Prof froze. Freezing in front of armed security personnel when you are found trespassing in said force’s storage closet without having a really good excuse for being there was most likely a good idea. On the other hand, if you were some highly trained black ops guy, freezing would be the last thing, you should do. But again, getting caught while sneaking around was not high on the list, of what a black ops guy – or anyone, who was somewhere he shouldn’t be – should do.


    As it were, neither Prof nor the others in the party were highly trained infiltrators. Maybe Mini was one back in the day when she was still breathing. Sharpclaw could be trained into one, given time. Binky… Well, he was like a heavy breakthrough tank – break any resistance and chew up the remains. At least Bianca was more or less military. Them freezing on command was actually understandable.


    Fighting their way out of a military facility hadn''t even crossed Prof''s mind. Not just because doing so on Earth would be a monumentally stupid idea for every random collection of civilians. More likely, because Arkadia worked on Levels and objective Skills, and the random collection of civilians that Prof was part of was seriously challenged in this field. The main reason was Prof finally found himself in civilization again and didn''t want the nice green folks to get angry with him. Having a bounty on his head would make pawning his loot off, getting new, fitting gear, and a nice feast immensely more difficult.


    “Squad Leader, me Redcap Klavierspieler. Others with me, came back from Valley of Torment from important mission!” Oh, yeah, they had a valid excuse to infiltrate the cellar of a fortress! Wolfgang even said, their escape point would be a castle, they should have expected the military or nobles to be present, when they arrived. Did the Greenskins even have nobles? The issue was somewhat fuzzy for Prof.


    The Hobgoblin, who was obviously the Squad Leader, launched himself into a verbal exchange with Wolfgang. Of course, they spoke Greenskinian, which neither of them understood. The language was the exact opposite of Elven, hard and brisk, whereas the latter was soft and flowing, instead of melodious, it was full of sharp words, with an overabundance of crisp "r"s. Prof could only look at the body language and the tone of the speakers to try to figure out, what was happening.


    He had the impression, that the Squad Leader was respectful to Wolfgang, but still tried to assert a position. From his time on Earth and with the Elves, he was almost certain, the position referred to protocols, how to apply them to the current situation, and what to do with a bunch of non-Greenskin hobos in mismatched clothing. And with a bored-looking scorpionlizard.


    The solution most likely involved filling out forms, and reports and paying taxes. Some things never changed, all the multiverses probably needed a common base, after all. Why not bureaucracy and taxes?


    The discussion continued for a few minutes when one of the Goblins left. Prof assumed, it was to fetch someone with more authority, and indeed, five minutes later another Hobgoblin and two further Goblins arrived. All three wore better gear than the initial squad. Probably the castle''s captain and two advisors – which the captain and who the advisors were, Prof had no idea. All three seemed to have near-equal standing. After another ten minutes of back-and-forth (all the while, the Goblin with the mini-guitar was playing a soothing tune), one of the Goblins turned to the assembled amateur infiltrators.


    “Dear guests, it gladdens my heart that you selflessly and voluntarily rescued our species'' newest excellent expert from the clutches of the monsters in the Valley of Torment. It is of utmost importance that in doing so, you helped to recover a prized artifact of our people! The implications of bringing a new, or in this case, the original music of all Greenskins are at this time immeasurable. We will extend our hands to our new friends in gratitude, however, we have to review your identities, goals, and dispositions before letting you enter Ostwaldland. There is also a need to review, identify and evaluate the recovered items."


    Was this guy a politician? "Thank you, and now please pay taxes" could have been said with fewer words! At least the Goblin spoke Bergian, albeit with an overly affecting, mannered, and bombastic matter.


    “Please follow me.” the Squad Leader directed them out of the cellar “Until the interviews are finished, you will be placed into holding. This is a castle, not a hotel, so excuse the common lodgings. We have only so many empty rooms, and I was directed not to put you into the dungeon. Please prepare every item you recovered from the Valley for examination.”


    Every item meant they were back to being barely armed barbarian cosplayers – most of their clothes were loot from the Valley. They were led to a mid-sized communal room, probably a suite for visiting dignitaries, a few floors above the cellar. Everything was done in the already familiar Greenskin style for buildings; superfluous columns, tympanums and such smacked to unimaginative simple walls. At least, the castle wasn''t in ruins like the city they escaped from, and there was even paint on the walls. An ugly light green paint, that is.


