Eric took the orcs to his home, he walked his bike so they could keep up, and they were surprised and curious about all the amenities of his house, especially the light switches. “You can just turn on a torch by hitting a magic button?” Grom asked.
“Well, it isn't magic, but yes,” Eric said, putting hamburgers and hot dogs on a grill. Soon the orcs were complimenting him on the smells coming from the cooking meat.
“This grill, it looks like something any blacksmith could do,” Grom mused.
Eric said “Yes, and honestly the only part you need is the metal grate to hold the meat, you could use sticks to hold the grate over a regular fire to cook food the same way. It is just easier for us to make the fire pit of metal as well.”
Eric explained the wonders of his home until the meat was cooked, then showed the orcs how he ate hot dogs and hamburgers, while stressing that the ketchup and other condiments were optional, and even the buns were just a way to keep things cleaner. The orcs all used buns and condiments, and got in a lively argument about which ones tasted best.
Grom asked “Would your world be willing to trade this ketchup?”
Eric laughed, “Happily, you can buy them at the store. In fact, take the bottles I have, I can buy more.”
“Are you sure, this is a wonderful gift.” Grom asked.
Eric nodded, “it costs very little in this world. Let me give you an insulated bag to keep them cold though, and an ice pack.”
“A backpack made of ice? Wouldn't it melt and drop what it carried?” Grom questioned.
Eric laughed, “No, an ice pack is just a, well it is a wrapping around water that you freeze, so you have ice to carry. I put that in an insulated bag with the condiments, and they will last longer. Still, use it fast, I don't know how long it will last without a refrigerator.” Eric had already explained that miraculous device to the orcs.
Eric let the orcs take turns in his shower, then gave them his bed for the night, sleeping on his couch. The orcs had no problem sleeping in a heap, and quite enjoyed the soft surface. The next morning he led the orcs back to the rift, finding soldiers setting up razor wire and checkpoints. “Halt,” a soldier said. Suddenly several guns were pointed at Eric and the orcs.
Eric asked “Can I speak to your superior officer?” The soldier said something into his radio, and a bit later a man limped up, grinning despite the damage to his ass. Major Thompson.
The Major said “I'm sorry, civilians are not allowed into the secured area, and as for the foreign hostiles, we can either take them into custody, or kill them while trying.”
Eric stayed between the Major and the orcs. “Major, surely you can see that sending them home is the best course of action.”
“Only after every one of them has taken a nine-millimeter round to their asses!” Thompson grunted. “Target the hostiles.” Eric saw an Abrams tank rotate it's cannon to target the group of orcs.
Eric turned to his new friends. “Grom, that tube that just pointed at us will do a lot more than 7 HP of damage. I need to make some calls.” Eric stayed with the orcs, moving away from the tank. The Major just smirked at him.
Eric's first call was to Agent Parks. “Agent Parks, is there a reason Major Thompson is guarding the rift?”
Parks replied over the phone, “He is CO of the company assigned to guard it.” Her voice suggested she had the same feeling about this that Eric did.
Eric asked “Is there someone above him I can talk to?”
Parks said “Yes, but it might cost me a favor or two. I'll do it, but realize I might not be the most popular agent right now myself, being 'rift contaminated' and all.”
“Contaminated? What does that mean?” Eric asked.
“A lot of folks in the military and the bureau think that the rift somehow affects the people who get classes. Which, I suppose it does, I'm more powerful, which changes the way I think about things. And I'm just level 1, I can only imagine once I'm high enough level to fight a tank.”
Eric muttered “fighting a tank might happen sooner than you think.” Then asked “Can you just give me the name of the person above Thompson? I can have my boss talk to his boss, see if we can fix this.”
Parks said “Sure, I'll text you his name and contact.”
Sure enough, a moment later Eric got a text with Colonel Melendez, along with his e-mail and phone number. Eric then called his boss.
“Monika? I have a problem, and I'm hoping you can help.”
“I have a problem too Eric, is it true you helped some sort of monsters take out an FBI agent and a group of US soldiers?” Monika retorted.
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“I didn't help, but I convinced the orcs to hold back, to not kill any humans.” Eric explained.
“That isn't what Major Thompson said.”
“Yeah, that is actually what I wanted to ask you about, could you get his boss on the line and let me tell the Colonel the other side of the story?” Eric asked.
Monika sighed, “You know what, fine, that way you can just tell your story once. Can you go into your office?”
“Sure, um, Major Thompson won't let the orcs go back home so I'll have to keep them with me. I'll call my old boss and explain it to him.” Eric said.
“Fine, I'll call this Colonel.”
Eric told the orcs “Grom, I'm going to have to talk to a higher level warleader to get you permission to go home. I think you might be able to go through those soldiers, but it would be a real fight, some of you would die, a lot of them would die, and it would mean our world would become hostile to yours. Can you trust me a bit longer? We can pick up sushi on the way.”
Grom looked at his group, all of them were obviously impatient, but they all nodded. “We will come with you Eric, and talk to this greater warchief. What is...Sushi?”
