One night around Yule an orcish arrow thunks into the main gate of Sequarl castle. Wrapped around it is an invitation for the “Stone King” to come to a parley at Orc Rock, a well known landmark on the edge of Sequarl. Grettir attends with a force of his men in case of treachery. There is a large force of orcs at the rendezvous and they are accompanied by other races – goblin wolf-riders, ogres, kur and even a mountain troll. A huge orc announces himself as Oglog, King of Itaen. He offers peace if Grettir stays to the north of the Nidd and gives the Oglog a free hand to the south. In truth most of those to the south of that line were Free Farmers, who refused to pay tithes to Sequarl. Frankly Grettir considered them to be freeloaders, benefitting from Sequarl’s efforts to defend all the human lands west of the Otanga but paying nothing towards the costs. However, there were many just south of the Nidd who did pay their tithes, including Kjalmark, the Atlanean freebooter who had joined Yog’s crew on the venture to the Ivory Coast (A14) and whose people Grettir had settled in that area. In any case Grettir was not about to consign any humans, even truculent Southern Farmers to the rule of orcs. He rejects their proposal and the orcish forces melt into the night. The next day the attacks begin.
Orc attacks during the winter and especially in the cold years were nothing new to Sequarl. However, the scope of these attacks and the under-pinning organisation were very different from previous years. There had been a whiff of these new orcish tactics, using much more sorcery, joint operations with goblin wolf-riders, wolf-drawn sledges, more cohesiveness and better unit morale, in the attack on the North-west Tower a few months previously. These attacks came from a different direction, on farms across the south-western part of Sequarl and the Free Farmer region. Sequarl forces responded as quickly as they could. Since the Tower they had embraced sledge use themselves, although they had no wolves and the supply of suitable ponies and horses was limited. In recent years Grettir had built a new Gatehouse to control the bridge over the Nidd and a Tower on the south bank at its estuary. These became bases from which to counter-attack, but in truth Sequarl patrols would arrive to find a burnt out steading and a lot of corpses. The farmers though were a self reliant bunch and often gave almost as good as they got.
The Rangers find a large, hidden goblin camp, a base for goblin scouts and wolf-riders, much of it underground on the edge of the Wood of Itaen. With Ranger support Grettir leads a force against it that includes the elf Sho Rembo, Ranulf the dwarf and a contingent of Sequarl men led by Salrod that included the reckless fighter-magician Kolgrim. They descend on the encampment and destroy it. A few goblins escape but many more, despite fierce resistance, are slaughtered along with their wolves. Amongst the loot (much of it recently taken from farmers), they find a map and a shard of glass that the sorcerors quickly identify as some sort of magic mirror.
Sho Rembo, with Kojar in support, activates the mirror fragment and finds herself looking at Oglog and a cabal of orcish sorcerors, somewhere far away. Through the medium of the mirrors Sho Rembo cuts loose with her magic. She slays some of the orcish rune-workers and wounds Oglog before someone at their end has the wit to smash their side of the mirror. However, with their command and control system thus destroyed the orc attacks drastically reduce – at least for the time being.
However, the winter is not over. Reports come in from Stirk, one of the Northern villages that Grettir has recently fortified, of Frost Giants and Ice Wolves. Grettir swiftly mounts a sledge-based to locate them. They kill all the giants and their wolves and garner much loot including a Magic Axe and an Old Imperial shortsword. There are also a number of valuable Ice Wolf pelts in varying conditions according to how they were slain. There is much rejoicing in Stirk and across the Northern District. They, at least, consider their tithes to Sequarl money well spent.
D-2
OE Date: Winter 685-686
Characters: Grettir, Sho Rembo, Salrod, Ranulf, Kolgrim NPCs: Giziar, Kojar, Ingvar, other Sequarl forces and Rangers.
Real World: When – 1989; Where – Totton