The Orc's Report

After the incident, which horrified and amused him, he had taken a few days leave to heal.  But now the boss called him back and he knew he would have to tell the boss what happened, being the only survivor and all.  The orc wished at the moment he might have actually died instead of facing his boss who wouldn't believe him, his boss being the kind that kills liers.  He, though being called a thug, always thought himself honest with his boss.  But would his boss believe him?  The orc for the first time considered lying about the whole thing, who would believe his report?  It sounded strange and so much like a story and not like the day to day work he is accustomed to and with no other witness there was no one to support him.  Maybe it would be better to lie and make it sound more like his everyday life and less like fiction.  All these thoughts and others took place while he walked to the location his boss gave him.  Now he was there facing a shady door, the kind of door that knows it belongs to dirt and secrets.  Before he could knock, the door swung open and there stood his boss's boss, with his long robe and fancy magic symbols.  All at once the orc wished he were dead.  There was no way he could lie to a magic user, they know everything.  Maybe that would be a good thing for the orc, the wizard would know he was telling the truth about it all, right?  He could only hope.  The wizard invited him in.  They sat next to a small hearth, with a table and two chairs.  There was a hall that looked like it led to the rest of the small place, however the orc could see no further nor did he have an eye for details.  He was told this was a failing in him.

The wizard made some tea and offered him some, to which the orc refused, afraid it was poison or something that would allow the wizard in his mind.  Then the wizard mind games began, for many minutes nothing was spoken.  This was worse than death, for the wizard just stared at the orc and sipped his tea.  “When Gargoth mentioned nobles were at the meat plant and that only one of you survived I did not expect it to be you…”

What was that supposed to mean?  Is this a mind game?  He was staring again.  Another slurp of tea.  Do wizards normally slurp their tea?

“Now, how were you the only survivor?  I want the whole tale from beginning to end and spare no details.”

Oh good he asked me to spare him the details, easy.

“I was doing my rounds with Yougel when we saw a woman jump through the windows, blasting magic everywhere.  We fought her off pretty good until her two other comrades joined her.  They over ran us and kept me alive for questioning, don’t worry I gave them nothing.  Then the woman ran out after one of her comrades and the second man let me go.”

The Wizard set his tea down, and leaned back in his chair.

“When the woman cast magic was it ever directly at you or were there any explosions?”

“No explosions, she did cast some magic on me.”

“When she cast this magic on you were you still able to hear and think as normal?”  He leaned forward.

“Yes.”  The orc shifted in his chair.

“And ever since you have been able to think as yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Then were you born with a hearing defect?”  The Wizard sat his tea cup down.

“Uh, I don’t think so.”

“THAN WHY ARE YOU KEEPING THE TRUTH FROM ME!?”  He stood, pushing his chair back.

This is why the orc hates wizards, when they get mad you can do nothing about it and they strike fear in you no matter who’s side you are on.

“I-I okay fine.  The floating lady cast magic on me and the second man played his flute which drove Yougel to the ground!  I don’t know what the noble man was doing.  I was confused!”

The wizard covered his face with his hand, “From the beginning, tell me everything.”  He pulled his chair under him again and sat down. 

Wizards, they always change their mind.  One moment he doesn't want to know and next he does.  “As I said, Yougel and I were doing our rounds when we heard the window break.  We turned around to see a noble woman jumping through casting bright colorful magic, two of the men in there fell to the floor holding their heads.  Yougel and I rushed forward and began our attack on this woman, a few others joined us but she would not go down even with four of us swinging or shooting at her.  She kept casting magic-'' the orc hesitated.  “Then her feet came off the ground and started floating to the ceiling, trying to shoot us from there.  We thought it would be easy killing her since she was floating stationary, but it wasn’t.  Just about that time the second man came in and started casting magic and shooting us.  Then the nobleman came too-” the orc blushed slightly trying not to laugh in front of the wizard, “while the nobleman fought us the second man threw the woman a rope and she tied herself.  The second man walked around with the rope and the woman followed through the air!  It was a woman kite-” the orc burst out laughing but quickly corrected himself when he looked at the wizard.  “Umm, then they continued to fight us.  The second man pulled out his flute and played a song while walking around with the woman kite-” the orc paused again trying not to laugh.  How could he not, a noble woman floating in the air and the only reason she didn’t float off is because of a rope that is held by a man who is playing a flute all the while as they fight.  The kind of stuff seen at those circuses, they were just missing the face paint and colorful costumes.  “Uh, umm the noble man kept pressing us back.  The men who had fallen before got up, the kite woman fought them while the other two attackers pressed us back.  We fought as hard as we could but they had trickery magic on their side, Yougel during the fight stood stupefied staring at nothing.  The others fell to magic or blade until I was alone.  The noble man tied me up while they waited for the woman to come down from her invisible tight rope.”

The Wizard looked sharply at the orc.

“Sorry, they waited for the woman to come down.  When the woman was on the ground she spoke with the other two for a while then approached me.  Don’t worry I gave nothing away as they tortured me.”

The wizard took up his tea slurping again and stared at the orc for another long minute.  The orc just knew that the wizard knew that he was lying.  He tried to hold still, but he kept tapping his foot or shifting, sweat started building up on his head, small drops formed.  Another long slurp from the Wizard.

“I don’t know how, but even after their flying and dance party with the flute and all, they scare me.  The woman in particular.  She knows how the body works, she tried to explain it to me, I didn’t understand all of it.  I understood enough to know that she wasn’t playing around.  I never knew a noblewoman could be so terrifying, she then did something…I, no it was so horrifying it even made the noble man run.  She chased after him.  The second man was more reasonable.  I told him what he wanted to know…”  The orc dared not look at the Wizard.  He knew he just signed over his life.

“What did they look like?”

“The woman had black hair and dressed like a noble.  The nobleman had brown-blond hair and dressed like a nobleman.  Both looked human.  The second man made me think of an elf though he looked human, he didn’t have noble clothing on.  Commoner maybe.”

“Did they ever say names?”

“I think I heard Corvin or Caravan and Renaer.  The woman might have been Vonnaver or Vontor I’m not sure.  They were whispering a lot.”

The Wizard set his empty tea cup down, standing up he walked over to the orc.  Staring down into his eyes, “Is that all?”

Now what did the Wizard want?  Did he want a confession that the orc enjoyed the whole flying woman kite scene?  Or that he fell under more than one spell, the orc didn’t even know how many spells he had fallen under during the fight.  Or was this more Wizard mind games?...

The dirty door, that was the only way into a place of secrets, added to it’s collection that day.  The orc’s story would never leave that room to which the door guarded.  And the Wizard got what he wanted, what was a door to do.  The door could only guess the sewer rats would eat well that night.

Prompt, The Mystra kit from the Orc’s point of view.  Idea by DJ Hastings.