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<blockquote data-quote="TheBard" data-source="post: 60846" data-attributes="member: 2821"><p><strong>Episode 16: Appetite for Power</strong></p><p></p><p>Time Elapsed: 7/14 - 7/18/495 A.I. </p><p></p><p>Summary</p><p></p><p>Once behind closed doors, the group had a little time to discuss Vihar’s dungeons, his hospitality and their next move. Martaine excused himself to consult with Vihar about religious matters, as the ogre lord’s offer of land and funds to construct a monastery was still fresh in his mind. Before anyone else could say a word, however, Aoelif had a few choice comments for Theodorus, which she prefaced by grabbing the man by the collar and bouncing the back of his skull off the floor once or twice. Before the startled magus could react, she told him exactly what was on her mind, saying</p><p></p><p>“How dare you stand over Kamak like that? What gives you the idea that you can stand over her broken spirit and body? She lead a legion of men who fought and died for her, and had a giant under her control. You have a dog, and an apprentice. You gloated -- as if your cunning captured her. You questioned her -- as if Vihar's priests have not left any secrets uncovered. You even snickered --as if there is no possibility that you may be in her position some day. You behaved badly, not as a hero with a vanquished foe that should now be pitied. Where is your God's compassion now?”</p><p></p><p>Having said her piece, she excused herself, which is to say rather, she simply left the flabbergasted mage lying on the floor and departed. Ingolf watched the entire scene unfold with no inconsiderable amount of humor. Theodorus, attempting to make some sense out of this turn of events, asked the bard if he could explain what Aoelif meant. He tried to explain that it was not particularly brave or noble, at least in the mind of the alfar, to gloat over a defeated enemy – certainly not to gloat over a defeated enemy that you yourself did not overcome. Theodorus seemed to feel that, as Kamak served a dark and malign lord in the form of Nyag, the orcish lord of the undead, that she was beneath even his contempt.</p><p></p><p>In the end, it was apparent that Theodorus’ world-view did not admit the possibility of respect or pity for a vanquished foe, at least not if that foe was, in his mind, “evil.” Aoelif and Ingolf were both appalled by Vihar’s treatment of his prisoner, who certainly deserved death in their minds, but not the sort of humiliation and torture to which Kamak had been subjected. Theodorus seemed to believe that, as she served a dark and unholy god, she deserved any fate, no matter how horrible, that Vihar chose to mete out to here. Ingolf and especially Aoelif felt some pity for the legless, armless captive – Theodorus felt only scorn. Ultimately the fianna returned and offered an apology to Theodorus for laying hands on him, who for his part apologized for offending her – though it seemed that he never gained an understanding of what he had done that was so offensive.</p><p></p><p>That evening the group joined Lord Vihar for dinner, and he made a most generous offer of aid. His brother Burian, he explained, was a sorcerer of no mean skill, who could perhaps disguise all or part of the group as native Rolgulkans, enabling them to move more easily across the territory they would have to cross. In addition, Vihar offered to supply the group with his personal guaranty of safe passage (which took the form of a heavy iron bar with his sigil cast into it) and a letter of introduction to his brother, as well as one to Lord Rorric, the neighboring ogre lord through whose war-torn lands the group would have to pass. Though well aware that all of this assistance came at an as-yet unspecified future price, the group agreed to Vihar’s suggestions and made plans to depart the next morning.</p><p></p><p>The journey to Burian’s keep was not particularly long or difficult, and was in the direction the group would need to pass at any rate. Along the way it was decided that the group would pose as a human merchant (Nicasia) bringing Tavian goods into Rolgulka, traveling with some hired mercenary guards of both human and Tavian origin. As only Theodorus, Ingolf and Martaine spoke the local language, they three of them would be disguised as Rolgulkans – as an ogre and two hobgoblins, respectively. </p><p></p><p>The path took the group down the length of the Vale of Thunder and slowly but surely out of the higher mountains and into the foothills. As the party drew close to Burian’s keep, they noticed a large number of gibbets hanging in the woods along the road. At least one of them was still occupied – not by a prisoner, but by an unloving ghoul. By the looks of the remains in the gibbet with the undead creature, it had been imprisoned with a priest of Nyag, whose holy symbol the group recognized from their dealing with the necromancer’s troops in the Rolgulkan hinterlands. Martaine called forth the power of Logos and in a flash of brilliant light the half-starved creature was blasted into dust.