As Hunter sneaked ahead, she could see in the illuminated cavern what looked like dirty, bloody rags and a makeshift camp abandoned in a hurry. Sticking to the shadows, she spots the hiding orcs around the same time they notice her skulking near their resting place.<br/>The feral brutes wore dirty scale mail, probably taken from slaughtered human soldiers, and had primitive longbows and spears readied. Out of the three orcs, one had his bow ready and drawn, and in the short time the rogue assessed the situation, he aimed at her and let an arrow fly! With nearly no time to dodge, Hunter would have been as good as dead if not for her reflexes, and she managed to spin out of the deadly shot's way so she only took a bruise instead of having the orc arrow embed itself in her flesh.<br/>The archer let out an angry roar and re-positioned himself so he'd be behind the cover of some jutting out rocks near the wall, while his two companions leapt from the shadowy sides of the cave to the front and the side of Hunter, but seemed already aware of the two mages who just finished chanting their protective spells near the entrance of the chamber. They both tried to skewer Hunter between them, and it took all her skill and flexibility to avoid that fate for the moment. However her previous stunt to avoid the deadly shot cost her some momentum and one of the powerful spear thrusts bruised her side while tearing into her clothes and ripping a hole in the cloth.<br/>Just as she saw an opening to make her own move and regain her balance, Hunter and the other girls noticed that the orcs that revealed themselves seemed somewhat wounded, probably from the previous battle. They must have broken off and found shelter to lick their wounds after the earthquake decimated the armies. If so, then these beastmen weren't at their full potential either!<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Combat Round 1</div><div class="spoiler_body">Orcs win initiative. Hunter takes 3 damage from a longbow shot and 8 from a spear.<br/>Orc Lancer #1 is 10 feet away from Hunter who is in his reach. He is positioned so that he is between Hunter and the exit.<br/>Orc Lancer #2 is 10 feet away from Hunter who is in his reach. He is positioned to try and block her from retreat and is closest to the other girls.<br/>Orc Archer is using the uneven sections of the cave wall for cover and moves into a new spot after shooting his arrow.<br/>It is now the heroine's turn to act.</div></div><br/><hr/><br/>Samedi on her quest, managed to gather six of the acolytes who were cleaning up the valley. They did have some protection in the form of leathers they wore over their white robes and were armed with minimal weaponry as another large battle wasn't expected. They had short swords and shields on them, as well as a throwing dagger with Hagan's mark and a sap to subdue any survivors that were to be captured and not executed on the spot. They seemed to take delight in snuffing out the lives of the wounded beastmen they found and those that didn't ride far followed the new maiden eagerly.<br/><br/>When they arrived at the entrance to the Pilgrim's Path, anyone who was once guarding it lay dead now. pierced with spears or crushed by powerful blows of a large bludgeoning weapon. It was impossible to take their horses inside so they had to continue on foot and it was up to Samedi to decide how many of her troops she wanted to leave to guard the horses or take with her to round up survivors.