The voice replies, sending up another froth of bubbles that ripple on the water surface.
"You think you can lie to me? You know nothing, fool. I have been watching you for long. Your sins have been recorded in the Book. There is no escape now. No escape. No escape!"
The voice gives up a high pitched sinister laughter. It then goes calmer.
"But... there is still hope for you. Maybe? Yes? Perhaps. Hmm, well, I'll have to think about it..."
Jirt nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears the voice issuing from the water.
“What?” he shouts. “Solomon’s nuts? Who are you? Where are you?”
He looks at the water frantically.
“Get behind me, orc,” he whispers to Lagrord, drawing his sword. “There’s witchcraft about. I will protect you as best I can, but you better be prepared to run!” Despite his callousness towards Lagrord, Jirt is a valuable soldier at heart. It’s one of the reasons Nareth trusts him.
At the voice’s last words, Jirt cries out, waving his sword at the water, “We will not be tools of your evil, spirit! Begone from us!”
The voice speaks haughtily, sending up another froth of bubbles, almost resembling a beard, on the water surface.
"You humans... all the same. Always keen to jump into action. Yet thinking so little. You assume too much here. So much that it speaks of your ignorance."
"But... COME BACK TO THE POINT!" The voice squeaks. "You have stolen the golden nuts! You are guilty unless proven innocent. Such is the law here. Now... do you have anything to say in your defence? Or are you, like all guilty thieves, going to dodge my inescapable question?"
"You feint ignorance of the matter, human, hoping that would beguile me into thinking you're innocent. Very unimpressive."
It goes silent for a moment, as if thinking, and then speaks:
"Who Solomon is, was, or will be, is not important. Who I am, though, is important indeed. You raise a valid question human, although a difficult one. I'll have to think about it."
It's obvious ??? doesn't know who ??? is.
Then, as Jirt brandishes his sword:
"You think your fiesty swordplay would impress me? Hmm, well... it's not bad, but there is always room for improvement. Yes, yes! Stab it up front, and slash it up! Ho! Ho ho ho!"
"Ah ha, human! Most fascinating! Consider yourself fortunate, for you've curried my favour. You have amused me, so I'll forgive your past digressions. But you must still redeem yourself of your sins. The loss of the golden nuts is not to be taken lightly. You must find them out. Yes, you must."
Do note that ??? cannot distinguish Lagrord separately as a half-orc at the moment, so "humans" refers to both him and Jirt.
"Humans, do you wish to see the falsehood in truth? To gain wisdom beyond sanity? To know that you don't know what you know? To discern the transmundane? Eh? Eh? Eeeeeeeeh?!"
"Oiii! Why do you fidget with your tools, human? No more swordplay, fool. You would want to save that for real threats. Real threats."
There's an unnerving feeling as he says the last two words.
"Now, ahem! You shall henceforth be my minion! This is an honour beyond your imagination. And now, you... and your friend, are going to help me find secret treasure! Yes, my stocks are running low, so I must take another journey beneath the mountains... deep beneath the mountains! Ha ha!"
"Ah, there is no season but Winter here, human. But the golden nuts are ever golden. That said, I'm convinced of your innocence. But we must find the thief, or thieves. You never know how many of them are there. They are all after the nuts, they are!"
"Hmm," the voice pauses as if thinking, "I think you'll make a nice minion too... Can you... can you... make... *slurp*... SWEEETROLLLS?!"
"What? You think you have an option? No, no, you just cannot deny. And so there is no reason to be sad. You henceforth have the honour to be known as my minion! Ha ha ha! And now, since you've proven yourself worthy... I will let you witness my true form. Behold!"
The froth in the water dies out. There is silence for a while. Then, a few moments later, a short figure scampers out of the bushes in the distance. As he gets nearer, you see a gnome in flowing white beard and fancy clothing, donned with gloves and a weird pair of glasses with contraptions on it. In his right hand is a gnarled wooden staff, the top of which holds some kind of shimmering and pulsating green orb. He looks at you two and grins widely.
"Say, my minions, do you have more minions with you who can serve me?"
*Lagrord finishes filling the water skins and picks up as many as he can. He bows slightly, being careful not drop the skins*
"Master Jirt, I am afraid I am not strong like other half orcs, and cannot carry all these full waterskins myself. If it is not too presumptuous, we would get water to our companions quicker working together. I will of course, make two trips if necessary."
