-=Fort Gansforth, Sedan Territory near the Takari Border=-

The mighty Fort Gansforth has stood as Sedan's first line of defense against the creatures of Takari since the fall of the Beasts. But today the once legendary Fort lies in ruins, its gates splintered and shattered its mighty walls cracked and crumbling. The Brave knights of Suldan tasked to defended its walls now lay slaughtered their bodies littering the once beautiful courtyard. A horde of Orcs now stand before the keep cheering at their victory, while a red skinned Orc stands on the overhanging balcony holding the Knight Commander over the edge. "Today we have shown the filthy Humans exactly why they used to fear our kind! Why they will fear us once more!" The Orc yelled to his troops who gave a cheer at the words. "We now have a land to call our own and this is just the beginning! Soon the Bloodfang Clan will become stronger and subjugate these pitiful Humans! We will return them to their rightful place!" He boasted just before tossing the Commander off the balcony leaving the broken corpse to rot with his men. The orcs below cheered in victory, a dreadful cheer that spread out for miles around the keep.

One month has passed since the Bloodfang Clan took Fort Gansforth. In that month the Orcs have made use of their new home repairing and fortifying the Fort returning it to its former glory. This has left the Orcs main focus inwards and not bent to grow their new territory which has given the Sedan time to rally a force to combat the Orcs.

One week ago the Knights of Sedan attempted a siege of Fort Gansforth. A siege which ended in failure, these orcs were more organized that anticipated and constantly ambushed the Sedan army in hit and run tactics dwindling the armies forces before routing them in a single battle. With their tails between their legs the Sedan forces had to withdraw taking heavy casualties and forcing the Sedan Government to request the aid of the Black Order.

In response the Black Order has begun to muster an army of its own, an army not trained for warfare but slaughter. These orcs will be nothing more than another mission for the Order and they will see it through with ruthless efficiency. With their eyes set on Fort Gansforth the order has sent a battalion of troops ahead of the main army to scout and route the orcs hiding in the surrounding forests not willing to allow itself to fall into the same traps as the Sedan. Among this Battalion is a newly formed squad under the command of Silus Cross who is ready to prove his worth of command and as always ready to increase his score.

-=Gansfoth Wilds, Sedan territory=-

The forests surrounding Fort Gansfoth aren't as think as those of the Takari Wilds, but they can still easily hide an ambushing force. It is late afternoon a few hours from sunset as sunset begins to settle in Silus leads his team through the forest quietly moving forward bow in his hands and arrow resting on the string.

The squad is following a set of tracks that Silus had found half an hour earlier. An Orc scouting party whom Silus and his squad had barely avoided earlier in the day. But now it was their turn, with the Orcs returning to their camp ambushing them would be a nice change of pace. In the Three days since the Order had sent the Scouting Battalion they had already come under attack by the orcs multiple times, sure there had been a few casualties, but the Order had taken very few losses compared to the orcs who now seemed to be on the run. This time Silus and his team would have the advantage and he wasn't going to miss this opportunity.

As the forest started to thin Silus came to a stop. "Looks like their camp is just ahead, everyone ready yourself" He whispered while turning back to his team. "Sal, go ahead check their numbers and report back. From the tracks their should be five of them, but we don't know how many more could be at this camp." Silus ordered trying to peak ahead and see the camp for himself.

Tyr let out a short breath.

"I say we just tear these pigs to pieces and be done with it!"

While they were hunting the orcs throughout the day Tyr had kept his armour donned in case of an ambush. This made his armour and himself smelly, which in turn made Tyr irritable. Whenever Tyr was in a bad mood nothing made him happier than cutting down some filthy Beasts.

"Or better yet, we could set fire to the forest and smoke them out!"

These two thoughts came together in Tyr's mind and reminded him of how hungry he was, encouraging him to let out a wistful;

"Mmmm... smoked ham..."

Count Salezenathor had been riding with this team a little more than a week. Silius Cross and him had been on a few missions together, so they were knowledgeable of the other's abilities. While Sal was the better archer and better rouge, Mr. Cross had superb tracking abilities. Rumor said that he sniffed the air to smell his enemies, but the archer was fairly certain that was an exaggeration. Although that would be useful for tracking flying creatures like dragons...

This evening team Cross was chasing after an orc patrol that they had stumbled on unexpectedly. The team understood that orcs didn't normally scout, so this operation was a bit strange. Perhaps something was leading them? Maybe a 'genius' was born among them and had learned that knowing when and where your opponent's armies are is useful? Either way their mission was clear.

