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First Session, 24 September (part one, an interrupted execution, a message received):
DM62: A cold wind whispers across the courtyard, rustling the brown leaves of the nearly-bare trees. In the center of the castle’s outer courtyard, a chopping block has been placed on a bare dirt mound. A tall elven female is standing in the red evening light, the sun glinting off of the silver trim on her green robes. Kneeling in front of the chopping block is a barechested, muscular orc, glowering at the elf. Human guards in chainmail are holding him down on his knees. A black-bearded human male stands nearby, wearing a steel crown and blue robes, a curved dagger in his belt. A tall figure in green robes leans against a pillar in the eastern end of the courtyard, his elven features rather plain, but his slightly less-pointed ears and thicker musculature suggest a mixed heritage. He’s murmuring to a squat, muscular human in chainmail. A faun is standing nearby, quietly observing the new arrivals. On the western end of the gathering, her arms folded, is a kitsune with pale skin, white hair, red eyes, and three furry tails. Her eyes glance about, studying both courtyard and occupants with mild interest.
Helvoque Magmahammer stands alone elsewhere in the courtyard, having already been here when the grouping began to form. A large, stone-carved hammer rests on the ground before him, the knuckles of one hand gently clenching the pommel as he views the grisley sight that is about to unfold. He gives the briefest grunt, figiting slightly and takes a moment to drink from his waterhorn, managing to not spill the contents over the beard he shows.
Alexis: With the rustling of wings only a dragon's can created, a humanoid figure descends from circling above, landing somewhere away from the others, intending to cause as little disrespect as possible with her entrance, as she squats from her landing and stands, her piercing orange eyes locked on the group near the chopping block as she begins to move, her body swaying with the feminine grace of a dragonkin, as several of the pouches on her person clink with her movements, various bits of adventuring gear stored within the leather travelling clothes she wears, hiding her black scales for the most part. Her wings soon fold behind her as she approaches, and bow respectfully to those gathered, opting to remain silent until spoken to.
Thraexyra was walking her way toward the courtyard where the summons had directed her. The drider trying to hold herself high and look disdainedly back at any looks directed her way, just as she had been taught to do in public. Though internally she was feeling quite a bit nervous, for one because she wasn't too used to coming to the surface, and two, because, well, standard nervousness about potentially embarking on a quest of such a magnitude. Still, Vel had told her it would be for the best, so she went with it, leading the chimera slave along behind her.
Vel walked behind Thrae, the chain on her collar held by the drider. She kept her eyes cast down for the moment but her ears were quite open. It also helped with the whole never been on the surface before and oh fuck my fucking eyes. She wore little, just some locked metal mittens to keep her from clawing things and a gag in each of her mouths, hers and her tails. HEr tail was also chained to her collar to keep it hiked up a bit and from being able to lash out. She made sure to keep up with the far larger drider, though stayed behind her subserviently. It was time to roll a die.
DM62: “You cannot slay me, Greenleaf! I am envoy! Chief Baltrigh,” growls the orc, “has sent me to deliver his message and return with your response. And elven law forbids the killing of an envoy!”
Lady Greenleaf nods, impassive, as an armored elven warrior emerges from the inner courtyard bearing something long and wrapped in green cloth. The elven commander turns to the warrior, drawing a bastard sword from within the green wrapping. The weapon is forged of an unknown dark metal, almost black, but its edge glistens in the light of the setting sun. “We are not in elven lands... but fear not, envoy. You will indeed bear my response to your master.” She raises the blade high. “Hold him down to the block.”
DM62: The orc leans forward to the block willingly… then kicks out hard, sending himself and the two human guards sprawling onto their backs. He turns, bringing a fist down hard into one guard’s face, then comes up with the guard’s longsword, deflecting a swing from the elven female. He barks out a command in Orcish, and shapes leap down from the courtyard walls--green-skinned warriors, giving a battle cry as they charge in from their hiding places. Lady Greenleaf calls out, “Protect the Rashirah!” Human guards rush to surround the blue-robed human, to protect him from the assault. Twenty greenskins are charging toward the Rashirah and Lady Greenleaf, a mix of axe-wielding orcs and javelin-aiming trolls.
Vel subtly gives Thrae a prod with her tail, a subtle tilt of her head to direct the drider to use her magic. Right now she was limited in what she could effectively do, though she watched Thraes back best she could with the sun burning her eyes, leaving everything sorta hazy from her tears and the stinging.
Alexis watches as the Orc seems to submit to his punishment, and then everything goes to hell. In a few moments, she has her hand on her whip, drawing the weapon out and cracking it, before whirling it over her head once and lashing it out at the nearest greenskin's weapon, intending to use force magic to manipulate the whip to grab hold and disarm him.
Helvoque growls in anger. Tricksters and fools! They will pay this day, and for the slaughtered forgekin ahead of them! He grabs his hammer, the flarestone inside the head glowing as if an angry star, and the dwarf charges to the human king's protection, his short stocky frame moving with speeds that would seem unnatural to those not in the know about the dwarves. With a roar of fury, he charges shield-first, aiming to bash one of the javelin-throwers with his shield as he swings his hammer towards another, aiming for the shin to bring the lankey creature into head-splitting range.
