Another week another chapter! Sorry for the delay, had stuff going down
...
"It wasn't easy to get the information about the kill stone." Blinky said, thumbing thru one of his many texts. "Had to pull a few favors with Vendel to get him to tell me where it was kept."
"Vendel knows about the stones?" Nomura asked.
"Indeed. Tho he is not too Happy with our decision to pursue them." Blinky placed the book he was looking through on the table. "The Kill Stone represents Gunmar's first kill. The shattered King, of the Quagawumps. Unfortunately they are a vastly isolational tribe. Getting even remotely close to them would be nearly impossible unless we had an ally."
Nomura stop listening, and stared at the illustration of the shattered King. As far as she knew there were no Quagawumps among the changelings. Suddenly an idea struck her. One that made her very unhappy. She also was not sure how the others would take her idea either. She wasn't even sure if it would work.
"Master Nomura, you seem lost in thought. Do you have any input on the matter?" Blinky asked, gesturing to the open book.
"Actually, I do. I'm just not sure how good an idea it is. Hear me out."
...
One brief phone call and Arrangement later, Nomura stood in a forest about five miles outside of Arcadia, accompanied by Draal, Blinky and ARRRGGH.
"I must say, I do have reservations on using your friend, Master Nomura." Blinky said nervously as a car approached where they were.
She shamelessly agreed as a balding middle age man approached accompanied by a goblin.
"Good evening, Nomura," greeted the mail, tipping his hat.
"Scaarbach." Nomura said curtly. "I see that a new nest of goblins have hatched."
"Indeed. It was necessary, considering you wiped out the entire previous one. It was not easy to procure the eggs."
"Pity."
There was a rather uneasy silence for a brief moment.
"So, Nomura, what is this favor you wanted to ask of me?" The male changeling asked.
"We need your specific polymorph skills to retrieve-" she didnt want to reveal exactly what to him. Otto Scaarbach was as big a Gunmar fanboy as one can get. "A treasure being kept by the Quagawumps."
" I see. And what makes you certain that I would be willing to help a traitor?" The changeling gave a sly smile as the goblin at his feet muttered.
"Obviously you would expect something in return, so I offer to remain out of the Janus Order's business for the time being." Nomura gave a slight shrug. She didn't really mind doing that, there's not much the order can do without a gummgumm leader.
"Hmm, I do not feel like that would be enough tho. I have two more requests as well as that."
Of course he did. But Nomura was willing to listen.
"And those would be?"
"First I require a small fragment of a piece the size of a baseball." Blinky started to protest, but Nomura placed a hand on his shoulder. "Secondly, I want your Fetch."
His request caused her heart to skip a beat.
"How do you know if-" she started, but trailed off when Otto flashed his eyes.
"You left in such a hurry. You left many papers behind. Among them was an invoice describing what could only be a fetch. Give those to me, and I will help you with this favor."
Nomura didn't feel right about this now.
"Why do you want a fetch?" She asked suspiciously.
"Why do you need this treasure?" He rebutted.
She narrowed her eyes, knowing she had lost.
"Fine. Meet us here in 24 hours time, I'll have your items as you requested. And leave the goblin behind."
Otto gave a curt bow, placing his hat back on his head before climbing back in his car, driving off.
...
Nomura spent some time digging thru her personal belongings in the cave she was sharing with Draal. She had only had a short amount of time before her battle with Bular to grab what she could of importance, and that included the fetch.
"I can't believe you brought a fetch here to Trollmarket." Draal stood in the doorway, a scowl wrinkling his human features, almost in an endearing way. "Why do you even have one?"
"Ironically I got it as a bargaining chip against Bular." Nomura couldn't help but smile. It seemed almost so long ago now. "For if I angered him enough where he threatened my life, I would have used it as leverage. Funny how things turned out. And you don't have to worry, it doesn't work with how I have it bound."
She pulled it out of the box it was in. It was wrapped in a sheet, so rather than the dark green stone ring it was a white ring.
"The sheet is preventing the portal from opening. See?" She attempted to activate it but nothing happened, earning a satisfied nod from Draal. "My concern is what he plans to do with this."
Draal tilted his head, braids shifting off his shoulder. "What do you mean?"
Nomura sat on the matress, fiddling with the blanket exposing parts of the green darkstone.
"Fetches can only be used to transport small objects, so there's only a few things he could use this for. Either sending a message to Gunmar or..." She trailed off. Nomura sat in stunned silence as the realization hit her. "He plans to do an exchange."
"A what?" Draal asked, a little confused.
Nomura either didn't hear his question, or just ignored it.
"But how? I didn't think they were still doing-" She bit her tongue, almost saying something she had no time to explain. "That there were still any younglings. Dammit!"
"Nomura!" Draal shouted, bringing her attention to him. "What are you going on about?"
She just shook her head. "Nothing that can be done about for now, but my job as Trollhunter just gained a higher stake. Come on, let's go meet up with Blinky and ARRRGGH."
Draal followed her, still confused as what happened, but hopefully later he could ask about what she meant.
...
The next evening they waited outside of Arcadia for the other changeling to show up. A car pulled up right on time, but rather than a pudgy German human, a stout green troll climbed out of the vehicle.
"Remarkable!" Blinky said in awe. "He looks almost identical to the picture."
"Do you have what I requested?" Otto asked, and Nomura handed him the fetch and Heartstone. He tested the portal by tossing the Heartstone thru it. His face lit up with dark excitement. "Excellent!"
"Satisfied Scaarbach?" Nomura sneered at the polymorph.
They watched as he hid the artifact in the trunk of his car.
