Quantum of Silence

    The call for help goes out via the Hunter's Guild. The problem is simple: shipments from Sunnydale have missed their usual delivery date and harvest has passed. However, it's a long hike from market and the Lander merchants that normally buy the shipments are interested in learning what happened, not in putting themselves in grave danger. Thus they reach out to adventurers. Sturdy, reliable, and willing to work without excessive negotiation.

    Thus the call and the gathering point is just north of Dun Loireag, where a wizened old human Lander waits with a map that (like him) has seen better days. "So you'll just follow along the old road here, to the north and turn east where the old oak tree used to be, before it got struck by lightning about.. twenty years ago. This map should help, in case those directions aren't enough..." And he will offer it to the nearest Adventurer. "Any questions?"

Prophylaxis has been doing all kinds of politicking around Ninetails (and elsewhere in Yamato), so it's only right that he be present to help with some of the region's local problems. It's kind of like going door to door to try to get a petition signed, except with much more bloodshed. Probably. It really depends on what they find at the end of this mystery road, doesn't it?

The doctor taps his pen into a little leatherbound notebook. "North and then east. Ooookay. I'll just have to ask... down the way a little bit, I guess."

Or the map. The map could help. Too bad cartography isn't a universal skill.

"What, no left turn at Alberquerque?" Kauchemar chimes in, because without direct media access someone has to make jokes about old memes. "Maybe for the better. Never understood how someone could make the same mistake over twenty times, even as a plot contrivance." She shrugs, settling in amongst the rest of the Adventurers heeding the call, staff resting upon her shoulder. "If anyone says 'as a crow flies' I will summon a Dire Corvid to peck them really super annoyingly."

Following instructions that could be a lot clearer is just par of the course when it comes to an Adventurer's life. These directions would easily be useful for those that have been in the local area for years, but for those that are not used to the area? Well, it just means that Curtana is going have to be constantly on the lookout for some sort of burnt oak tree. "Got it. Thank you again for your help, sir." Bowing towards the elder Lander, Curtana's trusty shiny silver armor might seem like a beacon of chivalry.

Straighting back up, Curtana checks his gear one last time before asking one question and reaching for the map. "Out of curiousity, just how long have the shipments from Sunnydale been delayed?" It is an important question to ask, after all. Surely after a few weeks, there would have been survivors escaping from the town with word spreading. But since nothing of the sort happened...well, it might not be so sunny in Sunnydale.

Yeowang is always keen to help out, and lately has been schmoozing with various Lander nobles throughout Yamato. But helping out the Landers in this problem will almost certainly help in currying favor, and so here she is. She's wearing simple black breeches and a white shirt, looking a bit formal, but in an informal way, she knows this could end in conflict, that's why adventurers were called, and so it pays to be wary.

The directions are not hugely helpful, and she hasn't got particular skill in maps, which seems to focus on seeing reason through mapmakers' idiosyncracies, but she's a Shadowfist, and the stalkers are generally able to find targets, so she expects to be all right. "Alberquerque?" she asks. "Why would we go there. That's in America, isn't it?"

     Seeing as the Ninetails dominion is Arashi's old stomping grounds, she has a bit of bias toward protecting the place. When the call went out, the warhorse took well known paths back to the area, finding a bit of solice in such a familiar area. The NPC even looks a little familiar, but she doesn't recall a name right away.

    Arashi actually has MAPS of this area, and the tree that is mentioned she recalls, actually pulling one of those old maps of hers out of her inventory, comparing, and even marking the one she has. "I know the area pretty well, so we should be alright."

Nyanta has been furiously focused on Fugu for four fortnights, and he is famously famished for a furlough of fortune finding for feats of fortitude. Or rather, he really wants to do an adventure! He's trying on a new outfit today; it's one that he promised himself that he would save for the eventuality that he would take up piracy, but the hat is just too jaunty to leave this one in the cupboards!

https://wiki.eldertaleonline.com/File:NyantaPirate.png

He tips the aforementioned hat to his companions, looking out across the scenery to see what he can see. "It has been fur too long since I fought undead, nya. Do you think there will be undead on this adventure, nya?" He seems rather excited with the prospect of rotting corpses. That's an ex-DTP member for you... They're all weird. And this one thinks he's a cat.

