The Drinkie Fest and the Warboss Challenge

The Drinkie Fest is the most ancient and sacred ritual of the Shadowclan. It occurs in conjunction with every full moon, and is marked by a number of events, the most important of which is the "Warboss Challenge". The Mak'r orcs of the clan work for days non-stop to prepare the food, drink, benches, weapons, and the site itself before the moon of the Drinkie Fest. In a secret mission that only a handful of orcs are aware of, a different site is selected for each Fest. Its true location only becomes known to the rest of the Clan on the night of the fest. Many various orcs have had the lofty honor of being in charge of coordinating the Drinkie Fest.

This is an event of interest to all the peoples of the lands, not just the orcs, for the tribe that wins the Warboss challenge is the one that guides the Shadowclan horde. Certain tribes and Warbosses are known to be more aggressive than others, so the outcome of every Warboss Challenge is noted by many outside of the Clan.

As it adapted over the many moons to an ever-changing Shadowclan, the Drinkie Fest became much more than the Warboss Challenge and the excessive eating and drinking that came before it. Some events that became associated with the Drinkie fest were the Gruntee Fisty Clomp, the Blud Clomp, and occasionally there was a contest for Clan Mojoka. Other events came and went over time, but the Warboss Challenge was always the central one, and always the peak of the evening.

Early Drinkie Fests took place at the home of the Shadowclan, in the Yew Orc Fort. It soon became apparent that that arrangement would not suffice for a number of reasons: human interferance and the lack of space being the most important. Thus the site of each Fest became a secret and ever-changing thing.

(Pictured above is one of the gatherings of the Clan before travelling to the secret location of the Drinkie Fest)

DigDug was recognized as the very first Warboss, after he defeated Kargrath for the title during the early moons of the Clan (pictures of this fight are known to exist, but with DigDug and Kargrath as the only orcs identified in them). This early fight was a one-on-one duel, with both participants, one from each tribe at that time (DigDug for the BloodMoon, Kargrath for the Howling Skulls), armed with executioner's axes and standing toe-to-toe hacking each other until one fell. For reasons unknown, DigDug went unchallenged during the next full moon (cycle) and remained as Warboss another month.

The second Warboss Challenge occurred in the hummie month of "March". This time a new set of rules was used that entitled each participant to choose a "battle brother" from among the orcs in his tribe. DigDug (the reigning Warboss) chose Orkik, and the Warboss Challenger, Glug Ughurk (see below about the "Gruntee Warboss") chose GruntGlubGlub. Due to some controversy that is shrouded in the depths of history, this Challenge was closely followed (possibly as early as a week later) by another. Much in-fighting had occurred as a result of the change in the rules, and the Elder Nobs decided that another Warboss Challenge was necessary. It is not known if this event included all of the associated Drinkie Fest goings-on as well. The victors of both Challenges was Glug Ughurk, who would later go on to serve again as Warboss and eventually as a Nob in the Howling Skulls Tribe.

(pictured to the right is the controversial Warboss clomp that Glug Ughurk won)

The third Warboss Challenge, in the month of April was held at the Cove fort. Grith'Nith the As-sas-un, in the disguise of a Lusk-r, became Warboss with a Howling Skulls victory. That he was not truly a Lusk-r was not revealed until after he lost the title at the next Drinkie Fest.

A famous disruption of the Warboss Challenge occurred in the Hummie month of "May" at the Cove Orc Fort. The initial events went well (despite attempts by humies to disrupt them) until the arrival of an army of uninvited Shardies! Angered and jealous at the Shadowclan's success, the shardies attacked in the middle of the Clan's most revered ritual - the Drinkie Fest. The Warboss Candidates and their battle brothers fought the battle with the weaons intended for the Warboss Clomp - a first and only occurrence! At first, the Clan was driven back from the wharfs, nearly to the gates of the fort itself, but as they regrouped they slowly fought back the tide Shardies! The Wargod smiled upon the Shadowclan Orcs that moon and denied the Shardies any further reinforcements until their Tu-hed (Ettin) leader was forced to concede victory to the Clan as he dove into the sea, never to be seen again. Victorous in their fight, the Clan reorganized themselves, and despite the delay and some changes to the participating orcs, conducted the Warboss Challenge as if the Shardie incursion had never occurred.

An account of this event given by the human Chronicler Ken Masters is as follows:

"As most wary adventurers know, each full moon brings about a Drinkee Fest hosted by the Shadowclan Orcs. This is the one time every race of Sosaria should feel safest in their presence, for they are usually too drunk from troll cider to tell friend from foe! As is usually the case, the Drinkee Fest signifies the time when the Shadowclan swears in a new warboss through trials of combat between the strongest and most cunning orcs. As the clan has grown, new sports have been added, like the Gruntee Wrestling Games and celebratory Toll Trip afterwards. There is much drinking, eating, and carrying on, most of it peaceful and festive...usually."

"This time, however, it wasn't the ever-present bountyhunters who showed up in force, but the Shard Horde! You see, the Drinkee Fest is taken to Cove's Orc Fort these days, as the number of attendees has grown incredibly, and the normal fort is unable to hold enough orcs and other races. Unfortunately, the Shard Horde decided to retake the Cove Fort by recruiting an ettin lord named Trebrok and his minions. Wave after wave, the attackers pressed in on the Shadowclan and the other attendees, sparing no one. It was not until Trebrok lost consciousness that the Horde subsided. After the battle, it was agreed that next time everyone should come more prepared for such an invasion. Countless orcs and non-orcs were killed or knocked unconscious by the ferocious attack. Congratulations go out to Bloodmoon Orc Yug for attaining the Warboss title."

