Once Keeyan gets back into'being on the road again', he watches and tries to help....
Bella says"I have my own, Thank you.
She will eat a ration as she...hopefully leads them in the right direction...
With Keeyan's helpful compass, Bella begins leading them through the swamp. For a few minutes, she herself is not sure that she's heading in the right direction.
Then, a familiar bolder. A tree she played near, once, when she was young. An ancient stone sundial, at which Silvertree children had once been dedicated in a ritual at high noon (before the clan had moved and constructed a new sundial). A pond whose shape had always reminded Belladonna somewhat of a snail...
...and, over the treeline: billowing smoke, coming from beyond the walls of a shoddy-looking fortress. A few siege machines, similarly ramshackle in construction, stand between you and the walls, with large, green-skinned humanoids hunkered down around campfires at their bases.
More than a little concerned, Keeyan stares at the area of the orc encampment, trying possibly to count.... and think of any options. "Ah, were we expecting a war party? Or a small army!?!"
By Keeyan’s count, there are 26 orcs sitting at the campfires. Give or take.
Bella looks at her companions, "i don't think we should go in there and just attack the orcs...especially since we really don't know who started this. I think I have a way to get the orcs to speak to us...Though it is risky given I am a elf. Anybody got a idea?"
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"Admittedly by grasp of military tactics are very limit which my girlfriend laments due my complete lack of interest in wargames...I would imagine though the orcs will have the place surrounded."
"I am close to a orc I maybe able to use that relationship to get them to talk to us." she reveals a tattoo of a orcish rune,"Though there is no guarantees these orcs will respect it. So if anybody understands orc culture better....they should take the lead here."
"Sorry, No. There's no orc blood anywhere in my family history. And they might take me for an elf with my build, although I try to look more like a human."
"As a priest of Cayden Cailean they might appreciate some ale.... ??"
Edie is uncertain.
"No orc blood that I'm aware of? I mean, there was the rumor that great-great-grandma might have had some, but we were never able to verify it and we were pretty sure that it was a family legend to make her really boring history of coming over from Scotland sound 'exciting'." Edie finally offers as she considers.
"Well, between metal and beer I think those are going to be the best bets. I suggest leading with beer. And we'll have a better chance of dealing with the orcs given how well... represented we are. I mean, no offense, Bella, but elves are some of the most racist mo-fos this side of maybe skinheads or the Klan."
Keeyan stares at Klyto as he explains his idea. It sounded just crazy enough to work. "Ah, sure. But let's test the idea with a casting. I don't want to just assume that Cayden Cailean will like the idea."
He holds up his tankard and calls out "Cayden Cailean, Hero and God for the common man. I want to bring word of your glory to the orcs, but believe they will need assurance found in a mug of ale. Let this mug be filled to show your approval!"
A beam of light descends slowly, gloriously from the sky; as it hits the bottom of the mug, it is slightly more obvious that it's not actually light so much as radiant ale.
Keeyan gets the overwhelming urge to drink it as the foam forms nicely on top.
In fact, he couldn't resist if he tried; as he quaffs the ale, he finds that it is Good.
Also that a full belly makes it a lot easier to not get immediately drunk, even off Godsbrew!
Keeyan tips up the mug, chugging the whole thing. He grins wide and announces, "The plan is blessed by Cayden Cailean himself! It can't fail!"
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Is it time for our brave heroes to cross the field to the orc encampment?
Bella shrugs...it as good as a plan as any...her plan could have lead to some...complications.
She will hang back and keep a look out...
Edie is wary
Not in the typical sense, but if the team is treating these orcs as fratboys or party-types, then there may be an additional thought process that she and Bella are being brought along for 'other' entertainment.
She won't be a 'fun sponge', soaking off the festive air, but she already has someone she's seeing and isn't going to throw that forming connection away on some 'rando commando' orc.
The silhouettes around the fire move; the combination of firelight and darkness makes it hard for your eyes to adjust perfectly (especially given the distance), but it seems like a lot of orc heads swiveling in your direction at once.