You know, Kaydon wishes that Shiruba were here. He doesn't have much navigation skill himself, despite having been particularly good at it back in meatspace. He opts to let someone else take the map, "I'm sure the landmark will be enough to go off of."

The gnoll hasn't been seen outside of his new forge since it was finished, having been getting everything fully up and running. Now that the business part of it has started working and he has enough stock to keep things running while he's gone, he's back out in the field. Owning a business is way harder than he expected.

"It's a joke. A reference to an old cartoon." He says to Yeowang, "I got it, Kauchemar." He grins a little bit at her, before he turns to Arashi, "That's good. You should take point for now."

    The Lander (who inspects as Harv Derlson) is happy to get the map out of his hands. Shockingly, it is actually pretty well made. Those that inspect it will recognize that someone at least put effort into it. Only someone who knows the area could vouch for the accuracy (details were paged to Arashi).

    "Well, at this point they are a good three weeks late. And that's late. Still better than never, though, if you take my meaning. I hope its just a problem with their carts. They only have a couple. My niece and her family are up there."

    He looks to the others. The comments about American cities and old references are picked up as a weird fuzziness. "You Adventurers sure say the darnedest things sometimes.."

Oh good, there are other people that can read maps. "We all hope that is all it is -- a simple delay. But we won't know until we investigate proper." She briefly bows to Harv, as it is a polite thing to do, then turns on a hoof to follow after their designated guides with the maps.

It's not until they're out of the Landers' earshot that she mutters "Because it's never just a 'simple delay'."

Yeowang hrms to Kaydon as he explains Bugs Bunny. "I see," she says, not really getting it. But she nods gravely to Harv and says to him, "If there has been a problem, we will help them to get it resolved and get trade flowing again. Trade is the lifeblood of a land, afterall." But we won't know if it's goblin attack or broken carts until we get there, so there's no point in speculating, and she will proceed on with the others.

But she nods to Kauchemar. "If it was simple, I would assume they'd have sent word about why they were delayed, and asked for help if they needed it. Surely something has prevented that."

    Oh, its Harv! Figures he'd have a little mission to hand out. That's fine. After taking hold of the map and comparing it to her own, Arashi's expression shows a little concern, and a little confusion. "Nice map," she muses first before continuing. "I .. don't remember a whole lot of enemies along this road.. heck I don't even think there was a village there before."

Harv's map is tucked away as she leads on with her own, only glancing at it occasionally as they head for the split tree. "It was more of a gathering area if I remember right, so not a lot of enemies. ... Something must have happened."

Nyanta nods in agreement with Kauchemar and Arashi both, "I agree, nya. And if it is UNDEAD that is causing the del, then, well, we knyaw exactly what to do, nya! Aim for the head, nya." He taps his temple, "Adventure awaits, nya! Huzznyaa!!!:"

Curtana isn't exactly an expert at reading maps, but he can traverse well enough. "I'm sure they're fine, it just need to check up on them and give aid if it's needed. Hopefully it's nothing worse than a late harvest." Still, for that long without any word...yeah, something about this just doesn't seem right. "We should be back with word soon, sir."

Keeping his map out and constantly flicking back and forth between it and the road ahead, Curtana waits until they are a good distance away from Harv before throwing his own hat into the ring. He just nods his head a few times. "I don't think it's something simple like pestering Crowlines or broken carts. Just got a bad feeling in my gut..."

...that could be explained by his stale breakfast. "If it is undead...well, Hamon works pretty well for that!" A crackle of Hamon trails up Curtana's right armored arm to illistrate his point.

"The world has changed considerably from what it was," Prophylaxis says as he busily scribbles into his notebook, before flipping it shut with a soft 'whump' of bookends coming together. "It shouldn't be a surprise if something that used to be a peaceful gathering region is suddenly not, anymore."

