Three Faced Coin - IC Thread

[qichao]

Darek slipped his thumbs in between the straps of his pack, trying to relieve the pressure on his tired shoulders. If nothing else, at least when goblins were trying to kill him he forgot about the ache. He only listened with half an ear as Selena struck up a conversation with Leaf. She was always so good at that, diving past a person's defenses and disarming them with casual conversation. He reckoned that in the area of societal graces, she was at least as intelligent as he was in his own domain. He kept his eyes on the ground ahead, following the obvious trail that had been left by Kyoght as the man had stamped through the soft ground.

It was then that he'd realised Selena had dragged him into the conversation. He glanced upwards briefly, a long suffering expression flickering across as his face before he smoothed his features. With an energy to his voice he did not feel, he replied.

"Actually, the principle underlying all magic is the same. It just takes training and dedication to draw out the spells. Since there are so many combinations, and people generally tend to have preferences which are almost indistinguishable from natural affinity, the two end up being confused. It is a hard topic to study. I imagine, Leaf, that if you were to ask Lord Tempest on the theories of magic he would be able to tell you a great deal more."

He shifted the pack again on his shoulders. Why was the cursed thing so heavy?! The straps felt like they were doing their best to garrote his shoulder blades. He could almost have wished for a couple more goblins right now, to have an excuse to drop the pack.

The footsteps that they followed led into another clump of trees, and after a pause, Darek pushed through the foliage to follow them. He stumbled across Kyoght after a few steps, and nearly let out a yelp of surprise. The man was sat so quietly within the brush, his unnerving eyes peering towards the second camp that lay in the clearing beyond.

"Wait a minute," said Darek, kneeling and carefully brushing aside the thick leaves to afford himself a better view. "Is that-"

It was like a scene from a bad play. There was Yolanda running hard for the trees, panting with exertion. But that wasn't what made his face blanche; behind her, a group of goblins and an orc gave rampant chase, their weapons raised to strike and their guttural cries sounding. Darek palmed his face. Why had that fool dancer and that idiot sailor run off? This was the sort of trouble people got into when they didn't follow his plans! And why...why was she running directly at him? They were hidden in the trees, weren't they? So why was she leading her pursuers directly to them...

Oh god.

Was there time to run? No...no time to run. Why was he even thinking of running? Lords did not run! He had to...he had to inspire his troops, make a speech, or a gallant charge or something.

He leapt out of the bushes with a cry, the pots that were hung from his pack banging together, and then stopped. The orc slowed in its run and stared straight at him, sniffed with contempt, and roared. Darek bit his lip to stop it from quivering.

Oh god. He would have taken aching shoulders any day of the week. Any day!

Oh god.

[Zhoren]

The Swamp of Despair; March of the Black Knight.

Elsewhere, far away from the goblinoid encampments where the specially assigned adventures went about their misadventures; several groups of elite Ashenclaw guards and rangers marched in tight formation along their assigned route. Led by a man clad fully in a massive black armor, and followed by a large number of adventurers; well, besides the ones who had run off at the initial call of the battle horn. The week long campaign objectives dictated that the forces of adventurers and Ashenclaw guards must unite under one banner and take back the swamp from the hands of the monsters who had recently taken over, using any means necessary. For that purpose, the route set for the first day, covered only the monster camps near the entrance to the swamp.

And yet, things had already spiraled out of control given that more than half of the force, which consisted mostly of rookie adventurers, had run off to find their own fortunes. While that should have been a good reason for a massive decrease decrease in moral, none of the stone-faced guards seemed very concerned about the matter as they followed in the footsteps of their leader, the Black Knight. Perhaps it was because such an outcome was already expected by the ones planning the expedition, or perhaps it was the fact that each member of the forces from Ashenclaw knew their individual duties well enough, so as to render the absence of a large portion of adventurers as a minor hassle only.

This of course, did not apply to the adventurers themselves. Those who did not already run off to find glory and gold, had been thinking of doing so for the entire period of their march. That was, until the group had encountered their first goblin war-party. The sheer ferocity with which the guards had dispatched the goblins with the Black Knight leading the offensive, had ensured that the adventurers came out with no casualties at all, and yet, there had been plenty of opportunities to pitch in and do their part, especially for those adventurers that preferred ranged weapons. In other words, following behind the guards meant easy money and experience for the beginner adventurers and all in a day's work for veteran ones.

As a matter of fact, one of the adventuring parties which had ran off at the beginning, had returned to the group. The party was led by a Dwarven warrior and a Human fighter; and they had quite the curious story to tell. According to them, the monsters were being led by some gypsy woman, who had led a band of orcs and goblins and charged at them head on. The party had been roughed up pretty badly, but fortunately, there had been no casualties; too bad their story wasn't one of the most believable ones...

---

As a member of the party, Leaf was perhaps the most unskilled, and he knew it well enough. His purpose for being here was purely because he was asked to guide the party through the swamp. In that capacity, Leaf hoped that he was doing well, and besides that, he felt that he had contributed quite a bit at the last camp in spite of his lack of skill in the field of open warfare. In fact, the rush he had felt when beheading the previous camp's goblin leader had not left him yet, and he felt quite ready to try it again at the next camp. For that reason he was rather glad to see Kyoght, their rearguard, for there seemed to be none else in the group currently available to charge in along with him. Although, the fact that his lack of skill might get him killed if he followed such course of action never quite entered his train of thought.

As he was about to approach Kyoght and get a better look at the source of smoke in the second camp, Selena suddenly addressed him, surprising him a little. Though, what she said was even more surprising for him. Eventually, he shook his head a bit at her delusional idea of how things worked between himself and his Lord.

"Uh... you overestimate me m'lady," he replied, "I'm naught more than an errand boy."

"...and umm, I haven't actually been studying magic directly, my Lord told me that the miniature level of talent I seem to have needs to be drawn out naturally, rather than being sharpened through books or tomes."

"Although, I seem to have a talent for channeling some limited amount of magic through runes and such... that's mostly what my Lord tutored me in."

