Cursing, Algric sent three more arrows in. He fired with the utmost caution to avoid friendly fire.
Narrowly avoiding the orc with no personal bubble, Muse directs his attacks at Bulky, endeavoring to cut the green man down before he closes to wrestling-range.
"Agh! That stings," Mel hisses as an arrow slices into her.
As the lieutenant lands his blow on Fyrtor, she nods. "That one in the middle is the most dangerous -- we need to take him down!"
Matching action to words, she sends two arrows soaring towards the orcish lieutenant.
nonlethal
Her first arrow gets knocked aside midflight when one of the combatants raises a sword and interrupts its path. The second flies uninterrupted, but skitters off the orc's armor with no effect.
Glancing down at the severely wounded mage, Mel says "Here! Take this." With a twist of her wrist, a potion drops into her hand, which she offers to him.
Grimly, Kelian continues fighting, healing himself as he does so. Having discovered his shield's offensive capabilities, he does not hesitate to use them again.
+2 if attacking the flanked orc and the first attack lands.
Túrion takes the offered potion, but does not consume it at this time. Standing up cautiously, he takes another look at the battle, ready to drop back into cover if an arrow comes his way.
Nelly disliked tunnels like this one - she was fast, and her instinct was to circle around the target and attack from multiple sides with her allies. With no way to express her frustration verbally, she made sure the Orc in front of her understood it from the way she savaged him. If her target goes limp, she advances, picking the next healthiest-looking one as new victim. This weirdly-skinned prey struggled a lot, but it was prey all the same.
Fyrtor finishes off the orc between him and Kelian. Kelian steps forward, attacking the leader, but fails to land any blows. Kazador lands one while all of Algric's shots miss the leader. Brolin finishes off the orc with no personal boundaries and Nelly kills one orc then steps forward and leaves another prone and nearly dead. Mel's shots miss... Unfortunately...
The leader lashes out at Fyrtor with blinding speed, striking three times with his scimitar and twice with his shield. But only three strikes connect (42 damage) and Fyrtor is shoved back against the wall and knocked prone by the shield. But that is overkill as Fyrtor is already unconscious. The leader's eyes turn to Kelian. He seems intent on removing Kazador's less armored allies before attacking the dwarf himself.
An orc on the ground lashes wildly out at Nelly but can't connect. Two archers fire at Mel while three attack Brolin with falchions. Those with falchions are innacurate but the same cannot be said for the archers. Mel is struck twice, one of the arrows cutting through her neck (32 damage).
Fyrtor falls to the ground before Kelian. Without hesitation, the farm boy steps over his fallen comrade, jams his sword into the rubble of the barricade, and lays a hand on Fyrtor's chest. A wave of healing warmth washes over the fallen druid.
Snatching up his sword once more, he shoves the boss of his shield towards the orc lieutenant. For the final time that day, the lion animates and bites savagely at its target.
Five-foot step into Fyrtor's square.
Free action to drop his sword because he needs a hand free for this.
Standard action to use Lay on Hands. As a SU ability, this does not provoke. Fyrtor heals damage.
Move action to pick his sword back up. This provokes.
Free action to command the shield to attack the orc lieutenant twice.
Kelian and Fyrtor are now sharing a square, which is a little unusual. Kelian hopes to shield Fyrtor from any attacks. The healing was not quite enough to get him back on his feet.
A strange calm radiates from Kelian's earnest face, even in the midst of carnage.
He smiles gently.
Seeing Fyrtor go down, Kazador let out a roar and redoubled his attack on the orc leader. He knew that there were casualties in war, but it hurt none the less. He would drown the tunnels in blood if he had to.
Seeing Mel topple behind cover and Fyrtor hit the ground, Muse can only pray that their injuries aren't as severe as they appear. He presses into the mass of orcs, closing to melee with their leader and with those still armed with bows. "Why are you attacking the people way over there?" he tries to get their attention, "when you should be paying attention to me!"
Coming up behind the orc armed with sword and shield, the captain strikes from behind. Seeing Kazador having so much trouble getting past the orc's armor, shield, and natural toughness, Muse tries something a little more underhanded.
"These things are dangerous," he chastises, trying to leverage the orc's scimitar out of his grasp. "You should drop that before someone gets hurt."
The wily orc sees what Brolin is attempting and strikes him, not with his blade, but with his shield, shoving Brolin back into one of the archers who is pushed back with Brolin.
<Orcish>"Death finds you all! These tunnels themselves crave your blood!"</Orcish>, Túrion shouts as a barrage of magic missiles home in on the Orcish Leader - the runes on his robe once again flaring up.
