Trog's Tavern CCVII

[Rebonack]

http://home.centurytel.net/jeffsjunk/TrogTavernAnimated.gif

*Upon entering the tavern you find it to be rustic, dim, cramped, and smelling of spilled beer. Moving through the crowd, half of which seem to be deadtiming, you spot a fireplace with a banjowood carving on the mantle, you also make out through the haze the curving bar and private booths hidden behind ferns. A side door leading to a patio outside reveals a hungry looking dumpster mimic sneaking towards an unsuspecting customer.


Staff:
Owner and Proprietor: Trog, Manager: El Jaspero, Bartenders: Whoever is on duty, Sammich-Crafter: Zee

Trog's Tavern hires only the finest NPC servers:
((Since all are NPCs they are up for communal control. Feel free to say what they do or say to you or any other patron. To a point.))

Nina - A fiesty and vivacious tiefling. Mean, self-centered and completely unavailable. You may have seen her recently on the WotC 4E cartoon.
Paige - A sweet, wholesome, flirty elf working her way through PC school.
Cosmo - A quick-witted and oppressed gnome scoundrel. Truly a monster. RAWR!

DRINK MENU:
Wines:
Chimera Cabernet - A hearty red with a hits of oak and black cherry.
Cormyrian Fireamber - Imported and very good.
Eladrin Carbernet - Official Feywine of the Wild Hunt
Kobold Chianti - Tart. Tangy. Shifty.
Merfolk Merlot - Full-bodied with a hint of rose.
Powerlust Pinot - For those corruptable humans
Shadar-Kai Shadowine - Served in a jagged, broken glass
Spoonake Chablis - Straight from the Underdark!
Warlock Wine - Best served cold
Xorn Zinfandel - Sweet and fruity!

Mixed Drinks:
Aboleth Absinthe - Far Realmilicious!
Black Shadow - A strong concoction guaranteed to send a chill down your spine at any temperature.
Coffee Martini - Buzzzzz.
Djinn and Tonic - Whirling ice cubes, fizzy soda, and one drunk genie.
Dragon Liver Buster - Strongest drink in the house
Dwarf Spirits
Fire Archon Asylum Rum - "FAAR!!!"
Haley's Liquer - Named for the redheaded rogue, a sweet creme liquer, excellent over ice.
Hemo Colada - 100% less coconut, 100% more ichor
Ichor Liquor - Made from a fermented mix of various kinds of blood
Jasphattan - El J's Secret Recipie, vermouth & bitters
Murderita - Wasted away again...
Piña CoLlama - If you're not into yoga and have half a brain.
Rust Monster - Scotch, drambuie shaken in a wooden mixer.
Sneak on the Beach - Peach vodka, cran-pineapple juice, a cat hair
Swampwater - Phosphorescent lemon-lime
White Russian/Wukei - for bounty hunters who dig dairy
Wizard Blizzard - Crushed ice and Bourbon. The effect depends on the spell stored in it.

Beers & Such:
Ales: Archon, Guilders, Balthor's Best
Grim Brewery Ginger Beer - Death-o-licious!
Mind Flayer Mead - Mmm... brains.

Other Fine Beverages:
Darknight Coffee - cream has no effect
Fox Cola - the choice of the furry generation
Llamonade - That cool, refreshing drink for quadrupeds
Oni Tea - From the far east.
Red Minotaur Energy Drink - a-MAZE-ing energy!
Root Beer
Save vs. Slow Slurpees™ - C-c-c-cold
Hot Chocolate - Mmmmmmarshmallows

MUNCHIES MENU:
AbyssalNuts - damned and spicy
Baked Goods - Scones and Muffins and Brownies oh my! We have no cake - the cake is a lie!
Bamhacon - where the ham meets the bacon. Served with eggs.
Court of Stars Salad - Fresh fey greens
Hero Sandwiches - what else? Served with Villain vinegrette
Velvet Elfish - Trogtilla chips and hot meat and cheese dip
Yuan-ti Gyros - Lamb. Or halfling. We're not sure.
Trog's Floor Chili - Don't ask Trog where it came from and Trog won't tell you "the floor"

SMOKABLES:
Dwarven Cigars - From our axe-hewn humidor
Coffin Nail™ Cigarettes - Get Nailed!
Halfling Pipeweed - Bogart™ brand

[Darkening Cloud]

Daxus orders a full night;s worth of drinks, a large sandwich, and finally gets round to mimicking the staff.He gets the feeling he'll need a lot of drinks to get by if the last half an hour is normal

He picks a seat near the door and mimics some of the bar's occupants.

[Rebonack]

And so begins another eventful day at Trog's tavern.

Things are quite busy this morning! The NPCs employees are up to their eyeballs in the process of serving other NPCs since all the PCs seem to be elsewhere at the moment. Those lousy lazy PCs and their inability to be online at all times!

At present a knight, a princess, and a dragon are gathered around a table, talking out the specifics of the show they'll be putting on out in the countryside in the next few days.

A rather filthy looking beggar is busy rifling through Magtok's pockets to see if he can't find anything valuable.

And a good half dozen deranged cultists are pretty busy trying to summon up Zeeatar from the Far Realms. They know she's snoozing there still and they want their eldritch sammiches NOW!

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok sleepily lifts himself up, and-

HEY!

That disgusting hobo's got his wallet! And his spare flux capacitor, Beethoven's first piano, small glass bowel with baby shark with a laser pointer on its head, nicotine grenades, explosive whale repellent, and MagMobile car keys! :smalleek:

Hey, that's mine!

[Earl of Purple]

At a table near the bar is a man with a metal box. The man is wearing a brown cloak with patches on the front. His eyes are heterochromatic, with the left being brown and the right is blue. There's stitches framing his almost-handsome face and he has brown hair. His hands, with stitches at the wrist and the bases of his too-many fingers and thumbs; his left hand has three thumbs and six fingers whilst his right has two thumbs and seven fingers, which he is using to count eyes in the jar of eyeballs in front of him. The metal box has a tag tied to the handle and a red cross on it.

[Rebonack]

The filthy hobo seems rather pleased with his acquisitions and makes a break for the door! "Mine now!" he cackles back at the cyborg.

And as the guy's fleeing he happens to run right through the middle of the summoning circle the deranged cultists had set up! All that was needed was a sacrifice to call forth the horrible eldritch abomination from the other side of the veil!

So nice of the hobo to volunteer!

And so with a rather audible *ZORP!* the poor man is crispified, his charred bones locked into the circle and summoning forth-!

*POOF!* goes a cloud of prismatic smoke!

And when it clear's there's Zee, looking rather surprised to be in the middle of the tavern all of a sudden, a damp loofah in hand. She's dripping wet and strategically covered in thick soap suds to keep the scene from being unsuitable for younger viewers.

She blinks twice in shock.

Then begins thwacking one of the cultists with the wet spongy thing.

"Perverts!"

A good bit of thwacking later she hurries back up to her room on the second floor to get dressed.

Apparently getting summoned at inopportune moments is just one of those hazards of being a Far-Critter.

Magtok's stuff is now scattered haphazardly around the summoning circle.

[blackouttwo]

Lucas blinks at the sight of Zee suddenly appearing naked in the middle of the tavern. His attention was drawn to the sight because of Zee's sudden appearance, rather than any nekkidness on her part. Being married to someone with succubi blood has a tendency to make every other woman you meet less attractive, by comparison.

...OK, then... He shakes his head and sits down on a nearby stool, while Arthur just wanders around the tavern. It seems the brief talk with his parents about the incident at the fair has cleared his mind, for the most part.

[Rebonack]

After the rather unexpected summoning event a rather lecherous fighter is busying himself asking the cultists exactly how this ritual for summoning beautiful women on command works. They sadly explain that they were a bit disappointed with the result. Usually it summons up horrible tentacled things that then devour half the cultists before becoming satiated.

The fighter decides that now would be a great time to back away slowly.

It isn't very long there after that Zee comes back down the stairs, having toweled off and slipped into her usual attire. Gray adventuring outfit, nice warm boots, belt with plenty pouches. Standard stuff. And of course her hair up in a pony tail.

The cultists are given a rather disapproving look by her as she heads behind the counter to get her apron on.

And then waves cheerfully!

"Hi creepy flesh golem guy! Hiya Lucas! Hi Arthur! How's everyone doing today?"

[Earl of Purple]

Creepy flesh golem guy looks up. "I'm not a flesh golem. I'm human. Except for this thumb; it's elf. My name's Androthelia Maxorium. I am quite well, thank you." As he says it, he holds up the middle thumb on his right hand. He then goes back to counting eyes.

[blackouttwo]

Bored, and considering buying a really expensive house. Lucas looks over at his deadtimed wife, whom he never got confirmation from. If they were going to buy the 'bigger on the inside than on the outside' house, he didn't want to go buying it without hearing Lillith's take on it.

Doing better, Aunt Zee. Arthur's trying to make it sound like he's over it. He's still a little rattled, for sure, but he's definitely doing better.

[Rebonack]

Zeeatar wrinkles her nose at the not-flesh golem's explanation. It strikes her as uncannily icky. Why would he want a thumb from an elf, anyway? Just for the novelty of it or something?

"I'm human except when I'm not," she finally settles on. That makes sense, right? She's human when she isn't a Far Chimera. And as far as she's concerned a Far Chimera is a pretty good thing to be. If only because the expanded senses are really neat.

That and she finds the Far rather comforting despite the fact that the place would do horrible things to any friend of hers that goes there. Unless she was carrying them. Because then they would be protected! But they wouldn't really get a chance to enjoy the view, either.

Which is sad...

"Why are you counting eyes, anyway?"

And then her attention bounces to Lucas and Arthur!

"Glad to hear it kiddo! I know it's tough. Remember the first time I had to do that... Really painful. Still hurts, really. So long as it keeps hurting you know that your heart isn't hard. And that's a good thing."

And then...

Oh no...

Zee face-palms. "Lucas... You just said..."

The tavern is suddenly filled with wailing sirens and flashing lights as a pixelated portal swirls into existence!

Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!

[ApeofLight]

Foro decides to undeadtime at the bar. While drinking.

[blackouttwo]

Lucas facepalms. Right, sorry, my bad. Totally forgot.

Arthur just looks around, confused. Um...Should I take cover?

[Earl of Purple]

Androthelia will attempt to magically probe Zeeatar, to discover if there's any abnormalities with her organs such as missing ones, extra ones, ones that aren't found in humans, and so on. "Because I think I had more eyes yesterday." And he has an elven thumb because there wasn't a human thumb around when he realised he didn't have enough thumbs. Then the portal happens, and he takes a scalpel out of his pocket and holds it with his right hand. He also locks his box.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Aw dammit, not another one!" Yeah, Hawk is a wee bit annoyed having returned from his last performance only moments after the random encounter announcement. He was hoping for a nice quiet drink and was planning on putting on a bit of a show for the folks at Trog's...

And now this!

