Vision from Gruumsh

The party - excluding Aust and Merric who are taking watch - wakes in the night to a deep rumble. Thud, thud, thud. Bleary-eyed, they attempt to jump for their weapons. Their bodies betray them; they can but turn their head and watch.

Grageon kneels at the foot of the bed. A hulking orc - twice his size, one eye covered with a jet black eyepatch, carrying a gargantuan morningstar which drips with venom - stomps towards him. He extends a finger towards Grageon’s chin and pulls it upwards with an invisible force. Grageon recognises this figure to be an avatar of Gruumsh himself.

The figure speaks in a rumble which shakes the party to their core.

Gruumsh

“Let me tell you of their leader. A warlord whose defiance in the face of death became legend.

Urzog had begun leading raids deeper and deeper into human lands. He and his clan, Black Claw, were insatiable and relentless. It was only a matter of time until the humans retaliated. Among the victims of their retribution was Urzog’s mate. So many of his warriors bent like weeds, and now her."

The figure clasps his hands and the party's vision whites out. They see a battlescarred orc kneeling in the centre of a rain-soaked battlefield. He holds his mate as she bleeds from a gaping chest wound. She begs for a warrior’s death; she wishes to die with honor. The orc throws her to the ground, discarded like an animal, as he snarls.

Urzog

“You are a wolf with no teeth. All of you.”

The rumble which once emanated from a figure in the room now comes from their very minds.

Gruumsh

“Urzog knew the humans could not have gotten far. He called upon his forces to hunt them down, but for many of the clan the cost had already been too high.”

The party see the same battlescarred warrior standing in the middle of a battlefield. The footprints in the mud run thick with blood. Countless orcs and humans lay dead - over half of the clan has fallen. He addresses the survivors, all staring up at him in a state of crazed blood frenzy.

Urzog

“Bury your weak. I will show you what it means to be Black Claw.”

The vision is drawn into a puddle of blood.

Gruumsh

“Once again, Urzog struck deep into human lands. This time, however, the human warlords and their armies were waiting. His warriors begged for death, his lands were taken, his body was broken. He had nothing left.”

The vision turns to the warrior - Urzog - chained to a post. His skin is sickly-pale, his wounds infected and oozing, his physique wasting away.

A human approaches the orc, demanding surrender. The orc groans in pain, managing no more than a mumble. A smug grin creeps across the face of the warlord - he has won. He approaches and turns his ear towards the orc’s mouth.

Urzog lets loose a guttural scream, betraying his frail facade.

Urzog

“This wolf still has teeth.”

Urzog tears into the flesh of his captor, sliding out of his manacles as he does it. His body has withered so severely that the restraints no longer hold him.

Gruumsh

“From that day forward, the orcs rallied to the banner of Urzog. The Warlord with the Iron Will. The Shaman of the Sundered Lands.”

The party's vision blurs and returns to the room as Urzog savages his dying captor. The hulking visitor speaks to Grageon once more.

Gruumsh

“I have seen the evils which befell your mother in that wretched tribal camp. Those orcs were weak. Unfit to serve my will. You… are not.”

The hulking figure extends his morningstar towards Grageon who is slowly regaining control of his body.

Gruumsh

“Bound by vengeance, our names will be spoken in fear, Danak Guk.”

Grageon

"I reject it."

Gruumsh

“You dare reject this gift? And I suppose you brought these mongrels here just to watch you die?”

Another deep rumble sweeps over the party. They struggle to maintain consciousness as their vision swirls. When they come to, the visitor is gone.

Trouble Approaches

The party awakes in the morning to the sound of warhorns and the beating drums of the goblinoid war machine.