The trip to Jewel Abbey had been mostly uneventful, a few stops to get Branil the Mule walking again was about the only excitement we had seen. We walked mostly in silence, Flint would occasionally hum a battle hymn, but other than that we just kept to ourselves. The town of Jewel Abbey was only a few rises away, according to Flint, and we could both see a yellow glow on the horizon from the lights of the town. As we topped the next rise though, we both noticed that the yellow glow was more orange and it wasn’t the glow from the lights at all. The town was on fire.
We immediately began jogging towards the town and after topping the last rise we could see figures moving around in the glow of the flames. There were townspeople running around but none were putting out the fires, they were all either panicked or being chased by large figures that we couldn’t make out from this distance. Due to the qualities of my people, I could see as good at night as a human could during the day but the smoke was too thick to make out any details from here. As we jogged down the hill towards the town I could finally make out the details of the figures. Several large shadows moved through the town grabbing townspeople and hacking them down. The figures were too large to be other humans, they were large, broad, powerfully muscled, and slightly hunched. They were Ghorim, which the humans called Orcs.
“Ghorim” I said in a low voice so that Flint could hear.
He looked at me and nodded once and we both began running faster. Flint pulled out his warhammer and started running towards a small cluster of people cowering against a building with two Ghorim towering over them. I grabbed the reins of the two pack horses and quickly tethered them to a nearby tree along with Branil the Mule, Jastonis, and Teril, and then shimmied out of my pigeon rack and leaned it against a tree. I slipped into a nearby patch of bushes and started sneaking my way towards Flint. As I moved, two flashes appeared in my vision, one was a quest notification and the other was two PIPs in the Stealth Skill. The quest tracker in the top right of his vision read:
“Active Quest”
Quest name, “Save Jewel Abbey”.
Quest Objectives. “Defeat invading Ghorim: 0/45”.
I dismissed the two notifications and then crept up to flank one of the Ghorim that Flint had engaged in combat. He was holding a shield of red energy in his left hand and wielding his massive hammer in his right fending off blows from the two massive ghorim in front of him. The Ghorim really was massive, easily standing seven feet tall with deep corded muscles across their thick olive green bodies. They wore tribal leather clothing with weapons made of primitively patterned bronze, stone, and bone. Their brutish faces were bestial, piggish faces with large tusks protruding from their jaws, and their faces were framed with long greasy black hair. They spoke and grunted in guttural common speech as they cursed and threatened Flint. I motioned for the villagers to run and pointed to the copse of trees where I had stashed their pack horses before pulling my daggers moving up behind the Ghorim on my right. I quickly glanced at my Backstab ability and it was available and glowing with a bloody red light. I lunged at the back of one of the Ghorim and triggered Backstab. My right dagger sank into Ghorim’s back at the ribs and the left dagger sank into the armpit just before it started a massive swing. Hot blood sprayed across my hands and face from the dual strike and a notice appeared in my vision.
“Left-hand attack, Backstab. Hit! You hit the Ghorim Raider for 8 Trauma Damage!”
“Right-hand attack, Backstab. Critical Hit! You hit the Ghorim Raider for 12 Trauma Damage!”
”Congratulations! You have gained two PIPs in your level 4 Stealth skill! You need 8 more PIPs before you can raise your Stealth Skill to level 5!”
”Congratulations! You have gained two PIPs in your level 4 Melee Weapons skill! You need 8 more PIPs before you can raise your Medium Weapons Skill to level 5!”
”Congratulations! You have gained two PIPs in your level 4 Melee Weapons skill! You need 6 more PIPs before you can raise your Melee Weapons Skill to level 5!”
“Congratulations, you have successfully killed the Ghorim Raider!”
Quest Objectives. “Defeat invading Ghorim: 1/45”.
I was blindsided by the stream of notifications but the Ghorim Raider tensed and looked down in confusion before falling lifeless.
