16 Chariot Massacre

It was easy to find the lady's chariot. It awaited by the road, surrounded by dead guards and servants. The ground was marked with prints, and signs of combat, but there were no corpses from the attackers, and the defenders' swords were on the ground. That suggested to me that the attackers had not been orcs, as if they had been, they would've left their dead, and scavenged from the corpses.. possibly eaten them. What else could it have been, then..? Something or someone shifting the blame to the orcs? Wouldn't be the first time.. everybody always blames the orcs.

Checking the chariot we found that it was empty, and the door was not only open, but missing. It lay on the ground at a considerable distance, clearly having been yanked off with senselessly strong strength. The inside of the chariot, however, was intact, and between the pillows we even found a hastily penned note about how scared the occupant.. the aristocratic fiancee.. was about others dying to keep her face.

Fortunately, we didn't find her corpse there. It would've made for a very quick mission.. so we moved on, and followed a road sign to Village. Whoever they may be, it made sense that an orcish force nearby would be a threat to them.. and indeed, at the village things were not well.

The only living thing we saw was a chicken.

Drai bound it for reasons only a platinum dragon can understand. Some searching.. and we found two Halfling children. Fortunately Rivyre was with us this time and could help with the translations. It seemed that orcs had attacked the village and captured the adults, whereas the children had hidden. The orcs had not set fire to the place.. why, I don't know.

As the children were terrified, I took my lute and starting singing children's songs. eventually they came close, and Rivyre translated an offer that I could play songs of their choice too. Halfling songs for children are not my specialty, but I can carry a tune and play a song I hear, and soon the mood in the village had changed for the better. We learned a bit more, of how a sizable orc force had taken their parents away from the main city, carrying them in cages... which is also a novelty.Mostly orcs make their captives walk. Perhaps they wanted to make sure they could move fast, suggesting they feared a force somewhere near. But what..? The city response to a missing princess had been lethargic to use a kind word.