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Ghorza Story Arc 1 Outline

Added 2021-09-26 06:01:37 +0000 UTC

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Ghorza Background

We open on narration from Ghorza about Grurguhrock, more specifically, it's desert where he grew up. He lived a simple life, and was the first child of his father, Urzog.
We hear how much his father meant to him, and how much Ghorza respected him. It meant everything to the young Orc to gain his father's approval, and he followed after him everywhere like a shadow.
Unlike a lot of Orc fathers, Urzog was very hands on and tried to instill a strong moral character on Ghorza. Ghorza laments that it took him as long as it did to understand everything his father tried to teach him, and regrets that maybe if he grew up faster then maybe things could have turned out differently.
Ghorza showed great physical prowess as a young man, and this pleased Urzog greatly. He thought Ghorza would become a great hunter, but Ghorza wanted to be a warrior like his father. Urzog didn't explicitly approve of this, but he didn't dissuade Ghorza, either. Unfortunately this sent mixed messages to the boy.
He felt like he had something to prove to his father, so Ghorza started getting into fights with older Orcs in his tribe. Urzog wasn't happy, and when he questioned Ghorza as to why he'd done this, Ghorza told him to grow stronger.
Urzog wasn't impressed, and he asked his son what he would do if he got stronger. Ghorza, still just a kid, doesn't understand and says once he gets stronger he'd just keep working on getting stronger from there.
Urzog explains that strength is meaningless when used for personal gain. He tries to tell his son that until Ghorza understands what strength is actually for, he'll never be a true man.
Ghorza takes this poorly, feeling like he disrespected the man he idolized. When no one was watching, he set out into the wastes to prove himself. Ghorza was going to show he knew what strength meant by killing some super big monster, he thought.
It didn't go well. The desert is unforgiving, and the poor child was lost for days.
Hungry and on the verge of dehydration, Ghorza stumbled across a cactus and remembered how to drink water from it. When he approached, a gigantic angler-fish like monster rose from the sand and threatened to swallow him whole.
Right as its massive fangs were about to close, Urzog appears and saves Ghorza.
This monster was a gigantic threat, not something a single Orc could ever hope to defeat on his own. Urzog knew that it wouldn't stop hunting them unless he put it down, no matter the cost.
Urzog gets Ghorza's attention by telling him to watch closely if he wants to learn the true meaning of strength. He wanted Ghorza to learn for himself, but sadly he says this might be the last chance to pass it on.
Ghorza watched from a safe distance as Urzog battled the monster to the death, exhausting his healing factor and ultimately ripping out one of the monster's fangs to impale its brain.
The monster fell dead, with Urzog on the verge of death. He approached his son, covered in wounds, and asked a simple question. "Do you understand?"
Ghorza did. Strength wasn't meant for battle, for glory, or sport. Strength is meant to protect the people who mean the most to you. To protect your Clan.
Using the last of his strength, Urzog lifted Ghorza and returned to the tribe. He collapsed just before they made it home, dead.

