Indeed, several human kingdoms continue to assault the dark elven lands to this day, but with any lack of progress against the obsidian bastion, the conflict was mostly a stalemate.  What was more, a small outpost was established near the dark elven city by some enterprising merchants, as the elves seemed to have an abundance of the deep black material.  Harder than diamond and dark as night, yet with an utterly fascinating sheen, it was very valuable and highly sought after throughout the lands.  Yet the elves kept its forging a secret, and even the best human and dwarven smiths had failed to forge it successfully.  So, the outpost attracted merchants from far and wide, all of them seeking to get even a few trinkets made of the precious stone as that alone would sell for a month's pay.  Basically, only the kings and their armies really cared about the war anymore, but even they had settled to just patrol the borders.<br/><br/>For her part, Seras didn't carry obsidian on her person, at least not that anyone could see.  After all, where she went, it was a bad idea to have anything of value.  "Urghn…" she groaned as the hound finally backed off, and she peered up at the orc with a groan.  "An orc, huh?" she muttered aloud, so he could hear her, "I thought your kind had died off awhile ago."  Peering at her pointedly, she simply lay there in the snow, her cloak having been torn back to expose her mostly exposed dark skin.  "Certainly not a gentleman are you... oh right, I forgot, your women beat you like hounds..."<br/><br/>Groaning to herself, she finally stood up, patting the snow off her as best she could before tucking her body back under her cloak.  "Clearly you are.  But you speak the human tongue so poorly..."  Most races by now had adopted what they called the 'common tongue' considering humans were the most numerous of the races.  Well... at least of the ones in power.  "Well if you're hunting him, we may as well join forces, huh?" she said with a grin, eyeing him up and down.  It was just in her nature to see others in a sexual manner, and her eyes stopped upon where his girth would definitely be.  "What do you say?"