Open Chronicles The visitor to Anathaeum.

[Skull-hammer]

When he stepped, the ground shook.
His footfalls were thunder from the earth.
Skull-hammer, Forest Ogre from the Falwood and full time Searcher, came to finally lay eyes on the Monastery of the Knights of Anathaeum.
It was nice, well made, high stacked stone. Well carved doors and lovely tended gardens.
He sniffed, there were many here though he could not spy them.
Lazily he lifted his hand to stroke the turtle that sat upon his shoulder.
He stood a green monolith of a thing. Ten foot tall and wearing the hide of a deer, painted in swirling patterns of blue and red, tied about his waste with rope thick as a man's thigh.
His bare chest was also decorated with marks. Tattoo's of animals and mountains adorned him. His thick arms were like tree trunks, long and powerful, ending in thick, short fingered hands.
His feet, were like that of an elephant, flat and round. The face was full of great tusks and the small dark eyes reflected light under his heavy brow. Atop his head, a strip of hair orange as the morning contrasted greatly with the dark green of his skin.All in all a fearsome looking figure, to say nothing of his hammer. Tall as any man and fixed with a great stone dragon's head carved by his own hands.

Skull-hammer was what the Small-folk had named him.
So in the land of the Small-folk, he was Skull-hammer.

"WE ARE HERE, TUM-TUM. WAKE NOW. SHE MAY BE CLOSE!"

The Turtle, Tum-tum poked its head and limbs out and stood observing the new surroundings, the warm sight of the sun and the soft breeze. The blue spiral on its shell matching the one on Skull-hammer's own shoulder where he stood.

 

[Nacht]

Nacht woke up to shaking. His entire room was practically rattling. Therefore, as the logical nature of the human brain dictated, he walked out to see what was up. Big steps did not exactly indicate a being of the monstrous nature. There were a lot of Big things that were also nice. Elephants, for example, if some books in the library were to be believed. Walking out of the entrance of the monastery, he would lay eyes upon that which was the probable cause of the noise. It was a...giant? No, giants were usually not nearly as green. Too big to be a goblin, surely. That left Orcs and Ogres, and though Gruki, the tallest orc he could think of, was rather tall, this person probably dwarfed them if at a stand. In fact, they almost dwarfed him at a sit, the top of their head perhaps one inch from the top of his head.

That was rather impressive. OH, and was that a turtle? AWW, look at it's big ol' head, he thought. Well, small ol' head but this was no time for semantics. Summoning a breath, it was clear he was going to speak. Opening his mouth, he entered the conversation rather poorly: "Hi! I'm Nacht. Can I pet your turtle?" That wasn't exactly what he had wanted to say, but petting the turtle was definitely something that he wanted to do. Nacht was never too good at restraint when it came to round, cute animals. "Sorry, sorry, I started that wrong. What's your name, Mister?" Just then he realized he had not addressed the main concern. "Right, one more try, hold on." he said, holding out a finger as if to gesture "one second".

"Before all that, who are you and what business do you have with the Knights? You're rather close to our home." He said, confident the Ogre meant no harm but just taking formalities. His expression became slightly guarded and serious, just in case.

Skull-hammer

 

[Skull-hammer]

Small dark eyes focused on the tiny figure ahead of him.
His head tilted in his confusion. On his travels Skull-hammer had heard of the might of the warriors that lived there. This, child could not be one.
Yet here he was, ready to attempt some defense of the Monastery should it be needed.
He looked around again, wondering if there were others laying in wait.
So when he spoke, he spoke to any who would be listening.
"I AM CALLED SKULL-HAMMER, I AM SEARCHING FOR MY KIN!"
He was pleased his use of Common was so progressed. It certainly took him long enough. Yet his voice was thunder and carried long. After meeting a few different kinds of Small-folk he had discovered the less he moved the more they liked it, generally, so he stood his ground and made no sudden motions.
Simply waited for a reply.

 

[Nacht]

Well, the Ogre now looked upon him, obviously confused. It made sense, he was a squire and probably not someone one would expect to be given the responsibility to guard the door. He hadn't. It was just dumb chance nobody else was here. By looking around, he probably was searching for others. That's why most people alone in unknown territory looked around. At all costs, he had to stop the Ogre from getting suspicious and making hasty moves. "Uh...I am Nacht! Could you speak a tad quieter? I'm...right here, and you'll wake up everyone still sleeping. Maybe whisper?" he proposed, chuckling at the idea of Squire Alderr, his training partner once who was and still is famous among them as a heavy sleeper, just snoring through the noise.

"There are no other Ogres in the monastery. We have Orcs, but they couldn't be your kin for obvious reasons." he said quietly, demonstrating the behavior he wanted as though to perhaps inspire the Ogre to follow along. "It is nice to meet you, Mr...uh, Hammer!" he said, still quiet. Another squire, Xandr or something, came out and immediately looked to want to retreat, but Nacht grabbed their shoulder and whispered to them: "Get literally anyone that is not a squire. Preferably a strong knight or even a captain. I'll try to keep stalling. We should be prepared for his reaction once he figures out we cannot offer help, even if it's simply to walk away."

