In reply to Igatho (msg # 8):

"Well," Justin replied.  "Eight years old, and you're fluent in common, that's a good sign.  Name's Justin, glad to see ya.  The handlers over there are going through some much needed rest and relaxation while you hang with us for a while.  You might be a bit big for my home, but I'm sure that my friends down the hill in town can help us out, all right?"

He then runs through his notes, wondering if Igatho felt hungry or something.  Meanwhile, with his other hand, he held a little device that clicked a little when he squeezed a lever.  The device created a signal that went out to the telegraph station where a reciever took the morse code message and coded it into the wire:

{Telegraph}
TO: Omin Dran, Waterdeep, Lords Alliance
FROM:  Justin Mercrial, Parnast, Lord of Graypeak

Who's bright idea was it to relieve a child Ice Giant of her parents and drag her over to my part of the Realms STOP.
{/Telegraph}

Meanwhile, in Parnast, Charlie has alerted his family members of Igatho's arrival.  An elgerly grandmother guessed some measurements and started some loose clothes for the child to wear, and the Chubbuck clan already got into action mode scrounging around for cooking ingredients.

Along the way, he got an update on what's going on:  The Elemental Cult of Earth was kicking up more fuss in the Dessarin Valley, and there were reports of some Dire Wolves hunting up north.  The Enclave don't see them as a threat, yet.

Of course, Omin would likely would know that answer to Justin's question is simply that Justin asked for help and he got it. Just not the way he expected.

Igatho's measurements are certainly out of the norm, considering. Very likely a 120 or more inch waste. But the neck hole would have to be immense as well.

Meanwhile, Igatho watched Justin punch the lever. "What are you doing? Can I click it too?" and reaches for the clicker.

Justin just pulled a crystal out of the clicker (the battery for the transmitter; it can still click) and handed to to Igatho. "Go ahead.  I'm not worried about you breaking it; I go through three of those a month."  Even so, it looked quite sturdy in Igatho's palm, albeit a bit small.  Just a rounded wooden block with a button on it, which audibly cliked when she pressed it.

OOC:  The string of Telegraphs will be done by me as I do a give and take with an NPC.

Igatho takes it and clicks it. And clicks it several more times, a smile crossing her face, soon followed by giggles. She looks at Justin and asks, "But what were you doing with it? What is the pretty rock for?" she points at the crystal.

OOC: OK! Misinterpreted the lack of answer from Omin as you wanting me to provide info he may or may not have received. Hence phrasing it "likely would know" since obviously only the GM knows how much Omin has found out.

"Well, if you must know," Justin said as he flicked the crystal up in the air.  "Along this road you were on, there's a telegraph line.  With it you can send a message all the way across this whole country as fast as we can talk right now.  That device you have, I can relay a message to a station in town," he points down to the village below, "so that it can go all the way to the West Coast.  Pretty long trip.  It probably just arrived right now, if you can believe that."  He looks at the crystal.  "I took this out so that you can click to your heart's content and I won't have people coming here looking that I sent a message before I woke up this morning."  He chuckles.  "Happens to me every now and then."

Igatho clicks the clicker a few more times before asking, "What language is it? I only hear clicks." Her expression shows pure curiosity and even some bewilderment as she stares at Justin.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:27, Wed 17 June 2015.

"It's known as a Morse Key, Igatho," Justin said.  "You send a series of long and short clicks, and they represent letters and numbers in Common.  It's a tricky language to learn at first, and it requires a bit of a steady hand to get it right."  He then smiles and stretches a bit.  "I have invented things to make the telegraph easier to use.  That's why I got a Noble Title."

Igatho misinterperates the stretching as an offer to hug and reaches to hug Justin. She then looks curious, "What's a noble title? Can I learn Morsey?"

Justin just gives a wry smile.  "Two things you'll probably learn as you grow up here, Igatho.  In the meantime, let's see if we can find you a place to call home.  I'm sure that once they get used to you and you battered down some bad guys who come to town to do bad things, the people in Parnast'll take a liking to you."  He shrugged.  "After all, they took a liking to Pandaren enough to let them stay."

