by Edward Brody
Trynzen Warclaw has joined your party!
“Okay,” I said, flicking up my eyebrows. Out of curiosity, I inspected Trynzen to get an overview of his stats.
Trynzen’s fighting strength on paper matched what I had seen from him before, but just as Jenzyn had indicated, his Intelligence rating was stuck at 1. She never mentioned Charisma as being an ailment as well, but that was also lower than starting stats. When I glanced up to his status bars, there was an icon that looked like a paper doll with several tiny bubbles overlaying it in various places.
Grievous Malady: Afflicted with a serious disease or permanent illness. Intelligence decreased by 99%. Charisma decreased by 50%. [Permanent]
“Okay, Tryn,” I said as I turned my attention away from his status. “Go talk to them and try to get one of them to come over here. Tell them we have the baby.”
“Talk to them,” Trynzen repeated. “Have baby.”
“Yes, go!” I said flicking my hand in the direction of the orcs. I wasn’t trying to be snappy, but I wasn’t sure how else to emphasize that it was time to put the plan in motion.
“Yes, go!” Trynzen repeated and jumped off of Sora. He hobbled ahead a few meters, stopped and turned around as if making sure he was doing the right thing.
“Yes, that’s right,” I said. “Go try to talk to the orcs. Tell them we have an orc child.”
Trynzen nodded, turned around and started scrambling faster and faster towards the camp. “Trynzen go! Talk to orc! Trynzen is Trynzen!”
“And be careful!” I yelled, suddenly feeling worried for him. As he grew closer and closer to the orcs, I turned to Jax. “Are you sure they won’t kill him?”
“Ha!” Jax spat loudly. “Only if they don’t recognize he’s a Barbaros, but you never know; they could be some unruly orcs.”
“Damnit,” I cursed. “Let’s move a little closer.”
We closed half the distance between us and the orcs before stopping again and watching as Trynzen made first contact.
The orcs seemed startled to see him approaching their camp so swiftly and grabbed their weapons to attack, but once they noticed he wasn’t human, they seemed to calm down.
The orcs were all on their feet, and the tallest of the group stood so close to Trynzen that their bodies were nearly touching. The orc looked down, gripping his axe tightly, and his chest seemed to heave with unnecessary anger.
Trynzen shrunk briefly, rose to stand tall, then scurried about a bit before standing up tall again and pointing a claw in our direction. They seemed to be talking with each other.
“Now, Rina,” I ordered quietly.
Rina grabbed the orc child and lifted it high in the air as the four orcs Trynzen was talking to all turned their attention to our direction.
The tallest of the orcs took a single step towards us. His breathing seemed to speed up, and his chest expanded larger and larger with each breath.
Name: Greenskin Warrior
Race: orc
Level: 25
Health/Mana/Stamina: 180/50/200
Status: aggressive
“Higher,” I said. “Lift him higher. Maybe he can’t see us well.”
Rina did as she was told and lifted the baby as high in the air as she could, which also caused the baby to start crying.
Trynzen moved up close to the flank of the biggest orc and started to say something, but the orc didn’t even bother turning as he shoved Trynzen’s chest hard, pushing him back and to the ground.
The same orc flung its arms down and roared loudly before thrusting its axe into the air.
The other three orcs immediately started running towards us, and the tallest one was right behind them. They were all holding axes, and their speed and furious expressions gave a pretty good indication that they had every intention of using them.
“Oh shit…” I muttered.
“Told ya,” Jax said, pulling an arrow from his quiver and readying it in his longbow. “They’d just as well kill one of their own babies than communicate with us—the callous bastards.”
I swallowed hard as Jax released an arrow. It flew straight for the biggest orc, but amazingly, the orc grinded to a halt right before the arrow hit, raised its axe, and deflected it with the flat of its blade.
“Looks like this’ll be fun,” Jax said sarcastically as he reached for another arrow and slid off of Fenris. “Stay back and protect Rina, boy.”