*Lagrord turns around and starts to hum a song he heard Cram sing often as he walks away*
Heehee, you are not the only one who can have fun, master Babble
Jirt looks on at the gnome in shock, his sword falling to the ground, as he diminutive, strange person scampers out of the bushes.
Then, as Lagrord walks away, he says, “Hey!” Apparently he wasn’t listening, so confounded and speechless he was by the gnome.
As Lagrord keeps walking, he grumbles to himself, picks up the remaining water skins, and points his finger at the gnome. “You just stay right there, gnome or water spirit or whatever you are. We don’t need your kind around us.”
He hurried after Lagrord, looking over his shoulder in frustration as the gnome, lord-like, follows along in his wake.
"MINIONS! LISTEN TO ME!! You shall not be disobedient. Those who shirk their chores get extra beatings! Or in this case... hee hee... something else..."
The gnome hobbles behind them, trying to catch up with his little legs.
"But I give you a chance to redeem yourself! Yes, a rare chance, which not many get. But you, yes you! You are getting this opportunity! And...." he gives a dramatic pause, "you will be rewarded for your service!"
In meantime in the camp Nareth has almost finished all his dinner preparations.
" Where on earth is Jirt with this young lad?.. " , expressed he his thoughts aloud.
" Frankly, he might be a one good mate to send for the Death herself! "
The captain wipes his hands and raises up. The flame sparks merrily and leaving the camp is probably the last thing he would do. His irritation slowly turns into anxiety. Nareth sighs and looks again in the direction the partymates have left.
Nareth doesn’t have to wait long. He sees Lagrord walking back with half the water skins, hiding a smug smirk on his face. A little farther behind him comes Jirt with the other half of the waters skins, almost trotting along. He is casting nervous, stressed glances over his shoulder at a scampering little figure.
The gnome’s babbling alerts the remainder of the group, and Kefto stands to take a better look.
“What in the Valley is that...?” says Kefto, lifting the bandage on his head so he can see with both eyes.
“Captain Nareth!” says Jirt. “This... this creature here is trying to usurp your authority over me!” He sounds slightly like a spoiled, nervous child tattling on his sibling, but it could just be the nerves.
@ThacoBell I’m also really enjoying our adventure. I really like how you’ve taken on the role of your well-off but persecuted half-orc, and given him a solid personality even though he isn’t allowed to say much. It’s very creative and thought-out.
The gnome looks gleefully at the party as he catches his breath after running after his long legged human minions.
"Ah, more potential minions! What a fine day it is!"
Then he addresses Lagrord:
"Tell me, my faithful minion, are all these humans your minions? Yes? That is indeed a most brilliant prospect. For it is very obvious that a minion of my minion is also my minion! Oh, the luck!"
Nareth merrily stands up once he sees Lagrord and Jirt returning, But his joy turns first to surprise, and then to fright at the sight of a gnome. He draws his sword and yells:
" Jirt, explain yourself! What authority? Ye arse belong to infantry and our King, just like mine. There's no other authority exept min.. M'Lord Colden's, of course, and mine while his lordship is injured! Come here lads! Kefto, to arms! ", commands captain taking an attack pose with sword drawn.
Nareth speaks to Jirt keeping then suddenly changes his yelling target and slowly approaches gnome:
" Speak fiend! There's no minions of your here, for the Refiner's sake, me be blessed his name! Wh.. What are ya and the hell ya wants here? " - Nareth's anxiety turns into superstitious anger.
Kefto and Jirt rush to Nareth’s side as ordered. Colden looks up at Nareth’s and the new-comer’s arrival.
“Hold, Captain Nareth, good man,” he says,
placing a hand comfortably on Lagrord’s shoulder in acknowledgement. Wise as always, he thinks to himself of his friend. “We should be cautious, but it isn’t often we meet one willing to converse outside of Astorwind. Put your weapons down, but at the ready. I doubt this gnome will harm us, though one such as he is rare indeed. He must be very resourceful to have survived on his own... though I don’t think his mind has survived as well,” he adds under his breath, not as an insult but as an assessment.
More brightly: “Tell me, gnome, what are you doing here? What is your name? Why do you talk of minions? Please, be hasty but clear. We must travel to the other side of the mountain tomorrow and cannot waste any time on frivolous things.”
Garta looks at the situation with wide eyes, but says nothing.
The gnome gets agitated when Colden asks him about his name.
"My name? What a rude question! Why, you should know that better than me! Now tell me, what is my name? And don't you lie to me, I know very well that you know the answer, and you shall not hide it from me! For long this secret has been concealed from me, and now I will get to the bottom of this, I will! TELL ME! TELL ME NOW!" The gnome almost yells.
