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Strikeforce | |
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Chapter 7: The Director's Solution
Chapter 8: The Power of the Primatives
Chapter 7: The Director's Solution
The roar of the cheers is a near deafening pitch for what seems like the longest time.
During that time, members of the group attempt to rise to their feet only to slip and come falling back down again the moment they try to do anything else other than stand.
As their vision clears they see the mage down the hall nodding and listening and saying something, but no one can hear what he is saying over the roar of many voices.
Asura clears the goo from her eyes and after catching her breath says, "Well, that didn't work like I expected. Anyone else have any bright ideas?" She attempts to stand and on her third try succeeds, but as she reaches toward her boot she immediately slips and falls back down with a clattering crash.
Dorin slips, slides, and crawls his way over to Pendran. Cleaning the goo off of Pendran and Dorin's own hands. The goo-covered dwarf prays to someone named Solutious. His hands take on a light bluish-green tinge as the clean smell of fresh-water and the sound of rushing water temporarily drowns out the cheering. The aura quietly covers the sleeping Pendran and his various wounds begin to close.
After the sound of rushing water vanishes, the cheers drop off quickly and in the ensuing silence Sivad speaks, "Sir, we have done naught but defend ourselves since we have been here. We have made many attempts to parley, but all have been met with violence. I beg of you to please listen to my story before more blood has been shed."
The human mage grabs his staff firmly, and looks like he wishes to be a million miles away. He yells to the orc, "Is that the best that you can muster, no wonder human magic is superior to yours."
Dorin moves over and checks on the barely conscious Pol. Placing his hands over the elf, he murmurs another prayer.
The mercenary groans as he rolls over. He looks around and then pulls out a rag and cleans the goo off of his gloves. He then grabs a blade protruding from the wall and uses it to steady himself. Despite the blades sharpness, it seems unable to cut through the stout gloves the mercenary is wearing. He looks around and says, "Aww fuck, grease...."
The orc mage smiles and says, "Ahh so there are some of you still alive down there. I was beginning to think you all drowned in the grease puddles." He chuckles. "How very astute of you to notice your precarious position. Should I or any of my comrades behind me toss even the slightest flame in your direction...well I guess we will have to rebuild this section of the school. Mind you, it seems a bit drastic and", his voice takes on a conspiritorial tone, "between you and me the Director would probably try to take it out of my pay, the greedy...er um." He moves his head side to side with his head tilted so that he seems to be listening intently with his left ear. Muted snickers drift downward from the holes above.
Taking on a more formal tone, "If you agree not to attack or make any move to escape and/or attack I will agree to listen."
Before anyone can say a word Sivad shouts, "Yes! We agree."
Dorin moves away from Pol and checks Cadar who seems unusually quiet. Again Dorin begins a quiet prayer.
Sivad begins, "We did not mean to attack your school!"
The mercenary mutters, "Bloody..." he stops as he feet threatening to slip out from under him again. He settles for a harsh glare in the direction of the priest.
"We were lead to believe this was a staging area for a strike force that would attack one of our cities" Sivad continues. The orc mage begins to smirk. More than one cut-off laugh is heard from above. "The mage who sent us here apparently has a feud with a group of your students." He gestures to the oil and blood streaked body of the Dragons leader, "We are not among those mercenaries who attacked you. They acted independently from our group. Once we determined this was a place of learning and not a military camp, we attempted to parley with several of your students. The hope was that they would allow us to stop the mercenaries."
At this the mercenary shouts, "You bloodily orc-loving bastard!" He charges Sivad and gets about two steps before he falls face first and slides down the hall past Sivad.
Nonplussed Sivad continues, "But none believed us and we were forced to defend ourselves at every turn." We would have used the means the wizard gave us to return, but I believe it may lead to a trap therefore our only hope was to either fight our way home or attempt to talk peacefully. Until now it seemed that we would have to fight our way through."
The old orc begins, "Well that is an intere...." He is interrupted as another orc dressed in a strange uniform that has the same colors as the other students were wearing. He is holding a torch, "That is the biggest bunch of Thuban dung I have heard all day!"
Thus begins an argument in the orc language between the two men. The torch is wavering dangerously near the edge of the grease patch.
A movement to the side catches Asura's attention and she sees the young orc mage with something very big behind him. He carefully folds a piece of paper and tosses it in the direction of the two arguing orcs. The paper floats gently through the air moving from one side of the hall to the other as if flies on invisible wings down the hallway.
The argument winds down with the torch-bearing orc having the final say he turns and says, "We will send your ashes home as a warn..."
As the orc turns the floating paper reaches the torch and immediately bursts into flames. A moment later it explodes in a bright flash sending a torrent of water in all directions, completely soaking the two orcs and sending a small river of water that mixes with the grease, creating an oily mess.
The shadow behind the young orc moves into the light and Asura sees the giant Rek. "I saw the Director coming with the torch and I made a deal with your young friend here. We may keep our weapons, but they must be tied into their sheathes and the bows kept over our shoulders. They will hold me and him." He points to the mercenary who is using the water to clean off the greasy mess, "as hostages to ensure that no attacks are held."
The mercenary looks up and looks as if to say something, but falls silent.
The old orc says loudly, "Sounds like a fair deal to me don't you say Director Tu' Ghenal" (pronounced 2-jen-al). He moves his right hand as if to clap the man on the back and misses by a mile. He tries again and his hand lands on the Directors back with a loud whack! The Director looks like he'd very much like to backhand the old orc for a moment then regains his composure. "That and they are accompanied at all times by guards!"