Darek seemed to have his own knowledge to add to the conversation, and Leaf felt obligated to nod.

"As you say Lord Darek." He replied, before following behind the lordling and peering through the bushes himself in order to get a better look.

Of course, what he saw was quite different from what he was expecting. Since he had noticed Kyoght looking through the bushes, he had expected Amaro and Yolanda to be nearby and doing the same, waiting for the party to get together before getting ready to charge the camp altogether. But as it turned out, this raid was going to be exactly the same as the last one, if not worse; after all, the dancer seemed to be leading the monsters into charging right at their hiding position.

By then adrenaline from the last battle had drained, and was replaced by fear from seeing an orc followed by a large number of goblins charging at them; and perhaps the goblins had footpads waiting in the shadows for a chance to strike, there was really no way to tell, nor was there any room for planning.

And to put the icing on the cake, Leaf watched in awe as the esteemed Lord Darek charged forward without even giving them any orders as to what they should do. Leaf followed, unlatching the blade from his side, sheathe and all, and stood beside Darek, intending to face the goblin charge head on, there was nothing else he could do after all. He could only hope that Kyoght would pitch in from the side, and that Amaro was somewhere nearby.

---

"Remember what you were taught boy." A voice spoke from behind the trio, as a massive hand touched down on Leaf's shoulder.

Apparently, Arthurros had finally decided that there was no point in hiding anymore; while showing himself would foil his objectives, letting either the party or Leaf get killed off would do the same, albeit in a roundabout way.

"When fear strikes, tighten the belly and charge!"

Lifting his hand from the boy's shoulder, the ex-captain unlatched the massive greatsword from his back and balanced it on the ground in front of him.

"Let's see what you've learned..."

[Hymusia]

Yolanda & Selena- Finally! To work!

As she grew closer she was evidently more aware it wasn't just an adventurer but the rest of her group, huzzah! Further more they were quite close together which meant great things for the aching muscle that was her thigh. Now all she had to do was reach them before she was either caught or fell, the ground, for some reason, felt more loose beneath her feet now, the relief flooding her mind putting a dampener on the adrenaline she had been feeling. Each step felt as though it would perhaps be the one that carried her right over onto the swamp floor on her face, however, call it an innate survival instinct, she didn't trip at all or stumble.

There was brush between her and Kyoht but even still she could see the bewildered and perhaps annoyed Darek, go to hell I'm covering for your messes again. she grumbled to herself. The dumbstruck Leaf and the ever calm Selena, did nothing phase that woman? A whole pack of slathering, nastiness was running right for her and she seemed utterly unfazed. As if she were still picking flowers in her nana's mansion or some similar tame hobby. To Yolanda's own surprise the ex-captain, Churro or whatever his name was, appeared from behind Leaf and the bulky man and Leaf charged towards her.

A horrible flashback to not a few hours previous had her assume the worse and she slowed, instinctual, by a small margin, enough for her to feel a goblin's hand on her back, it's thick nasty claws leaving a cold trail of goose flesh in it's wake. Once again speeding up she ducked under the blades of the two charging warriors -and Darek, who for whatever reason seemed to think he was some kind of knight right then-, tripped, fell and stumbled into the brush. The goblins and orc's were their problem now and Yolanda had earned herself a nice long relax. Assuming of course no other critters came scurrying out of the swamp to try and take a chunk out of her.

With a groan and a sigh she pulled herself to the nearest tree trunk, positioned her back against it and allowed her heaving chest to try and regain the lost oxygen all this sprinting had deprived her of. Her eyes closed lightly as she did her best to ignore the burning pain in her thigh and the terror that it instilled in her, if it didn't heal right it would scar, worse than a scar if there was nerve damage she might not be able to dance again! It didn't feel too bad at the moment but with all the disgusting ooze in the swamp who knew what kind of fetid nastiness could be lurking in the cut. She really had to get it cleaned and seen too as soon as possible.

As if by magic when her eyes parted she saw the Lady Halfax moving towards her and bending down into the grotesque mud to reach her level. " Your pretty skirt will get ruined" Yolanda uttered, attempting to inject more venom and more humor than she could currently manage.
"Skirts can be replaced, you're hurt aren't you?"
"Wouldn't be if your boyfriend hadn't messed up."
"Ah I see, well thank you very much for your hard work. I'll see to your injury now."
"You know you make it very hard to not like you."
"I've heard that before, from Lord Aralys I believe." Selena uttered with that infuriating smile, so kind, so sincere and so warm as she opened her bag and found a flask of water from within. Carefully opening it up and shifting the torn sections of skirt away she poured the water over Yolanda's thigh and washed away the grime with gentle fingertips and a small amount of pressure.
"Oh my, how did you get something like this?"
"Funny story, while the goblins and the big ugly thing were chasing me through the woods I cam across another group of adventurers, they happened to believe, like moron's I'll add, that I was leading this particular group of monsters and so they decided to attack me."
"What?!"
"That was my reaction, anyway, the only thing I could think to do to avoid the swords in front of me and the claws and teeth behind me was to slide between their legs. Much to my dismay there must have been a rock or something that I couldn't see and...well." With that Yolanda gestured to the angry, semi-deep cut upon her thigh, it's angry sides a bright red while the dirt sticking to the wound had seemingly stopped, if not slowed, the bleeding down considerably. Selena openly winced at the tale, though it was hard to tell if it was at the wound or the indignant anger in the dancer's voice.

Carefully she placed her hands over each side of the wound and closed her eyes, Selena could almost see the door before she felt the dancers hand on top of one of hers. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"Fixing your wound." Selena replied calmly.
"I don't mean this in a bad way but no way. You think I trust magic? Not a chance. Besides with Darek's leadership skills we'll probably need your hoodoo later." Selena said nothing and then finally nodded, sitting herself back on her heels so she might retrieve a dark brown bottle and a wad of cotton.
"This will hurt. A lot. Are you sure?"
"Iodine right? Do it, the priest used to use it all the time on me when I was younger." Selena was tempted to ask but felt it was likely a sore subject so she remained silent as she coated the gauze in the dark, rust colored liquid. Yolanda braced herself by wrapping a hand around one of the tree's roots and the other balled up into her skirts. She bit on her own lip as Selena carefully wiped at the wound, immediately neutralizing any germs that might have lingered with the swamp debris. When she did scream, and she did, it was muffled by the grip she had on her own lips and the fact she turned her head into her shoulder to further cancel out the sound.