They have a map, a direction to follow, and a potential lead to chase. The doctor turns and begins strolling down the road. "Shall we be off, then? If there are dark forces afoot, ambushing caravans and the like, then it's best if we get on top of them quickly, no?"

Sprinting along, Chikako hurries down the road towards the party. "Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! I'm laaaaaaate!" she calls.

She'd had a call from someone on the chimlink, and hurried on to meet the group. Unfortunately she got delayed by a sudden patch of Monster Nest, and - having crushed it after a brief fight - dashed off to catch up with the others.

"And... somebody better let folks know there's a new spawn point near the road about ten miles south of here. Giant spiders."

    The way from here to Sunnydale is pleasant, for the most part, though as they draw closer to their destination, there is slightly more forest. The path also deteriorates. Soon the adventurers are relying on a pair of feeble wheel ruts that barely can be discerned from the surrounding turf. Regardless, as expected, the path is clear of trouble. At least until they get close.

    There are several talented Adventurers in this group. Yeowang gives the first hint of trouble. There is a monster presence. Chikako and Kaydon are unfortunately unable to add much detail. However, Nyanta and Kauchemar are very sneaky, indeed. They are able to get close, to the very edge of the village, and they can confirm the worst. The village is taken over by monsters. Weirdly, though, it is not goblins, nor gnolls. There are about twenty orcs here, and as the daylight starts to wane, another group of a dozen orcs comes from the other direction, bringing two Lander prisoners with them.

    There's the town. With the sun setting, and the information starting to come in, Arashi can't help but scowl. Orcs? HERE?! What. In. TARNATION. This is Kau's fault that this quote entered her head. "Oh this won't stand.." she growls before, even without Starshadow, the dire-shire starts to blend in with the lengthening shadows of dusk. She wants to get into town. She wants to find a guard that is near some prisoners, and then she wants to make them -dissapear-. These monsters were in her home area. She's going to put an end to all of them. . . . With help of course.

Nyanta sees a lady in need of back up, and, as a gentleman, he cannot do anything but assist. He wordlessly, stealthily, sneaks after her, readying both rapiers for stabbity goodness. This, indeed, would not stand...

See, told you it was never just a simple delay.

Being the sneaker that she is Kauchemar has little trouble creeping closer to the town to see just what is the haps, and finding a bunch of orcs turning it into a slave drive. Huh. Orcs. Haven't seen orcs in a while, and certainly not around these parts of Ninetales. Out of place monsters is the first sign there is something really wrong about this.

As night is coming it's not so hard for her to slink in the shadows of buildings, but for the moment she stays her hand. She has an idea, but she needs a quick head count... and to make sure she won't give away her allies taking a more direct approach.

Orcs? This far out? Kaydon frowns a little bit as he spots the group, thanks to the efforts of the others that lead the way, since he could get lost with a map and directions...Which they have both of now that he thinks about it.

He pulls up towards the back of the group and takes a knee, "No way we can let them take prisoners. We have to get in there, rescue who we can, and try to figure out if any survivors are still in hiding." Since Arashi seems intent on going in there and taking care of it first hand, he gives her a look, "I'm with you."

Orcs! That's a distinct change in pace. Somehow, Prophylaxis finds himself sighing in relief. It's not goblins, he thinks. Orcish camps at least smell vaguely less awful than goblin hovels. Still, that is quite a number of them. enough that they might pose a threat even to a band of experienced adventurers. After all, these are just the orcs that they can see.

The doctor pulls an amulet from under his robes, tapping it and muttering a word of power. A holographic map of the surrounding area springs up in front of him, and something he sees brings him to pause. There, a dozen of open pits in the ground, just large enough for someone to lay down in. They're scattered all over the periphery of the village. "...Graves...?" The doctor mutters, rubbing his chin. "...But why are they all open? An invading army wouldn't bother burying the dead so... neatly. So instead, are they the village's dead? Were they... exhumed? And if so..."

"...We may be dealing with more than orcs. Undead, perhaps...?"

