Show of Strength

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And of course, please don't forget to let them know that the folks at DNR sent you. Without any further ado, here's the show! Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, starting with Xavier. Hey, I'm Xavier and I play Donovan the Human, who is a fighter. And Robert. Hey, I'm playing half-orc druid Ubo. And Kelsey. Hey, I'm playing Aster, the elven archer. And Michael. Hey, I'm Michael and I play Amvin Yamil, the half-elf storm mage. And James. Hey, it's James and I play Esno Masoka, the rogue half-elf.

I said that backwards. [Laughter] No wrong answers. All Masoka. As long as all the info's there, it's fine. That's cool. And Susan! Hey, I'm Susan and I play Madeline Riawen, the human cleric. Oh man, so you guys... [Sigh] Let's pick things up directly after we left off. It is the 12th of Yesti. It is, uh, it's evening. There's been a bit of an uproar in the camp, obviously, as the prisoner that you've been escorting back to the orc encampment for the Mozog has been brutally executed. It was technically trial by combat, but that was a flat-out execution. And I'd really like to start off with Madeline Masoka.

Because while the orcs and Ubo are celebrating and they're enjoying this victory over this tiny puny human, Madeline, I'm imagining, at least to some degree, did any part of her get bloody? Was it just a clean cut? Like, did you keep your hands away? Or was it just like, slice, get back? That type of thing. Because he was probably coated in his own bodily fluids, like top to bottom. He was in really bad shape. So was that a thing that Madi would have taken care of? Like, not to get... No. She probably would have grabbed a collar when she leaned in close and held that dagger at that angle against his throat.

And then, you know, did her thing. So at least one hand is bloody, and if blood splirted out of his neck, that hand is bloody as well. You know what? Let's see. Oh yeah. A lot of blood. A lot of blood. So maybe splatters on her face too. So there's some blood. Okay. What would Misoka's reaction be to this? Well, he was right close there too, right? So he probably got... You handed her the blade. Yeah, so he got blood on himself too. And probably got blood in his mouth or something because... Oh, gross. Yeah, well. He'd just be like... That was what he had. Yeah. No, he'd probably be just sitting there kind of wide-eyed because it's pretty real.

And I think he just kind of looked up at her and just say, "Are you okay?" So Madi was like super close, like whispering in his face. Not whispering, but soft talking into his face. So her face probably has blood splatters on it and she's holding his collar. And then when he speaks, she's kind of like gonna jolt. Like, "Oh man, I realize the situation on my end and who I'm surrounded by." And gonna jolt, immediately let go of his collar, and actually let go of the dagger too. Like even though it's his and sit back on her heels. Pull up her hands in front of her face and just start looking at her hands and they're gonna start shaking.

Okay. I think Ezno would probably put a hand on her shoulder just to steady her. And sort of look over at... She's gonna jump when you touch her. Okay, he'll just put his hands back and be like, "No, no, no, no. It's okay. It's okay." And then he'll sort of look over at the orcs and just put his finger up to his lips like, "Shh." You know, just so they don't get alerted to what's going on over there. She's gonna look up at him when he does the "shush" and there's gonna be like... Her eyes are gonna be misty, not teary, but like obviously like there's something going on.

And then she's gonna blink and this calm is gonna settle over her. And she's gonna pick up the dagger and hold it out to you. And if you take it, she's just gonna go through the motions of performing the rites, but it's obviously like super mechanical. Like just... She's done this a million times. So she's gonna put his hands over his chest, start praying over him, put a symbol of a monitor on him. Just super like, she's done this a million times and no emotion behind it. So he'll take back the dagger, he'll just wipe it off on his pants. He doesn't care.

He'll kind of just stand back a bit and watch her go through whatever she's doing there. And he'll just... I assume he has like a rag or something like that clean that he'll pull out. And when she's done, sort of hand it to her, you know, with his hand, like kind of wave it around his face. But looking at her, she's got blood all over. But even he's not sure if it's appropriate to even say something right now. So he'll just leave it at that. So you're like right up on her, so you probably still notice that her hands have a slight tremor to them. Even though her face is blank, no emotion.

She's still shaking a bit. And she'll take the rag, nod at you, and start vigorously scrubbing at her hands. And if they know of a stream nearby, she'll start going that direction. Or she'll go towards her bag if there's not a stream nearby. There would be a stream nearby. Very close by, actually. Okay, she'd go straight for it. Is anybody gonna stop her along the way? No. Okay. Well, once she gets there, she's gonna scrub her hands and face until they're raw. I wanna catch up with Donovan really quickly. Because Donovan was fairly close by as well. Mm-hmm. I guess, what would Donovan's reaction be?

Because I would imagine you'd see enough to see Mattie kind of lean down, but probably be to her back. Right? So like, you'd probably not get a really good glance at exactly what happened. But it's pretty clear that Ahsoka did. Alright. I'm gonna pocket this for now, actually. But I'll definitely remember that. Okay. What about the rest of the group? What would Astra be doing? Um, so, Astra, they just kind of are off by themselves a bit. Away from everyone else. I mean, as soon as it was decided what was gonna be done, they kind of knew what was gonna happen next, so they kind of were off and just thinking about everything.

I mean, they heard the noises and everything that happened. Astra and Amphen both sort of walked off. I don't know if you walked in the same direction. If it was something where you met up. I feel like if Amphen did kind of walk away and if Astra saw him, they'd kind of look at him, not quite give him a look. Because, I mean, it was obviously pretty bad, but just kind of seeing what his reaction was. So, let's see. Do you know which direction? Because my direction, I'd probably want to be walking away from the place, but I wanted to find either a stump or a rock that faces you, like the direction of Uminiro.

I mean, they just kind of went away, generally, like the opposite direction of where we're going. We could say that we, by coincidence. Yeah, totally. So, if anything, Amphen probably wouldn't even acknowledge you were there, because he probably didn't even see you in his head. But you would see that his face was very focused, kind of confused, but mainly focused, kind of frustrated. And if I found that spot, I don't know if it was in visibility, but you'll notice I'd be sitting there. But I do not have my book out or anything. Like, I'm not writing. Normally, I sit down at a place and I pull out my book and I start writing and, you know, notes, but no notes.

Just sitting there deep in thought, staring towards Uminiro. Yeah, they won't say anything. They're going to give them his space. And they kind of walk a bit so that Uminiro is just in case, like, he does want to talk or say anything or just whatever, but they're not going to force it on him. Yeah, this isn't their first rodeo with orcs, but it's rough when it's your first time. Yeah, he'll just be sitting there, can't really read it other than frustration maybe, but definitely deep in thought. Cutscene. Yeah. With the wind flowing through my hair. Yeah, that's right.

I would imagine Ubo's probably still celebrating with the orcs, right? Yeah, no, more or less. He's pretty happy with how this went. He kind of sees off in the distance Maddy processing, and he's not, obviously he's not close enough to get the fine detail of it, but all that's kind of going through his head is, "Ah, she'll figure it out. She'll get better." I'm sure this was a little rough on her, but you know, it's just growing pains, you know what I'm saying? That's how he's imagining her process here. What would be, we talked at the end of the last session, but what would Ubo be thinking about?

I would imagine that feeling of, you know, there's this celebration and Ubo's being included, and you know, as Ubo, that tomorrow you're about to march into a camp that you're pretty familiar with, and the last time you were there things didn't go well. How would Ubo be feeling in that moment? It's kind of a mix, right? Like he's, on the one hand, near the end of last session we talked about some orc that, the orc that I had previously had a falling out with. Orag. Thank you. So Ubo knows that's kind of on the horizon, and so he's kind of, like, yes he's in the moment here celebrating, but on the back of his mind is, "How am I going to approach this?" Like, on the one hand I have Orag to deal with, on the other hand we've got a really big win here because the pink-skinned peoples just respected our rights and just let us do our thing, and that needs to be communicated if there's going to be any hope of living as neighbors.

And so it's kind of a, like, yeah, alright, I'm hanging out with the orcs and celebrating and trying not to look too, I'm trying not to look too introspective because it's not very orcish to look introspective, but he's, yeah, in the back of his mind he's kind of cooking over all the angles, and like, you know, the tense part of this isn't over. I would imagine after a while, celebration will start to die down, and you guys are going to be making camp, just to bed down for the night, that is. Unless anybody wants to do anything, we're going to advance to the 13th of Yes Day, and we're going to get going.

Yeah, let's say we have a campfire during, as we set up camp and stay for the night, I'd like to have a little conversation around the fire with Ubo, if he'll allow me. He doesn't send you away, if you come over he just kind of looks and waits for you to go. Cool, so he just sits right next to you and kind of looks at the fire while talking to you, and he just says, "I want that. I want what you and the orcs just had. I'd like to celebrate like an orc tomorrow. Think you can arrange that for me?" It will not be up to Ubo to say. I am not in charge there.

Not in... What is the word Amven uses? Good graces. I don't even know what that means. I think it means I am not liked enough. What? You're likable, Ubo. Don't look down on yourself like this. You know what? Let's make a deal. If you help me, if you just translate whatever I need to, to the orcs, to just be an orc for a night and celebrate, why don't you use me? Why don't you just mock me with the orcs? Why don't you make fun of this puny human who wants to party like an orc? Why don't you use me to just bond? Being escaped goes pretty easy. Hmm. That could turn their eyes away from...

