Meanwhile, a group of six orcs had strapped on various, mismatched pieces of armor, picked up weapons and were mounting their wargs. The animals snarled, some snapping at each other before the orcs kicked them into a reckless gallop, heading out of the campsite and up the slope which the human prisoner had been dragged down the night before, intending on heading back to where the rider had been captured and track his horse.

And they were headed right toward the quarreling parties at the top of the hill...

Alieo hears the snarls of the beasts and then shoots an arrow hitting the scout in front of the sister and brother. He then yells " run as fast as you can we have wargs after us ill hold them off". alieo looks at helious petting him saying " well my friend looks like we are in the middle of something"

Brusenna stopped short upon seeing a trail of blood. Her eyes widened and she noticed footprints in the snow. Fearing that someone was hurt somewhere in the woods she hurried off, following the trail. She froze upon seeing a party of people and sunk down on her hunches, singing softly. The bushes grew around her, hiding her from sight as she peered between the leaves. She saw the Orcs charging the group and gasped, face going pale. She quickly began singing and the trees surrounding the group moved, shielding them from the Orcs. But Brusenna knew the trees wouldn't hold for long and she prayed in her mind, urging the party of people to get out of there.

As trees close around him Alieo rolls and calls for helios as helios comes running thru the brush he runs swiftly to a girl hiding the bushes and says to her " thank you for your aid but you must leave bloodshed with happen along these hills". Helios being drawn tot his girl put his head under her arm as if he wanted to pet her " Alieo then says " okay casanova calm down"

As the trees and undergrowth shifted to conceal those at the top of the hill, the orcs mounted on wargs ran past, following the trail back toward the location of the assault on the human rider the night before. None seemed to notice those concealed there.

--

Jacob felt himself waking again, his body a mass of aches and pains. Coarse rope bit into his wrists, which had been bound tightly behind his back. Slowly, he rolled himself over, half expecting the orcs to grant him another beating for his efforts. But none came. It took a moment for his eyes to focus, but he looked around the tent. It seemed deserted of the foul creatures for the moment, but their evidence lay everywhere; crude weapons scattered on the floor, tattered furs, bones, and some unidentifiable greenish substance that Jacob took to be leftovers of dinner. The smell made his stomach churn.

(Ignore this seeing as posts can't be deleted yet)

( its a tiger nto a horse lol )

Brusenna nearly jumped out of her skin when a man appeared next to her. She stared up at him but her attention was quickly drawn to the tiger that nudged her arm. A smile of delight appeared on her face and she happily petted the feline, murmuring to him very softly as she kissed the top of his head softly.

The orc riders had indeed passed by the group, but some time after the riders were gone a hunchbacked form followed their tracks on foot. It was another orc, perhaps not affiliated with the rest. He was tall despite his hunched back and very broad shouldered. Still other orcs might have seen the old orc as scrawny and weak. His right eye had been gouged out some time in the past and the socket was covered with an intricate tattoo - obviously some kind of a sign of status. The orc's dark mane of hair had noticeable streaks of white on it - as had the beard adorning his large jaw. A tattered cape hung from his shoulders - it was the colour of dried blood and covered the rest of him enough to hide his clothing.

The one eyed orc leaned on a staff and examined the surrounding area quite curiously - occasionally sniffing the air and sometimes even the ground itself. He did not seem to be hostile, but you could never know with orcs. He let out a raspy sigh and shook his head before heading back to the camp from which the six others had departed from.

After a while the old orc stepped to the tent where Jacob was in. A little smile crept to his lips as he took better support from his staff. "For a moment there I thought you might be dead." The one eyed creature's voice was surprisingly soft and the tone was quite polite. "No sense of subtlety with the rest, bash a head in and ask questions if the fellow is still concious..." He rolled his eye and picked up one of the quite crude and savage looking weapons that cluttered the tent - it was obviously a knife of some kind, but for a human it counted as a sword. "You don't seem like the praying type - so Gurthang thinks..." Gurthang - the one eyed orc - chuckled and spat on the ground.

"Now, what should I do about you?" He had straightened up and casually tossed aside the staff of his. Despite his obviously increased age the orc was a fearsome sight even as he fixed a warm smile - well... as warm as an orc can anyways - to his lips. "Killing him would be uncalled for - Gurthang agrees." Gurthang stroked his beard and glanced to the side, like he was talking with someone else in the room.

The bound human ceased him attempts at freeing himself from the bonds and forced his gaze to focus on the old, one-eyed orc that had entered the tent.

Jacob felt his heart race increase as the orc exchanged the staff for the knife, so much so that he barely caught the words the old creature spoke. [i]"Killing him would be uncalled for ..."[i] The human forced himself to calm down as those words sunk in. Perhaps this orc was slightly less vicious than the ones that had burned his face with the stick from the fire pit. Of course, it was probably more likely that this orc meant that the messenger was to be further tortured for the entertainment of the foul creatures until he finally died.

