Lanek, now fully geared up and rested, made his way out of the monastery. As he made his way to the main doors, he smiled at the bustle surrounding him, glad to have people around him despite the looming danger. Near the main door, he found Talwarg carrying a large stone slab into the monastery.
Talwarg set the stone slab in the main hall before turning to Lanek. “Heading out?”
“Yeah, it seems like you guys have everything pretty well handled here, so I figured I would go out and do some hunting and scouting. What’s the slab for?”
“Just be careful, it wouldn’t do to have the first khan in centuries killed off before he could do anything useful. As for the slab, we have a mason that requested it. He’s pretty sure that he can rig a way to slide it into place in front of the doors to provide a much stronger brace than a door bar. You’ll have to ask him for the details, it’s not my area of expertise, but I was pretty sure that you wouldn’t object to a stronger front door.”
“Hey, it sounds good to me. Where did the slab come from?”
Talwarg gestured to the plaza outside. “To get the size the mason needed and because you asked me not to tear down the buildings around us, I had to pry it up from the plaza.”
“Good idea. In fact, feel free to pry up all of the stone from the plaza if you need to.”
“That’s good to know, I was beginning to wonder where we would get more stone without wrecking the houses around us. Why do you want to pry up the plaza anyway?”
“Well, I’m not sure how feasible it is, but I was thinking that we could pull up the stone from the plaza to expose the soil underneath. I know that the soil will not be suitable for growing after being compacted under the stone for so long, but if we can find someone with farming knowledge to rejuvenate the soil somehow, we may be able to start growing our own food come spring. If we can then fortify the edges of the plaza by walling off the alleys and roads between the buildings and constructing gates on each side of the plaza, we could keep the food source secure while also allowing our civilians a safe area to wander in outside of the monastery.”
“Hmm, I like it. You really are thinking long-term, aren’t you? If we can pull this off, I think we should start moving warriors out into the houses on the perimeter. Once any windows facing outside of the plaza are sealed, those buildings can become barracks for small groups of guards. At that point, I would like to build small guard posts on top of those houses as an early warning system and forward defense.”
“Good idea, it lets our vulnerable people stay in the safest area while also making the entire area more secure. Please, keep those ideas coming. We’re going to need to keep planning if we are going to have a chance in hell of surviving even after we repel the spiders.”
With that, Lanek let Talwarg get back to work and exited the monastery. Now that he knew exactly where the spiders were located, he decided to travel north for a while before turning east to reach the orc stronghold. Despite the dangers of approaching a large number of orcs, it was really a win-win situation for him. If they were ferals or belonged to the dungeon, he could begin farming them for levels. On the other hand, if they were a proper orc clan that had simply taken up residence in the city, then there was a chance he could get them to join him or at least help each other out for mutual survival.
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Lanek crouched atop a rooftop, scanning the large building that had once belonged to the city guard. Just like the Order of the Talon’s monastery, the city guard headquarters had been built to withstand a siege if need be. He suspected that it was to provide a safe place for the citizenry to evacuate to judging from the large interior courtyard and curtain walls. While the walls were only half as tall as those surrounding the city proper, they would still provide a substantial obstacle to any enemies.
He wouldn’t be surprised if many of the citizens lost their lives by fleeing to the headquarters instead of out of the city. Not that they could have known that the guard were going to be outmatched by the dungeon’s hordes.
While he watched the small fortress, he could see figures moving along the walls as well as a steady stream of orcs moving out into the city itself. However, from this distance, he could not tell if they would be immediately hostile toward him. He was about to shift position and creep a bit closer when he saw a group of about two dozen orcs leaving the fortress from a small side gate, moving almost furtively.
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Curious, Lanek began making his way toward the group, wondering just why they appeared to be avoiding their fellows. He forced himself to remain as stealthy as he could despite wanting to rush over to the group immediately. Not only did he not want the group to spot him until he was ready to introduce himself but he also didn’t want to draw attention to the band in case they proved to be friendly.
