Eternal
This is really annoying.
You cut down the orc you wounded from before. You knew he wasn’t getting far in this blizzard. Unfortunately you’ve lost sight of Flog again. You’ll pick up the trail again to be sure, but this whole thing is a complete waste of time.
If Cyrus hadn’t pissed off the orcs, they could’ve been sent to prevent Kane from destroying another town. Instead the Flog and his merry little band have been raiding the little villages north of Fort Defiance, villages that were supporting the shadows.
This can’t continue and will not continue.
A cave lies up ahead, knowing Flog he’s probably set up some sort of crude ambush, but that’s where he’s going to be. You need to get out of this blizzard anyway before you freeze. Shadows don’t have any magic that keeps you warm after all.
You’d like to where Cyrus is since he’s supposed to be helping you in this task. (This is fault after all) You told him to not to bother chasing those other orcs as they were obviously just a distraction.
The cave provides welcoming warmth from the cold outside. It also provides a welcoming committee in the form of three ogres. This would be Flog’s crude ambush.
You dodge the first ogre trying to cave your head in with a club and make a deep slash across his great fat belly. Innards are emptied out onto the cave floor along with a foul odor. The other two ogres knock over their mortally wounded companion in his own blood and shit to reach you.
As powerful as they are, ogres in your experience have never been particular good fighters. It’s over reliance on brute strength and no match for your own abilities. A lot easier than trolls that’s for sure. You never want to have to fight one of those things again.
You easily avoid the ogres’ attacks and hamstring the pair of them before they even know what’s going on. You jump on the back of one of them and put a dagger through the back of his neck. He throws you off as he gags on his own blood.
The last ogre crawls at you while you shake off the cobwebs of being thrown into the cave wall. A familiar “shhh thunk!” sound is heard and you see a bolt going through the eye of the ogre. He continues to crawl at you for a moment before succumbing to brain death. You look to your left and see Cyrus loading up another bolt in his armbow.
“These creatures were always unworthy of being in the presence of Dendrin’s faithful to begin with.” Cyrus says calmly
“Where have you been?”
“I got lost in the blizzard temporarily when I was chasing those orcs. I’m here now so let’s finish this brother.”
You shake you head sometimes wondering why you don’t just kill him and declare yourself shadow master, but he’s still got enough followers to make that problematic and thanks to this orc distraction, you need his help. There’s also the fact that Talia would still prefer you to somehow find a way to work it out with him. There have been times where you think you have, but then there is some sort of disagreement and the both of you are back where you started.
You figure all of the same reasons are why Cyrus hasn’t attempted to kill you and declare himself shadow master. He certainly could get away with it up here in the hinterlands and you sort of wondered if that’s why he agreed to come with you on this mission. He could kill you and then claim you fell in battle. Who’d really know? But again, he needs you, probably even more than he’d like to admit. You also know that perhaps somewhere within him, he’d prefer that you’d be on better terms as well.
The pair of you travel further into the cave and eventually you come across a single figure standing by a small fire. It’s Flog.
“Shadows, Flog sees that you have finally tracked him.”
“Wasn’t exactly difficult considering all the raiding you were doing. You really brought this upon yourself Flog.” You answer.
“How else are we supposed to sustain ourselves? Can’t farm in this land and orcs not farmers anyway. Hunting is scarce lately. Too much competition with giants and unfriendly ogre tribes. Humie villages have lots of supplies. They have more than enough. Stupid for having a settlement in hostile territory anyway.”
“It wasn’t excessively hostile until you started raiding them and two, those supplies are to help the rebellion against the Empire, you do remember that war remember?”
“Flog remembers. Flog remembers all too well since shadows just used orcs as sword fodder to hide behind. Shadows no better than the Empire.”
At this point Cyrus speaks up. “Why are we wasting words on this savage, let us kill the beast the be done with it.”
“Huh, you seemed to hide the most. If not for pretty female shadow, Flog would’ve killed you a long time ago.”
“Enough! Flog, your alliance with the shadows while probably not ideal, it was to your benefit. Since our split, the Empire has managed to make a small come back here in Rask. If the Empire gets strong enough to defeat us, you know you’ll be next.”