</p><p></p><p>This brought forth the immediate attention of a guard from Burian’s keep, who rode out with an escort at once to accost the group. Although angered at Martaine’s destruction of the ghoul, the guard had little choice but to escort them to the keep when confronted with Vihar’s symbol. In the courtyard outside Burian’s tower the group got their first look at Vihar’s brother.</p><p></p><p>Burian turned out to be as tall and slender as Vihar was broad and muscled. He was dressed all in black and scarlet, and was shockingly handsome for an ogre. He greeted the group with some suspicion at first, and even when he’d read Vihar’s letter seemed not thrilled to be dealing with humans. His attitude changed somewhat, however, when he noticed Zaccara’s spear. Like all Rolgulkan nobles who’d seen the black lance so far, he seemed desperate to hold it in his hands for just a moment, Despite Aoelif’s protestations, Zaccara gave it to the towering ogre and saw that, as with Lady Zlata, the spear instantly adjusted its size to accommodate the frame of it’s new wielder. Burian was at once eager to test the spear.</p><p></p><p>Ghouls, it seemed, were in no short supply in Burian’s dungeons. Standard sentence for the worship of Nyag was to be imprisoned with a starving ghoul until the worshiper or the ghoul was dead. Since the worshipers typically went into the ghoul-occupied gibbet with nothing but the clothes on their back, it was always the ghouls that survived the ordeal. Burian ordered one of them brought forth, and two of his guards – members of Vihar’s feared Immortals – dragged one up on two long tethers after a few moments. With visible relish, Burian drove the spear of Balor into the thing’s body, and was rewarded with a conclusive demonstration of the spear’s power. But perhaps to Aoelif’s surprise, Burian seemed more than willing to return the spear to Zaccara once he’d had a chance to examine it. Of the three Rolgulkan nobles who’d seen the spear, none had offered Zaccara so much as a groat in exchange for it. All seemed eager to hold it – how eager they were to possess it was another matter.</p><p></p><p>His curiosity satisfied, Burian agreed to do as his brother Vihar had asked, and transformed Theodorus into an Ogre and Ingolf and Martaine into hobgoblins. He also supplied the group with Rolgulkan garb and armor before sending them on their way towards Rorric. His last bit of advice was a bit cryptic. Rorric, it seemed, was unswervingly loyal to Vihar and the Vale of Thunder, but his consort Velika was not to be trusted. With those words, Burian sent the group once more on the way east, towards Rorric’s encampment, Zakarij’s lands and ultimately the source of the Dan river.</p><p></p><p>The journey across Rorric’s lands proved relatively uneventful. Although the group received not a few odd looks from the inhabitants, there was no trouble, and Vihar’s guarantee of safe passage seemed to be respected by everyone who saw it. After some days of walking, the party approached the outlying sentries of Rorric’s encampment. Most Rolgulkans, upon seeing such a mixed group of travelers, concluded that the ogre must be in charge, and so Theodorus tended to take the lead when dealing with questions. The fact that the Rolgulkan’s seemed to expect him to lead via threat and intimidation rather than cunning or charisma meant that he could “play dumb” much of the time without arousing too much suspicion; Rorric’s guards were no exception.</p><p></p><p>Rorric was clearly preparing for battle against Zakarij’s forces, and the guards at least were none too thrilled to be dealing with a group of “merchants” in the middle of a war zone. The group was brought to Rorric’s tent and greeted there by the fattest ogre any of them had ever seen. Rorric was huge, twice the size of Vihar, most of it fat, and armored cap-a-pie in equally huge plate and mail armor that must have taken an army of smiths months to create. Before introductions could properly be made, he leapt to the conclusion that the group must be the unit of sorcerers he’d been asking Vihar to send. When it was revealed that this was not the case, Rorric became visibly unhappy and the party wondered just how long Vihar’s good wishes would carry them, when Ingolf intimated that, although not the magical aid he’d sought against Zakarij, the group was in fact on a mission into his lands. He implied without saying as much that this mission was on Lord Vihar’s behalf. </p><p></p><p>Rorric became much happier at this news, and began to press for details of the mission, but Ingolf would only reply that it was “secret.” When he asked if they intended to fight their way across Zakarij’s lands, Ingolf told him that of course they could not – hence the need to pretend that they were a group of merchants. Rorric seemed somewhat doubtful of this plan, and decided that they needed to speak to his “advisor” and summoned forth Velika – the very consort the group had been warned against. While waiting for her, he served up a mountain of food, and the group were compelled by the nature of their disguise to partake of at least some of it. Rorric was very fond of spiced calf’s brains, and though Theodorus found them somewhat less appealing he managed to down an ogre-sized portion for the sake of appearances.