/qu/ - Quests/Roll

>>7085

everyone should explore the library together and pick up some tomes for magic while we look for the necromancer

>>7088

Try to confuse him with words while moving to a better position for attack and signalling the others to do the same. Start by asking him to keep his voice down (this is a library, after all), and then accuse him of being there without permission. If he sees through that, start acting like a mob protection racket.

>>7088

You look towards the rest of your crew, giving them a silent head nod. You're not sure if they understand what you're trying to message to them, but you're sure they'll figure it out soon enough.

You tell the necromancer to keep his voice down in an authoritative fashion, as you begin moving slightly to your left, and gripping your casting staff.

The others seem to get what you're doing, and they also begin to move to different, more combat ready positions, as you talk…except Jellington, he just follows you around.

"Keep my voice down!? Just what is the meaning of this!?"

You explain that this is a library, and it's only fair to the others that you speak quietly.

"What!? This is my library, and these are all my books! You shouldn't have even been able to get this far, not with my vampire guarding the path!"

You need to do something else to raise the stakes here.

You pick up a random book, and pull out your assassin's dagger, explaining how it would be an awful shame if something were to happen to a good book like this.

"Don't you dare damage any of my books, goblin! If you do, I swear I'll call my vampire back here and you'll all be husks! Then I'll take control of your husks, and experiment on them! I will!"

It looks like everyone is in a proper position to fight the necromancer.

What do you do?

>ATTACK!

>Continue the confusion: demand to know where his library card is, while also attempting to take protection money from him.

>Try to get some answers: why is the necromancer terrorizing the mines?

>Push a bookshelf over so that it falls on him! Dirty tactics forever!

>>7094

Push the book shelf over and then attack!

>>7115

Um…hi. Can you understand me? Let's just talk for a moment. Can you do that?

>>7115

You ask the flesh golem if it can understand what you are saying. You say that you do not wish to fight, and only want to talk.

The flesh golem has many eyes, but half of them seem dead set on you, and the other half are staring at Jellington.

"You…disgusting monsters," the flesh golem says with its many gargled tongues. The eyes then dart around the room, before focusing back on you and Jellington. "I see you..have new friends…but where is the filthy zombie that was with you? I wanted to…crush all of you at once!"

You aren't very sure what exactly is going on.

The flesh golem steps forward.

"You…beasts…really are working together more than ever before…if only I could kill you three before your disgusting pact could get larger…now look at me…"

The way this flesh golem talks is starting to sound familiar.

"After that nasty little slime…ate my face…I crawled for my life into the woods. One of the necromancer's skeleton slaves found me…and cut my head clean off! They used me…to bring consciousness to this flesh golem…and it's all your faults!"

There's no mistaking it now. This flesh golem has the mind of the assassin that had been plaguing you for so long…this woman just won't stay dead.

"And now that the necromancer is dead…I am free to deal with you as I please!"

"CAW! You really fucked us over now, goblin!" says Puffin.

"We must act now!" cries Snood.

"Uh…oh my this is not good…oh my this is not good at all" whimpers Sorri.

"MEAN LADY GO AWAY!" yells Jellington.

What do you do?

>Cast some magic at the flesh golem, and call for a full scale attack.

>Push over another bookshelf to stall the flesh golem while you try to escape

>Just run for it, it's faster than trying to distract the flesh golem

>Keep talking to it. Apologize, or offer to help, or something!

>>7131

Run for it! Cast some ice magic behind us while running, if we can, and ask the Sorri if she has any more potions to use.

>>7140

lets quickly explore the lair while taking anything useful to us

>>7147

lets help the vamp he could be a total bro now that the necromancer is dead

>>7147

You head back to the battle behind you, and explain to the group that you are going to help the vampire defeat the flesh golem.

"CAW! Fine, but if that vampire tries killing us after, I'm leaving you all behind."

"As you wish, Sir Boggart" says Snood.

