World of Warcraft®

"Have I got a deal for you!"

The Maggot Lord flinched slightly at the unexpected voice in his private
laboratory, turning to see a little green goblin with a huge grin on its
ugly face, next to a stand supporting a stack of what appeared to be
picture frames. Now how did this pest get in the... oh, right. The drainage
conduit to the Goblin Slums that he had ordered unblocked the day before.

With a sigh, Abominus advanced on the goblin, intending to feed him to Blake
(Destroyer of Worlds) as a light snack, when his uninvited guest flipped
around the first painting. It was a beautiful rendering of a maggotess,
wearing a pink bow tilted at the cutest possible angle on its... well, where
its head would probably develop one day.

Abominus lurched to a sudden halt as hundreds of maggots abandoned their
posts and poked their tiny snouts out to give a collective /whistle. The
goblin's grin got even wider as the first picture had its expected result.

"Now that I have your attention, I'd like to introduce you to 'Hello Maggy',
the spokesmaggot for Hello Maggy Corporation, a Limited Liability Horde
Company! And I am Mottak, humble future trade prince, and your new best
friend!"

The goblin took a deep breath, and launched into his prepared spiel, words
shooting forth rapidly like a spray of rocket-propelled bullets, flipping
paintings around one after another.

"We have a complete line of Hello Maggy perfumes and hair care products
for the discerning bloodelf, both male and female!"

*flip*

"Hello Maggy Horn Tips for the elegant tauren ladies, with matching nose
rings!"

*flip*

"Who says that fighting has to be an ugly business? Not if you're clad in
the very latest in armorware from HMC! Our thorium armor is extra glowy,
the glowiest in the business!"

*flip*

"For the magical types, we have our Hello Maggy Wand Supreme, complete
with our exclusive Sparkle Dust Dispenser! We'll sell the wands for cheap
and gouge them good for the refills."

Reaching into a pack, Mottack pulled out what looked to be a garment crudely
stitched together from a former bedsheet, with a picture of the company's
maggot mascot roughly painted upon it.

"And, saving the best for last, here is our very own Hello Maggy Tabard!
That's right, my friend. HMC intends to make you a superstar with his own
reputation! Bigger than whats-his-name that used to run Orgrimmar!"

Mottak flipped over the last picture, showing various cheap doodads and
knicknacks.

"By wearing our tabard in battle, people will accumulate reputation points
redeemable for these fine, but inexpensive items. The free advertising we
get will more than offset their minimal value."

With a wink and a final ingratiating grin, Mottak proceeded to seal the deal.

"All we need now is your signature on this release form, authorizing the use
of your likeness, or likenesses, in the manufacture, advertising and sales of
this fine merchandise. Just sign on the dotted line, and you and I will be
on our way to being very very rich indeed!"

"So, do we have a deal, my friend?"

Abominus twitched at the effrontery of the little green thing, and was mildly upset that the guardian maggots in the sewage drainage ditch had been circumvented. Though, the trail of giddy looking little ones following the gobbo-creature gave him his answer. He took the form from the goblin, and eyesocketed it.

"It sssaysss here that we get 5% of all commissssssionsss, after putting up an 85% ssseed money fee, yesss. Alssso, we will have no dissscretion in deciding upon tasssteful usssesss of our image, yesss" A wet splorch follows as the spleen of Jarflock he was using slides out of his abdomen and onto the ground. A small corps of Cleaning Maggots dressed in white overalls and wielding mini Dalaran brooms descend on the organ. "Hmm, we need a new ssspleen, yesss."

The Maggot Lord lays the parchment on his desk, and studies it, ignoring the small army of maggots now surrounding the greed-thing, gazing upon his products with hungry, multi-soceted eyes.

"Hmm, we will have to make sssome basssic changesss, yesss." A Boomkin feather quill obtained from an unfortunate Tauren begins to sratch at the contract.

((I am somewhat lost as to what happened here. A little confused that Mottak would control Abominus' actions in the first post which isn't normally allowed as well.

From what I am understanding, Mottak is trying to use Abominus to sell products, and basically screwing Abominus over because he's a typical Goblin..but then Abominus going ahead and signing? Or did I miss something?))

((It's called "appreciating a well-written post and not being so conceited that all I care about is how cool and imposing my character seems". Abominus is a legend; he needs no validation of his own awesomeness. I love that he's playing along with it.

Also, in a quite a few posts, other players have "controlled" Verogoth. I trust that the other RPers here will only have him d oor say what I have established as his core personality, and they haven't proven me wrong yet.))

((You misunderstand what I was getting at. First yeah, I was concerned about someone controlling his character since people always act like it's a big no-no, but he went with it, so I figured it was okay.

What I am confused about is what exactly happened in the story.))

**Actually, I am rewriting the contract, and placing Watchdog Maggots onto the goblin. Abominus ain't no dummy ;) **

The Watchdog Maggots in place, the newly rewritten contract in the goblin's sweat soaked hands, the Maggot Lord looked forward to seeing his visage plastered throughout Orgrimmar on giant placards or banners. Soon, maybe even all cities in the world will have a branch of this new business, or just swarms of maggots surging hungrily through their ruins, whichever was more amusing!

"Sure thing, chief, whatever you say! We're gonna be best buddies, Big Bom! Mind if I call you Big Bom?"

Mottak flinched at the expression on Abominus' writhing visage.

"No? Okay, that's cool. You're the big cheese in this new operation, after all"

Rolling up the documents, the little green entrepreneur scratched at a few new itches.

"I'll get these filed with the proper authorities, and we'll be in business in no time!"