It seemed like hours for Yolanda but in reality only a minute or so until the swiping, dabbing actions ceased and she was left with just the painful tingle of the angered wound. Selena didn't waste her time checking on Yolanda but found an earthenware pot and unscrewed the cap. Inside a white with black and green speckled cream was pasted inside. "What's that?" Yolanda asked with a croak in her voice, the clearing of her throat that followed, likely a way to get rid of such. "My Grand mother and I make our own herbal balms and poultices, it's an all natural concoction do not worry." With the reluctant nod of Yolanda, Selena took to lightly covering the wound with the white cream. It seemed to stick to the injured flesh and immediately sent a cooling relief through out the injured area, counter acting the burning sensation from the iodine. That done Selena recapped the cream and slipped that and the bottles back into her bag before removing a thick wad of cotton which was laid atop and with careful hands she wrapped the wound so that said cotton would remain in place.

"I really recommend you letting me heal it properly later though, if not I'll probably need to put stitches in." Yolanda looked horrified, Good Selena thought. I hope I scared her enough to listen to me. With her sickly sweet smile again she nodded to the waging combat. " For now, shall we go aid them?" Yolanda flapped a hand indignantly, "I've more than done my bit for the moment but by all means, go play."

[Scambo]

Amaro felt his jaw slacken as he watched the knife trace its trajectory from the dancer's hand, hurtling end over end before colliding with it's target.
By the Seas! When the blade struck the orc, the pirate nearly pissed himself as his mind raced. Oh what to do, what to do. If he stayed still he was good as dead, if he went charging into the camp the same way Yolanda had he was good as dead, and as far as he could tell if he tried to double back and start pushing to find the rest of the group he would be spotted and then be made dead. So the pirate decided that sneaking into the camp was his only remaining option as the orc and its party went surging outward. The pirate darted around the flaming tent then, dropping low beneath the dense, black smoke pouring out of the flaming canvas. He rounded the corner and slipped by the diminutive creatures busily hurling murky swamp water at the tent with little effect. Poking his head inside the central tent, he saw nothing and no-one. No loot, no goblin command center just dirt and a few scattered pieces of green-skin furniture. He drew his remaining dagger and fell into a defensive crouch, eyes primed and panning for any hint of life or movement. After finishing a quick sweep of the tent, the pirate felt vexxed; where the hell could the camp leader be?! Disappointed and irritated, Amaro decided it would be best now to slip out of the camp unnoticed; the goblin leader for this camp was nowhere to be found within the central tent, and the pirate doubted that it was among the creatures working to extinguish the fire or part of the group that had gone and hauled off after the brash dancer. If it was just milling about the camp with the others well then he would have to just get the others and come back in greater force.

Poking his head outside, he narrowly retracted it in time as two goblins came rounding the corner, chittering away in their native tongue. He waited until the two had passed before once again leaning his head out a firing slit, taking a quick count of how many of the creatures were in sight, in earshot and what they were doing. Most of the creatures left in the camp were out searching for something, leaving a sparse few on guard and even fewer to control the fire. The pirate set off doing his best to stay low. Keeping the tents between him and the goblins in camp, Amaro gained the outside palisade quickly, clambering over the simple fortifications and dropping into the soft swamp mud. Grimacing at the squelch sound his boots made as they sank in. Rising up, he glanced about the swamp for goblin patrols and seeing none, he took off running in the direction the dancer had gone. Gliding through the spindly trunks and spidering roots of the native trees the pirate followed in the wake of destruction left behind by the stampeding orc and his crew. It hadn't taken long to pick up the trail, but all the same he picked up his pace; the thought of Yolanda getting herself caught or cornered by the beasts did his nerves no good and for the second time that day he kicked himself for the burning guilt he felt in the pit of his stomach. He felt his breath catch in his throat as he gained a small rise and saw the green tide descending upon the rest of his party. The pirate rose and looked about. Either direction he looked the path ran open and unhindered. It wouldn't take long to hike it back to Ashenclaw, hocking the gear might take a little bit longer; the seal of Ashenclaw was too prominent to truly hide and that meant seeking out a fence to flip it off on. It was a fairly large group of green-skins, dangerous enough trying to clear them out, let alone continuing on with the mission. But when the split-second of consideration was over, he found his feet picking up speed, not away from where the green-skins prepared to crash upon his party, but rather directly towards it. Amaro darted up the path, tossing his dagger from right hand to left as his right dropped down to the rapier dangling from his hip. When a sparse few feet remained between himself and the tide of green-skins the pirate felt his eyes slip shut, time slow to a crawl as his heart thundered in his ears. But though he was about to fall upon the goblins with all the fury of a sudden sea squall, his mind was calm, pond without ripples. Three words rang in his thoughts, words he'd been hearing since his teenage years aboard the Red Empress.

Be like water.The rapier glided free from its sheathe as he fell in on the heels of the stragglers. Choking up his grip on the handle, he braced his wrist against the inside of the hand guard and with a flick of his wrist punched the point of his rapier through the throat of a trailing goblin before extracting the blade and moving forward. Hearing the cries of it's fallen comrade two of the rear guards turned back and detached from the main group, brandishing menacing blades. The two fell in about the pirate but Amaro pushed on unhindered.

Be as the sea, flow with great strength, but when met with force, flow around it.