"O-okay" says Sorri.

"YAY! FIGHTING MEAN LADY!" yells Jellington.

But as the five of you approach the two combatants, it appears the fight is already coming to an end. The flesh golem is wobbling back and forth, covered in cuts and scratches from the vampire. The vampire slashes at the flesh golem one more time before it falls over with a meaty thud.

The vampire just looks at you all. He has taken a pretty serious beating from the flesh golem himself. "You should get out of here," says the vampire, "before I start getting thirsty. If you ever hear the name Kaguul while you travel through the night, you will know I am near."

Kaguul the vampire grabs the head of Duvalorn the necromancer, and hands it to you.

"Bring this back to your masters," says Kaguul, "say that all of the necromancer's creations lost life the moment he died. If I learn that hunters in this mine are searching for me after you leave, I promise you that you will not survive for long."

What do you do?

>Leave for the Lowerberg to free Skellington

>Talk to Kaguul, ask him about himself.

>Ask if Kaguul wants to join your Monster City

>Attack him! He's weak, and killing the vampire might get us some extra cash!

>>7152

I think Monster City could use a vampire.

>>7152

Oh, and we should use those flesh burning potions on the remains of the Golem. Don't want that skank recovering.

>>7152

Just to be safe, you grab the two orange potions from Sorri's hands, and throw them down onto the flesh golem. The flesh golem burns and boils until it is nothing but a gross mess on the ground…well, a grosser mess. You assure Sorri that you needed to be sure that the flesh golem was dead for good, as you've had plenty of run ins with the consciousness of that beast.

You then turn to Kaguul, and tell him about your plans for the foundation of a new Monster City, a place where monsters of all shapes and sizes can live equally and be safe from the tyranny of the dwarves, elves, and humans. You ask if Kaguul would like to join you and make that dream a reality.

Kaguul does not seem impressed. "Find me again when you have something impressive to show me, and I might consider it."

With that, the group begins the long walk back to the Lowerberg.

———-

"CAW! So, you're all from the outside, huh?" asks Puffin.

"YES" says Jellington, "WE'RE FROM OUTSIDE."

"CAW! I see. CAW! And you're making some sort of new city for monsters?"

"YES WE ARE. SKUP IS GONNA BE LEADER AND I AM GOING TO BE JELLINGTON."

"CAW! Well, I don't have much else going on for me here. Hell, what am I going to do if I stay in these mines? CAW! Move to the Higherberg and live with a bunch of snooty driders?"

Puffin turns to you.

"CAW! You mind if I tag along for the journey, goblin?"

Sorri, listening in to the conversation, pops in.

"Oh! If you take her, could you please take me along too? I mean I know I'm not very good with uh, dangerous situations, but if you've got more people helping you on the outside, I would really love to join. I mean sure, I could just move to the Higherberg now that we did our mission and the necromancer is dead, we all could, and that could be pretty nice, but…well, like Puffin said, it's full of snooty driders."

What do you do?

>Accept both Puffin and Sorri into the group

>Accept Puffin into the group

>Accept Sorri into the group

>Do not let either of them into the group

>>7165

Let's take them both along. It's not as though they're going to cause us any trouble. R-right?

>>7182

send jellington and snood to get shreakmilk and frix, while we go get skellington

>>7188

Let's go to Lowerberg, meet up with the others and get Skellington something to eat. And the others, too, if necessary. And more potion/poison ingredients for Sorri. Assuming everything is cheaper in Lowerberg.

>>7188

You, Skellington, Sorri and Puffin start the trek back up to the rest of the Lowerberg to reunite with the party (and to get lunch)

———–

You find Shreakmilk, Jellington, Snood, and Frix sitting at a few stools by a food stand labeled "Maud's Critter Stew."

"FINALY" yells Shreakmilk, "YA BACK! WEAR FUKIN STARVIN OVA 'EER, AN WEER TIARD OF EATIN DA RATIONS. PASS OVA SUMMA DAT SILVA AND LETZ GET SUM SOOP!"