Ghorza Background Pt 2

Ghorza returned a changed boy. He became quiet, withdrawn, and dedicated.
Time passed, but he never forgot what his father had taught him. Ghorza tortured himself over being the cause of his father's death, and although no one ever blamed him for it or treated him harshly, he felt responsible.
Ghorza swore to both his father and the Gods that so long as he lived, he would protect his Clan with his life.
He studied under every warrior in the tribe, he went on hunts, and he participated in battles. Gaining strength meant everything to Ghorza, aside from his Clan, of course.
Ghorza loves his three mothers. They chose not to remarry, claiming no one would ever match Urzog anyway. Each of them had children with Urzog, and Ghorza did all he could to be there for them.
As he grew older Ghorza became disillusioned with survival in Grurguhrohk. No matter how strong he grew, food would still be sparse, his siblings might still have to risk their lives, and they would never find true safety. It doesn't exist in the Orc Homerealm.
Around the same time he started to feel this way, his tribe ended up crossing paths with a foreign recruitment service for Karnalle's Association of Adventurers. Ghorza had heard tales of them before, specifically how they were always looking to bring over new Orcs to Karnalle with the promise of riches, food and safety.
Against the part of his brain telling him not to, Ghorza met with the recruiters personally. When he learned that he could send enormous amounts of food and wealth back home to his clan, Ghorza fell for it on the spot. He had conflicted feelings and a few of his siblings resented the idea of their eldest brother taking off for a new Realm without them, but Ghorza had more in mind than just sending them food and goods back. He dreamed of one day raising enough money to emigrate his entire Clan to Karnalle.
Ghorza laughs at how stupid it was of him in retrospect, but the AoA was looking for naive, stupid Orcs like him.
They took him to Karnalle, alright, but they didn't tell him he'd have to pay them back for citizenship and for passage on the voidship.
As for how high the debt is, he doesn't say. Only that he needs to pay back 500,000G minimum a month or he'd be sent back. The AoA does this with other realms, but Orcs are put into the biggest debt traps since they can work their asses off harder than any other species.
Emigrating his family seemed like it wouldn't ever happen now but at least the AoA would send back anything he wanted to his Clan for him whenever he wants.
His new home was Hunnihome, and he didn't take to it at first. Everyone was friendly, and food was everywhere. In a way it unsettled him, but he quickly got down to work. He was signed up at the Guild, and he's been working hard ever since.
Ghorza goes over how he's living outside of town, saving his money at the Guild, and paying off his debt. Usually it takes two or three weeks out of the month to raise 500,000G, but he's never been in major danger. Everything in Karnalle is way weaker than Grurguhrohk.
He's been doing this for a year now and he's gotten used to his lonely little life, but there are seeds of doubt in his mind that any of this was even worth it. He misses his Clan, and his reminiscing ends as he considers if his father would be proud of him now.

Hunnihome Guild

We pick up on Ghorza battling a huge cyclops out on the plains. It's no match for him, and he dodges its club at every strike.
Eventually, he shatters the club with his fist and the cyclops charges in. Bad move. Ghorza sidesteps and smashes it in the gut. It pukes, but he dodges.
Cyclops picks up a boulder and hurls it at him, which Ghorza shatters, only to take an unexpected kick to the chest. The claws tear apart his skin, but Ghorza shrugs it off and screams while regenerating himself. He taunts it, and the cyclops starts to get the feeling it can't win. It tries to run
Ghorza closes the distance and literally punches through its torso, pulling out its heart.
It falls limply, and Ghorza breaths a sigh of relief before claiming the proof of kill for his quest- the eyeball. He pops it out even if it's a bit gross.
80k for this quest. Took him a few days to find the damn thing, but with that, he's got his quota for the month. Time to head home.
Hunnihome Guild is full of life, joy, and fun. It makes him uncomfortable and he feels like an outsider. Doesn't help that a lot of people around here all give him weird looks. It's not a racist thing he can tell, more of a novelty. They do it to the other Orcs, too.
Ghorza hints that there are three girls who are much worse than the rest of the Guild, though, and speaking of which...
Ghorza is approached by the Catfolk Fencer, D'artagnyan. She stops him for what she says is a body check, claiming she doesn't trust an Orc like him.
Ghorza goes over his relationship with Dart, how she's always staring at him from afar with her catty eyes, her cheeks flushed red with anger (he's dense). He thinks she has it out for him, and he always ignores her.
Today, he flicks her in the forehead strong enough to send her tumbling comically to the floor. He's surprised when she actually seems upset by his dismissal, but before apologize she skitters away.
He sees a group of nearby adventurers drinking at a table, laughing at Dart. He passes by them and overhears how Dart is getting what she deserves. Ghorza shakes it off, it's none of his business.

