Ultimatum

Ven, hearing the ultimatum and the ensuing spell about to be cast stops dead in his tracks. He doesn't know what spell is being cast, but he's still a ways from the others. So he gets to the nearest wall and hurries further away to escape the spell's range, figuring that he won't be of any use if he gets nabbed in a sleep or charm spell.

Sandros watches as the others begin various preparations, and he mutters, "Dammit...not turning out very well, here..."
Raising his voice loud enough for the others to hear him, he says, "Why don't we just grab our unconscious orc woman and get out of here? Perhaps she'll tell us what we need to know..."

Tavarak shakes his head, "Well so much for our 1 minute, guess his word isn't worth much". As the chant begins, Tavarak curses silently and hollers as loud as he can, "Quick Beaton cast your fireball before their wizard can cast." (Attempting to throw off the wizards concentration) Tav drops to his stomach, up close to the wall, closing one eye and taking a deep breath.

Before Andrew calls out his question to the orc-swine Jarg, the dwarf  answers "You're right, Tavarak, an orc's word isn't worth the air it poisons. But if that's a sleep spell, let's back away from the entrance about twenty paces. If they try to come through, we'll charge them then."

Daggda grabs the dead spear-wielding half-orc(F), and drags the body away from the entrance, motioning to Andrew to do the same. Hearing Sandros loud-toned ruse, Daggda responds while backing away, "Two dozen?! Grab the woman, let's go!" the dwarf looks back and smiles broadly at Sandros. In a lower voice, the acolyte of Moradin hisses, "Somebody check that crack we found in the north wall; maybe there's another spellcaster hiding backthere..."

"Oh dear, oh dear..." mutters Myr, who follows Ven's lead and presses herself up against the wall as well. "Oh how I wish I spoke Orc about now." She pulls her hood up over her head, as if it were going to provide her with some protection

Quietly to those close, "Maybe he's telling the truth? What if we are simply throwing ourselves against a brick wall here?"
Out loud to the Orc leader, "What is it you think we're after? If his answer is the prince, "Where has he been taken? It's nothing to you now you've done your job right?"
Figuring it's worth a try anyway and hoping that maybe they can get out of this unscathed Andrew tries for an agreement before the minute is up

Jarg shouts back: "AH!! ... now what kind of adventurers are ye anyhow? Don't ye even know what yer after?" (he laughs) "Now maybe if yer to be tellin' me what YOU think yer after, well... now I might just sell ye what ye want and I can let ye live. After all... 'tis not good business to kill yer own customers."

The chanting of the other voice still continues in the background. This is either the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner in Orcish ... or a very long spellcasting.

Ven, noticing the unusual length of the spell-casting, whispers over to Myr. "Myr, how many spells have you heard that take this long to cast? I'm thinking this Orc is either really winding up to lay a doozy on us or is full of horse dung."

Avon listens to the voice. At first he seems intrigued by it, judging from the serious look on his face. Then he starts to laugh, and what starts out as a careful grin grows into a loud laugh echoing through the caves. Then he turns to Sandros, "Why would he give us a choice if he has all the cards? Why not come in and waste us? No either his position is not as good as he wants us to believe or we got something in our favor that he is not sure of if we know we got it....uhm... if you know what I mean."

Then, as Quill heads back towards to back of the cave, he says, "Well I guess you can manage it here, only two can block the passage anyway. I'll help Quill." Together they fall back to the back of the cave.

As Avon approaches, the Ranger joins him and goes around one side of the large rock "pillar" in the middle of the cavern room.

[Andrew] "You said that what we were looking for was gone. How do you know?? That's what I was asking about. You said the money was here but we'd never get it. So I repeat what is it you think we're looking for?" 

[Jarg] "Well, I'd venture that ye'd be looking fer the most valuable thing in these parts... else why come to this foresaken hole in the ground... And that'd be the shipment of Hobbitish pipeweed that disappeared from a ship a few weeks back...  It's for sure, it's been sold and gone by now... Do ye think I'm crazy?  Even the Melfan coastal patrol comes by here on a reg'lar basis. I'd've moved that shipment long ago.

