The assault on the Bonegnasher lair was delayed by a rockslide. Jack thought it prudent to scout around the path away from the lair to avoid getting outflanked by any orcs behind their position before dealing with the blockage. He was not surprised to find another orc patrol on the road around the corner the other direction. He was surprised to find the massive green-skinned troll who charged in and started dismembering and then eating the orcs. Jack was even more surprised when the monstrosity ran straight through the blast from his zat when the troll finished with the orcs and came after him and the rest of the party.
Khelgar, however, was ready for that and charged in to face it. The burly dwarf dodged the monster's swipe and cracked it in the knees with his axe. The beast howled in pain and tried in vain to strike the wily Ironfist. Dwarves had long been fighting such creatures and were taught from an early age how to make their small stature an advantage rather than a disadvantage against much larger opponents. It was infuriating for the larger creatures, but fun for the dwarves. That is, when they didn't make a mistake and end up getting squashed.
With that height differential between his ally and enemy, Jack had no trouble zatting the creature again. And again. He was surprised that even the third shot, which would normally disintegrate something even of that size, had almost no effect. When Khelgar and Tamil dropped the creature, only to watch its wounds begin to regenerate, Colonel O'Neal shook his head wearily.
"Whoever taught this guy to get up when you fall did a hell of a job. Seriously, what does it take to kill this thing?" Jack asked. Qara stepped forward and pointed her hand at the creature and a gout of flame leapt out to engulf it. The troll finally stopped struggling to rise and its wounds no longer continued to knit together. "Ok, so it takes a bratty teenage pyromaniac to kill it. Lucky we have one of those."
Qara shot Jack a dark look. Jack responded with one of his quick smiles that seemed to say, "I'm not smiling with you, I'm smiling at you." Qara continued to glower.
The group continued down the same path and met several more trolls, though luckily only one at a time. Rather than use the ineffective zat, Jack pulled out his Beretta M9. When the first one charged at an expectant Khelgar, Jack got a clear shot and drilled the monster right between its grotesque eyes. The creature dropped to the ground. When Jack and the rest approached to see his handiwork they saw the tissue around the head wound slowly starting to close up. Teal'c aimed his staff weapon at the creature and fired a plasma burst into it point blank. Charred troll splattered all over the rocks, the flesh still sizzling. Jack gave a nod to his friend.
After that, when the huge green-skinned creatures charged, Jack would hit the monster center-mass with the 9mm while Grobnar, Elanee and Qara contributed arrows and bolts from their bows. Khelgar and Tamil would charge in with their axes and blades and disable it before Teal'c could get in range with the Ma'tok staff weapon to finish it.
Eventually, they found a cave with more trolls inside. Despite some of these creatures being even larger than those they encountered outside the cave, the same tactics still worked and the party cleared the cave with Tamil and Khelgar getting little more than scratches. That was when they found the box of blastglobes.
"We'll take these back to Carter. I'm guessing she'll be able to do something with them." Noting Grobnar's interest in the alchemical explosives Jack added, pointing to the gnome, "I think that's a better idea than giving 'em to him."
Having thoroughly scouted the area behind the blocked approach to the lair, Jack was satisfied they could proceed with the assault. Jack rigged the rocks blocking the path into the Bonegnasher lair with charges of C-4 he had in his pack. The explosion blew an opening in the rocks and the party moved forward.
Khelgar would remember what followed with great frustration. Jack instructed him to stay back and the dwarf obliged, expecting to be sent in charging when the time was right. But then Jack and Teal'c just stood behind the rock wall and fired on the beastly orcs with the zat and staff weapon from cover. Despite the staff weapon's inaccuracy and limited range, the explosive plasma charges sent the orcs running away or charging into Jack's fire, each discharge of the zat'nik'tel dropping an orc to the ground in pain. When Teal'c was able hit his opponent, they were simply blown apart beside their gaping comrades. The dwarf had to admit this was a devastatingly effective method for killing the hated and hateful creatures, but it took all the fun out of it for him. Even if he could have been the one blasting them away with energy weapons, he would still have preferred to have done it with his axe.