The lead goblin lunged forward, blade extended in a stabbing thrust. The pirate sidestepped away from the strike and folded into the green-skin's arm, coming to rest his back against the creature's chest, bringing the dagger in his left hand down repeatedly before spinning away, bringing his twirling elbow against the goblin's head, sending it toppling to the ground in a bloodied mess. Amaro turned his gaze around in time to see the second rear guard charging forward. The green skin swung its knife in a looping arc and as the pirate moved the twist away as he had with the last attack the goblin changed its step and slashed upward, anticipating his movement. The blade split the leather jerkin and grazed off the mithril plate beneath, but came back down on his left shoulder, tearing a gash from his shoulder to just above the bicep. He leaned back and punted the creature in it's groin and brought the dagger in his hand hurtling down into the creature's head. Growling, he found that his arm lacked the strength to free the dagger from where it was lodged in the goblin's skull and when he tried, red hot lances of pain shot up from his wrist up his whole arm. Amaro released the pommel with a hiss and let the creature drop dead to the ground. His hand dropped to free one of the throwing knives from the brace on his thigh, though he felt strength in his knife arm fading Amaro clutched the slender knife in a white knuckle grip and started closing with the orc now. Slipping in behind a goblin, the pirate slashed at the green-skin's hamstring with the rapier, tearing away blood and sinew and causing the creature to drop to its knee. Planting a boot on the green-skin's back, the pirate launched himself upwards and onto the back of the orc. With a savage howl, he brought the hilt of the rapier crashing against the lumbering beast's temple, dazing it while his free hand hefted the throwing knife and plunged it down with all the strength remaining to his left arm.

He had aimed for the orc's throat but the beast's staggering coupled with the growing pain in his arm made his aim go wide and instead of cutting the orc's throat the throwing knife instead lodged itself in the creature's shoulder. Cursing, he hefted the rapier to finish the job when a massive green elbow appeared out of nowhere and connected with his forehead, sending the pirate toppling to the ground. He landed with a thud atop his wounded shoulder. With a howl Amaro rolled onto his back and felt his vision clear in time to see the orc standing over him, axe raised and loosing a blood curdling roar. Amaro was quicker though, his now empty right hand hurling a fist-full of mud into the beast's eyes while a booted toe launched upward and buried itself in orc's genitals.Struggling through his dazed state and screaming pain in his shoulder, Amaro rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the axe's descent and subsequent wild swinging as he snatched up his rapier and joined his party where they stood to meet the threat. He saw that the hulking former guard captain from town had chosen to join them, and while that ordinarily would've raised the pirate's eyebrows some, at that moment he could've kissed the man.

"Please, feel free to pitch in at any time! That means you too Lordling!" The pirate shouted before returning his gaze to the infuriated orc.

[Kostvel]

Kyoht peered through the rough foliage, but he heard and caught scent of the party before he could see them. He found the scent of both Leaf and Darek to be fairly distinct. It was always tinged with something Kyoht couldn't describe other than being somewhat unnatural. He wasn't sure if it was a magic kind of thing, or just another peculiarity of the two. No longer needing to watch his back, he spun around and crouched low in the dull leaves of a large fern. His golden emerald eyes scanned over the camp taking in the goings on. Whatever was happening, something had stirred up the goblins like kicking an anthill. And almost as soon as Darek noted it, he saw the foreign dancer who had left earlier running almost dead at them. Before he could even really asses what was going on, the lordling Darek had leaped out in some sort of mad charge toward the oncoming party of monsters leaving the group with no particular orders. Kyoht wasn't sure what he really intended, but he figured the lordling had some powerful magic up his sleeve, as he had rushed out without either any armour or serious melee weapons.

Shrugging slightly to himself, he followed leafs example, and bounded up in place to take on the opposite side of Darek, his blade resting lightly on the top of the shield he held readily before him. Almost as soon as he took position besides the lordling, the bulk of the ex-captain seemed to materialize behind them offering encouragement to Leaf it seemed. Kyoht was slightly shaken, as he had no idea or indication that the giant of a man had been shadowing them or even nearby. But the ex-captains actions spoke clearly as he unlatched the huge great sword he carried on his back.

In only moments, Kyoht found himself embroiled in a mass of putrid smelling goblins. He had no real idea where the orc or what the others next to him were as he had his hands full dealing with the foes in front of him. Using his shield he lashed out hard in front of him, resulting in a sickening crunch as the goblins momentum carried him full tilt into the sudden force of the painted wood. He stabbed at the falling goblin with his longsword to make sure he would stay down, before chopping at another instantly following in its wake. He wielded the blade with direct brutality, using the blade more as a crude chopping weapon. With the skill level of those before him, he didn't need much else, as his size and reach already gave him a good advantage. Tucking his shoulder behind his shield he pushed through a knot of goblins, using his mass alone to shift them aside. His blade darted below the rim of the shield cutting through the thigh of a goblin too slow to get out of his way.

The goblins in retaliation began to strike back, their weapons mostly catching our bouncing off the rough surface of Kyoht's shield. Most of the goblins were either too frenzied or inexperienced to really direct attacks behind the shield, and the few who did weren't very effective with their crude weapons. Not that they were completely useless, as a good blow from a club on Kyoht's side caused him to momentarily cringe. Slowly he stepped back to his previous point somewhat near the location of the ex-captain. He noticed that the pirate fellow had rejoined the party, although looking quite disorderly from the hands of the infuriated orc before him. At this moment, there wasn't all that much Kyoht could do about it, as a group of goblins had interposed themselves between Kyoht and the rest of the party. So not only was the pirate and the other three on their own, he was for the moment as well.

Gritting his teeth at the task ahead of him, Kyoht spun to meet the attack of a spear wielding goblin to his left. In a deft twisting motion with his longsword, he deflected the leaf like blade of the spear and ended his thrust with the blade in the goblins chest. Pushing the goblin off his blade with a smash from his shield he was left no respite as another goblin stepped in with a large machete aiming a blow at his exposed right side. Not in time to block the blade, Kyoht felt the jarring smash as the rough blade contact his side tearing a big gash in his tabard, and crushing the mail links beneath it. Luckily for Kyoht the mail held and the blade didn't cut through to his flesh. Pivoting about he swept the longsword up and the heavy blade cleaved cleanly through the goblins neck. Bringing the blade back in a circular downstroke he managed to use his reach to slash at yet another goblin.