"So, MEINE FREUNDE, my understanding is that this tribe is located in the state of Florida, just how do you plan to get there before sunrise can harm your stoney companions?" He had a devious grin on his face, as if thinking he won.
It was Nomura's turn to smile.
"That's easy, we have a transportation lined up, however since it's at the epicenter of Trollmarket, the question is getting you there without drawing attention. ARRRGGH, if you will?"
Otto tilted his head in confusion right before the large troll scooped the unsuspecting changeling up by the leg, and prompting shouts as he was stuffed in a burlap sack.
"What is the meaning of this!" He shouted angrily from within.
"Sorry, Scaarbach, but we can't have you knowing where or anything about Trollmarket. Think of it this way, you wouldn't want me to disclose any information on the location of the Janus order or how to get in, would you?"
"Wait, you haven't?" This news caught the polymorph off guard.
"No, there hasn't been a need to. So I've kept it a secret this hole time." Nomura still had some honor in some way, regardless of rule two.
...
One gyre ride later, one which Draal was effected by more seriously than before, damned weak human body. Otto on the other hand found it rather exciting, if a little dizzying.
The group had found themselves in the middle of a Florida everglade swamp. For a few moments, the only noise was from varying amphibious creatures. But eventually they were happened upon by the Quagawump tribe, ready to attack the outsiders. It was time to see just how well Otto's acting skills were.
Pretty decent apparently as the swamp trolls bought that he was the reincarnation of their shattered king. They even set up a feast for the returned king and his Entourage. Things were going well, the kill stone just within reach, but in order to get it Otto-king, as the Wumpas called him, had to battle the false king Blungo and take it from him.
"You mentioned nothing about me having to fight anything, Nomura!" He shouted angrily.
"I had no idea!" Was her response, as she pulled out the amulet in case she needed to help.
The Wumpas wanted none of them to interfere bas the large troll with a crown on his head demanded to know what was going on. Otto was handed a spear to fight him. He muttered a thanks as he faced the large, rather dimwitted troll. Surprisingly however, Otto made quick work of him, having no qualms killing another to reach his goal.
"He make good king!" One of the Wumpas, seemingly smitten with him.
...
After the battle there was celebratory dancing. The Quagawumps wanted Otto to make up a new dance, which he was not too Happy about either, but he managed to get a bit of a Germanic dance out. As he danced one of the Wumpas, the one who was growing infatuated with the changeling, approached him with the crown; What they all came here for. Nomura couldn't wait to get out of this humid swamp and back to the dryer California climate. But it seemed as the crown was placed on Scaarbach's head, her wish would have to wait.
The moment the crown was placed on Otto's head he was struck by a green magic. The crown must have been made of pure iron, as he was forced into his base troll form. With a quick shout he knocked it off his head, and it took a few moments to at least drop into his base human form, unable to use the Quagawump form.
"Otto-king, you lie?" The Wumpa said almost sadly. "You no shattered king?"
The other Wumpas did not seem very keen at this point.
"Nein, Fräulein, I am indeed not your past king. But I did not mean any ill from it." Otto actually did look regretful.
" What we do without king now? You kill Blungo." The other Wumpas seemed upset, but more confused.
"You don't need a king," Nomura started. "You've lasted centuries without one, you should make your own decisions instead!"
This idea sounded good in a way, the Wumpas started to agree.
"You think we should have queen?" The Wumpa asked Otto.
"Yes, Fräulein. You can be your own queen, rule yourselves." Otto nodded, helping the Wumpa on her feet.
The Quagawumps started a new celebration to honor their new regime.
...
The group headed towards the gyre, feeling good having to escape that ordeal relatively unscathed.
"Ok Scaarbach, great job. Hand over the stone please." Nomura knew he had it, the crown was empty when she went to grab the stone.
"You mean the kill stone? Why should I?" The changeling looked over the green stone in the moonlight. It had a very subtle glow to it.
"Because we had a deal." She grit her teeth.
"Ya, but I think Gunmar would have better use of it, and would be willing to sacrifice much to keep one of the Triumbrics away from the Trollhunter, don't you think?"
"Scum of the earth!" Blinky shouted. But Nomura had a back up. She had a feeling that once the polymorph figured out what the stone was he would try something underhanded. It was all in Rule two: there is no such thing as honor.
"Ok, that's fine." She said, garnering shouts of protest among the others. She pulled out her cellphone. "I guess you wouldn't mind if I send this video to the entire Janus order?"
"There is no proof that that dancing troll is... Oh," His voice fell as on the video, it recorded a decent portion of his dance including when he was forced to shift out by the gaggletack crown.
"And just how many know what your true form looks like? I sure as hell didn't. And I'm sure there's plenty curious."
"Nein, nein, nein!" He shouted. He hated his true troll form, and certainly was not interested in anyone seeing it. "Fine, you can have the stone. But give me your phone in exchange."
Nomura rolled her eyes. "Fine. Draal, here, go make this swap."
Draal walked over to the changeling, holding out a hand for the stone. After verifying that it was indeed the Kill Stone, he handed the phone over. Nomura watched as the pudgy German deleted the video and pictures, and proceeded to break her phone in half, almost gleefully.
"Well it was a pleasure doing business with you Scaarbach, but we really must be going. Unfortunately you'll have to find your own way back to Arcadia." Nomura said turning away as they walked towards the gyre. "Oh, and you may have deleted the video and broken my phone, but I have my phone set up to upload everything to a private cloud. So you best behave yourself!"
The group climbed into the mechanism and took off, leaving a protesting Otto behind.
Well that was two stones down, one to go. Nomura hoped getting the last one won't be as difficult as these two were.
...
A/n I kept Otto's troll form completely non descript so as to not step on anyone's toes about it