Use: 3 units of clay (out of 10)

Milau 10

The fortress is but a half day walk, we head to the adjacent wooded area, and see orc tracks.

Stibmith has a strategy: grab an orc, charm it, find out how to get into a fortress – with Stib and I each using a charm spell (in case one doesn’t work). Brilliant!

As a party of orcs comes by, Bingle makes a wild boar noise (oh but those rangers have useful skills!) to attract attention – it actually works, and the five orcs head our way.

And Stib and I blast orcs with a charm spell each. The others in the group attack the remaining orcs; finally Bingle and Trax eviscerate and dismember their respective victims; and we leave the scene of battle (wouldn’t want to upset our new charmed friends).

Their names are Katosh and Zipterk. We interrogate them:

• gain insight into orc feeding habits; for example, dwarf heart is reminiscent of jerky
• hear about the training of cave trolls
• hear about chieftain, who according to these fellows is a powerful magician. Orcs seem to have learned magic, and plan to use “beautiful orcish civilization” to sweep the world.
• hear about main orc city…

We debate the idea (amongst ourselves, without new charmed friends listening) of using invisibility scroll to get at least one ofus into the fortress, but discard the idea – too chancy.

I suggest instead that the orcs take us into the fortresss as ‘prisoners’. The orcs seem willing to think of us (at least Stib and I) as ‘good elves’.

After a period of rest, spell studying (I study charming again) and so forth, in a place we thought was safe, we hear a branch crack! One of the spellbound orcs blunders off to look; then the rangers go off to track. Philomena, meanwhile, suddenly disappears! Bingle and Trax also go off – Trax looking for Phil; Bingle for the supposed orc.

Meanwhile, we hear that there’s a vague legend about the main orc – how he stayed on a mountain, tied to a tree, for 40 days and 40 nights (this has a vaguely familiar disturbing sound to it). When knowledge of magic came to him, he came down off the peak to teach a cabal of other orcs.

Bingle and Trax retrieve scouting orc from a tree. Slaughter ensues.

We proceed to the fortress (apparently built in a day by magic), sham-tied between our two charmed orcs – and arrive in the evening, when Katosh says there are fewer people!

The fortress is impressive – they even have a ballista.

Katosh is greeted by the guards, who wonder at his success in comradely orcish fashion. We come into a huge courtyard, finally a cavern – get to see the murder holes along the way.

Katosh asks that we be taken to the lieutenant. Here’s a snippet of the conversation:

“Food?” another orc asks.
“No! To meet lieutenant.”
“Then… food?”

To tell the truth, being in a fortress full of hungry orcs is NOT uplifting. Especially as we then pass the HUGE dining hall.

We are taken to a training hall, where shockingly well-groomed orcs are actually practicing using swords (practicing! groomed! How orcish is that?). They appear to be lieutenants.

(In my mind, I think – let’s charm another of these guys!)

One of the lieutenants, we hear, is called Nadolk. Nadolk eyes me and says: “She’d be good sport.” (I shudder with revulsion). Zipterk, one of the stolidly charmed ones, says, “No!”

This piece of defiance can come close to undoing us. Nadolk stalks over to Zipterk, to confront him.

I realize this is an opportunity to charm the other lieutenant, Latolk, while Nadolk is distracted. This is successful.

The situation is defused; we’re taken to a ‘safe’ place, but not a cell. Zipterk is left guarding us – the two lieutenants (one charmed, one not) take off. Who knows what might happen?

Some time later, there’s a commotion at the door, as my nose is buried in my spell book memorizing that sole spell I can use. The door opens, an orc lieutenant rips my spell book from me, I’m accused of being a magic user (duh!). However, Stib’s sleep spell takes them out.

Latolk may have been killed however, there’s no sign of him.

I do not, in the end, lose my spell book (though the binding was ripped from it). The gods be thanked, it could be reassembled! And Stip and I each learn another spell – he to charm, I to put to sleep.

Katosh and Nadolk go off to find Latolk,. Zipterk again guards us. We debate on what to do… moot, really, since we are soon taken to see the chieftain and four other lieutenants.

This is not a welcome committee – as soon as we walk in – the crossbows are raised. I cast a sleep spell at once , the chieftain, Nadolk and one other lieutenant are out. In response, the other three lieutenants shoot at me – remarkably, they miss!

Battle is joined. Katosh initially wants to wake the chieftain to ‘stop’ the fighting – but Stib wisely talks him out of it.

Then the killing. At one point, Bingle accidentally kills Nadolk!!

Issues of right and wrong put aside, Bingle once again resolves one of our moral dilemmas, and kills the chief of the orcs as he sleeps. There’s a whole troop of orcs (whoa, who’dda thought!) running towards our location – we run, lock the door, find the chieftain’s room.

This room has a secret door which leads up out of his room (handy for a quick, executive-type exit). Up we all go – Philomena who is last in line cries out, because the orcs finally get in the room. Faithful companions all, we keep scrambling upwards – except for Bingle.

Bingle incredibly, from his narrow vantage point, finally kills 12 orcs, and saves Philomena.

Finally, we are all outside, on a rock shelf upon the mountain. There’s really not much to do there.. we end up going back to the chieftain’s room (especially as we know Bingle’s killed all the orcs).

The room is piled with dead orcs, soaked with blood and gore, but has a couple of desks – Trax searches one, I another.

The desk I search contains scrolls that are interesting in a dry kind of way. (Note: I can read some orcish) They are supply scrolls, with shipment dates, and so forth. Provisions apparently arrive once a week – enough provisions to feed thousands. A scroll to the main chief indicates that plans are ‘progressing’. Overall, the penmanship, for orcs, is remarkable.

I’m asked to read another document, that Trax finds, describing how things are going great at Castle Zacox. There is a map too, showing the mountainous region, with outposts – and finally, the main Orc City. Trax keeps this.

However, the chieftain has not two pennies to rub together…

Now we leave his room… pass through the rooms that obviously belonged to the chief’s six lieutenants (who are obviously dead). We go back the way we’ve come – easy, following all the bloody footsteps.

We pass the orc training room again – also interesting when we think about it: since in general, orc training rooms are lethal, but this one is really for practice. Some serious non-orcish influence happening here.

We finally come to a door that takes us to the keep’s ramparts – we are heard, and an orc comes down to check out the noise. Trax kills him – but the alarm is raised. The orcs throw flaming oil flasks down the stairs, we are forced to back track and go down, down…

Finally, we come to a place below that likely holds cave trolls. But there are no cave trolls to be seen. Yet.