[Nexus] Trog's Tavern CCXXVI

[ThirdEmperor]

The Nexus is... Um..... A world, made up of lots of worlds? Or something like that. People just end up here. Don't really know much else.

[happyturtle]

Marisha has no divine power of her own- it's just her mom's scent rubbing off on her. If Avatar follows his nose, he'll find a catgirl sitting in a booth and reading a story to her 4 year old son.

[Gullara]

"Wow really? Huh, I wonder how we got here." The dryad says.

I wonder what she means by we.

[Shyftir]

A man in a grey cloak enters the tavern. The cloak's hood is down and the man's long dark grey hair is visible. It is pulled back into a ponytail and hangs to his shoulder. Under the cloak he is wearing only an open black vest and loose black pants. He is tan but obviously naturally fair-skinned. He appears to be around thirty-five. His jade green eyes survey the bar before he swaggers over to a table in the back. Each step of his booted feet falls with curious softness though in the hustle and bustle of the busy tavern only those paying attention to new comers would notice. As he sits he orders in a deep authoritative voice, "I would have Ale, good sir."

While waiting for his drink the rawboned man scratches at a pad of paper produced from what must be voluminous pockets in his cloak.

[ThirdEmperor]

Riv shrugs.

[Gullara]

((*twitch* Totally picked the wrong character to talk to.))

"So... what happened to your arm?" She asks, reaching for conversation.

[Rebonack]

Cosmo, the ever sour gnome, retrieves the newcomer's ale for him. The drink is set down on his table unceremoniously. And then? Cosmo stands there. Staring at him. Terrible service as always!

Avatar, meanwhile, is sure enough following his nose! It's often a rather good thing to follow. So let's see... Cat girl mother... The Chimera glances down. Cat girl infant. Looks like a match!

He clomps over to the table and clears his throat slightly to get the feline woman's attention. "Excuse me, miss? Is this your child?"

The child in question is held out slightly.

"She was wandering around on her own. This probably isn't the safest place to leave children unsupervised."

Hopefully he isn't going to get snapped at for trying to be helpful.

[VampireRot]

((*twitch* Totally picked the wrong character to talk to.))

"So... what happened to your arm?" She asks, reaching for conversation.

Did... Did the small black kitten just snigger? :smallconfused:

No... It must've been your imagination. THAT CAT is simply laying there contentedly. And cats don't snigger, anyhow. Er, regular non-Nexus cats.

[lord pringle]

Pringle's ghost appears to Marisha and Marisha only. Diggy, hon.

[happyturtle]

Vasilisa beams at the horrorterror and takes her baby. "Oh thank you. She does get into mischief, doesn't she? But don't worry, I'm sure no one would hurt her." And since her babies have been roaming around unsupervised for weeks, and no one has even attempted to hurt them, maybe she's justified in that belief, as strange as it seems. :smallconfused:

Marisha immediately reaches out to Pringle, who no one else can see. "Back!" :smallsmile:

[lord pringle]

I'm trying, Hon. Can't find the white light yet. Pringle thinks for a second.

[Rebonack]

Avatar is a bit uncertain about that reasoning...

But he really doesn't feel inclined to argue. So instead he just drops back to all fours and carefully arranges his wings on his back. Because standing upright is really obnoxious. At least when he's shaped like this.

Stupid gravity paying attention to him again...

The Far Chimera glances over the tavern at large.

A dryad of some kind? Guy in cloak? Hasn't seen those two before. Must be new. That's one nice thing about the Nexus. You can always expect to meet new and interesting people here!

Such an exciting (if dangerous) place to live!

The unnatural beasty begins making his way toward the fire-place. Always a good location to lounge. And a good distance from the dark mysterious corner too!

[happyturtle]

Marisha tries to hug Pringle.

[lord pringle]

She'll end up holding his sword. Dear god.

[Gullara]

Sakura looks around the room with a 'man this guy is boring I want to escape someone more interesting present them self' look.

[ThirdEmperor]

Don't really recall, sold my memories so I could be the best doctor ever. According to the note I left myself, I grafted part of an eldritch abomination into it, and then some psycho-paladin-idiot chopped it off "for my own good", despite my protests. Pet, pet, pet the very kitty responsible for this travesty.

[Rebonack]

Is an eldritch abomination against the natural order and all that is sacred sufficiently interesting?

There's one of those over by the fireplace.

At the moment he's busy scratching out important parts of the array he carved into the floor earlier that night. Wouldn't want someone else to meddle with the thing and summon something unpleasant after all.

In terms of appearance Avatar is a strange chimeric beasty with aspects of fox and stag and snake and eagle. Though he gives more of an air of wildness and surrealism than supernatural dread that most critters from the Far Realms radiate.

Oh.

And there's a Sign blazing between his antlers. So sparkly...

[happyturtle]

She'll end up holding his sword. Dear god.

I don't think a ten month old baby is strong enough to hold a sword. So she'll probably drop it. Unless there's spooooky magic involved. :smallconfused:

[lord pringle]

The sword will feel as light as a rattle. it isn't going to swing well but...

[happyturtle]

Can anyone else see that the baby is waving a sword around? http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu90/NamonakiRei/Eyetwitch.png

[Gullara]

No memories? Bleh.

"Wow, that's interesting. Well it was nice talking to you, but I've got to check on my friend." She smiles at Riv and scritches That Cat one more time before walking out of the tavern.

And then comes back in two minutes later.

Sakura walks over to Avatar and throws back her cherry blossom hair before sitting beside him. The stuff can really get in her face.

"Hi, I'm Sakura."

[lord pringle]

Pringle is waving his arms around. Please don't.

[McBish]

Jack does. But the tiefling isn't about to approach a strange baby with a sword. That could be dangerous. Not to mention the child's parents might get nervous when a strange bleeding tiefling goes toward the baby.

[happyturtle]

Marisha drops the sword and tries to hug Pringle again.

[lord pringle]

Out comes vodka. Pringle sighs.

[happyturtle]

So Marisha is hugging all of his inventory off of him? :smallconfused:

[Rebonack]

As Sakura approaches the rather intent Chimera one of his ears twitches in her general direction. Then he veeeery carefully takes both of his forelegs out of what's left of the array and blows on it-

-causing it to wisp away as if it had been dust on the floor. Nifty!

He then glances up at the newcomer, offering a rather toothy smile. "Hiya! You smell like a cherry tree. Are you a dryad?"

Seems like a pretty decent guess.

But you can't always be sure around the Nexus...

The Far Chimera smells THAT CAT on her as well. Though frankly he has no idea what THAT CAT is. Certainly not a Flatlander. But not from the Far either. Normally his nose knows, but strange scents like THAT CAT's really bug him.

...train of thought got away from him.

"Oh! Eerr... my Name isn't exactly pronounceable in Common. A decent translation would be Dynamism, though. Or Dyn if you prefer! Most people around the Nexus call me 'Avatar'. Long story on that one."

[lord pringle]

Inside of Pringle is hammerspace...
deadtime.

[Gullara]

Sakura beams, "Yep." But where is her tree?:smallconfused:

"Avatar it is then. So what were you working on there? It looked interesting." she asks. It really was. She doesn't get to see magic type stuff often.

((Short Deadtime))

[ThirdEmperor]

Riv sighs, attempts to pick up THAT CAT, in the proper cat holding manner, and heads out of Trog's. C'mon, I'll get you some more tuna.

[Shyftir]

Vance was nervous. After a few seconds in the room he noticed that something from Outside was present. He had expected all sorts of strange creatures but not denizens of the Dungeon Dimensions. Oh well they all treat him like he's a normal part of the universe, I suspose I will too.

His drink arrived and he gestured at the gnome to go away vaguely as he watched the room, making notes on his pad of paper and occasionally drawking odd geometric diagrams.

Surely, an interesting place. Still though, nothing seemed amiss. Perhaps his superiors' viewpoint that this Nexus place was a threat to the thier own world was overblown. It did not matter his job was to be the Councl's eyes and ears here. It would not be a short assignment.

[VampireRot]

THAT CAT does not protest, seeing on how Riv is using the proper cat holding manner. I don't know the proper way, but hopefully it can be done with only one arm.

"Murrrrr..."

[Rebonack]

Avatar quirks his head off to the side a bit.

Then straightens himself up a bit to peer over Sakura's shoulder. "Where's your tree?" he inquires, as if expecting it to be growing right behind her. "Dryads aren't normally able to stray far from their tree without... unpleasant impacts on their health... right?"

The Far Chimera's knowledge of Fey is far from exhaustive.

Then a question!

"What? The array?" he glances down at the place where the strange geometric design was previously. "I was summoning a lesser beast from the Wilds. Eerr... mostly because I was hungry. Normally I would just head back home and catch one myself but the Walls of the World have been pretty thin of late and it's been a while since I've fiddled with arrays. I wanted to see if I could remember how to do it."

Apparently it worked out well enough!

And it's worth mentioning that Avatar's body was built for him. He isn't capable of physically existing on the material plane without a host body. At least so long as the Stars Aren't Right. But if that were the case Avatar poking around without wearing a material form would be the least of everyone's worries.

As for Vance and Cosmo!

The gnome just stands there for some time before finally sighing rather loudly and trudging away. The sound manages to get the Chimera's attention. "He was waiting for a tip," the helpful horrorterror offers.

[Shyftir]

As for Vance and Cosmo!

The gnome just stands there for some time before finally sighing rather loudly and trudging away. The sound manages to get the Chimera's attention. "He was waiting for a tip," the helpful horrorterror offers.

Vance spoke very nicely to Avatar, seing as summoning him would earn the death sentence in his home world. "Yes, well, my tip for him would be to not stare at wizards."

Vance said rather arrogantly. It was clear he thought himself above gnomish waiters. He paused for a moment then addressed the chimera. "If I may ask what brings a being such as yourself here?"

[Gullara]

"My tree?" Sakura looks puzzled, "Oh, you mean Sarget. Yeah he's outside." She points to the window where a branch of a cherry tree can be seen, in full bloom, in the winter.

And then the array description, "Oh, that must be handy when you want a snack."

[Rebonack]

That's a good way to get your drink spit in. Or possibly worse.

Avatar responds to Vance's tone regarding Cosmo with a rather sour look. While he doesn't particularly care for Cosmo (who does?) he cares for that attitude even less. The strange creature goes out of his way to treat Flatlanders with some degree of dignity when he certainly doesn't need to. Seeing them behave arrogantly toward each other is irksome.

Pot, kettle, and so on.

A slow breath in.

Then an even reply. "I'm a fragment of a being known by some as Ragnnora the Mother of Monsters. I took possession of the body of a human that had recently arrived here in the Nexus for the purpose of creating a beach-head that my Mother's cultists could exploit to allow Her to manifest directly in this world."

That would be really really bad.

"But... I hadn't ever functioned as a human before. We hadn't. It was... a jarring change of perspective. I hadn't ever seen the world from that close, from that point of view. The experience... made me question things I hadn't questioned before. Now the rest of me thinks I'm insane and I was severed from the whole."

Avatar considers the wizard briefly. "And... what are you doing here?"

The Far Chimera's disposition brightens considerably toward the dryad. "Outside? Your tree can follow you? Trees are usually immobile, aren't they?"

[Gullara]

"Yeah usually, but he's not a normal tree. He's an ent, or a treant. He says he's neither." Actually kinda both, with a little discworld 'not noticing things that happen over short periods of time' mixed in.

She talks about him like he's her bestest friend in the world.

[Shyftir]

Fantastic. A beachhead from the Other, gets tainted by humanity? It was a bit much to be believed but this was a strange place after all.

"My name is Vance. I was sent here by the White Council to guard against/warn of threats to my world originating in this plane."

((deadtime takes the wizard))

[Rebonack]

It would be pretty bad if a Dryad didn't get along with her own Tree. Would be rather akin to despising one's own legs.

Avatar peers out the window at the tree in question curiously. "Ah. That makes more sense. I was under the impression that Dryads are only bonded to normal trees. But you seem to discredit that fairly well."

