Ofolrodi

by Imploding Colon

Strip For Your Thoughts?

Using nimble claws, a goblin filed the last rough edge of an elliptical lens to a smooth curve. He grasped the thing in tiny metal tweezers, then applied a thin layer of adhesive to the outer side of the small glass sheet. Finally, he lifted the item and fitted it neatly into the metal framework of a pair of antique spectacles. Giving the article a little squeeze, the imp then held it over towards the wyvern seated at the work bench beside him.

"Thet about does it!" He smirked, razor-sharp teeth showing. "Give it a go, cobbah!"

Kepler gently took the newly-fitted glasses from the Smelt-Blooder and placed them on the furry bridge of his nose. His eyes narrowed... then blinked wider and wider as he peered through the lenses. "My starrs and garrterrs..."

"You seein' alrigh?"

"A touch betterr than beforre, my industrrious frriend!" Kepler exclaimed. "My worrd! You cerrtainly have an eye forr glass-blowing!"

"It's not always our eaahs that are good for somethin', aye?" The goblin winked. "Now how about usin' that fuzzy noggin' of yours to work on our burn-o?"

"Ach!" Kepler cracked the joints in his neck. "Will do!" He kicked off the stool and glided effortlessly towards the bench where his belongings had been assembled. "Firrst of all, would you kindly prrovide me with a sample of yourr fuel sourrce?"

"Comin' righ up!" The imp snapped at another worker across the foundry. "Maybe you could sheah some of your potion-makin' secrets in the meantime."

"Indeed!" Kepler smiled as he arranged his vials and beakers in a neat order. "You can lead a grriffon to waterr, but you can't make him skin his own fish!"

"Eh???"

"A thousand parrdons," Kepler rasped. "It is an old Rrohbrredden prroverrb."

"The 'ell kind of a name is 'Robe-reddin'?"

"One that dwells farr too much on its own eloquence, I'm afrraid."

"Oi. I feel ya on that one, cobbah! I fancy me townships named aftah brutal, honest simplicity!"

"What do you and yourr brrotherrs rreferr to this Dihmerr establishment?"

"What, this ol' hole?!" The goblin shrugged. "Blobstain! What else?!"

Kepler shuddered. "Well, you cerrtainly werren't blowing hot airr."

Up above the scene, Rainbow Dash stood with Kirbo, overlooking the foundry. Much of the smelting had diminished, which filled the metallic chamber with the closest thing to silence that Rainbow had felt since arriving in that goddess-awful town. The fluctuations of the living ocean still throbbed beyond the thick bulkheads, but it had been reduced to a gentle roar—like the crashing of actual, natural waves.

"I think Keps would fit in well here," Rainbow Dash murmured. "He's talkative. You people are talkative..."

Kirbo glared at her, teeth showing. "What do you mean 'you people?'"

Rainbow paled slightly. "Uhhhhh..."

"HAH!" The imp slapped her shoulder with his scarred arm. "I'm just foolin'! Yeesh... you colorful horse birds! So bloody damn serious!"

Rainbow Dash smiled crookedly. "I gotta admit. I'm kinda relieved."

"Pffft!" Kirbo shrugged unevenly. "Over what?! This place is just as miserable as anywheah else!" He paced—limping—across the catwalk. "So far, ya seem like some decent blokes with good tradie wits about ya, so no reason to put me lead slugs in your noggins!"

"Jee..." Rainbow droned. "Thanks."

"Ease up on the sass, sheila." Kirbo pointed over her shoulder. "I'm still not too thrilled with how you treated me guards dan at the entrance to me factory."

"There's a lot riding on us gathering information here," Rainbow said. "I felt the need to be... assertive."

"Well, count your lucky stars, love," Kirbo said, leaning up against a juncture of railings in a corner of the catwalk. "That sort of posturin' works more with the likes of the batso's, but it don't quite cut it with Avril's guilds. In the end we speak in streeps or we don't speak at all, aye?"

"Sure... uhm..." Rainbow Dash trotted closer to him. "...about the bats-o's... the Bloodwings, I mean..."

"I take it youse met them before."

Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"

Kirbo shrugged. "Why the 'ell else are ya tryin' to get your arses to Peetra in such a hurry?" His ears twitched. "Plenty of Rivah-Bloodahs have crossed paths with them bats-o's while out in the hills tryin' to melt ice. Very few come back and the ones who do are covered in theah own urine. Should just change their names to Piss-Bloodahs! Hah!"

Rainbow leaned her head to the side. "So the Bloodwings do come after you."

"Eh... nar..." He shook his head, scratching his chin. "At least not like they used to, aye? Back when me Pops and Mum were first buildin' this heah factory, them bats-o's used to prey on me kin somethin' fierce. They took a fancy to our streeps, you see."

"So... they were after money?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Nar... somethin' way crazier than that," Kirbo said. "They'd go straight after a Blood Clan's supply of Marrow."

"Marrow?" Rainbow blinked. "What's Marrow?"

"Metal Mum's Tits... every sentence that comes out of ya convinces me that you were born on anothah plane, sheila!"

"Yeah." Rainbow droned. "Imagine that."

"Marrow's nothin' less than the magic metal that used to bind us! All of us gobb-o's!" Kirbo explained. "Just as it's written in the ancient etchin's... we were all pitiful prisonahs of a grand, dark evil. Then one day—our captahs up and vanished! We clawed our way straight out of the ash and soot of our destitution—all thanks to the inspirin' torch of Peetra lightin' our way. Peetra talked to us all in our hearts. Such ingenuity shone like a light in the darkness. It told us to tame the barks and shackles of our prison and turn them into somethin' new... somethin' innovatin'... somethin' life-giving!"

Rainbow smiled. "Medicine?"

"Nar!" Kirbo grasped his necklace and held it out at arm's length. "Money, love!"

Rainbow flinched, gripping a bar of the catwalk to stay balance. "You d-don't... say..." She stammered.

"Of course..." Kirbo smirked. "...it took a bit of tamin'."

"Taming? How?"

CLANG! Kirbo smacked his bone-pale strip of metal against the catwalk's railing. Before Rainbow's eyes, two translucent serpents and a winged arachnid flew like ghosts from the shiny surface of the goblin's pendant.

"Marrow-brutes," the imp castually explained. The creatures' luminescent figures illuminated the texture of his long-scarred body. "A gross shadow of the beast-os that shared our ancestah's cells. They live in all our streeps—this heah more so, but that's because it's a Blood token. It's raw-er Marrow than the usual currency. We scratch our etchin's to bind the brutes within... otherwise they'd run amok and make life a livin' rubbish orgy for every imp involved... at least more so than it already is, aye?"

"That's..." Rainbow winced, her eyes flickering red-on-yellow. She raised a wing to shade that detail from the imp. "... fr-freaky."

"Seems to be somethin' the bats-os are hankerin' for." Holding his breath, Kirbo slapped both palms completely around the strips. The tiny shrieking creatures vanished—as did their glow. When he spread his hands, the necklace dangled innocently around his neck once more. "When I was just a little-ass turd, the bats-o's performed a crazy raid of the Brass-Bloodahs' vault. Took all their raw Marrow and left the clan virtually nekked. They've since vanished from the face of the earth—the Brass blokes, that is. Sucks for them... but all the more business for us, aye! Hahaha..."

"And..." Rainbow spoke calmer, standing up straight. "...the Bloodwings—did they ever come back?"

"Nar." Kirbo shook his head. "Not to raid any of us and certainly not to attack the Dihmahs."

"They spare the Dihmers, don't they?"

"Righ. No sport in it, I suppose. None in me and me friends eithah." Kirbo breathed. "Ever since that so-called 'Lexxic' yobbo took the reins of them sky horses, them batso's have been broodin' up in theah crazy night-tree... preyin' upon the wildlife and tearin' the landscape towards the Edge to shreds." He shuddered slightly. "Thing about it that pisses me off is that it's thinnin' out the game in the wastes. The Dihmahs eithah don't know about it or they don't care, but soonah or latah that's gonna make streepin' with the tradies damned hard."

"What then?"