Kyoht recovered and looked immediately for the source of the next attack. Thankfully the goblins weren't very bog on working together, as they seemed to engage almost one at a time. Kyoht wasn't sure exactly why they continued to be so cowardly, because if they had rushed him all at once there was no way he could block and ripost so many attacks. As it stood his superiority of reach over the smaller stature of the goblins made most strikes fall short before his blade or shield intercepted their blows. As foolhardy as the goblins singly attacking Kyoht was, there still was no defined direction from where those attacks were coming from, and the crude spears and axes still could get within his reach. Kyoht found himself constantly pivoting back and forth fending off attacks and strikes from the goblins which now had surrounded his entire forward arc. The ground beneath his feet began to slowly churn into thick mud wetted with the blood of goblins, and ever slow slowly began sucking at Kyoht's boots as he worked his feet to pivot his body to face the various threats coming at different directions.

As he laid another goblin low, another one took it's place, although this one was instantly noticeable to Kyoht as the goblin had a thick leather eye patch and scarring about one side of it's face. He was also wielding a larger sized two headed axe which was a definite change in quality to the general state of weapons most of the goblins used. Kyoht was a little curious at the site, but wasn't too overly concerned as he surely figured a goblin didn't have the strength and reach to wield such effectively. Either way, he began to turn to put his shield and body square to the threat the new goblin represented. As he began pivoting his left leg about, suddenly his boot was sucked in and trapped in the mire about his feet, stopping him from fully swinging about. Kyoht had a sinking feeling that this particular goblin was aware of what was happening and had waited for a moment exactly like this. The goblin stepped up and swung the axe almost effortlessly defying Kyoht's expectations. Kyoht swung the shield up to block the blow, and the axe bit harshly into the thick wood, cleanly shearing of a fair chunk of the kite shield. His arm throbbed from the blow, but the force managed to give him enough leverage to tear his left leg free from the grasp of the muck. Stepping toward the goblin, he struck back with the sword aiming for the goblins neck. Unfortunately it seemed the goblin wasn't only strong enough to wield the double headed axe, but good with it as well. The goblin caught the blade of the longsword on the head of the axe and deflected it downward to bite into the ground.

Wrenching on the blade Kyoht freed it with a grunt, but not before the goblin had leaped forward swinging the deadly axe-blade again. Kyoht swung his shield to intercept the blade, but at the last moment realized that due to the cutout chunk in his shield that it wouldn't be enough. The axehead cut through the little wood that interposed itself between Kyoht's wrist and the sharp blade, and contacted Kyoht's mail sleeve. The toe of the axehead crushed the steel links, and in a stroke of fortune, came into contact with the thick silver torque on Kyoht's wrist. The torque caused the axeblade to rebound saving his wrist, but not before the axe tore a fair gash into his arm just above the torque.

Kyoht gritted his teeth in sudden pain, and lashed out with his gauntleted right fist squarely catching the goblin in his good eye. Kyoht followed up with an angry kick knocking the goblin back, before reaching back with his longsword and thrusting it into the goblins chest. The goblins good eye opened up in shock, and he fell to his knees as Kyoht viciously wrenched his blade free. This exchange took only a few seconds, but seeing the defeat of this particular goblin seemed to take the spirit out of the four or five goblins left before Kyoht, and they edged back, almost on the verge of outright sprinting away. In the respite this offered, Kyoht himself took advantage of the lull to sprint towards the rest of the party to give them a hand.

[qichao]

Darek barely noticed Leaf as he stepped up beside him, and Kyoght too. The afternoon sun beat down as the goblins ran hell for leather towards them. Darek's mind was blank, panic striking down any coherent thought that formed. As the goblins reached them, his party stepped forth and began to fight. But he stood, transfixed. The goblins seemed to ignore him at first; clearly they had bigger threats to deal with. How could they just fight like this? Thought Darek. Not a care for their flesh and blood. Not a care that they stood balanced upon a knife edge that could all too easily be twisted with a moments hesitation, a slight mis-step or a lucky swing.

He watched as Kyoght caught an axe in the arm before punching a goblin in the face, watched as Arthurros swung his greatsword in arcing sweeps of death, scattering goblins like ants before him, watched as Amaro fell upon the orc and the straggling goblins with his rapier and Leaf...even Leaf, ducked and dived and thrust and parried. The shouting and screaming and fighting blurred into a haze around him, a surreal din that was both overwhelming and mesmerizing. Odd details caught his eye as he stood in what felt like the centre of the tempest; sweat flicked off Amaro's hair as he stepped through the forms with his rapier, he saw how Kyoght's chainmail rattled and shook with his movements, saw how one goblin stumbled over a root and was speared by Leaf's sword which disappeared into the creature like one of the magic tricks he'd watched countless court jesters perform except, unlike the tricks, it thrust through and out of the goblin's back, tipped with red.

I have to do something! He thought, I'm the Lord!

The fear that washed over him held him down as if he were being physically clamped to the ground. If his muscles weren't all already tensed rigid, he was sure his knees would be knocking and his teeth would be chattering.

A goblin finally noticing the quaking human with his pack standing alone and petrified. It shrieked and screamed, charging at him, raising a rusty dagger to strike. Darek fumbled the pack off his shoulders and threw it at the goblin, smacking it full in the face as he scrambled backwards. He saw with dismay that aside from slowing the goblin down a few steps, hitting it in the face with a sack of books had done remarkably little. In fact, the little green creature shrieked even louder. It ran for Darek, who stumbled over a root and fell on his back on the soft ground. The goblin jumped, knife poised to plunge into Darek's heart. He threw up an arm and screamed in abject terror.

He felt a hot flash in his side pocket, and then the goblin fell upon him. The blade...screeched, as if it were metal trying to cut metal, and the tip came to a rest on his chest. He looked the goblin in its thickly lidded eyes, and was surprised to find an almost human expression of shock. The comb! Given to him by his mother just before they parted, almost as an afterthought, that was what burned him through his pocket. He could feel the magic pulsating through the air around him. The dagger wobbled in the goblin's hands, and the expression of shock turned to one of consternation. Darek felt the flow coalescing about him, and then it ejected the dagger backwards with such force that it shot clean through the body of the goblin, handle first. The creature flew ungainly into the air and came to land with a sickening thud a few meters away, the hole in its chest smoking and spurting blood everywhere.

