Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Urugar

Lazzamore

Lazzamore

WAAAAAAAAAA-
as written by Lazzamore

No children could be heard. Traders do not yell out in the streets. You are in Urugar, Realm of the Mad King of Orcs. Hot sunlight dabbled through the vertical black spires of Devil’s Back Mountains, unto a large circular adobe tower with what was once a beautiful mural adorning the walls in the center of the eerily quiet city. It has been shut down, boarded up and the glorious paintings chiseled off in an act of arrogant sacrilege.

This is the Temple of the Shamanic order of the Great Unseen One. Or at least, was. This was a new era. The Kezh has returned to power; and Kezh Uruk’sh is utterly drunk on it. Soldiers passed by; they haughtily laughed, jovially making their way down the marketplace. Children were taken by the parents silently. Stalls are quickly abandoned. Young woman go pale and still. What the soldiers want, they get.

A young Orc sneered. It would not last forever… he thought to himself. He was correct, perhaps. Change was inevitable...

On the east and west sides of the city was tall spires of black stone. To the south, the city slopes up north. At one point, the temple was the cities tallest feature, the heart of sprawling adobe cityscape like wings. Now it is overshadowed by the Palace of Might; menacingly overlooking the city like it was staring it down. Central features include an arena for gladiatorial fights for the Kezh’s pleasure, the abandoned temple currently out of use, the marketplace and of course the Palace, half buried in Cliffside where all could see it.

Whatever insanity or cosmic cruelty brought you to this God-forsaken pile of rocks, you should hope it is concluded soon.
 
"Sir, I assure you, he is dead." said an orcish captain working under Uruk'sh. Pleaded, more like. Uruk'sh clenched his jaw, pulling his heavy red cowl close for warmth and comfort.
"Sir?" tentatively asked the captain. "Send the rangers out again. Send them to the borders." Uruk'sh said in restraint. The captain was vexed. "But sir, Skeerch is drawing closer to the city each day- We will need-"
"SEND THEM OUT." barked Uruk'sh. the captain crumpled to the floor trembling, guarding his face with his hands. "DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE HIM! WE. WILL. NOT. LOSE HIM." Uruk'sh strained his voice. the captain whimpered something about forgiveness. The Kezh regained composure.
"The Ranger General IS dead, your greatness. Please, my love, focus on the issue at hand." said a smooth woman's voice from the shadows. The lovely she-orc Mogak stepped out, Uruk'sh' favorite wife. Uruk'sh' shoulders relaxed slightly. "The Ranger General was slain by my men. Skeerch has yet to be. Focus on the greater threat." soothed Mogak. Uruk'sh accepted this, relaxing his fists.
 
Two young men slowly trudged onward through the lands, legs sore and incredibly hungry. "Look over there, Gerion. A city! Hopefully we can get some food and rest there." The two men raced into the city, but not before they found themselves on the ground and unconscious.
 
Orcish rangers silently made their way through the forests. Vicious and violent, theur eyes trained to destroy with arrows that which did not belong; They were the first line of defense against the void threat. With a loud couple of Thuds, they turned and charged. Arrows trained, their captain halted the group. It was a false alarm. Foreign rif-raff. They may be spies just as well as monster-hunters, Thought the rangers. But they were needed, without the General to hunt the beast, it has come through unchecked. It must be stopped, so the Rangers threw the two men over their shoulders, and took them to Urugar.

They would wake up to a warm fire in cool mountain air. A bitter, nasty smell hung low in the air. Orcs have terrible taste in seasoning... But it is still food. A mean-looking old orc, bigger of brawn then the doorways, almost, placed food before them. "Eat. You need food for journey. Skeerch not hes- 'hesitate' to eat you." The innkeeper assumed the men were here to kill skeerch.
 
The Orc looked at you quizically. By the way she glanced to the food before you it is rather clear that the food might be at stake in this next segment of conversation. "Skeerch. Big Creature, kills and eats us, many of us. You are here to hunt it, right? Claim reward?" she looked at your weapons "No other reason they'd let you keep weapons..." she mumbled audibly.
 
"Ma'am, we were tracking a wolf pack that had been bothering people. We got lost and somehow ended up here. We hadn't heard of any skeerch until now. We don't mean any harm, but we haven't heard of this creature until now." Gerion said slowly.
 
The Orc harrumphed, but she seemed... worried. Suddenly Gerion and Dalion could tell she no longer trusted them. "Finish meal." She said with a slight quiver, and left the room to go outside.

The inn's heavy main door, which was adorned by taxadermised horn of strange creatures, opened again quickly. Heavy foot steps were heard as two town guards and a border-ranger entered, saying things to themselves in Orcish. One word was likely a swear-word, but the others seemed distraught more then angry. The threesome entered the living quarters, and the ranger approached under the guardsmen's eye. The Ranger eyed your weapons before saying, rather pleadingly "Weapons are not permitted. Order of the Kezh. No weapons in Urugar. I will be taking those for now." The guards watched Gerion and Dalion with hands on their state-permitted swords while the ranger hesitantly moved to retrieve the boys weapons.
 
"Leavin' two men with their fists in the middle of the realm of orcs? I see it, now. No mercy for the humans, ah?"

A dark laugh carried from the corner of the inn, where a figure that wasn't as bulky as his compatriots, though he was just as green. A mop of greasy hair sat atop his head, stopping right below his shoulders. He was dressed less like a warrior and more like a ranger. Though he was man-sized and lacked some key orcish traits, something about the sharpness of his features resembled a hint of elf. It was crude and ugly on the half-orc, but it was there.

He approached the men as he lit his pipe with a snap of his fingers, eyebrows raising at the female orc. "Where'd you scrape these pups up? Don't look like any prize from a village raid."

Glancing at the two men, he winked.
 
The ranger stopped for a moment, Unsure. "Kezh order it, Half-Orc! No weapons in the city, 'cept for Soldiers an' Monster Hunters! An' lass 'ere told us dey was neither." roared a guardsmen. The innkeeper was mildly upset at being singled out. "Besides. Why ya sidin' wit da foreigners? They could be spies fer all we know, here to turn the people against their beloved Kezh or somefin'."
 
"Sir, we are not spies. We are hunters. We got lost tracking a herd of elk and somehow made it here. We do not mean any harm for you or your people."
 
The half-orc snickered. "Well, there's no way you're convincing anyone here of that. You don't know where you are, do you?" he asked the travelers. "Which city you from?"

He looked up at the orc woman and lifted his chin. "They don't look like any spies I've ever seen. At least, not good ones."
 
The Soldiers frowned. the Ranger was left standing. Finally one guardsmen half drew his sword at the ranger, gesturing at the unsanctioned weapons. "Take 'em already!! ...Half-orc, yer new buddies can prove it by handing over the weapons. NOW." Ulgan was clearly trying the guards already short - and unreasonably so - patients.
 
"Sir, I am from the wilderness up north. I am the son of two hunters. I honestly do not mean any harm, and my spouse does not either, but if you need our weapons then we will hand them over."
 
The half-orc raised his brows and widened his eyes, turning to look at the humans very intently. "Might as well, fellas. Just keep playin' along until you're no longer seen as a threat," he mumbled to them. He then stood at full height and skipped away from the humans, holding his hands up. "Hey, hey, now. I'm listening to you. They're listening to you. No need to be too hasty."
 
"What is it that you need?" Gerion asked as he got up to hand the weapons over to the orcs.
 
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