When Gob woke up he was crumpled awkwardly at the end of a dark alleyway. It stank of rotting scraps and urine. And worse. There was a half rotten cat carcass in front of him. That was the 'worse'.
His head pounded like he had never felt it pound before. He couldn't remember what had happened to him. He groaned.
"wot hapin?" he groaned again.
"I'll tell you what happened Master Lightweight, you had half a tankard of ale and you're off eloping with a barmaid and scrapping with orcs with three times your size. THREE TIMES! AND THREE OF THEM! And far be it from me to try and stop you: OH NO, SIR GOB, marching straight in, all guns blazing, has the gall to SWAT ME! YOU. SWATTED. ME. I had to… sort them out AND pay the barman a bunch of YOUR GOLD for the damage, and... DO THINGS... TO THE ORCS...TO STOP THEM FROM RIPPING YOU IN HALF!"
Gob was quiet. He was starting to recall disjointed scraps.
"sory i swot yoo kylie" he moaned, head still pounding. He sat up unsteadily, then wished he hadn't. He lay back down. The dizzy feeling from the booze was still there, but it wasn't happy and bright anymore. It was groggy and nauseating.
"Anyway… you're still alive. You need to regenerate. That's all I could find for you to eat." She pointed at the dead cat.
He screwed his nose up and pushed it away.
"i no hungy now", he said.
"Oh, you'll eat it all right. You'll eat it, or I'll fly right off and leave you here to bleed out in this stinking alley. You're lucky I didn't already." she stated, hands firmly on her hips.
Gob made a mental note not to swat her again.
He reluctantly picked up the cat. It reeked. There were little white crawly maggots in it. Trying not to puke, he bit into it. Then forced himself to swallow and bit again.
There was the usual pang and itch of regeneration. The usual headache. Like he needed another headache over the top of the headache he already had.
He remembered something else.
"did da booz mak mi git bigga?" he asked, raising his head up quickly, then regretting it due to the throbbing.
"The booze did a few things to you. None of them good." she answered with a sigh, "We probably shouldn't have tried it out in public though. No you didn't get bigger. All that happened was that you totally lost it. So, I don't know what all that means. We can't have you getting pounded to a pulp in bars all the time just for experimentation. You really need help here that I'm not qualified to give you."
She looked demoralised.
i shoodn hav swot her thought Gob. i shoodn drink so much booz.
"Let's sleep off the rest of your damage here tonight and we'll see what or who we can find tomorrow. I haven't found out anything about the White Orc, but he is a Mage and there is a Mages Quarter, of sorts, on the outskirts of town. We can try there tomorrow. I've got to warn you though, Crude Mages dabble in some weird stuff.. it's going to be a wild day trying to find someone who can help us make sense of this thing."
----------------------------------------
By the next morning Kylie seemed to have changed her mind.
"I've decided to have a day off." she announced when he woke.
"It's pretty obvious that no one around here likes blue bright fairies, and a dump full of creepy crude mages is no place for a girl like me. So I'm going to go and do my thing, and YOU are going to find the White Orc without me."
As a parting gift she re-wrapped the blue glowing shard in his shoulder with a rag to make doubly sure it was concealed.
"Blue glowing things might trigger some of the crazier mages, and it's best you cover up. Try to stay out of trouble, and DON'T DRINK ANYTHING." she said, and with that she buzzed off.
i shoodn hav swot her, thought Gob for what he was sure wasn't going to be the last time.
He didn't like being without Kylie. He didn't think that was how familiars were supposed to work, but he didn't know what he could do about it if he did, so he just got up anyway and stumbled out of the stinking alley. At least the headache had subsided.
The way that visitors to Goblin Town could find a magic practitioner for hire was by visiting the Mages Quarter. It was a ridiculous name for the rank, creepy slumlike shanty town Gob discovered when he got to it. The area was relegated to the furthest, dingiest wall of the cavern and was really only somewhere you'd find a Crude Mage or maybe the odd Chaotic Mage. No noble mage of any style would ever be seen in a slum like this. The light from the flaming cauldrons hardly reached there, and whatever sanitary system serviced the rest of goblin town didn't reach here either. It stank worse than the alley.
Some mages practitioned out of hovels cobbled together roughly out of leftover pieces of timber and scrap metal. Some sat in ragged tents, peering through the flaps at passers by. Others simply sat on the ground, idly conjuring small green coloured fires, weaving strange shapes out of green pipe smoke, or murmuring gibberish to themselves.
He missed Kylie. He had determined that he would never swat her again no matter what. She was very hard to deal with grumpy, and he could still taste rotten cat meat. He had to admit that he felt a bit lost by himself. He had come a long way over the last few days since he met her, he could feel his brain growing, not just his regenerative growth but actual stats, knowledge and understanding… he could nearly read!