</p><p></p><p>After a short while, Velika appeared with one of Rorric’s war leaders, an orc who was introduced as Mikas. Mikas was every inch the ill-tempered savage that most of the group imagined a Rolgulkan general might be, but Velika was something else entirely. Very slender, very fair of face – looking almost more like an 8’ tall elf woman than an ogress. She pressed Ingolf again for details of the mission, but he was as recalcitrant with her as he had been with Rorric, so she turned her attentions to the seemingly dim-witted ogre Theodorus. He dissembled for a bit, somewhat clumsily, and Velika finally realized that whatever the group’s “secret mission” into Zakarij’s lands was, she wasn’t going to get it from him. Ingolf repeated again that their mission was known to Vihar (partially true) and that they traveled into Zakarij’ lands under his authority.</p><p></p><p>Mikas snorted his contempt, and asked, as had Rorric, if the group thought they were going to fight their way across Zakarij’ kingdom. Ingolf was growing a bit tired of this question and replied that perhaps it was Mikas’ own brains and not calf’s brains at all upon which Lord Rorric and his guests had been feasting. Needless to say, the orc warrior didn’t appreciate the insult and reached at once for his sword, whereupon Zaccara, unable to understand the exchange, brought forth The Spear. </p><p></p><p>Velika’s eyes lit up much as had Lady Zlata’s when she saw it. She at once laid a hand on Mikas’ shoulder and bade him halt, then asked Zaccara if she might hold the Spear a moment. Zaccara, somewhat resignedly, handed over Balor’s Spear yet again, and watched as, yet again, it seemed to accommodate itself to the size and power of it’s wielder. Velika handed the spear back almost at once, turned to Rorric, and said “These people should be allowed to continue their mission as soon as they have eaten and rested, my lord. They will be a great aid in your struggle.” Rorric seemed very pleased to hear this, and began discussing with Ingolf when and how the group should depart. Velika, though, pulled the still fuming Mikas aside and said something in low tones that seemed to mollify him somewhat.</p><p></p><p>Theodorus, though in the appearance of a dim-witted ogre, had lost none of his wits, and he noted closely what Velika seemed to be saying. Though he could not hear her, he was an accomplished lip-reader, and it appeared to him that she said something to the orc warrior about “carve out a kingdom for yourself.” Theodorus couldn’t help but notice that, the whole time she was speaking to Mikas, she had her eye on the Spear. </p><p></p><p>After the moment of tension, Rorric ordered more food brought forth and Velika and Mikas excused themselves to “prepare for the upcoming battle.” The group wasted as little time as possible with Rorric’s heavily laden sideboard of cabbage, beets and brains – plenty of brains – before taking up the guise of merchants once more and departing. Rorric directed them down a particular road that lead well around the likely site of the upcoming battle and wished them luck in their secret mission. He seemed to have become convinced that the group were a pack of assassins or spies and referred to them as such repeatedly. His lack of subtlety was astounding.</p><p></p><p>The road down which the group made there way was wide and well-kept, though not paved as were the imperial highways of Iconium. As they rode, the party discussed what their plan would be once they crossed into Zakarij’ kingdom. The guise of traveling merchants, clearly, was coming under a great deal of scrutiny and it was agreed that if Zakarij’ folk were as suspicious and paranoid as Rorric’s had been, the company could be in for some difficult times. An hour or so after passing Rorric’s outlying pickets, the group approach a shallow stream lying across the roadway. Martaine suddenly realized that he could here galloping hoof beats – from behind the party.</p><p></p><p>As the group prepared to clear off the road and give way to the riders, a group of orc archers suddenly appeared just across the stream, formed into a single row. Just in front of them was Mikas, his two-handed blade already in hand. Although not exactly surprised by this turn of events, none of the group were really prepared for it either. Ingolf called out in Rolgulkan, asking the orc what he wanted, and Mikas simply pointed at Zaccara and said “His spear.” Ingolf relayed this to Zaccara, though he hardly needed to ask what the reply would be, and before he could speak a word to Mikas he discovered that he had several red-fletched arrows protruding from his thigh.