[h2]Orc Camp[/h2]
[hr][@ERode][hr]
Once, a near miss. Twice, a sidestep. Thrice, clearing distance. Esfir timed her opponent's attacks once she'd gotten used to his rhythm. Her longer weapon made a wide arc as her opponent drew back another heavy blow. CRACK! She heard the wood split as her polearm landed across both of the other runt's shins. The orcling let out a high pitched squeal and pitched forward.

Unable to catch himself, he hit the ground face-first. Moaning and making little pathetic sobs, the creature curled in on himself to nurse his stinging legs--Esfir's strike had left a painful looking welt across both of them. Combined with how hard he'd hit his head, it was unsurprising that the runt didn't want to get back up. Auguz approached the whimpering child and rolled him over with a half hearted kick.

"You lose! Now go fight someone else til ya win!" He picked the runt up by one leg, eliciting a shriek, and tossed him back out into the crowd of onlookers. To Esfir, he turned and dug something out of his pocket. He gave her a half smirk as he handed her a small object--a rat's skull, picked clean and bleached white.

"Good job, Runt! [b]Take dat to da guards outside da Warchief's place[/b], and ya gets ya [b]reward[/b]! From here ons, you's a propah Orc--get big and strong, for da tribe!"

[quote=SYSTEM:Esfir]
[b]Congratulations! You have fulfilled all requirements of the Agronak Warband.
As a Runt, you have no assigned jobs. Seek out other Tribe members for trades and companions. Survive until reaching your next Stage.[/b]

[b]NEW QUESTS HAVE APPEARED:[/b]
[b]Quest Giver:[/b] ???[list]
[*][b]Discover an Area you have not explored yet.[/b]
You have explored: Orc Camp, Nearby Forest, North Caves (Entrance).
[*][b]Slay a Creature with the "Boss" Tag.[/b]
Your current Level is 4. Until this Quest is completed, the "Boss" tag will apply to the current level scale. Defeating a scaled Boss at higher levels will decrease EXP gain.[/list]

[b]Will you Accept a Quest? Y/N[/b][/quote]
[hr][@King Cosmos][hr]
[quote=SYSTEM:Akeno]
Skill Progression:
[b]Martial Arts (Goju-ryu)[/b] - Rank I > Rank II! At Rank II, "small" boost to defensive blocks and offensive counters is increased to "medium" boost!
[/quote]

As Akeno approached, her opponent watched her with wary eyes. His lip curled as a low growl rumbled from his throat. He tensed as she stepped into his range...and then, as she took another step, he lunged!

It was a straight forward strike, one she was prepared to block with her shield--yet nothing happened.

A sharp impact rapped her shin, sending unpleasant tingles up and down her leg! This runt seemed a little smarter than average--he had figured out that she would defend, so that first strike had been a feint! Now that he had scored a distracting blow, he quickly circled around towards Akeno's injured side and lunged again!

This one came down at her head for real, but from an angle her shield didn't cover. Her opponent seemed to be hoping that the stinging strike to her leg would slow her down too much to turn in time...
[hr][@Kazemitsu][hr]
"Wow, we only spent a life and death struggle together and NOW you wanna know my name?" The other Runt chuckled. "But okay, sure. [b]I'm Vark, short for Varkgorim[/b], which is a name I'm gonna change at some point when I come up with something cooler." He struck a sudden pose with his fist extended that seemed intentionally goofy. "And I'm gonna be King of the Demons!"

Taking his own spider legs and other bits he'd gathered from their quest, the greasy-haired orcling headed off to do his own thing. The last Grunthor heard of him was his creepy cackling as he rubbed his hands together like a kid planning a prank...