Sounds like a good argument to you. You pull out some of your silver, which the kobold working at the food stand is very happy to see, and get everyone a big heaping bowl of Critter Stew…whatever that is.

As you all eat, you bring Frix and Shreakmilk up to speed on what's happened with everyone else.

"What!? Your tellin' me you guys got to fight a vampire and a flesh golem!? Come on! I would've been great with that!"

"WHATEVA, DATS FINE, BUT WE DID GUD BACK 'ERE TOO!"

Shreakmilk and Frix explain what they've learned while they were exploring the Lowerberg. In essence, and you may have already put this together yourself, the Lowerberg is considered where the "lower class" monsters live. Lowerberg monsters don't get very many rights, order is only loosely kept by the driders, and its overall a pretty shitty place to live.

"CAW! I could have told you that much."

"Y-yeah, this place isn't very great" whispers Sorri.

Frix and Shreakmilk go further on to explain that the driders mainly make up the population of the Higherberg, though if you live in the Lowerberg and prove yourself worthy, you are invited to live in the Higherberg with the driders.

"That's all well and good," says Skellington, "but what of the temple? What have we learned of that?"

"Oi, we're gettin' to that!" says Frix.

They tell you that a little while after the zombies were taken over by the necromancer and raised havoc in the Higherberg and the Lowerberg, the temple walked over to the front of the mine and just plopped itself down there. The black knight that seems to live inside the temple came out, went to the Lowerberg, and started talking about recruiting monsters to form a new society, where all monsters would be equal. Unlike you, however, the black knight has a giant walking temple to show off, and he came just after a big crisis, so he's a lot more convincing, and got a good amount of Lowerberg monsters to join him. Rumors around the Lowerberg say that the temple is heading towards a far off orc tribe, Seadale.

What do you do?

>Keep shopping around the Lowerberg, get everyone supplied up.

>Head over to the Higherberg. There's probably higher quality gear there, though more expensive, and you can share that info about Queen Tindalia

>Head out now, and follow the trail of the temple to the orc tribe of Seadale.

>>7219

Wait, forgot some extra options.

>Head out now, and check in on Shamus' village

>Head out now, and check in on your home village

>>7219

Let's grab some supplies here and then head after that temple to find our competitor.

>>7236

Let's talk to Skelly. See how he's doing, coping with his un-living existence, make sure he's feeling good.

If we have time, afterward we should properly welcome our new party members. Get everyone introduced, learn their skills, all that jazz.

Sorry for the little hiatus on my end. I should hopefully be back to posting updates regularly

>>7236

You approach the shambling Skellington and ask him how he's doing.

"You noticed me acting funny, did you?" says Skellington. "Please please, you have no need to worry. I'm just stretching, honestly. I can't just sit back and…oh all right, you clearly don't want me to avoid the issue. It is not easy being undead, and being stuck in that cage in the mines with nothing to eat, with those other undead…well, it makes you experience things. I may be able to hold conversations and morality and all of that, but it is not easy to keep up. I need to consume meat to keep my mind, or else the mental rot begins to set in. You know how my speech begins to slur and my movement becomes less coordinated. It gets so much worse though. Soon you begin to lose memories, your sense of self, your very morals. Given enough time, you're an irreversible shell of your former self, driven only to eat and eat, but with no hope of ever returning to your original being. I feared that I would turn into a true abomination if I stayed in that cage for too long. I also fear that one day eating dried meats and the occasional woodland creature that comes by will not be enough. There are many more insane undead than there are sane. One day animal flesh simply does not cut it, and an undead will need to move on to the flesh of sentient creatures. Sometimes undead simply give into the madness at this point. Other times they fight back as long as they can before turning. Some embrace it fully. I do not know when or if any of that will happen to me, but…I fear the worst."

Damn. Skellington's got some issues.

You're not really sure what to do right now.