Ah well, can't be helped. He hops back over the bar and ducks down behind it. Whatever it is, he doesn't want to be out in the open when it appears.

[Rebonack]

"Maybe I need to put up a sign..." Zeeatar grumbles as she glares at the portal. Y'know, a sign that explicitly says that you shouldn't comment on being bored unless you feel like being attacked by something really strange.

As for the divination, Androthelia will get back a whole bunch of totally useless information (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3jFTzhdZF4) that has absolutely nothing to do with the object of his inquiry.

That aside, the encounter comes!

An orange dwarf with green hair tumbles out of the portal.

Shortly followed by about a dozen more.

All armored. All armed. And all looking like they're about ready to break out into song.

[blackouttwo]

Lucas looks down at the 'dwarves.' ...Oh, no. No, no, no. No way. He seems to be in utter disbelief. Whatever vile entity controlled the random encounters had no business throwing these at people.

Arthur just blinks.

[ApeofLight]

Foro sways on his staff looking at the dwarfs. " Oh, funny dwarfs. "

Foro takes another swig of his drink before hopping to the ground and flipping his staff into his hand.

[Earl of Purple]

Androthelia's just realised he forgot to put his jar of eyes in the box. So he unlocks it and opens it, to put the jar in. He does take something out; it looks to be a left arm. It's too large to fit in the box. The spell he used on Zeeatar to look at her organs will now be cast at the dwarves. If he's attacked by such things, he may as well know if there's anything worth taking from them afterwards. The spell on Zeeatar did seem to daze him slightly; probably a good thing, really.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Hawk takes out a few knives. Only normal ones for now...

After all, he has no idea what they're going to do or what they're capable of. All his special knives are designed to return to him, but he doesn't want to use them unless it's absolutely necessary. "What the hell are they?" he mutters quietly as he peers over the counter and watches them.

[horngeek]

Brianna walks in.

And blinks.

What the bloody hell?

[wxdruid]

Thecla wakes up and goes on her rounds in the common room, sniffing corners and feet to find out who's been here and who's here now.

[Je dit Viola]

Ummm...what?

Stuff happens if you say 'bored'? It's good that Will only said 'boring', then, earlier.

Anyway, Will seems to be noticibly absent.

But Requiem is begging for playtime, and is here again. Dwarves. And they sing, too.

That sounds like it might satisfy her desires.

[Rebonack]

The dwarves seem to be normal dwarves. Apart from their odd pigmentation and aptitude for musical numbers.

They begin to prance about the room, weapons drawn...

Oompa loomp doompity do!
We've got another puzzle for you!

Oompa loompa doompity dee!
If you are wise you'll listen to me!

What do you get when axed in the- FACE!

A random tavern patron then gets just that, an axe the face and a rather horrific death.

Getting your head bashed in by a- MACE!

Some poor terribly confused kobold gets his skull crushed at this point.

What do you get with a lopped off- HEAD!

It will surely. Make. You. Dead!

It.
Will.
Surely.
Make you.
Dead.

To.
Be.
With-
-out
A head!

They go nuts at this point, tearing into the tavern patrons with axe and maul and mace and flail and spear.

Oompa loompa doompity daa!
If you're not dead then you will go far!

And you can live in happiness too!
Just like the oompa loompa doompity do!

[blackouttwo]

Lucas shakes his head at the ridiculous sight, and speaks in a deadpan voice, turning to his son. Arthur, look away. The psion waves a hand, and tries to crush the lungs and necks of every last one of them. Considering how strong a psion he is(to the point where psionic power build-up altered his body), this really shouldn't be a difficult task. He also tries to toss them around like ragdolls for added effect.

[ApeofLight]

" Bad dwarfs! No! " Foro whips his staff around and thrusts it at the closest oompa dwarf.

[wxdruid]

Thecla bares her teeth and attacks any she can find with tooth and claw. They didn't spare the npcs, so she doesn't spare them as she tries to take the odd dwarves apart a piece at a time.

[Earl of Purple]

Androthelia, a man smelling of necromancy, magic, preservatives, human and death; weirdly, also life, but not much in comparison to the death, is here. Any oompa-loompa dwarves that get too close to him will be bashed by an arm on the head as they close, then Androthelia will attempt to get as close as he can; the scalpel is less effective than an axe, mace or flail at range, but very useful in extreme close quarters, with not enough room for an axe and the arm just isn't as effective full stop.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Wow. Psycho dwarves with freaky hair and...maces and axes. Not good.

Hawk pops up from behind the counter and lets five knives fly at the nearest dwarf, aiming to hit him in the neck. He also takes out three teleporting knives and casually tosses them into they air. They pop and vanish...

I wonder when they'll reappear...

And where...

[Je dit Viola]

Requiem winces at the senseless loss of NPC life.

They should've drained their life, instead, and made them minions, and aborb their souls to power themselves. That's what she would have done.

Suddenly! An oompadwarf comes at her, axe flailing.

The AMEN member watches it come closer, then...at once, shadowy tentacles made from the souls of the lost shoot around the Dwaloompa.

Should the dwarf have any soul...or essence...or energy, or anything, then Requiem will start to drain the soul/essence/energy of it, it coming down her tendrils like mist, oozing. Oozing until it reaches her, where she absorbs the power of the creature.

[horngeek]

Brianna summons the Spear of Lugh, the crystal tip flaming and dripping blood, and attempts to stab one of the dwarfs with it.

[Rebonack]

Truth be told, the dwarves are actually minion sorta things. Which means they're godmoddable so long as more than one or two are being slain as opposed to, say, all of them. So go nuts! Be showy with your descriptions!

As such, Lucas manages to strangle two of the little orange bastards while the rest break free from his psionic attack.

The scalpel attack will be a bit tricky given that the oompa loompas are well armored. Though stabbing them in the face would probably work. Though the necro-guy will have to be diving through quite the hail off attacks to get in close.

Thecla leaps upon another oompa and begins tearing at him with her teeth. A second coming up behind her with axe raised gets clubbed pretty well by Foro.

As for Zeeatar, she just vaulted over the bar with that weird staff of hers in hand. Blocks an axe slash with the shaft before flinging the weapon out of the oompa's hand and clobbers him over the head with the staff's incense pan.

CLONG!

Yet another dwarf is drained and another speared.

Still plenty of the nasty buggers left, all chanting 'oompa! loompa!' as they fight.

[horngeek]

Oh, goody.
:smallamused:

Brianna slashes the Spear of Lugh across, slashing one dwarf across the throat before stabbing yet another one in the throat. COME ON, YOU BASTARDS!

[wxdruid]

When that one is dead, Thecla moves on to the next. She prefers to attack the face, where the least amount of armor is... She bites and claws as she tries to first knock them over and then bite off their faces, one at a time.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok crawls forward, a little thankful for the hobo's death, but more than a little peeved by the sudden Random Encounter. Hoping the oompa loompas don't notice him, he'll creep towards the nicotine grenades, keys, and whale repellent, as those will probably help him out here more than any of that other junk.

[McBish]

Phoebe starts to walk downstairs and pauses as she sees the attacking dwarfs. She turns around to make her escape. But one of the dwarves spots her and chases after her grabbing her leg as she was running up the stairs tripping her. She kicks with her one free foot hitting the dwarf in the face. Which just makes the dwarf angrier as he raises up his mace to smash her, which she really can do nothing to stop.

[Earl of Purple]

Indeed, there's several rents in Androthelia's recently-patched cloak, and his lurch is added with a limp. Despite this, there's no blood. He's dropped the arm and is gripping the oompadwarf's axe by the handle; the oompadwarf has Androthelia's wrist gripped in his mailed fist, but he's bleeding from a cut on his cheek. Hopefully, the dwarf won't squeeze Androthelia's wrist too hard; the stitching is beginning to come undone. Looks like these two are temporarily stuck; hopefully one won't sneak up on Androthelia.

[UncleWolf]

Lenneth and Wallcroft leap out of deadtime, weapons drawn, at the largest group of Oompa Loompas, hacking and slashing as they go.

[Je dit Viola]

Mmm... says Requiem, as her shadowy soul tendrils drop the dwarf. He falls to the ground. Delicious.

Now, rise. Go bring me her. She points at a frightened NPC woman named Isabel. Isabel has a white gown on. Brown hair. Engaged to a blacksmith.

The dwoompa she drained rises, hefting its axe. With a blank gaze, he runs over to the woman she pointed at. Isabel shrieks, prepared to die, but the dwampa picks her up over his head, and carries her towards Requiem.

Isabel shrieks, and kicks, Let me go! she shouts.

[Gnrlshrimp]

One oompa loompa dwarf leaps over the counter, aiming to axe Hawk in the face.

Hawk quickly backs away, narrowly avoiding the axe and flicks several knives straight up. Said knives embed themselves in the ceiling.

The oom dwarf advances, singing about some lesson to be learned from getting an axe to the face.

Hawk takes a single step back, grins, and stamps his foot. The knives slide neatly out of the ceiling and plunge point first into the dwarf's head. Eww...messy.

Oh, and one of the teleporting knives pops into existence and thuds into the back of a dwarf, right between the shoulders. Hawk can be quite sneaky at times...

[ApeofLight]

Foro takes a deep breath and blows a fireball at the oompa dwarf. The dwarf jumps back in pain and then goes flying as Foro's staff catches him in the chest.

He then ducks as another dwarf strikes at him. Foro swings his staff back around hitting the dwarf in the knee. He then jumps up with a spinning strike hitting the dwarf's helmet causing a ringing sound. He then strikes repeatedly at the dwarf causing him to stumble back into the bar and fall over.

He then blocks one more strike coming at him by a dwarf. Foro gets pushed back.

[Rebonack]

Hoo, what a mess!

Oompa Loompas everywhere!

And what's worse more of the orange thugs are still tumbling out of the portal in the rafters! That's certainly no good. There must be some way to stem the tide of Oompa Loompas... probably something having to do with a film about a candy factory...

Or just keep fighting and hope they stop coming! That might work too!

Zeeatar spots Phoebe's distress out of the corner of her eye, cracking an Oompa across the face with her staff and rushing toward her friend to lend what aid she can-

-only to get tackled by several more green haired warrior. She's keeping them from stabbing her with some nice staff blocking, but she really can't move anywhere...

But then rather abruptly a rather sizable pair of jaws attached to nothing else clamp over the Oompa after Phoebe and fling him away rather pretty violently.

That's one of the troublesome things about fighting Far Critters. Can never tell where they start and where they end. And it's pretty darn difficult to tell which end is dangerous, too.

[McBish]

Phoebe looks shocked seeing the Jaws clamp and toss the dwarf away. She scrambles the rest of the way up the stairs heading back to her room and closing the door behind her. A couple of dwarves chase up after and start pounding on her door.

[horngeek]

Brianna sees no enemies close to her.

And so, she lets out a battle cry, that should bring fear to all the dwarfs!

And then she has to deadtime. :smallsigh:

Okay, not yet. But maybe suddenly.

