Grr-kah

• Player Name: Crissy

• Race: Half Orc

• Class: Barbarian

• Year Born: 12 AoC

• Kingdom: Mayor of Albridge (a town in The Freelands) and Chieftain of the River Tribe

• Physical Traits: At 6'10 and 280lbs, she certainly comes in at the larger side of half orcs. Her black hair is usually kept tied back in short braids, and decorated with handmade beads, feathers, and animal teeth, and she has dark brown eyes.

• Personality Traits: Simple, and honorable. She prefers peaceful means to a resolution, but fights with just as much pleasure and skill as other barbarians when necessary.

• Quirks: She never knew she could be attractive, as both orcs and humans had usually looked at her with disgust, however once she finally found herself in company of other half orcs, she learned otherwise. She also has a terrible dislike of violent droolers, and before Garn's orcs took back the name, she'd become offended at being called an orc. Grr-kah also hates when people are sneaking about and skulking, frequently proclaiming "If you skulking, you up to no good.". As a way to seem less intimidating to others, Grr-kah also used to speak with horrible grammar and refer to herself in the third person. Eventually, as orcs gained a better name for themselves, and people became less fearful, she began to speak properly. She also dropped the stupid act.

• Campaign: Unfortunately I refer to Grr-kah as a campaign killer. She was a part of two separate campaigns that died not too long after they were started. Now Grr-kah lives on as a colorful and loved NPC.

In the beginning ...

Grr-kah was born to the Frost Wolf tribe of human tribesman in the mountains of Highland. Her mother, Gyda, had recently lost her husband to a snow bear, and she was determined not to be a drain on the tribe, so went out hunting for herself.

A terrible snow storm came upon her while she was out, and she traveled much further from her tribe than she had intended to in her hunt. While trying to find her way, however, she stumbled across a small hunting party of orcs (droolers) also lost in the storm. Though she tried to fight them off, the three of them overpowered her, and as they had been away from their own tribe for a few weeks now, they dragged her back to their camp and had their fun.

Though battered and abused, Gyda pretended to sleep and waited for the others to do the same. While one of them was left to guard, she crept over to where one of them lay sleeping, and cut his throat. Quickly she dispatched the other sleeping orc, and then sneaked up behind the last keeping watch, killing him as well. She gathered up what supplies she could, and eventually found her way back to the tribe.

Her people appreciated her tale, and of how she took her vengeance on the beasts that wronged her, however all was not well as it quickly became apparent that something was wrong. That terrible altercation had left her with child.

Some of the tribesman urged her to take herbal concoctions to kill the unborn child, others told her to wait until it was born and leave it out in the mountains to let the elements take it.

Though the experience was horrific, Gyda couldn't help but begin to become attached to the unborn child. Her husband had died too soon to give her any children of her own, and the thought of killing an innocent babe conceived through no fault of its own was too terrible to contemplate.

And so, against the wishes of the majority of the tribe, Gyda gave birth to a large, healthy baby girl, and kept her.

Grr-kah faced a lot of hardships growing up in the tribe because of this, but it wasn't all bad. Her mother loved her, and she'd made a few friends among the other children her age due to her size and skill at scrapping. When it came time to start warrior training, she even gained the respect of the Chief and a few of the other warriors as her size once again played to her advantage and she took to fighting like a natural.

There were still those, though, that resented her. Some because they were convinced that "blood will tell" and her horrible orc lineage would cause her to turn on them. Others, younger warriors mostly, were jealous of her size and strength. It killed her to see her tribe split, and divided, and to have herself be the cause of it. This went against everything she had learned a tribe should be, and it was something she took to heart. Once she came of age then, and passed her trials of adulthood, she came to a decision. For the good of the tribe, she would leave.

She announced her decision to the Chief the next day, and when she explained her reasons, he greatly respected her reasons. With the blessing of the chieftain, the shaman, her mother and a few friends, she left the tribe carrying the gifts they had given to help her make her way in the world.