Silence follows Director Tu 'Ghenal's last statement. Then Asura says, "That is acceptable, I suppose. It's not as though we have many other more pleasant alternatives."
With a self-satisfied smirk, the Director nods and water splashes down his face. His smirk quickly turns into a frown.
One by one each of group puts away their weapons. A loud deafening shout blasts through the holes in the walls. It seems as if hundreds of orcs are shouting at once. The group hears cheers from all sides and suddenly those cheers turn into that strange but now familiar chant.
The Director gestures imperiously out the hole in the wall and says, "You will come to my office immediately!" And he turns and walks out. His grand manner spoiled by the squishy sounds his waterlogged shoes make with every step and sound of water dripping off of him as he walks.
The young orc mutters something under his breath. He turns to the group and says, "Okay no funny stuff now! I'm prepared for you this time." With his empty finger he draws a glowing blue symbol on his chest. When he is done the symbol glows brighter and brighter before flashing and returning to a pulsating deep blue. Frowning a little he draws runes on both hands, one vaguely orange, the other black. He holds the hands out before him as if he were about to grab a bar and says, "Move out."
With no hesitation Sivad gets up and begins to move, but Zraxin takes about two steps before nearly collapsing. Dorin is at his side in a moment and gives a prayer for the reckless human. Within moments Zraxin is back on his feet almost as good as new.
The mercenary has different plans however, "If you think I'm going out like the others you're wrong!" He pulls out something from his pocket and throws it down. A bright flash momentarily blinds everyone when the flash clears he is gone, but in grease around where he stood is burning fiercely.
The rest of the group runs to quickly get out of the path of the flames.
The water-oily mix doesn't seem to burn too well and after a quick flare-up, burns steadily creating quite a bit of smoke.
As they exit the building they see a bunch of trees in front of them. Towering over the trees is a huge hill and on top of that hill is a strange building with a huge dome on it dome with a large rectangular hole in the side of the dome.
As the group moves after the Director, dozens of orcs come out and watch. After a few moments, some of them begin tossing sticks, stones, books, paper and anything else they can get their hands on, at the group.
This continues until the blind wizard reappears from the building. The crowd quickly disperses even through the wizard has, not done or said anything.
They follow the Director around the corner to the front of the building. There they see the strange white road circle around an enormous statue of orcs fighting a battle against some unrecognizable creature.
Several large orcs move to surround the party, each wearing the uniform and strange armor they've seen before. Just outside the group of large orcs is a group of four smaller orcs, each one wielding those strange metal boomerangs. These four quickly separate and take up positions around the group.
The entire area is strangely silent as the Director opens a door in the side of the building. He seems surprised at what he finds in the doorway and he stumbles backward quickly falling on his back with a loud splash.
Out of the doorway comes Flamerider and his larger companion and surprisingly riding on Flamerider is the orc girl who only minutes before was a charred corpse. Now only the tips of her hair are black, but here eyes are fierce and filled with hatred. The orc guards make way for the girl.
But the blind wizard moves forward his nose working fiercely. "Nu' Anna! I know it's got you be you, because you are the only one Flamerider listens to. Take those Tracara away from here this instant! Your battle is over and you lost! They are our prisoners now until we sort this mess out! And don't think just because you got killed fighting that I'm going to forget your part in this mess! I get the feeling you Dragons have something to do with this! You always do!" The wizard stops directly in front of the Flamerider.
Cold hatred flashes in her eyes as she looks at the group. Flamerider looks at the old wizard only a foot or so in front of him and tentatively opens his mouth just wide enough to bite the orcs head off. But Nu 'Anna gives some hidden signal and both move aside.
The Director, having picked himself up, regains his composure and moves inside the building.
The blind wizard moves cautiously forward and when he reaches the door he moves his hand around as if feeling the air around the door, before grabbing the handle, opening it up and walking through as if he were sighted.
The orc guards move the group in through the door single file and they enter a rather plush office. The spacious room quickly gets very crowded.
The orcs take up positions all along the walls. Some of the orcs are holding what looks to be like small knives, but they don't seem sharp enough to cut much of anything. A few are holding sharp arrows.
The director sits behind a large desk and begins shuffling papers for no apparent reason. After several minutes he looks back up and in a stern voice and a belittling gaze he asks, "Now what have you gone and done this time!"
The human wizard looks around very confused and mutters to himself, "I know that the fireball incinerated her, there is no way..."
Turning back to the director he says, "We're simple adventurers, hired to fulfill a mission, which may prove to be impossible to complete."
Dorin steps forward and gives a short monologue about the "nasty overbearing, two-timing, goblin loving dung heap" wizard that sent them on their mission.
After he finishes, the Director stares at you for a few moments then says, "Veeeerrry flatter-ring description. That doesn't cover the fact that you failed in all of your objectives, but you did at least rid me of most of the Dragons and that is some good."
The blind wizard turns to the Director, "That's a horrible thing to say! The bodies will be taken to the temple and restored!"
With a casual gesture the Director silences the wizard as a stream of glowing white sparkles dances down from the ceiling over the blind wizard who slumps to the ground.