>Attempt to comfort Skellington

>Continue as planned go introduce the two new teammates

>Just go to bed

>Practice magic

>>7268

Come on Skelly, stiff upper lip and whatnot. Or would that be a sign of rigor mortis setting in?

Only joking. Look, Skelly, you don't have to worry about that sort of thing. We'll keep you in meat and adventure as long as you're able, and then should the worst happen, we'll make sure you never hurt anyone.

But you're a knight, right? Shouldn't your focus being on serving and protecting people, not moping about possible future scenarios you have no control over? You're a valuable member of my team. You've been with me since the beginning, and we're going to found Monster City (Name Subject to Change) together, a place free from persecution for all monster types. And when we have that set up, we'll get our best minds working on how to keep you sharp and active. And we'll name a public building after you. Not something important, like the town hall, that's going to bear my name. But maybe a library or a well or something.

>>7273

>Seafront

*Seadale

The tribe is named Seadale

I gotta get my head in the game here, I'm getting all my names mixed up.

>>7273

(to the party)

Ah…well. This seems to be a predicament we've found ourselves in, friends. Lets see if we can't talk our way into a better place, yes?

(to all)

Good morning, everyone! We were passing through and happened to overhear your disagreement. Naturally, being decent folk (despite what your leaders may have told you) we'd like to avoid bloodshed where possible. Perhaps it would be best if we all calmed down, sheathed our respective weapons, and talked this through like rational and mature individuals. I've both heard and read tales of the nobility and courage of knights and the rugged determination and raw power of ogres. Were you all to come to blows, it would be a loss to the world in general and most likely quite fatal for most involved in the fighting.

Why not sit and hash this out over some tea? Perhaps we could have an early lunch. Which city are you from, Ser Knight? I've heard that Avonshire has some fantastic bakers that make some of the most amazing bread in the world.

>>7273

You inform your party of your plan. Frix, Shreakmilk, and Puffin don't seem to care for the choice of diplomacy, but the everyone else agrees without question.

You draw the attention of the knights and ogre, and in the most kind and friendly way you can, try to diffuse the situation with a rousing call for discussion at lunch.

The knights and the humans watch you quietly for a few moments, before the ogre releases a hearty chuckle.

"You're funny, pipsqueak. Did you get all your little friends over there with speeches like that too?"

"YES!" says Jellington.

The humans look at the ogre, then back to you and your party. They talk amongst themselves.

"We're outnumbered now!"

"It's eight against nine now, this isn't looking good."

"Now hold on, the goblin's trying to find peace with us."

"It's a trick! He wants us to lower our guard so that they can attack us easier."

"But just look at them all. Besides the ogre, their tallest fighter is a zombie. We could handle them."

"But can we handle all of those small ones AND an ogre?"

"Look, we'll try doing this civi one more time, and if it doesn't work, we'll figure something out."

"Okay, break!"

The knights look back at you.

"Goblin. You convince this ogre to share what information he knows, or we will be forced to…do something, I guess."

What do you do?

>Take out some food from your supplies and pass it around. Gotta get this diplomacy picnic started.

>Ask the ogre really nicely to share his information

>Ask the humans why they want to know what the ogre knows so much

>Have all of your party introduce themselves to the knights and the ogre, lower tensions, maybe

>Keep distracting them, send some of your party members to do a sneak attack on the ogre and/or knights

>>7281

(To humans)

Well, thank you for agreeing to give diplomacy a chance. My name is Skup Boggart, and these are my associates. First things first. What information are you searching for, and what incentive have you given this fine monster to tell you? I'm sure he's a busy man and his time and this information is valuable. I'm sure you wouldn't just go and demand information under threat of violence from other humans, would you?

And now that you don't have the upper hand for unwarranted use of violence, it would make a lot more sense to find out what this respectable ogre wants in exchange for the information.

(To ogre)

What do you think of this? Could these knights possibly give you some silver, or perform some task in exchange for the information they seek?

