In the aftermath of the the Malacath fanatics attack on the Temple of Ire, King Kurog has summoned me back to Scarp Keep. As I enter two huge wooden doors of his throne room, I see his figure slumped in contemplative silence upon his throne at the opposite end of the cavernous hall. They tell me that the throne room can fit a hundred Orsimer heroes at feast, but now it is empty. Is this why the Orsinium King relies upon outsiders to champion his cause. Is there not an Orc in Wrothgar he can trust beyond his wives and mother?

As I approach his dais the only sound in the throne room are those of my heavy footsteps echoing like a heartbeat around the stone walls. As I stand under the piercing and cold eyes of the King, flanked by his minatory shield wives, he finally speaks, growling about Chief Bazrag’s supposed guilt in the attack upon the Temple. Despite his accusations I sense there is a grudging respect for Bazrag, I do wonder whether the King truly believes he was behind the attack. Rulers who wish to unleash war upon, or unite a country, have oft been known to procure or invent a first victim.

He proposes a Great Moot to rally the tribes to his cause. He wants me to perform favours in his name for those rural clans who were not convinced or were perhaps indifferent to the news of his ‘first victim’. Is it not typical of the Orsimer to send a soldier as a diplomat? Am I to offer my open hand to shake whilst my other remains balled in a fist?

S.K