The Far Chimera then pulls the muscles at the edges of his mouth up whilst raising his brow ever so slightly in that way that he's supposed to when he wants to look 'friendly'. The creature is, quite honestly, as alien in mind-set as he is in appearance. Though he assimilated enough memory and personality during his time of symbiosis to do a fairly decent job of acting human.

But that's all it is in the end. An act. Just Avatar trying to make people feel comfortable. After all, if he were to act 'natural' rather than chipper and personable he would be horribly unnerving to be around.

Then a reply for the Wizard! "Heh, well, I don't think you have too much to worry about. It's fairly rare that threats from the Nexus leak through to the realities that it touches. Though... I would be lying if I said it hasn't ever happened. The Nexus would make an ideal launching point for invasion should someone nefarious take control of it."

[Murkus]

Xifra powers up the ward, then waits for Jack to undeadtime for further instructions.

Crae is invited to plot clone to interact with people in the meantime. :smalltongue:


He's already got one of those running around, I think two of him is all Nexus can really handle. :smalltongue: He's staring into his drink at this point.

*Sigh*Times Are Tough.

Crae may find it a bit difficult to move free of that circle, for the moment. Though since Xifra's new to magic, he could probably walk out with minimal effort.

Jack takes one of Xifra's hands across the table, smiling and glancing between her and Crae. She'll probably feel a sudden and immediate connection, magical energy coursing from Jack into her. "Now, for a crash course in the transfer of energy. We touched on this the other day, if I recall. With a combination of magic, wards, and the connections they form with other beings, one can bring about practically any desired effect." With his free hand, he gestures in Crae's general direction. "Take our friend here. With that circle, and a brief concert of our Power, several basic alterations can be made. For instance."

A sensation of extreme, violent claustraphobia will probably take hold of Xifra. A Binding spell, only partially formed, though I don't know how quickly she'll pick that up. With a mental hand, Jack guides her flow of energy, trying to push her towards the chalk circle around Crae. To push the spell.

Jack's voice drifts to her through the sudden haze of magic, smooth and controlled. He sounds very much like a teacher. "Stay calm. Focus. Transfer and bind."

If Xifra can take control and succeed, Crae will probably feel a much more minor claustrophobic feeling. And, at the very edge of his hearing, a small snap. Leaving the circle may get quite a bit more difficult.

Of course, if Xifra makes a mistake, some side effects might occur. I'll leave them up to her player.

[Bar]

Yannovick wanders in and goes to sit here, probably followed by Aether. "Drinks on me, my friend."

[Gullara]

Maybe if Avatar had something to compare to. Sakura is grinning pretty wide now, that's a good reference.

"That's what Sarget thought to. He figures that he's got something special about him. The same reason he has leaves and flowers." the dryad says, "I'm happy about it. I can't imagine having to stay in one place."

[Chas the mage]

Aether walks in, removing the helmet and gauntlets from his power armour, and placing a cigar in his mouth. He orders a scotch.

[Murkus]

[Bar]

"Those things'll kill you, you know." Yann says, gesturing at Aether's cigar. Then he grins. "Got a spare? Figger I could use one, and it can't hurt me any."

[Chas the mage]

"I'm already dead enough," He replies, as he pulls out another cigar from a compartment in his power armor, and hands it to Yann. "Need a light?"

[Rebonack]

Oh Avatar is quite proficient at smiling. It looks kind of odd when he's doing it in his present shape. Though if he makes a point of appearing more human then he's got a winning smile!

But he works with what's available at the moment. And he's having trouble maintaining his human look given the present alignment of certain celestial objects. It's much more comfortable to assume a shape that is most similar to his actual appearance.

Still just a three-dimensional cross section of course. But close enough.

"Well he's a very fortunate tree to have someone as lovely as yourself as a companion!" the Chimera chirps. "And I'm sure the persistent flowers must be a plus. Having all your hair fall out on a seasonal basis would probably be unpleasant."

At least Avatar thinks it would be. Then a new question! "So what brings you to the Nexus? Or are you just another wanderer who stumbled upon this flytrap for adventurers?"

[ThirdEmperor]

Jack amay wish to look to hsi right, where Princeis sitting on a stolen chair.I'll say it again. Hiya Jacky.

[Gullara]

Sakura blushes at the compliment and fiddles with her hair. "Thanks." she says and attempts to give avatar a little peck on the cheek.

"How we got here? I don't really know. I was just asleep in Sarget's branches and when I woke up we were at this city's gates." She shrugs. "Sarget doesn't know what happened either. He has trouble noticing things that happen over a short amount of time unless I'm there to help him notice."

[Rebonack]

D'aaaw!

The Far Chimera got a kiss! It's been a while since he's gotten one of those. Last time from his 'sister' Zee, probably. Most of the time people are pretty iffy about kissing something from beyond the spheres of space and time. Usually assume it'll nom their soul or something.

Avatar flicks one ear and straightens up slightly.

"Well, it sounds like the Nexus brought you here, then. It has a habit of snatching people and places that stray too close to a location where it's bleeding over into another reality."

A pause as Avatar considers how best to frame his next request.

"Eerr... Do you... uuhh... Would you mind if I smell you? I can usually get a good trace on a person's home reality if I can get a whiff of it before the Nexus smell rubs off on them. You could use that information to get back to your home world if you desire."

[Gullara]

"Really? I've never really even heard of the Nexus before today." The dryad says.

Sakura gives Avatar a funny look, "Yeah sure, go ahead. I don't mind staying here though. It looks interesting. But Sarget might want to go back."

It's likely they will stay. Sakura is very adventurous and Sarget has a go with the flow attitude. They were always nomads before anyway.

[Rebonack]

Avatar replies with a nod, closes his eyes...

...then sticks his nose in the dryad's flowery hair and sniiiiiiiffs.

The Chimera maybe be able to pick up the scent of her home world on her. Or maybe he won't. Some scents fade faster than others. Some persist for a considerable length of time.

Oh uh...

Tickling...

Nose...!

He pulls away pretty fast and "Pffffffft!" convulsively dog-sneezes on the floor. The floor that is now speckled with what looks like prismatic paint.

Avatar offers a sheepish smile. "Well, you certainly smell like flowers."

[happyturtle]

Xifra almost struggles against the claustrophobic feeling, but the feeling of power keeps her in place. Focus. She carefully follows Jack's guidance to control the spell and push it onto her chalk circle. Transfer.

And there. Jack's spell and hers, sitting next to each other. She just needs to figure out how to bind them together and...


Jack amay wish to look to hsi right, where Princeis sitting on a stolen chair.I'll say it again. Hiya Jacky.

The distraction startles her, and she almost loses control of the spell. The Bind step is done clumsily, and instead of it being a simple Binding spell to hold Crae in place, the Ward is actually shrinking around him.

[Gullara]

Sakura giggles and grins. "I would hope so." She says and straightens her hair.

Avatar will get the smell of a world where there is nothing artificial. Everything is attuned with nature. Pretty much a druid paradise. The only reason she knew Inside was a city was because Sarget knew the word from somewhere.

"So, what did you smell? Besides flowers." She giggles again.

[Rebonack]

"A boundless wilderness," Avatar replies somewhat cryptically, his eyes still closed. And then slowly the Chimera's wings unfurl. It's like gazing into the night sky. No detail, no distinction of shape, just a hole in space. Deep velvet blackness specked with points of light.

Some points of light that grow and shift, appearing as luminous eyes.

His head bowed, the Chimera slowly shifts his position, scanning... searching...

Eyes open.

"There it is. I like its scent. My basic nature is one of life and growth and change. Wild places here in the material world really resonate with me. But... druids tend to see me as an outsider. Something dangerous that would upset the balance they protect," he wrinkles his nose a bit. "Which I suppose is more true than I would like to admit... If you ever want to return home I can guide you there. But keep in mind that simply leaving the Nexus without knowing your destination is dangerous. You might end up in a realm where the air is made of fire."

[Moff Chumley]

It's not as dramatic as plenty of people would have you believe. What it is, is sudden. First, there's a mind-bending, utterly, bone-chillingly terrifying sense of VASTNESS, focused paradoxically in one spot, in an emptier area of the tavern. Then, an instant later, an amount of time so fast as to be unnoticable, a man is standing there, in that spot, and the vastness fades. Younger gentleman, in his late teens or early twenties. Has a hacker's tan: pale as a vampire. A bulky pair of glasses, a white, buttoned shirt in dire need of ironing, and a pizza-stained pair of jeans. And a small pistol in a shoulder holster. Equally weapon-like is a smart phone strapped to his belt.

He blinks a few times fast, and a hand quickly goes to his phone. Glancing around and not sensing immediate danger, he retreats into a corner, and taps away on his phone for a moment. A sigh of relief, and he takes a seat at the bar. "Goddam told 'em. Uh, you have beer here?"

He looks vaguely unfamiliar with anything non-human or obviously magical, as if he's had passing expirience with them, and expected to see them here, but he's still not all that comfortable around anything non-human.

[Gullara]

Sakira's eye's widen, "Oh, wow." She's positively entranced by Avatar's wings.

"Druids are too up tight anyway. You seem fine to me." She says and smiles.

She closes her eyes a moment to communicate with Sarget. "I think we'll stay. For now at least. Sarget's always wanted to see a city I guess."

"Thanks for the offer though. We'll keep it in mind."

[Rebonack]

"I've only met one so far that didn't try to purge me," Avatar comments in a rather distasteful tone. Even sticks his tongue out! Hasn't run into very many druids that have been nice to him. Though as he said, he can't really blame them. Then the most friendly looking smile he can manage with all those teeth. "Well I'm glad you two will stay. I should probably see about meeting... Sarget was it? He's just outside..."

The Chimera suddenly stops.

Then shifts his position ever so slightly perpendicular to reality to get a better view of the nothing that just intruded on the tavern. And then someone new arrives!

Hoo!

All sorts of people are showing up today!

The Far Chimera blechs at this most recent newcomer. "You smell like stale pizza and shoggoths. Did you just use a geometric rift? I really hope its infinitesimals were properly bounded 'cuz the Walls of the World have been dangerously fluid lately."

Cosmo clomps a mug of ale in front of the Nexus' latest NERD!

[Gullara]

"Yeah, he's..." Sakura begins, but then new guy.

Wow Avatar just said a lot of things the dryad never understood. Like pizza.

She smiles and waves at the new guy.

[Moff Chumley]

Frank, for indeed that's his name, adjusts his glasses. He's, strangely enough, more comfortable with something nice and squamous like Avatar than something like Cosmo. "Yah. I did. Nice and clean, too. Untracable, undetectable from both ends." If Avatar's nose is really good, he might detect a whiff of explosive on Frank. :smalleek: "So, I know the mechanichs of this world, I hope. But mind telling me a bit about the culture?"

Frank nods back at the Dryad, an eyebrow raised.

[Rebonack]

It would be both hilarious and awesome if Sakura concluded that pizza must be an important reagent in eldritch magic.

Cosmo grumbles about ungrateful PCs and their lack of tipping.

Avatar eyes the newcomer uncertainly. Something about the guy makes the Chimera uneasy. Might be because anyone with enough knowledge of eldritch magic might be able to bind him. Barrier Signs are actually quite transparent to Avatar, though other types of geometric magics still work just fine.

And that makes him nervous.

"This place is a melting pot of cultures, people from myriads of realities live here. Whether willing immigrants or not. For the most part everyone tends to be... adaptable to the quirks of others."

It's about all you can do, really.

Avatar slowly rises to his feet now, attention shifting back to Sakura once more. "I'm going to retire for a while back on my side of the Veil. Those blasted Tachyon Gnomes can't follow me there. I'll look for you tomorrow. And try not to get into too much trouble!"

What follows looks...

Really weird.

It's a combination of the Chimera crawling through a hole in the air that isn't actually there while at the same time changing shape in flagrantly impossible ways. What remains visible of him then shrinks out of existence. Apparently seeing someone wander off perpendicular to reality is quite the sight.

