Quietus Clarion (IC)

[Jester]

Spurred on by his brothers words Rash'Gar grabbed Xein's belt and tried seeking the best path to higher ground.

Trust me Big Brother

[Doomed Hero]

The dust cloud came from the mouth of the pass, the uppermost part of the trail. The dust cloud was literally rolling down the hill at them.

Rash'gar's innate sense of his surroundings and sense of where people around him were quickly told him that the only thing higher than the dust cloud was the watch tower Clouse's crew had finished the day before. He could not see it so he know that the ravine wall had fallen near there. He hoped the tower was still intact.

Through the dust the pair ran, dodging the legs of the larger folk who were trying to escape the choking cloud. Rash'gar could feel them, practically see them in his mind. He quickly made it to the base of the tower.

[Doomed Hero]

Xein could faintly make out the tower's silhouette as he coughed and squinted. It was half buried by the collapse. The door was blocked. On the other hand the dirt had piled against the side of it, making a ramp of loose dirt that reached more than half way up the side of the tower.

 

[Luiniel Blades]

Xein looked at Rash'Gar."We go up!"  He then moved up the trail to the side of the tower and tried to climb to the top.

[Jester]

Rash'Gar moved to follow Xein up the rubble to fresher air.

[Doomed Hero]

The dirt was loose. The climb was not a quick one, but Xein was light enough that he didn't displace much. Rash'gar had a bit harder of a time, eventually needing a hand up to the crest from his pale brother.

Then they switched. Rash'gar was able to practically reach the top of the half buried tower in one powerful jump. A moment later he reached down to haul his brother up and they were able to take a look around.

They couldn't seem much of the upper camp. The dust was too thick still, but they could see where the front edge of the ravine wall had fallen in to mostly block the narrowest part of the pass. That collapse was carefully orchestrated.

They could also see the wagon in the distance about to disappear around a bend.

The trail cut in between two mountains and wound to the north, eventually coming back into view on the other side of a wide gap. Clouse had talked of eventually putting in a bridge, but it would have to span across a seventy foot chasm. For now the natural trail ran around that gap. It took a while, but it didn't require the building of an enormous bridge.

That gap was the primary reason for the towers. With the added height they could see across it. The wagon was all but gone now, but would be coming back into view soon, just as soon as it made it's way around the trail.

And on the other side of the gap Rash'gar's keen eyes could just make out an Ogre's head coming into view.

[Luiniel Blades]

Xein saw the wagon disappear around the bend.  He pulled his bow out and knocked an arrow.  "Brother, signal the engineers then ready your bow. We should test the distance with several shots first.  When they come back around, fill them full of arrows.  They'll be riding hard so lead the horses with your arrows as you fire.  Jael shouldn't have a problem with that."  He then pulled back the string and released an arrow.

[Jester]

Rash'Gar moved to the highest point he could and started waving his arms to get the attention of the engineers, gesturing towards the direction of the on coming wagon.Making A fist with his right hand he will pound it in his left like hes punching then point in the direction of the wagon. He will repeat this a few times before readying his bow.

Then readying his bow he followed Xein's instructions and took a few practice shots to gauge the distance to where the wagon would afford them the best shot.

"I am ready brother. Time to blood our prey "

Satisfied he peered intently to where the wagon should appear and waited to take his shots at the horses pulling the wagon.

[Johanas]

Roycilo found himself at a loss. The past minute had happened in a flash. In the time it took him to blink, he had run out of the tent, into....chaos. Dust and dirt were flying around him, and there were shouts of fear, shouts of anguish, all around. He was bleeding from the head, and the ground was at an angle. He didn't remember this part of the hill being flat.

"I would have sworn this was a hill not five minutes ago. Has the hill been shifted from whatever happened to the tower?"

It hadn't quite dawned on him he was laying on his side; his head downhill. He clutched his hands to his head, and felt them stick. They came away bloody.

[callie]

Amiril ran, the pounding of her heart echoing in hers ears. The earth underfoot shifted and the air swelled with dust. The sounds of crashing debris, shouting men and the grunting of orcs resonated from all directions. Mara's hand pulled her forward, further into the chaos.

[Exile]

Within the bouncing wagon, the smallest of the 'slaves' inside had brought herself to uncurl slightly from her near-foetal position, blinking and staring at the dwarf that had scrambled up onto the back of the fast-moving vehicle.

Then, registering the driver's assurances that the unexpected arrival was on the right side, the huddled figure uncurled some more and edged backwards on the bouncing, swaying bed of the wagon, extending one arm towards the new arrival to offer to help to draw it farther in.

