Turn 28 -- Interrogations

As Kersath disposes of the last remaining orc that was capable of attacking, Beleg surveys the clearing for more possible foes. Seeing none, he lifts the face guard of his helm and then cleans and sheaths his sword. He walks toward Talimar and bending over him says, "You are hurt, my friend. The priests will be busy with the grievously wounded and I believe that all their healing aid will be needed there. I have no great power to heal, such as they possess but let me lend you what aid I can." The large warrior then places his hands on Talimar's shoulders and speaks a prayer to Forseti. Talimar feels some of the pain and weariness depart his body as the northman completes his prayer.

Talimar thanks Beleg for healing his wound but the elf is still drained from his spellcasting and the battle and decides to just lean against the tree at his back, cleaning his sword and trying to recover his strength. With a nod and a smile, Beleg turns from Talimar and begins to search the campsite turned battleground for his shield.

While Beleg is healing Talimar, Randor is walking around cursing and kicking the bodies of the dead orcs, "Why do we always get attacked by ORCS?! These stupid creatures are always attacking us whenever we turn around." This cursing brings a laugh and a raised eyebrow from Gnore as he tends to the wounds of Kre. Hearing no response from the others, Randor walks around the campsite to Druckner and begins to work on healing his wounds.

"Take care of Kre and the other wounded, I will take care of the rest of these vermin," shouts Ras as he moves to the areas of the sleeping orcs. Randor looks up from his task of healing Druckner and says to Ras, "Gather up anything that looks to be valuable or possibly magical so we can divine if any of the items be magical. And DON'T try to hide anything." Ras stops in his tracks on his way to the sleeping orcs to address Randor's comment, "With all due respect, I don't want to discuss it now but I am not your slave or your servant and as my father always said 'They that are suspicious have something to hide.' That's enough, just remember respect is a virtue." He then continues on to the downed orcs. As Ras gets to the bodies of the sleeping orcs he quickly identifies the two that appear to be the possible leaders of the group. To these two he binds them as tightly as he can and gags them to keep from alerting any other orcs in the area. Ras then produces a dagger from a sheath in his boot and calmly exposes the throats of the other sleeping orcs to the cool morning air. The act of killing the orcs causes them to awaken from their magical slumber, each instinctively reaching to their throat to vainly attempt to stop the flow of life out of their bodies. They all thrash around violently before dying. Ras then wipes his blade on the jerkin of the last orc and begins the task of searching the bodies for anything of value.

While Ras is conducting his 'search' of the orcs, Garth quickly puts away his mace and seeing that Kre is mortally wounded in spite of Gnore tending his wounds, he shuffles over and says to Gnore, "Please, brother, let me attend to him quickly. I am a priest and can offer some aid." Gnore looks at the newcomer for a moment, weighing him with his gaze before backing away, "Careful, brother, I'll be watching." Gnore wipes his blade clean of the black ichor of the orc's blood and gazes at the new dwarf.

"He can't be all bad," Gnore thinks, "He's a dwarf after all, just a little clumsy on the attack." Gnore then stands up and sheaths his sword, a furrowed brow and perplexed expression on his face as he contemplates Randor's earlier cursing. With a smile to Gnore, Garth lays his hands upon Kre's wounds and holds his torn flesh together, the blood continuing to pulse and ooze out of the wound. Reaching under his beard, Garth produces a silver crescent. Placing it upon the wound, he begins to quietly mouth a prayer to his goddess. Gnore hears the name of the Lady Selune escape Garth's lips as he speaks. Moments later, a soft nimbus lights along the wound. When it vanishes, the bleeding has stopped and the wound has been reduced greatly. A little colour spreads into Kre's drained cheeks. Although not out of the woods yet, Gnore realises that Kre has indeed been stabilised by this stranger. As Kre's breathing returns to some semblance of normalcy, Gnore extends his hand to Garth, "Thank you, stranger, I am Gnore WitherCourage."

As Garth is tending to Kre, Ortho moves over to Druckner to assist Randor in tending to him. The wounds on the red-headed dwarven warrior are many and deep and it requires the skill of both the mystic healers to fully heal Druckner. The first sensation that Druckner feels is the warmth in his back as he regains consciousness. With the taste of dirt in his mouth, he can vaguely see feet moving around him and hear the low buzz of conversation. Then the pain in his back hits him hard. Lying face first in the dirt, Druckner swears an oath to Moradin that he will wipe out the orc menace in Haranshire or die trying.

Darkness engulfs him as Ortho and Randor roll him over after healing his wounds. Upon completing their task of healing the wounded, Ortho and Randor both sink to the ground, exhausted from their efforts.