Thrae had been momentarially stunned by the sudden change of the situation, and it took the prod to snap her to action. The girl raising up her staff and channelling one of her basic spells, one that would attempt to disable some of the orcs with debilitating arousal, hoping her magic would work in a situation like this.
DM62: An orc charges forward at Vel, swinging a pair of axes at her head. Alexis manages to disarm another, who pounces at her instead, attempting to grapple with the dragonkin. There's a crunch of bone as a troll is knocked flat on his back by Helvoque's shield, and he knocks another orc in the shin with his hammer, crushing his leg and sending him topping to the ground. A pair of orcs advance on Thrae, sniffing at her, their cocks hardening in the poorly-fitted armor. Most of the orcs are facing off with Kaliferian guards now, though the envoy is wielding a pair of Kaliferian blades in an effort to kill Lady Greenleaf. The elf's bastard sword seems to scream, cutting through not only the air but also both of the swords in the envoy's hands. He growls, moving forward in an attempt to use what blade length he has left. Meanwhile, an orc manages to cut down a guard near the Rashirah, only to have the Rashirah jab his curved dagger up through the bottom of his jaw and into his head. The orc is dead before he hits the ground.
Helvoque Magmahammer: The dwarf laughs manically in the bloodlust of the situation, cleaving the hammer into the foes he downed to finish them off and granting a course of crimson to the stone weapon. With the two dispatched, he quickly moves to remove the rest of the ranged support they had, before turning to the defense of the human king with the funny title.
Alexis growls as she withdraws her whip, grappling with the Orc and extending her claws to try and slash at him, her sharp teeth on display as she snarls, clearly not a Dragonkin to mess with as she fights with the disarmed Orc who pounced on her. "Off, you filthy beast!"
Thrae saw the orc advancing on Vel, and with the ongoing situation figured that she could get away fine with a temporary unbounding of her slave in public. The drider girl taking a moment to step back from her own advancing orks and tapped her staff against Vel's mittens. Causing her various bounds to fall away, "Protect your master!" Then she'd turn her staff back to the two orcs that were advancing on her, and cast another spell that hopefully would direct their lust toward eachother and give other people some more time to finish them off.
Vel: Well, so much for keeping the breadth of her abilities secret. Still, she couldn't disobey Thrae without blowing it out entirely. She'd talk to her about that later. Still, she had trouble making out her enemy as more than a blur, a big blur. But she didn't need to see much more. She promptly threw herself down to all fours to avoid the swing of whatever was swinging at her, before having her tail lunge forwards to bite at the orcs face, using her tail's heat senses to look for vulnerable spots.
DM62: Helvoque hammers another troll... and the elf in green robes moves next to him, swinging a mace at another of the trolls... a force-enhanced strike that sends it hurtling into the distant courtyard wall. A swarm of spiders attacks the two remaining trolls, who fall to their knees in futile efforts to rid themselves of the arachnids, while the white-haired kitsune smirks at them. An orc loses his head to the squat, muscular human, who swings a massive one-bladed axe clean through the orc's thick neck. Another orc receives an arrow in the throat from the faun. The orc grappling Alexis manages to punch her abdomen, but then her claws sink into his throat, and he sinks in a puddle of his own black blood. Thrae's spell fails to work on one of the orcs, and he advances on the drider... only to be pounced by the other orc, who holds him down and pulls off his lower garments with a grin. The orc with the axes misses Vel, overstepping and getting a bite to his neck. Meanwhile, Lady Greenleaf uses expert footwork, moving back and to the side of the charging orc envoy, whom she swiftly decapitates.
DM62: By this point, the guards have killed the rest of the greenskins, with the exception of the first troll that Helvoque attacked, who is laying dazed with a broken leg. Lady Greenleaf points to him. "Spare that one. Only that one."
Vel: growls and lunges at the orc she had bitten, and while the venom worked she clawed and bit at it, hacking into the orc like a wild animal. People rarely watched their words around animals, and she wasn't shy about getting her claws dirty. It got them this far after all, and it wasn't like she could be any less a person in the world's eyes.
Alexis: Alexis pushes the dead orc off of her, coiling her whip as if to strike, before realizing that the battle is won, furling the whip up again and storing it on her belt, reaching a hand up to try and wipe the black blood from her scales and leathers, a disgusted look on her face. "You throw fantastic parties, Lady Greenleaf!" she says halfheartedly, her wings spreading and flapping once to clean what might have gotten on them, before furling again.
Helvoque Magmahammer: Helvoque gives a bloody grin as the elf joins in, his height keeping him safe as the elf swings through. "Well met, treekin! Glad to see not all of you stick at the back of a fight!" he half-teases- it was no secret his kind and the elfkin tended to jab each other occasionally still, even in these dire times. With the foes dead and bleeding, he stomps over to the one he hadn't quite murdered, growling threateningly with his bloody hammer at the longtoothed foe but staying the finishing blow.
