It was hard to say, he felt pulled toward both. Best to leave this to a coin flip. He pulled out a copper, designating heads to the dwarf and tails to the elf before flipping it up and letting it land on the counter.
Flip Result: Tails!
The coin landed on tails, so elf it was then. Tresh stood from the counter, leaving the coin for Ket before he moved toward the pit. The elf, still diligently scribbling, hardly seemed to notice his approach. Until he was looming over her, casting a shadow across her book. She squinted before looking up at him, lavender eyes narrowing.
“No.” She said flippantly, “Begone, I have no interest in half-breeds of any sort, your genes are insulting.”
Tresh narrowed his eyes back, “I’m not interested in cranky elves, and that’s not why I came over here.”
She closed her book, “What then, is so important that you must disrupt my work?”
Tresh sat down in the chair beside her with a sigh, “You look like an interesting person,” He said honestly, “Talking with interesting people leads to quests.” Lenny confirmed this, but Tresh ignored the spirit
“Well go talk to the dwarf then, he-” She began, turning her head before her sentence was cut short, “Isn’t here anymore. Well then.”
Tresh looked back to see that, indeed, the dwarf had disappeared. It seemed Tresh was correct in assuming he was getting ready to leave.
“Right, well anyway, you know anything interesting going on?” Tresh asked, “I don’t really remember how I got here or really who I am; figure a quest might help clear my head.”
The elf, instead of berating him, put a hand on her chin, “Truly? Your kind are not intelligent enough to lie, so-”
“Watch it.” Tresh warned, sitting up in his seat, face becoming hot, “Didn’t your momma ever teach you manners?” Lenny cut in.
“To people, yes.” She replied curtly, “Tell me, half-breed, does your better side control that oversized body of yours, or will you allow impulse to rule you?”
“I control myself just fine, thank you very much.” He said, crossing his large arms, “You gonna test me with hypotheticals now?”
The elf paused, her eyes widening a slight margin, “I suppose you are not quite as vacuous as you appear.” She said in a borderline praising tone, “Perhaps you are only a quarter orc then?”
“Half.” He told her with a glare.
“How do you know?” She asked, “You apparently remember nothing, yes?”
“Well-”
“So until you can confirm your parentage, I will consider you only a quarter.”
“I am green.” Tresh insisted, patting his chest, “I don’t think quarter orcs are green.”
“You don’t know that, after all you don’t even know your parentage.” She said, “If I were to guess, you would be three-quarters human.”
“I’m half, and can we move past this?” Tresh asked, “This conversation is pointless.”
“Hardly pointless! If you are indeed half and not a quarter, that would mean that statistically some half-orcs are more intelligent than I previously thought.” She insisted, “Yet, we may move on. I am Lana Urelian, a scholar from the highly-esteemed Lagos University.”
“I’m Tresh, from McCook Nebraska.” He said, pinching his brow as his head began to ache.
“Seems something’s coming back to you, I have not heard of this ‘Nebraska’, where is it?” Lana asked, opening her book once again, flipping to an empty page.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“I-I’m not sure.” Tresh stammered, brow beginning to sweat, “I feel sick.”
“Focus on the words McCook Nebraska, try and pull it free.” Lana insisted, her quill hovering over her page.
“It’s… uh-” He struggled.
Lore Check: Fail
“No use, can’t remember.” He told her with a shrug as his headache subsided, “Maybe it’ll come back later.”
“Rats!” Lana said, slamming her book in frustration, “You will not be allowed to leave my side until I can learn about this ‘Nebraska’, if you’re telling the truth about your circumstances then this is new knowledge I can add to the archives! Just think of the accolades I will receive!” She insisted, her tone tinged with just the slightest bit of mania.
“What, now you want to keep me around?” Tresh chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief, “You were just calling me a dirty half-breed.”
“Oh that was so long ago, move on.” Lana told him with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“You mean literally a minute ago?” He questioned with a scoff, “I ain’t doing nothing I don’t wanna do unless you pay me.”
“Pay you?” She scoffed back, “I’m offering you the privilege to add to the archives, that is beyond any monetary reward I could possibly offer.”
Tresh shut his eyes, leaned his head back, and promptly began fake-snoring.
“Damn, he must have narcolepsy.” Lana cursed.
Tresh snickered, lifting his head back up, “No I was just being rude, but yeah I don’t care about your archives, if you don’t got gold to give me for my time then I ain’t interested.”
Diplomacy Check: Success!
