Mission from the Oasis

[Hallarn]

The Gypsies Arnam and Tarsus led the Doomseeker into the dessert encampment.

"Our chieftan wishes to speak with you Hallarn, he has a proposition to make" said Arnam.

"Yer kin have helped me in the past, I'll repay me debt if I can." replied the Dwarf.

The mood in the encampment was somber and bleak. Many gypsies hung their heads and spoke to each other in hushed whispers. Some tragedy had happened that had driven the normally friendly Gypsies into a state of despair.

Tarsus exited the chieftans tent and held the flap open for the Dwarf, "The chieftan will see you now Hallarn".

[Hallarn]

(( Dug up this old thread to complete it. Just wish I remembered what my original idea for the story was.))

The chieftan motioned for Hallarn to take a seat beside him as Hallan entered the tent. Though it was the tent of the chieftan it was sparsely furnished, containing only rugs for sitting and a small fire in the center that vented through a hole in the roof.

"It is good to see you old friend" said the chieftan, "It has been too long since you have walked these sands."

" I'm glad te be here, seems ye been havin' some trouble wit orcs." Hallarn replied.

The chieftan took a deep breath and sighed, "Yes my friend, we have been attacked frequently as of late. I fear they are probing out defenses, planning for a major attack to drive us from the oasis and I fear they are not acting on their own. Many have been using armor and weapons made in Teir'dal forges."

"So Hazinak's involved." said Hallarn, " I Kinnae say I'm surprised, I just ran afoul of one of that lot in the southern shrine. They seem te have taken a special interest in what the gnomes there have dug up."

The chieftan nodded his head. "Yes, these events are not unrelated. I feat that the Teir'dal have discovered the existance of an artifact and they will stop at nothing to obtain it."

"But there are no artifacts" Hallarn argued, "All the relics made by me ancestors were plundered by the frogloks long ago."

"This relic predates your clans settlement of this area Hallarn as does the southern shrine" replied the chieftan. "The Teir'dal see us as a threat to their efforts to recover this artifact. They've employed the Orcs to drive us out of the Oasis. That is why I have favor to ask of you Hallarn. It is a very dangerous task and you must know that I do not ask this of you lightly..."

"Ye dinnae need to explain yerself" interupted Hallarn. "Just tell me who I have te kill."

[Hallarn]

"There is a place in the desert where the orcs have been receiving arms and gold from the Teir'dal." said the chieftan. "Our spys tell us that there is to be another shipment sent there soon and that that leader of the orcs, one who calls himself Rekthar, will be there to receive it. If you can kill Rekthar it would remove the threat of the orcs. They will be too busy fighting over who will be their new leader to plan any attack on the oasis."

"He's sure te bring bodyguards" said Hallarn, "not te mention the Teir'dal. Nae that I'm worried about dieing mind ye, it's just that I dinnae know if I'd survive long enough te get the job done proper."

The chieftan stood and exited the tent, motioning for Hallarn to follow. "Arnam and Tarsus will accompany you and there is a traveller here who has agreed to go and aid you as well."

The chieftan motioned toward a nearby campfire. Hallarn looked and saw a hulking figure seated stoop shouldered at the fire. It took a roasted chicken and shoved the entire thing into its mouth barely chewing before it swallowed.

"You want me te work with an Ogre?" Hallarn asked in disbelief.

[Hallarn]

Hallarn, the two gypsies, and the ogre had been traveling for two hours during which time the ogre had yet to stop talking. Hallarn had asked the chieftan how this ogre, who didn't even have any armor or weapons, could possibly help him on his mission. The chieftan conceded that he didn't think the ogre would be any help at all but he needed to get rid of him before he ate all their supplies. Finally Hallarn had run out of patience. "Err Gorrgarr, that is yer name right?".

"Dat right little dorf, Me am Gorrgarr, da strongest and da fastest." answered the ogre.

" Right well I realize that ye won some ogre race and yer the fastest ogre alive and that yer also the strongest and ye beat all comers in freeport and Neriak but the thing is Dwarfs have good memories so ye only have te tell me one time.....JUST ONCE!"

"Dat ok little dorf" said the ogre, "You wish youse was a big and strong ogre like me, me understand. We have name for dat in Oggok, it called ogre envy".

"OGRE ENVY??" said Hallarn incredulously. "I'LL SHOW YE OGRE ENVY!" Hallarn drew back his fist, ready to teach the ogre some manners but stopped when he saw Arnam, who was scouting up ahead, signalling for him to be quiet.

