Its a Raid! ((Open to All))

[Mutant_Lorenor]

((Level 1's and level 0's especially welcome, feel free to jump in at anytime. I only ask that you stick this bad boy through to the end. This is the Recruit Thread (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=7558) yo.))

Scara Brae by night. Like all of Althanas, each of the different regions took on a different sort of atmosphere when the Dark Mother's realm passed across the surface of the planet. Subtly, the Darkest Hours of the Althanian day had its own particular physics and nuances. Most importantly, the creatures of the night emerged from the shadows to play during the dark. Most were unawares of such altercations taking place because most slept during these hours. Yet, just like the daytime hours, during the realm of the Dark Mother, certain individuals were active and could perceive the Darkest Hours.

One of these individuals was a small warrior named Lorenor. Traveling like a specter through the realm of night, the young immortal felt compelled to investigate a certain matter in Scara Brae. Certain individuals guided Lorenor's hand. As he moved he thought about the meeting with these individuals, men from the Church of Ethereal Sway in Salvar. They spoke the correct passwords and gave him the proper documentation. Members of a group in Corone called the Syndicate, were using the cloak of the darkness to take advantage of the "good" sleeping citizens of Corone.

Now becoming the Corone Empire, Radasanth was leaving Democracy become in its bid for utmost supremacy. Lorenor cared not for these political matters. All that motivated him was seeking a state that he called The Glory, and obtaining power. Attempting to satiate the pain of his Greed, Lorenor sold his services, and in some ways his very Atma, in the pursuit of satiating his unending desires.

Lorenor made his way through Scara Brae and found the small nameless town. A town largely overlooked by the much larger organizations of Scara Brae, like the Dajas Pagoda, called Sellia. Boasting a small population of no more than several hundred people, it was ruled by a single Mayor elected by the people. Several buildings outlined the town and a dense area of crops surrounded it in fields of various resources. The boy made his way through these fields not bothering to stop. Matters of the Church required immediate attention.

And so, Lorenor made his way to the single Tavern establishment in the town called the Hanging Magnolias. His contact from the Church was scheduled to be at the tavern already. Making his way through the town, the warrior was surprised to see several groups of youngsters out even at this late hour. Several of these groups of teenagers and young adults made their way to a party in the tavern. The small warrior sighed despite himself. He managed to arrive on party night. He saw people moving in and out of a particularly out of place establishment. He saw the markings of a Tavern at the front of the building and looked at the hanging sign, dancing in the wind to and fro. Lorenor nodded to himself--this had to be the place.

And so, the small warrior made his way into the Tavern.

[Xulltana]

((Sorry, this will continue from my history))

For him, it was a day before he was allowed to leave. He was cooped in a small room, as a young girl took care of him. He didn’t really know what had happened, but now, his shoulder was killing him. As his vision came to a focus, he looked over, his shoulder was wrapped in a bandage, but no blood was coming through. There was a knock at the door, and the young girl came back through, but put a smile on as she say his opened eyes.

“Hello there!” she said in a rather high pitched kind of voice. She seemed very happy and cheerful. She carried more bandages and a small bin of water. The girl walked over to him, and touched the bandage that was on him, and when she did, he cringed in pain. “Still tender, I see,” as she started unwrapped the wound.

Most of his shoulder was a bright red color, and stung whenever she made a quick move. Slowly, as he stared at the wound longer, he remembered that odd beast in the cave. The strike it had delivered to him must’ve burnt his shoulder rather badly. He ignored the pain as much as possible as the girl tended to him for a while longer.

“Well, that should be enough now. You can leave if you’d like to, sir!” her happy go lucky voice trailed off as she turned into another room. Xulltana found this an odd occurrence, but took her word for it. He donned his leather armor and weapons, and headed out the door. This wasn’t a hospital but rather a house. Someone’s house, which he didn’t know. He took his time, and wondered to the stairs, looking down he didn’t hear anything, and decided now was the time. Walking down the stairs, the door was right in front of him, it didn’t take long before he was out. He wasn’t actually expecting the door to open, and that someone was trying to keep him here, but this wasn’t that case.

The town was a relatively big one. He could only estimate the number of people living here. There was no castle, and he couldn’t see one in the distance. Figuring this place was just a small, our of the way town, he tried for the best place he knew to find any kind of information. The tavern.

His recovering wasn’t final yet, and the pain was getting much to unbearable to stand anymore. With a sigh, he sat down, off the to side of the road. Feeling his arm, the bandage felt a little warm, even compared to the rest of his body.

When he felt like he was at full strength again, he tried to get up. Only this time, the sky was getting rather dark. He really couldn’t place what had happened. Since the time he sat down, to know, it all seemed a little off. But, he remembered his original destination. The tavern.

As he neared, he could hear some kind of noise ahead. He neared it, and this was another off establishment. Hanging Magnolias, a sign above the door read. This seemed like the only place that could be a tavern, plus the noise was coming from this place. As he entered, it was almost into hell. “Party?” Xulltana said to himself.

[Tenki]

Tenki let out a deep breath as he finished off the large stein of ale that he had been working on for the last hour or so. He leaned back in the chair, eyes closed, hoping to drown out some of the noise that had come along with the numbers of people coming into the tavern. Unfortunately for Tenki, the stone walls of the building only served as a grand surface for the sound waves to bounce off of, making the already loud group louder then if they'd been outside. Oh how he wished they were outside and not here right now. He'd come in just about 20 minutes before the bunches of teenagers and other closer to his age had begun to file into the tavern, allowing him just enough relative quiet time to be truly annoyed at what he was now putting up with.

Tenki had been in Scara Brae for a few weeks now, using the quiet forests and placid beaches for training grounds. He did so in the evenings and worked odd jobs for the locals during the day to earn his keep at the town's Inn. However, today he had taken a day away from it all, just to relax. Not that it seemed to matter right now. He almost wished he'd chosen another day to spurn the training he'd been doing. For a moment, he considered going out into the woods to continue the shooting control practice he'd been working on, but instead, Tenki decided that the simple room and bed at the Inn he was staying at would be a much more comfortable choice.

Laying down some coin to pay for the drink, Tenki pulled himself up and away from the along the wall table he'd been at and made his way for the door. Along the way, he spotted a robed individual sitting at a fairly large table by themselves. Tenki thought oddly of it, but ignored the matter. Taverns were good places for deals to be made, on any world. Opening the door to the outside world from the Hanging Magnolias Tavern, Tenki stepped out into the street, but held the door open, not quite wanting to let go of the place just yet... it had been a good drink. He stood there for a few minutes, holding the door wide with his foot while looking up at the stars and taking in the clean, coastal air that came on the stronger gusts of the night breeze. Pulling his foot out of the role of door stopper, he brought his gaze back down and turned to head for the Inn, but stopping after merely a few feet. As a form he recognized all too well headed down the road towards the Tavern, and himself. Lorenor, the Hybrid, and one of the few people on Althanas that Tenki had frequent dealings with. Tenki stepped forward once again and made a simple wave of his right arm, to see if he'd be able to get Lorenor's attention easily, or not.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

((And here we go!))

Lorenor made his way into the tavern but an all too familiar individual showed up from within the bellies of the beast. Having separated themselves from after a previous adventure, the small warrior lit up when seeing the man known as Tenki. He nodded with a profound respect towards the warrior. His eyes moved to the flowing crowd of patrons moving in and out of the Tavern. After a moment he returned his gaze to Tenki.

"Seems Fate has some design for us Tenki. We keep bumping into one another." Came that mysterious raspy voice.

A voice flowing from no tongue. Several people entering the tavern noticed the smell flowing from Lorenor's person and eyed the vagabond with a disgusted look. The quickly made their way into the well ventilated establishment.

"If you are looking for work, I have it already Tenki. Don't bother. Feel free to join me inside. I have to meet someone in here anyway." The cunning lad said.

He entered the Tavern making his way in with the crowd. Once inside, he wondered if Tenki would follow him or not.

An intense smell of humanity filled the large tavern area. There was huge dancing hall, more than one bar area, including a well equipped central bar area, and music flowing from a live playing band. Several elevated cages were strategically placed about the bars with boxom beauties dancing within the cages to earn extra Gold. Several of these girls could be seen atop the laps of various patrons who had the money for such entertainment. Lorenor eyed some of the more well endowed women working in this place and then started to try to look for his contact.

But before he had a moment to gather his thoughts a loud explosion rocked the building from within.

Furniture, bodies, and blood flashed across the tavern for a moment of living hell.

Lorenor found himself underneath a heavy table as the attack began. Several individuals hidden within the crowd, dressed all in black, emerged from the shadows detaching themselves from the seedier areas of the establishments. They came from back rooms and hidden hallways, over fifty of them in the first wave alone! Each of them wearing all black, the color of the night-kind as they drew weapons and started to mindlessly hack away at the various patrons of the taverns. Women, regardless of age, were taken and raped brutally in some of these back rooms by the dark men. The warriors assaulted the Tavern seeming without any real sense of direction--seeming.

There was a clearly defined target, its just only THEY knew about it. The fifty-strong squadron too the Hanging Magnolia by force.

"Don't anybody tries to play heroes you hear!? Heroes earn themselves a quick sentences to the antifirmanent for final judgment!" A burly voice came from one of the warriors.

[Xulltana]

To him, it was overwhelming. Never had he been in such a place before. The great stone walls, the beautiful ladies, and the drunken men. The band was playing music, but none he had heard before. And all the while, it seemed more people kept entering. This was obviously a place of mass gathering, and for much fun. This was what he was looking for to kick start himself.

Xulltana had just made it to one of the bars and ordered a drink when everything was being place into a large wheel he knew nothing about. Almost like a trigger, the bar tender returned with a large pint of ale, and as soon as he had placed it on the bar, they emerged. Men in black, vile and ruthless beings, every one of them. They were quick, and even quicker to find blood. Men who were once enjoying the pleasant sites of girls and friends were running for their lives, or dead on the floor. The girls tried to escape, but they were no match for the men, as they were dragged into rooms, Xulltana didn’t want to think of what was going on.

By this time, only a few of the men in black were visible, but when Xulltana got up, he was blown over as the bar tenders body came crashing into him. Landing hard on the ground, with the bartender’s body pinning him to the ground, his first action was to move him off before being trampled to death. Luckily, this feat wasn’t hard, but before he could get up, he was kicked by a few passing patron as they attempted to escape. As Xulltana got up, he was light headed, and just sat back down. Trying to look over the rest of the bar, he searched for something, someone, to be a savior to all patrons. But before long, the possible leader announced himself. "DON'T ANYBODY TRIES TO PLAY HEROES YOU HEAR? HEROES EARN THEMSELVES A QUICK SENTENCES TO THE ANTI-FIRMANENT FOR FINAL JUDGMENT!" he called out over the bar.

Xulltana couldn’t do anything now. He sat on the floor, bow near him, as he waited to see what would become of him. "Is this the end already..?" he thought lightly to himself.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

((There is no posting order. Due to the fact that I want this story to progress quickly, people can jump into it at any time. Feel free to post when you're ready to next Tenki))

In the chaos that ensued, Lorenor found himself underneath some furniture. People screamed in panic as many souls met their makers that night. The small warrior stood up for a moment trying to assess the exact damage. Lorenor eyed the explosion's impact point noting that the eruption came out from underneath the building exploding outwards. Much debris and collateral damage probably awaited the doomed town outside. So now the decision making process came.

One of the warriors who represented the other mysterious black-cloaked figures spoke out to the gathered crowd. Those who dared to remain in an attempt to defy fate. Lorenor saw several security guards attempt to directly fight against the black-draped figures. These were quickly cut down, due to the sheer amount of fear that was provided by the performance. Lorenor looked around, he needed a plan. Suddenly, one of the warriors came up to the young immortal.

"You'se looks like you have some pretty pretty shinies on's your person!" The warrior said drawing a wicked looking curved sword.

