Phantom Limbs: Adrift on the Orphan Sea

Game Master TheLogicOfCrocodiles

The maggot lurches, keening and bleeding, under a veritable barrage of attacks. A few seconds later it spasms and falls, slumping to the ground and seeming to deflate and flatten as the sweet, honey-like juices spill from uncountable tears.

The orcs around you begin to shout, each claiming ultimate victory over the beast, that their axe or arrow had been the one to finally drop the beast. Only one figure from the band does not join in the revelry, retreating from the jostling crowd and walking the short distance over to John.

It is what you assume is the warband leader, and he brings one hand gently down on your shoulder, John, before he speaks.

'Er du der, bror? Selv et fengsel av menneskekjøtt ville være et bedre hjem for din sjel enn buken på et dyr. Vennligst, som ett søsken til en annen - gi meg et tegn.'

His dark eyes search your face, with maybe a glimmer of hope.

can you translate that for me, shallrana? And translate for them when I speak?
John looks at the orcs face with his metal eyes, glinting redly in the gloom.

Roger smacks it one more time for good measure, then turns to the orcs "alright then, who are you lot? what do you want?"

Lady Sallrana comes back down to the ground, and walks over to Jack looking over at John and the Orc Warband leader.
As she walks she spins her revolver and slips it back into its holster.

To Jack she says

"So Jack what now"

Roger, the orcs do not pause in their celebration - you don't think they even understand common.

"ah, hell, bloody savages! can't even speak a proper tongue!"

Roger pauses and then looks thoughtfully, which seems an odd expression on his face "You don't think they wanna eat us, do you?"

Baldwin slumps slightly in relief, this was his first experience with this kind of creature and it left him winded. He leans on his hammer, hoping to use it as support for his shaking legs while his head cleared of that sweet cloying smell.

When Roger speaks, Baldwin looks over at him. "I really doubt that they want to eat us, but I could be wrong."

Roger looks at Baldwin and says "True, what with the metal in me back, I'm probably not all that tasty."

turning to the orcs, Roger begins speaking loudly and slowly "I.AM.NOT.FOR.EATING. I.HAVE.METAL.IN.ME.BACK.THAT.WOULD.BREAK.YOUR.TUSKS"

there. that oughta set them straight.

Lady Sallrna looks up at the sky.

"Roger if they wanted to eat us or do anything to us they could have done so wile we slept. I think they knew that thing was her and had some of their war band looking over this site. This site being where we put up camp. No be a dear and let Jack do the talking from here on. May save us a fight later"

She looks over at John.

Shallrana sees John trying not to laugh at Roger. Then he focuses.
what is this orc saying?

In a somewhat stilted way john says the following
Modig er hart som finner en vei tilbake, selv i gjenfødelse, lagre er bror. Nå min tid er over, men jeg vil alltid se over deg, inntil vi møtes igjen bror
What did I just say?

concentration check to show now signs she's used a power, 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24 spends 1pp to do Energy splash, electric. ' Alternately, the manifester can choose to deal no damage but instead cause a relatively harmless static shock. This shock is painful enough to wake someone sleeping, but is not painful to interrupt concentration or spellcasting.

intent GM
When john finishes talking, arks if static start to emanate from him, cracking into the ground and leaping up into close by plants. It's over as fast as it came, for any one looking on its like something has left him. For john there is a lot of pain as well,, but he can take it.

Johns face clenches somewhat as a electricity flickers over him.
ow it hurts it hurts

ask before you do that! Assault on a judge is not wise.

Jack approaches the orc chieftain slowly

"Det er ingenting så edelt som familie. Du har min oppriktige kondolanser - for broren din har gått, vennen jeg har ennå ikke møtt. Jeg ville være en ære om du ville bli med oss ​​på vår camp og fortelle meg om ham."

The warband leader watches your show, his face breaking into a savage smile as John speaks the words that Sallrana feeds him. With a wordless shout he summons the rest of the tribe, who break away from the maggot corpse immediately, surrounding the lawman, each clasping his shoulders in turn - a gesture of brotherly affection, unless you miss your mark.

When each of the orcs has finished honouring their lost brother they step back, falling into loose ranks and cleaning their weapons and armour, checking their supplies. Although their equipment isn't in great repair they seem to be reasonably seasoned when it comes to taking care of it, cleaning and oiling weapons and readjusting their armour.

The leader does not join the rest of his group, remaining next to the five of you as the ruined hollow you had been camping in slowly empties.

'We will not join you at your camp. The honey will draw scavengers, and we do not wish to remain here. This is a place of triumph for now, but will soon be one of memories and little else.'

The orc speaks common slowly and deliberately, as if his tongue is unused to the language. When he does so a few of the others from his band look up in mild interest, obviously not understanding the words, and then return to their work. He looks at each of you in turn, inscrutable now that the celebration seems to have passed.

