∼ Day 77 ∼

"BWAH-HA-HA! You lose again!" - Frenn

The drunken orcess bellowed at her companion as she picked up the dice with her thick fingers. Like the faceted cubes, the cup they used was made of the white ivory bone of a beast they had once hunted together.

"Gah - lucky bitch." - Ruela

The other orcess grumpily muttered from across the low-rise stone table, the fact that she was losing quite evident. Shooting the orcess a look, the smile on Frenn's face simply widened even further.

"So, whatta ya say? Wanna up the stake?" - Frenn

In the hall, decorated with beast furs, the atmosphere grew tense. The two orc women stared each other down as they began letting out some of their auras. However, it didn't last long as the losing orcess let out a long and suffering sigh, her aura gone with her competitive nature.

"No, I'm done for the evening, Frenn. You should head back to your clan." - Ruela

"Alrighty - and, hey! Remember those two kegs of grog you now owe me." - Frenn

"No. The one keg I owe you." - Ruela

She tersely said.

"What!? But you bet two, don't go tarnishing your honor by going back on your word, Rue." - Frenn

She suddenly bellowed, the orcess now looking very offended.

"Stop using that insufferable nickname, it's Ruela dammit. And no, you've already drunk an entire barrel of my kegs, so - one." - Ruela

Casting a longing glance at the tipped over barrel that was completely empty, Frenn sighed.

"Urgh... Rue, always so greedy..." - Frenn

She grumbled unhappily to herself. She had just won one of these bets that she always encouraged the other orcess to join in on, twice in a row to boot! And that was saying something as she rarely ever won.

But the real reason why she kept encouraging her friend to play anyway was so that she could merrily drink Ruela's grog without having to use any of her own. Truly a genius move, something only the great Frenn could think of!

Since being a powerful great orc, the constitution that followed with that title meant that it required just that much more to get a buzz going for these women, entire kegs in fact.

Exiting the large hall, the two orc women took in the rapidly cooling evening air. The smell of meat being roasted and the sight of huge pyres being lit in anticipation for the nightly feast caused both women to almost salivating like grunts even though their lofty statuses. But just as Ruela, the chieftain of this clan, was about to see off her friend, a quickly approaching rider stopped them in their tracks.

Halting in front of the two large and imposing females decked in clothes made of the furs of mighty beasts and their bones, an orc riding a large brown dire wolf quickly came down from his mount and saluted to Ruela with banging a fist to his chest.

"My chief." - ???

He greeted his chief and then nodded to the other chieftain of the neighboring clan, in acknowledgment and respect.

"What is it?" - Ruela

"Chief, we've spotted the passing of what seems to be unaffiliated greenskins moving through our territory." - ???

"Unaffiliated?" - Ruela

There were extremely many greenskins all around outside the lowlands, but the effort and danger someone had to go through to enter the lowlands would stop most, if not all.

"Are you sure they're unaffiliated?" - Ruela

"Yes, no banners, no messengers, not even signaling horns. No means of conduct at all. But... other than that, they're... odd..." - ???

"-Odd?" - Ruela

She said, her tone getting somewhat impatient as she seemingly had to drag everything out of this orc scout's report.

"I'm sorry Chief. But well... they're red-skinned - and it's not just all greenskins. We even spotted what seemed to be humans walking freely in their midst."

Peering over her shoulder, Frenn shot Ruela a look that was up to no good.

"That definitely is odd... ∼oh-Rue∼ wanna take a look?" - Frenn

The other chieftain cooed from the stern-looking Ruela's side, her lust to battle and want to get out there obvious.

Groaning concededly at the eagerness of her friend, Ruela gave in after some thought.

"Of course, we can't have potential enemies running rampant in our territory." - Ruela

"Yay! Old Wrynn here hasn't tasted human blood in months. Or wait, no... there was that one time... but still at least a week!" - Frenn

She said, drawing a gnarly war axe adorned with the same ivory-white bones of her brutish clothing. With the menacing weapon and the blush tinging her cheeks from bottoming an entire barrel of grog, she looked positively manic.

"What are their numbers?" - Ruela

"Just over five-hundred strong. About a hundred orcs, but they honestly seem much stronger than ordinary ones. Other than that, they have what seems like at least four great orcs. As for the humans, we couldn't determine their strength as their unimpressive figures always are so damn misleading." - ???

Nodding along, even the stern-faced Ruela seemed curiosity within her eyes as she listened intently.

"Fine. Call up the riders, we go out immediately." - Ruela

"Let's greet our guests." - Ruela

Saluting a final time, the orc scurried by to his mount and drew an intricately carved horn. Letting out a wave of sound that encompassed the entire clan, the surroundings suddenly lit up in a flurry of activity as greenskins ran about all with a goal in mind. Many prepared the mounts for departure, others put forth equipment and weapons for the called upon warriors to take.

Sharing a look with Frenn, Ruela finally let a ferocious smile blossom on her face, matching Frenn's own. Tucking their tongues under their lips, they both let out a shrill ear-splitting whistle that would probably prop the eardrum of any normal human if they were present. It was only a few seconds later that the earth started trembling as something... big was approaching.

Moving through the large and small buildings of the clan, two giant dire wolves rushed to their masters' sides. One was white as snow, the other grey as ash. Unlike the orc scout whose mount only approached two meters in height, these two behemoths reached a full three meters. The menace and power that radiated off these two creatures were almost as much as their masters.

Nuzzling the overgrown beast against her chest, Ruela quickly mounted her wolf, and so did Frenn. It wasn't long before an entourage of almost a thousand orcs riding huge dire wolves were riding through the hills, spearheaded by the two chieftains and their giant mounts.