(To party, in a whisper)

Spread out, prepare to attack the humans if this goes poorly.

>>7281

You whisper to your companions to start spreading out for a potential counter-attack if the humans don't play nice, and continue communicating with the knights and ogre. With silent nods (and a jiggle from Jellington) the party begins to do move out slowly so as to not draw too much attention to themselves.

You ask the humans what information they were seeking, and how they planned to pay the ogre for said information. You also throw in a subtle threat that using violence to get what they want would end poorly for them.

Disgruntled, one of the knights responds.

"Reports from nearby villages tell us that this ogre was seen being thrown out from the now mobile Temple of Monstro. It is out duty to learn whatever this ogre can tell us."

The ogre stares down at the knight who is speaking. "It's not nice to call folks by their species like that, tin man. Call me Crunk."

"WAIT" Jellington points out, "CRUNK CRUNK CRUNK, THE TEMPLE HAS BIG LEGS AND IS SUPER HIGH. IF YOU GOT THROWN OUT, WHY ARE YOU NOT DEAD?"

"Good question, sticky," Crunk says, "I grabbed onto a tree on the way down."

"Now hold on," says one of the knights, "why are you talking to the slime now!?"

"Sticky asked nicely" says Crunk.

Luckily, it doesn't seem like they've noticed the increasingly spread out party.

You then ask Crunk if there's anything you want for payment in exchange for telling the knights (and your party) what they want to know.

"Now that you mention it, pipsqueak…I want their armor."

The knights let out a collective gasp.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm a big guy, and it isn't easy getting someone to make good armor for me. If I had eight sets of knight armor, I could make myself a fine looking wear for myself."

"Absolutely not!" one knight cries.

"We won't disrobe for this beast!"

"The very idea is ridiculous!"

"Tell us what we want to know now, ogre!"

"You should have been thankful that we were willing to let you live for this information!"

The knights are getting uppity, which means they're starting to ignore whatever fear they previously had, which could spell out bad news.

What do you do?

>Keep up the negotiations; make the ogre ask for something more reasonable

>Keep up the negotiations; get the humans to give up their armor

>ATTACK!

>Offer one of your possessions in exchange for the information

>>7289

Sir knight, please be civil. There's no need to be alarmed. Crunk here is cooperating perfectly and I'm sure you'll agree that his information is valuable. Now, perhaps it's not 8 suits of armor valuable, but I'd wager that his information is worth at least 5 suits.

I've got some silver that I'd happily give to the Knights that give Crunk their armor. It might not be enough to get a new set of armor, but you could definitely get some fairly decent clothes, although I'm sure that fine people like yourselves have a change of clothes in your things.

I'm sure that your queen would agree that a few sets of armor, easily replaced, would be worth finding the Temple of Monstro with no loss of life on either side. I'm also sure that you would rather these negotiations devolve into bloodshed, or at least I know that's my take on the situation. Violence is the death of civility, as they say, a last resort for well-mannered beings such as ourselves.

>>7289

You break it down to the knights that you are willing to repay them for at least five sets of armor, which you believe is a fairer price for the information.

"A bit of a haggler, aren't you, pipsqueak?" says the ogre, "fair enough though. Five armors."

You also remind the knights on how important this information is to the queen, and how some lost armor is really a good deal for it.

The knights communicate with each other in hushed whispers for some time.

"This is crazy."

"It's only some armor, really. I'd rather keep my life than my armor."

"But what if it got out that we gave in to monster demands?!"

The chatting goes on, until finally one of the knights speaks to you.

"Are you sure you can repay us for our armor, goblin? This armor is around 40 silver each. That means you'll have to give us 200 silver."

What do you do?

>Pay them (go from 290 silver to 90 silver)

>Attempt to haggle for a lower price

>ATTACK

>>7296

200 silver is a small price to keep the peace.

>>7296

You nod your head, revealing your silver coins.