[Earl of Purple]

Androthelia's beginning to lose against this chap. Which forces him to desperate measures; he uses a necromantic spell to cause total organ failure. The oompa-dwarf coughs up blood and starts weakening, allowing Androthelia to draw his scalpel across the dwarf's neck. Shrugging off the cloak, Androthelia reveals stitches at his shoulders, and his left elbow, as well as scaly skin stitched to his torso. Swapping his scalpel to his left hand, he uses his right to tug at his left forearm and, when it detatches, starts using it as an impromptu club/pickaxe, swinging wildly at the next Oompa, who knocks over Androthelia's box with his corpse. Out of the box falls two more arms, a leg, some rolls of parchment, a jar of eyes and a tub.

((hopefully one more post))

[blackouttwo]

Lucas decides to help out Zeeatar by loosening his grip on the rest of the Oompa-Dwarves to avoid spreading himself too thin. He then drops a metaphorical hammer on the little orange freaks attacking Zeeatar, using the same method of attack that killed the first two he managed to take down.

Arthur just watches in horror.

[Je dit Viola]

Requiem smiles.

In all this confusion of the murderous dwarves, none of the other PCs have seen her snatch Isabel, the NPC woman.

Requiem orders the oomarf she has under her control, to keep the other ones away from her, while she does this:

Isabel yells at Requiem :Hey, what are you - !
She's cut off. A black tenril snaked up Isabel, and covered her mouth. Sh-sh-sh-shhhh...it won't hurt much. It's just your soul. It's not like you're going to use it anyway.

Requiem's scars along her face reveal themselves again, and her eyes penetrate Isabel. Isabel's soul...slowly leaks out. Out of her mouth, a white soul. A white soul that gets tainted black as Requiem absorbs it into her scars.

As it releases, Isabel lets out her dying breath, and slumps down to the ground. Soulless.
Her soul has been removed, and transferred into Requiem.

The evil woman's scars throb with power.

[ApeofLight]

Foro finally finds a way to beat the current dwarf he's dealing with. He steps off to the side and swings his staff around hitting the orange humanoid in the back of the head. He goes sprawling onto the floor.

Foro then looks up at the rafters. More enemies to fight!

He grabs his staff into one hand and starts to climb. As Foro reaches the top and pokes his head out and ax comes swinging at it. " Eeeh! " He ducks the ax embedding into the pillar of wood.

Foro hops up and kicks the dwarf sending the poor guy onto the tavern floor. He then goes about having a hay day of knocking one dwarf off right after the other.

[wxdruid]

Thecla will continue to use every means at her disposal, namely tooth and claw to attack and kill/maim as many dwarves as possible until either they're dead, or they take her apart with an axe.

[Earl of Purple]

Androthelia's head is removed. This doesn't seem to deter his body much; it's still flailing away at the oompa who did the deed of decapitation. In fact, the body seems to be doing quite well; it eventually kills that oompa. The body then continues flailing at the next oompa. At least, until it stands to one side. "To your left! Little bit more! Yes, that's him! Go on, take that dude down!" Androthelia's head is directing his body, which is bleeding for the first time. Not much, but there's definately blood oozing out of the neck.

Deadtime due to logging-on-yesterdayness.

[Gnrlshrimp]

More dwarves! Too many of the damn things!

Hawk abandons his position behind the counter, sending several knives flying at the dwarves as he runs, clipping a couple of them. He's not aiming for killing blows now, he's just trying to slow them down.

Two run after him as he leaps over a table and positions himself in the corner of the room, heaving it over to act as a barrier of sorts.

The two dwarves run round either side of the table, hoping to catch him off guard and-thud...thud. No such luck. Both get hit in the shoulder, not by normal knives this time, but by knives with a red blade and marble handles, with streaks of red running across them. Both knives immediately release bursts of flame, burning the dwarves severely. That's two more out of the fight.

While this has been going on, a third dwarf has been sneaking up behind Hawk. Thud. No such luck, dwarf, a teleporting knife just popped into existence and flew into the back of your head. Hawk pulls out several more knives and keeps an eye out for any more dwarves heading his way.

[Rebonack]

No one can think of anything that might placate an Oompa Loompa? C'mon guys, let's see some ideas!

With the Oompas off Zeeatar she calls out a, "Thanks!" to Lucas before taking off up the stairs as fast as her legs can carry her. Which frankly is pretty fast, really. Two Oompas at Phoebe's door.

The first get's smashed in the side of the head by the butt of her staff.

...the second is snatched into the air by an unseen force and devoured horrible.

Om nom nom nom nom!

Then raps on the door with her staff a few times. "Push something up against the door, Phoebe!" the Farmaid calls out to her friend. "I'll give you some time to barricade yourself in!"

[McBish]

OK thanks Zee. Phoebe voice sounds a bit panicked from behind the door. There is the sound of stuff being pushed up against the door.

[Je dit Viola]

Well, I can think of some things. It's just that Requiem would rather take advantage of the pandemonium and drain some souls.

'Her' Oompa Loompa with an axe is still guarding Requiem and the soulless captive. Slicing any other dwarves who come near, as upon command.

Requiem stares down at the Isabel, Now rise. And take this. Soulless Isabel stands, and grabs onto the whip. The whip was made out of Isabel's soul - Requiem almost laughs at the irony.

Two more souls...and then she'll decide that's enough.

One more Oompa Loompa, which she captures, drains the essence, and minionizes. Then, that dwarf with the flail also helps protect the two, Requiem and Isabel.

Requiem stares eternally, into Isabel's eyes. Her consciousness gets transferred into the more beautiful and unscarred woman's body.

The new Requiem smirks, and walks over to a mage who's helping fight off the dwarves, Help! she says, making the mage turn. What's wrong? he asks, just before blasting more oompa loompas. Just...come here... she says. Bringing the mage into a hug, she reaches into his back, into his heart, and pulls out his soul. I just needed your power.

[ApeofLight]

Foro humphs after clearing off one of the rafters. He reaches into his fez and pulls out some chocolate.

" Foro says go away! " He says and chucks the chocolate bar at them.

[Timberwolf]

Just because they can, Wolfie decides to keep the girlies' aim in and has them blow a few dwarves away with a variety of weaponry that should never be able to fit in a handbag.

The tiny sisters have set up on a stage with a balcony. Perfect for, say, resting a bipod for a light machine gun on.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Ugh, they just keep coming! Hawk kicks a dwarf standing on top of the table and sighs, he just wanted a drink, and now he's involved in another brawl! He flicks a flame knife into the face of the dwarf he just kicked away, then takes out one of his extra-sharp knives and stabs another dwarf in the stomach, only to have a third dwarf slam into him from behind.

Ouch...

[Rebonack]

As the chocolate bar is thrown a powerful sucking noise comes from the portal, whisking the bar away into its swirly depths!

And then as one the Oompas go running after it!

In a matter of moments every single one of them is gone.

A victory fanfare plays!

As Zeeatar comes back down the stairs, looking somewhat puzzled.

She blinks about at the scene of chaos.

"Eerr... Did we win?"

Looks that way, Zee. Looks that way.

[Timberwolf]

Well that was convenient...

Don't knock it...

I was just about to blast the one on that guy's back.

I'm sure another option for random carnage will present itself sooner or later.

[ApeofLight]

Foro blinks. " Hey! They stole Foro's chocolate! ... when did Foro get chocolate? " He says looking confused as he stands on the rafters.

[Je dit Viola]

Well, all but two Oompa Loompas run into the portal. The two that Requiem has soul-controlled.

Unless...Hey! You're supposed to obey me!

Too bad. They ran, too.

All-in-all, though, Requiem feels accomplished. She drained four souls - two Oompa Loompa things, a mage, and a beautiful woman who was engaged to a blacksmith. The mage's power belongs to her, and she currently inhabits the woman's body. Requiem's own scar-riddled body is at the bar, blanked out.

I'd say that was a productive random encounter.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Well...that was annoying." Hawk grunts and shifts the table he knocked over back to an upright position. Then he walks round the tavern, collecting his knives. Sure, he has a helluva lot of them, but he still doesn't like losing them. He sits down by the bar just as the last teleporting knive drops out of the air above him. He catches it with two fingers, chuckles, twirls it around his hand a couple of times, and puts it away in his pocket.

"Maybe I can actually get a drink now!"

[McBish]

Phoebe stays in her room, her bed pushed up against the door to stop anyone from breaking in the door.

She curls up in one of the corners watching the door nervously.

[Timberwolf]

The tiny twins head to the bar.

'Scuse me one of them says to Requiem's blanked out body,

They brush past her to get some drinks in.

[Rebonack]

Phoebe could probably use some Random Encounter™ loot. Extra cash is always useful and there might be something in there that could defend her. Having something to defend one's self can be nice.

From the bottom of the stairs Zeeatar yells back up to the second floor, "Hey Phoebe! They're gone!"

For whatever reason the portal seems to have sucked up all the corpses.

And spat out a rather sizable heap of phat lewt.

Which no doubt contains a number of nifty enchanted objects.

Who knows what wonders await the partakers of the most recent Random Encounter™?

Probably something neat.

[ApeofLight]

" Ooh, shiny things. " Says Foro dropping from the rafters to go grab his share of the loot. If he can he'll try to get mostly gemstones and what not.

[McBish]

Phoebe gets up and slowly pulls away the bed from the door and peaks her head out looking around carefully before smiling heading downstairs. She smiles nervously as she comes downstairs and sees the giant pile of Lewt. She walks over to it and looks through it carefully.

[wxdruid]

Thecla flops out on the floor under a table with her tongue hanging out as she pants.

[Timberwolf]

Unless there's something monstrously shiny / powerfully engined or interestingly lethal, the girls aren't bothered about the lewt. They have more than enough stuff that meets the above criteria.

[Je dit Viola]

Ooh, cool. And Requiem has three bodies to dig through it.

Well...two. Because her normal one doesn't count, because it just got shoved over and fell to the floor, lifeless, by somebody trying to get past.

But, Requiem in the younger woman with a white gown's body, goes over to the pile of loot. And so does her mage-minion, completely under her control. He seems a little stiff in movement, though. And his eyes don't have any color - they're just all white.

She digs through the loot. Her mage-friend stands behind her, unmoving.

[Timberwolf]

Errrrrr, what the hell ? Are you alright ?

In a rare display of cooperation and friendliness, the talkative twin reaches out a hand to help the blanked out body up.

[Je dit Viola]

The scar-riddled body of the woman doesn't respond. The scars seem to have an unnatural pulsing glow to them.

Mostly, because Requiem is too busy being distracted by the treasure to notice. Too bad for her.

There's no heartbeat, though. Or breathing.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Zel undeadtimes, still demonic. Any silver in the lewt should glow.

She looks at the pile, but doesn't go to take any.

[Rebonack]

As usual there are a fair number of gems in the lewt pile. No doubt Foro will enjoy eating them.

When Phoebe comes down the stairs she can expect to be on the receiving end of a hug from Zeeatar. "Glad you made it safe through the encounter. Things can get pretty hectic during them."