”Did the little dude say ‘free beer’?”
”Pretty sure he did, dude.”
”Hells yeah. Free beer, guys!”
Then, in unison:
Over the years, a full orcish charge has been described by a number of terrified survivors. Thick-bodied forced cross the swamp with frightening speed, their footsteps coming in squishing thuds. Similar charges have felled cavalry before, proved the downfall of phalanxes in Ancient Greece. The savagery of a well-deployed orc legion extended Napoleon’s dominance of Europe for three years.
In those circumstances, however, there was a slightly lowish chance that they were not chanting ”BEER!” as they ran, pumping their fists as guitars dangled around their necks. A couple of them have strapped drums and symbols to their bodies, and the BANG thuddathuddaKRRSH of their beat follows the horde.
Soon, they’re gathered around the group, chanting BEER, BEER, BEER.
Glad to hear a language that he can speak, Keeyan laughs and holds up his mug. "Yes, gentlemen! My companion has lifted me up so I can speak for Cayden Cailean. And my message is to . Do any of you have a mug that I can fill!?! Like this!"
He holds his mug as high as he can reach and states, , Hero and God for the common man. Let me bring word of your glory to these orcs. Let this mug be filled to show your approval!"
Keeyan's reach-- given that he's currently being held aloft-- is just about as high as an orc's head. As a beam of light trickles down from the heavens...
...one of the orcs puts his head under it, mouth open, and gurgles a cheer as his face fills with ale.
Many more beams of ale begin pouring from the sky.
One of the orcs, having missed this, grabs Keeyan's finger and shoves it in his mouth. Ale sprays from the sylph's fingertip directly down his throat.
One of the guitar-wielding orcs stands under a divine fountain and jams out a deep JUGGA JIGGA WUGGA riff on his guitar. Raucous shouts envelop the group as orcs jostle around to position themselves beneath the beer.
Many of them have long, unkempt hair, sideburns, beards, piercings, tattoos. You catch a few of their names as they shove amongst themselves; Dio, Black Sab, Osbourne.
Everyone not currently producing beer is mostly ignored, aside from the occasional "Sorry, lady" as they bump into Bella and "Oh, sick horns!" from an orc who notices (and grabs them, giving Edie an enthusiastic shake).
Bella backs away from the throng of orcs noticing the orc sucking on Keeyan's finger and thinks to herself should I edit that out?
Hopefully they will be in condition to talk afterwards.,,
Keeyan continues praying and praising to Cayden Cailean, very happy to spread the word, especially to an audience that seemed very happy to enjoy the results. The 'metal heads' had never been receptive of him, or he of them prior to his conversion to the God, something about the study required for magic.... But now he saw them as, 'interesting' at least!
He was mildly concerned when an orc pulled his hand to his mouth, but Cayden even answered that with a spray directly from the finger! (and the orc didn't bite it off!)
Once he gets comfortable with his position as the party keg he starts scanning the area for any danger, orcs that aren't drinking especially and possibly any that might be offended. (Priestly types of a different god? He tries to remember whether or not orcs had their own, racial god.... Nope! Hadn't gotten around to studying religion yet!)
Edie is Perturbed.
It was all going along so well until some jackhole grabbed her horns. For some, they're an erogenous zone. For Edie, they're a constant and sometimes painful reminder of her life situations, especially when they give her a migraine.
Having part of one's skull feel like it's about to be ripped out at the roots doesn't help matters.
While the orc is busy fondling her skull adornments, she reaches out and grabs one of the piercings on the orc's ears or nose and yanks with what she feels is an appropriate amount of pressure -- not to do some whacko foreplay thing, but a 'Hey, f!#&o, that's my f&%~ing skull you're f&$+ing yanking on'.
"Hey, don't know you from a sword, you ain't my mate, don't be f+*#in' doin' dat! And no, you ain't my type. You don' got enough scales!" she offers with a rough snicker as she attempts to guide the errant metalhead to the beer font.
Bella calls out to Edie,"Hey Edie! Can you come over here for a second."
