Rumbler

The rumbler was invented by Dor Paledust, a kobold virtuoso and explorer. After a few adventures, he became frustrated that he couldn't communicate with his companions or that it was expensive to equip them with the necessary magical items. As a virtuoso, he knew that different sound pitches travel different distances. And as an explorer, he knew some animals could detect sound that other species couldn't. These two completely different pieces of knowledge gave him the idea to create a piece of equipment that can produce very low-pitched sound signs which can travel far and a similar equipment that can perceive these signs.

The most challenging part was finding a suitable material for the drum of the equipment. The breakthrough came when Dor Paledust defeated a trample rhinoceros at the Pristine Prairie. The rhino's foot leather was the missing piece. The operation of the rumble is easy. Someone has to hit the drum in defined intervallums. These intervallums make up the language of the grumbler, which Dor Paledust named tap-gap. On the receiving side, another drum hits a spinning strip of paper, and using the same language, the message can be read.

There are four versions of the rumbler. The first one was the pole. This is what Dor Paledust created first and the most commonly used version. Its range is up to 5 km. After that came the portable version, mainly used between small groups a few hundred meters from each other. There is a handheld which can only receive messages. And recently, queen Kilsy built the first rumbler tower near her hill. The tower is similar to the pole version but much bigger and can only produce a repeating sound. It is identical in function to lighthouses, and its range is roughly 20 km.

However, a few problems need to be solved before mass usage of the rumbler. It is heavy, cumbersome, and hard to use. Weaker individuals have no chance to use it. It requires muscles to send the sound signs. Currently, it is not possible to have 1-on-1 communication. Everybody who has a rumble can hear everybody in range. This raises another issue: multiple senders' messages will blend and jumble at the receiver.

It sounds promising

— Durrash, orc warlord