</p><p></p><p>Aoelif, true to form, drew steel and urged her horse into a gallop directly towards Mikas and his archer line. Ingolf was terribly wounded and interested only in getting to cover; he lurched in the saddle and coaxed his horse off the road and into the underbrush as quickly as he might. From the back of the group, the horsemen appeared – four orcs all armed with lances. They charged towards Martaine and Nicasia who were bringing up the rear.</p><p></p><p>If Mikas was surprised to see the wild form of Aoelif, flaming brand in hand, charging towards him, he no doubt even more surprised when the “dim witted ogre” launched a fireball into his line of archers. Two of the orcs fell but the other three were not badly wounded, and Mikas cried “spears!” in Rolgulkan just as Aoelif came crashing into him, with Zaccara close behind her. Just as she reached him, Mikas took a well-made buckler from his back and tossed it into the air – where it hung, darting about in an attempt to interpose itself between Aoelif and the orc war leader.</p><p></p><p>Despite this, Aoelif’s flaming blade struck true, but Mikas shrugged off the blow and answered in kind with his own massive sword. Aoelif was nimble and lithe, and shone with the inner fire that only the fianna display, but she was no match for the hardened orc warrior in a toe-to-toe fight. In moments she had been badly wounded and forced onto the defensive, well aware that even one more blow from the massively muscled orc’s two-handed weapon might well be the end of her.</p><p></p><p>At the other end of the field of battle, Martaine confused and scattered his attackers with a burst of sound. Nicasia took advantage of this development to focus her attention on Mikas and began sending magic missiles his direction as quickly as she was able. Theodorus summoned up a glowing lance of acid and launched it successfully into Mikas’ chest; Ingolf exalted his comrades to ever greater accomplishment while trying to avoid, at all costs, being shot again by Mikas’ archers.</p><p></p><p>He need not have feared; the archers had dropped their bows and taken up long spears hidden beside the road to attempt to stop Zaccara in his tracks. Zaccara showed his worth again, though, and quickly dispatched two of them before pressing home his attack on Mikas. Aoelif was still busily trying to avoid Mikas’ blows, and with a shout she leapt clearly over the startled orc’s head. A moment too late, Mikas realized that Zaccara was almost upon him and that he was now caught between the human warrior and the alfar fianna. He doubled his efforts to dispatch Aoelif, and might have succeeded but for one thing – Zaccara’s spear, which Mikas discovered to his dismay had suddenly passed cleanly through his body and out his chest. Mikas didn’t even have time for a last curse – he simply grasped the haft of the spear and fell to the ground, dead.</p><p></p><p>At the other end of the fight, Mikas’ cavalry were shaking off the effects of the sound burst and moving to engage Martaine four-to-one when they witnessed this turn of events. Not thinking much of their chances, all four turned to flee, as did the lone surviving archer, though he was quickly run down and captured by Zaccara. Without saying a word, Zaccara hewed the head from Mikas fallen body and handed it to the archer, then pointed back the way the group had come. The message was clear; rather or not the terrified orc would carry it out the group would not know any time soon, as none of them expressed a desire to do anything other than press on as rapidly as possible.</p><p></p><p>Ingolf, the wounded pragmatist, quickly rifled through Mikas’ belongings and turned up several interesting items. A detect magic from Theodorus showed that Mikas’ intriguing scabbard seemed to be enchanted, and Ingolf noted with some interest that it would change its size to accommodate any blade from his dagger all the way to Mikas own well-crafted two-hander. He noticed also with some satisfaction that the blade, when drawn from the scabbard, seemed keener than ever. The buckler was clearly magical, and Aoelif claimed it as her own. Also on Mikas’ body were found a few odd coins and a potion, which were tossed into the group treasury for the time being.</p><p></p><p>Well aware that Velika would be as infuriated by this turn of events as Rorric would be confused, the group pressed on rapidly, hoping to dodge the remainder of Rorric’s army entirely and pass into Zakarij’ lands. There was still many a league between them and the Red Swamp where they hoped to find the Dan river, and though the stories of undead – and worse – they might encounter there did little to cheer them, the though of explaining to Rorric exactly why they’d killed one of his war leaders was even less appealing.