Rhunal's golden eyes took a few moments to adapt to the dimly lit interior of the Adventurer's Guild. Her night-vision was excellent, her eyes were much like a cat's. The sudden change in lighting still took her a moment to adjust.
When they did, she noticed a man sitting at a small round table pointing at her and gesturing to his friend beside him. The man was almost exactly average height, middle-aged, and stocky with a thick handlebar mustache. His hair receded to a widow’s peak in his short, dark-brown hair. He wore a full length, tan-colored brigandine jacket.
She could tell he was also a native of the desert lands to the south by his brown skin, but also by his striking copper-colored eyes.
"Hey. What about her?", she heard him say. Then he stood and walked towards her.
He extended a hand, "Hello. What brings you to the guild?"
Her strong heart was already pounding furiously after her near miss with the soldiers outside. She had only ducked inside the guild to escape. Now what did this guy want with her? If she got thrown out now, the guards would catch her immediately. She realized that she would have to calm down and play it cool.
"Uh well... " she stammered, 'what can I say as a reason to be here?'
The only other orcs she'd seen in town had been official adventurers. She stood in the shadows on the edge of the room. He didn’t realize what she was yet. She tried to think of a believable story, but he continued speaking and saved her the trouble.
"We have been stuck in this town for a few days. We've taken on a very lucrative contract, but we don't have the people to complete it," he said in his best pitch voice.
"They might even open the town back up once we form a proper party and set out on this quest," his friend interrupted. "We're going after the thieves who raided that manor. Once word gets out that the thieves have already left the city, there will be no reason to maintain the blockade at the gate."
This man was roughly the same height as his friend, but much younger. He was blond, blue-eyed, and light-skinned with a thick Mohawk haircut. He was thinner than his friend, with a narrow face and a hawkish nose. He was as typical a resident of Greihold as they came.
The middle-aged man stepped forward again. "My name is Hugh, and this is Lovell. As this is an official quest from the city itself, this document gives us a free pass out of town. If you don't join up with us, it could be awhile until new quests trickle in again. We definitely need a mage or healer to flesh out our group and you appear to be one."
She looked down at her robe. Well made, but nondescript, it had no symbols to speak of. The only distinguishing feature was the red color of the hood and the navy-blue of the rest of the robe.
'This man Hugh is offering me a free pass out of town as part of a quest!' She couldn’t believe her good luck. Her heart beat even faster, but now it was out of excitement rather than fear. She looked back to him.
He had frozen almost in mid-stride. Her reflective cat-like eyes had finally betrayed her.
"But... You're an orc!"
Her heart sank back down in her chest immediately. Her excitement at an escape out of town twisted into ire. She crossed her arms and scowled, "Yes. I am. We are permitted in the Adventurer's Guild," she snapped, with a hefty amount of attitude.
Hugh frowned, "So why are you dressed as a mage."
Rhunal shrugged, "Because that is what I am. A mage and a healer."
Hugh shook his head, "I've met a lot of orcs and a lot of mages in twenty years with the Adventurer's Guild and never met an orc mage. I've never even heard of one. It is well known that orcs can’t use human magic."
"What about a shaman?" Lovell said, "I've heard a lot of stories about those."
Hugh shook his head. “A shaman doesn't cast spells like a sorcerer does. I knew one once who could do amazing things to strengthen both himself and other orcs with him. But none of his magic worked on humans.”
'Words will not work here. Hugh is quickly talking himself out of bringing me on the quest. He thinks I am lying to him. I need to take decisive action, even if it gets me kicked out of the guild.'
She reached out her left hand toward both of the men. “Could the shaman do this?”
A ball of intense light appeared above her palm! The flare spell put out a warm heat, but also a tremendous amount of light. In the confines of the dimly lit room, it was blinding. Both men jumped back in surprise.
“Damn! My eyes!”, exclaimed Lovell.
Hugh shielded his face, “Okay, I believe you! Just turn off the miniature sun!”
A large man stepped towards the three of them, shielding his face. “Hey! No spells in the guildhall! All three of you get the hell out!”
*
“How do you not know that magic is forbidden in the guildhall!” Lovell shouted.
"Flare is a harmless spell!" Rhunal said. "But I shouldn’t have done it. But you didn’t believe I was a mage. I had to prove it to you somehow! I don’t like being called a liar. And I do want to go on this quest of yours."
She frantically looked around for the guards she expected to be descending on her, alerted by the argument in the street. She noticed the opposite result. Guards were so used to seeing adventurers bickering outside of the hall that they completely ignored the trio.
Hugh stepped toward the pair, “Lovell, it’s fine. There was nothing more we needed to do at the guild. They’ll get over it by the time we finish our quest. We need to grab supplies and tools for the road anyway.”
