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Narali Lund: HP = 92, PP = 44, EP = 42, Status = Fine
"Like I said though, it's not our mess!"
Garaz, the berserker fully arrayed for combat in his customized armor, was issuing the same gripe they'd all heard from him over the last few days. Their party, a small subset of their tribe's armed forces, had split off to help deal with a group of remnant human militia and some elven hunters, a last holdout of the forces of an area that another allied tribe had already conquered. They'd been traveling for a few days so far and had yet to see the enemy, or even many signs of habitation, until just a few hours ago.
Vergal, another of the berserkers and their best scout, had reported spotting signs that someone had tried to conceal their movements, and they'd been on the trail ever since. A few hours ago they had come upon a small encampment, abandoned but freshly so, and now a dusk approached they were heading for where grim Vergal had spotted their hiding place. they were heading for a stand of trees that led up a small hill, the pines far apart and with very little underbrush. Beyond it was, allegedly, a collection of boulders concealing a small cave entrance where the enemy was encamped. Vergal was already up ahead, crawling on his belly slowly and carefully while keeping close to a tree, and the rest of them were quickly but quietly coming up.
She was with a group that she knew well, though she might have liked some more than others. Garaz, Vergal, and Burgro were all berserkers, lightly armored and well armed. Garaz, the hulking black-braided brute in sleeveless armor decorated in furs, was their unofficial leader, but the three men were fairly independent of each other. Vergal, their best scout, was thin and wiry and rarely spoke, his red braids kept short and close to his head and his armaments including a bow despite their lineup of riflemen. Burgo was the most heavily armored member of their group, with black full plate and a great shield that he used alongside a brace of heavy pistols or a sword or put aside to use his greataxe, and had the oddest look of their group with red eyes that glowed malignantly in the dark and ash white hair, and in his black armor and horned helm he was certainly intimidating.
Narali had her own small company, however, and unlike the berserkers she and her companions were an organized force. She had three other companions with similar armament to herself, the long pole arm and the rifle, and she was the recognized leader of them as the strongest and most experienced of the bunch. Kireno, the lanky man loping along directly beside her, was the most proficient besides herself, being an expert marksman, though he was scarred badly by shrapnel from when a rifle had misfired and exploded in front of him, the line across one cheek and crossed lines on another telling of the trauma that often kept his sentences clipped and his demeanor dour. Andelor stood a ways back, the somewhat lazy trapper speaking in low tones with his customary grin splattered across his devilishly handsome face as he spoke to the fourth member of her squad, Neirda. A sharp eared, blue haired oddity, Neirda came from an elven father and was fairly youthful, having barely risen to the point where she'd be allowed on expeditions like this one, though she was at least fairly competent as a warrior for one as inexperienced as she was.
"Yeah yeah yeah, learn a new tune why don't you... Even when we're finally about to get to the enemy, we're still stuck listening to your griping Garaz!" Dregash said in low tones from atop his mount, the great shaggy stallion clopping along softly through the needle-coated snow just a few feet to the left and ahead of Narali as she marched in the front of the loose wedge her four person squad formed. The half-human son of a woman from the Amazon, the leader of their group was still an orc's orc, his mount covered in weapons strapped to its barding including a rifle much like theirs, a heavy lance, a kite shield ideal for use when on horseback, and a handful of trophies that he never seemed to make use of. The real treasure was the enchanted blade that never left his hip, the long slightly angled sword with a blade that crackled like thunder when drawn. Acting as the left hand vanguard, opposite their captain on the right was Sheilaz, the other horse rider atop her darker haired mount. The other rider's pleated crimson hair streamed behind her in the wind, which was just strong enough to whistle and nip at their exposed skin but not bad enough to make their going difficult.
As they drew nearer, Vergal held up a series of hand signals; Two fingers up, the symbol for men, then three fingers up, the symbol for wolves, then directions. Then the symbol for cages, and the dogs again. The group had guard dogs, it seemed, and had clustered everything near a single spot, including their dogs which were all in cages. They were upwind of the other side of the knoll they were climbing and coming at it from the South, and Dregash raised a hand for them to hold before they crested the top of it. "Alright... Sheilaz, you circle around to the Northeast, keep it slow and careful. There might be traps. I'll be going to the Northwest. Garaz, quit your bitching and go over to the West end with Burgo. Keep out of sight and be ready to hit them in the flank, try to bottle the entrance after they've started coming out... Assuming you can. If it's too wide, or they're just out in the open for some reason, wait until Sheilaz and I charge, we'll hit them from all sides."
His commands to the rest of their party given, Dregash glanced to Narali and as he lowered his mask, the intimidating bone of some beast's skull blocking out much of her commander's face. "Narali, wait a few minutes, then take your bunch and climb the rest of the way up the hill. You and Vergal are to stay up there and hold that position so we can come in while they're concentrating on you. Don't get too close together, we don't know if they have mages, but don't let them overtake you. Don't drive them off either, if they bottle or cork we're hosed. Try not to look too scary," He said, and then turned his horse and started off. Garaz sneered at her playfully and motioned for Burgo to follow him as he turned to follow after their commander, and Sheilaz kicked her horse into motion in the opposite direction at the same time. "Shouldn't be too hard for you, eh?" The berserker grunted quietly as he wandered off, leaving Natali to command the three behind her as she willed.
