• Chapter 1: OrcToberFest!

    For many generations the orcs of Gaia had lived contentedly in their caves and ancient mines. Strange glowing stones kept their homes well lit and numerous large cave critters kept them well fed. There was little reason to venture to to the sunlit surface world save to appreciate the trees and take shots at the running vegetables. It was so rare for them to venture anywhere near the towns and cities that surface dwelling Gaians had all but forgotten them untill the "discovery" of a tribe living outside of Aekea brought them to light. Quite literally, as it happens.

    Following this "discovery", orcs were almost immediately exploited, used to create potions, and pretty much accepted as yet another one of Gaia's many races that seem to appear around the same time as major events. Hmm.

    A tradition carried on by the orcs for those many generations of living in caves was the month long celebration called OrcToberFest that convienently happened in the month of October. Every year they'd find some way to celebrate their heritage often by playing games that consisted of heavy lifting, digging, and lots of throwing. Combining the three in a sort of dig-lift-throw action was one of the ultimate games. Added to this the intoxicating substance brewed from various plants and fungi that grew in the caves and you had quite the celebration.

    This year a few tribes decided to celebrate a little different by heading out into a surface town. Now being accepted as ordinary Gaians(and not having been discovered around Halloween time when strange battles tend to break out) some felt it about time to venture out.

    October 12th, 2010

    A huge banner hung above the doors of Gold Mountain, Isle De Gambino's premere gambling spot. "Welcome Orcs!" it said, trying to take advantage of an interesting chain of events. The events had lead to several orc tribes making their run at gambling during the month long festivities of OrcToberFest. Now gambling was not something foreign to an orc. The orcs who had been discovered several years back happened to have been playing something not terribly unlike dice when an explorer came upon them. However, gambling in a casino was a brand new experience. All the lights and sounds were new and exciting.

    Being not terribly familiar with the workings of card games many of the orcs who had come to Gold Mountain found themselves hunkering down at the slot machines. The few who tried their hand at the pinball machines were even less adept at gambling and thus stayed there.

    Bringing with him his talent for lifting heavy objects, Gronk Orcsmith found himself playing the slots like most of his kin who had gathered. Frustration with repeated losses had led him to reveal his wonderful talent (usually appreciated in the caves) to a frightened employee in a red vest. "This game cheats!" Gronk shouted, primarily angry at the machine, but quite ready to do some damage to the little employee who stood before him.

    That frightened little employee, though not little by human standards, was Lex. He gathered up as much courage he could, calling upon the power of The King himself to prevent his nice black pants from becoming rather moist with fear. He held out his empty hands to the orc who stood before him holding up the very machine that had caused so much stress over his ugly head. Lex thought it was ugly but had opted not to tell any orc of this probably dangerous opinion. "I understand your upset, sir, but can you please put the machine down? I'm sure there are better ways we can deal with this... situation."

    The machine sent out a few sparks and shiney winnings tokens, rattling a bit in a position for which it was never meant. The slot machine would be quite glad it wasn't a robot if it had any thought as a robot would be very much bothered by being lifted over the head of an orc. It didn't complain and it had no idea it would be harmed as ideas are thoughts and it didn't have any of those.

    "This stupid thing cheats!," Gronk added, not being calmed in the least by the red-vested employee. "I'm not going to let it steal any more of my tokens!"

    Meanwhile, at one of the blackjack tables, Russell Ace heard the shoutings of an orc. He could clearly see the green-skinned patron was holding up one of the slot machines, appearing to threaten his co-worker. Russel was doing his best to concentrate on the game, hoping the pit boss, who was almost never around when you needed him, would show up and solve this situation. He was having a good run, which he began to suppose was the reason for the absent pit boss. Where was that guy? Little did the blackjack dealer realize that the pit boss, who was so often breathing down his neck, was dealing with the burritos so mercilessly devoured in a burrito eating contest from the night before. There may very well have been some undercooked and expired meat involved.

    Russell's eyes kept darting over to the impending disaster of an angry orc and back to the game at hand. A card was dealt. "Player busts. Maybe this isn't your game." He chuckled, trying to distract himself while waiting for the pit boss to show and deal with the problem. The player began to reach for Russell's overturned card in a moment of distraction but stopped with the dealer's attentions returned. "What're you doing?"

    A bead of sweat rolled down the player's temple. "Nothing!"

    "Russell?"

    He flinched. "Guh."

    Jinx appearing without warning was usually a suprising event. She rolled her eyes at Russell's distracted idiocy. "I've got this. You go see if you can help Lex."

    "But I'm winning! I'm sure the pit boss will be here any minute."

    "I saw him head to the bathroom about twenty minutes ago muttering something about beans and bad meat. He hasn't come back." She gave Russel a shove. "Go on. I can take over this game."

    "You're always taking over my games!"

    She angrily pointed in the direction of Gronk's slot machine holding talents. "Lex is about to get crushed by a slot machine!"

    "Why don't you go help him?"

    Jinx sighed. "You're bigger than I am. Just go!"

    She gave him a good hard shove, making Russell wonder about the logic involved, but he wasn't going to win this argument and Lex was indeed in some serious trouble. "Alright. Fine. I'm going."

