[Location] Ire Great Hall District- Great Hall

Gauls · November 5, 2007, 01:27 PM

Inside the Great Hall Enclosure is the Great Hall district. The district is named after its largest structure and heartbeat of the city, the Great Hall. This is the government’s City Hall where all lawmaking is done, all official offices are located, and where the City Master and Horde Master rule the orkish world. After entering through one of the enclosure entrances, (open but guarded on the east, west, and north side of the enclosure), you find yourself standing in the Great Hall district. A tall Pardahun Votar orc eyes you but only grunts at you as he passes. There is a clear dirt area that clearly contradicts the setting of city grounds outside the enclosure. A few trees dot the area and a pool of clean water sits directly in the center of the enclosure. Large tents and wood huts that are of obvious higher quality than the ones found in other places in the city, line each side of the enclosure.

A grand but slightly foreboding wood and stone structure sits near the center just behind the pool. Another Pardahun Votar orc stands upon a wood porch at the front of the Great Hall. Large stone steps lead up to the big wood door. Inside the Hall just after entering through the front door your eyes are filled with a large, wooden, open room. Bones, weapons, carvings, and hides decorate the walls and ceiling. The room is not four-sided but instead follows more of an octagon shape. Tables, chairs, and wood crates line several of the walls and all are littered with parchments, scrolls, and writing utensils.

At the far side of the Hall directly ahead from the door, is a large platform with a large chair placed in the center. A very large mass of an orc sits in the chair and quietly listens to Fos Rog orcs that come to him with parchments and scrolls. He mumbles a few orkish words or waves off those that don’t have anything important to say to him.

As you enter, bare torso Fos Rog orcs, with their red sashes can be seen lumbering from one place within the Great Hall to the other. Each orc seems buried in his own tasks. One Fos Rog however, notices and scurries up to you. He looks upon you with piercing yellow eyes.

“Dis da Great Hall. Only business ju have here is askin’ bout business.” The orc paused then continued. “So what business ju have?”

A few other eyes in the room now fall upon you giving off a sense of unease that makes the next words you say even more important…

Secrets :

Gauls · November 19, 2007, 09:53 AM

The Month of

Aperitus, in the Season of Summer,
Era II of theCelestine Mandate, Era XIV Post Fractum,
the Second Era of the Regency of Milo L'Evienne

Four orcs lead a dark elf into the Great Hall to see the Gothmog Kitot. It was an odd find as this particular elf just appeared out of nowhere literally right in the big middle of the orc gathering in the wasteland outside Orckon. This elf has got some explaining to do.

The guards push the elf forward and explain what happened to the Fos Rog orc before them. The orc turns and walks toward the platform where the Gothmog sits. The Fos Rog speaks to him but is too far away to hear what is said. After a brief moment the Fos Rog returns.

: Pointing toward the Gothmog :
"Da Gothmog Kitot Grogan Thrag will see da prisoner."

The four guards are on each side of Malkaer and when the dark elf in standing at the base of the platform in front of Grogan Thrag, two orcs stand to Malkaer's left and two on his right. Grogan Thrag, the city master (Gothmog Kitot) of Orckon is probably the largest orc anyone has ever seen. The normal 5'6 orc is dwarfed by Grogan who stands at 6'2 and has a massive body. Grogan's physique is coupled with the 4 large tusks that protrude from his lower jaw. It is these tusks that are the true sign of his prowess amoungst orcs.

: Grogan glaring down at Malkaer :
"Lat think ju able ta sneak into Orckon wit ju magic or lat spying on urak? SPEAK!" Grogan demanded to know the dark elf's purpose here.

Malkaer Andares · November 19, 2007, 04:02 PM

Acknowledging that he could not force his way out against such overwhelming odds, the swordmaster surrendered to the greenskins. Aside from the longsword, the orcs would also find a dagger hidden in Malkaer’s right boot, if they bothered to search him thoroughly. Somehow he had develop a real knack for having his freedom robbed from him. Subsequently the esh’lahier had been prisoner of New Coldmoon, Malice, the Aelyrian Empire and now his fate lay in the hands of the orcs of Orckon. Compared to his other jailors it was certainly not the worst company, Ogabe and the lightborns from the elven town ranking far below the orcs.

While he was being led through the fortress Malkaer branded the layout of the place in his mind. The benefit of having been imprisoned so many times meant that the esh’lahier also had developed a talent for memorizing blueprints of elaborate dungeons and escaping from the most precarious situations.

