Winter Night (thetwo)

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

Pretending to sleep would, eventually, turn into genuine sleep, though not before most of their companions had joined them in the small barracks. First Ryon, and then Alex filed in, took off their boots, shirts, and pants, and flopped off into bed. Daniella didn't come in before the wind mage had finally passed out, and when she awoke in the morning it was to Steiner harshly knocking on the door and pushing her way in, the professor looking as surly as ever and if she hadn't gotten a whole lot of sleep.

"Up, everybody up! We're moving out in twenty minutes!" she said, prodding at anyone who didn't start getting out of bed immediately, and as Ryon and possibly Ashley were the only ones who got up quickly she inspired a number of whines and grumbles before leaving the room and letting them get their stuff together.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Ashley, wearing nothing but a silvery collar, moved silently through the frozen passages, peering carefully around each corner before stepping out. The hint of a warm breeze guided her through the mazelike twists and turns, but nevertheless it seemed like hours before she found the door.

It was securely locked, but the key slid in smoothly, turned with a satisfying 'click'. It took considerable effort to swing it open: the hinges were perfectly smooth and oiled, but the door must have weighed a thousand pounds.

Inside was the treasure. Piles of gold and ruby-studded jewelry that reached the ceiling. Works of art, each worthy of building a museum around. A diamond bigger than Ashley herself. And in the center... flesh. Daniella. Professor Steiner. Jenn. All nude, save for the rubber and black leather gear that held them in place, silent, and mad with arousal. Jenn's tormented eyes found Ashley, then stared beyond her.

The wind mage whirled around, lifting her hand to call her magic... and found nothing to answer her call. There was no magic. Just Clay, and the great scaled beast. Laughing. The former clipped something to her collar, pushed her over, and she felt something warm pressing against the exposed flesh of her cunt. He drew back, and -

She woke with a start, breathing hard. Getting up was easy - she'd slept soundly enough, and while there was an ache, it was a pleasant one. Plus she wasn't exactly eager to get back to that dream. Maybe if it had been the one where she'd been living in a cabin with Jenn... but it wasn't. As it was she was dressed, packed, and out of the room only a little behind Ryon.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

Arclan Claw would be waiting at the foot of the stairs when Ashley, among the rest of her group, arrived downstairs. He didn't settle on any one person besides Steiner for more than a few seconds, and there seemed to be no sign of any of the orcish portion of their party. "Decided to sleep in did we?" the knight quipped as they milled about in the now abandoned common room, the previous night's party ended and the clean up for the next night's underway by the tired looking staff.

He wouldn't give anyone a chance to respond before turning away with a sweep of his cloak and storming out the front door. The orcish party was there, waiting for them and already prepared to go. None of them said anything to any of the mage party, though a few glances were shared between various members. All the was left now was for Ashley to decide if she wanted anything else in the rough town, or if she was ready to begin the next portion of their journey.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Ashley looked around, noting the absence of the orcs and their fellows. Still, from the sound of it the others had simply been up earlier, and would presumably be waiting for them outside.

With no real business in the town aside from meeting their party, Ashley shrugged and went with the rest of the group as they left, falling in beside Jenn and avoiding looking too closely at Daniella.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

The orcish party took one brief stop, picking up a half dozen horses of a tough, thickset breed. Only one of them mounted, however, the one whose armor had the leonine motif who hadn't talked much so far, Dornhall. They exited the remote tone through a different gate than the one they'd come in through, one in the North that led them out into an open plain covered in snow, though not before the group had passed through a filthy, foul smelling slum. The others with horses saddled for riding were Jiub and Karena, who walked side by side leading their horses, and Grumush who handed her reins off to her pointy eared manservant, Dalmen, and went over to walk with her brother. The other two horses were thicker set beasts that were as tall as Ashley at the shoulder and seemed to be in use purely as pack animals, as they had no saddles.

"It's going to be a cold couple of days," said one of the orcs, Trogo, to no one in particular as far as Ashley could tell. "And windy out here... You all packed warm enough?" Ylsig, the well armored orcish woman asked as she swept a look over their human secondary group. Most of them were keeping at least a five foot gap between them and the nearest orc, but Ryon seemed perfectly comfortable around them and replied; "We did, and even if we didn't we have someone who can take care of that problem for us if need be."

