In My Time of Troubles

by Crossposted

Crossposting of the TheIrishDreamer’s FanFiction on SpaceBattles all credit goes to the original author.

33. Entry 33

[Karguk 63]

Ruins of Dekanter

It was chaos, chaos and carnage I found as my bloody and nicked blade drove into the belly of the large horned goblin before me. Grunting in effort I pulled it from his guts, gripping the dying enemy by his horn and shoving him backwards by bracing a booted foot against then bloody body and kicking him to the floor of the large cave-mines. With a snarl I brought my blade down upon his unarmoured throat and severed that over large horned from the body in a splatter of blood and violence. Still there was no time to think on the matter as I growled at the startled form of Shandy to follow me, snapping out of her momentary shook as I stepped over the now dead foe-goblin and pressed ever forward into the darkness of the mines; we were close now, but time was of the essence despite my, our, not rushing forward due to wards or traps.

It was just me and the thief-soceror now for this part of the mission, Tanalasta being needed to hold the entrance and guard the horses there as we made our steady descent towards our objective. Splitting the party was a problem, but one had a major need to ensure the horses remain to make our escape and that the entranceway we'd used remained clear to escape through. Girl was deadly enough to hold it, I hoped, and...well, Shandy wouldn't have been able to do so in both our opinions. Thankfully she could fight, mostly, and could carry thinks that I needed outside of the pack of dangerous materials upon my back; oh, what one would pay for a bag of holding right now...

"Down" I muttered quietly as I held up a hand, bringing Shandy to a halt just behind me and weapon at the ready, watching warily all around her. For the moment I ignored her as I, after wiping the blade of blood with a cloth from my pack, sheathed my sword and began to reach out towards the totem nearly hidden from us at the turn down into the tunnel to the large cave area where we needed to go. It was crude, but a trigger of warning, and working quickly and carefully I managed to touch it and remove, or more accurately 'obscure', the warding that would warned of our approach. Good spot for it, and it wouldn't do more than delay a warning, but with a motion of the hand had Shandy following me down into the large cave area where...

I frowned, there was no sign of Mister Illithid, and that was bad as I gestured for my companion to remain here on the slope and ready her shortbow while I moved forward. There was nobody in sight, and I reached into my pack to pull one the, bloody expensive, glass vials from within the 'storage' compartment within, one that prevented them breaking and destroying my physical undead body...and potentially the area around me if they'd all broke. Too much of risk normally, but this was something of an emergency situation and I'd done everything possible to 'protect' the pack from taking a blood; thank you very much Armour of Ilneval and absorbing annoying, yet deadly, arrow fire up in the currently blood, violence, and madness filled camp above. Crouching in an alcove before the pool of water I tried to locate any movements or sounds and found myself coming up short.

'Okay then, quickly sneak forward towards that entrance-way then Kargy-boy' I ordered myself, staying half-crouched and trying to work my way around the edge of the pool towards the 'working area' on the other side after a glance to ensure Shandy was in place and okay in the shadows. The last thing I needed now was some goblins, or worse their master, coming down from behind through and unknown or hidden side tunnel and hitting us from behind. One hand on the hilt of my still sheathed blade, and the other gripping my vial of semi-magical pain infliction concoction, I crouch-crawled forward from pillar to rock and tried not to wince at every creak and crunch caused by every movement of 'my' body. Shadows flicked from the burning braziers scattered across the other side of the cavern, and from within the room where my 'six sense' was pulsing the energy of whatever was my goal...

'Well...hello there' I mouthed silently as a shadow cloaked figure appeared into sight...devouring some poor bastard with a dreadful slurping-crunching sound as 'my' face twisted in disgust. It was just off to side of the main entrance to the area I desired to enter, cages clinking and creaking off behind a series of large cloth partitions? banners? hanging from the ceiling and part hiding the area in which my enemy stood having his horrifying 'dinner' I guess. Thankfully I didn't need to breathe, and Shandy was a decent distance away and out of sight of the abomination so very slowly, and carefully, I began to pull back my arm and take aim with my potion of fiery burning. Seemed the alarm hadn't gone off down here judging by the goblins so far, and the fact Mr. Squidy was merrily eating that poor wretch hidden from my sight by the robed horror, so I pull back and let loose...

"AAAAAAIIIIIIIHHHIEEEEEEEEEE!" the gods awful shrieking echoed off the walls of the cavern as the glass vial shattered and the robed horror was turned into a burning torch along with its now dead meal. I winced, apparently overlooking the fact the flames now jumped and spread to those hanging cloth banners or whatevers on the right side cavern. Grabbing a throwing dagger from my belt I flung it at the burning torch of an enemy as it flailed about and turned to run towards the great pool of water to my left; it struck true...sort of. I'd aimed for its head but it slammed into the chest centre mass, apparently killing the creature judging by the sudden ending of the screaming as the body thudded backwards unto the cold stone of the caverns as the crackling flames of the cloth and flesh began to fill the air.

'Well, good I can't smell worth crap now innit?' I told myself staring at the easier than expected ending to the End Boss Fight. Blinking in surprise, I managed to wrench my eyes off of the burning bodies and rapidly spreading flames and smoke and move rapidly towards the pulsing, glowing, energy through the large 'doorway' even as I gripped the hilt of my blade in readiness.

Moving, had to keep moving forward now, as I strode towards the treasure room with eyes frantically seeking out for any other dangers as the cavern filled with the sound of fire and destruction. Stupidly I'd created a situation whereby the whole bloody place was going to fill with smoke pretty bloody rapidly, all while alerting anyone or anything further down into the mines as well. I broke into a run as I saw the room beyond was empty of life, or undeath, but looking something of a small library and storage...

'You tricky little bastards, course you did' I thought freezing at the entrance and bringing a hand up to the ward traps established on either side of the entrance. If I'd stepped through the doorway they'd have detonated and done fierce damage even to my zombiefied body...and now I had to waste time very carefully tracing the ward lines shown in my...spirit-vision?...and focused upon breaking the incantation without causing it to explode in any way. When...that didn't work I stepped back and threw a dagger at it and was soon rewarded with a loud growling explosion, followed by the clattering of dagger off of the rocks and then into the water with a splash, as I covered by face with my arm.

'Okayyy...not dead..deader, so testing, testing' I resisted muttering as I drew my sword and carefully tested forward with it in case there were further traps around the corner. One probably looked rather stupid right ow I'll admit, sword hand poking a blade forward into empty air while using the other arm to cover my face...but fuck that, better than blowing myself up "Ah, ah, don't fucking blow up, come'on be clear...there we go, there we go...clear"

Careful stupidity completed I managed to get inside the room without any damage, small shelves with tomes and small chests filled with my goal apparently. I grit my teeth, before starting to smash the locks open with my sword after a quick check for any further magical traps "Well, fuck you then locked boxes! Bloody break will you stupid thing...break so I can get outta this damned smoke filling dump..."

I groaned as the second last chest lock broke open as I wedged it with my sword...along with the top of my blade breaking of as well with a nasty sounding crack "And of course you bloody did! Dammit! COME ON!"

Still the now broken blade was still good enough for me to wedge open the last of my targets, and apparently the source of the glowing magical feel that permeated my spirit boosted senses. And there before my borrowed undead eyes was a golden scroll that while not pulsing with magic as I'd expected seemed to burn with knowledge somehow. I grinned, pulling off the largely empty pack upon my back and beginning to throw everything I could into it after clearing out the dangerous vials to make room for my loot; as much I desired to study things, the matter at hand urged the rather important fact of getting the hell out of here right now.

Each precious second meant more time for Tanalasta to be overwhelmed, or for the goblins to fail and the defenders return. So with the golden scroll treasure secured I threw whatever was in reach into my ever expanding backpack; rings, scrolls, two books, a dagger, and a few other things that hummed of faint magic or just shiny like some rubies that came into hand. Unfortunately my gaze was greater than my stomach it seemed, and within moments of my frantic efforts the pack was so full I had to forcefully tighen the straps to hold it altogether before throwing it unto my back with a grunt of effort. Grabbing my 'alchemy pack' I discarded my now useless sword and strode out the entrance as quickly as I could manage and...

"OH FUCK!" I managed to curse out as three distinct forms were too my extreme right, past the flames and smoke with tentacle covered faces clearly searching for whoever had set said flames. Or in layman's terms ME and my amazing pyrotechnics – thinking quickly, or perhaps panicking, I grabbed the alchemy box in both my hands and pull back as best I could...then let out a roar of frustration before letting fly with all my strength behind it at the shadows and flames.

"THINK FAST! CATCH!"

Then I ran as fast as my dead elf legs could carry me and waving frantically at my companion to get moving right the feck now...

--

[Karguk 64]

Ruins of Dekanter

'Runrunrunrunrun...' echoed through my mind as my legs flew over the hard stone of the cavern and up the slope as a loud howl of rage joined the raging snarl of the explosion caused by my alchemical pack shattering from my throwing it at the approaching danger. I waved my arms, well one arm as the other gripped the pack over my shoulder, at Shandy to hurry the hell up and stop standing there looking panicked with bow held tightly in hand. The last thing I needed was for the Mind Flayers to get near to her and psionically force her into confusion, or worse obedience, by their will; one was easily resisted, a small colony by a lone unprotected human-orc most certainly was not.

I gripped her around the waist as I got near, encouraging her to move along with a bit of pressure and a few words of encouragement. Complaining of whispers and fear I half-shoved, half-encouraged, her forward while glancing back into the multi-coloured inferno and smoke as it parted and enraged and battered shadowy-shapes strode forward purposely. More forcefully I shoved Shandy along, reaching out now in spell and power to calm her nerve, feeling a strange drain on it I found with a wince as she gave herself a shake and her panic seemed to clear as my blessing touched her "Huh?"

"Brain eating monsters, killed one more coming, now move, move, move my pretty little wizard wannabe" I hummed out, and this time getting an affirmative response as I used my Boss granted powers to hold the apparent psionic attack at bay. She began to move forward, in a tactical retreat, up the way we've came as she drew her short sword and slinging her bow and began to move to a quick walk rather than a run. Running could be as deadly as not moving quickly enough after all on the off chance enemies were hiding behind corners in these dark caves, and now we pressed quickly back the way towards the exit from these mines. Distant noise, and clattering echoes off stone walls indicated pursuit, but I kept up my spell despite the increased effort to maintain it in this place as our swift pace had us ascending ever upwards with our ill-gotten gains...

BBBOOOoooooommmmmmm

BBbrrrrooooommmmmmmmmm

BBbooooommmmmmmmmm

'Oh dear, that's pretty loud...nearly there, nearly there' I thought as the sounds of drums echoed up through the caves and drowned out the other noises as the torch-lit illumination of exit started to come into view. Into view, and with it the clopping noises of horseshoes upon stone even over the enraged drums as bodies were stepped over and the form of an on guard Tanalasta came into view. I reached out and touched her mind, extending my desperate prayer in case the enenmy was closer than I feared and she reacted like some X-Com tooper under psionic attack. Something which would be bad as she momentarily lowered he bloody blade at us as we stepped out of the darker depths of the cave and into her sight; I spoke calmly and commandingly, or at least I hoped I did.

