"A wise course of action, master Telemakos. I will visit death upon none but the creature controlling these brutes." Shinjuko has no sooner uttered her assent than her hands begin flying through spell somatics. She calls forth incantations and steps into a brief twirl that concludes with her disappearing completely. The hiss of her sword leaving its sheath sounds briefly before she becomes impossible to trace.
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Round 1 continue
Iliante shrugs at the pacifism and unreadies to shoot the first charging orc that gets within 30 feet of him.
For his part, Penance groans in something like frustration/dread at Telemakos's suggestion.
"Do you know if they can be saved?" he says as he braces for the slavering orc bearing down on him. "That poison or whatever it is could have already rotted out their brain-- and these guys look like they hit hard with those g!%$%%ned axes! Taking them alive might not be the easiest thing in the world!"
"So...what, we need to kill the tree? Would that save them?" Devram looks at the advancing orcs. "I don't know that they're going to like that. Penance might be right. They may be too far gone in any case."
He shifts to his sinuous combat stance.
Telemakos seems offended at the tone of Penance’s answer “Umpf! Well, I was just trying to give a constructive suggestion to improve our… chance of alliance with the orc tribe.” he scratches his beard “I am sure we can do without killing all of them, right? Let’s try, at least. We are the harbingers of civilization in these lands, are we not?”
He turns to Devram “Oh and the tree cannot, most appropriately for a plant, move. I am sure we can burn it down from a distance once this unpleasant business with the orcs is over.”
Feeling the gnome's magic wash over him, Corridan uses his enhanced speed in combination with his skill at stealth to carefully approach the strange plant and its minions, taking care to remain both unseen and silent.
The plant reacts to the orcs' antagonism by withdrawing its tendril from the orc's neck. The thirty foot long sharp-ended vines raise up into the air, waving about as if sniffing the air or feeling for vibrations like antennae. The orcs look ready to charge the Agents, their hands grip greataxes. They growl with deep, choked, animalistic noises and their tusks gleam with greenish saliva.
"The hell is that," Penance growls with instinctive revulsion for the way the orcs lethargically tolerate the way the plant is... embedded in the flesh of one of their number. "Something's not right about that tree! Stay back from it, let's deal with the orcs first!"
As he slides off his lizard to the ground (so much better, to stand on the ground) Penance draws his sword as well.
"Ngadeg maneh, lan kita ora kudu perang! Ayo maju, lan mati!" he snarls to his distant, distant relations. They ignore him.
Telemakos look through the clearing at the disgusting plant “Ugh! That is awful-looking. Let us keep our distance before we get a rash or something equally annoying.”
“Uh… master, what about the zombie orcs?” asks the genie from behind.
“Zombie? Do not be ridiculous, ‘Ras, those cannot possibly be… although… let me take a closer look…” the gnome stands on a knee on the lizard's back, trying to get a better view of the encounter.
Devram slides down from the lizard. "Stay here." He pats the lizard's neck. He didn't even want to think about what might happen if they got the mounts too close to that tree. Or ourselves either.
He moves toward the orcs slowly, drawing his sword. "Hey, do you guys know the Khan?" The orcs ignore his words, beginning to lope towards the band of Agents.
Iliante pulls out his revolver and spins the chamber looking around for another part of the ambush. He is weirdly happy for the diversion of target practice.
“Ah, yes that is just as I imagined!” exclaims the gnome after squinting to get a better look at the plant “The orcs appear to be enthralled by the plant, via a mind-controlling poison injected with a tendril.” he stops for a second “Yes, that is exactly what is happening.”
“I believe that saving the unfortunate orcs from the thralldom would bode well for our relationship with their leaders, don’t you think? More allies! It may be possible to subdue them with minimal casualties…” he suggests to his fellow Agents “Whatever you do, do not get too close to the plant. It cannot move, and thus scarcely dangerous if we keep our distances.”
“Come on now, we can run circles around them! Let’s try not to kill all of the orcs… that goes for you especially, ‘Ras!”
"A wise course of action, master Telemakos. I will visit death upon none but the creature controlling these brutes." Shinjuko has no sooner uttered her assent than her hands begin flying through spell somatics. She calls forth incantations and steps into a brief twirl that concludes with her disappearing completely. The hiss of her sword leaving its sheath sounds briefly before she becomes impossible to trace.
Iliante shrugs at the pacifism and lowers his revolver a bit.
