posted
I've come to a problem in my plotline that I'm not sure how to deal with, and I thought someone on here might have an idea that'd work that I'd take to.
Here's a shallow background of the story's world so you can understand the problem:
So basically, my main character is a goblin named Gan, and goblins in this world have a problem where they all smell really bad and often fart when they walk. One of their better features is that goblins have a sharp sense of hearing. Also in this world there are a bunch of dragons, and the dragons are at war with humans. Dragons have a sharp sense of smell, and so try to stay far away from goblins whenever possible. In short, a knight comes along on a quest to find a pack of dragons he's heard word about in the mountains semi-nearby. On his way through the forest, he stumbles across a dragon, and being unprepared for such an encounter, is unable to protect himself as the dragons prepares to eat him. As Gan walks through the forest, he hears the dragon talking to the knight.
Here's my problem:
I need to have Gan somehow save the knight. The way in which he saves the knight has to somehow utilize Gan's horrible smell. Only problem is, with dragons having such a keen sense of smell, the dragon would smell Gan approaching long before Gan arrived.
posted
Does it have to be the goblin that saves him, or can he just facilitate the save? Could some knights come and save the dude. They were able to sneak up on the dragon because he couldn't smell them through the stink.
Or another idea, does it have to be because of the stink that the goblin saves him? Could it be unrelated? Could it be in spite of his stink?
posted
The dragon would have to be breathing flames for an awfully long time for it to work...though I do like the idea of something dulling his sense of smell for a bit.
It has to be Gan who saves him though. There's only one knight in this story.
*thinking* You know, thinking about the dulling of smell-sense, it would make a lot of sense if the knights in this world carried an item of some sort with them that dulled dragons' sense of smell without them noticing. And then, if the knight noticed Gan in the bushes, he could destroy it and Gan would be so close that the dragon would be overpowered by Gan's smell.
Posts: 1934 | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
The dragon can't die (i'm using him as a character in a story later), but I like the storm idea a lot too. It's simpler, but more effective.
Posts: 1934 | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
have him get knocked out, but fall on the Knight, pinning him. Later, when he wakes up he is dazed, and leaves the slightly squished Knight in the mud....
Gan saved him accidentally, without even knowing it, but the knight still gets squashed.... Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
If the dragon was somehow interested (offended?) by the smell of a scared goblin breaking wind, that might distract him long enough for the knight to escape.
posted
Gan, a bit of a bumbler, falls into a stream earlier, washing away his smell. He is washed down stream right next to the Dragon/Knight fight.
He steps out of the cursed clean water, now full of dead fish, and turns around to see the Dragon baring its teeth.
Scared, perhaps out of a self-preserving reflex, or just common loss of bowel control, Gan rips a good one.
It is a loud one, and earth trembling, life altering gaseous explosion, reverberating over the stream and echoing back.
It almost sounds like a warriors defiant roar.
And it happens just as the dragon inhales to breathe fire on the knight.
The Dragon inhales the noxious fumes, and turns an interesting and pleasant color of green, with yellow tinges. Gasping for air, the Dragon takes flight.
But Sir Knight had just turned around to see this brave hero, an his valiant battle cry. His smashed nose (smashed in the previous fight) leaves him immune to the lethal cloud surrounding him. He sees a brave Goblin who stood up to the dragon with a defiant roar.
These two qualities together suggest that goblins have taken some measures to muffle the sound of their wind:
Goblin breeches feature a single large pocket in the seat into which an acoustic tile may be inserted. Flame-retardant and activated charcoal tiles are also available.
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I second zgator. Have Gan convienetly locate something stinky that dragons can't stand the smell of and go out of their way to avoid. (He could even hear the dragons talking about this stinky substance) The reason why it isn't commonly used as dragon repellent is because it causes humans to pass out too. But in this case, the goblin has no smell. He carries it in repels dragons, and drags the passed out human away to safer confines thus effectively rescuing him from the dragons.
posted
Oh sure, everyone give zgator all the credit. He didn't even give a specific example, and mine met all of AJ's criteria before she even posted them.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Cry]](graemlins/cry.gif)
![[Taunt]](graemlins/taunt.gif)