Yeah with her temper she should stay back with me out the way...we don't want to start any fights...yet.
Bella is standing at least 10 feat away from the group of orcs.
Bella will scan the Elven fortress/compound for any signs of activity...
The orc that grabbed Edie tosses his hands up and steps back. "Whoa, whoa, didn't mean to harsh your s*$$, dude. Lady-dude. Still, that's so metal!"
Bella doesn't see anyone on the walls... and it's hard to see beyond them.
Keeyan does, however, spot a face or two peeking from holes in the wall; unmistakably Elven, by the dark eyes.
It's worth noting that the walls are new. Well, within-the-past-20-years new, at least.
Either that, or Bella rolled especially poorly on Perception for her entire childhood. Lots of staring at the sun will do that to you.
Klyto, meanwhile, finds himself fairly popular, and an orc with the sniffles and a cough pushes an old, beat-up guitar into his hands.
It's not really made for wayangs' proportions, though...
The moderately-inebriated orc (which, in fairness, could describe any of them) that Klyto chooses has long, black hair, shaved on the sides. He features a few earrings on one ear and, like his compatriots, is wearing a lot of denim and leather. A goatee with a little gray in it marks his chin.
He waves his hand dismissively. "It's all orc land, when you think about it!" he growls, although the growl seems more a feature of his voice than actual aggression.
He gestures toward the siege engines, the wall, the fire beyond it. With your darkvision, you spot a few fallen orcs closer to the wall, arrows making them look like pincushions, and a few wooden spikes with pointy-eared heads upon them. A radio-- abandoned in the orcs' rush to surround the party-- plays some Iron Maiden.
"We're getting ready for another fight tonight. Couple more hours, I think. Easy for us to see, not so easy for them!"
Keeyan listens, trying to understand the words so maybe he can talk to the orcs. Seeing the dead "pincushions" as well as the spike mounted heads he just cringes. He raises up his mug again, sloshing a proper sacrifice out, "Dude! When the cause is just, fighting is a must. Cayden Cailean loves a good rumble, but he also loves freedom. What started this fighting? I mean the dead can't party, and that's a major downer...."
"Did you try asking them if they'd consider wrestling or a good fist fight? Then they could drink and party with us after you beat them!?! Nobody would have to die so you could do it again tomorrow night!"
Unless someone knocks him down he takes a long drink from his mug after speaking, then starts chanting the spell and more praises to Cayden.
The orc fixes Keeyan with an inquisitive look.
"Haven't you ever seen a custody battle before?"
Keeyan stops, mid-quaff.... and lowers his mug. "Custody battle? No I haven't. But that violates Cayden Cailean's philosophy of Freedom! Please. Tell us all that happened. Maybe we can help."
"But have another drink too. I don't want to spoil the party before the rumble!"
Edie resists the urge to correct pronouns, and rolls with it.
"Y'know what's really metal? That lil' dude over there that got everyone's attention? He fixed up this 'trash-picked' set of armor. In one night. No b#$@@%@#." Edie offers with a conciliatory tone to the horn-abusing orc while showing off her protection. "Par'n me, though, someone's callin' me, should find out what that's about... Nice ink, by the way!" Edie offers as she heads over to Bella.
As she arrives, she lets a slow exhalation of irritation after counting backwards from ten. Keep it chill, they don't know, they're trying to play it cool, we're trying to play it cool.
"Thanks for calling me over, Bella. At least he didn't grab the tail, I guess? I probably would have put some toeclaws between his legs..."
"Orcs can be a little rough. They are not bad though...it took me a while to overcome the prejudices. My girlfriend helped by introducing me this orc dominatrix. She is pretty awesome. I enjoy her making me her bit..." Bella pauses,"I am oversharing again."
Edie understands.
"No judgement zone. It was the 'I don't know you, what the hell' reaction NOT 'I want to genocide folks for having the wrong skin." Edie comments, then elaborates.