This may strike Frank as rather disconcerting. Normally the barrier that exists between the physical world and things that lurk on the other side is all that prevents the world from being flooded by sanity-melting horrors. Avatar just slipped through the barrier with the ease of a rather pudgy fellow squeezing through a door that's slightly too narrow.

[Moff Chumley]

Frank blinks once. Shakes his head a bit, and turns back to Cosmo. "Oi, I'd tip, but I doubt you'd accept any of this-" Frank pulls out his wallet, revealing a small wad of modern day currency. "-and I gotta be conservative with this stuff. 'Least 'till I gain a source of income." Frank drops a faded gold coin on the bar. He looks around for someone else to interrogate talk to.

[Gullara]

Eldritch magic? What's that?:smallwink:

As Avatar departs she says, "Oh, ok. See you later." And then weirdness. Huh.

She goes and sits by Frank. "Hi, I'm Sakura."

If you haven't seen the desription she's a dryad with light wood brown, new bark like skin and a mass of waist length cherry blossoms for hair. Her 'clothes' is darker, rougher looking bark.

[Moff Chumley]

Frank nods, guardedly. "Name's Kingsman. Frank Kingsman."

[Gullara]

"Nice to meet you." The dryad says with a big grin. "So, what was all that about... pizza?"

She fiddles with her hair as she talks.

[Terumitsu]

Well, there was Tethea, the local extraterrestrial at the bar. It was vaugely similar to a drider if driders had six eyes and glowed with tiny bioluminecent fibers. Didn't look very Far but certainly a bit strange. Not the wierdest thing in the Nexus at least as all of it's joints worked in the usual eleven dimentions of normal reality. Most people call it 'Three Dee' as they only pay attention to the three or four main dimentions but Tethea was a stickler for those sorts of things. It hated misinformation. Wasn't a fan of propaganda either... Made sense why it was so good at it's job though.

It was currently playing with an empty coconut shell with one small hole in it. Mostly something to do while thinking about what it shoud do next. It was on vaction after all and it wanted to make the most of things. Maybe it would try to find a few interested people in just exploring the local country sides. It had heard that there were some very interesting ruins half hidden out there and it would certainly be exciting... Though it would have to pick up a weapon of some sort. Who knew what lurked in there? At the very least, it would be for self defense although the alein was not too keen on weapons in the first place.

[Moff Chumley]

"Nice to meet you." The dryad says with a big grin. "So, what was all that about... pizza?"

She fiddles with her hair as she talks.

"Pizza? It's a food, where I'm from. If this place has beer, I'd be pretty suprised if it couldn't be acquired here also. It's good."

Frank notices the alien. Glances at an application on his phone, points the business end at the thing. Then points it at Cosmo. Nods a bit. "Interesting." He glances between the Dryad, who, at least to his method of detection, is distinctly occult, and the completely normal alien. "You can clearly understand me. Funny." He turns back to the alien. "Can you?"

[celtois]

Ana, Ember and Rassilin enter Trogs.

Ember is practically clinging to Ana from the look of things.

Who looks to be one of the more confident of the girls.
She looks around at the patrons of the bar judging the general seediness of the establishment.

"See Ember not too bad at all."

Ana is a lass of about 5'7, she has short bronze hair. An olive complexion and a slim athletic body. She's quite attractive. But does look to be mostly muscle. At the moment with Ember clinging to her she just looks down right cute.

[Terumitsu]

Tethea had made a point of learning the local language. There was no point in visiting a place where one didn't know how to ask or say anything. That would make extended vacations more stressful than relaxing as they should be... Though perhaps less stressful places could be visited as the Nexus was a bit chaotic... Certainly was interesting, though.. Sadly, it did have a few phisical barriers that prevented it from speaking it with total clarity but such has been said before.

"Yex I can. Though it might be xome trouble for you ax my axent (accent) ix a little thick by your xtandarx (standards)." it said, making a click-hiss noise for every 'S' sound there was. There was also that lack of a mouth thing although it seemed as if Tethea had a series of gill-like apertures on either side of it's face that seemed to be able to transmit sound at least. Eating was a whole other matter though... It had creeped out a viking a little while ago when eating the coconut. Some people just got wierded out by the sight of a proboscis.

[Gullara]

"Oh, ok." Sakura says, She watches curiously as Frank waves around the strange object. She nods when he mentions her being able to understand him.

[TechnoScrabble]

Ember is about six feet tall, lithe, and made of burning coals. She has glowing orange eyes and long, flowing gold and orange hair.
Despite the look of fear on her face, she is rather stunning.
"You sure?"

[celtois]

"Well the people look friendly enough. Those that are human that is." The non-humans terrify her. She wasn't ready to even accept they exist. And now this Alien creature. That was hard to just imagine away.

"Lets ask this nice.... tree looking lass." (Sakura) Ana will walk over to where the Dryad and the Alien thing are conversing. "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt. But me and my friend here were wondering if you know where GloG is? "

She certainly seems confident enough.

[TechnoScrabble]

Ember, having just had her home destroyed and her sisters brutally murdered in front of her, is cowering behind Ana. Which is hard to do, considering she's almost a head taller.

[Gullara]

Sakura gives Ana a wide smile. "I wish I could help, but I'm kinda new here."

Bad person to ask.:smalltongue:

She glances at Ember. Hey something familiar, a fire spirit. "Is everything ok?"

[celtois]

"Ah, okay. Thank you." Ana smiles back weakly. It's a been a tough day, things had just gone from one problem to a next.

She'll turn to the. *Gulp* Alien. "How about you, could you tell us where wemightfindGLOG?" Her sentence starts to speed up. Due to the shear never rackingness of talking to something that far out there.

[TechnoScrabble]

Ember shakes her head nervously, but when she sees how afraid Ana is of the alien, she steps between the two. She didn't want her friends getting hurt or anything.

[Chas the mage]

Aether sits at the bar, wearing his bulky power armor (minus his left gauntlet and helmet) inside for whatever reason. He slowly sips a scotch and smokes a cigar; gradually becoming more intoxicated as time passes.

[celtois]

As Tera seems to have deadtimed

Ana can only blink as the Alien is om nommed by a deadtime ooze.

It's around then when an NPC comes up to the pair.

"I know where GloG is. It's just of town at a cabin site." He gives them directions.

"Oh, wow thank you."
Ana looks relieved to finally be making progress. She certainly also seems to have appreciated Ember stepping into help with the Alien juding from the fact that she smiled at Ember.

[TechnoScrabble]

Ember looks utterly terrified, but she's still keeping a watchful eye on the alien. Anything that scares Ana is worth being scared of, especially considering what she did to Alex.

[celtois]

What she did to Alex. Was terrifying. It terrified her. :smallamused:

"Looks like we have directions. Come on lets go to GloG now! After all we got what we came for." Ana smiles, it's a little forced. There was just too much odd stuff going on and they needed to find some place to stay.

[TechnoScrabble]

"Yeah," Ember nods and follows Ana, sticking close to her new friend.
Hehe. She has around five friends still alive and she met them all today.

[celtois]

Yeah. Ana has, about the same. Except her friends aren't dead. She's just in a different world from them.

And so the Ember, Ana ,Rass saga continues.

As they head out of the bar.

Except everyone at GloG is deadtimed.

Huh, no idea what we should do.

[TechnoScrabble]

...
((RANDOM DANCING?))
Yeah, I have no idea either. Let's just post there and see how long it takes to get noticed...

[Zefir]

Fade enters Trog's again watching who is awake.

[Mina Kobold]

Friend is there too, looking a bit more friendly than usual. But nothing much.

There is also a glowing point looking at Zee, whether she is deadtimed or not.

Elsewhere a chair is having a staredown with a Tachyon Gnome.

It oesn't like getting Deadtime pudding on it's seat.

[Zefir]

Fade will take a closer look at Friend sending out his shadow to do so.

And that just will happen the shadow slides to friend and takes a look.

[Mina Kobold]

Friend stares back at the shadow.

Staaaaaaaare.

He is still wearing his green hood but it doesn't hinder his staaare.

The fact that he is not particularly tall or frightening may hinder the effect a bit, though.

[Zefir]

The shadow continue to slide around anf Fade just stand somewhere in Trog and waits for the shadow.

((Searching for weapons maybe skills hide in the shadow))

[Mina Kobold]

If the shadow is looking for weapons it will find that Friend is carrying a mortuary sword by his side, otherwise he appear unarmed.

If it try to scan him for magic or supernatural powers it will find nothing, not even the basic residue of extra-normal radiation that one would usually detect. If it works like a radar it might not even get any results!

"Wherefore is a shadow questing about me?"

Friend yet again proves that he needs a dictionary newer than the French Revolution.

But that would equire him to leave the Tavern.

[Zefir]

((MY thoughts where that the shadow more or les talks to the other shadow which will tell all obvious skills like you can use the sword well etc.))

After the shadow got all he wants he slides back to his owner. At the moment the sadow reaches fade he knows all the shadow fund.

[Mina Kobold]

Friend's shadow doesn't really say much, it's very new and not sure how it got there in the first place. It does think Friend knows what he's doing with the sword, but it haven't seen him use it.

It's also not all there, as if the shadow-talk ability of Fade's shadow was hindered somehow.

Friend just looks at Fade, looooooook.

[Zefir]

"Intresting I never got that problem cause noone could really control there shadow expect me."

Fade will take a few steps in the direction of Friend.

[Mina Kobold]

"What manner of problem is that?"

Friend doesn't move, it's a nice chair and it would probably run away if he moved

His shadow is being shadowy. But not particularly shady.

[Zefir]

Fade will take a seat next to friend.

"I never met a person who is able to controll there shadow."

[Mina Kobold]

"I recall having met one, believe he went by Pan for a name"

Friend thinks for a bit, very concentrated

"Or something otherwise begining with letter P, he didn't stay for long, some privateer was causing troble for him"

Friend orders a Save or Cold Slurpee, having little idea what it is.

"You seem able to manipulate your own shadow yourself, how would that be?"

[iElf]

a drow girl, about 16 , enters the tavern. she wears fine clothes, as would be expected of a noble, which are embroidered with gold thread and pearls.she stands at 4'8'' , but her white twin tails, with streaks of blue are bound in a way that they make her look taller. she orders a BIG piece of cake at the bar, and sits downwith it at a table, noming on it while humming happily, looking around the rest of the place with her large red eyes.

all Psoins will find the following (DO NOT READ IF YOUR CHARACTER IS NOT A PSION, OR DOES NOT IN ANY WAY HAVE ESP!)
The girl feels...somewhat wrong...there is something about her that may make them fell very afraid of her

[Zefir]

"It's a rare ability from my race "

He sends out his shadow looking for the card.

[Mina Kobold]

Friend notices the Drow coming in, she looks like she has an interesting story.
But for the moment he is still talking to Fade.

"How did yoru race acquire such a trait?"

Says the guy from a race of interdimensional god-like faeries.

[Zefir]

Fade takes no notice of the drow since the entrace is behind him.

"I don't know but only a few got this ability."

[Murkus]

"I'm already dead enough," He replies, as he pulls out another cigar from a compartment in his power armor, and hands it to Yann. "Need a light?"

Yann nods and holds up the cigar between two fingers, probably getting it lit. He takes a lazy puff, and ends up looking a bit sick of the thing. "Bah. Haven't had one of these in years." He holds on to it anyway, however. "Thanks, by the way. So, still feel like telling a story?"


Jack amay wish to look to hsi right, where Princeis sitting on a stolen chair.I'll say it again. Hiya Jacky.


Xifra almost struggles against the claustrophobic feeling, but the feeling of power keeps her in place. Focus. She carefully follows Jack's guidance to control the spell and push it onto her chalk circle. Transfer.

And there. Jack's spell and hers, sitting next to each other. She just needs to figure out how to bind them together and...

