The You Who Will Never Be (M)

[Skwint]

Was that the goblin? Well, damn, he actually did something useful. That was the first lucky break that he had all day. Well, that and not getting shot.

Black Skull closed in on Durandan, his eyes filled with murder. Durandan begged for his life saying that he knew things. Black Skull gave him a simple reply.

"I'm counting on it."

He the kicked Durandan hard in the stomach before dragging him to his feet and slamming him against the side of the house.

"You have a lot of explaining to do."

Black Skull brought his forehead down hard onto Durandan's nose with a wet crunch. He then kneed him in the groin and slammed him into the other house, allowing him to collapse to the ground afterward.

"Zaggit, if you're still alive go find a rope. I don't care where you get it from."

Black Skull then knelt down beside the battered and bloody Durandan.

"First things first," Black Skull began, extending his armblade. "How did you know we were coming?"

[Elector Count of WAAAGH!]

The goblin slowly got up, giving the one eyed man an annoyed face before sticking his tongue out at him.

The goblin wanted to proceed with looting the man he had literally fallen, but then he noticed Gary was headinn this way. Now the goblin was only slightly, slightly more smarter then the orc, but he at least was cunning enough to know what surprise was and to save it.

"Sure...'boss'" the goblin muttered.

He gave Black Skull one last look, stuck out his tongue again, before slowly walked away...only to run back and supposedly gave Black Skull's butt a good kick, before dashing off to meet Gary, snickering all the way. What ever he hit or missed, he was too busy snickering to find out, that and running into straight into a wooden post, before grumbling angrily at himself and continued to run at Gary.

The orc meanwhile, who was hit by the crossbow bolts, turned about to see who hit him. To his delight saw actrually armed people not from before. He gave a roar and started charging at the group.

The orc was charging from the side of them, and had spotted the now glowing red human.

The orc smiled. Maybe this was one of the, human fire breathers looking to clear the enclosed space! Or maybe a human with runic powers? Or better yet! A beserker! Glowing red of anger! The orc's mind raced with possibilities as he quickened his pace to intercept the runner.

He was successful, bursting into the scene by grabbing the human by the face as he ran in the left direction of the human, and slammed the human's face violently into the ground.

Finally! The moment of truth! The moment where this human struggled and fought him! Aaaaaand it was just another scrawny, little, tiny, little, puny, little human, did he mention little? Cause this man seemed much bigger from afar.

Truth be told the orc was too busy thinking about what this man could be rather then what he was.

Disappointed, the orc just threw the human back in the direction he came. Sure he wasent rocketing like Zaggit, but he was still flying, straight back at the group of humans to- wait a second! More humans!

The orc grew more excited, his muscles flexing excitedly some how. Maybe a group will pose more challenge. He gave a roar so loud the gods could hear, before gripping his axe into two hands, raising said axe, then spcharge still yelling towards the group.

[Wrathwyrm]

The crosssbow bolt intended for Concord struck in one of her legs.

Pt!

A drop in the bucket, really, but she noticed it.  The owner of the crossbow in question would no-doubt watch in horror as her eyes fixed on his location in that house and flashed...before she leapt from the roof, right into the front of said house!  Concord shrieked and hissed in anger as her high-velocity bulk rammed into the place, causing some of it to collapse as she pulled out and jumped on top of it and stomping her weight down.  Someone might've heard the man inside scream before the little house fell in on him, the giant spider on top of the debris.

And then, her posterior turned up and fired a web-net into the fighting area.  Anyone sneaking up behind her was gonna get caught up in that, unless they had an immediate escape.

Gary had been dealing with combat his own way.  Folks had to strike down at him in some way, or be crouched down to hit normally, or just short.  Most of the attackers were no short, and he had loads of experience dealing with the tall.  For intance, he barely had to bother outright killing anyone.  He could just toss a knife at their ankles and immediately stagger them, or throw bolas to catch their legs and let them fall into the caltrops he tossed under them before they fell.

Look, let's just be blunt here.  He was at a good height to parry attacks and almost immediately make eunichs of any man not wearing a codpiece.  You don't mess with Mr. Blight.

Such was the sort of harm that the goblin highwayman left in his wake for any man attempting him harm.  He hadn't even fired a pistol-shot or drawn Bitterfang.  He'd found no need for his darts or any poison at all.  He had to be cautious of the guns himself, of course, but still he was able to make it over to Zaggit as the other goblin approached.

"So, any sign of Reese yet?"

[Gawfy]

Gabe breathed a sigh of slight relief as Sharon spoke to him. 
While Raizel and the man who was presumably the store owner patched what was left of her up Gabe started to dig the shrapnel out of his arm that was holding Sharon's hand.
More blood ran down his arms as he ripped them all out. He looked behind him to see Jorge and the other fellow reloading. He turned to Sharon before speaking.  Sharon listen to me, I gotta help the others, Do not die on me.
Gabe let go of her hand and joined Jorge.
How many shooters do we have out there? Gabe asked as he reached for the pistol he had stolen from one of Rain's men back in their first raid together.

[Valtxr]

   Something warm. Running down Sharon's hand.
   She looked. Blood. Gabe's blood.
   And then he spoke.
   She gave his hand a hard squeeze. "Get him..." she said as firmly as she could. "Get Reese. Make him pay for this."
   Gabe's hand pulled away from hers, and she allowed her arm to rest over her chest.
   Sharon fought to stay conscious as Raizel worked on her injured leg. Grit her teeth to force herself to stay awake. To fight through the pain. To summon the last few scraps of strength left.
   The world fading in and out. Darkness about the edges of her eyes.

