Orcs on the Rampage - Tales from the Broken Lands(Updated 25-May-06)
- Thread starter Graywolf-ELM
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Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
Lefferts said:
Thank you Lefferts, the surgery went well. I think it was harder on my wife. I'm feeling a little antsy so I may be up late writing tonight.
GW
Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
Return to In Search of the Unknown part 9 “Battle Frenzy, Orcs? naww.” Real
With the quick death of the Dire Weasels and their riders, the warband is confident to take on any kobolds that might be beyond the door. Gorga takes stock of the warband. Tyco is badly wounded with multiple bites and scrapes, Scrag is a little better off, and Gorga as hurting some as well. Adrenaline is pumping through them all and the fury of battle is like a bandage to their wounds. Gorga listens at the door the kobold was trying to get through, and hears barking and yipping in Draconic. He nods to the warband.
“I don’t know what they say, but more kobolds are beyond the door.”
Scrag steps forward. “Scrag will open door and kill kobolds first.”
Gorga steps aside and lets the proud Orc pass to the door.
“They will likely be ready for us. Rush the room and spread out to fight as many as you can. They will fall like tears of a young human.”
Scrag flings the door open to a hail of sling stones, one knocking him solidly in the shoulder. He steps in and finds a makeshift four knuck** high wall of cots, wood, and stools. Kobolds are behind it, reloading their slings. With a yell of rage, he rushes into the room and at the barrier to meet his foes, ferocity beginning to cloud his judgment. More than thirty kobolds await the rush, on the other side of the barrier. No, there are two barriers. The room is quite long, and two barriers have been put together across the room to afford the kobolds some protection from the invaders. Where the first was constructed of cots, stools and pieces of wood, the second barrier is stout wood tables roped together for protection. Scrag manages to catch a kobold in the mid-section with his axe, drawing first blood for the battle, and he roars with glee.
Gorga moves into the room on the wake of the stones pounding in around Scrag, and makes a quick assessment of the situation. A fortified weak enemy, it will be tough, but the warband should be able to take them. Gorga moves in, and takes a position against the far wall, and begins shooting arrows at the kobolds, making himself the primary target for the next barrage of sling stones. One knocks him in the head, blurring his vision some.
The first row of kobolds drops their slings, and grabs spears, to fend off Orcs at the front barrier. Hobna moves into the room, and takes up a position similar to Gorga’s, loosing arrows as quickly as he can, taking one kobold by surprise, turning his left eye into the latest target for his arrows. Gilnak rushes in, and swings his axe wildly hacking at the barrier and any kobold nearby, trying to find a way through. Shglsnor comes rushing up beside Gilnak, brandishing his Axe and chops into the barrier as well.
Tyco takes a seat on the floor outside of the room, and Sharraxtharkul snorts at the orc as he rushes by with his wolf companion Margrax. Entering the room, the canny goblin calls a ball of fire into existence, immolating one hapless kobold on the far side of the first barrier. "Burn, s*****, burn!" For his part, the wolf attempts to bite at kobolds on the other side, but is fended off by the spear wielding creatures. Seeing Sharraxtharkul enter the room, Gorga calls out. “Shaman, bind their souls to this room so they may not escape even in death!” in hopes of lowering the morale of the enemy. There are a few yips and howls in answer and Sharraxtharkul yells back. “Silence you yipping dogs!"
Scrag sees Gilnak and Shglsnor attacking the barrier, puts his axe handle in his mouth, and with a feat of strength, rends an opening in the barrier. With everyone in the room but Tyco and Rhgl, Iirkh squeezes his way into the room, to a hail of sling stones. With little more than bruises to show for it, he rushes the barrier, slamming part of it back two shins* into the room, bowling over half a dozen kobolds in the process.
Three kobolds closer to the far end of the room, direct the actions of the militant kobolds, ordering slings shot at one foe, and spears to thwart another. Gorga spots them from the far end of the room, with the keen eye of a leader on the battlefield, and shout directions for Hobna to release arrows into that area. Each kills another kobold with an arrow. That longbow with extra pull, gathered from his fallen enemy at the roadside keep allows Gorga to drive arrows with extra strength. Moving forward, he yells for them to surrender, and they will not be killed. The look the kobolds give him can only be deciphered as scoffing; that or constipation. Who can tell with kobolds?
Within the next spit*** ten more kobolds are dead. Gilnak and Scrag each kill one with their axes, Gorga and Hobna kill one each with arrows, and Iirkh kills two with a thunderous blow from his club. Margrax bites another, tripping him. The creature attempts to crawl past Iirkh and the Half-Ogre swats it on the back swing.
Having heard the sounds of battle, Tyco manages to staunch the flow of blood from his wounds, and comes rushing into the room. He finds a spot behind Iirkh who is moving into battle. Soon he will have a chance to capture one of these kobolds to put on a leash. A little pet kobold, won’t that be nice? A trap finder and ambush marker, armor cleaner and all around slave.