Guild Mistress

Ghorza heads to the desk and talks to the Guild Lady, who is scared of him. He asks if he can talk to Lanille instead, and the GL is happy.
The Hunnihome Guild Mistress takes over and she's happy to see Ghorza. He narrates a bit about their relationship. She's looked after him the past year, and he respects her greatly. She isn't like those scumbags who roped him into an absurd amount of debt, and he's always felt that she actually cares about the adventurers serving under her.
Ghorza hands over his kill and he confirms he wants it to go to this month's payment. She congratulates him for meeting this month's payment early and asks if he wants a drink, but he reminds her he can't justify that sort of expense.
She offers to buy him a round of Hunnimead, which he ends up accepting so long as she promises she won't be drinking any herself.
He goes to the Guild's bar with him and she pours him a glass. Auriss is there singing a lewd song, and when she sees Ghorza she lights up with a flirty smile and she recites a lewd poem for him.
Ghorza isn't having it, and Lanille ends up dismissing Auriss. The elf is upset but promises to tease the Orc some other time.
Ghorza recounts his experiences with the Bard, who always seems to be loitering around the place. She's taken a special interest in him and likes teasing him with her poems and songs, which he admits is frustrating for complicated reasons.
Lanille poors him a drink, and they catch up for a while. Eventually, the discussion turns to how Ghorza is coping. It's almost been a year, and she asks if he misses his Clan.
Of course he does. She asks if he's feeling lonely, and Ghorza blushes, saying he's flattered but not interested. Lanille laughs, saying he's getting ahead of himself, before clarifying that that isn't what she meant.
Ghorza then remembers she's talking about making friends with some of the other adventurers. She's always trying to set him up with parties to make his work easier, but he keeps refusing. He doesn't need other people dragging him down he insists.
Sure, it could make his work go faster, but it'd add more complications to life that he doesn't want or need.
Lanille can tell he feels lonely, but he shrugs the assertion off. She points over to Dart, who is sitting on a windowsill looking lonely and says that Ghorza isn't the only one who feels lonely.
Ghorza laughs and thinks Lanille is crazy if she expects him to partner up with that cat of all people. His softer side winds up asking about why she looks so sad, though.
Lanille explains how Dart is sweet, naive, and always ready to help others. Tells Ghorza some adventurers were taking advantage of that.
Ghorza holds back his sympathy, trying to make himself feel indifferent. Says she needed to learn somehow. It's clear he's just being difficult, though.
Lanille gets more desperate and asks if he wouldn't do a quest with Dart even as a personal favor. She reminds Ghorza she's never asked a single thing from him before now, and this gets him feeling awkward.
He tells Lanille if she were anyone else he'd feel insulted about being manipulated like this, but Lanille giggles saying it's me so you won't.
Before agreeing, Ghorza wants to know why she wants him of all people to go on a quest with her. He's not exactly the life of the party and furthermore he's convinced Dart hates him.
Lanille gives him an odd look, then laughs. Says he has a lot to learn about women.
Ghorza downs the rest of his drink, saying he has no interest in such things but is cagey about it.
As a last resort, Lanille offers to pay 100k of his minimum payment next month if he just her this one favor.
Ghorza is humbled by this and fights back, but ultimately agrees to come back tomorrow and take Dart out. Lanille is happy, then runs off to tell Dart the good news.
Scene ends as he looks at Dart, thinking uncertain thoughts. She blushes and jumps straight off the seat as Lanille tells her about Ghorza, and she looks back, shocked yet smiling. He wonders if he's making a huge mistake.