It was indeed extremely cold, and Jenn huddled up a little and walked closer to Ashley's side as they proceeded towards their ultimate destination. Arclan and Dornhall were at the front of the group, but weren't speaking, and the orcs spoke only occasionally from then on unless addressed by Ashley or joining in on a conversation she started. Eventually, however, Steiner would recede from her position at the head of the group and fall into step beside Ashley, opposite Jenn. "So," she began quietly, speaking in just above a whisper, "you're the experienced adventurer here... What do you make of this lot?" She swept her eyes from orc to orc until her gaze ultimately settled on Arclan's back, her gaze narrowing into a glare that the man seemed to notice, as he turned around and smirked back at them briefly before kicking his mount into a gallop and speeding away, proceeding ahead into a line of snow covered pines and quickly vanishing into the woods some hundred feet ahead of them.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Ashley wasn't terribly surprised that most of the orcs weren't riding. She'd never heard them having a reputation as horsemen. And in any case, the human party didn't have horses. And even if they had, she at least had practically no experience riding.

She only rolled her eyes at the comment about the cold. Of course it was going to be cold. That was what going North meant. Cold winds had started long since, and they'd only get colder and stronger. Not that Ashley had ever minded wind. It was still air that bothered her. And as for the chill... she resisted touching Frost, the silvery ring on her right hand, a gift from the Fey in recognition of the magic she'd worked against the Invaders in the moments after their arrival. She didn't intend to put it to the test without reason - certainly not where potential enemies could see - but it ought to protect her against any natural cold, however intense.

The wind mage felt Jenn's presence beside her, and took her lover's hand, pulling her in and sharing what warmth she could. Not that it was very much, given their layers of clothing, but it was a reminder of the previous night when there hadn't been any clothing between them, and that alone was enough to warm her a little. She smiled and walked with Jenn for a time, until the professor settled in on her other side, though hardly as close.

Ashley followed Steiner's gaze, and answered in a like tone. "Most of them seem no worse than most men. But I wish I knew why their leader is the slaver. And I wish I knew what exactly the plan was." In her head, she added, And I wish I didn't suspect those two things were related.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

"I hope the two aren't linked," Steiner replied dryly, putting words to Ashley's concerns. "They do at least seem more or less like any other band of warriors I've met, but orcs can be funny... And the others. That woman beside Jiub... I know her family, the Arselones, by name. They were wiped out, most of them killed and the rest put to the plow with an orc's spear at their back when Kaikaiden fell," she said under her breath.

It was something of an odd thing, this war. Not since before mortal men had landed from across the sea had the orcs invaded the lowlands in force, when the elves had held sway across Heloras and fought them back. Before it, the city-states of Crolia had never been anything resembling united, often skirmishing and bickering among themselves. Traders had long lamented the inability of the nobility of the various cities to settle their differences and stop making their business difficult, and while Therion had long been the strongest it was hardly invulnerable. Wars were uncommon but not unheard of, even with the regular invasions by Badarian troops coming from the South to unite the locals against them. More than once the great city had been attacked in its long years, more than once in history its ruled dynasty had been unseated by enemies from both within and without.

The Invasion two years ago had brought a semblance of union, and the charge of the orcs from the mountains had preserved it, but only necessity kept the city states from returning to their bickering, and even though she was an outsider - from the South no less - Ashley had heard a good number of less than flattering things about folk from certain cities in her time spoken by people who were otherwise quite rational. The Academy itself was supposedly neutral as it took students from everywhere with little question, but its closeness to Therion and the many donations offered by Therion's noble families who trusted their children's schooling to it did prompt a bit of favoritism that had caused some grumbling among the nobles of other cities.

Kaikaiden had been one of the first cities to fall to the orcs, the closest city that could still be called Crolian to the trade route through a narrow pass leading into the Amazon. It had been wealthy, a natural melting pot of the two cultures with famed architecture and cuisine and a temperate climate, the city had been taken completely by surprise by the invasion that would have destroyed it if not for timely intervention by a great dragon and its spawn, and taken by surprise again when the orcs invaded and not given the same rescue. Its defenses hadn't lasted a day, so quick and brutal the assault had been, and its population had been seized entirely by the orcs by all reports that Ashley had heard.

