----- Suddenly, at the same moment, Arliss and the orc rush at each other, surprising even Raven, Rand and Thalog. They both seem to slam together and along with the noise of the impact, a sickening wet sound is heard. For what seems an eternity, the two combatants stand nose to nose, still staring at each other. Arliss's shield hides what damage has been done. Slowly now, the orc seems to relax as it slumps to the ground, revealing the dark reddish stain on the paladin's sword.
-----The four men look at each other, hearing only, besides their own, the heavy breathing of the enspelled, unconscious orcs.
-----Arliss lowers his sword and stands silently for a moment, gazing at the dead and dying bodies of the orcs. "By Joren, such a senseless waste of life. It would be better spent on creatures more deserving of it." He moves to clean his blade on the garments of one of the orcs, seemingly paying no heed to his wound. Once the blood has been wiped from his blade, he sheathes it and turns towards those who lie sleeping. "Well then, Raven, this looks like your department."
-----Raven also cleans his weapons and then puts one of them away. "First thing is let's tie-up those sleeping orcs. Everyone grab some rope or whatever you can find. Let's get going before they wake up." Raven heads off towards the sleeping orcs. Raven has one of his swords out just in case the magic holding the orcs fails.
-----Arliss nods at Raven's initiative. "Right. Let's do this, then." He removes his rope from his pack once again, and moves towards the orcs.
-----Arliss takes his silken rope and ties two of the sleeping orcs together. One is a humanoid of average height wearing a skullcap made of leather. The other is slightly shorter wearing a black patch over its left eye.
-----Raven ties up the other two orcs. One of these orcs is extremely skinny with oversized lips. The last one is the smallest of all standing only three and a half feet. Just as both men finish with their captives, they notice the orcs begin to stir. Arliss sees the one with the skull cap begin to blink its eyes.
-----Suddenly as Raven finishes tying the last knot, the smallest orc rears up snapping at him, almost biting Raven's hand.
-----Raven snarls and backhands the orc who tried to bite him. With a grunt, it seems to fall back; its head wobbling. Raven turns to the group, "What questions do you want me to ask these sorry souls?"
-----Thalog reveals one of the small black stones and a piece of paper. "Ask them what they know about this black gem and the note," Thalog says.
-----Arliss nods at Thalog's suggestion. "Yes, that's good." He glares coldly at the orcs and places a hand on the hilt of his sword, as he looks on.
-----Raven takes the black gem and the note from Thalog and turns to face the four orcs. He walks up to the skinny orc and growls out something in the orcish language, holding out a black stone. Raven locks eyes with the orc and waits for an answer. The orc looks around nervously; its lips slightly twitch and then mutter out a short reply. The humanoid with the eye patch looks at Raven and nods. The orc with the skullcap glares threatenly at the orc who answered.
-----Raven then asks the orc more questions. Raven shows the orc the note he got from Thalog.
-----The skinny orc answers, "Hun hoo le ty sulm ethe." The one with the patch on its eye grunts, "Da ey," as it swings its head toward the west. After carefully eyeing the note, the one-eyed orc answers, "Inte noot hun siga." The humanoid with the leather skullcap seems to sulk.
-----Raven walks up to the group, "The orc says that the black gems come from some humans they know. Those humans are hiding in a ruined village to the west of here." Raven looks to the west, "What say the group?"
-----"Find out if they are working under the direction of these people, and if so, why?" suggests Arliss.
-----Raven nods and turns back to face the orcs. Raven then speaks with the orcs more. As Raven talks, the humanoid with the eye patch looks nervously about. The orc with the skullcap looks firmly, if not defiantly, at Raven. Suddenly the small orc that Raven backhanded sits up halfway looking at the skinny orc. Its high-pitched voice screams, "Duk hun! Et stel wu nok lu het et gur heti!" The skinny orc lowers its head and looks at the ground.
-----Raven walks over the group. "Well, they won't tell us any more until we let them go." Raven turns to Arliss, "I know the little guy will talk to us, but the others are making him not talk. Arliss, maybe if we brought two of them to justice the others would talk." Raven rubs his chin, "How about letting the little guy go? I mean if he helps us fully, which I think he'll do if we handle him right. Anyone got any other ideas?"
-----Rand replies, "I don't think we should let any of the orcs go, but we could attempt to make the little orc believe that we'll let him go if he tells us what we want to know. What do you think Arliss?"
-----Raven crosses his arms across his chest. "I know they're only orcs, but I don't feel right lying to them. I'll threaten them, but I won't get their hopes up and then kill them." Raven looks over at Arliss to see what he says.