"What are you..." she muttered touching her helmeted in confusion, but not angry confusion at least. I waved at her to move and overrode her attempt to talk. Moving, had to keep moving as I grabbed my mount and unhitched it, securing my pack tightly, even as I glanced back down into the depths for our pursuers "Time to go, mission accomplished. You've killed plenty, but it's time for us to leave before the rather numerous than planned brain eating abominations catch up with us. Goblins?"

"The dead ones here or ours allies? They've start fleeing already"

There were numerous bodies, a dozen maybe more, of large horned goblins scattered around the outside of the mine entrance that hadn't been there when we'd descended. The blood soaked armour of Tanalasta also indicated what had happened, and I was very happy we had a skilled killer on our team as we quickly pulled our fearfully mounts out into the star and moonlit sky above us.

"Well that's what we expected, onwards then and getting the fuck outta here"

Fighting had died down in the camp before us it seemed as we spurred our mounts forward and down the sandy path in, and through, the ruins towards the gate out of the place. Judging from the flames burning in the darkness, and the dying sounds of battle I had to guess our 'allies' had begun to scatter into the night having 'rescued' their brethren from the now roaring inferno that had been the slave pens.

"Yah! Yah!" I shouted as I pushed my horse forward like the other two, kicking at its sides and urging it into a fast trot, and then a charge the moment we hit the flats of the ruins and raced to escape with our strange magical loot. Securely in the saddle I drew the backup longsword from its sheath in the saddle, swinging it vicously and emitting a war-cry as it slashed at the face of a confused horned goblin staggering into our path. Shandy, surprisingly, finished him off as we passed him and charged towards the western 'gate' instead now, not so distant now, and beyond it - escape. Chaos reigned in the ruins, dead bodies scattered amongst the broken old Nethese city along with flames and shadows rushing here and there amidst the darkness. But we did not care, cutting down any who stood in our path as we race down what had probably been an ancient thoroughfare and out towards the distant western mountains...

...and it was clear they were chasing us I found gazing down from my spot upon the broken hill and eastward unto the plains. It was fair auld distance, but even from here the large number of figures like clumped up marching ants. I sighed, or would have had I been within my 'body' and not a wandering; this was not exactly a good thing. Flying, or hovering, I surged back towards my body miles distant within the valleys of the western mountains where my two companions rested along with the horses after a frantic race through the night and dawn towards distant Llorkh. Shandy stood watch now while Tanalasta dozed as I surged into my body and moved to sit back up with a sigh. Bit silly really since breathing wasn't needed by this body, but it was just habit I supposed thinking on the issue at hand.

"Are we?"

"Yeah, being chased even if they haven't found our trail as yet best guess..." I replied to Shandy moving to sit in a meditative pose of sorts "...and we really hit the wasps nest too, bloody army of them after coming out of those caves and trying to catch up with us"

'What's worse I'm still entirely sure what we just nicked off the squid faced feckers' I thought to myself holding the pack in hand and mulling over what the Boss had got us to do exactly. It had to be the golden scroll, though the whole fle...withdrawing in good order...situation had consumed nearly all our time till now; with stopping to rest merely putting me on guard, and then scout, duty. I motioned off northward "There's a caravan up north, Black Dragon banner flying brazen as you like, Zhentarim, and a fair auld number of armsmen and a mages for these here parts. Hence why I've been out of it a while now"

"Aye, ye have been gone a fair time oh mighty shrouded spirit..." Tanalasta groused with a yawn, apparently having been merely dozing rather than sleeping as I'd thought "...and they chase us of course, and our glorious Master has yet more efforts sought from us"

"Welcome to Team Ilneval, alot done, more to do..." I muttered back rubbing the back of head and feeling weird at the long flowing golden locks present. It was so weird to feel really "...but yeah getting to Llorkh isn't a bad idea. Even for the simple fact it keeps Parnast safe, and by itself has solid walls to fall behind while we figure out how to carry out your mission of pyromancy, and what the hell we just grabbed from the underground dungeon of creepy shit"

"We should lure our foes towards this armed caravan you have spotted, the Zhentarim are servants of evil and best to use them as a distraction while we warn the city militia of Llorkh of the coming danger"

'Well aren't you the ruthless one?' I thought glancing at the 'elder' of the two look-a-like not-sisters and giving a shrug "I won't object, not a bad plan even if we have to divert a bit to get near that lot. Their certainly armed to the teeth and have nefarious business planned because it's as much a marching Free Company than a trade caravan in my experience"

"Strange to see then here at such a time"

"Potentially included in the divine planning by the Boss Orc; or at the very least the timing of our journey, what with many distractions like villages, and caravans, available to make use of nearby to use as targets..." I answered thinking on the matter. It was highly unlikely the Boss had planned such things directly, but things were clearly in motion in this area and we were the spanner in the works – whatever the case Llorkh clearly bore a point of importance he wanted us to upturn in some manner "...so we work with what we've got. And it'd keep that village out of the firing line at least, and cause two foes to kill each other even better; good plan Tana! It's proper Orky innit?"

"Your approval fills me with shame spirit"

I gave a snort of amusement; no anger at least, just mild irritation mixed with tiredness and bemusement "That happens time to time, but nevertheless it's a good plan, or idea for one. Are both of you ready to get moving at attempting to track close to them? We can move north, then west again, once we've snuck around them? Hope our foes blunder over them rather than chasing our trail?"

She nodded "Aye, we can try hiding our trail a little a bit more when we passed them. Take a bit of time, slow us, but harder for them to realise we haven't just moved north rather than link up with them. If we're lucky the Zhent's will have driven them off, dying in the process, and middling luck we'll inside Llorkh's walls afore they realise what we have done"

Shandy gave a tired smile "Yes, I can't wait for a bed to sleep in. You two seem to know best on this so I'll follow your leads I guess...we, we, we just broke into a goblin fortress and liberated a magical treasure!"

'Awesome being the unspoken word there I'd guess" I mused with a smile at the tired yet cheerful tone. Elation at surviving and escaping successfully did tend to have that effect, especially when combined with tiredness and fear of being chased by a small army. Especially one led by a bloody wizard Illithid and his minion brain-eaters...with whatever the hell important magical artefacts we'd just nicked. Still there were other things to remind them off "True, though best not mention that part when we reach our destination. Because we just liberated some rather...interesting...artefacts, and are being chased because of this, so best to avoid having an angry Lord or Militia commander at having a small goblin horde chase us inside their city's walls. I figure we blame the Zhents, and say we saw the Mind Flayers and raced for the city to warn them of the danger"

"Agreed"

"Agreed, now let's get going oh mighty shrouded lord-lady-elf"

"Your not going to leave that alone are you Tana?"

"No, it's very hard to view you as a dreadful evil demon spirit elfy sparkle smiles an' your dreadful cheerfulness. It is rather irritating. Now let us get going before we waste more time on idle talk till we are behind solid walls..."

--

[Karguk 65]

Worried Wyvern, Llorkh

I found the large room provided by the innkeeper to be ideal for purposes as I sat at a decent sized table while the faint snoring of my two exhausted companions filled the confines of the room. It had been a hard, draining, ride through the mountains and then the dawn pass to reach this fortified town; all while our pursuers seemed intent upon chasing us. Thankfully though they'd gotten distracted along the way thanks to some oddly heavily armed for the region, but now dead, Zhents who'd at least bleed the mind flayer led super-goblins while my trio rode to Llorkh. They were still coming it seemed, but it had bought a bit of time for us to rest up for the duo in the large bed behind me, and for eventually plan our committing arson on the Temple of Bane here in the city and then escaping.

I, due to my current state, didn't need to sleep so got the immediate distraction of studying what the hell we'd looted from those unhappy ruins. Something that was giving some weirdness in that one or two of the items I'd been sure had been enchanted in some manner just seemed to be plain scrolls instead of ones with spells written on them. Mildly irritating as I could have grabbed something useful instead, that was the nature of panicky rushing through my looting once I'd gotten beyond the Golden Scroll the Boss Orc wanted us to get. Something that made me frown in thought as I pulled it out of the back-pack and began to carefully lay it before me along with the other things. It was made of gold...maybe, as it shifted and flowed like paper as I unrolled it gently and glanced at the silvery writing carved eerily upon it.

"Arcanus Fundare, hmmm...hmmmm, foundations of spell crafting and the nature of the world...interesting" I muttered reading it a moment, before blinking as the script seemed to glow ever so faintly leading me to carefully rerolled it and ponder on it for a time. Not having my Tome of Wiki was a bloody nuisance right as this was something very important, and I really needed to know what it was and, perhaps more importantly, whether it was safe to make use of. Magically identifying it was somewhat beyond my current ability, and it wasn't like I could wander up to a local shop-owner or wizard and go 'Hey, what is this thing I found?' when it was likely something of major importance. For now I'd look at the other items first and foremost before trying to read anymore of the golden scroll.

'Well, I suppose we've made back...or at least Tana has, made a profit despite our rather profligate spending whenever we arrive within a human town on this merry excursion' I mused dividing up the various gems, non-magical and magical feeling, into small clusters on the solid oaken table. Valuable things, and easy to carry, so it was between everything I could grasp fairly easily why Team Evil Squids was chasing us down...also, rather shocking how large a bloody army Mr. Mind Flayer had under his command in the various hills and mountains around, and below, that old ruined city. Funny thing was I suspect this was just the 'immediate research materials' part of the squids storeroom – while heavily guarded everything had been within easy reach in what was probably a study or lab of sorts now that I thought about it.

'Or at least a side lab if those cages and other tables where they came from are in line with traditional Mind Flayer horror-labs'

That dreadful thought aside, the gems would be useful for certain rituals I supposed; though sadly I wasn't exactly Rin Tohsaka despite being currently female. Which was still weird and creepy, despite the whole undead thing being equally unnerving, regardless of seemingly lessened emotional reactions. It'd be a useful skill, but one couldn't turn these shiny stones into small magical grenades and other quick cast crafting despite the idea popping into my head all of a sudden. Of course whether the loot was going to remain in my hands was another matter out of my control since I was a spirit this time, and spirit Karguk wasn't going to able to exactly carry the stuff back home now could I?

"Well Mister Ring, what are you about eh?" I muttered to nobody in particular picking up the silver with the small blue coloured gem held within it. Engraved runes traced around the band on both the inner and outer sides of it, and a 'glow' or 'hum' of soft light blue that appeared to pulse ever so faintly to my 'spirit-vision' when I studied it closely. Draconic writing, and elven too despite not being able to read it, and general indications of protective magics I found making a quick note upon one of the plain scroll sheets I'd decide to use to catalogue what we'd got. Wouldn't be much time later when we tried to set fire to a temple, all while the town likely came under attack.

'And I'd like to have given more warning that – oh we saw goblins in large numbers coming this way – but Tanalasta is correct it will only bring too much attention upon us. Not that it matters...this whole town seems to be on edge for some reason regardless' I thought remembering the tension on the streets as we'd arrived in the darkening hours of the evening earlier. Or yesterday it was now I supposed as I carefully replaced the tinder within the lantern as the last one began to flicker and die, it was pitch dark outside now though the sounds through the walls the common room was full of drinking patrons yet.