Let me be your... I'll be your wingman. That will be hard. You do not have wings. Well, we'll see if I need them to fly. Ubo just froze his brow. None of this makes sense. He kind of slaps you on the thigh, and he's like, "Alright, well, just sleep on it. See if it's a good idea or not. Either way, I'm going to try to party with the orcs tomorrow." We will try what you say, but it will take a lot to make them not think about my half-breed blood. Alright, well, I'll do my best to help you out then. You know, distract them from that. You are a good comrade, Donovan.

You know what? If this works out, I'm going to owe you big time. If you need a favour at any point after this, just call me in. Anything. I'll be there. Hmm. And he just stands up and goes back to his bedroll and retires for the night. Anyone else? I would imagine it's pretty quiet there, right? I imagine the orcs have bedded down some time ago. It's a pretty quiet evening. You get the crickets going. Nice kind of springtime night. I would imagine it's also really peaceful to bed down under the stars like that, especially after some of that unpleasantness earlier in the day.

And again, if no one wants to do anything, we'll move on. Maybe when Eamon does return to the camp, maybe mid-meal or something, there'll be a point where he ends up breaking out of his book, but he's very methodical. Looks like he's writing out a spell or something. And once Mattie returns, she's just either for a little bit, she's dead eyes stare at the campfire and then eventually she'll just bed down without saying anything. Let's do a thing. Can you describe what Mattie wears, actually? Because my memory isn't always amazing. I could have sworn you said you wore white.

It was a lot of white. It was a white tabard with a sun on it. Oh, golly. Did you happen to bring any Therian shout or something that could get stains out? Oh, you know, yeah. The little tide pen stain remover. My tide adventuring stick. It's Theria to go. Yeah, she did. Yeah, except those tough adventuring stains. Well, OK, let's let's do this. Let's roll a flat D20 and let's see how how lucky you are here in scrubbing those stains out. The higher the roll, the better you scrub those stains out. Anything over 15 and it's almost imperceptible. OK, I will say she was more concentrated on scrubbing her hands and her face, so they actually might be super red, but she did probably eventually notice her tabard was covered with blood and started scrubbing that.

And there might actually be holes in it because, you know, they just use rocks. Right. So, yeah. Oh, wow. She's wearing red. She came in with a white robe. She thought she has a red robe. She probably didn't even notice her robe. She was probably so focused on her hands. I will say, listeners, I rolled a one. So let's describe the scene. Let's let's get back into this. That gave me everything I need. So. And me. So I would say a couple hours go by and people are starting to bed down for the night. The sun has gone down and I'd say for the party under normal circumstances, Maddy just being missing.

I think under normal circumstances, the party would be like, oh, shit, we got to find Maddy. But with everything that just went down, I feel like a few people wandered off. So I don't think it'd be completely out of the norm. One, two, if anybody did say, oh, man, we got to find Maddy. I think, you know, someone like Misoka or Donovan would be like, yeah, she just needs a little bit of time. She she was kind of upset. That's it. That's all you need to say. That being said, after a couple hours, Maddy's going to come back and she's going to sit down in front of this fire.

And one, her her hands and face are beet red. It looks like it almost looks like she's tried to claw at herself. Like it like such vigorous scrubbing has gone down that there's there's almost like a couple of abrasions here and there. And any cloth that would be on on top of her scales, a scale mail is just. At best, dark pink where it's been soaked in water clearly, but there is anybody who's been on the road and knows what's up, you're going to know that's bloodstains all over. Can I roll a perception to see if I even notice since I'm all not exactly here?

I OK, even if I get someone exactly here, it's pretty obvious. It's yeah, I'd say I'd say this doesn't beat anybody's like passive perception. Like I think everybody this would be this would be like someone walking in like it's like sitting down to dinner with a lampshade on their head or something like, well, that's new. Like it's very pretty obvious. Like my accessory. OK, then and then would totally go up to Maddie. I don't know if anyone else is joining. I see you got this, so I'll stay and just. Yeah, I'll be dead. I stare to you. You mean my friend at all.

Evan walks up and it's like, is that just from you giving rights? Because I would assume I like once you start talking like she's going to like jolt and like look at you, like realize that there's someone near her and like look up at and then space. Like and it takes her a good second to just recognize you, you know, when someone recognize you, you see it in their eyes and then she's going to look down at her tabard and just like lift it and look at it for a second longer than she really should and be like. I tried to clean it. Do you need some help?

I mean, the orcs may may enjoy seeing a blood red thinking that you were in a glorious battle, but I know you like white and I'll try to smirk. The whole time you're talking, she's really just holding her tabard up in her hands loosely and just looking at it. And then like again a second too long, she'll look back up at you and be like, please, please clean it. And with that, and then we'll cast press a digitization and basically hand on the shoulder saying it's going to be okay and then casts the spell on the robe tab tabard and that'll obviously clean the whole thing up.

Never happened. And she's still holding it limply in her hands and she'll look back down at it and she'll just continue looking at it. It was a rough day today. Might need to get some sleep. Unless you want to talk about anything. Still looking down at her tabard. She'll like, let go of it and it will slowly fall. And then say, yeah, I need some sleep. And then without even looking at you, just walk towards her bed mat. And then who's also not that totally always up on the cues and today, obviously, giving reasons is going to say, well, it was a rough day, probably just tired, probably just the everything and he's got his own things to work out, just takes it at face value and heads back to his little cot area.

So we're going to go ahead. We're going to advance to the next morning. Okay. So Maddie usually wakes up with the sun. So I'm not sure if they've given her last watch because she wakes up whether it's her watch or not. Or if someone else is awake. But Maddie usually does her stretching in the morning, her yoga. This morning, she just sits on her heels with her hands crossed, and then she is praying facing the sun. Now, Donovan is kind of like disappointed because he enjoys the yoga motions. After she's done praying stuff, Astor's gonna approach her. I don't know how long that she's doing that for.

Once the sun fully crests, you know, like once it's a full circle in the sky. Because that's usually how long she does the yoga. Gotcha. So, no stretches today then? No. And she stands up as she says it. I just, I know last night was rough for a few people, but what happened back there, it would have been a lot worse. And your suggestion was the best thing that could have happened with what was going on. I really want you to know that. I think that you did the right thing. So, Maddie didn't look them in the eye as Astor was looking towards the sun, not at the sun.

And she nods after you're done talking. And she says, "I'm glad that he was given trial by combat and not the alternative." Yeah. And I mean, it's not like he was a great guy anyway. He probably deserved what he got. Not more than that, but... Maddie's hands start to clench as you say that, and then she'll be like, "Yeah. That's what he deserved." And she'll look down now. He'll nod and give her some space. And then she's actually going to turn away from the sun and maybe walk towards her pack. Ew, symbolism. I like it. Well, I feel like it's time to get on the road.

You know what that means, guys? That means I'm going to need a slap D20 roll from one of you. Do we have a volunteer for tribute? Yeah, I'll do it. All right, let's go. 8. It's an 8. 8 is great. I like it. It's an 8. Okay, so you guys are about two-thirds of a day thereabouts outside of this orc encampment. The weather could be better. It's getting cloudy. There are spurts of rain here and there. It's going to stay cloudy all day. But there will be moments where at least the rain isn't pouring down. After several hours on the road, you guys will be just outside this orc encampment.

You're about a mile or so out. But it'll come into view. Now, the way the road's set up, you're going to be off of the road for a bit. Because what you have to do is leave the main road that would be going north towards Winterhaven. Then cross a river. Then kind of keep heading west in White Wolf Valley until you're almost near the Evergreen tree line. Yeah, I was going to ask at what point do we start seeing trees. Yeah, you're going to see the Evergreen from miles away. Because it's just this dense, thick forest. And depending on where you're standing, above those trees you're going to see Kalkas, which is the Great Tree.

This is the largest tree on the mainland and definitely inside the Evergreen. But more importantly, for right now, you're going to see this orc encampment. And you're going to see smoke, firstly. Like, lots of smoke. Big, thick pillars of smoke. And surrounding the orc encampment are these huge logs sharpened on both ends. One end is pretty much hammered into the ground. And then what they do is they sharpen the other end of it. And it's kind of sticking out at a 45 degree angle. Sometimes as exaggerated as like 90 degrees. They're facing all around the camp.

And what that does is make it a little harder for something to ride in on horseback or something like that. It's just obstacles. And then around those are a cadre of orcs surrounding this camp. So every side of the camp is surrounded by the most unpleasant sharpness, big orcs, that type of thing. And then interiorly you have the camp set up and a lot of the women, children, weaker orcs, that type of thing toward the center. How do you guys want to handle this? As soon as the orc encampment comes into view and Astor just really tenses up. They've had their bow out pretty much the entire trip because of the party's wonderful traveling companions.

But they like their frisk is like white knuckle on their bow and they keep kind of looking towards Kalkas and sort of almost seem to be like grounding themselves with that. But they're not happy. It is a strange sight. A couple of years ago, if you were cresting over this little hill that you're on and you were looking out, all you'd see is the forest and you'd see wildlife and stuff like that. Now what you see is this big orc encampment, obviously tons of lumber. You're going to see the spot they occupy and adjacent used to be treeline. Now it's the orc encampment and then just beyond that, just beyond that is this huge thick lush forest.