For his part, Penance groans in something like frustration/dread at Telemakos's suggestion. "Do you know if they can be saved?" he says as he braces for the slavering orc bearing down on him. "That poison or whatever it is could have already rotted out their brain-- and these guys look like they hit hard with those g+*!*~ned axes! Taking them alive might not be the easiest thing in the world!"
Meanwhile the orcs howling and slobbering draw ever closer.
"So...what, we need to kill the tree? Would that save them?" Devram looks at the advancing orcs. "I don't know that they're going to like that. Penance might be right. They may be too far gone in any case." He shifts to his sinuous combat stance.
Telemakos seems offended at the tone of Penance’s answer “Umpf! Well, I was just trying to give a constructive suggestion to improve our… chance of alliance with the orc tribe.” he scratches his beard “I am sure we can do without killing all of them, right? Let’s try, at least. We are the harbingers of civilization in these lands, are we not?”
He turns to Devram “Oh and the tree cannot, most appropriately for a plant, move. I am sure we can burn it down from a distance once this unpleasant business with the orcs is over.”
Feeling the gnome's magic wash over him, Corridan uses his enhanced speed in combination with his skill at stealth to carefully approach the strange plant and its minions, taking care to remain both unseen and silent.
One of the orcs finally closes with Ras after tearing its way through the underbrush. The genie brings the flat of his sword down on the orc's skull with a loud thunk, but the greenskin just roars and shakes it off. His companions are not far behind him, shoving their way through the thick brush like rampaging apes.
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Same terrain as last time:
"Right. They didn't even flinch with Ras smashing him. Maybe we don't have to kill all of them, but I don't like fighting with one hand tied behind my back. And I might be better at that than most!" Devram uses his enhanced speed to try and flank the group of orcs. He steps up near one and slashes out with his dueling sword.
"With Coates on this," Penance grunts. "Subduing crazy people's harder when they're trying to kill you and aren't bothered by a blow like the one that one just took."
He steps forward to join Coates in beating up the same raging orc.
Penance growls in a low-key answer to the orcs' crazed noises as he swings his greatsword in a powerful arc of flashing cold iron.
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“Oooh…oh.” Telemakos is taken aback when ‘Ras’ perfect hit doesn’t even faze the orc.
Arasmes turns back from the heat of battle “Master, I don’t think I hurt him very much! He must have a very hard head!”
“Mpfff! You must know something about that... yes, well, I saw it myself. It was just a theory, after all!” the gnome takers a second to conceal his disappointment “Well, no point in crying over spilled milk! There’s this trick I just remembered… I learned it in Quantium’s Transmogrificaorium, no less… I’ve been just dying to try it out – the incantation is quite similar to my previous one, with some key words pronounced backwards, if you can believe it…” while the gnome enchants away, ‘Ras forgets about caution and hits again the orcs - with the sharp part of the blade.
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I am starting to see why so many people ban the Summoner from their games.
Shinjuko conjures a freezing enchantment onto her blade, and steps forward to bring the back of her blade to bear against the nearest orc's head. She nearly trips over every shrub, root, and twig along the way, and barely manages not to face plant in the foliage at the orc's feet.
Moving quickly to engage the orc closest to him, Corridan attempts a straight punch at his foe's jaw.
Round 2
In all his years, Iliante has never entered a fight that hasn't been to the death. Why fight except for survival?
"Alright, you guys can dance with the zombie orcs. But if they get near me, I'm shootin 'em."
"Right. They didn't even flinch with Ras smashing him. Maybe we don't have to kill all of them, but I don't like fighting with one hand tied behind my back. And I might be better at that than most!" Devram uses his enhanced speed to try and flank the group of orcs. He steps up near one and slashes out with his dueling sword. The thin blade pierces the orc's lung, but the creature makes no complaint.
"With Coates on this," Penance grunts. "Subduing crazy people's harder when they're trying to kill you and aren't bothered by a blow like the one that one just took."
He steps forward to join Coates in beating up the same raging orc. Penance growls in a low-key answer to the orcs' crazed noises as he swings his greatsword in a powerful arc of flashing cold iron. If the orc were a human, it would be dead. But it's an orc, so though it's nearly chopped in half, it's somehow still standing. It takes the heavy blow without making a reaction. The red blood spurting from its wounds confirms what the Agents already know, these are no undead, but rather live orcs.
“Oooh…oh.” Telemakos is taken aback when ‘Ras’ perfect hit doesn’t even faze the orc.
Arasmes turns back from the heat of battle “Master, I don’t think I hurt him very much! He must have a very hard head!”
