FSE

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The group enjoyed breakfast as they had every morning before. The four of them now, speaking intermittently between bites of food. After all was said and done. Zamdor went to the caves and gave each of the assassins a proper burial. As well as looting anything of value from them. Zamdor made a point to mention, that the elven lad, the last one that they'd faced, was nowhere to be found, all he found, was a severed arm and a spot of blood. The axe heads Gurak had thrown hadn't killed him, only wounded him. He was still out there, somewhere.

They had plenty of armor and weapons stored in Gurak's pack now, and almost another 20 gold pieces in total as well. They packed up camp and headed back towards Whetstin once more. They parked their wagon and stabled their horse. Another silver for the equine's care for the day, and they first went to the adventurer's guild. First getting all the rewards from the quests completed the day before, a hefty twenty silver for everything.

When Gurak checked his status, after noticing he'd glowed suddenly. He realized he had a new skill. 'Party Leader' Gurak didn't know what it did, but it was rank F, so it was just unlocked. Was it because Wukin accepted him as his leader and now that a certain number of them had, the skill was unlocked for him? He hated that there was no way to know what a skill was, or meant.

There were other quests they could take, but they had wasted almost half the day just getting back to Whetstin.

The next step was getting Wukin signed up as an adventurer as well, now all four of them had credentials. Gurak used 5 of his silver to pay for Wukin's dues in advance. They decided to go back to the restaurant they'd been to before. They were greeted by the same dwarven woman, she smiled and sat them. Gave them menus, though all but Wukin knew what they wanted. The young dwarven man greeted them and took their order.

"Our father's doing much better." He beams warmly. "He's been back on his feet as soon as possible, and he's in the kitchen now. I've been learning from him so I can be a better cook in the future." The dwarven man said with a beaming, warm smile on his face.

The four smiled and nodded, Wukin knew them, but only from afar. They all ordered and the dwarf left. He went into the back and then the door opened, the older dwarf peeked out and smiled. Then went back into the kitchen.

The four waited a little while, the smells in the restaurant were exquisite. Not too long after four plates were brought out, set in front of everyone. The food looked much better and the scent of herbs and spices in the restaurant was amazing. While the four ate, little by little, people started to trickle in, one by one till the restaurant was busy, full of people and the sounds of chatter and mirth were filling the once almost dead silent restaurant. The smell from the kitchen attracted folks back to the place that had a great reputation and had fallen on hard times.

After their lunch, the group paid, tipped well, and thanked the young dwarven man for everything. He did the same. Thanking them for saving their father and their restaurant as well.

The group left finally and set about looking for the crafting guild in Whetstin. Gurak was deeply curious to learn about enchanting. He'd had a hard time of it the last couple of days. With everything that happened, there was almost no time for anything he wanted to do. Today though, everything was calm, no festival, no threat of plague, none of his friends in danger.

They wandered around the craftsman district till they found the building they were looking for. Gurak was the first inside.

Behind the counter was a wolf-like man. He had a scar over his left eye, it was white and likely completely sightless. Gurak approached the rugged-looking man. "Is this where you enchant things?" He asks curiously.

The wolf nods his head. "Yeah. Are you looking for something specific?" The wolf asked, his voice was low and deep.

The orc shook his head. "I wanted to learn from you. How much for a day of training?"

The wolf raised his eyebrow. "Train'in?" He laughed softly. "How about two gold" The wolf grins, mostly as a joke, thinking the orc wouldn't have even half that kind of money.

Gurak perks his eyebrows and reaches into a pocket, pulling out three, and he offers them to the wolf. "A little extra, 'cause I appreciate this opportunity."

The wolf looked at the coins incredulously. He picked one up. Bit and bent it slightly. He looks at it and then the orc. "No shit?" He comes around the counter and locks the front door. "Two more gold" He opens his hand towards the orc. "A month's worth of profits and I'll tell you everything I know."

The orc squinted. "Teach me everything, and I'll give you the two gold after." The wolf squinted back but then nodded in agreement.

The rest of the day was then spent with the wolf explaining the process.

"You need a mana cryst, bigger is better, but it's not a size issue, it's the amount of mana in the cryst that's important." He reaches into a chest, pulling out a cryst, it wasn't huge, but it was about as big as his hand. It swirled with green energy. "This is a wind cryst." He states simply.

"It houses all kinds of wind magic potential" He digs out a dagger takes a scrap of leather, he slices along it. The leather cuts, but it's difficult, the blade is sharp, but the leather is tough. It doesn't cut through the leather, only across it.

He sets the dagger down and the cryst. He puts one hand on it, and the other on the dagger. "I'm focusing on Windblade." He states. "I'm pulling the mana from the cryst and instead of casting the spell, I'm storing that spell inside of the dagger." He explains. Gurak watched carefully and he couldn't see the mana per se, but he almost felt it. Even the wolf's eyes glowed the faintest touch of green while he was doing it.

"You'll feel it feel full." The wolf rumbles out. "Kinda like when a gas pump would kick off." The wolf makes an expression and sighs. "Ahh, sorry, just...something from..."

The orc looks at the wolf for a moment. "From back home?" He watches the wolf carefully. His eyes focused intently now. "Earth?" Gurak's head turned slightly, watching the wolf's expression as he said it.

The wolf's eyes got wide, a blue glow overtook him suddenly, and he glanced around. "Yea....how the fuck do you know that word?"

Gurak looks over his shoulder for a moment. "Hey uh. You three stay here, I wanna talk to him in private." Zamdor and Rulu nodded in understanding, Wukin was confused. Gurak looks at him. "I uh...it's complicated, but I'll explain it to you soon, I promise. No peeking." He points at Wukin. Then he leans in. "Let's talk in private." To the wolf.

The two leave the front and go not just behind the counter but into a back room.

Gurak sits down and looks at the wolf. "I was born on Earth. 1980s. Worked in a public library for years, small city, probably wouldn't have heard of it."

The wolf watches him. "About the same. I was born in the late 70s. Dad served and died in the 'Nam War." He watches Gurak still. "Spent my life in the military. To feel close to him." He laughs. "Robert Stims, but I'm called Darion here." He offers his hand. Gurak smiles softly.

"Gregory Kane, but I'm Gurak here" Both started laughing. "What happened to you?" The orc asks.

The wolf shrugs. "Ahh, I was in the army. Training recruits. Doing grenades." He sighs. "Kid pulled the pin, threw it, held the grenade. Must've been in the mid-early 2000s, I threw him to safety, and jumped on the grenade. Saved a few folks, got called here by some angel-looking lady, thought I'd gone to heaven." He laughs. "Told me I could come to a world where the fantastical stories like Tolkien used to write were a reality. I said fuck yeah." He laughs softly. "Apologized, and said I'd happily accept it. Always wanted to be a wolf. Was a whole little internet culture around it." Gurak didn't get the reference, but, was sure the man had good intentions at least.

Gurak canted his head but nodded. "I saved a kid from being hit by a bus." He said simply. He then looks at the wolf. He ponders a moment. "How many blessings?"

