Divide and conquer

You hold your hand out, open-palmed, towards Tri'lanna, indicating that you want her to wait. She gives a disappointed look, but grimly nods, holding the bow and arrow loose in her hands. With that matter settled, you turn back to the camp to look for a weakness.

It is far from easy; despite being wounded and exhausted, the Orcs do a fair job maintaining a perimeter, with a sentry at opposite ends of the camp. The location is also very defensible, with the two leaning crags forming a natural chokepoint for anyone who dares to attack. Whoever leads this party must be far more intelligent than your average Orc.

Lady Luck's dice begin to roll in your favor though, when you see a single Orc leave the safety of the camp and head for a shadowed area, away from the others. You indicate the straggler to your Elven friend and she nods in understanding, carefully getting up with you. Darting back and forth between low cliffs and ridges, you and Tri'lanna begin stalk the lone orc, following until you see him stop near a tall stone. The Orc fiddles with his belt, finally undoing his breeches, and begins relieve his bladder.

His weapon is resting on the ground in arms reach and he is still within shouting distance of the camp, so you have to act quickly and quietly. Softly easing your axe and sword to the ground, you look to Tri'lanna and put your finger to your lips to indicate silence. Turning back around you creep towards the Orc, who is still taking a piss, oblivious to his surroundings. Step by step, you inch towards the foul creature, until you are practically breathing down its neck. Then, in one quick motion, you snap your hands forward, seizing the orc by the mouth with one hand and grabbing his arm with the other, roughly twisting it behind him.

He lets out a muffled cry and thrashes back and forth, trying to break free. You briefly lose your footing during the struggle, and the Orc manages to spin you around. He backpedals and slams you against the stone, leaving you gasping for air as you feel it rush out of your lungs.

As your grip weakens, you see the Orc try to break free and elbow you in the gut with his free arm. The Orc fails to see Tri'lanna though when she appears from behind an outcropping. She pulls her bow's drawstring to its full length, smoothly takes aim and releases. You watch as she lets her arrow fly, arching in the air and puncturing the Orc in the throat. It lets out a small, bloody gurgle and slumps dead against you.

Silently lowering the Orc on the ground, you watch Tri'lanna as she walks over to the corpse, pulling out a small knife at her side. She kneels by the dead Orc and neatly carves a hole in its neck, extracting her arrow. The Elf wipes the blood off her hands and looks up at you, smiling innocently. You are struck once again by the sheer lethality of this small woman, and silently thank God that she is on your side.

You suddenly hear footsteps from behind you, two pairs. They are faint but quickly growing louder. It's probably some of this orc's comrades looking for him. You make a grab for your axe, but your hands pass through air. Dreadfully, you remember that your weapons are still lying on the ground where you left them, more than a dozen steps away.

You feel a faint pressure on your chest, and realize that it's Tri'lanna pushing you. You look backwards and see that she is trying to push you into a dark, tiny nook in the cliff, completely out of sight.