The distraction startles her, and she almost loses control of the spell. The Bind step is done clumsily, and instead of it being a simple Binding spell to hold Crae in place, the Ward is actually shrinking around him.

Jack starts immediately, but thankfully has quite a bit more going for his Concentration checks than Xifra does. He notes the side-effect of his apprentice's clumsy spell, shooting her a reprehensive glare. "That wasn't focus, Xifra." A little sigh. "I suppose you'll need more practice casting in public places, too."

He finally glances at Prince. "Oy? Who're you?" He manages a grin. "Another fan club member, maybe? Look, I told them no more autographs. Especially not when I'm busy. If you'd form a line at AMEN, I could probably..." I'm sure Prince could interrupt here for good conversation flow. In fact, he probably should.

[Shadowcaller]

Meanwhile Cessie that while curious, considers all this a bit stressful to involve herself in and quietly drinks her milk as she seems to be trying to make her as invisible as possible.
Now however things seems to start to calm down so she let's out a thankful sight and starts to look around the tavern.
She does notice the drow girl and considers it to possibly be some type of spirit user, but the rules of her own world rarely seemed to apply here thought.

She also notices Jack and Xifra practicing magic which interests her greatly. After a while her curiosity gets the better of her and she uses a detection magic spell on the drow and the magic Jack and Xifra are doing. Trying to find out what is going on.

[iElf]

Meanwhile Cessie that while curious, considers all this a bit stressful to involve herself in and quietly drinks her milk as she seems to be trying to make her as invisible as possible.
Now however things seems to start to calm down so she let's out a thankful sight and starts to look around the tavern.
She does notice the drow girl and considers it to possibly be some type of spirit user, but the rules of her own world rarely seemed to apply here thought.

She also notices Jack and Xifra practicing magic which interests her greatly. After a while her curiosity gets the better of her and she uses a detection magic spell on the drow and the magic Jack and Xifra are doing. Trying to find out what is going on.

The drow notices Cessie, and decides to sit down with her. she begins speaking in drow to her <"do you speak my language, or do i have to speak stupid tongue with you?">

[Zefir]

Fade doesn't speak drow until now. Quickly Fades shadow returned.

"I don't understand you, but I could learn your language if you allow me access to your shadow."

A moment later he realized that if the newcomer doesn't speak commen she won't undertsand him but he shows no emotion.

[Earl of Purple]

"Very well, sorry if any of my questions caused any discomfort." The goblin says. "You have any more questions John?"

The young man looks at his notes and then hesitate. "Uh, not exactly, I think you covered much of it Ligz. Just a question about how you were planning to expand in the future...?" He carefully asks.

"The High Priest is planning to send a delegation to a city, Riverside, that we recently became aware of. Hopefully, a new temple will be set up there for visiting faithful." As Jorje says this, Destur is having another sip from his tomato juice.

[Shadowcaller]

The drow notices Cessie, and decides to sit down with her. she begins speaking in drow to her <"do you speak my language, or do i have to speak stupid tongue with you?">

"Excuse me?" Cessie replies, not sure what the drow girl just said. "I'm afraid I don't know what you just said."

[iElf]

"Excuse me?" Cessie replies, not sure what the drow girl just said. "I'm afraid I don't know what you just said."

the drow girl frowns "...I was trying to ask you if you speak drow...but you don't..."

[Shadowcaller]

"Drow? No, I'm afraid not. I haven't heard of the language at all sadly." She says, looking a bit nervous. "But now that your here, maybe we should introduce ourselves? Why did you come over here, miss...?"

[iElf]

"Drow? No, I'm afraid not. I haven't heard of the language at all sadly." She says, looking a bit nervous. "But now that your here, maybe we should introduce ourselves? Why did you come over here, miss...?"

she sits down , bringing her cake with her "mel'ara. and what's your name?"

[Shadowcaller]

"I'm Cessie Mithar." She replies with a nod. "A pleasure to meet you Mel'ara. Now what brings you to this remote place? Taverns can be of a very chaotic nature."

((Did her magical check-up of Mel'ara tell her anything by the way? ANd how would you consider her dressing to be? Decent? Non-decent?
Cessie is dressed in a very decent high-necked black dress with more layers of clothing underneath it.))

[iElf]

"I'm Cessie Mithar." She replies with a nod. "A pleasure to meet you Mel'ara. Now what brings you to this remote place? Taverns can be of a very chaotic nature."

((Did her magical check-up of Mel'ara tell her anything by the way? ANd how would you consider her dressing to be? Decent? Non-decent?
Cessie is dressed in a very decent high-necked black dress with more layers of clothing underneath it.))

((her check up reveals nothing magical about her. and she is dressed more than decently , her silk and velvet clothes decorated with gold thread, and gemstones))

she smiles "well...I was walking through the town, looking for the slave market...but I couldn't find one. so came in here to have some cake!"

[Shadowcaller]

"The High Priest is planning to send a delegation to a city, Riverside, that we recently became aware of. Hopefully, a new temple will be set up there for visiting faithful." As Jorje says this, Destur is having another sip from his tomato juice.

"Ah, but did you know that-"

"Well, I think thats all the questions we had, isn't that right boy?" The goblin interrupts John before he can say anything else.

The young reporter looks oddly at the goblin but then nods "Er, I guess. Nice meeting you."


((her check up reveals nothing magical about her. and she is dressed more than decently , her silk and velvet clothes decorated with gold thread, and gemstones))

she smiles "well...I was walking through the town, looking for the slave market...but I couldn't find one. so came in here to have some cake!"

"The slavemarket?" Cessie replies with a raised eyebrow. "What were you planning to do there?"

[iElf]

she giggles "buy some slaves of coure, silly! I can't be expected to walk everywhere myself, or do my own laundry, or cooking..."

[Shadowcaller]

"Well, um, where I come from, slavery is forbidden by law so I'm not sure it's suitable if we discuss it's eventual uses. I myself is against it at a moral level. No offense. Have you perhaps considered the moral implications of slave trade yourself?" Cessie wonders, carefully sipping from her glass of milk.

"The poor are at least entitled to money for the work they do, at least in my opinion."

[iElf]

"Well, um, where I come from, slavery is forbidden by law so I'm not sure it's suitable if we discuss it's eventual uses. I myself is against it at a moral level. No offense. Have you perhaps considered the moral implications of slave trade yourself?" Cessie wonders, carefully sipping from her glass of milk.

"The poor are at least entitled to money for the work they do, at least in my opinion."

she giggles "pay attention silly! I'm not talking about commoners like you! I mean slaves! the things you own, and they do work for you!"

[Shadowcaller]

"Commoner...?" She blinks and takes a quiet breath. "I believe your mistaken, I am not of common blood. I'm of royal blood in fact, my sister rules the empire I'm from." Cessie explains slowly.

"We do not treat our commoners like what you called 'things you own' thought. I consider it very vital to make sure they are properly taken care of so they may live a long healthy life."

[iElf]

"Commoner...?" She blinks and takes a quiet breath. "I believe your mistaken, I am not of common blood. I'm of royal blood in fact, my sister rules the empire I'm from." Cessie explains slowly.

"We do not treat our commoners like what you called 'things you own' thought. I consider it very vital to make sure they are properly taken care of so they may live a long healthy life."

she frowns "...why? what's the point? the commoners pay taxes, and slaves do as I tell them. that's all they're good for. making my life more comfortable."

[Shadowcaller]

"But the commoners must be able to have a life of their own. Sure there is a difference between common blood and royal blood, but I believe that a empire work better if everyones happiness is guaranteed. There is less chance of rebellions and everyone want to help to provide with the development of the empire if it provides for them." The magician argues.

Cessie nods towards Mel'ara politely. "The most brilliant persons can be found in the poorest of stocks, but what use are they if they can't develop their talents? By helping the poor, you are indirectly helping the empire and yourself." She pauses and smiles a bit. "You are royal yourself then I take it? Could I offer you something perhaps?"

[iElf]

"But the commoners must be able to have a life of their own. Sure there is a difference between common blood and royal blood, but I believe that a empire work better if everyones happiness is guaranteed. There is less chance of rebellions and everyone want to help to provide with the development of the empire if it provides for them." The magician argues.

Cessie nods towards Mel'ara politely. "The most brilliant persons can be found in the poorest of stocks, but what use are they if they can't develop their talents? By helping the poor, you are indirectly helping the empire and yourself." She pauses and smiles a bit. "You are royal yourself then I take it? Could I offer you something perhaps?"

Mel'ara rolls her eyes "...look...those people are lucky they are still alive...never mind.and yes. I am the royal princess of Nefe'rak. it's the biggest Metropolis in the underdark. and what do you wish to offer me?"

[Gullara]

Sakura undeadtimes and looks around the bar, a cheery smile on her face.

She has a mass of cherry blossoms for hair extending down to her waist. Her skin is like young bark and her 'clothes' is older bark that covers little more than the important bits. She is clearly a dryad.

[Shadowcaller]

"Oh, just if you wanted something to drink." Cessie replies. "I myself don't drink any alcohol as it poisons the mind."


Sakura undeadtimes and looks around the bar, a cheery smile on her face.

She has a mass of cherry blossoms for hair extending down to her waist. Her skin is like young bark and her 'clothes' is older bark that covers little more than the important bits. She is clearly a dryad.

Cessie can't really help to notice the dryad nearby but quickly wishes she had and looks away. She had a quite complicated relationship with dryads and nymphs after all, especially with their indecency.

[Falgorn]

The door to Trog's opens, revealling what seems to be the mid stages of becoming a werewolf. Except in this case, the wolf is a vulture. He wears a purple-and-blue robe, and carries a thin, Oak stick, decorated with moss. He wears a blue hood over his head, covering most of his facial features, save his beak, his yellow eyes, and extraordinarily long neck.
He is not an unusual sight for those familiar with Trog's, so it is no surprise that people ignore him.

[iElf]

"Oh, just if you wanted something to drink." Cessie replies. "I myself don't drink any alcohol as it poisons the mind."


mel'ara smiles again "...It's almost impossible to get hot chocolate in the underdark...it cost 1000 gold per cup...but I guess you have more of it up here. a cup of that would be nice!"

[Shadowcaller]

"Ah, I see. Well of course I could get you that." Cessie replies and pays for not one, but two cups of chocolate. One is for herself however.

"So you said you were from the underdark? I have never heard of such a place, I myself are from the empire of Hestopia."

If Sakura can feel such things, Cessie do have a tiny part of dryad/nymph blood in her (they are really the same thing where she is from).

[Gullara]

Ignored? Well we can't have that.

Sakura skips over to the were-vulture, and sits beside him. "Hi, I'm Sakura."

[Mina Kobold]

Sakura undeadtimes and looks around the bar, a cheery smile on her face.

She has a mass of cherry blossoms for hair extending down to her waist. Her skin is like young bark and her 'clothes' is older bark that covers little more than the important bits. She is clearly a dryad.

Seeing as Fade has decided to talk to thin air and the Drow is talking to another silly mortal about silly mortal caste ranks Friend decides to walk up to the dryad.

"Greetings, forest-dweller. A newcomer, I presume?"

He tips his hood a tad, seems to be the preffered method of geeting in his world.

Of course, it may just be getting in his eyes and blocking his vision for Tachyon Gnomes.

EDIT: He greets and tips his hood for the Vulture as well-

[Zefir]

Everyone left Fade thats bad for him he goes to the bar. He notice the half werwolf and send his shadow out to watch him. He had never saw such a creature.

[Falgorn]

The vulture man tilts his head towards Sakura. "Hello," he says, his voice high-pitched and scratchy. "How are you today, miss?"

[iElf]

"Ah, I see. Well of course I could get you that." Cessie replies and pays for not one, but two cups of chocolate. One is for herself however.

"So you said you were from the underdark? I have never heard of such a place, I myself are from the empire of Hestopia."

If Sakura can feel such things, Cessie do have a tiny part of dryad/nymph blood in her (they are really the same thing where she is from).

she sighs "i haven't heard of that either...but the underdark is the best place in the world, and home to us drow, the best people in the world!"