"We just haven't had time to move out, yet.   That's all... Now then... S'pose ye be tellin' friendly ol' Jarg what YOU are doin' breakin' down me back door and killin' me men, eh??"

Sandros glances at Ven as Jarg asks his question, and vehemently shakes his head. “Don’t answer that…” he whispers, hoping that Ven will get the hint.

The chanting in orcish has trailed off.  No orcs can be seen at this point, except perhaps a trace of their heat from around a bend in the passage.... and there IS a sort of greenish glow from that direction as well.

Jarg continues: "YER MINUTE IS UP !! ... and all I've got from ye is a bunch of questions and some foolish laughter.  I'll take that as a 'no'.  That means ye'll be diein' in that cavern, and ye'll be fish food soon enough, lest ye gives me some reason to let ye live.

"But I'm a reasonable man.  Ye'll not be goin anywhere thru this passageway.  I'll tell ye straight up, the first o' ye commin' thru will get pincushioned with a lot of crossbows, then there's a pit you won't like at all...." He laughs.  "... and pretty soon, there'll be a nice large group of me men appearin' behind ye as well.

"But me terms has changed.  Now if ye saves me the trouble of losin' s'more o' me men which'll no doubt happen while we're a-killin' ya, I'll consider lettin' ye live.  Just throw down yer arms and hand over yer gold... Ye've got me word I'll let ye walk out of here... all peaceable like."

Sandros moves closer to the dwarf, and says quietly, “We’ll never get out of here alive if we surrender. We have to attack, or find a good place to dig in and wait for them.”

As Quill and Avon step out of the passageway (middle of G5) and move toward the top-left of G5, they hear a muttered curse -in common- and some quick scuffling footsteps heading down a dark passage, in the general direction of the arrow on the map.  They're not really surprised to see that in the shadowy darkness, there is another exit from this cavern-room.  There is a ~very~ light breeze coming from that direction.

Neither half-elf sees anything that might have made the sounds, altho each feels sure it must be a human (or orc) or the like.   Much too big for a bat or other natural cave-dweller.  In the darkness, it is hard to make out how many feet walked in the dirt/dust on the floor.

Quill and Avon exchange glances as they crouch near the walls ... to present less of a back-lit target to whoever / whatever might be waiting out of their sight.  The hair on the back of Avon's neck stands up.  Usually *HE* is the one hiding in the dark shadows, looking out at "targets."

Not at all pleased with their discovery, but realizing something must be done about it, Quill whispers to Avon, “Go tell the others that the orcs have another path into the cave over here…and that they probably already know how many of us there are. I’ll keep an eye on the passage until we figure out what to do about it.” With that, she sits comfortably in a position where she can aim her bow at the passage, ready to fire at anything that moves

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

There is a scream from Myr's direction as the echo of Jarg's words die in the cavern.
A large rat had scrambled from some hole in the wall and sniffed its way carefully to the mage's left foot.  As he tentatively took a nibble at the toe of her boot, Myr noticed, and as she screamed, she stomped at the creature.  Of course it was much too fast to get trod on, and it scurried off into the shadows.

Tavarak props himself up with his back to the wall. "Its the waiting that will kill you, you know. Always the waiting. We talk, they talk back, and in the end we end up doing what is pre-disposed from the very start. We kill them, they kill us, we just need to kill all of them before they kill any of us!!!"

[Andrew]    Laughing to himslef at Tav's boiled down description of the situation, there's just no way he can hold it in. Composing himself as quickly as he lost it, he too stays as far to the wall as he can. Also he couldn't agree more, knowing his group had the advantage right now of holding the tight passage he couldn't forsee what this supposed caster was going to unleash, he hoped it wasn't too serious.