"He must have been the one to capture her... I had heard orcs sometimes put slaves into combat, but she walks around openly armed. I can't understand how she doesn't put a weapon through his throat if his nickname is any indication of his character," Steiner continued with a dark scowl. "And the elf... The night elf... She's had Academy teachings but lives among the orcs? How?"

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

The warrior slave wasn't such a puzzle to Ashley. She didn't know exactly how it had been done, but she knew there were ways. There were enchantments that could be used to make the prospect of killing or even fleeing your 'master' a terrible proposition. And spiritual magics - the sort orcs seemed okay with - that could rewrite a person's mind. And even without magic, she'd seen long-term slaves on her wanderings before coming to the academy. Some of them would have not only refused to run away given the chance, but actively helped prevent other slaves escaping. No way to tell which method - if any - was used on the warrior, but it didn't really matter, not if they were intended to cooperate with the slaver.

The elf, though... the wind mage hadn't put that together before, but now that Steiner pointed it out, it *was* a big incongruity. Orcs *hated* the sort of magic the academy taught, and didn't tolerate mages. "Perhaps they don't know? She wasn't exactly hiding it, but then obviously everyone in this party is willing to work with mages. And for that matter... she called what we do 'stolen power', so maybe she doesn't practice magic anymore."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

Jenn: Fine
Daniella Boulay: Fine
Ryon Toma: Fine
Alex Kovisto: Fine
Professor Laura Steiner: Fine
Jiub the Slaver: Fine
Karena Arselone: Fine
Ayeila: Fine
Caragor: Fine
Grumush: Fine
Gronkor: Fine
Dalmen: Fine
Scortha: Fine
Nilsin the Red: Fine
Trogo son of Trondor: Fine
Dornhall the Troll Slayer: Fine
Ylsig: Fine

Steiner's expression soured further in response to Ashley's answers. "Work with, sure... But live with? Marry? Not so easy... She must not practice anymore... Most orcs won't even tolerate healing magic. But to give up the practice entirely? It's like madness," she said, eyeing the elf in particular for a few moments.

"Orcs... They've been finding ways to combat magic for generations. We'll have to be on our guard. If this goes the way I increasingly think it will, we'll have to at least have an idea of how to deal with each of them... And you two and Ryon are the only ones with real combat experience," she directed that last comment as much at Jenn as at Ashley, though the water mage's battle experience wasn't anything she liked to talk much about, much less take pride in.

After a time and perhaps a few more concerned mutterings, Steiner would depart, leaving Ashley with a largely silent Jenn at her side and the open countryside surrounding them. It was a long march, but this time hardly an easy one, with biting winds - though Ashley could ignore or mitigate that - bitter cold, and long hours. The orcs marched on relentlessly, maintaining a constant rotation of those acting as scouts and working at the head of the troupe.

By the end of their long day's march, they had crossed almost twice the distance that the mage party had on their journey to meet the orc's, and over rougher ground too. Ashley hadn't seen a farm or ranch or even a hunter's cabin for miles, and they hadn't passed a soul either. Animals were scarcer too, save the crows who seemed to be omnipresent and the occasional sighting of a fox or hare. When they finally stopped for the night, all of the mages were aching and most seemed grouchy, but the orcs grumbled of having to stop early for the "soft" members of their party. Arclan seemed content with their progress, however, and wandered off for a few minutes only to return with a freshly slain doe over his shoulder, its throat slit and still leaking blood that didn't seem to touch his armor or garb but still left a trail along the snow.

He dumped it into the center of camp and then wandered off again, and did not return for the night, leaving it up to one of the orcs - Nilsin, the female orc with a wild mane of black hair and wore no armor - to butcher it and the other orcs to divvy it up. Some of their party, namely Alex and Daniella, seemed wary of dining with the orcs out here in the wilds, but Ryon showed no such compunctions, and with a shrug a surly looking Jenn and Steiner both joined them. The orcs didn't seem to mind the additional company, and there was plenty of food that they seemed to have no issue with sharing, and so eventually the two hesitant members of their party joined in on the evening meal, potentially leaving Ashley as the odd woman out. The rest of the night would be hers to spend how she liked, but the day had been long and hard and they were far from civilization, leaving the only real options to try some conversation with some of her party members or maybe looking to get some more alone time with Jenn.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

'Dealing' with the orcs and their party. Well. As if the ancient Dragon wasn't enough to worry about. And while they looked for weaknesses in their 'allies', the orcs would be looking right back. And they had considerably more experience dealing with mages than Ashley did dealing with orcs. And quite possibly had been given more warning about their companions and the plan than the mages had. If it came down to a conflict, the wind mage's first choice would have to be to get out safely, along with her allies. She unconsciously touched the amulet she habitually wore around her neck - one easy way out, perhaps, at least for her and Jenn.

