Его не звали, но он приперся / They never called, yet he is here: Глава 30

Chapter 30

Camrad_RIP 06.12.22 в 19:58

Orcs are no match for goblins, as any experienced adventurer will tell you. It's not even about height and characteristics, but the fact that these infestations are quite good at counteracting the well-coordinated human machine. Yeah, it's almost impossible to drive goblins out of the occupied territory because they'll scatter in the corners like cockroaches. But try to disperse the orcs in those corners if they are huge mountains of muscle, superior to ordinary humans in characteristics, and often have a very good and balanced set of talents that may well replace this class, if not a full-fledged class.

Camrad_RIP 09.12.22 в 19:21

A real elite warrior wouldn't be stopped by a standard orc, of course, but they have their own elite. It's enough to remember the vague visions I could make out at the site of our current camp. One of the men who had crumbled and melted that rock was an orcish sorcerer, a man of my own caliber, albeit one with only a single class or a synergistic set of talents. And he still defeated his opponent, as I realized, without much fatigue or damage.

Camrad_RIP 09.12.22 в 19:22

Of course, not all orcs achieve such power, but potentially they are not too inferior to the endowed races in destructiveness and power. They have their own culture, hierarchy, and even political life. I can judge the latter with certainty, too, for it was I who once shook up their political life by provoking a massacre between a dozen tribes, each of which considered its old rivals traitors. I had a lot of fun, and my skill at provocation increased rapidly, yes.

Camrad_RIP 09.12.22 в 19:22

I have to admit that orcs, as a species, though, more dangerous than goblins, arouse much less disgust and nausea in me. Only a weary desire to put them all to sleep, like rabid dogs, so they do not poison the world with their presence. It is desirable to burn the remains and use the ashes for fertilizer and vineyards.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:30

Old Uncle Schicklgruber, who was not very kind, would probably have left the grave and patted me on the shoulder, nodding approvingly and supporting my desire to burn in the ovens the Untermenschen. Fortunately, he is long since in his grave, on Earth, not here, so he will not rise as a ghost. I had to shake out of my head the picture of lich-Stalin and spectro-Hitler diligently, and it did not work at once. But purely in theory, who would win a one-on-one fight?

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:33

The reason I wanted to kill the greenskins was simple - they craved to kill. No, you misunderstand, not at all. For them, killing, war, bloodshed, and ceaseless combat were the meaning of life and the source of pleasure. Where the goblin lusted for power to humiliate and rule over those who were weaker, where the goblin fawned over greater power while hating it, the orc worshipped it (though not in the religious sense of the word). Killing humans (beastfolk, dwarves, elves, kinsmen, and who knows what else) was the meaning of what they were born to do. Living machines of war, incapable of understanding the very concept of peace, they are truly rabid dogs who do not give peace to others and do not know it themselves.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:38

That didn't mean they were dumb meat, lashing out at an insurmountable obstacle, no. Orcs knew a lot about tactics and military tricks, even had a concept of strategic planning, could be cautious, and had a pretty decent instinct for self-preservation. That's why they didn't kill each other, having rather a long period of growing up and not a high birth rate compared to those goblins. Orcs did not rush into battle at the first opportunity but always went back to war when their other needs were met.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:42

They were excellent hunters and even artisans, good at gathering and farming (though they preferred to employ goblin slave satellites), but they had a lust for killing at heart. Orcs almost never take prisoners, simply because they are eager to cut their lives short. Likewise, they very rarely surrender - their contempt for death is such that the samurai would hang from their own guts in envy.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:43

In the analogy of the goblins, there are also almost normal (if not almost normal) members of this green-skinned breed, who have quite officially become part of the civilized lands. In some places, they even fight for the right to count themselves among the Endowed, politically and socially. Social methods, Carl! Let even such social methods, more often than not, are expressed by a fist in the teeth of the dissenters, but the fact itself is extremely remarkable.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:44

This race is indeed at the very brink of being considered exactly Endowed, and many of them do become so. Some are only partially so, gaining one single, but still working, class, and some are able to receive them on the same terms as ordinary people. The only difference is that not everyone is allowed to cross this line, but that, again, it doesn't matter. They even had their own Heroes, who reached and surpassed the mark of fifty levels!