 Myr continues to stomp the ground furiously several seconds after the rat is no longer in sight, and then, she falls back against the wall, breathing heavily, and holding her hand over her breast. "Gods!" she whispers, looking about sheepishly, and then, down the tunnel expectantly, certain that her squealing was going to rouse some response from the orcs down the hall.

Trying to think of what she should do after her little outburst, she decides that perhaps it's best she just keep quiet, and perhaps the orcs will think there's something even more frightening than they are down here. Instead, she pokes Flybreath gently with her finger until he pops up out of her pocket, and asks, "Do you think you could slink down the hall toward the bright green light and tell me how many big uglies there are? Uglies like the ones that are dead over there."

Flybreath scampers up along the wall, then horizontally in the direction Myr had indicated.  It takes him a while, but eventually he disappears around the bend in the rock passage and is out of sight.

Avon longs to disappear into the shadows. Invisible to all. He sighs. He pears into the blackness. Quill’s words sound hollow and far away. He listens to the words spoken and disagrees. “No, I’m not too sure they can reach this passage. Why gives us all this time to make up our minds.” He shrugs, “Going back is no good.”

Then he shifts the weight from one foot on the other and leans carefully into the dark passage. “Besides, who knows what kind of valuable things can be found here”, he looks over his shoulder towards Quill. Then, whispering, “You know, I am no hero but it’s not like we have any choice.” He shrugs, “Who ever is in there better watch out”. Carefully Avon slips into the shadows.

Shaking her head with a sigh, Quill just stays right where she is, bow still held at the ready. "Gonna end up getting himself killed..." she mutters. Turning her head slightly, but still keeping an eye on Avon as he fades into the shadows of the passageway, she hisses, "Psst! Ven! Need some help over here..."

Ven looks both ways (like his parents taught him when he was a little boy) and then hurried over to Quill. "What do you need," he whispers. "Hey, where in the world is Avon going?"

Quill let out a snort of annoyed half amusement. "That's what I need. I asked him to let the others know that there's another passage...and that it's probably already been used to spy us out. They probably know exactly how many we've got in our group and everything. Go let Daggda and the others know...and maybe see if one of them can come back over here to help me clean up Avon's entrails after the orcs are through using him for sword practice." She flashed a slight smile, her eyes never leaving the passageway for one moment. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on things. Hurry, please..."

With that, she sits comfortably in a position where she can aim her bow at the passage, ready to fire at anything that moves.

Ven nods, looks to make sure that no impending catastrophe is looming, and scurries over to Daggda and makes his report. "There's another passage behind us. Quill seems to think that we've already been scouted by the Orcs. And, well, Avon went traipsing in there and she wants somebody to go see if he's been killed yet or not."

Daggda answers shortly. "Thanks. Andrew and I should hold this entrance secure while the new tunnel is checked out. Take Tavarak with you, and keep it quiet." Looking Veneron in the eye, the dwarf says softly, "I'm sorry for being weak with that half-orc filth back there. It was my responsibility; you shouldn't have had to do my dirty work."

Having drug the dead trip-trap orc out of the way, Daggda hefts the large pick in both hands and edges up towards the tunnel entrance again, peering into the darkness of the tunnel.

Ven looks down uncomfortably at Daggda's apology. "I should've known better, too. I'm pretty new to the art of putting myself in mortal harm's way every couple of days." He flashes a smile. "But, hopefully, I'm learning. I'll go get Tav." With that, he again carefully checks his route and tries to follow the route with the best cover to Tavarak. Once there, he relates Daggda's suggestion and will lead him back to Quill.

Fireball

****In Avon's Tunnel*****
Avon hugs the wall of the tunnel.  He's past the point where any light shines from the far-away torch.  Looking ahead he sees only darkness. No sign of heat or bodies or anything but blackness.  He keeps in contact with the wall [OOC: marked on the map in yellow, among the dark area in J5]  He's moving slowly and cautiously, making the maximum effort to move quietly.

