again, graphics are a bit too old for what I'm talking about.

from what I remember, combat was pretty similar to ToME, if that helps.

I was thinking, and thinking, and thinking.....and then I made a recap post of what you've said so far, but this computer locked up and I lost it and it's too late at night to type it up again.

But I was thinking about what you said about the cave being a continuous part of the overworld, but the game still being multi-scale. I was thinking that after checking a long-shot guess...

http://abload.de/img/dcplay_000v7btj.png..http://abload.de/img/dcplay_0011szgb.png
..
http://abload.de/img/dcplay_002wzxhi.png..http://abload.de/img/dcplay_003w5ayv.png
..
http://abload.de/img/dcplay_004t8zuz.png..http://abload.de/img/dcplay_00559yfh.png

DBQuest has a rather unfortunate distinction - it's the only released full game created with the DCGames CRPG construction kit. As you can see, it was made in an earlier version of the engine.

The thing is, upon starting the game, you can head a screen or so east to find a castle, which (like the house you start by) takes you to a separate map. But to the north-west of the castle, there is a specially-tiled path through the mountain range which passes into a desert. And there is a high likelihood that, while attempting to access the desert, you will be attacked by goblins - who are sufficiently powerful to thwart the attempts of poorly equipped heroes controlled by young children.

I'm not saying this is the game for sure - it's a shot in the dark, really. But as I was revisiting the game, the path through the mountain strongly reminded me of your description of the theoretical orc cave.

Dunno if this is what the OP was looking for, but the game looks pretty nice, thanks for mentioning it! :D

He's right, it isn't exactly what I was looking for, but DAMN close! Only thing missing seems to be updated graphics. Thank you, megaten!

Hummm... That reminds me mightily of Ultima IV!

It was starting message. :D "Similar to earlier Ultimas". :)

Just to make sure, it's not WarWizard 2, is it? Here's the only screenshot that can be found for it on the net, but you can download a demo version here (scroll down a bit) to check if it's not what you're looking for.
Best open the second link on something other than Firefox, it doesn't display entirely correct in it.

Cool, I didn't even know there was a sequel to WarWizard :) Thanks for bringing this up!

Sadly, no, but that game DOES look awesome. Thank you!