The changing expression on the Directors face puts everyone on guard. In an oddly familiar voice the Director continues, "The mission wasn't impossible. You were all just incompetent! That's what I get for using barbarians, they cry and babble at the first sign of battle. Completely useless!"
As he talks the room darkens noticeably and the room expands as the walls vanish into the distance. The orc guards move a few feet away from the party and their eyes begin to glow, a deep dark angry red.
The Director stands up and says, "A goblin loving dung heap am I?" For brief moment the face of the original wizard who sent them on the mission appears over the Directors face! "Guess who! I sent you here to destroy the Dragons who are undermining my command here! The other bodies can be restored! But they must die for good! " He pauses for a moment then says, "I must congratulate you on taking out the leader at least. The two girls shouldn't be two hard to dispose of now that they have no protectors. They shall meet with a rather nasty accident soon enough."
The orcs around them start laughing and the group realizes that the orcs have each gotten a lot taller, each standing around eight feet now.
"You are now expendable! When we return your dead bodies to the high council they shall vote for war and exterminate your retched barbaric tribes from the face of this valley!"
The Directors clothing changes before their eyes into soft leather armor that is styled more like a full plate suit. The dull knives that the orcs carry turn into long sharp blades, some long swords, some short swords and a couple into two-handed swords. The arrows become those strangely stringed bows that the other archers were carrying. The archers retreat as the party starts to desperately undo the ties holding their weapons at peace.
"Prepare to die like the rest of your miser..ahhhh!" The Director shouts as a knife flies past the party and slams in the chest of the director. The knife however only surprises the director as it bounces off the leather as if it had hit a stone wall!
"Ha, it will take more than that to stop me! There is a reason I command this school!"
A familiar voice is heard. "Well I've got plenty more to show you and more than enough to take you out boy!" The man in dirty leathers appears behind the party and charges the Director with a long sword.
The armed orcs charge in as the party struggles to get their weapons free.
The young orc mage is the first to respond, "This is wrong!" Gesturing with his right hand the orange rune flares and a cone-shaped blast of lava shoots outward knocking back several of the creatures.
With one hand on the hilt Asura struggles to get her sword free, suddenly light spills outward from the scabbard and the sword shoots outward with violent force dragging Asura off her feet. Flying hilt first, she looks much like an armored witch riding a two handed sword as it plows into and through one of the huge orcs, taking a good portion of it with her as she comes to a landing a dozen yards beyond the farthest archer orc.
Rek turns to the young orc mage and yanks his bastard sword from the scabbard where it rested on the mages back.
Having some inkling that something was not right, Laurian stealthily had removed the peace bonding from his Lochaber Axe and waited. Now as an orc, armed with a long sword, charges what he believes to be an unarmed opponent the axe comes into play. As he whips the axe from it's loop, he mutters a rune and is instantly surrounded by a glowing red aura. The axe bites deeply into the orc's side, but the orcs sword also slices into Laurian, then there is a bright flash as the creature is bathed in a backlash of flame that causes it to step back a moment.
Asura charges back to the fray and the archers scatter giving her and her glowing sword a wide berth.
Rek turns toward the nearest orc and gives a mighty overhead swing that is just barely deflected by the orc. The two giants begin a power struggle with locked blades.
Cadar shouts, "Betrayal, after betrayal. Orc you shall answer for this!" As he finally loosens the knot on his sword.
Pol pulls the bow off of his shoulder and turns to see an orc preparing an over the head smash with a huge red mace. With little time to think Pol clumsily thrusts the tip of his bow into the creatures unprotected stomach. The bow pierces the orcs skin easily, leaving the orc with a surprised look upon his face. For a brief moment they stand still neither moving then suddenly a bolt of red lighting streaks outward from the mace covering the orcs body. First one, then many streaks of lighting cover him. Pol drives the bow even further into orcs body, just as the lighting streaks cover the orcs entire body momentarily blocking him from view. Then there is a loud boom as if thunder had struck that point. The orc goes flying backward and lands heavily several feet beyond the others.
Dayal raises his shield and protects a barely conscious Pendran.
Laurian cries, "Ralandin, to me. Let us show this vile orc what we barbarians are able to do! We must see to the old orc. Help me reach him."
As if in answer to his cry Ralandin raises his voice and Laurian realizes that he has been busy chanting a rune! Where there was one there is now four each exactly alike. They move to join Laurian and attack the orc that has besieged him.
Dorin frees his morning star and charges one of the orcs. He aims for the knee and misses as the orc jumps up and lands on the dwarf, smashing him down.
The human wizard moves toward the center of the group and says to the Director, "Interesting guise, I thought I detected a hint of alteration among your men, but at the time I was busy."
He points at an orc and begins speaking a rune.
Zraxin frees both of his swords and charges recklessly toward a pair of waiting orcs as he nears them he stumbles and the orcs close in on him. Just as they get within a few feet of them, he recovers and does an imitation of the deadly tree that the Dragons leader did before, this time only more successful as it catches both orcs completely off guard and they impale themselves upon his whirling blades.
Sivad takes up his mace and moves to Dorin's rescue. One quick swing with his mace and the orcs skull gives an ominous crack. He pushes the huge orc off of the dwarf who seems more than a little upset.
