Khurzag frowned for a moment, but complied and focused on Lanek before sucking in a deep breath. Noticing his reaction, a young looking orc woman with black hair wearing fur-lined robes and holding a staff approached Lanek and Khurzag.
“Khurzag? What’s wrong?” she asked, eyeing Lanek with no small amount of hostility.
“Shel.” Khurzag choked out. “Use [Identify] on him before you say another word.”
“Look here, Khurzag. I don’t take orders from you and I don’t give a shit about this outsider, just tell me what kind of problems he is causing so we can get rid of him and be on our way.”
Before Lanek could even begin to respond, mist billowed out from his body and slammed into Shel, knocking her to the floor where she could only stare in shock at the growling face of Kazuma inches from her own. Another orc leapt to his feet, reaching for his sword but found a furious Sanguineus ensconced firmly between him and Kazuma. As Shel attempted to push her way up, she froze at the feeling of Kazuma’s claws flexing and easily piercing through her robes.
“I suggest we all calm down.” Lanek said into the tense silence. “My companions do not take kindly to threats and I can guarantee you that if you don’t stand down, myself and those two angry furballs will be the only ones leaving this building alive.” Lanek drew his sabre in preparation.
“Shel, for the love of the Hordefather, please shut your fucking mouth for once and listen to me! Just [Identify] him.” Khurzag turned back to Lanek. “There’s no need for violence, I apologize on that loudmouth’s behalf. Ever since she was given the shaman class, her ego has been a major issue.”
“Are Wurgoth’s shaman’s rare among your clan?”
“Yes, she is the first we’ve had in decades. Hence, the attitude.”
“Huh, well I hate to break it to you, Shel, but you aren’t special. I’ve met multiple shamans that serve Wurgoth, one of which is far more powerful than you are, so I’d calm the fuck down with the attitude.”
Shel, fuming at Khurzag’s rebuke immediately began ranting again. “HOW DARE YOU?! … wait, what did you just say? You’ve met other shamans?” Finally realizing that she was missing something, she proceeded to follow Khurzag’s order and used [Identify] on Lanek. Her face paled at the sight of his title, fearing for her status as a shaman of Wurgoth after threatening to kill one of his chosen.
While Shel struggled to regain her composure, Lanek looked curiously at Khurzag. “Why didn’t you just tell her about me being a Khan? Surely that would have made things easier and avoided all of this.”
The big orc shook his head. “No, it wouldn’t have. She would have either called me a liar or claimed that you were able to trick my skill due to my low perception. For the record, it isn’t that low, but Shel has gotten into the habit of thinking herself to be the pinnacle of our people. As a result, if she saw the title for herself, she would not believe for a second that she could be fooled and would accept what she saw as indisputable fact.”
“Good god, how do you put up with someone like that?” Shel flinched as she overheard Lanek’s words.
“She’s not all that bad. She was perfectly pleasant before she became a shaman and she really does care about us and will do everything she can to help us. I just hope she grows out of this and becomes the person I grew up with again.”
“Fair enough. Regardless, I think Nerek would have a field day with her.”
“Nerek?”
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“He is the head shaman of the Night Arrows, a hobgoblin tribe that I’m acquainted with.”
“Really? Other followers of the Hordefather?”
“Yes, they have been wandering around outside of the city fighting for their survival for decades. We’ve recently found a new home for them.” Lanek looked over at his animal companions. “Calm down, boys. Kazuma, let her up.”
Shel stood up and approached Lanek with quite a bit more humility this time. “My apologies, Khan. I did not know.” She continued after waiting for Lanek to wave away her apology. “This Nerek, how strong is he?”
“He’s more than double your level.” Lanek replied after seeing that Shel was level 15 compared to Nerek’s level of 38. “Although, he is probably stronger now that he’s been communing with Wurgoth regularly.”
“What?!” she shrieked. “He is actually speaking to the Hordefather?”
“Yep.” Lanek responded with an amused tone. “Wurgoth has been in contact with the Night Arrows for a couple of days now.”
Turning his attention back to Khurzag as Shel quietly contemplated this information, he asked, “So, where are you taking your people?”
“We decided to head west to try to get out of the city. We figured that once we left the city walls, those of us who have chosen to join the ferals would not bother following us.”
“I’m not going to try to stop you, but it’s not great out there. Feral goblins and bugbears are everywhere, along with far worse things. There are creatures of the Void and gaunts out there as well. There’s a reason the Night Arrows were on the move for so long.”
“What other choice do we have? We can’t survive in the city with our numbers. If the ferals don’t get us, the dungeon will wear us down.”
“Well, I might be able to help with that. I’ve been tasked by Wurgoth to offer aid to his followers if I can, so I have an offer for you. However, before I make that offer, I have something to show you to help you make your decision.”
“What do you want to show me?”
“I would like to show you my home and offer you sanctuary if it seems like a good fit for your people and mine. It isn’t too far, but I will have to insist that only you and Shel go all the way there. In order to avoid making your people and mine nervous and cause possible misunderstandings, I would like the rest of your people to wait in a building several blocks from my home.”
“Shel, what do you think?” Khurzag asked the young shaman.
“Normally, I would reject this whole meeting and tell him to go to hell. But, I’m positive that he can be trusted. The Hordefather wouldn’t have named him Khan if he went around killing our people. Besides, I would like to meet this Nerek.”
Khurzag turned back to Lanek. “It seems we are in agreement, when can you show us your home?”
“We can leave now and you can tell me about your people on our way.”
Khurzag agreed and started rousing his companions before leading them after Lanek. As they began to walk toward the monastery, Sanguineus took off at a run to the southwest.
“Where is he going?” Khurzag asked.
“To the monastery that is my home. He is going to make sure that the Night Arrows know we are coming and can meet us outside and everyone can get introduced to one another. Now, for my first question, how do orcs typically deal with goblins and hobgoblins? I’m not about to step into the middle of a blood feud or something, am I?”
“What? No. Orcs and hobgoblins and goblins have always gotten along just fine, provided that they aren’t ferals. Sadly, most of the goblin and hobgoblin tribes have long since turned feral or have been wiped out as they didn’t have the same level of martial strength that we orcs have.” Shel explained.
“Is your martial strength because of your size or something else?”
“Our size is a part of it, but only a small part. The main difference is how we get our classes. In an orc clan, every single person has a combat class as their primary class. Orcs simply don’t receive crafting or non-combat oriented class options when getting our primaries, they only show up as subclasses.”
“Ah, so everyone fights if you get attacked. You don’t have any non-combatants.”
“Exactly. May I ask a question now?” Shel asked, continuing once Lanek agreed to her request. “How do you not know this? This is basic knowledge about my people. How can you have a title directly from our god and know so little about us?”
“Those are fair questions and all I’m willing to say for now is that it is a long story that I am only willing to share if you join me or choose to ally yourselves with me. I know that is probably not what you want to hear, but I’m not ready to spread that information to just anyone right now.”
“I’m not going to lie, Lanek. That’s suspicious, but I’ll trust in the Hordefather even if you are being shady.” Shel grumbled.
“I understand.”
Lanek held up his hand to stop the orcs as the monastery came into sight in the distance. “Get your people settled in one of these buildings, they should be safe here. That’s my home just ahead.”
He turned and saw that Shel was standing frozen in place, eyes locked on the upper levels of the monastery. “What the hell is in there?”