Grum, Hill Orc Priest of Beogh

This page is a Diary of a Crawler, the journal of an individual character. This page probably contains spoilers.

Day1: The Grummening

Part 1 Grum lives in a hut. Grum's hut lives in a field. Grum's hut's field lives next to a stairway that goes way down. Grum doesn't understand why this stairway is there, and who built it, but Grum's pretty easy going, so it doesn't bother Grum much.

Then one day Grum's meat fell down the stairway. Grum always knew he would have to go down there, but kept putting it off because Grum's bristle-thick hair always stood on end when he looked down it, or threw stones at it. Grum figured he was just letting the stairway frighten him. Orc's don't frighten easy, Grum reminds himself, as he longs for his meat. Nothing bad will come of going down there, except possible dusty meat.

Grum takes a few steps toward the opening, smiling to himself (An orc's smile is traumatic on it's own) nervously ( An orc's nervous smile could stun a Yak). and plunges into the dark.

Part 2 "Hey! Free meat!" says the small reptillian form. It rapidly scarfs the pungent feast down. "And it's only three days old!" A bulky shadow blocks out the light from the stairwell to the surface and the scampering creature beats a hasty exit.**************

Grum reaches the bottom of the stairs. See Grum? Nothing bad happened it's just a narrow hallway.

Beogh says: Drown the unbelievers in a sea of blood!

Oh, hello Beogh, it's Grum. Why would Grum want to do that?

Beogh says:Because!

Oh. Ok. Grum heads down the hallway. "Grum is lucky today was choppin day. Wood choppin, rock choppin meat cho- Grum's meat! Where is Grum's meat?"

Grum prays to Beogh. Where is Grum's meat?

Beogh says:Why should I know?

Because you are Beogh?

Beogh says: Just hurry up and drown the unbelievers in a sea of blood!

So Grum embarks and immediately gets an itchy sensation on his lucky ear. Something is trying to fool Grum! Grum searches, and finds a secret door immediately behind him before even taking a step into the deep! This wasn't necessary, since it took Grum around a corner he was going to go around anyways. Grum sets off!**********

The small form watches what appears to be a large green man with a hatchet stride purposefully and diagonally backwards, round a corner and begin hacking wildly at a stalk of fungus that is well over five feet tall.********

"Grum shall drown you!" Grum's huge orcish muscles stretch and flex under his brown everyday robes. Kinks and knots are worked out from long years of peace. Grum draws his hand axe back and buries it deeply into the soft flesh of the giant mushroom, hacking wildly for over a minute till it is no more. Then Grum calmly steps past, bends down and picks up a sausage.

Beogh says: That didn't make any sense.

"Don't look at Grum!" Grum exclaims loudly to the ceiling. Grum then turns about, rounds a corner and finds a bottle of brown fluid on the ground. Grum knows what healing potions look like, and this is no healing potion.

Beogh says: I wouldn't dri-

Grum drinks the potion. The world seems to bend and contort around Grum What was wrong is now right, and things start to fall into place.

Grum has gained level 2.

Grum then doubles back to make sure he's covered the ground behind him. The hallways bend and twist, leading to nowhere, and Grum wonders who had this much time to waste on chopping day. Then he rounds a corner and finds the corridor opening up. "Grum doesn't want to throw himself out into the open." So Grum follows the left wall into a passage two abreast. Suddenly a giant bat starts flapping and screeching at Grum!

The giant bat screeches and dives at Grum, clamping onto the side of his head and sinking it's teeth into his lucky ear! "My lucky ear!" Grum howls, as he swat's at the bat with his axe, it swoops away, but not without recieving a small tear in it's membranous left wing. The bat loses it's precise control, but seems to be, unnaturally Grum is sure, fixated on Grum's demise. It flaps at him unsteadily, and receives a mortal would for it's troubles. Broken and defeated the bat falls to the floor, beady eyes staring lifelessly off. Grum walks up to the corpse and begins to pray.

Beogh says: What?

Grum offers the bat up to Beogh. It's mortal shell dissolves to dust, and blows away on an ethereal wind.

Beogh says: What in the hells? Why did you send me a bat's soul?

"Grum thought you could probably find something to do with it. Like have it fly around with your drink on its back"

Beogh says: That's a good idea! Keep it up.

Beogh accepts your offering.