Asura's path to the director is blocked by an orc armed only with a short sword and a smirk. He doesn't seem to be too worried that she is wielding a glowing two-handed sword. As she raises her sword to smite the offending orc she is knocked off her feet as an arrow slams into her shoulder from the backside. As she hits the ground the orc casually walks over to her and turns her over. He raises his dagger and strikes down with brutal speed. Unfortunately for him, she still has her hand on her sword and it flares at the same time he attempts to strike. The expanding sphere knocks the orc up into the air and he flies over the entire battle scene to disappear into the darkness.
The man in dirty leather charges the Director, but doesn't get far as the desk suddenly stands up and swats him. The desk begins to change into a vaguely man like form.
The young orc turns toward a group of the archers and points his other hand. From his hand a stream of dark needles, darker than the inky blackness that surrounds them, shoots outward. Archers wince and swat at the needles, which don't cause them much apparent damage, but when the stream is done the damage is apparent. All of the bows in the group have had their strings cut!
But while the young orc had his back turned a horribly burned and soot covered orc charges catching him off guard. His sword thrusts straight through the young orcs heart. The blue rune flashes momentarily and the sword is forced back out of the orcs body blasting the burned orc back several feet. As the rune fades, the young orc looks at himself to find him completely unharmed. With a look of amazement he says, "It worked...it actually worked! Yea! " He stops and looks around panicky for a moment then hastily pulls out his little notebook.
Rek and the orc fight momentarily before the orc falls backward, pulling Rek off balance and tossing him several feet back behind him. But the orc didn't count on the unbelievable dexterity of the big man as he lands on his feet and charges the orc as he gets up. The orc raises his head and the last thing he sees is Rek running by him as Rek sword removes his head from his shoulders.
Laurian is having some trouble with the orc he is fighting, as the orc seems to be slightly faster than he is. But he is helped by the four Ralandins' who are also attacking the orc. Not knowing which is the real Ralandin, the orc concentrates upon Laurian, but he finds is quickly being taken apart from all directions.
Pol cleans off the tip of his bow and draws an arrow. He quickly begins picking off all the archers before they can come up with another plan. With each thunderous launch another archer dies.
One orc wearing dark green gloves a bright orange vest and a hat with a red feather in it looks upon the battle avoiding all fights and generally sizing things up. His shield draped casually over his back.
Cadar moves forward and attacks the wooden monstrosity that protects the wizard. His sword slices through the wooden structure and damages it. The monster retaliates by spraying a shower of splinters out at the combatants.
Dorin gets up and joins with Sivad in attacking another orc. This one is armed with a pair of rune encrusted short swords. The orc attacks making no attempt to defend himself. The pair quickly dodge his attacks and Dorin takes out the back of one leg, bringing him down to his knees. Sivad follows up with a devastating smash to the side of the head. The orc goes limp as his crushed skull falls toward the ground. Suddenly one sword flashes and vanishes and the orc gets up on one leg and throws himself at Dorin and begins pounding and biting on the Dwarf.
Zraxin moves toward the young orc mage as a group of orcs surrounds him. The young orc takes a slip of paper and tears it from his notebook. Tossing it at one of the orcs. The paper seems to move of its own violation and attaches itself to the orcs face. The orc screams in pain for a moment before ceasing to move altogether.
Zraxin runs quickly past the paralyzed orc stopping only long enough to plunge his sword into the orcs heart.
The human wizard finishes his rune and the orc who he was pointing at freezes in his tracks.
The three remaining orc archers decide they have had enough. The charge each other and slam into each other at high speed. The three merge into one large orc with three heads. One head with green eyes, one with black eyes and one with purple eyes. The monster also has four arms. The purple eyes glow for a moment and then the orc monster reaches down into the inky blackness and pulls out a shield and staff. The head with green eyes begins to chant a rune.
Asura raises to a sitting position and grits her teeth as she pulls out the arrow. Blood spurts out the wound as she quickly moves to bind it.
Dayal grabs a bottle from Pendrans' backpack and forces it down his throat. A moment later Pendran begins choking and coughing. He quickly recovers and looks around. "Hey why did you wait so long?" Pendran reflexively looks for his hammer only to find it missing.
Dayal growls, "Remember. That stupid girl finally relieved you of that cursed hammer! Now get up and fight!"
Pendran smiles and says, "It won't be quite that easy!" He stands up and closes his eyes in concentration. In the distance there is a scream and suddenly from the depths of the blackness comes Flamerider moving toward the battlefield at a high rate of speed, except it seems as if it is being pulled! On top of Flamerider is the female orc from the Dragons. She has a death grip hold on the flying hammer that is dragging both her and Flamerider in that direction. The hammer lands smoothly in Pendran's hands and he turns to the girl and says, "I believe this belongs to me. Also you might want to know that we were hired by your esteemed Director to kill all of you Dragons. Now that we have failed to kill you he has decided to kill us."
"Lies!" The Director shouts, "All lies! They are trying to kill us all!"
Ralandin and Laurian finally cut down the orc and make their way over to the blind orc. A quick shake and the orc wakes up. "What's going on?" Ralandin quickly brings him up to date while Laurian engages and orc with a glowing green rune all over him. The orc isn't particularly skilled but every hit Laurian makes on the creature seems to heal up within moments.
Pol moves a few feet back and begins shooting at the three-headed creature. A thundering arrow pierces the orcs skin ruining the concentration of the creature. It charges Pol with its staff. Pol risks another shot and hits the creatures shield. So great is the force of the arrow that though it doesn't pierce the shield it causes the huge creature to stumble back a few steps.
