When I read something like “Falcon has a long history of killing orcs and can’t abide them as neighbors,” I’m left to wonder what the story is. Gustaf Stellern, ahem (I think “Falcon the Hunter” is a ridiculous moniker, so I refer to him by his birth name) bears a naked enmity toward orcfolk, as evidenced by the mounted orc heads he has in the trophy hall of his hunting lodge.

To me, the simplest and most lore-specific explanation for Stellern’s animosity toward orcs would be that he’s likely a veteran of the War of the Silver Marches. There’d be plenty of opportunities to rack up a body count in a war zone, he would have witnessed the carnage and devastation of an orc hoarde rampaging across the land, and that particular conflict is only 7 years past when Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak take place. Things are still fresh.

With Brughor Axe-Biter reaving along the east end of the Triboar Trail, perhaps a Phandalin NPC advises the characters to enlist the help of Stellern to deal with the orcs. But, since he’s a CR 4 badass likely to make the encounter too easy for the party, I’d have him politely decline due to other issues he’s dealing with in his neck of the Neverwinter Wood (perhaps the very first stirrings of the Anchorites of Talos that will emerge in Dragon of Icespire Peak).

However, over a haunch of venison and few bottles of wine generously provided by the characters, Stellern shares his vast knowledge of orcs with the characters. It’s a good opportunity for a Dungeon Master to dispense lore about orcs, and give the characters a glimpse of what they’re up against at Wyvern Tor.

• “They look like lumbering brutes, sure. But in a fight, they can close a distance real quick. If they look like they’re too far away to reach you, don’t you believe it” (referring to the orc’s aggressive racial trait).
• “Orcs follow the strong. They’re a quarrelsome, undisciplined rabble, and it takes a cunning and brutal orc to keep the riff-raff in line. Identify the orc leader early, and kill them if you can. With their leader slain, the remaining orcs will break, and break bad. They’ll run off howling all the way back to the holes they crawled out of in the Spine of the World.”
• “Orcs keep all sorts of unsavory companions. Giants, ogres, trolls, orogs… If there’s a band of orcs marauding through the hinterlands, there’s a good chance they have foul friends in tow.”

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