That night Ashley joined the group at dinner, sticking with Jenn. She might be suspicious of the orcs, but refusing to eat with them wouldn't do anything but make eventual conflict more likely. Still, she wasn't feeling very talkative, at least not towards the near-strangers. She opted instead to talk with Jenn, but keep an ear out for anything the orcs might reveal. And for any sign that perhaps her girlfriend was getting a little more used to the road, instead of being too tired and sore to do anything but sleep in the evening.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

Jenn: Fine
Daniella Boulay: Fine
Ryon Toma: Fine
Alex Kovisto: Fine
Professor Laura Steiner: Fine
Jiub the Slaver: Fine
Karena Arselone: Fine
Ayeila: Fine
Caragor: Fine
Grumush: Fine
Gronkor: Fine
Dalmen: Fine
Scortha: Fine
Nilsin the Red: Fine
Trogo son of Trondor: Fine
Dornhall the Troll Slayer: Fine
Ylsig: Fine

Jenn proved not to have much to say, not that night at least. She was exhausted and sore, and being exhausted and sore always made her fairly surly. She went to bed early, but if she went to follow her girlfriend one of the orcs would move to stop her by planting a hand on her shoulder when she was a few paces from the campfire, or by simply speaking to her openly when she was still sitting by the fire.

"You were the one who was at Artmirst, right?" the busty orcess who was supposedly sibling to the orcish leader asked, brushing a strand of crimson hair away from her eyes.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Ashley eyed the orc that had stepped between her and Jenn as she turned to follow her lover to the tents. Jenn didn't really seem in the mood for sex, but the wind mage had half a mind just to slip in under Jenn's blankets instead of making her own spot. If nothing else it would keep them both warmer.

Her tone was a little frosty as she answered. "I don't know about the one, but I was there, yes." With some effort, she softened her tone. "My name is Ashley. And you are Grumush? The... slaver's... sister?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

Jenn: Fine
Daniella Boulay: Fine
Ryon Toma: Fine
Alex Kovisto: Fine
Professor Laura Steiner: Fine
Jiub the Slaver: Fine
Karena Arselone: Fine
Ayeila: Fine
Caragor: Fine
Grumush: Fine
Gronkor: Fine
Dalmen: Fine
Scortha: Fine
Nilsin the Red: Fine
Trogo son of Trondor: Fine
Dornhall the Troll Slayer: Fine
Ylsig: Fine

"Hah! What, there someone else around here who was in the damned city?" the orcess asked dryly, ignoring Ashley's initially frosty tone and the sudden shift to a softer one as if she had heard neither. "Yeah yeah... Ashley," she blustered loudly, before bursting out into boisterous laughter at her distasteful usage of the orcish leader's title.

"Hahahahahaha.... Aye, he's my little brother, the worm!" she retorted casually, "and that'd be me name! Don't wear it out!" She casually sized Ashley up as she spoke, her tactful appraisal belied by her jovial approach.

"Well, I suppose you're wonderin why it is that I'm botherin ye, eh?" Grumush said after a moment, but gave Ashley no opportunity to respond as she continued; "It's not often I get to meet someone who came outta that place sane and whole. Well, you look both... And have had some other misadventures since by the way you tell it. I'm curious enough to offer a... Trade, of sorts. Not now, but I was wonderin' if ye'd want to swap stories a bit some time. Doesn't need ter be now, but sometime when you're bored an' we're all just sort of trudgin along. What do yah say?"

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Ashley frowned slightly, preferring the thought of following Jenn - even if she just meant to sleep - to talking with an orc she'd only barely met. But still. The orc woman was offering a chance to learn more about the rest of the group. Potentially very important. And anyway, a few weeks on the road had brought her back to something approaching the condition she'd been in before enrolling at the academy. She had plenty of energy left.