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:45

The problem is that such orcs are few, and they have long and firmly lived in symbiosis with civilized society, playing the role of the same elite mercenaries or bodyguards. It's a funny story, but even the System doesn't call them exactly orcs, giving them the prefix - high. High orcs - they are, no one argues, if not inferior to humans, not very much. Many beastfolk are considered endowed, having much less civility in themselves. Alas, belonging to the endowed is determined not by brains or stats but by something else, which no one fully understands. And more than one generation must pass the way of life for a common orc to become a high orc, that in itself served as a good filter. Few people would tolerate such neighbors without a good reason.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:48

The Wild Orcs...

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:52

Rabid dogs that you can watch with interest, that you can even admire in a way, but that you can't live next to. If you want to live, of course. Clairvoyance makes me think that misanthropy is a pretty good choice for my tired brain. No, I can see the good in those around me, and what's more, I even see that good quite often! But somehow, these rays of sunshine are not very visible in the impenetrable blackness of existence around me. Look for even a drop of good in wild orcs... you have to try very hard, and even so, you will find only trifles.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:53

They don't love.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:53

No one, never. Even goblins could love, even if they only loved themselves! Orcs felt either indifference or irritation, or anger, rage, and hatred. The most positive for them was the feeling of deep satisfaction after a good fight or a fuck, but no more than that. Oh yes, they could also feel lust, which made them dislike it even more. The same goblins almost never raped human girls, preferring physical torture and the subsequent eating of their prey. That's why it's very rare to find half-goblins. Orcs, on the other hand, often take pretty and soft human females as captives to please their flesh. If they get tired of them, they can slit their throats and throw them into the cauldron, or set beasts upon them to amuse their brothers and sisters. Love and tenderness? No way! The notion of usefulness and comfort at most, and that's about the bare minimum. But half-breeds from this race can be found all over the world in great numbers and assortment.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:55

They, by the way, had a very impressive equality of the sexes, though very peculiar. If a woman was strong enough to go to battle, to raid, to hike, to hunt, then she had the same rights as a man. If she is strong enough to put in the place of that man who decides to put in her place, it means she is a very tough man, though without a dick, and therefore can command those who are weaker. That's all there is to it.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:56

Hans and Losius, and I hardly ever encountered orcish ladies, it seems, but that's more the consequence of our bad luck in meeting them and the politics of individual tribes - orcs are not biorobots, and different worldviews can occur among them as well. In the tribe that hunted us then, there were fewer warrior females, or they simply were not taken to hunt us specifically. It was more likely the second because on the eve of the "dance of the spirits" - that strange thunderstorm and the flocks of birds of prey flying in it - the women had a lot of problems of their own to deal with.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:57

They are quite common, though more so among the hunters and archers than among the warriors of the first lines. And the ranks of shamans, healers, and cutthroats do not suffer from chauvinism either, as I see now. The tribal camp I observed was quite crowded, so I was able to make a statistical sampling, if only on a single community of green-skinned.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 17:58

I was doing just that before I sent Hestia and her Mists here. I wondered if they had a Hero of their own, who not only spotted my companion but caught her and ate her himself, even though she was made of mist. Suck through a fucking straw! This madness would not surprise me in the least, for in the midst of all the other permanent madness that has plagued Alurei, the possibility of eating an immaterial monster with a straw does not seem extraordinary.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:00

I guess I'm getting used to it.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:01

There were about two hundred orcs, about a hundred and a half of which were quite combat-ready. And most of the non-combatants were kids and teenagers, not old men. The few old farts, though, were mostly able to give the youngsters a light bite to eat and more on top of that. Like the Vikings of Earth, the green-skinned barbarians did not like to die in infirmity, preferring, at the first sign of decrepitude, to find a way to die a glorious death... or gain a few levels and postpone the inevitable. Those of them who lived to a ripe old age, remaining strong and powerful enough to routinely outwit those who would consider them easy prey, as already mentioned, could teach a great deal as well.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:04

Most of the old men were either shamans, healers, or valuable artisans, which you can't kill unless you want to go into battle with a sharpened wood instead of a bronze spear, or live starving and sober, since there's nobody to make broth now. Orcs, for the umpteenth time, are not complete fools, and they know the importance of a properly set up rear support too. It can't be said that all agronomists are respected in the same way as warriors, but, firstly, they often combine both ranks, and secondly, their authority simply has a different nature.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:05

There were also goblins in the camp, doing menial jobs that no proper orc lad would do. Thanks to the tribe's abundance of scraps, they multiplied quickly and decisively. But they also died like flies when there were too many of them, when there was a hungry year, and it was necessary to let someone in for a soup, or even when they just happened to be at hand.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:13