It felt like somehow, the accent was familiar. Where had he heard such an accent before? These bandits weren't bandits from Corone, they were from some other region.

He thought hard as time allowed him to think, and he grabbed a bottle, the only thing that he found nearby to his person. He broke the bottle against a chair as the warrior approached Lorenor. Then, in one sudden moment, the warrior attacked Lorenor and quickly impaled the ghoul with that curved sword. Lorenor felt a tremendous amount of pain burning through his stomach region but was able to keep going. His undead anatomy allowed the warrior to withstand tremendous physical pain.

In the up closeness, the cunning warrior was able to grab onto the intruder and keeping him at close quarters combat range, where Lorenor excelled. The ghoul prepared himself for combat feeling the weapon penetrating deeper, then it happened. The Endless reacted and wrapped itself around the small warrior's flesh providing an added buffer against the piercing weapon. The Endless attached itself to the Weapon and refused to let go. With a cold look on his face, the young immortal proceeded to bite at the exposed neck of the enemy warrior.

"It bites me, it bites me!"

Blood and flesh tore through Lorenor's extended jaws as the ghoul made his first meal. Now consuming flesh, Lorenor knew that the techno-virus passed from carrier to victim. Soon, the ghoul would have a potential ally working alongside him. Soon the tables would turn. As he bit the flesh off the neck, and ate of the warrior's trapezius muscle, more of the invaders caught wind of what was happening. They made their ways slowly towards Lorenor's position as the small warrior ate his fill. He stood up feeling re-energized from the quick meal and yelled a terrifying yell. He drew the weapon from his person and noted with delight that it was Mithril. Lorenor found his edge.

[Tenki]

Tenki was glad at being able to get Lorenor's attention so easily. After feeling so put out from the growing party atmosphere inside the tavern, it was a relief to see someone quiet and blunt. And blunt he was, as barely the greeting had left his lips before he offered Tenki a job and continued into the tavern.

Tenki mulled it over for a bit. He hadn't been up here for jobs or pay really. He'd been up here to practice by himself. And he'd succeeded in that. Over the previous couple of weeks he'd been able to hone his control over a variation of his Lasair program that he believed would be very useful in the future. If he only knew how soon it would prove it's worth, he'd have felt a little better about how far he'd had to push to get there. Finally deciding to at least hear out what Lorenor and his contact would have to say, Tenki turned to re-enter the tavern when the explosion went off. The face that the large wooden door had been open during the blast, and therefore did not splinter from the shock wave, was probably the only reason Tenki wasn't outright killed. Instead, the shock wave knocked Tenki backwards and off his feet, landing in the street and rolling a short ways, the wind knocked out of him.

Picking himself up slowly and carefully, Tenki shook himself a bit, partially to clear the cobwebs, but just as much to check for obvious broken bones. Finding himself to be fine other than some light scratches, he looked towards the tavern, the door now off it's heavy hinges and laying crooked. He's probably been down only a few moments, but it had been just long enough for the smoke to settle and allow Tenki to see inside. He wished his couldn't. The inside of the tavern was was practically bombed out and still burning in places where combustibles had been too close to the blast. Large portions of the stone walls visible past the doorway were now either cracked or covered in the black suit only high temperate flames or heat could bring. The worst however, was the carnage brought upon by the blast and the people who had seemingly come out of the woodwork to claim responsibility and continue the massacre. Bodies lay strewn about, broken, bleeding and dead. Those that had survived the blast and the group's initial onslaught now tried, mostly in vain to escape, with a handful struggling, and mostly failing to fight back. A single, loud voice came bellowing out of the tavern, warning any would be saviors to save themselves the trouble. Near silence followed for a bit, before a shrill cry and gruff voice yelled out "IT BITES ME!" several times. That was more than enough to let Tenki know that Lorenor had managed to survive the blast and was doing something. He'd likely been cornered into acting however.

Any momentary bits of happiness that knowing his friend lived on were brought to a rapid halt as Tenki was pulled to his feet by one of the members of the raiding party. A good half foot taller than Tenki himself, and much more muscled, the man easily pulled Tenki up and pinned him against the wall of the building opposite the tavern with one arm around his neck. "So, I gets ta take out a straggler eh? Not much fun, but tis a start. Any last words chump." The assailant smiled a large grin, missing several of it's major teeth as he waited to see if his prey would provide any fun for him or not as he pulled a long, twisted dagger out of it's sheath.

Unfortunately for the fellow, Tenki was no longer in any mood for games or niceties. He'd been very careful about taking a life since his arrival on Althanas, but this show of extreme brutality and lack of respect for the lives of others... probably combined a bit with the grumpy edge he'd already been carrying around just prior made Tenki loose all the will to be careful with this bunch. Heads were gonna roll. Tenki carefully brought one of his arms to his side and choked out his word, his neck feeling the force of the grunt's think arms. "Yea... two. SET UP." Those words barely spoken, and Luin, the pendant around Tenki's neck disappeared in a flash of light... and reappeared in his waiting hand close to his body instantaneously in full spear form, which he pushed up with as much force as he could bring... pulled the twin bladed end of Luin right through the poor soul's lower jaw... and into his brain, ending his life in one short, smooth motion. The grunt's eye looked down as blood gurgled forth from his mouth, all sorts of veins and arteries ruptured and pooling blood. As Tenki felt his feet touch the ground again and the death grip go slack around his neck, he let let out a sputtered cough and pulled Luin out of the guy's head. "Set Up complete." announced Luin. The voice came not from inside Tenki's mind, but instead, from the spear itself. "Then let's get to work. I'm in no mood to let these asses so unpunished." Shall we try Sir, the Bladhm Dias?" "Sounds like a plan to me, but let's see if there is anyone we can get out of there first." Tenki rushed for the door of the tavern. Standing in the doorway, he came to several simple facts: There were several dozen of these men to deal with, and since he'd encountered one in the street, there were likely to be more elsewhere. And Lorenor had indeed survived... and already gotten to work... and himself impaled. Also, he'd gotten the unwanted attention of several of these men simply by entering, and they were now climbing over the furniture and bodies to get to him.

[Xulltana]

Was this it? Was this all he could muster at a time like this? No. This couldn’t be it. He looked around, the onslaught for the most part had seemed to start, and even turned. Another gruesome scream rang out over the rest of the tavern, even echoed over everything else. For a few seconds all he could hear was, “It bites me!” What the hell was going on in here? It took him a few seconds to actually realize where it was coming from, and when he did find it, he kind of wished he hadn’t.

Another man was full grappling one of the men in black, simply gnawing away at his neck. Who was this man? Xulltana hadn’t seem him in the tavern before the attack, was he a betrayer of the men in black, or a town guard? Well, this was his only chance to really do anything about it.

He hadn’t been noticed yet, or at least not advanced on. Until now at least. A few of the men in black were making their way towards him. Having to climb over tables and other debris left behind him the explosion. But even still, these men had almost like an aura of fear around them, even while they were still so far from him, he could feel like evil was all around him.

Xulltana stood up, and climb atop of the bar’s counter. Knocking an arrow that looked more like a razor, he quickly released it once it had some strength behind it. Almost immediately it ignited and struck one of the men. Searing through his leather armor, he was quick to catch fire. ”These things are great!” he thought to himself, as a sly grin spread across his face. The man had no way to react to this; he fell back off the table, as the flames slowly came to eat at his entire body. His cries died out, as Xulltana’s heart started beating faster. This was excitement, he could, in no other way, test his abilities any better than this.

A few of the advancing man looked at their dead comrade, then at Xulltana’s wicked smiling face, and back. Then, they split. The few advancing men split their formation, some heading towards Xulltana, the others toward the main doorway. With a quick turn of his head, he could see another dead member of the men in black, and another warrior.

Maybe this wasn’t the right time for the men in black to attack. Xulltana never realized how many adventurers would be in a small town like this. Thank god for him though, as now he had some unknown allies to fight along side with. In the end, maybe by fate or luck, they would emerge victorious from this battle.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

A genetic transformation occurred upon within the bodily fluids of the victim Lorenor took. Now armed, the small warrior took his newly acquired weapon, getting used to the light-weight feel of the weapon. As the forward guard advanced, the small warrior felt his blood rushing and The Endless sang violence. With his own black blood dripping from the curved blade of the weapon, Lorenor felt powerful. The small warrior felt like he might help turn the tide of the war. In his element now, the undead creature started to approach the in coming warriors, five heads total. One of them suddenly burst into flames soliciting a look of shock from Lorenor.

He stole a glance from his current attackers to his savior and saw a young looking Elf preparing a fancy looking longbow. That's the spirit, gather warriors around yourself. Lead by example. Lorenor thought to himself as his emerging leadership skills came to the fore-front. He held the weapon in his hand pointing downward, his cursed blood dripping upon the floor. Once one of the warriors came in close range of Lorenor, he attacked sending his weapon towards the heart of the small warrior. Lorenor saw this coming and side-stepped with some level of skill bringing his weapon down upon the side of the attacker's blade.

The other warriors responded in kind. A clang of weapons resounded as Lorenor felt the impact point. Once the man stopped burning from the arrow, Lorenor thought that there was a chance he might actually win this fight! He discarded that thought quickly, not wanting to place any doubt in his already weary heart. His anger and skill allowed for the attacker's blade to be knocked to the side. It flung off in some isolated corner. The small warrior reacted as quickly as he could. Somehow, the mithril weapon felt familiar to him in his hands. All of his hard training with the wooden sword paid off in practical application, but something else happened to the warrior.

Memories of a past life when he fought against such creatures before invaded his head and he saw quick flashes of a battle in fast-forward. The image quickly faded as he felt tremendous pain in his leg. One of the warriors sneaked up behind Lorenor and clipped the back of his leg. Still, this was not enough to prevent Lorenor from stabbing the man in front of him. He heard a satisfying ripping of flesh, when his weapon made contact. He turned the blade in his hand and leaned forward for a quick bite of flesh. This man, was bit too despite the fact that a sword now jutted out from the back of his right knee. The maneuver threw him off balance, but he was able to lunge forward with just enough momentum to get at the shoulder of his attacker and land a gruesome bite.

The same sort of screaming taunts from before, but Lorenor did his deed. In a matter of moments, the warrior already passed the techno-virus from himself to two of the attackers. He just needed to hang on long enough for the incubation to take place. Lorenor fell on the floor, as the warrior he fed from fell to the floor. He felt the impact of another weapon pierce his lower side, near where his kidneys would be. This solicited a scream of pain from Lorenor, but the warrior kept on with undying determination at the terrifying task at hand.

After a couple of minutes passed, the reaction in the first victim was now complete. Lorenor, tried to roll off the individual he was laying on, but several kicks and the removal of the blade prevented him. He only hoped that someone else took up the fight besides Tenki and the Elf. He lost sight of Tenki in during the battle but he knew that his friend was off somewhere fighting. Still, he'd never spotted his contact from the Church though he knew the mysterious agent was somewhere in the crowd fighting as well.

That made at least four warriors against an army. He prayed that the Dark Mother would give him the good grace to cause as much carnage as he possibly could. The memories continued to come helping him to deal with the pain and agony much easier. With the sword jutting from his knee movement was hampered but it would have to do. Lorenor saw the body rising out of the corner of his eyes, while the warriors kicked and beat up on him as he lay on the ground in a defensive position. Lorenor grunted with each blow as they ganged up on him.

Rising from death with a techno-virus fueling its reanimation, the warrior's hood dropped from his person revealing their attackers. ORCS! They were some variant of desert Orcs! Somehow this drew a deep fury from somewhere within the small warrior. A fury. An ancient fury. The darkness gathered around the small warrior as he allowed this battle-fury to overwhelm him. He saw the blood of each of the individual men in black flowing through their vessels. He wanted to act so desperately, but the kicks, and punches prevented him from doing so.