Thrae would take advantage of the two orcs now being distracted to scuttle over to them, and raise one of her speartip like legs and try to gore them both through the heart with a single stab. Failing that she'd probably take a few more stabs, as it was still more efficent then bashing them with her staff, and she could just blame the sun for her bad aim.
DM62: Vel is able to quickly finish off the poisoned orc. Thrae succeeds in goring the two orcs. The elf with the mace and longsword smirks at Helvoque's comment, but does not respond. Lady Greenleaf nods to the dragonkin. "Entirely unplanned, on our part." She wipes a spatter of orc blood from her cheek grimly, then uses green wrapping from earlier to clean off her ancient blade. “Guards. Cut out their tongues and bag them.” She points at the sole green-skinned survivor, the battered troll. “Include his tongue… and send him back to deliver the bag to Chief Baltrigh. Mount the heads on spikes, high upon the castle’s battlements. Burn the remainder of the bodies.” She turns to the assembled adventurers. “Now. Let us adjourn to the audience chamber, and we can discuss your objectives. By your leave, your Majesty?” The Rashirah nods in assent, having just cleaned the blood off of his curved dagger.
Vel keeps savaging her victim, awaiting for Thrae to take "control" of her once more. She hoped it'd be before she had to start eating... Whatever it was she jsut killed.
Thrae wouldn't leave Vel waiting to long, and as soon as she finished off the orcs she'd turn and pint her staff at Vel again. The enchanted binds almost materializing on the chimera.
Alexis stretches and nods as she wipes the last of the blood from her clothing, then turns to follow Lady Greenleaf, her thick tail swaying back and forth with her steps.
Helvoque Magmahammer: The dwarf gives a bit of a grunt at the troll, glaring at him some more before again swigging at the waterhorn. "A fine a task as any, my lass," Helvoque replies, nodding in respect to the queen before taking a rag and clearing off the loose blood and gore from his attire, the hammer still stained in it's porus stone nead but now not quite as gorey as it was before.
Vel gives a muffled yelp as she's rebound, and rolls off her victim, awkwardlys truggling back up to her feet, crawling towards her "Mistress" Before getting up best she can to follow her as she was before, making no effort to clean the mess off herself.
Thrae: Regrabbing Vel's chain, Thrae would shake the blood off her leg and follow along to the audience chamber, the girl wishing she could have cleaned Vel off too, that blood and gore would be a pain for her to get out later, but she had to keep up apperances. Which at the moment included her asking an annoyed muttering of, "And I thought some of the guards back home were incompetent." Even as she lightly kicked at one of the orc corpses as she passed.
DM62: The elf with the longsword and mace nods to the dwarf. "You fight well, your Highness, in keeping with the reputation of your family." The group passes through the inner courtyard, then a large hallway, and finally enter the large audience chamber. The blue-robed Rashirah is now seated upon his throne on a raised dais, with Lady Greenleaf standing at the foot of the dais, in front of a crate. A grey-haired elven female stands next to the crate, garlands upon her head and a gnarled rod clutched in her hand. The elf with the wand is the oldest elf that anyone in the chamber has ever laid eyes upon, with small wrinkles in her skin despite the immortality of her race. Her expression pained and tired, she looks from the crate to Lady Greenleaf, who gives a formal bow.
Then the elderly elf turns to the adventurers. “Greetings. I am Naliri Leafspar. Tela’s father and I were among many who helped protect the elves during the Primal Era… but that is old history. You are no doubt curious as to why Tela was about to cut the head off of a messenger. She but acted upon my command… but you will likely understand my reasons with a glance into the crate, a gift from Chief Baltrigh.” The elder elf then turns, moving with Lady Greenleaf’s assistance to a comfortable chair that has been placed next to the Rashirah’s throne. Lady Greenleaf indicates the crate, looking at the adventurers.
Helvoque Magmahammer: "The shackles of a future overseeing the foundations of our clans don't hold me back from a good brawl," he replies to the elf, chuckling a little as they move throigh the structure and then stopping. The dwarf frowns slightly when the crate is indicated. He had been in this chamber a moment before, having awaiting any requests by the rulers, before the crate arrived. With it's arrival he had left with the others to the courtyard, but hadn't viewed inside himself. Thus, he steps forward and peers into the crate, frowning and expecting the worse.
Thrae moved a bit closer, then raised herself on her legs and looked over at the crate, not entirely willing to make all the effort to go over there and see what was in it, and figuring the extra height she could get out of fully extending her legs it would be more then enough to see. Especially when the dwarf was the only person in her way at that moment.
Vel, now able to see, if jsut a little better, stays behind Thrae. She'd hear what was in it later.
DM62: The other adventurers (the stout human with the axe, the elf with longsword and mace, the white-haired kitsune, and the faun) move forward to peer into the crate as well. The faun blinks, then clutches a hand over her mouth, recoiling and wretching into her hand. The crate is full of what look to be white-and-red tulip petals, at first, of all different sizes, filling the crude wooden box. It's such an odd sight that at first one's mind refuses to accept it. Then reality sinks in. The crate is full of elf ears. Some of them are smaller than the rest, though... significantly smaller. Like the ears of elven babies.