As Eric took the orcs to his office, he lamented the damage to his bank account, orcs apparently love sushi, and eat a lot of it. “John, can I borrow the conference room?” He asked his old boss.
“Sure, so, those are orcs?” John asked.
“Yeah, their culture is kinda like Native Americans, at least, I have managed not to offend them much by treating them as such. They care for the land, have tribes, and try to take care of nature. I don't know enough about Native Americans to tell how different they are, honestly. But they are good people.”
“So not monsters. I guess it is good that some of what is coming from the rifts are friendly.” John said.
Eric frowned, “Well, it seems like the default is for rifts to make worlds fight each other. I think we can have some sort of trade deal with the orcs, which would be good I think. But I have to get these orcs back to their home, help Agent Parks set up some sort of liaison with whatever orcs use for law enforcement, and get our military to agree to friendly relations. Hence why I need the conference room.”
Eric and the orcs entered the conference room, and soon a zoom meeting was launched. When Colonel Melendez and Monika Stonehew were joined by Major Thompson Eric flinched, but then Agent Parks and Jenkins joined as well. Eric said “Well Major, since you are here, why don't you tell everyone your story first.”
The Major scoffed. “Well, we arrived at the scene of the rift, and saw an FBI agent down due to an attack by hostiles. This civilian was in the line of fire, working with the hostiles, and when we got him out of the line of fire and engaged the enemy, their knowledge of our capabilities, from that traitor, led to them forcing my troops to engage in tactical retreat.”
Monika and the Colonel listened, and Eric asked “Can we hear from Agent Jenkins next?” The Colonel nodded.
Agent Jenkins seemed to realize that this meant Eric could give his story last, but spoke anyway. “Agent Parks and I secured the rift, waiting for the military to arrive, when Eric showed up. Right after he did, a group of orcs came out. Eric went to talk to them, and told them I was weak, then egged the orc into a fight with me, the orc threw a spear at me, and luckily it was the butt of the spear that hit me, knocking me out but not killing me.”
The Colonel spoke next, “Agent Parks, do you agree with that statement?”
Agent Parks sighed, “I think both my partner and the orc had...excessive testosterone. I'm not sure either can take the full blame for the fight. I did notice that the orc turned his spear around and didn't throw it point first, my partner was hit by the blunt end on purpose. I also have to admit that my partner fired first.”
“Parks!” Jenkins yelled. “It was a monster!”
Agent parks shook her head. “You were shooting to kill, he was defending himself, and instead of killing you, gave you a concussion.”
The Colonel interrupted them, “Mr Brown, can you give us your take?”
Eric gathered his thoughts. “The orcs entered our world with a quest to kill 5 humans. I just learned that the first person through a rift gets to 'claim' it and can influence quests and set the 'default setting.' I changed the orc's quest to 'defeat' 5 humans, and talked them into not killing. Grom and his friends could have killed Agent Jenkins, Major Thompson, and all the troops in that first fight. They chose not to.”
The Colonel turned to the orcs, “Is that true?”
Grom spoke, “Eric is an orc-companion, he has earned the trust of our tribes. He is free to travel orc lands and can call upon us for aid within reason. He asked me and my friends not to kill humans, so we did not kill humans. We were attacked, twice, without reason. If it were not for Eric, we would have fought our way through your defenses and gone home. Eric believes your 'tank' might have killed one of us, so wanted us to talk. So we talk.”
“What do you want?” The Colonel asked.
“To go home, we do not wish to return to this land, but hope our traders do, this ketchup is a great spice for meats.” Grom answered.
Monika was the first to realize the importance of this, “You would trade with us? Buy ketchup from us? What could we get from you in return?”
The orc shrugged, “Do you take gold? We also have meats and other foods that we trade to the dwarves, and we can hire out warriors.”
Eric added, “Until we get classes for more of our troops, it might make sense to hire orcs to help with rifts.” Jenkins and Thompson both scoffed, but the Colonel put a hand to his chin, thinking.
That was when John burst into the room. “Eric, a rift opened near Mesa, and some sort of dragon came out of it. You are talking to the army right?” Chaos broke out as everyone tried to talk.
Eric, as the only one physically present with John, asked “Do you have video or a picture of it?” John pulled up a shaky video, and Eric showed it to Grom.
Grom nodded, “Wyvern, I just got a quest to kill it. Do you want our help?”
Eric shouted, “Colonel, Melendez, can the orcs and I try to kill it? We can save lives, then get back to this discussion.”
Thompson yelled, “No, let my men take this thing out, don't trust the monsters, for all we know they sent it here.”
The Colonel nodded at someone, and Eric decided to take it as permission. “John, we need transportation.” John tossed Eric his keys, and Eric loaded most of the orcs in the back of John's pickup truck, Grom rode shotgun as Eric drove to the last location the wyvern had been seen. While he was at it, Eric checked his messages.
Personal quest given, homeward bound, help the orcs return to their home. 300 XP award.
Personal quest given, trader not traitor, establish trade between Earth and Ba'ruq. 500 XP award.
Quest given, wyvernbane, help kill the Wyvern that has entered your world. 3000 XP to be split between those who are effective at killing it.