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Message: <blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 952578" data-attributes="member: 5137">Well, this is a second writing of the original, due to server dodginess. I don't think it's quite as good as the first go through, but it will have to do.UggrahdTheralis was situated in the midst of a vast mountain range, and her children understood well the effects of the atmosphere on far off sights. Mountains in the distance would fade to blueness until they disappeared in the faint fog that pervaded all of creation. But when they topped a rise and Uggrahd could be seen, a shade of violet-tinted blue against the haze of distance, they did not quite believe what they saw.The mountain, named simply "up there" in orc, earned her name and defied the senses. She towered among the lesser mountains surrounding it, like a matronly orc among her children, until her tip, a mile further away through the atmosphere than her base, faded from view.All paused, though for different reasons, as she came into view.-----Greppa reflected on the events bringing him here, and the self-confessed fiend that had provided the tantalizing hints that led him to this place. Belial had provided a map, and a mission, with his stingy bits of truth. The map showed where to find a book mentioning Belial, and the mountain they now saw.The mission was more complicated.According to Belial, the gods were preparing for war, and they had selected servants among mortalkind to wage it. Greppa was one, and Merideth, Bellos, and even Athan had been among those serving Allas... but there were others, serving other gods. Which meant Peladas, Xeras... perhaps even Dianas or Hethas.The orcs had a phrase which Greppa had learned from Olgah: "When gods fight, mortals die". It was a harsh invective, usually followed by spitting, and it neatly explained the orc view of any gods other than their own trusted ancestors. And what Belial had said made a terrible kind of sense - it explained why the orcs had been moving so much, it explained why Allas was so active in Theralis again, it explained... what Athan had said in the dream, after he'd died. That something big was coming.So here he was, hundreds of miles from home, travelling into the heart of an orc tribe that even the Breaking Cat tribe feared like the gates of hell itself, to find out what god was pushing the orcs like Allas was pushing Theralis.If it wasn't Allas herself. Greppa thought back bitterly to Thelanna. She probably had known all of this already. Knew that Theralis was a pawn in the coming divine war. And had said nothing.He grimaced, and continued marching.-----Bellos stopped walking completely. He believed, sincerely, that nothing could match the beauty of raw nature, and Uggrahd made him weep inside. That he was among friends and taking this moment to experience the raw terror and exhiliration of simply seeing such a monument of the natural world only made it sharper.And for a moment, his doubts about his comrades vanished. His fear of entering the Buhkenahk territories misted into nothingness beside his desire to admire it with the People who lived in the shadow of such beauty. And the niggling guilt of not telling Greppa about his message to Thelanna even disappeared for a moment before its majesty.When he finally jerked himself into motion, it was only to see what it looked like from one ridge, or two ridges, closer.-----Merideth's mind was elsewhere. Something was following them, something that danced at the very edge of her range. Something with no thoughts to read, only intent.The intent was why she wasn't warning the others yet. It was wholly protective, and very patient. She hoped it was simply a cautious animal protecting its children (and indeed, suspected it was, despite its clever choice of range), but she kept an eye out in case that changed.As they topped the ridge, she looked behind her, scanning the downward slope to catch it, but there was nothing there. When the others continued downslope she followed, and missed the mountain entirely.-----A night later, as they settled in for camp, two dozen orcs materialized from the darkening woods. Camouflaged too cleverly to see until they were in motion, they stepped from tree and brush as silently as snakes, and their leader, a massive brute bearing a spear tipped with the claw of a giant armorcat, stepped closer. "Who are you, and why do you enter the land of the Broken Knuckle?"Greppa, momentarily stunned by the warband's sudden appearance, recovered and began to explain. They wanted to see the glory of the mountain. They wished to speak with a shaman. They wished to ask a private question of the orc ancestors.And quietly, very quietly, in the depths of their hearts, the group hoped the answer would suffice.</blockquote>

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