Thrae had to hold back her stomach too, but she did a much better job then the faun at keeping it hidden. Years of training does that after all, so she kept her mask of semi-arrogance up, and just retracted herself on her legs, "I do believe that explains your earlier actions rather sufficently."
Helvoque Magmahammer: Even the dwarf gives a grimace and a cough, trying hard to keep the contents of his lunch down. "B-Blustering... Goddesses damn those greenskin beasts! I swear on my Father's oath I'll do anything required to put these monsters down for good!" he roars into the high-ceilinged hall, fury now crossing his expression. "Not any race deserves that brutality!"
Vel: could smell the blood and such. She had her guesses, and she could pick up on Thrae's distress easily, having practice at reading her. This would be dangerous indeed then...
Alexis: Alexis approaches the crate when prompted, and promptly reels back the moment she smells the decaying scent, having caught barely a sight of the ears inside of it, holding her maw with one hand. "Oh my...Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."
DM62: The wood elven Grand Matriarch, Naliri Leafspar, rises from the chair, her lips pressed together in anger mingled with grief. Lady Greenleaf moves to assist her, but Naliri waves her off. "These... are ears from the elves at Stillwater. During the last age, when the under elves warred with the wood elves, there were elves who refused to take sides. They left us... and formed a distant town there. Many called them cowards... but I do not consider it a weakness to refuse to slay one's own people. That... envoy... told us that this was what happens to elves who refuse to use their ears, when an orc calls for their surrender. And that the only ones spared were the ones found suitable as... camp followers."
The Rashirah speaks now, "We should offer a royal bounty for every orc tongue, then."
Vel couldn't grimace in her gag. Seemed the orcs were as harsh if not harsher than the under elves. Least she wouldn't feel too bad about what she'd have to do then. Awfully corgial of them to make it feel good to crush them. Like ants who yelled profanities at you.
Alexis: "And that would accomplish nothing more than spurring on these acts of savagery." the Dragonkin speaks up, folding her arms under he E-cup breasts and frowning. "A bounty for their tongues, and they decide on a bounty for your ears. Then you will likely find another justification for brutality, as will they. Soon, what remains is little more than two savages in a bitter race war." she says, sniffing at the air and grimacing.
Helvoque Magmahammer: The dwarf is still doing his best to quell his rage, growling in fury and shaking hard- it would be near comical, if it wasn't the dire situation involved. He held back his silence as the others talked, showing a bit of wisdom from not unleashing the quick temper that Dwarves were known for.
Thrae would grimace a bit, the frown deepening as the elf continued talking. She almost wished she could use more deadly magic at that moment, but she had what she had at her disposal. She also noticed the dwarf nearly shaking himself apart in his rage and nearly decided to hold her tongue to avoid potentially setting him off, but instead said, "I would not be suprised if these orcs would escalate such savagry even without furthur provocation."
DM62: The elf with the longsword and mace speaks up, bowing to the figures on the dais. In the light of the audience chamber, he looks more... human than elf, for some reason. Possibly a half-breed. "Grand Matriarch. Rashirah. My Lady." He rises. "I am Arturus Windsong. The dragonkin speaks truly. Escalation will only cause worse atrocity... and Malgra's crusade has the upper hand at the moment. If anything, we should take steps to conceal this atrocity, as it will only inspire either despair, which will demoralize our forces, or rage, which could be just as dangerous for our armies."
Vel's ear flicked. Those two had level heads on the matter. She'd have to be wary of them. Still didn't change matters too much though. For those here, it would have an effect, a willingness to go further, if even slightly, to see the orcs as less than themselves. Whether it affected morale or not, it'd make it just that much easier to be brutal to their enemies.
Thrae would fall silent again, willing to let the others talk it out for now. Mostly because she didn't see any reason to drive them to be more brutal at the moment, and also because she was still trying to remove the last of the sick feeling from what she had seen in the crate.
Helvoque Magmahammer: Managing to hold back the blustered, curse-riddled fury that he had contained, the dwarven nobleman finally replies. "These two... speak honesty. However, if anything, it should serve a sign to us. It is clear that these Orcs see nothing more than complete submission and defeat in thier enemies, and we should thank the goddesses to show it to us in present company before they truely could get a foothold further than they had already."
DM62: The stout human growls. "It would be savagery well-deserved, then, to turn our people against the orcs with such a bounty. But I will respect the decision reached here today." He folds his arms, huffing.
Naliri scowls, pointing at Helvoque, Arturus, and Alexis in turn. "The answer you give... I confess that I hate you three a little for giving it. But not as much as I hate myself for agreeing with you."
The Rashirah rises, protesting, "But... surely we cannot let this go unpunished!"
Naliri turns to look at the young monarch with a bit of a pained smirk. "Young man, before you start punishing the guilty, you should worry about winning the war. Plenty of time for punishment afterwards. And we win the war by being smarter than Malgra. Not angrier." The Rashirah sits, his face flushed in embarassment.
