"Ma Thump, now there's one in-ter-esting Troll.  She keeps up this appearance, like she's nothing.  Long black hair all shaggy and unkempt.  Clothes like you'd buy in any second-hand store.  Crooked tusks jutting out, bone-colored horns curling around out of her head.  Even her brown skin, all pock-marked and warty-like with those so-called 'dermal deposits.'  You look at her, you see a Troll who's good for lifting, good for guarding maybe, if she's got half a brain.  But look a little closer.  Her eyes--deep, dark, foreboding, watching.  She knows things.  I mean, don't listen to what she says; her talk is nonsense and lies.  But, look at her.  She's got a 'jack sticking out of her temple.  Who puts one of those on a Troll?  I've been in Seattle all my life, 53 years come next summer.  Ma Thump isn't from around here, I'd stake my right arm on it.  Ask her where she's from, she'll tell you a different story every day.  Now I can't tell you which one's true, because I don't know.  I'd bet none of them.  But I will say, wherever she's from and whoever she is, she isn't just some dumb trog.  Be careful around her.  Whatever she's hiding from, whatever she's running from, might just take an interest in you, too."
                                         -- Burger, bartender, Seattle Center

"Ma Thump earned her nickname, whether she wants to see it or not.  It's not her size, though.  I mean, she isn't so big, for a troll, though her tree-trunk limbs and barrel shape are fair solid as a truck.  No, it's that habit of hers.  I swear I cringe every time she comes into my shop.  'If it ain't working, beat the hell out of it' must be her motto.  She's a good customer though, I guess 'cause she breaks everything.  Has to replace it all, you know?"
                                         -- Virnn, electronics shop owner

"Who, Thump?  Yeah, Ma Thump comes 'round here sometimes.  Not sure which one's her 'partment.  She don't talk much.  Me and the guys used to yell drek at 'er, and she'd just scowl, keep walkin'.  Whoever she's Ma of must be the unluckiest bastard in the world.  Ya know, if ya watch at 'er, she got herself a bit of a limpin'.  Thump carries that big staff of hers around, so's no one can tell.  That's how she gots that nickname, too.  Thumps it on the ground when she walks, tries to scare off any what come close."
                                         -- Jodder, street kid, downtown Seattle