"As you're all aware, we've been here for several days. I think that we've taken this place down to its bare studs. But I think we're all aware that there's nothing else we can get here and we need to start moving on to our next objective. So Bob and I had a talk with Borgan and Song. As you're probably aware, they had been traveling from the same direction that we now intend to go. So we're going to take a small stop on our way there. But we're going to be heading south again. Someone is telling me that winter is coming and their voices have become very insistent, so let's Mount up and any business you have here, let's clean it up before we head out."
There was a general murmur of agreement and as most people had already figured out that today was a day they went into heading out there wasn't much packing left to do. The pile of scrap salvage that wasn't usable had to be left. There wasn't enough room for all of it to come with them. Andrew had raided the entire town for any usable wagons or pieces that could be turned into wagons.
They had given their back wagon specifically to the Orcs as they were newcomers and needed their own space. It was slightly larger than their other uncovered wagon, and customized for their larger frames.
The orcs were very pleased with this. All that they had, they carried with them including their packs and musical instruments. While they were in Arva, they too had grabbed bedrolls and pillows for themselves. Anthony helped them hook up their horses.
Accompanying the caravan were twenty horses. Eighteen war horses and two Tinker trained bay mares. Finley had taken the lead on their care and feeding. Now that he was awake, all the horses seemed much more bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Anthony couldn't help but notice that they seemed to want to get moving now more ever.
Perhaps it was two days of doing nothing or perhaps the horses had a bit of wanderlust inside of them. Either way, it was good to know that the horses were on their side. With four wagons now instead of three, eight horses had to pull wagons. This left twelve that could be ridden or followed along. Not every single person was able to ride a horse confidently but even so each one now had an animal handling card. Thanks to Finley, the horses generally stayed with them. The only surprise this time was the amount of goats milling about.
Anthony inspected their water supply. They had about three days of water and this by no means allowed anyone a single shower. Every drop they had was for drinking or for their soups and stews. Finley and Stella with the help of Sophie were in charge of rations, leaving one less headache off of his to do list. Everyone in the Caravan drank water including the horses. With seventeen travelers, food and water was a big concern.
One of the covered wagons, Finley's original wagon, was stuffed to the gills with food. The wagon had the most effective storage and now was able to hold more weight easier thanks to Finley's storage powers.
The first of the uncovered wagons was where all the cooking equipment and water was kept. Their second covered wagon held all of the personal effects which is to say their clothing and bed rolls as well as weapons that weren't in use and any other knick-knacks. The newest wagon, having just been completed that morning, just had empty space as they anticipated that they would need to fill up at their first stop. Empty space and three fully empty barrels that had previously held dwarven beer.
Anthony didn't mind beer for breakfast. In fact he loved it.
However, keeping beer around took a lot.
Stella, their resident cryomancer, had to frequently check on and modulate the temperature of their supply. She was really good at keeping it consistent. She also knew her way around a beer tap exactly the normal amount one should be. Sure everyone knew how to use the tap once it was installed, but her installation was a sight to behold.
With every keg able to serve them for 2 or 3 days at a time. It was an ideal solution to their problems with water. Beer didn't have that problem of microscopic organisms trying to kill you. Sure, Sonya had the kind of spell that let them cleanse things but really she shouldn't have to be cleaning everything. They needed her to use that cleanse spell where they did their business, a sad reality of the medieval technology around them.
Anthony didn't want the women in his life to be cleaning up after him, before him or around him in general. He wanted them to be happy, well fed and kept away from his sharp blades when not on mission.
"Hey big guy," Sonya said, squeezing his arm. "I know you want to inspect every single aspect of every wagon we have, but I think it's time we get a move on."
"What? Oh yes, that makes sense. Mount up!" He said to the people that had already either gotten into their seat or onto their horse.
Finley had saved him a spot in the front. Sonya escorted him there and then sat right behind their seats. Finley pulled the reins and then they were off.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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Bob, Mork's long back scratcher, put his wagon behind the first. They circled up nearby their first objective.
It hadn't been a long drive to the edge of the woods. There was a large pit filled with pork corpses and dwarf corpses right before the woods began. Bob called upon his favorite card power to summon a small animal.
Wisps of dark magic rose up from a small feline
It began a quick run, taking his time to sniff each cadaver. Several times it smelled something and then in a flash It would cut through the chest of whatever it was looking at, revealing cards or card pieces.
Bob really hoped that They would get something good out of this. He knew Murphy well. Murphy always showed up at his bakery. Out here in the wild, fighting against monsters that had no remorse? This was where a gentleman might find Murphy. Safe to say, he stayed clear as the feline did its work.
