Rise of the Undead Legion

***

A member of your party has killed the last chieftain of the Ripping Tusk high orc tribe.

Time until one of the Ripping Tusk warriors becomes the new chieftain: 48 hours

The remaining tribe members are leaderless and in a state of confusion.

***

"Already?" Ralph was impressed with the assassin’s deadly efficacy.

Mercy answered over the party chat in an amused tone, "Yeah, ’already.’ Have a little faith, Rlaphie-boy. The chieftain was an easy mark. The other orcs were too distracted putting out the fires and looking for intruders in the forest to notice someone killing their chief in his own hut."

Dave interjected, "Great job Mercy. Now it’s time to hunt. Even with the chieftains dead it’s risky to go head to head against the orcs. So we’ll pull-and-pick them in ones or small groups," Dave said.

"I see two orcs nearby, we could start with them," Perfect said.

"Okay good. Mercy did you copy that?"

"Yeah, there is a single high orc near me, I’m going to take him out first then join up with you after."

"Good, Everyone let’s go," Dave said.

When Dave found the orcs that Perfect had spotted, he used [Immortal Apparition] to appear between the two orcs then stomped to activate [Death Surge].

The burst of dark energy afflicted the two orcs with the [Fear Effect], increasing the base damage that his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets did to them by 200%.

[-42,777]

[-41,850]

The orcs ran in opposite directions, Dave left one orc for Ralph and chased after the second. He activated [Stampede] and slammed into the orc’s back, sending the greenskin rolling across the ground and into a tree.

[-22,111]

The orc stood in one smooth motion and whipped a glaive around, swinging it down at Dave in a chopping attack. Dave sidestepped and snapped his foot at the orc in a [Dragon kick], followed by a punch to the face. His fist made a crunching sound against the orc’s wrinkled snout and thick blood sprayed out, showering the ground with a pattering sound.

Dave swung an upper-cut and followed-up with a series of hooks and jabs as he danced around the orc. [Ramp Up] activated while Dave was pummeling the orc, his damage increased tremendously, dropping the orc’s HP faster than a sinking anchor.

Lone supported Dave from a distance, her hands blurring as she fired arrows from her bow with the speed of a machine gun. Frost spread from where her arrows struck all over the orc’s torso and limbs, freezing the warrior in place. But the orc’s level was higher than Lone’s, he simply roared and shook off the effects in a shower of ice.

A short distance away, Ralph was beating on the orc he faced. He was level 411 and effortlessly took down the level 350 orc with the help of Demeri’s charm effects and Fortress who swapped aggro with him when he could.

Turning from the orc’s body, Ralph saw Dave pounding away at his orc opponent.

"Let’s help Dave out," he suggested.

"He’s doing alright," Flanker shrugged.

Lone’s ice imbued arrows froze the orc over and over, but the greenskin shook the icy effects off everytime.

"We need to wrap things up out here quickly, there are more orcs in the village that we need to get to," Ralph said and sprinted toward the orc Dave was fighting.

Ralph activated [Silent Resolve] and pulled the orc’s aggro onto to himself.

"Hey, that one’s mine!" Dave shouted.

"C’mon, didn’t you brag that not even Mercy can OT you," Ralph grinned at Dave as he faced off against the orc.

"With damage Skills not taunts," Dave grumbled as he stepped around the greenskin and punched the orc in the kidney.

Ralph faced off against the orc, their weapons clashing and sending sparks everywhere.

The orc swung his glaive down powerfully with both hands trying to split Ralph from crown to crotch. Ralph deflected the weapon with his [Overwhelm] Skill, throwing the orc off balance. Ralph stabbed at the gap between the orc’s helmet and body armor.The orc squealed as blood sprayed out in an arc, painting his armor red.

Ralph clicked his tongue, "Tough futhermucker."

In his pain and the fog of battle the wounded orc had lost track of his other opponent. Dave came up behind the orc, grabbed his shoulder and kicked the back of his knee, shoving down hard. The orc went down like a sack of potatoes and the last thing he ever saw was Dave’s elbow coming toward his face in a power drop.

