Nowhere in Skator was hospitable, yes.
True.
Absolutely.
The entire place was a wasteland, hellish, roasted, aggressive land that would snap open and eat your legs if it could.
Still, couldn't Shura have built his fortress somewhere a little less...Dangerous?
The fortress was located underground, more specifically under the ground and dangerously close to a volcano. Hot wind hit you from all directions, your chest, your back, the very nape of your neck. Rivers of lava traveled all around the place, the smell of cinders, granite, and sweat permeated every cell of your nostrils. The sound of crackling, breaking and reshaping of stone echoed around and within your ears, coupled with the sound of running magma and water. The only way to travel around the many districts of the fortress was through boat, boats made stone and iron, made to resist the intense heat of the water they sailed on. Even though the boats resisted, not the same could be said for the passengers, even the hardest, meanest orcs couldn't travel around in these boats for longer than a few hours without needing a break to cool off and regain their bearings. The steam got to you, was good for you pores and your skin, supposedly, up to a certain point, but any more and it also burned, made your head light, peeled layers off your skin as they would singe, leaving orcs almost pure flesh as their entire skin was melted off their muscles.
Off in the distance, rivers of lava poured down from above and within, landing close to the water, but not directly on top, the rivers of magma and water poured and ran, dodged and met with each other in several places, creating the dangerous, environment where you found yourself. As those who had been baptized with Shura's ashes, all of you had been brought here to fulfill your birthright. To be the fist orcs to step into Lozze after your kind had been banished from those lands for so long. The anticipation was palpable, really. It could be seen in the eyes of all other orcs, the envy, they knew that, for better or for worse, most of them would not be following your footsteps. You were to step through and repopulate, colonize Lozze with orc kind...You weren't there to make passage for more, the portal was too unstable to transport anyone else but those who had already been chosen with Shura'Dul's remains.
You were currently in the tower where the portal was being hosted. The portal was receiving its final preparations in the lowest underground floor of the tower, the floor above that was where the War bosses were congregating and...Debating, that is to say, drinking, shouting, and beating the daylights out of each other...As usual. The floor above that was the entrance hall, where orcs...Well...Entered the tower from. It didn't have much...A huge door where walked in through, a huge barrel of beer for folks who came in thirsty...Orc ale was not exactly the tastiest out there, or refreshing, really, especially since it burned on the way down (and out). But, since the alternative was just plain water...Well, it still got chugged down a fair bit. It was great for relieving pain as well...Since it kind of made your entire body burn from the inside, it usually distracted you from the actual of possible getting shot.
Anyways, back to our heroes, back to you.
Above the entrance hall there were exactly five floors to the tower, all of them built to train, educate, and prepare for the journey ahead, these had been your home for the last month or so. With the last one being your sleeping quarters, where you had been spending the past few days of your life as you prepared to go on your little excursion.
The first floor was a collection of knowledge, that is to say books, records, and scrolls, on Lozze. Kept from back the times when Orcs who had stepped on both lands still existed. The records are...Quite dated. A thousand years, really so how useful they'll be once you actually step into Lozze is...Questionable, at best. Hopefully you all still speak the same language, at least...Otherwise, as great War Boss Yore'Mul used to say, if you can't understand a word of what your enemy is saying just put an axe in-between his eyes, it won't help you actually figure out what he's saying but, well, if he was interested in communication you probably wouldn't be enemies to start with.
The second floor were training quarters with a bunch of dummies set up with crudely faces of humans and elves onto them...Probably not as dangerous and uh...Immobile as the real thing but, it was good for practicing reflex at least...Learning to shoot and smash things with less usual saturated shades of skin...Well, for you. Above that was the cantina, were not only you got your food but you had also been educated on the some of food and wildlife of Lozze from the records. Namely, which you could put your mouth and which you could not. They had something called "fruit", which supposedly tasted sweet and juicy, your instructor compared it to a mushroom, except it didn't have a chance to be poisonous...How curious!
The third floor was for relaxation and unwinding, something as important as high tension and steel grinding. In this floor you could find more orc ale, a brothel, with a wide variety of other orcs to suit one's needs and itches...Oh, and there was a game room for rugby...Or as some orcs called it, football...Even though you didn't really use your feet that much. Unless your opponent fell and you were kicking his teeth in...But anyways, apologies for digressing.
Fourth floor was survival training, were War Boss Yollu'Zin was going through some of the basics of surviving out in the wastes. As well, he was instructing on more architectural uses for wood. Of course, you were familiar with the material, but it was rare, sparse, buildings and constructions were usually built of stone, rock and iron, not wood, but Lozze supposedly had large, strong trees, with wood that could be used for much greater constructions, and although stone may be more familiar, War Boss Yollu'Zin had instructed you on how to build a tent, small shack or basic tools out of wood, if necessary.
And the fifth was, as previously mentioned, the living quarters, where you had been sleeping, waking up, jacking off, getting dressed, that sort of thing. You had also gotten to somewhat know your fellow Shura baptized, not a whole lot, most of your time was spent on training and then each of you went on your separate ways but you all at least knew each other by name and could tell each other apart with a certain degree of ease...Especially "Savage", who just...Announced his presence, wherever he was.
Supposedly, this was the big day, this was the day you would step through the portal and ground your feet on Lozze's bountiful lands, claim it as your own, put your flag in it, put your dick in it, impregnate it, make it your baby, see it grow, treat it good, give it an axe, that sort of thing. But not yet, the portal was still getting ready...In the meantime you had the morning to yourself, have one last read through the scrolls, maybe get yourself something to eat...Or maybe just go to the brothel and start early on the whole impregnating part. Or, maybe, you were just getting yourself a relaxing steam bath close to the water...Not too close though, it'll boil your skin off.
Regardless...You had about an hour or two...What were you up to?