Chapter 15 Chapter 12 Shirking Responsibility

"If they don't run away, we win," Argon insisted to his angry father. "Gerty's giant ran away like a kobold!" King Obard frowned, kicked a face-down orc corpse, almost turned it over, and let it fall heavily to the ground.His expression was full of contempt. "How many dwarves are there?" he asked. "An army!" cried Argen, waving his arms emphatically. "Hundreds and thousands!" The face of a crude benzene orc next to the young commander was stirred by doubts, and he wanted to say something, but was stopped by Argen's threatening stare, and he quickly shut his mouth.

Obard saw through it all, and saw through his son's apparent exaggeration. "Hundreds?" he said again. "That means three of Gerty's missing men aren't helping, huh?" Argen hesitated to piece together an answer, but finally came up with an extremely absurd conclusion: no matter how many dwarves there are, its people will always have the upper hand, and the three giants were originally used to turn tactical evasion into a glorious decisive victory of. Obard noticed that neither at this time nor when he first arrived at the cave quarters did his son Argen mention 'defeat' or 'retreat'.

"I would like to know about your retreat." The Beast King said, "Is the battle one-sided?" "That's been going on for a long, long time," Argon declared. "The dwarves have not been able to form a siege? You managed to escape." "We broke out!" Obird nodded knowingly, fully realizing that Argen and his warriors had turned and fled, and were probably up against a force smaller than his son had indicated, and even that they were outnumbered. He is not as good as his own people.The Beast King still didn't waste time, he was more concerned about how to loosen the deadly tight string between him and his temporary and important ally - Getty.

Although he pretended to be full of confidence in the armed forces he received from other tribes, the cunning orc commander-in-chief knew that without Getty, his influence in this area would be limited In the backcountry of the wild frontier.He will be decapitated for exposing the fiasco of Fortress of Many Arrows. Obard knew, too, that Gerty would be displeased to learn that her giant had fallen among a mass of slaughtered orcs.Obrid, with this thought in his mind, walked towards the dead giant. The huge creature had no scars except for its throat being bitten open. He looked at Argen blankly, shrugged, and motioned for him to explain.

"My scouts say the big cat did it," his son explained. "A big black cat. Jumped from the top of the tree to the throat and killed the giant. The giant killed her." "Then where is she?" Argen's mouth curled up, and his fangs closed on his upper lip.He turned his head and glanced at the other orcs, and those guys immediately staggered and began to question their companions with their eyes. "The dwarves must have taken it. Or they wanted to keep the hide." Obard looked anything but persuaded.He suddenly roared, kicking the giant's corpse while roaring, and frowned, trying to figure out how to turn this disaster into a bargaining chip against Getty.It seems that he should attribute the responsibility to the three missing giants, emphasizing that in the future raids accompanying the orcs, the giants should declare their intentions in advance.

Yes, it must work, he thought.Then, among the many orc scouts they sent to search the surrounding area, one of them exclaimed.This cry dramatically forced the depressed and annoyed Beastman King to rearrange his thoughts. After a while, Obard, who was surveying the Second Battlefield, was deeply troubled. The three missing giants all died there, and one of them was Getty's best friend.They were not too far from where Argen was encamped on the eve of the catastrophic war.It was obvious to Obard that the reason the three hadn't been on the final stage of the march was because they had died before then.He knew it was equally obvious to Gerty--the latter was bound to find out after hearing that he had blamed her giants rather than his own orcs.

"How did this happen?" he asked Argon. His son didn't answer right away, and in frustration Obard turned quickly, pinning his face and pushing him to the ground. "Obord is terrified," Adnon Crisse said to the three accomplices. Adnon had followed Obard's party on both occasions, and would soon meet the Beast King, questioning him as patiently as ever. "Normal," the priestess Kellich Suen Waite said with a giggle, "Gerdy will ball him up and kick him to the other side of the mountain." Toss-an laughed together with the priestess, but Adnon and Donya seemed to be preoccupied.

"It would break the alliance," Donia said. Ke Erike shrugged as if it didn't matter, and Tangia immediately gave her a glare. "Do you think it's fun to be in this nest?" Donya asked. "There are worse things than that." "But there are better options than this," Adnon Kryser put in suddenly, "and now we have an opportunity to make a lot of money and have fun, with very little risk .I advocate maintaining the status quo and strengthening the alliance.” "Me too," continued Donya. Ke Erli just shrugged her shoulders as if she was tired, as if everything was insignificant.

"What about you?" Donya asked Toss-Ann.The latter sat far away, as if he was listening and thinking, and had no clear opinion other than that. "I think we must not underestimate the dwarves," said the Menzoberranzan warrior. "My city made a mistake once." "Indeed," Adnon agreed, "I must also tell you that Argen's report on the number of dwarves seems to have been overly exaggerated due to the size of the battlefield. It is likely that the number of dwarves is far less than the number they tracked." of orcs, and the giants they slay. Their magic is a formidable force, too."

"Magic?" Keerlic asked. "As far as I know, dwarves hardly use magical powers." "From what I understand, they did," insisted Adnon. "The orcs said a big cat killed a giant, and when she was done she disappeared in plain sight." Toss-an in the distance came alive, "Is it a big black cat?" The other three looked at the exiles in Menzoberranzan. "Yes." Adnon confirmed.Toss-An nodded thoughtfully. "It's Drizzt Do'Urden's big cat," he explained. "The exile?" Ke Erlike asked, as if she suddenly became interested.