He lay there on the ground in a guarded position waiting for some sort of opening to stand up. Suddenly, it happened. The ghoul rushed forward after its transformation and grabbed one of the men attacking its creator. For some reason, Master and Apprentice shared a bond to one another and the creature instinctively protected its creator. As he grabbed one of the attackers with supernatural strength and speed, the thing instinctively bit the Orc hard across the face. The Orc cried wildly. Lorenor's other attackers stopped what they were doing to stare at their former companion, stunned by the creature's actions. They attempted to draw their weapons upon the warrior, but it was already too late.

The ghoul rushed his former allies and bit another in the chest ripping it completely apart.

And with each bite--Lorenor's legions grew.

[Tenki]

Recognizing the effective chaos brought about by Lorenor's unique skill in bringing his fallen victims to his aid, Tenki kept his attention on the ones in the bunch making their way towards him. Perched on the top step inside the doorway, which was several feet higher than the rest of the establishment, since being partially underground made for it easier to keep stored drinks cool. There were three of those men in black that were nearly in range, however, they were horribly armed one holding a broken bottle, the other two wielding bulbous clubs and metal plating around tops to make the impact harder.

Instead of waiting for them, Tenki instead brought Luin up to striking position and hopped down the short flight of stairs bringing the pronged tip down cleanly into the skull of the closest one, which was quickly split open as it went all the way from top to bottom of the skull. Tenki then spun around, and went into a thrusting motion, bringing Luin to bear on the next closest of the three. With Luin's long reach allowing him to take his swings before they got close enough to use their own weapons, so far he could hold his own against them. He aimed straight into the exposed face of the second, which Tenki noted was clearly inhuman in the moment before the blade impacted it. Lining up in such a way as to slide right into the eye sockets, the second was dead as instantly as the other two he'd already fell as the blade went right into the creature's brain. Pulling Luin out of the now mutilated face of the monstrous being, Tenki oriented himself towards the final one, who had been the furthest away originally, the one with the broken bottle for his simple weapon. Still a distance away, Tenki focused his will, pulling his circle upon the stonework underfoot. Pulling Luin close in an aggressive stance. "Lasair." Smaller rings appeared and float around Luin's upper shaft and just past the tip of the blades, with the same symbols evident in the outer ring of his circle. A small ball of energy blinked into existence at the end of the spear, starting off as a pinprick but soon enlarging to the size of a human fist. The final of the trio stopped advancing, giving an odd look towards the spectacle in front of him. It was all Tenki would need. "LAUNCH" Luin spat out in a authoritative tone and the orb fired forward, piercing the simple cloth and leather armor the beast wore over it's chest. A chest now graced with a fist sized hole right through it. The beast continued to move forward for a moment as it's last thought processed in it's brain, before it collapsed in a heap sideway, taking it's body into a table that had somehow stayed in place in the initial blast and raiding group's entry.

With the ones that had been coming at him stopped for now, Tenki tried to takes stock. There was an elf standing on the bar, launching arrows into the raiders, and Lorenor had been using his own powers to fight, and now had several infected individuals fighting alongside him. Finally, Tenki spotted a robed man, the one he'd seen sitting at the large table by himself before he'd left the tavern a few minutes ago. He turned his head towards Lorenor and shouted amongst the growing chaos. "I THINK THIS ONE BELONGS TO YOU LORENOR!" He pointed over at the corner of the tavern to give Lorenor an idea on where to head, before realizing his shouting had brought plenty more attention to his person, and he had another eight or so shambling through the mess for him.

[Xulltana]

Xulltana found this to be great and honorable battle. Sure they out numbered the few fighting warriors, but their pure stupidity, and uncoordinated attacks just made them easy pickings. He fired another arrow, this one just a normal round into the crowd, it pierced a robed man, and he dropped, grasping for air. “Come on now, I challenge any of you!” Xulltana cried out over the noise of the tavern. Unfortunately, Xulltana did not see the two advancing from his sides until the last minute.

The two swung their swords at the same time, slashing for his shins. With a lucky jump up, he dodged the two blades, landing with balance on the bar’s counter. One of them had almost predicted this move, and lunged in with his shoulder. His pure weight alone was enough to knock him over. Xulltana fell hard onto the counter, and the two swords came crashing down again, but Xulltana had enough power to scramble away. The two swords kept crashing down, but each time Xulltana was just ahead of the blades. In a moment of pure desperation, Xulltana rolled off one way of the counter, swinging his bow wildly towards the two men. For him, he was lucky, and so was one of the men, but not the other. The thin blade on the outside of his bow had caught the man’s neck, easily severing his jugular. The man held his throat, and gurgled some unknown words before collapsing the ground dead.

The other man seemed to disappear behind the counter though. There was no gurgling from him, and no other sounds. But he wasn’t done he was hiding. And with the way the battle was going, he had good reason to. The smallest of them, was still eating people, but what was weird was, they were coming to life! ”What the hell? There’s no way!” Xulltana thought to himself. His upside down view of the world did not deceive him though. One of the ones the small warrior had started to eat, had come to life, and was attacking the other robed man. It was quite an odd site; Xulltana had never seen such necromancy before, even while studying in the magic academy.

The other man he had seen had jumped down some stairs, but the sound of battle still rang up. The man had not returned, and Xulltana feared the worst could’ve happened.

With a smile, Xulltana was proud of his kill, he would’ve celebrated, but the sheer pain in his back was enough to stop that. Trying his hardest to get up, he looked at the ground, where many shards of glass laid, and that he had just landed upon. Using his legs, Xulltana pushed him back towards the main door. Placing his back against the wall next to the door, he readied another arrow. He knew there was another man after him, just as soon as he could see him, that’s all he needed to know now.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Finally getting a moment to breath, Lorenor lunged once more. His primary weapon was his bite. He saw the nearby legs of one of the Orcs and bit down hard upon the calves. The Orc screamed in shock and fury. He looked down upon the Lorenor's person cursing the name of some deity, and tried to stab down into the vampire's back. The warrior felt the maneuver coming at such close range into his sensory sphere, and rolled quickly off to the side, exposing the bones of the man's calves. Most importantly, that area of flesh around the injury became tainted with the infection.

Lorenor passed the techno-virus into yet another victim.

"It burns! It burns!" The Orc cried in broken English.

He fell down as his leg could no longer support his weight. Lorenor stood up quickly, dashing towards a nearby bar and jumping behind the counter for some cover. He needed to catch his breath bad. Lorenor's ghoul bit two more people and further transferred the virus before finally getting killed by one of his own mates. The ghoul's head rolled off several feet away to its left as it was decapitated by mythril.

Soundlessly, the head rolled off to the side where ANOTHER battle took place.

*******************************

Earlier--

A single patron dressed in clothing typical to a Salvarn made his way into the Tavern. Meticulously, he ordered his favorite drinks from this place, a strong brand of Vodka, and sat down in his favorite spot. The local academy's night crowd prepared for a night on the town. Festivities took place as the young frolicked for the attention of their favorite mate. The man arrived at the small town weeks earlier and took in the sites and sounds of Scara Brae.

The Cathedral chose this spot because of its mundane nature.

Also, the intelligence of a potentially looming raid was too dangerous a matter to overlook. So, they needed to send Agents to investigate. Rumors came down the pipe-lines that Lorenor might be in the area and this was the Agent that the informant sought. Seeing that the information was accurate, the informant manipulated events in such a way to ensure Lorenor's arrival at this town. It all paid off. The informant generally ignored the crowds of youngsters and enjoyed his drink waiting for Lorenor to arrive. Seeing the small warrior enter the tavern, followed by another, the man nodded to himself and prepared to meet up with the creature.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the Tavern. Cistern survived by hiding underneath some furniture that took the brunt of the shock wave. Debris and other matter flew everywhere and the terrorists revealed themselves. Cistern readied himself quickly and drew his Prevalida weapon. Hidden underneath his white clothing, the man drew his weapon with a quick flick of the wrist. He stalked off towards the attackers as they grabbed whoever they could and killed in an almost mindless sort of way. Almost. But Cistern was the only one who knew the potential truth about these Orcs, he had to get to Lorenor before it was too late!

************************************************** *****

Somehow, he ended up near to the very same bar where Xultana once lurked. He saw the corpse of a dead Orc, with his weapon still at the ready.
He stole a glance to Xultana as the Elf knocked another arrow into his deadly longbow. Slowly but surely, two more of Lorenor's ghouls rose to assault the Orcs, driven by the thoughts of their master. The small warrior eyed his neophyte companions. Lorenor held his mithril sword in hand, preparing himself for further combat. Once he caught his breath, he jumped up on the bar just in the nick of time. A nearby warrior lunged at Lorenor attempting to stab him in the side. The creature reacted quickly by sending his blade up to intercept the Orc's sword. A duel commenced.

[Xulltana]

How many more could possibly be coming now. This odd human man had transformed almost half a dozen into zombies, and they were now turning others into the same. A man leaped down the stairs, and was slaughtering more there, and Xulltana had picked a few off here and there. A raiding group should never be this large; it would’ve just given them away.

Xulltana’s knocked arrow was released and fluttered through the air until it found the head of another man. Looking around for a possible escape route, he finally realized what he was facing. Not humans, just, humanoid. He had never seen a thing such as this before. But, this was nothing to be worried about. Xulltana got on his hands and knees, and hurried behind a flipped table.

There was much rubble in the way here, and hopefully he could last the duration of the battle here without being noticed any more then he already had. But still, just in case he readied another arrow. As he pressed his back against the booth seats, another humanoid came crashing through the barricade. It had no weapons, and came much to quickly for Xulltana to release the arrows. Instead, he put the bow up in front of him, as the humanoid grabbed onto it. It became a pushing contest now.

With every shove, the glass in Xulltana’s back dug in a little bit deeper, and with every shove back the humanoid howled in pain. But the humanoid’s blinding rage is the only reason Xulltana was able to fight back. Its sheer power was enough to overwhelm Xulltana, but in its final shove, the thing metal blades along the bow cut through its fingers.

Another howl of pain echoed over the tavern, as the beat crashed down next to Xulltana. With a smile, and a big gasp of air, Xulltana got on top of the beast, and drew and arrow from it’s quiver. He pounded the beast over and over with the tip of the arrow, until finally it stopped moving. With sweat beading down his forehead, and over his face, Xulltana panted for breath. These things could take a lot. But they needed a weak point, just like every other living thing. They looked humanoid, and had a face like a human just their features looked mashed. The nose.

Popping up, Xulltana readied a blunt arrow. Finding a lone target, he took great aim, and pulled back. As he released the arrows end, time seemed to skip forward only a few seconds as the arrow crashed full force into the humanoid’s nose. From here, Xulltana could here the cartilage breaking in its nose. In sheer desperation, the beast dropped to the ground, holding his gushing nose. Blood oozed out and over his hands, as he screamed in pain over and over again. With a smile of victory, he readied another one, looking for a target to aim at again.

[Tenki]

Tenki stepped back a ways as the mob continued to advance upon him, various weapons drawn. Tenki considered his options. He wouldn't be able to keep fighting them one on one, he needed a be able to manage more at once. The idea came soon enough. Risky, but it would allow the majority of the pub to be cleared out. "Luin, we need to go up before we use it." "Very well. Seidean." Tenki jumped upwards and took flight inside the pub, using the high 20 foot+ ceiling to his advantage to attack above the Orcs without haveing to deal with all the clutter on the floor below. Mindful of the now much closer ceiling and other obstructions such as the cages Tenki swooped over the heads of the group of Orcs that had been advancing on him, and held Luin downwards at their unarmored heads, taking a path up and down along the group, slicing through them in different ways as he attacked randomly from above, some got off relatively light and only lost an ear or fingers as they stubbornly reached upwards, others took a bladed impact directly on their skulls, slicing them open and giving them eternal sleep. All of them were bleeding profusely and were no longer in shape to fight after a few passes up and down what had been an advancing line.