The wolf thinks for a moment. "Four. My sacrifice instilled a lot of changes in how things were done. More lives were saved because of me."

Gurak nods. "Ahh, I got five." He laughs.

The wolf punched his green arm and smirked. "Lucky, well, not really, but, you know what I mean."

The two talked a bit longer, sharing a few stories. Before long though, a knock came at the doorway. It was Zamdor.

"Hey, not to break you two up, but it's almost dusk. We should get going."

Gurak moved to get up and the wolf stopped him. "Whoa, hang on. How about you guys stay here tonight? I don't have any spare beds, but, it's better than sleeping on the ground in the woods."

Gurak grunted softly about to object, but the bull grunted at him first. "A roof over our heads would be appreciated." The orc was going to object, worried he and the others would be a burden. Zamdor spoke up. "Gurak will cook dinner for you guys as thanks for letting us stay here tonight too."

The orc grunted again but smiled at Zamdor. He knew the bull only spoke up because he cared and a floor wasn't as good as a bed, but it was a step above dirt.

Zamdor nodded. "I'll go get our gear then." The old bull turned and Gurak spoke up.

"Take Wukin and Rulu with you. Safer in groups." The bull turned his head and gave a nod before he and the others left to get their stuff from the wagon.

The wolf smiles at the orc. "It's lucky you came today."

Gurak tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

Darion chuckles a little. "I was out gathering materials up until last night. I got home late, and my wife and kids were minding the shop. She's not quite as good at it as

I am. But I wasn't here till this morning."

The orc looked down at the floor. So he'd been kept from doing this for three days, his plans thwarted because the wolf here wasn't -here-. This wasn't a coincidence. It was interference. The orc scowled slightly.

The wolf put his hands up defensively. "Whoa there buddy." The wolf looked concerned like he had offended the orc somehow.

Gurak sat up and blinked. "Oh, no, not you." He smiles. "I was just thinking to myself. I'd been trying to find someone to learn enchanting from. But I'd kept having something come up. Problem after problem till I could look for someone to learn from. You weren't here, till today. And today was the first time I had nothing dire or emergency-related crop up on me." He tilts his head. "Feels kinda fucky."

The wolf shrugs. "Maybe it is. Maybe it's divine intervention." He shrugs. "I'm glad to meet someone from back home though. I thought I was the only one." When Darion said that, it dawned on Gurak. If he and Darion were here, how many others could be here as well? Dozens, hundreds?

Gurak nods. "I thought the same." He looks up at the ceiling. "If we're here though, it means others before us, and after us is quite likely." He sighs softly. "Man, I don't like the idea of being someone's pawn."

Gurak looks to Darion. "Reminds me of that old movie. Clash of the monsters?" He furrows his eyebrows.

The wolf laughs. "Titans." He corrects the orc but nods. "Kinda, yeah. Like pawns on a chessboard." He sighs. "Well, you guys rest here tonight. I'll tell you everything I know in the morning, I didn't expect to get distracted with this and end up talking about Earth all day instead."

Gurak nods and pats the wolf on the shoulder. "Thank you, Darion for letting us stay here. We'll try not to be a burden. I'm a good cook at least. I'd be happy to feed you and your family."

Darion nods. "Sure. I'll get the stuff for dinner."

The wolf went upstairs and he heard voices for a while, then the wolf returned. "She's a little trepidatious. But, she's keen on a night off. So kitchen's yours." He gestures to upstairs. As he stepped into the lupine living space, he bowed his head slightly. His wife was a fox, and their children, two of them, a wolf and a fox. Suppose that hybrids weren't a thing here.

He was led to the kitchen and he marveled at how nice it was, almost as nice as the restaurant's own. He started by pulling a few things from his backpack and began cooking. It took about an hour in total to get everything ready. Once it was done though, he brought it out into the living space. Everyone was seated around a large table, bunched up, but they looked happy enough. The family on one side and his own found family on the other.

Each plate of food placed on the table was met with an 'ooh' of excitement. A plate of beef-like steaks, a plate of poultry breasts, and then a bowl of vegetables mixed together. Finally, a bowl of mashed starchy vegetables. The wolf himself watched in excitement. Gurak had only made mashed vegetables once before, but his group had liked it, the look in the wolf's eyes made him smile. It was likely the wolf hadn't seen a mashed potato-like dish in all his years here. A taste of home meant the world to him, so he was sure Darion would appreciate it.

They ate quietly, chatting a little, but mostly they were more interested in the food. After dinner, everyone thanked the wolf and fox family for letting them stay and went back down into the shop area where his group had set up bedrolls for themselves.

The three slept together as usual. Though Gurak did warn them to be respectful in the morning, as it wasn't the same as outside town. They'd have to wait. Wukin slept apart, though, not far away.

When they awoke, to the children upstairs laughing and making racket, the four got up and set about normal chores they had. A bath would have to wait, but breakfast was already in the air. The fox had decided to make breakfast for the group. Gurak discretely gave her a gold coin as thanks for it. Telling her to get something nice for herself and the kids.

Breakfast was a mix of bread, cheese, sausage-like meat, and eggs, scrambled, it seemed, they were quite good though.

After that was taken care of, and cleaned up. Darion spent the rest of the day showing them how to enchant. It didn't take a lot of mana to enchant items. So you could instill magic into a great deal of items.

Gurak then surmised. "Well...couldn't you take it from the weapon and put it back into the cryst?"

The wolf looked at him, he picked up the dagger from yesterday, first, he demonstrated the sharpness of it by cutting the leather strip again. It split much easier than the first attempt. After that though, Darion attempted it. The wolf's look of surprise at it working told Gurak all he needed to know. "So, I heard you can't put more than one enchantment into a weapon, is that true as well?"

Darion nods. "Yeah. Aside from some old fairy tale I'd heard, it's not possible to put more than one into a weapon."

Gurak looked over the tools before Darion and noticed, that the cryst looked smaller. "Am I mistaken, or is the mana cryst smaller?" The wolf nods at the orc.

"You're correct. As you draw mana out of it, it gets smaller and smaller." The wolf replies.

Gurak scratches his chin. "Can I try something? Do you have any like... small crysts?"

The wolf nodded, opening the same chest from yesterday and he pulled out a handful in a bag, that looked about the size of gemstones. No bigger than a fingernail

The orc looked at them and tapped his chin. "So, if you used these, they'd just...pop out of existence then, right?"

The wolf nods. "Yeah, I think so. Why?" The wolf asks in return.

"Can I pay you for these?" Gurak asks. "I want to try something, but, if I end up destroying them, I'd rather pay you for them than just cause problems."

The wolf nods. "Sure, a gold piece for the whole bag." They might've been worth a little more, but, the wolf felt a rare kinship with the orc with whom he shared a home world. Gurak nodded and took out three, handing them to the wolf. "Two for telling me everything and for the crysts."

The orc gathered them back up into the bag and thanked Darion. "I'll see you again if my idea works out. You'll be the only one I share my secret with." He smiles and the wolf nods in return.