</p><p></p><p>NPCs Encountered </p><p></p><p>Burian - Vihar's brother and sorcerer. He is a worshiper of Zuar, god of struggle. </p><p></p><p>Mikas - the now dead orc badass fighter that almost killed Aoelif.</p><p></p><p>Rorric - the fattest ogre, ever. </p><p></p><p>Velika - Rorric's ogress consort.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheBard, post: 60846, member: 2821"] [b]Episode 16: Appetite for Power[/b] Time Elapsed: 7/14 - 7/18/495 A.I. Summary Once behind closed doors, the group had a little time to discuss Vihar’s dungeons, his hospitality and their next move. Martaine excused himself to consult with Vihar about religious matters, as the ogre lord’s offer of land and funds to construct a monastery was still fresh in his mind. Before anyone else could say a word, however, Aoelif had a few choice comments for Theodorus, which she prefaced by grabbing the man by the collar and bouncing the back of his skull off the floor once or twice. Before the startled magus could react, she told him exactly what was on her mind, saying “How dare you stand over Kamak like that? What gives you the idea that you can stand over her broken spirit and body? She lead a legion of men who fought and died for her, and had a giant under her control. You have a dog, and an apprentice. You gloated -- as if your cunning captured her. You questioned her -- as if Vihar's priests have not left any secrets uncovered. You even snickered --as if there is no possibility that you may be in her position some day. You behaved badly, not as a hero with a vanquished foe that should now be pitied. Where is your God's compassion now?” Having said her piece, she excused herself, which is to say rather, she simply left the flabbergasted mage lying on the floor and departed. Ingolf watched the entire scene unfold with no inconsiderable amount of humor. Theodorus, attempting to make some sense out of this turn of events, asked the bard if he could explain what Aoelif meant. He tried to explain that it was not particularly brave or noble, at least in the mind of the alfar, to gloat over a defeated enemy – certainly not to gloat over a defeated enemy that you yourself did not overcome. Theodorus seemed to feel that, as Kamak served a dark and malign lord in the form of Nyag, the orcish lord of the undead, that she was beneath even his contempt. In the end, it was apparent that Theodorus’ world-view did not admit the possibility of respect or pity for a vanquished foe, at least not if that foe was, in his mind, “evil.” Aoelif and Ingolf were both appalled by Vihar’s treatment of his prisoner, who certainly deserved death in their minds, but not the sort of humiliation and torture to which Kamak had been subjected. Theodorus seemed to believe that, as she served a dark and unholy god, she deserved any fate, no matter how horrible, that Vihar chose to mete out to here. Ingolf and especially Aoelif felt some pity for the legless, armless captive – Theodorus felt only scorn. Ultimately the fianna returned and offered an apology to Theodorus for laying hands on him, who for his part apologized for offending her – though it seemed that he never gained an understanding of what he had done that was so offensive. That evening the group joined Lord Vihar for dinner, and he made a most generous offer of aid. His brother Burian, he explained, was a sorcerer of no mean skill, who could perhaps disguise all or part of the group as native Rolgulkans, enabling them to move more easily across the territory they would have to cross. In addition, Vihar offered to supply the group with his personal guaranty of safe passage (which took the form of a heavy iron bar with his sigil cast into it) and a letter of introduction to his brother, as well as one to Lord Rorric, the neighboring ogre lord through whose war-torn lands the group would have to pass. Though well aware that all of this assistance came at an as-yet unspecified future price, the group agreed to Vihar’s suggestions and made plans to depart the next morning. The journey to Burian’s keep was not particularly long or difficult, and was in the direction the group would need to pass at any rate. Along the way it was decided that the group would pose as a human merchant (Nicasia) bringing Tavian goods into Rolgulka, traveling with some hired mercenary guards of both human and Tavian origin. As only Theodorus, Ingolf and Martaine spoke the local language, they three of them would be disguised as Rolgulkans – as an ogre and two hobgoblins, respectively. The path took the group down the length of the Vale of Thunder and slowly but surely out of the higher mountains and into the foothills. As the party drew close to Burian’s keep, they noticed a large number of gibbets hanging in the woods along the road. At least one of them was still occupied – not by a prisoner, but by an unloving ghoul. By the looks of the remains in the gibbet with the undead creature, it had been imprisoned with a priest of Nyag, whose holy symbol the group recognized from their dealing