“Bah! Flog not care anymore! Empire is weak enough now. Empire will never be able to tame the upper reaches of Rask. Flog will make his home there and be free. Empire YOU shadows problem now.”
“Very well Flog, but there’s one problem with that plan. Namely you’re not getting out of this cave to be able to live free. You won’t be living at all in fact.”
“Oh…right…Flog see…”
At this point you fully expect Flog to make a last moment attack, but he doesn’t, instead he takes his hand away from his weapon.
“Anyway Flog can convince shadows?” he asks.
“Wait, are you seriously trying to negotiate?” you ask
“Yeah, if it gets Flog to live.”
You can’t help but chuckle a little. Talia always told you Flog was intelligent for an orc. You can only imagine how intelligent Captain Gruz was considering he was the originator of this orc rebellion. Cyrus of course isn’t finding this amusing at all.
“Why are you laughing? This orc scum insults Dendrin and us! I’m putting an end to this…”
Cyrus attempts to shoot Flog with his armbow, but you stop him from doing so and the bolt flies harmlessly into the wall. This would be a perfect time for Flog to try to escape, but he doesn’t. Either he’s smart enough to know you’d just find him again, or he’s serious about coming to some sort of agreement. This situation isn’t totally unsalvageable with Flog, but it certainly makes your current situation with Cyrus worse.
“Brother, you deal with this orc barbarian if you wish, but I’ll not have any part of it! And if whatever deal you make with it bites all of us, I will be the first one to make sure you pay for your poor decisions! I make this vow to Dendrin himself!” Cyrus exclaims and storms off.
After a brief moment of silence, you speak to Flog.
“Alright Flog, this is a negotiation, but you won’t be changing anything about them because everything is going to be on MY terms. Okay first off, you can’t raid the villages north of Fort Defiance anymore. The people are expecting the shadows to protect them and we can’t do that AND fight the Empire. I think you know what takes precedence, however if we can’t protect them, they won’t give us any supplies because they’re either losing them to you or they lose faith in us and won’t help.”
“But if Flog don’t do that, what remains of my tribe will see me as weak and kill me anyway.”
“Yes I know. And we’d just be left with the same problem. So this is what I want you to do. I don’t want you to raid the villages.I want you to enslave them.”
“You want Flog to enslave the villages?”
“Yes, I assume you still have enough orcs to do it, and if you don’t I’m sure you can also engage in your favorite past time of beating up ogres into submission to join you. In fact I’d prefer you to do that, just so we don’t have to deal with those big lugs sniffing around the fort. They waste our time. So enslave the villagers and you’ll never have to raid them again and you can take what you want when you want…and when the shadows want.”
“Hur hur…Flog see now. Won’t that make shadows look bad?”
“Who is going to know? It isn’t like many people travel back and forth past Fort Defiance, let alone to those remote villages. Just keep anyone from escaping and we should be fine. I trust you’ll be able to handle all this.”
“Sure, sure. Flog can do all that. Giants might still be a problem, but Flog will find a way.”
“Glad to hear it. I’m counting on you to keep that savage north tamed up there, while we can focus on the Empire.”
“Hrmmm, lotta faith in Flog. Though you shadow only place faith in your god.”
“I place faith in your desire to live. Talia’s told me about how smart you are before. I know you can see this to be a good deal for you. You get to be practically independent and a leader and all you have to do is supply us every once in awhile. Better than dying by my hand I’d imagine.”
“Huh yes good deal. Liked pretty shadow female, always dealt straight with Flog. Still not as pretty as orc female. Too skinny and not green enough. Good mate for you though.”
“Heh, yes well I certainly think so.”
“Alright shadow. Flog agree…but one question. How you know that Flog not eventually raise army to attack you in the future?”
“Because…” you smile. “I also have faith that you dislike Cyrus so much that you’d rather prove him wrong by NOT attacking me.”
With this statement Flog lets out a hearty laugh and you leave him to his mirth. He may become a problem in the future, but for now you’ve got him back on your side and eliminated the source of trouble to the north of you.
On your way out of the cave Cyrus stands waiting and asks you if you killed Flog, you tell him you took care of the problem. Cyrus just gives one of his trademark dirty looks and walks ahead of you.
One thing’s for sure; if your relationship with Cyrus doesn’t get better you’ll be dealing with that problem before one with Flog.