Qadira

Ghorza awakens the next day in his shabby tent, alone and hungry. He cooks up a bear haunch he hunted the other day and reminds himself to go hunting again soon. He's hungry, but he pushes it aside, remembering he can't spend gold if it's not for his family.
He heads to the Guild and on the outside he runs into Qadira, a Magi who is the third of the girls Ghorza referenced having trouble with. She contronts him with one of her Djinn and asks if he's ready to become her slave today.
Sadly he has to help some other annoying girl today, tells her to check back tomorrow. She crosses her arms and puts away Djinn, says maybe she will.
Ghorza explains his run ins with this chick until now. He likes her the least of the three, because she's super stuck up and bitchy
Ghorza sighs and asks if she has anything better to do, bringing up how she has some sort of debt to pay off as well.
Angered, Qadira explains that's why she wants him as her slave. With him by her side she can pay her debt back to the Sultan and return to Kissuara, and return to conquer the realm and yadda yadda
Ghorza cuts her off and walks away, only for his stomach to grumble.
Qadira is shocked by the super loud sound before she asks if he's hungry. She does so angrily, like she's offended that he's not taking proper care of himself. She angrily fishes out some bread and an apple from her pouch and insists he eats it, then she storms off faster than he can process what just happened.
Ghorza considers maybe Lanille was right and that he has more to learn about women, but also considers how complicated they are and how he doesn't really want to.

D'artanyan

As soon as Ghorza enters, he immediately regrets his decision to head out with Dart. She was waiting for him at the entrance and she's excited to see him, albeit still throwing in lots of awkward comments about him being a big scary Orc.
He expresses maybe this was a bad idea, but Dart is horrified that he would go back on his word. As a knight, she would never go back on her word.
Ghorza reminds her that he's no knight so he's under no obligation, only for Dart to take this a weird direction by suggesting maybe he should become a knight. She hints at her armor fetish here, subtly, but she ends up brushing it off.
Ghorza sees for whatever reason that she really wants to do a quest with him, and ends up reaffirming to her that he's not going to go back on his word. Dart jumps for joy, before blushing and taking a dramatic pose, trying to look cool. She tries to save face, but no go.
On their way to the quest board, they run into that group of adventurers who was laughing at Dart yesterday. Feirdan, a human male archer, Cithra, an elven female rogue, and Blandarr, a human male barbarian.
Feirdan stops Dart, and Dart becomes noticeably upset. He asks if she's helping out Ghorza now, and Dart meekly responds she's not helping anyone, they're doing a quest together. The others make similar comments meant to taunt the catfolk, but Ghorza has had enough.
He gives the three of them a stern warning that whatever this bullshit is, he doesn't care. Leave, or he's going to put them out of work for months. They laugh at Ghorza, only for him to lift Feirdan up by the shirt like a rag doll, look straight in his eyes and says something like, "You might've noticed I'm not from around here. You Karnallians have a weird sense of humor, so do you mind telling me what's so funny?"
Feirdan cowers, says nothing is funny. Ghorza throws him roughly against the floor saying that's what he thought. The others help their companion to run the fuck off. The Guild is quiet staring at him until Auriss starts up a song to distract everyone. Ghorza catches the Elf winking at him and he nods his head, thanking her.
When he looks back at Dart, he sees that she's starry eyed and almost worshipping him. He's like I was gonna ask what's up with them, but what the fuck is this?
Dart is cryptic but hints at knowing she was right about Ghorza.
Ghorza doesn't even wanna know and walks past her to the quest board, Dart following like a dog behind him.