"Yes, he escaped from Menzoberranzan with the magic black panther. He is very powerful." "It's the same as that black panther?" "Yes, the same Drizzt Do'Urden," said Toth-Ann. "He is not an easy enemy. He not only deters the orcs and giants on the battlefield, but also threatens their backstage." "Interesting." Ke Erli said bitterly. "He is the best graduate of the fighting martial arts tower," Toss-An explained, "and has been trained by Zaknavan, the most powerful martial arts chief in the drow cities of the entire Underdark. If he joins the battle, Orcs' instant collapse is well explained." "There is a drow who stopped the attack of a group of orcs and four giants alone?" Adnon asked suspiciously. "No," Toth-Ann admitted, "but Drizzt is there, so—" "King Bruno is also here," Tangia deduced, "this exile is Bruno's close friend and advisor, right?" "Yes," Toss-An said with certainty, "maybe these two guys have other powerful companions." "That means Bruno walked out of the Mithril Hall with a small troop wandering around?" Donia asked, her beautiful face broke into a smile, "What a great opportunity this is!" "A good opportunity to take advantage of the chaos to level Mithril Hall?" Adnon asked. "It's also an opportunity for Getty to keep practicing the current line," Donia said. "Or, it's an opportunity for us to show our flaws and arouse the hatred of the enemy." Ke Erlike, who always likes to throw cold water, said. "Priest, I think you are a little too comfortable, why have you forgotten the joy of chaos?" Adnon said, and he also grinned at Donya, "You can really let this The chance to have fun slips away from you?" Ke Erli tried to answer several times, but gave up before she could speak. "It's no fun dealing with orcs," said the priestess, "and Gerty and her giants, who always think they're clearly superior, superior even to us. We'll have more fun if the Giants do it. The four of us will take care of the rest then." "Then we'll be all alone here bored to death," Adnon said. "That's right," Kerriko admitted, "whatever. We'll have a hand in the war between the dwarves and our allies. Now that Bruenor is out of his nest, we have an interesting plan. Be careful though. Beware! I didn't come here from the Underdark to eat a dwarf's axe, nor to be hacked by drow exiles. The others all nodded in agreement with this point of view, especially Toss-An, the drow who had seen many clansmen fall before the Mithril Hall army. "I'm going back to Getty to ease the situation," said Donia. "I'll go back to Obard," said Adnon, "and I'll wait there for your signal until the Orc-King is sent to confer with the Giantess." Immediately and anxiously they parted ways, leaving Colric and Tos-Ann behind. "Let us circle back to the gap," said the priestess. "If our allies should turn against the dwarves, the necessary escape will be long and swift." Toss-An nodded.He had experienced such a tragedy once. Obard had made every step of his way through the fortifications that Getty had built in the cave, and he clearly felt the hateful gaze of the frost giant in his direction.Despite Adnon's reassurances, Obard knew the Giants had been told of their losses.The creature was different from his kind, and the orc king understood that.They value their tribe, every member of their group.The frost giant will not let the death of his four blood relatives rest easily. When Obard entered Getty's conference room, the giantess was sitting on her stone throne, her elbows on her knees, her chin resting on her hands, her eyes staring straight ahead without blinking. Fearing that Gerty would suddenly reach out and strangle him, the orc moved out of Gerty's reach and stopped.He tried to suppress the urgency to tell the story of the disaster, deciding that it would be better to wait for Gerty to speak first. He waited a long, long time. "Where are their bodies?" Gerty asked at last. "Right where they fell." Gerty looked up at him, his eyes widening as if they were burning with hateful rage. "My warriors won't be able to lift them," Obard explained. "I'll bury them right where they are in cairns, if you will. I thought you might be willing to bring them back." This rationale effectively calmed Gerty.After he finished speaking, Getty sat back on the throne and nodded his chin at him. "Your got your soldiers to bring my men there." "Of course," said Obird. "I have heard that your son's reckless behavior has created a strong enemy for this team," said Getty. Obird shrugged. "It's possible, but I wasn't there." "Your son survived?" "He fled from battle, along with many of your kind." Undoubtedly, Getty's speech was full of accusatory tone. "When the battle started, only one of your subordinates joined the battle, and that giant fell soon." Obard replied immediately.If he wanted to leave with the head on his head, he couldn't let Gerty go down this road. "The other three eves disappeared without telling others where they were going." "Do you know where the dwarves go after the war?" "I know they didn't go straight back to Mithril Hall," Obard said. "My scouts don't see any sign that they've gone south, or east." "Are they still in the mountains?" "I suppose so," said the orc. "Then find them!" Getty ordered him, "I can send another twenty men, and I won't stop until my enemy pays a heavy price." Obard tried to suppress a smile which he knew Gerty needed to keep him serious and dignified.But it wasn't easy for him to hold back the churning ecstasy.He took it from Gerty's eyes and his tone that this defeat would soon be over, for she, and her giant, would devote themselves to the fight. King Obard wondered if his dwarf rivals realized that a disaster was coming.