Igor asked to lead the attack. He believed he could sneak in unseen and find out exactly where the orcs laired. Pulling out a potion he said, “no one’ll see me see?” Darius and Kayla agreed and the team crept to the bottom of the south prong and then to the top of its crest. No resistance or guard was found. They all hid and peered over to the inside. There was still no change. Igor downed his potion and vanished, just as the dragon above the temple had. Darius pointed to the cave marked “I” on his map and whispered to into the air, “Try this one first.” The grass and fallen leaves rustled as Igor left them. He snuck as silently as possible down the slope to the cave Darius had indicated. To his right was another cave level to it. Large pieces of broken bones lay in a pile outside of it. Igor remembered the cave Kayla had told him of marked “man-eater”. Another idea popped into that unusual mind of his. Sneaking over to the bones, he took out another vial and covered them with its sweet smelling contents.
Moving to the orc cave, Igor looked and listened inside. The interior was pitch black and there were no noises. But as he waited patiently, he believed he could hear breathing. Still invisible, Igor returned and reported. The whole team tiptoed down the slope to the front of the “I” cave. Darius looked into the darkness and saw an empty four-way junction of bricked tunnels a few yards inside. Torches were lit and weapons drawn. Kayla, Holly and Ormand the Redd, all good at ranged attacks, were to cover the rear in case the other caves sent reinforcements. Darius entered alone, but unknown to him Igor had already snuck inside. Still invisible, Igor felt his way past the intersection and down the middle passage. It turned right and after several feet he felt a door along the left-hand wall. He bent down to listen to it. Darius stood in the intersection looking in each direction. The right passage turned after right again after only a few yards. The middle one turned right as well. Turning to the left tunnel he heard a cry. The room beyond was full of orcs standing up and grabbing weapons. “Attack!” he yelled.
The fighting team outside rushed in lighting up the space. They found Darius charging into the left tunnel. Two slain orc bodies had fallen in his wake, but a dozen more fully armored orcs pressed him from the room beyond. Dram and Dalin took up positions behind him to hold the oncoming force in the smaller tunnel. Igor heard stomping behind the door he listened at. Ducking to his right, he caught the scent of pig and ale as creatures filed out of the room. It was lucky for him they were headed to the combat and not in his direction. Mirel was the first to see the reinforcements arrive through the center tunnel. Each fired bows and one of the arrows hit Brother Ben in the arm. Darius ran out from the front line to heal him. Pax and Mirel moved to block the center tunnel to keep Dram and Dalin from being outflanked. Pax dropped the archer in front of him with a single blow. Mirel still had only a torch to defend herself. The noisome howling from the orcs was returned from the empty and undefended right tunnel.
Healed now, Ben took Mirel’s place as she and Darius stood in anticipation of a third force of orcs. The wait was not long. In the midst of another dozen armored orcs, a strange female was dressed in bones and feathers growled authoritatively. The orc running in their lead slipped past Darius and pushed Mirel to the ground. Taking a full swing, it scored Dalin’s full plate. Ben pulled back from his position trying to retrieve some bandages and help the fallen. Seeing the holes in the lines, Dalin cried out “Pull back!” Dalin and Dram did just that, but Pax was stranded while he grappled with several of the archers. Darius grabbed Ben and Mirel and pulled them out of the intersection and towards the exit. Seeing another opening, Dalin charged over to the right tunnel to cover the three. He was quickly surrounded like Pax and the battle and all sense of battle lines were lost.
Once the orcs had stopped running past him, Igor decided to explore a little farther down the tunnel while he still was invisible. Walking with his arms extended to either side he came to a dead end. He tried looking for a latch or a secret portal, but it was too difficult in the dark. He hurried back to the corner to spy on the battle. More than ten orcs had their backs to Igor in the tunnel in front of him. He could see no way to slip through without being noticed. As he searched for his companions he noticed Pax being held by three of the monsters. The others in the front were switching to axes instead of bows. Then Igor noticed Dalin charging from his right to his left and down into a side passage. Suddenly, all lights were extinguished and he was lost in darkness. “I think I can get me out of this, but the rest of those poor fools…”
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