[Gullara]

Oh no. Talking to two people at once.


Seeing as Fade has decided to talk to thin air and the Drow is talking to another silly mortal about silly mortal caste ranks Friend decides to walk up to the dryad.

"Greetings, forest-dweller. A newcomer, I presume?"

He tips his hood a tad, seems to be the preffered method of geeting in his world.

Of course, it may just be getting in his eyes and blocking his vision for Tachyon Gnomes.

EDIT: He greets and tips his hood for the Vulture as well-

"Yep," Sakura nods enthusiastically. "Just got here a little while ago."


The vulture man tilts his head towards Sakura. "Hello," he says, his voice high-pitched and scratchy. "How are you today, miss?"

"I'm doing good, thanks. How about you?" She says

[Shadowcaller]

she sighs "i haven't heard of that either...but the underdark is the best place in the world, and home to us drow, the best people in the world!"

Cessie nods slowly as she takes a sip from her cup, looking with a scholarly interest at Mel'ara (Hopefully not misunderstood). "Ah, your a 'drow', back where I am from, we call you kind elves. Sadly they do not have any larger empires so it's interesting to meet one who does."

[Falgorn]

"Eh, I'm fickle. On one hand, I'm in the most diverse and accepting places I've ever been to in my life. On the other, I'm in a pub, bothering strangers with my problems.
But besides that, I'm okay." He brushes one of his brown feathers off of his robe, after which he produces a pipe and match from somehwere under his robes, lighting the pipe. "Ahh, one of humanity's finest achievements..." he says, taking a puff.

[iElf]

Cessie nods slowly as she takes a sip from her cup, looking with a scholarly interest at Mel'ara (Hopefully not misunderstood). "Ah, your a 'drow', back where I am from, we call you kind elves. Sadly they do not have any larger empires so it's interesting to meet one who does."

Mel'ara scowls "...I am not an elf! elves are vermin, only fit enough for slaves, or sacrifices to lolth...and the halfbreeds they make are even worse !"

[Moff Chumley]

Frank udeadtimes, and surveys the bar. His eyebrows lower when he sees Mel'ara; must've been a gamer back on Earth. So of course he doesn't like drow. :smalltongue:

[Earl of Purple]

"Good bye."
"Good bye." Neither of the two show any concern about what the reporters were about to say.
The gnome wearing lime-green silk trousers, a blue silk shirt, a red velvet waistcoat and a purple cloak with yellow tassels, plus a black hat with a foot-long white feather will, after the reporters have left, survey the other patrons with his partner. The partner in question is a human with brown hair and eyes, wearing chainmail with a red tabard over the top. Both of them have a silver amulet around their necks, depicting a two-tailed scorpion. The symbol is copied on all of the shiny brass buttons of the gnome and is emblazoned in black on the human's tabard. The human also puts a wooden club engraved with mystic symbols on the table. The gnome is also armed, but more subtly. He has six knives, four of them magical, hidden in his clothes; two are tucked in pockets warded against magical detection.

The human puts his hand in a pouch at his waist when he sees the drow.

[Mina Kobold]

Friendsits down next to The Vulture! And Sakura, not having a problem with talking to several people. Even if his player finds it difficult.

"Hopes for a pleasant stay, or pleasant life as the case may be"

He say to Sakura, quickly turning to the birdie man and talking to him next before diverting his attention whichever answers first. He seem to find this normal.

"In my world we would have answered that with a Chatter and the notion that we want to hear the story and are far more bothered by nt hearing it, I feel a similar responce is acceptable here"

Light-hearted talking? Who is this and where did Friend go? It also seems that Chatter means something more than it normally does, probably related to red-capped gnomes or something.

[Gullara]

The dryad's eyes widen when she sees him light his pipe. He just throws fire around so casually and carries it around with him.

"Oh well, ok is good too. Better than bad."

She smiles at Friend.

[Zefir]

Fade just decide to continue his talk even if there are a few more people now makes it more fun he thought. So he takes a seat near Friend.

"I think we couldn't end our talk, yet. But would you tell me your name first so I have something to call you?"

[Shadowcaller]

Cessie blinks a bit as her fists clutches together in restrained anger. "...you really should consider what you say Mel'ara. My husband and a few of my friends happens to be elves so I don't consider it to be polite if you bad talk them." She says with a hint of anger in her tone.

Of course, their child would be an half-elf, but she doesn't mention that.

[happyturtle]

Jack starts immediately, but thankfully has quite a bit more going for his Concentration checks than Xifra does. He notes the side-effect of his apprentice's clumsy spell, shooting her a reprehensive glare. "That wasn't focus, Xifra." A little sigh. "I suppose you'll need more practice casting in public places, too."

He finally glances at Prince. "Oy? Who're you?" He manages a grin. "Another fan club member, maybe? Look, I told them no more autographs. Especially not when I'm busy. If you'd form a line at AMEN, I could probably..." I'm sure Prince could interrupt here for good conversation flow. In fact, he probably should.

Xifra gives an unfriendly glare to Prince. I could have completed the binding perfectly if you hadn't interrupted me. Of course he may not even be able to notice her. I don't know if he has a strong will or any special abilities that would let him pierce her psychic 'ignore me' aura.


Meanwhile Cessie also notices Jack and Xifra practicing magic which interests her greatly. After a while her curiosity gets the better of her and she uses a detection magic spell on the drow and the magic Jack and Xifra are doing. Trying to find out what is going on.

It's a Binding Spell, and I think very old magic, but I don't know exactly how to classify it further. Maybe Murkus can chime in?

[iElf]

Cessie blinks a bit as her fists clutches together in restrained anger. "...you really should consider what you say Mel'ara. My husband and a few of my friends happens to be elves so I don't consider it to be polite if you bad talk them." She says with a hint of anger in her tone.

Of course, their child would be an half-elf, but she doesn't mention that.

mel'ara retches "....you're saying that you actually married ...an abomination like that? and I thought you were a decent person..."

[Falgorn]

The vulture nods to Friend, taking a puff of his pipe before responding. "You want me to tell a story about this?" he asks, reaching for something under his robes. It's a harmonica! Someone must wonder how a vulture person plays a harmonica, but whatever. He examines it for a moment, then he holds it out to Friend. "Play me a song on this harmonica, and you will get your story."

[Mina Kobold]

Friend would mile back at Sakura, but he's still not the best at remember all the social rules for humans, nor would it ,atter considering the fact that his hood covers his entire face.

He does respond to Fade, though. Doing otherwise would be ruder than stepping on an elephunk's tails.

"I have yet to acquire a name of my own but some have taken to calling me Friend. What more do you wish to converse? You seemed to have diverted your attention to that which I am unable to see"

That would probably be an insult anywhere but in the Nexus, but there's probably plenty of stuff none of them can see just within an arm's lenght.

He then turns to the Vulture man and takes the harmonica, curiously examining it.

"Harmonic A...?"

He obviously is unaware what it is, seems his realm have had few harmonica players visiting.

[Zefir]

"I don't understand what you mean the elf looking thing sat down and asked something, but befor I kow what she asked she got away so we where the only one remaining Friend."

((I tink I don't get it anyway^^))

[Shadowcaller]

mel'ara retches "....you're saying that you actually married ...an abomination like that? and I thought you were a decent person..."

Frowning, the young magician tries to remain civil and polite, first taking a deep deep breath seeing how Mel'ara reacts. "I must disappoint you then Mel'are, but however elves happen to be in your world, they can't be the same in mine. Aegnor, my husband is the greatest individual I have meet, which is why I married him in the first place."

She pauses, taking another deep breath. "Perhaps our elves are just very different? I wouldn't call our abominations at all so clearly we can't talk about the same type of elves here." Cessie says in a attempt to clear the situation.

[Gullara]

Sakura just listens to the others curiously. She'll respond if someone addresses her, but she's already distracted and looking around the room again.

[iElf]

Frowning, the young magician tries to remain civil and polite, first taking a deep deep breath seeing how Mel'ara reacts. "I must disappoint you then Mel'are, but however elves happen to be in your world, they can't be the same in mine. Aegnor, my husband is the greatest individual I have meet, which is why I married him in the first place."

She pauses, taking another deep breath. "Perhaps our elves are just very different? I wouldn't call our abominations at all so clearly we can't talk about the same type of elves here." Cessie says in a attempt to clear the situation.

Mel'ara lets out a clod laugh "please...elves are elves. all of them light skinned, pointy eared princelings, that think they are to good to be the slave race that they are!" she may feel something attacking her mental defences...like an octopus trying to crack open a shell

[Falgorn]

The vulture laughs, which sounds more like a cackle, due to his voice. "It's an instrument. You blow air into it and suck air out of it to make music. Now go ahead, play me a song."

[Mina Kobold]

"I don't understand what you mean the elf looking thing sat down and asked something, but befor I kow what she asked she got away so we where the only one remaining Friend."

((I tink I don't get it anyway^^))

((The post was ninja-edited such that she was talking to someone else instead, but let's call it a time-anomaly and have it have happened and not have happened ^.^))

"I did not see any elf, perhaps she was only visible to those of magical provess"

Not that Friend didn't use to be more magical than most but he is fairly non'magical at the moment.

Friend then picks up the harmonica and shrugs, testing out it's workings before attempting to play a very old and medieval flute melody.

He probably isn't too good considering he haven't played a harmonica before, maybe if he had a flute.

Or a pan flute, those are funnier.

[ThirdEmperor]

Sorry Jack, but SAINT has two different contracts on you, and sadly, as a member, it is my duty to collect. The question is, are we going to do this the barbaric way, or with a good, clean, cheat-all-you-can-without-being-noticed duel? Prince chuckles, hand on his saber, ready to attack.

[Shadowcaller]

The magician is simply too upset to notice anything like that at the moment.
She scowls and gets off her chair, her hand shaking a bit as her face is slightly flushed in barely restrained rage.

"Then we must agree to disagree. I'm going to leave now, if you excuse me." Cessie says quickly and dismissively as she is planning to leave Mel'ara alone.

[Earl of Purple]

The gnome wearing very bright clothing and the brown-haired and eyed human are approaching the drow; the human picked his club up first. When they are close, they sit down nearby. "Excuse me, Miss. I was wondering if we could join you?" Both have silver amulets around her neck depicting a two-tailed scorpion, a symbol also on the human's tabard and the gnome's brass buttons. She may recognise it as the symbol of Dalachrech.

[iElf]

Mel'ara sighs, and drinks her hot chocolate, muttering something about daylighters..

and then the gnome and the human come

she doesn't recognise it "yes? what is it?"

[Gullara]

Sakura gets out of her seat, gives those she was with a little wave and a smile, then skips over to Cessie.

"Are you alright. You look upset." She asks.

[Shadowcaller]

Not looking where she is going Cessie is going right towards Sakura and is most likely going to bump into her. She is far too angry to look where she is going at the moment really.

Edit: Darn ninja.

[horngeek]

Meanwhile... another drow enters the Tavern! This one has long hair worn loose, violet eyes, and is in scale armor with a Falchion sheathed on her back.

She heads towards the bar... completely ignoring the other drow.

...iElf, your choice if you want to interact with her. :smallamused:

[Zefir]

"I don't know she was invisible cause I saw her shadow well so whats your story behind your shadow controll."

He is just ignoring the fact that Friend makes some music maybe he didn't hear it?^^

[Gullara]

And Cessie bumps into Sakura. "Oh!" The dryad falls over, cherry blossoms scatter around her.

"Ouch."

[Falgorn]

The vulture claps his feathered hands together, laughing. "You're very good, for a beginner. How about this...you get to borrow the harmonica, play it for a few days, and I'll be back here soon. When I hear a full song, I'll tell you my story."
((Deadtime.))

[Shadowcaller]

Cessie glances at the Dryad, a bit shocked seeing her clothing, but she couldn't just leave her there. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She says, glad to have something to that horrible feeling she got from talking to Mel'ara.