Despite the well-regulated nature of the Fest, there were many times when outside interference halted the entire proceeding or transferred the Warboss Challenge into a storm of controversy. The sources of these disturbances have been many, and every time caused bitter fighting either inside the Clan or with outside forces.

Nearly from the beginning, the Warboss Challenge has often been disrupted by outside events. One of the more controversial, as mentioned above, was the second one. After a participant (some say it was Glug Ughurk) left the ring to attack an unnamed archer who had fired at him for unknown reasons. It is also not known who attacked first, Glug or the archer (who may have been a Moonie, or may have been Undead). The resulting free-for-all resulted in Glug being named as Warboss, about which the entire Bloodmoon tribe was extremely upset. At the refight of that match a number of moons later, Glug won again, the Moonies were angry still, and DigDug was so distraught that he left the fort not to return for many moons.

In subsequent Warboss Challenges other types of controversies occurred. In one, there was interference from the Dark Dwarves, supposedly because they were in the employ of one of the Shadowclan tribes, the Howling Skulls. A Womp-r orc (actually the Blud'Womp-r at the time!) Zoot was charged with disrupting the sacred ritual and was sent to see the Wargod permenantly.

On another occasion, the weapon of one of the contestants was found to be poisoned after the match, but no responsibility was ever claimed or discovered for that misdeed.

It has been said that a Warboss Challenge without controversy isn't really a good one, and there is nothing orcs like to do better than complain about how they were cheated out of their chance for victory.

The early methods of determining the Warboss are little known, though it can be fairly safely assumed that they began as struggles for supremacy of the Clan. Very simply, if an orc thought he was the strongest, he told the other orcs what to do. If another orc thought he was stronger, he fought the other orc for the right to be the leader. Eventually, this process became so bloody and destablizing, that Challenges were limited to one per cycle (month). After tribes developed, each tribe would send a representative orc who would fight in the name of his tribe. In later times, a second orc "battle brother" was allowed to participate. This second orc could not become Warboss, but would act as the Warboss's Bodyguard if he were to win. Still later, a second Battle Brother was added, so that each tribe was permitted to enter one Warboss Candidate and two other orcs in the competition. On occasion, a tribe does not have enough orcs to fill the slots in the challenge and they try to win with fewer.

One famous story of an early Warboss is that of the "Gruntee Warboss". Only a Gruntee when the moon set that morning, Glug Ughurk, was blooded a Grunt in the Howling Skulls Tribe on the same day as the Drinkie Fest. Other Howlers bluded that moon included KarGrula, Na Zul, and Urgrubuk. Suprisingly, Glug was made their Warboss Candidate! Whether this was from a lack of Lusk-rs and Womp-rs (the K'igg-r bloodline was very new at that time) is not known. Though little chance was given for him to win, win he did, and Glug Ughurk became known as the "Gruntee Warboss".

The Warbosses:

1. DigDug [Blood Moon] (January & February) at Shadow Clan Yew Orc Fort
2. Glug Ughurk [Howling Skull] (March) at Shadow Clan Yew Orc Fort (First was not 4 weeks but he won twice)
3. Grith'Nith [Howling Skull] (April) at Cove Orc Fort
4. Yug [Blood Moon] (May) at Cove Orc Fort
5. Glug Ughurk [Howling Skulls] (June) at Hyloth
6. Grishnak [Blood Moon] (July) at island with shrine
7. Gholam [Head Biter] (August) at island with shrine
8. Jir'ye [Throquat Uzg] (September) at island with shrine
9. GruntGlubGlub [Howling Skull] (October) at Hyloth
10. Thulag'Agz [Thrak-Ghaash] (November) at field in Yew
11. Ith'gau'ra [Throquat Uzg] (December) on top of Undead tower
12. Vladtharg [Bloodmoon] (January) on top of Blackthorne's Castle
13. Gor'bladz [Howling Skull] (February)
14. Warbosses War (March)
15. Rel'Gall [Hedbiters] (April)
16. G'haargh [Thrak-Ghaash] (May)
17. Grugluk [Throquat Uzg] (June)
18. Gromas [Bloodmoon] (July)
19. Buurz'Lusk [Throquat Uzg] (August)
20. Gaahk-mat [Howling Skull] (September)
21. Gurg'rok [Hedbiters] (October)
22. Orgok [Throquat Uzg] (November)
23. Gugbrug [Thrak-Ghaash] (December) on top of orcpost
24. Argg [Bloodmoon] (January)
25. Ul'Gala'Ka [Howling Skull] (February) on top of Hythloh'ts Daemon temple
26. Stump'er [Bloodmoon] (End Feb, middle March) on top of Hythloth's Daemon temple
27. Thunk'glug [Thrak-ghaash] (March)
28. Bludghaash cykle [Bloodmoon Stump'er and Thrak-ghaash gruggug shared cycle] (April)
29. Thunk'glug [Thrak-ghaash] (May)
30. Thunk'glug [Thrak'ghaash] (June) On top of orcpost

Too see an up to date version of the warbosses, please refer to the warbosses essay on Tala'Gaash's Page