With the barrier split by Scrag, and partly shoved out of the way by Iirkh, Gilnak charges through the opening and hacks into a group of kobolds who are busily switching weapons from slings to spears. Scrag wastes no time in grabbing a piece of the mess of canvas and wood and charging forward, igniting it on the ball of fire controlled by Sharraxtharkul. The goblin curses in disgust at the barbarian. A rush of flame washes over Scrag, but with no real damage, he pulls his axe from his teeth and grins at the next kobold to die.
Gorga barks out. “Those kobolds that surrender will live; all others will be eaten sloooowwlyyyy.” A few kobolds look like they might consider it, but seeing Scrag menacing nearby, they choose wisely not to drop weapons. Gorga rushes up to stand beside Iirkh, who is being swarmed with kobolds. With a single swing of his club, Iirkh crushes two of the pesky kobolds with a sure finality. Hobna brings down another with his sure shooting, and Sharraxtharkul manages to redirect his ball of fire towards another kobold, who manages to drop and roll out of the way. Sharraxtharkul decides to call to an ally of nature to assist his wolf companion. Another wolf hears the call, and the two close in on a kobold, worrying him to the ground.
Chaos in the large room is as sure as any battlefield, enhanced by the thick smoke coming from the burning furniture. Tyco rushes up to the second barrier, as quickly as he can move now and attacks the final group of kobolds. Gorga grabs up a kobold, and grappling the struggling creature, takes a bite out of his neck, ending his miserable life. Using the body as a club, Gorga begins beating at the kobolds around him. Iirkh begins to take the brunt of sling stones now, and starts to get angry. A kobold directing his soldiers looks up at Gorga, with grim determination on his face, and takes a jab at the impressive orc with his spear.
After being attacked by a kobold Sergeant, Gorga glares at him, wipes the kobold blood from his chin, licks it and barks at the kobold. Seeing the lifeblood of his companion on the face of his adversary, the kobold blanches and begins backing away towards another group further back. Gorga calls after him. “50 gold for the one that brings him to me.” Appearing out of the haze of battle Rhgl offers the quip. “But, Mighty Gorga, where we get 50 gold?” Gorga hurls the body into the midst of the kobold leader and sergeants. Not wanting to die like that, a group of kobolds grab hold of him, and start to bring him forward. Scrag, still raging, cuts down another kobold warrior just after the near compliance. Seeing this, they set down their leader with little shame, realizing that they will be killed at will by the Orcs, and each prepares to fight as long as he can. Gorga glares daggers at Scrag and ticks off a mental checklist. “Final straw noted.”
The battle is not long in ending. Gilnak, Scrag, and Iirkh step up to the final barrier, and force through it. Shglsnor having been at the back of the combat up to now, demands to be let through to the front of the battle, so that he can kill at least one enemy.
“Out of my way, I must kill some kobold.”
Trying to make the defeat worse for the kobold, Gorga picks up bodies and hurls them at the remaining kobolds. Rhgl even manages to sneak up to the line of combat, and slip a dagger neatly into a kobold from behind. “Hehehe, I got one!” All are killed except for the war leader of the kobolds. Gorga sees that he is securely trussed up for interrogation and possibly capture.
Gorga and Sharraxtharkul look around to take stock of the warband, and see that besides Gorga, Iirkh, Tyco, Scrag, and Gilnak are all badly injured as well. Sharraxtharkul makes his rounds with bandages and poultices in preparation for the next day of healing that will be needed.
Rhgl suggest to Gorga that some scouting might be in order, to see if there are other groups of kobolds who might attack while the warband is resting. Gorga sends him off with a cuff to be careful of being spotted. Hobna and Shglsnor are assigned guard duty at the entrance to the former kobold barracks. Rhgl comes back some boars*** later with a report of all clear.
With the warband somewhat settled for a while, Gorga questions the prisoner. With very little torture, Gorga is able to glean information about the kobold horde and the change in leadership there. The leader, Kol, has been deposed by Ugoora Redscale, formerly one of his advisors. Some minor tribe information is gathered as well, and Gorga decides that he is finished with the prisoner, for now.
Scrag moves forward with intent to kill the prisoner, and that is when the chaotic nature of Orcs begins to shine. Tyco tells the wild orc to hold. “I have more questions for this one.” . Seeing the trouble brewing, Rhgl slips around the group in the shadows. This wouldn’t be the first warband to rip itself apart from infighting, and Rhgl isn’t about to be on the losing side. Disregarding Tyco’s request, Scrag moves up to slit the prisoner’s throat. This earns Scrag a ham-fisted punch from Tyco. With the battle so recent, and blood in his ears, Scrag decides to escalate the disagreement with his axe. Not one to be outdone Tyco pulls his axe out and returns the favor. In less than two spits, Scrag is on the floor bleeding and unconscious.
Tyco moves forward to finish the deed, and Gorga, thinking of past trouble created by Scrag, says. “Kill him.”
Next Up: Return to In Search of the Unknown part 10 “Et tu Rhgl?”
Footnotes:
* Shins are equivalent to 5 Knucks, or about the length of an Ogre’s Shinbone
** Knucks are equivalent to feet, Ogre Knuckles as a unit of measure
*** Boar – Measure of time it takes to skin a boar, about one hour. Spits are also used as a measure of time. A boar on a spit is turned over a fire 6 times in about a minute. So a spit is ten seconds.