with the necromancer’s troops in the Rolgulkan hinterlands. Martaine called forth the power of Logos and in a flash of brilliant light the half-starved creature was blasted into dust. This brought forth the immediate attention of a guard from Burian’s keep, who rode out with an escort at once to accost the group. Although angered at Martaine’s destruction of the ghoul, the guard had little choice but to escort them to the keep when confronted with Vihar’s symbol. In the courtyard outside Burian’s tower the group got their first look at Vihar’s brother. Burian turned out to be as tall and slender as Vihar was broad and muscled. He was dressed all in black and scarlet, and was shockingly handsome for an ogre. He greeted the group with some suspicion at first, and even when he’d read Vihar’s letter seemed not thrilled to be dealing with humans. His attitude changed somewhat, however, when he noticed Zaccara’s spear. Like all Rolgulkan nobles who’d seen the black lance so far, he seemed desperate to hold it in his hands for just a moment, Despite Aoelif’s protestations, Zaccara gave it to the towering ogre and saw that, as with Lady Zlata, the spear instantly adjusted its size to accommodate the frame of it’s new wielder. Burian was at once eager to test the spear. Ghouls, it seemed, were in no short supply in Burian’s dungeons. Standard sentence for the worship of Nyag was to be imprisoned with a starving ghoul until the worshiper or the ghoul was dead. Since the worshipers typically went into the ghoul-occupied gibbet with nothing but the clothes on their back, it was always the ghouls that survived the ordeal. Burian ordered one of them brought forth, and two of his guards – members of Vihar’s feared Immortals – dragged one up on two long tethers after a few moments. With visible relish, Burian drove the spear of Balor into the thing’s body, and was rewarded with a conclusive demonstration of the spear’s power. But perhaps to Aoelif’s surprise, Burian seemed more than willing to return the spear to Zaccara once he’d had a chance to examine it. Of the three Rolgulkan nobles who’d seen the spear, none had offered Zaccara so much as a groat in exchange for it. All seemed eager to hold it – how eager they were to possess it was another matter. His curiosity satisfied, Burian agreed to do as his brother Vihar had asked, and transformed Theodorus into an Ogre and Ingolf and Martaine into hobgoblins. He also supplied the group with Rolgulkan garb and armor before sending them on their way towards Rorric. His last bit of advice was a bit cryptic. Rorric, it seemed, was unswervingly loyal to Vihar and the Vale of Thunder, but his consort Velika was not to be trusted. With those words, Burian sent the group once more on the way east, towards Rorric’s encampment, Zakarij’s lands and ultimately the source of the Dan river. The journey across Rorric’s lands proved relatively uneventful. Although the group received not a few odd looks from the inhabitants, there was no trouble, and Vihar’s guarantee of safe passage seemed to be respected by everyone who saw it. After some days of walking, the party approached the outlying sentries of Rorric’s encampment. Most Rolgulkans, upon seeing such a mixed group of travelers, concluded that the ogre must be in charge, and so Theodorus tended to take the lead when dealing with questions. The fact that the Rolgulkan’s seemed to expect him to lead via threat and intimidation rather than cunning or charisma meant that he could “play dumb” much of the time without arousing too much suspicion; Rorric’s guards were no exception. Rorric was clearly preparing for battle against Zakarij’s forces, and the guards at least were none too thrilled to be dealing with a group of “merchants” in the middle of a war zone. The group was brought to Rorric’s tent and greeted there by the fattest ogre any of them had ever seen. Rorric was huge, twice the size of Vihar, most of it fat, and armored cap-a-pie in equally huge plate and mail armor that must have taken an army of smiths months to create. Before introductions could properly be made, he leapt to the conclusion that the group must be the unit of sorcerers he’d been asking Vihar to send. When it was revealed that this was not the case, Rorric became visibly unhappy and the party wondered just how long Vihar’s good wishes would carry them, when Ingolf intimated that, although not the magical aid he’d sought against Zakarij, the group was in fact on a mission into his lands. He implied without saying as much that this mission was on Lord Vihar’s behalf. Rorric became much happier at this news, and began to press for details of the mission, but Ingolf would only reply that it was “secret.” When he asked if they intended to fight their way across Zakarij’s lands, Ingolf told him that of course they could not – hence the need to pretend that they were a group of merchants. Rorric seemed somewhat doubtful of this plan, and decided that they needed to speak