"You stay put" he told the ogre and he began to quietly move towards where Arnam and Tarsus were standing. "What do ye see" he asked Arnam.

"Theres an orc patrol up ahead. 20 orcs heavily armed". Arnam said

"Well a patrol is nae our concern, we can't be delayed gettin' to that shipment. Is there any way we can avoid them?" Hallarn asked.

"Theres a ravine nearby" Arnam answered. "We can conceal ourselves there until they pass".

Hallarn wondered if the ravine would be big enough to hide the ogre. He looked back to where he had left the lummox but was surprised to see that he wasn't there.

"Now where did he..." Hallarn began.

"ME AM DA STRONGEST!!!!" Gorrgarr yelled as he charged toward the orc patrol.

[Hallarn]

The orcs were momentarily stunned as they saw A lone, half naked ogre charging at them and screaming at the top of his lungs. They quickly came to their senses as two of their number crashed to the ground with arrows protruding from their necks.

"Nice shootin, keep it up" Hallarn said to Arnam and Tarsus as he drew his hammer and ran after the ogre.

The ogre crashed into the orc patrol and Hallarn saw bodies flying through the air. The ogre didn't have a fighting style, he used his huge bulk to stomp, kick, club, crush, and generally overpower the orcs. The orcs quickly recovered from the initial impetus of the ogres attack and began to organize themselves for a counter attack. They were in the process of regrouping when a hammer wielding dwarf crashed into them breaking knees and snapping spines. The orcs were soon overwhelmed by the dual assault and those who were still alive dropped what weapons they still had and fled for their lives. The survivors did not get far before the arrows of Arnam and Tarsus brought a sudden halt to their flight.

Hallarn surveyed the carnage, impressed by the damage caused by the unarmed ogre. Gorrgarr was standing over a pile of broken bodies and screaming his victory cry (though no orcs were left alive to hear it), "ME AM DA STRONGEST!!!! ME AM DA STRONGEST!!!" Once he was satisfied that the dead orcs had shown the proper respect to so great a warrior he reached down and grabbed an orc by the leg, putiing his foot on the body for leverage he pulled back and tore the leg off.

"What in the world are ye doing now?" asked Hallarn who believed in respect for the dead even if they were orcs.

"Me gettin me lunch" said Gorrgarr as if an explanation was hardly warranted, "all dis bashin' am makin me hungry" He held the bloody limb out, offering it to Hallarn and Arnam and Tarsus who were just arriving. "Don' worry dorf deres plenty."

Hallarns skin began to look a shade of green, "I think I'm gonna be sick"

[Hallarn]

Hallarn, Arnam, and Tarsus watched from a safe distance as the ogre devoured his gruesome feast. He had eaten the limbs off of half the dead orcs and showed no signs of slowing down.

"By the beard of Brell, how much kin he eat?" asked Hallarn

"Now you see why the chieftan needed to get him out of the oasis, he was eating all our supplies." said Tarsus

"Well at least he's useful in a scrap" said Hallarn. "But we dinnae have time fer this, were gonna be late fer that shipment." " Hey Ogre!!!" he yelled to Gorrgarr, "we have te get movin' theres nae time fer ye te stuff yer face."

"Errr ok den" answered the ogre, sounding dissapointed at having to leave a meal half finished. Blood and gore dripped down his chin and onto his chest."

"And fer Brells sake, wipe yer face!" yelled Hallarn, disgusted even by dwarf standards at the ogres hygiene.

They finally went on their way and moved quickly to make up for lost time. Hallarn had a hard time keeping up with his long legged companions but didn't complain. After a few more hours journey the arrived and the location of the shipment delivery, an old dried up lake bed surrounded by hills. They concealed themselves amongst some rocks, the ogre behind a large bolder, and waited.

Two hours passed and Arnum and Tarsus began to get worried. "The shipment should have been here by now" Arnam told Hallarn. "Something is not right."

"I agree" added Tarsus. "It is too quiet, we need to get away from here".

They left their hiding placed and tried to move covertly out of the area. They began to ascend one of the hills surrounding the dry lakebed when they were brought to a halt by a loud gruff voice, "Where do you lot think you're going? This party is just starting!" Hallarn instantly recognized the accent as orcish, he surveyed the area and saw dark shapes immerging from the rocks in every direction. They were surrounded.