I left the dagger in the dead Ghorim’s armpit and pointed my left hand at the other Ghorim facing Flint. My fingers moved in a series of arcane gestures as the Ghorim began falling back from Flint’s incredibly destructive hammer swings. The Ghorim had fear in his eyes, one of his shoulders already broken from Flint’s onslaught and a deep black bruise forming on his chest. He managed a few retreating steps before my fingers finished their movements and I whispered a word of power. A bolt of lightning shot from my outstretched hand hitting the Ghorim in the side. The Ghorim went rigid, muscles seizing up before his body fell sideways with its piglike eyes burning into black lifeless orbs.
”Congratulations! You have gained two PIPs in your level 4 Mysticism skill! You need 6 more PIPs before you can raise your Mysticism Skill to level 5!”
Quest Objectives: “Defeat invading Ghorim: 2/45”.
“Well done friend Nibingul, just 43 more to go. By Shada’Val this place is a wreck.” Flint said, his voice a little winded as he looked around for the next place to go. He spotted a group of villagers in wooden cages guarded by a lone Ghorim and pointed it out to me. “I think that is more suitable to your skills my friend, go free them and slay that foul Pal-Muran parasite guarding them. Send the survivors where you sent the others and see if any can or will fight to help us.”
Just then a deep black arrow shaft plunged into Flint’s shoulder eliciting a grunt of pain from the priest followed by a bellowing challenge as he turned and charged three bow-wielding Ghorim standing near a building that was beginning to catch fire. “Demons of Pal-Muros, cowardly dogs!” he screamed.
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I watched for a second as Flint brought his Shield of Faith before him and closed the distance to the attackers. I focused on the task given to me and slipped into the shadows of a nearby building moving towards the cages that Flint had pointed out.
Quest Objective: “Defeat invading Ghorim: 3/45”.
I moved slowly and quietly as I could, dismissing a notification that I had gained two more PIPs in the Stealth skill. I would have to remember to ask Flint if there was a way that I could make these automatically go to the small icon instead of popping up in my vision. It was incredibly distracting! I moved through the shadows towards the cage, the Ghorim Guard was standing watch with his back to the five-foot-high cages and I saw that one of the two cages held several figures, one fairly large figure was laying on the floor in the corner. There might be a dozen captives crowded into this short rectangular cage, packed in like cattle. I moved to the corner closest to the Ghorim, my eyes watching the guard intently.
I moved my hand in another series of gestures and whispered another word of power. Suddenly the sound of a woman screaming erupted next to a building across the street from the cages in the direction that the Ghorim was facing. The guard took a step towards the sound it’s eyes searching for where the scream originated. With a smirk, I shot forward, sinking the dagger in my right hand into the back of the creature while my left hand grasped the creature by the back of the head and released a bolt of lighting at point-blank range. The Ghorim didn’t get the chance to make a sound as the sizzling bolt sank deep into his head and cooked him from the inside out. The dagger slid free from the guard as it fell with a sickening thump to the ground at my feet. I wiped off the blood on my robes before slipping the dagger back into the hidden sheath under my sleeves. My other hand shot into one of the many hidden pockets inside my robe and pulled out a smallish leather roll that was tied in the middle. I dismissed the notifications as they appeared with a thought and then turned and kneeled before the cage, unrolling the set of thieves' tools and getting to work on the cage’s lock.
Quest Objective: “Defeat the invading Ghorim: 8/45”.
I gave a quick glance at the quest tracker and noticed that the counter jumped up by five, with the Ghorim that I had just eliminated and the three that Flint must have finished off there was one additional Ghorim that was killed by someone else. I was happy to see that Flint and I were not the only two fighting back the invasion. I made quick work of the Ghorim’s primitive lock and pulled the cage door open while the captives rushed out thanking me repeatedly. “Get to da trees dat way, more of yer people are there already,” I said gruffly while pointing the direction that I had sent the others. The large person, a Northman I could now see, was still lying in the back corner of the cage caked in blood. I went to him quickly and shook the giant man ta see if I could rouse him but he didn’t stir. I looked around and saw Flint walking past the cage, nodding to me for a job well done. “Flint, c’mere, dis one needs yer help.”
Flint stopped and turned towards the cage and peered in at me. “Hurry, friend Nibingul, there are still many more of these devils that must perish before our task is done.” Flint said as he approached.
“He’s a Northman, an he appears ta be injured. Lookin like he put up a struggle. He can help.” I said while backing out of the cage to give Flint room to come in and help. “I think he has a hit to ‘is noggin’, you can heal, yeah?”
