I awoke from a deep sleep to screams, jumping up to see what was going on I smash my face into the rock ledge that was only inches away from me while I slept. Once the stars began to fade I started to slide out from under the ledge. I pulled my hand back into the crevice quickly and held my breath as feet stomped by me at a run, they were definitely not human feet. I waited a minute and after the last set of feet passed I slid out from the crack. I could still hear shouts from down the hall but the sounds were fading like the battle was moving away from me. Pulling out my sling I set an exploding stone in it and move down the tunnel at a slow jog while trying to stay in the shadows.

When I came to the branching tunnel where the larger parties camp had been I found bodies littered everywhere. It looked like nearly all of the party had been killed and I stop just in time to see a line of orcs carrying some of the slaves away. The three of them were bound and still kicking though one wasn't struggling very much anymore. She had many wounds and I doubted she would survive to wherever the orcs were taking them.

I was sure that she was the lucky one, the man and woman that were still fighting seem to be uninjured for now but who knows how long that would last. I couldn’t see Shitter anywhere so it must have been him and the rest of his party still battling further down the tunnel. Waiting for the orcs to leave I slunk out into the corridor and was happy to discover that the bodies hadn't been looted yet. Quickly picking thru the area I found a crude stone knife, a rusty short sword and one of the burlap sacks that the slaves were carrying.

Taking my scribe out I mark the tunnel where the orcs had went with a small O near the floor. Somewhere it wouldn’t be noticeable unless you knew exactly where to look. I wanted to know where they went so I knew which way not to go when I left the area. After marking the wall I began to hear loud grunts coming from the tunnel and I sprinted the other direction. If I got caught while looting their kills I would probably be the next one bound and slung over an orcs shoulder. I was just about to sprint through a tunnel directly opposite the orcs when I heard another scream coming from the next one over.

Changing directions mid stride I went down that tunnel, if there weren't many I may be able to help whoever is still alive that way. I thought I was making a huge mistake but didn't care, I was getting tired of sneaking around alone. At the time I felt that even Shitters company would have been better than being alone.

I didn't have to worry about being stuck conversing with Shitter for long, I tripped over his body and did a faceplant on the other side of him. Lucky for me none of my stones went off when I hit the ground, that would have been a messy end had they all gone off in the sack at my side. With a sigh of relief that I was still alive and not another death caused by Mr. Shitter here I stood and dusted myself off.

Looking up I was just in time to see an orc slam his club into the wall as a woman ducked under him. She dashed past the orc but didn't get far. She was suddenly jerked back by her colar as if she had hit the end of her chain. As she hit the limit on her tether to the masters bracelet her neck was stopped and her feet went out from under her.

Turning back to Shitters corpse I grabbed his arm and yanked the bracelet off. After sliding it onto my own arm I ran towards the pair still fighting up the tunnel. To my surprise she was still on the ground and scooting away on her butt while the orc stood over her laughing. When she hit the end of her tether again I felt a tug on my arm, alerting me that one of my slaves was trying to leave it's range.

Setting the smallest of my exploding stones in my sling I began to spin it over my head while I crept closer. Building up momentum I was waiting for the right moment to let it fly. The orc still looming over her, untied a strap at his waist and his pants fell to the ground, showing both me and the girl his large orc junk. Bending down to grab the girl, both her and the orc were surprised when she was able to scoot back further.

Just as the orc stood upright and started to turn towards me I let loose my stone, sending a silent prayer to any who might hear that my aim was true. I had aimed for the orcs back but if I was off just a bit I could very well hit the girl and then I would have an angry, uninjured and half naked orc on my hands.

Luckily, my aim was good enough and the stone struck the orc on his left ass cheek which had been pointed at me when it began to turn my way. There was a loud boom that echoed down the tunnel in both directions. When the smoke and dust cleared the orc was flailing on the ground his left leg severed at the hip. What was left of his leg lay on the ground across the tunnel. The girl just sat there dazed, both hands over her ears staring at me as I inserted another stone in my sling.

The second stone was not needed though, as I began to spin up my sling again the girl recovered. Standing and walking over near the tunnel wall where the orcs severed leg had landed, She bent and picked up a rusty knife. Moving to the orc she began stabbing him repeatedly until it stopped moving. By the time she finished stabbing the corpse she had its blood all over her body.

Although quite gruesome she was very pretty, standing there naked in front of me all covered in blood, I blushed hard before turning away. I seen a blur out of the corner of my eye too late, by the time I turned back to her she had already launched herself at me. Before I knew what hit me she was on top of me with her knife to my throat. Her muscles bulged as she pressed the knife to my neck with all her strength. With a growl of frustration she backed up and slumped in defeat before me.

“What will you do with me master?” She asked, venom clear in her voice.

“Well for one thing you can be happy I didn't just let the orc have his way with you and sneak by while he was busy” I said in reply.

Afterall I had just rescued her from a fate I think even she would admit would be worse than having Shitter’s paws all over her.

“That’s not how I was brought up though so, you can thank my parents for making me a morally upstanding citizen.”

A snort was all I got from her in response and I heard some mumbling beneath her breath, though I only caught the words morally and dungeon.

“What was that?” I ask angrily, annoyed after having risked my life to help her. She’s all attitude, I figured she would be a little more grateful and a little less bitchy about having been rescued.

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“I said, what kind of morally upstanding man gets tossed in here, only people like him end up here.” she says pointing to Shitters corpse.

“Well for your information, i'm only here cause I gave a girl a necklace. The duke didn't like his daughter hugging me after receiving the gift and well here I am.”

After a grunt in reply she asks “so you just decided to pick up the master bracelet and put it on your arm cause it's pretty?”