Confident none of them would continue to be a problem, Tenki looked around, his vantage point in the air above made assessing the situation easier. Their ranks had thin numbers now, he doubted there were more than 15 or so still in the pub. "Luin, let's finish this up. We'll use Bladhm Dias to take out as many as we can." "I'm on it. Bladhm Dias." Confirmed Luin. Tenki's focus circle again appeared under his feet and spread out a fair distance, giving the impression to anyone watching as if he was using it to stand in midair. Four much smaller versions of the circle, each a foot across, appeared in front of Tenki, the soft purple glow coming off all of the circles lit up the floor below and ceiling above alike, coating an area near the side of the pub in the color. "Bladhm..." Tenki closed his eyes for a moment, and the four smaller circle collapsed upon themselves, creating four fist sized spheres of energy in their place. "...Dias." Tenki reopened his eyes and the spheres flung themselves forward in the air. Control Granted. Define Targets. affirmed Luin. Tenki quickly identified four Orcs in different places in the pub. Three on their own and one that had been trading sword blows with Lorenor. All four shots went different ways in midair and assaulted their targets. The one fired at Lorenor's attacker struck the beast directly upside the head as it detonated, splattering the Orc's head and neck for several feet nearby. The other three, however, slammed into their targets and didn't detonate. Instead, they struck their targets with a hard, physical force derived from their mass and acceleration. Two of them succeeded in knocking their targets over by striking them on their sides, while the third struck it's target in the stomach making it fold over itself in pain. Tenki himself had not moved in this time, due to the concentration required to move the three, previously four shots at once. The three remaining shot pulled away from their targets before hurtling forward at them again, not giving their targets a chance to recover from these strong physical blows against them. This pattern continued for a few minutes, until the Orcs no longer moved due to their injuries. Tenki bought the spheres back to him, so he could find them new targets, just as an arrow whizzed past his face. The corner of his eye caught a glimpse of another on heading right for him.

"Sciath."Luin interjected of it's own accord. A copy of Tenki's focus circle appeared directly in front of him just in time to intercept the arrow. As the thin bolt bounced off the shield, it faded from view as Tenki targeted the Orc archer with all three of the remaining spheres. They fired at high speed, and the archer attempted to pull away from the incoming attack, and managed to dodge the first one by ducking to the left and the second by zagging to the right as well. However, it wasn't fast enough to dodge the third, which smashed directly into the back of his right knee, detonating, and blowing off his leg knee and below completely. The impact sends the Orc rolling along the floor, with a mix of snarling and sobbing in pain being vocalized. Tenki brought the two shots that had missed earlier back, and brought them in for the kill at the same time. The wall nearby became splattered with blood and bodily fluids at he impact. With all of the Bladhm Dias shots used, Tenki was now free to move again, and floated over to Lorenor and the others, who were fending off the last of the Orc in the pub.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor prepared himself to strike the Orc dead but something happened before he ever had the chance to. A splatter of blood and gore that used to be the beast's head suddenly burst upon itself with the impact of a projectile attack. Lorenor had no way of knowing that the attack came from Tenki's person. He saw that the Orc fell dead to the floor. Their fight initiated at the top of the now shattered bar. The explosive force of Tenki and Luin's attacks wrecked up whatever furniture remained. Also, the detonation released streaks of energy that lit up the bar in an eerie sort of way. Lorenor could see the energetic residue of Luin's energy circles. The power that Tenki possessed was incredible! Lorenor suddenly found himself thinking.

The small warrior stood nearby to Xultana's person. There was a moment of chaotic devastation while Tenki effortlessly destroyed a large group of the Orcs. Lorenor moved over to Xultana's person nodded to the Elven warrior.

"Is everything well with you? Thank you for the assist. I'm Lorenor. We'll save further introductions for later my friend."

In the chaos that ensued, two more of Lorenor's ghouls rose from when the warrior bit him. The particular Necromancy that the ghoul used worked its archaic weaving on the canvas of the Orcs. Almost like a painting, the dark canvas wove itself a pattern painting itself with blood.

Lorenor saw that the two ghouls continued to attack without him having to mentally command them. Several more warriors were bit before the two ghouls were taken down. Now, the remaining Orcs started to turn on one another cautious of who was Infected and who wasn't Infected. Their barbarian minds couldn't comprehend that it was only those who were bit that became carriers of the techno-virus. Lorenor observed his handiwork with a grim smile on his face. He'd bought them some time.

"What meaning of this is?!!" Suddenly yelled a particularly large Orc.

A large brutish beast, the leader of this bunch, came out from one of the back rooms where rapes were taking place. Lorenor became angry when he saw the leader.

The Orc saw that several of his companions were biting one another and attacking EACH OTHER when they were supposed to be attacking the people of Scara Brae. The orders were simple enough, why couldn't they follow it? The huge Orc decapitated one of the wild Orcs that came in to attempt to bite his way through his flesh. The Orc fell down permanently dead. Now, the ratio of Orcs versus Orc ghouls was seven to six. Only seven remaining Orcs were combat ready. There were many injured Orcs on the ground after Tenki's assault that fell victim easily to the ghouls that bit them. The transformation process only took minutes to create a new Ghoul. Lorenor eyed the Orcs' leader.

"You with the arrows, that one is the leader!"

Lorenor commanded and pointed to the big Orc. Lorenor hoped that direct confrontation with such a beast might be avoided at all costs.

[Fennrick Wolfheart]

As the wave of Darkness crossed the small town, one could see a dark cloaked man stalking through the shadows, his black cape swiriling about him as his silver eyes glowed. Nearing a tavern he witnessed a few villagers running from it.

Here, my servant... A voice clawed at the man's conciousness.

Entering the bar, the demons slave noticed the three men destroying orc barbarians... servants of his Lord and Master. The anguished screams of the women being raped drew a shudder of joy through the mans haunted body, as the bloodshead drew a feral smile from his lips.

Drawing his twin blades, he stalked into the mess of the tavern.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

((Welcome aboard))

Ghouls ripped through the ranks of the Orcs as they fed upon living flesh. The ranks of the enemy was quickly decimated as they were forced to battle amongst themselves. Lorenor's strange type of Necromancy worked wonders for the battle at hand. A single Orc managed to break through the pack, engaging Lorenor in a fight. The ghoul brought his weapons up to bear. As the Orc slashed towards the ghoul, Lorenor swung in an attempt to intercept the blade. There was a sound of blades clanging as the two weapons struck alongside one another.

The Orc smelled terrible. He had bad breath, and wreaked of bodily wastes including days of sweat. It gave off a horrendous smell. The scent wafted up his nostrils at such a close range. It was all he could do to remain conscious against the strong smells. Lorenor struggled for supremacy against the Orc as it started to push his body weight against the small warrior.

Starting to feel the weight of exhaustion pouring through his veins, he wondered where his allies had fallen to? Am I finally alone in this war? The ghoul wondered casually to himself. His muscles were strained against the Orc's body weight but somehow, Lorenor struggled to find the inner strength needed to survive. Scara Brae's survival lurked upon their ability to prevent this siege from spreading to other towns.

[Fennrick Wolfheart]

((Thanks, heres hoping that my character survives this run-in long enough for me to get him where I want him... lol, he's still in the whole "completely enthralled" bit of his demonic possession...))

As the last of the orcs fell and were fed upon; Fennrick lept from the steps and stabbed out with his blades, catching them in the back of a particularily large orc/ghoul and severing it's spinal column. Swinging off of the falling undead, he landed amongst the goreging ghouls, lashing out and severing limbs and heads as he cut a path of destruction through their ranks.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Several moments later, the battle intensified. Lorenor reacted on instinct feeling the weariness that came with the situation at hand. He swung his sword wildly about trying desperately to keep up with the more experienced and more dangerous Orc. These Orcs were manufactured for war. If I can't keep up with this guy he'll finish me. I have to think of something fast. I can't see where Tenki is or that Elf. This guy is in my peripheral vision! Lorenor thought to himself as he fought. His muscles ached with agony. The battlefield around them was already littered with various corpses of friend and foe alike.

The ghouls tore through the enemy ranks with some degree of speed. All they had to do was bite one of the living and tear them to shreds in order to spread the infection further. I am able to contaminate my enemy with a bite. If I am able to get close enough I might just be able to get this guy in front of me too! Focusing on biting his foe, the ghoul prepared himself for the next part of his plan. The Orc just had too much strength on the little warrior for him to keep going realistically speaking. He knew that he wouldn't last much longer unless something miraculous happen. And then his miracle came.

Lorenor felt more than saw, a darkened presence enter the fallen tavern. He heard the sounds of someone engaged in battle. Lorenor couldn't even steal a glance away from his opponent lest he get distracted. Keeping his movements up as best he could, the speedier warrior, Lorenor, was somehow able to keep up. That Orc relied mostly on its brute strength to survive. The wooden floor beneath them was a terrible place to fight as the surface could break beneath them at anytime. Lorenor was thankful for the fact that it was at least reinforced Oak. A combination of Oak and Liviol. But even with such powerful wood beneath him, Lorenor could feel the weight of the building creaking as more and more Orcs showed up.

A building that was only meant to hold a certain amount of people now had many heavy, powerful Orcs upon the surface of its floor. The creaking sounds started to act up as a warning of the next disaster. From the floors above, Lorenor felt clouds of wooden chips falling down upon his person. He saw that some of them fell into the eyes of his opponent, stinging him.

Lorenor used what body weight and forward momentum he could muster, and used the movement against his opponent's larger bulk. He hated the tastes of these Orcs but it couldn't be helped. Lorenor needed to win this battle for the sakes of survival. They wouldn't take any prisoners. There would be no chance for diplomacy. This was a straight up battle to the death and Lorenor knew it. If we don't survive this, the greater Scara Brae region may be next! And then Lorenor sunk his teeth into the Orc's neck. The Orc screamed in agony and swung Lorenor wildly about, attempting to fling the mutant off his person.

[Tenki]

Tenki finally made his way over to Lorenor, floating above the corpses made the trip fairly short, but long enough he saw Lorenor bit into his opponent. Knowing what was to come, Tenki flipped Luin over, and used the butt end of the shaft to knock the beast off of his friend and stun the creature long enough for the virus in Lorenor's employ to become active, and give them a bit of an edge.

"Lorenor, are you alright? We finally seem to be wearing them down." however, Tenki was interrupted by loud creaks and groans of protest of the floor and dust from the ceiling. Taking a look around it was obvious why. many had died, and the amount of weight now on the floor was going to be much more then it could handle. Tenki reached down towards his friend in a act of desperation.

"Take my hand, the floor is about to give out." The floor began to open crack and splinter in a few places as if to agree with him. He knew the added weight of Lorenor would slow him down in the air even more then he normally moved, but anything standing on the floor would soon fair much worse. Something they may be able to use to their advantage.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor quickly grabbed Tenki's hand. He stole a glance to Xultana's position but saw that the Archer was gone, probably forever. Taking up the man's grip he moved upwards so that Tenki could easily lift Lorenor's lighter person up off the ground. It was times like these that the ghoul was grateful that he was as small as he was. Being so small had its unique set of advantages. Grabbing the man's powerful grip, he relaxed himself so that Tenki could pull him up and off the remains of the bar.

As Lorenor was being pulled up by Tenki, the ground started to shake. The ceiling was already on the verge of caving in, if it hadn't caved in yet and the floor was soon to follow. With a massive shake of the building, the floor beneath them was swallowed by the forces of gravity. The building fell upon its foundation. Bodies, orcs, and warriors attempting to fight the Orcs all fell into the Underdark. The entire area of Corone was networked beneath the ground by a long series of nearly endless caverns called the Underdark.

Erupting from the building's integral damage, a large cloud of dust and debris flew upward. Lorenor immediately shut his eyes. The area above them was getting ready to crumble underneath the weight as well.

"Tenki! Get us the hell out of here!" Lorenor cried out at the mercy of his friend.

He could already see large cracks developing in the ceiling above them as the rapid activities of the Orcs would have caused the building to loose vital integrity.