Cadar and the man in dirty leathers circle around to opposite sides of the wooded creature and attack again. Both attacks are successful, but they are followed by a dual spray of splinters that pierce both their armors and begin to cause pain and swelling.
The Director makes a punching gesture at the human wizard. A fist appears just in front of the wizard and slams into him knocking him back several feet and into the arms of the orc he had frozen. The force knocks the orc over and with a sickening crack the orcs arms snap off and blood begins covering the wizard. As the orcs head hits the ground it explodes as well.
Pendran and the girl both with their hands on the hammer stare at each other silently. "This should prove it belongs to me!"
"It belongs to my brother! You are a thief and stole it and I'm taking it back!"
"Your brother lost it when he fell in battle to a comrade of mine. I claimed the hammer as I was the only one who could lift it. It was meant for me. I know your brother wants the hammer back and when he is done chasing Charon he can come to me and we'll deal with it then and not before."
At the mention of Charon, the girl's face turns into and ugly mask of fury. Her eyes literally glow and Pendran can feel the hatred and anger flowing from her. Even though she hasn't said a word, nearby combatants, both orc and human alike turn toward the woman expecting something.
A moment later she reaches into her garment and produces a necklace with a clear orb in it. She thrusts it in to Pendran's free hand and says, "Swear that this is true and that you know nothing of Charon's current whereabouts." Pendran looks at the orb and as he speaks the girl looks as if she is about to rip him to shreds again.
When the orb glows blue, she waits for a moment then relaxes and jumps on Flamerider. Holding her hand out she receives the orb from Pendran. Flamerider looks quizzically at her and she says something to him. Flamerider turns toward the wooden creature and breathes flames all over it. The creature begins screaming as it burns.
The blind wizard says, "Well...well...well. I guess I can't get in trouble if I do this!" He raises his hand and at the tip of his finger a mini-storm begins to brew. Multiple strikes of lighting leap out and slam at the ground in front of the Director knocking him off of his feet.
Chapter 8: The power of the primatives
Sivad begins digging into his pack furiously. Finding a green topped bottle, he quickly downs all of the contents.
The three images of Ralandin stand ready to fight even though they don't look so well.
Laurian standing beside him seems to be in only slightly better shape.
Asura finishes binding her wounds and moves into a defensive posture, moving in with the rest of the group. She is pursued slowly by two grinning orcs. One with no visible weapons, but is and odd shade of gray. The other's outline is slightly blurry and his height keeps changing from 2ft to 12 ft.
Pol launches another thunderous arrow into an exposed leg of the three-headed creature, which growls at him. Taking its staff and holding it as a lance it begins a limping charge at Pol, trying to hide much of its bulk behind its shield.
The shaken human wizard slowly tries to get up, "Yuck, look at this mess." He gathers his staff in a defensive position and watches as the battle melee continues.
Zraxin comes to the aid of the young orc and wildly flails about with his swords. He doesn't manage to hit anyone, but he does manage to keep them away for the precious seconds the young orc needs to rip another sheet of paper from his notebook. Tossing it at the badly burned orc, the paper begins to whirl as if in a strong wind. The orc turns and begins running, but the paper is moving faster than he is and by the time it reaches the orc it is a large funnel cloud. The funnel cloud lifts him way up into the darkness before the funnel cloud vanishes and the orc comes down a minute later landing with a sickening thunk.
As the wooden creature burns, Cadar runs past it charging the Director who has regained his feet. Cadar finds himself in a race with Flamerider and the female dragon to reach the Director. Flamerider reaches him first and plows through the Director who stands none the worse for wear. Cadar reaches him a moment later and attacks, but his sword passes harmlessly through the Director, who seems not to notice.
The orc with the red mace moves back into the fray charging after Dorin and Sivad. Red lighting surges across his features.
Suddenly the entire ground is littered with black tentacles that try and grab at the group!
The man in dirty leathers vanishes again.
Pendran takes his newly recovered hammer and swings it around. He tosses it at the giant creature attacking Pol, but again he can't seem to let go as the hammer drags him along for the flight. The hammer slams into the creatures shield knocking it backwards and onto the ground. Pendran rolls off behind the creature.
Rek moves to stand with Ralandin and Laurian.
The real Director is now nowhere to be found and the orc that previously disdained battle has just tossed two items to the ground. The items are beginning to grow and take on the shape of large cat-like creatures!
Dorin turns to face the charging red orc. Sivad drops his pack and also turns to face the red orc. As the orc nears to within a ten feet of the pair he leaps and seems to be absorbed into his mace, vanishing utterly! The mace rotates in the air as it moves forward for a moment then it also vanishes.
Dorin and Sivad look around in confusion. Seconds later from the darkness above twin streaks of red lighting strike down slamming into the confused pair. The blasts stun both of them and force them apart a few feet. And in that few feet appears the orc wielding his red mace. He backhands Sivad knocking him down and swings at Dorin, but aims a little too low for a killing blow and manages to hit the stout dwarf in the arm. A loud crack in heard as arm goes limp and the Dwarf bellows in pain. The bellow is cut off as the orcs boot is shoved into his mouth, rocking his head back and sending him flying several feet.
Cadar steps back to assess the image of the Director. After a moment he turns and moves toward the two growing cat-like creatures. The near-black creatures are still growing as Cadar reaches them and already are 6 feet in length and 4 feet tall, with two tails. Cadar confidently slices into one of the creatures as it crouches into a defensive position, only to have his sword pass straight through it! The image of the creature leaps and Cadar is hit from the side! As one of the cat-like creature begins to maul him. The other circles around watching.