So it's a weird sight. Yeah, they're gonna like mutter a curse in elven. It's probably a slur. I don't know what that would be, but just yeah. That all depends on the slur. You know what? I'll send you some. Oh boy. I see Kelvin. I want to know. Me too. Me too. Oh, I want to be racist. I just want to hear it. But I don't. Did you just say... How far are we from the orc encampment and how late is it? So you're about a mile out, so you could definitely see it from your vantage point, but you're still a pretty good walking distance away a little bit. And it's only about like, I'd say, I don't know, three, four o'clock in the afternoon somewhere there.

If you had to get a real world equivalent. So then just as we're at the top of this hill and we'll say we can go in... So like a mile out is like what, two hour walk? I don't know, a walk? Oh, not even. No. Like a half hour? Yeah, if that. Yeah, if you take it slow. Yeah. So I'll be like, well, probably three or four hours until night. We could try to do this quickly or we can get up early and do it first thing in the morning. I don't know how long this is going to take. I'm going to look over at Ubo. Do you have any idea how long something like what we're going to do may happen?

There is more than enough time. Okay. I'm sure, and he gestures toward the other orcs, he says, I'm sure they are eager to get home. No reason to stop here. Okay then. With that, Eamon's going to pull open his book to that page and then read it one more time to see who's going to memorize and cast his newly remembered, newly learned spell, Enhance Ability. What is it called here? Eagle something? Eagle. It's a curse spell. Eagle Splendor, probably. Enhance Ability something. Yeah. So. Alright. So I assume you're going to have to do, I don't know if it does it correct, but.

We'll see. I guess I got target myself. Mainly it's just, I have advantage on charisma. So. How long does that last? That's a concentration spell, so I assume until I stop concentrating. Okay. Unless you have rules for concentration I wasn't aware of. No, no, no. It might specify it like up to an hour or something. No, I looked before. Okay. That's why I was going to do it and I was like, oh, because I wanted to be closer. But then I was like, oh, it just says concentration and I just tried to look up everything. Yeah, as long as you don't try to cast another concentration spell or get hit by something.

Yeah, that's basically it. And then I just give a big slap on his back. And I think if I do get hit I have to roll some kind of. There's a check. Yeah, I think it's con? Con check I want to say. I think it's con. Yeah, I think so. So yeah, it'll just give me. So hopefully I'll be rolling my persuasion with a negative one. And this will all be good because it'll be advantaged. Jason, what's the Theria date? 13th. 13th of yes-de. Yep. Yeah. So how far away are we from the orc camp? About a mile. Okay. And then just for spatial reference, how far away is the tree line?

If you were to walk, well, you could just walk around the camp, obviously, because the forest is way bigger than the camp. But it would take you about, if you were walking through the camp, it would take you about another 20 minutes or so to get past it and then to the tree line. Okay. They're right there, like right next to the tree line. Yeah. Which is the reason for a lot of conflict. Yeah. Because what the orcs are doing, if it's not clear, is they will expand the camp to the tree line, chop down trees for more materials to expand the camp to the new tree line to chop down more.

And they just, they will never stop. Yeah. It's the circle of life. Straight line of life. Yeah. Ubo just kind of looks over the party and says, "It is time to go to Mozog camp. Who will come and who will stay out?" So, Masoko will look at Astor. Look, I have no intention of going in there and I don't think you do either. Yeah, no. That would be good for anyone. Let's say you and I go around, maybe to the back tree line. Yeah, I'd- Keep an eye on things. I would really like to go see the trees or the ones that are still alive. Yeah, that'd be good. Maybe draw a couple arrows and maybe you can teach me some of those elven swears.

They smile. Evan looks determined and just starts walking. I know Donovan is coming. Maddie? Of course. Ubo nods. Good luck. If things go terribly bad, I honestly don't know if there's much we can do, but we'll keep an eye out. Evan looks back and nods. As Masoko walks away, he'll give a nod to Donovan and blow a kiss to Maddie. Maddie is dead-eye staring still? So doesn't even notice. The game is still on. Donovan's gonna put a hand on Masoko's shoulder and look at both Masoko and Astor and say, "You two have fun? Just try not to look like scouts?" I mean, if you're gonna practice shooting, just pick a different direction.

Astor looks down at their armor and gear, which is very much that of an elven scout from Alcon. Yeah, I'll try. Alright, I know you got this. And he turns around and runs after the group, like, "Wait up!" I'd imagine the orcs, specifically Groon, would wonder why they stopped when they're so close, and then seeing that the group is splitting up. As the bulk of the group is walking toward the orc encampment, I would imagine Groon would turn back toward Masoko and Astor and just... and just, like, kind of a, "Good, I don't want you to come," and just start marching with the rest of the group.

Astor is going to take a deep breath and close their eyes and continue walking, using all of their self-control right now. Just don't want to mess things up for their friends. I still think they'd probably wait until Groon turns around and then gives him the finger. I knew something was coming, it's great. It was either going to be the fuckershooter... I was thinking of blowing him a kiss, but I didn't, you know, it's already been done. It's been done. Astor approves. Let's enter an orc encampment. So, without these orcs here, right? The Mozog orc encampment would be a pretty imposing place to just walk into.

I don't imagine it would be easy going for anybody who's not orcish to just strut on in. Like I said, there are tons of orcs outside the camp just kind of standing guard, looking fairly alert, and they see you coming from quite a ways away and would be ready for you. There's going to be openings where these pontoons that are kind of shoved into the ground, there's sort of an opening where someone could ride through or walk through or whatever. And there's going to be a full-on barricade of orcs just standing there. And as Groon and the others get close, they're going to close the gap with each other and they're going to give a pretty mighty handshake and kind of embrace the real bro hug type of thing.

To these orcs, they kind of figured that they were dead, probably, after this long a time. And Ubo would be able to understand that they're obviously very happy that they've gotten back, and Groon would have vouched for you guys so that no violence was going to happen, nothing bad was going to happen to you, at least right now. And the other orcs would welcome you in as a result. They'd kind of get out of your way. Cool. Onward and forward? Mm-hmm. Groon is going to turn to Ubo and kind of the rest of the party, but Groon knows that the rest of the party doesn't understand him, so it's really kind of moot.

We speak with Orag now. Ubo just kind of grits his teeth and takes a deep breath and says, "Is there no one else who could do?" Orag is enforcer. Second in command. Orag does not like me. Groon is going to be a look that comes across Groon's face, like, "You're telling me this now?" And Ubo adds, "I do not like Orag." (laughter) "We will do what we can." "I will trust you to make this as smooth as you can." This is kind of a thing where they're already leading you, too. The wheels are in motion. Like, it's tough to stop the train now. Marching- Oh, sorry.

Seeing this discussion, Anvin leans in towards Ubo and says, "I'm going to need you to help me make sure that this all goes well. If things seem to be dicey, we need to have some kind of way out." Yeah, like, teach me how to say "drink" in Orcish. Hey, Rob. Yes? Do you think Ubo would have told Maddy anything about his falling out with the Orcs? Such as names? Like, one that keeps being said a lot? That doesn't need translation? (laughter) Man, how much would he have told her? Six months of travel. Yeah, after six months, he probably would have gone over the broad strokes of it.

Maybe, like, "I tried to kill Aurag." Did not work out well. Yes. Had to flee like wounded dog. Okay. Well, like I said earlier, Maddy has basically been running on autopilot all day. But kind of like a spark of recognition comes over her when she hears, "Aurag, Aurag, Aurag, Aurag." Like, everybody keeps saying his name, even with no translation. She's like, "Wait a second." And she'll look towards you. And then when Amren's like, "Hey, I need a signal," then Maddy will come to herself. She'll look at you, or look at Ubo and say, "Do we need to turn around?" I am not leaving.

We took this job. We did this job. All except for one last thing. I will not leave it undone, even if it means to see Aurag again. And then we'll then also lean towards Ubo, or I guess look up. Will there be translators or will you, if I want to say anything, will I have to go through you? And I don't know if that's going to cause issues. I am your trans. You speak for me. I talk for you. Yes. Great. Okay. Will that cause any issues? I'm seeing tension. You tell me what you need said, and I will say it. We will feel our way through this. Then Maddy looks at Ubo and says, "You have my weapon should you need it, and my spells.

I know that this will not be easy for you." If it comes to violence, it will probably just be Ubo and Aurag. No interruptions. Can Anven do a quick look around, trying to count the number of works? To size up? As we're walking, it's like one, ten, twenty. Keep going. This started out as a pretty small encampment. You're a book-learned fellow coming from Winterhaven. Let's have a check here. Can you give me a history check? I'd say you were really close to the event, so give me a history check with advantage. Oh, with advantage? Yeah, let's do that. He's gonna beat it.

Let's do that again. Give me another roll. Batter. Jeez. The dice are not on your side tonight. That's not a good sign. I have a plus five on that. First one everyone at home was a one. So the Mozog originally did not exist. They broke off from the large orc encampment, which is right underneath of the Stone Sunder Mountains. Gorgal brokered a little bit of a treaty outside of Winterhaven with a group of adventurers. Anven was one of them. So they moved, and Gorgal took a bunch of people with him, a bunch of orcs with him, and started as a pretty small encampment.