Yeowang will attempt to move in closer to observe the orcs, and see what may be known about them. She has her own, special, secret sources of information, and it often turns up interesting tidbits, though the way to getting closer to the town is littered with dry brush and it's hard to get close enough without being spotted.

What she finds shocks her, and she retreats back to the group to share her info. "These orcs are from Eastal, for some reason. They were first captured by a group of adventurers, but then some of the orcs were enthralled by a vampire. They are possibly bringing it food and acting as security for it."

"Wait so these orcs are working for a vampire?" Kaydon says, holding up on wanting to rush in on them, "That might be where the group with the prisoners are headed, then." He frowns a little bit, "I do want to take them out but there could be other prisoners in the vampire's lair."

Nyanta's eyes begin to shine, wide and dilated. Vampires. They are undead. This game... It is like the patron saint of prostitutes (Look it up), Santa Claus! Over chim, "Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaa....!"

Now that she knows where the group is going, Chikako joins the scouts walking ahead of the group. At first she doesn't find much of anything, having apparently picked a quiet arc of the route to check out. Then...

There are Orcs.

"I'm in, too," the Oni says, sweeping her horned headband away as she swells into her true form and her real horns sprout in its place. "That's a lot of orcs," she adds. "Vampires are a major problem, yes, but we should clear out the orcs as well."

Despite all the bad feeling in his gut, getting to Sunnydale has been no trouble at all. The weather stays calm, no ravenous creatures in the bush leaping out and no bandits out to idiotically attempt to rob them. Honestly nothing that should cause any issues for the Landers of a small farming community.

That is until they finally reach the village and find that Orcs have been taking over the peaceful hamlet. Before he can even think of formulating some sort of plan, however, Yeowang gives some surprising info, causing the Pooka knight to blink. "That...complicate things. Vampires?" Frowning, Curtana folds his arms and closes his eyes in thought. "...I have to agree with Chikako here. At the very least, we need to save those two villagers. Maybe we can see if they split up again...or might see if they lead the way back to their vampire lord, as much as I hate that idea..."

Since they haven't entered combat yet, Kaydon sends a chim to Arashi, <"Hold back, we're going to scout out and see if the two groups break up. These orcs work for a vampire. Let anyone else who went up know."> He returns back to the main group and considers for a moment, stroking the underside of his muzzle, "So do we want to try to wait for them to split up, or try to force them to split up?"

Orcs AND Vampires? Well that complicates things. Kauchemar shifts through the shadows closer to the others. "There's also the chance some Adventurers showing up will draw the Vampire out. We're probably a tempting treat for one."

Nyanta is very excited. It is a wonder he can remain hidden while he bounces with joy. Over chim, "If I may expurress my purreference, I would wish to be on the vampire slaying team, nya."

    Oh. That makes sense. Arashi was wondering why more people hadn't moved into the village, but a quick call from Kaydon causes her to realize what's going on. "Mm.. fine.." she muses to herself before slowly pulling back from the interior of the village to the rest of the group. If anyone had happened to follow Arashi in, they may know now to wander back out. At least she 'vanished' a couple while she was in there. Meh. She'd rather keep doing it but, well, those numbers aren't great, and a vampire isn't helpful either. "Why are there orcs AND vampires here? Ugh.." she says a bit louder as she approaches everyone else.

"Vampires... empty graves... The vampire queen should still be sealed away. But that doesn't mean her lieutenants aren't still active." Prophylaxis taps his chin thoughtfully. "Right. We still have a problem in front of us. Thirty plus orcs, and whatever undead may be lurking in the shadows. We still have the element of surprise in our corner, but numbers are something else entirely. Orcs are a bit more disciplined than goblins, too, so it may be hard to draw them into a reckless charge..."

His brow furrows, then: "There's a thicket here," he pokes at a spot on his holographic map. "If we funnel some of them into it, I can cut off their reinforcements and archers. From there we might be able to thin the numbers enough to make a frontal assault viable. And it'd draw out their reserves."