[Tenki]

Tenki held tight to Lorenor's arm, each had their hand down past the wrist of the other, ensuring as strong as grip as could be held in such an awkward position. Between the visual and audible commotion the floor had made giving it, Tenki had in fact neglected to realize the ceiling was in the same horrible shape as the floor had been. Lorenor's shout, along with another wave of creaks and groans, were all he needed before turning about making for the door as fast as he could manage. Sadly it wasn't very fast in actuality, as the prolonged and multiple use of his magic had taken their tole on Tenki's mildly athletic frame. Putting all his physical effort into holding onto Lorenor, unwilling to drop his friend and ally down the surely fatal fall now below them both wasn't helping Tenki to focus any better on his movement spell.

As the sounds from the ceiling grew worse, the great structure seemed to shake and wiggle of it own accord as if the two had been inside some silent beast this whole time. Giving a strong a mental push to hold it all together, Tenki was halfway to the still standing doorway as a large shudder echoed throughout the building. form the new wave of dust coming into his field of vision it was obvious now. The roof had begun to collapse from the far side of the building, where they had been moments before. Tenki focused once more on the doorway, their only hope from being pushed by the ceiling's debris down into the maw below. As the sounds of collapse continued, Tenki floated ever closer to the doorway, now merely a few yards from it. Tenki closed his eyes and pushed the spell as hard as he could to work, as he could feel his limit to holding it up had more than reasonably passed shortly after he'd had to pluck Lorenor form the counter in the first place.

The building's stonework began to give and crumble as the two picked up a final bit of speed. Had Tenki been alone and in better condition, he would probably had been setting a personal best on his air speed record, which wasn't very impressive in any case. Nevertheless, they slipped out the large doorway as the building finally gave up it's all and caved. Similarly, Tenki did the same, dropping Lorenor a few feet to the ground before doing the same to himself from several more feet in the air. Tenki slipped about 8 feet to the ground from a nearly horizontal position with a heavy thud. His mind and body both damn glad it to be out of the building, and acutely aware of the pain from slamming into the ground, Tenki couldn't help but think the same thought he'd had merely a half an hour ago. When leaving the bar the first time. "Damnit... I just want to get to sleep."

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Landing on the ground with a hard thud, Lorenor rolled and got to his feet quickly. He assessed the situation at hand. People were running through the streets with Orcs chasing them and fights were taking place between the local police force's guards and some of the orcs. The ghoul saw that the building caved in on itself, much structural damage forcing the destruction of basically everyone within it. A huge cloud of dust flowed upward and into the sky as the building fell apart. Lorenor cursed at the devastating that the orcs were causing. A part of him, enjoyed the wanton destruction. The more logical side wanted to put a stop to this as these orcs were blatantly destroying people that could potentially help the Red Hand out.

Unarmed, the ghoul was still a force to be reckoned. Looking at the nearest Orc, the ghoul decided that he was going to be a help, rather than adding to the problem. As for the fate of the people within the tavern? Lorenor wasn't certain but he was sure that nobody made it out alive. However, there was no way to tell from his position and the complete destruction of the tavern that was before them now. What a waste. The nearest Orc had his back turned towards Lorenor. He'd assist Tenki, but there were others in more serious of need of help. Tenki could take care of himself. He stole a quick glance before he attacked the Orc. Tenki seemed to be all right.

Lorenor lunged forward after moving quickly to descend upon the Orc. He saw the warrior's backside and took advantage of the distraction. Moving quickly through the air, the ghoul lunged with both sets of claws properly extended. Thankfully, the Orc seemed to wear only a hide like armor. His claws would be able to effectively tear through that should his sneak attack prove successful. The Gods were on Lorenor's side. So distracted was the Orc that he never noticed Lorenor's attack until it was too late.

Lorenor felt the satisfying sensation of his claws digging into a well built trapezius muscle. The ghoul pulled suddenly backwards with his hands, to tear out the flesh of that location. Howling in pain, his enemy turned to face the unknown attacker. Green orc blood trickled in rivers down Lorenor's forearm. The ghoul prepared himself to engage the Orc in battle. The thing had rage in his eyes as blood dropped down his shoulders from the fresh injuries. He readied his sword and prepared to attempt to attack the clever ghoul. Lorenor was already on his feet and was ready to meet the Orc dead on. Battles were taking place all over the streets as those who couldn't fight fled. Clouds moved overhead, a blanket of stars reflecting their glow upon the land. Lorenor prepared himself for the battle.

[Warklaw]

Screams reached his ears, both those of innocent women and children and the war cries of combat, and the non-stop toll of death curdling screams, as souls got whisked away into the abyss.

Ayerwulf stood at the edge of the forest, looking at the carnage of the town, how the inn just collapsed, most likely killing all of those within.

“Sounds like bad dreams, Big Brother.” Nalva, his wolfsister, whined in fear. Ayerwulf was trying to fight back the urge to Howl, the full moon would be exposed within a few minutes, once the clouds pass by.
‘No big deal,’ he thought, ‘I’ll take some wolfsbane.’ There was one problem; he was fresh out of the drug. Only two words entered his mind before he began to feel the Wolf Spirit stir within, ‘Aww shit!!!’

The problem with Warklaw Wolf Spirits is that they will make the transformation more painful and potent. For a Warklaw spirit, three things caused a change; Demons, nonhumans and the Full Moon. It won’t matter if they are friend or foe, instinct is instinct. ((Never will a tiger eat tofu!))

The Holw began; the transformation. The transformation always begins with every bone and muscle breaking and tearing in Ayerwulf’s body so they can reconstruct in the proper strength, density, and size. His ears became pointed and covered in fur, his face morphed into a muzzle as his teeth grew extraordinarily.

When he was done, the Ayerwulf the Berserker was now Ayerwulf the Hunter; a werewolf around eleven feet in height with midnight black fur stood in his place, ready to kill again.

The Hunter turned his Lupine nose towards the sky and took a deep draw from the air, the scent of chaos was a welcoming scent, it had been nearly thirty years since he could run free without the wolfsbane chaining his full potential. Ayerwulf told Nalva to sit tight, and wait.

The Hunter ran on all fours, exceeding the speed of even some horses, until he came in contact with an unfortunate Orc raider. The Orc barely had enough time to see what the hell was charging at him before he was thrown against a wall and torn asunder by razor sharp talons of a Lycan.

Ayerwulf the Hunter climbed to the top of a two story hut to survey the Chaos before him, marvelous.
Pointing his muzzle towards the mother of his kin, Luna, he let her know of his existence. His howl pierced the night like a barbarians blade. Those near would run, those brave would stay, those smart would use silver or a Weapon of Ancients.

+ AHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!+
In Lycan: FEAR ME! I AM THE STUFF OF YOUR NIGHTMARES! I AM FEAR, I AM DESTRUCTION INCARNATE!

[Ryudo]

Ryudo didn't know why, but he had been called to Sellia. It was what he had considered a milk run. The man who had hired him paid up front, and the Blades of Dawn had given Ryudo the O.K. to proceed in the execution of this task. Quell a few orcs is all the man said, easy enough, Ryudo thought to himself. So with his instructions and his trusty blade Ryudo approached the town. Ryudo’s intentions were dual in nature. He wanted to complete his task at hand, but underneath this reason was another. He wanted to find information. Perhaps someone in Sellia could translate ancient elfish? Immediately he noticed that something was wrong with the town he was approaching.

Ryudo saw the destruction that was taking place, and realized that it was the very orcs that he had been sent to kill that were causing the mayhem that was apparent in front of him.

Ryudo felt Silver Fang tense in its sheath, the blade sensed that blood was coming. He took a few steps further when a rabbling orc ran out. It was foaming in the mouth, and covered in blood. It had sniffed Ryudo, it sensed him, it saw him. Ryudo felt the inner flame rise up inside, and he drew Silver Fang nonchalantly, pointing it at the beast. The blade of legends, in all its radiance poised to strike down the crazed beast.

The orc ran at Ryudo, blood in its eyes, it rose its bloody axe in the air. Ryudo used flame to produce the fire in his hand, the orc proceeded with its attack. The motion gave away the impending attack, with no effort the half elf side stepped the over head attack and thrusted Silver Fang. The blade met the orc under its ribs, and the orc knew what had happened. It gazed at Ryudo, and for an instance there was a pause. Then Ryudo thrust his flaming palm onto the orcs skull. The beast went limp, and Ryudo use his boot to remove it from Silver Fang.

[Tenki]

Rolling over onto his back Tenki let out a couple of small coughs. The dirt had gotten into his mouth when he landed so haphazardly. It wasn't like he was to blame, he'd pushed himself harder this night than possibly any time since he ended up on Althanas. He ached. He was tired. And he could tell he didn't have much left in the way of magic he'd be able to throw around until he could rest up. Listening to the screams and sounds of combat for several moments, Tenki was nearly in a daze. Physical Combat... he'd never been more than good at it. He mostly learned self defense moves while in training, which worked because so much of his offense was aided by his magic. Move in, distract or weaken with light blows of magic, the sweep in for the take down. "Heh, a take down." he mused to the open air. "Certainly carried deadlier connotation here than back home. Killing as a last resort, these people just don't seem to get it. Here, it's kill or be killed. And to be honest, it disgusts me." Tenki brought himself up to one knee and began to stand up using Luin's shaft as a short term crutch. "But here, tonight, I know that is the only law anyone can count on. Maybe I can do something in the here and now. Spare some lives, stop this needless bloodshed. After this night, I can try to bring some of my own ideals to this planet." He finished standing up and looked down the alley, where Lorenor has already gotten involved with another Orc. "If I live through the night that is. Tonight, it's kill or be killed."

Suddenly a long, loud howl echoed over the town. Bone-chilling by itself it would have been of note on any other night, Tenki noted... but not tonight. Tonight, it just sort of....fit. Tenki took of towards the Orc Lorenor had engaged, and it tilting Luin's blade up at the last moment, managed to pierce straight through the creature's skull in one motion. the bone and flesh practically imploded form the force and Tenki pulled Luin back out in one backwards thrust. He turned to his ally once more. "It'll be more useful if we can meet up with the local guards. If enough of them and stragglers like us and meet up, we should be able to take out these beasts with ease, as they favor smaller task groups." Tenki turned and headed for the small band of guards that were indeed, fighting a same sized group of Orc to a standstill, both side were only 4 or 5 in number as far as Tenki could tell heading for the group.

[Warklaw]

Ayerwulf felt more of his humanity slip away, the longer he relished being in the state of the Hunter. Too long had his thirst been left unquenched, his thirst for combat, for chaos, for blood…

‘No, the man within screamed, this is wrong, innocent people are dying and you laugh?
You will never be accepted into the Hall of the Ancients!’

The Hunter simply shook it’s massive lupine head, sweeping the rebellious thoughts out of his mind like dust mites. Beyond the smell of blood, sweat, and tears the Hunter smelled something else, non-humans and magic!

The Hunter growled deeply, the sound like two massive slabs of Hell’s brimstone being ground together; it seemed to rattle the very fabric of space. The Ayerwulf of the Night leapt from his perch, his black fur shimmering like the blackest obsidian; his eyes, a burning amber color, danced from target to target, and then he saw what he was looking for. The Hunter saw Orcs and some city guards, locked in combat, one more was rushing to join the fray, but this one was different, this one held a spear that was rank with the scent of magic. He saw this opponent rushing towards the battle, then the feral instinct kinked in,

‘This rival male is trying to take your meal! Bad scavenger! BAD!’