Kirbo shrugged. "The Smelt-Bloodahs will have to move elsewheah. We can't go back to Peetra, that's for sure. There's gotta be a new place of business this side of the Blob."

"Why can't you go back to Petra?"

"Our blood's too dirty, love."

"Too dirty?"

"Yuppums." He nodded. "It's written in the etchin's."

"That's..." Rainbow grimaced. "...pretty unfair."

"Fair's got nothin' to do with it. The flame of Peetra casts shadows in different sizes, and some of our grandpappies seized the fire soonah than the rest when they first burst out of the Marrow. All the little gobb-o tykes have been makin' do in the darkness ever since." Kirbo smiled. "Could be worse, though. Me and me cobbahs could be stuck skinnin' and butcherin' like them Fur-Bloodahs—or worse—the Tail-Bloodahs! Hah!"

"Heh... heheh... yeah..." Rainbow gulped. "So... uh... you're okay with the fact that you're never gonna see Petra again?" She blinked. "The city, I mean."

"The fire's in our reach no matter wheah we are," Kirbo said. "But we're gobb-o's, love. We can make do." He looked her up and down. "Can't say the same for glue sticks, though."

Rainbow's eyes thinned. "How do you mean?"

"Avril—the Metal Mum?"

"What about her?"

"She's a good ol' conservative type. Shoor, she might let dirtier bloods come to visit the bright city on special occasions... but non-imps?" He slowly shook his head. "I can geet you a ticket across the Blob courtesy of the Dihmahs, but steppin' into Peetra itself? That ain't happenin', love."

"You're saying... ponies aren't allowed?"

"What I'm sayin'..." Kirbo leaned in. "...is that no glue stick's been allowed up on the burnin' branches of Peetra... evah."

Comments

[geb]

Wonderful.

[Merula]

So, no fuzzy ponies allowed in Peetra?

>inb4 Dash and crew sneaks in

[Tim the Planes-pony]

Well, looks like we found another catch.

[Nevlamas]

Fun fact #1: I used to have a neighbour called Petra. Makes reading this chapters rather weird.

Fun fact #2: the German word for marrow is the same as the one for currency and I never noticed before.

[Labyrinthine]

He looked her up and down. "Can't say the same for glue sticks, though."

Oh, that’s a... horrifying term to use. Took me a little while to get.

8894183

That’s really interesting! From a little cursory etymology research, it looks like both uses of Mark came from the same Proto-Indo-European mosgʰós, meaning marrow, and then the meaning as money split off way back in High German. Thanks for pointing this out!

[arancaytar]

"What, this ol' hole?!" The goblin shrugged. "Blobstain! What else?!"

Best place name of the series so far.

Kirbo glared at her, teeth showing. "What do you mean ' you people?' "

Damn, Dashie, easy on the speciesism.

[arancaytar]

8894369

I think "glue sticks" has been in the series before (possibly by the goblins in Yaerfaerda).

[arancaytar]

"What I'm sayin'..." Kirbo leaned in. "...is that no glue stick's been allowed up on the burnin' branches of Peetra... evah ."

Well, there's a first time for everything isn't there.

[IceKitsune]

Getting in there is going to be very interesting. I wonder how they can pull it off.

[Campo]

Wow, so the imps have learned to summon chaos creatures from their chaos metal strips. Haven't seen those since that huge group of tattooed ponies who were keeping Nevlamas in their floaty base. Xonans if I recall.

[AppleTank]

Peeeetra

[Boopers]

Should just change their names to Piss-Bloodahs!

How about "River-Bladders"? ;)

[Leftover of Saikano]

8894183

8894369
That's fun. Money in one of the two official languages of my country is also named after animal parts. Pirapire comes from pira (fish) and pire (skin). It translate as scales. It also means money. I suppose it compares the shiny scales of the fish from our rivers with shiny coins, or with gold and silver.
diarionorte.com/content/bucket/6/123556w640h500.jpg

[Hazard]

At first I was afraid. I was petrafied.

So far, ya seem like some decent blokes with good tradie wits about ya, so no reason to put me lead slugs in your noggins!"