With the quick death of the Dire Weasels and their riders, the warband is confident to take on any kobolds that might be beyond the door. Gorga takes stock of the warband. Tyco is badly wounded with multiple bites and scrapes, Scrag is a little better off, and Gorga as hurting some as well. Adrenaline is pumping through them all and the fury of battle is like a bandage to their wounds. Gorga listens at the door the kobold was trying to get through, and hears barking and yipping in Draconic. He nods to the warband.
“I don’t know what they say, but more kobolds are beyond the door.”
Scrag steps forward. “Scrag will open door and kill kobolds first.”
Gorga steps aside and lets the proud Orc pass to the door.
“They will likely be ready for us. Rush the room and spread out to fight as many as you can. They will fall like tears of a young human.”
Scrag flings the door open to a hail of sling stones, one knocking him solidly in the shoulder. He steps in and finds a makeshift four knuck** high wall of cots, wood, and stools. Kobolds are behind it, reloading their slings. With a yell of rage, he rushes into the room and at the barrier to meet his foes, ferocity beginning to cloud his judgment. More than thirty kobolds await the rush, on the other side of the barrier. No, there are two barriers. The room is quite long, and two barriers have been put together across the room to afford the kobolds some protection from the invaders. Where the first was constructed of cots, stools and pieces of wood, the second barrier is stout wood tables roped together for protection. Scrag manages to catch a kobold in the mid-section with his axe, drawing first blood for the battle, and he roars with glee.
Gorga moves into the room on the wake of the stones pounding in around Scrag, and makes a quick assessment of the situation. A fortified weak enemy, it will be tough, but the warband should be able to take them. Gorga moves in, and takes a position against the far wall, and begins shooting arrows at the kobolds, making himself the primary target for the next barrage of sling stones. One knocks him in the head, blurring his vision some.
The first row of kobolds drops their slings, and grabs spears, to fend off Orcs at the front barrier. Hobna moves into the room, and takes up a position similar to Gorga’s, loosing arrows as quickly as he can, taking one kobold by surprise, turning his left eye into the latest target for his arrows. Gilnak rushes in, and swings his axe wildly hacking at the barrier and any kobold nearby, trying to find a way through. Shglsnor comes rushing up beside Gilnak, brandishing his Axe and chops into the barrier as well.
Tyco takes a seat on the floor outside of the room, and Sharraxtharkul snorts at the orc as he rushes by with his wolf companion Margrax. Entering the room, the canny goblin calls a ball of fire into existence, immolating one hapless kobold on the far side of the first barrier. "Burn, s*****, burn!" For his part, the wolf attempts to bite at kobolds on the other side, but is fended off by the spear wielding creatures. Seeing Sharraxtharkul enter the room, Gorga calls out. “Shaman, bind their souls to this room so they may not escape even in death!” in hopes of lowering the morale of the enemy. There are a few yips and howls in answer and Sharraxtharkul yells back. “Silence you yipping dogs!"
Scrag sees Gilnak and Shglsnor attacking the barrier, puts his axe handle in his mouth, and with a feat of strength, rends an opening in the barrier. With everyone in the room but Tyco and Rhgl, Iirkh squeezes his way into the room, to a hail of sling stones. With little more than bruises to show for it, he rushes the barrier, slamming part of it back two shins* into the room, bowling over half a dozen kobolds in the process.
Three kobolds closer to the far end of the room, direct the actions of the militant kobolds, ordering slings shot at one foe, and spears to thwart another. Gorga spots them from the far end of the room, with the keen eye of a leader on the battlefield, and shout directions for Hobna to release arrows into that area. Each kills another kobold with an arrow. That longbow with extra pull, gathered from his fallen enemy at the roadside keep allows Gorga to drive arrows with extra strength. Moving forward, he yells for them to surrender, and they will not be killed. The look the kobolds give him can only be deciphered as scoffing; that or constipation. Who can tell with kobolds?
Within the next spit*** ten more kobolds are dead. Gilnak and Scrag each kill one with their axes, Gorga and Hobna kill one each with arrows, and Iirkh kills two with a thunderous blow from his club. Margrax bites another, tripping him. The creature attempts to crawl past Iirkh and the Half-Ogre swats it on the back swing.
Having heard the sounds of battle, Tyco manages to staunch the flow of blood from his wounds, and comes rushing into the room. He finds a spot behind Iirkh who is moving into battle. Soon he will have a chance to capture one of these kobolds to put on a leash. A little pet kobold, won’t that be nice? A trap finder and ambush marker, armor cleaner and all around slave.
With the barrier split by Scrag, and partly shoved out of the way by Iirkh, Gilnak charges through the opening and hacks into a group of kobolds who are busily switching weapons from slings to spears. Scrag wastes no time in grabbing a piece of the mess of canvas and wood and charging forward, igniting it on the ball of fire controlled by Sharraxtharkul. The goblin curses in disgust at the barbarian. A rush of flame washes over Scrag, but with no real damage, he pulls his axe from his teeth and grins at the next kobold to die.