She also quirks an eyebrow at the utter lack of bodies in the tavern. "Huh... that's weird... Usually it only takes the left-overs from the encounter..."

Maybe the NPCs that were slain were extras inserted by the encounter for the opening musical number? May never know.

Anywho, among the various items in the heap of loot are the following...

A bunch of topaz bananas.

A silver spoon.

A plain oak box about the size of a loaf of bread.

A deck of playing cards.

A white collar inlayed with an amethyst.

And a mother of pearl guitar pick.

[McBish]

Zee gets a hug in return from Phoebe who goes over and starts to look at the stuff trying to figure out what it all is. She reaches down and picks up the fancy guitar pick. She had seen them at the place she bought the lute but didn't really know what they were for so she didn't get any.

[Timberwolf]

Ho hummmm, this looks really, really nice...

She beckons one of her sisters over. Equally short with black hair, she meanders her way through those checking out the loot to have a look.

Ooohkay, this is very interesting...

Being a cleric of the god of the dead, she takes a moment to have a little chat with the Authority about the precise nature of what's happened.

[ApeofLight]

Foro sorts through the various items. Spoon. Blegh. Box. Blegh. Deck of cards. Had two others somewhere. Topaz Banana's. Ble-wait...

Hmm... Perfect!

Foro takes the Bananas, various gems and coins and stuffs them into his fez except for the bananas. He doesn't put them in his fez.

[blackouttwo]

Lucas shrugs and goes to check out the deck of cards. He recalled what he got from his last random encounter: Nigh-unlimited psionic potential, because of some kind of enchantment on a scroll. Hopefully, this would be decent. If nothing else, it'd get him some silver by selling it.

[wxdruid]

Thecla turns over, sticks all four legs in the air and scratches her back against the floor.

[Je dit Viola]

'Isabel', with Requiem's consciousness, is still digging through the loot, tossing the occasional gold to the mage Hubert.

And...the body of Requiem is still where it was left last by the two girls who set it back up.

I'm wondering what's left and hasn't been taken. Sorry...

She's unaware of the conversation going on about her. JK. It must have been my imagination.

[Fenric]

Fenric slips into the tavern and heads toward the bar, a quick and quiet bit of sniffing along the way to see who might be here.

[Timberwolf]

((Nah, it wasn't, sorry, I realised that I'd imagined a post from you entirely, for which I apologise, and I got a bit enthusiastic. I got a bit out of whack and decided to let you get your oar in.

Conversation text was as follows.

Right sis, we have a soul eating horror. Obviously that is impinging on the boss's rightful turf and obviously we need to remove said nuisance wth extreme prejudice.

Any idea where ?

Somewhere in here. You know how he gets about making things too easy.

Could be anyone...

Yep, all we have is an identity on the 2 people who fall under the remit of the boss that were consumed. An Isabel von Starnberg and a Hubert of Hartshill. Hubert's a mage so he shouldn't be too hard to spot, except this place, of course, everyone, including you and mum, is a mage. Isabel's a normal person, which should make her stand out like a kobald at a angels' convention but, of course, this place is full of normal looking people too. Both good people, well, Hubert had his moments but we can't be perfect. Blast it. I hate taverns, did I never say ? ))

It's somewhere over... there

Well, lets see if we see a mage with a girl then who look wierd.

[wxdruid]

Fenric will be greeted by an enthusiastic Thecla (wolf). She runs once around him and tries to jump up on him and put her front paws on his chest.

[Je dit Viola]

(Oh, okay. That makes sense, I suppose) (Except, I did put a post, but promptly deleted it)

The man looks weird, because he's standing unnaturally still as he holds the stuff the girl tosses backwards.

On the other hand, the girl in the white gown is digging through the loot.

Hmmm...the box? Or the spoon? Both look generally useless, so she just grabs the spoon. The box will be harder to carry.

She gets a couple more gems, I suppose, in addition to the spoon.

[Fenric]

Fenric chuckles (and has never met Thecla as anything but a wolf), giving the wolf scritches with pointy fox claws.

{lupine} Hello there, Thecla. It's been some time since I saw you last.

[Timberwolf]

((lol, that explains that then))

Wierd looking mage type there... He's not standing right and he's with a girl... who looks absolutely fine.

Best shot we have. Lessee, first things first, as a confirmed example of a souless husk, this thing here needs to be destroyed utterly. I have no idea how to go about this but a Mage's Disjucntion always goes down well as a starter if you would oblige. First leave no retreat for your horror. Second thing second...

The black haired sister waves to the blue haired one on the balcony before making a couple of sign language gestures.

The blue haired one acknowledges, opens her handbag and pulls out a sniper rifle which she loads before disappearing into some shadows. You can safely assume it is pointed in the direction of Hubert and Isabel. The older, shorter lady beside her stands up and starts to move over to the door.

Third thing... better make sure we don't get caught out...

The girls sort out heir magic protection before the talky twin, a tiny woman with white hair casts the big bad dispel and magic destruction of Mage's Disjenction on Requiem's empty body.

[wxdruid]

Thecla's tail wags with joy, pointy fox claws are perfect for getting all the itches. She tries to lick him, {lupine} Same here. How have you been?

[Fenric]

Fenric's ears twitch at familiar voices

I swear I heard...

He turns his attention back to Thecla

{lupine} One has been well, little cousin. And you?

[Rebonack]

For no readily apparent reason there's suddenly an oddly colored fox sitting on Zee's head. And as soon as the fox starts being there Zee's hyper-realness ceases. And those funny fox-ears go away.

With a grin she plucks Avatar off her head and sets him down on the floor.

"This is starting to get a lot easier," she comments whilst scratching the fuzzy critter's back. "Breaking the meld, I mean. I'm not even feeling dizzy this time!"

"Hee! Told you practice was all we needed!" the Far-Fox yips. "Though I don't think the amount of down-time we'll need will change. Have fun with the loot, I'ma going to go see what kind of trouble I can get into!"

And with that Avatar bounds out of the tavern.

As for the loot... As usual people will know what the item does as soon as they pick it up.

The Rapturous Pick of Melodies that Phoebe has acquired is a rather interesting object. A song played using this item can cause several effects, including lulling hearers into slumber, causing them to dance uncontrollably, bolstering them for battle, and generally enhancing the user's skill with any stringed instrument. Though the power of the effect depends on the quality of the song played. The pick will take the form of whatever tool is best used to play the stringed instrument currently in use.

Foro has acquired the dreaded Banana Bombs of Armageddon. Hurling the bunch of banannas will cause them to explode violently, hurling the individual jeweled fruits into the air which will likewise explode themselves. Horribly powerful, this item can only be used once any given day. The next morning it will have reappeared in their possession intact.

Lucas has acquired the Deck of Go Fish! Each card has a picture of some kind of aquatic animal on it. Removing two matching cards and tossing them to the ground will summon a single member of that species. Only bigger, meaner, and able to both breath and swim through the air. Beware the Giant Enemy Crab!

The eeeevil soul-sucking lady has acquired a cursed item! Oh noes! The magical Spoon of Might will convince its owner that it is, in fact, easily the most potent weapon in all of existence. To the point that they will be loath to use anything else in combat. However it's just a normal spoon otherwise.

[wxdruid]

{lupine} I've been great! I've met some great people here. Her tail wags and she jumps back down to fun another circle around Fenric. She loves greeting old friends. Soon enough though, she's rolling over for a belly scratch.

[Fenric]

Fenric kneels down to continue the scritching, while his mind still works things through in the background. Finally, a single word comes out in exclamation

Alexander!

[wxdruid]

Thecla is ecstatic and the belly scratch feels great, she wiggles a little in response.

[Je dit Viola]

The husk of Requiem gets destroyed, billowing with the stolen souls of several peope, wisping away into the air.

The Isabel Requiem feels the shrieking souls, and stops what she was doing immediately.

She can't feel her old body. It's not there. And some of her power was drained, too.

Luckily, she took some of the souls with her to this new body. Also, luckily, she has the Spoon of Might. Also known as The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VDvgL58h_Y) (YouTube link) The perfect weapon for her.

She holds the spoon...testing its powers. Infusing it with stolen souls - which, to be honest, she doesn't have much of those left. Just...6. Isabel's, Hubert's, the two Oompa Loompas', her brother's, and that one Lunar Exalted, from all those years ago.

Requiem knows there's something looking for her. She just doesn't know who it is, or what they have planned for her.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Zel gives a short wave to Zee. She seemed confused by the appearance of Avatar, but doesn't question it.

[Timberwolf]

Oooh yeah, we done some good today.

And... yes, take a look at that, the sudden start, the shock of "what the heck just happened there?". I say we have our target.

Both women loosen their swords and pull their own guns out.

Ready ?

As I'll ever be.

Hold on a sec... If she moves, nail her and have mum deal with the mage.

Snowraven, the white haired twin waves to Zee. Courtesy among fellow professionals is, of course important.

[ApeofLight]

Foro grins. Best. Bananas. Ever. He happily puts them in his jacket(somehow) and goes back to the bar.

Meanwhile!--------------

Vaze will walk into Trog's with Maya. Vaze looks to be in his early 20s, with black unkempt hair and leather clothing.

He looks around for a good place to sit.

[Fenric]

Fenric gives Thecla a pat, then stands up and looks around. Wherever the Alexander sisters were about was sure to get interesting in short order.

Zee, could I get a martini?

[Je dit Viola]

Maya walks in with Vaze. She's in her mid-to-late twenties, and she's a nurse/actress. Mostly, at the moment, just a nurse.

She's wearing a beautiful strapeless black dress. Over there, she points out an empty table.


Requiem still doesn't move. She can tell it would be best to stand still for now.

But...six souls? She can still use those. Especially the three more powerful - the Lunar's, her brother's, and the mage's.

Armor, black as midnight, starts forming on her. Black mist, spewing from her like a fog machine, is what forms the armor. It completely covers her, and grows spikes.

The armor looks pretty menacing. Like a Dread Lord's armor.

[wxdruid]

Thecla rolls over and stands. She vigorously shakes, making her ears flap before she follows Fenric, her tail still wagging.

[Rebonack]

Okay!

Time to get cracking!

"Sure thing Fenric!" Zee replies mixing up the martini post haste and adding the requisite lemon. Said drink is sent off for delivery.

Next up Snowraven is waved at cheerfully! Yay!

Zel the giant scary demon thing is likewise waved to! Also yay!

Requiem's old body gets asploded! That makes Zee boggle a bit! And then becomes rather cross. "Hey! No blowing up bar patrons! You people had better have a pretty good explanation for this or you're out of here!"

Rawr!

The collar and the oak box remain in the Lewt pile.

[ApeofLight]

" Right. " Vaze nods and heads over there to take a seat.

[Fenric]

Fenric looks down at Thecla with a smile

{lupine} Can one get you anything?

[Timberwolf]

Never mind Zee, I think you can see what we're about here...

I think case confirmed...