Gurak thanked him again for the help and demonstrations. Then he and his companions departed. They headed out of town, Gurak even going so far as to buy a second horse, finally. An investment of a gold coin, but the orc thought it was worth it. Hitching both up to the wagon now, they went outside of town to the place they'd often camped before and finally set up proper camp and baths for everyone.

The trio undressed and climbed into the tub. Wukin was a little hesitant at first. Watching them. "A...are you sure you don't mind me joining you?" Zamdor shakes his head. Rulu motioned for the monkey to join them.

"Not at all. Get that cute monkey ass in the water" The bull replies. Wukin's hesitation dissipated like a spell undone, his clothing tossed to the ground and he practically dived into the water with them, causing some of the water to splash out the sides.

The four of them now cuddled up in the water. The monkey is quite literally in the middle, Rulu on one side, Zamdor on the other, and Gurak's arms around both. The orc rumbled and smiled. "This is the life I've always wanted." He rumbles out.

The bull laughs softly, leaning over to kiss the orc tenderly on his cheek. "A harem of men in love with you?" The orc blushed fiercely.

"A little! But it's more, just being loved by anyone." He says softly. Rulu and Zamdor pressed in closer, understanding what the orc meant. The monkey, unsure, but hugging him all the same.

The four of them sat like that for some time. Just enjoying the heat, the water, and the closeness of each other. Gurak finally slipped his arms free and patted Zamdor as well as Rulu's backs. "We should wash up proper, then I'll need you to craft me a forge, out of stone. I'll need Rulu to make me some water in a basin, like this, but a bit smaller, cause I need to put metal into it, to cool it."

He nods to the two and then to Wukin. "You can be on the lookout. What I'm doing could change the world, so it's important no one spies on me." Wukin's face lit up. "So I need you to keep tabs on the area.

Wukin nods. "Sure, and I'll keep an eye out for anyone trying to spy on us." Gurak stops in his tracks and looks at Wukin.

"What do you mean?" The monkey blinks and looks at the orc.

"You....can't?" He asked, then looked at Zamdor and Rulu. "None of you?"

Gurak shakes his head. "I can't what?"

The monkey leans back now. "See magic." Gurak shook his head, and then Rulu and Zamdor did the same. Wukin looked confused. "Wait...really?" Wukin sat up a bit. "I could see your wind barrier around your shield. I didn't think it'd do anything so I just ignored it. I was surprised it caught and tossed my arrows aside."

Gurak's face lit up. "Holy shit, you can SEE magic?" The monkey nods his head lightly.

"Yeah, I thought....can't everyone?" He looked to the others, they shook their heads. "All of us could in the umbr.....oooh."

The monkey scratched the back of his head. "It might be a....dark magic thing?" He mentions. "All of us in the blades could see magic typically. That's why I had the traps be so small or complex. Or non-magical when possible. Spears of stone held by tiny fragments of magic, nearly imperceptible. A source of magic several feet away from the metal it was to be channeled into. Arrows on one end of a hallway, are difficult to detect even for me. Spikes shaped BY magic, but holding none."

The others thought the assassins had all kind of...died way too easily. Now they understood why. It was because if Wukin couldn't detect the traps, it was likely the other assassins couldn't either. He had an innate sense of detecting magic. They must have expected a litany of magical traps and hadn't considered that mundane things were of any real threat.

Gurak finally looked at Wukin and spoke up. "Can I uh....Can I use my appraisal skill on you?" He then looks to Rulu and Zamdor as well. "You guys too, I've been curious, but, I've never pried." He admits.

Zamdor nods almost immediately. "I don't mind. I tried peaking at yours." He laughs and grins. Rulu nods slowly soon after. "I trust you. I could just tell you if you like. I don't mind."

Wukin shakes his head though. "I uh. I appreciate you asking, instead of just doing it. But I'd feel better if you didn't." Gurak nods softly. He smiles though. Accepting the monkey's want for privacy, wasn't unreasonable.

"That's fine Wukin. I won't pressure you. I'd been thinking of asking these two for some time now. They have some amazing abilities. But I didn't want to intrude on their privacy. So I'll respect your wishes." Gurak did scoot in closer to Wukin. "If you ever feel comfortable with it, let me know." The orc leans in and kisses the monkey on the cheek. His face flushed a bit, and the orc immediately saw a blue glow overtake him. Gurak scooted back slowly, he'd felt the monkey get a little excited when he moved in close, but he wasn't going to push for that either.

The four of them bathed, Gurak letting Wukin use his soap, for the time being, and then they all climbed out and dried off. Wukin set about creating magical cameras, like he had in the cave, it was a dark magic spell, and it allowed him to peer through shadows, both mundane and magical. So he could create small shadows, about the size of a quarter, and just place them wherever he wanted.

It was how he'd kept track of the cave's defenses and often spied on others when he was an assassin. It was an insanely handy skill to possess. That might be specifically why the umbral blades targeted those with dark elements outside of demos. They could innately learn how to see magic. Making them extremely useful in lots of situations.

Zamdor set about making a forge. With Gurak directing him on how to set it up and make it look right. Rulu filled a basin with water for what he needed. Gurak's first thing to try was, to create a urn of water.

So he got out a glass container, it had roughly the size of a gallon of water in it. Natural, not magically created. Then, Gurak pulled out the mana cryst from the water dragon. Zamdor looked at it, in awe. "That's massive." The bull states. "I've never seen a mana cryst so big."

The orc shrugs. "I killed a dragon...or...wyvern...something, in a dungeon to get it. Managed to do it solo."

All three suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked at Gurak. "You what?" The bull said what they were all thinking.

Gurak blinked. "I....took down the dungeon by myself." He furrows his eyebrows. "Why?"

Wukin spoke up then. "You swear this? No lie?" The monkey stepping in closer now. All three were getting -real- close to him now.

"Y...yeah? I did it solo. No one else. It appeared while I was out training, and when my village was attacked."

The three looked at one another. "No one else, at all?" Rulu asked, to clarify.

Gurak nodded his head lightly. "No one else. Just me, my axe, and my shield. I fought a bunch of weird creatures. Then a dragon, it was water so my lightning magic was really helpful. Then I got the backpack there." He points to it. "As much gold as I could stuff into it, a tome and a scroll."

Zamdor watched the orc. "No one, ever, not ever." He grunts out. "Has ever cleared a dungeon alone before." He watches the orc. "Dungeons are ridiculously difficult. It takes a team of trained veterans to clear them usually." He watches the orc. "You being in one as a child was dangerous, stupid almost. But you taking on one by yourself isn't dangerous, it's stupid and reckless. You could have died!"

Gurak looks at Zamdor, his hand coming up and patting the bull's cheek. "Zam. I could have died lots of times. In the first dungeon. When they tried to kill us after we got out. When we found you with the weird golem and the portal. When Gar'Sha attacked. When Wukin attacked when his group attacked." He huffs at the bull. "I could die at any moment, anywhere." He shrugs. "If I was so easy to kill, I would have been." He smiles.

Zamdor didn't look convinced and huffed at him. "Never again. You hear me?" The bull states. His hand poked the orc's chest firmly when he said it.

