A venomous discovery

[Sahgigoth (#27594)]

Away from the warm fires of Iach Celduin, where locals and traders finish a day of hard work, the shadows of the valley grow thicker as twilight gives way to nighttime. Deep in the forest, where darkness reigns supreme, a diminutive Uruk is perched over a small hole crudely dug in the moist, cold ground. Hissing and mumbling incoherently, the small figure, lost in swathes of black cloth is holding a small wooden stick and is stirring some sort of thick, pus-like, vile liquid in the hole slowly, making a few solemn gestures every now and then. The gutted, disemboweled remains of two hapless small deers lie nearby, their carcasses savaged ruthlessly to the point of mutilation. A single torch pours its weak light over the forlorn scene, stuck precariously in the niche of a nearby boulder.

As the fell creature continues stirring whatever concoction lies in the hole, a sick, almost acridly putrefying stench begins rolling like a miasma over the small clearing. \"Poison for their veins, for their brains, for their arms and feet!\", the Uruk exclaims thickly, malice dripping from every single word it pronounces.

[Ganon (#13346)]

Close to where the foul ritual is taking place, the caravan of the dwarves has set camp for the night and the smell of cooking fires fills the air. The battered and bruised dwarves sit around the fires, boasting of their heroics in the recent battle. Away from the revelrie, standing in the shadows near the edge of the camp is the old Firebeard, surrounded by a haze of pipe-weed smoke. He seems lost in some dark thoughts, as his mind dwells more and more on his past with every friend he loses in battle. He has spent the last days tending to the injuries of his fellow dwarves, and chewing on his rage toward his party\'s leader. He growls to himself, \"Need to get some air, clear my head.\"before hefting his war hammer onto his shoulder and striding into the forest. His pipe still smoking in his mouth

[Sahgigoth (#27594)]

The filth-ridden miasma expands slowly as more fumes churn out of the hole on the ground. Using its barbed chain, the Uruk chops a piece of the deer\'s entrails and drops it in the hole, the tender meat rapidly disappearing and turning into an obnoxious greenish sludge. Engrossed in the trappings of the ritual, the Shaman sneers with satisfaction, as a thick plume of grey-greenish smoke escapes the poisonous sludge\'s confines. Uttering a few words in the blasphemous Black Speech, the skeletal Uruk raises its right hand and drops slowly and ceremoniously a pinch of a reddish sand-like substance in the sludge. As if answering his gesture, the torch flickers seemingly of its own volition, the pig fat used to fuel it churning some more half-burnt stench unto the already fouled air.

\"Corruption of the mighty Barad-dur, the dark Blessing of the Dread Lord! Where his caress lingers, its enemies wither from within! May their innards rot, their bones snap and their blood turn into rot!\", the Uruk hisses hatefully in a crude, makeshift psalm, spitting a thick gob of phlegm in the hole.

[Ganon (#13346)]

Striding through the brush, still deep in thought, and occasionally muttering to himself it is not long until the elder Firebeard notices the flickering of the torch in the forest. Ganon\'s eyes narrow in suspition and he slowly removes the pipe from his mouth, tapping it against the haft of his hammer to clear the spent weed. He slips the pipe into his belt pouch. He glances back towards the caravan, considering whether to call more dwarves, but seems to decide against it, a stormy look crossing his features. He once again hefts his hammer and continues stalking forward toward the source of the light.

[Sahgigoth (#27594)]

Oblivious to the unwanted attention it has attracted, the Uruk approaches the two carcasses again and this time gouges their glazed eyes, casually dropping its horrendous claim in the infernal sludge. The ritual appears to be nearing its end, as Sahgigoth produces deftly three wooden vials from its robes and carefully begins collecting the hole\'s poisonous content, stoppering each vial once filled. \"The One shall feast soon! All praise to the Eye\", the Uruk half-snarls, half-guffaws and it prostrates nine times towards the broad direction of where East should be. Then, it turns its attention towards the torch, as it begins walking towards the smoke-churning source of light.

[Ganon (#13346)]

The overpowering stench reaches Ganon\'s nostrils and he frowns deeper, but he\'s no shortbeard, and he strides into the clearing, taking in the scene in a quick well trained glance, his eyes resting on the oblivious Uruk. He\'s not sure exactly what\'s going on, but he knows it isn\'t good. He lets out a bellowing war cry, rushing through the clearing and swinging his massive hammer down on the Uruk in a massive overhead strike, hopefully before the foul creature can react.

Ganon wields War Hammer.

[Sahgigoth (#27594)]

\"Skai!\", Sahgigoth exclaims as the massive warhammer lands right next to it. Visibly jarred and obviously surprised, it takes only a single moment for the diminutive Uruk to grab a rusty, double-bladed battle axe lying nearby in the moist earth. Looking at the Khazad, its single-eye fixing him with feverish, maddening intensity, the Uruk snarls viciously and grunts: \"Darkness take you, falsebeard!\" in broken Westron. Then, it swings the axe horizontally with surprising strength for its small size, hoping for a quick, clean strike.

