3. Blood, Sweat & Beers

Xarras took heed not to slip back down the damp well. The stars above were dimmed by the proximity of the town lights, but Xarras could feel it in his bones it was very much past midnight.
He peered over the lip of the well and what he saw confirmed what he could hear coming up the well– the orcs and goblins were making a commotion.
In Trg's town square, the main well sat at its centre. Xarras could see some of the orcs and goblins yelling in glee as they rushed off towards the direction of the Blacksmith’s, where the Goats had just escaped from. Thankfully the massive brute of a troll also followed these orcs, albeit at a slow gait.
Some of the goblins were pointing to a massive fire outside of the city, caused some kind of massive explosion in the nearby woods. The flames licked very high and Xarras could smell the smoke even from here. From the tavern a new motley gang of orcs and goblins emerged. One of them was a gaunt and held a staff from which green flames flickered from. The gaunt orc was snapping orders at the others and Xarras surmised this was Mansha, the shaman that was part of the recent siege on the temple.
The sound of the clinking chains drew then his attention to what he thought was a woman, though hard to see considering her sorry state. She had a steel collar around the neck with a chain that led to inside the well, for whatever horrible reason the orcs had concocted. She was crouched over and hiding her face, shaking in fear. He was glad they didn’t try to climb up the chain or the poor woman would have been either chocked to death or dragged over and into the well.
Xarras secured the rope around a jutting stone from the wall of the well and tested it – it would hold and allow the others to climb up.

It was at this point that in the underground aqueduct that Brutalithops cried out in alarm. The goblins patrolling the perimeter had finally found the entrance to the underground river way.
The grizzled goblin drew his weapon and looked the other Goats, “Guys! Me and the survivors will fend off the bastards here and keep the escape route safe. No doubt the orcs will swarm you up there if you take your sweet time, fellas. It’s now or never!”

The remaining Goats grabbed the rope and clambered up the well, along with Mikael Wagnerstrauff and his warriors. The Goats had also suggested that the dwarf blacksmiths, Bjorn and Lorna, to also follow the Goats into battle in the town centre.
In the chaos around the town square, the Goats had the imitative. Bal'Aur gulped down a potion of giant strength, and his muscles swelled with magic power. He rushed up the the frightened woman chained around the well and his great axe smashed the chain in half with a loud clunk. The other Goats rushed forward towards the Pubb, where on the verandah the orc shaman was giving orders. The Goats brandished their weapons and called out, challenging the shaman.
“Look at that!" Mansha laughed with glee, "The nameless one delivers his own head to me. I’ll gladly take it to the Steel Caller and he’ll accept me once again as his head shaman!”

The Goats charged straight towards the Pubb whilst Wagnerstrauff and his warriors protected the well - their escape route.
Catsby called on the magics of song and vanished front the naked eye, splitting off to approach Mansha and his goons from another angle.
The Grim Fang orcs and their goblin allies in and around the Pubb let loose a swarm of arrows into the charging Goats. Armor and brawn protected them for the most part, although Bal'Aur's armor corroded from a prior battle crumbled and failed in bits.
Marik confronted a small mob of orcs in front of the Pubb's main entrance and called on divine powers to aid him, though followers of Helm would not recognise this as coming from what they claimed to be the one and only holy deity on Merra.
Bal'Aur and Xarras meanwhile head straight towards Mansha, climbing up the stairs leading the Pubb's verandah.
Quickly the gaggle of goblins protecting the shaman were brutally cut down and Mansha turned to flee down another flight of stairs. He had no chance of seeing an invisible Castby making his way and the two crashed into one another. Mansha fell face down into the ground below, smashing his nose whilst the adept Castby somersaulted and landed directly on the orc shaman, The invisibility spell ceased and Catsby could be seen trying to strangle the orc using his arms whilst his tail flickered and grasped somewhere much lower.

Meanwhile down in the aqueduct beneath them, Brutalithops, Primrose and Captain Yvich of Trg's town guard defended the sick and wounded survivors from the goblins who had found the hidden entrance. Unfortunately there was little in the way of cover.
A very capable warrior, Brutalithops had no issue vanquishing his distant cousins, but their flurries of arrows could not all be blocked and some of the survivors were were wounded or killed. The tired captain also fell as multiple arrows found their marks in between the armor. He was dead before Primrose had even a chance heal the man with her sanctioned magic.
The growing calls and grunts of goblins and orcs echoing in the town could only mean that more of them were approaching the Goats. One of the growls was especially loud and the she-troll smashed through a wall of a damaged building near the well. She growled with a terrible hunger, her fists and drooping breasts swinging wildly.
Wagnerstrauff, seeing the troll and more trouble on its way, commanded the supporting warriors to retreat to the well.
Marik and one of Wagnerstrauff's warrior defeated their mob of orcs, though the large, brutish orc had proved especially difficult. the duo carefully made their way back towards the well entrance, careful of the she-troll.

On the Pubb's verandah, Bal'Aur dispatched the last of the greenskins in his way and dived off it. He landed on top of Catsby and Mansha, causing some injury to both.
Mansha was trying to free himself from being crushed whilst Catsby's tail found the desired goal. the shaman made a horrible face and with a sickening sound, Catsby tail emerged, holding the orc's bloody nuts. the agonising pain was enough for Mansha to free himself out of the pile and he ran, screaming in pain.
Bal'Aur, with the potion of giant strength still in him, ran towards the retreating shaman and with two great swings of the blood-stained axe literally disarmed the Mansha. The orc dropped the ground, engulfed in pain that was quickly dissolving as the blood loss was lead to the orc's doom. Bal'Aur strode to the well, crushing the shaman's skull beneath his weight.
Catsby and Xarras followed closely behind. Catsby picked up the shaman's staff and also scooped up the bloody remains of the testes, trying to intimate his minions. The she-troll was too dumb and too hungry to understand, and there were too many orcs to be think twice at this stage.
Although the Goats were tempted to take down the she-troll, whatever wounds they inflicted on her were quickly healing thanks to the troll's regenerative qualities. The orc and goblin reinforcements had also arrived in the vicinity, so it was time for the Goats to make their escape.
The Goats guarded the well and instructed the others to jump down into the well.
Unfortunately, this risky action caused the tragic death of the dwarf blacksmith, Bjorn, as he awkwardly tumbled and snapped his neck on the aqueduct platform below. Another warrior also lost his life in a similar fashion, but the rest and the Goats successfully made their way down back into the aqueduct.
The orcs chasing them didn't blindly jump down the well to follow, given the risks involved. This gave the goats and survivors enough time to escape through the aqueducts. Bal'Aur could hear their echoes, as the orcs already started to fight amongst themselves as who would be in charge now.

^{Excerpt from Sir Catsby's Meowmoir: Great Clawnicles of Adventures, Catastrophes, and Furrenship - 11th Talos, 5249AC}

^{Following our infiltration of occupied Trg, we were successful in sending the orc Shaman, Mansha, into early retirement (of life). With my own very tail I had de-manned him whilst Bal'Aur disarmed Mansha in a bloody mess.
We also managed to recoved some survivors that were hiding in the aqueduct.
-Wagnerstrauff survived. Of his eight warriors from Trg, three are left.
-Captain Yvich died defending the survivors in the aqueduct, though the constable Ghebbils lives
-The lady blacksmith, Lorna lives, though her brother's very much dead after his terrible fall down the well (whoops)
-Ralf Tenemu lives but doesn't look great, along with twenty-seven other Trg citizens.
-The wounded rogue from the Silver-Fangs gang did not make it, died protecting the survivors
-Davanya Krechnyev, the town Mer. Malnourished and most likely mentally broken following months of torture.}