Author's Note
Wizards of the Coast owns the general concept of Dungeons and Dragons, from which this story was devised. However, The New World and its principal kingdoms of Mardan, Urhal, Utrecht, Tourant, the Island Duchies, Arnheim, Trzebin, and Argent Forest, are mine. Likewise, the characters, while ostensibly created through the use of the Dungeons and Dragons character generation rules, are also mine. While I am not completely averse to someone requesting to use The New World as a backdrop for a campaign or story, ask my permission first. Chances are you'll have my blessing; after all, I'd be interested to see what someone can do with the political and social backdrop I've created. I won't tell you anything about The New World; that's for you to find out through the stories. However, even though I thought I made it pretty obvious by page three, I will give you this one bit of information. The New World is based in the southern hemisphere. That means it gets colder as you go south, not north.
Orcish Vise is the second story to take place in The New World campaign setting, and is loosely connected to the story Hounds of Winter. However, while the two stories take place in the same general area, and the late winter directly effects both plots, this story works just as well by itself. Both stories are a continuing attempt by yours truly to write a story for each of the One Hundred Adventure Ideas found on page 138 of the Dungeon Master's Guide, which is turning out to be quite a difficult task, especially since I still have ninety-eight to go after I finish this one…