——-

Five unarmored knights now stand behind their three remaining armored companions, as the ogre begins to play around with the new possession.

"Alright, a deal's a deal. You want to know what I know? I'll tell you. I found that black knight fella while wandering around the land, just minding my own business. The big old temple suddenly comes right out of nowhere and almost stomps me flat with those giant legs,"

"How in the world could one not notice a temple that large?" you hear Skellington whisper to himself. The ogre does not notice.

"Luckily for me, the temple stops dead in its tracks, and sits down on the ground. The black knight fella comes out, and gives me this whole speech about how they're the child of Monstro, and that they're trying to unify the monsters, and bla bla bla. It was a load of crock, Monstro never had a kid, and Monstro died like, forever ago, but wandering alone can get boring, so I joined up with 'em. They called themselves Monstra, can you believe that? Anyway, I stuck with them for a few days, and let me tell you, Monstra is a weak little whelp. They go around in their big spooky armor acting all tough, but Monstra is a pansy! Monstra treats all the little monsters like they're on the same level or something, hardly keeps them in line, and always tries getting new recruits nicely. Of course, I knew that Monstra's whole plan is gonna fall apart because they're a wimp, so I decided to try taking charge for myself. Guess I didn't know how brainwashed Monstra's little followers were, because they all jumped at me, and the next thing I know, I got thrown right out of the temple, where I grabbed a tree, and bla bla bla, here we are. If you're looking for the temple, they headed down to that orc village by the sea. They're probably not there now, but hey, that's the best shot you have. Though give it time, and I'm sure they'll just destroy themselves. I don't even know if Monstra knows how that walking temple even works."

And with that, the ogre's story is told. The knights begin marching away in one direction, the ogre in another.

What do you do?

>Try to talk to the humans as they leave

>Try to talk to the ogre as he leaves

>Continue down to Seadale

>>7310

Crunk, might I have a moment of your time? We're trying to reach the temple ourselves and I'm sure that a warrior such as yourself would be a fine addition to our crew. Would you be interested in joining us? We're going to see if we can't convince the current…residents to allow us the use of their walking…temple…thing. Diplomatically, if possible. We'll give them a chance to join us, but after hearing your information, I'm afraid it may get violent.

Worst case scenario is we may have to take the temple by force. I'd rather not, obviously, but will if necessary. I'd feel safer with you at my back. Plus, I'd like to see if we can make you a set of armor. You'd look quite the imposing figure in full plate.

>>7315

Oh! I almost forgot to mention:

Normally it wouldn't be smart to just walk into any "civilized" places randomly, seeing as how you and your friends are all monsters, but you must remember that the orcs stay on a fine line. The orcs want to play nice with everybody, and don't mind monsters paying them visits, if they're friendly. Sure, if any human, elf, or dwarf in power wanted them to go out and purge some beastfolk, they might be up for it, but the orcs believe that with enough time and dedication, any race has the potential to become the next big civilized one…it's just that the orcs, in their opinion, are the most likely to be accepted next.

>>7315

Lets talk to the orcs

>>7338

*ahem* OI! WE'Z LOOKIN FOR DA WALKIN TEMPLE WOSSIT! WE'Z GONNA GO RAID IT AN TAKE ALL 'DERE LOOT! WHICHA YOU BOYZ 'AS 'ERD SOMFIN? ANY 'A YOU LADS WANNA GET STUCK IN WIF' US AN FIGHT SOMMA 'DEM RITE 'ARD TIN NOBZ? WE'Z ALWAYS LOOKIN' FOR A FEW DEAD 'ARD BOYZ TO FILL OUT DA CREW!

>>7338

You puff out your chest and deliver the most "monster talk" introduction you can muster. You describe how you and your party plan to find the temple and "take loot", and that you're looking for information, along with any orcs that want to join.

The orcs look at you in silence. Your party, however, is vocal about your sudden change in tone.