Upon being ordered to, Sal jumped off Icon. Icon was a Rankor Breed, a smaller type of horse that had exceptional intelligence and speed. Landing like a feather, Sal checked his belt to make sure his folding bow was there. Upon confirming that he had a weapon, the Count headed off sideways into the woods. Icon would now stay close to Sir Cross and provide communication between the two former nobles.

Sal soon stumbled into the perimeter of the camp, quickly climbing into an oak tree to gain a vantage point. The orcs had ... fifteen tents? And if they slept two people to a tent ... Thirty Orcs. That might be pushing it. Where are the rest of their patrols? Didn't we only follow five?

The Count gave off a series of faint bird calls. To anyone else, they would be sounds of the forest. However Icon could tell the subtle difference in Sal's tone, and communicated the message elegantly to the dragon slayer.

Icon heard the sounds and trotted up to Silius. He was to repeat a message.

Snout in face. Freeze Still. Message from Sal.
Stomp left foot three times. Thirty
Silence. Normal
Whack side of Cross with snout. Hostile

Then Icon waited for Silius to give confirmation that he understood the message or Icon would repeat it.

Sasha was taking up the rear of the trail, his height giving him a languid stride that looked as lazy as the way he draped the polearm over one shoulder. At the moment, he carried his jingasa (hat) on one arm like a shield since the trees were shade enough and the woven reeds might be the difference between a rancid orc arrow hitting or not. Every minute or so he would roll his wrist, letting the weapon drop and whip around before setting it back away. It was far apart enough to not tire his limb while at the same time develop the muscle memory he needed to develop as a warrior, not a blacksmith.

The complains of his 'cousin' made him look sidelong at the true barbarian of the group. He remembered being a child under the protection of the great snake, he knew that others were protected by other great beasts, he knew the great snake ate people.Did his cousin eat others?

"I certainly hope you don't plan on actually eating orc flesh..."

And with that he probably showed just how green he still was. Not grass green like a farmer with a hatchet for the first time knocking on the black gates, but clearly not as seasoned as his years should suggest.

Despite his current irritability Tyr found Sasha's question amusing, so taking a moment to ponder an answer Tyr turned to his Silverfang comrade and said;

"Orc meat is disgusting and rancid, I'd only ever eat it if I had no other options. Before you ask though, I have eaten it before."

Figuring he'd given the greenhorn enough to think about for now Tyr returned his focus to the orc camp while awaiting orders from Silus.

Silus almost gave a scoff at Tyr's idea to burn them out "setting the forest on fire would hinder the orders movements in the near future." he stated coldly. Sometimes the Barbarians from Silverfang were quick to get on his nerves with their "direct" approach to things. Then Icon came up and starting to relay the message, once he was done delivered Silus rubbed the horses head letting the animal know he got the message. About thirty of them that was more than the group could handle at one time, but not all the Orcs would be there at one time. The rest of the Order forces would be about 45 minutes away and the signal to bring them in would also alert anything else in the area. Silus thought for a moment before addressing his team. "We possibly have thirty orcs in this camp, more than we could take in one go, but if we are lucky there won't be to many there at this moment if we take the camp now. From there we can raise the camp and push the Orcs back from this area. But at the same time we could easily be out numbered and could be walking into a death trap. Everyone ready for this?" Silus asked giving his team a chance to leave if they wished it.

From Sal's point of view he could see Seven orcs up and about around the camp indicating that there were already more than they were tracking, but the total number in the camp remained unknown. As he watched the Orcs they seemed a bit more organized than normal, they seemed to run under a tight shift and even when two Orcs began to fight it was quickly broke up instead of becoming the camps entertainment. If anything was clear it was that these Orcs were not "normal"

Looking at his two Silverfang clansmen, Fen sighed as they were the typical brutes that his nation always seemed to produced from its lands. Being kind of people who were always the warriors and quite savage sometimes but never the less effective warriors. It was annoying finding some of them in The Order but at least they didn't know he was one. Thankfully his shortness came in handy as it simply made things easier to hide away from his clansman, instead of a muscle body like the other two had on themselves.

His recent joining into The Order was sudden and the first thing of events started big with the start of an invasion, to overtake a castle stolen by the orcs. A creature Fen himself felt quite primitive and primal in nature, with the only redeeming quality they had were their brute strength and size in number. Upon trudging through the forest, Fen kept to himself away from the group and was focusing on his skulls as he keep testing them silently with an occasional faint sound of electrified air. However, these orcs were strange from what he remembered reading and his own experience, they were more orderly and had an unusual behavior which was considered different from the norm.