Running on all fours, the Hunter reached the scene of combat, lashing out with a claw of steel talons, ripped out the back of the first Orc’s head. Another turned to his fallen comrade to have something cold and sharp pierce his stomach and rip out his innards. The ropes of internal organs fell to the blood-muddy ground with a sickening plop. A guard panicked and lashed out his iron longs word, the blade got trapped in the supernatural muscle sinews of the Lycan. The twelve foot tall werewolf tore the blade from his flesh and ripped out the guard’s throat, the poor man gurgled helplessly as he choked on his own blood. The Hunter had caused quite a spot of havoc, no one knew what to do, attack the wolf, get killed by Orcs, attack the Orcs, and get killed by wolf…

One of the Orc raiders was contemplating this until his thoughts where interrupted by the steel clamp of a Lycan’s jaws on his spine, the bone snapped under the pressure. The one with the Spear approached, pointing the weapon at him, he recoiled; Ancient weapons and Silver, those where his Achilles heel, if they enter his blood stream, they would suppress the Hunter, suppress the freedom, the Hunter wouldn’t like that…

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Lorenor was not shy enough to steal from the dead. He knew that he needed to arm himself and quickly enough he had. His sword was still in his clutched when suddenly; the Orc he was fighting fell dead. The ghoul turned to the side to look at his partner; Tenki. Lorenor smiled and nodded his thanks towards his friend. Then, a loud howl pierced the air. Lorenor looked up towards the source of the howl and saw a terrifying sight he hoped he would never see. A full grown Lycan in Crinos form! The ghoul spit on the ground and took several steps backwards.

No longer were the Orcs the only threat. A nearby Orc ran up towards Lorenor and the ghoul reacted quickly. The small warrior spun on his boots, bringing the stolen sword to bare. The Orc was caught completely off guard by the sudden attack of the ghoul. Lorenor was able to bring his sword up to just the right angle to end the Orc's life. With a sickening sound; the ghoul noticed that the Orc's head was severed from the neck and rolled off in the dirt several paces away.

By then; Tenki walked towards some nearby guards. By then; the Lycan had made his presence known. Lorenor hissed into the air clenching his useless sword tightly. The beast's thick hides was quickly deflecting the weapons that the guards and the orcs threw at it. Lorenor frowned at that moment and the odds became clear; they had a new threat. He needed to find an equalizer for the beast and fast! Studying the site of the crashed building; Lorenor saw something stirring from the ruined edifice. Creatures were crawling out from beneath the rubble that survived the onslaught. Lorenor grinned. A plan was forming. If he could rally the ghouls, then what? He decided that it was best not to involve himself in the grisly combat for now.

Changing his position quickly; the ghoul ran towards the zombie warriors that were made from his dangerous bite. Lorenor pondered biting the wolf for a long moment; but doubted his teeth could get pass the steel-like hide.

Lorenor eyed his sword and sighed. Blood stained, the weapon was average quality at best. It was already well worn by the time it fell into Lorenor's hands and the durability was horribly degraded. The ghoul wanted to toss the blade aside and arm himself with something new; but his options were terribly limited. All he could he could take was what he found from the dead; and then he saw it. One of the fallen guards killed by the wolf happened to be nearby.

He was a guard that was thrust against a wall. No longer wanting to meet up with the ghouls; Lorenor went over to the guard to resupply himself. He knew he needed better weapons to fight against the Lycan. The zombie moans touched the ears of the ghoul; he turned to acknowledge them by glance. The nearest nodded and understood. They moaned at one another and began to walk their way towards the group of people that were fighting against the Lycan warrior.

Lorenor went to fallen guardsman and assessed the weaponry. The man was a vain individual that kept his armor and weapons well polished.

Unfortunately, the man's Steel Masterwork armor had done nothing to prevent his demise. Lorenor was interested in the sword that the man carried. A familiar green blade made of plynt of masterwork quality. He kept the Orc's sword in one hand and stole the dead man's sword.

"You won't be needing this anymore." Lorenor said.

Giving a couple of swings of the plynt longsword; the ghoul felt the familiar lightweight nature and smiled. He was better armed now. He turned to face the Lycan and a plan developed.

Taking the scabbard of the sword in his hands, Lorenor wore the scabbard across his back. He sheathed both of his newly acquired weapons. Climbing the side of the buildings with his claws; the ghoul walked ran across the roof tops; and jumped from one building to the next. They were short distances apart and the ghoul was a risk taker. He made it to the building that was adjacent to the Lycan's rampage. Lorenor prepared himself as he looked over the side of the building and stood at it's edge. Hissing quietly to himself the ghoul was ready. He unsheathed both of his swords, with the plynt sword in his aegis bracer. The Orc sword in his left hand. When the timing of the moment was right; he saw the exposed back of the Lycan as the creature assaulted anything that was nearby. Lorenor suddenly leaped from the top of the building and in the general direction of the beast. With both of his swords aimed downwards towards the beasts' thick hide; Lorenor knew at least the plynt would pierce flesh. Gravity became his new waltz partner and the ghoul yelled a terrifying yell of his own as he fell all the way down to attack the Lycan, hopefully by surprise...

[Warklaw]

The Hunter heard the war-cry of the Ghoul as he leapt from the building. The werewolf turned to try and oppose the threat, only to be met with the cold bite of plynt through the soft part of the shoulder. The other sword, the Orc scrap metal, cut a dull gash across the wolf's back.

The Ghoul was fast and much smaller than The Hunter, the werewolf tried to reach back and grab the warrior with his claws, but he was just to fast and too nimble.

Other combatants saw The Hunter in it's weakened state and began to attack, Lorenor had caused a brief opening for the city guards and the Orcs to slash and hack at the Lycan.
The smell of the Lycan's own blood made him angry, his vision became blurred and covered in a veil of blood-rage.
'Enough of this!' The Hunter growled and leapt backwards, planning to pancake Lorenor against a wall, but again, the Ghoul was too damn fast.

At the very least no one was wrenching the plynt sword around his shoulder, even though the blade was still stuck in place. Shambling forms of reanimated flesh began to lurch towards the Crazed Lycan. The Gould's thralls, it seemed. Warklaw pounced, becoming a tornado of talons, sending limbs and organs and carrion in every which way.

He heard the Ghoul, Lorenor, leap again,
'This time...your MINE!'
The Hunter jumped and met the skilled warrior in mid-air, he opened his massive jaws and trid to close them arounf the warrior's head, but the Ghoul was able to worm his hands up to hold The Hunter's massive steel-like fangs from smashing his skull.

Lorenor was struggeling to keep the jaws open, if someone didn't help soon, he would be no more than another casualty.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

But in this struggle for survival, it was every man for himself. Seeing the giant maw of the beast before him, Lorenor felt utter hatred build in his gut for the creature. A combined sensation of hatred and admiration.

Giant teeth, the size of small steel daggers, attempted to pierce at the ghoul's flesh. Crafty and cunning, Lorenor's was full of tricks. Already, the living armor known only as the endless surrounded the ghoul's vessel and made up for his lack of any real armor. Quick and agile on his feet, armed with a weapon in hand, Lorenor was a deadly warrior even to something this big.

After all, where did strength matter if you could not hit your target? Lorenor shifted his body weight, weapon in hand, within the grasp of the large crazed creature. Ignoring all other threats, the ghoul prepared himself to land a finishing blow, when suddenly...

****

The blast came out of nowhere. Earth, energy, debris came crashing up from underneath the ghoul. A sudden burst of an explosion erupted and flung the ghoul from his charge. The blast must have flung Lorenor several feet away because he found himself on a rooftop with his ears, if he would have had any, ringing. His sensory array was temporarily shut into darkness. Clutching at his head, he sensed that his weapon was nearby, on the ground. A blast had separated the ghoul and the hunter.

After a moment passed, Lorenor saw a huge cloud of dust and energy flowing skyward from the impact point.

A migraine headache pulsed through his skull. Picking his weapon up from the ground, Lorenor assessed the situation at hand.

Where he had just been was a huge crater from the impact point of some sort of tremendous energy blast. Lorenor could still see bursts of energy flowing at various points of the impact zone. As far as the Hunter went? The ghoul temporarily lost sight of his primary enemy. Tenki was missing as well. The situation had turned rapidly downhill. For a moment, he pondered simply just leaving the battlefield all together. All this chaos was not worth the measly pay day he was going to obtain for this matter. It was standard rate for a typical merc mission, not fighting a war for these people.

I can haggle more money later. The ghoul thought begrudgingly to himself. That's when he saw it. A few yards away, a powerful form was making itself known to the battle. Swirls of energy flowed from the epicenter of the newly revealed enemy. Is this powerful energy their leader? Lorenor wondered and was confident he would soon find out. A moment after spotting the dread magi, another bolt of energy sprang from his person. Lorenor saw that powerful energy burst through the air and quickly dismantle both Orcs and Human alike. This new presence does not care about friend or foe. Is this really worth it? Lorenor pondered as he held his measly plynt sword in hand.

Looking down at his blade, Lorenor decided to honor his contract. After all, I'm no coward. He quickly made his way across the Thieves' Highway, and found himself on the shattered remain of a house nearby to the magi's form. Stealing a quick glance at the leader of the enemy, Lorenor saw that the sorcerer wore clothing made out of black vlince, carried an ornate battle staff, wore an amulet, and wore a complex head piece. The creature stood at a height of about five head tall, had a lean build, green, scaly flesh, glowing orange tinted eyes, and no hair. The creature was obviously an Orc of some sort. Lorenor guessed that these Orcs hailed from Haidia. Is this an invasion? Lorenor had no personal hate for the demon ken as they were related to the immortals of Haidia.

The ghoul would have to further interrogate the magus when...

"I see you there little soul!" A powerful voice resonated throughout the ghoul's skull.

Lorenor realized quickly that the foreign voice was the thought speak of the Magus before him. A presence filled his head alongside the invading thoughts. Lorenor felt a substance flowing down his nose. Checking himself he saw that it was his own black blood. This made the ghoul furious. Feeling the pain of psychic intrusion, Lorenor knelt to the ground, clutching his skull. He'd gotten too close to the magi's sphere of influence. Too close to destruction. The magus stared accusingly at Lorenor's person.

"N'Jal speaks your name to me. You are the one known as Lorenor. You are fighting for the wrong side. Why don't you join me instead?" And the magus extended his left hand in invitation.

The psychic torture continued, and Lorenor could not sense the endless in his psyche. He was all alone on this harsh, dangerous battlefield staring death in the face. Was this the end?

[Warklaw]

The Hunter, known to antiquity as Agnulfr, would have claimed victory over the ghoul but Fenrir must have had favor for this creature. For right when The Hunter was about to close shut his jaws, it smelled the Winds of Magic being tapped, seconds later, a large blast engulfed the two warriors, throwing them apart.

The Hunter had taken a glancing blow from the magic bolt, burning off half of it's fur and tossing it into a building, reducing it to ruin. The Hunter began to change again, it turned back into the human, Ayerwulf. Once the Change was through and the convultions ended, the nude Ayerwulf laid on the cold ground. The warrior stood up, slowly, but he stood. He had numerous cuts and gashes, as well as the burns from the bolt, but they began to knit together, only the most severe turning into scars.

Stumbling out of the wreckage, Ayerwulf noticed a large plank of wood protuding from his abdomen, with little more than a grimace, his pulled the arms length wood pole from his chest. His organs and skin molding back together quickly after the wood left.

"Well, this will have to bloody do for now." This was not a time for decency, Ayerwulf thought. Who would care if he was bare as a savage or not? Holding the wooden pole at the base like a sword, Ayerwulf threw himself at the nearest greenskin, howling like a madman, or madwolf. Laughter tainted with the cackle of insane bloodlust and primal fury escaped Ayerwulf's lips. His sharp teeth barred and covered in blood, he looked like a complete psychopath. That may not be far from the truth, he is a berserker after all.

Ayerwulf swung his improvised weapon at the first orc raider, the beast turned just in time to see the heavy wood plank smash into his face; with a sickening crunch, the orcs eyes and teeth popped from his skull, spraying it's dark blood over it's nude assailant. The others looked at Ayerwulf, a little taken back, they just stared into his golden yellow eyes, burning with a primal rage and inhuman hatred that was never supposed to be wielded by man.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Holding his weapon in his hand, the ghoul stared at the extended hand for a few moments. He considered the offer, he considered the whole situation. In a matter of minutes, he assessed the insanity of it all. Turning his attention to the humans fighting off the various orcs that still remained, Lorenor assumed that he had backup someplace ready to join the fray. He thought the situation was loose-loose either way it went.

