Durbok grunted as he ascended the hill to check on the warband’s shaman. The ‘ardboy boss wouldn’t admit it to any other Orruk, but a humie got him good in the knee during their last fight against Fae forces and each step of the ascent hurt. Zoggin’ wierdboy, he thought, ‘I sense Ghur in this spot’. Yeah, right. I bet he just wanted to be up where he could look down on the rest of us.
Finally ascending the crest of the hill without limping too obviously, Durbok came across an odd scene. The shaman Dethmuttera stood seemingly in a daze, living up to his name by muttering to himself. A subtle, green glow seemed to emanate from him. He swayed slightly with the sudden gusts of wind at the top of the hill, but otherwise seemed rooted to his spot.
Several Orruks seemed to be hanging around watching him with varying degrees of awe and boredom. Most notable among them was a hulking figure, covered in heavy pig iron armor and wearing a shiny hat. Recognizing his boss Urgoth, Durbok approached.
“Hey boss. Guess he’z not come to yet?”
The Megaboss had a sour expression on his face as he turned towards the ‘ardboy,’
“Four days, Durbok. I asked him for advice on where ta head next and he said he’d have a quick talk with the spirit of Ghur or some uvver nonsense. Now we haven’t moved for nearly four days and da fights in da area are all dried up. The boyz are getting restless, Durbok. More important, I’m getting restless.”
Durbok scratched his head.
“Yeah, boss. I’z getting a bit bored myself. Wez found some of dem knights recently but it waz a small group. Stragglers. What should we do?”
Urgoth smiled at his subordinate.
“I think we’ve given Gork n Mork, and da “Spirit of Ghur” whatever dat is their proper due. I’z think We should wake ‘im up.”
Durbok glanced nervously towards the wierdboy. He knew full well “we” meant someone other than Urgoth, and shamans could be very unpredictable when brought out of a trance. Sometime heads exploded, and frequently not just the shamans. Most of the nearby Orruks had quickly backed away when they heard the Megaboss but one slow ‘ardboy was still within reach. Durbok put a gauntleted hand on the Orruk’s shoulder.
“You heard da boss, wake ‘im up”.
The ‘ardboy gave Durbok a frightened look.
“wat, me, Durbok?”
Durbok gave him a hard shove towards the shaman.
“Dat’s right. Boss’s orders”.
Stepping gingerly, for an Orruk at least, towards the muttering figure, the ‘ardboy hesitated briefly. He looked back at Durbok and Urgoth, then to his fellows who had gathered back around once they realized they were in the clear. Seeing no rescue forthcoming, he put a hand softly on one of the shaman’s shoulders and gave it a shake.
“Err…Dethmuttera? Da boss needs you ta wake up.”
Getting no response, the ‘ardboy gave him a harder shove. Still the shaman kept muttering to himself. Several of the onlookers snickered. Finally the ‘ardboy reached for his choppa, gripping it backwards, and slammed the end of the handle into the wierdboy’s gut. The choppa handle shattered as it encountered the glow suffusing Dethmuttera. The ‘ardboy was thrown to the ground by the force of the handle exploding. This was rather lucky for him, as it put him out of the path of the bright green vomit that shot out of the shaman’s mouth and scorched the earth in a ten foot circle where it landed.
Dethmutter wobbled a bit, no longer steady on his feet, and held his head in both hands. He started as he noticed the Orruk cowering at his feet, and looked up to see the group of Orruk’s watching.
“Oh, hey boss. Ya need me?”
Urgoth’s mood had lightened somewhat after the show he had just seen and the tone of his reply was convivial.
“Yeah, I need ya. While you’z been napping we’ve run outa things nearby to krump and Ghur has continued going mad.”
The shaman shook his head, still a little dazed.
“I’ve been consultin…”
“Da Spirit of Ghur. I know. Thingz are comin’ to a head. I’z gotta itch dat says we’z gotta move now ifn’ we’z gonna do someting bout dese Fae. Even my shiny hat’s givin’ me an ‘eadache bout it. Dat’s why we needed ta give ya a bit of a nudge”
Dethmuttera gave his boss an odd look at the comment about the hat but seemed to gain some focus. He picked his staff off of the ground and leaned on it, looking his boss in the eyes.
“Alright, boss. Ghur’s not ‘appy, though I suppose you don’t need no shaman ta tell ya that.
Several of the onlookers snickered.
“So, da Fae been runnin’ around doin’ dis an’ dat. I knowz lotsa them are headed towards da portal. I know your boy Snagruk reported as much. But Ghur is ‘urting someting fierce an’ I don’t think the Portal is the right place ta fix it. Least, not yet.”
Urgoth looked frustrated at this news.
“Alright, then. We want to krump dese Fae for good and you don’t think our fight is at da Portal. Where is it, then.
Dethmuttera smiled.
“The Dell. Dat’s the source of dese Fae, and some of dose spiky gitz know it. Dere shaman burns a path. We can follow dem through and it will lead us to da fight ya want.”
Urgoth stuck a finger in his ear as he contemplated the wierdboy’z words. His scouts said the Fae were moving south but they did seem to come from the Dell. Maybe it would be better to dig them out of where they came from rather than follow where they’re going. The megaboss looked over to Durbok.
“You were in da Dell, too, whaddaya think?”
Durbok thought for a second before replying.
“It was weird, boss. I can believe it’s where da Fae’re coming from.”
This seemed to satisfy Urgoth and he addressed his subordinates.
“Alright, den. Dethmuttera, start getting’ ready to cancel out any of dat weirdness in da Dell. See if we ‘ave any wierdboyz with any potential and ‘ave ‘em help ya. We’ll need Gork and Mork, or Mork and Gork’s protection on dis one.
Durbok, get da boyz together. Send Orruks you can trust to knock any straggler’s ‘eads together so we’z can get moving soon. Also, send one of our fastest ghostgruntaz to Snagruk and ‘ave im join us. I want us all together before we enter the Dell. We’z done reacting to dem Fae, now we’z gonna make ‘em react to us.”
“Yeah, boss.” Both Orruks responded in unison before going off on their tasks.