“Mpfff! You must know something about that... yes, well, I saw it myself. It was just a theory, after all!” the gnome takers a second to conceal his disappointment “Well, no point in crying over spilled milk! There’s this trick I just remembered… I learned it in Quantium’s Transmogrificaorium, no less… I’ve been just dying to try it out – the incantation is quite similar to my previous one, with some key words pronounced backwards, if you can believe it…” while the gnome enchants away, ‘Ras forgets about caution and hits again the orcs - with the sharp part of the blade. He cuts down the previously wounded orc, and gives a vicious blow to another, nearby.
Shinjuko conjures a freezing enchantment onto her blade, and steps forward to bring the back of her blade to bear against the nearest orc's head. She nearly trips over every shrub, root, and twig along the way, and barely manages not to face plant in the foliage at the orc's feet.
Moving quickly to engage the orc closest to him, Corridan attempts a straight punch at his foe's jaw. His punch sends the staggered, slowed orc reeling, but it doesn't go down.
In all his years, Iliante has never entered a fight that hasn't been to the death. Why fight except for survival? "Alright, you guys can dance with the zombie orcs. But if they get near me, I'm shootin 'em."
The orcs attack the Agents closest to them, though nearly all of them are hindered by Telemakos' spell. One attacks Arasmes, two Corridan, and the other two approach Devram. They roar loudly as they attack, despite having shown no pain before. The jagged edge of orcish axes rip open the bodies of Corridan and Arasmes, leaving large bloody gashes in their wake.
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Miss
Rising quick from the blunder that lies behind her, Shinjuko rises with her tachi reversed to unleash a rapid succession of blows to the crazed orc's skull. It falls into an unconscious heap in front of the frail samurai-ko.
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Round 2
"Dammit, go down," Penance snarls at the orc in front of him. He's used to that being his thing, to still be standing after taking a blow like that. He growls to himself at the sight of Corridan taking a nasty slash, and answers that with another swing of his greatsword-- less forceful than the first, but still solid.
Penance strides forward, to give the remaining orcs someone to swing at more their own size, rather than ganging up on the already-injured Corridan.
Devram shifts to a defensive stance and pulls his strikes, more intent on parrying the attacks from the orcs than hitting them. He would cut these boys down if needed, but just maybe they could save them. "Illante, Tele! Shoot the tree! Let's see how it reacts to that."
Round 2 continue
"Shoot the tree?! Are you daft?! Who's got a saw!? Or better yet, alchemist fire?" Iliante is clearly not happy shooting the tree with a 30 foot reach. He trudges closer to the tree keeping away from the orcs and snaps off a round of target practice.
Standing his ground despite the attack and subsequent wound, Corridan breathes deeply, first steadying himself and then unleashing a flurry of blows against the closest of the orcs. Still, despite the fact that their enemies do not seem to return the courtesy, the tailor seeks to incapacitate rather than kill as one after another his strikes connect solidly.
“On you go, ‘Ras! Don’t play around, bash them good!” Telemakos yells from above the noise of battle, while spurring softly his mount round the theatre of battle, to get a better view of the sinister tree. Arasmes once again hacks at the zombiefied orcs.
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Rising quick from the blunder that lies behind her, Shinjuko rises with her tachi reversed to unleash a rapid succession of blows to the crazed orc's skull. It falls into an unconscious heap in front of the frail samurai-ko.
"Dammit, go down," Penance snarls at the orc in front of him. He's used to that being his thing, to still be standing after taking a blow like that. He growls to himself at the sight of Corridan taking a nasty slash, and answers that with another swing of his greatsword-- less forceful than the first, but still solid. Penance strides forward, to give the remaining orcs someone to swing at more their own size, rather than ganging up on the already-injured Corridan.
Devram shifts to a defensive stance and pulls his strikes, more intent on parrying the attacks from the orcs than hitting them. He would cut these boys down if needed, but just maybe they could save them. "Illante, Tele! Shoot the tree! Let's see how it reacts to that."
"Shoot the tree?! Are you daft?! Who's got a saw!? Or better yet, alchemist fire?" Iliante is clearly not happy shooting the tree with a thirty foot reach. He trudges closer to the tree keeping away from the orcs.
Standing his ground despite the attack and subsequent wound, Corridan breathes deeply, first steadying himself and then unleashing a flurry of blows against the closest of the orcs. Still, despite the fact that their enemies do not seem to return the courtesy, the tailor seeks to incapacitate rather than kill as one after another his strikes connect solidly.
“On you go, ‘Ras! Don’t play around, bash them good!” Telemakos yells from above the noise of battle, while he spurs softly his mount round the theater of battle, to get a better view of the sinister tree. Arasmes once again hacks at the zombiefied orc in front of him, cracking its skull with the flat of his blade and dropping it to the ground.