Well she had me there, I did have ulterior motives when grabbing it. When contemplating killing off Shitter I remembered seeing free men fight over slaves who had dead masters, the slave, being better trained in combat killed both the men fighting over her and then died herself to goblins since she couldn’t leave the place her master had died.

I decided earlier that if I got the chance to kill him, I had to get the bracelet as quickly as possible or they would all cut me down. Relaying the fact that she couldn’t kill me while I wore it as the main reason I had put it on she shrugged, not even denying the fact that she had meant to even after I killed the orc for her.

“Let’s go before more orcs come.” I announce while stuffing the orcs pants into my sack. Stopping to grab Shitters sword I look at it for a moment before tossing it to the ground in front of her.

“This is the best sword our group had.” she said lifting it and running a hand down it's length.

“You'll probably want to grab Shitters belt with the sheath and his other stuff.” I said gesturing to the body.

“I'm Llond, by the way, what's your name?”

“Why do you keep calling him shitter?” she asked Instead of giving me her name.

“Well he was an asshole, the worst kind of person that twists your gut in disgust when thinking about them, similar to the way the stench of a shitter does in the summer.” I replied with a shrug.

“I hadn’t thought of it that way” she said Laughing.

“The others would have gotten a good laugh at that, we would have all been calling him shitter secretly for sure” She said the last bit sadly, probably realizing that they must all be dead by now.

“Well three of your allies were still alive last time I saw them, they were bound and orcs were carrying them off down another tunnel.”

I asked for her name again but only got silence in reply and after gesturing back towards the intersection said “let’s go see if the orcs left any loot.”

Nodding she silently followed me back through the tunnels to the intersection that their camp had been in. Only blood stains remained when we arrived, even the orc and goblins bodies had been taken. In all my time watching the dungeon I can't remember ever seeing a goblin or orc encampment so they must block it from the viewing mirrors. I wasn't sure but I figured that they ate their own dead as well as the humans. Why else would they take all the bodies, with all this stone I doubt they bury them.

“Do you want to try and rescue your friends?” I asked hoping the offer to get her friends back would cheer her up a bit.

“You need more playthings? One isn't enough for you?” she said sneering in disgust.

“Yes I would like more bodies on my side, if we have a few more people we may be able to make it to the village. With my skills we could find safety inside the village, they wouldn't turn a runesman away.”

“You would really attempt to rescue them?”

After nodding in the affirmative I showed her the mark I had made before I found her.

“This is the tunnel the orcs carried your friends down, if we’re quiet we should be able to sneak up on them and plan how to free the prisoners”

We ended up deciding to try and rescue the prisoners if possible.

“If we're lucky they’ll wait to eat them until after all the dead bodies are gone.” I suggested hoping to lighten her mood.

Sneaking down the passage we finally came to a Y in the road, we could easily see the drag marks along the path to the right and continue down it. Pulling out my journal I began making a small map marking the paths we had taken and the available options so we wouldn't get lost as easily. I know that they change the dungeon from time to time but I can't imagine they do it that often. Keeping up with the tried and true method of sneaking from shadow to shadow we finally found the orc camp.

The orcs camp was located on the far side of an enormous cavern, the camp itself wasn't all that large though. There was rubble piled up in a ring at one end of the cavern which formed a small barricade. There were smaller caves that looked to be the creatures homes carved out of the back wall.

We could see goblins chipping away at the wall in another location with rocks. There was a large fire in the middle of the encampment and I could see the pile of bodies from the battle next to it, they definitely intended to eat the dead. We ended up having to move closer in order to get a clearer picture of the camp. Without being able to see in all those small caves it would be hard to determine how many orcs remained and where the prisoners were kept.

Once closer I noticed only one of the caves had a door, just as I pointed out the door it opened. A massive naked orc was crawling out of the small cave and when the orc stood he wasn't the only thing standing upright. Either the orc leader had just had some fun with it's mate or we knew where the prisoners were kept. Considering how I had found the orc with my current companion, it was easy to assume that it was the latter option. Feeling sorry for the female prisoners and hoping that they were still alive after the orcs attention we discussed the best way to remove the orcs without accidentally killing the human captives.

Looking around I began collecting some larger stones, small enough to still throw but large enough that they will make a nice big explosion. After passing her the extra sack I had snagged and several of my explosive stones I explained their use and began scribing the larger stones.

My plan was to toss them at each of the cave entrances and hopefully cause a cave in, trapping the creatures inside. If it worked as planned, we would only have to deal with the few goblins outside and any that were in the cave with a door. My biggest fear was that we might bring the entire cavern crashing down on our heads, if that happened, we'd all be screwed.

I also took a few moments scribing her sword with protection runes to help it not break again. Cutting up the pants I was able to fashion a loincloth for her and after adding the leftover leather cord I had, gave her a top as well, the material smelled awful but at least this way I was able to look at her without turning several shades of red.

There was enough material left over that if we were able to rescue anyone we could clothe the whole group. I put runes of protection on her top specifically to protect her and not the cloth, it wouldn't hold up much but might save her from a nasty cut or two before the top fell to ash. We decided that sneaking in as close as possible before assaulting the camp would be best. She would deliver the larger stones to each cave and I would use my sling and focus on the goblin miners and any of the monsters that got to close.

Waiting until the orcs went to sleep gave me plenty of time to work, I had finished all my rune work and fixing her clothes well before the camp bedded down for the night. We had discovered that one of the caves was for storage, two were for the five remaining orcs and the last cave was for all the goblins that served the orcs.

Just as we were preparing to dash out of our hiding place and attack she grabbed my arm keeping me in the shadows. I saw movement in the corner of my eye and looking in that direction spotted several dark figures racing towards the camp, so much for simple plans.