"Very well. I'm not tired yet. Maybe one story each tonight? You apparently already know something about my visit to Artmirst. I could tell more about that, or about something else if you'd prefer."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

Jenn: Fine
Daniella Boulay: Fine
Ryon Toma: Fine
Alex Kovisto: Fine
Professor Laura Steiner: Fine
Jiub the Slaver: Fine
Karena Arselone: Fine
Ayeila: Fine
Caragor: Fine
Grumush: Fine
Gronkor: Fine
Dalmen: Fine
Scortha: Fine
Nilsin the Red: Fine
Trogo son of Trondor: Fine
Dornhall the Troll Slayer: Fine
Ylsig: Fine

"Yours in particula? Nah, not a thing, asides that you were there and fought some demons," Grumush replied jovially, "that's what I'm asking about, ain't it? Well, if'n yer willing to go about it right now a bit, I'm game~ You wanna start, or should I?" The orc squatted down, beckoning for Ashley to do the same so that they could speak without being overheard, at least if the wind mage wanted to bother keeping her voice down. She didn't seem bothered by the cold, but Ashley could try to direct them back to the fire, or even to one of the tents or somewhere else if she liked.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Ashley frowned. But she didn't particularly care to tell the story in front of everyone at once, and certainly didn't want to be alone in a tent with the slaver's sister. So she carefully sat near the orc, still in sight of the fire, but out of earshot as long as she didn't raise her voice.

"Well. This was back before I ever went to the Academy. I wasn't as well-versed in magic or combat in general, having learned mostly by teaching myself, and a few lessons from a dying old man. I'm from Badaria, and was in the area when I heard rumors of something going on in Artmirst. When I got close, I found a large house where..." The wind mage gave an account of her introduction to Artmirst and demonkind, leaving out the bit where the warped 'woman' had actually managed to finish inside her twice before she'd knocked the thing out a window. And giving no mention at all to Mathias's visit afterward.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

Jenn: Fine
Daniella Boulay: Fine
Ryon Toma: Fine
Alex Kovisto: Fine
Professor Laura Steiner: Fine
Jiub the Slaver: Fine
Karena Arselone: Fine
Ayeila: Fine
Caragor: Fine
Grumush: Fine
Gronkor: Fine
Dalmen: Fine
Scortha: Fine
Nilsin the Red: Fine
Trogo son of Trondor: Fine
Dornhall the Troll Slayer: Fine
Ylsig: Fine

The orcess listened intently to Ashley's somewhat altered history of arriving at Artmirst, now called Acheron, up until the wind mage opted to cut it off. She asked questions only to prod the story along, and when it was finished offered to tell one of her own, allowing Ashley to give a ballpark subject if she so desired but choosing one of her own instead if the wind mage had no preference.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Ashley continued, intending to give the entire story, from her view, if someone abbreviated. She explained how she entered the city, explored, and eventually found the old mage who had explained some of what was going on. How she'd found a house so recently used as a demonic headquarters - again leaving out her personal interaction with Mathias - and how she'd explored it, finding the portal to the place where demons come from. How she'd stepped through, discovered it was one-way. How she'd hidden herself, found the prison, and eventually managed to steal her way back through the portal to Artmist, resolved to save the prisoners. How she'd found allies - fey and otherwise - and returned with them through the portal. How they'd fought in the prison, and won.

There was no hiding, by the end, that Mathias had been there, nor was there any point in trying. The only thing she didn't care to be public knowledge was her personal, private interactions with the great daemon, and her embarassing early mistake in the manor house. And her first encounter with the troll was really a distraction from the point of the story. Even for all that it was an accurate enough telling of the last few days of old Artmirst and the death of the demon lord, as good as anyone but Matthias could give, though the wind mage reflected that she wasn't really a very good story teller.

Her part done, she paused a minute to consider before making her own request. "Well, I've told you a large enough part of my own past. How about something about you and your brother's history?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashley: HP = 52, PP = 72, EP = 78, Status = Fine

Jenn: Fine
Daniella Boulay: Fine
Ryon Toma: Fine
Alex Kovisto: Fine
Professor Laura Steiner: Fine
Jiub the Slaver: Fine
Karena Arselone: Fine
Ayeila: Fine
Caragor: Fine
Grumush: Fine
Gronkor: Fine
Dalmen: Fine
Scortha: Fine
Nilsin the Red: Fine
Trogo son of Trondor: Fine
Dornhall the Troll Slayer: Fine
Ylsig: Fine

The orcess contented herself with listening to Ashley, asking only the occasional question for clarification's sake. She got dangerously close to figuring out some of the gist of certain details that Ashley had chosen to leave out, but smirked and moved past them. She seemed confused, and then amazed when the wind mage discussed Matthias, though every time she mentioned his name Ashley felt like someone had put another few pounds onto weights on her shoulders.

