proper cleaning and binding of the wounds will stabilize a patient that is near death for a limited time depending on the environment and conditions this could be as little as an hour or 2 or as much as a few days. this of course means that constant care is given and the bandages are changed and kept fresh etc. etc.

FYI - I may (or may not) have access to internet between Wednesday and Sunday night. So if nothing is decided by Wed. someone else might want to make the group post on the other thread so we don't have to wait all weekend for me to get back. You saw my questions.

Anvil would want to save all lives possible - binding for now, unless magic is needed to save a life. Pile bodies on the carts and get out of dodge. Try to hide the mage.
Let one or two quickly search the orcs as the rest put dead bodies on the wagons to get going. But he will go with whatever the group decides.

That we check for any unconscious woodsmen and gather the wounded and put them in the wagons and address the wounds. As we do this Rat should check all the dead orcs for loot and info. We then meet with Carus and see if we should head back to town.

Our party going back to town would seem to be counter productive ... at least it would seem so to me!

We were hired to deal with the problem in the woods!

Would it not seem to anyone else besides me that if we went back to town with the wounded and plenty of unanswered questions that the people would have a negative reaction about our party of adventurers?

Or at least the merchant who hired us?

We have an option of tracking that Giant Orc and we also have an option of investigating the attacked camp that we have not even gotten to!

I can hear the question now: "What did you discover at the camp?"

"Well Sir, we did not make it that far as we were attacked by a living tree and then some Orcs and decided to escort the wounded back to town!"

I would almost be inclined to take Muffin and track that Big Ugly Orc ... but what do the rest of you have to say?

fix/heal/temp our wounded
healers, etc
check out each killed orc (intelligence and booty)
Rat?
collect dead
strong guys
reward/love dogs
owners
head out as reasonably quick as possible

NICE SLEEP SPELL!

Did we gain any experience? And soon we will know if any booty.

I half agree with Hammer

I would not go all the way back to town. As hammer noted, that isn't what we are here to do.

However, I don't think it would be wise to head off into the woods right now - in the smoke, injured, with spells used and surrounded by orcs.

I would think we stick with the wagons long enough to "get away." Then part way back to town we look through the materials we found with Carus - making sure they can get safely back to town. It isn't us going back, we are insuring that they can get back. Then we head off on our own again and see what we can see. But not into smokey areas filled with orcs.

I would also think that as we bind wounds and Rat digs for gold, someone should be on guard and someone (Anvil since he has been spokesperson?) should go talk to Carus, telling him "fought bravely, binding wounds, etc..."

with binding the wounds once I find my shortbow. Or, I'll stand guard if that is what Anvil wants me to do. I may also see if I can climb a tree and get a better look at the surroundings. I doubt that I will see much with the smoke, but it may not hurt to try.

Also, I'm not a big fan of going back to town, but if the town is the target of the attack, then it will not hurt us to make sure the woodsmen get back safely and kind check the status. I'm with the party on whatever they want to do though, so only take my statements as a point to consider.

I think if we can get the wounded in and stabilized, then turning the carts around and break-necking it back should not be much of a problem because it is not that long of a trip. The wandering orc war bands are obviously going to be a problem, but we'll deal with that when we get to it.

And just as a point of reference, I'm all out of sleep spells until I get time to sit and study it again.

SD--What is my study time to relearn it? What is my limit on how many times I can cast and relearn in any 24 hour period?

..... granted to Hingatuli Hammer this morning!

Hingatuli will help bind up wounds [not sure if he has a Healing Kit with him?] and then he will take Muffin and proceed to the Loggers Camp to learn what he can and have a headquarters to work from!

Thing is, Hingatuli was given specific info from a Vision from his deity in a PM weeks ago from ShadowDragon regarding something in the woods and at some point he has to locate what was revealed to him, so he will not be going back to town.

Got a response from ShadowDragon in a PM that he can work with 2 or 3 groups in this adventure, so it is not mandatory from the DM that we all stay together!