Flint stepped in and looked for a moment at the man. “He lives, but you are correct that he is badly wounded.” Flint grasped his medallion in his left hand and said a quick prayer over the man while touching the stranger on the forehead. A warm glow surrounded Flint’s hand and the Northman opened his eyes with a flutter. The Northman started for a second as his eyes gained focus and took in the sight of the Battle Priest kneeling next to him.
“By the tundra, a Road Priest!” The Northman said as he sat up, his voice was booming and deep as a cracking glacier.
Quest Objective: “Defeat the invading Ghorim: 10/45”
Flint chuckled a bit and helped the man to his feet as best he could. The large man was dressed in the typical attire for his people, leathers lined with fur and accented with steel plates for armor. His chest was nearly naked, his shoulder armor, also thick leather, fur, and steel plates were held on by two thick leather straps that crossed his chest with an oval steel plate in the center and large rounded square plates over the straps. He wore thick leather boots, gloves, and bracers all fashioned to match the rest of his outfit. When he got out of the cage and stood he was nearly seven feet tall himself. He towered over the priest, who was tall himself and stretched his massive arms over his head.
“Thank you, priest, I feel much better.” He looked at Flint and me for a second, his icy blue eyes taking us in with some amusement, his accent thick and rich. “What a strange group of saviors, I am in your debt.”
“There will be time for thanks later friend, right now we must drive out these creatures and save as many as we can. Can you fight?” Flint said while I looked around for more Ghorim Raiders to dispatch.
“I can, let us go.” The tall stranger said as he began jogging off towards some screams in the distance. The Northman seemed extremely eager as he took off towards what I guessed was the center of town, he didn’t even have a weapon. I looked at Flint and shrugged my shoulders before the two of us took off after the large man. The town was nearly an inferno now, the heat was making me begin to sweat under the thick robes and the thick smoke began to sting my eyes. We were running out of time. We dispatched a few groups of straggling Ghorim as we followed the Northman, he would simply charge into a group and begin hitting them bare-handed or slamming them into the ground. He was a force to be reckoned with. By the time Flint and I got to the group, the Ghorim would be incapacitated or laying with necks and limbs snapped. Flint followed while I hung back to finish off any that survived the initial onslaught. I knew that Flint would most likely be too honorable to kill any foe that was unable to defend themselves but I had no desire to have any of these wake up and hit us from the rear. It was grizzly work but I didn’t put too much thought into it, after all these creatures were attacking unarmed villagers without giving any consideration.
Quest Objective: “Defeat the invading Ghorim: 23/45”
We directed many of the townspeople to flee towards the horses as we went, there was no time to try to save buildings or possessions but as long as there were people they could rebuild. We had all taken some lumps here and there, I had taken a total of six Wounds as we went and Flint and the Northman were practically stumbling by the time we neared the center of town. The town's well was in a courtyard at the heart of the town and with the number of burning buildings, there was no way that we could muster enough survivors to save more than a few of the buildings.
Quest Objective: “Defeat the invading Ghorim: 40/45”
When we rounded the last corner and could see the courtyard in full the sight was worse than I had imagined. The temple was partially on fire, and one priest stood in front of the entrance squared off against the remaining Ghorim. At his feet were a dozen priests who had fallen to the onslaught and this priest was the last one standing. The man was older than Flint, though like Flint he was well built and hardy for his age. The priest's bald head and white beard gleamed in the firelight and his polished plate armor reflected the flames of the town to the point that it looked like he was radiating flames and power himself. Like Flint, he also wore the customary red tabard and it had several rips and tears along with no small amount of brackish dark blood.
I winced as Flint bellowed in rage but my eyes were locked on the five remaining Ghorim standing in front of the temple. They were standing twenty or so feet away from the steps leading up to the temple, four of them standing in a semi-circle behind a much larger Ghorim. This Ghorim had his body covered in white paint, it was applied in primitive patterns crossing most of his exposed flesh. His skin was much darker than the others, almost a muddy brown color instead of the usual drab green. To make it worse, this one was maybe nine feet tall and his arms and legs were impossibly strong.