Merry making

The three girls decide to stick around since they don’t really have much else to do. Eleanor and Lauran go off and start rummaging through every container they can find and grab out items occasionally that they may find use for at some point. At one point, Lauran comes over and hands Karla a staff that is a carved wooden pole as big as Karla with a sapphire at the top and a blade at the bottom, the blade was no bigger than a hunting knife but at least Karla had a close combat choice now. Lauran also manages to find a pair of knives that now swing from her belt, single edged blades with some sort of carving along the blade, you don’t see what the carvings are but they certainly add to the value. Eleanor merely grabs a small pile of potions, elixirs and a whole bunch of items that look like they might be in the next potion or elixir.

It isn’t long before you and your Orcs have also managed to gather up a somewhat meagre supply of cheap weapons and equipment but at least you did find large amounts of ale, and plenty of food including a Pig roast that had been slow cooking this entire time and occasionally watched by Lauran as it cooks away. It isn’t long before the pig is ready to be eaten and Eleanor does the honours of cutting it to pieces and dishing it out on pieces of wood that had been pilfered from the convoy, the other Orcs fended for themselves on the other food that could be retrieved from the wagons and kegs of ale were opened.

Lauran handed Karla a mug of ale who looked at it and swirled it around a bit. “I’ve never actually had **** before” was her response which made Lauran encourage her all the more.

“Ya don’t know whatchya missin’ booze’s great for parties and what not and people tell me I’m awesome when I’m drunk” With that, Karla took a cautious sip while Lauran took a big gulp of her own mug.

“this isn’t too bad, my dad used to tell me **** was bad and I should never drink . . . but this is nice I guess” Karla took a more adventurous swig.

“thas tha spirit lass! Just you wait until ya get onto your third mug an’ it kicks in right proper!” Lauran took another swig of her own drink, looked down into her mug and drained what was left before going over to a keg to get some more. Eleanor sat in the back sipping on some wine she had found while you watched the proceedings with a mug of ale in one hand and some meat in the other.

Karla is nearing the bottom of her third mug and has gotten very giggly, showing off that she is somewhat tipsy while Lauran has managed to keep her whits about her despite the four mugs of ale she has had and nearing the bottom of her fifth, although her happy and bubbly attitude is counter to her usual self so she might in fact be intoxicated and her earlier statement proven quite accurate. You yourself are feeling a buzz kick in even though you have only drunk sparingly compared to Lauran. You notice that Eleanor has not drunk her bottle of wine yet, in fact she had only drunk a small portion of it.

“I get . . . uninhibited, when I’m intoxicated . . . I’d rather keep in control” The elf looked away as she casually took another sip

“This night is yet young, perhaps it would do you some good to let loose after being inside that cage” you say to the elf. You notice that her breasts are only just visible through her tunic, you would guess that she was wearing an undergarment to keep them from moving about but that she had a small breast size anyway.

“Perhaps you are right . . .” Eleanor drained her mostly full goblet in one gulp and poured herself another one. “I don’t suppose you are going to stop me from making a fool out of myself when it comes to that are you” you grin at her.

“We are having some time to let loose, besides Karla needs to be properly broken in, she has been having plenty of misgivings about attacking seemingly innocent targets . . . it will be a problem when we finally get around to attacking actually innocent targets so having a small feast will do wonders for her morale” you nod towards Karla and Lauran who were laughing and sploshing their drinks together.

“So you intend to trick her into becoming your minion then? Or perhaps you want both of them to be subservient to you” You again grin at the elf, she was only partially right, you wanted them to work for you, to be in your service but you’d rather they maintained their freedom, more or less.

“I wouldn’t mind keeping them close at hand of course, they have been interesting company but only Karla really has a use and even then it’s not a good one unless I’m in battle so I think I shall keep them as more or less companions and occasional helpers” you gulp down some more ale as you and Eleanor watch Karla and Lauran make merry together.

“And what of me? I happen to be a ranger so I’d be far more useful to an Orc . . . do you also wish for me to just be a companion? Or more of a servant?” you hadn’t actually decided yet what you wanted from Eleanor, she could obviously be very useful but the fact she was asking this question meant that perhaps she would be the most difficult to get her properly on side as you are doing with Karla and Lauran

“That depends on you, I would like to have a hero as a servant . . . but companions work just as well” you watch the elf closely as she takes another swig of wine

“Why did you decide to rescue me? Or was that Lauran’s idea from the start?” you wonder briefly if the elf was trying to find a reason to distrust you but you couldn’t think why

“It was mostly my idea . . . though I think my exact words were ‘Whatever is in that cage could prove useful’ so I think I may have been looking for a servant when I attacked the caravan” another swig of ale and some tunes from the lute that Lauran had decided to start playing, even drunk she could still muster a haughty tune

“Am I free to leave at my leisure?” asked the elf as she swirled her wine around her goblet

“You are indeed” you reply back without hesitation. Eleanor takes a deep breath and drains the rest of her goblet, you are quite surprised with how much she has managed to hold down without readily noticeable effects

“Fine, as long as I’m free to go at any point, I’ll serve you . . . I’m pretty sure that’s the wine talking but oh well” you glance at the elf just to be sure you had actually heard what she had said

“You actually mean that?” you say, surprised that she would willingly serve you

“I do, I just hope I don’t get so drunk I forget I made such a pledge” she gives a laugh as she picks up her bottle and walks over to the other two girls to join in on the revelries and they are quickly passing the bottle around. You grin at the sight, it was just yesterday that you had been standing in a field waiting for eternity for some hero to come kill you, it then dawns on you that the area in question was a ‘start point’ for vanguards, you are sure that means that only heroes who have chosen the vanguard profession would be there to train and yet it’s precisely where you met Karla. Maybe it was fate that brought her to you, but you resolve to figure it out later. In the mean time, you think on what to do next, the obvious answer would to be to attack the village tomorrow morning but maybe you should wait until noon so that you can move as many Orcs as you can into position and that reminds you, you levelled up earlier and need to see your knew stats

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Level Up!

Orc Raider

Level 4-5 Orc Outcast

Health 230-300

Attack 16-20

Strength 16-19

Toughness 14-18

Armour 0

Magic 0

Magic Toughness 3-4

Affinities Crude, Blunt, Axe

Proficiencies Axe - 3

Skills

Rage – Channels the rage of your Orcish blood into a battle frenzy that doubles your attack power and increases attack speed by 50% for 40 seconds

Command – Passive, allows you to command ‘Outcast’ orcs up to 30 points per level.

Command points – 90

Spells

N/A

Inventory

Jack’s axe – A large wood cutting axe that has been honed to a good edge with loving care, its extra size means that it takes extra strength to wield over a normal wood cutting axe but if and when it hits, it hits hard. +60 damage

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So you did level up, and the extra thirty points will certainly come in handy tomorrow you think. So are you to attack in the morning or at noon? Keep in mind the girls will need some time to recover.