While he followed the group, he became more concerned. They were heading to the west, straight toward the ghast territory and where Liv was transporting materials. He needed to stop them, both to warn them about the ghasts and to help avoid any misunderstandings with Liv and the hobgoblins aiding her.
Picking up his pace, Lanek quickly overtook them via the rooftops and decided to wait for them several blocks further to the west. He figured that this distance would be enough to keep their meeting hidden from the rest of the orcs at the headquarters.
When they neared his position, Lanek was finally able to use [Identify] on the orc in the lead. He smiled at the result.
Orc Defender (Ebon Shields)
lvl 18
Orcs are distantly related to goblins, despite not evolving from them as hobgoblins and bugbears do. Instead, orcs will evolve into specialized subspecies at level 25. It is theorized that their much higher natural stats are the reason that they do not evolve at level 10 like their goblinoid cousins. Orcs are dangerous adversaries as they combine their natural size and power with a discipline rarely seen outside of professional armies, adventuring parties, and mercenary companies. In many cases, non-feral orc clans will often offer mercenary services to the other races.
However, as quickly as the smile came, it faded from his face. Yes, the orcs before him were not feral, but the implications of their stealthy flight from the rest of the orcs likely meant that the remaining orcs at the headquarters were not friendly.
In order to avoid startling the orcs too badly, Lanek traversed another two blocks ahead of the orcs, before dropping down into the middle of the street and waiting. As the orcs jogged into view, they immediately drew weapons at the sight of Lanek waiting for them. Lanek slowly and deliberately raised his hands before him to show that he wasn’t armed.
“I don’t want to fight you, only to warn you.” He said to the orc leading the group. The orc was large, even taller and broader than Ograch, almost a match for Talwarg in bulk and height. He had green skin with red hair. His hair was cut into a short mohawk and he had a neatly trimmed beard that would have been referred to as a ducktail beard by his barber back on Earth. Two prominent tusks thrust up from his lower jaw, much too large to fit inside of his mouth. In all, he looked much like any orc he had seen in various forms of media back home, except for being much cleaner than orcs were commonly portrayed.
The lead orc gestured for his companions to take shelter in one of the buildings while he approached Lanek. “Oh really? What is this warning?” He kept his spear and shield at the ready, clearly expecting a fight.
“The section of the city you are approaching is the territory of ghouls and ghasts. If you stumble into their territory they will swarm you from below ground. I’ve seen them do it when fighting gaunts.”
The orc looked skeptical, but he was still listening. “Why warn us? Who are you? Hell, what are you? I’ve not seen horns like that before.”
“My name is Lanek and until recently I was human. I only became a dranrid a few days ago. I’m warning you because I don’t want you to die unnecessarily and I would like some information in exchange for my warning.”
The orc snorted derisively. “That’s a new one. Can’t say that humans have typically cared about orcs dying. Still, I suppose I at least owe you my name. I am Khurzag of the Ebon Shields.”
“To be perfectly honest, Khurzag, I don’t give a damn that you are an orc. There are few enough things out here that don’t try to kill me on sight that it would be silly for me to be picky about race, don’t you think?”
Khurzag regarded him for a moment before lowering his spear. He gestured for Lanek to follow him into the building with the rest of his people. Once inside he turned back to Lanek.
“You’re an odd one, but I can spare some time to give you some answers if you will give me some in exchange. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“Very well, what do you want to know?”
“Tell me about the stronghold your people inhabit and why you were sneaking out.”
Khurzag took a deep breath and looked back toward the old city guard headquarters. “We fled because our clan chief has decided to betray the Hordefather and throw his lot in with the ferals and their gods. Most of the clan agreed with his choice, believing that the reinforcements and alliances that would come from this decision would ensure their survival.”
“I see. So you serve Wurgoth?”
“What do you know of the Hordefather?” Khurzag said sharply, not liking how casually Lanek referred to his god.
“A bit. Why don’t you [Identify] me?” Lanek said with a smile.