by Seth Ring
In a flash, the relaxing players had geared up for war. Mounting their bonded wolves, they chased after Thorn who had shifted into his [Wolf Form]. Viewed from above the Charging Wolf Army resembled a gigantic black snake slithering through the forest. Since they were quite close to the Orc supply camp Thorn did not bother with stealth, charging forward at full speed.
Located at the northernmost point of the Orc’s supply chain, the supply camp was situated along the coast in a large natural gully that ran almost directly south before widening into the forest. Sparsely forested, the gully had been formed from runoff over the years which had created a large open space where the water fed into the sea. Taking advantage of the natural open ground, the Orcs had cleared the rest of the trees and erected a solid wooden fence to mark out the edge of their camp.
Though the camp had a wooden wall, there were no buildings since it had been constructed as a temporary measure while the harbor at Twin Bay was being finished. Instead, the Orcs simply pitched their tents on either side of the road that split the camp in half. From the pictures that the scouts took, the camp held around five thousand Orcs, most of whom were lounging around as they waited for their orders.
Orc culture made no distinction between laborers and warriors, but because fighting was considered a superior activity, tribes would compete for the right to occupy the front lines of a battle or war. Less powerful tribes were relegated to acting as grunts, collecting and moving goods for the tribes that held the combat rights. Though this often led to conflict within the Orc army, it also saved them from having to employ guards for their laborers since every soldier, whether a worker or not, could fight to some degree.
The Orcs that held this supply camp had lifted their flag above their camp in good Orc fashion, revealing themselves to be members of the Sawtoothed Tusk tribe. Thorn knew nothing about this tribe. But, considering they had been pushed into guarding the supply route, Thorn was not overly worried about them, despite the fact that the Charging Wolf Army was outnumbered three to one.
The tree line ended about five hundred feet from the supply camp wall, and Thorn did not pause as he dashed out of it. Heading directly toward the gate, Thorn cleared the edge of the gully without any issue, the Charging Wolf Army streaming after him like a black and brown tide. At the gate, two bored Orc guards were leaning on their spears when Thorn and the rest of the Charging Wolf Army appeared. Stunned, one of the Orcs just stared, but the other lifted his spear to strike the metal gong that hung next to him.
Before his weapon could reach it, he found himself frozen in place, too cold to even shiver. A buzzing sound filtered into his ears, followed immediately by a series of thuds as half a dozen arrows sprouted from his companion’s chest. Just as he could feel himself unfreezing the buzzing sound came back and his world went dark.
Pleased with how efficiently the two guards were dealt with, Thorn led the Children of the Moon forward, managing to get within seventy feet before an Orc caught sight of him over the gate. Thorn’s normally tall body was even taller in [Wolf Form]. With a shoulder height of ten feet, Thorn’s head and ears raised his height to thirteen feet with his head up. The eight foot tall wooden wall that surrounded the camp did not even come up to his shoulder, let alone the seven foot tall gate.
A cry of alarm sounded in the camp as one of the taller Orcs looked over the gate. His vision filled with a veritable sea of wolves, each who seemed big enough to eat him in a single bite, the Orc was badly startled and yelled out. Hearing the commotion, Thorn opened his mouth and let out a howl that spread over the camp, drowning out the Orc’s surprised shouts. With his [Wolf Lord’s Howl] causing the scrambling Orcs to falter, Thorn lowered his head and sped up, crossing the remaining distance to the supply camp gate in a single bound.
Crushing the gate like kindling, Thorn’s entrance to the camp sent splintered wood flying. Behind him the rest of the Children of the Moon began to pour into the camp. Some came through the ruined gate, further widening the opening as the giant wolves clipped the sides of the fence. Others simply jumped over the walls, their entrance crushing the tents that had been built too close to the gate. Without regard for the Orcs who were struggling to get out of their tents the Charging Wolf Army rushed into the supply camp in an unstoppable wave.
