A Sacrifice Too Many

[Gridish]

This story takes place a couple days after the events of A Meeting At Midnight.

“The old human? Kill him. He’s worth nothing” echoed in Gridish’ head before he woke up from his slumber. It has been a few days since Gridish had been captured. During that time Gridish and the young companions of his mentor were transported by the mercenaries to Grom knows where. Since their arrival the three have been imprisoned in a dark cavern, their hands cuffed to a chain which was attached to the rugged stone floor. The three were accompanied by a few others that seemed to be imprisoned like Gridish. Nobody knew where they were being held, why they were being held and what their fate would be.

“I heard one of the mercs talkin’ earlier” one of the young companions whispered to Gridish. “Whatever they are plannin’ is ha-“ the young companion stopped talking as two mercenaries came into the room. They walked between the prisoners, checking if all chains were still intact as well as the warded bracelet that silenced Gridish’ arcane capabilities. After confirming that all prisoners were secure, the mercenaries left the room. The young Orc waited another minute before resuming where he left off: “Whatever they’re plannin’ is happenin’ tomorrow…” Gridish stared at the entrance of the room and slowly nodded in response. “Please tell me you have a plan…. Please…” the young Orc pleaded. Gridish wished he could give the young Orc the answer he sought after. As Gridish was thinking of possibilities the three had, one of the other imprisoned Orcs lost their patience and started tugging at his chain while continuously shouting. “HEEELP. LET ME GO. JUST UNCHAIN ME AND I’LL SHOW YOU THAT YOU CAN’T TAKE ME A SECOND TIME” In an attempt to calm the Orc down, another prisoner spoke up “Shut up… they’ll come down here… They could kill you.” The Orc didn’t calm down. Instead it seemed to have the opposite effect and the Orc started shouting even louder. Two mercenaries responded to the distressed Orc by entering the room. “Shut yer mouth ye useless pile of meat or I’ll shut it for ye” one of the mercenaries told the Orc, but the prisoner continued his tantrum. The two mercenaries closed in on the prisoner and one mercenary kicked the prisoner in the face, knocking him out immediately. “Let’s take him out back… We don’t want him riling up the other meatbags.” One of the mercenaries said. The other nodded and reached for a chain of keys hanging from his belt. The mercenaries detached the prisoner’s chain from the floor and dragged him out of the room. “I might have a plan” Gridish whispered to the young companions as he watched the mercenaries drag the enraged Orc away.

“Hey! What did ye do to that other Orc, ye scums?!” Gridish shouted as he started rattling his chain. “Well!?!? Ye feel all mighty now?! Draggin’ away a chained up Orc?!” Gridish continued. The other prisoners looked at Gridish in a confused manner. “You don’t know what they did to him… They could’ve killed him… Be quiet if you don’t want to end up like him” one of the prisoners whispered to Gridish but it didn’t seem to matter. “Come down here and fight me ye scums! Come on!” Gridish continued. Soon after the same two mercenaries came down to inspect the racket caused by Gridish. “You want to get knocked out cold as well, spellslinger?” one of the mercenaries asked in a menacing manner. “Take this thin’ off my neck and see If ye can.” Gridish said with a smirk plastered on his face. The mercenaries looked at each other, shaking their heads while sighing. “What did these prisoners eat?” one of the mercenaries asked. “Same procedure as the last one” the mercenary continued as they made their way to the rebellious Orc. Gridish lifted his hands as far as he could when the mercenaries were close and pleaded “Wait wait wait… please no. Please don’t hurt me..” The two mercenaries paused and gave the Orc a confused look. “You should’ve thought of that before you made us come down..” a mercenary said, clearly annoyed. The young Orc that accompanied Gridish’ mentor slowly got to his feet and reached out for the chain of keys on the mercenaries belt that had passed the young Orc to reach Gridish. “I know…. I wasted yer time and-… I’m sorry.” Gridish said in response to the mercenaries. “I wasn’t thinkin’… It was stupid of me.” He continued, buying more time for the young Orc. The young Orc slowly raised his arms towards the mercenary’s belt. “Ghrm… You still wasted our time, so lights out for you.” One of the mercenaries told Gridish and got ready to knock Gridish out. Suddenly the sound of a rattling chain echoed through the room from behind the mercenaries. The mercenaries turned their attention to the young Orc that was trying to pickpocket them. “OI!” the closest mercenary shouted, drew a dagger and sliced the throat of the young Orc open. “NO!” Gridish shouted and jolted to his feet, just to get interrupted by the length of the chain. The young Orc dropped to the floor, blood flowing down his chest. “He tried to kill me!” the dagger wielding mercenary said in a panic. “Did you set him up to this, spellslinger?” the other mercenary asked. Gridish growled while trying to get free from his chains. The two mercenaries looked at each other trying to make sense of the situation. “Let the spellslinger cool off here.. Give him a chance to think about the fact that he has to live with the consequences of the decisions he makes..” One of the mercenaries said, gesturing towards the lifeless body of the young Orc. The mercenaries nodded to one another before leaving the room. Once the two mercenaries left the room. Gridish stared at the lifeless body of the young Orc and fell to his knees as he pinched away a tear.

