The Story of Snout by Honrik of Deepriver Academy

Snout was the runt of his litter. Small and weak at birth, his mother nearly dashed his brains out on sight (a practice commonly used by Orcs to weed out the "bad" babies from the good.) The midwife intervened, however, becauseof the dwindling numbers of Snout's clan, Shattered Mountain. Years of skirmishes with both the Coppermen and the Kingsmen had brought the clan's numbers to an all-time low. Every baby would have to prove its worth. Much to everyone's suprise, Snout endured his childhood years bravely and fiercely, despite the taunts and beatings from the other youngsters. Snout made up for his lack of physical size and power with determination and a cruel cunning. He was also very good at running away, grovelling, and making up all manner of imaginative lies to get himself out of trouble.

Several years ago, the Shattered Mountain clan was stumbled upon by a travelling group of performers. The troupe would have been dinner, if not for their amusing antics and quick wit. The leader of the clan, Bastak Tall-Tusk, decreed that the troupe should perform. If the performance was satisfactory, the troupe would be allowed to go in peace. Unbenownst to the clan, the theatre troupe had recently consumed vast quantities of bad wine. Their command performance was interrupted now and again by plumes of vomit, much to the intense amusement of the Orcs. In fact, Bastak Tall-Tusk was so impressed, that he provided Snout as an escort for their journey to the main road. Snout himself was quite taken with the play. Being quite gullible, he was unable to separate fantasy from reality, and constantly referred to the performers by their character names. It didn't take much convincing for Snout to join the troupe as a permanent bodyguard, and he has been travelling with them ever since. Bastak Tall-Tusk never sent anyone after Snout. It was his hope to unload the hapless Orc on the performers, and none of the other Shattered Mountain clan missed Snout at all.

How sad.

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