Dropping his sword Cadar struggles with the creature. Getting one arm free, he cocks his arm back and slugs the creature in the side of the head. The creature flies to one side and hits the ground rolling. This is the signal for the other creature to attack! It leaps up into the air arcing toward the prone Cadar.
Flamerider bellows in frustration as it eyes the image of the Director looking calmly about. The female Dragon member looks around atop Flamerider in utter frustration. "You'll not get away that easily!" Raising both her hands to her lips she blows her frosty kisses in all directions. Combatants not only have to contend with each other, but with the black tentacles that try to snag everyone as well as with the blasts of frosty air that sweep the entire area. Flamerider bellows in triumph when one such kiss is rewarded with the revealing of the Director who stumbles backward and is immediately caught up by a tentacle. Seconds later the tentacle is burned to ashes as the area is bathed in the flames from the mighty Tracara Flamerider. When the flames subside they reveal the sooty form of the Director who does not look very pleased. Condescendingly he says, "Do you not think that I would not be prepared for your pet's fiery breath, child!"
"Well then lets see if you're prepared for my pet's sharp claws!" The female Dragon roars as she nudges Flamerider to charge the Director.
The three headed creature reaches down and tries to grab Pendran, but he rolls away. Then the creature takes a few steps and kicks Pendran in the middle. Oddly, Pendran's body flies up, but with hand still strapped to the hammer he doesn't get very far as the hammer shows little inclination to move from that spot so he falls quickly back to the ground. With the way clear, the creature charges Pol again.
Pol uses the momentary distraction given by Pendran to plant his bow in the ground and set it like a spear. The charging creature laughs and one of the heads says, "Time to crush your gruesome little bow!" The creature deliberately smashes it's shield against the giant bone bow and the bone bends and flexes and prepares to snap when suddenly it straightens out, tearing the creatures shield and spearing it through the arm and shoulder. The three heads scream in pain and disbelief as their shield shatters and vanishes. Two hands clutch at the bone bow as Pol forces it deep into the creature. The last free hand takes the staff and begins weakly clubbing at Pol. It seems to lack the strength necessary to do any real harm.
Asura moves into a defensive posture moving closer to the others while slicing and dodging the black tentacles. All the while watching as the two orc move purposely toward her. The orcs move casually through the tentacle field. Even though they are caught up several times by the tentacles, the things seem to lack the strength to hold on to them.
Finally they seem to tire of the casual chase and the one with the blurry outline charges Asura. As it nears Asura slices diagonally from low to high her sword flaring in the process leaving its characteristic stream of light. The slice seems at first to have hit the creature but it turns out to be only an illusion as the creature comes from the sky to pounce upon Asura, who ducks and only takes a hit on the side of the head. Recovering quickly she slashes again only to hit another illusion. This time the pounce comes faster, almost directly after the slash. With sharp dagger pointed directly at the young womans face the creature strikes! It reaches the trailing blaze of Asura's sword and moves through it reaching the now helpless Asura. It stops, dagger only an inch away from her unprotected face and falls...sliced in half at the middle by the light trail.
Seeing this the other creature stops just out of range of the brilliant two-handed weapon. He gestures and in his hand is a sharp dagger he aims and throws it at Asura. But she has had plenty of warning and her sword flares in a protective circle that she has used before. The dagger bounces harmlessly off of it, but the bright light blinds many nearby combatants. The grayish orc however simply moves forward and picks up the light globe and tosses it and Asura high into the air above the battlefield where it stops hovering above looking much like a lonely star in the endless depths of night.
Laurian, Rek, and Ralandin struggle to clear their immediate area of the black tentacles, the trio clears a huge swatch, severing tentacles close to the ground. Two of Ralandin's images vanish in the process however.
Laurian shouts out, "Sivad, if thou hast any more of those potions, now wouldst be a great time to share them." Turning to Rek and Ralandin he says, "My friends, it has indeed been fun. Let us finish of these orcs and go to a friendly tavern. I could sure use ale. Drinks are on me!"
Ralandin stops for a moment and begins chanting.
Dayal moves over to the trio and pulls a small brown bag out of his pack and hands it to Laurian. "Take some of that then join us back in battle!"
He turns and charges the pair of cat-like creatures attacking Cadar.
Zraxin dances around the young orc slicing at the three orcs that surround them. The young orc looks woefully at the two slips of paper remaining in his notebook. Looking around he spots the human wizard. "Hey you! Help us! He can't protect me forever and I'm running out of useful spells here!" This tips off the three orcs who charge in mass bowling over the young orc and clashing blades with Zraxin. The young orc pulls out one of those peculiar sharpened stakes and drives it into the leg of one of the orcs attacking him. He is rewarded by the collapsing of the orc on top of him. The orc quickly rips the stake out and the two begin to wrestle on the ground. The orc mage is quickly getting the worst of it.
As Mizar blazes brightly Asura sees the others shade their eyes reflexively from its brilliance. All except the grayish orc, who grabs the shield of light and picks it up as easily as it would an empty crate. Asura feels slightly disoriented as she is suddenly lifted off of her feet and is physically tossed high above the battlefield where she wills herself stop and float above it like a brilliant star.
