Day 20
My orders today were to wipe out as many quilboar as I could catch. Bullhorn apparently decided to stick around for a bit and assist us so he joined myself, another warrior, and two hunters for the mission. Seeing a massive tauren throwing out chain lightning all the time is a bit worrisome but also a huge help.
The flatland between the coastal hills and the mountain was practically devoid of wildlife now and we had an easy time closing the distance towards Thorn Hill. When we finally caught a patrol of the quilboar one of the little shits squealed so loudly I had no doubt everything for a mile heard it. Bullhorn shut it up quickly but we all knew what was coming.
Pack upon pack of the bastards swarmed our location and if they'd had any coordination at all, we'd be dead. Seriously. Four or five of them? Not a problem. A dozen or more? An entirely different battle. I personally claimed eight kills and I was mainly acting as a meatshield for the hunters and Bullhorn. The smell of electrocuted quilboar is... disturbingly familiar. Moving on.
We likely put down fourty of the Razormane tribe before looting them and withdrawing for the day to deal with our injuries. Despite his willingness to heal us we didn't let Bullhorn treat anything other than the more serious injuries. It wasn't 'stubborn pride' like he accused but instead extreme caution. What if I needed him to bring a whole lot of lightning to a fight and he'd wasted energy healing nicks and bruises?
I did see something a bit odd that I made sure to report back to the Crossroads. Several centaur had observed us from the distance, which wouldn't be too weird except the quilboar passed right next to them with no issue. I have my own suspicions about that but can safely leave it to the officers to deal with. I'm on quilboar duty for the next few days apparently.
Several teams of adventurers had passed by to the East and South to deal with the quilboar problems as well. The goblins were more than willing to pay a bounty for the troubles the quilboar caused and the beasts needed to be kept pinned on the mountain instead of attacking us. Sawing off quilboar tusks was worth the pay no matter how gross and annoying it was.
Physical training and 'therapy' among the troops today was counted as working on the wall. We've almost got the small valley the mine is in walled off. The low walls would likely be partially used by farms later on but for now we were planning on digging a yard deep ditch around it. Thankfully the troops won't have to do THAT bit or we'd die of exhaustion in the field.
I must say I absolutely love the BBQ we've been making. I'm not that great a cook but honestly some of those peons are surprising. I tried to note down the different ways they cooked the meats but I doubt I've got anything properly recorded. I'm glad I've been getting so much exercise or I'd end up fat.
I have also come to realize that the different tastes of an orc body are influencing me. I wasn't a fan of pork before, despite my love of bacon, but it actually tastes pleasant to me now. Kind of weird and I'd rather have beef, beef, and more beef, but I can't recall if there even are any cows on this continent and the tauren might be offended by that. Shame. At least I don't really notice my tusks while eating.
-Borgin