Helvoque Magmahammer: "There will be time to punish the guilty once the front has been re-established, worry not, great King," the dwarf replied to the Rashirah in particular. "However, it is hard to deny that the amount of territory the Orcs have covered in these moments is still staggering. Especially considering how much of the Underland they now posess. Using the tunnels we carved free for us and the Under Elves, they could literally attack at any time, and last I knew only a few fortress-gates still hold to them." The last bit of that was reacting with a minor glare towards the drider. He had a hunch how they had reacted to the invasion after all.
Helvoque Magmahammer stands alone elsewhere in the courtyard, having already been here when the grouping began to form. A large, stone-carved hammer rests on the ground before him, the knuckles of one hand gently clenching the pommel as he views the grisley sight that is about to unfold. He gives the briefest grunt, figiting slightly and takes a moment to drink from his waterhorn, managing to not spill the contents over the beard he shows.
Alexis: With the rustling of wings only a dragon's can created, a humanoid figure descends from circling above, landing somewhere away from the others, intending to cause as little disrespect as possible with her entrance, as she squats from her landing and stands, her piercing orange eyes locked on the group near the chopping block as she begins to move, her body swaying with the feminine grace of a dragonkin, as several of the pouches on her person clink with her movements, various bits of adventuring gear stored within the leather travelling clothes she wears, hiding her black scales for the most part. Her wings soon fold behind her as she approaches, and bow respectfully to those gathered, opting to remain silent until spoken to.
Thraexyra was walking her way toward the courtyard where the summons had directed her. The drider trying to hold herself high and look disdainedly back at any looks directed her way, just as she had been taught to do in public. Though internally she was feeling quite a bit nervous, for one because she wasn't too used to coming to the surface, and two, because, well, standard nervousness about potentially embarking on a quest of such a magnitude. Still, Vel had told her it would be for the best, so she went with it, leading the chimera slave along behind her.
Vel walked behind Thrae, the chain on her collar held by the drider. She kept her eyes cast down for the moment but her ears were quite open. It also helped with the whole never been on the surface before and oh fuck my fucking eyes. She wore little, just some locked metal mittens to keep her from clawing things and a gag in each of her mouths, hers and her tails. HEr tail was also chained to her collar to keep it hiked up a bit and from being able to lash out. She made sure to keep up with the far larger drider, though stayed behind her subserviently. It was time to roll a die.
DM62: “You cannot slay me, Greenleaf! I am envoy! Chief Baltrigh,” growls the orc, “has sent me to deliver his message and return with your response. And elven law forbids the killing of an envoy!”
Lady Greenleaf nods, impassive, as an armored elven warrior emerges from the inner courtyard bearing something long and wrapped in green cloth. The elven commander turns to the warrior, drawing a bastard sword from within the green wrapping. The weapon is forged of an unknown dark metal, almost black, but its edge glistens in the light of the setting sun. “We are not in elven lands... but fear not, envoy. You will indeed bear my response to your master.” She raises the blade high. “Hold him down to the block.”
DM62: The orc leans forward to the block willingly… then kicks out hard, sending himself and the two human guards sprawling onto their backs. He turns, bringing a fist down hard into one guard’s face, then comes up with the guard’s longsword, deflecting a swing from the elven female. He barks out a command in Orcish, and shapes leap down from the courtyard walls--green-skinned warriors, giving a battle cry as they charge in from their hiding places. Lady Greenleaf calls out, “Protect the Rashirah!” Human guards rush to surround the blue-robed human, to protect him from the assault. Twenty greenskins are charging toward the Rashirah and Lady Greenleaf, a mix of axe-wielding orcs and javelin-aiming trolls.
Vel subtly gives Thrae a prod with her tail, a subtle tilt of her head to direct the drider to use her magic. Right now she was limited in what she could effectively do, though she watched Thraes back best she could with the sun burning her eyes, leaving everything sorta hazy from her tears and the stinging.
Alexis watches as the Orc seems to submit to his punishment, and then everything goes to hell. In a few moments, she has her hand on her whip, drawing the weapon out and cracking it, before whirling it over her head once and lashing it out at the nearest greenskin's weapon, intending to use force magic to manipulate the whip to grab hold and disarm him.
Helvoque growls in anger. Tricksters and fools! They will pay this day, and for the slaughtered forgekin ahead of them! He grabs his hammer, the flarestone inside the head glowing as if an angry star, and the dwarf charges to the human king's protection, his short stocky frame moving with speeds that would seem unnatural to those not in the know about the dwarves. With a roar of fury, he charges shield-first, aiming to bash one of the javelin-throwers with his shield as he swings his hammer towards another, aiming for the shin to bring the lankey creature into head-splitting range.
Thrae had been momentarially stunned by the sudden change of the situation, and it took the prod to snap her to action. The girl raising up her staff and channelling one of her basic spells, one that would attempt to disable some of the orcs with debilitating arousal, hoping her magic would work in a situation like this.