But then word got out that they were fairly successful, and a bunch of people who were not really happy with the leadership going on in the large orc encampment decided to join the Mozog. Now, as of today, there are almost 500 orc in this encampment, and the number gets a little bigger every week. Because one of the first things that the orcs get to doing is breeding, one. And two, word got out, and the... there's a war brewing between these two encampments of orcs, because what they did was a huge slap in the face to the original tribe. That is not done.

You don't just split off and leave, and you don't take resources and people from the original camp. It's a huge thing. So as you walk through this camp, there's a hell of a lot of orcs. Now, a large majority of them, probably a third of them, are surrounding the camp, but there's still a lot of orcs. And the average orc is not a small creature. The average orc looks about like Groon, a little bigger, a little smaller, something like that. So you're talking the average height for an orc is around 6'7" to 7'0". Alrighty then. They're big, strong creatures.

Okay. Not that I had any hope of us actually fighting, but I kind of wanted to put it all into perspective. Right. So, Anvin, of course we'll say, I don't think fighting at all is going to be beneficial if we can find a way to keep this short and sweet, and even report what we know from being here would be an advantage for us. Dying here brings us no honor, as he looks at Ubo. We will try to be fast. Well, I mean, take your time. Anvin gives Donovan a sharp look. Do you not see where we're in? But just keeps going. If things go well enough for you to drink, we can drink.

But I cannot make a promise. Alright, well I guess I'll be doing some amount of work on my own then too. Just in case. Maddie's gonna, at this point she's making like glances around the camp and looking at Ubo, and she's like, well at least promise me that you'll try your best for us to be able to get out of here. I'm not gonna leave you behind. Mmm. I will try. Donovan's just gonna say from the back a little bit, you guys need to relax just a little bit more. I get it. But don't be so tense. It'll help. So Donovan's not seeing any of this as a threat. Well he's like next to Gruun, he's like, oh okay, they accept us, kind of.

Like I don't know if we've been getting looks from all the other orcs. Oh you're definitely garnering attention. Okay, attention. Not, they're not, okay, it's not the same looks that Gruun was giving Aster or even like light like versions of that to Masoka, but it's not, every time you walk by it's gonna be like, what are they doing here, that type of thing. And some of them are obviously looking at Gruun and the returning party and they'd be like, hey that's, hey awesome. So I would say like Donovan feels like he's part of those hey awesome kind of recognition.

Like he feels like he's marching with that little group kind of. And he's also, like he's tall, he's kind of burly, he's like 6'5", so he's kind of like just under average height for orcs. So he's like, yeah okay, I think I'm feeling this. Like I don't think he, and yeah he doesn't see like the complex political nature of the whole thing. So yeah, that's where he's at. And like trying to see like, oh where are we gonna sit by the fire tonight? Where's the, like where's our supplies? How's this gonna go down? Who's playing drums? That is optimistic. That is super optimistic.

I like it. In orcish society, the very center of the camp, there is something called the Krakow, which loosely translates to the Ring of Judgment. You remember those pontoons I was talking about? Imagine a slightly smaller version of that. So smaller bits of trees like really hacked down, but instead of them being pointed outward, they're pointed inward. Again, about a 45 degree angle, something like that. And this huge ring, which is kind of clearly a fighting ring, is just always there. It's always right in the center of the camp. And standing there is a very, very large orc.

Probably the largest one you've seen thus far. Big wall of a bastard. And he is going to see the group coming. And he's gonna, he's going to kind of give the head nod type of thing to groom. And there's a few, there's a few satellite orcs kind of hanging out too. And a few of them are going to glint out like a "grrrr" like that type of thing, because the groups come home. And most of them are here. That's great. And then this very large orc is going to spot Ubo. And he's going to start to smile. Which is, he didn't smile at Groon. He's going to look directly at Ubo, level his gaze.

"Run!" Ubo just stares him down. He's going to move toward the party in a not unaggressive fashion. He's not running, but he has a way of carrying himself that if he were to walk up and punch somebody in the face, it's like, "Yeah, no, that kind of fits." But he's going to walk up and he is going to grab Groon by the back of his head. And this orc is larger than Groon. And just sort of stare at him in the face. "What's happened?" And the reason he's grabbing him by the back of the head is it's preventing Groon from looking away. To the perceptive individual, you're going to see Groon kind of swallow hard.

"We were captured." And this is the part where he would look away. He would not make eye contact with Orag, if possible. But Orag's preventing him from that. And Orag's going to narrow his eyes. And then I believe his knee jerk would be to look at the party almost like by these people that type like that would be his his initial and he is going to level a gaze at the party specifically, Anthan. Wow. He does not look pleased. And he's got his politician's face on. He is centered, not like that focused. And he'll just nod once. Then Orag is going to look at Ubo.

Then back at Groon. Why is he here? Now to the rest of the party. Obviously, you don't speak the language. And Org-ish, I guess the real world equivalent would be kind of a more aggressive German. Two German people arguing sounds like the most aggressive thing ever to anyone who doesn't speak German. It's like, wow, that sounds harsh. But they could just be arguing about cake recipes you don't know. That is their turn. Exactly. It's like, oh, Jesus, that sounds terrible. What's going on? Then Orag was all like bratwurst, umlaut. Ich habe nied kern. So this is...

You are going to understand that there is animosity, but you're not going to get the exact... you're not going to get the one to one conversion here. Groon is going to explain very carefully exactly what happened. That you went in, you assisted them, you know, all of that. And that is why Ubo is here. He is also going to tell Orag exactly what happened with the person that you took alive. And then he is going to go into great... He gets a little more forthcoming with details. Like, oh, you would have loved it. I did this and this to him. Whereas a few seconds ago, he would have tried to avoid a gaze and look away.

Now all of a sudden he's very... it's like, oh, we got him back. That type of thing. And Groon is even going to go so far as to sort of reach back for Ubo. Like this guy right here. That type of thing. Yeah. Orag is going to huff. And then look at Ubo. Is this true? Every word. Orag is going to motion for Groon and the returning orcs to walk away. To step away from the group. And when Groon tries to protest just a bit, Orag's going to look at him. It is in any language that the way he's carrying himself, that the eye contact says, "Shut up. Don't say another word.

Do what I just said." And Groon is going to be quiet and step aside. Orag is going to focus his gaze on Ubo. So, runt, what now? You wish to rejoin the tribe? And he's sort of walking around. Just doing that thing where you're measuring somebody. You are walking around them. Ambin is totally thinking he's doing ceremonial, initial starting because he hasn't heard anything from Ubo of Renslation. So he's just like, "Okay, must be initial ceremonies. Just wait for it." And as he's walking around, "Should we just let you rejoin? Do you think this makes up for your embarrassment?" There is only one way for me to make up for what happened.

And I cannot follow through on that yet. And Ubo just kind of narrows his eyes. Yeah, he would stop circling you when you started to speak and he'd be staring right at you. And he'd pretty much be face to face with Ubo now. Almost kind of nose to nose. "Any time you think that you're prepared to go again." And he is going to point back at the circle. And he hasn't really addressed the rest of the party yet. Still waiting. Right. Okay, he's pointing. And he's hoping to go there. Donovan's going to look at where he's pointing like, "Oh, is this party zone?" Ubo, throughout this entire incident, the one rule Ubo knows to follow right now is show no fear.

Any fear he shows will only make this entire process worse. He is just standing straight back, looking straight into Orag's eyes, trying to show no fear, basically. Right. And he says to Orag, "One day, I have a job to do now. These..." and he waves back to the party, "came from Winterhaven. Winterhaven paid them to help find these orcs as a gesture to be more like neighbors." Donovan's going to do a two fingers to the forehead salute when he feels like he's being introduced. Yep, Donovan. Still waiting. Oh, I guess... I don't really have an opportunity...

I can't look away and just be like, "Well, let's talk about orcish culture for a moment." I know. He's literally waiting to pounce. Orag's going to let you kind of... and he is going to lean in. So this is what it's come to. You align yourself with these... weaklings. Elven scum and lackeys. Must I wait for old age before you challenge me again? They fought and bled beside me to bring Mozog brothers back. They are worth fighting beside. There is a large double-bladed battle axe strapped to his back. The front of him is kind of a bandolier of small knives.

The guy is coated in sharp things, essentially. And he is going to draw one of the smaller daggers and just sort of hold it, kind of gripping it in a fist in his hand. And that's what you're going to hear someone shout Orag's name from behind. And Ubo would recognize this as Gorgo. He's the big boss, right? Yeah, he's a big dude. He's high chief. And reluctantly, Orag is going to take a step back. Gorgo would shout some things in Orcish, obviously. Like, "Hey! Back up! Let him speak!" And Gorgo would approach the group. And this is the first time that an Orc would have...

The closest thing to a formal greeting, he's going to look at the non-Ubo party members and raise his head. Do you guys remember being in high school, right? Or just school in general? Do you know that thing where high schoolers, or people in school in general, become a pack of wild apes? And there are two kids that look like they're getting ready to fight, and all anybody could do is just encircle them. It's like, "Oh, yeah, Gorgo!" That type of thing. That's what this Orc clan is doing right now. It's just like, "Oh, man, it's going. Oh, man, it dips on Ubo this time.

