Penetrator took the Berzerker strutting around the corner in the face. Its 3 friends ducked back as Roland pulled out a broadhead. 2 rounded the corner again in a run, shields held up. They were the Armoured Orc variant. Where's the other one?

"Jakson! There's another one somewhere!", yelled Roland at the top of his lungs. Kinetic turned the shield of Orc 1 a little bit. There was no use, the entire mass of the orc was advancing. Demit and Brewary stood to meet them. Demit dove out of the way in a combat roll, avoiding the slash and tackle from Orc 1. Brewary used Rage Blow to stop Orc 2. The weapons clashed and there was a crunch as Brewary's Zweihander did some damage to the shield. Orc 2's sword came out and he dodged it, launching Reverse Thrust that clashed against the orc's helmet. It swung again, but was caught by Wind. Another blow to the helmet. Brewary's fighting style was to aim for the face, unless using 'that unsightly Rage Blow'. Orcs generally wore open-faced helmets, as they wanted their opponents to see their face. To compensate, they were skilled enough to turn their heads aside and their helmets blocked attacks against the face. With its back turned by running past Demit, Orc 1 took Penetrator in the back. It pulled out a throwing axe and hurled it at Roland. Unable to move, he had to trust the Lamellar he wore. It stopped the axe, but it had landed spike part first, which bled him slightly. Shit, that throwing axe is heavy.

Demit punished Orc 1 with Smash to the helmet. It turned and grabbed Demit, dragging her around to Roland's line of sight. She blocked his shot. So was Brewary. Swinging, it roared. Demit caught it with Guard Stance and it moved its weapon aside, her hammer striking its pauldrons. Its shield came in next as a punch, the same time Demit drove her greaves into its face. The shield staggered Demit 2 steps to the side with a grunt, and her fist distracted the orc, opening a very small window. Roland wouldn't have tried if not for the 2 accuracy skills he had. Kinetic slammed and rang the scale armour on the orc, staggering it back a step. Demit recovered, took a step back to extend her range and Smash came down again, 2 handed and at maximum stave length. It raised its shield in time and the hammer splintered something. Orc 2 stabbed with its sword. Demit took it at the waist with her Lamellar. The shield came in, blocked by Guard Stance. Its scale armour took another hit. The orc grunted. That hammer was the right choice. The scales were no protection from concussive trauma.

Jakson was sent skidding, crashing into some crates. Orc 3, a Berzerker, jumped out of an alley and took Penetrator, pinning its right arm to its torso. It roared and with brute force unpinned its arm and yanked out the bodkin, victoriously snapping it with one hand while looking and Roland. The Berzerker had planned to flank Fireteam Alpha but was caught by Jakson in the alleyways. Its display of strength by yanking out the arrow gave Jakson time to rise. He used Swat to block Orc 3's twin cleavers. It parried Kinetic with one cleaver, which tore it out of its grip. Laughing, it repositioned Jakson between itself and Roland, blocking shots again. One weapon on an orc was better than 2, so Jakson could Swat with his Baselard in defence and stab with his Stiletto. Occasionally, he got a Slap through, but the Berzerker had bracers that protected the wrist as much as the arm. Roland, frightened of orc archers, scanned the streets and rooftops.

He couldn't help but marvel at his team. Brewary is an orc killer. Sometimes he manages to decapitate one with no fuss. Demit had a slight advantage over hers, as long as she wasn't caught in a surprise stab or tackle or dual wielding berserker. Priests were never meant to be very good frontline combatants but Demit made up for it in armour, daily training and focus on staff skills rather than Light Magic. He wondered what Revenge was capable of in Demit's hands. Jakson preferred to ambush and fade away, but when pressed, he used Swat extensively in defence. His stance was like a boxer, with both hands protecting his face, both daggers reverse gripped. Sometimes Roland observed Jakson trying to trace lines in the air with the tip of his dagger, imagining its path, always ending in Backstab.

Speaking of Jakson, he took down his opponent first. It was a rare sight since Jakson was not much of a face-to-face fighter. Scoring a deep cut along the orc's arm with his Baselard, he stabbed the berzerker in the neck with his Stiletto. The berzerker shoulder slammed him. He was staggered a few steps back but he remained standing, charging and driving the daggers into it. The orc tried picking its fallen weapon. Jakson kicked it away and tried to stab again, but was punched in the face. Toppling to the side, the way was open and Penetrator hit it in the thigh. Orc 3 approached and it tried punching but Jakson bled its arm some more with the Baselard. Aiming under the jaw, he drove his Stiletto upwards into the head. Jakson headed for Demit.

She was scoring hits, but was tiring slowly. The orc's shield was badly battered and the scales on its armour were displaced by hits. Its sword arm was battered, judging from the way it swung its sword. Jakson slipped under a swing by sliding and came up behind. Backstab dropped it in one smooth motion and stab. That Stiletto was paying itself off with dividends. The spike punctured through armour very well, although it wouldn't endure too many Swat.

"This one's mine, darlings", said Brewary. With a flourish, he used Reverse Thrust, hitting the face. The orc swung wildly and he used Forward Thrust, piercing the neck. The orc flailed madly with no thought of defence, enabling Brewary to decapitate it. They stood, catching their breath. Cheering erupted as windows and doors opened. Roland was shoved from the back and he fell painfully on the pavement below. He looked up to see a grandmother waving her stick angrily at him.

"Loot!", yelled Jakson. People were coming out from hiding, inching closer. The first Berserker to die was already being looted. Jakson sprinted and yelled at the direction of his kill, scattering people who were about to loot Orc 3. People were gathering courage to loot under their noses, inching ever closer. Demit took a few steps forward and raised her staff. The mob fell over each other as they retreated.