Gurak nodded slowly. "The only reason I went alone, was because I was alone." The bull's face lightened a touch. "Now that I have you guys. I'd never do something on my own. Well..." He shakes his head in a way indicating he might again. "Nothing dangerous. Like, talking to Darion yesterday. He and I had....stuff to discuss."

The bull leans in and whispers. "Earth, stuff?" The orc nods his head slowly.

Rulu didn't hear but understood the implication of the whisper all the same.

Wukin was setting his magical spy holes, so he was none the wiser, or, if he was, didn't let on as such. They continued setting up the forge, while Gurak started practicing trying to make an enchanted item.

The first few attempts failed. But luckily, he'd learned he could take the mana and put it back into the cryst, thanks to Darion's doing so. It was just a matter of doing it right.

The thing that bothered Gurak the most, was how Darion described enchanting an object. That it was like filling up a car, and once it was full, you couldn't add more to it If that were true, how did the elf make an item with two enchantments? Gurak had an idea, naturally, but he couldn't prove it, having never seen the weapon himself. But he had something he wanted to test.

First, he needed to make a source of water. He kept trying, for the better part of a day, till he finally got a handle on it. It was like trying to tune a radio but with his brain? It was hard to describe. He had to focus on the one thing he wanted, to create water. It wasn't a high-level spell, but it was still challenging to focus on it when all these other spell concepts existed within the mana cryst. If he could've focused intently on it, he'd gain knowledge of so many new spells. Surely others had thought to try this too, and it didn't pan out.

He'd still ask Zamdor later about it. He'd be the one most likely to know. The process was fairly on point for what Zamdor said too. But he didn't realize how hard it was to focus his mind on one. If he deviated even a little, the enchantment failed and there wasn't enough mana for the specific spell he was trying to place in the object. It wasn't so much 'water' mana he was trying to channel, it was 'create water' mana specifically that he was putting into the jar. Water orbs, water spears, and a litany of other spells he'd never heard of, all fought for his attention to get called upon and used, it was exhausting mentally.

It took another hour, but he eventually got it. Once he was finished, he sat back and grunted with a smile on his face. "There."

Zamdor came over and examined it. Then let Wukin look it over, and he nodded. "It's enchanted." The monkey said, handing it back to Gurak. He uncorked it and tipped it over. This was the defining moment.

It poured, and poured, and poured, but the water level never decreased and the water on the ground didn't dissipate either. It pulled mana from the air, perhaps, or, somewhere, but, the create water enchantment was permanent.

Gurak puts it down and sighs. "So, I could just...put any spell, I wanted into a weapon or armor?" He asks, looking at the bull, Zamdor nods in reply. "Essentially. Depending on the power of the spell, it could require a great deal of energy and as such take time to recharge between uses."

The orc nods. "So like a cool down timer." The bull blinks and shrugs. The orc nods and smiles. "Ahh, it's like....way of saying. It needs time to recharge before being used again. It refills on its own."

The bull nods at that. "Oh, well then, yes." Zamdor pats the orc on his back.

The orc rumbles and stretches out. His well-muscled body straining as he lifts his arms over his head to do so. Once he'd taken a breath. "Okay. Time to start forging."

He pulled out a hammer he'd bought in town. Dwarven crafting might pale in comparison to Orcish, but it was well made. He had bought some ores too. Just iron, nothing too expensive. He then spent the rest of the evening forging it. Hammering it out, removing impurities as much as he could, and letting it cool, doing this over and over till something inside of him said it was ready.

The orc then spent the early hours of dusk, using an orb of light, maintaining his ability to see at night, to start forging the metal into an ingot. Once it was shaped, he let it cool in the water from the urn he'd created. Then set about making dinner.

The orc went the extra mile, as he'd wanted to show Rulu and Zamdor, especially his thanks for what they'd endured because of him.

When they ate, he noticed a faint glow about the three of them, and himself when he regarded his arms briefly. He checked his status screen after he'd eaten and apparently, he'd put so much of his love into the meal, it'd caused an effect 'Well-fed' it gave them bonuses to lots of stats and skills. It lasted 24ish hours.

The orc chuckles and smiles. The others look at him. They could see he'd brought up his status, but not what it said. "Oh, uh, I saw something activate." He says. "My cooking was so good tonight, I imparted a skill on you all, called 'well-fed'" The orc grins.

The bull laughs softly. "I feel well fed. I know I've said your food is delicious before. But it was even more so than usual

tonight. It was beyond comparison. Even the restaurant's meal, as wonderful as it was, paled."

Gurak blushed slightly, leaning over to kiss Zamdor's cheek for the high praise. He then glanced at Zamdor and Rulu. "You still okay with me checking your status?" The bull nodded without hesitation and the lizard did as well after a moment.

Gurak put his hand out towards Rulu first. "Appraise" A screen popped up and he looked it over.

Level 2, adventurer, Gurak's stats were all better than Rulu's except for luck. Gurak had almost double the skills available, and way, way more SP to spend on new skills. Rulu only had a handful. Gurak knew it was because of his unique void skills, like SP boost and unlimited growth.

The water skills were interesting. But neither fishing nor 'jack of all trades' really interested the orc. That was one drawback, is even if he could appraise someone, he wasn't able to see what the skill did. Even on his status screen, there was no explanation for what something was, or what it did. The gods were somewhat fickle it seemed. The least they could have done is make things a little easier to understand!

Gurak already had access to the wind skills. There was one he didn't recognize, called 'Companion' it likely meant he was Gurak's friend. Sadly, he couldn't see what the skill itself did. At least the skill itself was S rank, so it was maxed out, and giving full benefits. But he could guess. He'd know for sure when he checked Zamdor's as well. Monster Butchering didn't seem like a skill he really wanted either. One skill that stood out was 'Diminished Magic Cost' It was pretty high for Rulu. Almost the highest skill he had.

Gurak turned to Zamdor and did the same. "Appraise." The screen popped up, beside Rulu's own. Zamdor had a lot of stats much higher than his own. He was a level 7 adventurer(former teacher). It seemed they had SP as well, though significantly less, Rulu especially, he only had a smidge over a dozen, and Zamdor had just under 40, but he could see where Zamdor spent his SP as well. He'd used a lot to bolster skills that he likely didn't want to waste time on, like his resistances, a smart move when concerned with the threat of being attacked by the people you worked with.

Zamdor also had used adaptive, like Gurak had to duplicate a skill he'd seen, both, the skill appraise and tactical. Good skills to have in a dangerous institution. Rulu hadn't adapted any skills, but he barely had any SP too, so it wasn't surprising. It costs a good chunk of SP to adapt a new skill and then to level it up as well. Zamdor had diminished magical cost as well, that must have been what prevented them from getting exhausted when maintaining magic. Rulu had practiced it for years it seems, while Zamdor had decided, once he had access to it, to just dump SP into it to max it out.

The old bull had a few S-rank skills, which wasn't unexpected either. The guy was several levels higher than himself. Not a single stat of his own was higher than Zamdor's own. Unless you counted mana or SP, but that just made Zamdor even more impressive. The old man had less mana and SP, and yet, could destroy the orc if he so chose.

