Ugluck Onslaught

[DM RabidBadger]

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First Name: Ugluck
Last Name: (Brotherhood of Orc Blood name:) Onslaught

Appearance: Usually seen in blackish grey full plate wearing a golom mask. Under the mask Ugluck is tatooed to resemble a white skull.
Race: Grey Orc. Age: about 27
Height: about 6'7" Weight: 320 lb Eyes: Hair: clean shaved

Personality Profile: Has learned its easier to attract assistance and avoid trouble with the laws by tempering his anger but will not back down if challenged or if another Orc is in peril from a non-orc. Is just as likely to kill another Orc as any other race. Of course he is far too selfish to call this a rule.
General Health: In excellent shape physically. Running around in full plate builds muscle and endurance. Deity: Kozah
Initial Alignment: evil
Profession: Treasure hunting seems to bring Ugluck the most coin but is not against taking odd jobs for pay.
Base Class & Proposed Development: Warlock/Cleric, Hellfire Warlock/Stormlord
Habits/Hobbies:
Languages: Common, Orc.
Weapon of Choice: A spear

Background:

Ugluck Onslaught
It had been three sunrises since he was thrown into the roofless cell. A dusty, brick hole of a room that allowed the sun to bathe him from dawn to dusk, no doubt as a form of percieved torture from his Tuigan captors. He cared not. Ugluck was a grey orc of the Vridash clan. Many mornings he would climb the peaks of the Yehimal mountains he called home to watch the yellow fireball rise over the Great Wastes. Gruumsh the greats missing eye, they called it since childhood. Always watching his faithful to detect and smite the weak. The sun did not harm his kind, save to haze the vision of some. Iron bars seperated his cell from his mothers. Where she recovered from the previos nights tortures at the hands of the humans. These methods of dealing pain were more effective than sunlight. From bright hot poking rods to boiling oil applied to the skin of the one who spawned him, and all that was his was to watch, hurling against his chains, and spitting orcish curses at his mothers tormentors.
Two long nights she endured this without end, but her cries were of anger and hated more than for her misery. She was broken in faith but not in spirit. The blond haired human that asked her the questions with a smile on his bearded lips would hurl promises of freedom from the pain if she would respond to his inquiries. When she would snarl or spit in refusal the bald man with the rolling table of fire and tools would do his best to convince her. Ugluck could see her now in the morning light, shackled across a large stone block. Her dark skin branded and blistered from the Toigans efforts. She slept deeply, her naked breasts heaving with strained gurgling. His own ability to understand the words of the humans, while not as good as hers, gave away their true intentions. Questions about their one eyed god, questions concerning his envolvment with her as a priestess and other followers. Questions the humans should not have had the knowledge to ask, save for a betrayal so grievous it would shake the foundations of the already weak orcish empire. Yet that betrayal was evident and the only explanation. She had rested only a few short hours since their last session when the blond human came into her room again. This time he was absent of the bald torturer.
"Awaken my beautiful Vrirag."
Her name which again, he should not know.
"I'm affraid I've let you sleep over late."
When she failed to respond he produced a wooden pale and drenched her with the contents. The impossibly cold water splashed thru the bars even onto Ugluks sweaty arms. She howled as the icy liquid covered her burned and blistered skin.
The blond man paused until her screams subsided then entered the cell.
"Let me tell you what we know, shall I?" He began.
"You've been a very naughty priestess, Vrirag. Or I should say, I suppose, you've been an exceptional priestess but a naughty orc. For the first time since the Orcgate wars, a priest, or priestess, has been able to call upon the demon mouth of the orc gods. More specifically, He who watches, I believe he is called? Or dare I blaspheme and say his true name aloud? Gruumsh? Does that rattle you, Vrirag? Oh yes. We know a great many things."
He paused for a response but was awarded none.
"So this avatar who speaks with the mouth of old one eye, he comes to you and tells a tale of orc tribes, puny clans, gathered in a mighty kingdom under one banner. Vrirags banner. The rags that make the Vridash clans banner. You and yours, including your son..."
At this she turned her head to look at Ugluck.
"Oh, we'll get to him momentarily. But you and he, and your filthy clan, march across the wastes spreading the news that the orcs are once again favored by Gruumsh. That he will unite you all and lead you to great victories."
He paused again.
"Your kind does not unite easily, Vrirag. Even under a gods banner. In this case however you had a thorn in yer side. You see, the Pogar tribe didn't like the idea of you controlling the great orc hosts. Jealousy runs rampant in yer race, does it not? However their illustrious leader knew his pathetic peoples weren't enough to stop you and the numbers you had already gained so he turned to his only hope. So many of your people dead under Tuigani steel over the last few days. Your entire tribe, save the two of you, slaughtered like sheep."
Again, no response.
"I knew that you would be proud and strong, Vrirags. I knew our persuasive methods would not loosen your tongue. I knew. But I wanted you to know the pain, the agony of our methods. To experience it first hand, so you would know what you will watch your filthy offspring experience do to your silence."
At this he backed away and simultaniously Uglucks own cell door opened and the bald man with the cart of tools entered his cell. Vrigras laughed. And spoke the only words she'd say to him in his tongue.
"He is stronger than I."
"Oh, I'm counting on it."
Three more days Ugluck endured his mothers tortures and worse, with not one question directed toward him. Always her and always she refused. On that third night rain hammered their roofless cells and a blinding light filled Vrirags cell. He could see his mother standing on her stone block free of her chains with arms raised above her head, shouting praise and thanks to the clouds above. Her cell door burst open and the guard there was thrown to the floor by a mighty thunder clap, tripping the blond man as he was running in behind. All at once the light diminshed and the rains stopped. Ugluck could feel his ears popping and the hair began to rise on his arms, his back. He turned again to his mother who smiled a toothy grin and whispered the word "Kozah" then stretched her arms to the sky again as a bolt of lightning broke the clouds overhead and engulfed her with yet another strong thunder burst. Then it was all gone. The storm, the rain, the lights, and his mother.