The thought made the pit in his stomach tighten. "Could cut these bonds," he voice sounded dry and raspy, but he managed to get the words out, "and grant me a blade." Not that he expected the orc to do any such thing.

Gurthang seemed to ponder the human's words for a good while as he paced back and forth around the tent. After what seemed like an eternity the orc finally spoke. "If I indeed do as you ask, cut your bonds and give you a blade... - what does stop you from sending old Gurthang to meet his ancestors?" The one eyed orc tilted his head very slightly to the left and smirked. "I'm assuming you have no fondness to my kind after this little... shall we call it a misshap, perhaps?" As he continued pacing around the orc pulled the cloak of his back to reveal that he was not wearing armour so if need be killing him would probably be a bit more of an easy task.

The old orc was again silent for a good while before he walked up to Jacob and cut the bindings from his hands with a well calculated strike - obviously this old one eye's depth perception was still working quite well since Jacob was not missing any limbs which might have been a bit of an inconvenience at this point. Gurthang smiled wryly and spat on the ground. "I'd be glad if you could answer a few questions before I let you leave." The tall creature said as he casually searched around the tent to locate something edible - preferably something that hadn't been already chewed upon and what hadn't already been eaten once.

He let out an annoyed growl before glancing at Jacob. "Now, wait here, human. I will not be away for long." Gurthang rolled his eye and dissapeared outside. After a while he came back - carrying something quite large. The orc threw whatever he was carrying to the ground and lifted the knife slightly. The thing turned out to be lamb - a bit raw still, but slightly raw meat was still better than nothing. "A wise man once told me that even an orc shouldn't eat the cookings of another orc, but I have to give some credit to this band of ruffians I'm saddled with - they cook damnably fine lamb with the given resources." The old orc smirked as he began hacking away at the meat while occasionally glancing at Jacob. "Come, eat." Gurthang motioned towards the chopped meat.

Serah sits in a tree and holds her bow steady, this deer was going to be her first meal in weeks and she didn't want to pass it up. She took in a deep brethe but some creature came and startled the deer. "Dammit."

(I posted since there was no character sheet needed, if that's okay)

As Serah cursed the loss of her dinner, the group of warg mounted orcs suddenly plunged into view, still following the trail back to the location where Jacob had been knocked from his mount the previous night. They were intent on their task and did not notice the archer in the tree.

---

As Gurthang's blade descended, Jacob closed his eyes, certain that this was the end. He could only be grateful that it would be a quick death. Moments later, the human opened his eyes, surprised to find that not only was he still alive, but that the orc had cut the coarse ropes binding his hands.

"I'd be glad if you could answer a few questions before I let you leave," the orc said. Jacob brought his hands in front of him, shedding the cut pieces of rope and massaging his sore wrists. Of course you would he thought, still wondering at this orc's intentions.

When Gurthang left the tent, Jacob forced himself to his feet, quickly ruling out the idea of trying to flee when he had to use the pole propping up the center of the tent just to keep his balance. And by the time the world seemed to stop spinning the old orc had returned and was offering Jacob a share of something that looked barely cooked. He shook his head, doubting any food would stay down.

But he did lower himself back down to the ground. "What is it you want to know?" he asked cautiously.

Gurthang shrugged his shoulders and again glanced to the side very slightly "Gurthang fails to understand the... very well, if that is your wish." He turned his attention to Jacob and smiled faintly "I am a shaman - or a cleric, whichever term suits you better." The old orc calmly chewed on a piece of meat and grinned "I understood from the others that you are a messenger of sorts and that you were carrying either something valuable or in other ways important." The odd marking over the orc's eye gleamed very slightly and a bewildered expression replaced the grin. "Are you certain?" He glanced a bit to the side again and nodded - as if accepting orders.

He rose to a kneeling position and rolled his remaining eye "Those who have granted me a long life and a strong body wish me to heal you of the effects of orcish hospitality." Gurthang actually chuckled at the little jab directed towards his own kin as he wrapped a part of his cloak around his right arm. "If you are willing to accept healing and a blessing form the orcish gods that is." He glanced to the side a bit before sighing and smiling apologetically at the human "Gurthang apologises - the gods refuse the blessing, but the offer to heal still stands."

Jacob took a moment to consider what it might mean to be healed by the powers of whatever god it was orcs worshipped. Would he owe the old cleric some kind of favor in return? Or possibly be shunned by the human gods in his future endeavors?

He shifted slightly and a wave of pain shot through his chest, which made his decision easier.

"Very well," the human said, closing his eyes, tensing slightly in anticipation as he imagined any magic from the orc was bound to be crude and painful.

Gurthang rolled his eye and grasped a firm hold of Jacobs shoulder. "Let's see..." He closed his eye and concentrated on directing divine energies through his body.

Surprisingly the healing was not painful - it felt weird, but it definately wasn't painful. The old orc pulled his hand back to cover his mouth and coughed violently. He glanced at his palm and wiped droplets of blood to the cloak while straightening up "It's done. You should feel better - Gurthang thinks."