Gorga barks out. “Those kobolds that surrender will live; all others will be eaten sloooowwlyyyy.” A few kobolds look like they might consider it, but seeing Scrag menacing nearby, they choose wisely not to drop weapons. Gorga rushes up to stand beside Iirkh, who is being swarmed with kobolds. With a single swing of his club, Iirkh crushes two of the pesky kobolds with a sure finality. Hobna brings down another with his sure shooting, and Sharraxtharkul manages to redirect his ball of fire towards another kobold, who manages to drop and roll out of the way. Sharraxtharkul decides to call to an ally of nature to assist his wolf companion. Another wolf hears the call, and the two close in on a kobold, worrying him to the ground.
Chaos in the large room is as sure as any battlefield, enhanced by the thick smoke coming from the burning furniture. Tyco rushes up to the second barrier, as quickly as he can move now and attacks the final group of kobolds. Gorga grabs up a kobold, and grappling the struggling creature, takes a bite out of his neck, ending his miserable life. Using the body as a club, Gorga begins beating at the kobolds around him. Iirkh begins to take the brunt of sling stones now, and starts to get angry. A kobold directing his soldiers looks up at Gorga, with grim determination on his face, and takes a jab at the impressive orc with his spear.
After being attacked by a kobold Sergeant, Gorga glares at him, wipes the kobold blood from his chin, licks it and barks at the kobold. Seeing the lifeblood of his companion on the face of his adversary, the kobold blanches and begins backing away towards another group further back. Gorga calls after him. “50 gold for the one that brings him to me.” Appearing out of the haze of battle Rhgl offers the quip. “But, Mighty Gorga, where we get 50 gold?” Gorga hurls the body into the midst of the kobold leader and sergeants. Not wanting to die like that, a group of kobolds grab hold of him, and start to bring him forward. Scrag, still raging, cuts down another kobold warrior just after the near compliance. Seeing this, they set down their leader with little shame, realizing that they will be killed at will by the Orcs, and each prepares to fight as long as he can. Gorga glares daggers at Scrag and ticks off a mental checklist. “Final straw noted.”
The battle is not long in ending. Gilnak, Scrag, and Iirkh step up to the final barrier, and force through it. Shglsnor having been at the back of the combat up to now, demands to be let through to the front of the battle, so that he can kill at least one enemy.
“Out of my way, I must kill some kobold.”
Trying to make the defeat worse for the kobold, Gorga picks up bodies and hurls them at the remaining kobolds. Rhgl even manages to sneak up to the line of combat, and slip a dagger neatly into a kobold from behind. “Hehehe, I got one!” All are killed except for the war leader of the kobolds. Gorga sees that he is securely trussed up for interrogation and possibly capture.
Gorga and Sharraxtharkul look around to take stock of the warband, and see that besides Gorga, Iirkh, Tyco, Scrag, and Gilnak are all badly injured as well. Sharraxtharkul makes his rounds with bandages and poultices in preparation for the next day of healing that will be needed.
Rhgl suggest to Gorga that some scouting might be in order, to see if there are other groups of kobolds who might attack while the warband is resting. Gorga sends him off with a cuff to be careful of being spotted. Hobna and Shglsnor are assigned guard duty at the entrance to the former kobold barracks. Rhgl comes back some boars*** later with a report of all clear.
With the warband somewhat settled for a while, Gorga questions the prisoner. With very little torture, Gorga is able to glean information about the kobold horde and the change in leadership there. The leader, Kol, has been deposed by Ugoora Redscale, formerly one of his advisors. Some minor tribe information is gathered as well, and Gorga decides that he is finished with the prisoner, for now.
Scrag moves forward with intent to kill the prisoner, and that is when the chaotic nature of Orcs begins to shine. Tyco tells the wild orc to hold. “I have more questions for this one.” . Seeing the trouble brewing, Rhgl slips around the group in the shadows. This wouldn’t be the first warband to rip itself apart from infighting, and Rhgl isn’t about to be on the losing side. Disregarding Tyco’s request, Scrag moves up to slit the prisoner’s throat. This earns Scrag a ham-fisted punch from Tyco. With the battle so recent, and blood in his ears, Scrag decides to escalate the disagreement with his axe. Not one to be outdone Tyco pulls his axe out and returns the favor. In less than two spits, Scrag is on the floor bleeding and unconscious.
Tyco moves forward to finish the deed, and Gorga, thinking of past trouble created by Scrag, says. “Kill him.”
Next Up: Return to In Search of the Unknown part 10 “Et tu Rhgl?”
Footnotes:
* Shins are equivalent to 5 Knucks, or about the length of an Ogre’s Shinbone
** Knucks are equivalent to feet, Ogre Knuckles as a unit of measure
*** Boar – Measure of time it takes to skin a boar, about one hour. Spits are also used as a measure of time. A boar on a spit is turned over a fire 6 times in about a minute. So a spit is ten seconds.
Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
We play again this week.