"Or better yet," he taps a cluster of houses. "If we draw them there, I can absolutely form enough of a barricade to minimize their numerical advantage. We'd need people to hold the line while rangers hit them from cover."

"The houses themselves may also provide an opportunity for surprise if we make use of the rooftops and interiors." The doctor nods, "I think that's probably our best bet."

"I have a few area of effect spells that can work along with that," Kauchemar murmurs and nods to the Doc. She may be a rival duelist at heart, but that doesn't mean she doesn't come prepared for minion add mashing.

Yeowang dashes in quietly, subtly, keeping to the shadows on her way to help recover the Landers. Nyanta is going for one, she will grab the other, but she discovers too late that this lander will not be able to run on his own! This could be complicated! With a grunt of effort, she pulls the Lander's arm over her shoulder, and heaves, but this Lander is tubby also, and Strength is not her highest score. Energy delivered to a target benefits from speed more than strength, so that has been her focus, but right here, being taller, broader, and stronger would serve her much better. But she does the best she can to flee with the Lander before they are caught up in the confusion.

Nyanta scoops up the gentleman in a princess carry as he rushes him, silently, to safety. Why a princess carry? Well, everyone deserves to have a chance to be the damsel in distress, even if they are a guy. Nyanta doesn't discriminate.

He follows behind Yeowang almost as if he were her shadow, and anyone who might spot the mercantile martial artist might not even notice that Nyanta was there...

Chikako steps up to the chokepoint between the houses and smirks as she looks out over the orcs. As she spots a group coming towards her, she simply stomps her foot.

That simple impact on the ground has a much more significant effect, reverberating through the earth to cause a much more massive rebound. Earth and stone rise before her, filling the gap, closing off the orcs' route towards her and ending just below her head height.

She smirks over the wall again, then sticks out her tongue at the orcs to keep them distracted while Kaydon gets into position to smash them.

The plan begins. Prophylaxis enacts his role to begin the festivities. With a song hummed in whispered tones on his lips, the land itself begins to thrum with deep drumbeats. Earth rises in mighty walls, forming barricades not of magic but of true and sturdy clay-rich soil. From there, the doctor heads upwards, pressing himself against the eaves of one of the chokepoint-houses until the time is right.

His signal is a potentially deadly one. Arrows sing through the air, clattering against the shields of defenders down below. Prophylaxis espies a group of archers far in the back who believe themselves to be safe-- but who are being forced to cluster to get even a halfway decent shot at the apparently lone interlopers. Staff in hand, the doctor hurls himself up to the rooftop and unleashes the first of his spells. The air surrounding the orcish archers abruptly congeals into a whirling globe of ice and snow and bitter cold. A howling, spherical blizzard whips itself into being all around them. Arrows fly awry, launched wildly by the chaotic winds. Inside, the archers are worn down, either cut to ribbons or frozen outright. One succumbs to a razor-sharp ice shard flung at breakneck speeds-- severing its spine in an instant. It dissolves into red particles that are lost in the white of the blizzard orb, but its fellows are absolutely not doing much better.

Kaydon moves around as that earth barrier goes up into the cokepoint. He wheels around the side of it and smashes one of the armored orcs with his gunblade. He twists it and smacks the one near the armored one he just whacked in the face with the flat of the blade, "Back! Get back you green skinned bastards!"

He keeps their focus on him, clearing way for the group that is rescuing the prisoners, trying to swing at the orcs again with the weapon.

    Ah, a rescue mission! This is also fine. With the plan made, Arashi gives the rest of the group a small two fingered salute and then she's off and into the shadows again. How in the world does that tall dire-shire do stealth so well? Numbers. That's why. Those 'stealth' numbers are high and that's all it really takes to be honest!

    Once she spots Nyanta and Prophylaxis both absconding with their hostages, the warhorse drops into a 'populated' area loudly, slamming the ground with a hoof to shake the area around her. "HEY. ORC @#$&S! Come get me!" Of course by the time they charge her she's not there anymore, dropping in from seemingly no where to skewer one of the beasts right down into the spine. It terrifies some of the other orcs. "SOMETHING ELSE NEED DOING!" one yells as it just -runs-.

