Namsuri avoided it with ease, and cracked the lock. But it was not until he was taking it off of the chest, that the party saw that the trunk was resting on a pressure plate. It was too late though as Namsuri already had the lock in his hand, and as the chest moved mere centimeters higher, the heard clicking, whirring, and clanking as all of the traps behind them reset. Already being in trouble, the group opens the box, to find nothing but a scroll that reads in Orcish, "We Orcs have the treasure, poor fortune getting out of the dungeon, ha ha ha" (Trust me, it sounds more menacing in Orcish) With that the party made about getting out of this dungeon. Luckily the zombies had not come back to life, but the party could not remember where all of the traps were, as it had not seemed important when they had all already been triggered. Namsuri led the party along the safest paths he could find. At some points he instructed the party to jump over pressure plates, and with a few "almost" accidents, the party seemed to be doing all right. They triggered the crossbow trap, but they were able to wait until the crossbows were out of ammunition before they crossed, and they triggered the fire trap, but Tariel avoided the worst of it. They were almost to the stairs when Ulemon, who had joined them in the center room before they had reset all of the traps, heard sounds of battle up the stairs, and charged around the last corner, and took the spiked ball trap right to the face. It barely slowed him though as he ran for the stairs. Even in his rushing though he heard someone coming down the stairs toward the party. As the rest of them came around the corner Namsuri yelled out, "Be careful, the stairs are trapped!" As the runner came down the stairs, Ulemon saw that it was one of the Clerics, and before he could do anything the cleric was saying, "What trap?", as the weighted blade fell from its spot inside the wall and split him in two. With battle still raging outside, the party had no time for sadness, as they ran up the stairs and into battle. A group of orcs and half-orcs was attacking the other cleric and Titus, with more of the brutes along the rim of the pit firing arrows down at them. Namsuri was the first one out of the darkened staircase and hit one of them with a thrown dagger that he had found underground, as Ulemon charged forward to assist Titus and the Cleric. Tariel came out of the stairwell with his bow up and firing at the archers, and Raistlin took aim with  magic missile at the orc at the top of the stairs who seemed to be their leader. Between Titus and Ulemon they made short work of the enemies in the pit, and with Tariel keeping the archers busy, Namsuri started up the stairs toward the leader. Under the full power of the party, he fell easy enough, and as Raistlin joined the group at the top of the stairs, he spotted another powerful looking Orc off in the trees, watching them. As he pointed this out to the group, Ulemon, charged forward into battle before anyone could stop him, and straight into the teeth of the ambush. holding his own as the rest of the party rushed to catch up, Ulemon after a few moments, realized that even a fighter of his renown might be in a spot of trouble. Luckily between Raistlin's magic, and the rest of the parties quickness they not only gained his side quickly, but Raistlin delayed the Orc Chieftain as well. Taking care of the ambushers while Ulemon kept the Chieftain busy seemed to be easy work, and as they turned the party saw an epic battle unfolding. Still smoking from Raistlin's last flame attack, the Orc Chieftain swung his giant battleax at Ulemon again and again, for his credit, Ulemon met every blow, and delievered one of his own for everyone that was sent in his direction. Ulemon was not simply just fighting the chieftain though, he was surrounded by half-orcs, and with every chance he got he sent blows in their direction as well. The party paused a moment as the battle continued, but as if coming out of a dream they all moved at once. While the Orc attention was still on Ulemon, Titus ran up to him and dumped a vial of of Alchemist's fire on him, and Namsuri dodging through the combat taking place between the two epic fighters found himself behind the fearsome Orc. Ulemon was a brief respite swung his sword with all his might and beheaded the last half-orc standing with the chieftain in a single cut, and Tariel took down the last of the orcish archers still firing arrows at the party. With a mighty bellow, the Chieftain realized what was going on, and with a massive swing brought his battleax down at Namsuri, it looked like the end, but at the last possible moment Namsuri deftly side-stepped, and as the battleax sank shaft deep into the ground next to him, his ripost with his rapier went into and through the chieftain's eye, ending the epic battle as quickly as the ambush had begun.

We ended for the night at the conclusion of the ambush, as we had gone a bit late. Everyone had put in some good effort, and it had been a really fun night. I had been describing the combat to them as it was taking place, because a DM needs to give the party more then just, "you hit, he takes x damage" if that is all your DM is doing, then your combat is most likely boring and long. But the players also realized that in the blog post the combat would sound even cooler. So for the record the last exchange happened as follows in game.

Namsuri tumbles through combat to flanking position and misses the Chieftain
Tariel one-shots the last Orcish archer with a hit, and max damage.
Titus ran up and dumped alchemist's fire on the Chieftain (Ok so that was the same)
Raistlin went on full defense (being out of offensive spells)
Ulemon turned to the half-orc trying to flank him, and hit a 20, followed by a confirming 20, followed by a third 20 for the house-rule triple 20 insta-kill
The chieftain crit-failed his attack against Namsuri and by house rule became flat-footed.
Namsuri Crit against a flat-footed opponent giving him double normal damage, along with his sneak-attack damage, which was enough for a kill.

Now you tell me, which of those descriptions sounds better. That's what I thought.
Until next time thought sports fans, keep your blades up and your wands ready...

-Eraser