As she floats there she realizes suddenly that there is no air inside the globe of light! She reflexively tries to fill her lungs, but to no avail! After a few moments she realizes that she don't need to breathe.
Ralandin finishes chanting and a strange orange glow, with streams of red dancing through it, forms in front of him. The glow shrinks as it compresses into three arrows. Pointing at the oddly clad orc that has disdained fighting. The arrows streak outward slamming into the surprised orc knocking him off of his feet. The orc turns and stares at Ralandin plaintly shocked that anyone would attack him.
The human wizard moves over to the two orcs fighting, saying, "I'm also out of magic young sir, but my staff will crack some heads before this is over." A swift hit to the back of one orcs head is rewarded by a loud crack and the orc rolls off the young orc mage.
The young orc looks at his opponent in surprise and the smiles weakly at the human wizard.
Zraxin quickly has his swords pulled away and begins pounding on the orcs around him, but within moments one of the orcs gets him in a hammer lock and the other begins to pound his head into the ground.
The human wizard turns and comes to Zraxin's rescue as he hits one of the orcs in the back of the head with his staff. The orc falls forward tucking his head in and rolls on the ground for a few yards before coming to his feet a little woozy. The other orc tries to let go of Zraxin and move away, but he is not fast enough as the human wizard's staff comes around and smacks him hard in the face. His head snaps back and he practically flies off of Zraxin and falls down in a pile.
Zraxin quickly gets to his feet and thanks the wizard.
Cadar rolls over on to his stomach and reaches over to grab his sword. But he doesn't get very far as the creature lands on his back and begins to maul the giant man. Luckily the creatures can't enjoy its free lunch for long as Dayal comes to Cadar's rescue. "Displacer beast, huh? You're around here somewhere."
Swinging his sword in a wide arc from left to right that nearly spins him all the way around, he is rewarded by a howl from the cat as a long deep-red slash appears along the creatures' side. The creature leaps up off of Cadar and moves into a defensive stance, favoring it injured side.
It gives a warning growl as it moves backward into the darkness. The other cat gets up groggily and walks/stumbles in the same direction.
The lonely star in the heavens begins to fall.
Laurian opens the bag given to him by Dayal and finds several small brown squares. Taking one he pops it into his mouth and hands it over to Ralandin telling him to takes one and give the bag to Rek.
Ralandin looks at the squares suspiciously, but eventually does take one. He takes a bite and stops. His face shows he is not sure whether to spit it out or continue to eat it.
Rek takes one of the squares and says, "I would gladly take you up on your offer...." He pauses as if in though for a moment, "...interesting taste."
Sivad attacks the orc swinging his mace at the orcs back. But the orc is fast and the mace only manages to just barely touch his side. The orc turns and begins attacking Sivad, who dodges the clumsy attacks quite easily.
Dorin drops his weapon and reaches back into his pack. He pulls out the rod he tried to use earlier with his good arm and points it at the orc covered in red lighting. The rod glows bright white for a moment and with the crack of thunder the light leaps from the rod and slams into the orcs back and for a moment the red lighting that surrounded the orc is streaked with white as the sound of thunder rolls across the battlefield. Unfortunately for Dorin, a red and white streak of lighting answers the attack blasting him squarely in the chest and passing through him. The lighting continues on into the darkness, just barely missing Rek and Ralandin.
Laurian moves to join his brother Cadar. Somehow Laurian doesn't look quite as ragged as he did a moment before.
As Flamerider charges the Director, he pales noticeably. "Ha! You think I wasn't ready for this! I'm not the Director of this institution for nothing! With a flourish he wields his chosen weapon a small yellowish stick about a foot long and as wide as a finger. "Ummm... Ooops!" The Director tosses the yellow stick at Flamerider and beings running away. The Director apparently doesn't have a good throwing arm as the stick only goes a few feet before hitting the ground. Flamerider ignores it and pounds over it after the Director. The Tracara's hind leg crushes the stick utterly and a loud explosion is heard followed shortly by a strained cry and a surprised scream, as the area is engulfed in yellowish smoke. As the smoke clears it finds Flamerider stuck halfway inside a giant yellow stone. Several feet beyond him lies the female Dragon member flat on her face. Moving slowly toward her is the Director with an evil grin on his face, "Foolish girl, you will be the last member of your gang to die!"
Pendran slowly gets up to his feet. One hand on his ribs the other using his hammer for support.
Pol leans on his bow driving it further into the creature, while using one hand to fend off the weak attacks. The three heads howl in pain as two of the hands fruitlessly try to remove the intruding point. The purple eyes of the creature glow for a moment. An answering glow appears around the staff. The creature brings the staff up to strike again, but as it comes down the glow vanishes and reveals a heavy halberd. The sound of the impact echoes through the battlefield as Pol is slammed to the ground with the first hit. Without Pol's weight leaning on the bow, the two hands begin to pull it out.
The three-headed creature hands the halberd over to the orc with grayish skin who strikes down at a rising Pol, who goes down hard again. As the orc strikes a third time Pol rolls out of the way and begins to frantically scramble on hands and knees out of the orcs range.
