Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="hbarsquared" data-source="post: 2125897" data-attributes="member: 4550">Chapter IPage TwoThe ship groaned as its bulk cut through the cold waters of Pelluria and the thickening mist. Laden with its enslaved cargo, hundreds of bodies tied and bound in racks lining its bowels, the slave ship ponderously made its way along the coast."I can't see a damned thing out here," growled Hrtak to himself, clenching the pommel of his sheathed verdatch. It was as if that witch from the east had called down these mists, the fog was so impenetrable.Then a dark shape caught his eye. Fleeting, at first he thought it was an illlusion. But no, there it was again. Hrtak's eyes narrowed and he slowly pulled out his serrated verdatch, even as his heart began to thump hard in his chest, thudding against his chain. He raised his weapon and turned, inhaling to yell out the warning, the warning that the pirates, those refugees, the ragtag humans, had arrived.An arrow embedded itself in his throat, and with a gurgle Hrtak fell to the planks.A dark shape appeared out of the mists alongside the slave ship.And the slaughter of the orcs began.* * *Men armed with swords, bows and arrows materialized from the mists to board the slave ship, leaping from their own silent, dark vessel now floating at the slave ship’s side.  Within moments, they had swarmed the ship, like a plague of rats, and began killing orcs without mercy or succor.  The orcs, in turn, roared with abandon and held their swords aloft.  Their bravado, however, was cut down as swiftly as it had been raised as arrows were loosed from the darkness and swords erupted from their bellies.Torak had been lucky, so far.  But one pirate, after running one of the guards through with his sword, turned and saw Torak in the mists.  He held his sword aloft and charged Torak, still bound in his chains.Another orc had been lucky, as well.  As the pirates dashed along the deck, Lokksul had managed to maneuver his body along the railing, behind the beastwoman that had humiliated him earlier.  Now, his fellows were dead, and she just might save him.  The pirates had not yet seen him in the shadows, but he soon caught the feral eye of the woman.* * *Each slave in the hold had perhaps six cubic feet of space, if they were lucky.  None had individual bunks, but shelves that extended from the walls, ten bodies deep.  Each shelve was separated from the next by only one foot, a claustrophobic space that had seen its share of vomit, feces, and blood.Methuselas and Abdiel had been lucky; they had been one of the last to enter the hold, and were closer to the shelf’s edge.  They were the first to receive food, felt a wisp of a breeze whenever an orc entered, and could at least move an inch or two to flex aching muscles.  Those thrust against the wall fared not as well.  Some had already perished on the trip, and when that happened, the slaves were forced to shoulder the body outward to be picked up by the orcs that brought them gruel once a day, where it would promptly be thrown overboard.  If the body was not removed in time . . .  There had been more than one Fell that had decimated entire slave holds.When the orc entered the hold that day, with chaos erupting above, the slaves knew it was not time to eat.  He held his vardatch, and whether from insanity, cruelty, or perhaps mercy, the orc began to execute the slaves, one by one, tearing his weapon across neck after neck.  When he reached Abdiel, the orc brought his massive arm back to prepare for his strike and did not expect the chains of a massive Dorn, Methuselas, one bunk above Abdiel’s, to wrap around his wrist.  With a twist, the vardatch tumbled down to Abdiel’s side, just as an arrow from above buried itself into the orc.“I’ve found them!” called a voice from above in Erenlander, “We need more men!  Don’t let any orcs down this hold!”OOC: Please see the revised Guidelines section above for how combat will be handled.  Sorry, I had forgotten to include it earlier!</blockquote>

Verification