Stratagem - White Harbor

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Jupiter
Posts: 379
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:19 pm
Location: The Mage Tower

Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Jupiter »

In any pinch there is one thing every expert strategist wishes to have immediately on hand. Whether it is assailing an impregnable fortress, surviving a life or death gladiatorial match, or leading an assault on an orc fort that is located precariously close to the peaceful farm and lumber village of Yew, there is but one rule: Get yourself a Spaniard if at all possible. The common misconception, and a terrible mistake to make when dealing with a Spaniard, is to assume that they often take the deadliest tasks because they are dim-witted and expendable; this is the mistake that is only made by the most dim-witted of strategists. There are three very specific reasons a Spaniard is a favored choice: Their skill with metal is unmatched, they will defend their loyalty until their last breath, and their vengeance if incurred will carry even beyond death. While it is true Spaniards may not all be educated in the traditional sense, they are born with an innate perception of men’s true intentions. If you carelessly assign them suicide missions without having rightly earned their loyalty you could instead incur their vengeance. The only trouble is that the stories in which Spaniards appear are usually so fantastical that there is an air of disbelief that typically follows them.

This is personal account and record one of these fantastical stories. And Thork Akelorn was just such a Spaniard.

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Reaching the southernmost boundary of Yew, Turbo was still trying to finalize the details of his assault strategy. So far, all he had worked out was: reach the fort and don’t die. True, it wasn’t much of a plan, but then the urgency of the matter had barely afforded him enough time to ensure his blade was sharpened. And of all the citizens of Yew, found only one very brave, but very inept farmwoman who volunteered to journey with him; and the only reason Laura agreed to come is because he’d agreed to escort her to Nu’Jelm.

With each step further into the forest his hopes for returning alive diminished. “If only I had found a Spaniard!” He thought out loud. As if in mock reply to his plea, the bramble spat out a “man”-ish figure, clothed only in ragged robes and a grotesque helmet with gnarled horns. Within an instant Turbo’s blade was unsheathed and flashed towards what he certain was some orcish abomination, but with even greater speed his thrust was parried earth-ward embedding his blade so deep in the topsoil he could barely manage to retract it in time to deflect the slash that followed almost as a reflex. Turbo and the stranger danced for a moment, when to his surprise the opponent did something very un-orcsodox; he lifted his blade in a gesture of truce. “Mi nombre es Thork Akelorn. Soy de España.” Turbo understood only one crucial word from the man’s foreign tongue: A Spaniard! Turbo mimicked the gesture with his own blade and he knew his quest was destined to succeed from this moment on.

The English he spoke was mangled, but it was infinitely more tolerable than the atrocious sound that orcs made when uttering anything. And, although his English was slow and struggled when speaking, Thork understood English well enough to comprehend Turbo’s revised strategy: kill as many orcs as you can and don’t die. True, the basic components of his strategy hadn’t changed much, but he now had the crucial element which had been lacking.

Upon reaching the fort embattlements it was crucial that they eliminate the advance orc scouts. Buurz’ark was quickly dispatched but not before he alerted a wild mage orc and a captive two headed giant. Fortunately they were able to dispatch this advance party with little enough sound to still hope the entire fort hadn’t been alerted.
As they approached the entrance there was no sign of activity. Thinking their job was done, Thork and Turbo turned to make their way back to Yew when suddenly bolts of fire and lighting flashed. Turbo stumbled backwards flailing his arms. His body had not yet had time to send his brain the message of severe pain that would be following; he quickly opened his yellow juice and swallowed. There would be time enough to feel pain later.

Like a shark sensing blood in the water, Klogoth’wuz focused all his fury on Turbo; which was more or less according to Turbo’s plan. As he finished tying the last bandage Turbo turned to face the orc zealot and feigned weakness like a wounded bird. He took a knee and looked straight into the face of the most ferocious eyes he’d ever seen – the pupils and entire eye were a dark, glossy black. Klogoth’wuz licked his chops as he closed the distance. Spouting curses in preparation to launch his final attacks. Then, just as the wretched orc raised his hand to unleash the sparks, Thork flew out from behind the trees and thrust his blade right at the base of his neck and shoulder. At first it looked like he had missed completely. Turbo’s heart sunk, perhaps the tales of their ability were not as true as he had been lead to believe. But then Klogoth’s look suddenly turned from one of frenzied blood lust to sheer panic. The Spaniard had done it! He had waited for precisely the right moment when all of the power and aura of the unholy magic was convened within the orc’s body. His thrust had not missed at all, but had severed the connection to his cerebral cortex and the rest of his body; the wretch now had no means to release the energy he had pent up. His body began to convulse violently. Thork looked at Turbo and made a clear motion to duck. Klogoth’wuz gave one final battle cry, “URRGAAAGH!” and this body erupted and exploded in all directions.

Not waiting for the rest of the fort to investigate the commotion, Turbo looked to Thork, “Go, take the King’s road to Britania and tell the Lord British of the power the orcs wield here!” Klogoth’s power was beyond what any of the previous accounts had affirmed. Turbo wasn't going to hold out hope that the King would do anything, but perhaps if the King learned just how powerful these orcs were he might send reinforcements sooner rather than never. Turbo would have liked to deliver the news in person, but for now, he had to find Laura, who had disappeared in the fray.
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Last edited by Jupiter on Wed Apr 24, 2013 2:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Vishakt
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Vishakt »

latz lukki Vish wuz sleebun ad dat tyme!

gug sturee eben ib lat am panzee.

Jupiter
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Jupiter »

Vishakt wrote:latz lukki Vish wuz sleebun ad dat tyme!

gug sturee eben ib lat am panzee.
I appreciate what I can only guess is your best attempt at a floral compliment; dirty orc.

