The Tables Turn

Turn Seventeen: The Tables Turn


Adriena looks around every time a victory shout is made and realizes that none of them come from her friends. She turns to Malis and says, " Maybe we should see if we can aid our comrades. It doesn't sound like they won; they may be hurt. I'll go check with Haratai."

Adriena walks towards the wagon Haratai is on - looking over to the crowd to see how her friends fair. It appears to her that the two bodies by a fire are her friends and she fights off an urge to run to their side. She reaches the wagon and says, "Master Haratai, with your permission, I would like to attend those fallen. They are little use to us in that condition," she points to their unconcious bodies.

Haratai looks over at the bodies and then at Adriena, "Those of the order do not consort with cooks. Permission denied, I was having trouble choosing but it would seem that you have some extra energy. Go freshen yourself, you will attend me this evening," he finishes with a leer and a hand gesture signalling dismissal.

The orcs around Gregory do not clear. They watch as Gregory stands over the unconscious Orc, their cheering grows louder as they look to see what Gregory will do next.

Adriena's mouth drops open at Haratai's 'insinuation', but she quickly composes herself. Sweat begins to creep down her face and she stands there for a moment, undecided as to what she should do - if anything. Finally, she returns to Malis, stummbling a bit in her fright. With a noticeable quiver, she speaks with Malis, "Ooh, dear....he means to 'have' me tonight, I think. Oh, Malis, what shall we do? I am NOT letting him..touch me. He is definately very comfortable with his power among these orcs. Perhaps we can use that against him. Maybe we can convince him that two concubines are better than one, play up to his ego. Then we can both nail that disgusting bastard..oh, sorry I don't usually talk like this...oh dear." With very shaky hands she rubs the sweat off of her plams on the front of her clothes and suddenly stops. "If I have to remove my clothes the whole mission is in jeopardy. I have my spell scrolls and rope and stuff hidden here. "She takes a big breath and lets it out slowly. "OK, He told me to go freshen up. Come with me. We can go away from the camp for a little ways, maybe to the barn of something. We'll come up with something."

Malis says lightly to Adriena, "Yes Adriena we should go off and make a plan for the night but first I must attend our fallen comrades." Malis then picks up her war hammer and heads of for Ganthanor.

Adriena puts a cautionary hand on Malis' arm and puts herself between Malis and any prying eyes particularly Haratai. "Be careful. Haratai denied me 'permission' to attend them. Something about not mingling with the cooks. They are too low in ranking to deserve such attention, but I will not stop you. It looks like Aan is in a pretty bad way. And please hurry, I'm anxious to be away from here..."

Malis tots her warhammer and _begins_ walking over to where the new cooks lie when Haratai's voice rings out in anger. "I have said to leave them alone. Do not test me!"

At the same time, all of the other orcs attention is focused on Red Tusk as he yells out to Gregory, "Where do you think you are going? Get over here." When Gregory doesn't comply he starts to get angry and says, "I said get over here. Now!" Red Tusk points over to the orc's sleeping area and says, "You stay over here, not with the priests. Get over here."

Adriena quickly moves forward and grabs Malis roughly by the arm, gives a loud hiss and in a low voice says, "Don't go now. We must get Haratai alone. Once _we_are the head priests, we can do what we want." She releases Malis and wags a finger at Gregory and makes a 'shoo' ing gesture at him, then turns and ignores him with an obvious flair, as if she feels she is above his presence.

Gregory walks over to the Orc that is yelling at him. He walks up and stands snout to snout with perhaps an inch separating the two and begins yelling in Red Tusks face. Gregory doesn't yell anything specific since he is playing the role of a mute but just creates loud sounding noises. Gregory tenses himself ready in the event of an attack by Red Tusk.

Adriena is distracted when he sees Haratai's eyes go hard and quickly dart over to Gregory. Adriena realizes that mutes do not have vocal cords and thus can not make any noise at all, she thinks that perhaps Haratai knows this as well.

Malis turns, pulling her arm out of Adriena's distracted grasp and says, "I'm sorry Adriena, but if I do not help them then I will be breaking every vow that I have made. Haratai will have to kill me to stop me from helping my own friends," Malis's voice gets louder and angrier as she continues, "I held back when the women was being torchered but by the Gods I am not holding back now. If Haratai takes my life my God be with you all." She then continues walking towards the fallen cooks.

