By now the sun had set, and darkness had begun to take over the sky. Rick spent an hour or two just resting silently. And apart from the initial conversation he had with Velora, there wasn’t many thoughts being circulated in his mind at the moment.
He was just there sitting motionlessly the entire time.
Until right this second when he stood calmly, and walked over to the two Goblins who were resting silently as well.
POV Rick
“So, are you two rested enough to talk?”
“Yes, My Lord.” It was Kris who spoke up first.
“Good, now…what happened out there?”
“I will explain it all by myself for a smoother flow, is that alright My Lord?”
“That’s fine.”
“Thank you My Lord. I will start by saying that we never made it deep into Orc territory. We were barely at the edge of what we believe their lands are before we were detected. We took off from here and headed north from the tribe next to us, and we continued that way for a bit. On the way north we passed by a few patrols of what appeared to be Tier 3 Orcs, and we also passed by a few scattered patrols of these bird-like beings. They appeared to be made up of Tier 2 and 3 creatures.
“Both groups were easy enough being detected by and we progressed at a steady rate. Taking note of many things along the way. We eventually ran into a settlement for the bird-like creatures, and it was perhaps a few hundred of them present in the settlement. We didn’t go in the settlement, nor did we get particularly close, but from what we could tell, the majority of them were below Tier 3 while a selection of them were Tier 3, and even fewer Tier 4.
“These are just rough estimates based on what we sensed and saw, so our initial findings could be off. We didn’t observe them for long, but one of the things we noticed was their interactions with the Orcs. Although they weren’t treated or spoken to in the same way our brethren were, the Orcs didn’t seem to treat them all the way like equals would either. Or at least that’s how it appeared to us.
“It was after we progressed from there that the problems began. The number of Orcs began to rise significantly the more we travelled, and we passed by two small camps of them. Both camps had around 10 Tier 3 Orcs each and it seemed like staging points for all the tributes they’ve collected. Again, we were able to get pass them with relative ease, but then we made it a bit further and found a larger camp. We though this was the main camp of the Orcs, so we decided to enter it.
“We quickly learned this was not their main camp, after overhearing many conversations referencing some type of War chief, who we presume to be their leader. This was troubling because the entire camp was filled with Tier 4 Orcs and even though we wanted to get more information, we didn’t want to risk being discovered. Though it seems we underestimated the Orcs a bit. No one saw us, but I believe we were identified by smell, and before we knew it a squad of them was upon us and we had no choice but to run.
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“We did our best to lead them away, and run towards the mountain, before heading back towards the forest and attempting to lose them there, but to no avail. The only reason we returned is because of your order to return alive. I apologize for leading enemies to you My Lord.”
“No reason to apologize, you both did good. Thank you for returning alive. If you haven’t eaten yet, please head to the tribe next to us. Jala should have some food.”
“My Lord, we cannot leave you unprotected.” This time it was Krel who spoke up.
“Don’t worry I’ll be waiting here; you guys can go ahead.”
[Look at them Rick, they really don’t want to leave you. You already made Geedi and the others leave as well, don’t do it to them too.]
‘Fine…your probably right.’
“Fine both of you come with me. We’re going to visit Jala.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
‘Sigh this is only going to get worse when I finally reach the clan right?’
[Most likely. I’m sure they will be a massive expansion of the Royal Guards, or perhaps an entire separate division in place just to attend to you.]
‘Hmm, I wonder…though it’s going to be a long time until I get a chance to visit the clans anyway. Plus, now that I think about it a bit, it’s not very feasible to grow a force here, and then worry about a force a significant distance away like the clans. Either we all need to move there, or they need to move here, but based on the information Rogu has given us, both of those options are impossible. Do you think space magic is a thing?’
[Possibly. The tool that allowed Teral to send a message over what is likely to be hundreds of miles back to the clan, implies there are ways to have long distance travel of some sorts. Perhaps space magic is at play in some capacity.]
‘That makes sense. Hopefully we can come up with a way to create some sort of portal to connect both places so that we don’t have to worry about the distance any longer.’
[Perhaps that something a Maglin at the higher levels will be able to assist with.]
‘Perhaps.’
Eventually, Rick and the two Goblins following silently at his side arrived at the tribe in the dark of night. The tribe was mostly quiet with most of the Goblins sleeping, but there was 1 Goblin standing watch and after spotting Rick and recognizing who exactly he spotted, he gave them a really big wave and after the wave was returned by Rick he took off towards one of the tents in the small tribe.
Before long, Jala was seen coming along with the lone Goblin who was on watch.
“Ah sorry to wake you up Jala, it kind of slipped my mind that you all would be asleep at this time. Actually…now that I think about it, I forgot to send someone to inform you of what’s about to happen. C’mon let’s find somewhere to sit we have a lot to discuss.”