Scubacarrot Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 "So, Haldor, you're fine with killing a confused girl that is just following her daddy's orders, but you're against killing Jaret... Member of the evil organizations that hate magic and seemingly everything else, told you you have a taint.... Okay... Just asking... We should go on."
Scorpiox Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 "Confused girl who pissed off with our contact, probably doing him untold harm and injury. Yeah, I'm fine with killing her. This is serious stuff, we can't have misguided girls trying to kill our operatives. "
Capt.JohnPaul Posted April 2, 2014 Posted April 2, 2014 "One day someone will have to tell me more about these Crimson Crown guys when the time comes. Alright, let's go in."
Masked Builder Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 "Well we just pissed her off. My as well go in."
The Legonater Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 Guts is lobbing smoke bombs and Haldor's up for killing innocents. Great. Alexandre, if you ever get the urge to kill someone, don't even bother letting me know at this point. Let's get this over with.
Scorpiox Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Guts is lobbing smoke bombs and Haldor's up for killing innocents. Great. Alexandre, if you ever get the urge to kill someone, don't even bother letting me know at this point. Let's get this over with. "Someone who as far as we know kills our ally isn't a bloody innocent. Maybe if it were you getting dragged off you'd be more likely to give a toss than you do about Olmstyr."
The Legonater Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Something that wouldn't have happened if we Guts hadn't lobbed a smoke bomb at her. I'm sorry if I come off as callous, I was just under the impression we were here to keep the peace. If that's changed, then by all means, when the time comes, fire away.
Scubacarrot Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 "A smoke bomb is just that. A cannister filled with smoke. Harmless even if you get a lungfull. I didn't see you coming up with a better idea, Dyric. She wasn't going to move, she wasn't going to listen, and I wasn't going to kill her. I'm all for suggestions, but something had to be done."
The Legonater Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Fair enough. Just making sure we're all on the same page here.
swils Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Arx hops from Thormanils shoulder and flies over the ledge, trying to locate the greenskins. "Arx! Where're you goin'? Get back here, we need to hurry up and get to Karstaal!" "Get in there without me, I've gotta wait for the li'l guy. Not leavin' him out here alone. I'll catch up with ya."
CMP Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 (edited) Arx hops from Thormanils shoulder and flies over the ledge, trying to locate the greenskins. It's hard for Arx to make out anything with the thick smoke hanging over the city, but judging from the tops of smaller buildings comprising the palace, he estimates they fell roughly six stories. "We should go on." "One day someone will have to tell me more about these Crimson Crown guys when the time comes. Alright, let's go in." "Well we just pissed her off. My as well go in." Let's get this over with. The heroes push their way into the door, to find a scene of chaos before them. Tarvalk is holding a man in red and black armor over the balcony, apparently forcing him to look down on the smoking ruins of Imaestym. Karstaal is lying in a pool of blood on the floor nearby, a shortsword buried in his side. A man in black is struggling to get to his feet, his front soaked in blood. "-what you have wrought, human." "We didn't want this," choked the soldier, difficult to hear with blood spilling from his mouth. "Speros is insane. He'd raze Baltarok to the ground.....thinks peace is impossible with you, but-" "You didn't want this.....do you take me for a fool, human? Maybe your forces are not attacking the city, but you stand here, watching your allies cut down thousands of orcs, and claim you are innocent?" "Couldn't....couldn't fight them. I thought Speros could see reason...I was repaying a debt. If I had known they were going to do this.....we tried to stop this...I tried to stop this....but..." the soldier coughed. "....when we get Valentino back, there's still a chance for-" "Peace? Our greatest city burns because of the blood lust of these Boulders, because of the apathy of you Lizards. There can be no peace, not if this is what you have to show for your skills of diplomacy, of your ability to keep order. How can there be peace when it is your army gathering around the bridge? You say you Lizards want to avoid war, yet on the other side of the river your king seems to be rounding up every last man with the intent to settle this grudge once and for all. We will fight to the death to defend our country. You will stop at nothing to finally rid the world of us. Peace is a lost cause. Even your nation seems to believe that." The soldier looked off into the distance, towards the towering bridge on the horizon, in stunned silence for a moment, before sighing one last time. "...I don't. I will die for the Fire Lizards, but I don't have to be the first of many." "You will be. Those who will do so face death through no faults but their own." Tarvalk seized the back of the soldier's head, ramming it violently into the balcony's railing with a crunch. His body slid to the floor in a heap. Tarvalk's side had been splattered in blood. The old orc looked determined and grim. "Valsar." He turned to the party, waving his arm at the mess on the floor. "This is where the war starts, heroes. For good or ill, you witness history in the making." Edited April 4, 2014 by CallMePie
Capt.JohnPaul Posted April 5, 2014 Posted April 5, 2014 "Woah. Well there is no turning back now... We need to now take the city back and make sure the rest of the Lizards can't cross the bridge."
