Episode 1: The Trial of Akorrin (Part 4 of 6)

Locke and Lil look to each other and then at the same moment shoulder barge the door, forcing it to fall open. The pair stumble slightly into the room and look on to see at the head of the room, Glorak – the Orc gang's leader – and one of his soldiers behind him. Both Orcs block a stairway which leads to a higher level.

"The humans!" Glorak cries with a snort before he withdraws his great axe.

Lil raises her hand in the air and attempts to attack with her Thunderwave magic. A whip of sonic power launches towards Glorak, and in a whipping motion, the tip of golden sonic power lashes at his face, stinging him. As Glorak stumbles, Locke immediately unsheathes his sickle and launches forth at Glorak. He brings his sickle across to his left hand side and slices it across towards the right, catching Glorak with a swipe to the chest. Lil then runs around Locke to Glorak's side and prepares her attack. Suddenly, a silver energy begins to form in Lil's palms and a bolt of force launches at Glorak's torso. The energy strikes Glorak fiercely.

Seeing his leader in peril, the Orc Drudge withdraws his club and makes an immediate attack towards Locke. He catches the human unawares and swings his club into Locke's left ribs, which connects with a bone crunching crack. Angered that a female, never mind a human female struck him, Glorak turns his fury onto Lilanei as he prepares to strike with his axe. The axe swiftly slices Lil's left arm. Recovering his wits, Locke takes his sickle and immediately makes a counter attack at the Orc that just struck him. He lifts the blade up in the air and drives it down in an attempt to catch the Orc in the head with it. The blade pierces the Orc's skull, which causes blood to spurt out of its head and onto Locke's chest as the creature squeals and drops dead on the ground.

Lil glares up at the large Orc in front of her as she begins to form another magical orb in her palms. Suddenly, Lil thrusts the orb towards his chest, which makes contact with Glorak and bursts into shards.

With blood dripping from his chest as Lil's spell strikes, Glorak roars, "I won't be beaten by a single human wench!"

He takes his great axe with both hands and makes a swing for Lil. The axe strikes Lil in the left arm once again, the repeated hit cutting her attire open which exposes a large wound with blood flowing freely from it. Seeing the action, Locke takes the time to load his crossbow; once loaded, Locke aims for Glorak's ribs and squeezes the trigger, launching the arrow towards him. The arrow flies through the air and pierces the Orc's armour, landing in his ribs. Clutching her arm as the blood rushes from her wound, Lil retreats behind Locke. Mustering all the strength within her that she can, Lil recuperates, regaining some of her strength back.

With Lil behind Locke, Glorak turns to them and swings his axe at Locke's face as he is potentially Lil's human shield. The axe blade slices across Locke's right cheek in a downward motion, cutting it open, forcing the skin to fold outwards. Locke screams in agony as blood spurts from cheek, while he feels the skin from his cheek literally flapping. Immediately, he grabs his sickle, and as Glorak is in close range, simply swings in an upward motion towards him. The Sickle catches Glorak in the left arm as he attempts to parry the attack, the blade cutting his left forearm. Having regained some of her health back, Lil points her finger angrily at Glorak the Big; however nothing happens as the attempted magic spell fails.

Glorak notices Lil's failed attempt at magic and laughs before he cries, "After I kill this one, I'm gonna chomp your finger off, wench!"

Glorak then thrusts his head forwards into Locke's face in an attempted headbutt, but Locke simply moves his head back a bit, causing Glorak to stumble forward as he misses. Locke moves forth into action and shoves Glorak with his free hand, causing him to stumble further. Locke quickly reaches for his crossbow and loads it before he takes aim and fires the arrow at the Orc. The arrow flies through the air and before Glorak can regain his wits and avoid the arrow, it lands in the center of his head, the arrow breaking the skin and sinking deep within his head. Glorak drops to his knees before he finally falls face first onto the stone floor, the arrow snapping in two. Glorak is dead.

Locke looks down at Glorak who lies dead on the floor before he spits and sniffs,"Well, it looks like Glorak the Big wasn't so big after all."

Lil plops to the ground and rests her tired arms in her lap, exclaiming, "Phew!"

Locke looks towards the staircase and then looks to Lil, "I bet the miners' belongings are up there." He announces.