DM62: An orc charges forward at Vel, swinging a pair of axes at her head. Alexis manages to disarm another, who pounces at her instead, attempting to grapple with the dragonkin. There's a crunch of bone as a troll is knocked flat on his back by Helvoque's shield, and he knocks another orc in the shin with his hammer, crushing his leg and sending him topping to the ground. A pair of orcs advance on Thrae, sniffing at her, their cocks hardening in the poorly-fitted armor. Most of the orcs are facing off with Kaliferian guards now, though the envoy is wielding a pair of Kaliferian blades in an effort to kill Lady Greenleaf. The elf's bastard sword seems to scream, cutting through not only the air but also both of the swords in the envoy's hands. He growls, moving forward in an attempt to use what blade length he has left. Meanwhile, an orc manages to cut down a guard near the Rashirah, only to have the Rashirah jab his curved dagger up through the bottom of his jaw and into his head. The orc is dead before he hits the ground.
Helvoque Magmahammer: The dwarf laughs manically in the bloodlust of the situation, cleaving the hammer into the foes he downed to finish them off and granting a course of crimson to the stone weapon. With the two dispatched, he quickly moves to remove the rest of the ranged support they had, before turning to the defense of the human king with the funny title.
Alexis growls as she withdraws her whip, grappling with the Orc and extending her claws to try and slash at him, her sharp teeth on display as she snarls, clearly not a Dragonkin to mess with as she fights with the disarmed Orc who pounced on her. "Off, you filthy beast!"
Thrae saw the orc advancing on Vel, and with the ongoing situation figured that she could get away fine with a temporary unbounding of her slave in public. The drider girl taking a moment to step back from her own advancing orks and tapped her staff against Vel's mittens. Causing her various bounds to fall away, "Protect your master!" Then she'd turn her staff back to the two orcs that were advancing on her, and cast another spell that hopefully would direct their lust toward eachother and give other people some more time to finish them off.
Vel: Well, so much for keeping the breadth of her abilities secret. Still, she couldn't disobey Thrae without blowing it out entirely. She'd talk to her about that later. Still, she had trouble making out her enemy as more than a blur, a big blur. But she didn't need to see much more. She promptly threw herself down to all fours to avoid the swing of whatever was swinging at her, before having her tail lunge forwards to bite at the orcs face, using her tail's heat senses to look for vulnerable spots.
DM62: Helvoque hammers another troll... and the elf in green robes moves next to him, swinging a mace at another of the trolls... a force-enhanced strike that sends it hurtling into the distant courtyard wall. A swarm of spiders attacks the two remaining trolls, who fall to their knees in futile efforts to rid themselves of the arachnids, while the white-haired kitsune smirks at them. An orc loses his head to the squat, muscular human, who swings a massive one-bladed axe clean through the orc's thick neck. Another orc receives an arrow in the throat from the faun. The orc grappling Alexis manages to punch her abdomen, but then her claws sink into his throat, and he sinks in a puddle of his own black blood. Thrae's spell fails to work on one of the orcs, and he advances on the drider... only to be pounced by the other orc, who holds him down and pulls off his lower garments with a grin. The orc with the axes misses Vel, overstepping and getting a bite to his neck. Meanwhile, Lady Greenleaf uses expert footwork, moving back and to the side of the charging orc envoy, whom she swiftly decapitates.
DM62: By this point, the guards have killed the rest of the greenskins, with the exception of the first troll that Helvoque attacked, who is laying dazed with a broken leg. Lady Greenleaf points to him. "Spare that one. Only that one."
Vel: growls and lunges at the orc she had bitten, and while the venom worked she clawed and bit at it, hacking into the orc like a wild animal. People rarely watched their words around animals, and she wasn't shy about getting her claws dirty. It got them this far after all, and it wasn't like she could be any less a person in the world's eyes.
Alexis: Alexis pushes the dead orc off of her, coiling her whip as if to strike, before realizing that the battle is won, furling the whip up again and storing it on her belt, reaching a hand up to try and wipe the black blood from her scales and leathers, a disgusted look on her face. "You throw fantastic parties, Lady Greenleaf!" she says halfheartedly, her wings spreading and flapping once to clean what might have gotten on them, before furling again.
Helvoque Magmahammer: Helvoque gives a bloody grin as the elf joins in, his height keeping him safe as the elf swings through. "Well met, treekin! Glad to see not all of you stick at the back of a fight!" he half-teases- it was no secret his kind and the elfkin tended to jab each other occasionally still, even in these dire times. With the foes dead and bleeding, he stomps over to the one he hadn't quite murdered, growling threateningly with his bloody hammer at the longtoothed foe but staying the finishing blow.
Thrae would take advantage of the two orcs now being distracted to scuttle over to them, and raise one of her speartip like legs and try to gore them both through the heart with a single stab. Failing that she'd probably take a few more stabs, as it was still more efficent then bashing them with her staff, and she could just blame the sun for her bad aim.