You cut down the orc you wounded from before. You knew he wasn’t getting far in this blizzard. Unfortunately you’ve lost sight of Flog again. You’ll pick up the trail again to be sure, but this whole thing is a complete waste of time.
If Cyrus hadn’t pissed off the orcs, they could’ve been sent to prevent Kane from destroying another town. Instead the Flog and his merry little band have been raiding the little villages north of Fort Defiance, villages that were supporting the shadows.
This can’t continue and will not continue.
A cave lies up ahead, knowing Flog he’s probably set up some sort of crude ambush, but that’s where he’s going to be. You need to get out of this blizzard anyway before you freeze. Shadows don’t have any magic that keeps you warm after all.
You’d like to where Cyrus is since he’s supposed to be helping you in this task. (This is fault after all) You told him to not to bother chasing those other orcs as they were obviously just a distraction.
The cave provides welcoming warmth from the cold outside. It also provides a welcoming committee in the form of three ogres. This would be Flog’s crude ambush.
You dodge the first ogre trying to cave your head in with a club and make a deep slash across his great fat belly. Innards are emptied out onto the cave floor along with a foul odor. The other two ogres knock over their mortally wounded companion in his own blood and shit to reach you.
As powerful as they are, ogres in your experience have never been particular good fighters. It’s over reliance on brute strength and no match for your own abilities. A lot easier than trolls that’s for sure. You never want to have to fight one of those things again.
You easily avoid the ogres’ attacks and hamstring the pair of them before they even know what’s going on. You jump on the back of one of them and put a dagger through the back of his neck. He throws you off as he gags on his own blood.
The last ogre crawls at you while you shake off the cobwebs of being thrown into the cave wall. A familiar “shhh thunk!” sound is heard and you see a bolt going through the eye of the ogre. He continues to crawl at you for a moment before succumbing to brain death. You look to your left and see Cyrus loading up another bolt in his armbow.
“These creatures were always unworthy of being in the presence of Dendrin’s faithful to begin with.” Cyrus says calmly
“Where have you been?”
“I got lost in the blizzard temporarily when I was chasing those orcs. I’m here now so let’s finish this brother.”
You shake you head sometimes wondering why you don’t just kill him and declare yourself shadow master, but he’s still got enough followers to make that problematic and thanks to this orc distraction, you need his help. There’s also the fact that Talia would still prefer you to somehow find a way to work it out with him. There have been times where you think you have, but then there is some sort of disagreement and the both of you are back where you started.
You figure all of the same reasons are why Cyrus hasn’t attempted to kill you and declare himself shadow master. He certainly could get away with it up here in the hinterlands and you sort of wondered if that’s why he agreed to come with you on this mission. He could kill you and then claim you fell in battle. Who’d really know? But again, he needs you, probably even more than he’d like to admit. You also know that perhaps somewhere within him, he’d prefer that you’d be on better terms as well.
The pair of you travel further into the cave and eventually you come across a single figure standing by a small fire. It’s Flog.
“Shadows, Flog sees that you have finally tracked him.”
“Wasn’t exactly difficult considering all the raiding you were doing. You really brought this upon yourself Flog.” You answer.
“How else are we supposed to sustain ourselves? Can’t farm in this land and orcs not farmers anyway. Hunting is scarce lately. Too much competition with giants and unfriendly ogre tribes. Humie villages have lots of supplies. They have more than enough. Stupid for having a settlement in hostile territory anyway.”
“It wasn’t excessively hostile until you started raiding them and two, those supplies are to help the rebellion against the Empire, you do remember that war remember?”
“Flog remembers. Flog remembers all too well since shadows just used orcs as sword fodder to hide behind. Shadows no better than the Empire.”
At this point Cyrus speaks up. “Why are we wasting words on this savage, let us kill the beast the be done with it.”
“Huh, you seemed to hide the most. If not for pretty female shadow, Flog would’ve killed you a long time ago.”
“Enough! Flog, your alliance with the shadows while probably not ideal, it was to your benefit. Since our split, the Empire has managed to make a small come back here in Rask. If the Empire gets strong enough to defeat us, you know you’ll be next.”
