... Greywyn creeps down the rickety stairs without the sound of a step or scuffle. Hidden behind his invisible cloak, he quickly slide past the open door pouring out torchlight and guttural voices. Down the dark hall, a burly orc adjusts the rusted sword hanging from his leather armor. Sneaking up behind him, he slip his dagger through the back of the orcs neck with an assassin's ease.
His free hand catches the orcs chin but fails to slam its jaw shut. The orc's death rattle echoes down the hallways and the voices in the room beyond slow, then stop. A sharp command ruptures the silence and our hero hears clinking armor as five of the dead orc's comrades charge out the door and down the corridor at his direction.
He barely has time to taste the musky sweat in the air and see the gritted teeth when he drops his dagger for a warrior's sword and cut a gut-spewing swath through the first two.
More came at him. Heaving the closest one - his yellow nails claw at his shoulder looking for a hold - he sends the orc back into the shadows to the rear, then swing upward over the head of the next orc. He has no hope of finishing them all in a fair fight, so he slashes at the wooden plank supporting a line of shelves above their heads. The shelves splinter and crumple under the weight of the casks and moldy flour sacks tumbling to the stone ground.
White powder billows around the fallen orcs like a morning mist. The gurgling liquid from one fractured cask spills on an orc's neck.
Too late he remembers the orc he threw into the shadow behind him. It sinks jagged teeth into his shoulder and slaps aside his sword. A second attack smashes into Greywyn's head and sends him reeling to the ground.
The room spins. Greywyn has no sword. No dagger. The orc splits a grin that says he'll enjoy chewing on his bone marrow and sharing his entrails with his friends.
Concentrating just enough to remember the incantations, Greywyn fires a magical Flame Arrow between the orc's eyes. It kills him before the stunned eyes truly understand that they've been beaten by a "defenseless" human...
Unknown "GOLD" Sleepy
- 15 years, 9 months ago