She offers Sakura a helping hand to get up. "Here, let me help you up."

[Earl of Purple]

"I was wondering as to the name of such a dominant form of life." Jorje, the human, is speaking reverently and acting respectfully; like somebody who's studied drow culture and matriarchy.

Meanwhile, the male gnome with an unusually large nose is walking to intercept the new drow. "Greetings, miss. I was wondering, could I accompany you to a table." The gnome is wearing lime green silk trousers, a blue silk shirt, a red velvet waistcoat and a purple cloak with yellow tassels. Atop his head is a black hat with a foot of white feather sticking out of it. Around his neck is a silver amulet depicting a two-tailed scorpion, a symbol also on all of his shiny brass buttons. The new drow might recognise it; it's the symbol of Dalachrech, Demon Lord of Invertebrates.

[horngeek]

The drow looks at him, and frowns at the symbol. "...no, thank you."

The reason for such will be obvious if he looks closely. Namely, the holy symbol of Bahamut around her neck.

{{Now, she is a 4e Paladin rather than a 3.5, so she wouldn't fall as such (also, I hate hate hate the falling mechanic)... but she's saying no on general principle. Also, she gets the feeling they're trying something she wants no part in. :smalltongue:}}

[Mina Kobold]

Friend nods to the Vulture man.

"Sound agreement, hopes I get the hang on this instrument"

He begins studying it more closely, looking very pleased. Fae like weird little trinkets like this.

He does still answer Fade. Barely noticing him over the sparkly complex lure of the harmonica.

"I am unable to go beyond the bonds of a mortal body, I do not control my shadow any more than a normal mortal"

Indeed, his shadow is pretty normal. It might chatter up if Fade's tried to meddle with it, but otherwise it's as dul as it is dark.

(Also deadtime for a board game with the family >:3)

[iElf]

"I was wondering as to the name of such a dominant form of life." Jorje, the human, is speaking reverently and acting respectfully; like somebody who's studied drow culture and matriarchy.


she nods "Mel'ara Val'merah, royal princess of Nefe'rak. tell me male...why are you bothering me?"

[Zefir]

"Well than I excuse myself I missunderstand something."

He goes away looking around for more interessting people.

[Gullara]

Technically Sakura isn't wearing anything.

She accepts the offered hand. "No problem. You looked like you were distracted my that black skinned elf." She shakes her hair and more cherry blossoms fall to the floor.

[Earl of Purple]

((That would make more sense to me, Horngeek, if there was a 4e SRD I could compare the 3.5 SRD with; I only own 1e books, although technically they're my dad's))

"As you wish, milady." The gnome bows and retreats towards the human talking to the other drow.

"I was wondering what a drow was doing on the surface, let alone such a high-ranking one as yourself. If I may enquire as to why a ruler of the Underdark was visiting the sunlit lands?" He's still very respectful; maybe not as respectful as a male drow would be.

[horngeek]

{{Basically, 4e Paladins don't Fall. :smalltongue:}}

Miri (for that is the drow's name) looks around, seeing if anything is going on.

Also, ordering a soda.

[Shadowcaller]

As she have helped the Dryad up she withdraws her hand, obviously a bit uncomfortable with Sakura's choice of clothing.

"Yes, she was... very rude." Cessie explains, suppressing other less polite words she would have wanted to use to describe the drow. She glances away a bit, not really looking at Sakura at all, again, due her clothing.

"She insulted my husband quite excessively." The young magician continues.

[iElf]

((That would make more sense to me, Horngeek, if there was a 4e SRD I could compare the 3.5 SRD with; I only own 1e books, although technically they're my dad's))

"As you wish, milady." The gnome bows and retreats towards the human talking to the other drow.

"I was wondering what a drow was doing on the surface, let alone such a high-ranking one as yourself. If I may enquire as to why a ruler of the Underdark was visiting the sunlit lands?" He's still very respectful; maybe not as respectful as a male drow would be.

"My mother thought, before I become queen , I should have spent at least 10 years up here. maintaining a healthy supply of slaves will be a big responsibility of mine, so I'm to see where they come from, and be experienced with the teachings of the upper world. by the way, would there be a place nearby where I could purchase some slaves? I refused to take some from home with me"

[Zefir]

{{Basically, 4e Paladins don't Fall. :smalltongue:}}

Miri (for that is the drow's name) looks around, seeing if anything is going on.

Also, ordering a soda.

A drow Paladin I think Fade found something of intresst his shadow slides to her observing her. Looking for weapons and maybe ask her shadow about obvious skills.

[horngeek]

Shadow sliding successful!

She has a falchion, and not much else in the way of weaponary. As for skills...

...I'm not sure how the shadow-sliding works, but she's quite good at fighting, and a skilled talker. Can make a good diplomat in a pinch.

Not so good at plans.

[Gullara]

Sakura frowns. Speaking of being rude.

"Oh. Um two questions. Am I making you uncomfortable? And what's a husband?" she asks.

[Moff Chumley]

"My mother thought, before I become queen , I should have spent at least 10 years up here. maintaining a healthy supply of slaves will be a big responsibility of mine, so I'm to see where they come from, and be experienced with the teachings of the upper world. by the way, would there be a place nearby where I could purchase some slaves? I refused to take some from home with me"

Frank's eyebrows shoot up. "Slavery's legal here? Really?"

[Morty]

Dipsnig enters Trog's Tavern riding on Viima. He dismounts as soon as he's inside and heads for the bar. When he hears slavery being mentioned, he says with a glare: No, it isn't.

[Rebonack]

Suddenly!

There comes a rather annoying sucking sound moments before something comes tumbling out of nowhere. It looks as though someone took a fish, replaced its head with a bunch of inward facing hooks, and then covered its entire underside with a multitude of flailing shrimp-like swimmerettes.

The strange creature begins 'swimming' through the air in a distinctly ethereal sort of fashion, changing shape in flagrantly impossible ways every time it decides to change direction. All the while it makes a sound reminiscent of hitting a tube of toothpaste with a hammer.

It shimmers with unnatural hues, waves of color washing over its two foot long body and leaving a glowing wake in the air behind it. The utterly alien creature will paddle about the tavern, stopping every now and again to peer anyone who moves.

[Earl of Purple]

"That is a very important job indeed. Unfortunately, the city this bar is located in is the capital city for an Empire that has banned the ownership, sale and capture of slaves, meaning that there is nowhere here that can cater to your needs. There is another city close by, named Riverside, that may be more useful. I must ask, though, if you have had contact with any other Houses of drow up here?" At this point, the flashily-dressed gnome arrives, and bows, so low his nose almost touches the floor. Although gnomes are a large-nosed race, and this gnome's nose is larger than average even for a gnome.

[Shadowcaller]

Cessie looks at the dryad for about two seconds. "Oh? Um, not... really. I just feel the lack of clothing to be a bit uncomfortable for me. Covering up the private bits and so on..." Then she sort of looks away again.

"As for a husband, that someone you choose to spend your life with, for love. I love my husband very much for example which is why I took offense when that... woman insulted him." Cessie does have some experience trying to explain this to nymphs...

[iElf]

"That is a very important job indeed. Unfortunately, the city this bar is located in is the capital city for an Empire that has banned the ownership, sale and capture of slaves, meaning that there is nowhere here that can cater to your needs. There is another city close by, named Riverside, that may be more useful. I must ask, though, if you have had contact with any other Houses of drow up here?" At this point, the flashily-dressed gnome arrives, and bows, so low his nose almost touches the floor. Although gnomes are a large-nosed race, and this gnome's nose is larger than average even for a gnome.

she frowns "...we'll have to change that then. what kind of silly rule is that anyway...oh well. and no. I haven't found any other drow up here yet. I will head to this riverside then. could you please give me directions?"

[Morty]

Trying to lift the ban on slavery might prove unhealthy, Dipsnig says as he orders himself a drink.

[horngeek]

Miri looks over at Dipsnig. "Try lethal. Good thing, too. No being has the right to enslave another."

[Zefir]

Shadow sliding successful!

She has a falchion, and not much else in the way of weaponary. As for skills...

...I'm not sure how the shadow-sliding works, but she's quite good at fighting, and a skilled talker. Can make a good diplomat in a pinch.

Not so good at plans.

For the shadow slide I imagine it like that the shadow of Fade will talk to your shadow obviously making non noice. Your shadow will talk the obvious things like good fighting or throws fireballs nothing specific, but all true facts.

After Fade's shadow comes back he walks over to the drow.

"I saw your kind twice now. What are you?"

Yeah where he came from are no drow.

[Moff Chumley]

Miri looks over at Dipsnig. "Try lethal. Good thing, too. No being has the right to enslave another."

Frank lears. "So, are you a renegade drow or something? Fight evil with a pair of scimitars and your animal companion, prospering despite the prejudices surface dwellers have against your type?" Oh dear... Frank is a gamer. :smalleek:

[Gullara]

((Cessie's wearing a dress right? I thought I saw that somewhere.))

The dryad grin, "Oh right. Some humans get uncomfortable when I don't wear hides. But their just so gross. I like what you're wearing though." She snaps her fingers and a dress much like Cessie's except made of cherry blossoms appears on Sakura. "Is that better?"

"So like a life mate? I see why you'd be upset now. That wasn't nice of her at all."

[Earl of Purple]

"The Empire is powerful, Missy, and others have tried, and failed, to overthrow it before. They issue their foot troops with weapons that shoot beams of light, capable of penetrating plate mail. And humans often have many stupid ideas; I suppose this one is because they're normally slaves, not slave-owners." It's the gnome talking, and he sounds like he's trying to put on an upper-class accent and failing.

[Morty]

Miri looks over at Dipsnig. "Try lethal. Good thing, too. No being has the right to enslave another."

Dipsnig rolls his eyes and facepalms. Ever heard of the word "subtlety"?

[iElf]

"The Empire is powerful, Missy, and others have tried, and failed, to overthrow it before. They issue their foot troops with weapons that shoot beams of light, capable of penetrating plate mail. And humans often have many stupid ideas; I suppose this one is because they're normally slaves, not slave-owners." It's the gnome talking, and he sounds like he's trying to put on an upper-class accent and failing.

she drops her voice so only the two can hear "...there must be a black market here at least...if not, please tell me where riverside is!"

[horngeek]

"Yep. Prefer to hammer my points home bluntly when they're important.

As for the description, man with the leer. No, I'm not a renegade, I was raised in the Temple of Bahamut. The dislike for drow is mostly cancelled out at the very least when people learn I'm a Paladin of the Platinum Dragon.

...and does a falchion look like a pair of scimitars and an animal companion to you?"

[Rebonack]

The strange shrimp-fish drifts over to Frank, opens up its hook-filled maw, and aims to clamp down on the back of his head. It'll then make gross sucking sounds and drool all over his hair.

Pretty much harmless otherwise.

If a bit disturbing.

At about the same time a pair of rather sizable claws punch through the air in roughly the same position the shrimpfish had appeared in, slowly easing the aperture wider as a certain Chimera shoves his nose through. From the way that the creature is moving it should be pretty clear that he's being careful not to let anything else through.

The beast's blue fur is still slick with the viscus protoplasm of the Amoebic Sea, though thankfully the alien matter begins to evaporate as soon as it's exposed to the atmosphere of the physical world.

He would probably smell really gross otherwise.

[Zefir]

"Yep. Prefer to hammer my points home bluntly when they're important.

As for the description, man with the leer. No, I'm not a renegade, I was raised in the Temple of Bahamut. The dislike for drow is mostly cancelled out at the very least when people learn I'm a Paladin of the Platinum Dragon.

...and does a falchion look like a pair of scimitars and an animal companion to you?"

"Hey I asked you a question. What is a drow or a paladin?"

Fade shows no emotion not even in his voice.

[Morty]

Dipsnig rests his head on his hand, casual-like, not betraying the fact that he's listening in on the conversation between the elf and the gnome.

[Shadowcaller]

((Cessie's wearing a dress right? I thought I saw that somewhere.))