'Drunken fun...ahhhh, I like to have a flagon or two, bloody possessing undead body; Doctor Ned's right, Liches are deluded and crazy to want this for a life...unlife. Anyway, that annoyance aside this quite a haul, irregardless of stupidly picking up magic-less items to waste space over other things, and two of the scrolls were spells I could make use off as I began to write by lantern light. Transcribing the spells...Detect Thoughtsand Astral Window apparently...wouldn't give me the ability to use them without serious study, but it would be a useful exercise to do in the here and now. I gave an amuse snort at the first spell, it seemed Evil Squidward was greedy enough to want an arcane way to access thoughts if someone blocked with psionics...either that or this was the starting point of creepy magical-psionic experimentation I probably didn't want to hear about. Still, it took a bit but I soon had both transcribed into my current ledger-turned-spell book, and pulled out the golden scroll to study...

...a hand touched my shoulder "Huh?"

When did it get so bright in here?

The surprised and yawning face of Shandy greeted me as I resisted startling as I turned my head look over my shoulder "Sorry! I know your busy Shroudy, but you didn't answer when I called over to you. Going to clean myself up from all this dirt and sweat, okay?"

I smiled fighting down the urge to freak out, I'd just lost a whole bloody night reading a magical item. That was potential bad, or just the fact my lack of physical need to rest or eat was exacerbating my natural instincts to get over-focused on reading. Either way it was a bad thing as I'd let my guard down in the middle of enemy territory, and that was bad even in my current state. Carefully, hoping not to show any concern, I rerolled the golden scroll and stood up nodding at our other teammate as she rolled out of bed "That's okay, I was just studying the items we have recovered from the mines. I washed myself and cleaned my armour last night after we arrived, so I will wait here if you wish and we can discuss our...plan of action...once you have eaten if that is acceptable. Or we can study the lay of the land before trouble arrives"

"You're not coming for breakfast?"

"No my dear, no need and I'd look strange not doing so if both you are eating. Dealing with extra ingested food and drink is an annoyance for me in this form, so I'll say. I'll tidy up here and meet you in the common room in a little while if that is acceptable? We can claim I wished to sleep in further or such if it's queried by our ever friendly tavern owner"

Tanalasta was rubbing her eyes, giving a sad glance back at the bed "Yes, and best one of us guards our gear while we bathe and restore our strength. Enjoy it while you can Shandy, soon we shall be back upon the road and the simple pleasures of a town such as this will be gone. Now, come 'sister' best be about it!" she finished taking the very similar girl by the arm and dragging her towards the door after grabbing a shortsword and dagger belt.

I sighed, muttering after they left the room and giving myself a smack in the face in an attempt to 'wake' myself up "Fun times, and I'm still here with ye olde enemy coming. Now I'm blanking out studying, need to get my head back in game"

Sadly being in a dead body it didn't do much of anything for wakefulness of my spirit before I turned back to gear laid out around my and began to careful store things away. Most importantly the golden scroll of magical whatever, and then the valuable gems and non-magical jewellery that might be needed to trade for supplies for the arson attempt, followed by the likely need to flee this town if the mission went wrong. Because it would; even if just for the fact Bane was apparently a well supported God in this here down in his Temple of Tyranny...I just didn't understand people sometimes.

With us Orcs our pantheon reflected aspects, often assholish aspects of our society, which gave benefits to species survival even when I disagree – and we didn't really get much choice in the matter anyway. Humanity, elves, dwarves and such had a very broad selection yet seemed to have a weird habit of choosing Gods who were absolute, and unapologetically, fuckers even to their own worshipers. Yes magic superpowers, but that was clerics, and trained ones at that, and not worshipers so it still confused me to want worship the God of Tyranny who literally says he wants you to be his slave. Or Loviatar who wanted to torture you, or a host of others without them just straight up threatening worship at the point of a blade...

I shook my head as began to load up. The world was insane really, and people sometimes stupid maybe?

Anyway, back to work; we had a Temple to burn down tonight!

--

[Karguk 66]

Town Market Area, Llorkh

We'd gotten in before the panic-buying at least I noted as we strode out of the apothecary-alchemist just as a number of militiamen and what were probably adventurers began to rush in the door to fill the shop as the bells began to ring outside. I frowned looking towards the ringing sound off on the eastern wall of the town, it seemed the super-goblins had arrived sooner that I'd have expected or someone had reported in that they were marching upon the town and had drawn near. It was very inconvenient as I'd, we'd, assumed that it would be at least tomorrow before they'd have gotten here and we'd have time to do our mission and clear out rather than being stuck behind the walls as seemed possible now.

'That's set fire and run out of the plans list at least' I resisted grumbling as confused people milled about the town market at the alarm being raised, people whispering and shouting amongst the stalls to query what was going on. Or at least mixed in amongst the remaining shouts of the stall owners determined to hawk their wares irregardless of little things like the militia runabout and trying to get organised for those being called up to duty by the ringing of those bells. For now though it meant rethinking the days, well evening and night's, plans now to deal with the change in events. I sighed as we moved out of the way of a burly man muttering about wasted time and stupid bells.

'Bright side Karguk, think of the Bright Side! Bag of holding and hiding the loot away meant no bulky restrictions on my ease of movement. And we've restored our supply of potions as well, got the tools, just need to figure out how make use of them' I reminded myself adjust the pack on my bag, and motioning my two companions over to a quieter corner of the now excited and nervous marketplace. We'd sold off some of the gems and other non-magical items, and that had gotten some healing potions for the duo, and a replacement or two for my own pyrotechnical usage. All in all we were back to being quasi-prepared for dangers once again even if the horses were now locked up in stables...likely going to be 'requisitioned' for militia use in short I'd expect.

"Well this is a problem..." I began keeping my voice low and glancing around for anyone paying us over much attention as the three of us formed something of rough team huddle "...I'd reckon it's what think it is causing yon bells, thought we'd have longer but seemingly not. It'll be nightfall not too long from now as well..."

Tanalasta nodded with an unhappy, and unladylike, grunt of irritation "Aye, but it would be our duty to aid in the defence of this town considering...matters at hand and our purpose"

I winced ever so faintly "Truth, while...I'm not sold on such a thought, we are here and must delay most likely; even if just to rethink our strategy..." I sighed "...best we scout out things then I expect. I hate to split the party again, but night will soon come and then matters will grow more difficult I expect. Best if I scout out the area we had planned while you ascertain what has occurred over at the Dawn Pass gate? We reunite at the tavern we stayed at within the hour"

"Aye / Okay" came back in reply, followed by a quick password check to avoid doppelgangers and other such dangers. Unlikely considering our own statuses as a spirit possessing a body and two human women turned into orcs and now under a glamour to make them look human again...hence why I might stand the best chance of scouting the Temple undetected. All it took was a skilled enough wizard or cleric to see beyond the illusion as Doctor Ned had and these two would stand out, in my case it would be less easy...in that regards at least. One wouldn't dare try the spirit scouting trick in a town such as this, let alone near an area with consecrated temples located within its environs.

I glanced up at the slowly setting sun, gold and bleeding red across a clear blue sky causing the shadows to lengthen upon the walls of buildings as we separated and went about our information gathering goals. The walk by earlier today had indicated a surprising amount of activity at the, rather well guarded, Temple of Tyranny...I snorted at that. Considering Bane's modus operandi I really shouldn't have been surprised by that minor fact, or its concealing nature; likely for the whole lawbreaking nature of the torture and murder that came as part of his dogma. Which they total weren't doing here according to the locals...

Snort. Apparently some people were that bloody gullible to not think the guys shouting about sectarianism and enslaving everyone in their God's name didn't mean exactly what he said. So I walked forward as if I belonged here behind those either rushing for spiritual guidance, or merely heading past the temples to the various healers or other related 'services' within that walled area of the town. Getting in and out would had been a major consideration, and if the gate was closed, or merely extra heavily guarded, it made everything more much difficult for our purposes. I checked my coin purse as I moved, better to make a 'near forgot' purchase or two in case anyone was watching I supposed; damn if the Boss had not given a problematic task when I should be at home preparing for the bloody winter there.

I paused in my stride as I heard two locals, a male human and a female half-elf talking in nervous tones as people move back and forth while gesturing at the Lord's Keep upon the hill above. Glancing in that direction didn't help much, though whatever it was the news was spreading down the street amongst the locals like fire upon oil. The more I looked about the more apparent something had happened, and not just from the main eastern gate as I'd figured from the bells ringing their alarm from there. Frowning I moved over to the pair of locals, well dressed servants if I was judging right from their bearing, but I was somewhat out of the loop sadly on 'civilized' folks dress habits out in these lands.

"My sincerest apologies on intruding on thine conversation gentle-folk, but has there been news of some great important after occurring? I and my companions are new to these lands, and mine eyes gather something may have occurred to upset the peace of this fair town" polite friendly tones and smiling helped...or at least when you were a pretty female elf it did anyway. Female privilege and all that I supposed as an orc male, or half-orc male, would not have gotten the nervous friendliness from the two locals that I was getting now even glad in full chainmail, with sword and bow indicating my 'profession' to them. Both gave glances towards the castle, then around them before the half-elf woman answered.

"Oh Gods it is truly dreadful news! Word from the Keep - Lord Redblade has been found dead in his chambers mere hours ago, and now the militia rings bells warn of danger from the east! Murder! It must be murder most foul to weaken our defences! Now we..."

'That seems...unlikely, since ya'know the gobbies and their squidy master only started chasing us a little while ago and couldn't exactly have plans to do this like these two think' I thought furiously as the serving woman, with the interjections from her companion, revealed the local ruler had been died sudden shortly after midday...maybe. Whatever the case it was clear he'd suddenly keeled over very recently and now the bells were ringing indicating an attack, or bandits...or goblins like I suspected was the case '...crap, this place is going to be on lockdown now if the local Lord just got assassinated by another guy...'

I kept up the smile and nodded as they continued to explain as another thought hit me 'The inn we stayed in was owned by the Lord's brother...what if he offed him to take the throne? Crap, even if he didn't it'll look superfishy since we arrived and stayed there just before Lord whatever got dead and now enemies...who are chasing us in fact...suddenly appear. All while we not suspiciously planned on burning down a temple...'

Hammering down on the momentary surge of panic I thanked the two politely for their news and began to renew my journey towards the walled area where temples to the various deities of the town were located. The evening was darkening quicker than I expected, and now it wasn't something I was wishing would hurry up because carrying out our mission just got made much, much, harder. Who'd have thought organising an arson attack on the temple of an evil god would be so hard? Especially compared to stealing a haul of magic stuff from a bloody Mind Flayer led goblin army?

"Do this, do that, meh meh meh...haaaa... nothing's ever bloody easy" I muttered in orcish under my breath to taper down on the combination of stress and concern welling up inside me despite the undead possession nature muting such things at the moment. Not the best idea, but it did help a little as I refocused on moving forward and trying to listen in on any other snippets of information about the current situation here in the unhappy town of Llorkh. Something bright flashed in the sky above the Lord's Keep I noticed out of the corner of my eye; turning my head and revealing dancing lights of various hues flashing in a bright symmetry above the great stone tower. Some secret code amongst the guard perhaps?

