Chapter Seven: The Stalemate At Loton's Cove

In addition to the orc Zangua just knocked out, another one nearby is still drawing ragged breaths as he lays prone on the ground.

The wolves are now long gone. The wind wall dissipates, but smoke still rises from the blackened earth where the fireball blossomed.

Mordred's never heard of him.

It takes Domarc a moment to rouse the battered orc, but when he comes to his senses enough to understand the question, he glares at Domarc with dull yellow eyes in a growling voice that grows ever more boastful in tone:

"Tezu Nomo is of the White Split Hands. Tezu Nomo has the gift. The ancestors' gift. Tezu Nomo made a bargain with the dragonlord. This is why the sons of Gruumsh die for him, the Goat Eaters and the Rock Splitters and the Horned Skulls. For him we put aside feuding. He gave to us the city that men abandoned. We shall increase."

"White Split Hands is a clan of ogres. But Tezu Nomo is not like them." He glances around as Mordred gestures. "I do not want to help you," he says. "Send me back to the underworld. Let Gruumsh forge me new."

There's still one not-quite-dead orc on the ground.

The orc's thoughts are disordered; he expects to be dead, and the sensations of life that are reaching him in his current unconscious state are confusing and distressing to him. He vaguely fears that he is dishonoring himself somehow.

You are about two miles southwest of Old Hilltown. You will be seen if you approach directly along the road; it would be possible to go around it and enter the valley from the surrounding hills but this will add some time to your journey, your horses may have difficulty, and you know that there are orc scouts in the hills.

Avoid disappointment by using ointment, she used to say

This is great, especially because I assume the rhyme doesn't exist in Gnomish and it is just a coincidence.

I think we go the back way guerilla-style, focusing on taking out scouts before they have a chance to get away. Mordred can Stealth along ahead of the party if needed. We can leave the horses here.