After hunting, the party exited the forest and could see Urag’s horde had made camp off in the distance halfway between Ashton and Wurther.

A lone orc padded down the road on the back of a warg and was carrying a flag of parley. The orc was heading toward Wurther.

Warden went out and confronted the orc. The orc laughed at his fortune and commanded Warden and his party to return to Urag’s camp. Surrender and the town of Wurther would be spared.

When Warden refused, the orc attacked him with a damaging sword slash across the chest. Orion and Betamax launched two perfectly placed crossbow bolts from the forest that connected and felled the orc.

The warg tried to flee but was slowed with bolts and bludgeoned by Warden’s mace.

The party buried the evidence. They planned to keep Wurther in the dark about the orc horde’s demands.

When they arrived at Wurther’s gates, dozens of Ashton’s refugees (women, elderly and children) were outside and being denied entry to the city. They pleaded with the heroes to help them get in but the guards had orders not to let any outsiders into the city.

The heroes found the city commander who was very busy making preparations of defense. Warden negotiated a deal with the commander… let the refugees come in and the heroes would fight for Wurther against the invaders. The commander accepted.

The commander was frustrated that he had not heard any word from the orcs and what their purpose was. He enlisted a young page boy to go out and treat with the foul creatures.

As the boy returned, the party went out to greet him before he got too close. They could see in his eyes that he knew about their party and what the orcs were truly after.

Fizban sneakily (and without consulting the group) pulled out his dagger and murdered the boy.

Warden kept the act going by yelling “An orc blade! The orcs killed our messenger!”. It worked. The party had successfully prevented another message getting through to the city.

The heroes waited in Wurther for a few days… the orcs were not advancing and the city was beginning to feel the choke of food supplies that normally came in from the south. The city used the time to set traps and bolster defenses.

On the next day, a group of 5 orcs marched toward the city. Four of them stayed at a safe distance while one orc came forward. Warden went out to meet the orc and it turned violent quickly.

Warden slaughtered the orc in a very dramatic fashion. Everyone at Wurther took notice and the orcs did as well as they retreated back to their camp.

Shortly after, the war horns began to blow and the horde began advancing on Wurther. Lead by Urag, the horde was 40 strong. They also had a troll.

The battle was long and intense. The troll hurled rocks taking out one of the towers. The Wurther citizens fought valiantly alongside the heroes. Many orcs and humans died in the battle but the heroes stood strong.

Eventually only Urag was left. The heroes surrounded and killed him.

There was much to be happy about but the battle was too fresh, and there were too many corpses surrounding them to truly feel the excitement.

Finally the party would be able to stop running. Perhaps they would build a life for themselves in Wurther?