DM62: Vel is able to quickly finish off the poisoned orc. Thrae succeeds in goring the two orcs. The elf with the mace and longsword smirks at Helvoque's comment, but does not respond. Lady Greenleaf nods to the dragonkin. "Entirely unplanned, on our part." She wipes a spatter of orc blood from her cheek grimly, then uses green wrapping from earlier to clean off her ancient blade. “Guards. Cut out their tongues and bag them.” She points at the sole green-skinned survivor, the battered troll. “Include his tongue… and send him back to deliver the bag to Chief Baltrigh. Mount the heads on spikes, high upon the castle’s battlements. Burn the remainder of the bodies.” She turns to the assembled adventurers. “Now. Let us adjourn to the audience chamber, and we can discuss your objectives. By your leave, your Majesty?” The Rashirah nods in assent, having just cleaned the blood off of his curved dagger.
Vel keeps savaging her victim, awaiting for Thrae to take "control" of her once more. She hoped it'd be before she had to start eating... Whatever it was she jsut killed.
Thrae wouldn't leave Vel waiting to long, and as soon as she finished off the orcs she'd turn and pint her staff at Vel again. The enchanted binds almost materializing on the chimera.
Alexis stretches and nods as she wipes the last of the blood from her clothing, then turns to follow Lady Greenleaf, her thick tail swaying back and forth with her steps.
Helvoque Magmahammer: The dwarf gives a bit of a grunt at the troll, glaring at him some more before again swigging at the waterhorn. "A fine a task as any, my lass," Helvoque replies, nodding in respect to the queen before taking a rag and clearing off the loose blood and gore from his attire, the hammer still stained in it's porus stone nead but now not quite as gorey as it was before.
Vel gives a muffled yelp as she's rebound, and rolls off her victim, awkwardlys truggling back up to her feet, crawling towards her "Mistress" Before getting up best she can to follow her as she was before, making no effort to clean the mess off herself.
Thrae: Regrabbing Vel's chain, Thrae would shake the blood off her leg and follow along to the audience chamber, the girl wishing she could have cleaned Vel off too, that blood and gore would be a pain for her to get out later, but she had to keep up apperances. Which at the moment included her asking an annoyed muttering of, "And I thought some of the guards back home were incompetent." Even as she lightly kicked at one of the orc corpses as she passed.
DM62: The elf with the longsword and mace nods to the dwarf. "You fight well, your Highness, in keeping with the reputation of your family." The group passes through the inner courtyard, then a large hallway, and finally enter the large audience chamber. The blue-robed Rashirah is now seated upon his throne on a raised dais, with Lady Greenleaf standing at the foot of the dais, in front of a crate. A grey-haired elven female stands next to the crate, garlands upon her head and a gnarled rod clutched in her hand. The elf with the wand is the oldest elf that anyone in the chamber has ever laid eyes upon, with small wrinkles in her skin despite the immortality of her race. Her expression pained and tired, she looks from the crate to Lady Greenleaf, who gives a formal bow.
Then the elderly elf turns to the adventurers. “Greetings. I am Naliri Leafspar. Tela’s father and I were among many who helped protect the elves during the Primal Era… but that is old history. You are no doubt curious as to why Tela was about to cut the head off of a messenger. She but acted upon my command… but you will likely understand my reasons with a glance into the crate, a gift from Chief Baltrigh.” The elder elf then turns, moving with Lady Greenleaf’s assistance to a comfortable chair that has been placed next to the Rashirah’s throne. Lady Greenleaf indicates the crate, looking at the adventurers.
Helvoque Magmahammer: "The shackles of a future overseeing the foundations of our clans don't hold me back from a good brawl," he replies to the elf, chuckling a little as they move throigh the structure and then stopping. The dwarf frowns slightly when the crate is indicated. He had been in this chamber a moment before, having awaiting any requests by the rulers, before the crate arrived. With it's arrival he had left with the others to the courtyard, but hadn't viewed inside himself. Thus, he steps forward and peers into the crate, frowning and expecting the worse.
Thrae moved a bit closer, then raised herself on her legs and looked over at the crate, not entirely willing to make all the effort to go over there and see what was in it, and figuring the extra height she could get out of fully extending her legs it would be more then enough to see. Especially when the dwarf was the only person in her way at that moment.
Vel, now able to see, if jsut a little better, stays behind Thrae. She'd hear what was in it later.
DM62: The other adventurers (the stout human with the axe, the elf with longsword and mace, the white-haired kitsune, and the faun) move forward to peer into the crate as well. The faun blinks, then clutches a hand over her mouth, recoiling and wretching into her hand. The crate is full of what look to be white-and-red tulip petals, at first, of all different sizes, filling the crude wooden box. It's such an odd sight that at first one's mind refuses to accept it. Then reality sinks in. The crate is full of elf ears. Some of them are smaller than the rest, though... significantly smaller. Like the ears of elven babies.
Thrae had to hold back her stomach too, but she did a much better job then the faun at keeping it hidden. Years of training does that after all, so she kept her mask of semi-arrogance up, and just retracted herself on her legs, "I do believe that explains your earlier actions rather sufficently."