<Sylvan>"Nelly, my mark!"</Sylvan>
With that, he kneels behind the wall again, offering the potion back to Mel if she wants it.
Hearing Túrion address her, Nelly watches which of her possible targets is hit by magic. When the magic missiles home in on the Orc Leutnant, she follows up with a quick bite to the arm he manages to deflect with his shield, but relentlessly she bites again, this time the foot, trying to pull him off balance.
"Ugh!", she says as two arrows strike her.
Mel shakes her head at Túrion as he offers her the potion, saying "Keep that for yourself, I can do better." Instead, she reaches for her healer's pouch and calls on Ostara's grace to heal herself.
Finishing the motion, she drops prone behind the wall. "No sense standing there and taking arrows when I can't answer back," she says to Túrion.
Nelly bites the leader well but can't manage to pull the wily and tough orc to the ground.
Muse tastes blood in his mouth as he stumbles into the orc behind him.
Rolling with the punch, he hastens to put himself out of easy reach.
Kelian's shield strikes the orc once and Kazador follows up with two heavy blows and a miss. The orc wavers in position, his eyes losing focus. Then Nelly bites down hard and Turion's missiles strike home. The leader falls!
The prone orc strikes at Nelly again but with no luck. The archers break, seeing their leader fall, and flee. Those who can flee easily fire at Brolin while they go while the others merely flee to the east. All three arrows miss the incredibly dodgy Brolin Muse.
Sounds of battle are coming from the east tunnel.
"The leader's down, and the others are fleeing, but ... I still hear combat down the corridor," Mel says. "What is going on? Túrion, did you hear the leader say something about the 'human lovers' trying to trick them? Could there be multiple factions of orcs fighting one another in here?"
Kazador looked over the carnage and let out a relieved sigh. It had been a close call, but nobody on their side had died. Looking around he had to concede that his companions were brave. But they weren’t Rune Wardens. They were not clad in cleric-molded stone, nor covered in protective runes. He felt a pang of shame as he saw their wounds. He was not used to fighting alongside others, especially those not of his caste. The orcs had ignored him, given his obvious protection.
Invoking the power of his runes, his armor shimmered and took on a new form. Sturdy leather armor with a hood. Traveling clothes that would not look out of place. It was one of the safeguards of the runesmiths to disguise their work from greedy eyes. Kazador hoped that he would not be avoided as such in the future.
”Well fought. Let’s loot what we can and find out what the orcs are fighting. My money is on another tribe, for that is how they breed such warriors as this one.” He kicked the corpse of the orc leader. ”And then retreat and heal our wounds. We cannot press forward when so many are so close to Magrim’s halls.”
"Mel, Fyrtor needs help," Kelian calls.
"Of course," Mel says, rushing forward.
Together, they tend the fallen druid, Kelian holding the still body while Mel runs gentle hands aglow with holy light over him. Under her touch, wounds draw together and seal shut. But even Ostara's grace, wondrous thought it might be, could not heal all of Fyrtor's grievous wounds at once.
"Túrion, you next," Mel says.
The mage approaches, and Mel and Kelian make quick work of his injuries.
"I ... don't think I can do that again today," Mel says. Weariness echoes in her voice.
"Wha...What happened? Mel, thank you, again. Last I remember that brute hit me with his shield. Is everyone ok?" Fyrtor shakes his head as he stands trying to clear the ringing in his ears and the ache between his eyes. The then retrieves his sword from the ground and sheathes it.
Then he notices Brolin's haggard form. Quickly he moves over to help. "Captain, are you ok? Here, allow me." Chanting he raises his hand and covers a nasty looking cut on the man's shoulder.
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As the wounds were seen to, Algric made his way around, ensuring that the orcs were all dead. Mel had a habit of not killing her foes. Algric didn’t have any such reservations.
"Thanks," Muse tells Fyrtor, slumping against the side of the tunnel and checking all his various injuries. None of them look immediately life-threatening, though he's not sure if that was the case just moments ago. "Thanks," he says again.
"How's everyone holding up?" he asks. "'Cause I feel pretty garbage, if I'm being honest. But . . . if there're people out there fighting and dying, we should . . . we need to help them." Groaning, Muse stands straight. "Earlier, the orcs' leader said something that confused me, when we were trying to draw them out - 'human lovers' he called us. I do love humans, but I am a human, so that's expected. If the orcs out there love humans . . . than we love the same people. I'm sorry I'm not talking straight, I lost a lot of blood. I know we aren't in any shape to fight, but if we're cautious and fast and it's a close fight before we get there . . . we could be kingmakers. We might swing the fight one way or the other."