'Hmm, change of plans I think...reunite with the other two and decide new plan first, then scout things out' I mused pausing again in my quick stride to glance up and study those lights created by magic. It was rarely a good thing when wizards started using magic in such a manner. At least those not mine anyway, because unlike my acolytes the average 'civilized' wizard considered such 'support' spells a waste of arcane talent from talking to Missy, Nimmil, and Doctor Ned. Well the good Doctor didn't, but he was somewhat odd after all, so the matter likely indicated something or someone deemed it necessary to do. Working on that assumption I changed my intended direction away from the gate before me and eastward and through the busy streets...

"PEOPLE OF LLORH! BE CALM! BE CALM!" someone was shouting in a booming voice as booted feet moved across the street further down the street from me, glancing that way as I moved I saw a dozen armsmen and a figure in the robed armour leading them "...THESE MAYBE DARK TIMES BUT BANE HAS BLESSED US WITH HIS GUIDANCE! WE, BANE'S EVER GLORIOUS PRIESTHOOD SHALL BRING ORDER AS THE NEW LORD OF THIS CITY, THE BRAVE AND PROUD WIZARD...

Thunk.

My listening to the increasingly loud proclamation from the guy whose temple I was supposed to burn down was distracted by the fact someone had stabbed me in the chest with a bloody dagger I found staggering as I turned towards a pretty elven face "Die! Die and stay dead this time!"

"What the..." I grunted momentarily stunned...before the anger took over at the apparent coup or whatever the hell it was took place in this madhouse, and now this...

My gloved hand slammed out as black blood didn't flow from the 'fatal' wound to the confusion of the elven bitch starring into my eyes hands on the hilt of the dagger sticking out of me. Or at least they were for a few moments before they were grasping at my arm as my hand grasped her throat and I violently slammed er back into the wall of the alleyway behind her. Choking sounds emerge as I held her aloft as feet dangled off the ground and shocked gasps and whimpering indicated two more bloody elves staring at me as I could feel other, more dangerous, attention coming my way "I DO NOT HAVE FUCKING TIME FOR THIS!"

Ahead of me voices were shouting, though one reached my point ears over all the others, choking girl and her friends included "SEIZE THE TROUBLEMAKERS! BANE WILL PUNISH THEM FOR DISTURBING OUR ASSEMBLY!"

Oh, for fecks sake...

--

[Interlude 15]

--

[The Priest of Bane]

'Another nuisance to be dealt with' Mythkar Leng grumbled internally as he motioned at some of his armsmen to deal with the filthy elves who had dared to interrupt his moment of triumph amongst these bumpkins. Such arrogance on the part of the riff-raff who now fought amongst themselves, and best made an example of so the locals would now know the new pecking order within Llorkh. No more 'showing respect' to lesser beings now that weakling of a Lord was dead; now the Captain Vyklez had arrived with his men the militia could be dealt with in a more public that planned manner.

That was unfortunate of course, but no plan was perfect and at least that ambitious mage idiot had managed to seize control of the Keep as the new Lord already. His new 'Lord's Men' arriving earlier than planned was a problem, but in many ways it made his heart beat in joy at the opportunity to go with the 'hard way' in bringing this damnable town into line. There reinforcements had been sighted by outriders earlier today when they'd been investigating word of goblin raiders approaching, and that had caused the militia to lock the gates...he sighed in irritation. Everything that to be rushed then in case Lord Phintarn had decided to relive as time The Redblade and rally the town to resist inclusion into the Black Network.

He frowned as a screaming elf was flung at those armsmen he'd sent to deal with the troublemakers; the impact knocking town of them down just as the blonde elf woman clad in chainmail dashed down alleyway...followed swiftly by two more of the knife-earred scum fleeing down the street with the now disturbed crowd. Confused shouts, screams, fools starting to run at the combination of the warning bells at the gates sounding the alarm of raiders coming...and armed men emerging out of the shops nearby too it seemed. Militia he noted as the elf used as a throwing weapon managed to scramble up to her feet...before getting a sword through her back from his own men as he focused on the more immediate problem.

"Drop your weapons foolish fellows! Bane has a place for you if you kneel to his glory!" his told them, putting power into his voice so that cowardly yokels in the street would understand. The dwarf and human males in the group would served as excellent workers chained up in the mine, and the two females were decent enough to serve as whores to the new Lord's Men who would bring the will of Zhentil Keep to the town. OR, as seemed the case now as weapon were drawn, eyes narrowed in anger, and they faced towards him with defiant expressions upon their faces...they would make such useful examples for the peasant riff-raff...

"Stay back, and keep the peasants in line" he instructed striding forward and motioning at the five fools to attempt to do something like the fools that they were. Obedient as ever his guards did as he commanded as he strode forward with his hands out and a sneer upon his brow "If you refuse to kneel, then you must be punished. Come you pathetic fools, come and die like your pathetic and wretched Lord Redblade! You have defied the WILL OF BANE! AND YOU SHALL SUFFER FOR SUCH DEFIANCE!"

'Ah, that gets their attention ' he chuckled silently as they charged forward now, intending to capture him perhaps as their blows were not killing blows. He smiled, drawing deeply upon the power of his Master, prayers softly muttering on the breeze of the darkening skies as they got within range and gesturing with his hands as he emitted a chuckle now at the peasants who didn't know they were already dead. Trying to capture him by surround him while his men ensured the remain crowd watched the fate of those that thought they could 'protect' them from the MIGHT OF BANE "Blade Barrier"

"Ah, such beauty My Lord! This gift I offer up to you!" he laughed out as the mystic blades made of air, and magic, and spirit whirled into existence around him to cause an explosion of blood, guts, and gore in all directions. Or at least outwards from him to the fear and horror of the peasantry nearby who, unlike his experienced guards who'd guess what was coming, had taken a face full of blood and guts. He turned and raised his arms into the air, raising his voice to thunder over the shocked silenced followed by wails of glorious, wonderful, terror "BEHOLD! ALL WHO OPPOSE BANE AND HIS PRIESTHOOD SHALL SUFFER THE FATE OF THE FOOL AND THE WRETCHED! KNOW YOUR PLACE AND YOU SHALL KNOW THE GLORY OF HIS TYRANNY!"

One of his armsmen, in bloody and dented arms ran towards him, waiting a moment to allow him finish and the whimpering and weeping to start amongst the yokels to speak "Master...ha..ha..ha, it is not...ha...Captain Vyklez at the gates! Ha...ha, it is...ha ha...their walking corpses! They attack with goblins who serve the Beast Lord! The creature is amongst them demanding we surrender the town, your head, and the Nether Scroll it is bellowing you and Lord One Eye stole!"

Mythar Leng froze in confusion as the moon rose and the sky darkened as night fell "The...what...we what?"

--

[Moradin's Ironskulled Servant]

His hammer made a glorious impact into the face of the damned dirty traitors who'd chosen this exact, and incredibly fucking stupid, moment to try takeover the town. Because when an army of undead and goblins led by the Beast Lord of the Mountains they'd been hearing rumours that was the ideal bloody time to overthrown the Lord of the town and throw everything into chaos for the defence. If he'd ever thought Mythar Leng was anything but a greedy over-ambitious imbecile with too much power he'd certainly never think so again as he fought with a mixture of militia and armed townsfolk here in markets. In the streets of the town when the walls were where they were needed.

"By Moradin's Hammer will ye fight 'arder ye damned idjits! Let's drive these beardless rats from our 'ere town!" he roared out praying of the All-Father to bolster the courage of those that had rallied to him as they threw themselves at Leng's and Ithym's minions with renewed fury. It was chaos within the town now, and time was against them if they were to hold the gates and walls...which couldn't be done with an enemy at their backs. Some still resisted in the Keep he'd heard, but he wouldn't put past those Zhent-loving bastards to fall back to the Keep and let this mad creature and his servants ravage the town; all because they'd raided its caverns and stole something of great value! Damned cursed greedy black network scum!

"Yes! And burn down the Temple of Tyranny while we're at it!" shouted the blonde elf woman who'd turned up to join her two humans companions as they'd fought with the militia and others to keep away the Banite guards from the town's gates "Burn baby burn!"

"Nary gonna disagree with ye lass, even if yer cheerful call fer burnin' down ah temple is mighty disturbin' ta the gods ah reckon..." he muttered loudly huffing as the last of the immediate enemies fled from them and off into the darkness of night covering the street and his band took these precious moments to rest weary limbs. They had to push on, and fast, but exhaustion would only get them crushed if they rushed headlong into those districts now under control of that black hearted bastard and his ilk "...but need be killin' these fools an' take'in back the Keep first"

There was something wrong with the elf and her companions, a glamour mayhap on one or both of'em, and the elf felt off as well somehow. Cursed most-likely, but there wasn't much he could do about right now as the elf and one of the women were veteran fighters at least; and they'd precious few of those right now. Noble-born from the accents and training they'd shown, though the younger human sister wasn't anywhere near as trained unfortunately he thought motioning at the archers to try get up unto the roofs of the buildings nearby. Not skilled with the blade she at least had proved and adequate archer – something he had lacked right now as the majority of the skilled ones were back on the walls...

"MORE COMING! ITS A BUNCH OF THEM! NEAR THE WYVERN!" was yelled down from the room a few moments later, good old Aunhyl the hunter's aging eyes giving them warning of the next fight as the old half-elf (or was it quarter-elf?) loosed an arrow off into darkness of the street ahead. Dark shadowy shapes emerged, shambling forward as the arrow impacted one but didn't slay him. Thianos growled in rage at the black-hearted bastard Leng, of course, turning his own slain minions into walking undead. Old bones shrugged off the weariness as rage at yet more treachery was revealed before his eyes and he drew upon the blessed power of the Dwarf-father.

"FOUL CREATURE DOES YER WICKNESS KNOW NE BOUNDS!" he roared our as the divine might came down upon the material plane and hammered home into the fleshy creatures. Other power joined his, the elf nearby wincing before gritting her teeth and seemingly upon one of her own weakass-pansy-pixiedust-and-smug-elf deities to add to his own glorious power granted by a true warrior God such as Moradin. The shambling horrors screamed as they burned in holy wrath, or pulling backwards towards their master as the armoured form of Leng and his cohorts strode forward with an enraged sneer upon his brow and contempt in his voice.

"Ironskull, of course it would be you leading this rabble! Well time to end this idiocy and take this city, then we'll drive of that wretched Mind Flayer and his ilk!"

"Nay Leng, your Tyranny ends 'ere afore it can begin! See yer deadies flee the servants of true Gods"

Arrows reversed themselves, bouncing off an invisible shield that seemingly surrounded Leng and the wizard Ithym who stood at his side, as the brave men and women around Thianos readied themselves for another, and the likely decisive, clash with the foe. If they killed Leng and Ithym here and now then the heart would go out of the Zhent-lovers and maybe give them a chance at saving the town from them, and from the tentacle faced monster and his minions outside the...