After looking over the statuses of both a few more moments, he closed them and smiled. "Wow, the two of you are incredibly impressive."

Gurak chuckles softly. "I got a few ideas of how to improve myself. You're especially impressive Zamdor. I had no idea how strong you were."

Zamdor grinned big and proud of the praise. "I had to be strong, life didn't give me any other options. I hated using my limited SP, but it was important to protect myself in case of anything coming my way."

The orc nodded and chuckled. "Can I ask you something, since you're the most knowledgeable?" The old bull nods his head a touch.

"Both you and Rulu have a few skills in common, not unexpected, you're both beastkin, but." He caresses his head slightly. "Diminished Magical cost, sounds like something I'd like to have. I bet it's how you and Rulu can maintain magical things longer than I. I had a hard time keeping all those light orbs going. But you two seemingly had little trouble."

The bull nods his head. "Yeah. I spent a while reading up on skills. Folks had written lots of books about some of them. Diminished magical cost was one I especially wanted access to and it's incredibly handy." He smiles. "You just create a construct small, nothing too elaborate." His hand comes, palm up. He creates a small dog made of stone. "Just hold the shape. It doesn't have to be big or cost a lot, it just needs to persist for a few days. Having more active doesn't make the skill unlock any faster. So a hundred small figurines, or one, it's the same result. But the mana drain is drastically different."

The orc nods his head a little. "And it takes days?" The orc asks again.

The bull nods. "About a week of prolonged use. Unless you can adapt it immediately with the wind skill. I used that to get both appraisal, from an enchanted item, and tactical from a lightning user. It gave me a leg up on my enemies in the college. Well, most of them at least." The bull chuckles.

"But, I used my SP pretty aggressively. Because I wanted to protect myself and have a lot of options magically. Appraise is a skill typically tied to an item, so most folks don't expect anyone to have it. It's of the earth element, but rare even among dwarves. But it is a skill often affixed to looking screens to appraise folks."

Gurak squints. "So you can put skills as well as spells into enchantments?" Zamdor nods then.

"Yeah, but it's a bit harder to do. But some enchanters deal in specifically making appraisal items."

The orc nods his head. "Yeah, when I realized I could adapt an appraisal from the item the village elder had, I adapted it immediately. As a kid, I used it on just about everyone in the village, cause I wanted to see how different we were. Their statuses weren't much different. Even level ten orcs were pretty weak honestly." He rubs the back of his head. "I had the highest stats of anyone, and that was at the age of thirteen, and being only level two."

The bull blinked in surprise. "Geez, what kinda monster stats did you have?"

Gurak blinks. "Just stuff in the low forties, or high thirties."

The bull coughs. "Geez. That's insane. Most folks never get past stats in the thirties. Elves do. But that's because of their long lives."

The orc blinks. "Wha?" He shook his head. "Your stats, Rulu's too are really good. You are way stronger than I am Zam."

The bull squints. "Wha? No, I barely had anything in the 20s, I think my resistance was high twenties?"

The orc can't his head. "No? Your lowest was almost fifty."

Zamdor's expression changed, and he immediately opened his status screen. His face turned to one of shock. "What the damato."

The orc looks at the bull, unable to see his stat screen. Zamdor looks at Gurak. "What in damato happened, I hadn't leveled up."

The orc shrugs. "Maybe it's that 'companion' skill?" The orc suggests. "I've never seen it, but, you and Rulu have it. I can't tell if you had it before or not."

Zamdor shook his head slowly. "Didn't have that, but it's rank S now." He rubs his chin. "My stats are almost three times higher than what they were before."

The orc blinks and looks to Rulu. He opens his stat screen as well and looks it over, his face changes expression too. "By the gods. Everything is three times higher than before." He looks to Gurak. "This just...because I'm with you?" He looks at the screen again, completely shocked.

Wukin did so as well, but his expression didn't change. He looks to the trio and nods. "I have the same skill now." He looks back down and then up once more. "All my stats are three times higher than they were before. This is marvelous." He laughs softly.

The orc rubs the back of his head. "Well, my stats aren't any different. So it's not the well-fed thing at least." He laughs nervously. "Sorry?" He said softly.

Zamdor looks at the screen a few moments longer, before closing it. "No wonder those myshroomids were so easy, and the fight against the assassins too." He looks into the fire. "The gods truly favor you Gurak. I've never seen such a crazy difference in someone's abilities so quickly. That means that our gains will be three times greater than normal." He ponders. "If we left your group, would our status revert, or would we retain what we have?" The bull asked no one in particular.

The orc sighs and nods. He then perks his eyebrows. "Oh, Zam, I have another question."

The orc grabbed his pack and opened it, pulling out the scroll and book from the dungeon. He offers them to the older bull. "I can't read, so I was hoping you could tell me what these would do."

The bull takes them and looks them over. Reading what he could of them. "Well, the book grants the skill Create. As for what that even means, I couldn't tell you." He shrugs.

He looked at the scroll next, glancing over the etchings on the outside of it before he nodded his head once. "This is a void spell, but it doesn't mention the spell name. Just that's specifically of the void element, so, it's intended for you to use Gurak, no one else can use void magic."

The orc nods and takes both back with a soft sigh. "Of course it is." He puts the two back into his backpack and sets about putting everything from dinner away.

The four of them had made quick work of cleaning and packing up everything. Zamdor made an enclosure, and the four of them all scooted in close to sleep in the bedrolls. The trio is in the one bedroll and Wukin lying near the top of it. So he could lean his head down just a bit to nuzzle the orc as well.

The three cuddled up like usual, and Wukin nuzzled the top of the orc's head from time to time, each drifted off to sleep with no trouble. Wukin joining the group was a little rocky, but he took to the orc quite quickly. He was always watching the handsome green-skinned man. Sure, he admired Rulu and Zamdor as well who wouldn't, but his eyes always lingered on Gurak the longest.

The soft crackle of the fire near their feet kept them warm as well as the warmth of their bodies.

When Gurak awoke. He was acutely aware of the lizardman's hand on his dick, he turns his head, kissing the lizardman gently, snickering. "Incorrigible." He rumbles out.

The lizardman shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know what that means, but I'm never going to give up this." He squeezes the orc, who bites his lip to keep from moaning. He whispers back.

"I'd never ask you to. I know how much you enjoy it. But I worry about how things will change with Wukin. I worry about one of you getting jealous of the others and, everything falling apart because of it. Or worse yet, me getting jealous and causing it all to fall apart."

The lizardman shakes his head. "I can't speak for Wukin, of course. But, no one will ever replace you. I will never love anyone as much as I love you." The orc blushes and nods. Pressing in to kiss the lizardman gently.

Zamdor scoots up against the orc and grins. "Same here lad." He rumbles low and deep into the orc's ear. "Rulu's a handsome devil." He pats the lizardman's chest. "But, my heart is yours. As long as I can stay at your side, arms around you." He pecks several kisses on the orc's face and neck. "I'm happy. I don't think that Wukin has any intention of stealing you away."