Finley and Sophie stepped forward. He knew what they were about to do, having seen them do it many times before. One by one, they turned each corpse into fertilizer, quickly, decomposing it and growing mushrooms and yellow flowers on top of the dirt that remained. Bob had been in the room when Finley had asked the orcs if they had anything they wanted to do for the rest of their tribe. They had indicated that this would be appropriate. More orcs followed the Goat Lord than Bob had ever expected. With their nomadic lifestyle and desire to live off of the land wherever they went, clan Green Fang was a classic place for the Goat Lord.
Ca'at, his eldritch summon returned to him. This was the part that he disliked the most. The animal that his summon most looked like was a common black cat. A single extra eye, combined with wisps of dark magic gave it a witchy look that any cat would envy. He didn't remember the third eye, but perhaps it had been closed before.
There was a nonstandard amount of goats around the site. Perhaps the cat had opened its third eye because it was wary of the amount of goats. A few goats had tried to follow them from Arva. They lagged behind, but Bob knew that they were still there.
Ca'at began yacking up a hairball. This was the worst part of having an otherworldly summon. All of the cards and card pieces that it had taken from the zombies were covered in wet hair, and presented to him. Ca'at even meowed, which was his sign to give head pats.
One always gave the eldritch feline head pats.
"I'm just thankful that we don't have to do that manually," Stella said from a safe distance away.
"We're all glad. I can deal with this," Bob said, picking up and cleaning off the cards. There were several copper and iron cards as well as one or golden cards. He was still looking for whatever card the death knight had. He had a sneaking suspicion that someone had grabbed it. He had a sense that the cards degraded over time inside the zombies. He didn't have any proof. He just had a theory that he would be run by Stella later.
"The way they came here is pretty clear. It should be easy to track back to where the green Fang Clan was. Do you think they're going to want to go?" Stella said.
"I think I would want to go. And since we're right here anyway there's no reason not to. Anthony and I talked about this. Because it's inside the forest, We were thinking that there was a road in and apparently there is one. However it doesn't connect anywhere near here, we would need to go around. That's not something we planned to do. We both want to get far from here today but we understand that they may need to pay their respects."
Bob and Stella got down. Around them, everyone was stretching their legs. A few people wandered closer to see what Sonya and Finley were doing, firsthand.
"Do you want to hand out snacks? Probably won't be stopping after this for a while. We will be here for some time, especially if Borgan and Song decide they want to go and see."
The two Orcs that attached themselves to the Caravan had been on the way to a clan gathering.. Their Clan had been thoroughly overrun and save for them turned into zombies. When the Caravan took them to investigate, they were attacked by a wave of dwarves and then a wave of Orcs, all Undead zombies under the thrall of a death knight. The ground around them looked like it had been through a pitched battle, but all they cared about was to lay siege to the horde and then slowly fall back, killing as many as they could.
Bob had considered going with them. When Borgan got down, Bob realized that they were going to go through with it. Better to give him a snack for the road. Bob and Stella cracked open their water barrel and then pulled out a box of snacks that they had made. They had a lot of jerky that needed to go to Good Home. Song accepted the dry meat, gratefully, bowing and scraping. Combination of Bob skills let him know that there were no zombies that still were a threat nearby. This is to say that all the zombies were dead. Not Undead, just dead.
Otherwise a combination of his skills would tell him where they were. It wasn't hard to see the giant tents that the Orcs had set up well within the Horus. So they just sat there waiting for the Orcs to go and say their piece at maturity.
"What do you think? Stella? Could you imagine losing your entire clan? They're the only ones left from their culture. Whatever culture the Orcs have on this continent," Bob said.
"It's like just another Twist in the knife."
"This whole fucking continent is just a Twist of the knife. They had it the worst. We had it terrible we're going to pick ourselves up and we're going find a way to get some help so I can fix this.”
By the time the Orcs were at the tree line, they had walked around the little plateau Hill a few times. I was thinking about what kind of day he was going to take her on. They're officially, but now he wanted to figure out a way to get her attention from the Stark reality of this world. That stark reality being that there's no hope now. We're going to come for them
They were the best chance that this continent had. Bob might not have liked it, but the truth of the matter was that they were able to
"We need to get a map. Bob. I have no idea how far anything is for anything else and I really feel like I should know that."
"I mean we have three local guides now, and Anthony has been filling in the map as we go. I still wouldn't mind a bit of a local touch though."
They stood there over the network of trenches looking over the inevitable end of conflict. There was only one way that this would end for Bob. There was only one way that it could end.