'But you fought beside us. We will not join your campsite, but you are offered a place at ours.'

Roger shrugs and says "meh, one slum is as good as another" then cleans and sheathes his sword before turning to the leader of the orcs and saying "ready when you are."

::sorry john had to be done, he wanted a sign, he got a sign. I don't think we will need to do that again o he's talking common, clever boy.::

She hears what the Orc leader has to say.

Then when his done says.

" I am Silver Moon, this is True John, War band leader Jack, Roger the loud and Boldwin spirt see'er , It would be an honor to share your camp, please could I ask you name sir "

Talking slowly, She also says it in orcish.

you forgot to talk loudly Sallrana. they won't understand you unless you speak slowly and loudly.

Baldwin looks at the orcs and smiles smally and waves. He decides to keep quiet for now; he can't speak orcish so he won't really be of any use in this situation.

Jack looks at the warleader, hoists the two tsekapedes up and holds them out to the warleader.

Speaking in slow common for the benefit of the others he says
"These your hunt yours?" then repeats himself in a few syllables of Orcish

Truly this language has no understanding of subtleties

'Well met, but under poor circumstance, Lady of Moons. An apt name... for one who can fly through the night. It is an honour to meet so many who have earned their names.'

The leader turns back to you, Jack.

'Do not worry yourself. There is nothing...' Obviously struggling with the concept, he slips back into Orcish - '... hellig om en slik skapning. Leiren vår ligger like ved, og bandet ditt kan spise med oss. Jeg heter Tarun, selv om mine brødre er navnløs fortsatt - og man skal nå forbli slik. Vi vil spise i hans ære, sammen.'

He sets off away from your camp, calling out to his brothers. Two of them sty at the side of the maggot corpse, but the rest follow along with him.

Roger will plod along after them.

She nods but says nothing more, letting Jack now do the talking.

Roger will drift back towards Sallrana and whisper "You know where we are? I never seen no giant acid-spitting bread stealers afore."

Baldwin follows closely with the group, glancing back momentarily at the two orcs staying behind with the corpse.

"This is Tarun. We are going to eat with him. Get your stuff quick. I will hold kills." With this Jack hoists the multilegged monstrosities and prepares to follow.

I wonder what we are going to eat? John says as he stares apprehensively at the bugs Jack carries

To reach the orc camp takes little more than twenty minutes, though there is precious little speech along the way. The orcs prefer to move silently when they can, often casting glances in your direction when you stumble over a root or smash through some underbrush. When they choose to, despite their... crude ways, they move like oil - you'd guess they were born to this terrain, of at least have hunted here for a long time.

The leader finally speak when they reach the fire, after greeting the few orcs sat around it, obviously awaiting the return of the hunting party.

'The fire is like home. It is good to be home before the fog arrives.'

He gestures back the way you came and you can see it - the first fingers of mist curling through the trees, losing potency as it enters the light cast by the warband's rather impressive campfire.

Jack, each centipede corpse weighs about 300lbs - you see another already turning on a spit over their campfire, and the smell (whilst not incredibly appetizing) is a welcome change from earth, sand and salt.

John looks at the spit on the fire with mild horror.
I wonder if they have chilli sauce. he says, trying to deflect the situation by humor.

Lady Sallrana says nothing wile they walk, her power to understand the orcs fades.

Once at the came she gos over to help Jack, for a moment placing her hand on his arm.

Sallrane after she has helped Jack, pulls out her tent and sets it up again, close to the fire but not to close to burn. She once more places HexQin on his hidden purch. She then looks over the camp.

Then she go's into her tent, once inside she takes out a fine gun kit and reloads her revolvers cylinders, carefully cleans and oils her side arm and loads it once more, then places it away with her gun belt in her small back pack/shoulder bag . She then cleans and dos her hair, taking her time. Then she takes out a number of fine throwing daggers belts. Strapping them to her arms and legs. Once done she put her sword back on and changes her clothing into a black body suit, knee high boots, jerkin waistcoat, cold weather over coat to keep the nights cold at bay, even in the grubby, . Then comes back out of her tent.

John, Tarun pulls the roasting centipede carcass out of the fire and offers it in your direction.

'First bite for the fallen,' he intones, and even though the language he uses is common a hush descends on the camp, even the fire seeming muted and distant.

untrained knowledge: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21 First bite for the fallen? What might it mean?

Oh well it can't be as bad as swamp rat
John takes a bite
Hmmm. Not so bad. Needs chilli sauce

Jack, it seems like there is an emphasis with this tribe on the transference of souls, although as to whether they see it as metaphorical, physical or somewhere in between is a mystery. You were raised in orcish culture, and have heard about the rites and rituals of various tribes... but this is new to you.

