Goblin Encampment
The Chakran Mnts
18th day of the 8th month: Temoth Ore
10:37 am
(OOC: I’m taking this a bit further, since I don’t want to spend forever on you guys being stuck in a cage. Since none of you have come up with an actual plan of getting out, I’m taking control of the situation.)

The orcs banged and slammed, shouted and partied. Their aggressive dance was an abomination to delight. Laughter and music were not meant to be so brutal.

Geim tried to sink into sleep as much as he could, but rather then rest, he slipped into a feverish state of half-consciousness. It did anything but restore his strength.
Elessarae decided to test the cage they were in, but dared not do so openly. Feigning a stretch, she pressured the wooden floor with her foot. It didn’t budge, but her Sylvarian heritage of harmony with trees and plants told her that it was not the sturdiest of boards either. Still, to break through these planks unnoticed would not be an easy feat to pull off.

An hour and a half passed, and the orcs grew tired of their pestering and left the cage. Only one of them returned to his initial place of observation. A few moments later he was brought a big piece of raw meat on a leg-bone, which he started chewing up pleasantly.
The calm that settled over the cage was heavy, and Geim finally fell asleep. Soon he was followed by the others, who had been up since midnight. There was no fighting it; no matter how many healing spells were cast, a person needed to sleep.

Four hours later they were rudely awoken by a splash of warmish water. A handful of potatoes followed right after it. The birdlike creature gobbled one down immediately, almost swallowing it hole. He eyed the rest of the potatoes hungrily, but waited for the other captives to dig in.

The sun had already passed its highest point, and something was going on around the cage. Activity had picked up in the camp. Goblins were running up and down with wooden planks and poles, small groups of orcs strolled leisurely towards the west side of the cage and talked wildly amongst each other. Words that were picked up were ‘match’, ‘maggots’ and ‘bootskull’. More than once, a glance was cast at the prisoners, followed by smirks and elbow banging.

Not long after, orcs and goblins carrying spears approached the cage, gathering around it. They formed two lines, one on either side of the cage’s door. Then, a familiar group of orcs approached, walking between the two lines. The spear-wielding masses pounded the ends of their weapons against the ground in an ominous crescendo. The group of orcs, the seven who had been watching the cage earlier that day, was clad in spiked metal shoulder-pads, leather armor and leopard loin-cloths. As they arrived at the cage, one of the guards opened the door and made way for the leader of the orcish seven. He was the largest of them all, which is usually the case in orcish culture, and his skin proved that he had survived his share of attempts to take his life.

“Follow us.” It grunted in the common tongue.

(OOC: If you choose to remain seated, you’ll find that the tips of goblin spears will prod at you until you stand up and obey. I will leave in the middle if Thondrek is going to attempt to dimension hop away. If he does so, I want to know where he plans to land. Remember, you can only move 5 feet per two caster levels, to a destination in line of sight.)

The group was escorted in between the seven orcs and the rest of the spear wielding goblins, who all looked at the prisoners and a destination up ahead with gleaming eyes and grins of anticipation.
This destination proved to be a grassy field, surrounded by a make-shift wooden fence built of planks and poles. The field was about 75 ft by 120 ft, and on either side stood a wooden doorway covered in some sort of webbing that appeared to be a net. In the middle of the field lay something like a ball, but it was hard to see what it was from a distance.

Torches and bonfires around the field displayed hordes of goblins and orcs rooting at the heroes, calling them names and cheering them on at the same time. The seven orcs took them on the field, close to one of the wooden doorways. There they left them, to move to the other end of the field, where they started raising the crowd’s enthusiasm even more with displays of strength and testosterone. A little goblin with glasses on his long nose approached the captives.

“Alright, let’s see here. You’re going to be playing a game called Bootskull against our champion team here. You score points if you get that skull over there,” he pointed at the round object in the middle of the field, “in the other team’s goal. Now the rules are… oh who am I even kidding. There are no real rules. Just make sure you make points. But I don’t know if I should advice you to win….”

He quickly ran off, as the orcish team took position.

(OOC: Yes, you’ll be playing some orcish form of soccer. The bards under us recall tales of orcish savage games like this. Those tales tell more of the violence that happens on the field than of the scores that have been made. Apparently dodging the orcs will be most of your problem.