Quill keeps Avon in sight, her bow drawn back.  She can see him, of course, as a blob of half-elf-shaped heat amid the darkness of the tunnel.  At the end of the round, he's moving around the bend of wall in the tunnel, and she can see only part of him.

****From behind Myr*****
From the direction of the dead orc C [OOC: not an indication that's she's somehow alive, despite slit throat ... just a position indicator, now marked on the map as *], everyone hears a sharp whistle.

****From Trip-Trap passage*****
As Daggda creeps slowly forward, the dwarf sees the heat-outline of an orc (or half orc), crouching some 30 yards away.  He stands briefly, points at the passageway, and then ducks out of sight.

After the whistle [from behind Myr], Jarg's voice comes loud: "NOW!!"

And almost immediately, a ball of flame comes hurtling down the corridor.

****From behind Myr*****
Several voices are heard screaming: "For the Mark!"

This has some meaning for Veneron and Quill (since both lived in northern Melfis), and Tavarak the Bard.  All 3 know the attack cry of the Arm of the Mark.  Veneron's blood turns cold, and it occurs to him that -- if the stories are true -- then he will probably be dead within a few minutes: the Arm of the Mark ---the assassins who serve the Mark of Maendir are notoriously efficient and bloodthirsty.  Tav is a little more sanguine: after all, everybody has to die SOMEtime.  Quill hears the shout, but does not turn from watching down the corridor where Avon is.  She does NOT hear any footsteps nor the clank of any weapons... which surprises her somewhat.

****From Trip-Trap passage*****
At the sight of the fire ball searing down the passageway, Daggda and Andrew drop flat and cover their heads as it passes.  Sandros sees it coming and yells "FIREBALL!" and ducks behind the shelter of a rock outcropping.  Tavarak and Veneron drop and huddle against the wall.  Myridian is caught in mid-movement as she is just finishing setting Flybreath on his mission.  Not knowing what else to do, she covers her face with her hood.

Quill hears the cry of "FIREBALL" and looks over toward Sandros.  She sees the ball of flame pass thru the gap and hears a metal clang against the pillar of rock [OOC: middle of G5] but not explosive "WOOSH!".

The group has had it's attention torn ... voices from the rear... fireball from the front... Ven running hither and thither... and it causes a moment of indecision.

Immediately on the heels of the fire ball are a half-dozen crossbow bolts, which wizz past Daggda and Andrew, but hit absolutely nothing.

And immediatly on the heels of the crossbow shots are orcs and half-orcs.  They come charging past, running past Dagga first and then Andrew.  They burst into the main room just a few seconds after the pot of burning oil hits the ground and splashes into a small pile of flame.  [OOC: orange area on the map.]  The trip-trap seems to have been ineffective.

Daggda and Andrew hear the feet of the attackers running past.  It must not be a fireball spell, reasons the dwarf, if they were running in after it.  The Acolyte of Moradin leaps up and yells, "NO FIREBALL!" and takes a swing at the last of the group of orcs that were running past, but misses.

There are 10 of them [OOC: Named G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P].   These orcs run in at full speed, but are still amazingly quiet, Daggda looks down and sees they have taken off their boots.  They make no dramatic war cry.

Orcs GHIJ are still near the entrance,  Daggda had swung at J and I&J are now facing the dwarven warrior.

G,H,O & P are looking toward the fire in the middle of the room.  G is the largest of the group.

M&N are looking at Tav and Ven.  Tav and Ven, having heard Daggda's anti-fireball yell, struggle to their feet.

K & L had run past Tav and Ven as the latter were getting to their feet and are advancing rapidly on Myridian, who has seen them and is going rapidly thru her fight/flight/cast spell options.  Her mind flickers briefly to Flybreath... somewhere on the wall, on the way to where these orcs USED to be, and she wonders if the little lizard will survive down here after she's dead.

Orcs KLMNO&P are glowing neon lime-green.

