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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 910521" data-attributes="member: 1674">Battle of Scorched Rock, part 1In the late morning of the second of Tanot in 152 AV, the Gravelfists crossed the border, entering Scorchskull territory.About tenthousand pairs of hooves and boots trampled down the newly fallen snow and the breath of the warriors and their mounts formed small clouds in the cold air. Most of the orcs were on their feet, but there was cavalry as well- about half of them on horseback and half on the backs of dire wolves. The sky was blue and there was no cloud to be seen. The wardrums were beating a steady rhythm as the juggernaught made of thousands was slowly marching ahead.Wherever they found the pyramids of skulls which marked the border, they tumbled them down, sometimes fooling around and playing football with the skulls. There was a feeling of expectation and excitement throughout the ranks. No matter how young or old, novice or experienced, man or woman, everyone was held together by an invisible bond and they all shared the same lightheaded feeling of what the orcs called "Shoor-Tak", best translated as "joyous excitation before the fight". Jan, Niklas, Trepat and Torn, who were all leading units of fivehundred warriors each couldn't help but share the feeling as well, and their connection with the tribes of which they were honorary members had never been stronger.The storms of the late winter had gone and were now substituted by constant fresh winds, which kept the banners flying in the air making it look as if even the lifeless equipment was sharing the optimism of their carriers.Around noon, two of the scouts came riding back towards the main army at full speed.They had seen a large Scorchskullarmy to the north, which they would encounter in an hour. Immediately the word spread among the warriors, and soon there was no holding back. As the orcs were seeing that their first battle was merely and hour away, they moved at ever greater speed, changing their direction to where they expected the enemy to be.And then, as they saw the first tips of the Scorchskull banners on the plain ahead, the mass of warrior turned into a tidal wave as they all rushed ahead at their enemies, tearing their non-orcish friends with them. Now, that they had been fully taken by Shoor Tak there was nothing that could possibly stop them and they had turned into a force of nature.The ground trembled as the two armies thundered towards each other, the sound of thousands of hooves and boots almost drowning the battle shouts and wardrums. From what the friends could see, the scorchskull army was significantly smaller than their own force- maybe half the size. Still, there was no indication that the scorchskulls would act with special consideration because of that disadvantage. If they had noticed that at all, it merely seemed to spur them on to be even wilder and more savage than normal, if that was possible at all.Meanwhile, about sixty miles to the east, Ben was supervising the construction of the fortification of the four paths that lead up to the flat surface of Scorched Rock. At each of the points where the path reached the plateau, they were building up brick walls which they were reinforcing with heavy beams. Behind those, they were assembling small trebuchets which would be used to fire several fistsized rocks in the case of an attack.At that point, Ben and his fivehundred pioneers had been working straight for three days, sleeping in shifts. Near Mullis Town, he had influenced the scholars to do him a favor by faking an emergency at the dig site, sealing of the entire area. Then they had constructed a make shift tunnel through the morass to the drowned head and taken bricks, mortar, beams and everything else they needed down there.Next, Ben lead the awestruck orcs through the halls of Dunai, right to the central chamber, where they stepped through the proper crystal and began their work.Now, as he watched the orcs put the last finishing touches to their improvised fortifications, while  the main force which he expected to arrive in two days fought the first battle of their war against the Gravelfists, he was approached by one of the scouts.The orc was about as old as Torn and even broader than the halforc. As he made his report, Ben remembered his name: Tak' Rath:" Sir, there is a small troop of maybe four hundred gravelfists marching towards our position. They are marching ahead at a rather leisurely pace, so I suppose there is no indication that they know we are here.""Very well", Ben replied, being fluent in orcish by now:" Then we should have a little surprise for them, once they are here!".In the afternoon, the Scorchskulls arrived. H'Treck, the chief of a small tribe that paid tribute to the Scorchskull clan, had been sent there with his men in order to build up a defense while another army would delay the Gravelfists. In a way, H'Treck was glad for this assignment, even though he wouldn't admit it, because his reasoning was highly dishonorable for an orc. He was already old and weary, and the way he saw it, the assignment to guard the rock would keep him away from all major battles, giving him the chance to spend the last bit of his life in peace and quiet. H'Treck knew that if any of his men would find out about his dreams of peace he would be slain right away. His attitude would be considered cowardly by most orcs, but for the Scorchskulls it was more- it was a sign of godstaint, as they called it.As the sun was setting, he lead his men up one of the paths, thinking of building a camp around the waterhole up there. He never quite finished contemplating the layout of that camp, though, for suddenly arrows and fire rained down on him and his men. H'Treck was among those hit by the first volley, and pierced by several arrows, he died right away, never knowing what had hit him.In the end, in spite of his contrary nature, he had died as was proper for a Scorchskull.</blockquote>

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