Episode 1: The Salvaged Job

The ogre looks between Coda and Maenor, narrowing its eyes.

As the fire dims, the darkness creeps in closer to shroud the ogre in a dull orange. There is a tense silence as tiny wheels click slowly... or perhaps that's just the firewood crackling. The ogre huffs, eyes shifting to each side as it attempts to perform mental gymnastics.

The ogre finally shakes its head with a roar, as though clearing its head from the dull ache. It stomps a giant foot onto the bloodied axe beak, splattering gore and viscera in a wide radius onto Coda, Geno, and Maenor; the corpse won't be waking up now. "Guarg want food! Where Guarg?!" it shouts, spittle flying into the face of Maenor. It seems to be getting angry.

Wukor roars, a mixture of frustration and anger. It snatches up the large corpse with one hand and flings it over its shoulder, sending another wide arc of bodily fluids upon those before it. Some gore splatters onto the fire, where it sizzles and cracks. The ogre turns in the direction opposite where Coda points, and stomps off into the darkness.

Where the axe beak previously lay, the slick and matted ground glistens with a hint of metal.

Maenor finds that the sparkle of metal are actually coins temporarily stuck together in blood. Since it'd be odd for an axe beak to carry a purse, Maenor deduces that the money was in the ogre's sack and fell out along with the corpse.

The rest of the evening is peaceful, despite an increase in wariness for whomever takes the next watch. In the morning, you enjoy a simple meal, break camp, and resume your travel.

The road begins to dip into a low valley, following a small stream between grassy slopes interrupted by bare rock in places. While the footing throughout this area is passable for your group, you notice that anything larger than a hand cart would find this path to be the only route.

It is now close to mid-day. Maenor, marching ahead of the group, notices something in the distance with his elven eyes. There looks to be a rickety wooden bridge spanning the valley up ahead, supported by two wooden towers upon the slopes. The bridge covers a large ramshackle wooden wall that closes the road while leaving a small arch for the water to flow beneath.