When Aya arrived to the camp, they were all chatting and eating merrily. The first one to smell blood was Spots, He growled to alert the rest that something was coming and everyone reached for their weapons.
Seeing that it was Aya, everyone relax a little but their expressions were still death serious. Aya arrived close to the Supreme Elder and put the corpse down. Everyone else came closer to take a look and when they saw who it was they were so mad that killing intent radiated 30 feet from the camp area. If those Orcs scouts were to show their faces, they would get chop up into a thousand pieces.
Elder Bear looked at the corpse's wounds and frown. The 2 wounds at the front indicated there was some sort of confrontation between the rogue and the assailant. this indicated that whoever did it was strong enough to cut down a Level 16 fighter.
"By the time I arrived there, the dark elf had already finished up receiving the Energy Experience".
Four voices shouted in unison DARK ELVES!!!
Even the elder lost his composure. It had been years since a Dark Elf had appeared around the Helgahvall area. This area did not appealed to many people due to his fairly harsh conditions and under developed society. Dark Elves like profit and would kill and scheme in order to achieve their goals.
The presence of the dark elf would explained the attempt to sow discord between the 2 villages but Why?
Aya continued, " I was able to whoop his ass but I was unable to kill him. I was interrupted by a Defiler!!".
"Are you sure it was a Defiler!!" said Elder Bear.
"No doubt about it. It had a Baleful Aura around his body and a staff made out of bones. As soon as I saw those screaming faces I knew I was not his match. I took Derek's corpse and came back. Before I left I did manage to take a pick at his face. It was not human, he stood in 2 legs but it had big front teeth, a furry body, and a rodent tail. It was also very tiny".
The Elder Bear click his tongue and spit on the ground. As a follower of the Mystic path they were intrinsic enemies of the Witch Doctors. Both classes were born from the Shamanistic arts but their philosophies were vastly different.
"Take Derek's corpse back to the village. Go to chief Cerdic and tell him what you manage to find out. I believe the opponents should have more than one Second Evolution fighter in their group. We might need the help of Master Rhaen. Now that they have been expose and we hurt one of their own, they might come back for revenge. Our group will certainly not be able to handle them".
Aya took the corpse from the ground, activated sprint and quickly headed back to the village.
Back in the cave 100 miles south of Helgahvall village the rest of Legolas team were awaiting for news on the delegation team sent by the village to the Orc clan. Legolas was late and Elder Grimsbane had gone to see what was the hold up.
After waiting for a few hours, they saw the silhouette of a tiny creature carrying a body double his size like a baby. A couple of them laugh but one of them didn't. Instead, killing intent started leaking from his body and mixing with his aura. Immediately, the two laughing persons shut their mouths and stayed like statues for fear of being attack by their leader.
Ulrik was Legolas' older brother. Seeing his little brother slice up, filled him with rage. There was no reason for anything to happened to him. The element of surprise was on their side and so far nobody knew they were operating in the area. This whole thing was too suspicious.
"What happened?".
" Re-Relax Ulrik boy. Your brother will be OK, I already cast my best healing spell on him and most of his wounds would be heal in a month. The only problem is the injury to his ligaments cause by his used of Mirage. Th-that one will take about 6 months unless you bring a ( Second Evolution Cleric) to help".
Knowing that his brother only needed time to heal gave Ulrik some respite.
" Did you manage to see who did it?"
" KeKeKe... I told you before, your brothers overconfidence is his biggest flaw. This time he kicked and iron wall. If I got there a minute later, he would be worm food... Nod Nod. It was a Barbarian Rogue. Very experienced too, She evaded my attack and chose to retreat. For the rest of the information we need to wait for your brother to wake up".
"Good Good Good, this Barbarians think they can hurt my family and don't pay the price. GET READY!! we are going to wipe out this so call delegation"
The rest of the team had wicked smile on their faces. They were all of evil alignment and this was another day at the office. Their leader was a Level 21 Shadowknight and the amount of people that had fallen to his sword was sickening.
Through the reconnaissance they had done for the last month or so, they knew nobody in the Barbarian camp had a second evolution profession(or so they thought). The difference between levels and evolutions were not just for show. Copper would no longer do much damage to them and they needed iron weapons which were very expensive for villages such as Helgahvall. With Ulrik and Grimsbane leading them, it was impossible to lose.
Before they left, Ulrik took a flask from his pouch and put it on the table near where Legolas was laying down. Beside it, he left a note.
' Went to kick some Barbarian's ass, be back in couple of days. Drink this low grade potion of Life, it will help you recover'.
On Helgahvall village, Aya was narrating her story to chief Cerdic and the rest of the Elders. Rhaen and Etta were present as well and went they heard about the Dark Elf and the Mysterious Defiler they were able to guess the race of the creature. It was a Ratonga. They were a humanoid race with the characteristics of a rat. They were very agile and very intelligent. They like to do thievery things and excel at scout classes.
After listening to the story, Rhaen had more or less a picture of what was going on and said, "The group behind the scene is an adventurer group that found something to risk their life for. If the Defiler was there to pick up his teammate then it is safe to say that he is not the leader. We could be looking at a very strong party with various Classes over Level 20. I am not sure why there was a Level 16 among them but they might retaliate. The delegation is in danger but it might also be an opportunity".
The discussion kept on going for a couple of hours and a plan was generated. Aya went back to the delegation group during the middle of the night and use routes that she knew didn't have Orc scouts. The success of the mission was reliant on secrecy.
When Aya arrived at the camp Spots was about to Growl but soon stop himself after catching onto her familiar smell. Aya made her way towards the elder and relayed the instructions of the Chief.
Next day the group continue their journey towards the Orc Clan like nothing had happened the day before.
" Is it my imagination or Hulsnir got bigger." said the female Beastlord after observing him from the side. Hulsnir was the guardian of the group and also Rahz's instructor during the special training.
" I think the lack of sleep is affecting your eyes. we should speed up the pace a little bit and try to reach the Frostwolf Clan by tonight" Said the elder in a hurried manner.
Two hours after the delegation departed, Ulrik's team arrived at the camp. They decided to take over the camp and ambush the Barbarians on their way back from talking to the Orcs. In the mean time, they went over the strategy of how they could dispose of delegation in the most brutal way.
The feeling of revenge clouded Ulrik's judgment a little bit. All he could think about was how to torture the rogue that hurt his little brother. He was so concerned about revenge that he never stop to wonder why was his brother fighting with Barbarians on orc territory.