With that, Linka who had wiggled free from Igatho as she was talking to Justin, beckoned to the child frost giant.  "Come along, Igatho, I think of a great place, and besides, you can ride the train down the hill."

Justin nodded to that.  What better way to test the double redundancy of the cable car than a baby frost giant?

Igatho says, "Oh..." as Justin more or less says Igatho's answers will come later. She looks at Linka and says, "Tay!" which is her way of saying "OK". The oversized baby follows the oversized teddybear to the cable car and says, "Ride!" with excitement, jumping up and down, causing some small but noticeable tremors for anyone within 15 feet of her.

In reply to Igatho (msg # 18):

Justin had to hop a couple times to keep his legs from getting rattled by Igatho's bounding.  He wanted to give the cable car a proper stress test, and Igatho would be perfect.  Provided that he could fit her in the car, she would be the heaviest person that car would hold.

And he designed the cars to take the proverbial licking:  The metal construction once took a Preyton on top using it for a perch...until Justin shot at it with his sniper rifle.  Only a few good scratches and some minor trauma for whoever was riding that car was the result.  A baby frost giant might be a tight squeeze, but it'll be workable.

As for the cables themselves, he personally supplied cables that were used to corral dragons.  He stressed tested one of those cables and found out that it could hold 2,000 tons of tension before it started to fray.  He linked the cars together by two of these cables, for redundancy.

Justin guessed Igatho to at the most weigh 1 tons, but he knew he overestimated that, but a partly single ton shouldn't be a problem, even if she bounces a bit.

"Well Met, Justin, we--by the Gods!  What do you have with you?!"

He snapped back to reality when the two guards manning the cable car station.  The station in the upper side had the motorized winch that moves the two cars.  The two armored men were looking at Igatho, with the same Whisky Tango Foxtrot expressions Justin himself had.

"Don't worry, mates," Justin said.  "The worst thing she'll do to you is hug ya."

As Justin opened the door to the cable car to Igatho, the guard who didn't go for the controls said, "I heard that you had a kid dropped to you, but I didn't guess that..."

"If it's a consolation, Ralphe, nobody expected this."

"I heard that you'll be caring for her down in Parnast.  Are you sure that'll be a good idea?"

Justin just shrugged.  "You've been with me enough by now, you know I'm full of questionable ideas."

Igatho weighs much less than a ton, much less 2,000 tons. The baby weighs a healthy 568 lbs. "I'm gonna be dropped!" Igatho says in a celebratory tone, having misinterpreted what the guards were saying when they said she was dropped on Justin. Her voice is booming as usual, if still the same pitch as a normal tot.

She then slams her orc dummy on the ground a few times. "Orcy smash!" the squeal in her voice betraying how happy smashing the orc makes her. But it's much like she is hoping the others present would share in her happiness of smashing an orc. "Oh! Oh! Mister Justin says I will learn Morsey and Nobe-litty!"

She hugs the orc dummy and gets aboard the car before sucking on her thumb.

Justin chuckles as he follows Igatho into the cable car.  There was a few creaks from the doorway of the car, but none from the floor inside the car.  Linka noticed that the child was too big for the seats so she turns to Justin with a silent query.

"One moment," Justin said.

Igatho didn't see what Justin was doing from behind the bushes, but when he returned he had a good sized blanket to place on the metal floor for Igatho to sit in.  "The first thing to know about Noblity, Igatho, is to prepare for anything.  From Orc invasions that need to be smashed, to finding a bit of padding for little frost giants to sit on."

He handed the blanket for Linka to spread on the floor for Igatho to sit on.

What Igatho didn't see (This is for the other readers) is that he ducked behind a wall to get back with 'The Luggage,' his 'trained mimic,' or that's what he calls it to everyone else, to pull out the cleaned, pressed, and lilac-scented blanket from the pocket dimension that's inside it's mouth.

Justin noticed that the mimic is shaking a bit.  He guessed that it was afraid of the giant baby.

"Just stay out of sight for now," he quietly told The Luggage, before patting it on the lid and returning to Igatho's line of sight.

Igatho ohs and sits on the blanket. "How do I prepare?" she gives Justin and Linka both a curious look and tilts her head some.