Quest Begins

Ghorza and Dart go over the quest board and she insists on killing some giant swamp frog that somehow made it out of Drerland. Ghorza resists since it'd be a day away and he didn't prepare for an overnight hunt, but Dart annoys him into accepting.
They register with Lanille and she gives Ghorza a big pack of food as a little present, where as Dart runs off to get her stuff.
He takes this chance to ask what the fuck was going on with the guys picking on Dart, and Lanille confirms that they're the ones who were taking advantage of Dart's kindness. Total shitheads. He apologizes for causing trouble, but Lanille says next time he should rough them up.
Dart returns with a pack and a bag, and makes a joke about how unfortunately there's only one tent. Ghorza sighs, says he'll sleep outside but Dart is like wait no dammit. Ghorza is like?? and she only looks away saying n-nothing in response.
Together, they set out. He avoids the red light district even though it'd be a shorter way out of town, hinting that that place is no good for him and he can't be near the smell.
Once they're out, Ghorza tells Dart to let him carry her. Dart is both happy and tsundere about this suggestion. Knights don't get carried, they carry others! But maybe just this once...
Unfortunately, he meant carry her on his back. She wanted it bridal style and won't tell him why she's upset.
Ghorza runs super fast on their way, and they make brief conversation. A few hours later, Dart has to stop to pee. Ghorza is annoyed but they stop and find a spot. She tells him not to peak but he shoots her down as being super not into that.
With a moment of down time Ghorza thinks things are going ok so far, even if things are awkward. He reminds himself he's only doing this for Lanille, and tries to push thoughts of Dart and whatever she's going through out of hit mind. None of his business.
Dart shrieks, and he runs in her direction as soon as he hears the sound of buzzing wings.
Dart pulls up her panties just as her arrives and scrambles for her sword, narrowly dodging the stinger of a giant bee. Ghorza's narration explains how Echora is infested with these, and he wonders if a new hive cropped up somewhere. Oddly, the megafauna reminds him of Grurguhrohk and is somewhat nostalgic.
There's six of them and the two work together to make quick work of them. Ghorza sees that Dart is actually a skilled warrior and he totally underestimated her.
After they defeat the bees, Ghorza praises the kitten. Dart calls him out for being rude, asks if he thought she was just some useless kitten, he says yes. Dart gets all huffy, before Ghorza reminds her to put her pants back on. She blushes and he looks away, trying not to think about what he saw.
Before getting on the road, they harvest the proof of kill on these six bees- their stingers- and plan on coming back for them. Carrying them to the quest would be too difficult, but the Guild would pay 5k for them so it'd be good not to waste them.

Quest Night

Back on the road, Ghorza recounts how the last few hours have past by without incident. They talked a bit, but nothing major
Ghorza has a different problem later in the day, though. Dart was stiff as a board initially, but over the hours she became more and more comfortable. The presence of her breasts on his back and her closeness draws on him. He can't help noticing her enticing scent and it makes him grumpier. And then he keeps thinking about her panties, which doesn't help.
When it's time to make camp, he ends up snapping at her eventually over something small, but he apologizes and admits he isn't a people person, and he's especially not a 'women' person.
Dart horrifyingly assumes he's gay, but Ghorza angrily corrects her.
Dart then gets all smug when she realizes that it must be that thing she heard about Orc libidos. His silence all but confirms it, and she teases him by asking if he liked her panties.
Ghorza angrily grunts and ignores her, trying to distract himself. Calls her an idiot and tells her he's not interested. He doesn't want distractions in his life. His narration reveals that he's terrified of opening the door to pleasures of the flesh. Orcs are instinctually driven to mate and make huge families, and Ghorza doesn't trust himself not to fall down that rabbit hole. He even mentions that he finds Dart cute, but he's not about to go telling her that.
They set the lone tent up and eat after he calms down, but Dart keeps giving him smug looks. It gets late, and Ghorza volunteers to sleep outside the tent and keep watch. He's used to not sleeping as much cause of taking care of his family.
Dart asks about his family, and they have some nice rapport as he talks about some of it.
Dart goes to sleep, but Ghorza notices something different in the air. Angrily, he asks if she's sleeping nude in there and Dart is like well duh. He tries to get her to put clothes on but she always sleeps nude. Her head pokes out of the tent flap and she teases him.
Ghorza ignores it, ends up trying to sit further away from the tent. Dart then has a change in heart, and tries offering to help him with that lust. Ghorza can't imagine this, and explains he'd destroy her body. He explains a bit about why he doesn't wanna have intimacy and it's clear Dart is getting off on the idea.
Ghorza ends up asking why she'd even want to do that sort of thing with him, and Dart clumsily explains she doesn't hate him. Rather, he's alright. And then she mentions that the only thing she's good for is blindingly helping other people, so she just thought she'd offer.
He asks if this has anything to do with those assholes, and she retreats back into the tent. He apologizes, thinking she doesn't wanna talk about it, but she starts explaining what happened with them.
She reveals how when she first came to Hunnihome and became an adventurer, she helped out all sorts of people, but those three asked her a lot and because she was stronger than them, they relied on her. Dart explains how she was too stupid to know they were taking advantage of her.
Ghorza takes this all in before saying she's a good person and that they don't deserve her help anyway. Dart doesn't believe it, but Ghorza admires her deep her desire is to help other people. She might not be a real knight, but she possesses true strength regardless.
Dart is silent for a minute, before her head pokes out again, crying and blushing. She asks if he really means it, and Ghorza confirms.
The affectionate catfolk runs out of the tent, fully naked, and jumps onto Ghorza to give him a huge hug.
Ghorza has a comedic over the top reaction where he scrambles to get her off of him, and he gets closer to snapping in his arousal. Eventually Dart comes to her senses and realizes she's naked, runs away back into the tent and hides calling him a perverted Orc.