"Fuck out of here, assholes. F.T.A property!". Brewary was already looting his. Demit took hers and made a sign for every dead orc.

"The orcs are leaving!", yelled a boy, clutching to a chimney. The crowd cheered louder. Some cheering could be heard in the distance as well. As Fireteam Alpha left, the mob fell on the dead orcs, spitting and kicking and looting them. Those orcs still had gear. At the very least, it could be sold for scraps, spare leathers or spare scales. The most important thing were the orc money bags and their crystal buttons. Convinced that the orc invasion would be the talk of the day, they decided to have drinks in Sherry's.

"- and that's how it went!", said Haruhiro at the next table. He told the story quite loudly in his excitement, so he could be overheard by many. Apparently, the invasion wasn't an invasion, but a raid led by an 'Ish Dogran', the orc in black armour and animal hide cape. The orc boss decided to stop the raid so he could duel Renji, who won after taking a few hits. Honouring the duel, the raid was stopped cold and the orcs left when Renji broke the neck of the boss. Haruhiro was in awe of Renji, who he praised non-stop. Ranta cut in, swearing that he would be just as awesome. His team mates weren't going to let him get away with that.

"Right. I'm hungry as fuck and I'm not gonna sit here and listen to this motherfucker."

"Yea. We've heard enough", agreed Roland. They've had enough of the day. It was time for dinner. They passed Haruhiro in turn.

"Get on it, soldier", said Demit, slapping his shoulder. Roland patted and wished him luck. Jakson ruffled his hair.

"You work hard now, Goblin Slayer", said Brewary, patting Haruhiro. Ranta made angry noises as they left.

"So what we fought was some smartass motherfucker orcs who thought splitting from the main force was a good idea?", asked Demit.

"Yep", said Roland.

"Dumbass motherfuckers. I saw the first kill. Fucker was walking like he owned the place. Great shot, Marksman". Roland was quite happy. He was proud of his bow skills.

"Why 'Fireteam Alpha', though?", asked Roland

"Because 'Team Demit' is for fucking kids. We're going to get in a circle and join hands, 'What's gonna work? Teamwork!'?". That sounded familiar.

"Not to mention the number of times we don't take orders from you", joked Brewary. Jakson laughed.

"I ought to have you fuckers lined up and shot."

"Fireteam is 4 people, nyet? Is only Roland using bow", remarked Jakson.

"Shut the fuck up, Broski". The group laughed.

Some distance walk away, they found Renji who had looted Ish Drogan's sword. It looked just like the kind of sword he would carry. Brewary flirted with him, in which he gave a look of pure disgust. Their tiny mascot-Priest made a sound and stuck out her tongue at them. His head cocked to the side, the team Paladin was acting and talking like some kind of Yakuza underling from an anime. Anime? Yakuza? What are those again? As usual, as soon as he remembers or hears something familiar, it slips away from the back of his mind. Demit stepped up and was having a stare-down with the Paladin.

"Right here right now, bitch", said the Paladin.

"Ladies first, asshole", answered Demit. Their barely clothed Thief and glasses-wearing Mage kept silent, as did Jakson and Roland. Their gear looked just as expensive as what Fireteam Alpha wore. Demit and the Paladin exchanged a few more insults.

"Enough!", barked Renji. That was enough to stop their Paladin. He backed away, but not before spitting to the side. Renji looked at Brewary.

"Stay out of my way, faggot", he continued.

"Oh Puppy, there I was thinking you were the bold type", answered Brewary. Renji's sword hand quivered, but no attack came. He may carry himself like a thug, but he's no people-killer. There was some good in Renji, and Roland's respect for him rose. Renji looked at all members of the team for the first time. His gaze was piercing as he studied each member. There was some kind of recognition in the way he looked at them. He may hate Brewary, but this group was no pushover. Some seconds passed and he chose to ignore Brewary, walking away. His team followed.

"See you around, Puppy. You still owe me that date. You know only one man in all Grimgar can take you, and that's me!". Renji walked and pretended the whole team wasn't there. The mascot-Priest turned around and raised her middle finger at Brewary. Team Renji did not notice.

"Fucking dictatorship. There's no democracy over there. You kill the leader, you wipe the team, Hooah", remarked Demit. Brewary did not like the prospect of his Puppy dying. He told Demit where she could place that opinion.

They fell into routine again. Gear was maintained or replaced. Kvass was made and consumed. The 2 never moved out because they became attached to the place. They settled in, purchasing and installing things like shelves and drawers. They even had a rapport with the establishment owner. Brewary paid off his loans with surprising speed, at one point even giving up his portion of the loot for repayments. They found out something by accident one night when they decided to look for company. A Pimpernel who liked both men and women recognised them and mentioned off-hand that Brewary offered services too, and he was one of the higher charging ones, with an approval-only, male-only clientèle. So that's why he has no problems borrowing large sums of cash. The 2 men pretended they didn't know anything, and didn't mention it to Demit.

Orcs were killed, and they saw orcs kill humans and each other. Orcs were resourceful and developed their capabilities just like humans did so occasionally the party returned empty-handed. Brewary accepted all duels, which he never lost. There were some near-death scrapes, though. Roland was once out of action for 3 days, recovering from an orc arrow and a damaged organ. He bled as badly as Demit did from her neck wound. Jakson broke an arm and it was twisted at a bad angle when a Berserker grabbed and hammered. He wailed in pain at the bone setter before being healed and passing out. Brewary was shot at quite a lot as he protected Demit while advancing, but his armour held and he got better at using the sword crossguard to block arrows.

One day, Brewary brought news.