Curse that she-orc!

[Therak]

Hicks placed the last unconcscious young woman at her assigned place in the circle, chained her down and looked over his work.
Thirteen young women, all virgins (he'd checked that) was placed evenly around the circle, painted in blood. Each of the women were surrounded by a small circle of her own, with thirteen black candles burning.
He was furious, with the orcs, for their inconsiderate treatment of him. With himself, for his stupidity. But most of all. With Rhonya, for what she had done to him, and for what she had made him do.
He scratched at the new top of his skull, replacing what the ”rebels” had smashed in. He didn't know who'd replaced it, or why. But he'd sure like to know why he suddently had a craving for fish. He -hated- fish.
But by now, his fury was cold, calculating. He was going to make her -pay-.
He pulled a small laquered box from inside his robe, and opened it to reveal several small bundles of hair. He lifted several to his nose, before nodding to himself, this was definately Rhonyas, a faint trace of Talbuk and Wolf, and a faint scent of herbs.
He placed it in the middle, and quickly drew another circle around it, placing thirteen candles on the floor. Leaving them unlit.
”She'll pay... She'll regret breaking her oath... First one was a warning... But this... This is war...”
He mumbled as he set to work, doublechecking his circles, even a small mistake here could be a disaster.
Finally satisfied, he set to work. He opened the tome hanging from his belt, feeling the energy seep into him as he began to chant in demonic.
”Kzrah. Xathi. Fryn. Gubbjux.”
The big circle began to glow with a stomach churning green light. Still chanting, Hicks walked over to the first woman, a young she-orc, by now they were starting to come to. This one was still groggy, but her eyes were as open as they'd be, and she began to squirm as Hicks raised a ritual dagger above her.
”The heart of a warrior, for the strength it contains.”
He stabbed down, digguing out the still beating heart, placing it within the circle, fel energy immediately saturaring he heart, keeping it beating, for now.
Hicks continued to the next one, a pale elf, pretty little thing.
”Blood of the innocent, corrupted for the resistance it will give.”
He slashed the dagger across the unconscious elfs throat, collecting it in a small bowl beside, her. It immediately thickened into a black, pulsing sludge.
The next woman in line, a human who'd been careless in her travels. Had realized what was happening and was screaming, a shrill sound, filled with fear of her impending fate.
”Tongue coated in silver, for the whispers and lures.”
Ignoring her protests, he forced her jaws open with the dagger, to grab her tongue between his thumb and forefinger, pulling it out before cutting it off, leaving the woman gurgling and drowning in her own blood. He dropped the tongue in a jar with quicksilver and moved on.
The next woman, a Night elf, wasn't screaming, but staring defiantly at Hicks, she'd not give him the pleasure.
”Eyes of the watcher, to watch for tampering.”
Two flicks of his wrists had her eyeballs bouncing on the floor. She wasn't silent now, she was howling and screamig in pain.

He went through several more women like this, harvesting organs and bodily fluids. The final woman, another orc, her brown skin, naming her Mag'har, had passed out from stress and fear by the time he got to her.
”Soul of the untainted, sacrificed for power.”
He held a gemstone in his hand above her, and energy darted out from her mouth, into the gemstone. Which he finally put down carefully in her circle.
He bagan to chant again, the candles in the circles with the women quickly flaring up, the color of the flame alternating between green and black. The harvested items finally catching fire, and dissapearing into nothing.
Hicks chanting grew more louder and more frantic, until the candles in the inner circle burst into bright green flames. Just as the chanting reached its crescendo, the locks of hair in the middle caught fire, burnt out in a flash. And with that, all the light in the cave died...

Hicks walked out of the cave, fel energies dancing around him, he was fully reeking of it. Where he walked, smal animals mutated into hideous forms, who could not sustain their own life, and died immediately. The grass died around his feet.
His voice was nothing but a hoarse whisper.
”Oh... she'll pay allright...”