One day later
The past several hours Gridish has tried to come up with a new escape plan but with little success. His mind had been clouded by the loss of his mentor, the young Orc companion and possibly Lofty. Will he ever see Kogra again he thought to himself as he knew it was a matter of time before the mercenaries would walk through that door to grab him. To end his life. There seemed to be no clear answer as to what he could do to get out of this situation alive. His years of training, becoming the Orc he was just to be captured and killed by mercenaries. The Orc felt lost. The Orc felt defeated. He didn’t even realize the mercenaries entering the room. He was lost in his thoughts. Thoughts of what he could’ve done differently. Perhaps he should’ve told the tribe where he was going to. Maybe everyone would still be alive, including himself. “Get up you sobbing piece of meat and bones.” One of the mercenaries said as he kicked Gridish. “It’s showtime” the mercenary continued. Gridish looked up to the mercenaries and did as he was told. Once he got to his feet, one of the mercenaries detached the chain from the floor and started walking towards the door, the chain in his hand yanking Gridish along. Gridish followed as well as the second mercenary. The hallway that they walked though was dimly lit by torches and carved out of rugged stone like the room he was held prisoner in. The hallway ended with a door. Gridish could hear several voices on the other side, but couldn’t make any words out. The front mercenary opened the door and stepped aside as the second mercenary pushed Gridish through the door. The sudden surge of light that illuminated the room blinded Gridish for a few seconds. “Our next item on the list is a special one!” a cutting voice shouted. “Fresh off the streets! An Orc talented in the arts of spell slinging!” the cutting voice continued. “Very talented I tell you! He took out three of my guys with ease! Was a tough catch… A great training dummy for yourself or maybe even an individual to bet on during a fight!” The room cheered and laughed as the cutting voice paused momentarily. “If you win, you will get his book collection for free! Several books filled with arcane markings and writing! Worth quite a lot if you ask me!” The cutting voice continued. “How about we start the bidding off with 20 gold pieces? Do I hear 50?! Oh too generous sir!” The wave of sound and light overwhelmed Gridish. The blinding light swiftly morphed into a blinding darkness. The only thing he could sense was the fading cutting voice “Going once! Going twice! Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooold to the individuals in the back!”

[Gridish]

Was motivated to write the second part of the 3 part story. I hope it's a clear story. Was a bit tricky with the several individuals involved. Any constructive feedback is always welcome. Most important is that you lot enjoy!

[Kozgugore]

Wow. What a development! Poor Griddy! But then again, such immensely interesting intrigue! Great read again! Only thing I could consider adding is to try and add a bit of extra formatting here and there in between all the spoken lines. Could just be due to me being a bit tired at this point though, so eh... possibly scratch that. xD

[Gridish]

It's a valid tip, Kozzle, thanks! I'll see if I can implement it into the third part of the story!

[Okiba]

Oh My!  <3