"YES! I just leveled up!" Ralph cheered and danced a fast jig, black armor clanking and squeaking comically.

***

Your party member Mercy has slain:

High Orc level 365

***

"Great job Mercy, what’s your status over there?" Dave asked.

"There is a group of four orcs still trying to put out the fire. The rest of the orcs have spread around the village and are searching for you," Mercy said.

"What are their exact numbers?"

"I count fourteen,"

Dave paused.

"When we first fought the orcs, I counted twenty-two warriors. We killed three, Mercy has eyes on fourteen, that leave five orcs unaccounted for. Heads up everyone, look out for ambushes."

"Got it."

Dave turned to his party," Perfect, see if you can spot any other orcs."

"I see one over there," Perfect said pointing ahead.

"Let’s go then."

They kept hunting down the orcs one by one until morning came. Mercy took down seven orcs by herself without receiving a single injury. Dave didn’t expect anything less from Conquest’s number one assassin.

Dave and the rest of the party were slower than Mercy, mainly because they sometimes had to fight more than one orc at the same time.

During the night the weather turned and it started to rain, the blazing trees were extinguished and the ground turned muddy. At one point they had to fight a group of five orcs in the slippery mud in low visibility conditions.

Dave took the the role of main tank and leeched three of the orcs, leaving one for blaster and one for Fortress. Fortress was surprisingly good at his role, even at his lower level he was able to keep his opponent busy, dodging more often than using his [Block] Skill.

Flanker and Demeri synergized as a team. They buffed the team and inflicted various status effects to the orcs. Lone and Perfect used the slippery muddied ground to their advantage, firing their crowd control arrows, [Penetrating Shot] or [Breaking Shot] at the orcs.

The rest of their fights that night were straightforward, careful use of their Skills, sound tactics and teamwork carried them through without any more serious trouble.

With the last orc’s death Dave got a notification.

***

The Ripping Tusk High Orc tribe has been eliminated.

Safety around the city of Urburg has increased.

***

"Now what?" Flanker said.

"Let’s search the village for anything useful and continue toward the tomb," Dave said.

"Where’s Mercy?" Ralph asked.

"Right here," Mercy said, coming out of stealth at kissing distance of Ralph, making everyone jump a little.

"Let’s go then," Dave said.

He led the party toward the orc village, "Everyone pick a hut and start searching," Dave said.

The party split up, each one entering a hut. Dave picked the largest structure, the chieftain’s hut. The floor was covered with the pelts of various monsters, there was also a desk with a piece of parchment on it. The parchment had some blood stains but it was still legible.

Dave picked it up and read.

***

Greetings and obeisance to Syngnud the Conqueror, sovereign and leader of the High-Orcs, from chieftain Kuchi of the Ripping Tusk tribe,

Honorable shaman Goryo and secondary chieftain Kushan perished at the hands of soft skins that came from the cursed city.

Before the honorable Goryo passed away he used his divination to discover the cause of the Black Dragon’s wrath. The soft skins used an ancient magic which lured the dragon toward Urburg. I wish to relocate the Ripping Tusk tribe, for if we stay here, we will all die. We do not fear the soft skins, but if they draw the dragon’s wrath again, we will all perish.

Lastly, we have inspected the cave again. The creature inside still writhes in agony, but it will pass away soon. I beg your lordship to send more reinforcements to tak-

***

The letter stopped in mid word.

’Mercy must have killed him while he was writing the letter.’

Dave pocketed the letter.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Ralph asked from behind Dave, startling him.

"Yeah, I did. Perfect, I need you for a sec," Dave said over the party voice com.

"Coming."

A few moments later Perfect joined them in the chief’s hut.

"There should be a cave nearby, take Spike and search for it. Oh and don’t enter the cave, just find it."

"I’m on it," Perfect said, turning and hurrying out.

"What’s going on man?" Ralph asked.

"I have a hunch there’s something good waiting for us in that cave, if we can find it soon enough," Dave said.

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