Fenris began slowly backing away, trying to put some distance between the fight that was about to ensue.
“Damn, sorry,” I said as Jax let another arrow fly, this time missing entirely as the orc it was aimed for ducked out of the way. I considered telling Jax to get back on Fenris, to use our speed to get away from the orcs and avoid a fight altogether, but there was the chance that they could follow us back to the forest and rally others along the way.
Fire Curtain, I thought and raised my staff to project the location of the spell with more accuracy. A wall of fire rose in front of the orcs, but only one of them was unable to stop its motion in time and slid through the fire. It flopped on the ground and started swatting at the fur etching around its leather boots that started to burn. The orc didn’t appear to be terribly injured, but it gave Jax a good opportunity. A hard arrow slammed into the downed orc’s shoulder blade, causing it to howl in panic and pain.
The other three orcs ran around the flames and continued forward, ignoring their injured friend.
Move towards them and around, I projected to Sora.
Since it appeared the orcs had only close-range weapons, I thought I could use Sora’s speed and my range magic to keep the orcs distracted and prevent them from getting too close to Jax and Rina.
Sora ran towards the orcs, and as she ran, I released an on-cast from my staff, an Arcane Missile, and a Fireblast, trying to land one attack on each of the orcs. The on-cast effect and the Arcane Missile hit both of the smaller orcs, causing one to fall and the other to jerk and moan when struck, but the taller of the orcs again outstandingly used his axe blade to block the Fireblast, like the arrow earlier, from hitting him.
Jax fired arrow after arrow at the orcs, hitting the tallest orc that was chasing me as I ran in circles. He landed a few arrows on two of the smaller orcs as well, who were still struggling with their wounds.
As the injured orcs fought to get back to their feet, small droplets of energy fell from the sky, stunning all of the orcs briefly and giving Jax even more opportunity to pelt them with arrows.
Sora ran in wide loops around the tallest orc, causing it to grow angrier and angrier in its inability to catch us, and when I saw another droplet of energy stun it briefly, I used the chance to release an on-cast effect from my staff.
The orc raised its axe at the last moment, trying once again to block my magic, but the stun effect had slowed it just enough that it missed the block, and hard rock from the on-cast smashed into its face and burst into several smaller pieces.
The head of the orc was rocked back from the attack, and it stumbled backwards before falling to one knee. It looked down, grabbed its face, and shook its head several times before an arrow landed cleanly in the side of its neck.
The orc roared loudly, hurriedly rose to its feet, and stumbled a couple times. It reached for the arrow in its neck and broke it, leaving half of the shaft sticking out of its flesh. It roared viciously again before turning its attention from me to Jax.
Another of Jax’s arrows zoomed toward the larger orc as it ran, and once again, the orc raised its axe and blocked it with ease.
When more energy fell from Rina’s magic, I shot another Fireblast at one of the smaller orcs, finally killing it. I noticed another one of the smaller orcs was writhing on the ground, riddled with several arrows and unable to get back to its feet.
“Spin Shot!” Jax shouted, and a particularly fast arrow launched from his bow and was trailed by a light, almost imperceptible trail of twisted white energy. The arrow rotated as it flew, and eventually hit the onl
y still-standing smaller orc in the head, ripping through its skull and causing blood to explode out of the other side as the arrow exited.
The orc froze in place before falling face forward and limp to the ground.
You have gained 300 XP!
As Jax turned to fire another arrow, the taller orc had closed the distance and swung its axe at him. I fired a Fireblast at its back, causing it to groan, but it seemed to ignore the pain.
Jax ducked the axe attack, rolled backwards, and ducked another attack as the orc followed-up with another swing.
Take him down if you can, I ordered Sora, feeling like the risk of firing magic with the orc in such close vicinity to Jax was too high.
Sora sprung forward in a burst of speed before leaping onto the back of the orc, digging her claws deep into its skin.