With a barely surpressed shudder of digust, Mottach shlurped over the slimy laboratory floor
and slid back down the pipe to the nice safe slums.

((Hey! Over the years, I've come to consider Abominus to be one of Pia's favorite chew toys,
so cut me some slack. And what the heck is "Paranitis"? Sounds like some horrible skin condition that you have to put an ointment on.))

A few days later, at the Westbrook Garrison...

The quiet calm of Elwynn forest was shattered by the high-pitched shriek of a very excited gnomette.

"Sepha! Sepha! Sepha!"

Gentyl looked up from her paperwork, wondering what Iecia was excited about this time.
Not that it took very much to send the hyperactive gnome into a frantic frenzy.

Iecia's progress through the barracks could be traced by the clattering sounds of toppled furnishings.

*thud* A chair banging into a table.
*clang* There went an armor rack.
*kachunk* Light only knows what that was.

"Sepha! Sepha! Sepha!"

Iecia burst into Gentyl's office, bounced off a wall, and plopped onto her behind, all red-faced and out of breath.

"I.. I... see... look... I got..."

"Slow down, little one. Take a few deep breaths.", said Gentyl, smiling at her little initiate.

The little gnome proudly held up a garishly decorated and bejeweled case, with what appeared to be the image of a strangely deformed creature wearing a pink bow painted thereupon.

"I got a new part-time job! I'm an official Hello Maggy salesgirl!"

((Knowing that, given the opportunity, Abominus will always slip in a spy maggot, I gave him a way to sneak one into someone's wedding preparations... :D))

Gentyl looked at the small, overly excited gnome. "Iecia, what have you gotten yourself involved with?"

Banners of Abominus standing holding Hello Maggy products waved from poles in cities throughout Azeroth and Outlands. Hello Maggy Salesgirls aggressively market the products, which, for some horrifying reason, have caught on with young women, gnomes, and kobolds (An exclusive line of Hello Maggy products, with the cute maggotess mounting a pink candle coquettishly on her head). Families all over are exposed to a new influx of products, coupled with the hideous features of the Maggot Lord. Fashionistas everywhere decry the horrid items, but this just seems to drive their popularity ever higher.

"And I even got a new promotional kit delivered directly to me at the Mage Tower! They're so efficient in corporate! I wonder how they do that..."

Flushed with excitement, the little gnomette opened up the case, filling the room with a slightly-less-than-pleasant aroma.

"Ah, the smell of fresh cosmetics. And look! Lots of freebies! We're having a big pre-summer sale of our exclusive Hello Maggy Self-Applying Makeup!"

Iecia unscrewed a jar, showing the slowly writhing contents within.

"Isn't it just great! All you have to do is hold it up to your face and it crawls out and applies itself. Ah, the wonders of modern cosmetological science..."

With a little bounce, the ecstatic gnome concluded with a stunning announcement, "And I even sent a whole bunch of these free samples to Spricket for herself and her bridesmaids to use. Can you imagine how many I'll sell after they're a big hit at such a major social event?"

Cray closed his eyes, finally able to rest after a long day of planning and guarding the Sepha. The sooner Faithe was rescued, the better. In the mean time, he needed a good night's sleep to prepare him for the next day of this.

And then something squirmed under his hand.

His green eyes shot open in alarm, his hand flying under his pillow for the dagger kept there. He brought the weapon down towards the squirming area on the bed... and then he saw it.

Maggots. Just a few, but still.... enough.

His eyes narrowed -- his first thought was that Abominus himself had come to attack Sepha in the night. Then he noticed something -- odd colors on the sheets. He glanced to the hand that had been resting on top of the maggots.

Colors there, too. Make up?

"IECIA!" Cray hollered, "Iecia, you've got some explaining to do!"

Cray sincerely hoped the little one was not implying he needed some kind of cosmetic help. If they had simply escaped, that would be alright. He might even help reclaim them -- it was the least he could do after almost trying to kill Iecia's products.

Gentyl looked up from the letter she was reading when she heard the light tap at the door. "Come in, Tobias"

He set the tray with a pot of tea and a covered plate on the table. She raised an eyebrow, "What is this?"

"Mr. Terris is worried about you. He wants you to eat."

Gentyl looked around he office and then out the window. Light, when had it gotten so late? She'd been up before dawn and it must be nearly noon. "Thank you both. I appreciate it."

Her stomach grumbled at the smell of roast caribou. She didn't know what Teriis spiced the meat with or how he cooked it, but it was always delicious.

Tobias fiddled with some things on one of her bookshelves. "Sepha, why is everyone so sad lately?"

Why do people always ask questions when her mouth is full? She hurried to swallow. "I don't think people are sad. We're just worried about Faithe."

"She's going to be all right, isn't she?"

Gentyl nodded, because her mouth was full again, and hurried to swallow. She should probably wait to eat until Tobias left. He was always full of questions. She heard something clatter to the floor.

"Ewww, why are you keeping a box of dead worms?"

The smell of rotten meat flooded the office.

"What do you mean? Gods, what is that smell?"

"It's in that box with the little grub with a pink bow in her hair. I opened it up. It's filled with dead worms."

Gods. The Hello Maggie gift Abominus had given her at the meeting. If the Maggot Lord found out she killed his gift she'd have more than Icharis on her tail.

"I'll clean it up," Tobias mumbled, but he looked as if he was about to throw up. It was the same way Gentyl felt.

"No, I'll get it. I'm not hungry anymore."

"Hey everyone, Sepha's keeping dead worms in he office!" Tobias shouted as he ran outside.

Gentyl scooped up the box and took it outside to bury.