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    The room had only one large bed, and since everyone immediately rejected Mini''s idea to have… some team-building exercises, Prof magnanimously offered it to the girls. He slept on the ground for a couple of weeks already, another few nights wouldn''t kill him. Bianca elected to sleep on the floor too but snatched a sheet first – since her clothes were going to a customs inspection, she had to cover herself with something. Obviously, she still wasn''t comfortable with wearing only a chain bikini in front of other people. Mini, on the other hand, decided to partake in the cosplay: knee-high boots, the skimpy chain bikini, and fur wrist guards. Fantastic, she found a whole new culture she could scandalize. The joke started to get old.


    Wolfgang was escorted to a room for himself.


    The room came with a small window – to judge by the ruins, Greenskins weren''t overly keen on large windows, to begin with, and they were currently in a castle, the embodiment of small windows. The window was at least large enough to take a look outside. The view was actually quite nice, the living quarters were directly overlooking a lake, and the mountains on the other shore were visible despite the haze he connected with the Valley, mirroring themselves in the lake''s calm water. The landscape just cried to be painted or a photo to be taken and sold as a jigsaw puzzle or a postcard.


    With the rock the castle was standing on, Prof was at least five stories above the lake''s surface, and combined with the narrow window and the metal grate on the outside, escape in that direction was impossible. Not that he planned to flee without his rightful salvage, clothes, or weapons.


    Not long after they made themselves comfortable, the Squad Leader came back with food (porridge with cooked fish) and drink (light beer), but collected the items they prepared for inspection. Prof played with the idea to beg Mini to let him deposit a few things into her bags, but after realizing, how the Vampire could "misunderstand" the petition, he dropped the idea. There was a chance, the Greenskins would search Mini''s bags too, so hiding stuff there wasn''t worth the hassle. And the potential backlash.


    He had more important things to do anyway – spending Skill Points.


    The issue was, that albeit Mini gave him a few pointers on where to invest the points – namely [Parry] and [Block], but also other weapon Skills, and quite a few utilities – and himself having a few dreams – finally learning to draw and paint – the sudden arrival in Greenskinland pointed a very serious problem out. He didn''t understand the language, the culture, the laws, and the etiquette. In the Domain, he got a teacher for free and an interpreter, who always followed him around. Foxy being his minder solved a few misunderstandings Prof was aware of, and most likely protected him from angry Elves, who felt offended by his lack of etiquette and wanted to kick his teeth out.


    With the Greenskins, he couldn’t count on either.


    Even if Wolfgang hung out with them, and obviously not a few Greenskins spoke Bergian for some reason, the whole party would be lost if Wolfgang wasn''t around. Getting another minder wasn''t something, Prof was ready to do. The situation with Foxy almost bit him in the butt. It would take time to learn the language and the rules, and even with having an Elf teacher, he was barely passable with Elven culture and etiquette. From Elven laws, he only knew that "let us fleece the monkey" was probably the main tenet.


    From his Skill Points, he invested fifty into [Speech: Greenskinian], twenty-five each into [Culture: Greenskinian], and [Etiquette: Greenskinian]. The last fifteen went into [Laws: Greenskinian]. Learning anything the Greenskins could provide was easier if he knew at least a rudimentary outline of the country he was visiting. He knew firsthand from Earth, that the locals were more friendly towards tourists, who at least tried to behave themselves in a local-friendly manner than folks who just came to get drunk cheaply.


    Knowledge flooded his mind as soon as he "confirmed" the distribution. This was the fifth time he experienced the flood, but previously he mostly concentrated on martial Skills, where muscle memory was in play. This was the first time – not counting the arrival on Arkadia – where he invested a sizeable amount into knowledge-based Skills. It was… not disorienting, not weird, maybe disturbing.


    The difference between martial Skills was stark.


    One second he couldn''t even say a single word in Greenskinian, the next he commanded the language like an average local. Suddenly he knew the alphabet – yes, the Greenskins used a third one – knew, how to transcribe words into the Human alphabet (the two writings more-or-less coexisted, except for traditionalist, thank you, [Culture]). Knew, how to greet someone at different times of the day, how to point out superiors and greet them, how to behave in the presence of said superiors, how to behave with a Redcap, and under no circumstance wear anything considered red.


    Interestingly, certain shades of burgundy, orange, and brown were not considered red, thank you, new Skills. He realized, he did not exactly know, what shade of the three colors were forbidden or free, so he settled on not wearing any of those as long as he was near Greenskins. Or take lessons in traditional colors and their uses.


    The few points he put into [Laws] weren''t really enough to make a difference, the basic idea seemed to be excellent in whatever you do, be excellent to each other, and kill everyone wearing red that is not a Redcap.