The king sat back in his chair, and smiled. “So, you believe we are on the verge of victory, commander?”
“Yes, my king!” beamed Bhaltair. He didn’t often smile, much less beam, but the collection of orcish power sources all around the royal armoury were something to smile about. Even if they did smell rather strange.
“So, what is our next move?” asked the king, gesturing towards a scroll on the table “Your report spoke of an infiltration – but it was not clear on where or how.”
“My king, I was waiting until our scouts returned to provide you with that information! We have located the orcish – I suppose you could call it a headquarters. It is rare to find an intelligent orc. Sneaky, certainly. Cunning, no doubt. But intelligent? That is a rare thing. Apparently they believe so as well. Any orc who shows signs of intelligence is removed from the rest at an early age, and kept in a place filled with scrolls, taught by their wisest orcs, and nurtured in secret. It is this that we have been fighting. Orcish grunts are a copper coin a legion, but their thinkers are the ones guiding the legions, and they are rare indeed.”
“So, we find them and exterminate them? Capture them? What are your thoughts, commander? Remember, we do still adhere to the virtues – we cannot declare check mate on these orcs by becoming as base a creature as they are! I still feel we have stained the kingdom with our temporary use of the stealing arts!”
“No, no – we could not guarantee that we’d get them all, and then we’d be right back where we started, except with angrier orcs. Our mages have been studying the stolen artifacts, and believe they have found a way to – shall we say – neutralise these brainy orcs. Using power taken from their own artifacts, we can reduce their collective intelligence. The intelligent ones will become as stupid as the common ones we regularly fight, and the regular ones will become as brainless as a sack full of rocks.”
“I see. And so, the war will end?” asked the king hopefully.
“It should. At the very least, their cannon fodder will forget the basics of battle, and become too stupid to even know which end of an axe to hold.”
“Very well then, commander. Make it so!”
What you need to know
Not much. Gates will appear at the usual places in the hour before the event.
Come ready for battle – orcs tend to hit first, and not ask questions later.
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