When it was her turn, however, Grumush didn't reply immediately except to smirk. She reached up and scratched her chin, eyeing Ashley, and then laughed lightly under her breath. "Heh... I knew one of you would try to weasel that out of one us at some point... I'm guessin yer more interested 'n his little title than any story itself, eh? Well, that's a spot of curiosity I suppose I can offer some explernation fer, eh? After all, you did just spin me quite a yarn... Alright then girly, well, when you was still in a girl's skirts instead o them nice short ones you academy types get to wear, we was up North o' home a ways.

"Jiub an' I are from the mountains way East originally yah see... Anyway, we was up North o' home with a band, looking for the usual stuff. We mostly left the towns alone unless we wanted to do some trading, they welcomed us back then sometimes even, especially when it was a hard winter and we sold some extra food for a bit 'o time on a forge. We were huntin' mostly, didn't catch any good raids on anythin' appealing, but then what do we find.... Well, you see, our King wasn't always around - this requires some context ya see - an even before then plenty o' fools got it in their heads to try an' tell everyone else how they oughta live. Only fool was not a fool enough to earn the right is the one in charge now, but some folks will buy anything that you spoon to 'em right.

"This one guy... He's still 'round somewhere way North an East now, in the flats I think, stirring up trouble again... Anyway, he gets it in his head to do the "only the strong survive" schtick to the hilt, an' he starts setting up some warbands like ours to go raidin' an pillagin' an all that fun kinda stuff. We just happened to stumble 'cross one of their slave caravans. Now, he likes to keep his victims all pliant with drugs and such, the more likely to string 'em out the better, and sometimes his boneheads like to buzz out too. Well, I'm all for a bit of... Sensory enhancement from time to time, 'specially when it's time to get these itchy clothes off and do some pinning, but these fools didn't know anything 'bout temperence or timing. There wasn't a girl in that caravan - an' he only grabbed the girls, breeders they called 'em, fuckin louts - that wasn't with child by the time we came on the bunch, and the nitwits trying to guard 'em were half drugged or busy porking their prizes before they had to hand most of 'em up the chain.

"Now, that ain't proper in many respects, and this lot was too easy pickins and too likely to go unmissed for us to pass it up. Most of 'em was clanless - worthless scum - anyway, so no one to worry about gettin mad at us 'cept a warlord that no one with any sense particularly liked. So, we set up for a charge, and overran 'em afore most could get their pants up. The few who weren't totally worthless we kept, the rest got the sharp end, and then we took all their stuff. That included the girls, obviously, and as we discovered, their lot wasn't right at all.

"You see, I dunno what they tell yah, but we don't take civvies as bonded unless they've got the stones to put up a REAL good scuffle when we show up. The rest we just sorta leave be... Or I guess induct now, unless they're unlucky. War is war an' all that. And these girls was definitely NOT a bunch of fighters, if they had been they'da killed the lot what caught 'em before they were a mile outside town. Farmer's daughters, shop girls, shepherds, all that sorta thing... People we prefer to leave to their own damn business, because everyone needs to eat and we mostly only care 'bout who's calling the shots these days.

"Anyway.... So, there we were, sitting pretty on a modest stash o' loot and a bunch of traumatized humies an' elves with little bastards in their bellies. We had a bit o' thinkin to do, and eventually... Well, I was all for takin the bunch to the nearest town, dumping 'em on someone else, and having on our merry. Most of the rest of us were pretty fine with that notion too... But not me baby brother, see. Some of us are a little stricter on the whole honor thing than others, but little Jiub... He's pretty close to a believer, but only at the most inopportune times. See, he decided he wanted them girls returned to where they belonged, and most of their stuff too, to whoever was left alive where they was taken from. He managed to convince our chief of it after a bit too, and after a good bit of shouting and a few scuffles we all grudgingly agreed. I helped me brother out there, of course... I might not have agreed with wasting our time on that, buuuut he's my blood, right?