Gurak nods his head and sighs. Using his arms to hug both men to his side firmly. "Okay, okay. But, if either of you ever start to feel jealous, please, talk to me, let's work it out before that turns into something ugly and violent." He pecks a kiss on Rulu's face, and then on Zamdor's right after, smiling at both handsome men.

Gurak didn't think Wukin was asleep either. An assassin likely didn't sleep well, even in good company.

The orc spoke up. "So what about you Wukin? Any jealous emotions in you currently?" Rulu and Zamdor looked up towards where the monkey lay, Gurak didn't move at all though. The pair having through the monkey was sound asleep.

The monkey replied. "Not at present. I honestly don't even know what I want. But watching the three of you made me reconsider a lot of things. I dunno if you guys would even like me. But, I'm glad to be here. I'll fit into whatever you guys need."

The orc sits up slowly and smiles, looking over his shoulder. "Nah, we're not doing that. I know it's going to be hard for you at first, but I want you to be honest, especially about what you want." The orc grunts out softly as his hands move to knead and massage Rulu and Zamdor's inner thighs affectionately.

The bedroll is pulled down, and the orc undresses completely. Rulu and Zamdor aren't far behind, the three of them scooting up against one another hands touching, stroking, and setting about eliciting soft moans from each other.

Wukin finally speaks up. "Well uh, for now, I'd rather keep my distance. Let you three have your fun, since I'm not sure what I even want or like just yet."

The orc nods and turns his head, kissing Rulu, and then turning to kiss Zamdor. Once their kiss broke. Rulu leaned across and kissed Zamdor as well. The orc's hands move to stroke the two of them slowly.

Zamdor grins and strokes Rulu's cheek. "Think we can try double-teaming ya this morning Rulu?" The older bull asked.

The lizardman's face would have darkened with blush if such a thing was possible. The orc looked, to see if it was, but couldn't make out a difference. The older bull grins at him. "If not, I could always just take your muzzle, or we take turns under your tail."

The older bull chuckles and pats the orcs back softly. "Unless you want my tail again Gurak." The orc was the one to blush now, and his cock twitched visibly at the memory.

The old bull grins. "Mmmm."

Zamdor pats Rulu's cheek and grins at him. "Well, he wants my ass. How about you Rulu, what do you want this morning?"

Rulu looks at the orc and bull, his hands reaching down to fondle them affectionately. "I just wanna feel one of ya under my tail." He shrugs. "Both could work too." He whispers, excited but embarrassed about it at the same time.

The bull leans in and kisses Gurak's cheek. "Or I could breed an orc finally." Gurak's face turned darker and he laughed.

"With that massive dick? I'd die!" Gurak stuck his tongue out at Zamdor and laughs. "Uh...how about...." He looks to Rulu and then to Zamdor. "Rulu, you lay on your back, and uh...Zam you can mount him." His hand moves to stroke the bull's thick shaft. "Then I slip in behind you and sink into you."

The bull perks his eyebrows but grins. Rulu eagerly moves to lay down, legs wide open and spread, his tailring clearly on display in the low light coming through the doorway of the stone enclosure. Zamdor moved in closer, between Gurak and Rulu, leaning over the handsome lizardman and carefully lining himself up. Then pushing forward.

Rulu's moan was low and deep. But he took every inch of the old bull. That magnificent ass is on display for Gurak. Who carefully scooted up behind the bull. Zamdor gave Rulu a few thrusts, making the lizardman moan louder, causing Gurak to swat his blue beefy ass.

"Hey now, I'm not even in position!" The orc snorts, and the bull laughs.

"With an ass this good, how could I resist?" The old bull grins and kisses the lizardman gently.

Gurak scoots in close and lines himself up, carefully nudging and then sinking into the bull. Both he and Rulu groan as the orc works his length deeply into Zamdor. The feeling of it made Zamdor throb all the harder within Rulu.

The orc sinks to his hilt and then pulls back just a few inches. Patting Zamdor's side, the bull took the hint and pushed back onto Gurak, taking him to the hilt, and then thrusting into Rulu. All three were moaning in some fashion, in this position together.

Wukin, a few feet away, was hard as could be, leaking through his underclothes and blushing furiously. He undressed just enough to touch himself. Feeling it twitch when he did, slowly but surely, he started to stroke himself. Letting out stifled moans as well.

The bull's movements set the pace for everyone. His thrusts back making the orc groan, his hand tightening around the bull's hip or shoulder, and then forward, causing Rulu's legs to clench around the bull, the older bull still kissing Rulu deeply as the thump of fur to skin or scales filled the room.

The lizardman moaned the whole time. The bull pumped his hips rapidly, once he'd figured out the best way to set a pace between the pair, and Gurak let out little noises of pleasure as his hips pushed forward against Zamdor on his backward movements.

Zamdor was the first to give up the battle to stave off his orgasm. Not that any of them were exactly trying to hold off. The older bull, assailed on both sides by pleasure was just unable to resist it. With a hard thrust into Rulu, he moans louder and his cock throbbed firmly inside. Gurak groaned and leaned over, starting to jackhammer the bull's backside as he felt that amazing ass milking him.

Rulu groans loudly feeling the heat flood his body. Gurak was next, his swift, eager movements caused his body to shudder as orgasm approached and he flooded the bull with his pent-up orc seed. His hands gripping the bull tightly.

Zamdor slowly sat up, just enough to break his kiss with Rulu and grin down at him. His hand moves between them and he starts pumping the lizardman's length now. Stroking it rapidly as he rumbles at him. "C'mon Rulu, give it up for this old daddy bull." He rumbles out low, and deep.

Gurak, hearing this shuddered, and another spurt of seed escaped him, just the mention of the word was enough to illicit such a response from the orc.

Rulu didn't fair much better, hearing the older bull ask for it, made it almost impossible for him to resist, and with a soft hiss and louder groan, his length throbbed and unloaded the biggest amount of seed the lizardman had ever managed to produce thus far.

Zamdor's chest as well as Rulu's own was covered in the watery mess, some even dripping down his sides onto the bedroll under them.

Though none of them cared about that currently. They were cuddled together and enjoying a warmth between them when they heard another moan.

All three faces looked in Wukins direction as his length throbbed and fired off several shots of monkey cum. The amount was incredible, though, Gurak guessed it was the first orgasm that the monkey had ever had, outside of a potential nocturnal emission caused by puberty.

Gurak grinned and watched as the monkey's seed shot a good ten feet away from him, and each subsequent rope of cum went less and less distance, till the last dribbled out of the poor horny monkey.

The trio stayed still for a few moments, before finally moving slowly. Gurak was first, of course, climbing off the pair, and then Zamdor helped Rulu up. Scooping the lizardman up and carrying him out of the domed structure. Making a basin, letting Rulu fill it and Gurak heat it with fire.

The four of them, once Wukin joined them outside, cuddled up close in the tub. The four of them pressed in together. Wukin was the last to join the group, but he did cuddle in against everyone else.

After a few minutes of physical contact, the four separated enough to wash themselves. It didn't take long, and once they were clean, and everything was put back, the basin, the water, etc, they set about cleaning the bedroll.