Since she'd had such trouble fitting in with the human side of her lineage, Grr-kah decided to try to spend time among other orcs. Perhaps there, she wouldn't be such a monster, and could find a home among them. She sought out a tribe of orcs (droolers) then, and after challenging one of their warriors, she earned a spot among them.

Quickly she learned though, that this was not the dream she'd had of acceptance. The only difference was that instead of being feared for being large, ugly, and brutish, she was now scorned for being small, ugly, and weak.

It took her several months then among them to gain any respect. It was a hard time, and though she saw them as violent, brutal, and slow, she was determined to keep an open mind and fit in among them.

Finally, after a lot of training and hard work, she proved herself enough to be included on a raid. This was one of the biggest honors in the tribe, and she was thrilled to finally be included. What she understood of these raids, is that the warriors would go and attack other tribes, or merchants even, and after valiantly fighting their warriors and proving their superiority, would send them off and claim their goods as the spoils of victory.

As she sat in on their meeting to plan the attack however, she quickly found the truth.

They had heard of a merchant caravan that was to be traveling through a pass near their territory that was supposed to be carrying a large amount of supplies, and had only a few guard. It was late in the season, and most of the caravan guards had already been hired out to others by the time they were able to arrive in the last town after delays.

Listening with growing horror, she heard them tell of how they would wait in ambush, and a few of them would take out the guards quickly, while the rest of the caravan would be left helpless for the rest to charge in for slaughter and fun. She listened as they gleefully laughed over a former raid as one of the men had cried and begged for his life, and for the life of his wife traveling with them. She listened as they lewdly described what they had done to them, and as they eagerly hoped the women of this caravan would prove just as easy targets.

Knowing it was her life to do any different, Grr-kah forced herself to stay through the rest of the planning, and as those chosen for the raiding party drank themselves unconscious, she gathered her few belongings and left. Her honor wouldn't allow her to leave this caravan to their fate, and so that same night, she made her way to their camping sight to warn them. Wary and disbelieving at first, she managed to convince them of their plight, and they quickly sent one of the younger boys on a horse back to a knight's garrison tower they'd passed not long before.

The knights, once contacted, rode hard to reach the caravan, and after staying up the rest of the night they came up with a plan to turn the ambush around.

As the orcs came upon them in pass, the knights quickly overcame them, and with further information from Grr-kah, they found their way back to the tribe to take care of the rest of them.

Grateful for her assistance, the merchants hired Grr-kah on for the remainder of their journey, and finally, she thought, she had found her place. It may not be a tribe, and they may not stick to any one spot, but perhaps here she could find a home.

She soon became disillusioned to this however, as though they were polite and courteous, they kept her at a distance. They appreciated her fighting prowess, but she could see the fear in their eyes when they spoke to her.

At the final stop of their season, they paid her, and quickly left her alone in the city. Feeling lonely and depressed, Grr-kah took the coin she had earned, and drank herself into oblivion night after night, until the coin ran out. She took to hiring herself out as muscle, and took a few more jobs as a caravan guard, but always she found herself alone in the end.

Along the way, she began to learn if she acted stupid, others would be less afraid, and would be more likely to treat her with camaraderie, if not actual respect, and desperate to fit in somewhere, she used this method repeatedly.

Eventually, drunk out of her mind, she was found in a town she couldn't remember the name of by an adventuring party looking for some muscle.

The first campaign ...

It wasn't difficult to convince Grr-kah to join with this adventuring party. It seemed like a dream come true to the lonely half orc. These people wanted her to join their group, seeking adventure and coin together in their travels.

After a few minor adventures however, their luck seemed to have run dry. They found themselves lost on what seemed never ending plains, their supplies were nearly out and their last coin was spent. Tempers were high, and feelings were low, until finally, following a river, they came across a town situated on an island in the middle of the river.

Eagerly they headed into the town of Albridge to look for work in trade of some much-needed supplies, and they found the job they were desperately looking for.

In the inn, they met a middle aged halfling woman name Talia, who owned the inn and was considered one of the elders of the town council. She told them of their terrible plight.