Helvoque Magmahammer: Even the dwarf gives a grimace and a cough, trying hard to keep the contents of his lunch down. "B-Blustering... Goddesses damn those greenskin beasts! I swear on my Father's oath I'll do anything required to put these monsters down for good!" he roars into the high-ceilinged hall, fury now crossing his expression. "Not any race deserves that brutality!"
Vel: could smell the blood and such. She had her guesses, and she could pick up on Thrae's distress easily, having practice at reading her. This would be dangerous indeed then...
Alexis: Alexis approaches the crate when prompted, and promptly reels back the moment she smells the decaying scent, having caught barely a sight of the ears inside of it, holding her maw with one hand. "Oh my...Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."
DM62: The wood elven Grand Matriarch, Naliri Leafspar, rises from the chair, her lips pressed together in anger mingled with grief. Lady Greenleaf moves to assist her, but Naliri waves her off. "These... are ears from the elves at Stillwater. During the last age, when the under elves warred with the wood elves, there were elves who refused to take sides. They left us... and formed a distant town there. Many called them cowards... but I do not consider it a weakness to refuse to slay one's own people. That... envoy... told us that this was what happens to elves who refuse to use their ears, when an orc calls for their surrender. And that the only ones spared were the ones found suitable as... camp followers."
The Rashirah speaks now, "We should offer a royal bounty for every orc tongue, then."
Vel couldn't grimace in her gag. Seemed the orcs were as harsh if not harsher than the under elves. Least she wouldn't feel too bad about what she'd have to do then. Awfully corgial of them to make it feel good to crush them. Like ants who yelled profanities at you.
Alexis: "And that would accomplish nothing more than spurring on these acts of savagery." the Dragonkin speaks up, folding her arms under he E-cup breasts and frowning. "A bounty for their tongues, and they decide on a bounty for your ears. Then you will likely find another justification for brutality, as will they. Soon, what remains is little more than two savages in a bitter race war." she says, sniffing at the air and grimacing.
Helvoque Magmahammer: The dwarf is still doing his best to quell his rage, growling in fury and shaking hard- it would be near comical, if it wasn't the dire situation involved. He held back his silence as the others talked, showing a bit of wisdom from not unleashing the quick temper that Dwarves were known for.
Thrae would grimace a bit, the frown deepening as the elf continued talking. She almost wished she could use more deadly magic at that moment, but she had what she had at her disposal. She also noticed the dwarf nearly shaking himself apart in his rage and nearly decided to hold her tongue to avoid potentially setting him off, but instead said, "I would not be suprised if these orcs would escalate such savagry even without furthur provocation."
DM62: The elf with the longsword and mace speaks up, bowing to the figures on the dais. In the light of the audience chamber, he looks more... human than elf, for some reason. Possibly a half-breed. "Grand Matriarch. Rashirah. My Lady." He rises. "I am Arturus Windsong. The dragonkin speaks truly. Escalation will only cause worse atrocity... and Malgra's crusade has the upper hand at the moment. If anything, we should take steps to conceal this atrocity, as it will only inspire either despair, which will demoralize our forces, or rage, which could be just as dangerous for our armies."
Vel's ear flicked. Those two had level heads on the matter. She'd have to be wary of them. Still didn't change matters too much though. For those here, it would have an effect, a willingness to go further, if even slightly, to see the orcs as less than themselves. Whether it affected morale or not, it'd make it just that much easier to be brutal to their enemies.
Thrae would fall silent again, willing to let the others talk it out for now. Mostly because she didn't see any reason to drive them to be more brutal at the moment, and also because she was still trying to remove the last of the sick feeling from what she had seen in the crate.
Helvoque Magmahammer: Managing to hold back the blustered, curse-riddled fury that he had contained, the dwarven nobleman finally replies. "These two... speak honesty. However, if anything, it should serve a sign to us. It is clear that these Orcs see nothing more than complete submission and defeat in thier enemies, and we should thank the goddesses to show it to us in present company before they truely could get a foothold further than they had already."
DM62: The stout human growls. "It would be savagery well-deserved, then, to turn our people against the orcs with such a bounty. But I will respect the decision reached here today." He folds his arms, huffing.
Naliri scowls, pointing at Helvoque, Arturus, and Alexis in turn. "The answer you give... I confess that I hate you three a little for giving it. But not as much as I hate myself for agreeing with you."
The Rashirah rises, protesting, "But... surely we cannot let this go unpunished!"
Naliri turns to look at the young monarch with a bit of a pained smirk. "Young man, before you start punishing the guilty, you should worry about winning the war. Plenty of time for punishment afterwards. And we win the war by being smarter than Malgra. Not angrier." The Rashirah sits, his face flushed in embarassment.
Helvoque Magmahammer: "There will be time to punish the guilty once the front has been re-established, worry not, great King," the dwarf replied to the Rashirah in particular. "However, it is hard to deny that the amount of territory the Orcs have covered in these moments is still staggering. Especially considering how much of the Underland they now posess. Using the tunnels we carved free for us and the Under Elves, they could literally attack at any time, and last I knew only a few fortress-gates still hold to them." The last bit of that was reacting with a minor glare towards the drider. He had a hunch how they had reacted to the invasion after all.