Ptolus: The Legend of Longcoat

[Erekose13]

"Thank you very much, from what I've heard these memberships are quite valuable. I'll have to swing by the Guildhall. Regarding, Orcish, no I'm afraid I don't speak it." replies Maugra, but she'll wait for what ever the historian is pondering.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The gnome's head returns to (just barely) above the counter. He unlocks and lifts a hinged portion of the counter, allowing Vanden and Maugra to pass into the Delvers-only portion of the tower.

"There was a shoal elf here in Ptolus many hundreds of years ago, a sort of proto-Delver, exploring the ruins of the Skull King and his dark predecessor. His name, improbably enough was ..." The gnome pauses, looking down the rows of bookcases. "Where did that get filed? Was it a history or a maritime work or a site description?"

The pair follow the whistling and muttering gnome through the musty rows. A girl with long dark hair briefly peeps at them from between two rows but vanishes when Vanden and Maugra make eye contact with her.

"Ah, here it is!" the gnome cries, pulling out a warped and stained book bound in blue canvas. An embossed sextant on the front has faded almost to invisibility. "The Travels of Fonkin Hoddypeak."

The gnome blinks his white eyelashes.

"What a silly name he had." He tiptoes and hands the book to Vanden. "Still, he should know about this personage you were asking about."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ada smirks at Garn and walks in.

"We just have a few questions for your jorunalist. Does he happen to be in?"

"Who wants to know?" barks a deep voice from inside the cluttered newspaper office. Piles of slighty damp paper are everywhere inside the cramped building, which smells of stale smoke and spilled alcohol. The voice comes from behind the biggest -- and smelliest -- pile of all. "Do you have another story for us?"

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Vanden accepts the musty book gratefully, opening the cover as he does so.

[sblock=OOC] Is this book written in Orcish, or in Elvish. Hopefully the latter, as that's Vanden's other language choice.[/sblock]

While, he peruses the book, he asks offhandedly, "Is that little girl supposed to be in here? Or is she lost?"

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The book is in Elvish, and uses lots of archaic and perhaps even somewhat pretentious language.

"Oh, her?" the gnome whistles through his nose. "She's ... the librarian's daughter. She's fine. If that'll be all for now, I have some restorations to do. I'll be at the front desk if you need me."

 

[Voadam]

"Who wants to know?" barks a deep voice from inside the cluttered newspaper office. Piles of slighty damp paper are everywhere inside the cramped building, which smells of stale smoke and spilled alcohol. The voice comes from behind the biggest -- and smelliest -- pile of all. "Do you have another story for us?"

Garn walks over and looms balefully around the stack of papers, seeking the identity of the deep voice, looking for the gnome.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Garn walks over and looms balefully around the stack of papers, seeking the identity of the deep voice, looking for the gnome.

Garn is bigger and meaner than almost everyone. He's half Ornu-nom, a descendant of the only orc tribe not to be seduced and corrupted by Ghul the Skull King. His people, the "Howling Axe" orcs, are free and fierce and proud, and are the masters of the plains of Rhoth and Palastan.

They are not the most common sort of orc found in or beneath Ptolus, however.

The Toruk-Ruk orcs are big, bigger than Ornu-nom. The "Closing Fist" orcs were magically manipulated by Ghul to be bigger, stronger and more bestial than the Ornu-nom. Huge yellow tusks jut from between the black lips of the orc that Garn finds behind the stack of papers. She may be a half-orc, like him, but if she is, her humanity is hidden deep inside layer upon layer of fat and muscle. She reeks of sweat and cheap alcohol as she stands.

"I'm Vared's editor," she growls, without a trace of accent to her Imperial Common. "Is there a problem?"

 

[Voadam]

Garn turns back to Ada for a moment. "Vared his !@#$ing name?" He turns back to the sweaty local orcess. "I'm looking for a stumpy gnome. You might know him." Garn grins and holds up a hand, gesturing as if holding a small mug "His neck's about this thick." Garn's grin dissapears. "He wrote a story about me after I stomped on Longcoat. I want to !@#$ing talk to him again. You know where I can !#@$ing find him." Garn's eyes roam over the desk, looking for the bottle.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The female orc blinks slowly.

"If there's a problem, tell me, and I'll deal with it. Otherwise, get moving; we got a paper to put out."

 

[Erekose13]

"Thank you." says Maugra to the gnome for his time. Looking around for a place for the two of them to sit, Maugra will indicate the chairs to Vanden. She'll sit with Vanden while they look through the book, though the elven is beyond her. She is patient though and can wait for her friend to finish.