Darek struggled up. Splatters of blood and guts decorated his clothing. He reached into his pocket and took out the small silver accoutrement. It was still warm to the touch. He rubbed the goblin blood off his face with a sleeve, thanking, as only one who'd been snatched from the jaws of death could, the prescience of his mother.

Around him, the battle seemed to have been mostly decided in the groups favour. Straggling goblins were either in the process of being dispatched, or were running off. The air smelled of blood and death, underlaid with the fetid decay that was the swamp itself. Darek shook. He was alive.

He was alive.

[Hymusia]

Selena.- Fight.

Decided not to pamper the woman who was clearly in shock, instead she slipped her bag off her shoulder and rolled her shoulders. It had been a long while since she'd been in a fight, in fact other than a few scraps with human it had always been practise fights. Who knew if she could actually offer any help in the long run but her comrades were getting hurt and further Arthuros himself had stepped out of the ether to join them. Selena seemed to weight her staff and check her skirts as she headed to where the 'front line' had been made up of this brave little group, from the moment she had met them they were in her care, even Lord Aralys was now under her wing rather than her reluctant friend.

She could allow no more and, with such a small shift in her eyes that those who did not know them well would not notice the sudden seriousness that entered the gentle orbs, she span the staff in her hands. It was an unwieldy weapon but many healers used them with prowess, she of course was no master but as a goblin spotted her and the injured girl and dashed towards them she showed her blessed grandmother that the training she'd provided was not wasted. As it came close the healer whipped the staff up with the higher of her arms bent and her lower almost straight, the swing was clean and unexpected as the goblin connected with it's throat and then it's chin. Selena was not done however, she continued the motion, the top of the staff close and over one shoulder as she pivoted a full turn and bought the weight of the staff against the stunned goblins skull.

It roared in anger but dropped it's crude little weapon form the dizziness that now affected it's being. Selena could not kill as was her morals, howeve she could certainly incapacitate. A quick jab of the staff to the solar plexus of the nasty little creature and a sweep where she held the staff with one hand only and took the goblin off it's feet left it dazed, confused and winded. Someone elses kill, or perhaps it would recover, either way Selena walked passed the creature. It likely had a fractured skull if not a twisted ankle and possibly broken ribs, it likely, if smart, would not go for her again.

Spotting Darek, standing but shaken, his clothes stained with blood she could only guess what happened. Offering a bow and a sincere and sweet smile in the heat of battle was perhaps not the most normal procedure but the enemy was being battled back. The orc however was still standing and seeing the distracted femme it took a swing for her. Selena turned and struck its swinging wrist with her staff, causing it's grip to loosen and the blade to wobble in his grip, sending another jab with the staff the orc, perplexed, dropped the hand from the weapon and let out a bellowing roar. Snapping ah and out for Selena who backed up quickly and watched as a spray of blood erupted from where one of the orc's fingers had been.

Selena smiled, About time.

Yolanda- Guilt.

She was scared, she would be more than happy to admit that to any one who asked, if they wanted to call her a coward that was fine, she was an alive coward. It was survival not cowardice, it was not being stupid, she'd had to cover for stupid, she wasn't going to do it again. However, despite her conviction that this was not her problem she glanced over to the group that fought and spotted Amaro at the exact wrong time. She watched as he was hit, the colour draining from her as she saw blood and covered her mouth to hide her own gasp of dismay. All she could see was the blood, even as he got up and continued fighting, proving he was fine, all that she could see was his blood. Something heavy and black and sickly filled her heart and her stomach, something she didn't usually have space for but recognised regardless. Guilt.

Amaro was hurt because of her, he'd been injured because she'd run away. Why hadn't he just run away? He was a pirate after all and he'd done more than his share, why had he charged the group of monsters? It wasn't like he owed her anything so he couldn't have been checking up on her right? Not after how stupid she'd been? What could she do though? She wasn't a fighter, she was a dancer, she'd come along if they needed a sense of stealth, espionage, infiltration. She hadn't come to wield swords like a fake hero, to pretend she cared for people and not the gold that was on offer. Kyoht got hurt, something happened with the lordling but all she saw was Amaro, his blood, his sweat and his broad back.

There was something about it, she couldn't understand it for a moment but it looked so uncovered, bare? Unprotected. I should have had his back. Honestly what use could she be though? They had the fighters up there, even Selena and the lordling had joined in, what use was she to be? She had no experience with blades, Put a couple of blades in your hands girl and you'll do just fine. The voice finally ricocheted in her mind like the words of a god, an epiphany that spread through out her form and had the dancer pushing herself to her feet, ripping the new skirt so it was less hindering.

Glancing to the slain she found a pair of crude but affective blades, they still had the blood of whatever enemy the goblins had found before now upon them. It's just like dancing, just like dancing. Oh god I'm going to die, die horribly. Or worse not be able to dance any more. This is ridiculous, why am I even doing this? Revenge, that's why. Her eyes narrowed, her hips snaked and changing her grip until she was comfortable with it she was as prepared as she'd ever be. She'd never taken a life before, not an animals, not a humans, not a mutated whatever the hell they were but it had to change today. For revenge.

A goblin spotted the bandage on the dancers leg and found her fair game, charging with a battle cry that resembled a shriek he found himself frozen by the ferocious eyes that met him. Sharp as a snakes and as cold, it's own brethren's blade whipped out across it's throat and sent blood flying, it staggered back and Yolanda kicked up a foot to kick it in the wound she'd created, hissing like a viper as she did so. The attack was clumsy, she'd aimed to severe the creatures head from it's shoulders, it was too shallow and she'd need far more practise, but as the green skin dropped to it's knees she was satisfied to an extent that she wasn't going to kill her own people.