Chapter 2 Escape to nowhere
Finding Ugluk of no more use with Vrirag gone, he was sent to the quarry to mine stone for the humans expansions. Every task considered too dangerous or labor intensive for the human prisoners was passed to him with laughter and jeers. He was not the only orc slave in the quarry. Everyonce in awhile he would see another strong back or catch the scent of another, but was never allowed close enough to speak. Several times he lashed out at fellow prisoners or guards and was mercilesly whipped for his short temper, sometimes within the grips of death.
He lost track of how long he'd been hammering rock but sometime in his 5th winter of labor intensive imprisonment Uglucks hammer fell on stone with a hollow reverberation. He paused thinking he'd misheard and his guard raised whip to convince him to continue, but the rock beneath him gave way and Ugluck fell several feet onto a rock shelf knocking the wind from his chest. He dreamed a short while then. He saw a great orc in a host of elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and men.
The orc shouted at them as they laughed:
"No! You Lie! You have rigged the drawing of the lots, hoping to cheat me and my followers. But One-Eye never sleeps. One-Eye sees all. There is a place for orcs to dwell… here!," he bellowed, and his spear pierced the mountains, opening a mighty rift and chasms. "And here!," and the spearhead split the hills and made them shake and covered them in dust. "And here!," and the black spear gouged the meadows and made them bare.

"There!" roared He-Who-Watches triumphantly, and his voice carried to the ends of the world. "There is where the orcs shall dwell! There they will survive, and multiply, and grow stronger, and a day will come when they cover the world, and they will slay all of your collective peoples! Orcs shall inherit the world you sought to cheat me of!"
Then Ugluck awoke to the shouting of his guard high above. "You there orc! Do you live still? Hoy! Do not move yerself!"
Ugluck strained to see the man in the hole above but the sunlight pouring in blinded. He raised himself and rolled out of the light and off the shelf that had saved him from a perilous fall into the darkness below. The fall was not as far as anticipated and landed him in rushing icy cold water that swept Ugluck to a chute of smooth rock which carried him quickly deeper into the cavern and away from the hole from whence he came. Over a short fall of water he found himself in a lake of freezing water with only one shore visible in the dark gloom. Once there he rolled again onto his back and breathed deeply from being tossed around like a toy in the strong stream. His eyes adjusted to the light and he saw there was no way to climb the water fall back to the hole he fell thru and laughed as he realised he had contemplated going back at all.
The cavern lake which he fell into was emence. He slept, he explored, he slept, he explored then hunger began to take its tole on his body. He grew weaker as he had plenty of water but there was no food to be found. It seemed days he searched for an escape before he finally collapsed, resigned to die there from the emtiness of his belly and lack of energy because of it.
It was then that the smell of sulfer and the heat of flame woke Ugluck from his death sleep. A rough voice whispered in his orcish tongue.
"You have endured much Ugluck of Vridash."
"Speak not to me Gruumsh. Leave me die." Ugluck asnwered the empty dark around him.
"I am no orc god, Ugluck. Though I've not heard you plea to him, he would not see or hear you in your need. But you know this well, yes? Nor am I Zorah, the name your mother uttered with her last."
Laughter. "No, Ugluck. Though I know that name well. He, also, would not hear your prayers were you standing next to him.
"Then you are death come for me or no one of importance."
If you must give me a name then let it be Oagnuxthiode. But I am not here for pleasantries."
"You are not here at all, but in my mind, me thinks."
Ugluck strained to sit up. "Or a phantom sent to taunt my last hour."
"You have many hours before you. But you have much to learn."
At that a large fish flopped onto the shore near to where he lay by the lake. Ugluck found new strength enough to smash its head against the stony floor and tear his teeth into its belly. Another fish splashed the bank and then another. Ugluck eyed the black waters and was surprised to see the wake of many fins cutting its surface.
The first fish devoured and a second found his belly satiated. He slumped again and whispered "What would you have me learn, phantom?" Then collapsed into deep sleep.