Apparently the town had been protected for years by a great seal of Pelor housed in their temple, and this had allowed them to live in peace and protection for centuries due to the efforts of a paladin many years ago who placed it there. The seal had been stolen however, and now their town was left defenseless unless it could be retrieved and reinstated in the temple.

The group found the trail the next day after digging around the temple for clues, and found that the seal had been taken into the mountains nearby to some old ruins patrolled by giants and some orcs (droolers) they had bullied into service.

After a lot of planning and tactics, they were able to infiltrate the old keep, and worked their way through the orcs guarding it, and were able to retrieve the seal. Together they slew the giant leading the forces, and the remaining giants fled, and they returned to Albridge triumphant.

When the priest of the temple went to return the seal to its rightful place and reenact the protection once more, it didn't work however. For too long had the town relied on the protection of a god, and they must now learn to protect themselves.

With the aid of an old retired Paladin of Pelor, Sir Albert, or Al, the party began teaching the people how to defend themselves.

Deciding to take it upon herself to do evening patrols, it was while on patrol in the town that Grr-kah uncovered the plot. She spotted a figure skulking through the shadows and followed, until eventually catching up, she attacked and subdued them. It was the mayor.

The noise attracted others, and Grr-kah declared “Grr-kah caught mayor skulking. If skulking mean you up to no good!”, and indeed it was found that the mayor had arranged for the seal to be stolen, and had hired a large mercenary band to come in to protect the town. One that responded to only his orders and thus give him power over the town council.

For his actions, the mayor was jailed and fired from his position, but there was still a major problem. This mercenary band was known to Grr-kah and her fellow companions, and had a nasty, terrible reputation.

They needed a mayor to speak for the town, and to convince this band that there was no profit to be made here; that they were no longer welcome. Grr-kah was big, strong, and intimidating. After a quick discussion, the council had decided to elect Grr-kah as Mayor of Albridge.

Proudly wearing the seal of office, and a slightly torn fancy vest belonging to the former mayor, Grr-kah confronted the mercenary band when they arrived and convinced them to leave.

Afterwards, the council decided to keep Grr-kah on as mayor, as it was really the council that made most of the decisions anyway. Even when the rest of the adventuring party moved on, Grr-kah decided to stay. “Grr-kah mayor now. Grr-kah good mayor!” she declared.

She'd finally found a home.

A new home …

Once settled in her new home, Grr-kah took her role as mayor very seriously. According to the towns peoples’ description of what being a mayor implies (being the tie breaker in decisions among the council, protecting the town, organizing defense, and handling disputes among the townspeople) she decided that “mayor” was just another term for “chieftain”.

First, she tried to convince them that the town, though already situated on an island in the middle of a river, needed a wall. When they first questioned where the stone for the wall was to come from, Grr-kah told them to build it from the stones of the former mayor’s manor home, and several others. “Grr-kah have tent. If build wall, no need house.” She declared.

Then, concerned that there weren’t very many people that lived in the town considering the resources available, Grr-kah went on a crusade to attempt to convince the townsfolk to have more children. This was an awkward situation, as Grr-kah didn’t quite understand what the big deal was of encouraging the young people to begin the process of making babies.

With the assistance of Sir Albert, or Al, another priority was to keep up the training of the people of Albridge in defensive fighting, using both actual and improvised weapons. Thankfully with the retired paladin’s help, this task was proving much easier than the first two.

Lastly, Grr-kah took up frequent patrols around the lands of the town. Before going off, she would announce to the town “Grr-kah go on patrol. Time to protect town. Be back soon. You no die.” and leave without further pomp. Most people shrugged, and took it at face value that she was patrolling for trouble, but it was only a small part of what she meant. While on patrol, of course she was making sure nothing dangerous was in the vicinity of the town, however she was also scouting out resources; fertile lands as yet unused for planting, game trails and movements of prey, lucrative fishing holes, minerals, and caves in the mountains nearby as a place to store extra provisions and to provide a potential egress point in case of an emergency. This was all a part of a chieftain’s job after all.