The smell in the Great Hall was even worse than outside, no doubt due to the fact that the biggest orcs roamed this place. Apparently he was taken to one of the important orcs, which did not surprise or impress Malkaer, for he was an important man himself outside the fortress, although it might not be best to stress that in the current environment.

After sending a prayer to Ioannes, the shadow elf started to do with what his race had natural affinity to: lying. “Vedui, mighty tusked Gothmog Kitot of Orckon.” Malkaer bowed to the big orc to show his respect, but not so deep to lose him out of his eyesight. Knowing that the orcs were but simple creatures that respected only strength, the elf tried to show through body language that he respected Grogan Thrag, but did not fear him. To show fear here was to sign your own death. “I am Veltrak, warrior from Vortex and I have come here to join your great horde.”

The lie was not that far fetched. Even though he was retired from any professional military for some eras Malkaer still carried himself as a warrior. The long vertical scar over his left eye showed he had seen battle. Luckily he was not wearing his regalia or his richest attire, but wore a grey tunic with a silver girdle and soft leather boots. Sturdy leather gloves hid his skeleton claw from vision. Whilst his clothing was still expensive, the nobleman could probably pass through for a well to do mercenary. In orcish society the best warriors also had the richest assets, though their taste differed substantially from Malkaer’s. What spoke against his claim was that he lacked any armour. Then again, even the heaviest armour the elf could don probably looked pansy in the eyes of orcs.

Gauls · November 20, 2007, 11:31 AM

Malkaer

There were some snickers from the Fos Rog that overheard the dark elf's response. Grogan Thrag was not amused.

"Don' blow smoke up Grogan's backside elf's blood! Grogan not accend to dis position by being stupid!"

It should not be of any surprise that Grogan did not fall for Malkaer's lies. This orc is probably one of the most suspicious when it comes to dealing with possible threats to his city. Grogan has dispatched so many others standing in the same spot as Malkaer before that he had no reason not to treat him the same.

After Grogan's outburst, the orc was interrupted when a grey-robed figure appeared behind Grogan's chair. The City Master was surprised to suddenly have someone appear right behind him but after he turned to look at the figure, he quickly turned back toward Malkaer. The robed figure was hooded and his hands were inside of his robes so there was no visible evidence to confirm who this was or what race it was. The hooded figure leaned over and whispered into Grogan's ear. A huge grin came over the City Master's face that no doubt was unsettling to see.

"Lat not admit ta who lat are or what lat doin' here in Orckon but da Shon Zi say dat lat not welcome here."

The four orcs that were guarding Malkaer each grabbed onto the dark elf. The robed figure began to move toward him stepping down from the platform where Grogan was sitting. He did not appear to be armed and was thin in stature so it didn't look like he was going to rip Malkaer in half or anything gruesome in that nature but he was coming over to Malkaer seemingly floating as his robes skirted the floor hiding his legs and feet.

Malkaer Andares · November 20, 2007, 05:19 PM

The less intelligent the individual, the more suspicious he was to being fooled. The big orc was not an exception in this regard. Of course Grogan did not believe his words just like that. No matter, the seed was planted. By presenting himself as a sword for hire other possibilities required more convincing.

By no means a master of disguise Malkaer could only guess what manner of creature was under the robes of the mysterious persona. It did not seem very orcish to hide oneself though. While the esh’lahier had no idea who or what the Shon Zi was, clearly the robed figure had influence if he (or she) could walk up to the city master and address him informally. That the orc leader seemed surprised on top of that revealed the limits of Grogan’s power. Still, the brute’s toothy grin made shivers go down on Malkaer’s spine.

“If I am deemed unwelcome by the venerable Shon Zi, I shall of course take my leave.” Malkaer bowed again and tried to back out. If they did not want him here, that was fine with him, he did not want to be here either! But apparently the Shon Zi had plans with him…

Intimately familiar to all sorts of torture, the meager form of the hooded entity did not by any means decrease the dread it inspired in the esh’lahier, although the float trick was not very impressive. If he put his mind to it, the apprentice sorcerer could probably pull off something alike. Cool as Rincewin in his prime, Malkaer awaited the pain.

Gauls · November 26, 2007, 08:27 PM

Malkaer

Slowly the dark elf started to take a step back and then suddenly it happened...

