Founding of Deania [5] (Patreon)

Sam, Dean, Yonda, Erula, and Anyatara emerged in an encampment much like the one they'd just left, only on a far larger scale. Their teleportation had brought them to an inner courtyard.

"Okay, as soon as we exit this chamber we're going to start running into orcs. That means we need to look like we belong. Sam and Dean, now would be a good time to activate those invisibility talismans."

Sam and Dean both activated their talismans, disappearing from visible sight. Then Anyatara turned to Yonda and Erula.

"You're up, big guy." Anyatara said to her charmed orc. He shuffled forward in a daze while Anyatara used a bit of her zeal to activate the invisibility talismans on Sam and Dean. Then she placed a necklace around the brawny orc that matched one around her own neck.

Then Anyatara handed Yonda and Erula a pair of decorative gold collars with fine chains attached. "You'll have to put these on. My prisoner here will have everyone else thinking we're hisprisoners. Based on what I got out of him, elves on leashes shouldn't be an uncommon sight around this encampment, so we shouldn't stand out."

Yonda and Erula reluctantly put on the golden collars and handed the ends to the Anyatara in the orc body.

"You planned this." Yonda accused.

"Those who didn't know you well might accuse you of having dirty designs on us, Anyatara." Erula giggled.

"I should be the one in the orc body." Dean pouted.

After a few jokes at Dean's expense, the whole group suited up and prepared to sneak their way through a fortress full of orcs. They exited the area that held the teleportation array to find themselves in a circular hall filled with similar chambers.

If each one of those represents a chamber leading to a similar outpost, Sam thought, then the orc presence in this region is far stronger than we estimated.

Yonda crossed her arms as she was led along by the orc, and Erula puffed out her cheeks and pouted as she passed a group of orcs gathered in a circle and laughing uproariously.

"Brother Keergal! One of them shouted to the dazed orc leading the three leashed elves and two invisible humans. "I see you caught three more war prizes! Aren't you a little too old to be raiding villages? You should leave a few elves for your subordinates!"

The orcs laughed and I realized Anyatara's host's name was Keergal. Anyatara didn't respond to the orc's heckling. For all she knew, this group of orcs knew her host well and would be able to pick up on any strange behavior on her part. The real Keergal squirmed in Anyatara's body, trying to catch the attention of his kinsmen.

"Oho! Looks like you got lucky with a feisty one!" One of the orcs said. "She has fire in her eyes. Those are the best kind. Though I suppose the other two are adorable as well."

Erula made a face at the group of orcs, as if daring them to say something more. In response, the orcs laughed even more uproariously and went back to drinking. None of the three wizards used anything more than their auras to conceal the might of their cultivation, but orcs weren't too skilled at probing another's strength from a distance so even that much was proving unnecessary.

The real Keergal in Anyatara's body shook his fists in frustration, unable to escape the grip of his own body as he was hauled around on his own shoulders like a sack of grain. The orc had likely never felt so frustrated with his meathead companions in his life.

Anyatara approached a desk, where there was an orc eating a sandwich with an elf kneeling next to him on the ground.

"Welcome back, Keergal." The orc waved Keergal through while the elf wrote something down. "The grand warchief is drafting magical devices again and does not wish to be disturbed, but your latest orders and supplies are waiting for you. Have your war prizes tagged and registered if you're keeping them or deliver them to the thrall master if you plan to trade them for cultivation supplies."

Anyatara nodded and said a single word of thanks, which was as much speech as Anyatara dared give. The group headed around the corner and eventually made their way to the teleportation array. Along the way, Anyatara seemed to extract no small amount of joy at tugging on her two companion's leashes.

Sam and Dean crept quietly behind. Dean glowered at all the orcs, puffing his chest up and standing on his toes so he was just a tiny bit taller than them. He tilted his chin up, as though challenging any or all of them to fight him. Fortunately, he was still invisible so none of the orcs noticed his provocations.

Sam touched every object he could get his hands on, putting his aura fragment to use as he tried to piece together everything the orcs had done since coming to this world.

Anyatara led them through the settlement where they exited the main keep. The area around them was setup more like a walled city than a fortress, with numerous private shops selling food and weapons of war. There were quite a few monsters for sale, though Sam couldn't determine if they were meant to be mounts or dinner. Some were familiar to Sam, but others were not. Perhaps some of these creatures were livestock the orcs brought from whatever world they came from.

The group also spotted a surprising number of elves around the settlement. Some wore golden leashes like Erula and Yonda, and some were sensually dressed, but others wore ordinary garb and seemed to tend to alchemy shops or weapons shop just as they would in any elvish city. The last group seemed entirely unconcerned by the orcs that surrounded them, and the orcs likewise transacted with the elves without complaint.

"I'll save you all soon." Dean whispered while gazing the the direction of a building full of captive and imprisoned elves.