Sandros seems to have gone unnoticed by the orcs, but he looks up and sees the pot of burning oil and is somewhat embarrassed to have mistaken it for the much-anticipated ---perhaps over-anticipated, he thinks now--- fireball.
Quill hears Daggda's anti-fireball yell, but Avon hears only distant and mixed up echos of the war-cry, Sandros and Daggda.

Everyone hears Daggda's curses in mixed dwarven and common -- probably people on the other side of the bay heard them as well.

[Avon]   Suddenly he realizes how stupid he is. Walking around in the dark while he has such a wonderful candle with him. From far away he can hear vague screams and noises that seem to indicate a fight. A pauses. His mind is making over time, continue in the dark or stop and light his candle? Of course lighting a candle would reveal his presence for a fraction of a second. But then, who ever was in here already new he was there too.

Pressed against the cold wall, hidden by the darkness he focuses on any sounds he can hear coming from the tunnel. But for the moment all he can hear is his rasping breath, which, in the silent darkness, sounds like a thundering roar. The grip on his sword tightens. Beats of sweat form on his forehead. He can feel the cold drops find there way downwards.

Avon is unable to solve his dilemma. He can’t believe how stupid he is. Carefully he continues his way into the tunnel. Figuring that if he can’t see who ever is waiting for him can’t see either.    Avon continues down the dark passage, his hand on the uneven rock wall. He is completely in blackness, and even when he pauses to turn around, he cannot see even the glimmer of light indicating where Quill is/was.  The area illuminated by the torch in the main room (where the others are) is completely out of sight.

Black wall, black floor, black ceiling.... the only "light" comes from his own body heat, visible only via his dark-vision.

A month ago, Ven probably would have passed out at the notion of a bunch of the Mark set on killing him, but, having a few encounters under his belt settle him . . . a little. "Well," he mumbles as he and Tav scramble to meet the two [M and N] that have apparently taken a liking to them, "let's at least kill a few first. Would you find it easier to stab sleeping Orcs, Tav?"    With that, Ven decides to cast 'old reliable'--sleep had yet to get any of his fellows maimed, yet anyway. The urgency of the situation curtails Ven's desire to form a nice iambic couplet, but it'll have to do, he figures:

       "You're all a bunch of no-good, motherless, goat-fucking creeps!
        Uh, so, kindly go to sleep."

[Myr]  Eyeing the approaching orcs with incensed eyes, she snarls, and screams out the words to a spell.

"Flames burn hot, like dogs in heat,
Scent the air with scorching meat!!"

With that, she holds out her hands, thumbs touching and flingers flayed, and sends a streak of flames toward K & L.
With orcs rushing toward the mages, both think quickly and cast fast-acting spells.  Within seconds, K & M fall asleep and L is brought up short as a blast of flame hits him in the chest.  [K would have been hit but fell to the ground, thus avoiding the jet of flame.]  L screams and begins to beat at the burning fur on his arms and chest.

Tavarak gains his battle composure and blurts out, "Aim for the 2 on Myr."  And his words occur at the same instant as both spells are cast.   The Bard stands inbetween the attacking Orcs and Ven as he casts his spell, stabbing at Orc M while blocking any attack from Orc N with his shield. Tav can't help but grin as the words from Vens spell sink in.

Tav's stab at M swishes thru empty air, as the orc falls heavily into a heap, leaving the bard with time to turn his attention to N's attack.  But N is small and very aqile for a half-orc.  He feints left, drawing Tav's sheild, and then quickly darts in beneath the bards defense.  He drives up under Tavarak's raised arm, striking him in the armpit.  Tav's shield arm goes numb as the short sword stabs up into the flesh, and Tav begins bleeding from this serious wound.  Tav staggers back, still alert, but unable to use his shield arm at all.  His left arm is hanging limp and numb, blood flowing freely from the wound in his armpit.

