Dongle the Dungeoneeror--CLOSED--Adventure #52

[Gray Shade]

The second entrance and the squad of orcs

I nodded. "Quite so."

I pulled my reins and kneed the horse into line behind Dongle's horse. We cut a wide arc out to the east and back, coming at last to where our heads were high enough that we could see over the next rise. There, a couple hundred feet away was a troop of about 20 orcs. They mostly wore scale armor, but treated with some sort of soot so that they were all mottled in black (the rain did not seem to affect whatever the treatment was). The whole group was facing attentively toward the hill behind which we had been. One, in front on a warg, (the rest were on foot) was mumbling something to another next to him, who held the warg's reins.

They looked up as the two orcs we'd seen earlier, their banners still rippling royal blue, came back over the hill. We could see that they had confused expressions. I translated from Orc the quick conversation between them and their obvious leader.

Scout 1: "There's nobody there. They were there just a minute ago. We don't know where they wen--"

Scout 2 (cutting off Scout 1): "Where'd they go?"

Leader: "You're both as dumb as an ass-golem with a labotomy! (turning to look at larger group) Gromah, get over there and see which way they went!"

Another one wearing a banner, this one yellow (the only yellow banner among them) made his way to the front of the ranks and started up the hill.

I found it curious that none of the orcs had weapons or shields readied.

On the far side of the valley from the us was the second entrance. It was basically like the first, with two large boulders leaning against each other, beneath which was a cave. The ground was torn and pitted around the smaller of the boulders. Various digging tools were scattered about and a mound of dirt about the height of a horse was off to one side. Simple camping gear was also scattered around a few firepits which currently contained wet ashes and no more.

About the time Gromah passed the Scouts, Dongle noticed one of the Orcs near the back sniff at the air and then start to turn toward us, saying in common, "horsemeat!"

 

[Lazlow]

"I'll probably regret this," Dongle whispered to me. "Be ready to fly at a moment's notice."

He waited a second or two before he shouted, "A-hoy hoy! Is this the welcoming committee?"

 

[Gray Shade]

The not unwelcoming committee

Dongle's entrance stunned them. They all turned to look at him then most of the froze. A few let their jaws drop. A few others let their brows furrow and their eyes tic. The leader seemed most appalled of all, snapped out of it by one of Scouts pointing at us and saying: "I think that's them there."

The leader gave him a glare, then smiled toward us. "Indeed!" he barked, then shifting his tone to a congenail growl he continued, "Greetings. You must be the great explorer the boss told us about. Dangle, isn't it?"

Before my master could reply, the orc pointed at the entrance. "We've had that there dug out for a couple days now. Our orders were to bury it by the end of today, so if you want through you can go on, or if you just want to look it over, that's fine, too. I just know that come nightfall we're sealing it up."

The rest of the orcs seemed to recover their composure about half-way through the speech and obviously tried very hard to look like they were returning to important work, but mostly just milled about muttering. A few set about sharpening shovels and picks. The two Scouts headed back up onto the hill, where they sat cross legged, staring out into the grim gray sky.

A trio of them moved up the hill toward us. The leader telling them in the ugly, orcish tongue to take our horses. One, sitting by a fire, the leader smacked on the back of the head and told him to start coffee for the humans. They didn't seem to notice yet that I could speak their language and that I wasn't, of course, human.

 

[Lazlow]

"Bury it, eh? To what ends, captain? Is your lord trying to keep something in, or keep something from getting out?" Dongle dismounted and handed the reins to one of the orcs, saying with a steely gaze, "These are NOT for eating." Reluctantly, I did the same. Clearly the master put more trust in these orcs than I cared to, at least when it came to them making meals of our mounts.

He walked over to the captain and asked, "What have you boys encountered in there? Any idea what to expect?"

 

[Gray Shade]

The Orc Captain gave Dongle a respectful but unfriendly look, but said "Our orders weren't to explore it, just to bury it. The master sent in a squad a couple weeks ago, a few of which came back out as walking corpses. Other than that, I don't know. You're supposed to be the professional.

"As for why he wants it buried, well, how hard was it for you to find out about this 'secret' entrance? Yeah, that's what I thought. The fewer gates into one's keep the better, eh?"

I moved near the entrance, shooing a couple of orcs out of my way with my stickpin. The floor was deep in mud as far back as I could see. I couldn't see far enough back to view the thick wood timber braces holding up the main shaft of the tunnel. It was about eight feet wide and tall at the entrance, but looked like it widened a bit inside.

 

[Lazlow]

"A wise course of action, I suppose," Dongle answered. "Captain, can I trust you to take our mounts back to the keep for our eventual exit therefrom? We obviously can't let them stay here, seeing as how this will soon be covered over."

 

[Gray Shade]

The Captain, obviously unaccustomed to dealing with horses (except in a nice hollandaise sauce), looked confused but then nodded. "If you want. We'll be heading back that way, anyway."

A shame we didn't know then what we were to find out later about the Captain and his men, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

At the time, it seemed the best course of action. The horses taken care of, Dongle and I turned our attention to the cave mouth. "At your leisure, sir," I said.

 

[Lazlow]

"I have every confidence in your abilities, Captain," Dongle replied, seemingly satisfied. Retrieving all of his gear from the saddlebags he then made his way to the mouth of the passage.

"Well, Brabinger, no time like the present. Let's see what she's got!"