With our Australian DM back from a worrying and lengthy illness, we once again could pursue our tales of orcish adventure, even if today's session would be a short one.
When we last left our heroes, they were making camp in the center of a humie village and taking a well-deserved rest adjacent to the burning ruin of a building they set alight. The young female human was placed in a nearby, also abandoned building for safe-keeping. Seemingly Fearful for her life, she did not run. At their camp around the house-sized fire, spoils were divvied up and the decision was made that the remaining children should be eaten to prevent spoilage. The grizzly task was quickly done and what wasn't consumed there was dried for later rations.
Small talk was had, and the lot then retired themselves to the abandoned building with the human larva. Sensing her discomfort, Cunnin attempted to ease matters by offering her his cat, Mr. Boots and some scraps of dinner. The young girl accepted both, seeming to find some small comfort in Boots indiscriminate affection. A fire was lit in the hearth, and everyone settled in for a night's sleep.
The following morning, fresh snow blanketed the outside. Cautious, our party checked out the windows for signs of humans waiting in ambush around the building, but the town seemed deserted. Instead, what they discovered were a number of large footprints leading down the street in the newly-fallen snow. Half-following them, half exploring for the sake of exploring, they found themselves at the village tavern and let themselves in.
Tables were upturned, and everywhere were signs of a struggle. These signs were largely ignored by our intrepid adventurers, on the assumption that humans were simply messy creatures and this is how they lived.
Following conventional gaming wisdom, the party immediately split, heading off in different directions. Taz Dingo made his way to the upstairs, wherein the genre seemed to shift into survival horror for reasons we weren't entirely certain of. Blood stained everywhere, and the bodies of several dead humans were strewn about, victims of grizzly injuries. A noise issued from deeper down the hall, half groan, half-scrape... and it was at that exact moment the DM switched focus to the remaining party downstairs.
To everyone's confusion, Raph sat down at the piano and began playing flawless Chopin, hinting that he may actually be some kind of savant, rather than simply handicapped. The effect was lost on his fellow orcs, whose sense of music was less developed, and decided he was simply playing with the humie toys. Consigning themselves to more important tasks, Cunnin and Justice sought out the cellar in search of food and booze. Cunnin carefully positioned himself in such a fashion that Justice would be first down the stairs, carefully guarding his pathetic 3HP.
Downstairs they found exactly what you might imagine from a tavern cellar - bags of root vegetables and grains, bottles of alcohol, the majority of which were confiscated under the auspice of "that's what humies eat, right?" so that they might feed their newfound pet. Out of nowhere, a scratching, clawing noise issued from the corner, revealing a RODENT OF UNUSUAL SIZE, which immediately charged them. Both orcs issued a manly squeel, and ran up the stairs, losing some of their stolen foodstuffs in the process and slammed the cellar door behind them.
Upstairs, Taz came across the source of his own noises - an injured man, nearly dead and pale from blood loss. In the least orcish tone he could muster, he tried to rouse the man, asking what ill befell him. "O..orcs..."
Confused, Taz picked the man up and carried him down the stairs and explained. Justice summoned his Gruumsh-given gifts to lay hands upon the man, healing him just enough to ensure his recovery. Cunnin stood over the man, attempting to get more answers.
"Tell us what happened."
As the man became more aware of his surroundings, he realized the horror of his position. Cunnin placed a foot on his shoulder, keeping him to the floor. "We healed you. You answer questions. That is the deal. You do not answer questions, we unheal you. Do you understand the deal?"
The man grew pale once more, but nodded his acquiescence.
"What happened?"
"..o..orcs raided the village."
"When?"
"Late last night..e-early morning. We were asleep.."
This response produced much confusion, and a short group discussion to make sure that the orcs in question were not, in fact, our heroes, who would be much embarrassed to have raided these people a second time in their sleep. After it was determined that it was in fact not themselves, and that no black-out raiding occurred, they pressed for more information. Information our informant did not have.
Instead, it was decided he would be placed in the cellar for safe keeping, and that he should remain there for the day when he would be free to leave. He nodded, seeing little choice in the matter, and no one stopped to remember the terrifying ROUS dwelling beneath the tavern.
"What do we do then?"
"These orcs raided a village we were in the middle of raiding. That just isn't right."
"Downright disrespectful."
"So what do we do?"
"I think we.. need to raid them back. We must find these other orcs and raid them, to teach them not to raid what we were raiding."
"YEAH!"
And their course was set.
until next time,
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