[Bee Blueglade][Session 1 - Level 0][Part 1]

[Bee Blueglade] walked along a village trail that ran parallel to a river. The sun glinted off the blade, as he cut slices off of an apple, drawing attention to the rivulets of sweat which raced to the ground at his feet. A light breeze pricked at his skin, adding a cool sense of unease to the hot summer day. He shook the feeling off, allowing his feet to carry him to the town’s water mill, where two other villagers stood waiting by the side of the road.

"Hey! What are we looking at?" Bee joined the others.

"The mess left behind for us to deal with." The older of them, Haren Groth, mumbled.

Bee looked down at the riverbank where a waterlogged corpse gently bobbed stuck in the reeds. Its skin was green, its long black hair drifted in the water, Bee took notice of the creature's tusks, and the charred hole through its chest. Bee sighed. Yet another orc left behind by adventurers too lazy to clean up their own mess.

The three most have looked like country hicks to anyone else. Bee was in a baggy shirt and trousers, Haren was wrapped up tightly in his vest, and Rand had a leather jacket on that he always wore. Bee assumed he was proud to own something of such quality craftsmanship. Perhaps he just liked the style.

"Damn orcs." The other villager, Rand Lork, turned and left the group.

Bee and Haren followed Rand up to the water mill. There were four other village men waiting outside the mill along with an elven man. The elf, Alerias Raytheon, acted as the patron of the town. He had funded the village expansions, helped with the imperial taxes, and only took a small cut of the towns profits.

"Thank you all for gathering. As promised each of you will receive five copper coins for cleaning up the mill. Some of you may have heard that last night a party of adventurers took refuge inside and fought off orcs who were on their trail." Alerias, the elf, spoke.

There was a grumble of disapproval from the villagers. No one was happy the adventurers endangered the village. Though something about it filled Bee with curiosity.

“Of course, we’re here to clean the mill, so take note of any repairs that need to be made and throw any corpses you find on the pile. We’ll burn ‘em all at once.” Alerias nodded to a pile of three Orc corpses mixed with wood and kindling.

Bee knew Alerias wouldn’t be lifting a finger to help; the more educated man did not lower himself to physical labor, as he so often proclaimed.

"Alright. Let's get to work." Rand clapped his hands and stepped forward.

Being the biggest of the villagers he often took charge, even though he had no titles, money, or leadership “qualities” (according to Alerias at least). Despite that, Bee was more prone to follow Rand’s orders than Alerias’. The elf had little to do with the daily lives of those in the village.

Bee followed behind Rand as they moved into the mill together. Sunlight poured in from the doorway which cast an eerie glow upon dried blood plastered all across the stonework. The inside was dark, which led some of the villagers to light candles.

With the room illuminated the group of villagers could see broken crates, busted barrels, ripped bags of flour, and a few bodies. One orc was missing its hands, another two burnt to death even though there were no signs of fire damage to the mill, and yet another had his intestines spilt across the stonework. All of them seemed to have been chewed on by the rats which scurried along the basement floor, causing their flesh to look decayed in the flickering candlelight.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The group started to drag the bodies out, throwing them and any crushed barrels and crates they found on the pile as they worked, adding to the growing bonfire. The loose flour was swept up, and the villagers started to scrub the stonework clean with a mixture of soaps and fresh water that Alerias had supplied.

Haren picked up an orc spear, admiring it. A few other weapons were thrown in the fire because of their shoddy workmanship. Bee noticed the older man’s interest with a raised eyebrow. Perhaps the man had grown sentimental in his old age.

Rand found a large wooden beam, a spare piece made for the mill in case the main axle broke. It was slightly out of place. He called over two villagers to help him move it. They all grabbed it and went to lift it up.

Rand quickly let go with a yelp. His finger was bleeding from a small bite mark on it. Rand sucked at the wound and spit the blood out onto the stone. He probably thought the rat’s bite worked like poison, but what could he possibly know about diseases?

"Rats." Rand grumbled.

"Lift the beam again and let me look under." Bee said.

Bee grabbed a candle and set it on the floor. With one hand he grabbed the bottom of the beam and pushed as the other three pulled it up.

Behind the beam, partially crushed by it, was the corpse of an orc. Slightly too muscular, a red tint to their skin, their tusks too big, and curved horns springing from their head. The orc was half in the room, the lower half of its body hanging through a trap door into the basement, a curved black dagger in one hand, and an ax in the other hand broken in three parts.

Bee dragged the orc's corpse out from under the beam. A rat scurried from a wound on the side of the orc and down into the basement, its black fur-covered in blood and gore.

The three villagers moved the axle back towards the wall and set it down. They turned to see Bee's discovery. One of them gasped. Pretty soon all work stopped as the villagers gather around the corpse. Bee grabbed the black orcish dagger from the ground and tucked it into his boot.

"What is it?" Rand leaned forward, daring to get closer than the others.

"A mutated orc?" Haren questioned.

"More like a demon." Bee remarked.

Whispers traveled through the villagers. One man quickly said a prayer under his breath to the spirits of nature that protected the town. This only added to the confusion and panic setting in on their minds.

"Well let's be rid of it." With pragmatic swiftness Rand said as he moved forward to grab it.

All the other villagers, except for Bee, stepped back. He joined Rand and they dragged the strange orc corpse to the fire. The orc had multiple lacerations across his body, as if his opponent wielded a sword. The strange demon-like orc had a stab wound through his chest, something that was definitely fatal, but his throat was slashed too. Could this creature have survived one blow or the other?

Rand and Bee tossed the corpse onto the pile and added more kindling to it. The rest of the villagers finished cleaning the mill but avoided the basement.

As the day grew late, Alerias arrived to pay the workers. He was informed by Rand of the strange orc discovered and the basement full of rats. Alerias turned to the villagers and addressed them.

"If any of you would like to earn an additional 15 copper pieces, please stay as long as is required to clean out the basement. The sooner this mill becomes operational again, the sooner we can make more flour to prepare for winter." Alerias said.

"I'll see it done." Rand stepped forward.

"I can support him." Bee said.

"I'm not gonna be left out of this." Haren joined them.

"I'll stay with you, to help. I know the basement will be dark, so with my sight and supervision this can be done quicker." Alerias stated.

The other villagers took their pay and headed home. Alerias, Rand, Haren, and Bee went into the mill together. Haren and Bee both grabbed lanterns and lit them. Alerias racked a small crossbow.

"A bolter?" Rand raised an eyebrow.

"We are killing rats. What weapon did you bring?" Alerias said.

"I didn't." Rand grabbed a flathead shovel from a rack of tools.

Bee drew his dagger and Haren readied the orcish spear.