Role

Chapter 9

Piti brought the Thorntooth shaman a gift. It was a gift she knew the shaman
could never resist: a platter of food from the Inn of the Eternal Star,
prepared by Damil as a sample for an upcoming event, which Piti had squirreled
away for this occasion. She presented it to the shaman in thanks for all she
had done for the clan... thinking of all the times the shaman had told them to
serve the orcs, to do as they were told, to honor the Grinning Skull above all
else, to be grateful to simply exist. Piti watched, smiling sweetly, as the
shaman greedily devoured the food, sucking the marrow from the bones, slurping
the eyes from the fish skulls, broth running down the sides of her fat cheeks.
Piti smiled as the shaman's eyes grew droopy, her speech slurred, and she
struggled with the sedative poison that had been slipped into the platter of
meat. Piti smiled as the shaman closed her eyes and fell forward onto the
crude wooden table in their humble dining hall. Piti smiled as she slit the
shaman's throat from ear to ear.

Under the cover of darkness, Princess Pititti led her clan from the Grinning
Skull Village out a hole she had burrowed under the southern battlements. The
clan, largely consisting of starving, filthy families with only a small
smattering of raiders, shivered in fear as they departed the only home they
had ever known to find refuge in the unknown world beyond. They trusted their
princess, who was kind, strong, and loving and had never led them wrong. They
followed as silently as they could, stopping frequently to rest. They huddled
in the darkness, their eyes huge with fear. Piti led them south, beyond the
Eastern Road and into forests utterly bewildering to the majority of the
goblins. Pititti rallied the raiders to her, and they fought a pack of wolves
that tried to pick off their weak and sick. They made their way into the
Virgin Forest.

There, Piti had found an abandoned bear den that would serve as their
temporary home. She had planned to take refuge here, while she made inroads
with the neighboring Silverwood Goblin clans. Only those goblins, as humble as
they were, seemed to be on equal footing with their orc counterparts. It
seemed the logical place to get a new beginning. And perhaps she could teach
these Silverwood goblins a thing or two as well. But for now, her people were
safe. The raiders could hunt this fertile forest, and the clan could know
freedom out from under the boot heal of the orc for the very first time.

The rise of the Thorntooth Clan had begun.