to his “advisor” and summoned forth Velika – the very consort the group had been warned against. While waiting for her, he served up a mountain of food, and the group were compelled by the nature of their disguise to partake of at least some of it. Rorric was very fond of spiced calf’s brains, and though Theodorus found them somewhat less appealing he managed to down an ogre-sized portion for the sake of appearances. After a short while, Velika appeared with one of Rorric’s war leaders, an orc who was introduced as Mikas. Mikas was every inch the ill-tempered savage that most of the group imagined a Rolgulkan general might be, but Velika was something else entirely. Very slender, very fair of face – looking almost more like an 8’ tall elf woman than an ogress. She pressed Ingolf again for details of the mission, but he was as recalcitrant with her as he had been with Rorric, so she turned her attentions to the seemingly dim-witted ogre Theodorus. He dissembled for a bit, somewhat clumsily, and Velika finally realized that whatever the group’s “secret mission” into Zakarij’s lands was, she wasn’t going to get it from him. Ingolf repeated again that their mission was known to Vihar (partially true) and that they traveled into Zakarij’ lands under his authority. Mikas snorted his contempt, and asked, as had Rorric, if the group thought they were going to fight their way across Zakarij’ kingdom. Ingolf was growing a bit tired of this question and replied that perhaps it was Mikas’ own brains and not calf’s brains at all upon which Lord Rorric and his guests had been feasting. Needless to say, the orc warrior didn’t appreciate the insult and reached at once for his sword, whereupon Zaccara, unable to understand the exchange, brought forth The Spear. Velika’s eyes lit up much as had Lady Zlata’s when she saw it. She at once laid a hand on Mikas’ shoulder and bade him halt, then asked Zaccara if she might hold the Spear a moment. Zaccara, somewhat resignedly, handed over Balor’s Spear yet again, and watched as, yet again, it seemed to accommodate itself to the size and power of it’s wielder. Velika handed the spear back almost at once, turned to Rorric, and said “These people should be allowed to continue their mission as soon as they have eaten and rested, my lord. They will be a great aid in your struggle.” Rorric seemed very pleased to hear this, and began discussing with Ingolf when and how the group should depart. Velika, though, pulled the still fuming Mikas aside and said something in low tones that seemed to mollify him somewhat. Theodorus, though in the appearance of a dim-witted ogre, had lost none of his wits, and he noted closely what Velika seemed to be saying. Though he could not hear her, he was an accomplished lip-reader, and it appeared to him that she said something to the orc warrior about “carve out a kingdom for yourself.” Theodorus couldn’t help but notice that, the whole time she was speaking to Mikas, she had her eye on the Spear. After the moment of tension, Rorric ordered more food brought forth and Velika and Mikas excused themselves to “prepare for the upcoming battle.” The group wasted as little time as possible with Rorric’s heavily laden sideboard of cabbage, beets and brains – plenty of brains – before taking up the guise of merchants once more and departing. Rorric directed them down a particular road that lead well around the likely site of the upcoming battle and wished them luck in their secret mission. He seemed to have become convinced that the group were a pack of assassins or spies and referred to them as such repeatedly. His lack of subtlety was astounding. The road down which the group made there way was wide and well-kept, though not paved as were the imperial highways of Iconium. As they rode, the party discussed what their plan would be once they crossed into Zakarij’ kingdom. The guise of traveling merchants, clearly, was coming under a great deal of scrutiny and it was agreed that if Zakarij’ folk were as suspicious and paranoid as Rorric’s had been, the company could be in for some difficult times. An hour or so after passing Rorric’s outlying pickets, the group approach a shallow stream lying across the roadway. Martaine suddenly realized that he could here galloping hoof beats – from behind the party. As the group prepared to clear off the road and give way to the riders, a group of orc archers suddenly appeared just across the stream, formed into a single row. Just in front of them was Mikas, his two-handed blade already in hand. Although not exactly surprised by this turn of events, none of the group were really prepared for it either. Ingolf called out in Rolgulkan, asking the orc what he wanted, and Mikas simply pointed at Zaccara and said “His spear.” Ingolf relayed this to Zaccara, though he hardly needed to ask what the reply would be, and before he could speak a word to Mikas he discovered that he had several red-fletched arrows protruding from his