   Zhang dropped the bullet down the barrel of the pistol and started to ram it home.
   The shirtless man approached. Gabe was his name.
   Jorge replied to him first. "Way too many for my likin', mate!"
   "Hard to say," Zhang said. "I didn't get a good look. I'd guess five. Six. Maybe more."
   Zhang finished with the bullet and slid the rod back into the slot under the pistol. He gestured with his head toward the broken shop window. "See for yoursel—"
   A loud roar. From outside. Sounded like the orc.
   "Perhaps our cavalry has arrived."

   Durandan winced and gasped on the ground after the assault from Black Skull. But he was still breathing. And that was all that mattered.
   He held up his hand in a pleading fashion when he saw the armblade, trying to buy a few seconds to catch his breath again. "Boss told me. Reese, that is. Came and woke me up a couple hours ago. Brought all the boys with him. Said somebody left a note with a warning about an attack stuck to our hideout door. That's all he told me. I swear."

   The remaining ambushers down in the neighborhood lost their morale upon seeing a rampaging orc and, worse, a gigantic spider against them.
   So they did what any bandit concerned with self-preservation would do. They dropped their weapons and broke from their hiding places. Each making a run for it in different directions heading out of town. Reese be damned. He could punish them if he caught them.

   An orc charged onto the shopping terrace and grabbed Keltic and flung him back toward Reese, and the man landed at his feet. Blood poured out of Keltic's nose and mouth. He was conscious only in that his eyes were open.
   "You still have your use, Keltic," Reese said as he bent over and grabbed the man, pulling him up to his feet and holding him like a human shield.
   "Back! Back!" said one of the men behind Reese.
   "Oh fuck, run!" said another.
   "Go!" said the third.
   All three of the men started to run away. Making a break for the bridge over the Mystral River. Cowards.
   Reese watched the orc charge at him. Stood his ground.
   "We are born."
   He waited.
   "We die."
   Waited.
   "We live again."
   Right as the orc was upon him, Reese detonated the fire rune on Keltic's chest. Keltic's entire body was obliterated, nothing more than a spray of blood tiny particles of flesh and muscles. Hellish fire and smoke erupted in a large explosion, the shockwave rattling the buildings of the shopping terrace.
   Reese, immune to his own magic, stood in the epicenter of the explosion—a small crater in the ground. Visible as the smoke began to part.

[Skwint]

Typical. Of course he wouldn't know. Then again this Durandan fellow was definitely the kind to spill his guts when threatened, so it was also understandable that he wouldn't be trusted with any information that he didn't really need to know.

That had been just an extra question. The next question was the one that he went through all this trouble to have answered.

"Where is the hideout," Black Skull asked. "Where do I find Reese?"

[Elector Count of WAAAGH!]

"Just two gitz. " The goblin said as he bounded up to his fellow goblin. "Fink we'z suppoze ta find da 'umie trough da git on da floor?"

*BOOM*

A loud explosion echoed through the village as smoke began to fill the air.

Zaggit looked up into the air, before looking back at the goblin, pointing his scrawny little hands at the rising smoke and said. "Or maybez da git'z ova dere?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The orc realized this a bit too late, or may end he didn't care. Regardless, the green mass was last seen charging himself into the sea of flames, before black smoke took the flames place.

Minutes past as there was no yelling, no stinky smells, no green, just black, accompanied by the smell of smoke.

Nothing....but what was that? Some sort of faint, red glowing in the center of the smoke, where the orc disappeared.

From the outside, that's all anyone could see, but on the inside, an iron claded foot came out seeking somthing to impact upon.

[Wrathwyrm]

When the would-be ambushers began to flee, Concord wanted to give chase.  However, when the explosion happened, she stopped and hissed at the source of it.  Spiders - giant or otherwise - didn't really like fire, except maybe lava spiders.  However, Concord was no such creature, so she treated this warily, still perched upon the rubble she'd been on and ready to spring into action.  It was just that right now, she wasn't charging into that.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The one-armed fellow appeared to be doing nicely with his interrogations, so it seemed that listening to the git was worthwhile.  He could take them to the hideout, as planned.  However, there was still Reese to contend with, and as an explosion occurred, Zaggit seemed to think that the man at the center of it was the leader himself.

"You know, I do believe you're onto something there."

Oh dear.  Decisions, decisions...  Take the man to the hideout and begin the looting or deal with Reese?  Right through the smoke, Gary could see his magical aura.  Couldn't just leave him there.  He might live through the battle.  Alright, let's do this...  As stated, Gary could see him through the smokey haze of whatever detonated.  So, he pulled out that pistol he hadn't even fired yet, took aim, and shot at him.

[Gawfy]

Gabe watched as the orc rampaged and exploded with a grimace on his face.
Shit you think he survived that? He asked Jorge and Zhang.  His ears perked up again when a gunshot was heard from outside the Store.  Whatta wanna do Jorgie? he asked panicked.   
It looked like the rest of the aggressors had fled, being a betting man Gabe would wager whomever was making those explosions wouldn't flee so easily. Plus with sharon dancing on deaths door Gabe felt like bugging out, and coming up with another plan, but he knew they did not have time for that.
For now Gabe waited for smoke to clear.