His eyes widened in horror, not at the increased sneer from the wizard and cleric before him, nor at the number of foes, but at the floating ball of flesh with its one great eye in its centre to join with many tentacle eyes emerging from its disgusting flesh. The massive gaping maw with shark-like teeth opened up in mocking laughter as the vile aberration hovered to join what were apparently its allies or servants. Thianos growled, gripping his hammer in anger despite the sudden shifting of the situation from hope to despair for the salvation of his home "You sink so low Leng as to serve such fiends..."

Only to be cut across by the cursing elf again "Fucking cheating...A BLOODY BEHOLDER???? SERIOUSLY! FUCKING BASTARD...ARGHH GONNA BLOODY..." hand pointed at the enemy as the elf cursed...in orcish?...at them as power manifested "HOLY SMITE!"

--

[Lady of the Silver Fire]

Shandril grabbed unto the stone for support as bright light flashed in the darkness of the street below as her team leader and weird spirit guide unleashed a blast of magic and the street erupted into violence. Balance regained at the momentary distraction she drew another arrow and pulled back with all her power to send a shaft flying into the body of one of *not zombie* enemies below. It was clearly a *not zombie* because this one went down screaming at the arrowhead ripping through the woman's armour, or at least she assumed it was a woman from the scream...

"AAAHHHHHH" she found herself shrieking out as she flung her hands out before her as bolt of magical energy was flung at her by the dark robed man beside the horrible floating tentacle-eyed monster. Falling backwards unto the cold hard tiles of the roof behind her she continued to shriek as she kept her eyes screwed shut waiting for the flashing light of death to burn her away...for a few seconds at least. Then, still screaming, albeit half heartedly, she opened her eye and found to her shock that she wasn't, in fact, dead somehow from whatever the wizard had thrown at her "aaaahhhhhhhh?"

...her hands felt weird though. She blinked. Her body felt kinda weird, like she'd gone from standing out her in the increasingly cold night to being in a warm tavern. Odd flickers of purple and silver danced around her vision a moment as the panic fought to take control again. She fought against it like the others had taught her, panicking was the mind-killer and would get you dead and they had entrusted her with the bag filled with important things her God-Master-Orc-Person had demanded they retrieve. It was too important to freeze up now, and she grabbed the bow she'd just dropped and desperately pulled another arrow from her quiver and fired it at the enemies below...

"OH SHIT...Abandon Elf!" suddenly caught her attention as the Shrouded Lord spirit shrieked out as she fought her way through two of the enemy and Shandril saw the floating eye things suddenly focus on her companion. A beam of some sort roared out from a tentacle eye and into the armour clad body of Shandril's team leader...just as the scary robed spirit form she'd meet him/her in surged out backwards from the body. Moments later a squelching shrieking noise sounded, for a seconded, before a loud BOOM followed on its heels as to her horror her companion's elven form exploded in a blast of yellow and red flames that staggered those around her. Mostly enemies, but Shandril didn't see that as the explosion caused her to stagger and fall..

...the ground rose up to me her as she flailed about desperately...

...as nothing was beneath her but empty air and the ground flew towards her...

...then pain, blinding pain as her arm smashed into the ground broke her fall along agony in her knees. Wailing she rolled unto her back, or at least her side as the pack upon her back, and pain in her legs, prevented her doing so as she rolled. A spectral shadowed and robed form came into view before her as the sounds of battle filled her eyes along with her gasping cries.

"Elp eee, aaaahhhhh...help! Gods it hurttttssss"

"Shit, Shit, Shit...crap. I can't heal in this form..." her supposed spirit guide shouted back at her as the pain flowed through her body and ghostly hands reached out, and went through, her head as she rolled. The tone firmed up now, more commanding "...wait. Let me in! I can heal you, but I need you not to fight me!"

"Not...not..." she gasped in agony "...fi...ght...elp...!"

"Okay then, here goes nuffin" was the reply...and then she gasped as she felt cold and heat and power fill her veins. Something touched her mind and power filled her...

--

[The Shrouded Lord 01]

The Streets of Llorkh

He saw this as one of those poor life choices made largely due hasty conclusions and lack of information to back them up. How was he too have known the girl burned like a blazing bonfire in the weave, and his attempts to aid her were like throwing gasoline on it with a fire hose...

...she wasn't sure what a fire hose was exactly, nor gasoline, but the pain had lessened as the burden shared, diverted, twisted as the world seemed to bath in light even though it was night. Power roared around her, and into her, like a dam bursting and the waterfall crashed down upon the great lake below...

Howling like a great storm...no, the roaring twisting vortex of a tornado, magic ignited and surged towards their injured body as the soul of a Chosen, blessed and empowered linked with that of the old bloodline that touched the very essence of the weave. A mistake, or a blessing, neither could tell, but one howled out within the storm in quasi-understanding of the power surging into the body as it began to heal; panic, shock, fear, ecstasy, anger, confusion, and focus. One had reached out to the Divine to heal and the follow of power was a great tsunami of power instead of the intended river - the other touching the very essence of the Weave as she had been unintentionally doing these passed days of adventure and drawing upon the charge of unprotected items of arcane charge.

...senses sharpened, the minds focusing at the sudden flow of power and strengthening of faculties; not combined, but linked, and magic bolster memory and understanding. Those who had stood near to them staggered as the world around them gave an invisible howling sound like an explosion unseen but somehow still felt in a CRACK of power. Flesh mended as a mortal glowed and time seemed to slow for the two souls within one form...

'Too much power, too much power, we're drawing in too much power...what in the hells are you...me...we?'

...the creature of magic that had attacked...them?...howled in rage and pain and fear and...

...floating...no flying...from the bag of holding like all the items and gems within the golden scroll - the Nether Scroll one soul noted in awed horror to the sudden understanding of the other - the magic being wrenched from all unprotected sources and into the glowing body as it rose up as if a puppet being jerked upwards by hidden strings. The power the spirit bound soul had been enough to ignite the latent bloodline of the other they told themselves, and the process was beyond them now...mere fumbling in the dark as the vortex for an instant drank greedily of all the Power nearby...

'The Scroll...NoNoNoNoNoNoNo...we're drawing in the Scroll! Cease! Desist!' they flailed, holding together and feeling the golden scroll unroll and flow about them like some great golden ribbon upon the night turned day around them. Spells of power snarled at them...or began to...as the mage and priest lashed out at the danger before them...but the abheration roared in fear and pain as its own spell was drained from its...power being wrenched out its magical form to the hungry vortex as the two souls attempted to hold back the tide...

...a shove, an unhelpful helping hand from above with a dark bemused chuckle as the Divine and Arcane power slammed over the attempt at breaking the great wave of power. Spell-fire Mage part of the them howled as the tsunami roared up like a skyscraper within their consciousness...and behind the gold and silver waves of power and knowledge beyond their grasp. To one went the power, the other the knowledge locked away, as the guiding hand struck for an instant, an eternity, as if it were a smith at a forge...

...two souls howled in unison...

...weapons were forged in the fire of magic and knowledge...

'Ohhhhh shit. Spellfire User Activating Soul of Chosen of a God Nether Scroll Beholder Bag of Magic Items What feel like very fucking scrap of magic in this miserable town = SUPER BIG EXPLOSION IF WE DO NOT DO SOMETHING!!!!'

'Harry yer a Wizard! I mean Shandril...wow, how do I know that?...you're a mega-super-special Wizard-Quasi-Sorcerer! What a great fucking way to find out! Thanks Boss!'

Too outside observers it was a strange shock-wave of power, a dreadful sucking sound; the Beholder Rakaxalorth struggling to maintain existence as magic surged towards the pulsing-glowing light. Spells launched by the Mage Geildarr Ithym and Cleric Mythkar Leng being absorbed by the momentary inferno before they staggered backwards from the magical force before them. The woman calling herself Tanalasta sudden found the ring upon her finger disintegrating into dust and following towards the form of the glowing light of her companion, standing...or rather kneeling at the sudden force pushing all down...now as an orcish warrior woman the illusion ripped away as it had for the possessed Shandril. Glamours, great and cosmetic, failed within the town as sliver fire sparked and snapped in the night air...

...within it was a dance of confusion, desperate actions made as one soul guided the other through half-thought out decision. Half-measures, and simply reactions, to the power surging forth as the body was healed as intended...but the aftermath shrieked down and around them in a thundering explosion of magic. Control was an illusion, rather it was 'controlled chaos' perhaps as one fought to control of power burning up with them from the realms of Nishrek, and the other the blazing wave as the Weave pulsed, almost shuddered, on the local level as it had not done since the Arcanists flying cities had fallen...

Unfortunately...the skill of the duo was not that of those dead mages, nor of their foes in most ways, but eventually...after a seeming eternity upon a storm lashed ocean in a canoe...some measure of control was achieved. One guiding the other, then muddling where one began and the other ended as the cascade of energy and knowledge erupted as the golden ribbons burned to ash in the cracking, shrieking inferno as they knelt upon the ground cloaked in the magic concentrated into them. An illusion, a cloak of armoured might, formed in glimmering white robes that showed the face, in an unconscious and instinctive need to guard against the attacks directed against them...

...even as such magic attacking them was sucked into the maelstrom...

...he was concerned, they were burning up; in spirit as well as soul as the knowledge was TOO MUCH for he, and the power TOO MUCH for she. Enhanced and doubled intellect aside, computing power of twin processors as something inside whispered, this fragment of ancient knowledge and magic was too much for two to absorb as he barricade the WORDS away with his patron's aide. Locking it away behind a great dam, as a trickle flowed through over...

...she didn't understand...yet she did somehow; things she should not understand, but they had to make the power GO SOMEWHERE ELSE before they burned in the concentrated blaze of magic that existed where her body was. The pain was gone, the wounds healed, but her skin BURNED with arcane might as gold and silver sparkles of light flashed around her kneeling form as she gasped for breath, hands almost melting the ground beneath her. Unseen, but crushing, force pressed down her and all those around her as the oppressive brightness of the night air erupted from...

'We NEED to cast unleash the power we've drawn in!' he shouted to her, and she to him 'it's too much! WERE RESONATING AND ACTIVATING EACH OTHERS ABILTIES! IT'S BEYOND US!'

Reacting, moving, in unison...no, as a separate but coherent whole...they drew upon the great mass of power that was accumulating as the thundering waves of magic eased off. Probably because the magical well had been momentarily been drained dry by our whole...whatever-the-nine-hells it was. Simple spells part of us, both us, agreed as one drew upon the simple power of positive energy in a healing spell as the undead eased back from us; the other of the arcane power of protection from evil. Maximised, Sanctified, Heightened, Empowered, Quicken, Extended...

'They can't know who we are!' we cried out within, or had she said it? He?...but the robes pulsed faintly, tinting red crimson on snowy white and trimmed gold as Armour of Ilneval's Chosen shimmered atop that reactor of magical energy. No, not a reactor, a reaction as the magical power hit critical mass...two spells igniting in detonation of magical power; a pillar of white blinding light that hissed and shimmer to those around it as it exploded outwards. A shockwave of magic, white flakes falling from nowhere as if falling snowflakes as the waves roared out in a blast...