I don't know, man. He wants it more." That type of thing. It's just them surveying the situation, waiting for someone to throw the first punch. And this is kind of a slight diffusing of that, where everyone's like, "Oh, yeah, sure. I got a job to do." And they start to look away a little bit. Gorgol is going to look at Ubo. And then turn back to Gruun and kind of get the story one more time. And after a few moments, walk up to Ubo and hold out his hand. I give it the most Orci handshake I can. Mozog. Is the word "tribe" or "clan"? Well, a clan is the Mozog.

Several small tribes or families make up the clan. Okay. So "clan" would be the term. Clan would be the term. Okay. Mozog clan still has a short story. A young story. But today, I and these brothers - and he waves to the Orcs that were enslaved but got to do the fighting against the slaver - wrote a new chapter in blood. A strong chapter together. May it be only one of many to come. The slaver scum that did this. Were there more? Did any of them escape? Not that group. No, okay. You got information out of the slaver the previous night and I'm pretty sure Ubo would have heard.

Yeah, that they were waiting for reinforcements from Dand... Dandolo. Oh, Bandit's Rest. Bandit's Rest. That wasn't a letter. That anvin has. I don't know what you're talking about. We just got a letter. Ubo says, "We killed all in that camp." "But more camps live." "More slavers." And he, at that point, Ubo really hasn't gotten a chance to talk. The boss is Gruun? No. Well, okay. Gorkol is the... Gorkol. Yeah. Gorkol didn't get to hear the whole, like, you know, "Hey, these are Winterhaven people" kind of thing. No. So Ubo finally takes a moment and waves to the party and says, "These came from Winterhaven, hired by their leaders to make a gesture of goodwill in helping to find lost Mozog orcs." And then he quickly kind of waves through the party and Anvin and Donovan and Mattie.

Then back to Gorkol and looks at the party and says, "Chief Gorkol of Mozog." Anvin nods, knowing probably this isn't a place to bow. No, not really. So he already got that figured out. Yeah. So he's just gonna nod, but still have that same intensity. Donovan is just gonna raise a clenched fist like, "Yeah!" So Mattie this entire time has been staring down Aurag. Even when Gorkol walked up, she knew who the real threat was. She's pretty perceptive and insightful, so she's like, "Oh, yeah, that's the real threat." So even while this whole time Ubo has been talking to Gorkol, Mattie's been staring down Aurag.

And then as soon as Ubo says her name, then she'll look to Gorkol and do a nod. But then look back at Aurag. Yeah, eventually he's gonna pick up that you're just staring him down. So like, he'd start to... Yeah. Gorkol is gonna stand there for a moment and then he's going to tell Ubo, "We will speak in private. Bring your people." Ubo nods at Gorkol. Is it Gorkol or Gor-gall? Gorkol. Gorkol. Okay. And says to the party, "The chief would have us speak to him away from here." Yes! And then, Enven would ask, of course, on the way, "What has been said?" And says to him, "One day, I will return alone.

Then you will know it is time." He's gonna smile again as he slips that blade back into his bandolier. And then he's gonna start to walk with the group. Oh, good! So walking through this camp, Gorkol is going to lead you to this very large tent-like structure. And inside, there's a place to sit down. There's kind of a table-like structure. Basically, it's all wood. It's all crudely-fashioned furniture. Real quick, as we're hoofing it over to the camp, I fill in the party on more or less the short bits of what went down, which basically amounts to the boss is thankful, the second command wants me dead, but doesn't look like we're gonna cross that bridge today.

And then, to Donovan, we're probably not gonna get to drink. Can you try? It just gives him the look like, "Dude, as if I am not doing my best." Just teach me the word, please. So, you're gonna get to this place, and though it's crudely-fashioned, it's pretty sturdy-looking. So there's a place for everybody to sit down, and this is a fairly decent-sized tent. It's made of a thick cloth material. And Gorkol's gonna sit down, and Aurak's gonna sit next to him. And he's gonna motion for everyone to have a seat. And Gorkol's gonna start off, "You work with Winterhaven now." "These are your people." Oh, is Aurak here, or is Aurak- It's a question.

Oh, Aurak's there. Aurak's sitting right next to it. Mozog are, and always will be, my people. You know I cannot be here now. Aurak's gonna tense up just a little bit. And Gorkol's gonna speak up. I know this. But for now, you work with the North. I work with Winterhaven because when Mozog can live at peace with its neighbors, Mozog can grow strong. If Mozog is to fight its neighbors, the fight should have purpose. Again, Aurak's a little tense. You can tell he wants to say something, but hasn't yet. Gorkol would say, "This is good. You will keep them at their word." "So far, they have kept their promise." "They have sent you and your people to return the hunting party." "This is an excellent start." "However, I would like to see all of the slavers eliminated." "Every last one of them." "Do you have information on their whereabouts?" "Do they have a home?" Ubo will look back to Amven and the party and say, "The chief wants to know whatever we've got on slaver locations." "Remind me of all that stuff so I can convey it to him." Oh, jeez.

I don't know how to phrase this. We talked about it before. Should we tell everything? I don't remember what came out of all our chat. We're going to have this guy do trial by combat, but we mentioned this a little bit. I mean, throw the orcs at the slaver problem. It doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. I don't know what I'm thinking. A little spring cleaning and vended stress. I'm just thinking of the warpath they're going to create on the way. I don't think we really discussed it in character. I will just do it on the spot. Here we go. I don't think Donovan is even aware of the letters.

I don't think we actually talked. Maybe it was just in context of the slaver. Yeah. Okay. To which Amven will look at Ubo and say, and can't use a lot of big words, what happens to those that are on the trail to those slavers? Ubo just kind of looks at him like, what do you mean? Mozog will not just murder anyone standing in the way. If they're going after the slavers, they're going to march out to the slavers, butcher the slavers, and then come back. I don't know. Ubo doesn't perceive it as a conflict, I guess. Okay. Then if that's what you say, then that actually relieves.

There's a little bit of tension relieved. We did get bandit's rest, right? That is what we did get. Okay. I'm not going to say anything about the stealing of... - Imagine. - Yeah, that one. E. Yeah. I'll just say, you can tell them our latest intel is bandit's rest. Okay. So yeah, Ubo conveys that across to Gorakal and any pertinent details that Amven shares. I doubt we have anything so specific as pushpins on a map. Yeah. But they definitely know where that forest is. He's going to let out a bit of a sigh. Kind of a frustration, more than anything. Um... This is troubling.

You understand that the orcs are going to want retaliation. As they should. All of Theria is better when these slavers are bled out. Agreed. However... We are a small clan. Traveling east would thin our numbers too greatly. And we risk incursion with the Brogahl. We need to finish the fight with the elves first. And complete our expansion. Then we travel east. Then we get our vengeance. Um... Um... Jason. I think I remember we knew of some camps. I remember you saying like Esterhold and outside, Durinhollow and outside. Like in the mountains. Am I remembering that correctly or am I making this up?

Like, uh, slaver camps. Like ones in the area. It was like, "Oh, there's one above Esterhold and there's one..." What you've heard about is, essentially, those slavers getting a bit desperate. The Nuval just trying to grab up. They lost their foothold in Durinhollow, so they've been setting up ambush spots here and there. But it kind of moves around. They don't stay in one place too often so that no one can jump them. I think we read it in the letter, but I might be thinking of something else. Okay. That was it. I'm sorry. Or in one of the letters. Sorry. No.

Don't be sorry. Donovan's kind of going to lean towards Mattie and just whisper like, "I didn't know Orcs talked that much." And he's going to be visibly starting to get kind of like, not twitchy or anything, but like impatient kind of like just with the tip of his fingers just like drumming on his hips. Alright. Alright. Mattie's going to say under her breath, "I don't think there will be any drinking tonight. Or at least in this camp. I hope we'll be out of here soon." Here's the thing. As Gortgol is speaking, and this is obviously, the way he's presenting is like, "Okay, this is what we'll do, and then we'll do this." It's presenting it as like, "Okay, here's what we're going to do.

This is the plan." And he's going to, he's essentially going to grab this pitcher and sort of slam it down on the table. Pitcher? Am I assuming that basically when he says something and it's done, Ubo then just basically says it to us? I'm trying to, I haven't told you the thing about the elf stuff yet, because I'm debating exactly what to say. I wondered. Yeah, in response to that. Yeah, how much information am I actually getting? Because I want to make sure I make my replies not meted. Yeah. Well, what's the pitcher slamming thing, Jason? Essentially, this is, it's not a celebration, but there is a thing in orcish culture where it's like, "Okay, and our business is pretty much concluded.

Let's have a drink to kind of seal the deal." That type of thing. That's what I call a celebration, my friend. Oh, I need to warn you of something. Oh, I heard the living in Tharia. Okay. Donovan didn't. Well... Okay. He's got a Zune. He never caught up. Oh, man. Yeah, they're not shot glasses to the orcs. To most humans, or average-sized people, they'd be like small tumblers almost. It'd be like a measuring cup. Something like that. And he'd start pouring. Just kind of line it up and pour. Not being particularly neat or just a little bit messy. And there's a smell coming off.