Although I would rather take Muffin and track that Big Ugly Orc, I am opting for going to the Loggers Camp and proceeding from there!

I suggested we go back to town...didn't we find plans off the orcs backpack that died in the tree that said they were planning to attack the town? I think at the least a messanger needs to alert the town.

Ok, first of all, I don't want to split up. Stick together, unless we MUST

split up.

It sounds like nobody wants to go back to town - do we want to make sure that the wagins and woodsmen are safely on their way? This would give us a chance to go through the stuff we found with Carus. We haven't opened the scroll remember. Also, out job is to "save the town from danger" - letting a bunch of townsmen die unprotected seems a bad way to save the town.

But I think we all want to find Hingatuli's vision - the question is - do we pause a bit to get the woodsmen off safe first?

Anvil's suggestion would be to deal with the woodsmen first - then once they are on the way strike out on our own. Probably not from here, but somewhere half way between here and town. Save the woodsmen, perhaps buy time for spellcasters to reload, and then find the evil in the woods.

Hingatuli can obviously do whatever he wants, but Anvil would strongly encourage him not to chase after the orc leader on his own - or go to the logging basecamp on his own. Strength in numbers.

Hammer does your vision give you a specific time limit on when you have to find this item in the woods?

Splitting up is a bad idea in the best of circumstances. As you can see from the present situation, this is NOT the best situation. Also letting innocent woodsmen die or a town be attacked because you are itching to move forward isn't very "cleric-esque". Granted you do worship a war deity, but my guess is that you have a "good" alignment and letting people die when you can prevent it is never "good".

You can do what you want to do, but chances are you are going to end up DEAD, or your absence is going to KILL someone else. I don't see that as accomplishing your patron deity's task either way.

Sorry if I sound too blunt or straight-forward, but there is a reason that DMs send "parties" out to adventure and very rarely do people run solo. It is as Nomad said, there is safety in numbers.

I'll go as the majority of the party votes, or as Anvil leads if it comes down to him making the decision.

..... we have time in game that as we are assessing the wounded and tending to them that Hingatuli will reveal to you what he was told in his vision when granted the 3 Spells!

From the tone and substance of what ShadowDragon sent me in the PM and that he told me later I could either share it or keep it to myself, I think Hingatuli will go ahead and share what was seen and spoken to him!

Anyway, I think we should have enough time for me to post in Oaks Heart to reveal what was shown to Hingatuli and then we can make a proper decision!

Ordinarily I would stay with the group, especially the one that we have, but Hingatuli has been given an assignment that he must follow as soon as possible!

I will try to write it when I get home as I just found the PM and after reading it a couple of times I decided to post this answer!

to make things simple i'm going with 8 hrs of study time to relearn spells no matter lvl or # of spells you wish to relearn. so technically i figure 2 times in a day would be max in normal conditions.

..... the Vision explanation has been posted in Oaks Heart to provide everyone with the knowledge of what was revealed to Hingatuli to give you more info to respond to!

Hammer - there seemed to be no urgent requirement listed in your "dream". I do not think it HAS to be done, nor sensed an immediate urgency, now based on what I read.

Where to go - I really think heading on to where we were supposed to be heading will provide the most intelligence (meaning information/clues) for the adventure.

Helping/fixing/healing (even temp)/searching/gathering/assuring the woodsmen left are with us ... seem to clearly be of first order

After helping/searching - assuring wagon is aok, I say head for the camp; the probability is that the camp and Hammer's vision are in close relationship and whatever is "in the woods" is related to both.

I DO NOT think we should separate. The last fight would not have been successful without all the party's assets.

Besides, it is more fun traveling as a group.

All that said, once again (not that it impacted things last time) I am heading to non-internet land. As of appx 7AM Fri through the end of election day, I will be on the road, with minimal or no access, although access is better the last half of this trip.) In all cases, if action is needed from me then, Captain Anvil is authorized to vote me and/or generate my actions. I hope we can make some quick decisions as to what we are going to do NOW, and I can post before I leave.