The pile of stacked supplies was located in the direct center of the camp and it only took Thorn a few seconds to reach it. His thirty foot long body cleared the pile easily, continuing on past it toward the largest tent in the camp. Heidi and her team followed Thorn closely, ready to intercept the Orc leader. Rushing straight to the largest tent, Thorn did not bother to stop and simply barreled into it, using his huge form and swift speed to cause it to collapse into a heap.
Guttural shouts sounded from under the falling fabric as Thorn’s tail wiped out the thick poles keeping the tent up in the air. With enraged roars, three Orcs ripped their way out of the layers of fabric, furious at the commotion. The first was a thickset Orc with a large beard who carried a big, wide bladed scimitar on his back along with a small shield. As he emerged the cloth beside him burst into flame, quickly burning away to reveal a dirty looking Shaman in a ragged robe holding a skull tipped staff.
The third Orc was different from the other two. Dressed in a set of leather and chain armor, the skinny Orc had more armor on his body than any other Orc that Thorn had seen. A long spear with a curved blade had allowed him to cut himself free of the falling tent fabric, and as he stepped through the cut, his eyes quickly scanned the camp.
Without bothering with the three leaders, Thorn continued on his path, trampling over tents and sending Orcs flying as he rushed for the back gate. His primary mission was to clear their path of escape so he moved that direction, trusting his teammates to take out the Orc camp’s leaders.
Leading her team forward, Heidi jumped off of Beautiful Wind and activated her fire based charge ability, [Burning Like A Flame], while she was in the air. A red glow flashed across her shield and she burst forward like a flame burning through a fuse.
“Focus on the warrior first! Mina, lock down the Shaman. I’ve got the armored one!”
As she moved through the air, Heidi’s words threw the rest of her team into a flurry of action. By the time her shield was in front of the armored Orc, Mina had already thrown out her ice curse, [Blistering Chill]. The icy chains circled around the Orc Shaman, causing his hurried motions to slow to a crawl. Opening his mouth to chant, the Shaman found that his tongue had trouble forming the correct words. Stumbling through his spell, he was further distracted by the large ball of swirling ice that fell on his head.
Heidi’s opponent reacted the quickest of the three commanders. Lifting his spear, he thrust the blunt end of his weapon directly at Heidi’s incoming shield. With a ringing sound, the butt end of the spear slammed into Heidi’s kite shield, stopping her in her tracks. Borrowing the rebounding force of the blow, the armored Orc jumped backward to gain distance. Even before he landed, his spear spun around and darted forward, cutting at Heidi. Calmly deflecting the attacks with her shield, Heidi pressed forward, her eyes carefully watching the Orc’s elbows and wrists.
It was the scimitar wielding Orc who suffered the most. Set upon by Athena and the rest of Heidi’s team, he barely lasted for a single round before he was cut to pieces under their flashing weapons. The players had the advantage of surprise and because they knew that they would not be sticking around for long they were not shy about using their most powerful abilities. The Shaman, struggling under Mina’s relentless assault, wanted to try and save the scimitar carrying Orc, but a well-timed [Sub Zero] disrupted his spell before he could get it out.
With a strangled cry the scimitar carrying Orc fell to Athena’s sword and the team that had been attacking him immediately rushed to attack the Orc Shaman. Already constrained by Mina’s ice spells, the Shaman found himself besieged on all sides by flashing blades. Grasping the sun shaped amulet on his neck, he tried to activate the burning spell that th
e Shaman at Twin Bay had used, but before he could an arrow slammed into his hand, causing him to drop it with a yelp. Taking advantage of the Shaman’s distraction, Athena and the other tanks pressed their advantage, hacking away at the energy shield that the Orc Shaman summoned to block their blades. With every strike the shield grew dimmer, clearly indicating that it was only a matter of time before the Shaman would be cut down.
While the Orc commanders were being taken care of, the ranged DPS players were causing absolute mayhem in the camp. Area of effect elemental attacks ravaged the tents and bombarded any Orcs who tried to gather together into groups of more than two. Arrows and other ranged weapons of all sorts of sizes and shapes picked off the Orcs who tried to rush to their leader’s aid. In the midst of all of the chaos, the Children of the Moon proved themselves fearsome combatants once again, ripping apart the Orcs who tried to charge into the players’ formation.
