《Greenskin》Chapter 25 - Still No Magic
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It took a while for Steal to stir, so long in fact, that when his bulbous, sunken eyes opened, he saw no forest, no wyvern, no dirt or earth. He merely saw the man standing over him; skin darker than the humans that he had killed, build more muscular than those frail wizards or the wiry rogue. Dressed in rather plain attire; a beige tunic with a slight blackish stain on it just above his left breast, whilst his lower half was covered by black trousers that bulged slightly outwards at there legs, as if they were just slightly too large for the man wearing them. Which was one hell of a feat, considering the man's gargantuan build.
Steal blinked.
Then blinked again, though he did not screech or scowl, he merely watched the man in relative silence; jet black eyes merely observing his moving mouth, muttering words he did not understand.
It wasn't until the goblin shifted to one side that it properly looked at where it was. A room, wooden door, wooden floor, the same with the walls and ceiling. It was small, The man above him was slightly hunched over so his head didn't smack against the thick, damp-looking wooden beams slightly above him.
Even still, he didn't recognise this man until he saw the sword dangling from a belt by his side. Absent of his gargantuan shield and battered armor, the man seemed smaller. But he was clearly larger than even Grak.
Grak... Steal wondered what happened to him. It was possible he was alive, though thinking about the hulking hobgoblin being tossed aside like an insect, he thought himself tremendously lucky to not have been on the receiving end of an armored tail swing.
The goblin's face contorted to a slight grimace, it could taste something at the back of his throat, it burned and tasted horrendous, like rotted meat and vomit, as the goblin started retching, the man that looked down on him kneeled low, producing a leather canteen as large as Steal's head. It's cap was popped of by the flick of his thumb, and he offered it to Steal, first pouring a slight bit the of the liquid out onto the wooden floor to show him it was water.
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Happily and greedily, the goblin snatched the canteen from the mans hands, emptying half of it in a mere few seconds before the human snatched it back from him, having to pry the goblin's clawed, bony fingers from the leather.
The man began muttering again "Do you understand me?"
Steal merely lunged for the canteen again, the man consigning himself to the answer that Steal most certainly did not understand him after he said it a few more times; even when he slowed his words and spoke louder, like a tourist trying to ask for directions.
Passing the canteen back to Steal, Kor'Ak merely sighed. He had atleast hoped this dumbass creature might be able to talk in a language that wasn't guttural throat noises and animalistic yips. Perhaps he had set his hopes too high; Kor'Ak was aware that he certainly wasn't qualified to teach anything besides how to swing a blade; though he had come up with a short term solution for communicating with the goblin, there wasn't a chance in hell he could teach the goblin his native Djaalic tongue, nevermind the 'common' language that was spoken by the many races of people that inhabitated Bayle, the country they were currently in.
However, Kor'Ak's short term solution demanded a hefty sum of Krowns, and was likely far more expensive than hiring a tutor for the goblin, if any tutor would teach such a supposedly depraved creature. It would seem the adventurer would have to take up another job if he wanted to further the goblin's communication skills, and there was no way he could find the item he was looking for in Veera, as nice as the city was, and as defensible as it was; it's magical item trade was depressingly lacking, from what he'd heard, there were maybe a dozen or so low-ranking wizards in Veera, there ranks occasionally bolstered by adventurers, but never numbering over fifty.
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First, he was still yet to collect his reward from the adventurers guild for his hunt, and still had the bloody eye of the wyvern in one of his satchels.
On the off-chance it was the young girl from before that would be at the desk this time, he made a note that he'd have to clean it off first, the eye was disgusting enough, he could atleast wash off the blood and remove the more disgusting tendrils of flesh and nerves at the back of the eye before handing it over to such a young girl.
Of course, there was no chance in hell that he could leave the goblin here, as fond as he was of the creature already, Krist couldn't even forgive him if he left it to it's own devices in this inn and it hurt or killed the owner of the establishment, Fo'Shizzle. It would appear that meant he better bring the creature with him.. though parading a goblin around town with would likely lead to little monsters death. Kor'Ak lifted the goblin from the bed he'd lay him on, planting his ugly, filthy feet on the wooden floorboards as it emptied the last, cool vestiges of the canteen into it's maw.
He began to rewrap the goblin in the cloak he'd brought him here in, though rather than bundling him up in it, he managed to tie and fashion it into a very simple robe of sorts, concealing everything but the goblin's face from view, and even then, the overhanging hood darkened and hid some of the gobin's more discernible features with shadow.
Kor'Ak beckoned the monster forth as he made his way out of the the rooms. It would seem he could understand simple hand signals, though he also copied Kor'Ak's beckoning motion as he came forward. It would appear the creature wanted to learn, and likely learned through doing. Something Kor'Ak himself enjoyed far more than learning through theory.
Perhaps there were some things he COULD teach the goblin after all.
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