A +5 silver plated with a cold Iron tip bullet is fired at Requiem from the shadows by the blue haired sister while the older lady by the door fires a Finger of Death at the Mage's body, just to be sure.

Snowraven fires another Mage's Disjunction at Requiem / Isabel while the cleric sister goes straight for the Energy Drain option.

Snowraven's twin, up till this point silent, has drawn her sword and is leaping towards Requiem with the firm intention of hacking her down to size by slicing off her lower legs.

[wxdruid]

Thecla rubs her muzzle with a forepaw, {lupine} Well....some bamhacon would hit the spot.

[Je dit Viola]

Maya, who also has a beautiful red rose pinned to her dress, smiles, and picks the seat next to Vaze.

And, they wait, I suppose.

---

The bullet tears through the not-quite-formed armor, ripping through Requiem's (better to just shorten it for convienence) shoulder. But, then, the armor hardens just enough immediately afterward, to stop the relaying attacks.

However, the Mage's body falls to the floor, rotting and decaying. Dying, but not reacting.

The Mage's Disjunction seems to have little or no effect, and the energy drain seems to glance off her soul-hardened armor. (Actually, to be honest, I have no idea what those spells are supposed to do.)

Again, the formed armor stops the sword, making a 'klink' sound as it hits the armor.

Behind the Deathlord Helmet, the new Requiem smirks. They have nothing compared to the power of her spoon.
She holds it out in front of her, chanelling the three weaker souls into the spoon, and it enlarges. Sharpens. Splits into two - a sword, and a spiked whip with the same silver gleam of the spoon. Come on. Do you think that will stop me?

[Fenric]

Fenric nods and smiles, then looks back up at Zee

{lupine} One would appreciate one plate of bamhacon and another of chicken

The usage of much magical energy in the vicinity makes Fenric's left ear itch. Being of canid descent, scratching this takes precedence over everything else and so he completely misses the fact that he did not ask Zee in Common.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Zel notices the fighting going on.

Normally, as long as nothing came her way, she wouldn't care too much.

But, because of the cursed amulet, any signs of violence can kind of...set her off. And she knows this now.

She lets out a growl, then quickly gets up and heads for the door. She doesn't want to be around people at this moment.

She sends a note to Zee just before she leaves.

"Sorry. Fighting sets it off."

[ApeofLight]

And so they wait.

Vaze taps his fingers on the table. " Soo.... "

[Je dit Viola]

So this is a nice place, she finishes. I haven't been here in ages. Since back when she was still an NPC living with her ex-boyfriend. I mostly avoided it, however, because of all the overpowered heroes.

((Reposted in case edit didn't work))


The bullet tears through the not-quite-formed armor, ripping through Requiem's (better to just shorten it for convienence) shoulder. But, then, the armor hardens just enough immediately afterward, to stop the relaying attacks.

However, the Mage's body falls to the floor, rotting and decaying. Dying, but not reacting.

The Mage's Disjunction seems to have little or no effect, and the energy drain seems to glance off her soul-hardened armor. (Actually, to be honest, I have no idea what those spells are supposed to do.)

Again, the formed armor stops the sword, making a 'klink' sound as it hits the armor.

Behind the Deathlord Helmet, the new Requiem smirks. They have nothing compared to the power of her spoon.
She holds it out in front of her, chanelling the three weaker souls into the spoon, and it enlarges. Sharpens. Splits into two - a sword, and a spiked whip with the same silver gleam of the spoon. Come on. Do you think that will stop me?

[Timberwolf]

((Sorry, I go back a long long time... it's been ages since I've got in a fight here. Mages disjunction (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magesDisjunction.htm)is the big bad magic item destructionny spell o' doom, Energy drain (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/energyDrain.htm) is a nicely powerful level + ability drain.))

Obviously not...

You didn't hit hard enough sis.

Never mind. Mum, something nice and big for this one I think...

Both sisters who have been talking pull their own swords out. They may be little, but if Requiem is looking closely, they should look horrifyingly compact for ones so small. Not an ounce of fat anywhere... If Requiem is familiar with the concept, it should practically scream "Combat Boosted Cyborg" at her.

But that's not the real danger. Ohhhhh no. Shadows are starting to detach from their NPC owners behind Requiem. Shadows that are starting to run into each other and form an amporphous lump. The lump is growing and taking shape into a ball.

The mage by the door fires a massive lightning bolt at Requiem which closely followed by another bullet aimed at the visor's slit.

The other 2 sisters wait for the bolt to do its stuff before they leap in, magically enhanced swords at the ready, one going for the knee joint of the armour, the other taking aiming for the elbow joint. The final sister, the ne who tried first with the sword makes an attempt to decapitate Requiem

[Recaiden]

"That will be fine. and don't worry; Magtok starts all the fights." For a certain definition of 'start'.
Then Ashna stands behind the counter and takes a moment to try to figure out what all is going on before she interferes.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze chuckles a little. He he, yeah it is a pretty nice place. A little crowded for my tastes, hero or no, but its fine. "

[Fenric]

Fenric puzzles at the long delay to getting his order, and turns to watch the Alexander sisters fighting whomever it is that has impinged on the god of death's domain this time.

[Je dit Viola]

((Okay. Thanks!)) ((I guess that means the magic spoon got destroyed, though...but she still has her soul-forged weapons))

You're lucky you got the first strike, and drained my power earlier, says Requiem. Because villains are always supposed to offhandedly mention their power source and origins.

I seem to have forgotten an adequate description of the armor. There's no joints, no holes, no slits, no anything, anywhere along it. Somehow, she can still see. It's one sleek, fluid, armor the color of death, riddled with spikes, and moves with her movement. The same color as her weapons. Anything impaled on the spikes of her armor, gets its energy slowly drained (due to the nature of the soul used for the armor). The weapons, however, don't have that effect.

Thusly, the attacks don't cut at the joints, as there are none. But, they seem to pierce through enough to make a small cut, before the armor reseals itself where it's hit.

Ignoring everything else, all the other attackers, she focuses the Stolen Mage's soul, and uses its power. Flames spurt from the soul sword, shooting towards the mage in the doorway, whose lightning bolt danced along her armor before being vanquished.

((If I missed anything, please remind me))


Hey, look. A fight, says Maya. It's a good thing they picked a table far from it.

[ApeofLight]

" Yea, looks like its contained over there though. Do fights happen often here? " He asks turning to Maya.

He notices that she still has the rose with her and blushes just a bit.

[Timberwolf]

The flames bounce off the mage's sphere of protection. Mrs Alexander, Archmage fires back, trying not to annihilate the NPC's by going for the "Crushing Hand" (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/crushingHand.htm) effect.

I really hate stuff like this.

The Cleric disengages and moves back, leaving it to the twins to try to pierce the armour while she tries something else.

There's a few options here. Either she can go all out and do the whole avatar stuff or she can try a bit of subtlety first. Her sword starts to glow white. Kelemvor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelemvor) has taken note and an interest in this and will attempt to drain the power of the armour and weapons with each touch of her sword. She heads back into the fray to see what happens when a weapon under the direct influence of the god of the dead touches this armour.

The sister in the shadows has decide enough is enough. the sniper rifle has gone back into the handbag of holding and she is now concentrating on the ball of shadow. it's grown to a huge size and silently starts to float behind Requiem. When it reaches its destination, it starts to spin.

[Je dit Viola]

Coward, she breathes at the mage, for not closing in at melee. The Crushing Hand can't crush her armor (I think that's what it's supposed to do? I don't really know, so I'll just go with this.)

As this happens, the twins's swords continue to nearly break through and give a thin cut, before being reflected backwards away from the armor.

And, for the cleric's merits, the blessed sword has no effect on the armor. None, at all, except for the usual 'sword on armor' sound.

However, when Requiem parries the cleric's sword with her own midnight sword, it seems to drain some of the power from the (Requiem's, and the cleric's) swords when they clash and their energies cancel out. When this happens, Requiem's sword will shrink unnoticeably. After enough times, it shrinks enough to become a short sword.

Still ignoring the shadow, Requiem slings her spiked whip around, to try to wrap at the cleric's midsection, piercing through any armor or shield, and will try to latch the spikes into the cleric. Should this happen, the cleric will feel her soul being tugged at, as if Requiem is trying to steal it.


Oh, yes. I suppose they do, says Maya. Another reason I avoided here.

[Kenyon]

A tall, grizzled man in a long gray coat makes his way into Trog's, and immediately steps aside of the fighting.

"Well, glad t'see certain things never change around here."

Keeping as low a profile as he can, the man makes his way to a spot at the bar.

[Fenric]

Fenric looks over at the newcomer

Did someone announce reunion night or something?

[ApeofLight]

Vaze nods. " Good reason to avoid the place. Best way to not get in danger. Avoid it. "

He taps his fingers on the table again. " Um, can we get some service here? " He asks to anyone that looks like they work here.

[Timberwolf]

The whip does indeed wrap round her. now to the effect.

Physically, the modifications the girls have had made them built along the lines of battlemechs. artificial muscles and metal bones. It scrapes off a load of the cleric's artificial skin and rips up her dress a bit.

Metaphysically, Requiem will be treated to the vision of a grey knight, faceless under his helmet. He's laughing at her but there is no warmth and humour behind it. What comes next though, well, call it a smack from beyond the realms of man's comprehension. It's a smack with the power of an annoyed god who is taking a personal interest behind it. Nothing tries to steal his agents souls, nothing.

In fact, the cleric starts to rise up into the air.

Not now, this is not... the time.

Her hair goes white. Her dress goes white, her eyes lose their pupils and iris' and close suddenly.

Uh oh, someone's angry...

The cleric holds out her hand and the sword transforms into a scythe. A very plain scythe with a slight bluish tinge to the edge

It could only really belong to one person, couldn't it.

The tiny avatar of death floats down to the floor and points at her sisters. Their weapons gain the effect hers had previously.

Their mother ensures that they have been given additional speed.

The ball of shadow is starting to fracture, with shining faultlines appearing all across the surface.

((Just realised, forgot to say hi Fenric, and Kenyon too. It seems to be crack open the cryofreeze night tonight))

[Je dit Viola]

Ooh! We could get NPCs! Unless anybody else wants to control them. There's a list of 3 NPCs who work here, on the front page. In case you want to control them.

Maya smiles. They're probably busy, or too afraid to come out in the middle of the fight.

Nina, one of said NPCs, is a grouchy tiefling. Yes? Can I help you? she says, with a :smallannoyed: face.



Ouch.

Well, Requiem knows when she's fighting a losing battle. And it's even easier to know that you're losing when it's shouting at you in the face.

Her sword's drained. Shrunken to but a mere dagger. The whip dissolves from the Cleric's waist, the soul coming back to Requiem.

Let's see...what can she do? Everything she can think of will logically fail. She does have a Xanatos Gambit hidden up her sleeve, but it will completely drain her. She doesn't want that.
That only leaves...try to blind everybody with a massive flash of power.

A laugh. Ha. God of the dead? I've killed more gods than are probably in your panthenon. She really hasn't, but a good bluff can go a long ways in shows of power.