It's very strong alcohol. You could smell it in the air. Is this for everyone? Oh, yeah. He's pouring for everyone. And this isn't like a "Oh, would you have a drink with me?" type of thing. It's like, "And we're all going to drink now." Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm debating if I would recognize this as like... As a deal-sealer or like just a "Thank you for giving the orcs." Like, I don't know. Give me a history check. Well, okay. You know what? Okay. Whether this would be something you'd know that orcish society does, or if this would be something you'd parse out in the moment as what he's trying to do here.

I kind of want to get like, is... Am I getting a hint that this is like, "Okay, this is normal after you've done something heroic and great?" Or is this something like, "Is there something else? Is this a new deal? Is there something I'm missing?" Because I'm trying to like this whole time I'm trying to be focused on what is actually occurring and I'm trying to put the pieces together. Give me an insight check. If it's a particularly high insight check, I'd say you won't pick up speech, but you will pick up like body language and how he's carrying yourself and try to read into that.

So give me an insight check. Alright. Man. You have not rolled above a ten. No, I haven't. Oh no. I'd say this is... The drink is obviously... Like, it's not a bad thing. But he also doesn't seem particularly elated that you brought back these people. Like, let's say they were humans, right? If this were humans and there was a hunting party that went missing and you brought back five of the six of them, I think that there'd be a pretty big celebration. It's like, "Holy shit, Dave! I thought Dave was dead and Sally's here too! Awesome!" Like, it'd be that. With the orcs, it's a lot tougher to read.

They don't show emotions. They don't like, write on their sleeve like that. So this whole thing is a little tougher to read situationally. So it's either that this is a drink to kind of seal a deal, or it could be looked at as celebratory. It could be almost like, "Oh, we lost a comrade this week. We need to mourn that." Like, it could be a few different things. And it's really tough for Anvin to parse it out. So... Oh, sorry. I was gonna say, yeah, Ubo, as I guess as Gor-Kal is pouring, Ubo will ask him... So he said the thing about, you know, "We need to finish our war with the elves," were his words, right?

Mm. Okay. Ubo says, "Chief Gor-Kal, I have spent months now outside of Mozog Camp. If you press the elves too hard, Winterhaven will side with the elves against Mozog. It is not good for our numbers. We must be careful how much territory we claim in the direction of elven lands." At this point, Aurag will not be able to hold back anyone. Yeah, I figured this was coming. Yeah. I'm gonna reach for one of the glasses before it gets filled. [laughter] Of course. Of course. [laughter] Oh boy, howdy. Okay, I'll get into the glass in just a moment. Are you drinking from this right now?

No, I'm waiting for everyone. Okay. I wanna make sure if we get evicted, I'm gonna chug it. Right. [laughter] Oh boy, okay. So Aurag is going to almost bark at Ubo. You're siding with the elves, you treacherous dog. I am doing what I can to make sure Mozog Clan is safe and grows large. And Aurag is kind of leaning forward at this point. It's kind of a hostile posture about him. Do you think that we fear the likes of... And he's going to motion to the rest of the party. These. We could burn that entire forest to the ground if we wanted to. We could take their city.

What's the... what's the orc clan that Mozog broke off of again? The Brugal. Brugal, okay. So you would fight elves and Winterhaven and Brugal all at once? At this point, Gorkol would kind of put a hand on him and be like, "Alright, stop." And he would address Ubo. I understand that our numbers are small, but some retaliation must be made. The elves have taken some of our numbers, just as we've taken some of theirs. But they hide in the treeline. They will not fight us face to face. I also know that they will not stop. So tell me, what would you have us do, Ubo?

Oh, and I'm thinking... This is Sparta! (laughter) And he's going to see that you're thinking about it. We cannot expand further with them as a thorn in our side. And we cannot simply leave this place behind. We've worked too hard. I know. This is a good place for Mozog. I do not like the elves any more than you do. But the various peoples of Theria are interconnected. Doing too much damage to the elves would draw them together against Mozog. Against Bergal. Against orcs everywhere. I have no doubt. Mozog can defeat elves. And we should take their heads. Take their scalps when they take Mozog heads.

But we must be measured. We have strong neighbors. Any one of which alone we can defeat. But together, and they will work together. We risk an end to a very brief story of Mozog. Chief Gorkal, you are wise. No one in this room, at this table, can come up with one plan that will go on and be the right plan forever. I trust you. And Mozog clan trusts you. To change. To find the right plan. Moment to moment. Day by day. You can tell he's really thinking about this. For the peanut gallery talking about Uvo's big words, when he's talking in Orcish he can use bigger words.

Yeah, because it's his native language. I'm still doing it, okay? I'm still doing the common Orcish split here. I'm an actor, okay? I have a vision. Okay, I'm done. I'm the talent. Aurag is going to be looking at Gorkal while he's thinking. We can't simply sit here and do nothing. Some sort of retribution is in order. And he's going to look over at Uvo. You're not going to let this blunt dictate our policy. Keep us from expanding. He wants to keep us small. He wants to see all of us pay for his weakness. If we don't expand, then we will never be able to challenge our neighbors.

You would run us straight into a ravine just to have us run Aurag. Gorkal's going to hold up a hand to Aurag. Uvo. You work with Winterhaven. I know that they want us to stop our skirmishes with the elves. They have some previous treaty with them. Can you deliver a message for me? I can. We will start the expansion. We will take as little of the treeline as we can. And he's taking a deep breath. We will leave the elves be as long as there is no further interference. We will expand along the treeline. Does this seem like a fair compromise? This is wise. The lands to the south are less contested.

Almost muzog for the taking. Our growth will be easy. We should also send this message to the elves. If they know we have a plan that does not have us taking more of the trees and does not have us pushing toward their settlements. Perhaps they will relax their tension. Perhaps they will see that muzog can live on their borders without skirmishing. He's going to nod his head. When the time comes, I shall make no such deal with the slavers. I trust that that won't be an issue in the future. We will butcher the slavers like dogs. I will tell Winterhaven as much.

And we will send a message to the elves as well. Gorgo is going to motion towards Ambin. Can this one get them a message? He can. And then Ubo turns. Looks up expectantly. You guys know each other. He's calling me out but I don't know what he said. Like Canadians, they all know each other. We're not that many. Ubo then turns to Ambin and says, "We have messages from Chief Gorgo to bring to Winterhaven." And Winterhaven can send messages on to the elven leaders, yes? Yes. And Ubo nods back at Gorgo, confirming that indeed Ambin can get that done. Gorgo's going to look fairly pleased with this.

This is a frustrating situation for an orc to be in, right? Because this is the first time in, at the very least, recent history that the orcs are... It's kind of like a civilization coming to the Wild West. You can't take on everybody because they're not big enough. On one-on-one combat, if the odds are even, you should probably bet on the orcs. At least in terms of brute combat force. But right now, they're sort of surrounded on all sides. And the elves outnumber the orcs ten to one. Plus they have allies to the north and south. Overdale is still trying to make amends for that whole genocide thing.

And Winterhaven, they still owe them from the war. So it's a huge thing. Not to mention, the Bruegol, if it were just up to those two orc clans, the Bruegol also outnumbered the Mozog. It's a huge mess for them. So he's got to be really picky and choosy about this, and that means diplomacy. That being said, he's not ecstatic about it. Gorag is outraged at all of this. Just seething. But there's not too much he can do right now. And Gorgol would motion to everyone at the table, just kind of like, can't quite communicate, but slamming down on the pitcher like, "Alright, let's drink up." Oh yes.

Alright, lucky day for Donovan. So... Yeah, his glasses are already raised, like, cheers. And Orag would grab this, mostly out of like, "Fucking asshole." Like that type of thing. He's still mad that he has to sit... He has to sit at the same table as Ubo. And not only this, but he's looked at as a diplomatic peer. Like this is... This runt who challenged for supremacy and lost, it's like, now we're dealing with him? Like, he's... Fuck this. Like, he's so mad. And Gorgol and Orag would pound this back. Let me describe this to the rest of the party. This is a fairly clear liquid.

Kind of a yellowish tint to it, a little bit. Just kind of an amber... Just a little bit. You know what turpentine smells like? Yeah. This is one of those things that almost takes your breath away. So, okay. Skull splitter. If you're on bar shelves around Tharia, you're stopping in Esterhold or Durn Hollow, something like that, and you want some of that top shelf, really expensive skull splitter. That is a semi-diluted version? That's fit for human consumption. This is not. This is straight from the tap, orcish. Essentially, this is the difference between grabbing, like, top shelf vodka, something like that, and then comparing it to moonshine.

I'm just picturing everybody drinking this and then you being like, "All right, guys, go to the battle map. We're gonna have intestinal combat. Your digestive system needs to make an attack roll." So that being said, who's gonna drink? I wouldn't even say that you would necessarily know this. I'm just saying, like, this is... Okay, everything in your body would probably be screaming at you going, "Uh-uh. Nope. Mm-mm." Your nose is telling you, but don't, though. I imagine Ubo's adapted enough to handle it. Yeah, Ubo wouldn't really. This would just be, uh, yeah.

He's probably been raised on this stuff. That's what we put in the baby bottles. Yep. What about Matty? Matty would slam it back. Wow. Okay. I like that. She's in a bad place right now. Aww. It's not gonna get better. Drinking to forget is the worst kind of drinking. Uh, what about Anton? So, there are two competing forces right now. One, the drink being like, "Oh, hell no," and thinking about, "Oh, if I lose control here because I take this, then that's just gonna destroy diplomacy." Then, of course, the destroying diplomacy of not taking it. So it's like all of his, like, lessons of, "When you go to another place, you respect their culture.

