Idea: When you get to the far east, you quickly run into a camp of humans. They'd been sent on a mission from the sun paladins to investigate strange going-on in the north-west (where the portal drops you), but had run into a patrol of orcs. They defeated the orcs, but only just, and aren't in any condition to make it back. They ask you to carry a message to the sun wall, and teach you an emergency password to prove your bona fides.
This convinces the paladins to let you into their town, and you get an optional quest to join the rescue mission. Plus with new orc patrols, it won't be trivial either