Requiem's armor becomes engulfed in a dark purple flame. A flame of absense. A flame of destruction. Bright, and overpowering. This will stop the blessed weapons from reaching her.

And then...next, a small kitten seems to scamper away from the center of the flame. Just a cute, orange and tawny kitten. (This is made possible thanks to the sixth stolen soul she posesses). It tries to scamper away from the epicenter of the battle, to the corner of the tavern. Frightened.

And...yeah. I think that's it.

[ApeofLight]

" Can we get something to eat and drink, please? " Vaze asks trying to keep a calm face on.

He turns to Maya. " Um, what should we get? "

[Timberwolf]

I've been building up to the big ball o' shadow. I'll save it for next time

The ball of shadows collapses on itself, components returning to their rightful place.

Drat.

There'll be other days.

The cleric's appearence starts to return to normal.

I wanted to get that mage out of her. Never mind, I'm sure we'll meet again at some point and next time we won't start off lightly.

Yeah.

Drinkies ?

I think so

((Good fight :smallbiggrin: I enjoyed that.))

They see Fenric and give him a wave.

[Je dit Viola]

Come on, I don't have all day, she says in a you're-only-wasting-my-time voice. She also wants to get away from the battle.

Maybe a burger, fries, says Maya to Vaze, and a soda.


All remnants of the soul seem to dissolve, and vanish in the air.

((Thanks! :smallbiggrin: The posts took forever to write, though. I thought it was fun, too. And I'm sorry for ending it before the big shadow blast))

Just so everybody knows and isn't very confused, Requiem used the Lunar's soul to transform into the kitten, and try to go unnoticed away. A cute little mew, and the kitten hides in the corner behind some guy's boot.

So, final consequences on Requiem: She lost a whole lot of power during that battle. First, from destroying her original body, then from the enchanted weapons, draining the weaker souls.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze nods. " Yeah, alright okay. We'll have two burgers, two fries and two sodas okay? " Vaze says starting to get slightly annoyed with the service here.

[Je dit Viola]

Okay. She goes back, to have those made.

Maya glances over at Vaze, and smiles at him.

[Kenyon]

The man in the coat flags down Nina.

"'Scuse me, hon, can I get an Archon Ale?"

Nina rolls her eyes. "Sorry, 'hon', but we're all out."

The man sits there for a moment, as though disbelieving what he just heard. "What do y'mean you're all out? You're never all out!"

"It's just what I said! We hardly keep it in stock anymore, after the main guy who always drank it left Town a year or so back."

The man groans in disbelief, and his head hits the bar.

[Timberwolf]

((They're a family, they stick together. Does mean I have a lot of actions going down in a fight. Could have been worse... I could have had the mechanic, granddaughter and the mechanical dragon along for the ride as well))

Net cost for the girls, a bit of stitching and some larger weaponry needed for the handbag of holding. Oh, and a fair few burned spell slots.

The girls get Paige's attention and get their drinks in.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze looks over at Maya and sees the smile.

He can't but help smile back. " What? " He chuckles.

[Gimliggamer]

A confused looking elvish woman walks through the doors of Trog's, trying to make sense of this place. Danica walks over to the bar and sits down, observing the throng of people inside the tavern.

[Je dit Viola]

((Wow. That's a lot. Mechanical dragon? Ha.))

Nothing, says Maya, shaking her head. Still smiling...maybe laughing gently.

Back behind the scenes, the food is being cooked, and the drinks made. Mostly, it'll take a bit longer because of the food. It's better fresh.


The kitty, shapeshifted Requiem in Isabel's body, climbs up onto a table, jumps over to the window, and leaps out the window.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze shakes his head with a smile. " Whatever. " He says in a happy tone of voice.

[Je dit Viola]

Maya continues to smile.

And, finally, someone delivers their drinks at lightning speed! It's because, after fights, everybody wants to start ordering food and stuff again.

Sorry about that; she's a little grumpy today. Thank you! Food is delivered.

[Kenyon]

After moping for a bit, the man picks his head up off the bar, and glances around the tavern with a bit of a nostalgic look on his face.

Ordering whatever beer they have available, he happily takes the first one offered, and immediately regrets it. Despite the foul-tasting brew, the man continues to look around, as though looking for a familiar face.

[ApeofLight]

" Thanks. " Vaze says taking the food. He gives half to Maya and keeps half himself.

" Hmm, this smells good. " Vaze says picking up the burger.

[Rebonack]

Zee flails off the dead time!

Geeze, Zee! Everyone was waiting on you! Way to let your player go off and read text books for class. How selfish!

Nerve of those players.

Anyway...

As soon as she registers the fact that Kenyon is here he'll get a rather enthusiastic wave from her. "Oh! Hiya Destro's friend I forgot the name of!"

Well, at least she tried, right?

"How are you doing tonight? Can I get you anything?"

Other than an archon ale, of course.

[Je dit Viola]

Yeah, I know. It tastes even better, says the part-time nurse from HALO.

Maya takes a huuuuge bite from her burger, after putting some fries and fry sauce on it, of course.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze takes a bite. Not a big one or with fries and fry sauce(does anyone else here know what that is?). He munches on it.

" Mmm, it does taste even better. " Vaze says with a nod. He then tries a few of the fries.

[Je dit Viola]

(For Brazillians, it's rosé sauce without the hot sauce)
Maya takes another large greasy bite.

It looks like she's going to finish before Vaze.

[Kenyon]

Kenyon's player, now glad that someone has recognized the character, drops the "The Man" moniker.

Kenyon waves back at Zee. "Howdy, person whose name I too have forgotten!"

He twirls the half-drunken bottle of beer in his left hand. "Nah, I'm good for now."

[ApeofLight]

Vaze sees that she isn't eating faster than him. He's feeling a little competitive. So he starts to eat faster.

[Rebonack]

Aaww...

"Are you sure? We got in a shipment of guilder's ale. I'm told that stuff beats the cheap bottled beer hands down," Zee offers, wiggling a frothy mug of the stuff in an overly tantalizing fashion.

"And I'm Jezekiel Xar'Cha. Most people 'round here call me 'Zee' though. It's a neat nick name! Everyone should have one of those!" some might dispute this. Some people who happen to be very serious about everything.

Such people aren't that much fun to be around, though.

"So what about you Mister Destro's Friend? What should I be calling you?"

Because Mister Destro's Friend just doesn't roll off the tongue to be utterly honest.

[Je dit Viola]

Oh, no! In the competition of the eating, who's going to win?

...if only they had a shake to top it off.

Unfortunately for Maya, her mouth's smaller than Vaze's. So, now that he's trying, she can't keep up. But she keeps on bite, chew, swallowing as quickly as she can.
Then, some fries.
Then, the drink.
Back to burger.

[Gimliggamer]

Danica tries to hold her breath from all the beer and other alcohol, and finally gives up in the tavern asking, Excuse me, do you have any non alcoholic beverages?

[ApeofLight]

Vaze just starts to go at it. Chomp chomp chomp.

He hasn't really started on his fries or drink yet but is burger is almost gone.

He glances over at Maya with a glimmer of competition in his eye. Then its back to eating.

[Rebonack]

"Yes!" Zee replies to the inquiry in a fashion that's faaaar more exuberant than strictly nessicary. Even leans over the bar a fair bit and grins a whole bunch.

It looks rather silly to say the least.

"We have llamanaid, hot chocolate, and several different kinds of fountain drinks!"

They're fizzy!

"If any of those sound good then I can grab 'em for you! Oh! And I don't think I've seen you around here before, new to the city maybe? 'Cuz meeting new people is fun!"

She sounds uncannily spunky tonight.

Someone must have slipped her some coffee or something.

[Kenyon]

Kenyon looks longingly at the guilder's ale.

"That does look good, I admit..."

For the moment, though, he concentrates on re-introductions.

"Well, it's a pleasure t'meet you again, Zee. My name's Kenyon. Kenyon Trammel."

[Je dit Viola]

Vaze just starts to go at it. Chomp chomp chomp.

He hasn't really started on his fries or drink yet but is burger is almost gone.

He glances over at Maya with a glimmer of competition in his eye. Then its back to eating.

Aww...it looks like Maya's going to lose.

Especially because she's slowing down. At least she's eaten more fries than he has.

[Gimliggamer]

"Llamanaid sounds good." she says, risking to uncover her mouth. "Yeah, I'm new to this city, and I got kind of lost and ended up here. Well, at least this city seems nice enough. My name is Danica, and you are?" She explains/asks.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze smirks as he finishes the burger and moves onto the fries.

He grabs a pinch of them and scarfs them down. Hmm, salty. He could use a drink now.

*slurp*... Vaze is starting to have second thoughts on having eaten most of his food so fast.

[Je dit Viola]

Aha!

Maya has a smug look on her face. Maybe she's going to catch up, after all? Maybe she'll get lucky.

She's been taking the burger, fries, and drink down in equal proportions so that she finishes all three at roughly the same time.

[Rebonack]

The mug is set down in front of Kenyon with a thump and a grin by the barmaid. "First one's on me, then! A welcome back for an old friend I totally couldn't remember the name of! Consider it an apology for forgetting your name, Kenyon."

Next one will probably cost some coin, though.

"So! Have you been off on some kind of amazing adventure? Or was your absence really mundane like heading back to your home and helping your family?"

Possibly both?

Then attention shifts to Danica as her llamanid is provided. "Nifty! You wouldn't believe how many people stumbled into the Nexus by wandering around. This place is like a roach motel for adventurers. And I'm Zee! Nice to meetcha!"

[ApeofLight]

Vaze reaches and takes a couple of the fries and eats those. He has a sick look on his face. He's able to munch on the fries and sallow them but then stops.

He pauses for a second and then burps loudly. " Euugh:smallyuk: excuse me... " He says with a somewhat disgusted look on his face.

It seems Vaze has caught his second wind but can he make up for lost time?

[Je dit Viola]

Eew.

Gross.

Maya keeps on eating, after a brief pause.

Maybe we should flip a coin to decide who wins.

[Gimliggamer]

"Nice to meet you as well Zee." Danica says, sipping her llamanaid.

[ApeofLight]

Yeah sure.

Vaze has learned his lesson.

Go slower and keep equal portions.

[Je dit Viola]

Okay.

Heads: Maya wins
Tails: Vaze wins.

Maya smirks, and keeps on eating, while I roll in the 'roller thread'.

Edit: Got a 2, Vaze wins.

[Kenyon]

Kenyon polishes off his bottle, and take a sip of the mug, next.

"Thank ya kindly, Zee."

"As for me, yeah, I had to head back home for some time. Defense of The Homeland, and all that. Let me tell you, being under seige by an army of psychic badger-people was not how I expected to spend the past year."

"How's Town doin', Zee? Seems a little...smaller...since I saw it last.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze puts in one more burst. He grabs the rest of the fries and stuffs them in his mouth, swallows and then finishes the drink.