With that, Xandr ran back inside. "I'm afraid we might not have much time to help you with your first problem, but is there perhaps anything else besides your kin that is a current concern?" he asked, not wishing for the Ogre to move just yet. So far, they were pretty polite. "We might have, like, some food, if you want." he offered, extending a proverbial olive branch.

(100th post!!!)

 

[Skull-hammer]

Orc, that is what the Small-folk would call her.
Ogres of the Falwood had not much use for the varied names of the Small-folk, they were all Small-folk to them. Some were pink, or brown or green, tall, short, hairy, shaven but they were all the same to the Children of the Hills.
"I WILL GO, INSIDE!"
Skull-hammer hoisted his signature tool and leaned it on his shoulder then strode thunderously towards the doors of the Monastery to go inside. His direct mentality wanting to loose no time in the waiting. Small-folk did not live very long compared to Ogres of the Falwood so he had become rightly puzzled by how long it took them to do anything of meaning.
This Small-folk, who had named himself Nacht, was not going to give him his answers and did not seem to understand that he was not looking for an Ogre. That "kin" could be defined not just by race, but by connections emotional and spiritual and Skull-hammer did not have the time to waste on explaining what seemed to be a foreign cultural concept to every Small-folk he met. Indeed "kin" as a term was merely an approximation, there did not seem to be a word the Small-folk had for Gulggannaam.
"I WILL EAT, AND THEN I, WILL LOOK!"
As for speaking quietly, Skull-hammer saw little sense in this. The louder he was the easier she could hear him if she was here. Food however sounded good.

(Hey congrats.)

 

[Nacht]

"HOLD IT." Nacht demanded, looking up at the Ogre. "You will wait out here. I did not invite you in. I can bring stuff out." he said, holding out a hand and making his way in front of Skull-Hammer. "The thing is, my superiors would not much like it if you barged in without asking, and they are most definitely scarier than me." He said, taking a few breaths and just trying to relax. "Alright, so. You seem to still think you can find your kin here, even after I told you there were no ogres. Either you think I'm lying, or to you "kin" means something other than those who are your relatives." He mused, thinking.

"Do you have the name of this person you seek? I know most people in the monastery, so if it's someone here, I can go get them. Get them for you. That means no destroying old ruins trying to get through a door for us, and less effort for you." He said calmly, laying out the terms of agreement.

"Is this alright with you?"

Skull-hammer (Thanks!)

 

[Skull-hammer]

Skull-hammer stopped.
Prowler had told him to do that when then the Small-folk asked.
His face screwed.
This was becoming troublesome in the way Small-folk often made things. Even after months of travelling he did not quite understand them.
"KIN IS KIN. GULGGANNAAM."
Thankfully he had patience. For all the directness of his folk they were seldom rash, merely not prone to wasting time.
Why Small-folk asked for names when they had different names for everything was another mystery. A tree was a tree, but some called it oak or birch and ash. It was all trees. So it was with folk.
With a deep breath he planted his hammers pommel into the earth so that it stood upright and slowly kneeled before the one named Nacht. The Small-folk seemed to listen better when he did this though he did not fully understand why.
"MY KIN IS ORC, TO YOU. ARE ORC HERE?"
Small-folk, for all their speed of word did not always get to the point.

 

[Nacht]

“Yes, there are Orcs here. I know some, heard of others. Gruki, Roki, Reynald, Syr Oliver, just to name a few.” he said simply. “Do any of those names ring a- no, too colloquial. Do you recognize any of those names?” It wasn’t that Nacht thought Skull Hammer was stupid, he just realized in the moment that perhaps less literal turn of phrase was not a good tack.

Other than that, he didn’t really know much to say in response. All he could think of was making sure the Ogre didn’t crash through the walls and make more work for Aarno and probably himself thanks to the situation.

 

[Skull-hammer]

Skull-hammer stood and satisfied with what Nacht had told him he nodded.
"I WILL GO INSIDE, NOW!"
So he did, striding right past Nacht and opening the door with his great hand.
The size was not too small but he did need to stoop low to enter. The door creaked complaint as he opened it and bits broke in his grasp.
"HMM!"
The plank of broken door crumbled in his hand.
Inside was cooler and quiet.
He decided he liked it inside.
It was no concern to him that his hammer was left outside. He did not yet meet the Small-folk who could lift it.

 

[Nacht]

Right, this isn't an argument I'll win by myself. I already got someone to go get a knight. Nacht thought to himself, following the ogre to try and just keep an eye on him. “Please do not move around, I will bring you food if you want. A snack, really.”

He looked back at the door and chuckled incredulously, wondering when the door had been built. Guess that’s just more work for Aarno. I did say I would let him teach me carpentry one day. Shaking himself off to relieve stress, he would once again approach the ogre.

“Is that alright? Can you please sit still?”

Skull-hammer