Move 182: Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Orc Caverns--Afternoon, 7 Eleint 1374 DRAzrun picked his shot but missed the huge orc fighting Jana.
The lizard turned its attention to the dwarf trying to hack into it. The dwarf missed, but the lizard's teeth took a chunk out of the dwarf's shoulder. The orc in chain mail also went after the dwarf, slicing into the unarmored dwarf with his long sword. The one handed man moved to Jana's aid. Jana managed to get past the orc's defenses, but the man's long sword clattered harmlessly against the orc's plate mail. The long spear proved unwieldly for the orc as he handily failed to hit anyone.
Echo hit the orcish shaman with two magical bolts. The orc invoked a prayer and attempted to touch her, but she deftly avoided his hand.
Blacky killed another orc but nearly lost his grip on his axe as he went after another one. He held onto it but did not do any more damage. Aloysius hit again with his dagger but the orc still stubbornly refused to die. Blacky took another wound from the orc he had missed.
Renn extracted himself from the melee and tried to get to Daelen. Unfortunately, the unengaged orc shaman had noticed the elven priest and, pausing only to grab his long spear, moved after him, blocking his path to the bleeding warrior.
Aloysius cursed with frustration at his opponent's ability to shrug off his blows. Fortified by his anger, he took another stab at the orc.
Sumbitch!" Jana yelped, shrugging her shoulders under her armor. "Blacky! We need to hurry, dammit!" She swung at the orc again. "Something's happening to my armor!" she added, a definite note of panic in her voice.
"I'm a little busy right now! I'll be there shortly!" Blacky yelled back and tried to hack down the orc left on him.
Echo cast another spell.
Azrun growled and knocked another arrow before letting it fly toward the orc again.
Rennirolas faced the orc shaman with his long sword in hand and his shield at the ready. He attemped a strong overhand slash with his sword, a prayer to Corellon on his lips.
Blacky finished off the final orc he was facing. Aloysius, with a very impressive dagger maneuver, killed the orc he had been fighting but not before the orc got in one last blow.
Azrun fired at the orcish champion but missed again. Jana dropped her shield and gripped her bastard sword two-handed to give the big orc another hearty blow. The strange man fighting at her side could not penetrate the orc's defenses. The orc again failed to hit either of them.
The dwarf dropped the lizard with a blow from his battle axe but took another wound from the orc in chain mail.
Echo quickly encanted a spell and hit the orcish shaman, as well as the second orc who had been fighting Jana and Daelen, with a bright fan of colors. The regular orc dropped to the cavern floor, but the shaman tried to attack her with his long spear. He seemed to be having trouble seeing, however, so she easily avoided the attack.
The other orc shaman attacked Renn, but the elf easily fended off the blow. He hit the orc with his long sword, but the damage done appeared to be minimal.
Arachne reappeared around the far side of the rock and moved to Daelen's side, near where Echo was facing the blinded shaman.
“Hey! Big Ugly! Now that I've had time to warm up on your friends, It's Your Turn!" Blacky said as he moved to take down the big orc with a couple of swings from his big axe. "Jana, take a break, I need some room." He said when he got close enough to see how bad off she was.
The one-handed old man chanted, "In Tyr's Name, I Command You To Die." At the big orc.
Seeing Blacky heading to help out Jana, Azrun pulled his bow up and over toward the Shaman on Echo. He let one arrow fly hoping to place it well.
“Ow, shit!" Jana yelped, although she'd not been hit. She backed away from the orc and dropped her sword. She began shrugging out of her pack and fumbling with her swordbelt, jerking her hand away from her armor and shaking it several times as she did. She was sweating profusely and seemed to be in quite a hurry to get out of her armor.Letting his success with the orc cloud his better judgment, Aloysius moved along the outside of the battle area towards the shaman fighting Echo. As he approached, he tried to stab the shaman from behind with his dagger.
Echo attacked the blinded shaman with her dagger.
Rennirolas continued to ply his longsword against the spear of the shaman. "Son of Gruumsh, the Protector guide my hand in striking you down," Renn prayed as he brought his longsword to bear. "If anyone is free, see to Daelen," the elven priest called as his fight continued.
The one-handed stranger's command caused the big orc to drop, allowing Blacky to finish him quickly. The dwarf took another wound from the orc in chain mail and failed to deliver any damage in return.
Jana got out of her armor as quickly as humanly possible. By the time she did, it was hot enough to glow slightly.
Aloysius missed the shaman facing Echo with his attack from behind. Echo managed to hit him again and still avoided his clumsy attempts to attack while blinded. Azrun's arrow shot missed.
Renn cut into the shaman he was facing with his long sword, but the orc hit him with the spear he was fighting with, hurting him badly.
Arachne began to fuss over Daelen's wounds.
Two men, one of them the young priest of Torm who was kidnapped in Milborne before the group left for the mines, came from behind the very popular narrow passageway around the rock, but only Azrun could see them. Semheis appeared to be in poor shape physically and both were just as half dressed and filthy.
With the orcish champion down, Blacky moved to help Renn. The stranger went to help the dwarf.
Blacky hit the shaman hard with his great axe, as was his wont. Renn followed through with another sword slash. The close attacks prevented the shaman doing anything much.
Both the dwarf and the stranger missed the orc in chain mail. The dwarf took another hit, leaving him badly wounded.