Grum continues down the corridor and finds a knife on the floor. "Who leaves their knives just lying around in a dark empty room?"Grum squints down at it, and manages to make out the name Mr.S carved into the handle. "Grum can read!"********

Shifty watches the green man squat down next to something dark on the ground, and hears him form a question in his harsh grunting language. Then Shifty wishes he could un-see what happens when a man in a short robe squats down in front of you. It proves to be too much and the kobold cries out.*******

Grum quickly looks up, axe held at the ready, knife at held loosely in his left hand. "Grum knows that you hide!" Grum shouts into the shadows in the corner of the room. As he leans forward, he makes out the shape of a child with a tail on the ground crying. "What's wrong little guy" Grum asks in the farmer's language. The child springs to his feet and backs into the corner, almost faster than Grum can see, but still he reaches out to steady the poor boy. The boy squeals in what is first percieved as terror, but then is recognized as pain, an the knife from Grum's hand has mysteriously appeared buried in his shoulder. This has to be the ugliest kid Grum has ever seen. Bald, black eyes bugging out from the sides of his head, scales, fangs, four fingered hands that end in claws. The kid even had a tail. "Grum is sorry, little man" Grum says, as he goes to remove the knife "Grum knows a little about heal-" Then from behind him, a shout rings out. "Shruknich foobajoo!" A goblin yells in it's filthy language.

"Don't worry child, Grum will protect you" Grum's visage sets into a fierce snarl, as he sees more bats appear from the same hallway as the goblin.*******

The kobold holds his left hand to his injured right shoulder, fighting to stay conscious. The green man appeared to be an orc from closer up, but of no breed that he was familiar with. There was little time to consider this, as the green man charged forward, swinging his hatchet wildly at the fleeting forms of two giant bats. One went down fast,chopped to pieces in an instant, but the other dodged up the hall. The orc grunted in pain, as a dart appeared in his arm, and another in the upper right part of his chest. The goblin was throwing as he edged cautiously forward. The green man met the goblin axe to- well nothing, as he chopped the front of the goblin's head open, toppling him face first to the dusty floor. And as if an afterthought, his backswing split the second giant bat in two, as it glided to to attack him from behind. The green man strode up to the kobold, grabbed the dagger, and yanked it out, with a savage tug. "Now we sit. Told you Grum know healin-" The world flashed and blacked out.********

Day 2: The slog.

Beogh says: Drown the unbelievers in a sea of blood! Grum snorts and sits up, realizing that he's dozed off in a dark corner of the underground complex. Grum looks down, and sees that the child is still unconscious. Grum slings the child over his shoulder and starts down the nearest passage. Upon entering the next room, Grum finds a dusty old pack, and a small pile of gold coins. "You want these Beogh?"

Beogh says: No, you can keep them.

Grum continues on and enters the next room.In this room a goblin waits. It charges at Grum, only to step on a dart trap halfway across the room, killing itself.

"That's no good." Grum comments, looking closely at the hundreds of tiny darts sticking out of the ragged goblin's corpse. A fine Orcish club is held in the goblin's loose grasp. Grum picks it up, looking at the stout orcish work. No point in letting it go to waste, so Grum puts his old choppin' axe in his new dusty bag.

Grum walked a winding path through the next few chambers, stuffing more gold, a few bottles of questionable liquid, and a few unknown scrolls into his bag. As he steps into the next room Grum stops short.***********

Shifty had been awake for some time now, and was rather enjoying being carried instead of having to walk, well at least as it seems that the orc wasn't going to eat him. Noticing that the orc had stopped moving, the kobold cracks his eye, taking in the next room. Inside there is a goblin chasing a large rat around, presumably with the intention of eating it. There was a blunt and stupid cast to the goblin's face, which was common. The goblin's big head was tilted forward as he ran, his floppy ears waving about wildly. The gray-green form was covered in what served the mas armor, but looked suspiciously like rags to most other races. It carried no weapon.

Having had enough with the chase around the room, the large rat made a break for the hallway where the orc was hiding. Too late, the rat saw the error of it's ways, and launched its furry form at the green man, biting and scratching. The goblin saw the orc, and shrieked something in it's foul twittering language. The orc peeled the rat off it's face, taking a strip of flesh with it, and cast it to the ground, following it with his club. The rat bounced once and was crushed flat, and exploded with gore, showering the walls, the goblin and the orc. The goblin let out a cry of horror, seeing his food be destroyed, and charged swinging it's skinny fists. The green man batted one of the hands away, shattering the bones in it, and brought his club down on the goblin's head with two hands, crumbling its skull.

Out of the hallway across the chamber, another shout in goblin rang out, and another filthy form ran at the orc.Before it was halfway across the room, the orc uttered a weight carrying word that rang in the kobold's ears, Beogh, knelt, and reduced the dead goblin to ash. The charging goblin's steps faltered, intimidated by this monster, and began to backpedal too late, as the orc swept his club forward, caving in the right side of the goblin's chest. Then he knelt over this goblin, drawing his hatchet blade, and sent it to the ash as well.*******