“Very well, quarter-breed, if you insist on coin, then so be it.” She said in an annoyed tone, fishing out a copper coin from her purse. “I trust this will suffice?”
Tresh glared, “Are you joking? One copper?”
“You can buy two ales with one copper!” She pointed out.
“That’s chump change, give me some silvers at least.” Tresh asked, holding out his palm.
Diplomacy Check: Fail.
“No, I need my silvers to pay for my return to Lagos, the roads are rife with bandits and I need to hire someone to protect me.”
Tresh rose his eyebrows, he needed to get to Lagos as well… there was something cool there, he was certain of it. What was it?
Lore Check: Success!
He grinned, that was right, there was an arena there. That was a perfect place to earn some fame, not to mention gold. Lana, while she was insufferable, also knew the way to get there from here. Sure, he might be able to go by himself without issues, but all he knew was the general direction he needed to go. It would be a month long journey though… The pay had to be good.
“I’m pretty strong, I can protect you on the way to Lagos if you pay me proper. That way you can keep me close as well. That, and I want to fight in the arena, so it’s a win-win.”
“So you remember that detail hm?” She asked, “Not surprising due to your heritage, but do you recall anything about Nebraska yet?”
Tresh shook his head, “Not a thing, so what do you say?”
“No offense, but all I know about you is that you have big arms, besides that you don’t have a weapon. How exactly do you plan on providing protection if we are assailed by armed thugs? I don’t suppose you plan on punching their swords?” Lana questioned, pointing to his calloused fists.
“As a matter of fact, I might.” He told her, “I can hit harder than a mace, that’s something I remember.”
“I’m sure, Tresh.” Lana said, apparently unimpressed, “But I need a professional, not-”
“Oi Let!” A gravelly voice shouted, cutting her off, “Gimme a pint of ale or five, had a long day out on patrol.”
Tresh turned his head, spying a tall wiry man stepping through the doorway, two other men standing beside him. They wore blue coats, with swords sheathed at their belts. Guards if he’d ever seen them before which… had he? Hard to say. Tresh then glanced at Ket, the fat man looking-
Insight Check: Success!
-Very unhappy to see the guardsmen, based on that frown. Neither were the townsfolk, based on the way they all fell silent and averted their gazes.
“Get the hell out of here now!” Ket shouted, “You''re banned after that stunt you pulled yesterday!”
“Careful Ket,” The guard warned, “I am the law here, and the law wants a pint of ale for him n’ his boys. Protecting you ungrateful lot is hard work.”
“I don’t care who you are Becmun, this is my private property and you can’t pull your rank here to get what you want.”
“Oh, well in that case very well.” Becmun said with a shrug, “But it seems that someone has vandalized your good tavern, you need us here to protect it.” He finished, pointing to a nearby occupied table.
One of his cronies, with a wide smile, flipped the table over, sending the villagers sitting there scattering before he began snapping the table legs.
“Stop right there!” Becmun yelled with a smile, the guard complying, “See? I protect this place. Now, out with the ale or I won’t be able to stop the next vandal from breaking a few chairs.”
“My boys protect this place!” Becmun shouted, “Lads, get them out!”
The two burly men by the door seemed to shrink back toward the wall, nervously looking at one another before staring at Becmun.
“Go on then, try and throw us out.” Becmun smirked, “I’m sure a month in the jail will set you two straight.”
The bouncers then averted their gazes, and upon seeing this Ket’s shoulders slumped.
“How vile.” Lana pointed out, “Let us discuss this more outside.” She finished, urging Tresh to follow before striding toward the entrance.
Tresh did not follow, causing Lana to turn around mid-stride, “What are you doing?”
Tresh bit his cheek as he stood, mouth drawn to a thin line as he cracked his neck, “Get out of here!” He yelled to Becmun, “Or you’ll deal with me.”
The guards all turned to look at him, drawing swords.
“The hell is an orc doing here!?” Becmun shouted, “Leave this village now, beast!”
Tresh grinned, stepping out of the pit before he approached the three men, “Or what?”
“Or we’ll gut ya like a fish and leave you out in the dirt to rot.” Becmun threatened, “And-”
“That is quite enough!” Lana shouted, “You ingrates are completely ruining the mood of this place, now begone!”
“Tell ya what knife-ears, we’ll leave, if you come with us!” He laughed, his minions joining in, “Wouldn’t mind you biting my pillow tonight, that’s for sure.”
Tresh considered his options, looking between his fists and the three goons. Should he really start a conflict, right here in the middle of this tavern?