[Rhonya]

The sky started to darken as Rhonya watched the figure of her Chieftain walk down the hill. She had been a bit surprised that he answered her hug so firmly, but she felt comfortable with it somehow, just wanting to give him someone to talk to if he had something on his mind. It just felt like the right thing to do at that moment. She watched the camp a moment from her spot on the hill, the wind there playing with the strands of black hair that hung around her face. Softly she sighed, thinking about the last few days. The siege, the fights…the wounded, her friends in the thick of it, in danger…
She had not liked it at all, but she had tried to keep a good watch on them anyway. They had not lost any one that day, luckily… All she could do was hope it would stay like that.

Slowly Rhonya moved her head to look at the path leading down.  She actually needed to go and prepare some things for when the next battle would come.. Some potions, healing salves. Slowly she started to make her way down the path, nodding politely to those she passed and who were all just minding their own business most of the time. The female orc recognized most of them now, and gave them all a tired smile. She was worried though, always, deep inside, but didn’t want to let it show too much. They might think her weak because of it…

The sounds of seagulls and water splashing became more clear as Rhonya neared the docks and she inhaled deeply through her nose, smelling the wet salty air. This place always calmed her, since her connection with water was still the strongest of all the elements.  She settled herself on the edge of the docks, her feet dangling over the edge as she just looked at the waves going below her, under the wooden planks she was sitting on. The sky around her grew even more dark every minute now, night settling in. The water below looked dark, a moving blackness floating under her, nothing visible in the dark depths.

The female sat up right again, taking out a small package from the leather bag that hung over her shoulder.  She brought it to her nose for a short moment, sniffing the herbs inside and nodding to herself. These were the right ones. Slowly she got to work, setting some things beside her on the wooden planks to work with, mortar and pestle, some water and an empty jar. As she started to crush the herbs in the bowl, she relaxed. This was what she could do, what she knew and what calmed her mind. Rhonya prepared the herbs fully, filling the air with the sound of stone grinding over stone.

At that moment a shudder ran through her spine, causing her to stop with what she was doing, her fingers slightly trembling. Her gaze moved to look around a moment, before her back suddenly just arched in an involuntarily movement. Everything went black for a second, her heart suddenly racing as  a certain pain filled her, flowing from her back.
It almost felt as if it was burning suddenly, growing hotter and hotter before it flared up entirely and died out as soon as it had started again, as if nothing happened. Her vision slowly returned and she blinked against the spots she saw, confused and worried.

Rhonya felt a sudden exhaustion, an empty spot where before a lot of energy had been gathered… The tattoo. The ward on her back.. something was wrong with it. She couldn’t feel it anymore, it wasn’t charged anymore. She could still feel the link with it, it worked, but… it was drained. Something had happened, something that had overcharged it… something fel.

Exhaling deeply through her nose, she put her herbs aside so she wouldn’t drop them,  because then all her work would be for nothing. For a moment she thought of calling for help over the spiritlink, but nothing was actually wrong… At least, not yet. The pain had faded away entirely, only the empty feeling still there. She couldn’t charge the ward again, not now. It would cost her too much energy, she’d be too tired to do anything for a while.

Without any warning, her body suddenly went rigid. Her mind went blank, her muscles out of her control, spasms going through it and her vision went black once more and her eyes closed.

Her body started to lean forwards since she was sitting on the edge of the docks, dangerously leaning over before it fell into the dark, cold water. With a loud splash she hit the water and started to sink to the bottom. When her body hit the sandy bottom though, her muscles suddenly jerked. Her eyes opened, but they looked vague, as if she wasn’t really there…

Slowly, she started to swim along the edge, towards the beach that was next to the walls. Dripping with water Rhonya stepped out on the sandy shores, making her way into the woods. The she orc didn’t seem to care for where she was going, what she was doing, if anyone would shout to her… It was as if she didn’t hear it all.

Her form slowly disappeared into the shadows of the trees, into the darkness of the night surrounding her, her jars and herbs forgotten, left behind on the docks.

[Claws]

Ooooohh nice
very modey