Journal Entry 18:02 Urik Looks to Start a School

As soon as Urik is back in Chrailis, he wastes no time in contacting his temple. Whether it is his own mission or one placed upon his heart by Josca, it matters not – both align. Urik’s has made it his mission to not only bring the faith to orcs but to also improve their standard of living. The senseless violence, as he sees it, serves no real purpose.

He has come to believe that orcs are being held back by their own social values and warlike nature. If they were to move past that and receive more opportunities through better education, then possibly, just possibly, the standing of orcs in Chrailis would not only improve, but orcs as a whole would become a more enlightened people.

He knows this is a hard road and understands many just believe that orcs are simply inherently warlike and bestial in nature.

Once at the temple and presenting his idea, he finds the standing sentiment to be that while it is lofty idea to convert the orcs to Josca in mass, in practicality, none really want to try it. Urik didn’t expect much less, he knows that this is his challenge and burden. Finding little more than support in passing words, Urik spends the rest of the day selling some of his treasure and then making new purchases to aid in his overall quest.

Early the next day, he heads out and finds his friend Crane, expecting more support. This time he is a little disappointed at how jaded Crane is to Urik’s proposed venture. While Crane thinks the end goal is just, he also is very skeptical. The problem, as he sees it, is that the sea orcs are simply too savage, the Gore Reavers in particular. The other clans are forced into being warlike just to hold their own and not get absorbed. But Crane admits, as priests of the war goddess Josca, if any issue fell into their domain, pacifying the orc clans into being defensively strong-minded without the wanton violence definitely does.

Crane urges Urik to think smaller, to focus on those orcs near Chrailis along the coastline of First Dawn Lake. Possibly convince more of them to give up the life of the sea and come to Chrailis. Right now, the only orcs in Chrailis tend to be those seeking fame or fortune in the form of utilizing their martial skills to aid their employers. Crane suggests that if an actual community of orcs were to exist in Chrailis outside of those in Orc Town, well, then maybe something good could happen.

Since Urik was thinking along the same lines of trying to set up some sort of school for the orcs where they could learn useful ‘civilized’ trades like healing and advanced carpentry or masonry, he agrees. Urik envisions that orcs with these skills could then spread out in the orc villages and by bringing them greater prosperity, this might bring them closer to abandoning the need to war all the time.

His suggested school is as follows. It will primarily focus on healing classes at first. In addition to helping the orc clans, they will also be providing medical care to the poor of Chrailis. To start, he is thinking that a class of six students is optimal. Three or four orcs and two or three poor citizens of Chrailis with their races varying. The healing class would likely be about a three month class with additional social skills like diplomacy taught with a focus on city living. Classes would be about four hours a day and then the students could work about four hours a day in a free clinic. Students would have their evenings free and would gain rights as their education progressed. I.e. Stage 1 - Confined to school grounds. Stage 2 - Group trips to public events. Stage 3 - Supervised day trips to select neighborhoods etc.

Other ‘short classes’ would be Riding, Diplomacy and Handle Animal (Loading and handling of wagons and animal care). Eventually, the school could work up to apprenticeships in crafts such as Blacksmithing and Pottery. For the apprenticeships, a parent would be invited to stay at the school and could attend some classes with their child.

To this end, he begins looking into the possibility of securing grounds for his school. Believing the school needs to be in Chrailis but as close to the orc villages as possible, he hires an estate agent to start looking for land in eastern Chrailis or even further east along the river. Maybe no more than an hour by wagon.

The estate agent he finds is named Rayla. She is an elf from the Stone Cutter’s guild who works for 5 silvers a day. It is Dame Imokan who suggests Urik try the builder’s guild in the first place.

While she doesn’t find him a location during the short stay Urik will spend in Chrailis, she does promise to keep looking while he is away. Urik then asks Dame Imokan for a favor. Handing over 1000 GP in gems, he asks that she or a factor of hers could act as an agent for Urik while he is away. If they decide the property Rayla finds is sufficient for his needs, they could then give that money as a down payment on the property until Urik returns. Dame Imokan readily agrees aid in this task.

Having done that, Urik then focuses on another matter which has been bothering him, the letter he received from Sir Caladanis. To that end, he hires an investigator his first day back to give him some background information on the man and to look into the matter.