Zamdor held it up, Rulu used water to wash away the cum stains, and then it was handled. Since there was no mana within the bedroll itself, when the cum was finally washed from the bedroll, it was on the ground and essentially forgotten. The water itself dissipated once it was out of contact with anyone,

making for an incredibly convenient means of cleaning the once-stained bedroll.

After all the fun, Gurak started breakfast, while Zamdor dismantled the enclosure. Rulu and Wukin set about loading up the wagon and caring for the horses. Rulu was happy to share the breadth of his knowledge with Wukin, who seemingly liked the equines.

The monkey had never known the simple life of a normal person. So taking care of animals, cooking, and most simple, small tasks were either taken care of for him, or he did them with such haste, that it was over as fast as possible so he could get back to training.

Breakfast was sausages and eggs, though this time the orc set about making them sunny side up. He didn't get them perfect, sadly, the outer edges were a little crunchy, but no one seemed to complain.

Gurak checked his status page as well. He still had the well-fed buff active for another 12 hours or so. He spent the day working in the makeshift forge that Zamdor had made for him. Wukin went to town for some supplies, the orc wasn't sure what he needed, but, he trusted the monkey to handle it on his own.

Several hours into forging, Gurak took a break for lunch, another quick meal shared between himself, Rulu, and Zamdor. Then he went back to work.

Once all was said and done, the orc had crafted about 5 different daggers. All roughly the same shape and size, with inlays for something. Each had a different number of 'slots' so to speak. It was about the size of a copper coin, maybe a little bigger or smaller in general.

Once Gurak had made the weapons and cooled them properly, he went about adding the mana crysts to the weapons themselves. Each weapon had slots. Ranging from one slot for a mana cryst to five on the last dagger.

Gurak set about putting mana crysts into each. But only the main 6 elements. He'd never seen a light or dark mana cryst and wasn't sure they existed. Something else he'd have to ask in the future. But each of the daggers was given mana crysts, one in the first weapon, two in the second, and so on, till there were five in the fifth dagger.

After this, Gurak picked it up and swung it around. It acted normally, no different from any other blade he'd held.

His next test was to strike a stump nearby. The slash was nothing exceptional, pretty standard for a dagger like the one he made.

The next step was to focus his mana on the weapon. Doing so caused the cryst to sparkle slightly and when he struck the stump, the damage was greater, wider, and deeper.

The orc grunted softly. "Huh...." He focused intently and struck the stump again. Another similar effect. Though, the first dagger had a wind cryst in it, so that was likely why.

"Good. Now for the next one." He picked up the second dagger, it had two mana crysts in it. One fire, one ice. He focused his mana into it and swung at the stump once more. Only fire seemed to activate. The strike point was outlined with a hint of a scorch mark on the wood.

Gurak focused, intently on pushing mana into the dagger, specifically aiming for the ice cryst, but only fire seemed to trigger. Why was that?

He puts the second dagger down and picks the third, three crysts in this one.

Water, ice, and earth. Again, he channeled his mana into it and it would activate an elemental effect, but never the one he was focusing on. It seemed to activate the elements crysts at random, rather than which he focused on. A slash of frost, or a sharper cut like stone from the blade, or there would be moisture to the stump where he struck, for a few seconds, before it dissipated.

Gurak grumbled, his idea wasn't working. Four crysts now. Ice, wind, lightning, and water. He focused the mana into the blade, and only ice and lightning would trigger, no matter how hard he tried, wind and earth never did.

He set the blade down and considered the reasons. The first, only had one cryst, so that's why it only caused one element. The second should have either bounced between the two crysts, but instead, it always defaulted to fire. Even if he focused on ice as much as he could.

Could the elemental wheel be the cause? He had tried a few combinations to see what would and wouldn't work. Using two elements beside one another on the wheel, like fire and ice caused only fire to activate. This means fire beat ice and ice wouldn't trigger on contact.

So then the third attempt, where none of the elements were adjacent. Water didn't beat ice, and ice didn't beat Earth, earth didn't beat water. But none of them would activate regularly. They did so at random, rather than when one was focused more intently than the others.

The fourth attempt led him to the same conclusion as the second. Technically, fire beat ice and earth beat lightning, so they defaulted to the elemental wheel standard of hierarchy. He didn't make a dagger with all six, he might try that later.

The last one was the dagger with 5 crysts. He picked it up and swung it. It possessed all elements but fire. So when he swung it, only ice triggered. Since ice beat the wind and wind beat earth and so forth down the line.

The orc grumbles, he'd spent hours at this making daggers, not to be used in actual combat, but, so he could see what would and wouldn't work. He could try making a dagger with all six, but that'd probably just end with them all canceling each other out and doing normal damage.

Amidst all this, Rulu and Zamdor were training in magic. Rulu had good talent with spells, and it only improved more with Zamdor's tutelage. Zamdor was helping Rulu visualize the spell to greater effect and range. The old bull was quite skilled at teaching, and Rulu was eager to learn as much as he could, to remain useful to Gurak in some manner.

Over the last two weeks, Rulu had come to question his worth among the team. He didn't have the decades of knowledge that Zamdor had, nor the honed skill in combat that Wukin possessed. He was just some mediocre, run-of-the-mill beastfolk with no skills that he, deemed valuable.

So he spent the day working with Zamdor, focusing and practicing till his mana was almost out, to gain as much experience as he could and improve his magic ability. He'd plan to do this every night before bed, so he could maximize the skill gains he could. Surprisingly, his wind and water magic both leveled up while he was practicing with Zamdor, if the lizardman had to guess, he'd wager that the 'well fed' buff improved his skill gains when practicing.

Wukin set about buying up supplies for travel. Asking about boat accommodations as well. The four of them hadn't discussed the next destination yet, but Wukin felt it prudent to have as much information available as possible. It was something he was trained to do, after all. He had a plethora of food, and drinks secured in his pack, tightly packed together, that he brought back to the camp.

Gurak, upon seeing this placed everything into his bottomless backpack, giving the monkey more space for other things in his pack. When all was said and done. Gurak had leveled up his smithing quite a bit, more than he expected, perhaps the difficulty of the daggers with the small slots increased his skill gains, he wasn't sure, his enchanting a small degree as well.

The four of them set down at the campfire, which Gurak had kept going to work on gaining the diminished mana cost skill. His overnight usage of fire magic in the campfire was building up to it, but he wasn't quite there yet.

Gurak was the first to speak up once they were all sitting together. "So, I got enchanting taught to me. Three of the sexiest men I've ever met traveling with me, an old rival, assassins, and some archas I don't even know hunting me. Where do we go from here?"

Wukin spoke up first. "Well, there are settlements all through the north and west. Human, elven, goblin, dwarven, orcish. Beastfolk tend to travel in caravans, so they don't settle down anywhere. Demis and archas don't allow outsiders into their towns and such. It's rare one is given such privileges. Anyway, the boat here goes up to an elven port city, far in the north. Then west to a human city, and then south from there to a goblin port city. Finally, it comes back to Whetstin. Each on one of the four corners of the continent, it's a few days to travel to each city, so we'd need provisions to go by boat, or, we could hire someone to take us to one of the specific cities. It would be at least double the time going by land, maybe longer."