Before it...the Undead and the Beholder just...ceased to exist. Burned away in a blast of mystic energies as night turned into day as the pillar extended skywards, the shockwave racing through buildings and streets as the Shrouded Lord raised 'His' arms into air "UNLIMITED POWAH! MUWHAHAHAHAHA! Heh..."

She laughed despite the desperate straits they were in. He laughed, for if not he would cry. Now all that mattered was not being who they were, or known as who they were, hunters would come and best they look for someone other than who they were. As he viewed 'best to fake it to make it' while she gloried for being important, for being blessed yet cursed as the silver sparked around 'Their' shrouded form. Fear and horror was in the eyes of the Zhentarim, terror and awe in those of the old dwarf priest and our would be militia allies, and concern in the eyes of our now orcish companion. None attacked her, too focused were they one 'us' as 'we' stood and created a blade of flaming fire in our right hand.

The Priest of Bane died first, simply dint of being nearest to 'us' as the world around 'us' pulsed with energy as 'snow' fell from the sky. It was strange 'existing' in this form, feeling people throughout the town healing...aware of their wounds and terror, of their sudden confusion as their bodies healed and the walking dead burned away in a wave of white flames. Oops, somewhat overpowered those spells...but 'we' could work with that as the forces of the Lich Mind Flayer burned at the gates they had breach, the undead at least, and the goblins fled as their master's mind scream in agony and fear. Too far outside the blast radius to die, but the energy burned...

Flames roared over 'us' from the mage, but too little to late as his head disappeared as the blade of flaming wrath burned it away in mere moments as the remaining armsmen threw down their arms or began to flee. They had 'saved' the city from here, and the staying as this form was beyond them as their 'patron' called them from a distance to be done with things. She reminded Him of their Quest, and of the power that was needed...an orcish hand raised and a pillar of flame descended across the fortified town...

"Good Deed done for the day, look at it burn! So Pretty!" 'they' mused cheerfully, turning 'their' attention to those around them. It was time to leave now, matters had come to a head, and a great loud bell had just been rung to those with the power to sense it. Soon their attention would come upon this area, soon their eyes would seek them out, shrouded glowing white form sparking with silver fire and raw pulse of magic blinding any for the moment from such gaze. By the Will of 'their' Lord time had run out, and new tasks awaited them...even if this had not been the matter their master had planned it in from the grumbling distant...

Tanalasta...no, Alusair 'they' knew now, stood weapon at the ready. But not at 'them' as those around them stood or knelt before them, eyes filled with...'they' were unsure. 'Their' gazed turned to their companion, voice melodic and strange to 'their' senses "Quest complete, time to leave my dear. By the Will of the Shrouded Lord"

"Who...what, are ye?" the dwarf growled, seeing orcish hands perhaps holding the staff even if the shroud showed no face beyond darkness and glowing golden eyes.

"We are the Shrouded Lord, and We are just passing through while disguised as a pretty elf maiden Priest of Moradin, we were bored. Anyway, nice town we suggest you fix it now that we hath driven off your foes..." 'we' reached out 'our' free hand towards 'our' companion "...now please my dear, time is pressing"

'We' turned our gaze back to the dwarf and his militia "Good fight, it's been a pleasure. Goodbye!"

Teleport.

And then we became he and she once again, the power fading as they vanished in a flash of gold-silver light...

--

[Ogrash 15]

Town Area, Stronghold of Sparta

She paused in her walk, glancing up at the night sky as the first snowflakes of winter softly drifted down under the gaze of the silvery moonlight. Full moon's had now become a time of taking a firm hand it appeared thanks to the Drow her Karg brought to fight with them, and tonight had been no different as she'd ensured no fools caused trouble within the tribe. Exactly why the crazy dark skinned elf priestesses felt the need to dance nude around bonfires under a full moon still wasn't clear to Ogrash, but it seemed to be some sort of fertility or attraction ceremony. Perhaps such a direct approach was required with weak elf males she guessed glancing back towards where the bonfires blazed in an empty spot just inside the city walls.

Still, threats and extra guards needed aside, it was a useful entertainment now that the harvests had been full gathered and Zah's forces were soon to return. And, another benefit of course, in dealing with the fact Karg's Spirit Journey had seemingly proven a very blessed, but very arduous, event that had continued in shimmering power granted by the God's these past few ten-days. Harvest season had now turned to winter, even if it had seemingly come earlier than she had expected it appeared from the soft white flakes falling from the cloudless skies. She snorted in amusement; not that the increased chill, or likely dusting of snow that was about to fall, would disrupt the drinking occurring in the 'square' she had just departed from.

"Snow? Hnnn, it is good then that my mate has returned to the valley with our warriors then is it not?" Breyza murmured as she too paused and glanced at the falling flakes as their guards waited around them ever wary "...though there are few clouds, likely it will be just a shower"

"Aye, but perhaps a sign of a harsh winter with it so soon in the cycling of the moon..." Ogrash replied with a sigh "...though that maybe good in some ways, a chance to gather our strength once again for the great battles come the spring. Our larders are full, our forges blaze to bring forth new weapons, and we have young whelps to be reared into warriors. That, and the cold will cull the weak from our ranks if need be"

Their numbers had surged, dramatically, the few years since they had taken this stronghold as their own and begun beating the clan-less into proper clan-orcs. Now many whelps ran around the grounds of the stronghold, even now she saw a dozen of them playing mock battles amongst nearby on the cold grass and dirt. Night had come, and the stronghold had come alive...more alive...between the noisy brats, the festivities around the bonfires, and the young warriors being trained here and within the yard of the stronghold proper.

With it came the increased stink of course, but Karg and she had worked hard with her making his mad plans work in the real world to reduce down what was a problem of more clan-orcs concentrated together. Best for them to achieve it than allow a Priest of the White Hands to establish him or herself to 'combat it' as often happened in other clans. Not they could not be useful of course (as some few had shown with the armies warring over the last season) but they usually tried hard to use such influence as a threat and oft clashed with her Goddess's tenets when it came to the young. Best for no such challengers to arise within her clan then she and the others had decided.

"Yes, though the worst are gone now I think. Shall we have a drink? It would be good to have some warmth and a good feed before another idiot is dragged before us needing judgement?" Chieftess Breyza replied and Ogrash grunted in agreement; it would indeed be good to eat something, and as ever it was good to be ever watchful of those within the town and tavern. Karg locking himself within his room within the tower for the blessings of his God had brought a few of the foolish and arrogant to the surface...to have their heads cut off or throats slit. Sad that they had not realised that even if Karg and Zah were not within the stronghold to rule did not mean the clan had grown weak.

Now all was orderly, and Ogrash, like many of the stronger females of the clan had found they liked the benefits such order brought; from full bellies, to plentiful booze, and the baths and beds they could rest in with attending slaves. As usual the streets were busy as they moved through the 'market square' in the second active part of every day and night within the stronghold. Ogrash disliked coming through at high sun instead of high moon as it was now, but oft times the humans and kobolds would be most active then as they arrived with wagons with goods from the villages. Now though it was largely the females of the clans trading clothing or tools they had created for barter, or the shiny new coins they had made; one or two hers and Breyza's supporters with their slaves carrying desired items.

Ogrash and Breyza greeted them with nods of acceptance to their inferiors within the clan, and also watching the one or drunken male idiots wandering in the direction of the bonfires. She gesture at one of her acolytes to take a guard and follow; largely to ensure there was no trouble caused by them, or that didn't end up starting a fire or something stupid. Fires and drunken idiot was always a problem she'd discovered, too largely down here in the 'town' where buildings were a mix of stone, wood, and thatch unlike the solid rock and stone of the Keep and UnderKeep. Karg, before his spirit quest, had put many of the 'combat engineers' and slaves beneath them to clearing and rebuilt a few such houses and warehouses nearby the kobold's tavern and apothecary.

"Greetings Glorious Chieftess, Glorious Priestess..." one of the kobold's slaves greeted them with a deep bow as they entered the tavern with their guards and acolytes in tow. Ogrash recognised her as the one Missy sometimes trained for the kobold, and sometimes used to gather rumours from as well; which was good, Missy was proving obedient, but cunning in her place as a subordinate wife and that was good "...do you wish a table in this humble tavern of Master Menkin"

Ogrash nodded "Yes, Fueryon is not?"

"Yes Mistress. This one is humbled that she has been remembered Glorious Priestess..." the young human female replied with another deep bow, than straightening and motioning with her right hand a large table in the corner that was oft keep 'reserved' for such as them. No one would be driven from their tables this time to make room for the leaders of the clan "...would this spot be suitable to your desires Mistresses?"

She glanced at Breyza who shrugged "Aye, give us a full platter of food, meats especially! And flagons of that ale from Rose's village!"

"Yes, better here than in the cold eh?" Breyza chuckled as they took their seats near to the great fire blazing in the stone hearth and enjoying the glorious warmth as they waited for their food to be brought over "...our clan's warriors looting put to good use"

"Heh, aye it is. This were nothing but trees and rocks only a few years ago, and now it is barely enough for our numbers"

Breyza nodded "Well we've sent enough away to establish small holds in the valley at the watchtowers and on the bridge-forts to keep the worst of that down hopefully. Otherwise we'll be spending another winter trying to keep down all the fights over getting a mate, or over who gets to stay in the 'best' places, amongst the younger females"

Ogrash snorted at that, last winter had nearly been a bloodbath with so many new females, both free and slave, been brought into the clan and requiring...instruction...in the New Ways "Don't worry, I'm putting Ghorza into beating another hundred or two of the more energetic ones...well once she's full recovered, so over the winter. That'll keep the out of trouble, and the Auxlia can absorb those with the most...Ghorza-ness...and send them off to guard the valley holds over the winter"

"Ah, yes that would be for the best...just try keep the casualties down"

"I've told her, and she said..." Ogrash began to say as their food and drink arrived, then followed by one of the guards from the Shaman's tower entering the tavern, looking in her direction, and then walked over towards them and giving a fist to heart salue. Ogrash frowned, glancing at Breyza and getting a similar look before she turned her gaze back.

"Yes?"

"Priestess, Chiefess, Wizard Missy ordered me to send word that Shaman Karguk has awakened"

Ogrash narrowed her eyes at the confused look on the warrior's face, that indicated something "And...what's he doing?"

"Writing Priestess...his eyes glowed, and he has begun to...write, magic...things on the walls, and have floating quills write pages while talking of..." the warrior shrugged helplessly "...shaman things?"

She sighed "Tell her I will return once I have eaten, let Karg...do...whatever the Gods have blessed him with doing and I'll..."

--

When: Winter apparently, I'm kinda hazy on how long I was out

Where: My Tower, Stronghold of Sparta

Well that was one wild ride, and apparently I'm writing this in some sort of fugue state or whatever because, apparently, I'm scribbling magical theory on the walls. Multi-tasking! Woot! Anyway, me, should you read this when you wake up after this 'study high' wears off, you have returned from your *Spirit Journey* and you dumped your friendly orcish ladies off to the east in an orcish village. Blame Shandril, tag-team duo decisions, and, oh by the way, you may have given them directions to 'friendly' orcish forces.