Moving with the rest of the group, Curtana takes his position at the end of the chokepoint, his longsword drawn and his kite shield strapped to his arm. He stomps his foot as well, creating spires of rocky stone to form on either side of him, but leaving the path behind him still accessable. He makes sure that those escorting the Landers to safety get back him before he shifts his stance and moves his shield forward, ready to be a metal wall after their pursurers.

What comes after him isn't just one or two, but over half a dozen of these orcs, working in unison and marching in a practiced step. Spears stab against his shield and are deflected aside, and two hammer wielders step forward in an attempt to batter him down. They strike in unison, almost creepily so, but a powerful jab of his shield with just a touch of Hamon sends them flying back.

Despite himself and being heavily outnumbered, a small smile forms on his lips, and he gives out a challenging cry to the orcs before him. "Yoooooou shall not pass!"

And who says the knight doesn't know how to meme?

With her mobility Kauchemar has little difficulting making it up onto one of the nearby rooftops while everyone else is moving things into place. People go to rescue the captives. A choke point is created. Defenders take up position in it. Now we watch the pieces on the board move...

And from that position she notice something peculiar about the protectors. One of these is not like the others~ With a sly smirk she lifts her staff to point as she evokes her elemental magics. A torrent of water is unleashed upon her targets, sweeping one away to slam into the side of the chokepoint barrier like a piece of driftwood. The water swirls around the others to engulf them in restraint... and the Drowning effect cuts off whatever that caster trying to hide behind their defense was preparing to cast.

    The onslaught is sudden and unexpected. The orcs may have been braced for some trouble, but not this much. What draws attention first, though, is that a prisoner is taken, as Yeowang was not quite so invisible in the action as Nyanta managed to be. But that notice is cut-off a moment later as Arashi sets all hell breaking loose.

    The immediate reactions of the orcs are ineffective. They are suppressed by attacks from above from Kauchemar and Prophylaxis. But the orcs are not thrown into a complete panic. They are organized, serious, and have leadership. But they are also under the thrall and the top priority are the captives. Or getting more captives.

    So they attack the chokepoint, where they are stonewalled by Curtana, Kaydon, and Chikako. More than just stopped, many are knocked onto their butts.

    Regathering themselves, though, the orcs are prepared to launch a more concentrated, focused attack. But the chokepoint remains a barrier. They will have to focus on range attacks and magic, if they can pull them off.

Yeowang is having trouble getting away, some of the orcs are hot on her tail, and she can't go that fast with the weakened Lander. This is not as much a problem as the orcs imagined, because as they loom up behind her, she lets go of her lander, leaps up, and spins around, her heel contacting one orc, then the other, spinning both their heads around 180 degrees in a sickening crunch. Not everyone remembers that the wealthy princess has a kick like a mule. And then she drops to the ground, gets the Lander's arm across her shoulders again, and leads her off, now without pursuit.

Nyanta indeed focuses on remaining stealthy while holding the lander in a Princess Carry. The lander flutters his eyelashes as Nyanta as he feels so safe in the Werecat's arms... After Nyanta makes it past the 'Line of Scrimmage' as it were, the Dandy Cat takes a steel coin out of his pocket. He holds the coin on his thumb and, with the sheen and shing of a sword art being activated, Nyanta flicks the coin almost at the speed of a slow bullet, and with the accuracy too. It penetrates through the eye socket of one orc and out the back of his skull, then into the opposite eye socket of the orc behind it. The coin bounces around inside the creature's skull a few times, and the coolest cat in ETO quips, "Keep the change, nya...."

The chokepoint plan is going well. Unfortunately, time is not on their side. The sun is beginning to dip below the lip of the horizon, and darkness has begun to fall. But the Landers are in the clear, almost a dozen orcs are dead or close to it. It's time to go.