He turned to her. “I'm sorry I didn’t believe you. You’ve proven yourself. I'm afraid I've gotten so old that I think I know everything. We need you on this quest. They gave us information on a thieves’ hideout. But being thieves, they won’t stay in the same place very long. If you will join us, meet us back here in half an hour.”
“I will meet you,” she said. There was nothing for her in this town anymore. Out there she would no longer be a slave. Beyond that, she knew she’d have to figure it out. She harbored no resolve to continue on the quest past the city gate. But at the moment, she didn't have anywhere else to go.
*
She dug in her pocket and fished out a miserable collection of coins. She had scooped them off a table as she escaped her former manor. At night, in a panic, it had seemed like a nice handful of money. When she looked at it in the daylight, it was nothing but small change.
'I can’t ask for an advance or they’ll start asking about Carinus and why he won’t spot me some money for my first quest. I don’t want to answer those kinds of questions. The money is enough for a simple knife and bedroll, but not enough to buy any food. I’m an orc, dammit. We’re known to be legendary hunters. I’ll improvise.'
She didn't know the first thing about hunting or survival, but her resolve to carry forward gave her a little more confidence in her step. She marched into a nearby general store and grabbed what she could afford. A plain, thin rolled up bedroll and the rustiest knife she’d ever seen. She saw a chip in the side of blade and resolved not to examine it closer.
She slapped the money down on the counter and turned to walk out the door with her items, almost before the man could count the amounts. She still didn’t want the shopkeeper getting a good look at her face. They weren’t out of town yet, and the guards may have already asked around about an orc female on the loose. If she knew Carinus there could be a hefty reward attached.
Before she could walk out the door, the shopkeeper handed her a small length of charcoal. "It's on the house," he said.
It was an odd gift, but that simple item would be instrumental in her path through the world.
*
Rhunal found the pair waiting in the street, wearing large packs. Lovell had a shortbow strapped to his backpack. Hugh had a crossbow off one hip and a sword off the other. Rhunal just had her rusty knife and pack.
“You travel light,” Hugh said, “say, I didn’t get your name before we got kicked out of the guild.”
“My name is Rhunal. And like any orc, I am a natural hunter.” She hoped her lie didn’t sound as ridiculous to Hugh as it did to herself.
He nodded and seemed to agree with her statement. He seemed knowledgeable about her kind so her statement must have seemed true at least.
“Lets hit the road,” Lovell said, we’ve been stuck in this town long enough. We don’t want these guys to slip away”.
Hugh held up a hand, “We need to discuss terms of the contract with Rhunal first. I’ve been running quests for twenty years. I’ve tried many payment contracts, but the simplest, equal split between all people, has always worked best. Veteran or rookie, we’ll all have our necks on the line out there.”
“Sounds fair,” she agreed.
“The only condition is that you must swear to stick with us till either the end of the quest or we disband the party.” He reached out his hand.
Rhunal looked at his hand for what seemed like too long. She knew that taking his hand would be a lie. She had no genuine desire to risk her life on this quest. She had said some bold words to Carinus before she fought him. But, she wasn’t ready to put her skills to use in a real battle, and she knew it.
She shook her head to rid herself of the distracting thoughts, reached out and grabbed his hand with a firm handshake.
“Do you want to hear the details of the quest?” Hugh asked.
She shook her head, “Tell me on the road. Let’s get out of this town first.”
She turned and started down the road towards the gate, hoping to avoid further questions while still in town.
“See? She’s in a hurry to get out of here too,” Lovell said.
“Hey Hugh, have you ever worked with an orc before?” he asked, a little quieter, thinking her out of earshot.
Hugh nodded, “I did once. A damn enormous fellow with more scars than skin. He was as much a danger to his friends as his enemies in a mass brawl. But he saved our lives.”
“What do you mean by danger?” Lovell asked.
“Orcs go into a berserk rage in a close quarters fight. You know it’s about to happen if the orc in question has traded serious injury between his enemy and himself. Something about the exchange of lethal blows sets them off. We refer to this ability of theirs to detach from all fear and pain as the Blood Rage.”
"The exact circumstances aren’t well known. Some keep their senses better than others. Orcs have only begun travelling within human lands in the last five years."
With her sense of hearing, Rhunal easily heard their conversation. 'How is it a human knows more about my kind’s abilities than I do?' She frowned.
She could only remember going into the Blood Rage once in the past. It was before she was an adult and before training in human magic. Could she access those abilities again in an emergency? She hoped she would figure it out.
She took nothing Hugh said personally. In fact, she wished Hugh would say more about his experience with other orcs. In all her years as a slave in the city, she hadn’t been able to talk to any of her own kind.
It was gratifying to know that her kind was respected, even if it was mostly fear. She couldn’t take any credit for that kind of physical prowess. She herself had fought no one since she was a juvenile. She was a failed mage who had been in one fight in her entire life.
Her expectation of seeing their quest through to completion sank even lower in her mind. But it nagged at her. She had given her word. She didn’t like to lie.
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