His cup comes down with a slam. " Yes. I... ughhh I win. " He sticks out his tongue with a disgusted look.

He won, but at what cost.

[Je dit Viola]

Maya gives a mocking smile, and slowly finishes up the last bite of her burger, then the last six fries, and the last sip of her soda.

I guess you did, she says.

[ApeofLight]

He rests his forehead on the table. " Ughh... Why did I win? "

He burps again but not as loudly as the last time. He apologies again and sits back up.

[Je dit Viola]

So that you could win the prize, of course, says Maya.

What the prize is?

I'm at a loss. Help me decide.

[ApeofLight]

Hmmm... Milkshake, tab, kiss, ... Those are three that I can think of.

Could one of those be the prize?

" Prize? What prize? " Asks Vaze looking back up.

[Je dit Viola]

Hmmm...good idea. I want a milkshake, so that's not the prize.

Instead, Maya leans forward, towards Vaze. This prize, she says, before giving him a quick kiss.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze blinks and blushes slightly. He chuckles nervously and looks away. " That's a pretty good prize. "

" Umm, do you want to get anything else or... " Or something else.

[Je dit Viola]

How about a milkshake? she suggests.

I don't think they could each eat all of another one, though. Might have to share.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze nods. " Yeah, okay. I don't think I could eat a full one though. What about you? " He motions a waiter/waitress over.

[Je dit Viola]

No, I don't think so either. Maybe share one.

You can control the NPC this time.

[ApeofLight]

" Yeah, okay sounds good. " Vaze says with a nod.

Cosmo comes over with a grumble. " Whatcha oder? "

" We'll have a milkshake. "

" What flavour? " He scowls.

Vaze turns to Maya. " Ummm... "

[Je dit Viola]

A cherry chocolate, pipes in Maya.

That sounds like it'd be really good.

[ApeofLight]

" Alwight, it'll be done ina minate. " The gnome grumbles as he walks back to the kitchen.

" Cherry chocolate sounds good. " Vaze says with a smile.

[Je dit Viola]

Yeah, I know, says Maya. That's why I chose it. She beams.

[ApeofLight]

Cosmo comes back with the milkshake.

" One Charry chocolate milkshake. " He says handing it to them before he stalks back to the kitchen.

Hmm... did it come with one straw or two?

[Je dit Viola]

Obviously two, I think.

Mmmm... Maya sits closer so she can get to her straw. And then start slurping it.

[ApeofLight]

Yep, two it is. Vaze gets his straw and also starts to slurp up the milk shake.

Considering that the straws aren't very long and how closely there seated, there faces are pretty close when there enjoying there milkshake.

[Je dit Viola]

Ooh. Really really close.

So, milkshake gets drained.

Also, I have to be GoodKnighted in a post or two.

[ApeofLight]

Yeah, I should have probably gotten off a while ago. Oh, well.

When the milkshake is gone Vaze finds himself not wanting to move away. Not yet anyway.

So he keeps his face there as if he where just about to slurp up some more imaginary milkshake.

[Je dit Viola]

Maya seems to think there's still some more, too. Silly them. It's empty.

I'm leaving next post.

But, eventually, they have to accept the fact that it's all gone, and move their heads away.

[ApeofLight]

Vaze finally has the sense to say something. Although he says it quietly, as if he doesn't want to admit it. " I... I think its all gone now... We... we should probably head back to HALO soon. "

And yet he doesn't move yet. He doesn't want this outing to be over yet.



Continue this tomorrow or no?

[Je dit Viola]

Yeah. I guess you're right, says Maya. It's too bad.

Maya will pay for it.

And, no, because, after a look at my schedule tomorrow, I won't be on, most likely.

So, I guess they need to go back.

Goodnight!

[ApeofLight]

" Yeah... "

Vaze pays for his share and goes back with Maya.


Goodnight!

[McBish]

Phoebe sits down in a corner with her new magical pick and her lute. She starts to play it quietly the pick improving her skill a good bit. But she still is barely proficient.

[Gimliggamer]

Danica shakes off the deadtime ooze at the bar and continues sipping her llamanaid.

[McBish]

Phoebe glances over at Danica keeping an eye on the level of her drink. If she starts to run off Phoebe will get up and head over to do her job.

[Je dit Viola]

Prince William's here, although his wolf isn't.

He's been spending too much time in here. He should go out and do something.

Well, actually, he has something planned, but it's going to wait after a specific other thing happens. Then, he goes over to that one place and does that one thing.

[Kenyon]

Kenyon sneezes the deadtime off himself, and looks around, noting everyone else still covered. For the time being, he stays at his spot at the bar, finishing his beer from two days ago. If there's one thing deadtime is good for, it's keeping beer fresh.

[McBish]

Phoebe isn't deadtimed. She has moved behind the bar and is leaning up against it watching people to see if they need anything.

[Moofin Bard]

There is a young woman who looks like she barely reached adulthood and she walks in. She looks like this:

http://public5.tektek.org/img/av/1002/d16/1600/8a19521.png

[McBish]

Phoebe looks over at the young women. She is dressed in her normal faded pink skirt and overly large knitted sweater. She goes over to the young woman with a smile.

Hello there welcome to Trog's. Can I get you anything? She says with a smile.

[Moofin Bard]

The woman gives her a small smile. She looks a little nervous and a little overwhelmed. Hi. My name is Cyrie. Well I was sort of looking for someone who might be able to help me with a problem.

[Morty]

Reelshka and Grimzig are in Trog's. Krugzim is still suffering from agoraphobia and stayed home.

[McBish]

Phoebe smiles trying to look as comforting as possible. I'm Phoebe it's nice to meet you Cyrie. What kind of problem, maybe I can help. She says hoping it isn't the kind of problem that needs to be solved with swords or magic, she has never been very good at either of those things.

[Moofin Bard]

Well then she's probably not going to be able to help. Cyrie sighs sadly and closes her eyes. I seem to be blacking out a lot. And when I wake up I can't remember anything that happened and sometimes I'm places I've never been.

[McBish]

Oh that isn't good. Do you black out at random times or is there something that triggers them? Phoebe says frowning and tilting her head curiously.

[Moofin Bard]

So far as I've noticed it's random times. I'm afraid I might be possessed. My father sent me here to find someone who could help.

[McBish]

Oh well that is a good idea, there are lots of helpful people here. I'm sure one of them will be able to help you.

She says smiling. She takes a closer look at Cyrie, sometimes she can see things beyond the surface, things magical and hidden in the world. Just a little gift that her eyes have. So if Cyrie is indeed possessed Phoebe might get a glimpse of the being inside her. Then again she might not.

[Moofin Bard]

Right now she can't see anything. It doesn't look like she's possessed as far as the textbook definition goes. That's what I heard. Which is why I'm here. So thanks for your help.

[McBish]

Would you like anything to eat or drink as long as you are here? Phoebe asks with a small smile.

[Moofin Bard]

She smiles, still a little overwhelmed.
Not right now but thanks anyway.
Then she deadtimes.

[Earl of Purple]

Androthelia's here, sitting at a table by the bar. He's looking at something in the jar in front of him, which is shielded from view by his over-fingered hands. His eyes match; both of them are brown, which makes the almost-attractive face slightly more attractive. If, of course, you ignore the stitches framing it. He's wearing a brown cloak, and all the damage inflicted upon him and his clothing by the oompa-dwarves has been repaired. Under his table is a metal box, with a tag tied to the handle and a red cross on both sides.

[Rebonack]

Aside from the usual NPCs poking around the tavern today there seems to be a rather surprising number of filthy peasants today. Which might strike most people as odd. Filthy peasants are fairly uncommon in urban taverns. Most of the time they're off somewhere plowing dirt or picking corn or something.

These particular peasants look fairly haggard. Worn. Some grieving.

Why?

Because they had resisted the expansion of the empire.

And frankly when you pit normal folks with farm implements up against a mechanized army equipped with sci-fi gear there isn't a chance. No chance at all.

Regardless of what Ewoks might suggest.

Zee seems pretty engaged talking to some of these people right now.

[McBish]

Phoebe scoots a bit closer to Zee so she can listen to the conversation that Zee is having.

[blackouttwo]

Lucas shakes off deadtime, and walks over to some of the peasants, noticing their attitude and general condition. What happened to you? He isn't exactly aware of the Empire's sudden expansion.

[Rebonack]

"...'n so they said we'd get aid 'n supplies if we just submitted to their rule," a farmer with a rather tattered looking straw hat explains. "We told 'em thanks but no thanks, we're happy with rulin' ourselves 'n all. Was just a few years ago that some adventurers helped free us from that Tyrannis fellow's fiefdom 'n as you might imagine we weren't took keen on a repeat o' the matter."

He takes a swig of his ale at the point before clunking the mug back down and shaking his head. "They wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Someone threw a rock. 'n they started shootin'. It was bad, I tell ya. I took my family and ran. Imagine my surprise when I found at these Empire people are in charge 'round here too."

Zee sighs at this point, wrinkling her nose at the story. "I suspected they were up to no good. But... I never really had any evidence of it. They came into the City a little under a year ago and started helping out with the various invasions we get now and again. But then out of the blue they declared themselves rulers of the city. They've been ignored by most everyone because... well... They just acted like a police force. Didn't cause any trouble. Didn't even demand taxes. But now..."

Another farmer, a bit older than the one Zee is talking to, nods to Lucas. "Those shocking Empire people happened, that's what! Rolled right into our village and demanded allegiance!"

[Kenyon]

Kenyon snorts himself awake after nodding off for a couple of hours.

"Guh? Wha? I heard someone mention somethin' about shootin'..."

[McBish]

Phoebe frowns a bit as she hears this. That really isn't a good thing from the sounds of it. She sighs figuring there is pretty much nothing she can do lately. Though that seems to be a normal situation for her. All of her friends and people she knows get into some sort of trouble and she can do nothing to help them.

[blackouttwo]

Lucas is a little surprised by this news, but not very greatly. Any militaristic government was bound to launch an expansion campaign sometime. I'm sorry to hear about this. Why'd you head here? Most refugees run from the invading army.

[Earl of Purple]

Androthelia hasn't noticed the peasants. He's paying to much attention to whatever is in the jar, which is still hidden from view by the position of his hands.

Andy, however, has no such distraction. Of course, there's only so much two hands attached via twelve inches of arm can notice. It scuttles towards Lucas, who, if he notices it, will see two right hands, one with a patch of hairier skin in the middle, the other with an anchor tattoo. It drums its fingers on the floor.

[Moofin Bard]

Cyrie happens to overhear all of the stuff about invasions and Empires and shootings. She's hopelessly sympathetic. She mingles with a few of the NPCs. Oh you poor things! You must have had a horrible time of it.

[Rebonack]

No doubt Phoebe will learn how to be useful some day! So often feeling helpless is a good motivation!

*ahem*

"Came here because there's nothing left there. 'n we had no idea these people came from the City to begin with. Never thought the hero types 'round here would allow a bunch of outsiders to lay claim to this place," the farmer explains with a shrug.

