Eldon considers Luthien’s words a moment before he replies.

 ”Does the spell compel the subject to speak the truth Luthien?  If not, I would cast the spell with great care.   A dead orc is  still going to hate you as much as it did when it was alive, and if it were me I’d answer with lies and half truths to cause you the greatest harm.”

Silently Krwyn searches the two leftmost orcs, he had killed himself. They had nothing but their almost worthless hide armour and crude weapons, so the only thing he did was decapitating both and rolling their heads far away.

Among the arrows she collected, she had found a pouch containing some coins and a ring, holding it up she recognized it to be a wedding band. She slowly turned it in her fingertips to see if there were any engravings before placing the coins in her coin pouch. She played with the ring a bit more as she watched the others from a distance, still a little unsure if she could trust any of them, and the two new males that came into the fold after she did, felt off to her even more than the others.

Luthien asks the first question of the dead body:

"How is the river being blocked?"

He presumed it was a dam, but it could be physical, magical, or some other way.

Devan will be truly surprised if the river is being blocked magically; not unless the orcs have help or abilities he couldn't even fathom.  Not finding his dagger, but examining the new one closely he returns to the group while examining the odd dagger himself back and forth.  He has it open where anyone can see, but doesn't make a big deal about it.  That way, if there is some mark that ends the world, he'd know else wise its just a replacement for the one he lost.

  The orc  said, humans  and some Giant kin that  came from the North..  rows of   tree trunks and  Morter  with  Ropes  and chains   they have spill off  on each side to keep water  goings...they can shut that off  when  they want..we would bring them  people , sell them.. some are good workers..they make  work, those who weren;'t good workers, Giant  kin eat.

Luthien asks his 2nd speak with dead question:

"Is any of the construction magical?"

That'll tell him if dispelling is helpful.

  The  orc   snorted  as he  tried  to speak,There  are Magelings there..there  are sages  as well and  Machine woeshipers ..i do not know such things.. I kill,and i fight...or...i did..

Question 3:

"How large is the defense force guarding the area? I want numbers."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:47, Sun 18 Feb.

Many Humans from Hargem..Giant Kin,  men from  down the storm river..red Elves..many ..many of them all.. they are expecting  somehting...somehting that they seem glad  to help with.

”Perhaps you could ask them their greatest fear in regards to an attack, or biggest perceived weakness. Eldon suggests trying to think of something that might show a way the party could take advantage  of the situation that had been explained.

Devan gets an idea; a crazy one, "Ask it How often do humans join them? What do they do to vet the new arrivals?  One of those".  He listens and watches around and then looks back at the ork, trying to get a bead on how much it thinks it can lie and get away with even dead.  It doesn't have anything to lose per se, but he doesn't trust it.

 Elandra was searching the Holy Orc when Luthien was talking to the dead Leader she killed, so knowing the spell she stayed away from him so she wouldn't possibly trigger any bad reactions from the dead Orc.

 Elandra found some silver and a small throwing dagger made of silver, the Hilt has a woman's name carved   in that says ' Grana'. Elandra will then cast detect magic on the dagger, but a silver weapon had it's uses as well.

With nothing further to offer, Eldon will remove a whet stone from his backpack and hone the blades of the axes as well as the daggers he'd returned to his boots.  He'll talk to anyone around as he waits, just small talk to get an idea of their nature, especially Elandra if she is close and since he has already broken the ice with her, it would be easier plus she has the added benefit of being easy on his eye.

    with a Nod to  Ivy, Kree says,Lysander's  runnign aorund  out there... You   get to the edge of the tree line and keep an Eye on the road, Once  Luthien is done with the orc, we will move on..

 Ivy  nodded and moved   to the North to  get the road insight.

 Dala  walked over to  Kree  , was  cleaning the   flesh plugs off his  arrows  that he Cut out of the orcs.You  know?... captain?  The   Widow  river is know  for its  high water  in the spring.. if the  Hargenites   are looking to flood Yad  and   areas  down stream.. the Damn will just add to that.

 He looked up with a  smile , then went back to his arrows, cleaning blood off in the snowgod to see   you paid attention in  the classes you had on the lands  around you.....yes..but it  works  both ways... that water  that will be built up, could   clean out Hergen itself, if  we  can turn that dam against them.

 what if they are Building the dam, simply to   have   better fishing?

 The damn will restrict   shipping, it already has.. most of the good in Yad  were either Hargenite, or from the North, Barbarians   and  even Sandfolk, make..as well as items from down river  from the coast and even Ironmound.. it also restricts   folks from going to Hargen and lands beyond for trading .. Fishing? I have never heard anyone complain about fishing, except for those who have to deal with serpents .   Just in the waters  of Ironmound itself, is  enough  fish  and serpents  to  feed the  city during a siege!  No... This  dam is a weapon, and the hargenites
  feel comforted to know, that they will see   troops coming   before  then can get close enough  to study it.

 so?  They send us  instead?

 Kree chuckled...They sent The Arrows... you were swept along, and had to take  the Pin, or else i would have sent you home..

 i I would not have Gone!

 I would have   Tasked Luthien with takign you back..

she  crossed her   arms  and  gave a miffed  snort.