"Before RL happened I'd totally switch things up after I got to a comfortable spot. Things got in the way, and with work treating me like one it's not really a fantasy anymore, it's very much Abaddon."
"Oh I did not think you were judging me...not that I care if you were. It just with my friend group we are very open about our sex lives. If nothing else we learn about new toys and such. I mean we are pretty much sex nerds. But I have learned people are in general are prudes and just don't want to hear about it...so I do try to be polite and not talk about it with strangers or people who don't want to hear it."
"Chieftain? Oh, you mean our frontman. Nah, he's probably not gonna have kids. Nah, this is Grongar's kid," says Klyto's new friend, gesturing to an orc with...
...well, to be honest, it's hard to differentiate them. Many of them have long, black hair, green skin, a few piercings, and old tattered band shirts, jackets, and jeans. Grongar differs from them somewhat in that he's a little on the short side (for an orc; he still towers over the party, even with his sad-looking slouch), has a little more silvery-gray in his hair, and seems a little more ponderous with his mug of beer as he looks wistfully at the wall of the Silvertree encampment. He wears a T-shirt with a bat-winged skull on it.
"No s~&&? That is awesome." He hustles over to Klyto.
"Oh, man, it's f!!$in' gnarly, brother. So Grongar over there-- he has, uh, a forbidden romance with some elf chick, right? And she's cute or whatever, but we're not entirely into the, y'know, staring at the sun thing. Anyway, so they get in their cradle of filth and engage their killswitches and... well, I mean, you don't need me to tell you how it works."
He squints, then frowns. "Unless you do. I'm not your dad, though."
"Anyway, kid pops out a year or two later* and of course by then, Grongar and the elf chick don't want nothin' to do with each other, but like, now there's a kid involved, right? And of course Grongar wants to see 'is kid and we had sort of a visitation schedule worked out, but now the elves are telling us he can't see her at all. So..."
He gestures toward the nearest trebuchet, as if it's the most natural next step in the world.
*This is pretty normal for elven pregnancies.
Bell thinks to herself...They must me desperate for members...before a half breed would be cast out And the mother punished.
She calls out loudly in Elven,"What is the matter to many members are wishing up and leaving you have changed your views on half breeds? On orcs? Really great conviction in your faith!"
Bella seems angry. Like really angry...if raven could look concerned Starwing would.
There's silence from the other side of the wall. Or, at least, no new sounds.
Keeyan nods as he listens to the orc. He drinks a little, trying to pretend to be drinking more but not wanting to pass out.... "An elf? Wow!" He chuckles at the comment. [b]"I know how it works. I may be young still for a sylph, but I've been an adult for a couple of decades."
He nods, thoughtful, "So the elves won't even let, uh, Gron-Gar even see his kid? That's just wrong. Say, has he talked to a lawyer? I mean, you gotta be careful with the siege engines or you might hurt the girl, or her mother! With a lawyer they'd at least have to explain WHY they don't want Grongar to see his girl. Maybe they THINK that they have a valid reason.... ??"
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I know you want to see the kid, but man, haven't you heard of those loons down in Texas back in the day. Push came to shove and they decided to bork themselves right off. Plus the kid's been raised by elves. She's going to get the wrong impression if you tear her house down. Lucky we happened by. We have an elf. She might have a better chance of getting them to talk instead of holing up.
Bella will call out in elven again to those in the fortess'"What!?! You have no words for one of your own returned? I am a powerful witch now if you don't respond I will curse you so you will never see or feel the sun ever again!"
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"A lawyer? You ever see an orc get visitation of their kid? Hell, I heard of two orc parents who went to court and a human got possession of their baby." Keeyan gets a tusky frown for that suggestion.
The orc you're speaking to (as opposed to the orcs who are mostly preoccupied by Keeyan's ever-flowing mugs) watches Bella's attempts to... reason?... with the elven wall with interest, then shrugs.
"Look, if you wanna try to talk to them, that's fine. We can just party for the night. But tomorrow night if we don't have her, we're gonna go right back to it-- whether you're in there or not. Deal?" he asks.