The Logs of the TDFS Tindome

Chapter 8: Classic Orc Tricks

Finwë attempts first aid on Mandorak, finally figuring out which arm to bandage. Bay trots toward the barracks, where he too can see the attack on the orc.

The orc flails around. Eïr swings her mace and the orc parries, breaking free of the slaves that are grappling with it. Bay directs 'his' new hammer at the orc, and smacks him squarely between the eyes. As he collapses backwards, the person on his back performs an amazing acrobatic flip, and lands with her feet firmly planted on the orc's chest.

Under Finwë's ministrations, Mandorak recovers consciousness.

Eïr strikes the downed orc with her mace, the damsel (Jakar Toka?) on his chest jumps on his face, and Bay TKs him with the hammer again. He now loses consciousness. Outside, Mandorak gropes for his crossbow. Finwë sees some orcs headed for the building with Eïr and Bay, and shoots one of them. His companions look around. The one with the club spots him, and the one with the crossbow does not.

"Jakar Toka?" asks Bay. The young woman looks up, surprised, from her work of pounding the orc's face into mush. Eïr frisks the prone orc, and lifts a set of keys and a few daggers. She passes the weapons out to the likeliest looking slaves. Bay continues, "You see, asked us to especially look for Jakar Toka."

Our captain shoots the crossbowman.

Eïr heads for the door, beckoning for everyone to follow her out. She informs Bay, "There are still orcs out here to be killed." Bay grabs his hammer and heads out.

Mandorak shoots the orc with the club. The orc heads towards the pair of them. Finwë shoots him in the head. He staggers, but doesn't fall.

There is a cluster of orcs on the porch of the next barracks. Bay and Eïr head that way. Bay hurls the hammer at the one crossbowman, hitting him and causing him to drop his crossbow. Eïr heads out with Bavör, but is able to see Jakar Toka leap on the nearby wagon, and thence up onto the roof of her barracks.

Mandorak shoots that third orc, and he joins his co-workers on the ground.

Bay can see that he's drawn the orcs' attention. The orc he attacked is readying his crossbow, so Bay TKs his wood chisel at him. The orc dodges, with an evil grin, and aims at the dwarf. Bay TKs his wood gouge. It hits, but the orc seems unaffected by it.

Eïr comes up behind the orcs, and strikes the bullwhip-wielding one with her mace. At the same time, Jakar Toka leaps off the roof, lands in front of the porch, and hurls her dagger into the throat of the next orc over. He collapses. The whipman strikes at Eïr, but she parries.

As Mandorak, followed by Finwë head for the sound of conflict, Eric races past their path, tosses a deck of cards in the air, and yells, "Duck!" Mandorak ducks, and dodges sideways. A huge crossbow bolt slams through the cloud of cards and into the space that had been occupied by the dwarf. The cards flutter down to the ground, forming a deck of cards. The captain follows the trajectory back, and puts an arrow through one of the orcs in the firing cupola. It's not the front guy – he dodged – but the fellow behind him is well and truly pierced.

Bay is now in TK range of his would-be killer, so he jerks the orc's crossbow up, just as the trigger is pulled. The bolt passes just over Bay's head. Eïr tangles with the whipman, who wraps his whip around the mace, and pulls it away from her. He strikes, and Eïr is knocked unconscious. Jakar Toka plucks the dagger from the one orc's throat, and stabs the whipman in the back. He goes down like a felled ox.

Mandorak also spots the source of the giant crossbow bolts, and fires at the orc shouting instructions. He dodges behind the giant crossbow engine. Finwë "Death from the Sky" Cerëendil shoots him through a gap in the siege engine. He shrieks. Paper darts spray the area.

Bavör now grabs his hammer with TK and drives it up between the legs of the orc. The orc freezes, looking like someone who wants to roll into a defensive ball. Jakar Toka drives the dagger entirely through her orc.

Mandorak puts a crossbow bolt through another orc in the cupola. Finwë shoots one too. There's a struggle, and a wounded orc is shoved out the window, across the roof, and onto the ground.

Bay aims his hammer at 'his' orc. The orc parries, as is customary, with his crossbow. Jakar Toka removes an orcan kneecap with her foot.

Mandorak hits another orc, who collapses behind the crossbow. Finwë shoots the siege engine in the release mechanism.

Bay tries to hit the orc with the hammer again, from behind this time. The orc understands this, and turns to parry, but fails. He is smashed in the face by the hammer, and goes down like a rock. In this tiny lull, the dexterous maiden wakes Eïr.

In the weapons' cupola, the lead orc forces an underling forward to unblock the release mechanism. Mandorak shoots him, and he falls out of the window in the other direction. He screams in agony when he hits. Captain Cerëendil also shoots him; he screams louder.

The back wall of the next building over explodes outward. Bavör quickly joins the two women by the group of downed orcs, nervously watching the results of the explosion. Jakar Toka retrieves her dagger.