Wukin continued. "Near the center of the continent, is the human capital. They rule over the country here, they're mostly just and diligent. It is where we, from the umbral blades, were stationed. Being in the center of the country, with our shadowstepping ability made it easy for us to travel distances quickly. Human-ruled countries are pretty common. Elves stick to their own heavily frozen continent. Goblins live on boats for the most part and only come ashore for materials they can't get anywhere else. I believe there is a goblin city far to the south, but I've never been, only heard of it. Dwarves typically live underground, but sometimes they'll hear the call of the earth itself and be vested in creating, and maintaining a city above the ground."

Orcs tend to just plant a stake for a village and build it up without word to anyone around them. It tends to piss folks off in general, but their smithing skill is second to none, so few complain, as they can make good trades with orcs who are skilled blacksmiths. Anyway, orc villages are scattered all over as well, basically between other cities, they make for a good stopping point for travelers. Except for one to the north that was attacked recently, by order of the inquisition from the elven port city. They received word from the church to strike there."

Gurak's eyes widened slightly. "How do you know about that?" Gurak didn't recall many travelers in his village. It was rare to see someone who wasn't an orc. He'd seen maybe one or two humans, beastfolk often came in to trade, but never for longer than a few hours, and a dwarf once. But mostly, the other races avoided them.

Wukin tilted his head. "Much of the political affairs of the kingdoms are filtered through the umbral blades. I won't have access to any more up-to-date information, but at the time I'd left. It was common knowledge, at least, among the blades, that someone in the elven inquisition, the upper echelons of the elven church, that someone wanted the village removed from the maps. We never received names, of course. That was never any of our business, only the targets. Because the village was wiped out, the contract we'd been given to clear it out was removed. We hadn't been employed to act." Wukin specified, seeing Gurak getting agitated.

Gurak's head thrummed with brief pain. It was the elves, he already had a good idea of who because of the damage, and Gar'Sha's showing up. The claims she'd made. But never the why. "Do you know why?" Gurak asked, hopeful that the monkey had some glimmer of information about it.

Wukin tilts his head. Unaware of Gurak's home village being the one he spoke of. "Nothing definitive. But there were rumors of an orc with strange....." He blinks and looks at Gurak. "Oh." He furrows his eyebrow. "Forgive me." He bows his head slightly. "Let me start again." Wukin collected his thoughts. It made sense now, Gurak was the one they were after, and the church was seeking to purge him specifically. The monkey felt he needed to choose his words carefully to not anger the orc.

Wukin takes in a breath. "The inquisition, the armed force of the elven church had heard rumors of an orc with distinct powers and knowledge, unnatural powers, above normal mortals, and magical talent to match. Orcs were advancing in arcane skill, something elves had spent centuries perfecting, and orcs were imitating this centuries-long practice, in the span of a few years. The elves revel in their secrecy, love to hoard knowledge and feign superiority over the other mortal races. They'll spend a century making a spell slightly different to change what it does. Orcs were doing this at a staggering, rapid rate."

Wukin takes in a slow breath. "So the inquisition set out an edict to wipe out the village, purge all who lived there, wipe out the one teaching the knowledge and expanding orcish arcane ability. Leave none alive." Wukin looks to Gurak. "Forgive me, I speak not to harm you, only to convey the truth."

Gurak nods his head. "I know. I'm still mad about it. But it's not directed at you." Gurak didn't blame Wukin and didn't even question why the monkey hadn't put 2 and 2 together until just then. He attributed it to the fact that the monkey was so set on following the orders given to him, that, anything that might coincide later was essentially irrelevant and left to the wayside instead of the mission at large, not the connecting of the dots.

Wukin nods his head softly. "After the purge of the village. There was no evidence the orc in question was killed. So they set about sending us out to look for the orc. I found you just before you'd come into town. I watched you from afar, gauging your skill and battle competency. I deemed you a low threat." The monkey laughs. "Since the village contract was removed, we assumed that the orc in question was dealt with, and our services weren't needed. I took it as you were a wholly different individual from who they sought."

"There was no accounting for your monstrous stats, or guile in combat. Had you the dark element, I have no doubt you'd have been an amazing assassin, better than even myself." Wukin smiled a touch. "I'd never seen light magic used the way you did. Not just the flash that caught me completely off guard, but then the restraints of light! It was utterly brilliant. You are brilliant." Wukin says after a few moments.

Gurak nodded, it was a bit of an offhand compliment at first, but a genuine compliment at the end, even so he appreciated it all the same.

"So the people responsible for my village are in the elven port to the north?" Gurak asks, just to confirm it.

The monkey nods. "Sort of. The people to blame are in the church, back on the elven continent. The ones who set it in motion. Those who carried out the attack personally, are likely in the northern port city. The command came from offshore, the elven capital on another continent I imagine. But, word went through that city, before reaching anywhere else on this continent."

Gurak nods his head and sighs softly. "So, we have a few options. The capital, the elven port city to the north, for answers, and the goblin port city, to run further away."

Rulu and Zamdor looked to Gurak and Wukin. Zamdor spoke up first. "I trust your judgment lad. If you want to go for vengeance, I won't hold it against you. I know if the people I cared for had been taken from me, I'd want to hurt those who caused it."

Rulu nods as well. "If I could get back at the people who hurt my parents, I would, so I'm with you too." The lizardman smiles at the orc.

Gurak nods his head. "Wukin?"

The monkey shakes his head. "I'm only here to provide information, I have no vested interest in where we go. Just so long as I am at your side."

Gurak nods and looks at the fire burning in the fire pit. His heart wanted revenge, and his anger swelled, but he took a breath and let it go, released the grip he had on it, to allow his judgment to be as unclouded as possible.

"We head west. To the goblin port. We'll gather information there and decide where to go from that point. Maybe further south."

Rulu and Zamdor looked at Gurak, surprised. The old bull spoke up. "Are you sure lad? The elves are but a few days by boat away, and you'd have so many answers."

Gurak nods. "I know." He looks to Zamdor. "But I've already lost so much. Why would I walk into the dragon's den and offer more sacrifices?" He gestures to the three of them. "It's more important to me, to protect what I have, than to stir up more trouble. Maybe if I get farther away, they'll stop worrying about me and just let me be. I'm no threat to them." He hoped it sounded like he believed what he said. His anger, his rage was deep from losing his family, his home. But putting his friends in danger wouldn't give him back anything he'd lost, only risk losing more.

He could never forgive the elves for taking his family and home. But revenge wasn't the right call, he knew it in his mind, even if his heart cried out for violence.

Zamdor nods and pats the orc on the shoulder. "If that is your decision, I'll stand by it." Rulu and Wukin nod in agreement. The four of them spent the rest of the day getting ready for the long trip west. Gurak had decided to charter a boat to the goblin city, rather than take the usual way. It'd cost a bit more, but they'd only make one stop, instead of three to get there.

Besides, Gurak was curious to see what marvels the goblins had created with their knowledge of machines and magic.