The dryad grin, "Oh right. Some humans get uncomfortable when I don't wear hides. But their just so gross. I like what you're wearing though." She snaps her fingers and a dress much like Cessie's except made of cherry blossoms appears on Sakura. "Is that better?"

"So like a life mate? I see why you'd be upset now. That wasn't nice of her at all."

((Yep, a black very conservative travel dress, think 1800-century england. Very elegant while not exactly 'sexy'. It's made to suppress any curves rather then to enchant them.))

"It wasn't." Cessie admits, now able to look straight at the Dryad. "Thank you for caring, and yes, I guess 'life-mate' is a proper term for it as well. I miss him terrible right now." She says with a sigh but then smiles a bit at Sakura, looking to be in a bit better mood.

"So you must be a dryad then? I know your kind, they are a very friendly sort, even if they don't care for decency much."

[Moff Chumley]

Frank's grin only widens. "Whatever you say, I suppose." And then an alien horror tries to eat Frank's head. :smalleek: After flailing around for a moment, he grabs his phone, and with practiced ease, calls up the app, punches in the parameters, and shifts reality. To the tune of banishing everything hailing from the Far Realm within five feet. Will it work? Who knows, but it's always worked on his home plane...

[Earl of Purple]

"There may be a black market, but if I know anybody with a part in it, they are keeping it very secret. Can you read this language? Riverside is quite a distance, and written instructions would be better." Jorje is telling the truth about the black market, because as far as his player knows it is true.

[Chas the mage]

Yann nods and holds up the cigar between two fingers, probably getting it lit. He takes a lazy puff, and ends up looking a bit sick of the thing. "Bah. Haven't had one of these in years." He holds on to it anyway, however. "Thanks, by the way. So, still feel like telling a story?"


He lights it with some device on the sleeve of his armor. "Sure, might as well," he replies, after taking a puff of his cigar. "It all started, in an Empire far away; around 3 score years ago..." he begins. "I was born, to a family unknown to me. They could've been anything from a clan of nobles to a random peasant on the street; but that doesn't make a difference. Then, sometime in the night probably, I was abducted by the Imperial Army recruiters. Conscripted against my will before I could even speak. They then trained me and educated me to be a nationalist Imperial soldier." He takes a pause in his story, but he is clearly not finished. He takes a sip of his scotch and a puff of his cigar.

[iElf]

"There may be a black market, but if I know anybody with a part in it, they are keeping it very secret. Can you read this language? Riverside is quite a distance, and written instructions would be better." Jorje is telling the truth about the black market, because as far as his player knows it is true.

she nods "I read and write your tongue...now...please tell me"

[horngeek]

"Hey I asked you a question. What is a drow or a paladin?"

Fade shows no emotion not even in his voice.

"A paladin is a warrior who serves one of the gods. A drow is a member of the species I'm a member of, an offshoot of elves. Drow in general have a... bad reputation, although I don't have to deal with that so much."

[Rebonack]

The alien horror is trying to eat Frank's head in much the same way that fish nibbling at bubbles try to eat one's legs. While disturbing the creature isn't any real threat.

With a sickening 'SCHLORMP!' the shrimpfish vanishes, never to be seen again!

...until Rebo feels inclined to harass someone else with it.

Avatar, meanwhile, makes a rather sour face at the banishment spell. He hadn't been close enough to get blasted by it, but he still finds the feeling it put off rather distasteful.

After a bit more wriggling he finally manages to squeeze through the hole in reality. A hole that quickly seals behind him, though not before a brief spurt of other-worldly protoplasm splatters on the floor.

The alien goo wriggles and writhes and generally looks gross as it slowly dissolves away, unable to exist due to the laws that govern the physical world.

With that done, the Far Chimera begins surveying the present occupants of the tavern.

[Gullara]

Sakura nods, still grinning. "Yep, but not all dryads are friendly. Don't worry I am." She giggles.

"I've never understood wearing clothing myself. It's so inconvenient. Try turning into a tree or walking through one. Your clothes will just end up on a pile on the ground. And this," she ruffles the flower dress, "will fade away in an hour. Besides I can just thicken my skin to cover up. Like I was before."

"It is hard to talk to men though. Last week I was talking to an elf boy. I don't think he looked at my eyes the whole time."

[Zefir]

"A paladin is a warrior who serves one of the gods. A drow is a member of the species I'm a member of, an offshoot of elves. Drow in general have a... bad reputation, although I don't have to deal with that so much."

"hmm but does it make sens for the god to have a member that has a bad reputation to other races?"

[Earl of Purple]

"Here." He pushes across a piece of paper with directions to Riverside written on it. "Before you leave, does the name Xar'Cha mean anything to you?"

[horngeek]

"Well, it'd show that reputation isn't deserved all of the time, hmm?"

[iElf]

"Here." He pushes across a piece of paper with directions to Riverside written on it. "Before you leave, does the name Xar'Cha mean anything to you?"

she shakes her head "no...not at all..."

[Zefir]

"Well, it'd show that reputation isn't deserved all of the time, hmm?"

"Well I don't deal with the gods so I say they have there reasons. But whats your reason to be here?"

[Shadowcaller]

Sakura nods, still grinning. "Yep, but not all dryads are friendly. Don't worry I am." She giggles.

"I've never understood wearing clothing myself. It's so inconvenient. Try turning into a tree or walking through one. Your clothes will just end up on a pile on the ground. And this," she ruffles the flower dress, "will fade away in an hour. Besides I can just thicken my skin to cover up. Like I was before."

"It is hard to talk to men though. Last week I was talking to an elf boy. I don't think he looked at my eyes the whole time."

"Err... well, that is a very important reason to wear clothing." Cessie explains. "Among my kind, you freeze without clothing and to be respected among us, it's vital that you cover yourself up. Otherwise people might think badly of you." More important among the females then the males for some reason thought.

"It's only when your alone or with your 'life-mate' you can, eh, be a bit less respectable." Ah, if they knew...

[Earl of Purple]

"Glad we could help, and thank you for helping us in turn." Jorje is smiling, and seems to have relaxed the formality since he's got the information he wanted; or rather, confirmation that the information isn't to be found with that person.

[Gullara]

"I guess the freezing thing is a good enough reason." The dryad says. She isn't even going to pretend to understand the respectable thing though.

"Alone with your life-mate? Oh, right. It's definitely hard to be respectable then." she giggles and winks at Cessie.

A deep, rumbling voice can be heard from outside. "Saaakura..."

Sakura rolls her eyes and shouts toward the door, "Yeah yeah, no teasing the mortals."

[Shyftir]

The sludge of deadtime slushes away from a certain grey-cloaked wizard and he begins to watch Avatar stalk his prey.

[iElf]

"Glad we could help, and thank you for helping us in turn." Jorje is smiling, and seems to have relaxed the formality since he's got the information he wanted; or rather, confirmation that the information isn't to be found with that person.

Mel'ara nods, and gets up "I thank you male." she gets up "I will leave for riverside now. if there isn't a slave market there, I will found one"

[Shadowcaller]

"I guess the freezing thing is a good enough reason." The dryad says. She isn't even going to pretend to understand the respectable thing though.

"Alone with your life-mate? Oh, right. It's definitely hard to be respectable then." she giggles and winks at Cessie.

A deep, rumbling voice can be heard from outside. "Saaakura..."

Sakura rolls her eyes and shouts toward the door, "Yeah yeah, no teasing the mortals."

The magician blushes and looks away a bit as she hear the dryad say that. But she recovers soon enough, "Eh, who are you talking to?"

[Rebonack]

But Avatar isn't stalking anything!

Apart from any dirty looks he's shooting at Tachyon Gnomes. He hates those little bearded buggers.

No, for the time being he's sitting on his haunches and scratching his ear with his foot. Then streeeetching and yawning. Actually appears somewhat endearing.

Does he do it because he needs to?

Not really.

The Chimera has just found that mimicking certain animal behaviors makes material beings more comfortable around him. And so he does. No reason to freak people out any more than his mere presence does.

[Shyftir]

Few things in this or any world are as creepy as when the unnatural attempt to act naturally. Vance's instincts tell him to blast the abomination back to the abyss from wence it came, but his mind knows that the being is doing no harm to the denizens of this plane. All very confusing really.

[Gullara]

The magician blushes and looks away a bit as she hear the dryad say that. But she recovers soon enough, "Eh, who are you talking to?"

"Oh that's Sarget, my 'tree'." She says. Said tree would be the 14 foot, fully bloomed cherry blossom tree that Cessie definitely noticed when she came in.

"He's always on my case about this or that." She rolls her eyes again, but there is definite affection in her voice.

[Rebonack]

Avatar seems to pick up on the fact that the wizard is eying him. He's been around for quite a while now. Several years, actually. Most of the tavern regulars have reached the point where he isn't seen as strange any longer. After all, the mind is such that one can get use to even the oddest of things.

Provided, of course, that there's consistent enough exposure.

"Is... There something wrong?" Avatar inquires of Vance. He has no idea who the guy is, of course. Aside from the brief description he got last night. It can be difficult at times to tell whether or not a mortal is equipped to deal with the eldritch and other-worldly.

So suffice to say the Chimera has no idea that dimensional blasting could be in the cards.

With his attention elsewhere some random child armed with a spoon creeps up behind the Chimera and begins poking said spoon into the lack of space his 'wings' occupy. He seems to find this very amusing.

Avatar is always finding random junk in his wings that people toss in when he isn't looking.

[Shadowcaller]

"Oh... sorry, I should have figured that out. I must be tired." Cessie excuses herself as she looks at the tree and then looks back at Sakura.

"He's you 'life-mate' then?" She asks, not really understanding what life mate exactly meant to the dryad, could you really... with a tree?

[Falgorn]

A vulture person, wearing a purple and blue robe with a blue hood, watches
Avatar, chuckling in a high, scratchy voice. He smokes a pipe, and after a puff or two, he claps his brown-feathered hands at the Chimera. It's amusing watching Avatar pick through and clean his wings, and it makes the old bird happy.

[Gullara]

Sakura's eyes widen a moment before she bursts out laughing. "Oh no, he's like, oh what's the word, like a father to me."

Sakura's player has no clue how dryads are 'born', but is operating under the assumption half-dryads are possible. My guess, full dryads have a plant like 'birth', and half-dryads have an animal like 'birth'. And I'm sticking to that.

"Now I'm confused, mate means the same thing to you right? You know, like babies and stuff?" She has no experience with babies, being a full dryad.

[Neon Knight]

The door of the tavern groans alarmingly as it is swung with great force, pivoting open and slamming against the wall with a deafening sound that attracts much attention. It's the kind of entrance of either the very rude or the very troubled, and it seems that the current entrant matches the latter, as well as the descriptor of being exceptionally odd.

It is at first just a quick white blur that darts to the center of the room, where it slows enough that those looking can determine precisely what it is. A rather large tea pot levitating upon a saucer is in the center of the room. It is roughly the size of a large breed dog, made of fine china in a brilliant white, aside from the painted image of a horse on the side. The tea pot tilts up, and the horse looks as if it is rearing back. A blast of steam oddly sounding like a horse's neigh issues from the spout of the fine vessel, a high piercing sound that rings throughout the interior of the structure.

Clinging desperately to the handle is a similarly odd figure, a kind of seemingly animated doll or figure about the size of a gnome. His wooden body is "clad" in a painted on suit of knightly armor, and the features of the face are likewise nothing but paint, save for the wooden jaw and the cottony beard.

The tea pot ceases rearing and proceeds to zoom about the Tavern, the clip clop of hooves sounding at its movements. The nutcracker cries out, "A spot of tea! I beg of you, get me a spot of tea! A good black or green, or even an Earl Grey! Anything to calm my steed!"

[Mina Kobold]

Friend, a hooded humanoid in a green hood being very hoody, looks up as the Vulture claps and notices Avatar. He doesn't realise it's the same as the foxboy but does recognice him as the falling silly thing.

He staaaares.