The html version of the Broken Voice Issue 008 has been posted
The Broken Voice Issue 008
As always, comments positive or negative are appreciated.
GW
The html version of the Broken Voice Issue 008 has been posted
The Broken Voice Issue 008
As always, comments positive or negative are appreciated.
GW
Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
It looks like the Primary game has been suspended indefinitely. We'll be playing the Broken Lands game every other week now. I'm working on the next Broken Voice update, and preparing for the game Friday. I've got a paragraph or two for the next update completed as well. The first paragraph is eye opening about this game. It shocked many of our players and brought home the reality of playing Orcs.
GW
GW
neg
Explorer
More!
Just a quick note Graywolf-ELM. I have been reading the story hour and enjoying it a great deal. This is a wonderful monster-based campaign that has many aspects that are so appealing to play and read. Keep up the good work and the frequent posts. This is really inspirational.
Out of curiosity, what are the alignments of most of the players? Chaotic is obvious, but are they all neutral...evil?
Any maps, images, or stat blocks to this world of yours would be great. Especially a map detailing what race rules what areas.
Very cool, I wish you continued success.
-neg
Just a quick note Graywolf-ELM. I have been reading the story hour and enjoying it a great deal. This is a wonderful monster-based campaign that has many aspects that are so appealing to play and read. Keep up the good work and the frequent posts. This is really inspirational.
Out of curiosity, what are the alignments of most of the players? Chaotic is obvious, but are they all neutral...evil?
Any maps, images, or stat blocks to this world of yours would be great. Especially a map detailing what race rules what areas.
Very cool, I wish you continued success.
-neg
Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
Welcome neg, thanks for reading.
We're enjoying running the game for sure.
Most, if not all are Chaotic Evil, I get so caught up in the game sometimes that I don't bother to follow through with making sure that Alignment is maintained. Bad DM, no biscuit for me.
I've had a bunch of material sitting around in plastic crates. I was trying to come up with a game that was totally different than the Forgotten Realms game we were playing. This was to hide the fact that I hadn't DM'd in a long time, and so that there would be few comparisons of the game. That said. The Hollow World/Mystara/Known World is the basis for the campaign. Materials exist for this world OD&D, and some AD&D conversions. We are playing 3.5 plus d20 rules. Instead of trying to convert everything to d20 or 3.5 rules, I use the setting for geography, place names, adventure ideas etc. and only convert what I need as I need it. So far everything has taken place in GAZ10 The Orcs of Thar, and GAZ?? The Republic of Darokin. I made an abortive attempt to use B2 The search for the Unknown as a converted module, but ran into a boring session or two of tedious mapping for the party. This is a warband on the move, and we have limited play time. I have created a political map using hexmapper, which I'll post a link to. And have borrowed pictures and weapon drawings(tetsubo). Currently a gentleman living in Japan is re-working all of the old maps which puts them in a printable format for me and the players to enjoy. I'll post a link to his website as well. I may also be able to get the players to cough up a stat-block export of their characters. Otherwise, they might be Ok with a link to an html version.
Ok,
Main Gallery Link
Direct Political Map lLink
Maps of Mystara: Broken Lands above and below included
Thanks again. The warband is currently at a crossroads. Continue under the Vile Runes and increasing jealousy, and hero worship, or move out to the Horde, or on their own. Many decisions to be made.
GW
neg said:
We're enjoying running the game for sure.
neg said:
Most, if not all are Chaotic Evil, I get so caught up in the game sometimes that I don't bother to follow through with making sure that Alignment is maintained. Bad DM, no biscuit for me.
neg said:
I've had a bunch of material sitting around in plastic crates. I was trying to come up with a game that was totally different than the Forgotten Realms game we were playing. This was to hide the fact that I hadn't DM'd in a long time, and so that there would be few comparisons of the game. That said. The Hollow World/Mystara/Known World is the basis for the campaign. Materials exist for this world OD&D, and some AD&D conversions. We are playing 3.5 plus d20 rules. Instead of trying to convert everything to d20 or 3.5 rules, I use the setting for geography, place names, adventure ideas etc. and only convert what I need as I need it. So far everything has taken place in GAZ10 The Orcs of Thar, and GAZ?? The Republic of Darokin. I made an abortive attempt to use B2 The search for the Unknown as a converted module, but ran into a boring session or two of tedious mapping for the party. This is a warband on the move, and we have limited play time. I have created a political map using hexmapper, which I'll post a link to. And have borrowed pictures and weapon drawings(tetsubo). Currently a gentleman living in Japan is re-working all of the old maps which puts them in a printable format for me and the players to enjoy. I'll post a link to his website as well. I may also be able to get the players to cough up a stat-block export of their characters. Otherwise, they might be Ok with a link to an html version.
Ok,
Main Gallery Link
Direct Political Map lLink
Maps of Mystara: Broken Lands above and below included
neg said:
Thanks again. The warband is currently at a crossroads. Continue under the Vile Runes and increasing jealousy, and hero worship, or move out to the Horde, or on their own. Many decisions to be made.
GW
Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
We play again this week.