"Warm salutations!", seemed to exhaust the leather-covered, bandage-wrapped, mucky figure's grasp of Old Dwarven, for the next words to be shouted over the rattle and thunder of the vehicle's passage were in Trader's Tongue.

"Whoever you are, welcome aboard.  I'd suggest getting fully inside!"

[Le Noir Faineant]

An ogre had a hunger.
An ogre's hungry gaze found... Things.

A dog. Chewy.
A cat. Bony.

And, a rat.

Rat flesh, humans underrated it.
Rat flesh, meaty and fat. Rat flesh, it didn't at all taste like chicken.
Rat flesh, it was...

An ogre tried to catch a rat. An ogre failed. An ogre looked towards the sky, and hunger overcame him...



Distracted by his hunger, Blanket first didn't notice the dust in the air. Nor did he hear the cries of the soldiers.
It was but when his nostrils became tapped, and his eyelids became crusty, that he decided to step away from the dark... Darkness...
And stepped into the lighter... Light.

For a longest time, Blanket didn't know where he was. Which was really the sensation he had most of the time, all the time.
But this time, it was different.

An ogre floated, and felt like he flew. An ogre, a while later... Or, earlier... found himself caoughing blood and sand onto a goblin corpse.
And there, while he was on it, an ogre stopped for a snack.


The muckus from his ears tasted sandy, like salted pickles.
Blanket turned around, shouldered his club, and faced the winding road.
Light... Light... Had returned, and the dusty... Dust... was gone.

People passed by him that didn't smell like dead goblin.

An ogre raised his paw. And waved.

[Gabboge]

Clouse watched the ogre waving with some contempt. He himself was laid out in his cart being pulled along the road. He looked down and examined his mangled leg again, he had reset it himself and rot hadn't seemed to set in yet but he had to be careful. Not being careful is what got him into this mess in the first place.

Clouse had pushed to have the ogre come along and help with the heavy lifting, a move in retrospect that had been a very bad idea. He had underestimated the skill required for such a task and now had a greater appreciation for the bugbears on his work crews. Having the ogre was a disaster.

The worst was how distracted the ogre would get. Clouse was so consumed with keeping him in line that he had stepped right into a dwarven trap, the ground under his foot caved in and two large stone plates in the ground shifted pincering his leg and shattering his shinbone. The other engineers would have a good laugh about that one later.

Clouse let his disrepair set in, he asked a question he knew he would not like the answer to... If he even got one. "What are you waving at you damned fool of an ogre."

[Le Noir Faineant]

An ogre assessed a situation. Once, quickly. Then, another time, slow.

Men who travel in carts are wealthy men, even if they stink of broken bones like this one.
Will he lead me to tender deer flesh, and brandywine, if I follow him?

"Sirrah. People. People from Blackcloak camp. Elfling. Man-Dog. Gave me cat to eat, methinks. And coat, so butt dun't freeze."

[Gabboge]

"Stop waving to them, we don't want to get their attention!" Clouse did his best to pull himself over the lip of the cart. Something was off, he tried his best to figure out what the hell was going on.

[Doomed Hero]

The ogre and the hobgoblin crested the rise of the road, the apex before it began to drop away to the left, leading around the gorge back to camp.

Across the gorge they could see the billowing cloud, and the top of the most recently constructed tower. Two small figures stood on it, waving for attention.

Clouse could make out the gestures and turned his head to look down the road. There was nothing.

He struggled to right himself into a seated position, striving for height and hoping it would help. He gritted his teeth and growled against the pain as his foot touched the stone.

Wait.

It hurt. Hurt a lot. Why?

The ground had a tremble to it. A light vibration. He probably would have missed it if not for his extremely sensitive injury.

Something was coming up the road. Whatever it was, it was heavy and moving fast.

[Doomed Hero]

The cloud was thick and choking. The knight was looking for the source of the trouble, but all he could find was confusion and panicked slaves.

A orcish horn sounded, calling the muster somewhere further out through the dust. He could hear the voice of that blue-skinned Oruk yelling orders for somewhere. Somewhere with height. A tower?

The sisters had pushed on and were lost somewhere in the cloud. Rash'gar and Xein were gone as well. The agent was still with him, and he could make out the form of the priest picking himself up off the ground.

Riddar didn't know what had caused this, but he had been in ambushes before. The only thing he knew was that this wasn't one. It was something else.

[Doomed Hero]

Xein and Rash'gar ehard the horn, a low, heavy blast calling the orcs to battle. It sounded from toward the mouth of the pass.

Xein's blades were halfway out of their sheathes when the shadow fell over them. He whirled to see the massive Oruk commander rise gently up the side of the tower like he was being pushed up from below, and step onto the roof.