After hearing Silus remark against his clansman's brash idea about burning the forest to get tho the orcs, which he agreed was a terrible idea for both right now and the future. Upon hearing the question from the commander which it was seeking an answer back, he answered from his silence surprising many about his presence.

"Ready when you are Capt, also if need be I can scout ahead. I got the means of doing so with silence and discretion without being detected of the primitive creatures. If so, lets hope it works and it falls within our favor."

His offer of assistance was surprising to many, considering his age but Fen knew what he was doing well enough. It would require some work of the workings of science, another subject his generation rarely studied with the exception of a few and a little dash of magic would be needed as well. Mostly they were theories but they were tested along and confirmed to the point that he was comfortable of using in a situation like this. If so, he would use his electricity magic to preform electrolocation, a form of way to locate anything in the surrounding by producing an subtle electric field that can detect other electric fields generated by other living creatures within it. The range of the camp wouldn't prove to be much strain on Fen considering his adept powers and his focus on the orcs, but his experience using this ability have only been used rarely.

Rem clapped Silus on the shoulder from behind. "I would suggest a diversion. The odds aren't in our favor. So let's change that. If we can divide the group in the camp we'll be able to take them all out most efficiently and finish those that return in the same fashion. It will give us some much needed breathing room and still satisfy Tyr's desire to soak his blade."

It was an effective plan. Divide and conquer. "All that would be left to choose is who will provide the diversion. Most of us have the skills to do so. Fen and Sal are both quick enough to get back to us before the orcs. It's your call, Silus."

Sal remained in the tree, unaware that he was suggested as a diversion and that someone wanted to set the forest on fire. The nobleman was also unaware that someone else also wanted to scout while he was already scouting.

After looking around for a while he counted seven orcs in addition to the five that had rolled in earlier.

So a dozen? Where are the other eighteen? If they are going three to a tent it would be about thirty others just sitting around somewhere?

He was fairly certain that his team could take on a dozen orcs with no casualties. There were three people from Silverfang in his group, and two were barbarians. Alone the Silverfangs could probably defeat the dozen with a bit of luck. The total party could wipe them with ease.

Despite that, Sal felt that something was unusual about this. The orcs were acting extremely organized. They were up to something.

Grumbling something about how he'd only been kidding, Tyr perked up at the thought of finally being able to kill something.

"I like that idea, let's do that! The more the merrier!"

Getting antsy Tyr drew his axes and started shifting from foot to foot, nearly bouncing with excitement.
Tyr's bloodlust started acting up as he began chanting

"Crush, break, grind, stomp, kill, cut, tear, savage..."

Giffy slowly walked right in the middle of his comrades. He loves his team. They all mold together so well and by judging by the way Fen was walking away from the group and fidgeting with something in his hands, Giffy wasn't the only one with a secret. He would definitely be kicked out of the order if they discovered how he got his swords.

But who cares! Giffy certainly didn't. He's partied every night as a hero instead of an outcast since joining the order. He's become good friends with all his team mates and he's been able to avoid having to fight since joining. He wasn't bad at fighting, but Giffy defiantly didn't want to die. That's one thing he wouldn't do for his fellow members of the order, die. Clearly Tyr didn't mind dying and was actually starting to scare Giffy with his chanting and cannibalistic glares at Giffy.

Silus listened to the suggestions from Fen and Rem "Sal is a fine scout, it would be best to let him continue with the scouting." he answered Fen before going over Rem's idea "We are already outnumbered, splitting their forces might be a good idea, but if our bait were to run into another returning group then things would just become worse. If we knew where their entire force was I would go for this idea, but as it is I don't think that would be the wisest decision." He responded after giving the idea some thought. "we will move forward and..." Silus started but was cut off as a loud whistling sound was heard off in the distance about half a mile away. "Shit look like another group has fun into some of them. no more time lets attack and move to assist the other hunters." Silus commanded as he stood and readied himself for combat.

The orcs in the camp all looked out into the forest as the Whistling arrow caught their attention, one of the Orcs started to yell out "Alright Boyz! Looks like we have some fresh meat! Load up and lets kill us some humies!" the Green Skin yelled out as the six other orcs who were around the camp started to move to the various piles of weapons and arm themselves. six more orcs emerged from the tents and arm themselves as well.

