Teela Goremane

Following the horrors of the Red Crusade, many Orcs fled to the continent of Peltas, their number fracturing into warring clans as they journeyed east over the Valdemar Strait. Some continued their journey to the Sorrowlakes with their Lizardmen, Skinwalker, and Ogryn compatriots, others became merciless raiders, and more attempted to establish a home within the Deadlands. Teela was born into a clan that headed into that hot, scrubby place, and preferred the path of the raider, pillaging and enslaving at will. Life in the clan was often brutal and short, and after being orphaned when she could barely walk Teela had to learn to survive from the moment she took her first steps. Where more fortunate warriors had the benefit of family to teach them and help, she fought for absolutely everything – food, medicine, and clothing. Despite her brutal upbringing, over the years it made Teela resourceful and strong. She gained a reputation among her clan for being able to put down warriors twice her size, and was placed at the head of countless raiding parties. For years, Teela launched successful sorties in the Deadlands, ambushing trade convoys from Anhelt, and fighting with rival raiders. One day, a stroke of mysterious luck thrust the Orc warrior to new heights of glory. Her raiding party ambushed a caravan transporting a scholar from Aravia, and overwhelmed the guards without trouble. When the cornered Elf begged for his life, he mentioned a weapon of great importance – the very thing that he had set out on his journey to find. Though not usually one to show mercy, Teela agreed to keep the scholar alive in exchange for everything he knew. This is how Teela learned of the Hexdrinker Scimitar, an ancient sword buried somewhere within the far northern reaches of the Deadlands, just north of the Thundermount. With such a powerful blade in her grasp, Teela could propel herself and her clan to greater heights. She insisted the Elven scholar accompany her party in their quest to find it. Trusting in the scholar's information, Teela led her raiders in a long march across sand dunes and dust mounds, their captive guiding them. Reading from an ancient map, the Elf led them to a burrow that predated even the Human raider clans that controlled the area. It had not been left unguarded, and Teela's attempt to breach it called scores of skeletal warriors to life. Teela and her Orcs fought tooth and nail against these Undead guardians, breaking them all apart before pushing deeper into the burrow. There, the head of the Undead host waited – a skeletal monster bearing the very shadow-cloaked blade Teela craved. The necromancer pulled a toothless, black-gummed grin, and the Orcs heard the crack and crunch of bone as the skeletons they had destroyed reformed behind them and marched toward their rear. Battle was renewed, and Teela knew she would have to kill the necromancer if she and her warriors were to survive. In the battle that followed, every Orc bar Teela was cut down, slashed and pierced with rusting blades and spears. The Elf too was slain. Teela herself barely survived. She ducked and dodged the necromancer's every swing and thrust of the Hexdrinker Scimitar, drenched with sweat, her brow furrowed and teeth bared in concentration and battle-anger. Her Undead foe assailed her with shadow magic as they fought, slowing and throwing off her movements. But with sheer determination, she won out. A slice to his neck saw the depraved sorcerer fall, and Teela caved in his face with her boot. Then she shattered his hand to wrest the Scimitar from him. The remaining skeletons clattered to the ground. The battle finally over, Teela then wept, for all around her lay the bodies of her loyal warriors. She found her alabaster white hair was splattered with their blood, and she refused to think of washing it out. She left the barrow, Scimitar in hand, wondering if the gain was worth the loss. Regardless of the truth then, she was determined to make it so her Orcs had not died in vain. The more enemies she slew with it, the more wealth she acquired using it, and the more necromancers she ended upon its point, she would ensure the sacrifice of her Orcs was a worthy one. They would all fall before the blade of Teela Goremane.