The background information is readily available and by the end of the first day, Urik has a written report. He is happy that his reading practice is paying off and he can now work his way through most of the report. He only needs to ask for assistance twice to finish the entire report on his own.

What he finds on Sir Caladanis mostly reads as follows:

In 1217 AC, roughly ten years ago, he was a small lord who spent his time aiding various orphanages in northern Chrailis. His full name is Montimorf Caladanis.

Years earlier, around 1210, he was also a veteran of several engagements where gnolls had tried to sneak around the halfling lands to the east, trying to come at the southern halflings near the border of the Quirk Woods.

Caladanis’s name came up as having led a small counter raid from just within the Quirk Woods and forcing the first contingent of gnolls to halt their forward progress. In a second battle later that same day, the gnolls retreated right into a second contingent of approaching gnolls and orcs. Once those groups joined up, they pushed forward again.

Sir Caladanis had already sent for help, so he took action and fortified his position against the oncoming raiders. Fighting them to a standstill for half a day, reinforcements from the Rangers finally arrived and harried the gnolls and orcs into full retreat.

The orcs, familiar with the land, fled along the border of the Quirk Woods and suffered severe casualties from the now angered halfling locals and the pursuing Rangers. Only a meager amount of the orcs made it back to their ships to flee. The ships did not have any visible insignia and had been hidden in edges of the jungle where it overgrew the lake. While likely Flayed Serpent clan, several hints indicated the orcs could have been slavers from Gore Reaver clan. If so, they were far from home.

As far as the gnolls, they fled into the Quirk Woods not knowing its full dangers. They were never heard from again.

It is from these engagements and his family rank that he was knighted.

For years after he was knighted he aided local orphanages from administrating a few of the orphanages to seeking funds to keep them going. Many of the children in the orphanages he was associated with were cast-offs of society, consisting mostly of humans, orcs, and half-orcs.

From this report, Urik then enlists Graykar to help him plug in some of the missing information.

From what Urik can tell, he never did anything of note with the title, preferring to stay in the lands north of Chrailis.

From what Urik and Graykar were able to determine, Sir Caladanis ran his three orphanages fairly and sternly. His view was the best way to raise the children was to train them in hard work, and work them hard he did. However, he also made sure they got a fair amount of the money they made for their efforts. He also taught most of the children combat skills. What does seem evident is that he was not making a great profit at the expense of his children.

Now that they are looking, Urik has come across several Rangers who learned their first fighting skills in Caladanis’s orphanages. Of those that both Graykar and Urik talk to, they get a picture of a man who was strict, yet fair. They didn’t talk to a single Ranger who actually believed the charges against Sir Caladanis. From them, he also learns that the great scar across Caladanis’s face was from the gnoll battle he participated in while protecting the halfling lands.

They both then recall that even under Aja’s sneezing curse, Sir Caladanis had insisted he had been framed by faulty business partners. But they also remember he had sneezed when asked some of the questions. Implying that maybe he wasn’t entirely innocent if he were telling the truth about being framed.

As to the charges. He was accused of selling children, especially those of human and elvish descent, to orcish slave traders.

The final part of the report is most disturbing if Sir Caladanis is indeed innocent of the charges.

He is working hard labor at the marble quarry on the northwestern edge of the city, cutting the stones to shape. He is faring poorly as the other prisoners and the guards have figured out that he cannot lie without sneezing. Due to this, they consistently put him in situations where he must lie to avoid trouble but then sneezes when he tries to talk his way out of trouble. He is faring badly and probably won’t survive more than a few months due to the continual beatings he is receiving. The guards are showing no interest in protecting him. Because he can’t help but report what he knows, the other prisoners are now considering him a snitch.

If he is guilty of his crimes, Urik believes that his punishment and fate is just. However, just in case, Urik is now concerned that maybe the man was indeed framed.

To this end, Urik approaches his temple and inquires about whether a barrister can look into matters. A priest of Stengard by the name of Galderichio, who also happens to be a renowned barrister, offers to look into the matter personally in exchange for a favor to be named later. Urik agrees as the god of Law and Justice has some of the best-known barristers in Chrailis. One of their hallmarks is their overdeveloped sense of fairness. He also tells Galderichio of his plans for a school and should Caladanis not be freed, maybe he could at least be reassigned to less strenuous public service like running Urik’s school.

With these tasks done, Urik is ready for Mid-Revel. He will enjoy the three days and then be ready to head back to the temples.