The orc gave the plate back to the table manager, who took it without batting an eye.
“Thank you, I hope our fair was to your liking, we make all our meals with the freshest ingredients available to make the best possible meal for our guests,” the counterman said in probably the most rehearsed and apathetic tone of voice possible. The orc simply bowed to him (and in doing so nearly hit the man on the head with the five foot long handle of his warhammer) and walked out without speaking. Ducking again to make sure the long handle of the warhammer on his back didn’t catch on the door, he walked over to the innkeeper’s desk and looked down at him. The innkeeper, unlike the counterman, did not seem so apathetic to see the massive orc again.
“Oh, uh… I hope your stay was to your liking. Got all your affairs sorted out and all.”
He gave a nervous little laugh as he said this, which was more a reaction to how easily ëGot all your affairs sorted out’ might have been misinterpreted. The orc continued to stare at him with his glowing red eyes, and the innkeeper’s nervous smile turned into a frightened smile.
Suddenly, the orc reached for him with his massive hand. The innkeeper cowered, backing up in surprise and nearly knocking over his chair in the process. The orc grabbed his shoulder.
“W-wait!” the innkeeper shouted as the he saw the Orc pull the enormous hammer out of its sling on his back with on hand. The demonic looking maul glowed faint red and green in the dim light, it’s long thorny exterior promising nothing but ill things for anything it touched.
“I didn’t mean any disrespect!” the innkeeper gasped in panic. “Please, don’t hurt me! I-”
But the orc let the head of his hammer fall to the flooróthe orc holding it upside down like a broom handleóand suddenly knelt. He was so massively tall, that he was only about an inch or two shorter than the innkeeper while kneeling.
“An orc never forgets those who show him hospitality,” he said lowly. The innkeeper, in his younger years, had lived in a village that wasn’t far from giants. On a dare, he had once crept up to the giant’s camp and heard them talk in their strange language. He never forgot how their voices sounded: it was if a throat as big as a mountain was producing the sounds that came out of those mouths.
This orc’s voice, cavernous and all encompassing, reminded him of the voices of those giants.
The innkeeper nodded jerkily. “Y-Yes, of c-course,” he said in a hitching, fast breathed voice.
The orc only nodded, and got to his feet. “I have a question to ask of you.”
The innkeeper quickly nodded. Yes: he’d happily answer any question--from simple directions to the color of his underwear-- if it would get the orc to leave his inn any faster.
The Orc’s red eyes swiveled unblinkingly to the ceiling, and then back again. “The group that came in earlier… are they leaving today?”
The innkeeper blinked. “W-well, I heard them say something about going out, but I’m not sure if that means-”
And the orc smiled. That full toothed smile immediately made the innkeeper regret ever telling him anything.
“Very good… I thank you for my stay,” he said simply. The orc then turned around, and walked out the door. The innkeeper stared at the door, eyes still wide and his heart still beating a mile a minute.