Chapter 3 temptation
Oagnuxthiode indeed did have much to teach Ugluck and his lore was dark and sinister. He told of great battles in other places not known to the orc. Battles between angels and demons. Battle between demon and demon, devil and devil. A war for the souls of all living. For followers. For everything.
Glasya sent Oagnuxthiode to find a soul worthy of finding and harvesting her such souls.
"Glasya?" Ugluck asked. "You'd not mentioned that name."
"And why should I?" answered the Invisible voice as Ugluck bit into another fish. "You would know it less then you knew my own, or any hundreds of other names I may give you? But if you must know then, know that she, Glaylsya, is my mistress and my lord. She commands and I go, glad of her attention and trust. My power, and soon yours, is given thru her and by her."
"My power?" Asked Ugluck. "What power have but to be a prisoner in a cave for me life thanks to the gift of fish?"
"What power?" Asked the voice. "I will show you."

Chapter 4 Salvation
Eighteen summers had passed since Ugluck was born of Vrirag. Two of those were spent in meditation and prayer to Gruumsh, the one eyed orc god of battle, under his mothers brutal tutaledge. Three years in the armed service of his clan. Five years in the prison camps mining the quarry for the humans, and in all that time he'd not gleaned a hint of information compared to six months under the disciplship of Oagnuxthiode. Also of import is that he learned of the entity know as Kozah. The name his mother spoke before being reduced to ash by lightning. The entity he now thought she must have prayed to for deliverence, saving her from torture and her son from the same. A prayer his native Gruumsh would not answer. Oagnuxthiode promised Ugluck deliverance from the cavern lake if he but swear an oath to Glasya. She did not want his worship but the souls he might claim for her to further her own ends. His choice was clear. He would not rot in this dark icy cave but escape to exact vengeance on the Pogar orc clan for their betrayal, if they still existed, and collect their souls to satiate his mistress saviors hunger. He would then abandon her having traded so many souls for his own and seek out those who knew the name Kozah.
A few weeks of searching out orc clans in the grey wastes convinced him that the Pogar clan was also attacked by the humans though most escaped and were now intermingled with the hundreds of other clans. A few of these he found and delivered to Glasya in eldritch fury. The power Oagnuxthiode had mentioned was indeed great and Ugluck felt it building within him like a river pushing the damn. Then the release, the sweet release was like holding ones bladder for too long. Oagnuxthiode instructed Ugluck that this power would build as he collected souls for Galysa and it did. He could now channel that energy through his spear and deliver his vengeance up close with those who turned on his people. Watch the life in their eyes replaced with red eldritch doom. If he filled his own eyes with that power he could see the queer invisible things of the world that others missed or were hiding intentionally. The range of his eldritch rays doubled over time, although he still preferred to be up close when his prey died screaming with spear in chest or neck or gut.
A dozen of the Polag orcs in ten different tribes felt this barb and burn before Ugluk was given a possible location of Taranc, the Polags clan priest. A mighty soul for Glayas appetite and he would make it last a long suffering time.

Chapter 5 Redemption
The old priest was said to have taken residence in the Mountains of Yehimal under no clans banner which meant he was alone and unguarded. Ugluck could draw out Tarancs suffering for as long as it amused him to do so. A weeks journey along the Golden Path found him at the roots of Yehimal mountains near the borders of Kara-tur. A goat path leading up into the mountains was discovered near enough to where he was told to look. Anticipation building in Ugluck as he ascended the slopes. A night of camp and preperation had him nearing his goal. A short two or three hour climb, he was assured, would find him what he sought. A steep climb, a short corner and a figure stooped just off the path appeared to be collecting berries with his back to the trail.
"Sherainaflesh" the words spat from Uglucks lips unlocking the power within. Eldritch energy shot through his hands and into his spear as he approached the priest who spun to meet him, a spear in his hand as well.
An incantation escaped Tarancs lips as well and lightning shot from the sky causing electricity to arc around the shaft and head of his weapon.
"Come to me scum and Kozah take you!" Snarled the priest.
This stopped Ugluck in his tracks.
"Well?" Spat the priest. "Do you come for blood? I know the power you wield, demon spawn!"
"Kozah." Whispered Ugluck.
At this the priest advanced spear ready for savage thrust. "Speak
not his name! Lest I slow the speed of your departure!"
Ugluck hesitated relaxing the grip on his spear then lowered it all together. He held his left hand out palm up and knelt.
"What is this madness?" Growled Taranc.
"In my tribe, the open hand is a sign of...submission." returned Ugluck. "I would learn what you would teach me of your god, Kozah."
The priest lowered his spear.

Chapter 6 Lord of Storms
Three years after meeting Taranc, priest of Kozah, the old orc had passed in his sleep. Ugluck was now a vassel of Kozah and slave to Glasya. He picked up the old priests spear and left the hut in flames behind him. Taranc had said that many of the Polag had fled to the Woods of Sharp Teeth, near the human city of Baldurs Gate, to live among the more barbaric northern orcs. The leader of the Polag clan was also said to now be a powerfull chief among those. Uglucks path was clear. It was a long road to the Roaring Shores for a ferry to the Sword Coast. Looking back at the burning hut Ugluck sighed, slung his pack, and started down the goat trail to the Golden Path far below.

[DM RabidBadger]

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