Yeah, blah blah," you know, all that stuff. And so he's just, like, competing like, "Oh, I should, but I really shouldn't." And number three, peer pressure. Drink, drink, drink. Yeah, party. He's just, like, nudging you. Ubo just kind of looks at Ambed and says, "Do it." And then, uh, it would be, I don't want to say "win in Rome." I don't know what the equivalent would be. And then Mozog Camp. What in hell? So, you know, "What the hell?" and then just takes it. And dies. It's Constitution checks. Oh, we'll get to it. This is... Okay. The burning sensation that's going to accompany this.

Again, Ubo would pretty much be used to this. This is, like, it's just, yeah, you've had this before. It's, yeah, it's familiar. Not particularly abrasive. To Mattie and Donovan and Ambed, this is just... Too much. Like, it's just, it's like, okay, wow, what the hell? Like, I like to have a good time, but shit, this is too much. Okay. Here's what I want you all to do. I'm going to have you all roll a Constitution saving throw. Ubo's going to do so with advantage. Now, this is obviously for the first time, this, wow, I believe this is the first time someone's getting drunk or drinking in arc two.

So congratulations. Now, obviously the rules for fifth edition are going to be a little bit different. Develop a new system for it. I think you're going to like it. But first, let's see where we're at here. Let's see, let's see who's going to be partying. Come on, Donovan. Oh, yeah. I had a roll like that. Oh, man. Oh, no. Oh, no. That's a bummer. Well, I did what I came here to do. Oh, my God. The two lightweights passed the saving throw. Ew. Too excited. I drank too much is what it is. Oh, boy, howdy. So, okay. For those of you wondering at home, the number to beat was 11. 11 and up.

So everybody but Donovan is going to take the it's going to burn. You're going to feel it just slide down your esophagus like you could feel like burning. And the burn doesn't go away for minutes. And it's unpleasant. You're going to feel a very warm, tingly feeling. You're going to loosen up a bit like after a while. This is minutes and minutes going by, of course, but it is it's got a kick to it. You're going to feel it. As the minutes tick by. Donovan's going to that's going to maybe he has an empty stomach. Maybe maybe he's just having an off day. But this is definitely going to something about skull splitter.

It's going to hit him hard. Okay, right. So first, let's start with the positives. Yes, please. One, let's say that something was trying to frighten you or scare you off or something like that. You would have an advantage against saving throws to that type of thing. Oh, so that that's a plus. It's also a little harder to knock you out. Like it's a little harder to knock you down and we'll get into the mechanics of that in a little bit. Unfortunately, you are going to have a disadvantage on a couple of different checks. Anything involving deception or persuasion, anything involving that type of thing.

It's going to be a little harder for you to talk your way around stuff. You're going to you're going to slur your speech a bit. You're going to you're going to kind of trip over words and it's going to be a little less eloquent, a little more. All right. All right. I can live with that. Yeah, it's nothing bad right now. Now, if this behavior continues and you continue to fail these checks, obviously things are going to get worse. OK. So as these minutes are ticking by, are we just like making small talk now or we? I would. Well, first of all, I would imagine that he's trying to talk Orag down a little bit.

Obviously, Orag is extremely upset about this. And what he's asking Orag to do is pass on the word that they are not for now. They are not to venture into the evergreen on any more hunting expeditions, slash... When he means hunting expeditions, he means hunting for elves, not wildlife. That has to continue because they got to eat. But they are also going to stop any any clear cutting in a westernly direction. What they're going to do now is to start moving south and they're going to expand that way. So he's pretty much passing the word down and getting Orag to spread that word to all the subordinates.

OK. Yeah. And so I mean, is there also like a minute where I can keep talking to him where he's not talking to Orag? Yeah, totally. Ubo at some point comes to Gor-Kal and kind of actually waves Maddy over too for a moment. She'll mosey on over. And so he has to talk in orcish to Gor-Kal so he can't make it so Maddy can understand right this minute. And Ubo says to Gor-Kal, "One reason we can work on this with Winterhaven and the elves is because this human started to teach me their language. We will need more who know common, more orcs than me. I would say tell them to learn orcish, but the humans have many writings, many books, lots of ways to teach common.

We do not have that for orcish. Are there any in Mozog clan who you think are suited to trying to learn their language? The more orcs who know common, the more agreements we can make that keep Mozog clan safe. So are we going to be playing drums soon? And Ubo then just kind of turns to Maddy and he says, "I am telling the chief, you taught me common. You taught me what is making a bridge between Mozog and Winterhaven and other people of Tharia." She'll nod and say, "What does he think of this?" And Ubo just kind of holds up a second finger and looks back to Gor-Kal for his answer.

Gor-Kal again, giving this some thought. After a moment, he's going to motion toward Aurag. "No, not Aurag!" "Go. Tell the others the plan." Aurag's almost going to protest and Gor-Kal's just going to give him a look like, "da da da. Just go." And again, with a huff, when someone gets up from someplace and they make a show of it loudly and knock over his class, "Fuck you." That type of thing. He's going to exit this tent. There have been visitors from the north on a few occasions. They've proposed something similar. I hesitate to do this the more outsiders we have in the camp.

It makes everyone uneasy. However, if we are going to be working this closely with Winterhaven, we will need to communicate. You vouch for them. You think that they want what's best for the Mosaag. They want peace. If we communicate, if we make agreements, there will be more peace. They have already, in the time since we have come here, followed through on the agreement they made when the Red One and his group came and spoke to Mosaag. Correct? This is true so far. We will let a small number in. We will teach a few orc common. And in turn, we will try to teach them orcish, though they seem to be slower learners.

Ubo nods and tells Matty that Gorcal agrees that more orcs need to understand a little bit of common. And hopefully some humans can understand orcish. He's generally agreeing that if we get more people speaking the same languages, we can get more diplomacy done. Matty will look at Gorcal in the eye and give that approving nod like, "Hey, what you're doing, it's good." It's body language. A lot of body language. Gorcal is going to reach out and place his hand on top of Matty's head. Not in a threatening manner. Not like Orag was doing earlier. It's pretty gentle.

He's not as large as Orag, but it's still a big friggin' hand. And he's going to sort of look into Matty's eyes. And then to Ubo, "What do you see in this one?" Hands still on top of her head. Yes, yes. I just want to say, in the back, Donovan is going to mirror that and put his hand on top of Anvin's head. And look at him smile. "What are you doing?" Okay. So Ubo kind of looks at Matty for a moment. And the thing that's going through his head is, "Well, nobody's ever asked me that. What do I think of Matty?" And I feel like this is the first time anyone's posed that question to him in any meaningful way.

And Ubo says, "You see for yourself. She drinks skull splitter and stands unaffected. She is tough. She has strong magic to heal." And he's like, "She does her best for everyone." And when he says it, he actually just kind of looks down at her. And this is probably the first time she's seen Ubo look at her with open fondness, I guess I would kind of call it. For the most part, it's always been nods and, "Hey, comrades in arms." But the question has just kind of made Ubo realize that if something bad happened to her, he'd very much miss her. "She is coated in blood.

I like this." She can more than handle herself in a fight. She does not easily back down for help. She is brave. He's gonna sort of raise his hand just a little bit and then go back down and pat her on the head a couple of times. And then withdraw his hand. And Ubo just kind of looks back at her and says, "Gorkal asked me about you. And I told him, you are very worthy to walk among orcs." So this is like a minute conversation where a hand is on her head and she's being talked at and around. In a language she understands maybe one or two words of, like "maddy fights." Blood.

I'm sure those words are said a lot around her. So when the hand is put on her head, she knows she has to stay strong around orcs. That has very much been pressed into her by Ubo. So she's trying to keep her back straight, but she still has a quizzical look on her face. And Ubo looks at her and gives her a fond look. She kind of looks like a smile slip, but then she's like, the hand's still on her head. So then she goes back to the strong stance, and then she gets a pat on the head, and then the quizzical look comes back. And then Ubo says to her that she's a good fighter and that he respects her.

So then she's like, "Ubo, you will always have my mace. And it has been an honor to be by your side these last few months. You have taught me much, and I hope I can do the same for you." So then Ubo nods, and that bit of fondness and kinship comes back into his face for a moment. Mattie gets a similar look. Like, "Hey, we're buddies." Buddies! Yeah! High five! Do we know high five? Is that a bard thing? "Hey, I'm Vin. If you need help with your book, if you buy me dinner, I can show you where my magic comes from." At this point he's like, "Yeah, you're pretty far gone." Goes back to my college times in the Euro.

"That'd be great, but we should probably get you some rest, maybe. I don't know how much more you could take." "I don't know. Are you offering more? Are we going somewhere else? Is this party moving?" "Yeah, maybe it is gonna be moving. Maybe I should talk to Ubo about where we could go. You just wait here a moment, alright?" "Okay." "Don't go nowhere." "You could move all around the hut." "Of course." "Is there like an actual ceremonial drum or something?" "Oh, there's drums sitting around, yeah. It's an orc camp." "Alright, he's gonna go run his fingers over them." "Oh boy." And Vin walks up to Ubo.