 As Eldon came over the silver throwing dagger glowed with magic, Elandra smiled and said," Thank you Goddess Amot for sending me 'Grana' she will be a useful weapon." Elandra put Grana on her belt and smiled at Eldon.

 As Elandra waited she said to Eldon," How did you get captured by the Orcs and how did you escape?" Elandra smiled, her golden hair flowing in the breeze, and her crystal blue eyes looking at him.

Eldon thinks for a moment, a little disarmed by Elandra's smile, before he replies.  "You know Elandra I've been asking that of myself that as well.  My talents generally keep me fairly safe, so I've been wracking my brain as to how it could have happened.

Unless a more obviously method appears I've settled on being drugged.

Truthfully the last thing I can remember was being in a pub having a drink, and then I turned up with the orc's.  That was a rather rude awakening, since I was trussed up and being kicked and spat at.  I didn't think anyone had it in for me, so I imagine being a strange face in a pub was enough to be seen as currency to settle someone's debts, or for someone to make some quick coin.

Luckily even trussed up I'm not completely defenceless.  I've developed some slight magical talent, enough to make me quite difficult to capture, and hard to keep caught.

Once I had my senses back and the orcs were lured to complacency, I slipped my bonds and made my escape.  I wasn't in any real danger of being recaptured, but then I walked into your group."

Eldon seemed a little wary to be revealing too much about himself, like it made him slightly uncomfortable as he didn't really know this group other than having a common enemy, but Elandra's vestments and smile coupled with her sparkling crystal blue eyes caused him to be more open.  It's not hard to tell he's quite smitten with the good looks of the girl he hardly knows.

His face brightened as he deftly changes the subject, "I'm more interested in you, and how you came to be here.  Why aren't you decorating some knights arm because I'm sure you could have your pick of suitors, or at least a much easier life than this."

Luthien asks the 4th question: "If the dam were to be used to release all the water at once, where are the controls for doing that?"

Playing off the weakness idea.

  The  orc  snorts,I bring bodies  for work and  fod. They don't  tell me how  it  works.. we are told, that the God s will  wipe  many of the Empire's people from the   lower valey, and  the orcs  can reign.

In reply to orcs (msg # 1005):

Luthien only gets one more question:

Where is the head engineer usually located?"

In reply to Eldon Daggett (msg # 1003):

 Elandra listened closely to Eldon, she found him fascinating. " Well you were probably drugged by someone and then sold to the Orcs. I am very glad you have found your Peace and escaped and wondered into our party."

 Eldon then asked more about her and this hard life she was on," I am a servant of the Goddess of Peace Amot, I was traveling spreading the word of Amot when my caravan was attacked by Cat Folk. Everyone but myself was killed or captured, I ran as fast as I could and ran into Captain Kree and the Arrows. We hit it off and I have been with them ever since. I believe the Goddess Amot has a purpose for me and wished me to travel with the Arrows. Oh I am not the type to be on a knight's arm, that isn't for me. I just want to serve Amot and help others find their Peace. I often do take vengeance on those who have taken and destroyed others Peace, they must be punished.

 Elanda had her gear already to go, as she just kept her distance from the Orc leader she blew a hole through. Elandra smiled again at Eldon and then asked," So you are a Mage, do you have a magic specialization or are you a general Mage. I cast Divine spells granted to me by the Goddess Amot."

"Hence the weapons, for vengeance upon those who have disturbed the peace of others." Eldon surmises nodding to her and hoping he was reflecting the way she thought back to her.

And then she smiled at him again, and as he watched the smile lines form around the sides of her mouth, he almost forgot to listen to her words given he was so intent on watching her lips move.  He had certainly stopped sharpening the blade of his dagger on the whetting stone.  He held them both in his hands now like he'd forgotten what either of them existed.  Quiet a moment after her question, he had to replay her words silently back to himself to make sense of them.  He hoped he wasn't coming across as bumbling as he felt.

"I,...I guess you could say I'm specialised, but not really as a mage, as you can probably tell by my armour and weapons.  My speciality is finding and retrieving things.  I only started to dabble in magic to make me better at what I do, but to my surprise, and my teachers, I was able to understand the fundamentals of arcane law better than many, it just seemed to make sense to me."

"My magic, for what it's worth, is tailored towards getting me into places and discovering secrets whilst enabling me to get out of tight situations alive, which is why it wasn't hard for me to escape my captors.  If I hadn't run into you guys, I was going to circle back to retrieve my stuff and then head back to the pub to find out how I was caught, and who it was that set me up."

When he had finished speaking, he was surprised this complete stranger now knew more about him than most people alive, and he didn't care, and he wondered what else he could ask to hold her attention.

"and what are we now trying to do?  What's the importance of this dam/"

She listened to the interrogation with mild interest, blue eyes watching the orc for a bit before she looked around to the others.

Tyri was honestly glad for the brief downtime as she tucked a few stray honey colored strands of hair back behind her ear. After making it a point to collect her own expended arrows, she followed after Ivy. "Ivyain...could I speak with you?" she asked, not sure if this was the right time or what but also needing to get it off her chest. A different perspective was much needed.

 swishing  to   'YAD #2 :