"FINELY," yells Shreakmilk, "YA SPEEKIN LIKE A PROPA LEADA OF A WARPARTY!"

"Boss, ya always find a way to impress me!" Frix cheers.

"YES. DEAD'ARD BOYZ!" jiggles out Jellington.

"CAW! Why the hell are you talking like that? CAW!" caws out Puffin.

"U-um, S-Skup, w-why are you a-acting like this?" Sorri whimpers.

Skellington sees your gambit clearly. "Indeed! We are a band of, uh, fookin right crushers, and um, we're be needed the information…" Skellington hangs his head, not grasping the intricacies of monster tongue.

Snood just nods his head.

The other orcs look forward at their speaker, emotionless, as if waiting to see how he reacts before even daring to react themselves.

The orc speaking with you smiles.

"It's nice seeing a little bit of spunk these days!" he says, "pleasure to meet you all. I am Balgone The Battler…the second. I am leader of the Seadale War Party, The Blades of Balgone The Battler…the first. The other orcs outside of the party want me to call it the Defense Party, but fuck that noise."

Balgone's followers smile, their clunky tusk teeth glistening with grime.

"I wish I could lend out some of my boys to help you out. I mean normally I wouldn't, just giving out soldiers to some random rag tag monster group would be dumb, but in times like these I long for a little bit of action. Damn chief, damn Prindle the Mediator, damn pansy fucking orcs. The thing is, I can't help you out now. I'm under orders to keep all my men here guarding Seadale until further notice. Which, between us, means I can't do anything unless the chief kisses enough dwarf, elf, or human ass to get permission from them to do something. It's fucking sickening. I can tell you the temple was here though, that much is true. The thing stomped by, sat down, and some black knight fella came out trying to recruit the others into his army or something. You wanna know what happened? No one fucking went in! The chief and his crew would have nothing to do with it, the villagers were 'too civilized' too consider it, and me and my boys just had to watch!"

What do you do?

>Ask him how the orcs got so wimpy

>Ask him about the dwarves you saw going up the steps to the pillars

>Push him to go against his orders and give you some help

>Head into the town square

>Head towards the path to the pillars

>>7342

Wossit wif alla dese "civilised" Orky types? Why'da they look so…not…Orky? Seen some earlier, mate, an they was all like, "Oh, lookit tha lil' savages and monsters" and talkin bout wantin to be like Elfs and 'Umans and such. Didn't even have proper tusks or nothin. They looked like some ki'na…pretty-type Orky lads. Talkin bout makin a kingdom. Is dis a new thing? Orks gettin in to the king-makin game?

Got me 'finkin, it did. 'Finkin bout this…civilization business. Bout how those lot, 'Uman, Elfs, Dwarfs, City-Orks, how they gonna jus' follow a guy cos 'is dad or gran'da or woteva was som kinda big boss type. Got me 'finkin bout how that ain't how it should work.

I don't know bout you, but way I sees it is you ain't a boss coz you says yous da boss. Yous da boss coz everyone else sez yous da boss, yeah? Tha's how it works for us an I bet it's how it works for you lads. Yeah, you mighta been born as a second or whateva, but those boyz you got, those boyz follow you coz you's their boss. I'm finkin bout thumpin those lot in the temple, takin' their temple, an ridin it somewhere clear away from here. Somewhere wif none of this "civilization" these lot got 'ere. All I need now's to know where they took that walkin' temple. Mate, just point us lot in the right direction an we's off.

>>7343

Continuing with your montser-like voice, you ask why the orcs you've seen before were all "pretty-type" and how you don't understand why people should be part of a kingdom when they should be following someone they see as the boss, not someone who says they're the boss.

From there, you ask simply if Balgone knows where the temple is headed, and that you will leave if he tells you.

Though your teammates don't speak, you can tell by their expressions…well, the ones where you can see an expression, that they are impressed by your speech.