After finishing healing Brolin's most serious wounds Fyrtor walks over to retrieve his bow from the ground. "I think the Captain is right. As bad off as we are, we may be the difference between whether someone else does today or not. We should at least take a look. At the same time we should be ready to run like hell if needed."
Then he walks offer and takes the leutenant's scimitar. "If no one minds I'm going to hold onto this for now."
Kelian waits until everyone is close to him, and then calls forth healing without further comment.
Mel frowns at Algric's activities, but forebears to comment. This is their home, and it was taken from them. I ... understand, even if I don't approve, she thinks.
"Let me go look," Mel says as the last of her wounds vanish under the warm healing breeze Kelian evokes from nothing. "We don't really know what's going on. I won't go out of earshot."
Mel takes a moment to load another healing potion into her left wrist sheathe, leaving the other with Túrion. Then she grasps her bow in one hand and sneaks forward to see what is causing the ruckus ahead.
Mel slips forward quietly to investigate the sounds of battle. She comes up to another 15 ft tall defensive wall, this one with crenellated battlements. A ladder is set against the wall. Mel quietly slips up the ladder and from there she can see over another defensive wall to the north. There a battle rages between two groups of orcs. The battle seems to be moving north and to the east. Two orcs come sprinting up from a tunnel to the south, climb over a defensive wall, and shout to their lieutenant
"The reinforcements from the south are coming very soon!" Then they scramble down into the fray, which moves to the north and east.
Mel can pick out the two factions of orcs based on their colors, beads, warpaint, and weapons. The faction about to be reinforced is the same faction you have fought already.
Mel slips back to the party.
"The city center is just ahead. More defensive emplacements as well; but there's a fight going on between two factions of orcs. Two orcs arrived, and I heard them say that reinforcements were coming from the south soon. Then they joined up with the fight, and the whole thing became a running battle that shifted off to the north east."
"How does this sound? There's a defensive wall blocking off the main area. I can watch from hiding there, with the rest of you out of sight behind it. We just lay low until these reinforcements pass. Once they've gone by, we sneak across the city behind them and head for the vaults. Let the orcs kill one another off and save us the trouble."
"We could also just go right now, and try to make it across the city before the reinforcements even arrive. But I think that's awfully risky. We're not in peak shape at the moment. I'd rather avoid another fight like that last one if we can."
"Oh! And there are two factions -- red to the north and blue to the south. This lot we just fought were with the red faction, apparently. They're the ones retreating."
Thoughtfully, Mel takes one of the signal horns from their dead foes.
"Kazador, you mentioned there were two vaults. Which should we make for first?"
The orc warband Halak traveled with would be of the blue faction.
"Ah! Come to think of it, I think I've seen those blue markings before. The tribe that assaulted Brookside wore them. Ukar's tribe must have been allied with this one. I wonder if Halak is here."
"Kazador, I think this has to be up to you. You know these halls better than anyone else. I worry about what would happen if they caught us though. Running back is doable, but if we have to fight our way out we could be in major trouble."
Turning to Mel Fyrtor continues, "Who are Halak and Ukar?"
”I think Mel has the right of it. If we retreat now the victors will turn their full attention to us. But if we can sneak by while they fight, then we might well get this done.”
He tried his best to sound confident. That was key. Make a plan and stick with it. Don’t show hesitation or doubt. He fervently prayed that this decision wouldn’t get any of them killed.
As she speaks, Mel restores her head scarf, once again resuming human guise.
"Brookside was assaulted by two orc tribes. One was led by Gornak the Strong. A group of Brookside villagers led by Kelian's father Vors intercepted Gornak's tribe in the forest and fought him. They won, but they lost one of their own in that fight -- a man named Cyrus Lem. I didn't really know him. I ... got there too late to help."
"In any case, Halak was a druid -- Gornak's shaman. They captured him. When Vors and I interrogated him, he revealed that there was a second tribe on the way, led by an orc named Ukar the Deadly. He was ... powerful. A devotee of the Midnight Lord. We lost a lot of good people in the fight."
"Halak ... helped us. He broke out of the barn we'd imprisoned him in during the fight, and instead of joining Ukar's forces, he used his magic to heal Vors when he desperately needed it. At the time I thought it was because Vors had promised him a warrior's death in exchange for his information. Halak had his own sense of honor, in a twisty sort of way. Or perhaps Vors just made that big an impression on him. Vors was like that."