John, the caterpillar is actually pretty tasty - you wouldn't choose to eat it over chicken, but it's more palatable than you'd expect. As you bite the orcs watch intently, but the tension dissipates when you begin to chew. Tarun claps you over the shoulder again enthusiastically, and the band begins to eat - two of them ask Jack for his trophies, assuming they are to be cooked for the band, and the rest of the orcs are more than happy to hand out steaming caterpillar meat on spits to the rest of the party.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Smiles as she is given the food and yarns, she looks sleepy, Sallrana say

"Well I need my rest, Let me known when it's my watch."
With out seeming to say more she takes her food with her into her tent, presumably to eat it there before she sleeps.

Knowing all too well the ostracism felt by those trapped in a world whose language they don't speak, Jack makes an effort to translate for his companions.
Don't want to keep excluding people so Jack will translate Oricsh - including his own - for people. I'll post the translations below.

Jack hands over the corpses, easily lifting an entire, enormous insect in each hand, then says some words in Orcish.

"I said I can help them skin and gut food. I would like to keep the hide and venom sack"

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Jack attempts to take one of the other warriors aside; he'll quietly explain what he's going to ask to the other patients first.

"I am going to ask him about the fog and what is happening with John"

"Hei, vennen. Tilgi min naivitet, men jeg merker at klanen er nøye med å holde nær ilden. Er det tåke, noe i tåke, eller noe annet? Vi har ikke tåke hvor jeg er fra, men vi har snø. "

"Snakker av kulturelle forskjeller som vi er, kan du vennligst forklare meg hva som skjer med menneske få beæret behandling? Jeg ville hate å begå en sosial faux pas!"

After finishing, and unless the orcs want him for some purpose John sets up his tent and, after cleaniing his pistol, goes to sleep.
I really need to learn orcish
john will start paying attention to the orcs tongue, as I intend to spend a skill point upon leveling on linguistics

Roger sniffs the portion of the insect that he is handed, and then tucks in as if he hasn't eaten in days. Clearly a man of the streets, he rips pieces off of the creature and devours them with a sucking sound that is a little disgusting. Finishing, he lets out a belch that let's causes his body to shake, then sucks the juices off his fingers. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

Roger then flops down where he's at and returns to his rest.

Baldwin takes the flesh of the caterpillar with a hesitant and grateful smile. Yes, he's hungry, but this was one of the monsters that they had just fought. Pushing down his hesitancy, he bit into the meat, finding it surprisingly tasty. He turned to the orcs near him and raised his meat in appreciation, since neither could really understand the other.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

He noticed that he and Sallrana got much less than the others, but he isn't going to complain. He really didn't do that much to the creature, and he's not going to cause a scene. Besides, even though he's around 6' tall, he's still tiny compared to the others in their party, besides Salrana.

As Jack and Tarun talk, the other orcs seem to take an interest in the rest of the party - especially your weapons. They test the edges of blades, wordlessly or tersely request to hold firearms and alchemical flasks. They are gentle with them, treating the weapons with almost a sense of reverence, from what you can tell. it strikes you as odd - the majority of their own weapons seem ill-made and poorly-cared for, despite the careful nature with which they seem to treat yours.

In fact, the condition of their weapons is something of an oddity given their obvious training and experience - so much of the warband runs like a smoothly-oiled machine, each member knowing their place and portion, more like a well-drilled squad of soldiers than a hunting party. You couldn't imagine a fighting force getting very far without taking care of their own equipment.

GM Sallrana put her fire arm away, before the eating, unless they force there way into her tent, and open her bag, etc Wile when out for the eating, she dos have a words and now her throwing daggers/spikes

::Jack I could not tell but I have to ask, are there any females in this group, the leader talked of his brother, so where is mother? They move like troops yet have little better than sticks to fight with. Do you not find that odd, Simple crude, made here, wood ships, making wood things, not metal, ..Jack I'll be out in a moment... ::

She seems to have something on her mind that's needs to be said in person

Sallrana opens her miner bag of holding takes out her Quarterstaff, in its two parts, using mend she makes it whole. Then she places careful to rap then, her sword and dagger/spike belts in to the bag. She comes out of the tent and takes HexQin IUPAC and places him on her shoulder. Going over to the chef ten she says.

"War leader Tarun, the fog , tell us of the dangers in the fog please, what lucks in it that fog that we should fight with fire"

No, no; Jack's not talking to Tarun. The man just lost his brother and needs to grieve - what kind of a monster do you take Jack for!

the Orc Jack is talking to, but we need to know what's in the fog or what it gos

Roger turns, opens one eye, and says "hey, you wanna keep it down, some of us are tryin to sleep here."

Ah! Sorry Jack! Also, for the benefit of the party, I'll write the general orc information in common to save Jack translating. And Sallrana, they would be curious but they wouldn't enter your tent.

The Orcs are forthcoming, well-fed and still riding high on their victory against what they seem to refer to mostly as the 'honey ground', although the translation also implies some sort of allusion to fertility - their dialect is a little different to the speech of the city orcs you know from around Barrjka, but still quite understandable for Jack.