Now there were three and a half hundred "little brothers" in the camp, and, surprisingly, two-thirds of them were females. Well, yes, it's even logical, if you think about it. There's no danger, but the young males keep dying on the hunt and from the blows of orcs. But females aren't in a hurry to die anywhere, and the growth of such satellites is increased due to safety and normal food, so it turns out that females don't have time to die after males. And they are much more useful to orcs in their work, than smart-assed and stupid males. The ladies are as dumb as goblins, ha-ha, pun intended, but at least they're good workers. In turn, those who have the brains to work well can have several broads at once, like some kind of leader. It didn't make them hate the oppressors any less, but they're goblins-they hate everyone who's stronger than they are with all their hearts.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:14

The owners of the camp were equally divided, but most of the women were hearth masters or healers (almost entirely women), and only a little more than a third of them were warriors. Bows, light spears with a minimum of armor, very rarely, and only the largest also full-fledged shirts. But there were such monkeys out there that you couldn't really consider them the weaker sex. An ordinary orcess is undoubtedly ugly, but for the not-so-discriminating and slightly drunken, she'd do. Probably. If you wash her beforehand. The warriors I mentioned... even I can't drink that much, sorry. They make Ygra look like a beauty queen among the farmgirls, honestly.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:17

Maybe the half-breeds really do turn out cute, but just maybe.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:17

I don't want to check, I guess.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:18

Well, let's see where the limits of Hestia's skills are and whether she can make Taria the promised green and titty brothel she's been begging for.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 18:18

The average level of the orcs was around a ten, though not everyone got that ten. However, compared to the goblins, who only had a couple of elevenths, they still looked like champions. Honestly, it wouldn't be too hard for me to slaughter this tribe completely and in one piece without straining at all. Only the three warriors and a couple of shamans who were nearing or past level thirtieth would give me trouble. I was hesitant to underestimate the killing and warring orcs, remembering how I'd miraculously survived only one of their tribe's elite warriors. It might have been foolish, for I'd grown many times stronger since then, but looking at those stern beasts in their humanoid guise made my ribs ache, remembering the blows I'd received and the gray-flaming club that had nearly spattered me.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 19:18

The most dangerous to my plans was the old shaman, who seemed to specialize in contracts with spirits-spies and other watchers. The bastard managed to keep more than a dozen spies in reality at any one time, and he picked them up so that they were guarding his back, looking at the world from different spectrums. It was his spirits that were flooding this section of the forest, trying to track down our company. I killed them, of course, just as I killed the subordinate beasts, but it pissed me off.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 19:19

The shaman believed that some strange creatures were nesting near his tribe. For who else would think of hanging on trees corpses that didn't even try to eat? The intelligent creatures, plucking only the tastiest and most useful from the slain monsters, the creatures hiding from his gaze, deliberately hunting for strong and dangerous opponents. He did not catch our fight with the devourer, but he had already managed to see its consequences through the eyes of his intangible servants and was impressed by what he saw. There were many of his tribesmen among that mountain of skeletons, so he had some idea of the Kolobok's powers, having witnessed the last attempt to dislodge the creature from its nest. He was still a snotty apprentice to the shaman, but he remembered. At least because their tribe had suffered less than all the others who had sent their warriors to do so.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 19:24

He would have thought we were a group of adventurers who had wandered deep into the wilderness to fish, but fortunately, it had been too long since he had seen such figures. And in general, such raiders very rarely went so deep, left more traces, and had enough numbers to at least something noticed. We, by our elusiveness, made him think of bloodsuckers or other deformed ones, parts of one mighty beast. They're more common here than ordinary humans, even if they've been boosted to an obscene degree.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.22 в 19:26

Back to the shaman himself. He was honed precisely for surveillance and sensory skills, which is uncharacteristic of orcs. That was why he was more dangerous to Hestia than another adept of the Darkness, calling from there bloodthirsty creatures, hungry for other people's torment. Hestia will have to tread carefully if she wishes not to reveal herself. At first, when her mist first takes effect, this grandfather could well ruin everything by showing unnecessary vigilance.

Camrad_RIP 20.12.22 в 19:55

I would have preferred to kill him quietly, even with a heart attack! He was the only normal sensor the Greenskins had, and the ones they had didn't have the skill level to pull it off. But he's a handy little fellow, a sort of master coordinator, capable of directing a tribal band - that's what the chief is for - but also able to keep the small groups connected and force the orcs to act as one. This particular tribe, in terms of coherence, could give many human military units a head start, if not too elite.