Fighting as a pack was what the Children of the Moon excelled at and with players mounted on their backs, their power was only magnified. Seeking out Orcs who were on their own, the Children of the Moon would attack in a group of two or more, with one wolf taking the Orc’s attention while the others knocked them down. Once the Orc was on the ground, they were at the mercy of the huge wolves’ teeth and claws.
“How are we doing with the supplies?” Thorn asked through the team channel.
“We are just picking up the last two bundles.” Alph responded.
“Heidi?”
“One commander and one Shaman down. The last one is proving troublesome.” Heidi reported, never taking her eyes from the armored Orc trying to skewer her with a spear.
“Great, let’s get out of here.” Thorn commanded, swatting an overly enthusiastic Orc who was charging at him with his axe raised. “Alph, can you give us cover?”
“Cover? Sure, would you like them poisoned too?”
“Not if it will put us in danger. Once we have cover we’re headed to the next camp at full speed!”
“Hmm, not poisonous. Oh, no problem.”
After thinking for a second, Alph pulled a potion from his bandolier and uncapped it, tossing it down into the center of the camp where the supplies had been piled up only moments before. Underneath him, Akira was having a grand time sending out fireballs into the surrounding tents. A thick grey smoke began to billow from the potion, quickly filling the area around him with a dense haze. The smoke was rather heavy and did not rise up into the air, instead hovering at around fifteen feet, it formed a strange bubble like cloud. As more and more smoke poured into the cloud, it grew, spreading throughout the camp.
“This will last for about ten minutes.” Alph reported.
The Children of the Moon turned and, carrying their bonded players, began to rush to the south east, along the coast.
Chapter Fifty-One
As swiftly as they had arrived, the Charging Wolf Army vanished from the Orc supply camp, leaving complete chaos in their wake. Fires burned everywhere and both gates had been smashed beyond repair. Even the wooden wall that surrounded the camp had countless holes in it from the spells and explosive attacks that had been scattered around. By the time the thick smoke vanished, Thorn and the rest of the army were miles away, the Children of the Moon’s long loping strides eating up the distance between the camps. Rushing forward at the head of the pack, Thorn took a moment to take stock of their gains.
“How did we do?”
“We made out like bandits. We were able to pick up all of the supplies, which we can turn in to Earl Blaige for a reward. We only killed around eight hundred to a thousand Orcs directly, but a bunch more were probably caught in the fires. We did manage to kill two of the commander level Orcs. A tribal Chief and a Shaman. Picked up another of those void shards too, so it looks like we’ll get one with each Shaman we kill. There was also a Weaponmaster, but we were not able to take him down before we left. His defenses were too strong.”
“Two out of three isn’t bad. And cutting down a fifth of their total forces is great.” Thorn’s mind spun as he thought through the attack. “I didn’t expect the camps to be so big, so we’ll need to be extra careful on our way back. Since we took their supplies, they’ll probably retreat back toward the supply camp we are going to right now. If we leave too many Orcs alive we could get pinned between the forces from the raided camps and the main army.”
“True, though we might not have to worry about that problem.” Athena said. Carefully wiping her sword, she examined it for a moment and then put it away in her sheath. “Without supplies, they are going to be hard pressed to fight. Most of the tents were on fire when we left, and I doubt they have any real firefighting skills with their Shaman dead. Without supplies they’ll have to push toward this camp, but by the time they get there we’ll have already looted it. At the very earliest, we’ll encounter them the following day, after they’ve spent a whole twenty four hours without anything to eat or a comfortable place to sleep.”
“And diarrhea.”
Hearing Alph’s voice over the team channel, everyone paused.
“Uh, what do you mean?” Thorn asked carefully.
“That potion I threw down? If you stay in it for more than three minutes you’ll have diarrhea. For about a week. The longer you stay in it, the longer the diarrhea will last. They won’t notice it for about ten hours or so though, and if they get healed it will get cleared.” Alph paused, and then slapped his forehead as if he had just remembered something. “We should make sure that everyone who was in the fog gets healed. Even group healing will work. It would be a problem if you started, uh, you know.”