Hmm. The goblins have guns. This could prove useful... Or troublesome.

[Feigned Ignorance]

I wonder why ponies aren't allowed. Somebody must've goofed a while back and ruined it for everyone.

[BleedingRaindrops]

This is sounding more and more like EoP by the chapter.

[kihutaja]

8894369
How do Dash and company even understand what "glue stick" refers to?

[berrytone]

8894994
Dreit

[Cynderfall]

Shiiiit.

[RoboRed]

Well that...certainly complicates matters.

"Of course..." Kirbo smirked. "...it took a bit of tamin'."

"Taming? How?"

CLANG! Kirbo smacked his bone-pale strip of metal against the catwalk's railing. Before Rainbow's eyes, two translucent serpents and a winged arachnid flew like ghosts from the shiny surface of the goblin's pendant.

Well, this definitely confirms my earlier thoughts about the strips earlier. They definitely have the same summoning properties as the ones from the Light side, but it looks like that's more of a natural side-effect of the chaos metal itself, and it's something that the goblins have figured out how to tone down over the years.

I think it's safe to assume going forward that the boats or any structures, important or not, are definitely not going to be made out of chaos metal. The metal is values more as currency or like gold, and you don't go making structures out of gold or precious metals unless you're artsy or ostentatious. That sort of behavior is just not in the nature of the goblins. They prefer to show off by their engineering work and manifesting Petra and would rather use the metal for strips, or possibly something more reverent, given Kibo's whole "Marrow" story.

Also, I'm getting even more convinced there's something bigger going on with this business behind the central Petra concept, especially with the flame connotation going around.

"She's a good ol' conservative type. Shoor, she might let dirtier bloods come to visit the bright city on special occasions... but non-imps?" He slowly shook his head. "I can geet you a ticket across the Blob courtesy of the Dihmahs, but steppin' into Peetra itself? That ain't happenin', love."

I'm...not quite sure what's conservative about this?

[Prism Break]

Those summoning creatures remind me of the ones the Xonans used. I wonder if there’s any connections with the chaos strips, some kind of summoning power they have.

[Vocal Sonder]

So the imps literally came from the chaos strips themselves. Interesting if true, but it does make one wonder what the strips really are then. A portal of sorts? An inter-dimensional keyway? Meh..

[BurningSkies]

"The 'ell kind of a name is 'Robe-reddin'?"

Name dissection time!

Robe-reddin'...
Reddening a robe...
Using a dye or stain to make a robe red...
Using blood to stain a robe red...
cries in all the bloodshed in Rohbredden

Kind of a stretch, I know

"Marrow's nothin' less than the magic metal that used to bind us! All of us gobb-o's!" Kirbo explained. "Just as it's written in the ancient etchin's... we were all pitiful prisonahs of a grand, dark evil. Then one day—our captahs up and vanished! We clawed our way straight out of the ash and soot of our destitution—all thanks to the inspirin' torch of Peetra lightin' our way. Peetra talked to us all in our hearts. Such ingenuity shone like a light in the darkness. It told us to tame the barks and shackles of our prison and turn them into somethin' new... somethin' innovatin'... somethin' life-giving!"

So Petra is what the gobbos call the Spark.
Reminds me of how the LedoLuxmaritans say "Blessed Spark!" the way people say "Holy shit!" or "Blimey!"
Perhaps sometime long before the events of Austraeoh, the ancient Xonans, being able to read the language and of the Angels, shared the Angelic concept of a divine Spark with the ancient precursors of the Confederacy.

[hypervelocity]

"Metal Mum's Tits... every sentence that comes out of ya convinces me that you were born on anothah plane, sheila!"

.....so ya see...

CLANG! Kirbo smacked his bone-pale strip of metal against the catwalk's railing. Before Rainbow's eyes, two translucent serpents and a winged arachnid flew like ghosts from the shiny surface of the goblin's pendant.

Magic?!

"What I'm sayin'..." Kirbo leaned in. "...is that no glue stick's been allowed up on the burnin' branches of Peetra... evah ."

Seems like fun. And by fun, I mean oh joy, this is gonna suck.