The pain was unbearable and seared into his forehead like a spike had just been thrust between his eyes. Tears would immediately well up and stream down Malkaer's cheeks as the acid ate into his fine skin leaving a boiling and blackened blood patch in the center of his forehead. Malkaer had been marked.

The Shon Zi carry viles of acid that they splash upon a person's forehead if they are declared violators of any of the teachings of the orc god's. A person caught using magic to sneak into Orckon to possibly spy upon the orcs (presumably to tell the humans of his findings) faces a harsh punishment and this is what the City Master believed of this particular person but the fact that it was a dark elf that was caught doing it was pure blasphemy. The Shon Zi was not going to allow it to go unpunished.

This was indeed going to be a bad day for Malkaer. Before he got his senses back, he was already being manhandled to the door and tossed out onto the porch outside the front door of the Great Hall.

"Take lat magic an' lat lies an' leave Orckon!" a voice could be heard from a Fos Rog orc saying but Malkaer could not see him yet as the pain from the acid mark on his forehead was still burning intensely.

There he was, a marked person in Orckon. The mark was about the diameter of a gold crown coin and blistering with a black rim around the area of the burn. Malkaer's own blood was charred inside the burn so no blood oozed from the wound yet. The immense pain of the burn in the middle of his forehead would make casting any magic difficult but maybe not impossible. Trying to focus with a wound like that may be Malkaer's biggest life challenge.

The black mark on a person in Orckon is well known to everyone in the city. If someone sees that mark, it is a sign that any killing of that person is sanctioned by the Shon Zi. Killing said person was the duty of all that love Jorel. This was Malkaer's next issue once he regained some senses. Malkaer was in the Great Hall enclosure and so there were not a whole lot of people around except for the garrison. Maybe 50 feet in front of the Great Hall where Malkaer was lying is a pool of somewhat clean water if the dark elf wanted to use the water to sooth his wound. Outside of the enclosure though is a city full of those that would love to take the chance to claim a "marked one". If that wasn't bad enough, there were the 3000 orcs training outside the main gate. Malkaer would have only his dagger in his boot as his longsword is being kept up at the main gate until when/if he returned.

Malkaer Andares · November 29, 2007, 05:50 PM

The orcs received cries of agony as answer. It was not the first time the elf experienced physical pain. In fact he was quite used to it, but I will not sum up all Malkaer’s glorious battle wounds this time. This did not mean he had become immune to pain, but it did mean the swordsman did not lose his wits after enduring this kind of pain.

Although the esh’lahier was cursing every orc to Aeternia right now, the treatment they had given him was not all that bad, Malkaer find out after regaining his senses. He carried himself over to the pool and inspected his ghastly injury. While he prepared for the worst it was still shocking to see his already imperfect face lose even more of its former beauty. The wound on itself as well as its implications worried him. Although the esh’lahier knew not of the black mark, he was clearly marked, which was bad anyway.

Carefully Malkaer washed the wound a bit, causing spasms of pain as he did so. Then he tore a strap of his shirt and wound it around his head as a bandana, covering the mark. After another look in the water, the esh’lahier took up a handful of dirt and smeared this over his robes and face so that he fit in more with the populace of Ire. As the pain from his forehead was slowly but surely amounting to a headache, the apprentice dismissed the thought of immediately attempting to gate himself back to Taralon. In this condition he might fail and spend all his Vis or commit even worse mistakes. Rather, our reckless hero decided to spend some more time in Orckon!

-continued here-

Sverre · March 3, 2008, 08:31 PM

Sverre glanced around the enclosure and sniffed his giant nostrils at the scene before him. Perfectly capable orcs...old orcs who had fought many a battle...sat around on their haunches without so much of a hint of bloodlust. The young orc glowered at them all, thinking them a lazy, sour bunch. Once he had a few raids under his belt, he'd be back to visit this sorry lot of procrastinators and bash their skulls in with a mighty warhammer.

Until then, he needed to secure a place to sleep and hopefully some weapons. When the red-sashed orc challenged his entry, he thought about striking a blow on the decorated nuisance. Instead, he gave the unwanted company a sour look, then grunted.

"The horde. I want to join."

Steve · March 4, 2008, 11:42 AM

Severre

The seasoned Orcs were accustomed to young eager Orcs coming to sign up with the Horde. The more, the better. After they get bloodied a few times, they will know what is going on.

The red sashed Guard pointed and said, "Go 'til ya see a bunch jus' like ya, learnin' which end o' da Axe ta hold onta".

The others laughed.