"Later we realized both the orc tribes had been tricked by a third party -- my people, as it turned out. Halak came with us when we went to investigate. Afterwards, well ... I think Vors felt he'd earned his freedom. We let him go, and he vanished back into the wastes. He could be here now, somewhere out in the darkness over there, fighting his own people."
She grimaces. Like me, she thinks. In a way.
Kelian speaks up slowly "The other orcs called them human-lovers, right? What if this other faction would be friendly to us? We could turn the tide of this battle, couldn't we?"
The "red" faction seemed to have the upper hand and was about to be reinforced.
"Hmmm, trying to contact the orcs would mean no chance of slipping by, but if the orcs would be allies we would be much safer fighting with one group against the other.
Kazador, I owe you my life. I will do as you will in this. I'm sure you'd like nothing more than for the orcs to kill each other, but if there is a chance one of these factions would be fiendly, in even a loose sense of the word, I think we should consider lending our aid before they are slaughtered."
While he says all of this Fyrtor is clearly conflicted. On one hand the orcs have generally been murdering monaters, but in the other they've been manipulated into doing so and Mel's story suggests some dislike it badly enough to fight their own. Fyrtor's personal tendency in towards leniency, diplomacy and forgiveness, but he also owes a tremendous debt to Kazador for saving his life and knows the hurt of his whole society being massacred runs deep.
Kazador carefully chose his words. He could feel Algric staring at him. ”Orc culture venerates strength. It is their currency, their religion, their politics. They are not evil by their own accounts. Though their general inability to tell civilian from soldier lends me to kill them on sight. While one tribe may be friendlier than most, it does not make us their ally. I would let them fight it out and sneak by if at all possible. If we cannot do so, then we can make our presence know and tip the scales in one side’s favor. It is as the old saying goes, an enemy of my enemy is just that. The enemy of my enemy. It does not make them a friend.”
Algric shook his head angrily. ”The monsters killed everyone. My ma, my pa, brother and sister. Didn’t care who had a weapon and who didn’t. To the abyss with them all.”
"Well, the red faction was about to be reinforced," Mel says. "And the blue faction of 'human lovers' is on the ropes. So yes, Kelian, intervening is something we could do."
She sits and runs a hand down her face. "I wish we knew more about what's going on here."
"The Concordat has used the orcs as a weapon. Repeatedly, by trickery. If he's here, Halak knows that, and he was not happy about it. So if we reinforce his faction, perhaps we could take that weapon away from the Concordat -- set up a new balance of power in the orc lands led by someone who knows to be wary of Concordat trickery."
"But there's no guarantee that would work. If Halak is here he'd probably agree to a truce if we rescued his band. More than that I couldn't say. We've already fought two sharp engagements, our resources are low, and I never liked Halak much."
"On the other hand, if we just sneak by while they're busy, well, maybe they'll kill each other off, or weaken one another. But maybe not. And we still have to get back out once we're done. One way or another, I think we're going to wind up fighting orcs again today."
"Kazador, Algric, I know you want vengeance for the wrongs you and your people suffered here. But the question is: do we want to let the red faction wipe out the blue faction in the hopes that they'll be seriously weakened? Or do we want to aid the blue faction so that we will have allies -- however temporary and uneasy -- while we do so?"
Túrion thanks Mel when she heals him, then spends a moment in quiet contemplation as he studies some runes in one of his spellbooks. Eventually, he seems to be done: "Kazador, Algric, by what Mel said, it's in your best interest that we support the blues.", Túrion joins the discussion.
"We fought these reds so far, you have seen their strenght, and they seem to have the upper hand. We have evaded notice of them so far, because they have their hands full. But if they realize several of their defenses were wiped out by us? You wouldn't want their response group to come after us...No, if you want your former home free of Orcs, you need to balance the scales, so that they kill each other as efficiently as possible...giving you the best chance to wipe out those who remain when the dust settles. Right now, that means helping the Blues. If they are forced to withdraw or wiped out, cleansing this place becomes that much harder..."
Looking at Fyrtor and Brolin, he continues:"Albeit I do have to admit, I am unsure if I can render any more assistance today. Most of my magics have been drained in the encounters we had. If there's Orcs trying to get INSIDE the vaults, or they succeed in summoning reinforcements...we may be in significant trouble, with no workable exit strategy...if we could help out the blues, then convince them to strike at the heart of the city tomorrow, we'd solve a number of problems..."
"The reds know we're here," Mel points out. "Several of those archers got away. They're not going to forget about us, and you can just bet that once they're done fighting the blues, the reds are going to come looking for us."
"Dang it, that's right! The reds probably think we are allied with the blues too."
”Well, I’d rather kill orcs than sneak past ‘em. Let’s kill some reds!”