MERC XVIII: Affordable Misdeeds and Friendly Canines

[Hattish Thing]

Door to MERC:

From out of the blistering cold, a figure dressed quite poorly for the weather trudges through the deep snow towards the entrance. Muscular and curvaceous, with thick physical features, this youthful-looking orcish woman stares ahead with curiously bright, angular eyes of shimmering aquamarine, a bright blue shade which closely remembers the color of glittering sapphire. Pitch black tribal paint can be seen below and around the woman's eyes and painted over her thick, scarred lips, causing her tusks to stand out in contrast. A shimmering silver piercing can be seen set in the orcish woman's nose, and her sopping wet, forest green hair is set in a curious half-braid, decorated with colorful feathers and shaved on the sides, exposing a small, pointed orcish ear, set with piercings of colorful metal and carved bone.

She shivers violently, maintaining a slightly slouched posture as she crosses her muscular arms crossed over her broad chest in an attempt to ward off the cold. Scars of all shapes and sizes race across her calloused skin, especially around her face, the wounds never fully having healed due to poor self-stitching, or lack of medical attention, giving her a particularly fierce appearance. A look of confusion and rage can be seen through the cameras outside, bare upon her rugged, jade-colored face, tinged a slightly blue shade due to the cold.

Furious at the fact that the door refuses to open, she begins to beat on it harshly before speaking out in an unusual language.

"Hap avhe dar! Do iav, or jiak'll molva iav poshat!"

[Morty]

[Door to MERC]

"What the- oh." A voice comes through the intercom. "I'd ask how MERC can help you, but it doesn't sound like you know where you are."

[Hattish Thing]

Door to MERC:

The orcish woman's eyes widen as the disembodied voice begins to broadcast just to the side of the door. She reaches for a knife at her belt, retrieving the somewhat rusted and wickedly serrated blade from a sheathe crafted of ragged-looking leather. She turns around, eyes flashing about wildly as she searches her surroundings.

Once she realizes that she's well enough alone, the green-skinned humanoid glances towards the intercom.

--

With a puzzled expression upon her scarred face, she promptly forms a fist with her other hand, jabbing towards the intercom device.

As she strikes the thing, she shouts out.

"Awaausan ghoukav!"

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's office]

"God-killing weapons aren't as uncommon here as it sounds," Dipsnig says. "But still not something we want just about anyone to get their hands on. It's probably best if I deliver your report to Vigil. This sounds like exactly their job."

[Door to MERC]

The intercom is surprisingly sturdy, since people come up to shoot at MERC now and then.

"Oh, for the love of- just what I needed today."

The door slides open, allowing the orc to enter.

[Hattish Thing]

[Door to MERC]

As the door slides open, the orcish woman ducks to the left, nearly collapsing into the snow as she attempts to avoid being seen. Curiously, she peers into the main lobby from the side of the doorway. Her attempt at some kind of stealthy reconnaissance is rather unsubtle, though she sticks to her plan.

She mutters something to herself as she gazes in.

"Whaav iuk avhiuk..."

[Morty]

[Door to MERC]

The orc will see the MERC lobby, with desks, chairs, armchairs and a fireplace, as well as Dipsnig standing there, looking irritated and impatient, flanked by two golems.

[bc56]

Dipsnig's office

"With your permission, sir, I'd like tew go after it. It's got my, erm, curiosity." Erasmus seems a bit embarrassed. He's not sure if this is the right way to ask.

[Hattish Thing]

[Door to MERC]

Thinking, perhaps, that the golems must be some sort of illusion due to having never seen creatures such as they, the orcish woman furrows her scarred brow before reaching for a colorful pebble stored within one of the small, ragged pouches at her war-torn belt. She murmurs something to herself for a few seconds glancing at the stone before promptly tossing it.

The stone flies through the air, aiming to harmlessly "pass through" the first golem.

"Jiak liwo noav be avricked!"

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's office]

Dipsnig peers at Erasmus as his ears dip downwards.

"I can't exactly pay you to do it, but I won't stop you if you want to do it pro bono," he says.

[Shadowcaller]

[Door to MERC]

Astrana arrives in the main room, carrying a wooden staff inscribed with text of what appears to be many different languages. She is dressed in her usual business attire, a white buttoned up blouse and a black skirt. "Mr. Razortooth, I came as fast as I could." She eyes the ork skeptically, why had she been invited in here again?
Holding the staff with both hands, she closes her eyes and starts speaking a tongue that at points sounds like the hissing from a snake. The letters inscribed in the staff starts animating and move slightly, as if they had been serpents themselves.