Also, were you sleepin with one of your breedur females? I'm no expert on Orc ways, but isn't that kind of akin to cleaning out raw sewage by hand?
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Ohm
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Ohm »

I thought Orcs didn't ride mounts
[22:31:51] <wintergate> Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

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Abyss Ebonmourne
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Abyss Ebonmourne »

OOC: Well they seem to be a "different" bunch, riding mounts, giving counts, dry looting and calling in their red alts or friends (who are not orcs btw) when they're battle plans don't seem to be going quite as well as they had hoped. Merely an observation, certainly don't seem to be of the Bloodrock variety.

I say this as I was scouting out the Yew fort for future RP material, staying hidden I witnessed a few fights between the orcs and a mounted dexxer going on for some time. The orcs were not doing well and then who should show up but Populus and LeBron James from 5-0, who immediately attacked the mounted dexxer, giving no notice to the orcs whatsoever. I do give Populus points as he did don an orc mask for the occasion. A little conversation took place after the two reds returned and one of the orcs thanked them. Nice to see the orcs have these murderers as "muscle" lol :D

Jupiter
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Jupiter »

I agree I've seen a lot of activity. But a point of clarification on my pictures: the mounted guy with the orc helm was actually the Spaniard of my story. The orcs I have fought have all been on foot. But there have been a lot of shady reds around there. But wherever I've been there its been too chaotic to really tell who is on what side.
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Chance
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Chance »

I can't comment on the specific situation you're describing, Abyss, because I wasn't there. I will, however, give you an example of something I've personally witnessed in the past:

2 TG show up at the Orc Fort, obviously in pursuit of a specific person who is there fighting the Orcs.
1 TG plainly states "We're here for *so-and-so*", when attacked by an Orc.
TG never attack a single Orc that night, to my knowledge.

Does this mean TG and 0rc are allied, or that 0rc has some secret "Terror Guard Hotline"? No, it does not.

On multiple occasions TG has mercilessly slaughtered Orcs both at the Fort and abroad.

Food for thought, take from it what you will. As Jupiter stated, things are often chaotic and hard to tell who is on what side. Orcs love nothing more than to see 2 groups of non-orcs start fighting outside the Fort!

On the subject of "dry looting", it's all relative. If you only carry regs, expect to be "dry looted". If you die outside the fort, scavengers may loot your corpse. We have often gone above and beyond, when permissible, to bag up our foes belongings and return what we do not need/want, offering rez'z when we can. Sometimes, we even give back things we can use: I've seen several runebooks returned over the past week.

Please get your facts straight before continuing to attempt to drag Shadowclan's name through the mud (mounts comment). We house several ex-Bloodrock Urks as well as many, many long-time Shadowclan vets from various branches, these are basically the "premier" Orc guilds from EA/OSI servers. It would be nice if proclaimed fellow RP'rs would show a bit of courtesy and not slander one another openly on the forums, we're already the minority here on UOSA. Players on either side can get caught up in the moment and do things that in hindsight they might have done differently. Constructive criticism is always welcome, no guild or group is perfect, especially not those that are basically open recruitment.

Sorry for further derailing your thread, Jupiter, but I felt something needed to be said.

To Ohm: Mojokas may ride ostards if they so choose, but it is not currently a very common practice.
~ Xigig ~ Mojoka ~ Shadowclan Orcs ~

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chainsoar
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by chainsoar »

People turn up at the orc fort because it's becoming known as a place where worthy combat takes place. Logically, some of the people seeking combat will be...combatants. Some of those human combatants are warred to one another and stage an attack on their enemies there and then. Others will see a notorious murderer and chase him in search of a bounty. The orc fort isn't just a place to fight orcs. Humans often fight one another there.

As Chance stated, no alliance exists between the Shadowclan and any human guild, unless you count the cordiality that has been extended towards a couple of visiting savages in the past. On one occasion I fully admit to a well armed, hostile charge at the city dwellers outside the fort by a mounted savage fencer. I only hope that this can be viewed as what I thought it was - the savages lending their new orcish friends a helping hand during their early days when the Shadowclan were struggling to gain a foothold, and finding some fun of their own into the bargain. There has been no repeat performance of such an attack since.
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Braden wrote:I was getting ready to type a serious reply to this post until I saw who posted it.
[Uhh] Eo wrote:If there is one thing I am a fan of, it is exploring foreign holes.

Jupiter
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Jupiter »

Chance wrote:...Sorry for further derailing your thread, Jupiter, but I felt something needed to be said.

To Ohm: Mojokas may ride ostards if they so choose, but it is not currently a very common practice...
Let us follow this path as far as it need be trodden; but not a step further. At the end of the day the only measure of self respect that matters is your own for we all will be our own harshest judge.

And besides, any publicity is good publicity. There's no such thing as bad publicity - there is only bad PR.

"All publicity is good if it is intelligent." - Phineas T. Barnum

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about" - Oscar Wilde

- Jupiter the Grey
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Abyss Ebonmourne
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Abyss Ebonmourne »

Once again gray one your wise words are tempered with the insight of one well travelled. They shephard us back to the path of reason and there upon our steps shall be measured and brought to cohesive fruition at journey's end.

Thank You,

Abyss Ebonmourne

P.S. Do not think for a moment our business is concluded wizard *smiles sardonically*

Jupiter
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Re: Stratagem - White Harbor

Post by Jupiter »

Abyss Ebonmourne wrote:
P.S. Do not think for a moment our business is concluded wizard *smiles sardonically*
I fear our business shall never be fully concluded. Long after This celestial being which we call earth has burst from her gilded cage of rock and fire and set sail for the far reaches of the galaxy our business shall yet remain unsettled. Alas such is the price of immortality. A price that many are too eager to accept but too few are actually able to pay in full.
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