Compared to his life so far, this feeling was like waking up to a whole new world. A world that as a young troll he had been desperate for, but never even had the capacity to articulate. That world was here, right in front of him, now! It was amazing… and confusing. And terrifying. Kylie always seemed to know what to do… but now that he was alone here in this amazing, terrifying, confusing, and, frankly, disgusting place, he felt a bit—
"Oi gob'n, need a charm? A trick? A poshun?" a grossly fat orc sat cross legged in a septic looking puddle, flies buzzing around his completely naked, putrid green body. Some wiry black hair was tied up in a bun on top of his green head, which pulled his white pupil-less eyes wide in a constant leer. He had only three rotten teeth left, and a foul green mist puffed out of his mouth as he spoke. Gob said nothing, hurrying on.
He didn't even know what he was looking for here.
A long bony arm shot out of a tent flap and grabbed his arm, giving it a hard squeeze,
"I'll giv yoo ansers to ALL of lifes kweshtuns for sum blud! Jus com on in littl wun, tee hee hee hee hee!" Cackled a broken voice attached to an ancient shrivelled creature with a shock of white hair inside, "I can smel good blud from a mile away yoo know… jus a littl, jus a littl…"
Gob snatched his arm away and growled menacingly at the mage, who raised his hands placating gesture, retreating slowly back into his tent.
"OK littl wun, is ok, tee hee hee, my my my…"
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
cried a grandiose voice from behind him. Gob jumped in shock and turned quickly to see a towering human mage in a flowing robe glowing incandescent green, one arm outstretched to the roof of the cavern as if calling down the heavens while the other traced green glowing magical shapes in the air,
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
I WILL PRONOUNCE DOOOOOOM ON ANY ENEMY.
ONLY 1 GOLD PER PRONOUNCEMENT.
Gob wasn't feeling good about any of this. These crackpot's weren't going to be any help to him. None of these orcs were white.
kylz woz rite. crood magic iz creepee, he thought.
He needed to decide what to do.
*tork to eech mage wun bi wun (conversation(5/5))
no way.
*go find kylz (connection(10/25))
but dat no help anyway…
*follo da stranga (connection(10/10))
wot?! follo hoo?
He looked around quickly and saw something. No, someone. Someone in a black hooded cloak, nothing visible of him except two glowing green eyes peering out from the darkness of his hood. It was the guy! The guy he'd seen on the outskirts of Goblin Town, and again in the tavern. The large figure was on the far, dark edge of the Mages Quarter, lurking in the shadows. Watching.
woching me. Gob now knew.
The figure drew his gaze this time, not looking or ducking away as he had previously. He held Gobs gaze hard, and Gob felt a familiar sensation. A slight rummaging in his mind. Like… like the time in the troll den when he had met Gervais Stormbrow. But not intrusive like Gervais had been, rather a connection this time. It was hard to describe.
Follow.
He heard it. At least he thought he heard. But it wasn't like anyone spoke to him. And it wasn't like the disembodied voice of Krunch. This voice he heard inside his head. If it was a voice at all. It was more of an… impulse?
The figure in the black cloak was still watching.
Follow.
Now it turned and walked away. Gob followed it, avoiding the solicitation of the crazy mages, leaving the mages quarter and heading further into the dark shadows beyond even the outskirts of Goblin Town.
+1connection
Gob wondered as he went, iz dis da best fing or da wors fing i doin?
Well it was better than having conversations with the other creepy mages at least.
As they moved further away from the cauldron fires, the cavern became lower and the ground under it more scrabbly and pitted, more cave-like. And pitch black, though Gob had no problem seeing his way and following the figure who could obviously see as well.
They reached a cleft in the rock wall which would be invisible to anyone not looking for it, and the cloaked figure slipped through ahead of him. Gob paused, considering the wisdom of following further. He had no sense of danger though, if anything he was more hopeful than scared, so he slipped through the cleft, and continued along a cramped narrow passageway that led upwards through a natural cave. It wound and doubled back on itself a number of times, and though Gob was small and could navigate it without too much concern he wondered at how the much larger figure ahead of him was able to slip through cracks that where much narrower than his size should have been able to accommodate.
Eventually a final corner led them to a tight confined space with a door. It was an odd shaped door of thick timber and steel, that had been cleverly built to fit exactly into a strangely shaped, jagged and uneven cleft in the rock, closing the space perfectly and securely.
When the hooded figure touched it, ornate green runes glowed to life, and door swung inwards smoothly and silently. The passage opened up to a spacious natural cave that was obviously it's home, although Gob wasn't sure he had the words to adequately describe what kind of home it was…
It had a central space that contained a metal firepit with a domed cage over it and a small black cauldron, surrounded by some benches as well as comfortable lounge chairs, with plush red carpets covering the stone floor. There were timber sideboards, shelves and benches around the walls with all sorts of things stacked into them. The figure strode to the firepit and waved his hand over it, a warm fire stoking up and lighting the room in flickering orange and yellow, revealing properly the extent of the space.