So standing atop the roof of the building and looking down at the magus, Lorenor made his decision.

"You are not worthy to be a follower of N'Jal!" Lorenor called out.

It was every man for himself. There would be no boarders, no salvations, no heroics. Only pure unadulterated survival at the core of the situation. The mutant realized that he had a bone to pick with this magus for interfering with an earlier battle against a hated enemy. Leaping off the roof top, the small warrior prepared to swing in a downwards attack against the extended arm of the shaman.

Looking at Lorenor with complete surprise, the orc must've thought that the mutant might side with him! Taking full advantage of the momentary shock, Lorenor swung down with his weapon using all of his might. He was eager to spill more blood.

Clouds covered the full moon overhead as they passed slowly across the night sky. Only a few stars were visible if one were to look up. Buildings in the small town were ravaged by both fire and archaic energy. Some of the buildings were still standing as people ran for cover only to be cut down by an archers' arrow or some other implement of devastation. Bodies were everywhere and there was a horrible scent of death in the air. By now, many of the townsfolk were cut down by the terrible orkens.

They were a tall lot. Standing on average heights of about seven feet, to ten feet all together. Muscles bulged through their suits of armor as they moved through the town systematically executing anyone they found.

The Orc Shaman was the leader of this troop. And he now faced an enraged mutant named Lorenor. The small warrior fell downwards towards the position of the shaman quickly falling thanks to his small size. Everything seemed to slow down. At the last possible moment, the shaman changed the position of his hand, uttered a few small words and launched something at him! Everything was in slow motion for the ghoul as he saw the burst of powerful magical energies fill the air. Both of them were taking huge gambles attempting their maneuvers at such a close range of combat. A particular scent filled the air as magical energies burned through it coalescing into a single form. The concentrated form of a sphere.

Moving quickly, Lorenor swung downwards towards the shaman's extended arm hoping to cut the man's arm off. The mutant's sword skill paid off alongside hours of endless training. His blade moved quickly through the air, much quicker than the mage could summon his powers. A loud sound cut through the breeze as muscles and bones popped underneath the weight of the powerful sword swing. Lorenor yelled as he landed quickly on the ground, but it was already too late. A powerful burst of magical energy swirled through the air at close combat range. The shaman's gamble had paid off.

Before the creature completely lost his arm, he was able to launch the blast of magical energy. Lorenor howled in agony as the blast of pure elemental fire engulfed him. The endless reacted quickly by surrounding his vessel and taking much of the incoming damage. Fire cascaded around the mutant and launched him back through the air further damaging the enemy before him. By now, the arm was completely severed but it had done its duty. Blood gushed everywhere as the limb was severed and the creature's howl matched Lorenor's own. With his limb removed from his person, there was a disgusting plopping sound as it hit the ground, and he instinctively grabbed at his bleeding deltoid. The accusing stare remained as he observed Lorenor's person flying through the air, engulfed by fire.

The mutant flew back several feet and landed in a heap of trash.

Fire engulfed his person fueled by the arcane forces. It licked terribly at his body and created a pattern of dangerous injuries that the endless attempted to buffer to little avail. Lorenor screamed bloody hell. He was thankful that his people did not have a weakness to the elemental fire. It passed across his body, the endless absorbing the damage and finally died down after a few minutes passed. Lorenor laid there, staring at the sky, and gasping for air as smoke flowed off his person. Anything more focused than what was actually shot at him would have killed him all together.

Lorenor clutched at the garbage bags beneath him for support and stayed there until he recovered the strength necessary to stand.

Battles were happening everywhere...

***************

The green skin reacted to the madman's incoming attack. Stepping off to the side, after all the attack was completely televised by the screaming of the nude berserker, the orken prepared a counter of his own. Seeing the madman traveling through the air, he raised a battle ax and prepared a counter swing. The movement was meant to cleanly cut the wild berserker in half. The orken swung skillfully, unafraid and moved upward with the attack adding precious force and momentum to the swing. Would it connect?

[Warklaw]

Agnulfr, now having taken full control of Ayerwulf's form, became a strom of blows; swinging his crude weapon in every which way. One of the greater beasts, the Orken, began to swing at the beast-man. The axe was massive and heavy, one swing could topple a large timber.

With a feral howl that could dishearten demons, Agnulfr swung his wooden plank to parry the blow. All reason had left Ayerwulf, all limitations. The Orken axe cleaved through the plank with ease, but was able to slow the blow enough for Agnulfr to do something about it.

With feral and primal fury, Agnulfr punched the orken's axe, knocking it back after breaking Ayerwulf's fingers, which soo began to reknit themselves. Aggnulfr grasped the Orken's massive arm and pressed his feet against it's chest, and pulled. Agnulfr pulled and pulled until an utterly sickening sound escaped from the Orken's shoulder. The joint had been completely torn and the arm ripped from the torso, sending torrents of blood out from the wound.

Agnulfr leapt onto the Orken's collarbone and began to release a flurry of clawed blows, soon reducing the greenskin's face to a skull. Still not satisfied, Agnulfr sank his teeth into the beasts neck, finding his jugular, and rending. Blood gushed and the Orken gurgled as it toppled to the ground. Ayerwulf's body, though not his at the moment, was now red-skinned from all of the blood, both his and the enemies.

He picked up the Orken's axe and let loose another howl, charging once again into the fray, caring not about the cold draft in the air.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Energy laced the mutant for a few more moments and finally faded away into the air. Pain coursed through his body as he laid there for a few moments trying to gather himself. Screams traveled across the wind and touched his sensory array filling him with a foreboding. Lorenor was able to sit up when the pain subsided for just a little bit. I'll make you pay. He thought to himself as an inhuman howl burst across the battlefield. The mutant stole a glance to the source of the howl and saw his other arch enemy doing his thing.

Lorenor would have to kill the wolf folk later. He turned his attention back towards the shaman and saw that he was still clutching at his wound, in total and complete shock. Some orken medics were attending to his serious injuries attempting to heal him as best as they could. Howls and orders were barked back and forth, as they communicated in whatever language was naturally their own. Standing up with shaking legs, the mutant saw his sword laying on the ground nearby. He picked up the plynt masterwork weapon and raised it to a combat position.

He was tired. His muscles ached. He just wanted to go home and return to his silent worship of N'Jal. But the ghoul knew that he couldn't leave quite yet, there was a contract he needed to honor. Someone was offering him a lot of money to participate in this battle. And so, Lorenor would stay until it was finished, or he was dead. Preparing his various pieces of equipment, the ghoul heard the familiar sound of his plasma discharge gun preparing itself for battle. He knew he had to finish this now.

Running towards the position of the shaman, slowly at first but with quickly growing momentum. The ghoul soon found himself within a few paces of the Shaman and his medical team. If he could get this particular unit out of the way, the orken's leadership body would fall apart and there would be a mass panic.

Lorenor knew this because he originated from Haidia.

As he came in close to the shaman's position, he leaped forward and jumped quickly towards the group of beasts. Bringing his sword to bare, the small warrior lunged his weapon towards the shaman. At the last possible moment, one of the medics got in the way of the shaman and took the blow for him. Lorenor dove downward and pierced the medic, stabbing all the way down to the base and then swinging his weapon out of the dying form of the medic. There was a temporary panic. One medic immediately went after the mutant, and he responded by sending a quick left hook right to the jaw of the creature. It connected, with flying colors. There was a popping sound and the orken fell to the ground suddenly.

With the body of the medic in front of him and the shaman struggling to summon up more of his conjured magics, Lorenor ran up the form of the fallen medic, already bleeding profusely on the ground. Running up the body, Lorenor leaped over him and towards the shaman who stared incredulously at the mutant. "You fool! What are you doing!?" The shaman pondered out loud, wasting precious time whilst he summoned a last-ditch precious attack to counter the ghoul. Without responding, the mutant reached forward and landed atop the shaman before he was ever able to set off another attack.

Using his body weight for added momentum, the ghoul fell atop the shaman and the two landed on the ground. Lorenor moved forward and proceeded with his plan of attack. With his jaw opening up and unraveling on itself, Lorenor reached forward and proceeded to bite the shaman.

Onlookers watched the unfolding event in horror.

*********

(Feel free to dispose of these Orcs however you want to my friend, just make it epic!)

A group of Orkens were busy fighting human survivors. Soldiers clad in steel outfits fought against the horde. Several of the green and brown skinned warriors, four all together, approached the madman and began to attack Agnulfr with various implements of death.

[Warklaw]

Agnulfr lived up to the old Norse translation of his name: The Wolf of Chaos and Terror. Finding the first non-human, another orc raider looming over a small child, ready to kill her. The lycan leapt and brought the axe down in
a deadly arc, cleaving the greenskin to the teeth.

Ayerwulf heard more enemies around him, some were busy combating the remainder of the city guard, but the orcs and orken outnumbered them. Ayerwulf did not care though, he and the Wolf Spirit within him thrive on combat like this. The bulky figure of an orken filled Ayerwulf's periferal vision; wasting no time, he darted to the large monster with alarming speed. Slamming into the greenskin's solarplex with all his momentum, cracking the sternum. The orken opened its mouth in a gasp, only to have his lower jaw ripped from his head by the Wulfen. The battle started to swing in their favor
once the shaman died, his death crumbled the Orc morale.

Ayerwulf howled in victory, only to draw the attention of three orken to his presence. The surrounded him like hiyenas would a dying animal. Ayerwulf reacted in a matter of seconds.
Leaping onto the broad shoulders of the first orken, he twisted and wrentched at its neck until it popped free of the shoulders. Throwing the head at the second orken, he leapt to the third, grasping its midsection with his claws. The Wulfen claws tore through skin and muscle until they reatched ropes of innards. With a strong pull, Ayerwulf ripped out the intestines of the third orken. Finally going to the second orken, still shocked by being pelted by its leaders head, was wide open to Ayerwulf's attack. The lycan used the innards of the orken's comrade to strangle it, choking the life from it slowly. When it fell, all eyes were on him,

"Do you see? This is the fate of those who slaughter the innocent! Leave now, greenskins! Leave and live before I Change once more and kill every last one of you!"

[Mutant_Lorenor]

A muffled scream filled the air. The buildings around them seemed to wait in anticipation for the moments that were coming. Lorenor held the man down with his articulate hands as he was eating him alive. Blood filled the breeze, dripping on the ground from the injuries that the ghoul inflicted upon the shaman were lethal in nature. He ate through the sterno-mastoid of the shaman and his trapezius muscles. Lorenor's mandible and maxilla were deformed at this point, splitting at the central point of the skull. The bones and nerves were split apart able to mutate to their formidable biting position. His teeth were as sharp as steel and clamped down with incredible force around the unprotected neck of the shaman. The scream flowed through Lorenor's throat even as he began to consume the flesh of the fallen. DNA passed through into Lorenor's body bonding with his own DNA. At once, the information of the Orken Shaman combined with the mutant's DNA. A special sort of Orc hybrid, the Shaman was a warrior mage capable of using incredible power at the genetic level. It was this power, that flowed into Lorenor now.

A terrible glow began to surround the ghoul as he feasted upon the flesh of the shaman. Since Lorenor was an unstable mutation, he often bonded with various organisms that he ate causing the distinct enhancements to occur completely at random. Lorenor ate the edible portions of the shaman consuming his heart and brains last. The process lasted a few horrible minutes as the battle intensified all around him. Medics scrambled to attempt to pull the leech off of their fallen leader. Without their leader, the orcs had no reliable chain of command and resorted to survival of the fittest rules. Lorenor continued to eat until he'd managed his fill and stood up. He felt power coursing through his veins. He'd drunk from the blood of a powerful magi and stolen his power. At the genetic level, Lorenor bonded with the information contained within the blood of his enemy. His senses expanded and his body pulsed with energy. He felt newly acquired knowledge pass through his brain as it was expanded at the molecular level by the nano-virus within his body.

