Pop Orc Movement
From Duels Content
Activated by:
Defeating Kirpie Bloodsluice in a Duel.
Description:
Kirpie Bloodsluice, a sensitive Orc, is having trouble with his dad.
Intro:
The audience leaps to their feet and fill the arena with their echoing joy. As your bask in the adoration, Kirpie curls himself into a fetal-ball on the dirt arena floor. He heaves with big, orcy sobs and blows his nose into his purple silk shirt with a trombone blare.
"Aw Man. I can't believe I lost. My Dad's gonna kill me."
Offer to help?
Accept/Decline
Act 1
World's Best Dad
You leave the arena floor and hand Kirpie a torn, bloody piece of shirt, which he uses to dab his great watery eyes.
"Thanks buddy."
With another honking blast, he snivels into the cloth."I keep trying. I want to be a good Duelist, I do. But I'm terrible... Oh who am I kidding? I don't want to be a Duelist at all. I just want to paint." The Orc sits down, pulls his knees up to his chin and rocks like a child.
"I just want to paint pretty pictures. There is so much beauty in the world... Unicorns, Faeries, Kitty-cats..."
You ask him why he's a Duelist, if he just wants to paint unicorns.
"My Dad. We come from a long tradition of Vistav warlords. No war going on at the moment, so my Dad says we need to fight in the Arena, to 'Make squishies still scared of superbad Bloodsluice!'"
You say that you noticed Kirpie was well spoken for an orc.
The young Orc looks at the ground,"Yeah, well, I read too... I know, I might as well become a Doll Maker. Actually, puppets are fascinating..." Kirpie snaps out of it and looks up at you.
"I need help. I'm not oging to last long, going out there every day and getting destroyed. You're a big, super-tough Duelist. Maybe you can talk to him for me? He is always in the Arena. But, he won't talk to anyone who hasn't beaten him in combat. Some silly, archaic Vistav code or something..."
Objectives
1. Find Kirpie's Dad and defeat him in combat.
Duel Grak Bloodsluice (Lv. 22)
Reward 50 Xp
Act 2 I May Not Know Art...
Grak is dragged off the Arena floor. You take a moment to savor the sounds of yet another victory, then walk after him.
The old Orc is propped up against a dusty brown wall behind the arena. As you approach, he growls and spits a large wad of something black at your feet.
You tell him to calm down.
"Bah! No calm!" bellows the ancient warrior."You beat me! Now we enemies! I bite enemies!" He snaps his jaws at you.
Ignoring this, you tell him that you are here because his son wants to quit dueling and become an artist.
The orc laughs, a savage, mirthless sound that reminds you of a predatory animal. "Art is for women and Elves. My son is mighty Vistav Bloodsluice! He can kill with teeth, with eyes, with thinking!"
You assure him that his son cannot. In fact his son is, impossibly, an even worse Duelist than his father.
This seems to go over Grak's head, as he stares off into the distance and mutter "Art..." under his breath.
You turn to walk away and Grak roars,"Only one art good! Kill Art!"
You ask him what 'Kill Art' is and he says that once, while on a battlefield, he saw an elf with a sword painted with beautiful flowers. But, when the elf struck, the flowers leaped off of the blade and strangled their enemy.
You turn to leave again, and hear a mad yell.
"DADDY!"
You wheel around and see an enormous, one-eyed Orc charging you. Apparently Grak has more than one son.
Objectives
2. Defend Yourself!
Duel Gob Bloodsluice (Lv. 23)
The Orc's missing eye, multitude of scars, stupid-but-vicious expression and Grak's cry of "Get 'em Son! Make yer Pappy proud!" lead you to believe that the old Orc is proud of this son.
Reward 50 Xp
Act 3
Enchanting Arts
You return to Kirpie and tell him about 'Kill Art'.
"He means 'Art-Enchantment."Kirpie sighs. "It's an ancient, lost form of magic. Paint the right pictures on an item and it can be made to do all sorts of things. If it was still around, I bet I could use it to get Dad to like me."
You ask how it was lost.
"The last person to teach it supposedly died centuries ago. Took the instructions with her. Damn Vampires."
You ask what Vampires have to do with it.
"Supposedly, she fell in love with a charming foreign prince and, as happens so often in these situations, he turned out to be a vampire... I'm an idiot. She's probably still out there somewhere. Hey... Could I ask just one more favor?"
You nod.
"I believe she was supposed to have been buried in her family crypt. That is probably a good place to start."
