BRUTALATOR 3.1
“So here’s the up front, you’ll find Dodder near the watchtower past the south eastern gate, here’s his picture”
The man passed him a crude drawing, rife with arrows pointing to fudged features. Kahn surmised that his fat fingers were inexperienced in the art of illustration. Looking over him, the man would look more at home with a butchers knife than a pen. He crowded over Kahn, a good head taller than him. The orc did his best to not find that fact irritating.
“This is my younger brother here, you’ll see the family resemblance”
The mans head looked like a boot had grown eyes. His chin was asymmetrical and shaped like a fist, and his skin had the texture of bark. His hair sprang straight up like a silo. The strange head floated over the mans bloated body, no neck in sight. Kahn cleared his throat.
“What of his frame? Do you expect me to retrieve that as well or is…” Kahn stared at the picture for a moment, losing his train of thought somewhere between the squiggly lines. He eventually settled on vaguely gesturing at it. “Is retrieving him sufficient?”
The bustle of the market drowned out the question, but the man paid that no mind. Kahn had forgotten his name somewhere in the middle of the conversation, or perhaps he hadn’t heard it properly the first time. For now all that mattered was he manned a fur stall, and that he would pay him enough to buy supplies.
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“Well if you find the frame it wouldn’t be any skin off my back, but we bought it on the cheap and both of its legs blew out last winter. We were lucky to have it running for that hunting gig. I don’t much care for anyone else lost in the woods but if you find em, I’m sure someone around here’ll pay you for their return.”
The orc took a second to survey the market, gazing one by one at each shopkeeper in eye shot.
“If I chance upon another I will settle for the good deed. I will return with your brother. You will hear from me again before 3 days time.”
The heat in the market stall made Kahn feel as if his head was swimming. He longed for the forest, or at least some artificial shade. No money for an inn and no real passion for it either, Kahn decided to leave the blasted town at once. The tall walls made him feel hemmed in. The dozens of strangers made him feel nervous. His uncle had met his end ingloriously in a place like this.
The orc trudged off towards the gates, suddenly another stranger in a tattered cloak.
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“Yes I am Dodder, you would be Harad’s mercenary then?”
Harad, that’s right, the mans named had been Harad. Kahn stand perched on his frames shoulder, staring at the slender youth in a lifting frame. He would be no use at all.
“Aye, let us start for the forest then”
There was an awkward air for the next few seconds. Dodder looked at Kahn’s frame, then back at him perhaps a dozen times. Kahn’s frame was covered in dark fabric, obscuring much of it’s macabre surface. It tended to make people nervous, otherwise. Still, Dodder could see the deathly skull grin painting it’s face.
“Just to be clear, I am only to show you the way to the forest, you’ll be the one to actually look for Harad’s younger brother, alright?”
That hadn’t been what Kahn was told. The orc took a more relaxed posture.
“Yes that will be quite fine, shall we start? We will soon be in the twilight hours”
Dodder looked relieved. He reentered his cockpit and began to walk towards the east. Kahn followed suit, and let out a soft sigh. Once again he’d have his solitude. A 2 day stint for a fortnights supplies, and then further into the east.
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