Eternity RPC Board
09-13-2016, 11:41 PM
"Ohh... wow!" Elke forced, expertly hiding a gag by instead forcing the interjection. "What a nice shop you have!" The urge to clap her hands over her nose or to reach for the little pouch of potent spices she'd brought along with her was almost overwhelming. Almost a primal reflex, in fact. She'd once caught an unfortunate late-summer whiff of an opossum that had fallen into her parents' seldom-used spare rain barrel and had in its watery casket remained until the end of the season, its skin having rotted off its bones and its organs having become grotesquely bloated, and having turned the entire reservoir into a warm, soupy broth of putrid fluids prime for the breeding of an array of larvae.
This odor was worse. Far worse.
To be rude to a troll, however docile this one might have seemed outwardly, certainly warranted a punishment more severe than being forced to smell what the inadvertent patron could only hopelessly wish was swamp gas or, with any luck, a pot of cabbage boiling away in the back room. As disgusting as the palpably organic scent might have been, it couldn't really do her any harm other than perhaps giving her stomach contents a good churn. But to actually upset a troll - and Elke was almost certain from the descriptions she'd been given throughout her life that she was now dealing with a troll - was essentially a request to have one's bones ground into meal for bread and their entrails turned into sausage. Being courteous was likely in the best interest of her own survival at this point.
Assuming the role of an interested customer and certainly not a girl who had clearly wandered into the wrong storefront, she marveled openly at their wares and exclaimed, “It is a very fine shop, indeed, um… Waldo. Yes, I….” Her voice trailed off as she peered around the room, searching for the item that would become her lifesaver. It was the spot on the wall dedicated to cards of buttons that gave her what she needed to craft her grand escape. “I broke the toggle off my pouch here, you see?” She reached for one of the many bags slung over her shoulders, untangling it from the criss-crossing straps of the others, and held it up high enough for Waldo to see. The beast looked like it might have been a bit nearsighted, so she strained on the tips of her toes to hold the pouch up to eye level with it. Anything to keep it from bending down and breathing on her with that disgusting mouth.
Sure enough, upon observation, one would find two frayed ends of a cord that told the story of a lost clasp.
“I would appreciate it,” she continued, subtly burying her nose in the sleeve of her outstretched arm and thanking every force of nature that her father had perfumed the laundry well last washing, “if you would be so kind as to see if you have something I could use to secure the flap, and maybe a needle and thread as well? I think I saw a button on that wall just over there that would do the trick.”
She didn’t dare budge until the beast moved first, letting it take all the time it needed to study the broken pouch so that it would just go far from her and not come back until it had picked what it needed from the back room.
“Also,” she mused after a few moments more, casting quick glances at the second troll, Flub-or-whoever, and its painting project, “I was wondering if you two, ah, haberdashers would know where a traveler could find a room for rent for a night or two.” If she was going to buy a product – one that she didn’t really need and hadn’t actually budgeted for, her mind nagged – then she felt it would be acceptable to ask a question like that. Surely she wouldn’t become the paté in their sandwich for a traveler’s harmless inquiry.
“I’m new to Myerleigh, see? Just passing through, and need a place to stay for just a while. So if you could provide me assistance, I would be more than grateful.”
Her nose was aching for a breath of fresh air now, but she was positively convinced that if she decided to breathe through her mouth that she would actually be able to taste this disgusting atmosphere. Why, oh why had they decided to board up the windows?
This odor was worse. Far worse.
To be rude to a troll, however docile this one might have seemed outwardly, certainly warranted a punishment more severe than being forced to smell what the inadvertent patron could only hopelessly wish was swamp gas or, with any luck, a pot of cabbage boiling away in the back room. As disgusting as the palpably organic scent might have been, it couldn't really do her any harm other than perhaps giving her stomach contents a good churn. But to actually upset a troll - and Elke was almost certain from the descriptions she'd been given throughout her life that she was now dealing with a troll - was essentially a request to have one's bones ground into meal for bread and their entrails turned into sausage. Being courteous was likely in the best interest of her own survival at this point.
Assuming the role of an interested customer and certainly not a girl who had clearly wandered into the wrong storefront, she marveled openly at their wares and exclaimed, “It is a very fine shop, indeed, um… Waldo. Yes, I….” Her voice trailed off as she peered around the room, searching for the item that would become her lifesaver. It was the spot on the wall dedicated to cards of buttons that gave her what she needed to craft her grand escape. “I broke the toggle off my pouch here, you see?” She reached for one of the many bags slung over her shoulders, untangling it from the criss-crossing straps of the others, and held it up high enough for Waldo to see. The beast looked like it might have been a bit nearsighted, so she strained on the tips of her toes to hold the pouch up to eye level with it. Anything to keep it from bending down and breathing on her with that disgusting mouth.
Sure enough, upon observation, one would find two frayed ends of a cord that told the story of a lost clasp.
“I would appreciate it,” she continued, subtly burying her nose in the sleeve of her outstretched arm and thanking every force of nature that her father had perfumed the laundry well last washing, “if you would be so kind as to see if you have something I could use to secure the flap, and maybe a needle and thread as well? I think I saw a button on that wall just over there that would do the trick.”
She didn’t dare budge until the beast moved first, letting it take all the time it needed to study the broken pouch so that it would just go far from her and not come back until it had picked what it needed from the back room.
“Also,” she mused after a few moments more, casting quick glances at the second troll, Flub-or-whoever, and its painting project, “I was wondering if you two, ah, haberdashers would know where a traveler could find a room for rent for a night or two.” If she was going to buy a product – one that she didn’t really need and hadn’t actually budgeted for, her mind nagged – then she felt it would be acceptable to ask a question like that. Surely she wouldn’t become the paté in their sandwich for a traveler’s harmless inquiry.
“I’m new to Myerleigh, see? Just passing through, and need a place to stay for just a while. So if you could provide me assistance, I would be more than grateful.”
Her nose was aching for a breath of fresh air now, but she was positively convinced that if she decided to breathe through her mouth that she would actually be able to taste this disgusting atmosphere. Why, oh why had they decided to board up the windows?