07.02b Sufficiently Advanced (More than one type of Orc)

[misfit]

Upon hearing that there is a castle nearby, Nuall becomes very concerned about an enemy stronghold nearby. He decides to wait until things settle down for the night, then takes off his armor and rides out to do some scouting. When he gets close he dismounts and sneaks up to the walls. He find a spot where vines have been allowed to grow on the walls, and climbs the vines to the top of wall. He quietly drops into the courtyard and begins to sneak around.

Unfortunately, he isn't aware that orcs have much better night vision than he has. Very shortly he is surrounded by orcs. When he finds out that they intend to take him to their leaders he allows himself to be herded.

Long story short, things go poorly in that meeting and the orcs order Nuall to be tortured to death. He still doesn't understand his true limits, but he decides that going down fighting sounds better. He punches one of his guards, grabs his weapon, and starts fighting. The carnage probably takes a couple of hours, but eventually the orcs are either dead or fled.

When he has a few minutes to catch his breath, the implications of what just happened start to seep into his brain. On the ride back to town he thinks about it...a lot.

In the morning he will tell Balduin that he went to do some scouting at the castle. The story he will spread is that the orcs got into a fight over who would be in charge and wiped each other out. The castle will need the corpses cleared out and it will need some cleaning, but it is available for use. Also, there should be a large number of much needed weapons laying about.

[Joshua]

(so, this leads into the arrival of everyone else.)