Whilst last in Orsinium the Forge-Mother Alga informed me that her son, King Kurog, had already left for Frostbreak Fortress to deal with the Reachman Warlord Ice-Heart. They believe this Ice-Heart to be the last remaining leader of the Winterborn in Wrothgar, whom dominated these mountainous lands under the Longhouse Emperor’s reign. His defeat they hope will bring the Reachmen’s legacy in Wrothgar to an end, and will perhaps also be a catalyst for the last of the recalcitrant Orc tribes to bend their knee to the throne of Orsinium.

The siege upon Frostbreak Fortress however seems to have stalled upon the old Breton ramparts. For weeks the Orc’s have laid siege but are no closer to a breakthrough now than when they began. The ancient walls hold firm against the Orc’s siege weapons, whilst harpy’s spy from their eyries atop the towers ready to pick off any soldiers that approach, and tales are whispered around camp fires of mighty Reach warriors whose hearts are grown from poisoned seeds. And on top of that, with the stolen supplies the Reachmen are perhaps in a far better position to see out the harsh winter than their Orsimer besiegers.

Kurog though has an inbred thirst for battle, he is set upon leading from the front in the hope that his gallantry will unite the clans behind. I find myself wondering if Kurog were to lead the Covenant upon the crimson fields of the Heartlands would this accursed Banners war be any closer to the cusp? One might ask however who would be so foolish to follow a king into battle who cannot even unite his own people? Well, as I charge after Kurog up the hill towards the fortress, I guess that fool is me.

S.K

I have been tasked by a wandering Dark Elf to retrieve a ‘magical whistle’ from a series of caves hidden in the foothills to the southwest of Orsinium. The whistle belongs to a reclusive Nord animal trainer who uses it to train her packs of durzogs, although the locals complain of her reptilian beasts running wild across the foothills.

These caves are also home to an Orismer Wise-Woman Ushuta. The blind old Orc is oblivious to the durzogs that roam the caves, let alone the giant spiders and trolls. She spends her time fishing at her secluded camp at the bottom of a waterfall, whilst spouting meaningless philosophical musings that one might expect to hear from a Baandari fairground ‘soothsayer’.

Nikolvara herself has renamed these caves as her kennels, and is about as welcoming towards visitors as the dogs she seems to share such a unnatural affinity with. It quickly becomes clear that she is in no mood to negotiate the trade of her ‘magical whistle’, even though she admits herself that it is really just a sentimental trifle.

People are too eager to attach magical or mystical properties to things they don’t understand, just as we are to eager to find profound meanings in the words of any self proclaimed Wise-Woman. The truth is when one plus one equals three it is not a miracle, it is just a miscalculation, an illusion, or a lie. Mostly a whistle is just a whistle, and a batty old hag is just that.

S.K