Horrified by the picture that Alph’s words painted, Thorn stayed quiet for a solid two minutes. With a shudder, he shook the picture of an entire army of sick Orcs from his mind and commanded the support players to begin checking everyone.
“Alph, I’m really glad you are on our side.” Mina said, her voice slightly too cheerful. Athena, who was next to her, nodded emphatically.
As the Charging Wolf Army continued to run toward their next target, Thorn opened up a call to Corvo, checking in on Twin Bay and the Iron Wolf Army players who had stayed there.
“How is it going? Any movement from the Orcs?” Thorn asked when Corvo’s handsome face popped up in front of him.
“It is going well. We have almost completed the defenses and have finished building everything on the peninsula. There have been some Orcs poking around, but we’ve managed to kill most of them. Still, there are some big movements from the Orcs. They’re already spread out to search for Thilvena, but they’re slowly starting to edge our way. We will probably have an army on our doorstep in about four days. My guess is that we’ll face our first real attack the day after.”
“Good, that is enough time for us to clear out at least two more camps and rush back. Our first attack was quick, but I doubt we’ll get more than one more like that. I’d guess that the camps closer to the blockade are going to be more fortified since they’ve been around for a while.”
“That seems right. Still, every camp you destroy will buy us some time. And that is what we need right now. Oh, and be on the lookout for Elves. We’ve seen some evidence that there are ranger teams roaming the forest.”
“Got it. Let me know if there are any other big movements from the Orcs, alright?”
“Sure thing. Talk to you soon.”
Closing the chat, Thorn dropped back to run next to Heidi and Akira, allowing some of the scouts to lead the way.
“Corvo is predicting that the Orcs will probably start their attack on the harbor in five days. That is more than enough time for them to finish the defenses at Twin Bay, and for us to burn some more camps. I’d also like to make contact with the Elves if at all possible. We need to coordinate a strategy for Thilvena. We can’t directly overpower the Orcs once they gather, but from what I understand we’ll need Thilvena to not move for at least a day in order to join up our forces.”
“That seems doable, what’s t
he problem?” Mina asked, her brow furrowed.
“Well, it might be, but right now Thilvena moves every day. Since they keep moving it, I think we should assume that they have a reason for not staying still long enough to fight the Orcs. Honestly though? I have no idea.” Thorn replied. “I’m not good at this type of strategizing.”
“It's a shame Velin isn’t around.”
“That’s for sure.” Thorn nodded, his eyes sweeping the forest around them. “Though I can’t help but feel like she might be somewhere nearby.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Mina’s face showed her confusion.
“I’m probably just crazy, but don’t the woods smell a bit like Velin?”
“Uh, I don’t smell anything.”
[Yes, master! The woods do smell a little bit like Lady Velin. I can smell it because my nose is the best nose.]
“See, I knew I wasn’t crazy.” Thorn muttered, his dark nose twitching.
A few hours later, Thorn’s map showed that they were a bit more than halfway to the next camp when they came upon an Orc force moving supplies between the camps. One of the scouts had reported the enemies while they were still around ten minutes away, giving the Charging Wolf Army plenty of time to get ready for an attack. At first, Thorn considered simply going around, but after thinking about it further he decided that the better option would be to wipe them out and steal the goods that they were moving.
Concealing half of the players in a particularly dense area of woods, Thorn brought the other half along with all the Children of the Moon deeper into the woods, making sure they were far enough away that the Orcs would not be able to see them. According to the report, there were close to four thousand Orcs in the supply caravan, so the Charging Wolf Army prepared for a stiff fight.
The road that led between the supply camps was little more than a woodland trail that had been widened and flattened by the Orcs who traveled across it. Currently, the Orcs were walking slowly along the road, paying little attention to the forest on either side. The warm afternoon sun beat down on them, covering all of the Orcs with a fine sheen of sweat. The players who huddled on either side of the road waited patiently as the caravan slowly got closer.