The more she tried to properly transform her people into a functioning tribe, however, the more frustrated she became. They weren’t responding well to many of the ways she was trying to teach them to survive in what she felt was the best method. Talia tried to explain matters to Grr-kah many times, on how that wasn’t really how the townspeople lived here, but it didn’t stop Grr-kah from trying.

The second campaign …

Grr-kah had been living as mayor among the people of Albridge for about a year, when another adventuring party came into her life. They had details of trouble brewing in an old mining system not far from the town, and were looking to investigate the problem. What really gained her attention however, was when shortly after this party arrived, two half orcs also arrived in town in the middle of a mission of their own.

They were twins, by the name of Arrg and Yarrg; Champions of Avalon. Grr-kah was discussing the issue of this danger the party was telling her of near the town when the two of them entered Talia’s tavern.

“Woah! Check out that hottie!” one said.

“Yeah, check out the muscles on her!” his twin responded.

Grr-kah looked around in confusion. When she caught their eyes, and noticed they seemed to be talking to her and not someone else nearby, she tentatively flexed an arm muscle.

“Nice bicep, sexy.” Arrg grinned.

Grr-kah turned and flexed again.

“That’s some sweet muscle tone.” Yarrg added.

Now Grr-kah was grinning ear to ear. She’d never received any male attention before now. Humans thought she was big and ugly, and the orcs(droolers) she’d dealt with though she was small and ugly. In a rather awkward manner, Grr-kah flirted back with the two of them as best as she could muster, imitating what she’d seen other women do under the same circumstances.

The two of them invited her somewhere a little more private to talk, and once away from the humans, she dropped the ridiculous “dumb talk”, though she’d done it for so long she found it difficult. The three of them hit it off quite well, and it wasn’t long before Grr-kah was finally introduced to something she had been desperately missing in her life. Though they had to leave the next day, the twins promised they’d return when they got a chance to pick up where they left off, and Grr-kah was left feeling empowered in a way she’d never felt before. For the first time, she really felt like a woman.

The next day, after saying goodbye, it wasn’t difficult for the adventuring party to convince Grr-kah that they best way to protect Albridge was to accompany them on their mission to investigate the unrest in what were thought to be abandoned mines, and they soon set out.

Though the mine wasn’t far, it was still a few days travel, and when they stopped in another town for the evening, Grr-kah found that the cook for the inn they were staying in was a half orc as well, and tried out her newly discovered feminine wiles with success. It was then that an idea began to form, and afterwards, Grr-kah invited him to relocate to Albridge; the town where half orcs were so accepted, there was one for a mayor! He agreed, and as the party left the town the next morning, he was packing his things to make the journey.

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing, if all the down trodden, mistrusted, outcast orc bloods could find a peaceful accepting home like she had? She decided her new goal was to offer Albridge as a new to those along the journey that were like her; for people looking for a place to belong.

It wasn’t long before the adventurers found the mine, and far from abandoned, it seemed someone had taken it over. Worse, this someone was using slave labor. When they snuck into the mine, they found a little over a dozen orcs in chains forced to hard labor in the mines, and punished brutally every time they resisted. At this point, while Grr-kah didn’t like orcs due to her prior experience, she couldn’t stand to see them enslaved.

The party was able to get to the bottom of a nasty plot of the people who had taken over the mines, and after some crafty thinking and pitched battles they managed to get rid of the slavers, and free the orcs.

As Grr-kah undid their chains, they expressed their gratitude.

“For freeing us from those bastards, we are in debt. What tribe are you from? We will take word back to our people to ensure peace between us in thanks.” One of them asked.

Tribe? Well, she couldn’t claim the tribe of her birth; she was self-exiled from them. She couldn’t give the name of Albridge, as that wasn’t really any tribal name. Fish tribe? No, though the town relied heavily on fishing, it wasn’t important enough to name a tribe for, but then …

“River Tribe! Yeah! I am River Tribe.” She proclaimed. It seemed fitting.