    "Please!" Lex shouted, staring at the impending slot machine doom. "Just calm down!" He was having trouble remaining calm himself. The King had left the building.

    "You look like you could use some help."

    "Took you long enough, Russ." Lex said not looking away from the angry orc.

    "I can't just leave my table, Lex. Someone might cheat."

    What are you talking about?! You cheat all the time!"

    "CHEAT?!" Any chance of Gronk calming down now had gone out the window and he threw the machine as had as he could. Russel ducked to the side, not quite in the path of destruction. Lex dove out of the way, narrowly missing a decorative potted palm. The machine slid across the floor and straight into Gold Mountain's prize shop, Prize and Joy, before coming to a crashing stop.

    Russell cringed at the sound and subsequent small shockwave. Geeze, he thought, that's going to be expensive. A few moments later the scream he had heard before the crash registered. He stood for a moment more. "Becky!" He ran into the shop.

    "Ow," Lex slowly got to his feet, sore from hitting the ground but otherwise okay. This was a short lived state ended by a large green hand around the Casino employee's neck. "Hrk!" He feebly clawed at Gronk's arm, feeling the floor drop as he was lifted into the air. Warm fear ran down his leg, yellowing his sock.

    "I... I'm ok, Russell," said Becky, a bit shaken. In the middle of shelving rubber duckies, a strange visitor in the form of a speeding slot machine came crashing through, straight into the counter. Becky had screamed but was well out of the way. A minute and a half later, Russell came rushing in; a look of troubled concern on his face. "What's going on out there?," Becky added.

    "Well, Lex was..." Russell's eyes grew wide."s**t!" He poked his head out just in time to see the large green orc strike Lex straight in his most important of regions. As any man would, Russell cringed, "Ooh!"

    Gronk dropped Lex on the floor, shaking off his wet fist in disgust. Lex curled into a fetal position, lying on his side and sobbing in pain. The orc pulled back, ready to literally kick a man while he was down. Russell took a step toward the happenings, ready to stop it as best he could. He stopped when another orc approached.

    "Gronk, you idiot! You trying to get us kicked out?!"

    Gronk put his foot down, suddenly not so angry. "Sorry. It's just--"

    "It's some bad luck, Gronk. You've done enough damage." The new orc indicated the swath of destruction. A red vested employee lay crying on the ground. Startled guests poked their heads out from behind slot machines. Torn up carpet lead to an utterly wrecked prize shop.

    Gronk looked down at the sad ball of a man on the floor and then to his urine soaked knuckles. For a moment, he thought it an intentional act, but these surface dwellers were simply not used to orcish ways. "Sorry," he said to the other orc while still looking down at Lex.

    Lex layed there. Everything but the horrible pain was a blur. He could have sworn he was about to be kicked, too, but it hadn't happened. He could hear some talking. Someone was doing a better job at calming this violent orc down thanhe had even hoped to do himself. And then he was sure the pit boss finally showed after having been missing so long. And maybe Russell came back. And maybe the pit boss and the blackjack dealer got into an argument about something stupid or maybe about how to deal with him. Then Lex became so much more aware that he had wet himself at some point and that one of his socks was wet.

    Becky was the first to visit Lex in the infirmary. Prize and Joy had been closed for the rest of the day and quite possibly the rest of the week. She was glad something else had happed to keep her away from the casino floor itself. Too many temptations back there. "You doing okay? That orc hit you pretty hard."

    "I'll live." The pain killers were doing their magic. Maybe he was given too much. "Wet myself, though."

    "Just now?"

    "No. B'fore he hit me. Think that's how I was on th' floor."

    "Oh. Sorry." She sat down on the side of the bed, facing the open door. "Hey. Cardbot wanted t--"

    "Hey, buddy!" Russell finally made his way through the door. He placed a rubber duckie on the table next to Lex's bed. "I couldn't find any cards or anything, so here's uh... a get well duckie."

    "Hey, isn't that...," Becky started.

    "Never you mind the duckie," Russell was quick to lead Becky off the bed and straight out the infirmary door. "Sorry, babe. Man stuff." He shut the door.

    Becky stood for a moment; flustered. Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, she walked off. Idiot.

    "So, uh... everything back in order?, " Russell asked.

    Lex stared up at his visitor and blinked slowly. "Yeah." He reached for the duckie on the table and gave it a squeeze. It squeaked. "Heh. Duckie."

    Russell grabbed one of the chairs lined up against the wall and pulled it over next to Lex's bed. He sat down and leaned forward. "Those pain meds... kinda like a truth serum, huh?"

    "I dunno. Maybe. Think I know what yer gonna ask."

    "Oh, come on. It's got to be true."

    "No. I'm not related to him."

    "You've got the blond hair. The red eyes. And you tell me you're not a Gambino?!"

    "You've got blond hair, dude. An' yer kinda big. Mebbe yer a Gambino."

    Russell shook his head, "No, no, that's stupid. You've got the red eyes."

    "Lotsa people have red eyes. Doesn't mean anything."

    "Okay. Fine. But what if you were? The kid... Gino... He's been missing for a long time. You could stand to get rich if we could prove you were related to the boss man."

    Lex glared up at Russell. He had little idea where whatever this idea was going, but he didn't much care for it. "How would you prove that?"

    Russell grinned. "G-Corp."

    "No."