Flybreath is poised on the wall as the orcs rush by.  He is counting them, per Myr's request. 1....2...3..-- ... 9...10... and then he scurries around the corner, as Myr had instructed.

Quickly tossing away any embarrassment, knowing more important things are at hand, Sandros moves quickly and quietly as possible toward the wall. Taking just a moment to guage things, he moves in toward the nearest orc, attempting to attack him by surprise.
Orcs O & P look around quickly, Sandros hears one say, "Grunap snig mage." And points at Myridian.  Both turn and take a step in her direction when Sandros' attack comes.  He lunges at orc P... the larger of the two ... but his short sword bounces ineffectively against the orc's studded leather vest.  Orc P turns to face Sandros, but O continues to advance on Myr.

Orc O runs toward Myridian brandishing his spiked club, and swings at the mage... her "burning hands" spell having ended long seconds earlier, she is surprised and just manages to see the attack as it comes.  The mage tries to elude the oaf, but his club lands against her side.  The hobgoblin's chain mail that she had cursed all day for its noisy clumsiness saves her from real damage however, and she is just knocked back against the wall.  Orc O looms  over her, raising his club to strike again.

A moment of indecision works at Quill. She can see enough of the battle to know that they could use her help...but if she leaves the passageway, Avon might end up in trouble, and they may be attacked from the rear as well.   Her last look down the dark passage shows that Avon is not in sight.  Either he'd fallen into a hole (unlikely, she judges quickly, that he'd do that quietly)... or gone around a corner.

Shaking her head, she decides that Avon is going to have to take care of his own, and that the time for stealth is past. Time for a little distracting of her own...
 
Setting her bow aside, realizing it won't do much good in such a melee, she rushes towards the battle, drawing out her magic blade. She wills it to light as bright as possible, and yells out, "They've revealed themselves! Now we can finish them off! Die assassins! Feel the wrath of Quartok's Holy Blade!!!"
 
Quill swings as she nears the closest orc, but keeps moving, heading for the thick of the battle...
Brandishing the brightly glowing magic sword like a lance, the Ranger charges into the melee.  She runs past Sandros, taking a slash at orc P's side.  The brightly glowing sword slices thru leather and flesh.  Quill's casual "swipe" at the orc, has split him open, and the orc's entrails spill out onto the floor.... rapidly followed by the dead orc P.

Not even noticing, Quill steps on forward, carefully avoiding the buring oil, and winding up at the back of orc O, who is menacing Myridian.

Happy at last to be in position to let the sharpened war-pick taste orc blood, Daggda steps calmly forward and lashes out at orc J.  J turns, and Daggda's grimace turns even nastier.  "Another breeder..." spits the dwarf as the pick swings at the female orc. 

The pick does its terrible work, piercing the female orc thru the breast bone.  J's face drains of color and she falls, blood running from her mouth.  The dwarf's weapon sticks in the dead orc's chest for an awful second, before Daggda can jerk it loose, giving orc I  a clear swing at Daggda's side.  The orc's spear jabs annoyingly at the dwarf's side, but it's point is turned aside by the warrior's armor.

Deciding contemplation probably isn't the best way to get this over with Andrew briefly looks down the tunnel for any signs of more enemies from that direction. If nothing presents itself right away Andrew turns his attention to the creatures nearest him. Attacking orc G with the intent of eliminating him quickly Andrew will take a powerful chop at the stinking creature with his scimitar.

Andrew sees nothing coming from the tunnel and stands to take a swing at the closest orc: G.  His scimitar is in action almost before the Druid realizes that he finds himself attacking the largest orc he's ever seen.  "Oh shit!  Perhaps he is part giant," Andrew thinks.  But in any case, it's either Andrew or the orc, so he carries on with his attack.

Andrew is disappointed but not really surprised when the orc, wearing banded metal armor, easily parries his blow.  The orc-giant's counter strike is a heavy overhand blow with his bastard sword.  Andrew manages to parry it with his scimitar, but the force of the blow, staggers the Druid.