"Kersath, Beleg, would that I had your skill at arms. That was a skilful display!" says Ortho as he sits down to lean against a nearby tree. Then to himself he adds, "Ehh, that's the last time I try jumpin' over a fire. Did nuttin' but singe me buns!" He then moves over to collapse onto his bedroll, exhausted, leaving to the larger folk the question of what to do with the orcs and what direction to pursue next.

After the bloodlust clears from his eyes, Kersath begins to calm down and look around him, assessing the damage. As he sees Dain recovering from his wounds he goes over to him and says, "I should have protected you better! I should have seen that other filthy orc coming behind us...and with our new ally here," pointing to Garth, "I'm sure he could have taken care of the other two orcs but I had to be the showoff with these two," shaking his swords. He then bends closer to Dain, "I'm sorry, my friend."

Dain weakly turns his head and gasps softly, "I'll be alright." Then, with the help of Kersath, he crawls over to rest against a nearby tree. "Take a hostage or two to question. Don't worry, I just need to rest my bones..." he says to Kersath before once again slipping into unconsciousness.

Upon seeing that Dain is well and resting, Kersath turns to Garth and presents himself, "Thank you. You've proved to be a valuable ally since the beginning. I'm Kersath, protector of the woods, the wild, and Mielikki's ways all around us. These are my friends, with whom I travel." He ends extending his hand to Garth.

Garth takes the moment to then present himself to the rest of the companions, "My name is Garth. I am a humble, wandering priest of Lady Selune. I spend much of my time tending to the needs of the poor and spreading her word." His hands folded across his belly, his beard neatly held in place, Garth awaits the response from the party. A dwarf of typical dwarven stature, Garth has deep red hair and beard, both thickly streaked with blond. A few threads of silvery grey are also evident. His bulbous nose is red and heavily veined, even for a dwarf. He is fitted in simple banded mail with a small shield fitted to his left arm. The shield has been white washed and painted with a blue crescent moon. On his right hip are a mace and the leather thongs of a sling. A small pouch is loosely tucked into the left side of his belt. A simple backpack and bedroll seem to be all else this dwarf owns.

"Thank you, friend Garth," says Talimar to the dwarf, "your aid was most fortuitous and it is always good to have the aid of a cleric."

Turning to Talimar, Garth says, "Hello, Talimar. If it's all the same, I'd like to join you going to town. Hadn't expected an orc infestation."

"But of course," replies Talimar, then turning to the others, he continues, "Gnore, why don't you wake one of those orcs we enspelled and ask it a few questions. It would be nice to get confirmation about our suspicions with the mines."

As Gnore moves to interrogate the orcs, Ras moves to speak with Garth, "I thank you for your help...friend," This said reluctantly, "We are the Red Feather Company. You've met our leader Talimar. I don't have a problem with you going along back to town with us. My name is Rasmussen and I am the companies' Treasurer."

"Thank you," replies Garth, "I'm sure the Lady Selune will smile over our journey together."

Still gripped by the surge of battle, Gnore gives a nod to Talimar and walks over to the bound Orc leaders. He views the efficiency of Ras' work and gives a wicked smile. Grabbing the larger of the orcs by the ropes he is tied with he picks him up and drags the leader to where the group is, leaving the other orc by itself to watch. After dropping the orc to the ground, Gnore firmly slaps its face to fully wake it from its mystical slumber. After waking with an angry snarl and a curse in orcish, the orc tries unsuccessfully to break its bonds. Gnore draws his dagger from the small of his back and places it against the orc's throat, the blade drawing a small line of blood across the orc's throat.

"Oor h'ckk tik a' urlazz!" Gnore says in a seething voice (I want some knowledge). "An Ilff ur'k geen ok'ill. Tu h'ckkt urlazz i ke't!" (The elf will ask questions. You give answers or die!).

Talimar then begins to question the orc about their business in the valley and why they would want to capture the mages in the group, Gnore translates for those who do not speak orcish as well as adding any physical incentives for the orc to speak. The orc does not give any response to Talimar other than curses and promises of drinking on the elves' blood for dinner. After several more minutes of roughing up the orc is unsuccessful in divulging any information, Gnore decides to go a step further.

Bringing the orcs right hand around in front of him, Gnore brings forth a hand axe handed him by Druckner and puts the axe over the hand of the orc.

"You speak now," says Gnore threateningly, "Or I start chopping fingers off!" For emphasis, Gnore drops the axe down on the log supporting the orcs hand, sending bark flying in front of the orc. The orc is undeterred by the threat from Gnore and merely spits in the dwarf's face. Enraged by the defiance of the orc leader, Gnore raises the axe, intent on chopping off the orcs index finger at the knuckle. As his hand is about to drop though, it is caught in the firm grip of Beleg.

"Nay, friend Gnore," says Beleg as he looks Gnore deeply in the eyes, "I will be no party to torture to gather information."