Well, I finally cleared the cave with the orcs. No problem except for the ogre - 1 hit and my fighter that went toe-to-toe with it (paladin, 14 HPs) died. Ouch!!
I finally got him by casting sleep on the whole bunch then concentrating firepower on them one by one. When the ogre awoke he was alone, then it was time for the "fire-missile-weapons-while-retreating" trick.
I can see that missile weapons are going to be *very* important in the game, lol.
