Quest 1: Garnet Falcondance
Garnet Falcondance first brings the woman to a safe place where others can look after her, then gathers more information from the animals in her domain. After that, she goes to see the land owner, trying to persuade him into allowing people to fight back and gain protection. Finally, she proceeds to the village and helps out organising the defences, then vows to seek out the orcs.
hen she finds the orcs, she spies out the camp and discovers a pact between the orcs and some warlords. With the aid of a paladin from Keldorn's Order, she brings the two warlords to the orc camp where the orc deals justice to the two, who would doublecross him. The orc leaves the lands without any further bloodshed, and Garnet returns to her woods.
Seeing the woman to a safe place she could rest and be tended (20 miles is a long way to run barefooted), Garnet then proceeds to the demesne of the land owner, stopping along the way and asking any denizens of her domain if they have any news of this band of orcs. She discovered this situation only began a scant few weeks ago and the land owner seems extremely unconcerned over the matter. Puzzled, she arrives at the demesne and requests an audience with the owner.
After an unprecedented several hours of waiting (during which servants have provided mead and a bite to eat), she is summoned before the owner. He appears uneasy and impatient. Apparently she was not the first Ranger to ask about this matter...
He informs Garnet that he will allow no armed battle on his land tearing up the treeline and muddying the fields and has thus sent away the band of mercenaries the villagers illegally hired. If there are indeed orcs pillaging the villages, he says, then this is a matter the villagers must deal with, he has no liability to help. Garnet remains bewildered since this land owner has always in the past shown more concern about his people rather than his lands, for without the people the lands would revert back to their wild and unkempt state.
Garnet leaves the demesne and heads towards the village in danger. As she nears, the smell of burned wood reaches her, a testament to trouble. She is greeted by raggedly dressed men carrying pitchforks and clubs. Upon seeing the ranger, they lower their weapons and cautiously come forward.
She questions the men. They tell her the orcs, whose number is inconstant but at least a dozen, have plundered the village and nearby fields for over three weeks. At first only a pig or a cow would be taken. Then grain would be seized and only a few days ago, the orcs entered the village and took three young women. They have injured several villagers who tried to hold off the ravagers. The villagers appealed to the land owner, but he refused to hear their plight, saying this was a minor problem. As the pillaging escalated, they hired a band of mercenaries, only to have them turned away by the land owner's guards (who themselves had orders to not defend the village). At last they sent one of their women to seek the ranger.
Garnet aids the villages build what small defenses possible and vows to seek out the orcs, free the young women taken captive and end the torment. Why are the orcs choosing this village and why now? Why does the land owner seem not only not concerned about the people's suffering, but reluctant for armed battle on the lands? She takes leave of the village and melts back into the treeline.
Your search does not last long. With the help of animal friends you quickly find your way to an orc trail. Dozens of foots have trampled the land, and you can easily follow the path. As you are climbing a hill, a dirty smell reaches you. It smells of a lot of things, but mostly of orcs and dung. Not long after, you can hear bestial grunts and shouts. You have found the orc camp
What do you do?
Rising only enough to see over the grass, Garnet looks into the orc camp with a degree of disbelief. She sees several female orcs tending children and their human captives in turn serving them. Convinced now that the pillaging was indeed not a random circumstance, she settles to await the return of the orcish scouting party which had apparently left earlier. Rastus, her ever-present cat companion, glances at her to determine if he need go into the camp to investigate. Garnet sends Rastus onward knowing that few will even notice the small feline as he darts to and fro gathering information and bits of gossip as well as partaking of the occasional tidbits of meat he may find.
Keeping watch, she determines this camp has not moved in the weeks past, but has instead grown in size. This, it would seem, was why the raids had escalated and the goods taken increased in number. The orcs were seeking to feed their arriving families. Still, Garnet wondered, why were they moving to this land? It was unusual to find an orc settlement anywhere near human lands, and rarer yet for the land owner to not run the original scouting party off.
In the growing twilight, the scouts returned to camp. They carried several pigs and drug a cow carcass, obviously another raid successful. Not seeing any human captives with the party, Garnet knew that at least the villagers' defenses had held somewhat. An older, larger orc, obviously the leader, gestured to the others to join around the central fire. Rastus silently slipped into the shadows near the leader, allowing Garnet a closer 'view' through his senses.
The leader was unhappy. He mentioned that the 'pact' was not holding as promised and the land not cleared for orcish settlement.
Listening to the orc, it becomes clear the foul creature has made an agreement with some landlord. From the villagers you have learned there are two powerful landlords to the south and east of the village, who seek to take over the lands. Both have made up their minds about this, the land should be theirs and theirs alone. They have large armies, and so far only the rivalry between the two has kept them from taking over the area.
It seems one of them has sent the orcs to demoralise the inhabitants of this dukedom. You learn nothing more from the orc and your cat returns to you. After a large feast for some unfathomable reason, the orcs return to their tents.
How will you stop the orcs from doing more harm to the lands?
Garnet requested the aid of Lady Galadria, a proud paladin of Keldorn's Order. She and the paladin journyed to the warlord Suth's encampment where, as planned aforehand, Lady Galadria captured Suth and secured him until Garnet did the same with the eastern warlord, Wemp. In the process, charts and maps were discovered which proved the warlords had no intention of allowing the orcish raiders to keep the lands promised to them in return for their invasion.
The two women brought the warlords before the orc chieftain, Gromish, and showed him the charts. Upon perusal and questioning of the warlords, he proclaimed them liars and dealt with them with swift orcish judgement: he bit out their throats. In disgust for the perfidy of the humans, he ordered his clan to decamp and they left behind the lands quickly.
Garnet notified the warlords' armies of the location of the corpses for retrieval. She then returned to the land lord's manor and made a report of her discoveries and subsequent actions. The warlord, embarassed and ashamed at his own inability and unwillingness to rule properly, vowed to mend his ways and reimburse the villagers for their losses.
Exhausted , she returned to the Ranger headquarters to make a full report to Legolas. She and the Lady Galadria had plans to meet for dinner and a well-deserved jug of mead.....
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