Adriena bites her lip in frustration as Haratai's attention is drawn back to the two of them. Haratai clearly overhears the angry Orc priestess his hand tightning on his handaxe when he sees that Malis is speaking and the fact that she is speaking in Common. Looking around Adriena is thankful that as it would seem all of the other Orcs' attention is focused on Gregory and Red Tusk and only Haratai has noticed the faux pas.

Haratai waves his hand again towards Malis, the effects are slower as Malis almost fought off the spell but again she locks into a frozen position. Hartai says quietly his words barely audible, "Bring her here _now_"

On the other side of the campsite, two orcs stand face to face and toe to toe. Suddenly Gregory is falling the air bursting from his lungs as he hits the ground. Gregory never saw the legsweep that sent him to the ground. Red Tusk looks down at him and says, "You are not orc enough to beat Red Tusk," he turns to the surrounding orcs, "Teach him." Red Tusk turns and walks away as the orcs crash down upon the prone Gregory like a wave. The first few kicks resulted in the kicker pulling back holding his foot in pain. Gregory smiled and begun to get to his feet amoungst kicking feet when one foot connected to his solar plexus and drove his new lungful of air out like a broken sieve. The orcs, encouraged, continue to rain down kicks and blows on Gregory. Gregory smartly pulls himself into a ball protecting his vital points from serious injury. An eternity later Gregory is drifting in and out of consciousness as Red Tusk's voice is heard again, "I think you will make a good cook. Dump him." The blows cease and Gregory finds his battered body picked up and roughly handled. He is carried over to the cook fire and uncerimoniously dumped by the other three cooks.

Red Tusk frowns looking at the prone figure for a moment before his remembers his nightly entertainment. With a laugh and good cheer Red Tusk starts swinging the poor woman over the fire and near the waiting mouths of the large lizards.

During these events Garth sits quietly in a good vantage point, watching and gauging, trying to determine what he will do. When Red Tusk returns to his sport Garth wipes his forehead in relief that Gregory is still alive. This is when Garth almost faints as he sees his own hand. "Uh-oh," he thinks to himself.

Adriena sees the rest of the party go down. As far as she knows, she is the only one left capable of doing ..anything.. “Malis and I should have left while we had the chance”, she thinks, “Well, that's not an option any more, girl. Get a grip.” She turns her back to Haratai and pretends to be trying to lift Malis, but in reality she draws her dagger and hides it up her right sleeve. Then she does her best to bring Malis over to Haratai, slowly, stalling for time. Once they have reached the edge of the wagon where he sits, she positions Malis about four or five feet away from his seat and a little back from the front, making it awkward for her to be studied well. Adriena places herself against the wagon, and pants a little as if she is weak and out of breath, her eyes never leaving the vile Orc Cleric. She studies him hard, looking at any particular items he may be carrying.

Haratai wears chainmail armor underneath a black robe. He is currently carrying a handaxe, he has a ring on his left hand. That is all that Adriena can see.

Haratai says to Adriena, "She needs to be taught a lesson, she will take your place this evening. You may watch.."

Haratai then walks over to the frozen Malis and punches her solidly in the stomach. Malis feels the pain but is frozen in place. Haratai then swings the flat of his handaxe at the back of Malis' knees. Haratai waves his hand and suddenly Malis can move again. The pain in her stomach doubles her over and her legs buckle underneath her forcing her to her knees. To prevent her face from smashing into the ground Malis shoots out her arms to stop her fall.

Haratai smiles and waves his hand again. The stiffness overcomes Malis for a third time. Haratai moves behind Malis and quickly lifts her robes up and begins one-handedly stripping off her chainmail leggings.. His other hand still holds the hand-axe.

Adriena chokes down bile as a plan comes to her mind. She blocks out the fear she feels for Malis and concentrates on what she wants to do. As Haratai struggles with Malis' pants, she moves around so she is slightly behind him and to his right.

Haratai continues to hold his hand axe in one hand and manages to loosen Malis' chain pants and pull them down. Adriena says, "This isn't the first time I've been allowed to watch, you know. I think I like your style." Haratai starts to lift his robe when he pauses, "On second thought, I don't think that I want you to watch, especially when you are holding a blade in your hand," he snarls at Adriena, "Go tend the cooks and get me some dinner, I'll be hungry soon."