Comments
"You think you can lie to me? You know nothing, fool. I have been watching you for long. Your sins have been recorded in the Book. There is no escape now. No escape. No escape!"
The voice gives up a high pitched sinister laughter. It then goes calmer.
"But... there is still hope for you. Maybe? Yes? Perhaps. Hmm, well, I'll have to think about it..."
“What?” he shouts. “Solomon’s nuts? Who are you? Where are you?”
He looks at the water frantically.
“Get behind me, orc,” he whispers to Lagrord, drawing his sword. “There’s witchcraft about. I will protect you as best I can, but you better be prepared to run!” Despite his callousness towards Lagrord, Jirt is a valuable soldier at heart. It’s one of the reasons Nareth trusts him.
At the voice’s last words, Jirt cries out, waving his sword at the water, “We will not be tools of your evil, spirit! Begone from us!”
*Lagrord draws his rapier and puts his back to Jirt, watching for danger*
I hope this is a poor jest.
"You humans... all the same. Always keen to jump into action. Yet thinking so little. You assume too much here. So much that it speaks of your ignorance."
"But... COME BACK TO THE POINT!" The voice squeaks. "You have stolen the golden nuts! You are guilty unless proven innocent. Such is the law here. Now... do you have anything to say in your defence? Or are you, like all guilty thieves, going to dodge my inescapable question?"
The voice is agitated, but not quite malicious.
“Golden nuts? We know nothing of these golden nuts! Who is Solomon, and, more importantly, who are you?”
He brandishes his sword at the face in the water, though he is obviously frightened.
"You feint ignorance of the matter, human, hoping that would beguile me into thinking you're innocent. Very unimpressive."
It goes silent for a moment, as if thinking, and then speaks:
"Who Solomon is, was, or will be, is not important. Who I am, though, is important indeed. You raise a valid question human, although a difficult one. I'll have to think about it."
Then, as Jirt brandishes his sword:
"You think your fiesty swordplay would impress me? Hmm, well... it's not bad, but there is always room for improvement. Yes, yes! Stab it up front, and slash it up! Ho! Ho ho ho!"
But when the voice tells him to strike, he swings powerfully into the water, a blow that would have felled the most powerful of orcs.
Water goes flying up into the air in a giant splash, but the voice is unharmed.
"Ah ha, human! Most fascinating! Consider yourself fortunate, for you've curried my favour. You have amused me, so I'll forgive your past digressions. But you must still redeem yourself of your sins. The loss of the golden nuts is not to be taken lightly. You must find them out. Yes, you must."
"Humans, do you wish to see the falsehood in truth? To gain wisdom beyond sanity? To know that you don't know what you know? To discern the transmundane? Eh? Eh? Eeeeeeeeh?!"
There's an unnerving feeling as he says the last two words.
"Now, ahem! You shall henceforth be my minion! This is an honour beyond your imagination. And now, you... and your friend, are going to help me find secret treasure! Yes, my stocks are running low, so I must take another journey beneath the mountains... deep beneath the mountains! Ha ha!"
"But master babbler, we can't have stolen Solomon's golden nuts. Walnut season is well past!"
"Ah, there is no season but Winter here, human. But the golden nuts are ever golden. That said, I'm convinced of your innocence. But we must find the thief, or thieves. You never know how many of them are there. They are all after the nuts, they are!"
"Hmm," the voice pauses as if thinking, "I think you'll make a nice minion too... Can you... can you... make... *slurp*... SWEEETROLLLS?!"
*Lagrord sheathes his sword and quietly returns to filling the rest of the water skins*
"What? You think you have an option? No, no, you just cannot deny. And so there is no reason to be sad. You henceforth have the honour to be known as my minion! Ha ha ha! And now, since you've proven yourself worthy... I will let you witness my true form. Behold!"
The froth in the water dies out. There is silence for a while. Then, a few moments later, a short figure scampers out of the bushes in the distance. As he gets nearer, you see a gnome in flowing white beard and fancy clothing, donned with gloves and a weird pair of glasses with contraptions on it. In his right hand is a gnarled wooden staff, the top of which holds some kind of shimmering and pulsating green orb. He looks at you two and grins widely.
"Say, my minions, do you have more minions with you who can serve me?"
"Master Jirt, I am afraid I am not strong like other half orcs, and cannot carry all these full waterskins myself. If it is not too presumptuous, we would get water to our companions quicker working together. I will of course, make two trips if necessary."