"Fighting retreat," Prophylaxis commands, focusing his baleful attention upon the orcs just behind the front line. His skin frosts over, turning blue as ice creeps across his fingertips-- and races forth. Another half dozen orcs are frozen solid, forming an unwilling wall of living, if thoroughly iced-over bodies. Two succumb to the cold on contact, leaving little more than orcish ice sculptures as tombstones. "That'll stem the tide. Move together and regroup with the others and the Landers once we're clear."

Prophylaxis hops off the rooftop, running along the top of his clay wall construct before following his own advice and getting while the getting's good.

    After vanishing into the darkness after her trembling steps, Arashi makes her way to the chokepoint the others were all fighting around to try and help. "Everyone, it IS shadow festival, I HIGHLY recommend we get going because, of what I remember, vampires are NOT FUN to deal with at this time of the year. It is time to -go-," Arashi insists. She isn't usually one to retreat but this is speaking from experience. It was a long time ago, but she's not sounding like she's going to take no for an answer.

    She does, however, get aggro from one of the orcs at the choke point. She -happily- introduces him to the flat of her borrowed blade from Kaydon that sends him -flying- into a couple others.

Curtana proves that he is an unscalable wall that halts any progress after the escaping Landers. While focusing on constant defense stops him from taking the offensive, the orcs can't take down the sole knight despite their numbers. It's a solid stalemate.

But as time goes on, it's apparent that there's nothing more to gain from this. It seems like there's only two Landers left in the whole town, and these orcs don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, despite how often Curtana knocks them back down. Deciding that the Landers had enough time to escape, Curtana stomps down on the solid earth once more. There's nothing major about this stomp, at least it seems so at first. Instead, Curtana made a small field of foot tall stone spikes, capable of piercing right through normal boots.

It's a good thing a knight wears greaves, then. "It's getting dark, make sure no one gets lost!" Heading Prophylaxis' advice, Curtana takes this chance to get out of this one sided battle while he can.

They still need to get the Landers to safety.

There wall holds, as the orcs clash against the Adventurers. Kaydon holds, keeping his gunblade as a defensive weapon between himself and the orcs, blocking strikes and then lashing out with his hidden blade on his left gauntlet. He manages to get it deep into one of the unarmored orcs and twists as he extracts it, killing the orc.

The clash continues as members of the group retreat, Kaydon stabbing yet another one of the orcs with the blade, before starting to pull back with the rest of the group

Good, they got the hostages. Two less vampire snacks.

Kauchemar cants her head up for a moment. Don't need to be a prophet to see it was getting late, and that could be a big issue this time of year. They're going to have to deal with the source of this problem another time.

But never call her one to leave without making an impression. Kauchemar jumps down from her rooftop, and disappears into the shadows once more. Even if they're retreating they are down two people that can fight back. So they're going to need protection.

The enthralled orcs are so focused on retrieving their master's meal that they don't notice something moving in the dark between the buildings. Not until it moves near enough to them for the heliotropic eyes glowing in the darkness to be seen... only to be confronted by the dark form emerging with mouth disportionately wide open to show all the sharp teeth that some instinctial part of their NPC brain tells them a thing that looks like a horse shouldn't have, just before the very darkness surges out to consume them!

No one will ever know if the brief bitter scream was the orcs or the monster that put an end to their threat.

Chikako's first earth-wall kept a number of the orcs back, but it was fairly soft and easy for them to hack through. At least the rescue party got the civilians out! But now the Oni has one small problem. Well, okay, several small problems. Small in relation to herself, that is.

So it's time to get moving, especially since the sun is headed for the horizon. Vampires at night... not good.

A quick run puts her in what seems to be a pointless position, in the middle of an open field, with a half-dozen orcs chasing her. But they've got her exactly where she wants them. Another stomp of one delicate-seeming foot has a very different result. The earth drops away from her, opening into a wide chasm, just as the orcs are running up to her. More than wide enough to be difficult or impossible to jump. More than deep enough to swallow any orc that fell in. And more than long enough to make going around take... time. Too much time.

"Ta-ta!" she calls to the orcs, smirking and making a rude gesture, before taking off at a run once more. "Goodbye!"