Several days travel north of the Gaping Portal.
Durbok stared at the Ironjawz Shaman as the Orruk repeatedly poked a small stone gate with his staff. Every few minutes he would walk around to a different part of the gate and repeat his prodding, all the while staying true to his name by talking unintelligibly to himself. He had been at this for hours. Durbok knew they were called weird boyz for a reason, but this one seemed weirder than most.
“Ey, Muttera! Iz dat da gate thingy we’re looking for?” Durbok asked the gangly Orruk.
The shaman turned and glared at Durbok, as if important work had been interrupted.
“First off, it’s Deffmuttera.” The shaman kicked the gate. “And secondly, no. Dis isn’t da one. Da waaaghh is tellin’ me…” Dethmuttera waves his staff around and mutters for a minute before pointing it roughly east. “Thataway. It’s over there for sure”. Without waiting for a response the shaman stalks off in the direction he indicated. Durbok called out. “Deffmuttera! Dat’s the opposite of where the Dell is.” The other Orruk gave no indication he heard Durbok. “Zogging wierdboyz” It’s Durbok’s turn to mutter as he turns to address a bored looking group of Ardboyz and Brutes. “Alright boyz! You eard ‘im. Let’s go find that portal.” The Orruks give each other looks and grumble as they pack up to go.
Hours later Durbok wondered how he ended up in this situation. Urgoth had been in a foul mood since the gate…did whatever it did to turn its defenders into a part of it. Many of the newly joined warband members were fighting Seraphon right up until the gate and forest itself killed them. Urgoth had wandered around kicking trees for several days and eyeing the portal as if he would tear it down with his fists. Considering their Sylvaneth allies, Durbok thought it was lucky none of the trees kicked back. Not that he would tell the boss that.
Eventually the Boss seemed to calm down, but was spending a ton of time talking to that new shaman member. Durbok almost wished the weird boy had become part of the gate. Beyond his weirdness there was something about him that gave the ardboy a feeling he couldn’t describe. Like how umies respond to creepy crawlies. Like there was something about him that wasn’t right or proper orky. Then one day Urgoth had told Durbok to meet him. He said he had a plan and had Durbok round up a good chunk of the remaining Spookbustaz. Urgoth would continue recruiting, while Dethmuttera and Durbok would go into the Dell. But they couldn’t go direct. The Dell didn’t like that. Wouldn’t let them in the normal way. Dethmuttera claimed he’d find a path, but so far all the git showed he could find was-
“Boss?” Durbok looked up from his reverie to see the Shaman addressing him. He looked around, surprised he hadn’t noticed the low scrubland change into a small forest as they marched. Durbok picked his nose and looked at the Wierdboy. “Yoo find something, Dethmuttera?”
The shaman grinned widely. “Yoo bet I did”. He pointed his staff at…well, Durbok wasn’t quite sure what it was. Two spindly trees that curved towards each, branches wrapping around eachother at the top. Durbok thought maybe it looked like a door or gate, if you squinted at it real hard. He turned to the shaman. “Dis, dis is what wez lookin’ fer? It don’t look impressive.”
Durbok expected a scowl but got a laugh from the wierdboy instead. “Yep, I toldya I’d find it”. He walked up to the strange structure and raised his staff to the sky, chanting to himself. A blue glow suffused the top of his staff. Dethmuttera spit on the ground and swung the staff hard at one of the funny trees. As he hit it the thing flashed brightly enough to blind all the Orruks present. As his vision returned Durbok saw that the space between the trees glowed bright blue. He thought he could see shapes on the other side, more trees perhaps. It was hard to tell through the glare. The shaman gave him a funny look.
“Well, what are ya waitin fer? Let’s go.” Dethmuttera turned towards the portal.
Durbok shrugged at the stunned Orruks watching this odd scene play out. “You ‘eard him, Boyz. This is it. Let’s get going.” One by the one, the Orruks stepped through the small portal.