Camrad_RIP 20.12.22 в 19:56

For me, such a unit is far more useful than another fighter, so I'm sorry to just kill it. I had to make some adjustments to my plans and personally work with Dream, though I wanted to let Hestia do everything herself. Nothing really meaningful, nor any noticeable trace of influence. It's just that in the next couple of days, the old Grah won't care about anything and everything will seem normal. The first shaman was already feeling melancholy from time to time, the result of too active a connection with many spirits, overloading the mind, so no one would suspect anything. By the time my influence had passed, the Mist of Vice would be firmly entrenched in the desired territory, so that its victims would not be alarmed by anything.

Camrad_RIP 20.12.22 в 19:59

I take one last look at the camp.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 07:47

Not bad, for savages, houses, hollowed out a long time ago in the stone base of another dagger-like rock, of which there were somehow too many in the area. It looked something like a multi-story building, covered with scaffolding, with all sorts of outbuildings, pens, barns, tents, as well as goblin dens and huts underneath. In times of siege or attack by some too-dangerous and numerous monsters, all had time to hide inside the rugged rock like Swiss cheese, turning it into a kind of fortress.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 07:48

This, too, is a peculiar feature of this particular tribe, which took full advantage of the cave system it had once wrested from the troglodytes. The blind monsters were a subspecies of the far more civilized lizardmen and have long since passed away, but the expanded and fortified system of passageways and halls continues to delight the green-skinned eye. I chose them as targets largely because of this place, which stands a good chance of becoming an extremely useful base for our company.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 07:50

Well, they are also the closest to the camp with the mirror, so we do not have to go far. Laziness is also an important factor in decision-making, along with logic, intuition, and a desire for some comfort. At least the stream isn't too far away, only three kilometers from the cliff, so I can order the subordinate orcs to give me a big bath. For a hot bath, I would not only enslave a tribe of murderous cannibals, but I would also destroy the world to the ground!

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 07:52

Everyone has their reasons for feats, and if to think of it, mine isn't the worst yet.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 07:54

Three shadowy portals transported me to a small hollow where my companions were seated quietly discussing the upcoming operation. Taria smiles contentedly, Hans smiles a little less contentedly, Hestia maintains an indifferent expression and does not respond to provocation, Losius habitually tries to punch his face with his palm, and Ygra... ...is asleep, the bloody bastard! You can't help envying the fact that she has a distinct lack of brainpower: such an ability not to worry about any problems or troubles is worth a lot.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 08:10

"Let's put the plan into action." Waiting for the nod from everyone who heard me.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 08:11

After wishing her luck and success, the creature of Mist, at the nineteenth level, scattered into a barely perceptible cloud, gradually expanding and heading in the direction she wanted to go. We could follow it, of course, but no one would risk doing so except me for fear of the insidious mists that would press across the area. The rest of the dreamteam will spend those days while Hestia works on the brains and bodies of orcs in relaxed anticipation.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 08:22

Almost all.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 08:23

For I do have a plan, in addition to checking on Raimel occasionally and getting under her arm with sudden questions, ridiculous ideas, and damaging advice. But the rest of us may not appreciate my magnificent plan.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 08:24

For some reason I have this feeling.

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 08:24

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Hans's response to my plan sounded remarkably predictable, exactly what I expected to hear. "Alone? There? You're the one who told us what's in there, right?"

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 08:33

"Yes, alone." Smiling and nodding, smiling and nodding. "Yeah, over there. Yeah, fucked up. No, I'm serious, guys. I, you know, need to progress, too. And while you've made progress with that, I've only moved up with alchemy, and it is making me sick. I need to kill someone now, preferably someone who won't die in one fell swoop. And that megalith is a perfect match. The opponents are strong and dangerous but not impossible to defeat, and, most importantly, I can easily run away from them if I feel that I'm not up to the challenge."

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 08:35

"There are three epic-grade creatures in there, Tin." Losius tiredly tries to knock some caution into my head, though he's inwardly resigned to the fact that he'll have to let me go. "For all your power, we can't help but worry. You leave us to rest after our labors of slaying the forest monsters while you rush into a battle that may be, pardon my language, the last. Of course, we are eager to prove to you that we, too, can take part in your adventure and help you reach your goal."

Camrad_RIP 07.01.23 в 08:36