Zee, meanwhile, looks miffed.

Quite miffed, really.

Pacing back and forth behind the counter muttering to herself. Probably plotting.

"Sounds like it's about time to take out the trash..."

[blackouttwo]

Lucas happens to notice Andy. He looks at the little...thing, confused. ...What the...OK, who would make a creature like that? What logical purpose would it serve? His confused look turns to an incredulous one as he tries to process who would be dumb enough to just make a pair of hands.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Hmm, so these empire people have been taking land by force? Sounds like a bit of an unfair thing to do. Why'd they wait so long to do it though?" Yeah, Hawk's here. He's been listening to what they're talking about and he doesn't really like the sound of it, but he's not going to do anything to stop it.

Nah, that'd take too much time and effort, and he probably wouldn't even get a decent reward for it!

"Oh, hey, Zee, y'reckon I should try and cheer 'em up a bit with a performance?"

[McBish]

Phoebe gets up and goes to help a couple of regular patrons of the taverna. An elderly man and women who have lived in the inside for a long time. They have talked to Phoebe a bunch of times since they usually get about one meal a day here. They talk for a bit and the man hands her a small book that looks well worn. She smiles and takes it from him to go and start to read it behind the bar while watching to see if anyone needs her help.

[Kenyon]

Kenyon stands up, and rubs the sleep out of his eyes, a look of heavy concern on his face.

"Okay, now I KNOW I'm missin' something. Who's claimin' this place and causin' all this trouble?"

[Earl of Purple]

The answer to Lucas' may lie with the man at a table a distance away; they certainly share a family resemblance, what with the stitches. But the man seems very focussed on the jar in his hands, with his eleven fingers and five thumbs shielding whatever it is from view. Indeed, Andy the Necro-construct scuttles away back to this odd figure.

[blackouttwo]

Lucas decides to keep an eye on Andy's master, but turns back to the farmers. He'd approach the(probable) necromancer later. Well, the 'heroes' around here are a bit...tied down, all with their own little things. I'm one of them, and I've been busy getting a new house for my family after our old one got blown up. But, if things are as bad as you say, I'll gather some people and look into this.

[Moofin Bard]

Cyrie butts her way into the conversation.
I'm no hero Sir. In fact I've come in search of a possible hero myself. But if you say things are that bad, I might be of some use.

[Rebonack]

"The self-proclaimed ACRO Empire," Zee replies to the gunsmith rather darkly. "Dunno why they took so long to show their hand. Probably to build up a power base here before they started making trouble."

She passes an ale to Kenyon.

Sadly he'll have to pay for this one.

"If they don't pose a threat here then most people won't bother to stop them. There aren't many around the city that will go out of their way to save a bunch of normal folks who live out in the countryside."

Not much loot to be had there, honestly.

"I figure the thing to do would be to try to take the fight to their head quarters. Let them see first hand what happens when you mess with the people of this town."

[blackouttwo]

Lucas raises an eyebrow at Cyrie, wondering what good she'd be if she was here looking for help herself. Well, what are you good at? Offensive spellcasting? Healing? Summoning?

[Moofin Bard]

Cyrie opens her mouth and closes it. She's still shy. She'd rather not say just crawl into a corner. Or something like that. Nevermind it was silly.

[Earl of Purple]

The stitched man waves over a barmaid, placing the jar on the table, revealing the contents to be a pickled brain. Unless it's a deformed cauliflower.

Anyway!

"I would like a jar of pickled onions, please."
"Of course, sir."
He picks up the jar and starts studying the contents again. It's possible that the contents were missed.

[blackouttwo]

Thought so. Lucas isn't really trying to be a jerk, here, but he can't take anyone who's actually looking for a 'hero' to help them seriously when they say they can help in this kind of situation(which is bound to involve combat. Lots of combat).

Lucas turns to Zee. Well, Zee, let's not be hasty. Going off on these guys is only going to invoke a reprisal, possibly towards more civilians. We need to figure out the best way to sweep the whole Empire under the rug at once. Striking at their headquarters will just make the armies flail around and cause more damage, like a body going into a seizure without it's head.

[Kenyon]

Kenyon fishes through the pockets of his coat, pulling out a few paper notes before pulling out some hard currency, and placing it on the bar.

"Well, Zee, if you need help layin' down the law on some big-headed warriors, I'm glad to help any way I can."

[Moofin Bard]

While left alone, Cyrie suddenly gets a little upset. It was very rude of him just to blow her off like that. She didn't say she couldn't do anything. She didn't say anything at all really. Come to think of it, who asked him anyway? The upsetness turns into anger. Excuse me! That was very rude! She pounds her fist on the table. It leaves a dent. Yeah it's sort of like a hulk thing.

[blackouttwo]

Lucas looks at Cyrie, having expected this. Well, I can't exactly help it if you show up looking for help of the violent kind, then turn around and say you can handle the situation yourself by offering to help someone else with the same kind of support. It's a reaction of mine. He shrugs, looking a little apologetic.

[Moofin Bard]

I said 'of a sort'. I'm not looking for help of the violent kind thank you very much. I'm looking for help because I think...a friend of mine...might be possessed by something. The rage slowly dies down. She looks at the dent. Sorry.

[Earl of Purple]

The jar of pickled onions arrive at the table of the man with the stitches surrounding his face, wrists, fingers and hairs. He puts down the brain jar and opens the pickled onions easily; looks like so many fingers have got a use after all. He then starts eating the pickled onions, leaving the brain in a jar on the table in clear view. Unless it is a cauliflower. He also starts paying attention to those surrounding him.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Well, feeling a little bored, Hawk hops up onto the stage and after introducing himself starts his routine.

...normally Gnrlshrimp would describe the routine in at least some detail, but he really can't bring himself to put any detail in today. So, well, it involves a lot of different tricks and a helluva lot of knives. You can bet the teleporting knives put in a few appearances, as well as some of his other special knives...

Meh, next time Hawk puts on a show, you'll get some detail. Anyway, at the end he finishes by catching the last three knives in his teeth, bows, and flicks them away into his pocket.

[McBish]

Phoebe seems engrossed in her new book smiling and flipping through the pages all but flying through the book when she isn't helping NPC's.

[Earl of Purple]

Hawk was watched most by a man sitting on a table of his own with stitches surrounding his almost-attractive face, his fingers and stitches at his wrists. Afterwards, he applauded with his over-fingered hands for quite a while. The chap's brown eyes are on Hawk for a while afterwards, as well.

[Gnrlshrimp]

The man gets a brief smile back, but nothing more. Hawk is more interested in ordering a drink...

Besides, he's only doing the occasional performance in exchange for a room upstairs.

[McBish]

Hi there, what can I get you? Phoebe says putting down her book and going over to Hawk to help.

[Earl of Purple]

I forgot to mention that the stitched man has a brain in a jar on his table. Unless it's a deformed cauliflower. The man is also wearing a brown cloak, hiding the majority of his body from sight.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Oh, just an ale or something. I'm not in the mood for anything strong today. It's a shame no one else uses that stage, you know..."

[McBish]

Phoebe gets him an ale and nods. She glances at her lute that is in a safe position behind the bar. But she knows she is in no way ready to get up on stage yet.

Yeah, it doesn't get used that much, really is a shame. I liked your show though. Though she was really distracted by her book.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Looked like you were rather more interested in your book to me." Hawk chuckles and winks at her. "I understand though, there's nothing quite like a good book."

[McBish]

Phoebe blushes and smiles. Yeah it is a good book. I haven't read too many before this one. It's pretty interesting. Sorry, I did watch some of your performance though, it was really good.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Well I'm glad to hear that. I do my best to please the crowd. It's always good to hear that the audience enjoyed it." Hawk takes a swig of his drink and sighs happily. This is a good tavern...large audience, nice waitresses, friendly folks...

"What book is it?"

[McBish]

Phoebe holds up the book. The Grand Adventures of Rich Marlow. It's all about this guy Marlow who goes out and has all sorts of adventures and meets all sort of fun and interesting people. It has a picture of a handsome man with a sword drawn fighting off a dragon.

[Gnrlshrimp]

"Well, that does look like quite an interesting book. I'll let you get back to it now, thanks for the drink."

[McBish]

OK, let me know if you want anything else. She says starting to read the book again.

[ApeofLight]

Foro undeadtimes.

He starts to make a pyramid with all of his empty bottles at the bar.

[McBish]

Phoebe watches him with a small smile as she keeps reading. She sometimes get up to go and help various patrons. She always rushes back to her book. And it not being very long, she is quickly getting through it.

[Rebonack]

And thus the dead-time pudding that's been gnawing on Zee for a while now finally slinks away to bother someone else. And comments are replied to! "Most of the people who are part of this army now are people who have always lived in the City here. Or those that have moved in from somewhere else. You know most people in the town just try to mind their own business and survive in this crazy place. It isn't like people here to go and start conquering places linked to the Nexus. It just doesn't make any sense!"

Hasn't ever happened before at least.

"It's got to be something with this Vyrn guy. This all started with him and I suspect it would end with him, too. If he wants to believe that he's lording it over the City that's one thing. But when he starts rolling over other places and killing innocent people? No. This has to stop. We need to do something."

Hip hip hazzah?

[Darkcomet]

There is someone chattering on a cell phone nearby.

Something about how he'd like to report someone plotting against the Empire...

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. :smallamused:

[Gnrlshrimp]

Oh dear indeed, one can only hope the empire are smart enough not to try anything in Trog's. That'd be an exceptionally bad move on their part. :smalltongue:

Hawk stares at his now empty drink. Well, that won't do! But Zee is a bit too busy getting angry about the empire at the moment, so he looks over at Phoebe. "I hate to bother you again, but could I have another please?"

[blackouttwo]

Lucas nods, but crosses his arms, as if he doesn't agree with Zee entirely. Zee, think about this. If Vyrn goes down, then someone else would succeed him. I don't think we should just charge into this. We're powerful, but we're not powerful enough to take the fight to him directly. People like him don't stay in power this long without knowing what they're doing. We need allies and support before we can make a move.

[McBish]

Phoebe smiles at Hawk and gets him another drink. There you go. Enjoy the drink. She says not seeming to be hearing the conversations about the empire, and overthrowing them and stuff like that.

[Rebonack]

That gets a slow nod out of Zee as she begins fixing a sammich. Not just any sammich... but rather a hero sammich!

"That's just the thing, though. He's in power since it's been funneled in from somewhere else. The hardware he uses. The funds. Who knows how many of the troops. It has all be shipped in from who knows where. This guy's being supported by someone else," she summarizes. "He's not even taxing the city. There's no way he would be able to outfit and pay these soldiers of his on a budget of nothing. If we knock down the puppet then the puppet master needs to step in to keep up the show. And if everyone knows that this is just some kind of power-grab from outside the Nexus instead of a benevolent new police force... Well, frankly, if the whole of the Nexus rises up against this Empire it won't last a day."

After all...

Most don't survive around here by being weak.