That would be YOU by the way, so expect visitors sometime in the spring or summer should our two ladies decide Shandy needs magical training. Whether she remembers who you are, is...debatable; we don't think so, but just have a possibility that that she might; But probably not, so yay? So yeah, best can tell you, me, we, are currently feeling a backlash, or a release valve, on the whole magically absorbing a Nether Scroll thing. Never absorb a energy source bigger than your head; or for me a fucking oceans worth of knowledge in relation to the world in one merry and 'team fusion' go.

See it's locked away, sorta, because stupid mortals (that would be you!) don't deal with such magical knowledge being jammed in their head all that well. But, never fear, you shall gain a benefit from it...in time, how long exactly one does not know, so super duper fun times ahead. Blame the Boss, he wants his magical wizard for the team balance I'd have to guess, and you, me, we, have been rather sluggish at developing our powers. Probably, maybe, one can't read his mind and know what he wants done outside of marching orders;- and he's given those already soldier!

...hmmm? So that's how that spell works!

Sorry, more of a stream of consciousness thing right now, an out of body experience mixed in, and I'm throwing out such interesting stuff right now. Oh there's Nimmil and Missy. Hello gnome friend!

Anywho, yeah magic; see here's the thing – Chosen of the Boss Orc, and you-me need to make an impression, or have an advantage, when dealing with Darth Phargk and the rest of assholes we call allies. Because Good News! Crazy stupid plan to charge the Uthgardt and 'save' Mirabar is a go, a-okay with the Boss Orc, and you'll need to get a stomping on Luskan too. Time is running out, and there is urgency on these matters because attention is coming upon us, the clan, our allies, and the Crags in general. Now comes a vital year to build a powerbase while there is a chance and the region is in chaos. This little trip will distract alot of players for a time (looking for ye olde Scroll, or magic Spellfire girl) till the Gods walking on Toril part, but need to do something with that.

So for the winter, early spring, we have goals;

- Convince Darth Overlord to help us rein terror down upon our enemies. Or at least specific enemies in the shape of the Uthgardt tribes. Here is chance to break them in the field and shatter them for years to come. Burn, Fight, Kill, basically in the Lord's Name; and ensure we don't slaughter and burn the wrong city in the battle.

- Learn magic, grow powers just about sums it up. So make time between all the diplomacy and war planning to go all trainee wizard with our merry Doctor, pregnant wife, and mildly evil gnome. The kobold might be a useful source too, promise Dragon powers – just make sure with non-aggression pact in case he ever becomes a winged terror.

- After convincing Zah we need to go plan for the whole war to come, and ensuring we aren't attacked by surprise by anything from murder-hobos to giants, or just enraged giant wildlife. Looks to be hard winter coming, so you'll have time do all these things while stuck behind snow drifts and holding down a bunch of bored and horny orcs. Remember; Order must be maintained. For the Greater Good bring fire and sword down on stupid fools!

- Oh, yeah; the Harpells, Veladorn and other assorted 'civilized' race/position powerhouses really don't need to know any of this. Or ANYTHING AT ALL about our misadventures of the Shrouded Lord, Agent of Sparkly Magic Doom. Actually nobody needs to know ANYTHING about spirit journeys and what happened. So, just blame enlightenment given by the Gods. Success!

...yes there is a raiding band off in the eastern pass. Send off a group to hunt and wipe them out. Thank you very much...

Where was I?

Oh, yes, next on the agenda; need to work on plans to deal with that massive danger known as the Host-tower of the Arcane. Strictly speaking we're getting 'allies' to help with that, but remember not to put faith in them alone I find. If they do follow through, fantastic – if they don't then best have a contingency for dealing with the high power liches your going to piss off if you destroy their mercenary army, and even try move on their city. This is war to the knife most likely, and much as I'd like to avoid such; it's unlikely us being able to survive while being surrounded by so many hostile human/dwarf/elf powers.

Even taking one out of the equation would make a massive strategic difference, and Luskan is best choice for the chance to knock some of their pedestal while the going is good. So while everybody assumes you were have a spiritual enlightenment (technically true I suppose) you were indeed wandering near the ruins of Netheril with crazy Spellfire girl, and a fighter who was apparently a runaway princess now serving the Boss Orc. Oh and they could be coming here I'll remind you again, along with Emo Drow and his friend the Dwarf King come the Spring – largely to 'convince' us (along with the Harpells) simple orcs to go off and butcher the 'bad guys' north of here. Though 'bad guys' is really a subjective term isn't it?

Remember;- Panicking for more than a few minutes is not allowed! Stay Calm and do what the Boss Orc says!

...yes, that's what the spell does. See this where the Weave bends in relation to the...

Okay, this whole multitasking thing is proving more difficult than imagined. Maybes working like a tape recorder or microphone? Because really this whole telekinetically writing makes things so much easier than having to physically have to do so. Create a magic biro, pencil! Do it! Do it! There we go, Future Me you can thank Me later for putting our temporary burst of magical insanity to practical use. Seems I'm starting to burn the excess off pretty well from the looks of it, because damn if I'm not getting very tired and need to sleep. Oggy's back and ushering me to bed so I assume it's sleepy time now...

--

When: A snowy day in winter

Where: Home Sweet Home, thankfully the fire's lit because it's cold

So. That happened.

Not really sure what to say beyond the fact I woke up this morning with Mara and Kethri on either side of me; with orders from Oggy to keep in bed by any means necessary. Having read 'my' update, and spoke to the others, I gather it was like being drunk and my memory of the whole 'spirit journey' is sorta hazy. I'm blaming this 'magic memory block' thing for that annoyance, or perhaps I'd rather just the whole cross...dressing? possessing?...as an elf-girl didn't actually happen in any way shape or form. Or the fact I've a Spell-fire user and a runaway princess coming towards us...

Okay panic over and done with!

So yeah woke up this evening, and eventually got up and found the walls below decorated in a whole pile of writing scrawled over the walls, on blank scroll sheets, in my precious tomes, and of course on pieces of wood and clay slabs if around. It's horrifyingly impressive really, because it's spells and how to understand spells; though rather at random apparently. Like short Wikipedia articles or study notes thrown up beside the relevant spell, with little arrows actually pointing at things with a 'did you know?' kinda feel within a blurb. Magic for Dummies maybe?

Doctor Ned is happy, as is Missy, and our 'guest' Sydney is being creepily nice and happy to me and everyone since seeing all of it. That's rather disturbing for some reason. Oggy is claiming it as proof of a successful meditation with the Gods; and she and Ghorza believe that, so it's not lying on her part even if I feel weird upon the setup their putting forward. On the bright side; Order was maintained during my absence, plus or minus a few deaths amongst recruits and lower ranks apparently. Zah was more than successful against the Sky Ponies – even if I'm not overly happy to hear Fucking Obould is now in charge of the beaten Uthgardt tribe. One can only hope he'll be too busy hammering them into shape, and focusing on returning home, to grow ambitious in this neck of the woods.

Anyway must go, going to play to the children before I'm back into the brutal and bloody business of being clan shaman. Slan go foil a chardaí.

--

[Zahgorim 27]

Main Keep, Stronghold of Sparta

It was good to back inside the walls of the stronghold Zahgorim found, warm and gloomy and not out in the snow showers that had started to fall soon after their return from campaigning. Even better he had good food to feast upon, his females to fuck, and strong booze to drink down like he was doing right along with the other senior leaders of the clan. Oggy and Karg wanted to do stuff it seemed, mostly killing Uthgardters - which was always fun, and at least he could do it now around a small private feast rather than in a cold dirty field. Standing up he walked over the barrel of ale, and once he'd refilled his flagon he walked back towards the others around the roasting boar once again muttering as he returned.

"Dunno, been paid go kill some Utties sounds great an' all so not a bad idea to me now we stomped on those thick heads who betrayed us. But diffin' them dwarfs an' such try stab us in the back too? Shouldn't we be burning down their stronghold rather than helpin'em out their mess?"

Karg shrugged as he cut meat from the roast "Well they ain't the ones wanting to us to save'em, crazy powerful wizards and their friends who want to pay us. And more importantly aid us when we face down those Luskan bastards after we do out burn-fight-kill mode on the lot around Mirabar. Need something, someones really, to counter their magic...mostly so we don't get stabbed in the back after winning any battle with the liches trying to kill us. Hence the big long sit-in-the-tower-meditating crap I had to go through to get the opinion of the Horde Leader on it; which is basically 'yes do it' by the way"

Cardac, old grumpy Cardac tired from the training yard, rumbled out after a gulp from his flagon and wiping his grimy white beard with the sleeve his robe "Bah! We get paid tha' march there and kill, then paid tribute tha' piss off and fight elsewhere. Not like we gonna get past them walls easy anyways, fuckin' dwarves an' their strongholds shit tha' attack. Been like that all me fuckin life, and better beat on the other lot as ye say. Na, biggest trouble is gonna be convincin' other clans without givin' away all our loot! It be our loot and tribute, not theirs!"

'Yer all behind it because Oggy and Breyza wants it' Zahgorim thought to himself sitting himself on the fur covered chair and accepting the meat from Karg while handing him the other flagon of ale '...and they locked Karg in a room till he agreed too, so since none of us want to be locked in a room to let's just all agree to murder some idiots and get paid for doing it'

Still he shrugged "Eh, long as we get more stuff I'll agree. Got plenty slaves crushing the cowards we were fightin, Pony Utties are crushed and on our side now with Obould of Many-Arrows in charge, and with Wyrmog dead the crags are ours. I say we scare them stupid dwarves and burn the skeletons tower down around their ugly boney fucking heads. Plenty of loot go around that way, what with the Horde we got"

"Hn, hn, it be the time perhaps. Warriors are blooded now, and our numbers have grown, but we'll need the other clans to aid us for a true Horde to fight wizards and walking dead..." old Taugh growled stabbing his dagger into the roast and tearing out a portion "...or one, or many, of them will attack the stronghold should we seem weak"

Zahgorim chewed on some of the juicy, bloody, meat before replying after a belch "Good stuff...eh, Moonblades should support us; they like gettin' paid kill Uthgardts and humans and the like, Jernak were always wanting to get warbands doin' that since Karg here got all friends with them crazy wizards in their village. Maybe Red Axes too, Kurnak is a sneaky one though...so hard fuckin' know what he'd really want do if the tribute don't sell it too him"

"An' the others?"

Karg glanced at Zahgorim before shrugging and replying to Cardac "High Shaman Phargk, Emperor of our merry horde is hard to know. Smart old bastard, ruthless out too, but I'll have try persuade him where we need to focus the spears I guess. If we can get the Moonblade an' that backstabber over in the Red Axes to side with us then he'll take it up like it were his own idea I'd guess. Smaller clans gonna follow where we lead, least at start, hard part gonna be when we win and some of the stupid ones might get greedy and need some killing"

"Nnngh, ugnnn...that what spikes an' axes are fer fixing stupid-heads now ain't it Karg..." Zahgorim grunted between chews "...with you and yer knights get chop heads off like after them dum-fucks tried run away after we stomped on the warlord and the humans ambushed us. Think that big fella from the Spine will want to fight as well, even if his Utties probably won't I'd guess, just get something' to strengthen hisself and his warriors; an' blood too in proper battle I'd guess"

Oggy glanced at him "I thought that he already threw a few of them in fights already to do that?"