"I don't know how long we have before something bad does happen." And he has it motioning over to Donovan. Ubo notices what he's pointing out and nods. What's Ubo's cultural read of how much longer he should be here or what else needs to be finished before they depart the camp? "Well, okay. So, under the circumstances, Kor'kal is being exceptionally reasonable. However, it is going to be very tough to sell what he's agreed upon to the rest of the orcs and have it not looked at as a failure or a setback." "Hmm." "So, you gotta imagine Orag's just waiting.

Just waiting for a chance to gut you. Now, on top of that, he's probably shit-talking you to the rest of the clan right this second." "Yeah." "It will not... You can't stay. I believe Ubo would know that he can't stay." "Yeah, that's Rob's read of it too, for that matter." "But is there any more immediate business to attend to before we start?" "No." "Go back to Winterhaven, deliver messages, etc." "No, there'd be nothing left. After the drinks and the... Like, there may be even more that Kor'kal would wish. Like, it's a guy, stay and have a meal, that type of thing.

But it wouldn't be a pleasant one, and he knows it, and you know it. "It's more like, look, you have things to do, you need to deliver messages, so do I, because I gotta go sell this now to the rest of the orcs. Like, you know, okay, we're not gonna butcher elves now. We need to not do that for a bit. "And we're gonna do another thing instead. These slavers. That's gonna be the sell of it. Like, we're gonna expand south, we're gonna get strong, we're gonna get big, and then we're gonna go murder some fucking slavers. Like, he's gonna sell it like that." "Yeah, yeah.

You gotta make it like... It's not that we're cancelling with the elves, it's that we're prioritising the slavers, right?" "Yes, that's the more immediate threat, is what he's saying." "Orag has left the tent, right?" "Yes." "Okay. Ubo looks at Anvin and says, 'I will finish things with the Kor'kal, so that we can depart soon.'" "Excellent. 'Cause I really don't know what's gonna happen if he starts playing those drums." Ubo nods and moves pretty swiftly back to Kor'kal. "Chief Kor'kal, we should leave to deliver your messages." "The sooner it is clear to the humans and the elves what your plans are, the less unnecessary bloodshed there can be." "Agreed.

I need to go speak to the Mozog as well." "In all honesty, there are some days that I wish that we never dealt with the Red One or his group." "Things might have been easier further north." "Well, what does he mean by the north, by the way? Like..." "Well, originally they were gonna settle pretty close to Winterhaven." "Right, right." "Mozog was smaller still at that point. Dealing was a necessary evil." "Let me go speak with the Mozog. You go north. Tell him of our deal. And then speak with the elves." "And the way he says that, it's like, you can tell there's unfinished business there, but he's going to stick to the bargain." "I will, and chief, be vigilant around Aurag." "He is loyal to Mozog Clan, but he has a narrow vision of what Mozog Clan can be." "You are wiser than he is.

He is more...impetuous." "Watch him. He may try something that he would regret, that would be bad for Mozog, even though he wants the best for Mozog." "That's gonna give him pause, because I don't believe the thoughts up until now has really occurred to him." "He's gonna look away, and then after a moment look back toward Upo and give him a nod." "And then he's gonna get ready and leave this tent." "Okay, after that, Upo comes to the party and says, 'We should leave now. The longer we linger, the more time we give Aurag to become hotheaded.'" "Hey Donovan, drink this way." "Alright, let's go!" And he's gonna quickly grab a drumstick and give one medium drumbeat and just drop the drumstick and go, "Woo!

Team Slave Killers, go us! Go Matty!" "Matty will flinch." "Hey, I wanna do a thing before we close out. Masocha, Astor, let's catch up with you guys." "We're not part of this episode." "Well, okay, that is my choice, but what I wanna do is, so you guys talked about, you're skirting the entire Ork incampit thing and you're on the treeline. You're pretty much, I'd say south a bit near the forest." "Did we make it?" "Well, yeah, after a while, I would imagine. And I'd say that you'd be able to see the Ork incampit, but obviously not make out a ton from where you are.

What, did you discuss anything? Was there kind of a plan or is it just kind of, this was the most peaceful spot that you could pick out that was not the Ork incampit?" "I mean, so Astor was heading towards, like, Astor wanted to go to the trees and kind of whatever intersection that's too far away from the Ork camp, but far enough that would be. That's where they're kind of headed. But I mean, they definitely want to talk with Masocha along the way." "What do you feel like would be the topic of conversation?" "I feel like a few minutes after they kind of split off, just be kind of, 'So how long have you and Donovan known each other?'" "So it's just going to be just normal chit chat?" "Yeah, I mean, we don't really know anything about each other, so it's kind of..." "No, that's fine, that's fine.

Because Masocha is pretty much like, you just kind of got the heebie-jeebies from the whole Ork thing, so..." "Well, they're also kind of trying to distract from that a bit for both their sakes. I mean, if he wants to ring it out, then go for it, but..." "Yeah, I just thought maybe they'd probably try to keep an eye on what's going on just in case things went south there, but..." "Yeah, I mean, there's no... Unless, like, if Masocha would bring up the Ork stuff, then go for it, but Astor is more kind of like keeping an eye on it, but might as well talk about other stuff while that's happening." "Sure, yeah.

Yeah, Donnie and I met about four years ago now. Was that the rusty nipple?" "See, he came in looking for a good time, I guess you could say. But I had to deny him on the spot, but we decided to have drinks anyway, and the rest is kind of history." "Jason, how well known is the rusty nipple?" "Well, let's see..." "You would just assume everybody knows what the rusty nipple is." "Right, you've been to Brightport before. I would... Okay, you know what? Do me a favor and roll a flat T20." "Okay." "I'd say that's one of those things where maybe you heard that name once or so, but you don't really know.

It's like, 'What is that? I've heard that.'" "The... Rusty nipple? I've..." "You know." "No, I don't know." "Oh... Sorry, it's a tavern of sorts. Drinks and other..." "Horse." "Yeah. That's the kind of place it is." "I grew up in Brightport, I know about those kind of places. Nice name." "I always thought so. You grew up in Brightport too." "Oh, yeah. It was a while ago, but... Yeah, I grew up on the streets pretty much. It wasn't exactly an ideal childhood, but..." "Huh." "I mean, if you grew up there too, you probably... No, not many children that come from there.

It's not pretty." "No, no, no. No place for a child. I apologize if I ever stole anything from you." "It's kind of... It's kind of my thing there." "You still have all your fingers, so probably not. And like I said, it was a while ago. I was in the Evergreen for several years after all that." "This must hurt you then, to see such devastation around you." "Yeah." "It's... That's... Yeah, a mild way to put it. I mean, the Evergreen was the first place I ever really felt like home." "And I mean, first the Portforged, then the dragon, and now this. None of us are thrilled about it." "I only ever heard stories, really, and I don't know, being here now, it's kind of a shame that something like that would happen here." "Yeah." "I'd say, after a time, this is a pretty peaceful place to have a conversation.

You're going to hear... It's a weird... The two things you're hearing are sort of diametrically opposed. Because on the one side, you're going to be really near the trees. You're going to hear birds, and you're going to hear wildlife. You're going to hear the sounds of nature. You're going to hear water flow. You're going to hear all the sounds that come from, like, woodland hikes, that type of thing. "And then, from the north, you're going to hear yelling and hammering, and you're going to smell smoke. You're going to see that kind of arise as the black plumes from their camp kind of rise into the air." "And then, eventually, you're going to see your group.

It's going to be really tough to make out, but you're going to see them exit the camp. You're going to see them kind of removed from things." I would imagine you'd be heading back? Yep. Are they coming towards us, or back out to where...? Probably toward... Just kind of removed from the camp, that type of thing. I don't know if they would know exactly where you are, so it'd probably be waiting for you to hook up with them again. Okay. And I would say that's a good time for us to wrap things up. The next time we sit down... I guess you guys are going to Winterhaven?

Yes. Yeah. But on the way, I would imagine there's some stuff for you guys to chit chat about. Nope. We sincerely hope that you enjoyed that episode of DNR, and as a reminder, one of the cornerstones of support for this little podcast is Patreon. If you go to patreon.com/dandr, you can find a fantastic lineup of content just waiting to be devoured, and we keep messing with it and sending out regular surveys to find out exactly what you guys want to see there. Come this next month, we are going to be changing a bit of content and adding some new stuff based on the surveys from last month.

And for now, here's a short clip from the most recent episode of Living in Theria. I'm going to give a hint at something that's really fucking huge. Okay, this is a group that I thought I was going to get to a while back, so I'm not going to give a name right now, but I haven't gotten to them yet. And right now, on Alara, there is a major event. Like, potentially world-changing. Right now, it's happening. PCs haven't found it yet. They will eventually, and I don't know when, but it's happening right this second, and it's one of those things that I've been prepping for and writing for furiously.

And every day that ticks by, it's like, "Alright, what will be happening? What will be happening? What will be happening?" And it will be found. And I'm really, I'm really looking forward to that. If you want to hear some more content like that about Theria or behind the scenes, or you just want to support the show, please jump on over to Patreon and check it out. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter, and on our new Facebook group. All of that can be found on our website at DANDRPodcast.com. And as always, thank you for listening.