"This is the place." Anyatara said under her breath. She'd stopped the group before a round structure with heavy fortifications. While not as impressive as the keep, the building where the teleportation array kits were stored had thick walls made from stone blocks as tall as an elf and twice as wide. The gaps had been plastered over and the entire structure had been painted deep red with a drawing of an orc vanishing into gray mist.

A single orc stood guard over the door as they approached.

"Hold, brother Keergal." An orc said, grabbing Anyatara's shoulder as she tried to march into the building. "You know the great warchief has forbidden anyone from taking captive elves inside the armory."

Anyatara hesitated, glancing between the orc and the door.

The orc cleared his throat. "Just leave those three with me. I'll hang on to them for you."

The real Keergal in Anyatara's real body squirmed in the gag and bindings, trying to get the other orc's attention. Meanwhile, the other orc held his hand out, waiting for the leashes and captive elf to be placed in his hand.

Slowly and hesitantly, Anyatara said, "...no?"

There was a moment of tension as orcish eyes met. Sam was certain the plan was about to fall apart and they'd be forced to fight their way free.

"Ha!" The orc slapped his thigh. "I almost got you on that one! You wouldn't believe how many elves I've stolen with that line alone!" the new orc said. "Ah well, it was worth a try."

Anyatara nodded gruffly and pushed open the door to the armory, ushering the whole group inside. Sam and Dean followed close behind while still invisible, ducking under the chuckling orc's arm as he leaned against the door frame.

Sam passed by. Dean lingered by the door for a second near the orc, fingers twitching until Sam tugged him away from the orc and into the armory.

Dean remembered his objective when Sam pointed him to a crate filled with golden-yellow fruits. They weren't particularly attractive to look at, appearing more like yellow rocks than incredible items of cultivation. Still, Dean grabbed a Golden Muscle Fruit out of the bin took a bite. His face scrunched up in displeasure at the sour taste, but his will was strong enough to keep himself from immediately spitting the foul-tasting substance out.

With great effort, Dean chewed the fruit down and swallowed it before grabbing the rest of the crate and putting the fruits in Erula's bag of holding one at a time.

"This is where the teleportation array kits are being kept." Anyatara whispered, still in the body of a muscular orc. She held her orcish thumb to the handle. The identity enchantment registered her as someone authorized to have entry to this back room and the door slid open.

Grinning toothily, Anyatara led the way inside.

"Let's grab them and get these collars off us." Erula grumbled.

"This is turning out to be surprisingly easy." Yonda murmured.

"Keep quiet." Anyatara hushed the other two. She opened the door to reveal a room with walls lined with sturdy chests. Anyatara propped one open and pulled out a silver box adorned with a few crude orcish symbols. "We found them!"

"It looks like there are hundreds of them in here." Yonda said in surprise. "It's a good thing we brought along that body you're wearing Anyatara. Getting access to this room without it likely would have been a whole lot harder."

"Agreed." Anyatara said, already stuffing her bag of holding filled with silver cubes. "Look! They even have a couple of long-range teleportation arrays here! That might be enough to get us off this continent and back again any time we want."

"Any of the high efficiency types?" Erula asked hopefully.

"Do you ladies need our help?" Sam asked as he glanced around the room.

"No, just stay invisible for now." Anyatara instructed. "You and Dean should just keep watch for us. It looks like this is going to be far more profitable an adventure than we expected."

The three elves hummed happily to themselves as they emptied one chest and moved on to another across the room. Sam kept an eye on the outside of the armory, peering through the tiny arrow slit that provided the only vision of the area outside. Dean struggled to eat another fruit, persevering through the terrible taste with nothing but his desire look tougher than the orcs.

All together, they emptied two chests of their most valuable components, leaving just enough of everything that when the next orc came looking for a teleportation array they'd find it. With any luck, it would take the orcs a month or more to find out they'd been robbed, at which point any expansion plans they had would grind to a halt.

They left the poorer enchanted items completely untouched, as stealing them would only speed up the time it would take for the orcs to realize they'd been robbed.

As quickly and quietly as they came, Anyatara resealed the door. The locking enchantment went active again and the area outside the door looked completely untouched, save for the box of fruits Dean had plundered.

"Let's get out of here. We'll head out the way we came. I think that'll be faster than trying to leave through the front exit and flying off on our swords." Anyatara said under her breath.

"You mean to say we have to put these necklaces of yours back on." Erula grumbled as she refastened the golden leash she'd taken off while searching for treasure.

Soon Yonda and Erula were looking the part of submissive captives once again and Anyatara led them out of the armory. Sam and Dean followed, still invisible and sticking close lest an unwary orc bump into either of them.

They made it back to the keep and over to the teleportation array, only to find the door locked.

"Need to leave." Anyatara grunted orcishly at the orc and elf they'd passed earlier sitting by the entrance.

"The teleportation arrays are off limits for the next hour." The elf kneeling on the ground answered. "I'm told it's routine maintenance, though I've never heard of the arrays all needing maintenance at the same time. Something about the great warchief implementing a new enchantment inside the walls themselves."