By the time the Agents have all made their attacks, only two orcs are left standing and both are slowed by the effect of Telemakos' spell. They step forward and attack Penance, as he is the loudest and most familiar threat.
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"Fine, fine! One of you spellcasters hit that tree with something and see how these boys react." Devram moves to flank the orc, giving the thing an opening to attack him. Then the swordsman retaliates with his fist rather than his sword.
Devram uses his Snake Style stance to counterattack.
“I am woefully lacking in… ehm… destructive magic, master Coates. It is Arasmes who usually damages things… and my patience, too!” Telemakos replies to Devram.
The gnome points his rifle at the tree. “However, the technological marvels that the Consortium provided for us will do just fine, I believe. ‘Ras, please do a quick job with those orcs, we might need your might – pardon the wordplay, everyone – against that ugly thing!”
That said, he braces the butt against his shoulder and fires.
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Penance growls as he takes a slash from an axe, and also as he sees that half the group is still going for non-violent subduing. Ahhh, fine.
"Alright, alright," he mutters, and shifts his grip on the greatsword to swing with the flat of the big blade.
Clearly, Penance is at a loss when it comes to trying to use an executioner's greatsword to simply subdue someone. The thing's meant for killing, okay. Both slashes miss, and Penance grits his teeth and mutters a few terse words to Abadar beneath his breath.
Round 3
Against his better judgment, Iliante starts shooting the tree.
Shinjuko gestures with a hand, and summons three hazes of energy containing a Minkai rune that represents the mountain. They streak across the sky, blasting the orcs into the dirt while the third flashes overhead to strike the strange tree-like creature that holds sway over the orcs.
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Quickly moving to flank one of the downed orcs, trying to avoid his outstretched arms, Corridan goes for a swift kick to his foe's head. After all, unconscious and on the ground is better than just on the ground but conscious.
As the last of the orcs fall, people with more renewable ranged weapons than firearms take over the shooting. After a minute or two of pelting the tree with various projectiles it seems to die, giving one final shudder before it leans over sideways, limp.
Telemakos is smiling while dismounting from the lizard “That was very well done, everybody!” he congratulates his companions “We are indeed starting to behave like a well-oiled group of adventurers. Ah! Adventurer! Who would’ve thought this woud’ve been our future, uh, ‘Ras?”
“Master, I always liked adventures! But you are a bit lazy, and…”
“Shush now! We need to decide what to do with the surviving orcs. I am quite pleased to see we managed to get them all alive but one…” he pats an orc on the bumpy head, and retracts the hand as quickly as he can when the cracked skull of the orc gives in and brain matter starts pouring out “ehm,, ehrr… two. I am afraid this fellow is dead too.”
“We might get a sample of the tree for Master Nimlaidas, he would greatly appreciate it. As for the orcs, I suggest taking their weapons and armor off, perhaps binding them, then wake up just one of them for now. Master Penance can surely do the honors of talking to him.”
Iliante reloads his revolver and collects the javelins, because they are cheaper than bullets. He offers them to anyone else if they want.
Penance grunts and wipes off his sword. "Yeah... nobody dropped this time. And by nobody I mean 'me', heh. So we're getting better."
He gingerly pokes his side where the axe had dented his poor, much-battered suit of armor. Still hurts, even after his first prayer to the guy upstairs.
"Who's hurt? Anyone but me and Corridan?"
He wants to take care of that before they start waking up weird tree-controlled orcs.
Devram wipes his blade and fist clean from the orc blood. "I'm fine. Nasty tree thing though. I hope there aren't more of those." He quickly disarms the orcs of their axes, tossing them aside and strips them of their armor.
Shinjuko arranges the felled orcs in more respectable positions, with their weapons clutched firmly in their grips. She has no idea what sort of customs these orcs (or any orcs, really) follow, but she assumes it is a very warrior-like society. Since they were hoping to secure further alliances, showing respect to the fallen seemed appropriate.
"Alright then," Penance says, and puts a big hand on Corridan's shoulder. "Courtesy the big golden guy... Uh, I mean, Abadar's holy power and blessing on you, and stuff."
Penance pauses as he recognizes Abadar's healing seems to work a lot better on people not... him. He mutters something that might be a quiet curse under his breath, then clears his throat. "Right. There you go, then."
Feeling better when it turns out Abadar will still heal him some, Penance makes his way over to their captives. Penance looks between the full-blooded orcs, making sure they are firmly bound.