Balgone's orcs look towards Balgone to know what they should be feeling right now. Balgone does not turn to give them an answer, but you can see his face soften. You have moved him.

"You're damn right, goblin. You're damn right. Let me tell you a story, and maybe you'll understand how we got to this sad state. A long time ago, long before the humans ruled most of the plains, and the elves ruled their enchanted little forests, and the dwarves ruled most of the underground, everyone was just part of their dinky little tribes. Humans, elves, dwarves, they were just like everyone else, I tell ya. Us orcs, we were in our tribes too. Going to war with our enemies, proving ourselves through strength, life was good and simple. Of course, that was a long old time ago, my boys and I weren't born, or any of you were born, or whatever. The thing is, sometime during when everyone else was living life like they should following who was the best…well, I mean the orcs always followed who was the best, I don't know about everyone else…the humans started getting "diplomatic" with the other humans, and just the other humans. Then the elves started to do that too. Then the dwarves too…actually, I'm not sure what the order was, but the point is one of those three started doing things differently. They started to ignore the other races, and just focus on themselves. Making allies, forcing others to join them, but only humans with humans, elves with elves, dwarves with dwarves. And then the humans and the elves and the dwarves saw they were all doing the same thing, and they started working together, real sneaky like. Next thing you know, they're making treaties and shit, dividing up who gets what like they own the damn place already. Next thing you know, they've somehow become the biggest three unified tribes ever! Everyone else who stood in their damn way got crushed real good. Monstro then came out of nowhere, and tried to get all the beastfolk, which, let me tell you, was only a term once the big three came to power, to join up and fight back. You probably know this part already, there was a big war, yadda yadda yadda, Monstro lost, all the beastfolk fell apart back to their old tribes. I don't even know how we lost, none of us were really born yet, probably, but Monstro's army was HUGE. No matter though, he still lost."

Balgone takes in a deep breath.

"Sorry, I'm rambling. This shit gets me heated. Anyway, all the orc tribes were pissed off. They teamed up with Monstro to fight back, all these orc tribes putting aside their differences for once, and it all meant squat! The tribes started blaming each other and got too busy fighting each other while the big three kept taking over crap. That's when Prindle The Fucking Mediator showed up. Some weird mutant orc who looked…pretty. I hear he was raised by elves, and they did experiments on him to make him look the way he did. Point is, he comes in and starts saying shit like 'oh, we can't beat the big three with force, we should be friends with them.' He came just at the right time to trick us all and rise to power, with half the orcs dead and the other half so pissed off they don't even remember why they're fighting anymore. He starts using that diplomacy stuff to make all the tribes like him, and the next thing you know, he's got himself doing exactly what the big three did, basically. He tricked all the orcs into trying to be like the big three, said we could end up as master race number four. And the next thing you know, no one's fighting anymore, and the orcs are changing each generation! We start going from big and tough like me and my boys, to weak and pretty like Prindle. The only way you don't end up like that is by fighting, it seems. I don't get it, and it makes me mad!"

Balgone's orcs are listening to their leader like children listening to a bedtime story. Skellington seems interested, his rotting fingers under his chin. Jellington lost interest early on, and is now munching on sand. Shreakmilk has fallen asleep, while Snood watches over her. Frix listens with wide eyes, just like the rest of the orcs. Puffin seems pretty disinterested in general, and Sorri is taking notes.

You're not sure just yet what you think about this story.

>>7382

"Sorry, I'm rambling again. You want to know where the temple went, right? I'm not sure, but I have a pretty good guess. The closest tribe worth checking out is deep in Moistmouth Cave. In the cave is a passage to an underwater place, full of mermaids and mermen and fish things in general. I'm not sure of this black knight person wants soldiers he has to water, but that's the best bet I've got. It's near the coast a little ways from here."

What do you do?

>Head right to Moistmouth, there's no time to waste.

>Head to the town square

>Head to the path to the pillars

>>7383

Moistmouth it is, then.