Adriena pauses as she wonders what to do, "How did he know about the blade?" Anger flushes Adriena's face. “I won't let this happen,” she thinks, “This is crazy! How can we keep up our secret with this orc around? We can't, and I'd rather die than see him continue to live!" Aloud she whispers, "I'll have your eyes, you bastard!" Arcane words are spoken and a shimmering shield of force appears before Adriena. Her dagger is now plainly visible in her hand.

Haratai quickly stands, his robe dropping back into place and turns facing Adriena, his mouth turned up in a large grin as if he finds this entire situation to be funny. He looks at Adriena and says, "This is the most fun I have had in years."

Adriena snears, "I promise to be as little fun as I can, swine!" She hunches his body to present a smaller target and weaves intricate patterns in the air with her dagger, she begins to move in a circular pattern to get away from the wagon but Haratai moves directly up to her in melee range and holds his hand axe ready to attack before she are able to get much distance with her circling maneuver.

Adriena remembers what her brothers taught her, and she waits for Haratai to make his move, "You would be wise to lower your weapon, Haratai, Learder of Pigs. I know things that could be useful to one in your position." Adriena stands ready to try and block Haratai's blow when it comes hurtling towards her. His hand-axe seems to hit some sort of barrier as it comes near her but pierces through the barrier. Before she can raise her arm to block it the flat of the hand-axe connects with her left temple and she crumples to the ground unconscious.

Meanwhile Ganthanor regains consciousness and Garth nearly jumps out of his skin at the sight of his own hand. Silently cursing to himself, he realizes that he actually feels a little relieved. Now at least I don't have to keep torturing myself over when the damn spell will where off. Instead, I can worry about what I can do now that I am visible. Invisible I had a chance to help my friends, but I couldn't survive a beating like the one Gregory just took. Garth resolves himself to his current plan of action. Trusting that his is good at his craft, and knowing that he is good at hiding, Garth KNOWS that he picked as good a spot for hiding as can be found. And despite the stares from Haratia, he will try to remain hidden till a time when perhaps he can help his companions. Besides, Garth is beginning to wonder about Haratia - - - if Haratia can see where he is hidden, why hasn't he done something about it? Never-the-less, Garth can think of nothing else to do but wait, so wait he does (while quietly drumming his fingers on his leg).

Around the cooksite and cookfire, Ganthanor sees his two companions (still unconscious) and one of the former cooks. There are several cooking utensils scattered about on the ground, (ladles, big spoons, etc) and a large cauldren over the cookfire. There is some sort of meat as well as basic items to make a stew. It appears that someone has already started making something in the cauldren. The light is not very good and the stew-like liquid is very dark. Thankfully Ganthanor can not see what the exact contents of the cauldron are, but he does see some chunks and lumps in it that he is not sure of their identity. He tries not to vomit into the cauldren as his imagination begins to guess what the lumps are.

Garth, having recently realized he is no longer invisible, is still resolute to hide and bide his time until a better opportunity to help his friends comes along. He is keeping vigilant watch on Haratia, Red Tusk, and the other Orcs to ensure he isn't seen from his hiding place. Garth feels guilty for not being able to help his friends, but he would have faired much worse than the other fighters, and his invisibility would have been hard to explain. He hopes in the confusion he was lost and forgotten about. The opportunity he is waiting for is to follow the group of orcs (and his friends) when they move out. If during the night or during this evenings drunkeness, and opportunity appears to free the hostages, attack the orcs, or otherwise help his friends, Garth will do so, until then he will wait.

Looking over the campsite, Garth sees Red Tusk back at his sport of torturing the woman. Ganthanor is now conscious and is puttering around the cookfire. Looking over at Haratai Garth doesn't see Malis anywhere, He does see Haratai swing his hand-axe and connect with Adriena's head. Adriena falls to the ground like a bag of potatoes. Garth does not see any blood. No one else seems to have noticed the exchange. Haratai gives a hurumpf and then turns back and moves out of Garth’s sight behind a wagon.

Returning to his conquest, Haratai finishes pulling down Malis’ leggings and raises his own robe and loosens his armour. He then waves his hands and softly gives a quiet prayer. From behind her he mounts her with a giddy gait. Rushing to a climax he bends over, his breath warming Malis’ ear as he says in a broken common, “You bear me strong whelps.”


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