War Council
A story in Orcish
Captured behind enemy lines, you are dragged before the warboss — who has a proposal instead of an execution.
They caught you at the river crossing, scouting where no scout should have been alone. Now you kneel in a tent that smells of smoke and iron while the biggest orc you have ever seen studies the notches on your sword — your sword, taken from you, looking like a toy in his hands. He grins.
the warboss
GRAH!
Hello.
It comes out as a bark that shakes the tent poles. You brace for the sentence — spies do not leave war camps — but the warboss tosses your sword back at your feet and squats down to your eye level, which is somehow worse.
You
I… understand you. How do I understand you? That amulet on your chest — is that a translator?
He taps the crude iron amulet, looted off some battlefield wizard and still humming with its translation spell, and grins wider. Lucky for you. Without it, tonight would be nothing but growling and pointing at maps.
the warboss
Brak bash gowd. Bashthreak grukwarboyaz kromp-done. Brak gorr gowd-feel warboss!
You fight good. Three warboys dead. You strong like warboss.
You
If you're going to kill me, warboss, get it over with.
He saw the crossing, then. Saw you take down three of his raiders before the fourth got a net over you. He nods slowly, as if that was exactly the right thing to say.
the warboss
Grog needz gorr warboy. Nar puny gorrscotsok. Grog needz red-glog. Grog needz blaz. Grog needz big attack-plan!
We need a strong warrior. No weak scouts. We need blood. We need fire. We need a big plan.
You
You need ME? I'm the enemy. Your raiders put a net over my head an hour ago.
It dawns on you that 'the enemy' does not mean your kingdom. He unrolls a crude map, and there — burned into the leather in marks you do not recognize — is something moving down from the northern wastes toward orc camps and human villages alike.
the warboss
Skrag big. Skrag bashetsak hard-bits. Grog gorr. Grog bash right-now, brak bashwithak grog!
The enemy is big. The enemy eats bones. We are strong. We fight now, you with us.
He taps the map once, then points at you, and says the thing that changes everything.
You freeze — which king? His? Yours? The thing on the map? He watches you understand nothing, laughs, and says it once more, slowly:
🔒 Untranslated
Grog kromp big-warboss!