Objectives
3. Start the Hunt!
Duel Ker Valis (Lv. 23)
The Valis family mausoleum is located deep within the central Phyrran Cemetery. Kirpie at your side, you move through the moonlit forest of stone and death. In the shadows, unseen things slither, flutter and croak.
You arrive at a smooth black edifice. It rises thirty feet into the air. Paintbrush weilding, goat-headed men are carved above the slogan 'Vokar Etig Mortiv'.
"Art Beyond Death..." Kirpie whispers, "It's in one of my books... Old Estian saying."
You take a step closer to the tomb and stop. You can hear ragged breathing coming from somewhere above. You put your finger to your lips and point silently upward. Kirpie glances up in time to be greeted with a face full of sickly, yellow saliva. You look up into Kar Valis' long-dead eyes as she screeches and leaps at you.
Reward 50 Xp
Act 4
Ingredients for a Perfect Painting
With a grimace, Kirpie sticks his hand into the smoldering pile of charred Vampire skin, dusty bones and teeth. After a moment, of digging and squealed profanity, he removes a tightly-bound scroll, seemingly unaffected by the flames. It is bound in an intricately engraved pewter hoop.
"I think we have it." Kirpie grins, unrolls the parchment and reads. As his green eyes scan the florid script, his brow furrows and his expression drops.
"Well, I have good news and bad news. Good news: This is indeed a recipe for creating Art-Enchantments. Bad news: The ink requires ingredients that will be... difficult to obtian..."
You ask him what these ingredients are.
"Goblin Blood, Treefolk Sap and Werewolf Saliva."
You ask if there is someplace that you could purchase these items. Kirpie looks at you with an eyebrow raised.
"Sure. Just head over to the Disgusting Monster Fluid Emporium. It's over in the Things-That-No-One-Would-Ever-Conceivably-Sell District. Right behind the big statue that they erected when I became Supreme Emperor of Fantasytown."
You tell him that there is no need for sarcasm.
"Sorry, I'm a bit on edge."
In apology, Kirpie gives you a long, uncomfortable hug. "We'll also need a sword to enchant. But, if we are going to impress my dad it will need to be Orcish. Nothing too fancy, since we're going to enchant it anyway."
You nod and set out to locate the ingredients.
Objectives
4. Find a Goblin
5. Find a Werewolf
6. Find Treefolk
7. Find an Orcish sword
Goblin: Guzzle (Lv. 24)
"At least Goblins should be easy to track down. This city is infested with them." You step into the street and Kirpie looks around for a moment.
"We should probably go check out The Green Scene."
You ask Kirpie what The Green Scene is.
"You wouldn't know about it. It's a bar. Not really for... Humans and Elves... Very exclusive." You follow Kirpie through the fish and fungus reek of the harbor district to a tiny wooden door, hidden among the rocks, beneath a pier. The sign on the door reads 'Danger: Poisonous Zombie Breeding Facility'.
Kirpie gives you a knowing look, a wry shake of his head and opens the door. You follow a long stone corridor toward a soft orange glow. Raucous music, deep-throated yelling and high-pitched tittering ricochet down the hallway toward you.
The corridor opens into an immense cavern. The rough stone walls are lined with gas lanterns and covered in childish drawings that you assume are meant to be female Orcs. The dirt floor is packed with all manor of inebriated inhumans. The few not-yet-smashed tables are circled by Orcs playing a game involving small black stones and throwing axes. In the corner, a group of squealing Goblins attempt to stack their bodies into a crude pyramid on a poorly constructed stage while what looks like an overweight cross between an ostrich and an alligator blows into a screeching bagpipe.
As the smell of Orc sweat, cheap liquor and, for some reason, perfume begins to overwhelm you, a Goblin with a dagger and a long scar on his face leaps through the crowd, lands on a table with a cracking thud and squeeks,
"Fifty gold to the one what thinks he's monster eonough can make me bleed!"
Reward 50 Xp
Warewolf: Salivating Werewolf (Lv. 24)
You are walking down a dark, abandoned street. As the full-moonlight casts a soft blue glow over the surrounding rooftops, the smell of the duck carcass hanging around your neck wafts into your nostrils and makes you gag.
You yell into the night that you don't think this is necessary.
"Of course it's necessary," Kirpie's voice echoes from some faraway hiding place, "It's not like you find Werewolves just walking around! Besides, dogs and beggars have been disappearing on this street for months... Maybe you should make yourself more appetizing. Try 'Bah'ing, like a sheep or something."
You are about to tell Kirpie that you have no intention of 'Bah'ing when a deep, growling stops you short. You hear the faint click of claws on stone behind you and turn around to see what looks to be a hairy man, skulking in the shadows and sniffing.