[Ganon (#13346)]

The Firebeard growls as the strike hits, cutting a gash across his arm, it isn\'t the quick, clean strike the Uruk was hoping for, and it isn\'t going to slow the dwarf down. The retired Warder\'s blood is up and the battle rage of the Burzandhel is on him, and the insult the foul creature threw at him does nothing to placate it. \"Stand still and die!\" He growls, his massive muscles bulging as he lifts the hammer, swinging it around in lighting fast horizontal strike.

[Sahgigoth (#27594)]

Taken aback by the fiery onslaught, it is only by pure luck that the servant of Mordor manages to escape the Khazad\'s mighty swing, as it instinctively raises its crude battle-axe and parries, the weapon\'s blasphemous runes etched on its blades flashing in the torchlight. Visibly relying more on speed rather than strength, the Uruk almost crawls on all fours as it circles the dour Khazad, looking for an opening and sizing its opponent. \"Ha! Shog-dush gath!\", it roars abruptly as it swings its weapon vertically, from bottom towards the top.

[Ganon (#13346)]

The dwarf smirks as the Uruk\'s axe whistles up towards him, a move he used recently to great effect on one of it\'s kin, but he won\'t be caught by it, catching the blade on the haft of the hammer with a grating of steel on steel. He growls \"Yer not the only one who can do that beasty!\" before repeating the move back to the dwarf, swinging the hammer upwards towards the Uruk\'s now vulnerable chin.

[Sahgigoth (#27594)]

As steel rages against steel, the ensuing screeching of metal protesting brings the Uruk close to the Khazad, and its fetid breath washes all over him, as Sahgigoth keeps his weapon locked with Ganon\'s for a long moment. Then disengaging violently, the diminutive Uruk snarls and aims a quick swing towards the Dwarf\'s knees, a trail of spit escaping its cracked lips, following the swing\'s momentum. \'Hluthburz!\", it roars.

[Ganon (#13346)]

Ganon seems shocked as his blow is parried again, and his shock distracts him. The Uruk\'s axe cuts another bloody gash on the Firebeard\'s leg, causing the dwarf to stumble slightly. He spits on the ground, a low growl starting in the bottom of his throat, which quickly becomes a roar as he brings his hammer overhead, crashing down towards the Uruk once more.

[Sahgigoth (#27594)]

As its swing cuts through the Dwarf\'s leg, the Uruk lets out a leering howl and flashes a feral, mocking grin, its broken tusks glistening. However, its very success seems to become its undoing, as the very next moment the Uruk becomes reckless and presses its advantage uncautiously, ending up with Ganon\'s warhammer grazing its shoulder. Howling in pain, the Uruk scurries back much like a rat, cursing hideously in its gnashing, cruel tongue for a few good seconds, before launching another feral attack towards its opponent, this time with an inverted swing aiming at the Khazad\'s belly.

[Ganon (#13346)]

Ganon snarls as the Uruk\'s battle axe manages to injure him on his belly, even through his chain mail. He stumbles from the pain, shaking his head, before refocussing on his foe, his features twisted with rage, hatred and pain. He swings his massive hammer with all his might in a horizontal arc, the weighted head coming around like a thunderbolt.

[Sahgigoth (#27594)]

As blood gushes from the Khazad\'s belly and the Dwarf\'s retaliation is dodged nimbly, the Uruk suddenly pauses and points a single, skeletal index menacingly at the stout Dwarf, its grey, scab-ridden skin taut as it utters throatily: \"Death on you. Soon, runt-legs, VERY soon!\". It then spits on its weapon and launches another vicious vertical swing, this time visibly aiming to decapitate the Khazad.

[Ganon (#13346)]

The Firebeard is obviously on the defensive, something he is not used to. As the Uruk\'s axe screams towards his head the dwarf catches it on the haft of his hammer once again. It\'s all too much for the dwarf though, and he kicks dust toward the Uruk before turning to spring into the forest, back towards the camp, yelling \"\"Uruk in the forest! To arms my cousins!\"\" Sounds of movement and readying weapons come from the caravan as the dwarf runs away.

[Sahgigoth (#27594)]

Gritting its teeth and half-blinded, half-choked by the dust kicked towards it, the Uruk half-blindly staggers back towards the torch-lit clearing where its vile workings took place. Without losing a single second, once its vision clears, it grabs the foul torch and douses it in the vile remains of the ground hole it dug, the light disappearing with a sharp, pronounced hiss. Pausing only for a single moment to examine the despoiled clearing, it then gathers its expansive robes flying all around it and starts sprinting towards the deepest recesses of the glum forest without further ado.