The html version of the Broken Voice Issue 009 has been posted
The Broken Voice Issue 009
As always, comments positive or negative are appreciated.
GW
The html version of the Broken Voice Issue 009 has been posted
The Broken Voice Issue 009
As always, comments positive or negative are appreciated.
GW
Graywolf-ELM
Explorer
Return to In Search of the Unknown part 10 “Et tu Rhgl?”
Tyco steps forward to finish off Scrag with an overhead chop.
Eager to see it over, Gorga commands one more time. “Finish him.”
The Orcs see Rhgl appear out of the shadows behind Tyco, driving his dagger into just the right spot on the big Orc. The axe falls from fingers that no longer feel what they are holding. As Tyco falls lifeless to the floor, Rhgl steps back, removing his favorite dagger from the spine of the dead Orc. The remaining Orcs look at the goblin in stunned silence. Rhgl manages his best innocent look, shrugs his shoulders and says.
“But... you said finish him.”
Gorga huffs for a bit. “I meant Scrag.”
Another shrug and sincere look from the goblin, and Gorga resists the urge to kill the Goblin himself.
As the warband turns to see what can be salvaged from this, Gilnak steps up and finishes off the badly injured Scrag.
“I got him for ya Gorga.”
Gorga just shakes his head, and walks away hoping he can finish this raid with the Orcs he has left. The remaining warband members look at each other, and quickly begin dividing up the weapons, armor and other items carried by the pair of barbarian Orcs. They are Orcs after all. Rhgl and Gilnak claim first choice, and everything else goes quickly.
Gorga manages to gather the rest of the warband together, to go back and finish investigating the other doors in the sorcerers’ room. With Rhgl scouting out front, the warband returns, to find some streaks on the floor. Gorga looks around and determines that the body was dragged out of the room, and the streaks end about 3 to 4 shins* outside of the room.
Two doors are investigated in the sorcerers’ chambers, and one contains some old books and belongings of the previous inhabitant. The other contains an illusion of treasure, and the charred body of a kobold. Since math is not a strong ability among Orcs, they do not put 2 + 2 together, and realize this is the former chieftain of the kobold tribe. Finding nothing else of value, the Orcs move out, continuing to follow the “right-hand rule”
Rhgl continues to scout ahead through multiple turns of the hallway. The warband waits at a closed door, while Rhgl scouts the rest of the hallway. Around the corner some 6 shins* away, the goblin disappears, with a loud clang, and shortly thereafter a splash. Gorga brings the warband forward to find that a large section of hallway has opened up into a pit, with an opening into a cave below. Swimming around in a pool, 8 shins* below is Rhgl, struggling to stay afloat with his backpack and gear. Gorga quickly lowers a rope, and in short order the goblin is back with the warband. Iirkh leans out to bash at the door that Rhgl was headed towards, and quickly finds it to be a false door, and a lure to get unwanted visitors to fall in the pit. Without as much as a thank you, the warband is on its’ way again.
Doubling back down the hallway, the warband continues to scout out the hallways and doors in this area of the stronghold. One door of note looks to be newly replaced. Listening at the door yielded no information. Iirkh opens the door, to find a grisly sight. A large stone table dominates the room. That is not so bad, but the remains of skin organs, sinews and tendons make even the Orcs pause for a second. Something has been cleanly and neatly cut apart and investigated. The skeleton of the creature is noticed hanging from the far wall, tied back together with sinew. Some muffled grunts are heard from the far side of the table, and the warband moves into the room to silence any resistance.
Rather than an enemy, the warband finds two trussed up creatures, the captured orc and goblin from the Owl warband. Both are stripped down to keep any weapons away from them. Even naked, the warband recognizes the resident Battle Drummer of the Vile Runes Tribe. Drigka is ungagged, and his ropes cut while he explains how he and the goblin came to this ignominious state. The six knuck** orc calls out to Rhgl, who is going through the pile of armor and weapons in the corner.
“Goblin, leave off stealing my things, or I’ll sing a dirge of your passing.” Rhgl gives a discerning eye to the orc, and tosses the drum mallet back in the pile.
The goblin is a rangy thing named Snig, comes out of his bonds spitting and calling out for revenge on the kobold shaman “Booboo.” The warband figures out that he means Buimbu and informs him that they have recently killed the vivisectionist-sorcerer. It seems the kobold had multiple talents.
“One less thing to do on my list,” says Drigka.
Gorga welcomes the orc and goblin into the warband, at least temporarily, and permanently if they prove themselves. Sharraxtharkul pokes around the remains of what turns out to have been a Troll.
Back up to full numbers, the warband moves on to a door further down the hall. Rhgl reports the sound of flapping wings from within. When the door is opened by the orcs, nothing is visible. Iirkh steps into a room prepared for summoning spirits and daemons. Written in some abyssal language across all the walls, the floor and ceiling are curses and protections against what is summoned here. Iirkh hears the flapping of wings nearby, and the sound recedes out the door past the orcs. A few hear it, but none can catch whatever it is.