---

OOC: A pet mimic! You, sir, are made of win. :D

In reply to Igatho (msg # 22):

At this time, the winch started and the train started its way down the incline.  With the train built so that the seats are tilted to compensate for the incline, Igatho doesn't have to worry about tipping over.  (Side Note:  Adding a drawing here of the train car might be of some use here.)

"It takes a lot of experience and you'll learn how to do it as you go," Justin beings, "but preparing is knowing what you might need ahead of time and having what you might need available.  Say you're playing with a ball in that village and a bunch of orcs showed up, wanting to raid that village.  If you expected them to show up one day, you can have your trusty club lying around in a good and hidden spot just ready for you to grab and charge into those orcs to some unexpected cheers of the villagers.  It might take some trial and error, but you're young, you've got plenty of time to figure that out."

The train has left the station by now and Igatho is seeing the wooded area of the mountain side.

Igatho is paying attention to Justin, but when the car moves, she watches the world go by and squeals with excitement! To be fair, there are many adults who would act the same if they had never been in a cable car. But either way, this is Igatho's first time in one and she looks happy about it.

Igatho looks over at Justin as he talks about charging orcs. With a bright smile on her face, she says, "I am prepared! I'm nobe-litty!" Well at least she communicated that she is ready at a moment's notice to smash invaders. "Do you love me, Mister Justin and Misses Linka?"

Linka just laughs and hugs Igatho as she said that.  Justin as well.  "Oh, kiddo, you're just too loveable."  He pats her on the shoulder.  "It just takes some time to get to know you better."

And indeed it had.  By now the initial shock over a frost giant child being droped in his lap has subsided, and he has warmed up to the child.  Even though she has her moments, he knows by now that she's just a kid looking for a home, and he just can't send her away.

It'll take some doing, but he knows he'll find a place for Igatho.  He has to.  The alternative could be a bit too dark for his mentality.

Igatho smiles and giggles as she is hugged. "I love you too!" she says with a returned hug. "You're nice!"

A kid can tell. Up until now, the nicest Igatho has gotten was people who felt guilty about the idea of killing her. They would give hugs with nervous smiles. Justin and Linka gave hugs freely with no sign of reservation. Her memories go back to another moment and her smile fades to a more spaced-out expression before she looks back at Justin and Linka.

"When I cry, I wave my arms around like this." she demonstrates by flopping her arms about. It is very much like how a toddler throwing a tantrum flails. "I don't know where my arms will go. I can hurt people when I cry... If I cry, will you hug me anyway?"

Justin circled around behind Igatho.  "I might have to hug you from behind then, to keep myself clear of those arms.  Hope you don't mind."  He does the Behind the Back Hug to illustrate.

Igatho looks over her shoulder. The brightness in her eyes suggests what she is about to say: "You're smart!" she wiggles her arms to demonstrate how right Justin was. "Yay! I won't hurt you!" the baby squeals with delight. She really means it; she didn't ever want to hurt people who love her.

It is sad to know that you can't be loved because you could hurt the one loving you. But Justin fixed that. Seems he fixes more than machines.

The baby's icy heart is warmer than some give her credit for, but even if it wasn't, it would have melted by now. All it took was people to love more than fear.

Of course... just like most babies, it won't be so simple as one moment. Although this seemingly unlikely moment with a single hug on a cable car did impact likely the rest of Igatho's life, children still need constant and repetitive attendance.

In reply to Igatho (msg # 28):

Even though Justin wouldn't admit it at that time, he somehow knew what to do once he got over the initial shock of having Igatho dropped on his lap.  Frost Giant or no, she was just a kid who needed a hug.

After all, he remembered that he himself was a basket case when the guards over at Daggerford found him when he was 12, floating down the Delimbiyr River with just the clothes on his back and little else, including a word on how he got there.  He was driven mute and terrified of his own shadow by some mistreatment he didn't care to remember.

While clerics were able to heal the damage caused by floating down the Delimbiyr without an innertube, they weren't able to break the mental shell he was in, until his beloved Pandaren Mate gave him a hug.  Of course, Linka being Linka, that hug lasted for three days straight, but it managed to break through the shell he was in.

