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Message: <blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 682013" data-attributes="member: 5137">LAtD: Babes in the WildernessAthan's mother spent a lot of time in the wilderness, ranging far from the normal Theralis borders, and so she occasionally met others of a like mind. One of those was Chatham, an orc wanderer who belonged to no tribe save his own, and had some mutual respect going with Athan's mom... so it was to Chatham that she sent her son when he said he needed a wilderness guide.When they arrived at the spot they were supposed to meet him, there was no one on hand, and all three tensed a bit - Theralis was at war with a number of orc tribes, and it was still summer, the raiding time for orcs."Hello." The voice came from above, and had a deep, rich timbre to it. They looked up until they saw him - a leonine humanoid, wearing tanned leather pants, a copper torc around his bull-like neck, and a hide vest. Under one arm was tucked a three foot wardrum, and an orc spear lay across his back. Orcs look fairly close to human, save for their slightly brutish features and unusual (7 foot plus) size, but this one was positively gorgeous.As he gracefully slipped to the ground from his loft, looking like nothing so much as a boneless cat, he grinned at the three heroes, "You must be they who I was sent to guide. My name, if you will, is Chatham, and I would love to know yours."Athan grinned, Merideth looked sour, and Greppa openly gaped... but they managed to sort their names out. As everyone explained that they needed to find the site where the Bunahken fell to the dragon Amalan, Chatham grew more serious and nodded."My price is 2 argur per day, and I will guide you where you need to go so long as you pay that. However, we can save time if we run..." he looked at Greppa appraisingly, "Will you be able to run with us? I could carry...""I'll keep up." It came out a bit sharper than Greppa intended, and inwardly he grimaced. Could he run? Just because he had short legs... the inward grumbling continued as he cast hawk's flight and flew alongside the others.Unfortunately for everyone, an orc's idea of running turned out to be just that. He kept the pace at a kind of hustling jog for a human, for hours. Greppa, proud of his newest spell, found himself continuously recasting and soon grew as exhausted as Athan and Merideth despite the relative comfort of flying.Chatham showed no sign of fatigue, but eventually let up as afternoon slid in. Without a hint of breathlessness, he grinned at the trio of sprawled youths, then laughed out, "Did you never wonder how orcs covered ground? We will camp here."Still not trusting Chatham, but unable to stay awake, Greppa finally summoned a minor mud doll and instructed it to watch over them. He'd been asleep for an hour when he woke up again, cursing himself. He should have been summoning mud dolls during the whole war - they could have warned of the coming orcs each night.Then he fell asleep again, and the world faded into dreams.</blockquote>

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