***

"Is that them?" - Ruela

She asked the orc scout to her side as they halted at the crest of a hill.

"Yes, chief." - ???

A couple hundred meters away, there was a sight that very much aligned with the report of the orc scout. Looking to her side, she gazed at her friend that looked to be approaching an almost battle-frenzy as she stared down the other greenskins.

"Calm down Frenn. We aren't here to fight, and will so only if necessary - Remember?" - Ruela

"Ugh - always such a kill-joy." - Frenn

She grumbled unhappily.

"If unaffiliated greenskins have come to the lowlands, it usually means one of two things. They either intent to migrate, or to war. Since their force is in no way a war party, we could potentially be seeing future clan members or allies to strengthen our hold." - Ruela

"B-but..." - Frenn

She was about to protest, but Ruela cut her off.

"Frenn. Have you forgotten our blood-oath? To become warchiefs one day, we can't if you kill every single potential ally before even exchanging words, can you now?" - Ruela

"Harrumph.... I guess so." - Frenn

She reluctantly assented.

Looking into the stern and serious eyes of her friend, she knew it wasn't any time for fooling around, and chastised herself. If it hadn't been for Ruela, Frenn would've never even lived through her first battle, not the mention the hundreds of other times that she had saved both her life and dignity.

"Besides, these are rather interesting. I have seen a mountain orc before, the brown fellars some real nasty pieces of work. I saw a duel between one of the warchiefs' champions against just a simple warrior of their race, however, the damned ogre simply played with the champion like he was a slab of meat. So, I wonder; what are these then?" - Ruela

Battle fervor now replaced with curiosity, Frenn also stared intently at the large group of red-skinned monsters who had by now had caught sight of the near thousand-strong force of mounted riders.

"I believe introductions are due." - Ruela

Approaching the unaffiliated group, Ruela, Frenn, and the many greenskin riders signaled their diplomatic intentions with their slow gait. It didn't take long before the two parties stood opposing each other, scrutinizing gazes cast from either force.

"Who's the chief." - Ruela

She simply said, her gaze directed at the four tall and strong figures standing at the front. One she was certain was a great orc, however, even though his aura clearly told of being newly evolved, she didn't doubt that he was innately more powerful than the typical great orc at the early levels.

Although she had been told of this beforehand, she was still astonished to see it with her own eyes. There was something special about these red-skinned greenskins. Then there were another two great orcs, or at least, she guessed they were. They were clearly different from the guaranteed great orc, but Ruela couldn't put her finger on it. They just were... more primal?

As for the last, that was the one which perplexed the chieftain the most. A huge grey-skinned great orc stood just as tall and strong as the others, however, if you looked closer, you would realize that he looked more like an absurdly big orc rather than an actual great orc, not to also mention the complete lack of sacred markings on his body.

But on while that topic, what actually stunned Ruela the most, was the fact that even the red-skinned orcs had sacred markings, something that she had neither ever seen, nor heard of ever happening before.

It was only great orcs that got sacred markings. She didn't even believe it possible, but here it was right before her, clear as day. Giving the grey overgrown orc another glance, she looked back at the three supposed great orcs.

She wasn't sure, but she for some reason felt that this grey orc was almost as dangerous as the other great orcs, if not even more so. But how was that even possible, wasn't he just an orc? An orc compared to a great orc, that's just a joke.

Her pondering was cut short as the voice of, surprisingly enough, the grey orc invaded her thoughts.

"I am." - ???

The burly orc said, surprising not only Ruela and Frenn, but also all the riders behind them. Getting down from her mount, Ruela, and Frenn who followed suit approached the grey-skinned orc.

"Really?" - Frenn

The careless orcess asked off-handedly.

With the sudden release of an aura, the two chieftains found themselves almost about to backpedal with unconscious survival instinct kicking in. They were both shocked, not at the power behind the aura, but what lay hidden within it.

It felt lethal, dangerous. It felt like death.

Looking at the odd orc, they realized that while he didn't wield strength as great as their own, they somehow felt like they couldn't assure a decisive victory against him if they were to try one-on-one. Returning their aura in kind, the grey orc's aura quickly faltered under their combined power, however, he was left wholly unfazed.

Nodding respectfully at the impressive orc, both chieftains completely changed their originally natural dismissive views of him because of his lower tier. The show of strength that had just occurred was like a greeting, and he had managed to earn their respect.

"I am Bob, chief of the Blood Moon Tribe." - Bob

Bob? That was certainly an odd name, both the chieftains thought. But like Bob, they also returned their greetings respectfully.

"I am Ruela, chief of clan I'zaak. And this is-" - Ruela

"Frenn, chief of clan Ra'zok." - Frenn

She cut in, a bit too cheerfully for Ruela's taste.

Shooting her a look, Ruela realized that it was already hopeless as the unrestrained orcess already had a glint of unhidden want in her eyes. Once Frenn saw something that she wanted, she wouldn't stop until she got it. This quality of hers was both a gift and a curse. Ruela just sighed exasperatedly and was about to continue until she found herself stunned, staring even more intently than Frenn did at Bob.

Not far from the grey orc's side, a figure stood. But what caught her attention wasn't a presence of immense power, nor a figure that promised great strength. What truly caught her off-guard was the fact that one she had written off as a human, wasn't human at all.

With an appearance that was practically divine compared to anything else this orcess had seen before, she found herself staring holes in the figure, especially at the fact that he possessed pointy ears!

An elf?!