CMP Posted April 5, 2014 Author Posted April 5, 2014 (edited) "Woah. Well there is no turning back now... We need to now take the city back and make sure the rest of the Lizards can't cross the bridge." "We have Imaestym secured already, this was this their last holdout. This worm here..." Tarvalk motioned towards the half-conscious human on the ground. "....is their leader and sole survivor. For the moment. Word was sent to the other clan leaders when the attack started. If you have managed to get any of them on your side, their armies should be just outside the city walls. When we have finished things here, we will go to them. And then we will cross the bridge. We will kill every soldier. And we will free the last of our kin chained in their Kingdoms." Edited April 5, 2014 by CallMePie
Scubacarrot Posted April 5, 2014 Posted April 5, 2014 The raider sighed: "Marga refused to join us, but General Gor promised all the support he could muster. But then again, I doubt Marga would not come to attack the Kingdoms... It seems that there was never really anything we could have done to prevent a war... Is Karstaal dead? And something else, your daughter just refused us entry and Olmstyr and her went over the edge in the struggle."
CMP Posted April 5, 2014 Author Posted April 5, 2014 The raider sighed: "Marga refused to join us, but General Gor promised all the support he could muster. But then again, I doubt Marga would not come to attack the Kingdoms... It seems that there was never really anything we could have done to prevent a war... Is Karstaal dead? And something else, your daughter just refused us entry and Olmstyr and her went over the edge in the struggle." "Yes, Marga and Clan Aj-Khar insist we execute you, refusing what little of their army remains after General Gor went rogue otherwise. I do not think she will come, but Gor remains confident in your abilities. Karstaal is not dead...yet. I do not know if he will survive his wounds. Tra-Serral? I told her to remain guard...we will get this cleared up once we return outside the city. She should meet us there."
Scubacarrot Posted April 5, 2014 Posted April 5, 2014 "Haldor, see what you can do. This leader of theirs, what's to happen with him? And what of the snake Jaret? We bumped into him and an assassin on the way here."
CMP Posted April 5, 2014 Author Posted April 5, 2014 "This leader of theirs, what's to happen with him? And what of the snake Jaret? We bumped into him and an assassin on the way here." "He is to die here. We do not keep prisoners or slaves. Jaret lives? Unless he has indeed betrayed us, something I would not doubt, he is likely outside the city as well."
The Legonater Posted April 5, 2014 Posted April 5, 2014 Dyric watches silently, shocked to the core. There could have been peace... there should have been peace...
Capt.JohnPaul Posted April 6, 2014 Posted April 6, 2014 "He is to die here. We do not keep prisoners or slaves. Jaret lives? Unless he has indeed betrayed us, something I would not doubt, he is likely outside the city as well." "I am glad you refuse slavery. Show them you are not as bad as they are. Alright, let's go. I'm curious to see if Jaret is there. Not that it matters now, we need to see who we have."
CMP Posted April 7, 2014 Author Posted April 7, 2014 "I am glad you refuse slavery. Show them you are not as bad as they are. Alright, let's go. I'm curious to see if Jaret is there. Not that it matters now, we need to see who we have." "Indeed." Tarvalk moves towards Karstaal, but pauses as the man half-standing against the bookshelf spits up a significant amount of blood. "As bad as we are....you speak....to the same monsters who thought they could conquer the world not three centuries ago...and now they're the good guys?" He grinned, teeth lined with blood. "...Heh.....traitors on every side. Lizards, nords, orcs...almost don't care who comes out on top anymore...so much power...all wasted." Tarvalk wraps his arm around the man's head, snapping it halfway around on his neck before letting the body hit the floor. He turns away, scooping up Karstaal and slinging the orc over his shoulder, leading the heroes out without a word. The party returns to the camp set up just outside the wall. On one side, a dead city lies smoking in ruin. On the other, four armies stand ready for blood, and yet all is relatively quiet. Tarvalk gazes over the ocean of orcs, handing Karstaal off to several of his men who start examining his wounds. The leaders of the other armies approach the party - first Jaret, arms crossed, then General Gor, blade and armor shimmering in the light. Garohn approaches from a cluster of his men, looking grim as always. Tarvalk nods to each. The armies of the four clans, all assembled in a single force. For the first time in over two hundred years, Baltarok stands united. "Heroes. I've rounded up what troops I can." "We are pre-par-red for ven-geance." "Irlaz stands ready, heroes." For the first time, a strong, determined smile seems to form under Tarvalk's beard, though his face remains otherwise impassive. "Thousands of years of hating us. Centuries of imprisoning us. But now, thanks to you, heroes....the High Kingdoms will learn to fear us."