Yet suddenly it seems that all the letters have been arrange in such a way that they are completely understandable for anyone looking at them, spelling out whatever the person is thinking about at the moment. In addition, all spoken and written words are now completely understandable. The written words arranging themselves like the words on the staff, the spoken words translated to everyone that hears them's own language, just slightly distorted with a hiss-like sound to them.

[Morty]

[Door to MERC]

"Now she can hopefully explain why she was banging on our door and freezing to death in equal measure," Dipsnig declares crankily.

[Hattish Thing]

[Door to MERC]

The orc looks on with a look of legitimate confusion and shock, murmuring quietly to herself as the pebble bounces harmlessly off of the golem, clattering noisily onto the floor. Noticing the lack of an aggressive reaction from the creatures, she slowly creeps inside, her suspicious nature outweighed by her dislike of the cold.

Still holding her knife close, she grunts in acknowledgement as the tiefling enters.

"Nauk-d ni, ukharp kok. Mubullat ukpiriav, nalkramal kij jiak?"
"<Red-skinned one, sharp head. Dark Spirit, where am I?">

[Shadowcaller]

[Door to MERC]

Astrana must continue to chant to maintain the spell so she can't exactly add anything to the conversation, she can thus be skipped for now.

They would have to find a more permanent solution later on, but this had to do for now.

[Gullara]

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus frowns. Dena did say after all, that it might not be here in the Nexus. Still, perhaps this material can still be found in the Nexus.

"Well, even so, what can you tell us about it? How would we recognize it if we went to a place where it was? And is there a way to earn the material from its keepers?"

[An epic Quest]

Willa frowns. Yup. A lot of effort for Dena to spit in a cup.
”I don’t think anyone could take on Corvus here. And I’m too heavy to string up. But if we could avoid that chance, that would be a good plan.” she grumbles.

[An Epic Quest]

Kirk looks critically at Willa, but refrains from commenting. It's no skin off his nose what she sticks her head into. "Huge, dead trees, charred by centuries old fires. There's only so much of this stuff in existence, and there's no way to make more. That's why it's so valuable. You'd have to hike through a mountain range to get to them if you don't want to take the main roads. Visitors are not welcome, so it'll take some serious stealth or a silver tongue to even be in the area. Past that a king's ransom might get you somewhere close to getting a small amount."

[bc56]

Dipsnig's office

Erasmus wasn't expecting to get paid for that, so he's fine. "Thank you sir. I'll be back soon. Anything else before I go?"

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's office]

Dipsnig shrugs.

"Just be careful around the Vigil people. They can be nosy and judgmental and we'd rather they didn't know too much about our operations."

[Door to MERC]

Dipsnig sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"For the love of... alright, let's start from the top. This is MERC, a company of mercenaries. You're in a land called the Nexus. You appeared out of nowhere, started banging on our door and we can't understand you so we're using magic to fix it."

[Hattish Thing]

[Door to MERC]

The orc appears utterly bewildered as the goblin's language translates due to the staff before her. She glances down towards her knife, brow furrowed due to the inner conflict taking place within her as she struggles to comprehend the reality of her situation. After several seconds, she drops the knife, which clatters noisily upon the floor.

She crumbles soon after, collapsing in on herself, clutching at a wound hidden beneath several thick rags.

"Jiak don'av... Jiak don'av julderukavand... Faavher, najor'uk. Noav katu. Iav iuk avhe mubullat place avhen, jiak kij avo be puniukhun."
<"I don't... I don't understand... Father, he's... not here. It is the dark place then, I am to be punished.">

--

She winces.

[Morty]

[Door to MERC]

Dipsnig sighs.

"And you just had to stumble into our base, didn't you? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. Let me just... get you to our medical expert so he can patch you up. Then we'll send you to someone who can help you."

He snaps his fingers and one of the golems moves towards the orc.

[bc56]

Dipsnig's office

Erasmus plans to go alone, he probably won't need to worry about Vigil. "Yes sir. Thank you sir."

[Hattish Thing]

[Door to MERC]

The orcish woman struggles to rise up onto her feet as the golem approaches, gritting her sharp teeth as she clutches at her wound. She attempts to stumble back and away from the automaton as it comes closer, still somewhat uncomfortable with the entire situation. However, the infection within her wound has caused her to become somewhat delirious.