"Anyway... It wasn't til we got to that first village that we realized what Jiub was planning was going to pay off... Big time. See, the place was a wreck, a ruin, and some of them girls didn't have any family to go back to. We didn't let none of 'em go though, an' at first you might take what we did there as cruel. We set up like a regular slaving caravan, stage and all, and all the townsfolk what were left came to watch as we paraded some of their lost daughters in front of 'em. There was outrage, of course, but we were a good bit meaner looking than the raggedy bunch who had already swept through, so no one tried to take up arms. Imagine the despair, the angry shouts, the weeping when you see yer own gettin sold at the block... And when the first girl was up, lil Jiub revealed his play."

Grumush stopped dramatically, letting Ashley stew for a moment, but couldn't seem to hold it in for more than a few seconds before she dramatically declared; "He started the bidding at a single coin. Just. One. Coin. Imagine the looks on their faces then... Some didn't believe, some didn't understand, but the smarter ones caught on. The girl's pappy shot his hand up right quick, and not a single person disputed him on that. Now, the dumber ones among us got a bit mad in turn 'bout then, not understanding what was going on, buuut some of us caught on quick and shut them up. The next one was put up for a single coin too, but the lady who recognized her best just sobbed... I guess she was destitute, and by that point no one was willing to spend their own to help a neighbor lest they not have the coin for their own loved ones. Jiub asked twice more... An then he lowered the bid. Two bundles of firewood he asks, not nothing but still a pittance, and she just looks up and raises her hand... Everyone caught on fast by that point.

"People started offerin favors of all kinds pretty soon. Askin fer the coin was just a formality - the fuck would we even spend it on anyway? We earned more from that town through favors and labor than we coulda bought with a king's ransom we did, and that was only the first. Jiub even gave them their stuff back, anything they could rightly identify, for a song and a half he did. We traded a bit more, helped ween the girls off what they'd been addicted to after they were caught, and set on our way. The next town over, same thing happened. And the next after that. Only ones who gave us any trouble were a bunch of elves. In the end, we probably got more value in goods and services out of those girls than we would have if we'd have sold them at market proper.

"After that killing, it was a slave caravan raidin fer us! No one complained after that. It all dried up eventually o'course, an we didn't always make good money... One of the villages was just straight up gone, an' one tribe up North outright refused ter even talk to us, but it was good times. By the time those chumps folded, we'd sent plenty of niceties back home and made a damn fortune. Lil Jiub's cleverness earned him a good bit o' respect too, an' his fancy title, which he mostly keeps 'round as a joke these days. He hasn't sold a slave in damn near ten years.

"So... Whatcha' think honey, fair trade?" she concluded, looking to Ashley expectantly.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Winter Night (thetwo)

Spoiler

Less than a year later!

Ashley kept quiet during the story. Slavers and the deplorable things they did weren't exactly a shock to her, and she had asked for this sort of story because she wanted to hear it, not because she wanted to talk over it.

Afterward, she considered. The story set up Jiub as honorable, even commendable. And explained why he went about calling himself 'the slaver'. Maybe even how a person calling himself that could walk into town without hiding his face. Not that a neutral town during the war was likely to do anything to an orc in the company of other orcs, however unsavory.

But that was only if the story were true. If it was instead a pack of lies... hard to say. But Ashley had offered a true tale, one that was important to her, and which she had rarely told in its entirety before. The trading of stories was an old tradition, and what she knew of orcs said that they tended to be honorable, in their way. And if it were true, it would explain why they were together, why this was being allowed to go forwarded even knowing who their companions would be.

On balance, she decided to give the orc the benefit of the doubt. She still wouldn't entirely trust them, and certainly didn't *like* them, but she likewise wouldn't assume that this was an elaborate scheme to enslave a bunch of human mages. Ashley nodded. "Fair enough. Something to think about, to be sure."

And of course that was the other half of it. If Grumush had felt the weight of Ashley's tale as much as she herself had - as if Mathias himself were a foot behind her, staring at her neck - she would understand that Ashley was not someone to set oneself against lightly.

"And enough for tonight as well. Perhaps we can talk again another night." Certainly Ashley had more tales worth telling, and she could certainly think of more questions she'd like answered as well. Especially if there were a way to rope someone else into the exchange...

Bidding the orc woman good night, she made her way towards where Jenn had retired.