Eternal
Gruz may have saved your life, but you are not about to let him make thinly veiled threats of rebellion if his requests aren’t met.
“Captain, you are a soldier of the Empire! ALL of your men are! YOU and they should be grateful that they are even serving in such a capacity! If you or any of the others feel that your duty is not being adequately appreciated then maybe you’d all like to be trash collectors instead? Perhaps working on a chain gang like so many of those ungrateful elves do? Or how about you never have to worry about anyone not appreciating you ever again by having the lot of you executed for treason?”
Gruz’s face is one of shame; he almost looks sorry he spoke, as well he should be.
“I…I did not mean to imply any sort of disloyalty to the Empire sir, I just spoke my thoughts as you said I could.”
“Do not try to blame me for your thoughts of sedition! I expect this sort of talk from a svelk, but not from an officer of the Empire! Know this captain, I WILL be making a report to the Emperor himself about this and you better hope for your sake that he shows mercy by only stripping you of the rank that he saw fit to allow you to achieve in the first place! Now I’d advise that you tell everyone they need to get some rest because we still have a job of wiping out the rest of this rebellious scum. Dismissed!”
You leave the captain to pondering his poor choice of words to return to your own tent. You’re still pissed about the whole scenario. Did he really think he could get away with such a thing? The nerve. You guess you were right in treating him like a lowly subordinate right from the beginning. You see now that allowing him to speak as an “equal” only gave him the idea that he could start demanding things.
If he hadn’t proved to be such a competent warrior and leader you may have very well had Gruz executed, as it stands though he can finish out what will probably be his last days as an officer, possibly as a soldier. In any event its time for you to get some rest.
In the middle of the night you suddenly hear gruff voices calling for you to wake up and exclaiming the camp is under attack. You immediately wake up, grab your sword and rush out of your tent ready to face the counter rebel attack. Unfortunately it isn’t a counter attack its an ambush. It isn’t the rebels either, or at least not the ones you’ve been fighting.
You feel a blow to the back of your head, which forces you to the ground. You’re dazed, but you feel several strong hands grab all your limbs and start trying them together like an animal. You see orcs and svelk working side by side in this act of treachery.
“It is regrettable that it has come to this, but you left me with no choice. I fucking worked hard for my rank and I’ll not let some young runt that has the ear of the Emperor mess that up.” Gruz says as his men tie you up.
“You really think you’ll get away with this?” you exclaim trying to struggle free.
“Actually yes. Yes I will. You might’ve made an impression with your little display to my men before, but they were ALWAYS more loyal to me. And as for the svelk…well I think you know how they really feel about you. You see, you were partially right in that I was considering that we orcs should go our own way, possibly even with the help of the shadows since I’m wise enough to know that we’d never be able to break free on our own. However seeing as the shadows have been all but wiped out now, I saw the only opportunity I could to advance myself and my people and that was possibly gain your assistance in the matter since you seemed to be a reasonable sort even if you were initially an asshole. I didn’t think you had more asshole in you than reason though. A mistake on my part and one I’m going to fix.”
“You’re going to die like ALL traitors, you…” you are interrupted when one of the svelk kicks you in the face.
“You might be right, but not today. You on the other hand will be dying and the hands of traitors though of course we’ll be blaming it on the other ones.”
While you’re in your semi-conscious state, Gruz crouches down with a large dagger in hand.
“Sorry kid, but you brought this on yourself.” Is the last thing you hear before Gruz slits your throat. Afterwards they chop up your body and throw the pieces in various parts of the swamp where they are ultimately feasted upon by scavenging Sul Monkeys.
True to his word, Gruz tells his superiors that your death came by the hands of the rebels and that you died in a glorious battle against three shadows. The Emperor laments your death for a few days, but soon comes to the conclusion that if you were dispatched so easily then you must not have been worthy anyway.
“Captain, you are a soldier of the Empire! ALL of your men are! YOU and they should be grateful that they are even serving in such a capacity! If you or any of the others feel that your duty is not being adequately appreciated then maybe you’d all like to be trash collectors instead? Perhaps working on a chain gang like so many of those ungrateful elves do? Or how about you never have to worry about anyone not appreciating you ever again by having the lot of you executed for treason?”
Gruz’s face is one of shame; he almost looks sorry he spoke, as well he should be.
“I…I did not mean to imply any sort of disloyalty to the Empire sir, I just spoke my thoughts as you said I could.”
“Do not try to blame me for your thoughts of sedition! I expect this sort of talk from a svelk, but not from an officer of the Empire! Know this captain, I WILL be making a report to the Emperor himself about this and you better hope for your sake that he shows mercy by only stripping you of the rank that he saw fit to allow you to achieve in the first place! Now I’d advise that you tell everyone they need to get some rest because we still have a job of wiping out the rest of this rebellious scum. Dismissed!”
You leave the captain to pondering his poor choice of words to return to your own tent. You’re still pissed about the whole scenario. Did he really think he could get away with such a thing? The nerve. You guess you were right in treating him like a lowly subordinate right from the beginning. You see now that allowing him to speak as an “equal” only gave him the idea that he could start demanding things.
If he hadn’t proved to be such a competent warrior and leader you may have very well had Gruz executed, as it stands though he can finish out what will probably be his last days as an officer, possibly as a soldier. In any event its time for you to get some rest.
In the middle of the night you suddenly hear gruff voices calling for you to wake up and exclaiming the camp is under attack. You immediately wake up, grab your sword and rush out of your tent ready to face the counter rebel attack. Unfortunately it isn’t a counter attack its an ambush. It isn’t the rebels either, or at least not the ones you’ve been fighting.
You feel a blow to the back of your head, which forces you to the ground. You’re dazed, but you feel several strong hands grab all your limbs and start trying them together like an animal. You see orcs and svelk working side by side in this act of treachery.
“It is regrettable that it has come to this, but you left me with no choice. I fucking worked hard for my rank and I’ll not let some young runt that has the ear of the Emperor mess that up.” Gruz says as his men tie you up.
“You really think you’ll get away with this?” you exclaim trying to struggle free.
“Actually yes. Yes I will. You might’ve made an impression with your little display to my men before, but they were ALWAYS more loyal to me. And as for the svelk…well I think you know how they really feel about you. You see, you were partially right in that I was considering that we orcs should go our own way, possibly even with the help of the shadows since I’m wise enough to know that we’d never be able to break free on our own. However seeing as the shadows have been all but wiped out now, I saw the only opportunity I could to advance myself and my people and that was possibly gain your assistance in the matter since you seemed to be a reasonable sort even if you were initially an asshole. I didn’t think you had more asshole in you than reason though. A mistake on my part and one I’m going to fix.”
“You’re going to die like ALL traitors, you…” you are interrupted when one of the svelk kicks you in the face.
“You might be right, but not today. You on the other hand will be dying and the hands of traitors though of course we’ll be blaming it on the other ones.”
While you’re in your semi-conscious state, Gruz crouches down with a large dagger in hand.
“Sorry kid, but you brought this on yourself.” Is the last thing you hear before Gruz slits your throat. Afterwards they chop up your body and throw the pieces in various parts of the swamp where they are ultimately feasted upon by scavenging Sul Monkeys.
True to his word, Gruz tells his superiors that your death came by the hands of the rebels and that you died in a glorious battle against three shadows. The Emperor laments your death for a few days, but soon comes to the conclusion that if you were dispatched so easily then you must not have been worthy anyway.