swils Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 "Well it ain't exactly what Olmstyr brought us here for, but at least your clans've united under a single banner again. Speaking of him, any word on Olmstyr and Tra'serral? Heck of a fall they had."
Scubacarrot Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 "Yeah. Fear. We are really doing this, then." The raider said it as much as a question as just a statement. They had succeeded. They united the orcs and gave them course to follow...
CMP Posted April 7, 2014 Author Posted April 7, 2014 "Well it ain't exactly what Olmstyr brought us here for, but at least your clans've united under a single banner again. Speaking of him, any word on Olmstyr and Tra'serral? Heck of a fall they had." "I've had no-" The old orc paused as two figures pushed their way through the crack in the wall the heroes had just exited. One seemed to be pushing the other, along towards the party. It was Tra-Serral (looking relatively unscathed) and Olmstyr (who looked like he just took a six story drop off a balcony). "Heck of a fall doesn't even begin to cover it," coughed Olmstyr. "Tra-Serral. What is the meaning of this." "Was told to let no human set foot inside. Most here are human...some elf. One orc. All banded together." Tarvalk paused. "So it would seem....I owe you an apology, heroes. For quite a long time we have equated humankind with the Kingdoms across the river. But you have brought Baltarok together in the way that only one orc ever has over the course of our entire history. Anyone here can see the worth of your kind; that goes for the elves, as well. Have no doubt you will all be remembered in our legends among Ironshin the Greater, Chief Valokuul, Girmelv the Sharp, and Grog the Red. Orcs never forget their history, nor those that stood beside them even while others move to destroy all we know."
The Legonater Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 We may have brought Baltarok together, but I suppose only the next few days will tell us just how long it will last. Olmstyr, good to see you alive and well.
CMP Posted April 8, 2014 Author Posted April 8, 2014 We may have brought Baltarok together, but I suppose only the next few days will tell us just how long it will last. Tarvalk looked east, then turned back to the heroes. "No." He strode onto one of the piles of rubble lying around nearby, and seemed to tower over the hundreds of orcs before him. "Sons and daughters of Tarok; the ruin brought about by the Kingdoms here today might seem a reckoning hundreds of years in the making. It is not. No single grudge could spawn an assault of this magnitude, not after such a stretch of time. This is an act of war. Maybe in their hearts, and in ours, we still feel the drive, the drive Tarokai felt two and a half centuries ago, when he set about to right the wrongs on our race, and the same drive that caused them to strike back at us. But those are old scars. This attack is a new wound on the history of our people - and this time, we will return the blood shed by every orc tenfold on the soldiers of the Kingdoms! They forced us back into our land, expecting our survivors to bleed until we could fight no more, but we have rebuilt, a hundred times greater than before, and we will return to the Kingdoms with ferocity yet unseen by their corrupted kings and murderous knights! We have endured a thousand perils, and every orc still imprisoned in the Kingdoms has endured a thousand more, but today, that comes to an end!" The old orc lifted his greatsword, pointing east, past the crumbling walls of Imaestym, to the dim silhouette of the bridge in the distance. "WE MARCH NOW FOR THE BRIDGE! WHEN THE NEXT MORNING DAWNS, SO WILL DAWN A NEW ERA IN BALTAROK, AND FOR EVERY ORC ON OLEGAIA! COL, EI ASH TAROK KON IR GAUSH!" The entire army roared in response, and the ground quaked as the forces of the four clans stormed forth east, towards the future, for good or ill. Tarvalk waved his sword again, and the commanders of each clan rallied around him. "Come, heroes. The time is now. You as much a part of Baltarok as any of these orcs. United, nothing can overtake the might of us all." The clan commanders started walking alongside their army. Their war had begun.
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