Grunthor's lackluster efforts didn't seem to make much of an impression on the older Orcs he approached. Bowbh, at least, was more eager to speak to him after being shown the ore, but Shamar seemed almost disgusted with him for some reason and had practically thrown a roll of fishing line and a small hook at him to get him to go away. But, in the end, all he really wanted was the quests anyway.
[quote=SYSTEM: Grunthor]
QUESTS ADDED!
[b]Quest:[/b] Get Ore for Bowbh
[b]Quest Giver:[/b] Bowbh the Blacksmith
[b]Quest Details:[/b] Bowbh needs more ore to make various things for the tribe. If you bring him at least 5 Ore Pieces, he will forge you one item of your choice (so long as the needed materials are available). No time limit.
[b]Other Options:[/b][list][*]Bring an Ore of High Quality
[*]Bring more than 5 Ore Pieces
[*]Bring a Rare Ore[/list]

[b]Acquired Loaned Antler Pickaxe
Lost 8 Giant Ven Spider Legs
Acquired Well Made Stone Knife[/b]

[b]Quest:[/b] Get Fish for Shamar
[b]Quest Giver:[/b] Shamar the Head Hunter
[b]Quest Details:[/b] Shamar wants fish if you want to trade for clothing. If you bring her at least 3 Fish from the [u]Southeast Lake[/u], she will give you one item of your choice (so long as the needed materials are available). No time limit.
[b]Other Options:[/b][list][*]Bring at least 1 Fish of High Quality
[*]Bring more than 3 Fish
[*]Bring a Rare Fish[/list]

[b]Shamar has given you 1 Long Braided Fishing Line and 1 Bone Hook.[/b]
[/quote]

The next morning, he got to do things he was good at, but somehow didn't even manage to get excited about that either. After unga-bunga'ing his way through the training with the rest of the runts--several of whom he would notice were his own pit-mates from the day before--he was given a choice of weapons.

Many of the other runts laughed uproariously when he picked two shields, and Auguz gave him a look that said 'really, dumbass?' 

His tubby opponent charged, swinging his polearm in a big circle. Grunthor blocked it with only one shield, and only one arm on said shield, while carrying the weight of another shield. The impact was heavy and loud, and numbed his arm from the elbow down.

Nonetheless, his shield-bash knocked the other runt back a step. The fatter orcling sputtered in outrage, then managed to get his polearm to swing back around. It came up and over this time, coming down hard at Grunthor's head over the height of the shields...
[hr][@ReusableSword][hr]
As Agar gave into his primal instincts, bashing another orc child over the head with a big chunk of wood over and over, Auguz smiled and nodded. Soon the other runt was unconscious, droplets of blood seeping from his severely bruised cranium. Auguz shoved Agar off of the opponent, then shook the downed runt til they woke up crying.

"Shaddap, loser! Get back in line for yer next one!" said the Head Warrior, before booting the sobbing wretch back into the crowd. He then turned to Agar and held out a small object in his hand--a rat's skull, picked clean and bleached white.

"Good job, Runt! [b]Take dat to da guards outside da Warchief's place[/b], and ya gets ya [b]reward[/b]! From here ons, you's a propah Orc--get big and strong, for da tribe!"

[b]"Oh, but one more ting!"[/b] Auguz seemed to think of something, catching Agar by the shoulder before the Runt left. "I see ya got yaself a strong skill! Good! But be careful what ya eat--you Runts ain't got room for lots of Skills! [b]It's betta to find strong Monsters, or ones that got better Skills for Orcs--things we can use with our weapons, or makes us stronger![/b] If you just scarfs everything ya see like a dumb [i]mukh,[/i] who knows what ya gonna get!"

[quote=SYSTEM:Agar]
[b]Congratulations! You have fulfilled all requirements of the Agronak Warband.
As a Runt, you have no assigned jobs. Seek out other Tribe members for trades and companions. Survive until reaching your next Stage.[/b]

[b]NEW QUESTS HAVE APPEARED:[/b]
[b]Quest Giver:[/b] ???[list]
[*][b]Discover an Area you have not explored yet.[/b]
You have explored: Orc Camp, Nearby Forest, Deep Forest (Quarter).
[*][b]Slay a Creature with the "Boss" Tag.[/b]
Your current Level is 4. Until this Quest is completed, the "Boss" tag will apply to the current level scale. Defeating a scaled Boss at higher levels will decrease EXP gain.[/list]

[b]Will you Accept a Quest? Y/N[/b][/quote]