19 Decimation

Orcs filed into the clearing, two-score of them or more, frustrated at not seeing the only one they had to blame for fights and arson and lost captives and hurt pride, the human in armor too heavy to flee in, and they knew they had him, he could hide for a moment and die scared, or flee for a moment and die tired, but with 40 or more orcs to chase him, the one thing they knew was that they had him. And in that moment of imminent orcish victory the sound they heard was that of an indignant, alarmed wyrmling crying for mommy. The orcs spread out in the clearing, searching Drai's trail and drai and the source of the sound...

...and then a dark, angry shadow covered them all, and the dragon's breath, a gas that rendered them unconscious, roiled over them. A few near the edge of the woods had time to turn to flee before they fell, a few had time to wet their pants.. but most just fell. The dragon landed, and fire and claw and fang brought death where gas had brought oblivion. Emma rode from the forest and joined in the slaughter,

With the orcs in the clearing slain, Emma and Drai chased the few that had escaped, and a few more of the remnants of the force met their end. Drai got his vengeance on the orc that had tossed two javelins at him, and the leader of the orcs died by Emma's sword. The best estimate we had was that no more than a half a dozen orcs managed to escape.

Emma and Drai found some valuables in the orcish camp - a crown, some bracelets, coins and gems.. all of which sounds atypical of what one would expect. If the orcs had simply been here to raid, their hoard would've consisted of the kind of things farmhouses might have.. smaller denomination coinage, an occasional piece of silverware, furniture, clothes, arms, maybe an occasional weapon. A chest of coins and gems was for me a giveaway about what the real story was, together with the other clues, such as how they felt safe despite being near the town, the relatively bloodless attack on the halfling village, the lack of town guard involvement in all this, the way the prince had spoken with us in person. I wonder if my team members figured it out too.. but I'll definitely be speaking about it with my new friends in the shady alleys and hidden pathways.