(no subject)

The book had been a gift from a half elf he had helped out of a rather nasty misunderstanding with a dwarf. It wasn't a planned endeavor and he hadn't really expected to be paid for it. A pro-bono spur of the moment decision to step-in. It wasn't the wisest decision he had ever made, stepping in to the middle of a cross-species disagreement. He had not fully thought that plan through. If he had, he might have decided against it. But surprisingly it went rather well and did not result in bloodshed from any party involved.

Not that it had ended well, but considering where it could have gone, it went better than the worst case scenarios.

The book itself was fascinating, the language seemed close enough to latin roots he could decipher it, or work on doing so. The problem arose in the dangers of improperly deciphering a spell book. It was going to take cross referencing and careful deciphering.

Setting the book aside, he scanned through his libraries for one of his many Elven reference books, sliding his fingers across the shelves. Alphabet of the Dwarves, Roots of Draconic Speech, Linguistics of elven language...

"Where did I put it..."

Ah, there it was. Elven Spellspeak. Sliding the book off the shelf he pulled various papers from the pages and set to work.

(no subject)

[Arms up, palms out in a placating gesture, Matthew made careful certaity not to look at the crossbow trained on his heart as the angry orc barked another line of heavily accented orcish in his direction. Mental gears spiralling away in rapid urgency he attempted to translate before the angry insults flying in his direction grew anymore vehement in nature. It was definitely not one of his strongest languages in the realm of rapid translation under duress but it was amazing what motivation and the potential of immenint death could do for a person.]

I am unarmed and intend no ill will.

[Orcish orcish. He could do this. It was not the most complex of languages, he just needed to focus and his concentration was... faltering at the crossbow at the corner of his eyes. Firmly keeping the orcs gaze, without challenge or fear, he steadied his voice and managed an easy and conversational tone. Steady and cautious. He knew enough orcish to get through this. He just needed to choose his words a little more carefully. Hopefully his client had not screwed him over, because this was not the welcome he had been expecting.]

I was sent by Gorman of the Blaggut Goblin clan. Are you Ggrok?

[The orc paused, a sneer on his lips, and squeezed the trigger just a bit tighter. It was evident he badly wished to shoot the pestering human. Matthew had to think a bit faster, and he distracted the orc with one hand, a careful wave and a strong, firm string of orcish insults that would have made him wince on any other day. The sudden change confused the orc and gave Matthew the chance to pull the sack of gold from his pocket to toss it to the Orc's feet. There. Lowered crossbow and a slightly less murderous orc. Funny how that worked out. Most other races would have become much more murderous at the insults. The orc? He started a booming laughter and picked up the sack of gold, slipping it into his pocket. The door was opened and Matthew was gestured into the building.

Wonderful. This was either a good turn or the worst turn of the evening.]