As such, she merely collapses once more onto the floor, struggling with consciousness.

"Iav huravuk..."
<"It hurts...">

[Morty]

[Door to MERC]

The golem picks the orc up with surprising gentleness and carries her to the med bay, where CB will start patching her up. Dipsnig grumbles.

"I'll just have CB patch her up and we can send her off to GLoG. They help people like her there," he tells Astrana, assuming she stops channelling the spell once the orc has stopped talking.

[Shadowcaller]

[Door to MERC]

The warlock stops the channeling and nods at Dipsnig. "But would they be able to understand her there? The translation will be essential."

[Morty]

[Door to MERC ==> Med Bay]

Dipsnig grumbles. That is a problem. But maybe it could be GLoG's problem.

"Unless they've got their own magic translation ritual, unlikely. We could always give her a letter to them, and use your spell to explain what it is. We'll see once she wakes up. I'd like to know how she somehow ended up here without any knowledge, regardless."

[Shadowcaller]

[Door to MERC ==> Med Bay]

"Could always teach them the chant and we could let them hire the staff." Astrana suggests. "They seem like the kind of people that would pay for that." She nods at his last statement. "I could always attempt to perform a mind reading ritual."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[An Epic Quest]

"I see," Corvus says, stroking his chin. Surprisingly, stealth tends to be one of his stronger suits when needed, though the king's ransom needed to gain a bit of the material might be more of a problem. He raises an eyebrow at Willa. "What do you think?"

[Morty]

[Med Bay]

"This whole situation would improve a lot if someone paid us for it," Dipsnig agrees. "For now, let's wait until she wakes up."

[Hattish Thing]

[Med Bay]

After some time, the wounded orcish woman stirs awake. With a nervous expression upon her harsh face, she glances around the medical bay for several moments, obviously frightened by the plethora of strange and unusual futuristic devices lined against the walls. Instinctively, she reaches for a knife at her belt, only to realize that each of her seven blades have been removed and set aside somewhere else. The swift, jerky movement causes her to wince and grimace in pain, reaching down to discover that her unusual wound has been bandaged and cared for.

Clearly uncomfortable with the situation, she looks over to the others within the medical bay, strangers whose faces she recognized from the other room. Made somewhat less anxious due to the realization that, for whatever reason, these otherwordly creatures had helped her, she sits up slowly atop her cot, raising her extraordinarily muscular legs up to her chest.

Eventually, she mutters to the others, arms wrapped around her legs.

"Lat... noav drepa alnej."
<"You... did not kill me.">

--

Spoiler: The Wound:

Show

As the robotic doctor cares for the orcish woman, it learns more about the unusual wound at her belly. The gash seems to be from a dagger of some sort, but all around it, there's evidence of negative energy damage. In addition, a bit of chipped material can be extracted from the wound. It's quite unusual, and seems to "drip" with shadow.

[Shadowcaller]

[Med Bay]

Now the staff seems to translate without Astrana's assistance. "Odd, it shouldn't do that." She observes, yet will then remain silent unless Dipsnig ordered her to speak of course.

[Morty]

[Med Bay]

The piece extracted from the wound will have been placed in safe storage. Now, Dipsnig looks at the staff for a long while. "Odd, it shouldn't do that" is just about the last thing he ever wants Astrana to say. Eventually, he addresses the orc again.

"No, we didn't. I'm not a very nice person, but I'm not going to kill someone who just randomly stumbled upon my home. I'd ask how and why you got here, but it sounds like you don't know either."

[Hattish Thing]

[Med Bay]

The orc glances about curiously, noting that the goblin called this place his home. All her life, she had never seen a structure so extravagant. The thought that this entire building was somehow the home of but a handful of individuals confused her immensely, merely building the structure must have taken generations.

She rests her chin upon her knees, eyes facing down, expression darkening as she recalled unspeakable horror.

"Theausan cham fhor avhe ukkieuk shal boaavuk ro ukaveel. Theausan avook uko shum, buav noav alnej. Faavhas evinaj noav leav avhem."

"Najor ukaid. Avo be avaken iuk avo meeav ij faave woruke avhan deaavh."

"Atigat... wauk anoavhas paav."

--

<"They came from the skies in boats of steel. They took so many, but not me. Father would not let them.">

<"He said... to be taken is to meet a fate worse than death.">

<"There was another path.">