thigh. Aoelif, true to form, drew steel and urged her horse into a gallop directly towards Mikas and his archer line. Ingolf was terribly wounded and interested only in getting to cover; he lurched in the saddle and coaxed his horse off the road and into the underbrush as quickly as he might. From the back of the group, the horsemen appeared – four orcs all armed with lances. They charged towards Martaine and Nicasia who were bringing up the rear. If Mikas was surprised to see the wild form of Aoelif, flaming brand in hand, charging towards him, he no doubt even more surprised when the “dim witted ogre” launched a fireball into his line of archers. Two of the orcs fell but the other three were not badly wounded, and Mikas cried “spears!” in Rolgulkan just as Aoelif came crashing into him, with Zaccara close behind her. Just as she reached him, Mikas took a well-made buckler from his back and tossed it into the air – where it hung, darting about in an attempt to interpose itself between Aoelif and the orc war leader. Despite this, Aoelif’s flaming blade struck true, but Mikas shrugged off the blow and answered in kind with his own massive sword. Aoelif was nimble and lithe, and shone with the inner fire that only the fianna display, but she was no match for the hardened orc warrior in a toe-to-toe fight. In moments she had been badly wounded and forced onto the defensive, well aware that even one more blow from the massively muscled orc’s two-handed weapon might well be the end of her. At the other end of the field of battle, Martaine confused and scattered his attackers with a burst of sound. Nicasia took advantage of this development to focus her attention on Mikas and began sending magic missiles his direction as quickly as she was able. Theodorus summoned up a glowing lance of acid and launched it successfully into Mikas’ chest; Ingolf exalted his comrades to ever greater accomplishment while trying to avoid, at all costs, being shot again by Mikas’ archers. He need not have feared; the archers had dropped their bows and taken up long spears hidden beside the road to attempt to stop Zaccara in his tracks. Zaccara showed his worth again, though, and quickly dispatched two of them before pressing home his attack on Mikas. Aoelif was still busily trying to avoid Mikas’ blows, and with a shout she leapt clearly over the startled orc’s head. A moment too late, Mikas realized that Zaccara was almost upon him and that he was now caught between the human warrior and the alfar fianna. He doubled his efforts to dispatch Aoelif, and might have succeeded but for one thing – Zaccara’s spear, which Mikas discovered to his dismay had suddenly passed cleanly through his body and out his chest. Mikas didn’t even have time for a last curse – he simply grasped the haft of the spear and fell to the ground, dead. At the other end of the fight, Mikas’ cavalry were shaking off the effects of the sound burst and moving to engage Martaine four-to-one when they witnessed this turn of events. Not thinking much of their chances, all four turned to flee, as did the lone surviving archer, though he was quickly run down and captured by Zaccara. Without saying a word, Zaccara hewed the head from Mikas fallen body and handed it to the archer, then pointed back the way the group had come. The message was clear; rather or not the terrified orc would carry it out the group would not know any time soon, as none of them expressed a desire to do anything other than press on as rapidly as possible. Ingolf, the wounded pragmatist, quickly rifled through Mikas’ belongings and turned up several interesting items. A detect magic from Theodorus showed that Mikas’ intriguing scabbard seemed to be enchanted, and Ingolf noted with some interest that it would change its size to accommodate any blade from his dagger all the way to Mikas own well-crafted two-hander. He noticed also with some satisfaction that the blade, when drawn from the scabbard, seemed keener than ever. The buckler was clearly magical, and Aoelif claimed it as her own. Also on Mikas’ body were found a few odd coins and a potion, which were tossed into the group treasury for the time being. Well aware that Velika would be as infuriated by this turn of events as Rorric would be confused, the group pressed on rapidly, hoping to dodge the remainder of Rorric’s army entirely and pass into Zakarij’ lands. There was still many a league between them and the Red Swamp where they hoped to find the Dan river, and though the stories of undead – and worse – they might encounter there did little to cheer them, the though of explaining to Rorric exactly why they’d killed one of his war leaders was even less appealing. NPCs Encountered Burian - Vihar's brother and sorcerer. He is a worshiper of Zuar, god of struggle. Mikas - the now dead orc badass fighter that almost killed Aoelif. Rorric - the fattest ogre, ever. Velika - Rorric's ogress consort. [/QUOTE]
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