As I said, I actually like that lowbies can't retrieve from the orc village. I get sick of watching cabals with 5 heroes refuse to attempt a retrieval against 3 defenders and instead sending a lowbie. Or a cabal leader that won't attempt to retrieve 1 v 1 and instead sends a lowbie. Agreed that sometimes it is reasonable for a lowibe to go, but I think lowbies get sent far too readily by pretty much every cabal.
The only issue that I think should legitimately cause you really serious problems is hack leg. So that requires:
a) an orc that takes the head. That's unusual. It just happens to be happening now
b) a mamlauk that is on. Let's face it, A skruggra, mundunugu, shig-ru etc are not going to be nearly as much of a threat. Mamlauk is probably the most popular of the adaptations, but it still reduces the odds a little.
c) people that will raid with the orc, as orcs aren't great at solo raiding (although I found my mundunugu could raid fort relatively easily thanks to soot ritual). Not everyone, even in the cabals mentioned (empire and scion) will raid with the orc.
d) an orc that is willing to sit in hiding for an extended period, waiting for a retrieval. Whilst an orc can recall very fast, they are unlikely to be hidden if they are not already sitting in the village, so you'd know they are on. So go do something else for a bit and come in half an hour or so if you are convinced he's going to whup you. I actually get a bit of a kick knowing my enemies are sitting still achieving nothing whilst I gather a piece of gear, or go explore somewhere new, thus accomplishing something whilst they get bored.
If you were really worried about this, and were a village warrior, you could take maelstrom legacy. I took it as a trib, in order to handle outlanders. You could take it as a villager, in order to mitigate the dangers of blindness, and the ability of the orc to hide/pick the ground on which to fight. It's a hugely useful legacy, and Djabree proved that it is damn nice for villagers too.
Also, as you note, non-villagers can cure themselves a lot more easily, so for most of the cabals it isn't a huge issue. You just happen to be in the minority that match up badly to it.