In an attempt to still ambush the Orcs Silus quickly hurried through the little bit of forest that remained coming into the camp's clearing with his bow drawn as soon as he saw one of the orcs he let an arrow fly Silus' first arrow pierced the orc's throat and the beast quickly dropped. "Boyz! Were under attack kill the Humies!" The orc captain yelled as he readied to charge Silus and his team.

Twelve orcs were now in the camp Six running at Silus and Six still grabbing weapons to join the fight. Silus readied another arrow playing the first part of this battle as ranged expecting his squad to burst out of the forest behind him.

Note: Whistling Arrow used as the hunter's signal

Sasha had much to digest, Tyr's reply and bloodthirsty nature were notable and a preponderance if this is what he really wanted to go back to when the snake is dead. There was talk of this and the other, plans to scout and thin or take them all on. When the whistle went off, Sasha fina spoke up.

"They will have eyes to the direction of the whistle, we should come up from the other end and get from the closest thing we have to a flank."

The woven hat slipped from his arm and secured under his chin as he spoke. It may not be much protection, but it might be enough to protect him from distractions and he needed all his focus for the fight ahead. As he looked to the encampment, he searched for their archers and pikemen to target first when it began.

Of course we have to fight a whole camp Giffy thought as he slowed his stride while he watched his leader Silus make quick work of the first orc he saw. Giffy knew that Silus would be taking the captain and that Sasha would fight an archer or a pikeman, so he came to a complete stop right before he would've exited his cover under the trees, and waited.

There was always at least one berserker in orc camps and Giffy planned to fight one. Berserkers were stupid, even for orcs and reckless in their attacks, a perfect opponent for his unique fighting style. So he observed the orcs as they armed themselves and spotted a very angry looking berserker. "Oi you!" "Yea you, the ugly one with the twin warhammers!" "My mum could beat your arse you pathetic piece of mush!" The orc looked angry and started blindly charging into the forest at Giffy. "Perfect." Giffy whispered. He was quite proud of the advantage he just gave himself and was quite confident that Nightbane and Desolation were about to taste some orc blood.

As soon as Silus said the word "attack" Tyr charged into the enemy encampment with a thunderous battle-cry. Chancing upon an orc berserker wielding a war axe and a shortsword Tyr slammed his shoulder into the orc, catching it off-guard.

"I hope you've been looking forward to this as much as I have!" Declared Tyr, with a hungry flame burning in his eyes. As the orc recovered and stood up again Tyr instantly launched into a grapple with the orc aiming to overpower it. "Don't be disappointing me now!" he snarled.

Rem mentally pictured the positioning of the orcs and took the initiative. Those few of the green skins that hadn't reached the front yet he targeted, careful to not entrap his own charging allies. "Unro Dagoon.." He whispered. The dirt quickly became sodden and sticky, making passage into battle difficult on the enemy. "Ernal Finno.."

The warriors and the defender would be caught in the middle of his trap long enough to leave them completely open. The roots and vines moved for him to grasp the orcs and hold them in the mud. "Sal!" He pointed his free hand toward those stuck. "Take them while they're vulnerable!" Of any of the three, the defender had the most likely chance of advancing unscathed.

Looking at the other mage, as he controlled the battle field with what seemed to be an combination of the Earth and Water elements clearly displayed. The plants along with the battlefield soiled made the ogres' trek towards them slow and difficult letting them have at least a reasonable amount of time to react.

However, out of all the orcs that were troublesome, the one that would deal the most problematic for anyone on their team was the armored orc. He had a shield capable of blocking arrows from our archers and the swords of our warriors. Thankfully he wasn't restricted like them to mere weapons held without care. Magic was an art that was apart of one, and required the user to be connected between the element or risk being destroyed recklessly. Fen wondered if the other mage thought the same thing, but now wasn't the time to ask as a battle had finally begin.

Looking at the center of the muddy field, he saw his target, the orc defender with the shield in his hand. With a slow start of walking before accelerating into a run, Fen felt himself glow as an feeling enveloped him. A feeling of adrenaline and excitement could be felt as he was covered in electricity, traversing quite faster than before reaching the orc in no time. With the advantage of his surprising speed, he came behind the orc and with his two hands applied a deadly shock meant to try and fry the orc to death. The metal armor that the orc was wearing also wouldn't help with Fen's electricity magic as it would pass through it easily if the attack connected.