"Probably," Lil replies as she withdraws her waterskin from her backpack in order to have a drink. "But I don't think I can move an inch right now."

"Okay," Locke replies. "Let's take a quick rest. Hopefully none of Glorak's merry men will come up to say hello."

In a flash, ten minutes pass as our Heroes take their rest. Finally, Locke and Lil stand side by side looking up the staircase; Locke looks to his comrade.

"Shall we?" He asks.

"We might as well," Lil replies with a sigh.

The two walk up staircase which takes them to a small attic-like room. In the far corner of the room lies a rather large treasure chest.

"I bet that's it!" Locke cries excitedly. "Our town's folks' belongings!"

"Well, let's be careful," Lil notes. "We can't assume anything."

The two cautiously walk forward to the treasure chest. Lil presses her hands on the chest and pushes upward, forcing the lid to open up where the site of the deceased Miners' belongings – money, clothes and tools – lie.

"That looks like the stuff to me," Locke notes.

"Now we just have to get it back to town," says Lil.

Our two heroes take an end of the chest each before they lift it and both carry the chest down the stairs. Once they reach the bottom of the stairs, they carefully sidestep the corpses in the room and continue on their way back through the next room and out into the hallway. The two walk down the hallway, turn left, and walk around the Orcs' dining room. Lil turns back to Locke, who now has the "pleasure" of dragging the chest on his own.

"Well, shall we go straight back the way we came?"

"I'd say so," Locke pants as he heaves the chest with him. "We need to get this stuff back home, and fast."

With an evil chuckle, Lil continues down the hall. They turn the corner and the young woman stops immediately in her tracks to see another Goblin just in front of the door. Eager to go home, Lil rushes towards the Goblin, ready to attack. The Goblin hears the girl's attempted attack and, in fright, steps back successfully dodging it. The Goblin then withdraws its short sword and lunges forward, striking Lil in the right thigh with the blade. Angrily, and in pain, Lil leaps at the Goblin once more with her dagger, but she once again misses as the small, wiry Goblin avoids the attack.

"Stay still!" She cries.

The Goblin responds by this time making a slashing motion with his sword at Lil's already wounded thigh which connects. Holding her dagger with both hands, Lil counters quickly and thrusts the dagger down at the Goblin in front of her. The dagger plunges down towards the Goblin and connects with its skull. Lil then exerts pressure through the dagger, causing the blade to bury deep inside the Goblin's head before it drops dead.

Lil turns around and looks down the hallway before crying, "Come on! You're missing all the action."

"Yes, yes, yes, make haste," Locke calls back as he drags the chest along with him, heaving as he does so. Lil continues down the hallway and into the room where the entering stairway is located. However, she stops in the doorway to see two Orc Drudges standing in front of the stairs.

"The humans!" The first Orc cries, "We've found 'em! Glorak will be pleased!"

"You mean the battered corpse down the hall?" Lil grins.

"Wha?" The other Orc grunts.

After Lil's words sink in, the second Orc growls, grabs its club, and charges at her. Despite the cover of the door, the Orc's swing collides with Lil's lower jaw, the impact of which forces her head to the left and blood to spit from her mouth into Locke's hair. Locke immediately drops the chest to the ground and grabs his crossbow, loading it. He aims the Crossbow at the Orc and fires, and despite the Orc's own cover, the arrow strikes him in the chest, delivering a fatal wound to his black heart as he drops dead.

Lil jumps into the room in front of the remaining Orc and prepares to launch a Magic Missile, but unfortunately, Lil stumbles as the deceased Orc's body spasms, breaking her concentration and breaking the spell. The Orc doesn't bother with its club; instead it puts up its fists and throws a punch, but Lil dips to the side, avoiding the punch. Locke now jumps into the room besides Lil, his sickle deployed as he is ready to strike. He thrusts his arm forwards, forcing the blade of the sickle to pierce the Orc's left eye. However, he doesn't stop there as he buries the Sickle deep into the Orc's head and cuts into the his brain. The Orc twitches and finally drops dead.

With the treasure chest in hand, our Heroes at least walk back up the stairs, taking them back into the first room of the mansion. From there, our Heroes make their escape from the evil mansion and rush back to Illias with their treasure. It is not long before they make it back to town. As it is early in the morning, they decide it would be best to rest for the night, choosing to reconvene with their mentor the following day.