Zahgorim shrugged "Eh, he did but weren't much real fighting really. Few ambushes, and a couple of the stupidest ones tried fight it out behind their walls or caves, but not too many dead on our side. Got pretty good at draggin' out of their holes over the moons we had do it I'll say. That an' he'll need the winter beat that lot into fightin' like we do rather than weak pretend orcs like they think theys are"

It had been a hard slog the past few weeks, move here find enemies fled, or half them fled...then get ambushed along the way, or charged by a few intent upon a warrior's death, often in their caves. Most of the clans had just given in or fled, but there was a lot of boring yet dangerous hunting down of those who hadn't; there'd been one real battle, if you could call it that. Word from the other parts of the horde had been pretty much the same as they hunted down the rebels...or more annoyingly small bands of non-orcs pretending to adventurers who seemed to have appeared since the great battle in the summer. They'd cost him a few scouting parties and foragers on the campaign, but the few they'd taken alive should make decent enough slaves; between that and weeding out the weakest warriors he'd count it a net benefit to the clan.

"Aye, and part of the early spring I'd reckon..." Karg agreed after a few moments looking thoughtful "...not my favourite option, but best Obould busy...and our Auxlia better than a bunch of Uthgardt savages in a fight, especially if we're going up against undead, or their fellow tribes. Have to watch'em for trying turn on us in the middle of a battle after all"

"Hmm-hmm, we have many of their whelps and younger females, as do the Moonblades..." Breyza answered that with a sigh from clearly enjoying her drink "...they need be dumbest of dumb try rebel with that being the way the world is. Tribe no whelps is tribe with future"

"Aye, Breyza's right in that, Many-Arrows warrior seem strong hard orc, and we hold many whelps so they obey if they not stupid" Oggy agreed swirling the smoke coming from the hearth with her free hand. Trying to look impressive and shaman-y he guessed "...they maybe not want fight, but they fight anyway"

Old Taugh grunted "Hngh, more whelps. As if not enough whelps around"

Oggy snorted "We all were whelps once Taugh, even an old greybeard warrior like you"

"Heh! Nah, ah sprung fully grown an' armed from me Ma's womb ah'll have ye know youngin!"

"Sure yas dids Taugh, an' hush yer whining...ye males ain't the ones having to watch and teach the little brats an' the handle bunch Uthgardt females who ain't slaves an' probably want strong males at that. I've had Rose bash heads so they know not pick fights with any females her an' Missy an' your females that ain't Breyza here Zah"

"Where ya put them since we got back actually?" he queried in curiosity. Most of the slaves taken had been orcs themselves, along with a few raiding bands of humans or goblins, so he'd just dumped the annoying whelps and females he wasn't to fuck on Oggy and went up to have fun times with his wife and concubines. Till Karg had come out of his room, and started writing on everything for some reason, then he'd managed a nice relaxing time drinking, feasting, and fighting with his warriors. Oggy jerked a thumb downward towards the stone and wooden beams of the Keep's floor.

"UnderKeep for now, me and Karg and Breyza sort something out later about where to put them for the rest of the time, and about training them and what not. It's hardship enough with the couple here over the winter from Rose's and your elf's village after all..."

--

When: Early Winter, nearing the last days of 1356 Dale Reckoning. Or the Year of the Worm

Where: Shaman's Tower, Stronghold of Sparta, Kingdom/Empire of Illusk if one is being fancy

One can really tell the sudden shift from autumn to winter with the coming of the winter snows. I'll admit it's been fairly light, for the Crags, but there's still a winter wonderland outside and even as I sit here a light but steady shower of snowflakes continues to fall. After everything its rather pleasant, despite the constant need to keep various parts of the stronghold warm without managing to burn places down. Something that is a bigger problem each year as the clan numbers grow, and thereby the number of flammable buildings/things grows with them.

Now I'd tried mitigating it by encouraging earth and stone working for most of the 'town' beneath the stronghold but we still had a bad fire earlier tonight that burn out a few huts and one of the 'tool sheds' I'd had built. Drunken idiots and fire basically, but the bright side we caught it before it could spread and kill more than the three drunken idiots who caused it. So that area has to be cleaned up and repair, or more accurately rebuilt, before the weather truly gets blizzard level bad. Tends to be gaps of good weather between the storms and blizzards, and it's not a massive job considering the clan-orcs and slaves about the stronghold; Sim City Mayor Orc Edition returns!

Okay I jest, but only a little. I've a long winter ahead of me, and such things as playing at city planner is both an unneeded distraction as well as a welcome one. Between myself and Oggy we've drawn up a crude 'development plan' and she and Breyza are largely in charge of how it's all doled out beyond certain buildings deemed important by myself or Zah. Delegation is fairly important, and I've spent the last few years trying to get competent and loyal subordinates into place to do things that I can't afford to focus on to exclusion of everything else. Even taking time to amuse and play with my crazy little Kargash, and the increasingly grown near-two years Korugal and Ogkra, is hard to find the time for easily; as the Boss indicated, the clock is ticking sadly.

Still, that being said, I am setting time aside for that family time; all work and no play makes Karguk go crazy, or at least inefficient and tired. That's the thing, it's not healthy to just try fixate on the work to the exclusion of everything else; there's a difference between being motivated and being a work obsessed idiot who ruins the future for short term gains. That, and I really want to avoid my children, and the clans as a whole, turning into Tradition Orcs 2.0 and thereby screwing up everything I'm trying to build for them and their future. Yes I admit right now our 'education system' is basically wannabe child soldier being turned into military cadet and then soldier;-

But I would point out that standard orc system was in many ways worse. Now at the very least my children should have a chance at avoiding fighting till their older, and have a childhood of some sort before that starts. On that note I have been teaching my little terror, and her merry coven of friends including Zah's Urgat and Azya, to read. Yes, Shaman Karguk has created the first child's learning book for orcs; as written a dwarf technically due to Cruenditha 'helping' but some of the murderous versions of childrens stories is rather popular amongst the females of the clan.

Dwarf and gnome aid in the project aside. Really, angry dwarf that she is, and mad gnome that Nimmil is, they are better suited to helping with the printing presses than myself, or many of my clan orcs. I don't know if should be proud I have begun the creation of a tradition of literacy amongst my clan, or be saddened by the fact the children's 'books' are violent Aesop/fairytales, and the adult 'books' are either religious/educational or pure smut. Apparently I've 'trained my half-elf well' according to a worrying number of the clan. Hurray for me as Clan Shaman I guess?

So, in furtherance of all this, I've managed to develop something of a day/night schedule for the 'Tower of Midnight College' and the training of the clans, and our 'guests', children from young to old. To do this I've broken them down into various 'classes' based on observed abilities, with the help of my 'staff' under Missy and Doctor Ned, thanks to Oggy. Yes this is usually largely based on age, but not entirely, but class groups of around twenty is the general idea; breaking down then in a hierarchy with my/Oggy's 'best' trained acolytes taking charge of their own 'classes' after theirs. Hardlyy ideal, but I've easily got hundreds of children and teenagers to be trained so it's the best I got.

Note to self; Need to do a census of the clan at some stage. And class lists if we ever get enough time and paper to do other than printed stuff and recording important things.

My own lessons are going to be with Doctor Ned, the Harpells being gone turning out to be both a benefit as well as a drawback. Largely because one of the drow who was an actual wizard vanished off with them so I'm down three trained ones, with my two best apprentices in the shape of Halnguk and Geshka returning with Malchor Harpell for the winter. Now it all seemed a good idea when I did it, I can now communicate with both via spell at least, and have watchers in place by this simple fact. It also ensures both are being trained to a high standard, at least I'm sure of it after my debriefing of them when they returned with the trade caravan from Longsaddle. That, and it's a back up should we suffer heavy losses in the wars to come; always helpful to have a training cadre should be take severe losses to put it more depressingly.

So it's up at night, though this varies for the whole day training thing, and some time on the training yard with sword and such. Can't allow that to decline, nor my physical abilities in general after a period as a stasis bound shut-in, and it also involves a rest afterwards before my magical studies begin for the day. Arcane as well as religious; always bloody interruptions I find, either 'students' wanting knowledge or to attend and dealing with some dumbass needing judgement. Or ensure the stronghold doesn't burn down around our ears like I mentioned a little earlier. Idiots. Anyway, that done its leadership planning time with Zah and the others; they're in general agreement with me on our strategy so, well, now have to convince the Orcish Sith Lord! Yay! Fun times ahead!

One curious, and mildly disturbing if I am being honest, after-effect of my 'spirit' journey is strange dreams and sudden ideas 'clicking' into place somehow. It seems the magic scroll of ancient forbidden knowledge is in my head, or spirit?, and is ticking along in whatever manner the Boss Orc wanted. I'm not sure whether to be relieved, delighted, or absolutely terrified and horrified with this development;- all I can say for sure in the positive is that I haven't had my head explode, or go batshit insane, as yet. Hopefully never to either, but for now it's just odd dreams and sudden eureka moments on my spell-crafting. Something that's being sold to Missy, Doctor Ned, the clan, and our visiting drow Chosen as a blessing from my God;- which it technically is I suppose.

With that in mind I have made a breakthrough as mentioned in terms of one or two spells: largely thanks to combining my Tome of Wiki ideas with certain Abjuration protections. Say hello to my variants of Protection from Evil/Chaos – Protection from Vermin, and Protection from Insects. Yes this may sound like a waste of magic, but devouring swarms are a thing, and if I can convert it into a Ward of some sort then I can bar much of our stores from immediate problems. So while Yes a Fireball or Lightning Bolt might be the preferred option for many – I have others, better talented than I, currently at hand to deal that damage. I can research those spells later, but now it's fundamentals time for me and my merry minions. So my Anti-Vermin/Insect Barrier spell shall soon be created! Soon to be deployed amongst the exterminators of the future!

You know why?

Because Sparta doesn't stink the high heavens like many, most, 'towns' in this crappy word due to me forcing the youngest acolytes to learn cantrips to keep things clean and not smelly. Yes the primitive latrine and pipe system pouring shit (literally) down the side of the mountain (also serving to annoy any one climbing the sheer side of the rock face there!) helps a great deal, but it just ain't there yet. And don't get me started on the UnderKeep currently being excavated, pisspots and shitpots needed there because the existing 'sewage system' still work, somehow, though we've no bloody idea where the shit actually goes. Because they created a portal system for their toilets; Boss above but is bloody odd, and it survived Mystral's death too. Or resets, who knows; so we're learning portals from someone's sewage system.

So yeah, the ancient's abandoned and barely functioning toilets and sewage systems are more advanced and cutting edge than our actual cutting edge magical and technological research. You have no idea how idea how much that annoys me, on so many levels, even if just for the fact that an effect 'modern' toilet exists while still have to use outhouses at the height of technology, or a bucket in general. Anyway, so in my determination to work to the future I've created a dedicated (if kinda unaware) team of pool cleaners, sewage movers, and water purifiers in my irritation. Irritation that drives forward innovation; word to the wise, rewarding 'better' solutions tends to work, though you have to watch for the overambitious sorts amongst them.

Now I must go. The training yard calls yet again.

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