Aaron and the others spotted an Ork squad in the distance.
The squad consisted of an Ork officer, several Ork soldiers, and a handful of auxiliaries. Ork auxiliaries tended to be a mixed lot. They welcomed giants, ogres, trolls, and other races into their ranks, while enslaving races they considered inferior, such as goblins, kobolds, and gnolls. Orks were so prolific that they could interbreed with practically any creature, rivaling dragons in that respect.
As a result, a powerful hybrid of Orks and dragons existed, known as the "Dragon-Orc." These creatures had an Ork's upper body and the crawling lower body of a dragon. Huge and formidable in battle, they possessed immense strength and constitution, and many were born sorcerers.
A few Dragon-Orc tribes were said to live in the Anauroch Desert north of Cormyr.
This Ork squad's auxiliaries were several gnolls armed with flails and poisoned arrows. They were not particularly strong or fearsome monsters, merely rather cunning.
"Shh!"
The four-person party hid in the forest. Disma, who was leading them, watched the Ork squad's movements and signaled his plan to Aaron.
I'll handle the Ork officer. The rest are yours.
My second senior's plan really is simple and brutal.
Aaron had no objection. Instead, he considered the Ranger's role in an adventure. Rangers shared the same shortcoming as Rogues: they excelled at adventuring, but not at combat. Once trapped in a prolonged battle, a Ranger's troubles would only grow with time.
Compared with Rogues, however, Rangers were far more versatile. Every Ranger chose a favored terrain and trained diligently in it. In that terrain, they were like fish in water, moving with effortless ease.
Disma's favored terrain, for example, was forest. Unless magic interfered, he would never lose his way or suffer an ambush in a forest, nor