Scarpha laid herself out above the canopy of the trees. Her skinny frame practically made her invisible amongst the branches. Following the scent of the Orcs only took her ten minutes. They were sloppy with how they traveled in hunting parties. They would brush up against barks creating unseeable magic waypoints for Scarpha, not exactly like she needed them to track the orcs. The stench had more prominence over the magic anyway.

Underneath her she could hear the trio of orc raiders, the language wasn’t anything she really understood, but that didn’t matter.

They had to be younglings judging by how they acted and their appearances. The biggest of the trio, the greenest had black paint going from his eyes and meeting at his forehead in a fashioned peak. He had a very large build, bigger than the other two. He was also the more heavily armored. His sword was very well made...as well as an orc could make, still quality craftsmanship. The blade remained straight when it left the hilt extending further down to the middle it dipped slightly.

The other two had been slightly fighting, a common display in orcs the action was most likely triggered by some tiny dispute. Judging by the cargo, a knight who was seemingly missing a head. they were carrying it was over who would get the first bite. Human flesh seems to be a delicacy for them, something both races rather enjoy.

The two had a similar build and armor sets. A helmet that covered their foreheads and most of their bottom jaw, it had spikes that jutted upward making the helmet look like an external skull.

Most of their body was covered up by the thick orcish designed armor. The entire body was covered in tanned leather with tidbits of hardened steel. Their backs were covered by a curved steel hunch.

One of the two threw a punch at the other, he fell to the ground he snarled something very incoherent and jumped overtop the other one. The two began to brawl heavily. Blood splattered all over the trees, if the fight wasn’t stopped soon they’d most likely end up killing one another.

The bigger orc dropped the corpse and turned around to face the younger orcs.

Scarpha saw an opportunity, she wrapped her legs around the tree and let go, using her core muscles she slowly descended her torso downward until she was perpendicular to the orc. When she confirmed the distance between herself and the ground she dropped behind the bigger orc with a light thud.

She sat crouched as he tried to figure out exactly what he was looking at, It didn’t smell like a human, and it didn’t look like anything he’s ever seen. She stood, her height was just slightly smaller than his.

His hesitation was all she needed. She impaled his chest with her tail, The stinger was barely able to pierce his leather armor any more than just the tip. He growled raising his sword. But eventually found himself unable to move anymore after that, Her venom was already coursing through his veins. Fear began to set for him once he realized he was at her mercy. His increased heart rate only helped spread the venom. He dropped to his knees not being able to support his own weight. Once she was entirely sure that he was under her effects she removed the stinger. A black viscous liquid string connected the tip and the entry wound. Her mandibles opened up and she hissed.

She climbed onto his back and hissed once more. She jabbed her stinger directly into the spinal column of the orc. He pressed his sword into the ground raising himself. She made her living puppet walk towards the other two. they had still been fighting, ignoring the events that transpired between their leader and Scarpha. Not that it took very long, to begin with. He picked up the one by the back of the neck. It screeched in pain. Gripping the larger one’s arms. With one squeeze the struggling ceased. The body was dropped letting it limply lay over itself. The only one hissed getting back to his feet, going into full defense mode. Apparently, orcs fought often but, they stopped just before killing another one another.

The puppet orc stood tall, leaking black goop from every orifice, its body was essentially liquefying from the venom. It was able to take one step before all signals from the brain were essentially canceled signify the host had died. It fell face down nearly flinging Scarpha.

She unplugged herself from the orc, the mixture of blood and venom was mixed on the tip of her tail. Perhaps constantly pumping the venom into her victims wasn’t the best.

She got down on all fours swaying her tail hypnotically back and forth. This display was practically telling her opponent that’s how she attacked.

She took a step forward, the young orc took a step back. She took another and the orc in vice versa.

This would have gone nowhere if she opened up her mandibles and screamed, the orc was taken off guard and attempted to flee. She flicked her tail flinging the blood-venom mixture onto the face of the young orc.

She stayed exactly where she was when he took off, she simply waited.

Once he was out of eyesight she stood back up. She picked the nearest tree and embedded her claws. She made a movement to begin climbing but was ultimately stopped. She looked back to the corpses that were left.

She had the most incessant urge to do something, something she couldn’t explain why she’s compelled to do it.

She let go of the tree and approached the larger orc. His mouth was bubbling with the amount of venom within its system. She hovered over the mouth, Her mandibles opened up, she connected her mouth to the orc’s and began to drink. The liquid had the same properties of magic. She continued to slurp down the innards into the day.

…

...

The sun was mostly set by the time she finished feeding on the second orc. Something that was unique to her was her ability to track her own venom. It was essentially scent that she could use to track down her prey. If they ever managed to escape, if they escaped.

She climbed into the canopy again to track the sent of her own toxins.

The orc went in a pretty straight path. He went nowhere but forward. He left crushed branches and upturned dirt in places he fell. She continued following the invisible trail until she came to the edge.

Buildings made of rock, steel, and wood were all arranged in an organized pattern around the area. Some erupted heavy black smoke, it seemed everything was in full motion. She could see figures carrying things, even guards were posted up to keep watch. She clicked her mandibles and slinked back into the darkness of the forest.

Tonight was going to become very lively.