The cave opened up into many side clefts on different levels around the central area, one small cleft containing a bed, another larger cleft a long desk covered with papers and pens and open books, with bookshelves lining the walls, jam packed with books and scrolls. There was a level of the cave that looked like a workshop, with a bench, and vials and complicated looking copper coloured metal pipes with valves criss-crossing the ceiling and walls leading in and out of large metal tanks that seemed to be bubbling and steaming away constantly.
There was a section of the cave lined with an assortment of weapons, another with glass fronted artefact display cabinets, with labels, and everywhere Gob looked, all sorts of other strange things resting up against the walls or cluttered in small deposits on every available surface.
The figure turned and took off his black cloak. Gob gasped in surprise. He was very tall, and looked like an an orc in form, with the thick neck and the squat tusked muzzle, although not as bulky as the other Orc soldiers Gob had seen, more lithe and agile looking… but it wasn't his build that surprised Gob. It was his colour.
Whereas the Orcs that Gob had seen so far had skin ranging from green to brown, this creature had pale skin. No, not even pale, it was WHITE. The white skin was covered with tattos, wide curving half moons and geometric shapes, all a bright human-blood red colour. It's eyes, though they had glowed green from under the hood, were now, in the firelight the same blood red.
His appearance was terrifying. His upper body was densely packed with rippling muscle, but he looked more than just strong like the other Orcs Gob had seen. He looked… powerful.
The White Orc hung it's cloak on a stand next to the door and picked up two large bowls and a loaf of bread that were on a sideboard, then sat on a bench next to the fire and gestured for Gob to do the same. Gob sat, not taking his eyes off the strange creature.
It picked up a ladle from the small cauldron, now bubbling, and scooped a thick stew into one of the bowls, broke the loaf in half, placed it on top of the bowl and passed them to Gob. Gob took it hungrily. It smelled amazing and he was hungry.
The Orc ladled a bowl for himself and settled back onto the bench, they both ate noisily, but without speaking, watching each other warily in between bites. When the bowl was empty the Orc ladled another helping and indicated Gob could do the same if he wanted. Which he did. The stew was thick and rich, with large chunks of some delicious meat and even vegetables in a thick gravy.
When they were finished the White Orc stood, towering over Gob and strode over to the workshop area, stepping up into the cleft it was contained in. It picked up a small silver flask, adjusted a number of the valves, causing steam and hissing from one of the big metal tank, and filled the flask from one of the taps
He walked back to Gob and handed him the flask. Gob took it and sniffed, interested. Although neither of them had said a word out loud to each other since they met, he didn't feel at all uncomfortable. He thought about Kylie then, she would have been chatting away furiously to fill the space had she been here!
The liquid in the flask smelled overpoweringly sharp and strong… it was booze he could tell, but not like the stuff from the tavern, this was something far stronger.
"Drink." It spoke in a low rasping growl, as if speaking was something it hadn't done for a while and it's voice wasn't used to it.
Gob sniffed again and then shrugged and tipped his head back to take a gulp.
PSSSSSSFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!
The liquor burned his mouth and throat, and on impulse he sprayed it out of his mouth, over the fire that flared up as the volatile liquid hit it.
"Heh heh heh heh!" the white orc laughed heartily,
"It's the good strong stuff! I make it myself. Distilling is one of my… alchemical pasttimes down here."
Although much of the liquid had ended up on the fire, some had trickled down gobs through and as it burned its way down to his belly he felt a spreading warmth. It was entirely different from the booze he had at the tavern. This stuff was powerful. This stuff tasted… good!
He let the warm feeling settle all around him, and spoke to the Orc for the first time.
"i iz gob. i iz lookin fo yoo." he said to the Orc. He was sure he had found the right Orc, or rather, maybe, that it had found him. How many White Orcs could there be? The White Orc raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting. I have a quest to find you too." It growled back. "I haven't had a quest in many, many years. 'Gob' is it? Funny name for a troll. Not that I can claim a better one. Well, you have found me, Gob."
Ques# complete. Find da #hite Orc.
The magic shapes again. Gob was getting better at his letters now. He had most of them thanks to Kylie. He was up to 'S' for spider, so he could at least mostly read them at last.
The white orc looked at the floating blue shapes with a scowl. He read through them with interest. His interest turned to a skeptical frown.
"Gob," he growled "do you have any idea what all this means? Do you understand how any of this actually works?
Gob shook his head. "no, dat wy da muntin trol tel me to find yoo."
The White Orc looked startled. "What Mountain Troll?"
"KRUNCH!" said Gob proudly.
"KRUNCH?…" The White Orc looked at him, aghast.
Gob couldn't tell whether he was confused or angry or a mix of them. If he was angry, he didn't know why.
"Gob, do you trust me?" asked the Orc.