The orc dropped its axe and roared in pain as it was pushed to the ground, but it still tried fighting back, throwing several elbows back into the side of Sora’s face.
After three or four shots to the snout, Sora had enough and snatched the orc’s elbow into her mouth and pulled, causing the grip she had with her claws to strengthen.
The orc roared in pain but was finally quieted when Sora released her grip and hastily snapped her jaws down again, this time on the back of its neck, crushing and piercing it at the same time.
A low groan came from deep within the orc’s body, and a couple seconds later, its body was limp.
You have gained 1100 XP!
I scanned our surroundings, making sure there were no other Scourge nearby and saw only one of the arrow-pelted orcs trying to roll and slowly kicking out its leg, unable to get itself off its back. “Over there,” I said with a raise of my chin.
Jax nocked an arrow and took a few swift strides closer to the orc before releasing it. The arrow slammed into the orc’s chest, and finally, all its movements stopped.
You have gained 1000 XP!
Jax knelt down and yanked the arrow he just fired out of the orc’s chest before moving to collect more of his spent arrows. “Well, at least we got some experience out of it, right?”
I didn’t reply, knowing the question was rhetorical, aimed more at pointing out that his predicted outcome had been correct.
“Friend okay?” Trynzen asked as he tottered towards Jax. “Why orc fight friend? Trynzen not understand.”
“Because orcs are shit,” Jax said as he ripped another arrow out of the fallen orc. He winced as Rina moved closer, holding the baby whose crying had intensified. “And we’d do best to kill that thing—” He turned and pointed an arrow in their direction. “—before it becomes a bigger piece of shit.”
“Calm down, Jax,” Rina said as she bounced the child in her hands. “No one got injured during the fight.”
Jax huffed and continued collecting arrows.
I rode Sora closer to Rina. “If you stick your finger in its mouth, it will feed. You’ll bleed, but it’s mostly superficial; you’ll heal in a few minutes even without a bandage.”
“Feed it?” Rina shook her head and furrowed her brow. “Feed it my blood?”
I nodded. “It usually works.”
“Don’t do that!” Jax snapped, turning to Rina. “Who knows what kind of diseases that thing could have!”
“It’s harmless,” I argued. “I fed it and I didn’t get anything.”
“Yeah, but you’re a Reborn,” Jax said. “Rina, don’t take any chances.”
I sighed and lowered my head. “Fine, just give it to me.”
Rina rode close, handed the baby over to me, and I quickly stuck my finger in its mouth. I winced when I felt its teeth puncture my skin.
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
The baby immediately quieted down.
“So, what’s the plan?” Jax asked. “Do you want to see if any more of the orcs care to sit down and have a drink, or have you seen enough?”
I bit my bottom lip and closed my eyes as I thought a bit. I was disappointed by the fight but wasn’t sure if I wanted to give up so soon. “Maybe the orcs at another camp will talk,” I suggested.
“The orcs already talked,” Jax explained. “They talked with Trynzen, and they decided they’d rather fight than entertain any talks or exchanges with a bunch of humans.”
Rina sighed. “I have to agree with Jax. It doesn’t seem that any of them will be interested in speaking with us. Why not just give the baby to Trynzen and have him hand it over to the orcs? We can stay out of sight.”
“Won’t they question Trynzen on why he has an orc child?” I asked. “Trynzen won’t be able to get into that kind of detail.”
“Yep,” Jax said. “It could get ugly.”
I shook my head. “We can’t put Trynzen in that kind of danger, and even if we did, there’s no guarantee that the baby would make it back to its father. I wouldn’t complete my quest either.”
“The stupidest quest in Eden’s Gate,” Jax said, shaking his head. “Have a human return a baby orc to an orc father. I’ve had a lot of dumb quests in my life, but this one takes the cake.”
“What kind of dumb quests?” Rina asked.
Jax seemed startled by the sudden question and straightened his shoulders before clearing his throat. “Well, um… There was this one time I had to collect several jars of honey and deliver it to the head alchemist in Mist Vale.”