When they got to the actual lair, it was pretty much the same. Teal'c and Jack would fire on the hapless orcs from doorways and around corners. Occasionally orcs would manage to make it all the way to the group, sometimes emerging from nearby passageways unexpectedly, but these were perhaps the least lucky of all. Khelgar took all his frustration at being held back out on these poor creatures, who fell just as dead and just as quickly.
Seeing the effectiveness of SG-1's appropriated Gou'ald weapons in this sort of raid and against these opponents, Tamil switched to her bow, joining Elanee and Grobnar in peppering any oncoming orcs not yet targeted by Jack or Teal'c with arrows. Qara was eager to release her magical powers at the creatures, but found few real opportunities. A couple times she was able to make a first strike, blasting large groups of the monstrous humanoids with powerful balls of fire, but mostly she was reduced to firing the occasional crossbow bolt while waiting for the zat'nik'tel to disable them all.
But then suddenly everything almost fell apart. The group came around a corner when a large group of orcs appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Startled, Jack barely had time to fire a single shot from his zat before the orcs were upon them. Teal'c was forced to use his Ma'tok staff for melee as the combat was too close for him to extend it to fire. Jack rolled away from an attacking orc and came up with his zat holstered and his long knife in hand.
The initial combat would have been disastrous for the group if it had not been for magical protections. Just before entering the cave, Tamil had instructed the druid and sorceress to put some basic defensive enchantments on the mixed group, with priority going to those without any armor. Elanee had touched Jack, Teal'c, Qara, Khelgar, and Grobnar speaking the words of her spell as if she were importuning something greater than herself. Their skin had grown hard, like the bark of an oak tree. Qara, in turn, had muttered several incantations and a translucent field of energy shimmered into being around those she had touched. She had also cast another spell on herself, creating a barely visible bubble of force around her, but explained that this shield could not be cast on another.
Jack had seen these magical protections before, though he had never had the mage armor cast on him and still felt very strange about the barkskin spell turning him into a walking tree. He had been about to make a joke involving the word Noxema when Teal'c had surprised him. The big man was looking around oddly, as if seeing something that wasn't there. Then Teal'c chanted something himself and a golden light spread out from him in a wave of warmth. "The blessings of Tyr are upon this endeavor," he intoned gravely. Jack had felt something and he turned to regard his friend again.
Jack was grateful for these protections, and Tamil's foresight, as several blows from orcish blades bounced off the magical armor or deflected off his rough, enchanted skin without doing any damage. He even felt lucky as he fought back with his long knife, his blade sliding past theirs with a grace that he was sure was just a little better than what he could normally achieve. He was taking a few nicks and rough blows, but those daily practice sessions with Neeshka, Tamil, and Khelgar were paying off.
It also helped that despite their different approaches to music, Tamil and Grobnar were able to blend their tunes into something even more harmonious and inspirational than their individual music. Their singing and chanting bolstered the morale of every member of the party, especially in the midst of the chaos of the battle. With a grin at each other, the woman and the gnome broke out into even more powerful songs and chants. Tamil chanted a tune that covered the very skin of all her allies in a flexible coat of iron while Grobnar's tune was an eerie song that promised punishment and pain to their enemies.
Just as Jack and Teal'c were getting a handle on their situation, the last orcs they were facing about to fall, a door opened beside them and outpoured more of the evil creatures. One of the orcs chanted something and a giant boar appeared in the hallway to charge at the already engaged adventurers. That was when Qara got impatient.
A ball of fire flew through the air and exploded at the doorway. The explosion of heat and energy blasted apart some of the attacking monsters and injured many more. Unfortunately, it also damaged members of the party as well. Khelgar, being nearest to the door at the time, took the worst of it, only avoiding the full blast by raising his shield. Jack had also been dangerously close to the blast, but as he saw the attack coming he threw himself backwards and rolled away from the danger.
