Ambushed

Wow, what a night. And in a few hours, what a day.

So, Starg, my old friend, ambushed me in the dark tunnels of the dwarven caverns. He and many others came at me. He pulled something off his neck and threw it at me; I dived out of the way, but I was still pretty well burned by an exploding fireball.

That angered me. Sure, he was trying to kill me. What else was new? But not even a hello. Not, "Hey Mord! Good to see you. Now you die." No, nothing, just a fireball in my face. Friends.

Well, it was looking bad. They were coming for me. So I cast Sanctuary, protecting myself from their attacks for a short while. They tried to attack me, but none could overcome Kord's will.

"Hey Starg. How's it going? What have you been up to?" I started a conversation while asking Kord to give me the power to smite these guys.

"I have come to kill you, Mord. I have not forgotten what you did to my eye. I will have my revenge on you. But, I am not the only one. Alahandro says hello. A creepy guy, but apparently you made him angry."

"Alahandro? Who's Alahandro? Oh, that guy. How did you get here?"

"Wizards can teleport, Mord. He brought us here. To kill you. It has taken him a long time to find you."

I grew big, powerful, and protected while we chatted. And healed. I was ready. I motioned to Kord to fake my image and make me invisible. I then stepped back, leaving my image in the spot and calling upon Kord to bring flame down upon my enemies. And so it did, more so than I anticipated. It killed several outright, but it seemed to have triggered a cascade effect on the string of beads about Starg's neck. They erupted, blasting out several fireballs centered on Starg.

That killed a few more. And hurt me pretty well too.

Now they looked angry. I still had four in front of me including Starg. He lunged at me, or rather my image. He swung and sliced through it. He looked puzzled. I snuck up on one of his comrades and with my flaming sword, struck him down.

The other two pounced on me, or rather the image, and they stumbled into each other. I side stepped around, prepared to take out another. Starg wheeled around and sliced into the air next to me. I slashed his comrade, killing him.

Only two left, I stepped back into my image as Starg and his comrade continued to swing around wildly, everywhere but the image. I came out swinging at the last of Starg's friends, killing him in yet another flurry of blows.

I stepped back, away from Starg. "Starg, you are alone now, wounded, surrender now. I have no desire to kill you."

"Never, Mord. I will kill you." And he charged, and actually hit me, doing me grave harm. Actually, I was near death. Barely able to stand, I swung at him, one last blow, fierce in my anger. And in my zeal, I killed him.

I killed my friend. I was so ashamed. As he lay there dying, he said, "Mord, what have you done? At least Fiola will join me soon."

And there he died. I cast my sword away and screamed into the tunnel. And what did he mean by Fiola? I must find out. I healed myself and then proceeded to deal with my friend.

I refused to be responsible for his death. My friend, my poor tormented friend. I must save him. First his body. Then his soul. Somehow.

"Kord, I have struck in anger and killed. I was wrong. Please right this mistake by your faithful servant and raise this poor tormented half-orc back to life. Help me to save him." And I could feel Kord's power flow through me, and I saw life in Starg again. He was weak and I threw his weapons away and bound him.

"Starg, welcome back."

"Curse you, Mord. How did you best me?"

"It is the power of Kord. You turned your back on him, but he still loves you. Come back to us. It is his power that brought you back. You need not be this way. Let go of your hate."

"My hate is all that I can see. You saw to that. And I will not be in your debt. Next time we meet, I will kill you. But to return the favor you have done me, I will tell you this. Fiola is in danger. She may already be dead. Good luck saving her."

"What do you mean? What has happened to Fiola? What have you done?"

"Just what she asked me to do. She wanted to find our brothers, the orcs that fled. I told her of a small gathering in the plains. She went, but not prepared for the numbers or viciousness of them. They will sacrifice her, I am sure, to Gruumsh. They want redemption, redemption for our true god. Tomorrow the feast of Gruumsh starts and I am sure that Fiola will be front and center. And there is nothing that you can do about it."

"Tomorrow? Not a problem. I will find her and rescue her. As for you, maybe the dwarves can teach you some respect."

So I took him up to the dwarves and they put him in their cells. In the morning, I told A Brick what happened and that I must leave. He nodded.

"A Brick, please, I would rather you not kill him. He was once a friend and while he is now in the service of evil, I hope one day to lead him to redemption. But he invaded your world so do as you will. I must be off now."

"Mord, we will see. It is not fully in my power. But right now, a stranger in our midst is most unwelcome."

"I know. But I must go."

And so I go now, to rescue Fiola. I must fly hundreds of miles and scour the plains for these orcs.

Mords of Wisdom: Friends that try to kill you are still worth saving.