Orc H was advancing toward his comrade P, but is stopped in his tracks by the almost casual way that Quill's  blazing bright "Holy" sword disembowels orc P.  He winds up, spear in hand near Sandros.

From the muffled noises that come from down the corridor Avon is unable to deduct what is going on. He figures that they are probably having a good time. His attention shifts from the noise behind him to the silent darkness in front of him.

No matter how hard he concentrates he is unable to penetrate the thick pressing dark silence that fills the corridor. The blackness plays with his senses. For a moment he has to steady himself against the wall as he feels he is loosing his balance. Up becomes down, left is right big and small are all the same. He steadies himself.

Carefully not to make more noise than necessary he puts down his sword and takes of his backpack. He tries to find his candle and fire sticks by feeling around in his backpack. Once he has found them he puts the backpack back on and grabs his sword.

Then he sighs and strikes the fire stick to light it. Making sure not to look at the flame but into the cavern, he looks to see if nothing is attacking him. He then quickly lights the candle and extinguishes the fire stick. He holds the candle high towards the left of him to get a good look into the cavern. As he continues down the corridor the grip on his sword tightens. Softly whispering “I don't like the dark. I'd rather see what I'm scared of."

After spending quite a while fumbling in the dark backpack, Avon finds the Theif's Candle and one of the firesticks.  The breeze that blows softly in this passage does ~not~ blow out the flickering match, and he does light the candle.  It sheds a circle of light that shows that Avon is near one side of a wide passage -- the other side is *still* out of sight in the darkness.  The floor is "normally" dirty and dusty.  The wall on his left is dry.

He explores a bit further, finding that the wall turns.  He follows it, keeping the candle in one hand, sword in the other.

Tavarak curses loudly, instinctively clenching the muscles in his shoulder and side as the sword enters his body. Hoping to take quick advantage of the dire situation he half kneels to his left side in an attempt to draw the Orc's weapon and balance off. Tav thrusts his long sword up towards the creatures throat and lower jaw, trying desperately to impale it on his sword.

Ven cringes as Tav receives the wound beneath his arm. Ven quickly scans the battle to see if any more Orcs appear to be approaching their position.  Finding none, Ven then looks to see if any of his companions are in obvious dire straights. Ven wonders if this is the entire strength of the Mark here. Where is the spell caster, the leader? He hesitates for a moment, a spell on the tip of his tongue. He decides to hold off; the spells may be vital to their survival later on.

That decided, he hurriedly pulls out his water flask, unstops it, and sends a silent prayer to the heavens that this Orc (OOC N) understands Common. Ven leaps to Tav's side where the Orc is and cries out, "Take some of this acid in your eyes!" With that, Ven splashes water out onto the Orc. At best, Ven hopes that he understands Common and draws back defensively, opening himself to Tav's thrust. At worst, he hopes that he at least manages to distract the Orc enough to give Tav an advantage. Having splashed the water, Ven quickly tries to scurry back behind Tav.

Tav silently thanks Ven for the intervention, hoping that the ploy will be cause the desired effect.

Tav drops to one knee as Orc N is pulling back for to administer the coup de grace to the wounded Bard.  Veneron's thrown liquid and accompanying words startle him, and he throws his arms up to cover his face and jumps back out of range of the "acid".  Tavarak's sword thrust finds empty air.

Sandros gives orc P a lopsized grin, and he moves forward, attempting  to get within the length of the spear before it can be weilded properly. "Better hope she takes a while finishing off your friends..." he says. "'Cause there's no way you will be able to withstand that sword of hers." Truth be told, Sandros is pretty darned impressed by the ranger's attack, and is glad she's on their side. He swings his sword in a flurry of blows, hoping to catch the orc while he's still a bit off-balance.

