Morning:

I wake with Tia, my wife to a loud ringing at the tent bell.

I hope someone else answers the door, I did not get good sleep last night. Our son is on his naming quest, as he is old enough to prove himself ready for his grown-name. He is getting copper from the mountains for tools, defenses & wards for Gruumsh. Tia and I make the things from copper & tribe uses them. He should be back by now. I stay up last night and worry something has happened. His baby-name is Lewie, but soon he will have his grown-name.

Praise be Gruumsh. Turn your wrathful gaze from my son

A scout says there’s a problem at the kelp farm on the river. Frogs are eating up the kelp, frogs will use up all our food. Chief Galin, my sister says we should stop the frogs.

Maybe we can catch the frogs and use them for food. Two birds, one stone?

Galin, Tia and me leave to catch frogs. We bring scouts from north, south and west to help. Niece Rohim is getting big, nearly big enough to find her grown-name, so she come to help. Nephew Kotir is tiny baby, too tiny to help. We leave him with chief-husband Jack.

Jack watches the children while Galin decides things for the tribe & helps keep us safe.

I call out to Lewie to join, but remember he still gone. Praise Gruumsh. Have mercy.

Midday

Frog catching went good. Frogs did eat an amount of our kelp, but we can breed frogs we catched for extra type of food for the season we stay. We should have more frogs to eat than frogs could eat from us.

We pass the temple on the way to river. It is filled with good things to make us safe, & to ward from Gruumsh’s gaze. We have a Javelin of lightning & Scroll of Gate.

Praise be Gruumsh. Turn your wrathful gaze from our tribe.

The goblins to the north seem nice. Someone had the bright idea to give them some frogs to eat for friendship.

Afternoon

Meeting with goblins went good. Goblins do not likei it when we talk about Gruumsh because goblin god was killed, they have noone to worship.

Good thing Tia reminded me as I nearly pray Gruumsh not hurt us as we bargain with Goblins for friendship. They might have been mad.

Goblins are happy with our trade, but I notice that the wind is getting strong as day begins to turn night.

The tents are new, & we have not finished securing all of them. We were supposed to do that today but had to fix the frogs.

We have to rush home before the tents blow away!

Tents!

We arrive in time & I ward to Gruumsh that he does not destroy our tents. Tia, Galin & me work to secure the tents. The women are stronger than me and do a good job, but we lose a few tents as the village is too large for all 3 of us.

We do not want to lose many tents, since if we put too many Orcs in too few tents, Orcs will get sick & make eachother sick. This is bad.

The last tent is a new kind of tent, I put in a bottom to keep the bugs away from the children. I realize this was a mistake as it begins to blow away as it will take the children with it!

I cannot hold it down on my own and I find myself blowing away as I hold the tend. I shout to Tia to to help me & we all go up in the wind. Galin acts quickly to hold the tent down, saving us and the children.

I feel great relief as the winds slow. We lost some tents, but most of our supplies are safe.

Tia, Galin and me are the strongest in the tribe, and we are very, very tired. Today has been a good day, and now it is time to rest.

Praise Gruumsh. Thank you for showing mercy today

We rest, and I think of Lewie. He is strong, like his mother, but wise with animals like me. I think he will be safe on his naming-quest, but my mind still worries. I know he will return soon. The day has me tired, too tired to worry long. I dream of a grand frog and kelp dinner with Lewie, Tia, Galin and her kin.

Evening

I awake to screams. Tents are burning- men are here, soldiers, in armour. There are more than I can count. Tia, Galin & I fight them. Gruumsh have mercy. Do not turn your gaze on us. I ward us from Gruumsh, so that our weapons may more easily find our enemies.

We fight the soldiers, but we are tired. Tia swings & swings but her arms have worked so hard today, and the soldiers have done nothing but wait it seems. There are so many soldiers.

Galin and Tia kill many soldiers, I kill a few but there are too many to fight. We need to use the Scroll of Gate so we can escape this plane. The priests know to bring it to us, but only one priest arrives, with the javelin of lightning. Galin kills many men with the javelin, but it isn’t enough.

We hear Jack screaming. Galin has sustained many blows but does not seem to notice, she keeps fighting. Only when we hear Jack scream in fear from the children’s area do I see fear in Galin’s eyes. Galin stays to fight the leader of the soldiers, and tells Tia to save the children. I cannot help, as I need the scroll of gate. I must run past the soliders to reach the temple, and they strike me as I pass.

I feel very, very weak but I keep running. Gruumsh have mercy on us today I see soldiers towards the temple, but I see a trail of blood and flat grass, from someone crawling away from it. I imagine it is a priest, with a scroll.

I summon the noise of allies, orcs whispering in ambush to trick the soldiers to not approach me, and follow the trail. I feel the arrows of their weapons land in my back but I don’t stop.

I see our priest, carrying the scroll, crawling back to where I left my sister. Another soldier waits for me, and I do not have time to fight him. I try to fool him that Gruumsh will punish him, and he should be scared, but he isn’t. He puts his sword in my chest and I taste blood & dirt for a moment, before I feel a surge of strength, as the priest begs divine mercy on me.

I know I will die, but I can make it so my family does not. The soldier is holding me, but I tell him again that I will call Gruumsh on him, and he will pay if he does not release me, before trying to free myself of his grasp. Once again, I feel his blade inside me, and I taste dirt.

Night

For some time, I feel the heat of fire, and hear the roar of battle. The roar dies down, I feel nothing and see only darkness. My mind wanders to Lewie. I am grateful Lewie is away to be named. I wonder if I will see him again. As I lay dying, I hear a familiar voice. He’s returned.

He sounds excited - He’s chosen his grown-name & this will be his first time using it. I hear him calling out with pride, reminding us of his new name, before he even reaches the village.

“It’s me, Henk”