Frog Monster

The next day, Ghorza wakes up and feels like shit. It took him a lot of meditation to calm down, because it's not like her can just masturbate. It wouldn't be enough. Worse, he might actually be tempted into going in there.
Dart is still pretending to be mad about the night before, but he can tell her behaviour has changed. She keeps trying to cuddle up to him, and when they set off for the day she keeps nuzzling into him while riding him. Ghorza can't help thinking how cute she is over and over and he hates it.
After another three hours of travel, they reach the area this monster was supposed be found in. Ghorza remembers how hard it was to find the Cyclops and expects this to be a repeat, but Dart surprises him by reminding him that cats are natural born hunters.
She is able to sniff around for tracks, and eventually she finds enough of a lead for them to hunt it down. Ghorza only has experience hunting in the desert, so following tracks and searching for scents is beyond him. He starts thinking that maybe he's been too stubborn and should rethink his stance on going on adventures with others.
Still, he isn't sure he can trust others. But then he wonders if he can trust Dart, and thinks that maybe things might work out with her after all and that perhaps more adventures together lie in their future.
Eventually, Dart leads them to the monster. They pull out the quest to get some details in the monster and they find out it's poisonous and acidic. Dart has some poison medicine, but Ghorza has none. Orcs handle poison better than other races, and it's just one more expense he's saving on. Dart is angry saying he should take better care of himself, but he shrugs it off saying all he needs to do is not get hit.
Dart proposes a plan of attack, but Ghorza just walks ahead and punches it. Anything else isn't how Orcs do things. It takes damage, but for a frog it's pretty sturdy. He thinks he might get to let loose a little this time, and Dart inserts herself into the battle.
Things go well. Their styles suit each other great and Dart gets in lots of big decisive blows with her rapier.
As it takes more damage it starts using more poison, and Ghorza learns the hard way that just touching the stuff hurts like a bitch, like it's seeping in through his skin. Probably won't kill him he thinks, but still not good.
Dramatic moment he misses an attack and it's about to unload a huge blast of poison on Dart. He freaks out, thinking that if it hurt even his Orc skin then it'd probably fucking disintegrate her.
Ghorza rushes in and tackles her out of the path, hugging her to his chest and taking huge poison all over his back that burns like crazy. Dart is overwhelmed by his kindness, and he yells at her to not be stupid. It's the duty of the strong to protect the ones they care about. He yells at her to get back in their and kill it.
Dart pushes her shyness away long enough to ready her strongest Art, and she screams about wanting to protect him, too, because that's what a knight would do. She pierces the frog's skull with her rapier and its brains are scrambled by her blow, it falls over dead.
She's happy, but then remembers he's in great pain. She rushes to help him but he throws himself into a nearby pond, emerges with it all washed off, and screams as he activates his healing factor. The damaged skin heals, impressing Dart, who is crying thinking he could've died.
Ghorza teases that it'd take much more to kill him. She's like it better, cause she was worried sick.
He feels real happy about their developing dynamic and he starts to realize he just straight up likes being around Dart. With this realization, they agree on going to claim their proof of kill.
The trophy is one of the eyes, which is as big as a head. They wrap it in a bag. Dart suggests that they should get one of those AoA bags which hold proof of kills magically, but Ghorza says it's a scam and that he can't spend money. Would be handy, though.
With their quest completed, the two depart the same way they came.