Orc H takes a final look the entrails of his comrade P, glistening wetly from the reflected light of the burning oil.  He is young, smaller orc, and his eyes get *VERY* wide indeed.   Confronted with Sandros' flurry of sword thrusts, he backpedals rapidly, countering effectively with his spear.  He bumps into Orc N (retreating from Veneron's "acid"), and they are both off balance for a second.  Sandros strikes home with his short sword, cutting H lightly across the chest.

Myr screams in a pitch that surely has the dolphins in the waters beyond the cave going "huh?" and flails her arm madly above her head, while the other frantically fumbles for her dagger. She tries to think of an efficient spell at the same time, but the thought of her head being pummeled like an overripe cantaloupe overshadowed any other attempt at reasoning, other than fight or flight instincts. Finally wrapping her hand around the hilt of her dagger, she attempts to make Orc O sing soprano for the rest of his hopefully short life.

Quill, not one to quibble with the rules of fighting fair when it's orc assassins involved, especially when someone like Myr needs her
assistance, thrusts her glowing blade at orc O's back. She hopes Sandros has enough sense to keep the orc she attacked off her back  while she takes care of this one, although it did feel like her strike had sliced thru nothing more resistant than warm butter.

"Like attacking women, eh?" Quill says harshly. "How about you try fighting THIS woman instead, goblin-breath." She stays attacking O, hoping to take him down quickly so she can continue on to help the rest of her friends.

Orc O is somewhat put off at Myr's scream, but there's a baleful glare in his eyes as he brushes aside her dagger.  It slashes across his large forearm, dwaring blood, but the orc hardly notices as his left hand brings the spiked club down towards Myr's head.

Quill tries to skewer the orc on her magic blade, but it glances off a piece of metal sewn onto the orc's leather armor.  The orc turns quickly, at Quill's attack, and his blow against Myr loses its impact, missing wide.

O backpedals and keeps Quill in front of him.  Myr, badly shaken, sidles back against the wall, toward Veneron.  She looks down at the burning orc L.  The fire has spread to the rest of his fur, and he is rolling desperately on the floor, slapping at his flame-covered face.

DAGGDA turns quietly, with grim resolution toward orc I.  The orc lunges with spear, and the dwarf swings the bloody foorman's pick.  The dwarf's strike lands heavily on the orc's thigh, and the creature stumbles back, just as N & H are colliding.  Orc I falls, hitting his head on the rocky floor, and is unconscious.

Thinking to himself, "Oh just great I get the bloody giant orc," Andrew re-evaluates his plan. He assumes this is the mighty Jarg and hopes his less than stellar swordsmanship will keep the monster at bay until one of his friends can help. Realizing that a blow like that last would do him serious harm Andrew will use his speed to his advantage instead and keep the monster at more of a distance. Moving about quite quickly Andrew will concentrate more on keeping him bust than goinf for the killing blow. Harrying the big orc with a series of sharp fast thrusts and slices to keep him from taking another mighty chop.

Hearing Ven's cry Andrew tries to glance that way without taking his eyes off his powerful opponent. But not being a salamander, Andrew realizes that he cannot have his left eye look ~hither~ while the right eye looks ~thither~.

Andrew can tell from the cry that without a doubt his services would be better used as a healer than a warrior but right now he hasn't a lot of choice. Not seeing anyone of his friends down he focuses on wearing down this behemoth of an orc.

Andrew dances hard and fast.  A feint left, then right, then left... all around, he tries to present a moving target to the OrcGiant.  But the space he has is severely limited, and he finds himself falling back under Jarg's onslaught.  He is, unfortunately, quick as well as big, Andrew notices to his dismay.  He parries Andrew's attacks with a small smile and suddenly thrusts his long bastard sword right at Andrew's middle.  It nicks the Druid's abdomen lightly and a small trickle of blood wells out through the slashed robe.

"Too bloody close!"  Andrew thinks... then quickly backpedals toward the passageway where he had placed his spear.  He doesn't even have time to think about how many other orcs there may be at his back as he retreats away from his comrades.