"I see." Anyatara said, swiftly turning around.

"They'll probably be done long before the hour is up." The elf said to Anyatara's back. "You could stay and wait."

"No thanks. I'll walk." Anyatara said as she hurriedly left the building.

Sam crept closer to her. He whispered into her ear, which was difficult now that she had such a tall orc body. "Do you think they're on to us?"

"Maybe." Anyatara said between her teeth. "Talk later."

To Sam's surprise, they managed to make it past the front gates. The orcs there simply waved them through as though they'd grown bored of their jobs weeks ago and hadn't ever had reason to stop anyone from passing through the gates.

The crease between Anyatara's brows was starting to ease, but Sam was still nervous.

"Think we should take to the air?" Anyatara asked.

"Then they'd know you're elves." Sam replied. "Let's wait until we get out of sight. Dean and I will scout ahead while we're still invisible."

They traveled through the underbrush on foot, which was a painfully slow experience to a group that was accustomed to zipping through the skies.

After a long trek on foot they were finally out of sight of the orc stronghold and everyone except Dean breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"So, when are we going back to save the elves?" Dean asked.

<Scene break>

After a brief flight to put them well out of orc territory, the group sat down to inspect their loot. Dean's Golden Muscle Fruits were all ripe and intact. Sam tried a bite of one himself, but he found the taste to be as bad as Dean described and the wracking full-body pain that followed was enough to convince him to leave Dean to his misery. Dean slouched against a tree, trying to force one fruit down after another in an effort to finish off the whole box with a look of absolute agony on his face.

Anyatara was able to switch herself back into her normal body and the group tied up Keergal the orc and hung him upside down in a nearby tree. Both the orc and Dean wore similar looks of agony on their faces, though the orc's pain was purely emotional.

In comparison, Erula, Yonda, and Anyatara were far happier.

"Over a hundred short-range teleportation arrays and three long range teleportation arrays!" Anyatara declared. "We could set up a private teleportation network with this many arrays." She laughed. "Whoever funded this operation back on the orc home world is going to be furious!"

"This continent would probably be more populated if we connected it to the others." Erula said. "It would be a worthy goal, though we wouldn't be able to continue living this carefree life of adventure."

"You can only honeymoon for so long." Anyatara protested. "I've already been with Sam for thirty years, and the two of you have been with Dean for just as long. Now that they're strong enough to not get killed by a rat hiding under the cupboards and know enough about the world to get by I think it's time to start thinking about more permanent living arrangements. This place could be one of our occasional homes, and these teleportation arrays could be just the ticket we need."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Yonda said. "Let's set one up, right here!"

"In the middle of nowhere?" Anyatara asked.

"This is just far enough away from the orcs watch them safely." Yonda said. "Besides, with how much we just got away with, I bet true mages will be lining up to try their hand at robbing them."

"I have no objections to that." Erula replied.

"And I'd like to see one of these teleportation arrays being put together." Sam added.

Anyatara tapped on the silver box and out popped a set of enchanted devices and rods with a set of careful instructions on how to assemble them. After much head-scratching at the lack-luster orcish instructions the group finally managed to slide the last part into place that enabled the activation interface.

"So are you all ready to go?" Anyatara. "I remember the coordinates to Keergal's castle, which we attacked earlier. We could drop in, then fly north, and take advantage of that Songstone Clan's hospitality for a few more weeks?"

"Don't you think that's a little dangerous?" Sam asked them. "It's only been a day, but the orcs might have started coming back. Somebody is going to realize something is wrong eventually."

Erlua shook her head. "The only one of them who could teleport was their leader, and do you really think he's going to be telling anyone the tale of what happened today?" Erula jerked her thumb back at the orc behind them, who was still tied up and hanging upside down from a tree.

Yonda giggled. "He was beaten up by three elf girls then tied to a tree. I think he's going to take today's events to his grave."

Now that the teleportation array was working the group activated the array and reappeared in the keep they'd first found. After a bit of debate, they dropped the orc they captured off there too after giving him a pint of stiff dwarven ale, which the orc eagerly drank. The ale didn't specifically erase memories, but it certainly didn't help with keeping them. And even if Keergal decided to make a report to whoever was in charge, what could that orc warchief do against three wizards? They'd gathered information on him too before their little heist and learned he wasn't much stronger than Keergal, and any one of the three wizards could juggle three Keergals.

So they returned to the Songstone Clan and set up a teleportation array in the room the Songstone had permanently reserved for Dean and settled in to rest and cultivate.

"We still didn't rescue those elves." Dean grumbled as they reminisced on their most recent adventure.

"But we've crippled the orc's expansion plans, which probably saved tens of thousands more from being kidnapped." Anyatara replied. "I for one am eager to watch the fireworks. I bet their whole expedition will come grinding to a halt without those teleportation arrays."