Aloysius managed to stab the other shaman with his dagger; Echo did not. When Jana finished beating out the smoldering portions of her clothing and padding caught fire by her armor, she picked up her sword and went to their aid. Azrun fired another arrow, this one going badly astray.
Arachne continued to work on Daelen.
The two men who had come around the rock pressed against the wall of the cavern.
Blacky took a piercing wound from the orc's spear before he finished him off with a final blow from his axe.
Azrun missed with yet another arrow. Without her shield, Jana swung two handed at the shaman facing Aloysius and easily took him down.
The strange man and the strange dwarf simultaneously cut into the chain mail clad orc with their respective weapons, dropping him to the cavern floor as well.
Arachne's care of Daelen finally seemed to pay off as the warrior's bleeding stopped.
This left the party, along with three strangers and the missing priest from the temple of Torm in Milborne, standing in a very large, partially lit cavern strewn with the bodies of over two dozen orcs and four huge lizards.
Jana yelped several times as she squirmed painfully out of her armor. She frantically beat at some smouldering areas of her padding, yelping more as she did so. She grabbed her sword and struggled painfully to her feet. She smashed her sword into the shaman, nearly falling over backwards as the blade came free. She looked around, but saw no other opponents.
Jana stumbled back a few steps and fell to her knees, still holding on to the sword. In obvious pain, she slowly worked her hands free of the hilt. As she did, it was possible to see that her hands were badly burned. She then started to struggle out of her padding, still smoking here and there, but after a few attempts to grab it and pull, she gave up. Her padding was covered with blood from the multitude of injuries she'd incurred. Her face was deathly pale and her expression strained; she looked like a strong breeze would knock her over.
For the moment, Jana stayed where she was, kneeling and panting, sweat rolling off of her. It didn't look like her padding was going to burst into flames, but it was still hot. She looked over at Echo for a moment, an expression of relief crossing her features, then surveyed the room. She started to stand when she saw the strangers, then abandoned the effort with a grimace.
Aloysius bent over at the waist for a moment to catch his breath. He then gathered the daggers he had either thrown or dropped before heading over to where Jana sat on the floor. He pulled his waterskin from his pack and offered it to her.
"Sweet Mystra!" he exclaimed, still very much out of breath. "Hopes have I that this was not merely the vanguard of a stronger force yet to come."
He looked in the direction of Arachne and Daelen. "Is he going to be all right, small one?"
"Will you pour it on my armor, please," Jana asked, "before it melts."
Aloysius frowned at the offending armor. "What strange magics this be . . . ." he muttered before dousing the armor with the remnants of his water skin.
"Gods, Jana, are you going to be okay?" Echo asked. She walked over to where Jana was kneeling and knelt down in front of her, pushing back her cowl so she could look at her better. She looked her over carefully with an expression of concern.
"I've been better," Jana confessed with a shaky smile. "Wouldja mind," she asked with a grimace, "helping me outta my padding? It's still sorta hot." She muttered something. Once the padding was off, with only a few yelps as cuts and burned places where unavoidably stretched and scraped, Jana appeared to feel a bit better. Or less bad. "I hope the one I killed was the sumbitch who did that to my armor. Oh, shit," Jana said, wincing, "I hope my armor's okay."
"I found some of the prisoners," Echo pointed to the various strangers in the room. "I don't know if there are more, I couldn't search the whole place."
The old man came over to Jana and knelt next to her, "I am called Olaf Ulfson." he said quietly, "Please, allow me to aid you."
“Janathell Caislean," Jana supplied. "Thanks." She held up her burned hands. "Can you fix my hands so's I can hold my sword? In case more come."
Olaf placed his hand on Jana's forehead and intoned, "Lord Tyr, Please Grant thy Holy healing to this brave warrior, who fought so recently for Justice."
Olaf is a battered looking man in his early fifties. His body still appears strong and powerful, but his age is apparent in his wrinkled face and snow-white hair and beard. A jagged scar arcs across his forehead, and another runs along the length of his right forearm. His left hand is missing at the wrist; the stump is covered with a leather bracer-like piece.
Once finished with Jana, Olaf walked over to the orc with the sword, "This beast wielded my blade, Susk, the silent sword. Do any object to my recovering it?"
Jana shook her head. "It's yours; take it."
Aloysius stood back up after pouring the water on Jana's armor, and turned towards Olaf. "Nay, man, retrieve thy blade. 'Tis thine after all." The mage's eyebrow twitched wildly as he spoke. "Art there others held captive nearby? Mayhap a young, comely human girl?"
This left the party, along with three strangers and the missing priest from the temple of Torm in Milborne, standing in a very large, partially lit cavern strewn with the bodies of over two dozen orcs and four huge lizards.
Azrun laid his bow down and went to check on the others. Once he was sure that everyone was going to live, he started looking over the bodies, "One of the bastards is bound to have the key to them doors over there." He searched looking for anything that looked like a key.
Upon hearing Echo mentioning other prisoners, he looked up, "Did you see many other guards or orcs in general? If not perhaps me and you can go check it out and see. That is if Mother Jana approves." He looked to Jana and winked.
Blacky leaned on his axe after finishing the last orc. "He OK?" Blacky asked Arachne about Daelen. He surveyed the damage the party had wrought in the cavern. "Not bad for a day's work." Spying the priest from the village he moved over to him, wincing from his wounds. "You OK? Any others left?" he asked.
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