Lorenor could now see symbols etched upon the shaman's corpse that glowed with power. The symbols made sense to him. He could see the elemental energies flowing from within their etched design. Lorenor noticed a pattern on the corpse as he stood there casually, blood dripping from his mouth. He could replicate this pattern and etch it on any one of the objects in his possession, possibly his own body. Memorizing the pattern, Lorenor stood there until he learned the pattern by heart. All around him, there was chaos moving in motion.

The mutant had put fear into the hearts of the Orken and they were carefully gathering their remaining numbers. At the fall of their leader, the Orken had no line of command. They became unorganized, yelling and grunting at one another and deciding that retreat was probably the better option. Combining their strengths, the greenskins gathered what members they safely could, abandoned the rest and proceeded to march out of town. The raiding of the village was apparently a complete and utter failure.

Lorenor stood in a trance as the wind blowed around him. He looked at the Mage for any other valuables but decided that there was nothing really worth his time. There were some trinkets, but what caught his eye was an interesting ring. The ring had patterns similarly inscribed to the set of patterns that the shaman's corpse had. Lorenor was a shameless thief. He took the ring off the hand of the Shaman and placed it in his possession. He could find reference later to figure out how the ring worked, or identify the patterns with his newly acquired power. The only remaining threat was the Lycan. Lorenor drew his sword, made of plynt, and moved into combat stance. The glow of the shaman wrapped itself around the body of the mutant giving him an eerie dark blue halo. Lorenor's senses expanded greatly past their normal capacity of four feet. He was now capable of seeing up to one full yard with a certain degree of accuracy. He spotted the Lycan further down the township fending off a group of Orcs. Lorenor never let a job undone.

He ran towards the Lycan with his weapon at the ready.

[Terminus Mortis]

Moonlight lit the dusty road, disappearing behind clouds frequently and leaving little to see by. Sean wandered along the wide dirt path warily. He still wasn't sure where he was, and had simply accepeted the thought that either he was dead or in some sort of world created by his subconscious while he lay in a coma. At this point he wasn't dismissing any possibilities, and so he walked on, tired of hanging around doing nothing when his team could be dead or held hostage.

The smell was his first warning. The distgustingly smooth scent of blood and the mixed aroma of burning wood. The smoke came next, rising high through the dark night, lit by the moonlight that wandered between clouds. He could hear screaming as he catiously approached the source of the flames, but he had yet to hear a gunshot. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen a town just burned to the ground, hacked apart... He thought, stowing his boonie hat in his ILBE and dumping it behind a knot of trees just outside of the village. He withdrew his knife from his shoulder rig and crept closer, staying in the shadows and moving slowly. He observed the fight for a moment, analyzing the combatants and collateral damage already inflicted. His mouth dropped as he caught a long look at the marauders burning down the village. Holy fuck... He remembered the tavern in Underwood and the strange inhabitants of the aforementioned town. I will never get used to this.

Sean selected an easily accesible target from his position and decided a simple tracheotomy was the most effective maneuver. He launched himself out from the shadows and surprised the green-skinned creature from behind, reaching around and planting the 7" D2 Carbon Steel blade in the front of it's throat. He withdrew the knife and kicked the... Orc... to the ground. He turned quickly and sidestepped out of the path of another sword. He dug his blade into his assailant's wrist, piercing the gauntlet before slashing once more across the throat and throwing his opponent to the dirt. He spotted another man locked in combat with a raider and ran to assisst. He grabbed the Orc around the neck and thrust his knife in through the ear canal, piercing the brain. He cast the corpse aside and swung his knife across the trachea of another charging raider.

"Come on, you motherfuckers!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, blood dripping down the gutter of his blade. "I don't need a bullet to splatter your brains against the wall!" He could feel his heart pumping viciously, hot blood mixed with adrenaline coursing through his veins, charging his muscles with near-boundless energy. He dodged another falling sword and grabbed his attacker by the throat, throwing it headlong into a stone wall and dispatching it with a swift thrust between the fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae in the back of the neck. He continued his onslaught, fueled by rage and adrenaline. He didn't know where he was or what he was fighting, and he no longer cared. Innocent people had died and there was no way in hell he was going to allow it. He no longer felt pain, fatigue, or fear. He only allotted space in his mind for critical and anayltical thought. Even his movement came purely from instinct and years of training as he battled his way deeper into the heart of the small town, dispatching raiders with a passion fed by hatred and disgust.

[Warklaw]

With a guttural scream, the orc that Ayerwulf had in his grasp and in his teeth gurgled the rest of his life out when the Lycan bit out a massive chunk of it's neck. He was covered in gore from head to foot, grime and gore. Throwing the corpse to the ground, Ayerwulf let out another veracious howl, lookin glike a complete madman being naked and covered in so much blood his skin looked red.

The greenskin tide had began their retreat, they had won. Ayerwulf decided it best that he made himself scarce before Inquisitors showed up, or worse, bounty hunters. Though when the Lycan turned round, he saw the ghoul who had attacked him earlier, charging, sword raised high. 'Fenrir damn it all...' Ayerwulf thought, he was in no condition to be fighting a highly trained and highly effective killer. Ayerwulf was tired and bleeding, he needed to get back to Nalva and make sure his wolfsister was safe...

"NALVA!" Ayerwulf howled in worry. He had forgotten about her, something he promised himself and her that he would never do, but he did. He needed to get to Nalva, but the only path of leastg resistance was the ghoul, if that was an improvement, it was a damn horrible one.

The Lycan never feared for his life, he didn't start now, either. He worried for Nalva. She was alone, cold, and scared; probably hungry as well. If Ayerwulf died, Nalva would too, and he wouldn't let that happen if Fenrir himself ordered Ayerwulf to die.

"I am not your enemy, warrior... I am not your foe!" Ayerwulf yelled at the ever advancing assassin. Ayerwulf stumbled from exhaustion and blood loss, he was getting very weak, no matter how much he didn't want to admit it.

"I... I am not who you... are- are after. I just want to get back to my... my little... Nalva." Ayerwulf was trying the political and moral road for once instead of going into a rage again. He could hear Nalva's whimpers of helplessness, it was enough fuel to get Ayerwulf back on his feet. He walked, or limped, towards Lorenor, no weapon in hand, just his arms at his side.

"Piss off... Warrior! You have earned yourself great titles in the eyes of my people... you would be a hero for your deeds... Let me pass, there is a helpless child that needs me... Now GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!"

[Mutant_Lorenor]

(I am ending this thread)

Suddenly, several groups of the large Orcs surrounded the lycan warrior. The mutant knew that at this point, it was a futile attempt at engaging the Orcs any further. He'd taken their leader out and that's what counted. Without a leader, the Orken would be lost and confused.

Taking a step or two backwards, Lorenor paused to look at the remainder of the battlefield. Those that he had dared called ally were now MIA. He'd started this war alone and ended the war alone. Fitting. Moving backwards slowly, the mutant kept the sword in his hand. A part of him wanted to stay and fight these creatures to the death, but the logical side said he'd gotten what he came for. He had a new plynt sword in hand and the ring that the Shaman wielded.

"The hell with this shit." Lorenor thought out loud.

He sheathed his newly acquired weapon, and started to walk away from the massacre.

"Stop right there!" Someone with an unfamiliar voice said.

The mutant stopped, drew his weapon, and turned to face the voice. It was a quick about face. His eyes were narrowed into thin slits as he looked upon the newcomer.

Observing a man he had never seen before, Lorenor saw that the individual had Salvarn origins. The man had a thickly defined zygomatic arch, and other deep facial features showing age. How old? Lorenor wouldn't be able to tell by sight alone. Three others surrounded the man, and they had taken out the remainder of the Orken.

"What's your name, lad?" The man asked.

"Lorenor." He responded after a moment of hesitation.

"We need you to come with us. This area is crawling with Orcs. It is not safe here for anyone."

Had they sent that many all at once? "I'd prefer to go alone. However, I can't take squads of them by myself. So I will travel with you for the time being." Lorenor called out to the man.

"Good. You've made a wise decision Lorenor. My name is Harrleck." The man had a thick beard, gray eyes, and red-brown hair. He extended a hand towards Lorenor. The mutant walked over towards him and shook his hand.

"Are there any survivors?"

"You seem to be the only one Lorenor." Harrleck said.

"That's too bad. Let's get out of this place." Lorenor said casually and followed them out of the town proper to an unknown destiny.

The End.

*******

001-Plynt masterwork longsword. Matching scabbard included.

002-Mysterious Ring. A ring lifted off of the Shaman King from an Orc raiding party. Its origins are a mystery, but it is masterwork in nature. There are mysterious symbols etched on the inside of the ring and the outside of the ring that have something to do with N'Jal. Currently, the ring has no known purpose. (Purpose to be unlocked in a future quest. Cannot be sold)

[Duffy]

Sorry for the delay gentlemen, and sorry further still for the limited commentary. Time constraints has made me give score and run, if you’d like more detailed commentary and feedback feel free to PM me and I’ll address any questions and the like as soon as I can. So without further ado!

---

Continuity, (3) Lorenor kept the pace but the amount of players and lack of co-ordination jars horribly. Some of you only posted once, and others posted but didn’t evolve or adapt to the rapid pace/multiple identities impacting on what should have been a simple story.

Setting, (4) you establish but don’t develop, and don’t include multiple senses or anything particularly astounding or competent enough to establish the setting as important or to make the reader think ‘wow!’ Warklaw and Lorenor kept it going here.

Pacing, (3) low score purely for the number of players, some dropping, some posting once, some at the start and others at the end. It was very higglypiggildy.

Dialogue, (5) improvement here, what was said was said to the point of understanding. With so many people involved it’d be hard to get it flawless, but it’s a good effort from all.

Persona, (5) Lorenor once again shone as a character, as a personality amidst the crowd. The others should work less on their physical actions and more on their personality and represent it better, with voice and description more than getting too involved with the raid itself. You don’t need to swing an axe as a fighter to bring your character to life, why, where, how, and certainly who drives your identity?

Action, (4) Disjointed action, with only Warklaw and Lorenor really developing any fluidic sense of movement.

Technique, (5) Nothing fundamentally wrong but nothing beyond basic for most, a 5 was given as average due to Lorenor, in the future gentlemen, try and maintain a specific writing style and work on the concrete stuff, the grammar and the basic description until it’s stuck to you like glue, this will improve your score tenfold.

Mechanics, (4) mistakes throughout grammar and typo wise. Nothing horrifying, but consistent enough to hamper your score. Be careful to check your work and if you do miss things, check regularly, and especially before submitting.

Clarity, (5) considering all those involved, this remained fairly clear with only one or two quick re-scans to check location and so on. Try not to do too many things at once in a post, break it up or leave a question/directive at the end of your post to hook into the next person’s. These little indicators can be a godsend for persona and action and certainly pacing. Lorenor’s consistency through the thread in terms of posting (which is understandable as it was his idea) maintains the anchor in the thread. Shame some of you didn’t stay more involved.

Wild Card, (4) This slaps itself for being short, sketchy and too mashed together.


Total Score: 42/100!


Mutant Lorenor receives 2070 XP and 150 gold.

Xulltana receives 259 XP and 50 gold.

Tenki receives 311 XP and 50 gold.

Fennrick Wolfheart receives 156 XP and 35 gold.

Warklaw receives 311 XP and 50 gold.

Ryudo receives 106 XP and 25 gold.

Terminus Mortis receives 106 XP and 25 gold.

Spoils: Plynt Longsword not approved, the ring however is, with the usual caveat of abilities needing further spoils approval and thread progress before you unlock them.

[Taskmienster]

Exp and Gp added.