More searching of the hallways and rooms of the stronghold, and the warband finds a room for sleeping quarters, and a pair of rooms using teleportation magic to confuse the unwary. Gilnak of all orcs is the one to figure out the truth of the misdirection. He’s heard to say, “I have one eye but it is good.”
Gorga decides that he’s had enough of hallways, invisible creatures, missing bodies, and the lack of enemies, and that he’s not concerned about being quiet anymore.
“Drigka, we haven't heard a good home song in a while, how about giving us a song.”
Drigka, lashes his standard to his backpack, and begins playing on his battle drums.
More scouting of the seemingly interminable hallways and Rhgl opens the door to another room. He is promptly met by four thrown daggers; two of which slam into the door nearby, while the other two manage to drive into a leg and shoulder, weakening him some. A group of 4 Black-tongue kobolds can be seen leaping off a ledge, into a hole in the floor. Rhgl moves in to see, with Iirkh right behind. Rhgl hurls a dagger back at one, knocking it from the rope it was climbing down, and it falls many shins** to its’ death. Iirkh grabs up the ropes, and begins shaking them. Two more fall to their death on the hard cavern floor below. One manages to roll with the fall, and can be seen running off into the dark to the North. Gorga orders that the warband finish scouting out this level, before going below.
After a minor run in with a few monstrous spiders, and non-combatant kobolds, the orcs find themselves in a slight maze of passageways. Snig moves to the front for scouting, with Rhgl recovering from poisoned daggers and spider bites. Through all this, Drigka continues to pound his drums, hoping to instill a sense of dread in his enemies.
Near the center of the circling hallways, the warband is set upon by a pair of creepy-crawlies. Coming around a corner, and rushing forward on the ceiling, face to face with Iirkh, are a pair of disturbing creatures, with a mouth full of teeth surrounded by writhing tentacles. Snig is attacked by one, which nearly grabs him to run away. The wily goblin bounces and rolls out of the way, bringing his axe to bear on the creature. He was able to force the creature to touch his axe with tentacles, and nothing else. Iirkh on the other hand is not so lucky. With a twitch, the Half-Ogre becomes a living statue, effectively blocking the hallway. Snig shows the first creature what an axe in the right goblin hands can do, and moves to help Iirkh. Gorga manages to place a telling arrow in the creature, and Snig jumps in the air to slice gashes into the creature hanging from the ceiling. Not having the easy meal that it had hoped for, the creature retreats through a hole in the ceiling, away from the dangerous orcs.
Drigka eases off playing the drums, and the warband settles down to await the recovery of Iirkh. Sharraxtharkul pokes around and proclaims knowledge of this behavior and begins estimating the time to recovery. Meanwhile, Gorga is planning the assault into the caverns below.
Next Up: Return to In Search of the Unknown part 11 “Ready or not, here we come.”
Tyco steps forward to finish off Scrag with an overhead chop.
Eager to see it over, Gorga commands one more time. “Finish him.”
The Orcs see Rhgl appear out of the shadows behind Tyco, driving his dagger into just the right spot on the big Orc. The axe falls from fingers that no longer feel what they are holding. As Tyco falls lifeless to the floor, Rhgl steps back, removing his favorite dagger from the spine of the dead Orc. The remaining Orcs look at the goblin in stunned silence. Rhgl manages his best innocent look, shrugs his shoulders and says.
“But... you said finish him.”
Gorga huffs for a bit. “I meant Scrag.”
Another shrug and sincere look from the goblin, and Gorga resists the urge to kill the Goblin himself.
As the warband turns to see what can be salvaged from this, Gilnak steps up and finishes off the badly injured Scrag.
“I got him for ya Gorga.”
Gorga just shakes his head, and walks away hoping he can finish this raid with the Orcs he has left. The remaining warband members look at each other, and quickly begin dividing up the weapons, armor and other items carried by the pair of barbarian Orcs. They are Orcs after all. Rhgl and Gilnak claim first choice, and everything else goes quickly.
Gorga manages to gather the rest of the warband together, to go back and finish investigating the other doors in the sorcerers’ room. With Rhgl scouting out front, the warband returns, to find some streaks on the floor. Gorga looks around and determines that the body was dragged out of the room, and the streaks end about 3 to 4 shins* outside of the room.
Two doors are investigated in the sorcerers’ chambers, and one contains some old books and belongings of the previous inhabitant. The other contains an illusion of treasure, and the charred body of a kobold. Since math is not a strong ability among Orcs, they do not put 2 + 2 together, and realize this is the former chieftain of the kobold tribe. Finding nothing else of value, the Orcs move out, continuing to follow the “right-hand rule”
Rhgl continues to scout ahead through multiple turns of the hallway. The warband waits at a closed door, while Rhgl scouts the rest of the hallway. Around the corner some 6 shins* away, the goblin disappears, with a loud clang, and shortly thereafter a splash. Gorga brings the warband forward to find that a large section of hallway has opened up into a pit, with an opening into a cave below. Swimming around in a pool, 8 shins* below is Rhgl, struggling to stay afloat with his backpack and gear. Gorga quickly lowers a rope, and in short order the goblin is back with the warband. Iirkh leans out to bash at the door that Rhgl was headed towards, and quickly finds it to be a false door, and a lure to get unwanted visitors to fall in the pit. Without as much as a thank you, the warband is on its’ way again.