You throw the duck corpse on the ground. The werewolf approaches it, sniffs for moment, then sneezes, cocks its head to the side, looks up at you and advances, teeth bared.
Reward 50 Xp
Treefolk: Olaf Barkenleaf (Lv. 24)
You tell Kirpie that you don't think you will find any tree-folk in the city.
"Are you kidding? There are beings from Hux-knows-how-many worlds in Phyrra. One of them must be made of trees. Lets try the Gardens."
The Phyrran Gardens are home to fantasic plant life from across the multi-verses. You stroll down a stone path, Kirpie noisily consuming a dripping Snack-Hock, surrounded by pulsing trees, glowing flowers and moving vines.
You turn a corner and hear a thick, bass voice muttering to itself, "Shouldnt've come...Shouldnt've come..."
You look at Kirpie, then hold a finger to your lips and follow the voice into a small grove of bushes with plump yellow berries. Sitting in the center of the grove, a large brown humanoid with green, leafy hair is picking at his bark-like skin, rocking back and forth and mumbling.
"Should've stayed in the green... away from the bugs... Should've stayed..."
Kirpie's eyes go wide and he gives you a big thumbs up. He turns to the muttering Treeman and clears his throat.
"Um... Hi." The Treeman looks up at you.
"Shouldn't have come. Not to the city... Didn't know these were here..."
Looking closely at his craggy brown skin, you can see tiny blue insects crawling and burrowing. Rivulets of sap are seeping from the holes that they have created.
You take a step forward and he looks up at you, green eyes wild. As he stares at you, a single blue termite crawls across his iris, then burrows into the center. The Treeman stands up and bellows.
"Why did you do this to me?"
Before you can explain that this isn't your fault, he leaps to his feet with surprising speed and swings a thick limb at your chest.
Reward 50 Xp
Orcish Sword
Buy a Great Red Tide Orc Saber from the vendor (Or buy from someone off the market, sell it, and rebuy it back, which will then be by the vendor) I assume the price of these will be dropping greatly within the next few days in the market.
Kirpie Reimburses you. Reward 88 Gold
Act 5
Delivering the Sword
With all of the necessary ingredients in hand, you head back to Kirpie's cluttered, paint-splattered Studio. He sets to work immediately, following the directions in the vampire's scroll, mixing the sap, blood and saliva with yellow, blue and red paint then carefully inscribing images on onto the blade with a delicate brush.
You fall asleep watching him work and when you wake up, he has finished and is staring at the blade with a look of sad wonder on his face.
"This is the greatest work of my life."
You congratulate Kirpie and he looks up at you, his eyes wide and full of fear.
"I can't bring this to him. I don't have the heart. Would you mind doing me just one more favor?"
You agree to bring the enchanted sword to Kirpie's dad.
"Thank you so much. Of course, he probably won't agree to talk to you unless you challenge him again."
Objectives
8. Track down and challenge Kirpie's dad again.
Duel Grak Bloodsluice again
Reward 50 Xp
Act 6
You can never go home again.
After the Duel, You find Grak in the Arena pit, staring into the flame of a burning torch, oblivious to the black blood oozing from the wound in his chest. He speaks without looking at you.
"The Bloodsluice Clan once mighty warriors. In the long ago, our name made women cry and babies scream and made the hogs die. Now, I am old. One son too stupid to put on armor without hurting him and other is... artist." Grak shudders at the word.
"We have all been defeated by... squishies."
You present Grak with the sword and explain that his son created it for him. You tell him of the monsters that his son faced and the bravery he showed. Grak takes the blade and stares at it.
"Kill Art... Yes, this is good. No more beaten by squishies." and with a smile, he swings the sword at your head.
Objectives
9. Duck! (I suggest you click...)
Art Enchanted Grak (Lv. 25) A little tougher.
Grak stands before you, wielding his new Art-Enchanted blade and laughing. As he laughs, the tiny tendrils of intricate green tattoos spread across his skin and his eyes glow.
"This power!" He spits.
"When I finish you, I go after that prilly son of mine!"
Reward: Bloodsluice Dueling Fund
1000 XP 50 gold 60 tokens
Conclusion
You return to Kirpie and tell him what had happened with his father. He is silent for a long moment.
"Ah. To Rith with him. I'm not going to let the fact that he can't see beyond the past stop me. Someone needs to unlock the secrets of Art enchantment. Maybe I'll even Art-Enchant for a living. If I do, I'll be sure to look you up. Take this. Its what I won in arena. Not much, but I never want to see it again."