Now you guys are lucky that you’ve escaped your bonds already, otherwise you would’ve had to spend one or more rounds getting loose. There are no weapons allowed, and all damage done will be subdual in nature. You get to choose exactly what you intend to do in each round. You can use most of the special attacks listed on page 154 in the PHB, being: Aid Another, Bull Rush, Charge, Feint, Grapple, Overrun, Sunder and Trip, to get the skull or evade opponents. You can try to dodge and tumble and ‘fight defensively’. Basically anything goes, even foul play. This is not necessarily a game of brute strength. It most likely is for the orcs though.
Of course you can decide not to go along with the game. You’ll be an easy target for any of the opponent’s death grapples in that case.

This might be a way out, this might be entertaining, or this might be an @$$ whoopin’ so to speak. But perhaps you can make something of it.

Good luck!)

Elessarae looks about and takes in the site, and their opponents. There big challengs was to use what they had against the Orcs, in this case the ropes and the chain. Possibly they could use they to held trip the Orcs as they were running. Two people on each side of the chain could use it to trip the orcs. Elessarae looked about for a good size rock to tie to the end of ther rope to use it as a flail of sorts.

All they could hope for is staying out of their way and not getting further damage. She wanted to hold her magic in reserve and not reveal it so openly.

Elessarae shares her ideas with the others.

"We can't aford to get hurt, nor should we reveal our magics. Let them think they kept us for regaining our spells. I still have a couple left from the day of the fight that I did not use. But they are best used when all these others are not watching."

"I am hoping to use speed to keep out of their way. And becaause we are still tied up I am going to yell out a to a deity to free us, then we can seem to pull ourselves out of our ropes, We have to cover our being free somehow."

Elessare waits until she sees the Orcs positon themselves on the field.

At the right moment, when it seems that the game is about to begin Elessare raise her heard and shouts to the heavens.

"Shinara, Therassor, Falloes! Free us!"

Keeping his eyes on the orcs as they moved to the far end of the "field", Kurok spoke at the same time as Elessarae, so he didn't hear her words. He spoke to no one in particular, but loud enough for all to hear, "Bootskull, eh? Got a game named fer 'im. Kinda like Rollerrock back home. Okay. No rules and they ain't gonna give us no time fer plannin'. Get the -- ummm -- skull to the other net."

"Right. Okay, don't think I need ta tell ya people that they ain't gonna leave ya alone just 'cause ya ain't got the skull. And we gotta play the same way, or we're had, fer sure! Gotta keep the thing in motion, keep passing it, if ya can. Run if ya can't. One of us'll try ta get to a place where we can be given the skull ta keep movin it."

Firstest:
[[ That said, he bounces once on his toes and Charges for the "skull", attempting to pick it up on the run and change direction to avoid being hit. Failing that, Kurok will keep his momentum to Charge the nearest orc to simply take out one of the "enemy" by making his knee bend the wrong way by fist or body-slam ... ]]

[[ If they get it first, he will simply Charge the skull-carrier, to body slam him in the knees and take him down. After all, he has to use at least one hand to carry the skull. He is actually expecting the carrier to hit him with the doggone thing ... ]]

Nextium:
[[ Getting up, he will Feint agin the next orc in range of him, while glancing about for the "skull" (assuming he doesn't have it). If he has the "skull", he'll Overrun any orc in his way, attempting to shoulder the orc's knee to bend the wrong way ... ]]

[[ If no orc(s) in immediate range, he'll Charge one to body-slam his knees as above (if without the "skull"). If he has the "skull", he'll run full-bore toward the "goal". I know, he's not the fastest, but if he can move it, it's worth the effort ... ]]

[[ It's a start ... Okay, so the role-player has never been a Bootskull-player ... For the record, I am aware of the attacks of opportunity my actions will draw, but if I can keep a few off of some of you, it's worth it. And I'm hoping for luck, while Kurok silently prays to Kharox for the same ... ]]

[[ And, Almerin, if any of the above is not correctly stated, please let me know. This "totally unarmed combat" is a weakness of mine. I am not "up" on all the "finesse moves involved, but will learn quickly. I figured the shoulder thing was possible to knock the opponent prone without tackling or grappling ... ]]

Geim was awake and had eaten one of the potatoes that was thrown unceremoniously in their cage. He didn’think he has rested long enough to get his spells back, though had a few words for Kharox. “Kharox, if you could just give me half of my spells back because tthese buggers are not likely to let me sleep or rest long enough to regain them in the normal manner.”

