07.02a: Sufficiently Advanced (Scorched Landing)

[Joshua]

(From Original Thread)

Morning slowly comes over the plain the Scorched Landing rests on. The otherwise pristine morning, features light bird-calls that stop suddenly a few minutes after light reaches the inn. A loud banging rattles the wood to its foundation. "Hey! Innkeep! Tribute!" comes a growl, the sound of a raider that resents being a tax collector and is itching for some kind of resistance.

(OOC Note: I was informed Nuall's player needs to take a break from game. Nuall had a legitimate reason for having to duck out during the night. When the player comes back we'll figure something out.)

[Sadie]

Mana walks outside rubbing her eye sleepily with one hand, spear in the other. "Oh..." jolting awake slightly. "You're not a dragon." Pouts. "What are you supposed to be anyway? (looking over the 10 orcs curiously) And is this tribute you're collecting for a dragon at least? I'm here to slay a dragon, not you sad bunch."

[Joshua]

Yeah, they are 10 black orcs. Meaning they're about 7' 5" each, and in D&D terms would all be between 6th and 10th level giving them chaos level warfare and chaos (maybe a smidge more) level strength. They respond fairly quickly, not letting you turn back to the inn once you call them sad. The battle is short, brutal and decisive. Sadie, how much damage do you wish to do to them and how many are left alive? (They don't have the D&D fight until you're dead aspect, although they do have the barbarian rage until crippled effect.)

[Sadie]

When the orcs up and attack Mana, she - acting almost on instinct - rips out the first orc's throat with her clawed nails. (A rather impressive feat considering these are not the kind of claws meant for such use.) A hop backwards takes her halfway up the inn's wall, followed be a leap over the orcs; a showy maneuver, but not a particularly useful one - the orcs turn immediately, apparently unphased. Their swung axes are futile, though; Mana dodges, skewers two of them with her spear, kneecaps a third (using an axe dropped by one of the first two), and delivers a devastating kick to a fourth - hurling him into his fellows.

That earns Mana enough time to get back to a ready stance - now wielding an orcish axe in each hand - and yes, the orcs thought those were two-handed weapons. The six surviving orcs, frothing morons (read: berserkers) that they apparently are, charge back into combat as soon as they've recovered from being treated like bowling pins. It's just as futile as their last attempt, though; the first two orcs in range lose, respectively, both hands, and most of his torso; in the second case, a simple twist of the axe puts the orc's corpse in the way of his surviving fellows.

Mana jumps backwards again; this time, one of the orcs (probably one of the four orcs that hasn't even managed to get in melee range of her) throws his axe. Mana dodges to the side, catches the axe, swings it around, and returns the throw. The orc, unlike Mana, chooses to catch the axe with his face.

She then tilts her head and sighs at the one orc charging her (the last two being still in the process of disentangling themselves from a cleaved corpse). "Are you serious?" Mana mutters, as she steps right into his axe swing, catching it by the hilt and stopping it dead. Then with a growl, she snaps the hilt in half, grabs the orc by his shirt and throws him into the other two like a rag doll.

"I've had ENOUGH!" she roars as she leaps onto the three of them, breaks their weapons, and rips out the throat of one. The last two orcs are "merely" pinned by their necks, Mana's claws digging in uncomfortably. "We're done playing! Got it?"

Final tally: six dead orcs, two crippled orcs busy bleeding out (one without hands, and the other with much shorter legs), and two unharmed but pinned orcs.

[coldcandor]

Having been informed that his role is not in the frontal assult, Solten has been watching through a cracked (as in open a crack) window. When he sees the beasts charge, he bits back a curse and almost jumps out the window to join. However, Sadie immediately bursts into action, and within moments the beasts start going down. He freezes, mesmerized by the graceful destruction. He still breaths a sigh of relief when the last orcs are down, even though she never appeared to be in harms way at all. He relaxes and waits to see what she'll do with them. She has plenty of experience with criminals, after all.

[Joshua]

Oberon yawns loudly as he shambles out of his room. "What was that knock?" he asks the inside of the inn... Then looks outside... "Wow... That's not bad..." He stretches and walks past Solten, opening the door.

"Been a while since I've seen proper flunkies. I'm not big on killing them, but I can't argue with the results." He pads over to the leader (the initial orc that had his throat ripped out) and starts rummaging through the body. "I assume they have some way to signal the dragon. Probably a horn..." He shrugs. "Did you want to stop those two from dying?" He asks about the two orcs who might still make it with immediate medical attention.

[Sadie]

"I only intended on killing one, but they decided to swarm rather than letting me finish my conversation." Looks at the wounded ones. "Letting them live in their present state would probably be crueler than finishing them off. These creatures obviously come from a warrior culture. As for these two..." Looking down at the ones she has pinned and smiles at them almost pleasantly. "They're going to tell us everything they know about the dragon, won't you boys?"

[coldcandor]

Solten follows Oberon out of the building and casually leans against the door frame, acting like a bodyguard that obviously knows he wasn't needed but wanted to show himself anyway. He grins at Sadie "Never interrupt a lady, am I right?"

[Sadie]

Smiles up at Solten affectionately and then looks back down at the orcs. "Talk already!" The tone clearly that of an order.

[Joshua]

Oberon nods at Sadie's comment, he walks over to the first orc (the one what was kneecapped), puts a dagger in his hand, and waits for him to start to strike before slitting his throat. Oberon then repeats this with the hand-less orc, in this case putting the dagger in the orc's mouth, and cutting when the orc spits the dagger in something that could theoretically be an attack.

One of the orcs Sadie has pinne snarls, then visibly calms when he finds he can't push her off of him. He growls, "You're a strong one. If you want, Mosh could find good use for you. We like amazons..." Assuming you increase the pressure on him, he will cough, "Mosh is in the mountains." He'll point weakly at a patch of hills a few miles off. "If you want, we can summon him, can talk this out. It's still a welcome fight."