*Lagrord turns around and starts to hum a song he heard Cram sing often as he walks away*
Heehee, you are not the only one who can have fun, master Babble
Then, as Lagrord walks away, he says, “Hey!” Apparently he wasn’t listening, so confounded and speechless he was by the gnome.
As Lagrord keeps walking, he grumbles to himself, picks up the remaining water skins, and points his finger at the gnome. “You just stay right there, gnome or water spirit or whatever you are. We don’t need your kind around us.”
He hurried after Lagrord, looking over his shoulder in frustration as the gnome, lord-like, follows along in his wake.
The gnome hobbles behind them, trying to catch up with his little legs.
"But I give you a chance to redeem yourself! Yes, a rare chance, which not many get. But you, yes you! You are getting this opportunity! And...." he gives a dramatic pause, "you will be rewarded for your service!"
" Where on earth is Jirt with this young lad?.. " , expressed he his thoughts aloud.
" Frankly, he might be a one good mate to send for the Death herself! "
The captain wipes his hands and raises up. The flame sparks merrily and leaving the camp is probably the last thing he would do. His irritation slowly turns into anxiety. Nareth sighs and looks again in the direction the partymates have left.
The gnome’s babbling alerts the remainder of the group, and Kefto stands to take a better look.
“What in the Valley is that...?” says Kefto, lifting the bandage on his head so he can see with both eyes.
“Captain Nareth!” says Jirt. “This... this creature here is trying to usurp your authority over me!” He sounds slightly like a spoiled, nervous child tattling on his sibling, but it could just be the nerves.
"Captain Nareth and company, I introduce master Babble of the Brook!"
*Lagrord bows and steps aside, then sets about returning the waterskins to their owners*
"Deepest thanks for your assitance, master Jirt."
"Ah, more potential minions! What a fine day it is!"
Then he addresses Lagrord:
"Tell me, my faithful minion, are all these humans your minions? Yes? That is indeed a most brilliant prospect. For it is very obvious that a minion of my minion is also my minion! Oh, the luck!"
" Jirt, explain yourself! What authority? Ye arse belong to infantry and our King, just like mine. There's no other authority exept min.. M'Lord Colden's, of course, and mine while his lordship is injured! Come here lads! Kefto, to arms! ", commands captain taking an attack pose with sword drawn.
Nareth speaks to Jirt keeping then suddenly changes his yelling target and slowly approaches gnome:
" Speak fiend! There's no minions of your here, for the Refiner's sake, me be blessed his name! Wh.. What are ya and the hell ya wants here? " - Nareth's anxiety turns into superstitious anger.
"Ahh ha! Another sword-wielding minion! Most fascinating! Oooh, and you've got yourself a nice armour too!"
The gnome runs up to Nareth and examines his armour.
"Oooh, shiny chain mail! Wait, let's see what we have here..."
The gnome rummages inside a small bag that hung on his belt, oblivious of Nareth's attacking stance.
"There it is! Flexilixidixicon's anti-chaffing, anti-rust, anti-dent armour oil. Water-proof, weather-proof, monster-proof, non-flammable and most importantly, non-sticky!"
He uncaps the vial of pungent smelling liquid.
"Now... let's put this on you..."
The gnome attempts to put the "armour oil" on Nareth's chain mail and polish it.
"Am, I missing something Cram? Is one so foolish as him really a threat?"
“Hold, Captain Nareth, good man,” he says,
placing a hand comfortably on Lagrord’s shoulder in acknowledgement. Wise as always, he thinks to himself of his friend. “We should be cautious, but it isn’t often we meet one willing to converse outside of Astorwind. Put your weapons down, but at the ready. I doubt this gnome will harm us, though one such as he is rare indeed. He must be very resourceful to have survived on his own... though I don’t think his mind has survived as well,” he adds under his breath, not as an insult but as an assessment.
More brightly: “Tell me, gnome, what are you doing here? What is your name? Why do you talk of minions? Please, be hasty but clear. We must travel to the other side of the mountain tomorrow and cannot waste any time on frivolous things.”
Garta looks at the situation with wide eyes, but says nothing.
"My name? What a rude question! Why, you should know that better than me! Now tell me, what is my name? And don't you lie to me, I know very well that you know the answer, and you shall not hide it from me! For long this secret has been concealed from me, and now I will get to the bottom of this, I will! TELL ME! TELL ME NOW!" The gnome almost yells.
“You don’t know your own name?” asks Garta.