Justin figured that Igatho would use the same treatment.  It wouldn't hurt people to be more kind to each other for once, even in a world where evil cults and dragons exist.

By now the train has reached the bottom station, the incline's dual cables passing their stress test swimingly.

The landing area at the foot of the mountain had a more flattened ground, so the inclined station had a couple stairs built on top of stone.  Linka led Igatho out as Justin met with a plate armor clad guard who's eyes flew wide when he saw who he's with.

"Don't mind Igatho so much, Sir Gravis," Justin said.  "The Frost Giant Baby's mostly harmless provided you give her a lot of space..." he leans in closer, "and if you hug her from the back, it's safer."

"I've saw the dimensions of the clothes you requested, Lord Justin," Gravis replied, "and I thought you were joking at first."

Justin shrugged.  "I might need to make a call for some supplies to take care of her."

"Indeed," Gravis replied.  "Which is why you called Lord Dran?"  He handed him a reply.

{Telegraph}
FROM: Omin Dran, Waterdeep, Lords Alliance
TO: Justin Mercrial, Parnast, Lord of Graypeak

They dropped Igatho on You?!  Must've known you wouldn't send her away, she's too cute to be bad.  If you intend to keep her, send me a list of what you need.  STOP!
{/Telegraph}

Justin read the letter and gave Igatho a reassuring pat on her wrist.  "I gotta go do some Nobility stuff, Igatho.  Linka's gonna take you to a good place for you to stay.  Ain't much for right now, but we'll work on it as we go, all right, kiddo?"

"Oh, by the way," Gravis said.  "Emerald Enclave scouts have reported some orc activity in the region, I ordered our soldiers to keep an eye out."

That got Justin thinking.  Granted, he sees Igatho as a child first and a frost giant second, he couldn't help but apprecaite her power and strength which can be channeled into something more constructive.  Also the obvious need to point her into more acceptable victims to smash and unwind her enough to be sociable.

Justin turned to Igatho.  "Oh, and if you see an Orc coming here to give us any grief, you have my permission to kebash 'im.  It'll help get the other villagers to like you better."  He then turned to an Gravis who look like he just endorced the rising of Tiamat.  "You need all the help you can get."

Igatho smiles brightly at Justin's suggestion and slams her life-sized orc dummy to demonstrate what Justin asked. "I'll slam them like this!"

When Justin starts going one way and Linka the other way, Igatho gets a disappointed look, but she remembers what Justin said and yells out to him, "Do your best!" before obediently, if hesitantly, following Linka. "I want milk..." She stuffs her thumb in her mouth for comfort.

---

Oh my goodness what a post! XD Just told my bro this RP with Justin, Linka and Igatho has been loads of fun so far and this latest post shows how anxious I'll be to get to know your NPC's. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:32, Mon 13 July 2015.

Justin just laughed as he heard what Igatho said, before ushering Gravis down the road.  "Okay, I need to go through a list of what we need to care for a baby that's bigger than me.  Let me know if I missed anything...."

"Milk you say?"  Linka said nodding.  Fortunately, Farmer Andreas Chubbucks has filled up a whole tank of milk with his twenty cows, I'm sure he'll part with one of his borrowed kegs for you."

---

By this time it would be a good idea to have Igato set up in Roll20, since you prefer to use that.  I have a link: https://app.roll20.net/join/925925/w65pgw and it's accessible to the public, although I will copy snapshots of the table here for the viewer's convience.

Igatho gets excited! "Cows! Yay!" and follows Linka hurriedly, her footsteps causing a low-pitched thumping sound. Igatho continues sucking on her thumb since she instinctively has to feel like she is drinking milk right now.

---

Nice! :) I'm there even as I post this.

“Like you’ve seen, Igatho’s just a child,” Justin said as he ran down the list, allowing a lady clerk over to look over his shoulder.  He needed to make sure that nothing’s missing in his list.  “Even though she’ll have a giant’s tendencies, there is a chance that we can at the least, have her be on friendlier terms for smaller people.  I reached her easily, and that’s in spite of me not knowing what I was doing.  If we are able to somewhat care for her, she’ll grow up not to be hostile toward us, like what most giants do.”