Grr-kah took two fingers and made a wavy like in the dirt to show the symbol of the tribe, and they left a red cloth token for her to use in case she ever needed to prove the favor owed by their people, promising her peace with them, and free passage through their lands should the need arise.

Little did she know that these orcs were from a lost scouting party of the Iron Mountains.

Afterwards …

Shortly after this adventure, Grr-kah was determined to return home after taking care of the problem in the old mines, and on her way back, she made sure to speak with every orc blood she met to offer a home among her town.

She’d decided that the people of Albridge weren’t really made out for being a true tribe, and though she would continue to work diligently as their mayor, it she wanted a tribe, she was going to have to build it herself.

As time passed, more orc bloods, and even a few of the more peaceful orcs, some droolers, some not, began trickling in to Albridge. Before long Grr-kah decided that the tribe needed to set out for its own, and they took up residence on the bank of the river outside of the town. Arrg and Yarrg made frequent visits whenever they could, and Grr-kah declared them both her mates. Now that she found acceptance, she also dropped the “dumb talk” once and for all, unafraid that she would be rejected now.

The small tribe flourished on the river, and being River Tribe, they held it sacred, almost worshiping it. After all, the river provided life in the form of clean water, and fresh fish, and even when the river floods and the tribe needs to move for the season, when they return, the flood plains are left rich and fertile for growing. The river also provides a source of drinking water for the many varied animals of prey, drawing them out in abundance and providing the tribe with many wonderful resources.

And like the river they named themselves for, they strive to be like the river. To be calm, flowing deeply, and quietly. The river is a giver of a great many gifts, but it is also to be respected. Just as it is peaceful and life giving, if roused during a great storm or surge of the floods the river can also be a powerful force for destruction. So the River Tribe would be; remaining peaceful, quiet, and calm, and coming down like the raging floodwaters when the need arises.

This near worship of the river brought even more fortune to the river tribe, though they themselves are unaware, as several naiads and other water loving fae have taken up residence in the river near the tribe and town. The fish have never been more abundant, and even the unlucky swimmer caught unawares has miraculously found themselves washed back up to the bank when they had been sure they would drown.

During this time, Grr-kah and the River Tribe were also approached by orcs of the Iron Mountains. More than once a small scouting party would approach Grr-kah offering her and the people of the tribe a place among the Iron Mountain orcs, however knowing they carried a more warlike tendency, and cherishing their autonomy, Grr-kah continued to politely refuse. She and her tribe were happy, and flourishing.

It also wasn’t too long before Grr-kah was blessed with children of her own. Her mates, Arrg and Yarrg, were able to get her with child. Quadruplets, in fact. Though it was a difficult pregnancy and birth, all four were born healthy. When asked who the father was, Grr-kah insists both of them are, and Arrg and Yarrg enthusiastically agree. What better for these children than to have not one, but two fathers, especially considering they are unable to stay with the tribe as often as they’d like due to their job.

One thing Grr-kah did find concerning however, was the talk coming in of a new Orc Empire, ruled over by the son of Garn the Conqueror. When rumor was concerned, she grew wary of their intentions, and what it would mean for the River Tribe and their cherished autonomy.

And so, Grr-kah packed up the River Tribe, informing the town of Albridge they’d be gone for a short while in which they would travel to Kogad-zor to seek an audience with this King Hjald and to determine his intentions towards the River Tribe.

It was a long journey, but the entire tribe, consisting of twenty-three adults and fifteen children, made the trek to Kogad-zor to demand an audience with Hjald. Many among the tribe were afraid of not being able to leave again, but Grr-kah took the gamble, trusting in the tales that spoke of Hjald as an honorable, and reasonable man.

The River Tribe was received into the empire and escorted directly to the hold where Hjald conducted the business of the empire, and there their concerns were laid to rest. He assured the tribe of their autonomy, and received Grr-kah as a fellow chieftain into his home, and it was agreed that there would be peace between the two of them.

Shortly after their arrival, news also happened to reach the tribe of the newly awakened goddess Nishka, and the orcs and orc bloods of the River Tribe were immediately curious of this goddess who held such closely matched ideals to their own …