A roar that sounded somewhere between that of a boar and a lion caught her attention and she spotted Selena smacking the orc about with her pokey stick. Yolanda owed that thing, it was the orc's fault she felt guilty and Yolanda really really didn't like guilt. She, once again, began to sprint though this time towards the fight and not away. As the orc reared it's meaty hand to try and snag Selena the dancer span passed in a flash with a hiss of skirts shifting in her wake and the satisfying yowl of pain as one of the blades took away the tip of one of the orc's fingers and down to the second knuckle of another. It was thoroughly unimpressed of course but more than pained it seemed confused.

Yolanda stood in front of Selena with her narrowed eyes, hips still swaying, It's just like dancing, I've just got to learn the steps. She'd aimed for his wrist, hoping to remove the whole hand, a long shot she knew, or at the least damage it so it wouldn't be able to attack again. Still ,she was doing better than she'd feared, for now. As Yolanda released a breath it came out as a hiss, her vivid eyes were as cold as slate and as she raised them to the orc it seemed to flinch, if only very briefly, at the cold-blooded look within. Yol had no idea what she was going to do now of course, she hadn't the training to get this far but she was determined to get rid of that nausea in her gut.

The orc swung with it's weapon hand and the dancer slithered like a snake away, the orc followed up with another slash and the flexible bitch moved out the way again, bending backwards to avoid the slash. The orc's attention was caught for the time and Yolanda was slowly leading it away from the others, one step at a time. “Come on you ugly mule.” She hissed at it, ducking under another wide swing with it's injured hand and jabbing one of the blades up and into the orc's hand. Again proving she had so much to learn, it cut through the flesh with a sizeable gash but she'd intended to pierce the entire appendage. Still, at least she had it's attention, Amaro would be alive at the least, if not okay and Selena could fix him up.

[Zhoren]

After having taken the beating of a lifetime, but still standing tall, the orc looked almost proud as it shouted something in the guttural language that the goblins normally used to communicate with one another. Immediately, the goblins that had been facing the adventurers, disengaged, and formed up around the orc in a tight knit formation. It was almost as if these goblins, who were simply hacking away at the adventurers just a moment ago, had suddenly received intense military training. With their swords and spears sticking out, and the bucklers covering up all their weak parts, the formation looked impregnable to all but a well formed charge.

Protected in the middle of the perfectly crafted circle formation, the orc chuckled. Well, it was more like a guttural clicking sound, but one could surmise that it was chuckling from the change in its facial features. Not that it looked any uglier when chuckling than it normally did; nonetheless, it seemed to be enjoying itself.

Taking a small handheld object out of its pocket, the orc held it close to his head for a few moments before putting it away again.

And then...

With a voice, rich and guttural, and with a tongue like the crack and boom of rolling thunder, the orc spoke in the common language.

"You language is like Lul Gijak-Ishi..!" The orc spoke with a little difficulty, shifting into orcish partway through.

"Your kind are only fit as slaves!" It added. "Snaga nar baj lufut!"

"When we descend upon you... Vrasubatburuk ug butharubatgruiuk."

"Mabaj bot ob armauk!" The orc raised it's handaxe high above its head, letting out a guttural cry before adding, "Mirdautas vras!"

---

While Arthurros seemed to have been taking a mostly defensive role during the fray, knocking back or outright killing anything that got too close to the party, his stance seemed to change utterly as soon as the orc spoke up. For a few moments he simply stood there and stared at the orc and the tight ranks the goblins had formed around him; he seemed quite dumbfounded by the orc's speech as well. Within a few seconds though, the giant man regained his composure. Bending down on a single knee and lowering his head much like a rhino would prior to charging, the ex-captain glanced at both Kyoght and Leaf in turn, as if asking them to follow, before charging towards the circle formation from one side, heading straight for the center.

In the next moment, Arthurros charged forward, displaying a speed uncharacteristic for his size. Crashing directly into the circle of goblins, bending or outright breaking some of the blades and spears that stuck out, and taking the others without a single wince, ignoring the bleeding and pain, Arthurros tackled the orc to the ground, completely decimating one side of the circle formation. Subsequently, the ex-captain regained his balance and raised his massive blade above his head, and brought it crashing down into the orc using the blunt-flat side of the blade, knocking it right out of commission, but not quite into unconsciousness. It was hard to tell whether such a state even existed for orcs, for them things seemed more simpler, either living or dead.

Almost fuming in controlled frenzy and battle rage, the ex-captain looked at the rest of the party, his eyes quickly singling out the apprentice mage.

"Leaf.. quick... get me some ropes!" Arthurros shouted.

"This could be the reason for the whole damned invasion.." He added, looking at the rest of the party through the horde of goblins that still held a semi-circle formation.

"The rest of you take care of this rabble." He said, while raising his blade with a single hand and knocking a goblin straight out of commission while still pinning the orc down with his other hand. There seemed to be a subtle fire in the ex-captain's eyes, which seemed quite different from his everyday peaceful nature.

Speaking of fire, there also seemed to be ball of fire which had apparently been summoned by the goblin shaman with the wooden staff; as it would seem, the shaman wasn't too happy at being ignored by the adventurers, and was thus ready to show its gratitude with a block of molten lava which it planned to throw straight at the group of adventurers. It seemed likely that a few more swings of his staff would do the trick.

"... and someone deal with that damned nuisance!" Arthurros shouted over the guttural cries of the struggling orc and the charging goblins, while still pinning the half-conscious orc to the ground, and send flying any goblins that dared come close.

__________________

Lul Gijak-Ishi - Flowers in blood (Interchangeable with 'Elf' or 'Pussy')

Snaga nar baj lufut - Slaves do not make war

Vrasubatburuk ug butharubatgruiuk - We'll kill your men and sodomize your women

Mabaj bot ob armauk - I have many enemies (an expression of joy)

Mirdautas vras - Today is a good day to kill

[Hymusia]

Selena- Fae.

Her awe was only matched by her intrigue as the orc gathered the goblins and spoke with them, it was strange to hear him speak in a common tongue and stranger still for her to be able to pick out a word or two in what must have been it's native dialect. Though even with her slight understanding it gave her no real edge on what was being said. Arthurros though seemed to understand and he charged, decimating the line like a dragon amongst men. She winced at the blood that flowed even as he took down most of the line unaided, he was a strong man and despite his wounds he seemed to be quite capable of pummelling the orc into a state of unconsciousness.