Confrontation

The journey home continues without much happening, but on the 2nd day when they came to pick up all those bee stingers they left behind they end up running into an interesting trio- the adventurers who mistreated Dart. They're trying to steal the stingers so they can turn in a profit, and they catch them putting them into one of those AoA bags they were talking about.
Dart freezes up, and Ghorza tells them to give them back. They left them there and they're now back to get them.
Feirdan taunts them saying it's too bad they don't have one of those bags, and they laugh about how they bought one with all the money Dart helped make them. To make it worse, he teases Dart and tries to get her to agree to giving them the bee stingers since they're strapped for cash. He plays up how Dart loves helping people.
She struggles with her feelings, until Ghorza asks her if she's gonna take this. Dart tries to justify it, saying maybe they do really need the money and that as a knight it's her duty to help, but...
Ghorza gets her to understand that some people aren't worth helping. Sometimes the one you need to help is yourself.
The adventurers make the wrong move and joke about how they'll be helping themselves alright, and Dart snaps. She runs at the trio as her claws come out of her gloves and she beats the shit out of them singlehanded. By the end, they're all bloody and a lot of their armor is ruined.
Ghorza asks if Dart feels good, and she sure as hell does. Ghorza walks up to them and takes the AoA bag, saying that since Dart earned all the money for it they'll surely have no objections to her 'borrowing' it from now on, right?
No objections. Ghorza tosses it to Dart, but as a joke she doesn't get it and asks when she has to bring it back. Ghorza deadpans, telling her they're stealing it in exchange for him not beating the shit out of them. Dart is like oh, ok that's even better!
The two then smile at each other and head back to Hunnihome.

Back Home

Lanille is shocked but delighted over how close the two of them have become, even if Ghorza is tsundere about it. Dart is less so, saying that from no on they're gonna do tons of quests together.
Ghorza dismisses it but hints he's open to it. Lanille thinks Ghorza seems a lot happier than usual, but he brushes it off.
Ghorza makes sure Lanille intends to honor her deal, and she says yes. Dart wants to know what he means, and almost explains the whole thing before Lanille cuts him off saying she promised she'd help Ghorza with his debt next month if she did him a favor.
Ghorza is like ah yeah, might upset her if I only went on a quest with her as a favor. He plays along, but Dart asks about the debt and learns about how much of debt trap the Association put him in, and she's horrified.
Dart says what kind of evil Guild monsters could live with themselves, putting people into such huge debt traps. Lanille is visibly uncomfortable, hinting at the aspects of her job she struggles with.
Dart jumps up on a table and draws her sword, pointing it to Ghorza. She dramatically announces from this point on, she's going to be there for him and help him work off his debt.
The Orc is embarrassed, asks her if she learned nothing and tells her he doesn't need her help. Dart then teases him, asking him what was it he said about strength again? That is was the duty of the strong to protect those they care about? Dart says it's settled. Since she's strong, she'll help him because she cares about him.
Ghorza is super embarrassed but he can't argue against her logic. Lanille cheers them on, and it inspires Auriss to cut in and announce a new partnership has been formed. She plays a song on her violin and the Guild cheers, causing Ghorza to get so flustered and angry that he tries to leave.
Lanille stops him, offering him mead and free meal to celebrate. Ghorza acts like he has no choice, and sits down with Dart who hugs and nuzzles his massive arm.
Ghorza sighs and says they had a pretty fun night, I guess...
But we get a fake-out ending where Dart follows him home with a big bag of stuff, intending to move in. He's like hell no, and she teases him about his lust. She promises to sleep in her own tent, most of the time... and he can stare at her in her panties whenever he wants.
Arc ends as he dreads whatever he's gotten himself into.