Doubling back down the hallway, the warband continues to scout out the hallways and doors in this area of the stronghold. One door of note looks to be newly replaced. Listening at the door yielded no information. Iirkh opens the door, to find a grisly sight. A large stone table dominates the room. That is not so bad, but the remains of skin organs, sinews and tendons make even the Orcs pause for a second. Something has been cleanly and neatly cut apart and investigated. The skeleton of the creature is noticed hanging from the far wall, tied back together with sinew. Some muffled grunts are heard from the far side of the table, and the warband moves into the room to silence any resistance.
Rather than an enemy, the warband finds two trussed up creatures, the captured orc and goblin from the Owl warband. Both are stripped down to keep any weapons away from them. Even naked, the warband recognizes the resident Battle Drummer of the Vile Runes Tribe. Drigka is ungagged, and his ropes cut while he explains how he and the goblin came to this ignominious state. The six knuck** orc calls out to Rhgl, who is going through the pile of armor and weapons in the corner.
“Goblin, leave off stealing my things, or I’ll sing a dirge of your passing.” Rhgl gives a discerning eye to the orc, and tosses the drum mallet back in the pile.
The goblin is a rangy thing named Snig, comes out of his bonds spitting and calling out for revenge on the kobold shaman “Booboo.” The warband figures out that he means Buimbu and informs him that they have recently killed the vivisectionist-sorcerer. It seems the kobold had multiple talents.
“One less thing to do on my list,” says Drigka.
Gorga welcomes the orc and goblin into the warband, at least temporarily, and permanently if they prove themselves. Sharraxtharkul pokes around the remains of what turns out to have been a Troll.
Back up to full numbers, the warband moves on to a door further down the hall. Rhgl reports the sound of flapping wings from within. When the door is opened by the orcs, nothing is visible. Iirkh steps into a room prepared for summoning spirits and daemons. Written in some abyssal language across all the walls, the floor and ceiling are curses and protections against what is summoned here. Iirkh hears the flapping of wings nearby, and the sound recedes out the door past the orcs. A few hear it, but none can catch whatever it is.
More searching of the hallways and rooms of the stronghold, and the warband finds a room for sleeping quarters, and a pair of rooms using teleportation magic to confuse the unwary. Gilnak of all orcs is the one to figure out the truth of the misdirection. He’s heard to say, “I have one eye but it is good.”
Gorga decides that he’s had enough of hallways, invisible creatures, missing bodies, and the lack of enemies, and that he’s not concerned about being quiet anymore.
“Drigka, we haven't heard a good home song in a while, how about giving us a song.”
Drigka, lashes his standard to his backpack, and begins playing on his battle drums.
More scouting of the seemingly interminable hallways and Rhgl opens the door to another room. He is promptly met by four thrown daggers; two of which slam into the door nearby, while the other two manage to drive into a leg and shoulder, weakening him some. A group of 4 Black-tongue kobolds can be seen leaping off a ledge, into a hole in the floor. Rhgl moves in to see, with Iirkh right behind. Rhgl hurls a dagger back at one, knocking it from the rope it was climbing down, and it falls many shins** to its’ death. Iirkh grabs up the ropes, and begins shaking them. Two more fall to their death on the hard cavern floor below. One manages to roll with the fall, and can be seen running off into the dark to the North. Gorga orders that the warband finish scouting out this level, before going below.
After a minor run in with a few monstrous spiders, and non-combatant kobolds, the orcs find themselves in a slight maze of passageways. Snig moves to the front for scouting, with Rhgl recovering from poisoned daggers and spider bites. Through all this, Drigka continues to pound his drums, hoping to instill a sense of dread in his enemies.
Near the center of the circling hallways, the warband is set upon by a pair of creepy-crawlies. Coming around a corner, and rushing forward on the ceiling, face to face with Iirkh, are a pair of disturbing creatures, with a mouth full of teeth surrounded by writhing tentacles. Snig is attacked by one, which nearly grabs him to run away. The wily goblin bounces and rolls out of the way, bringing his axe to bear on the creature. He was able to force the creature to touch his axe with tentacles, and nothing else. Iirkh on the other hand is not so lucky. With a twitch, the Half-Ogre becomes a living statue, effectively blocking the hallway. Snig shows the first creature what an axe in the right goblin hands can do, and moves to help Iirkh. Gorga manages to place a telling arrow in the creature, and Snig jumps in the air to slice gashes into the creature hanging from the ceiling. Not having the easy meal that it had hoped for, the creature retreats through a hole in the ceiling, away from the dangerous orcs.
Drigka eases off playing the drums, and the warband settles down to await the recovery of Iirkh. Sharraxtharkul pokes around and proclaims knowledge of this behavior and begins estimating the time to recovery. Meanwhile, Gorga is planning the assault into the caverns below.
Next Up: Return to In Search of the Unknown part 11 “Ready or not, here we come.”
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