Despite her relief that everyone had thus far made it through alive the reorganising goblins forced her brows to furrow. Her friends were injured and tired, Arthurros was also injured, she could allow no real harm to come to either Leaf or the ex-guard captain so with one hand she gestured the others to hold and she, regardless of them paying heed or not, stepped forward. For those magically inclined her image which had been alive with blue energy now seemed to absorb said energy until her body was but a silhouette haloed by a distracting blue light, once more one would possibly see (if they were enchanted to) fine gossamer or spider silk that danced like a mirage at the edge of ones vision.

Her eyes were kept low as she gathered her concentration and her stores of power, once more from the sky above the little white ball of light descended and fluttered around her head. The runes carved in the staff she held lit up like stars in a night sky, old magic, old enough for even Goblins to be wary and look between one another. One foolish little goblin charged forward, buckler raised and sword in hand, like lightening to a tree the blue light that danced around her struck out with the force of a whip and knocked the creature flat on it's ass. “Wun nindolen lorulmen ph' aterrucen olathur taga dos.” Her eyes met the goblin line and all shuffled back half a pace before glancing nervously between one another. It was a good distraction should the others need it but she wasn't quite done yet.

The staff in her hand continued to resonate, pulsing in the same manner the little sphere did as it settled close by her shoulder. One could look for a hundred years at the tiny thing and see no more than what one could assume was a humanish silhouette from within. It seemed the little monsters began to realise what it was she was and in their bizarre way they began to name her to each other getting more and more excited about it. Selena though was concentrating and by the time the goblins were ready to attack her she too was ready with a spell, magic had always come easily to her but she'd made certain even as a child to never seem to outdo Aralys or any of the other children she met who were learning.

Now was different though, people she was charged with caring for were in trouble and she responded with a graceful arc of an arm, anyone who knew runes would she was drawing with her fingertips the rune for storm and upon it's completion the air around her resonated with heat before lightening as blue as that which crackled in her eyes, the bolts came through the clear sky and penetrated the leafy layer, setting immediate fire to the leaves which rained ash. The bolts struck in the most unnatural way, a perfectly straight line not five feet in front of the goblins going down the entire line with a peel of thunder to separate them.

This was enough to send the goblins shrieking and screaming, breaking formation and best of all she had killed nothing. The rest of the companions jobs would be a little easier now and as her 'aura' faded, leaving just the delicate blue sparks that danced off her 'resting' aura, she offered a smile over her shoulder, the last of the blue lightening leaving her eyes but her personal light ball remaining. “I hope this helps.”

-------

Wun nindolen lorulmen ph' aterrucen olathur taga dos - Basically translates to 'There are worse things here than you.' In an old old elvish dialect.

[qichao]

It felt almost like a physical slap to Darek as Selena drew her magic in and let it burst forth in shots of lightning.

The power roiled about her slender figure, a vortex of shaped flows that ebbed and flowed. Truly, to Darek's mind, she stood at the eye of a tempest which clawed at him with a savagery he would not have ever associated with her. Graceful, gentle Selena. It wasn't a physical wind. Indeed, his physical form remained distinctly unruffled. But, in his minds eye, he stumbled and fell about, like a leaf caught up in a gale. He forced himself towards some semblance of stability, anchoring himself to his own gate.

Disbelief was the first thought that registered. It wasn't that he was sexist, but more that through study, he was acutely aware of the differences between men and women. Men tended to be physically stronger, tended to be socialized towards displaying strength and dominance, tended to be able to handle more of the flow. Selena existed as a contradiction, an absurd juxtaposition of both the frail and the strong. He'd seen her up till this point as very much one that needed to be protected, and yet now, she seemed to be the one doing the protecting. He didn't know what to think. The goblins were driven back, their faces thrown into sharp relief by the pale blue of the lightning, screeching and shielding themselves against the relentless fury of Selena's spell, and Darek felt an odd feeling.

It wasn't exactly jealousy, or envy exactly.

No... it was...

A flicker of movement from beyond the raging lightning caught his eye. It was another goblin, one that was ornately decorated with beads around his neck and bearing a staff. Darek blinked as he realised it was the shaman, waving the staff back and forth, chanting a spell. Around the head of the staff, a clump of molten rock boiled and blistered in heat, steam rising from it. Darek watched as it grew and grew. He glanced to his sides, it didn't seem like any of his companions had seen it. Arthurros was no doubt too busy wrestling with the orc.

If I don't do anything... how would I ever have the gall to call myself Lord again?

He'd already shamed himself with one act of cowardice today. He would not repeat it again. He would not.

Of course, the fact that the shaman was standing quite far away seemed to help; it was definitely easier to summon thoughts of courage when the enemy wasn't in his face with a rusty dagger. He tapped the gate in his mind, opening it for the second time that day. A flickering purple could be glimpsed briefly beyond, and then it flooded through his mind. The shaman's movement became more frenetic; his spell was probably close to completion. Darek felt the flows run through his body, felt his hairs bristle with energy.

Shape it.

He grabbed it like a fisherman a slippery eel and began to bend it to his will. There would not be any stray rain clouds or fireballs this time. Forming the shape he wanted in his mind, he held it for a second, visualizing its form and then, let the gathered power in his body flow out like a giant exhale. A nearby boulder the size of a goblin wobbled and lifted free of the moss and the roots, and then, as if kicked by an invisible giant, went tumbling over the soft ground, spitting chunks of soil in all directions as it went bowling over the shaman. Darek watched with a smile of grim satisfaction as it squashed the shaman flat. The lava spell crumbled, and the clump of rock dropped into the soil, sending up a great cloud of steam as it hissed and boiled the ground.

He let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, and felt a little swell of pride in his chest.

"Come on," He gestured at his companions beside him, a tone of command returning to his voice. "Help Arthurros bind the orc!"