He was leery of the activity that suddenly seem to center on their cage. The sun had already passed its highest point, and something was going on around the cage. Activity had picked up in the camp. Goblins were running up and down with wooden planks and poles, small groups of orcs strolled leisurely towards the west side of the cage and talked wildly amongst each other. Words that were picked up were ‘match’, ‘maggots’ and ‘bootskull’. More than once, a glance was cast at the prisoners, followed by smirks and elbow banging.

Not long after, orcs and goblins carrying spears approached the cage, gathering around it. They formed two lines, one on either side of the cage’s door. Then, a familiar group of orcs approached, walking between the two lines. The spear-wielding masses pounded the ends of their weapons against the ground in an ominous crescendo. The group of orcs, the seven who had been watching the cage earlier that day, was clad in spiked metal shoulder-pads, leather armor and leopard loin-cloths. As they arrived at the cage, one of the guards opened the door and made way for the leader of the orcish seven. He was the largest of them all, which is usually the case in orcish culture, and his skin proved that he had survived his share of attempts to take his life.

“Follow us.” It grunted in the common tongue.

Geim knew that he was in no good shape to be involved in such a brouhaha, nor were his companions.

“Listen up my friends, this game their talking about is an excuse for carnage. Don’t get caught with the bal, throw it way a as quickly as possible and stay out of their way. Our best bet to to stick together, duck and dodge. None of us can take much of a beating in our condition. “Though I would like to try to pound them into the ground, it isn’t in our best interest to do so.

Thondrek barely haad time to digest the words of their goblin 'sponsor' before the reckless carnage was started, not by the orc's on the opposite side of the field, but by Kurok, who with a single spring on his toes made off for a charge towards the skull. Seeing the Chak in action, snapped Thondrek from his musings of this rediculous situation, and as Geim spoke of warnings and tactics, Thondrek as already on the move, bringing up the rear of Kurok, with a 'Flare spell ready to go off in the eyes of the firs Orc to cross the Chak's path.'

Should Kurok 'double back' the skull to Thondrek, he'll bring to mind a swift expedious retreat (swift action) to boost his speed and charge ahead much like Kurok.

So much for his words of wisdom to the group. Geim grimaced as he watch Kurok run forward towards the skull that was the "ball" in this game. Thondrek raced after him a second later.

Geim did his best to go with them Perhaps they could hit the orcs hard with a front line of dwarves and make the orcs think twice, perhaps they would get their heads handed to them on a platter. The three dwarves did have one thing going for them a low center of gravity.

Geim asks for a blessing on them all more out of habit when they went into battle. This was a much a battle as anything fought with weapons and armor.

Loda was very dis-heartened that Gothard was gone, and also that she was very sober in a situation like this. But there was only one thing she could of done to make herself feel better. She needed to work out some aggression, especially on these orcs.

Loda spotted her fellow kin charging the ball/skull, so she decided to join in also. She flanked Kurok, hoping to become some sort of shield from the orcs, and would try toppling any that get in their way.

( she will bull rush one orc trying to charge the ball handler)

Geim caught a quick glimpse of Loda joining the three dwarven males rushing ahead.

"That's a fine Lass," he called out on the run. Geim planned to hit any incoming orcs low and try tripping them up. If he could damage knees or ankles all the better. A swift kick to a knee joint should incapacitate or certainly slow down their opponent. However he would risk being cut off from the others as their numbers gave them some protection. He would like to get in a few good punches too. Hit and run so to speak.

Geim sizes up the movements of their opponents, looking for weak spots, knew a punch in the family jewels could be a debilitating. Dirty tactics to be sure, which, right now suited him just fine.

"Trip them, Kick 'em in the knees. Punch them where it hurts. That's our strategy."