“Bah! Flog not care anymore! Empire is weak enough now. Empire will never be able to tame the upper reaches of Rask. Flog will make his home there and be free. Empire YOU shadows problem now.”
“Very well Flog, but there’s one problem with that plan. Namely you’re not getting out of this cave to be able to live free. You won’t be living at all in fact.”
“Oh…right…Flog see…”
At this point you fully expect Flog to make a last moment attack, but he doesn’t, instead he takes his hand away from his weapon.
“Anyway Flog can convince shadows?” he asks.
“Wait, are you seriously trying to negotiate?” you ask
“Yeah, if it gets Flog to live.”
You can’t help but chuckle a little. Talia always told you Flog was intelligent for an orc. You can only imagine how intelligent Captain Gruz was considering he was the originator of this orc rebellion. Cyrus of course isn’t finding this amusing at all.
“Why are you laughing? This orc scum insults Dendrin and us! I’m putting an end to this…”
Cyrus attempts to shoot Flog with his armbow, but you stop him from doing so and the bolt flies harmlessly into the wall. This would be a perfect time for Flog to try to escape, but he doesn’t. Either he’s smart enough to know you’d just find him again, or he’s serious about coming to some sort of agreement. This situation isn’t totally unsalvageable with Flog, but it certainly makes your current situation with Cyrus worse.
“Brother, you deal with this orc barbarian if you wish, but I’ll not have any part of it! And if whatever deal you make with it bites all of us, I will be the first one to make sure you pay for your poor decisions! I make this vow to Dendrin himself!” Cyrus exclaims and storms off.
After a brief moment of silence, you speak to Flog.
“Alright Flog, this is a negotiation, but you won’t be changing anything about them because everything is going to be on MY terms. Okay first off, you can’t raid the villages north of Fort Defiance anymore. The people are expecting the shadows to protect them and we can’t do that AND fight the Empire. I think you know what takes precedence, however if we can’t protect them, they won’t give us any supplies because they’re either losing them to you or they lose faith in us and won’t help.”
“But if Flog don’t do that, what remains of my tribe will see me as weak and kill me anyway.”
“Yes I know. And we’d just be left with the same problem. So this is what I want you to do. I don’t want you to raid the villages.I want you to enslave them.”
“You want Flog to enslave the villages?”
“Yes, I assume you still have enough orcs to do it, and if you don’t I’m sure you can also engage in your favorite past time of beating up ogres into submission to join you. In fact I’d prefer you to do that, just so we don’t have to deal with those big lugs sniffing around the fort. They waste our time. So enslave the villagers and you’ll never have to raid them again and you can take what you want when you want…and when the shadows want.”
“Hur hur…Flog see now. Won’t that make shadows look bad?”
“Who is going to know? It isn’t like many people travel back and forth past Fort Defiance, let alone to those remote villages. Just keep anyone from escaping and we should be fine. I trust you’ll be able to handle all this.”
“Sure, sure. Flog can do all that. Giants might still be a problem, but Flog will find a way.”
“Glad to hear it. I’m counting on you to keep that savage north tamed up there, while we can focus on the Empire.”
“Hrmmm, lotta faith in Flog. Though you shadow only place faith in your god.”
“I place faith in your desire to live. Talia’s told me about how smart you are before. I know you can see this to be a good deal for you. You get to be practically independent and a leader and all you have to do is supply us every once in awhile. Better than dying by my hand I’d imagine.”
“Huh yes good deal. Liked pretty shadow female, always dealt straight with Flog. Still not as pretty as orc female. Too skinny and not green enough. Good mate for you though.”
“Heh, yes well I certainly think so.”
“Alright shadow. Flog agree…but one question. How you know that Flog not eventually raise army to attack you in the future?”
“Because…” you smile. “I also have faith that you dislike Cyrus so much that you’d rather prove him wrong by NOT attacking me.”
With this statement Flog lets out a hearty laugh and you leave him to his mirth. He may become a problem in the future, but for now you’ve got him back on your side and eliminated the source of trouble to the north of you.
On your way out of the cave Cyrus stands waiting and asks you if you killed Flog, you tell him you took care of the problem. Cyrus just gives one of his trademark dirty looks and walks ahead of you.
One thing’s for sure; if your relationship with Cyrus doesn’t get better you’ll be dealing with that problem before one with Flog.