"What the hell was that?" Tamil screamed at the adolescent spellcaster. Qara just shot the furious brunette an uncaring look. Unfortunately, the explosion brought even more orcs to the area from all directions and the party was soon surrounded once again and in a now desperate fight. Tamil Farlong didn't have the chance to continue to scold her group member.
The explosion, though, had created a small crack in the ceiling. Elanee wasted no time calling on her own magic to aid them. Streaks of lightning poured into the room through the hole in the cavern roof, reaching out and selectively striking only the orcs. Those nearest to Jack and Teal'c were either slain by the electricity, or blasted enough that it was a simple matter for the pair to finish them.
That was all the room Jack needed. He pulled his FN P-90 around from where it had been strapped to his back and called ahead to Tamil to get down. Glancing back, she saw what was in Jack's hand and hit the floor, rolling away from the orcs. Jack aimed high and pulled the trigger, holding it for three quick bursts of fire. The bullets ripped through the orcs' armor like nothing they had ever seen before. They heard bursts of thunder and saw death. Those that remained fled. Teal'c turned his attention to the orcs in the other direction, his staff firing a plasma burst that blew to gooey chunks the entire upper-body of one that was causing Grobnar. Jack swiveled, switching the assault weapon from full-auto to semi-automatic, and quickly pulled the trigger again.
When the dust cleared, no orc was left standing in the hallway where the ambush had taken place. With the fighting over, Khelgar let out a groan and slumped against the nearest wall. "I could use a bit of healing over here," the stoic dwarf said matter-of-factly. He had severe burns from Qara's poorly planned fireball and multiple slashing wounds over his body, visible now that the ironskin enchantment had expired and his skin had returned to normal.
Elanee moved to attend the dwarf, but Teal'c was there first. He laid his hand on the dwarf and spoke words that flowed into his mind from the same connection he had felt when he had saved Jack. Khelgar was immediately much, much better. The burns had disappeared completely and most of the wounds he had taken had closed, though they still were not fully healed.
Teal'c looked at the dwarf with some surprise. "Why are you not fully healed as Colonel O'Neal was?"
Elanee looked at Teal'c questioningly. "You healed Jack from a mortal wound with a single spell? That is very powerful magic, Teal'c. Usually it would take a healer several castings to fully restore someone on the brink of death, as you can see with Khelgar."
Teal'c pondered her words for a moment, then cast another healing spell, this time releasing less magic. The wounds improved dramatically anyway, but were not completely gone. The former Jaffa raised one eybrow. "It seems I was given a special gift from Tyr for O'Neal's sake. I was not aware before that there were different degrees of healing." Teal'c regarded the dwarf for a second. "I shall endeavor to restore your body completely."
Khelgar shook his head and jumped up, flexing his arms and rotating his head around. "No need, Teal'c. I feel good as gold. Ye' have my thanks. Now, lets go bust the rest of those orcs' heads!"
"Wait, Teal'c, you mean you did not ask Tyr for specific spells to cast? You just used the magic you thought of without praying for those spells the night before?" Elanee asked.
Teal'c shook his head. "I did not know I was supposed to. However, if that is how the Even-handed wishes me to do, then I will do so."
Elanee shook her head in response. "No, Teal'c. It seems you have a special connection to a very powerful and benevolent deity. There are druids like this as well who have a direct link to the land and do not need to pray to a nature deity for nature magic as I must do. Druids who can do this are called shamans. I had not heard of a cleric equivalent except in legends. It must be extremely rare."
Qara snorted. "Well, I don't need to pray to anyone to have power. And I don't need any god or tree to power my magic. It's all my own. So if—"
The red-headed mage's arrogant speech was interrupted by a hand to her throat. Despite Qara's still active shield spell and mage armor, Tamil Farlong had managed to grab her and shove her up against the cave wall. The bard's bright green eyes veritably shone with fury.
