A Living Dungeon's Madness by Allan Joyal

Author:Allan Joyal [Joyal, Allan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17: Faestari Discovers a New Problem

Three days after the meeting at the foot of the mountain Faestari was relaxing as the orcs gathered in the main chamber of their lair. The bear they had captured had been carefully nursed back to health, but now they had tied it back up and placed it in the center of the chamber.

The orc shaman held out its arms and began chanting. Faestari was alerted that there was something going on when a massive amount of mana started massing in the chamber.

She carefully sent her spirit into the orc lair. She found that the shaman was standing directly in front of the bear as several of his acolytes stood the bear up. The bear’s throat was exposed and as the chanting grew in intensity the shaman took an obsidian knife Faestari had not seen before and cut the massive mammal’s throat.

The bear’s body slumped. But the acolytes held it up as the shaman started another cut at the bear’s throat and cut downwards through the bear’s sternum. The mana levels in the room spiked and then flowed to Faestari.

She was stunned by what was happening. The shaman continued its careful cuts, removing the bear’s still beating heart and holding it aloft. It slowly turned while displaying the heart to the orcs in the room.

The shaman had completed about half of a full revolution when a trio of orcs stormed into the room. One rushed towards the shaman only for two of the chanting orcs to break from the crowd and block his path.

Faestari recognized the leader of the trio as one of the sub-chiefs of the orc band. This one was screaming something as the shaman’s followers worked to impede his progress. She turned her full attention to the chamber so she could hear what was being said.

“You defile the clan! We should not follow the weak one!” the angry sub-chief said.

“The elf girl is not weak! She provides for the clan! She protects the clan!” the shaman said in a booming voice.

The crowd roared in approval. They pushed at the sub-chief’s followers as they surged towards the dead bear.

“We should follow the new one! The great one has power. We should give him power!” the sub-chief roared back.

The crowd seemed to back down. The acolytes holding the dead bear rushed the body to the wall and carefully laid it on the ground. A couple of female orcs moved forward and started using stone knives to carve the meat of the bear.

The shaman stepped forward. He placed a hand on the chest of the sub-chief. “The one you call the great one is weaker than our lady.”

“The great one is one of us!” the sub-chief said to the approval of the crowd.

“I’ve seen this great one,” the shaman said. “He’s a dogman. Dogmen are nothing. We step on them. They should be our slaves.”

“The Great One is more powerful than any dogman. And he’s not some weakling elf child!” the sub-chief said.

Faestari wanted to move, but the argument was getting louder.

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