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Winter of Storm and Shadow: Interlude #10
Handle With Care The new Arglwyth of Melgorn fusses with his newly acquired fancy outfit while he talks. "Elder Eliseg, can you not give this speech? I hate speaking to everyone." The ancient half orc stares back at the Arglwyth, who was fussing with a series of ties. "You need the practice, Arglwyth Arth. And I have retired, remember? Now that Clear Sky is part of Melgorn, much of what I have worked for has come to pass. It's time to enjoy my twilight years. I will sit by the fire and drink mead and think back to my glory days. I can hardly wait." "Uh, you aren't really retired, you know. Besides, sitting by the fire and drinking gets old fast." "Mmm. Well, it would be nice to indulge in for a little while. Let us see what happens after this visit." "My gut is twisted over what could go wrong, Elder. I still could use your wisdom." "Not to worry. I plan on being around for a while longer. I have a few more bits of wisdom to impart to Clear Sky. Of course, you have my official job now." Eliseg grins at the enormous half orc who finally managed to fasten everything more or less properly. "Looks good. Time to march, Arglwyth." Arth sighs. "I would rather fight a giant. Let's get this over with." The new camp of Clear Sky looks much like the old one, except that the new camp encompasses three times more space. The half orcs had spread out, reveling in their newly acquired land. Clear Sky had grown in the years since Eliseg had gathered the first members together. The camp now contains over a thousand half orcs and new children. Escapees from the orc tribes continue to increase the numbers at a rapid pace. As with the old camp, an amphitheater had been dug in the middle of the camp, and a fire pit crackles with the embers of a once mighty blaze. Arth looks out over the seats before making his way to the edge of the fire pit. He holds his hands up for silence. At the sign, Eliseg's animal companion Yarg snarls loudly. The voices die swiftly, and all eyes turn to Arth. Swallowing nervously, Arth stares at Eliseg for a moment, who smiles and nods in encouragement. With that, Arth begins his speech. "Uh, Elders and members of Clear Sky, thank you for listening to my words. First, as you may have guessed, the move to Melgorn is complete." A cheer rises up from the assembled half orcs. Arth holds up his hands, and a snarl quiets down the audience. "The move went well, but that brings us to the second thing I wish to discuss. Now that we are in Melgorn, we have neighbors not too far away. I speak of the elves of the Hornwood." Murmuring accompanies that declaration. Arth can faintly hear some quiet comments like, "The elves will use us for target practice." He holds up his hands and speaks after the snarl. "During my adventuring career, I met the King of the Hornwood, Shiver McKellenrand. He is a good elf, and worthy of respect. Now, it is true that his people are a little, uh, insular, but Shiver is working on that." A voice pipes up, "Wot's that mean, insler?" "They keep to themselves." "Thanks, Elder." Arth nods and continues. "Shiver has sent me a letter, asking to have a talk with me and the Elders of Clear Sky. He regrets that he cannot come, but he has written that he will send some of his top people." Another voice rings out, "Sure, he sends a delegate, but he's too busy to come himself. Right." Arth stares in the general direction of the speaker. "Shiver is a king, and I'm an Arglwyth. Anyway, he has a lot of things going on at the moment. The Hornwood got pretty badly trampled by the Giants, and they're still rebuilding. So I don't want to hear anything about Shiver speaking down to us. You wouldn't have said anything if I had mentioned the Brenin." "Well, yeah, but he's the Brenin. He's a lot more important than a king of the elves, and he's got a lot more to do." "So does Shiver. Look, Shiver is okay for an elf. He's less stuck up than some of them, and he realizes that we're going to be here for a long time. He wants to be friends. And that leads to my next point. When the elves come here, and they are coming soon, I want everyone to be on their best behavior. Got that? If you aren't, then I, Eliseg, the Elders, and even Yarg," who growled at his mention, "will thump you. Elves are delicate creatures, so be careful." Yet another voice calls out, "What's delicat?" Arth thinks for a moment. "Elves break easy. Understand?" The gathering of half orcs mutter back, "Yes, Elder. Yes, Arglwyth." "All right, then, we're done. Let's head to bed." With that, the mass of half orcs begin to disperse. Eliseg walks up to Arth and pats him on the shoulder. "Good speech. What was that about, `elves break easy'? They aren't that fragile." Arth smiles, "I don't want our folks challenging the elves to wrestling matches and other physical stuff. This whole thing is going to be difficult enough without banged up elves on top of everything else." Eliseg nods, "Well, that was a good start. Now you'll have to start practicing your speech for when the elves arrive." Arth shudders. "First I need a drink. Speech making is hard, thirsty work." "This is good experience for you. Eventually you'll be speaking to the Brenin and the other nobles of Gyruff, and that's a lot harder than speaking here." "Make that a lot of drinks." Eliseg laughs and walks off, Yarg trailing behind. 
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