"I don't care where your power comes from, or how much of it you have, Qara." In a show of strength, the girl from West Harbor lifted the Neverwinter sorceress off the ground with one arm. "If you ever endanger the lives of my friends again you will pay for your stupidity in blood."
Qara had tried to struggle, but in vain. When Tamil released her, she sunk to the ground gasping. Qara stood up with a spell on her lips, but found a sword at her throat in response.
"Don't," came Tamil's terse warning. Seeing nobody in the party coming to her defense, Qara turned her head away in defiance, but made no further move to attack.
"Alright, come on now, we need to keep moving," Jack said, breaking the brief silence. "The girl was an idiot for shooting that… whatever it was off when she did, and she was stupid for shooting her mouth off just then. But we came in as a team and we'll go back out as a team."
Tamil lowered her blade. "Don't attempt to cast a spell on me and I won't turn my blade on you, Qara. You have your weapons. I have mine." The dark haired woman pulled back for a second, then added, "Let's just make sure we hit the orcs with them, not each other."
Between Elanee and Teal'c the rest of the party was quickly healed of the comparatively minor wounds they had taken. As they went through the remainder of the caves looking for the Waterdeep emissary with the zat and staff weapon clearing the way, they came upon a half-orc mining chief and his crew locked in a prison. A blast from Teal'c's staff later and they were free, about to run off to the outside.
"Whoah, whoah, whoah!" Jack held them up. "Before you run off, can you tell me if you've seen any sign of other human…ish prisoners? Maybe from Waterdeep?"
The miner, named Pentin, gave a quick response before urging his men to make a break for the surface. "Prisoner? No, Yasoig doesn't usually let people live. My crew was spared because I'm a half-breed, but there's no telling what he was planning to do with us. There was another human here, but when I yelled at him to let us out he just laughed." He nodded at the group. "Now, if you don't mind... OK, men, I said MOVE!"
The rest of the orc cave was simple easily cleared with Jack zatting and Teal'c blasting. When they finally confronted Chief Yasoig, however, there was a little concern. The beastly orc spoke Common.
There was no question that the orcs were typically the aggressors in the conflict with Neverwinter. But the fact that they were intelligent and were organized with their own governmental system through Jack a serious political problem. SG-1 was not authorized to take sides or interfere with any conflict between sovereign groups, or even between differing factions, for that matter. Joining the assault on the orcs would definitely be a big no-no if they had have had a chance to repot to General Hammond before going.
Teal'c, however, pointed out some key issues that helped settle the matter—at least as far as Jack was concerned. First, orcs were inherently evil. Teal'c had read as much in the religious writings he had received from the temple of Tyr. In their entry on Gruumsh, patron deity of the orcs, there was some comment on orcs and gnolls stating that while there were a small minority who did not develop into creatures of evil, most were quickly slain for being "weak" and it was incredibly unlikely that a person would kill an innocent one. Orcs were like really dumb, pig-faced Gou'ald minus all the technology, symbiotes, glowing eyes—actually, they weren't really like Gou'ald except that most of them deserved to be killed without hesitation.
Second, SG-1 had been stranded on this world for a few months with a very strong possibility that they would not be able to return. Standing orders for a stranded team on a world inhabited by humans, without means to return, were to blend in with the local populace and not cause disruption to the culture. Blending into the city of Neverwinter by assisting Tamil and the City Watch was in keeping with those orders. Fighting orcs was something the people were already doing, and the orcs had no knowledge of the existence of Earth.
Yasoig begged for his life, hoping to flee. Jack just zatted him.
When the group found a lone human in a fairly comfortable chamber behind the orc chieftain's room with no bars and a door out, they were suspicious. When he tried to pass himself off as the Waterdeep Emissary, Teal'c instinctively knew he was lying. When the man tried to cast a spell, Jack zatted him, too.
On the way back to Old Owl Well, Tamil chuckled to herself. Without Jack they probably would have just killed everybody and had nobody to question about the where the emissary really was.