“You might need to plan to get bigger diapers and cloths for her, Justin,” Bethon, the lady clerk, told him.  “She’s going to be growing after all.  But refurbishing that abandoned barn’s going to be a good choice.  Very close by most of our larger families.”

“That’s the idea, Ma’am.”

“Lord Justin,” Sir Gravis said, hoping not to produce too much glare from Justin.  “Perhaps this will be a boon for the village in the defensive manner.”

When working with people he knows, Justin’s commoner background kicks in and switches to first name basis.  Gravis still remembers the bite Justin had when he blurted out to a long-winded Baldurian Duke, ‘I want your name, mister, not your fricking resume!’

But Justin didn’t give Gravis much grief at this time.  Too busy with the list.

“How so?”

“Parnast still has a problem with the occasional invaders, from the rogue animal to the orc and goblin, and of course, the cultists.  Without much defenses, even with your talents, the village is quite vulnerable.  Having the Frost Giant nearby would be a big help in defending the region…er, once she knows the difference between friend and foe, that is.”

“Exactly what I thought when I told Igatho,” Justin said as he moved to the Typegraph machine.  “If she sees something hostile, smash it.”

---

The cows that looked at Igatho weren’t hostile.  They just stood there chewing their cuds and wondering just what in blazes are they seeing?

The halfling farmer patriarch of the Chubbucks clan couldn’t help but go gaga over the kid.  “I can’t believe I could find a frost giant cute, Linka.  And then you bring along this bundle of blue-tinted cuteness.  I take it she needs some milk does she?

“Well, it ain’t like I’d let her latch on to a cow directly.  Do you still have some of our spare brew kegs?”*

“I just got them washed and refitted,” Farmer Andreas replied.  “And when the missus saw him walking up, she just had to fill one up for her.”

Linka bowed to Farmer Andreas.  “You are too kind.”

“That barn nobody’s using could be large enough to house her,” Andreas said, pointing to the large building with faded paint.  “But I doubt we have enough hay to line everything for her right now.”

“Justin’s calling for some assistance on that as we speak.

---

{Telegraph}
FROM: Omin Dran, Waterdeep, Lords Alliance
TO: Justin Mercrial, Parnast, Lord of Graypeak

Got your list.  Good plan on refurbishing a barn.  I’ll send in some carpenters through the portal to fix that in this afternoon.  Send a request to Loudwater and Llorkh I think they have surplus hay.
{/Telegraph}

Justin took Omin Dran’s suggestion to heart and didn’t miss a beat on the Teletype.  Justin is one of the few people outside of Omin’s famous group, Acquisitions Incorporated, that knows of his title as a Masked Lord of Waterdeep, and Justin used that knowledge to insist that Omin be his primary connection with the Lord’s Alliance.  At least when Acquisitions Incorporated isn’t out and about, that is.

“That new Typegraph’s quite a godsend,” Bethon said as she watched the punchcard slip out of a side unit.  “I really like the ability to see the message before I send it.  I only wish I could edit the card though.”

Justin looked the card over to check the Morse Code punched out of it, one character per column, 128 columns per row, 4 rows per card about the side of a third of a sheet of paper.  “Yeah, it’s far from perfect.  I still have to depend on cards for storage, which has its drawbacks.”  He tapped his shoe at a bucket with a rising pile of previous messages sent and received.  “Working on them keeps me busy.”

With a nod of satisfaction, he fed the card back to the device and pressed a green button.  The now-familiar beep of Morse Code flew out through the wire.  “There are talk about the need for a reliable form of renewable data storage, and some Luskans are experimenting with using phonograph records for such a purpose.  They haven’t gotten anything down pat yet, but once they do, it’ll push many technologies forward.”

After he pushed the second card message through, he stood up and gave his arms a stretch.  “Including my own.  Now then, if you excuse me, there’s a baby Frost Giant I need to keep an eye on every so often.”

---

* The kegs in question have all the brew rinced out, and the spigot can be converted into a straw.  Perfect for Pandarens who want to keep their brews under the arm...or as a sippy cub for a baby frost giant.