But it's a curious stare, much can be learned from a far creature, like the best way to prepare a Tachyon Gnome!

[Shadowcaller]

Cessie eyes Sakura carefully as she starts laughing, seemingly afraid that she have done something wrong. But as it turns out she didn't, she instead replies.

"Err... yes, I think so at least. I haven't had any yet however, we are waiting with that until I'm ready." Talk about babies seem to make her a bit uncomfortable.

"You... procreate with them." Even that very technical word seems to be hard for her to say.

[Gullara]

"With babies? Well kind of. We can mate with mortals and have children that are half dryads. But full dryads like me just grow in our trees." Sakira says. She's not at all uncomfortable with this line of conversation. "I was lucky enough to grow in an ent. Sarget always thought it was impossible, but here I am."

[Rebonack]

Nina, one of the ever-present NPC servers at Trog's, actually looks... surprised? By the most recent tavern patron's appearance and entrance.

Honestly hasn't ever seen something like that before.

She rushes to fetch some tea!

It's only a matter of moments before a nice little cup of green tea is offered to the rampaging... horse?

Avatar, meanwhile, just... blinks at this newest being. Only in the Nexus, right? Since the wizard seems to be distracted at the moment he turns his attention to... several other people staring at him. And offers a rather toothy grin. "Oh come on, I can't possibly be the strangest thing you've seen before, can I?"

Oop!

The child just dropped the spoon into the Chimera's wing. And of course the boy then does the most reasonable thing he can think of! Trying to climb in after it.

Which finally manages to catch Avatar's attention.

"Hey! Leggo!"

Much limb-waving then commences!

[Neon Knight]

"Whoa! WHOA! Samovar, calm down!" The tea pot rears again and blasts another steam neigh into the air. The nutcracker manages to clamber up into a position on top of the teapot, reins tied to the spout of the pot springing into existence with a gesture from his wooden hands. Wrestling with bucking china, he guides it towards Nina and the offered tea. "Whoa there, whoa..." The spout dips into the tea cup, and there is a loud slurp as the tea is taken up in one... "gulp." The tea pot settles as the nutcracker wipes his brow. "Fair lady, I am eternally in your debt."

[Shadowcaller]

"Interesting..." She leans a bit closer to ensure privacy. "Well, I don't usually tell this to uninvited, so I would prefer if this stays between us, but I'm slightly related to one of your kind, way back of course." Cessie admits, glancing a bit at the ent to see if it reacts any bit to their conversation.

[Shyftir]

"No. Nothing. It's just my trainning..." Vance is cut off as the teapot-strangness enters the room. This itself would be waved off as somekind of prank. Vance turns back to the Chimera just in time to see it struglling with a human child.

He quickly stands and draws his runeblade out of seemingly nowhere. He points the weapon as he draws in his will and shouts. "Release the child, creature, and I may yet spare you!"

The runic markings on the blade begin to glow a soft blue-white.

((eep, misunderstanding-violence theatre!))

[Gullara]

"Oh cool, you are?" Sakura says quitly. She seems absolutely delighted.

Sarget, who is only just visible out the window, doesn't react. He generally reacts to things at a slower pace being a tree and all, but he doesn't have much of a reason to react anyway.

"What kind of tree? Do you know?"

[Rebonack]

Nina does her best curtsy in response to the knightly nutcracker. Just seems like the thing to do. He's so proper! "Just a tip will be fine."

Trog doesn't get around to paying them very often...

In more Chimera-related matters!

About the time the wizard had started getting alarmed the little boy was busy tumbling into the starscape of null-space that makes up the Far beasty's wings. Avatar's pretty quick, thankfully, and he catches the boy by the ankle and fishes him out.

Now held upside-down and holding a spoon the child is laughing in the fashion that small children generally do when someone holds them upside-down.

Then a sword is brandished at the Chimera.

"...what...?" he sounds confused.

Probably because What ain't no country I ever heard of!

[Mina Kobold]

Vance may find his Runeblade showed off aim by a sixteenth century mortuary sword in the hands of a hooded figure.

"Calm your mind, young. He is trying to prevent the kid's demise, not further it"

Friend to the far-rescue!

[Shyftir]

Luckily, the grey cloaked wizard's confrontation with the Far Realm oddity is cut short by a wave of deadtime and the situation is diffused by shear chance.

((Actually one of they Fae coming to the defense of a creature of the Far Realm would probably convince Vance that the two were part of some conspiracy to destroy humanity. And in his section of the universe he'd probably be right!))

[Shadowcaller]

"Not exactly." Cessie admits, glancing to the sides to make sure no one is overhearing their conversation.
"I have met her thought, the one that was together with my grandfathers grandfather, being immortal and all. Her name is Zilia and she had very similar powers to you. She hadn't been born from a ent thought. I never even thought about asking what tree she came from frankly."

[Rebonack]

Good thing the Nexus isn't his part of the universe! There have been enough universal destruction plawts of late.

A Tachyon Gnome cackles with malevolent glee at having clubbed the gray wizard with its chrono-cudgel before scampering off into the future to cause more trouble elsewhen.

Damn those Tachyon Gnomes!

Avatar sets the little boy, who we'll call Luke, down on the floor. The child grins up at the Chimera and announces, "I want a ride!"

The Chimera's ears fold back a bit as he makes excuses. "The weather is bad outside and you don't look like you're dressed very warmly and you should probably a-OOF!"

The 'oof' from a child leaping onto his back. Said child waves his spoon like a saber! "Giddyup!" 'n digs his heels into the Chimera's sides.

[Rae Artemi]

Crae may find it a bit difficult to move free of that circle, for the moment. Though since Xifra's new to magic, he could probably walk out with minimal effort.

Jack takes one of Xifra's hands across the table, smiling and glancing between her and Crae. She'll probably feel a sudden and immediate connection, magical energy coursing from Jack into her. "Now, for a crash course in the transfer of energy. We touched on this the other day, if I recall. With a combination of magic, wards, and the connections they form with other beings, one can bring about practically any desired effect." With his free hand, he gestures in Crae's general direction. "Take our friend here. With that circle, and a brief concert of our Power, several basic alterations can be made. For instance."

A sensation of extreme, violent claustraphobia will probably take hold of Xifra. A Binding spell, only partially formed, though I don't know how quickly she'll pick that up. With a mental hand, Jack guides her flow of energy, trying to push her towards the chalk circle around Crae. To push the spell.

Jack's voice drifts to her through the sudden haze of magic, smooth and controlled. He sounds very much like a teacher. "Stay calm. Focus. Transfer and bind."

If Xifra can take control and succeed, Crae will probably feel a much more minor claustrophobic feeling. And, at the very edge of his hearing, a small snap. Leaving the circle may get quite a bit more difficult.

Of course, if Xifra makes a mistake, some side effects might occur. I'll leave them up to her player.




Xifra almost struggles against the claustrophobic feeling, but the feeling of power keeps her in place. Focus. She carefully follows Jack's guidance to control the spell and push it onto her chalk circle. Transfer.

And there. Jack's spell and hers, sitting next to each other. She just needs to figure out how to bind them together and...



The distraction startles her, and she almost loses control of the spell. The Bind step is done clumsily, and instead of it being a simple Binding spell to hold Crae in place, the Ward is actually shrinking around him.


When the spells start working on him, Crae's head raises and he looks around the tavern.

Who's Trying To Mess With My Head This Time?

He wonders aloud, trying to find the culprit, of course.

[Gullara]

"Oh well, that's a shame. But it's nice you got to meet her." Sakura is grinning as she talks. "So why are you all hush hush about it anyway?"

(Posting may slow to a crawl in 10 minutes))

[Shadowcaller]

The magician smiles nervously "Well, I am a part of the royal family from the empire I'm from and certain people have negative opinions about your kind I'm afraid."

Her smile fades. "It's politics really, just a small part of me is dryad and people might get the wrong impression. It's not really just me it's about after all. My family is quite large." She makes a dismissive gesture and seems to be wanting to change the subject.

"So you can't tell what sort of tree Zelia was through me? Does it effect anything?"

[Mina Kobold]

A very surprised Fae finds his sword stuck in the Deadtime ooze and desperately tries to get it free in a losing battle until it noms him too.

The ooze moves a few inches before stopping, having found a nice spot to be oozy.

((Deadtime for bedsies))

[Gullara]

"Well I might be able to tell. Here let me try." The dryad says. She'll try to put her hand on Cessie's head and close her eyes.

((Any preference?))

((Also Deadtime for a couple hours))

[Maxios]

The Courier is sitting up at the bar. He's wearing a tatterered tuxedo and a bowler hat, and is cursing under his breath

[Moff Chumley]

Frank is, by now, talking with some NPCs, questioning them about Nexus. They're starting to look uncomfortable, and Frank is getting more and more intense. After a bit, he'll stand up, and with an odd expression, exit the tavern.

[Maxios]

The Courier's stool falls backwards, breaking the stool.

"You're going to have to pay for that, buddy. 200 Gold." the Barkeep tells the Courier.

The Courier curses some more.

[ThirdEmperor]

Higgs strides into the tavern, walks over to the Courier and sits down next to him. So, hows it goin?

[Maxios]

Higgs strides into the tavern, walks over to the Courier and sits down next to him. So, hows it goin?

"Not as good as I would've hoped." The Courier says, getting up.

"You do realize you have to pay for that stool, right?" The Barkeep tells the Courier, who proceeds to curse some more

[ThirdEmperor]

Well, look at it this way. You're rep is ruined forever, you're no longer leader of LANTERN, which you started, you're poor, you have to pay for that barstool, from what I've heard you never found out who killed your archenemy, but hey, you're still alive.

[Maxios]

Well, look at it this way. You're rep is ruined forever, you're no longer leader of LANTERN, which you started, you're poor, you have to pay for that barstool, from what I've heard you never found out who killed your archenemy, but hey, you're still alive.

"I'M NOT MAXIOS!" The Courier says angrily. "I'm the friggin' Courier!"

[ThirdEmperor]

But will anyone believe you? And really, you are the same person in many ways, so far as I'v heard. Nah, you're problem is, the old you never really fought any crime, and when he did, he caused more harmthan he stopped. You have to prove you're different.

[Maxios]

But will anyone believe you? And really, you are the same person in many ways, so far as I'v heard. Nah, you're problem is, the old you never really fought any crime, and when he did, he caused more harmthan he stopped. You have to prove you're different.

"Fine." The Courier says calming down. "I heard there's going to be a train heist. We're going to stop it."

[ThirdEmperor]

Higgs attempts to grab Maxios by the shoulder and whisper to him. No, no, no. That's NPC crime, nobody cares about it. No, you have to stop PC crime if you're eve going to get a decent rep going.

[Maxios]

Higgs attempts to grab Maxios by the shoulder and whisper to him. No, no, no. That's NPC crime, nobody cares about it. No, you have to stop PC crime if you're eve going to get a decent rep going.

The barkeep leads in to listen. "When Magtok held this tavern, I lost 200 GP of profit. You can go and be my debt collector."

"Deal." The Courier says

[ThirdEmperor]

Higgs sighs. Okay, but let's take this conversation elsewhere.

[Maxios]

Higgs sighs. Okay, but let's take this conversation elsewhere.

The barkeep will motion for Higgs and the Courier to follow. The barkeep opens the door to the back-room.
The Courier enters

[ThirdEmperor]

Higgs does to, facepalming.

[Maxios]

"So this is a backroom dealing. Kind of shady." The Courier says, sitting down.

"Do you have any questions?" The Barkeep asks

[ThirdEmperor]

Yes. Why are we going to shake down one of the most respected, most dangerous villians ever? Over 200 gold? Seriously?

[Maxios]

Yes. Why are we going to shake down one of the most respected, most dangerous villians ever? Over 200 gold? Seriously?

"Because he took money from me. And NOBODY takes money from me." The Barkeeper says, dangerously. "I'm using this as an example. If I get money out of Magtok, people will see I'm not to be messed with."

The Courier is sitting, silent.