“Holy crapshoot, Batman!" Janette yelled as they rounded the path to come into view of the doors to the great hall.

Before those doors there was a wide-open space that was the closest thing the orcs had to a town square. It was currently filled with a group of green bodies surrounded by the malformed and blackened orcs who had invaded his new home. There must have been hundreds of them.

Not quite an army, but certainly a dangerous force to be reckoned with.

ALL of them appeared to move in slow motion. It gave him a few moments to collect himself and take stock of the situation. Finding The Dragons didn't take him long, though even in his dream-like state he was surprised to find Algra fighting in full armour and wielding a blade in each hand. One was curved backwards like a broad katana, and the other shifted into a forward point to thicken at the tip. That one almost looked Like a can-opener.

Behind her, the Dragons were offering assistance as best they could; though they were not nearly as well armed. Some had acquired the foul weapons of fallen enemies, but most were wielding remnants of broken furniture from the great hall. Another force of orcs in lighter armour with actual weapons in their hands had moved in to offer assistance, and were led by Borika. They had clearly had no time to don their heavier and more effective armour, and were struggling to offer relief from the narrow avenue on which they found themselves fighting.

At the centre of the melee, Grolfir and his own war pack were rudely shoving back the horde, and doing their best to offer relief to the newer packs who had just celebrated their proving.

Many dead green bodies already littered the open space, and the battle did not look to be going well save for a single silver light gleaming on the edges of the orcs' last stand. Even with his mind processing the events so quickly as to slow down the battle before him, Talina was moving fast enough to be dangerous. No armour adorned her body with the exception of her simple courtesan's attire. Instead, her entire defence and offence relied upon the use of two short-blades that she had shackled to her wrists with long, thin chains. He had seen her dance before, many times. She had always been outshone by Fiona, but he'd always gotten the impression that she wasn't making nearly as much of an effort as her feline friend.

As it turned out, when she did apply herself she moved with such velocity and lethal grace that she made Fiona look like an amateur. Her preferred dance seemed to be one of death in which she decorated the air around her in ribbons of blood. The blades frequently flew from her hands, bound by the chains to her wrists to spread out in wide arcs.

Frelki and Nullik actually looked slow beside her. All around her constantly spinning form, her enemies fell at her feet. She danced through the bodies with vicious precision, and no enemy was spared in the wake of her blood dance.

Even so, she could not hold back the tide by herself. Soon her flashing blades would be overrun, and she too would fall.

Gregory decided that simply would not do, and fell to one knee to place his ringed hand on the dirt road beneath him.

“Shouldn't we... y'know... charge?" Janette asked him.

“Soon.”

Cracks began to span out in the hardened dirt, and the small stones that littered the surface trembled. A shockwave of energy blasted forward, shattering the earth and surging toward the rear of the enemy swarm. It affected about a third of them, and few managed to keep their feet when the ground beneath them violently quaked. The miniature earthquake halted when it reached the defenders, and the moment it passed they charged forward. It caused an immediate gap to open in the enemy ranks that the southern orcs tore into. Even the black orcs who weren't directly affected by the shockwave seemed momentarily stunned by the turn of events.

Gregory then raised himself to his feet and took Janette's advice.

Charging forward took him from his position to the thickest section of the enemy circle in an instant, and he soon began wreaking as much carnage as possible. He had fashioned his new gauntlets with fingertips that ended in extendable claws, and they tore through armour and orc-flesh alike.

With the assistance of Gregory and the ring, the remaining southern orc forces rallied. He cleaved through the enemy orcs blocking Borika's advance to give his friends some much-needed reinforcements. With the two forces joined and no longer completely surrounded, the southern orcs began to show why they were so feared in battle. Fighting reached a crescendo, before the enemy finally shattered. Each one fought until the last breath rather than fleeing, for they had put themselves in a position where there was nowhere to run. Gregory and his allies fought until every last one of them had fallen.

“Secure the wall! Form up the war-packs!" Grolfir bellowed above the cheers of victory. "By the First, where is everyone?"

“Warchief!" Borika ran up to the great orc and offered him a warrior's salute.

“The entire camp has been placed under some kind of sleeping enchantment! I managed to rouse some, but there was no time to go from tent to tent and break the spell."