“A simple fetch quest,” Rina said. “What’s so stupid about that?”
Jax coughed. “The alchemist insisted I not kill any of the bees, and they were Saunterback Bees…”
“I don’t understand,” Rina said.
“Saunterbacks have long stingers that can pierce through clothes and leather. They’ll sting your skin directly as well, but fresh human sweat acts as a sort of repellant. I um… I had to run around Addenfall bare until I was soaking in sweat so I could approach the hives safely… naked.”
Rina burst out laughing. “Naked? Oh god, Jax. I can only imagine you naked, covered in sweat and collecting jars of sweet honey from a beehive.”
Jax’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.
“But I’m sure it was a sight to see,” Rina added, her voice shifting to a more alluring tone. “Why don’t you show me how it’s done later on?”
Jax perked up and smiled a bit, but he didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to me in a slightly better mood. “Shall we head home, or do you want to give it another go?”
“I guess we might as well head back and wait for Sung and Jeremy to return,” I said.
Jax nodded but sighed and suddenly seemed unsure of my answer. “Are you sure?”
“What about plan B?” Rina asked before I had time to answer.
“Capture an orc?” I questioned.
Rina nodded. “If we can find another small camp set off from the others like this one, we might be able to do it.”
“Jax?” I questioned.
Jax paused and looked away as he thought. After several seconds, he asked, “What’s the next plan if Plan B fails?”
“Wait for Jeremy and Sung,” I said. “We’ll be out of options.”
“And if they don’t land a disguise kit?” he asked.
I looked down to the baby and watched its eyes dart around as it suckled the blood out of my finger. It kicked its legs out when it made eye contact with me and almost seemed to smile.
I had never thought about what I’d do if I ran out of options, because the alternatives to finishing the quest all seemed too cruel. Kill the baby? Abandon the baby? Hand it over without anyone knowing who the father was and not knowing if the orcs would actually accept it? Cruel.
But there was only so much I could do, only so much I could give to an orc NPC, whether it was a baby or not. I was willing to put forth some extra effort, but I needed to be sensible as well. I had a guild to take care of, quests from the elves to complete, and mage training that was way more important. I couldn’t spend too much time saving orcs.
; “I guess I’ll abandon the quest,” I said. “I’ll leave the baby near one of the camps and ride off without looking back. At least I can say I tried.”
Jax took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Well, then you’re not totally senseless, my friend. I’ll help you try to catch an orc, I suppose.” He nodded and smiled. “I can see this is important to you, and I want you to know you’ve tested all your options before you give up.”
“Thanks, Jax,” I said.
Once again, I realized how lucky I was to have such great friends in Eden’s Gate. Jax was temperamental, stubborn, and even a little mean sometimes. But when push came to shove, he was always willing to help his friends.
Jax glanced to Trynzen. “We should probably take him back to the village first. If we actually manage to catch one of them, we’ll need space on Sora or Fenris to haul him off.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I said.
“The baby too,” Jax said. He looked out towards the other camps in the distance. “Catching one of them alive will be a challenge. We’ll all need our hands free, for sure.”
“Agreed. Let’s loot up and head back.” I raised an eyebrow to him. “By the way, what was that ‘Spin Shot’ thing back there?”
“Oh that?” Jax said. “I learned that trick a long time ago but don’t try to use it much as it’s a difficult ability to pull off. My archery is slowly getting better, though, so I’m starting to feel a little more confident with it.”
“It looked powerful,” I said.
“It is when it lands,” Jax explained. “But if your technique is off, the arrow just kind of tumbles to the ground. It can waste precious time and stamina.”
“Practice makes perfect,” I said.
“Indeed, it does. Indeed, it does,” Jax agreed. “Now, let’s go find some more Scourge to practice on, so one day I can land a perfect Spin Shot between the eyes of the Dark Hand.”