"Form up on the pass, push out of the dust!" he was bellowing to the forces below.

Looking down at the two tiny people on the roof with him he seemed a little surprised. "What d' ya got?" he asked, starting to look around.

[Luiniel Blades]

Xein had seen Orcs at a distance from Lord Skinners manner, and even gotten up close to some since they had arrived in the mountains.  They were brutish and stood taller than even the Alpha male of the pack had been.  Seeing the Oruk commander up close made Xein feel small indeed.  At the Oruk's commanding tone Xein's awe died and he immediately turned his attention outward.  Pointing toward the dust cloud and then the back of the disappearing wagon. "Tower collapse just as wagon rode off.  Trap maybe?"    Xein then picked up his fallen bow and pointed toward the returning engineer group.  "We signal your troops already.  We give flanking fire to bleed horses and slow wagon from here."  As he finished speaking he notched another arrow and took aim once more.

[Doomed Hero]

"Good. Do it. If you can slow them down we might have a prayer of catching them."

With that the Oruk took a one step leap, launching himself off the tower towards the mouth of the camp, slowing at the apex of his leap to glide through the air into the dust cloud.

[Doomed Hero]

The wagon came around the bend, back into view on the other side of the ravine. It was barreling up the incline as fast as the boro's pulling it could move.

Clouse took one look and started barking orders, too harsh and too quick for the ogre next to him to really process, but the goblins jumped into action. Four dragged Clouse's litter as far to the inside edge of the path as they could and began trying to prop their injured leader up into a standing position leaning against the wall.

The other six unlimbered daggers, picks, shovels and hammers and began a wild charge down the hill, lead by clouse's thick and savage red-skinned bodyguard.

Across the ravine in the camp, Rash'Gar and Xein took aim and began to lead their targets.

Up the hill from the camp below came grey-armored orcish reinforcements. They stopped short as they saw the cloud. They held ranks and kept alert but knew better than to charge headlong into blindness. Behind them came a black-caped rider on a jet black horse. The rank of orcish soldiers parted for him.

Legate Jael had arrived.

[Jester]

As the wagon came into view Rash'Gar judged the distance, adjusted for the wind and closed his eyes. Listening keenly he heard the jingling of the harness,the rhythm of the boros hoofs, he could almost swear he could hear their thundering heartbeats. A calmness settled over him. Opening his eyes he let fly.

The shaft flew in a long,slow, lazy arc.  Suddenly the arrow stood quivering in the boros thickly muscled thigh. The beast never missed a step.

Taking a deep breath Rash'Gar readied another arrow. Carefully he focused on the beasts wild looking eye. He closed his eyes and listened again. Waiting for the moment to let fly .

His eye should be soft

[Luiniel Blades]

When the wagon returned to view Xein let fly his arrow, but too soon.  The conversation with the Oruk commander had taken his focus and he watched as his arrow whistle harmlessly past the horses and hit the wooden area beneath the drivers seat.  Xein let out a small sigh.   

Maybe a leg next.

As he readied another arrow, a thought occurred to him.

They're running but aren't channeling magic.  Why?

They can't.  Came Skindancer's sudden reply.  I Feel no Eldritch pull in that wagon. 

Then both the cloaked woman and Ivy are likely elsewhere.  The same must go for the other two.

It was at that moment that Xein noticed Jael ride up from below. 

"They will become the undoing of the entire elven resistance, and you will not interfere. "

Anger boiled up in Xein and he briefly considered firing as many arrows as he could at the wagons horses and driver until they crawled on the ground bleeding out.  The rage was further increased as Skindancer's open hatred for Jael filtered though the link between them. 

Stop that wagon!  Kill the horses!!  Slay those heretics just to spite HIM!!!

"you will not interfere. "

After a moment Xein caught himself and aimed back towards the wagon. 

Not yet.  For now we hurry them along.  The arrows will fly where the Shadow wills it.

He released another arrow. 

[Le Noir Faineant]

An ogre looked. An ogre looked, and was bewildered. An ogre looked, and was bewildered, and... Leaned on his club.

A fight. How interesting. Let's see who wins. ...I'll stay with the funny broken little manling. I like how he smells of dried blood.

[Doomed Hero]

In the wagon things were tense. Arrows had begun slapping into the wagon, one even driving deep into the flank of one of the boros causing it to honk in pain and fear.

"We're taking fire!" Wendle yelled behind him. "And we have company ahead!"

Up the hill a ways a group of goblins came running towards them, their shrill voices screaming war cries that were just beginning to carry over the rumble of the wagon.

Behind them in the middle of the road, silhouetted in the setting sun, stood the looming form of an ogre.