The grayish orc moves just fast enough so that he will eventually over take Pol, but he doesn't seem to be in any hurry. Suddenly he stops and looks up as a bright light appears in the sky. The tiny star grows in size with unbelievable speed. Before he can react, the star, nearly ten feet in diameter, smashes into him! The explosion tosses everyone in the battlefield in away from it. Bodies are lifted up and tossed through the air like rag dolls. Even Flamerider with the huge rock attached to him is picked up and tossed, although only about three feet. Combatants and allies alike are scattered far apart. The man in dirty leathers appears in mid-flight to land several dozen feet beyond the Director and the Dragon member. The sound of the tremendous explosion is enough to rattle the very bones!
At the center of the explosion stands a young woman kneeling in front of her glowing white sword, which is planted point first into the ground.
Of the grayish orc, there is no trace.
Young Asura stands up lifting her glowing sword out of the ground. Looking around she spies the Director getting up from where he lay sprawled on the ground. She begins moving in a circular path around what remains of the combatants heading purposely for him.
Dorin rolls over and with great effort raises himself up to one knee and begins to pray feverently.
Cadar attempts to get up and only succeeds in getting as far as sitting up. His face and hair are an absolute ruin. Blood flows from claw marks and bite marks both on his face and in his armor. He breathes heavily as he begins to crawl over toward his sword lying only a few feet away.
Pol Crane rolls over and gets up, none the worse for wear and makes a dash for his bow.
Somewhere in the darkness a strange chanting begins.
Laurian picks himself up and heads over to where the two displacer beasts lie. One is dragging itself along with its left hind and fore legs, the other beast gets up and starts moving a few feet before weaving and falling back down again.
The Director gets up and looks around, spying Flamerider he laughs and says, "Stupid beast! Now where is your mistress? I have another surprise for her."
Upon spying the now unconscious female orc he grins evilly. "Such a waste of pretty flesh. You might have almost amounted to something someday." He holds his clenched fist out toward the girl, revealing a signet ring. As he raises his hand, the woman is lifted off the ground. With a quick jerk he causes her to go flying straight into the body of Flamerider. Her limp body bounces off the Tracara's scaly armor. "How quaint. Your own little pet shall be what kills you."
The human wizard rises slowly to his feet, "Darn! This is getting to be a bit too much at my age."
Zraxin gets up grabs his two swords and looks around for the orc that attacked him. He turns just in time to see that same orc executing a flying kick to his head. Zraxin falls backward his two swords tumbling away. As he gets up he grabs one sword and realizes the orc has the other. The two charge each other and strike at the same time, each sword inflicting a mortal wound as the swords slips between the ribs and into vital organs. Yet the two refuse to fall and they drive their swords deeper into the others body. Suddenly the orc convulses as he is outlined by a strange black aura. Zraxin also convulses as the same aura outlines him as well. For several seconds the aura pulses back and forth between the two. Each time the pair drives their swords ever deeper until the tips of the swords are protruding from out from their backs and the hilts themselves are trying to push through the skin. Finally in one convulsive blast the two are knocked away from each other, the swords flying outward from their bodies. The two stumble but regain their footing and stare at each other hatred plain on their face. The orc takes a few steps toward Zraxin before falling over, never to rise again. Zraxin straightens and ignores his fallen opponent as he retrieves his swords. Oddly enough he shows no sign of any injury!
The orc wearing dark green gloves, a bright orange vest and a hat with a red feather in it stands up and pulls out the red feather. He tosses the feather into the air and it bursts into flames and expands rapidly. A trilling bird song is heard only moments before firebirds appear from the flames, not one but two birds appear. They circle the battlefield from the air then one of them dive bombs Ralandin. Ralandin dives out of the way but is still partially singed by the creatures' touch.
Rek moves over toward Cadar with the brown bag given to him by Dayal.
Dayal moves cautiously toward the displacer beasts, plainly not trusting their actions. As Laurian joins him, the two quickly dispatch the injured beast with no problems. As they near the other beast, it quickly rounds on them. Both Dayal and Laurian spring into action attempting to kill the creature, but it they can't seem to do much more than get a few glancing hits on it. Not through any ability on the beasts part, simply because every time they get an idea of where the creature really is. The creature falls down and their swings go right over its head. Finally with a change in their tactics they manage to pin the beast down and dispatch it getting only a few minor scrapes in the bargain.
Pol turns around scanning the darkness for the three-headed creature, ready to fire his bow on a moments notice.
Dorin completes his prayer and for a moment seems to vanish in a wall of crystal blue water that surrounds him. The moment passes and he is revealed looking much better than he did before. The water falls to the ground creating a little pool.
Pendran recovers his breath, lifts his hammer and begins moving toward Flame rider.
The strange background chanting ends and the three-headed creature walks out of the darkness twice its original size. Runes cover its now completely healed body. It carries a new, thicker tower shield with it's left hands and wields a huge two handed sword in it's top right hand.
Pol stands, his bow drawn and ready, seemingly transfixed at the sight of the giant monster. Slowly the monster walks toward the lone elf, who seems unwilling or unable to shoot. Pol stands muscles straining visibly holding the taught string at first concentration on his face, then confusion, finally panic as the monster gets within twenty feet of the elf.
Finally the elf lets the arrow fly and fly it does...for about five feet. After about five feet the arrow seems to explode into tiny little dust motes each still traveling toward the creature. The dust motes swirl and expand and finally condense into a large dark grayish-black creature looking like a cross between an Ox and a Tracara. With the form of a Tracara and the horns of an Ox, it looks only vaguely like either and yet still very different. This seven foot long creature hurtles into the monstrous orc, knocking him down.