Explorers of Acacia Reborn - IC thread

[qwertyu63]

This is the main thread for Explorers of Acacia Reborn. (Those from the first game might remember this prompt...)

You are all in the city of Clevefort. Clevefort is a major trading hub, and therefore boasts the largest market in the world. It is noon. Where you are in the city is up to you.

[asdflove]

Aliavius Leafsong is sitting on a bench in a park, quietly strumming her lute and humming to herself. Her long dark green hair is messily braided and slung back over her shoulder. A brown hat is nestled on her head and her long pointed ears are over the hat. She's wearing a Brown and green tunic and green knee high boots and brown laces. Nearby her riding dog, Maple, is sitting quietly watching her master with her head cocked to the side.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl sits on the roof of a building, with one leg hung over the edge and the other close to his chest with kis chin on his knee. The crumpled apron from the job he just quit from hangs from his grip. He stretches and jumps from the roof, flapping once to slow his fall. Then he begins wandering the city.

[Aldurin]

Lerian moves about the marketplace, mostly concealed under a cloak as he takes in the environment. He spends a longer time observing market stalls featuring magical wares than he does the others as he moves and thinks.

[darklink_shadow]

Venn was a bit too large for spending much time indoors. The streets, when crowded, became choked when Venn walked down them, and any horses who happened to be going the opposite way got skittish at the smell of a wolf.

Unable to remain indoors or on the streets, Venn could really only stay in the park or outside the city for any amount of time. Drudge wanted to remain in the city for now, so they were relaxing in the park. Drudge was gently petting Venn while just enjoying the feeling being around nature. Venn was enjoying the heat of a midday sun and the relaxing feeling of being scratched behind the ears. It was a pretty good day, overall.

[Demidos]

The smell of musty tomes permenated the air and the ancient, sputtering eternal flames were all that lit the small room. Within, a man with grey skin sat, clad in full armor. His unblinking eyes scanned down the rotting manuscript, then moved on to the next one. The manuscript is wordlessly, gently, rolled up and put to a side, as his eyes scan the next one.

He remains in this position for several hours, poring over the writing in the poor light. At last he reaches the last scroll. He suddenly stands, rolling up the scroll. With a short nod to the attendant, he indicates that he has finished and steps out towards the exit of the library.

[smasher0404]

Tristan enters through the city gates overwhelmed by the various new smells and images he sees just entering into the city. His eternal companion Wolfie walks alongside him, earning him various stares. Tristan wanders through the streets, unsure where they will take him.

[razorback]

Algrith wanders around the town square, looking for someone... inviting. He spends the better part of the morning wandering from food cart to food cart, tasting the local cuisine, as he tries to find information about where to find a wizard shop so he can try to find a few spells he's been meaning to locate.
As the hours pass, he sits down heavily at a pub, his plan forgotten in a disagreement with a cart owner about a meat pie of dubious origin. Not one to care overly about what it was he was eating - as long as it was fresh, tasty, and not poisonous - he knew it wasn't lamb he was selling, contrary to the sign. When he innocently asked what meat was really in the pie, the red faced man practically jumped out of his breeches yelling. Algrith said he didn't care, that it tasted good, but he wanted to know in case he was out and about and saw another shop selling something similar he would make the effort to sample and compare, the now redfaced man practically exploded. Even Algriths' sometimes absent sense of self-preservation made an apperance as the man started to reach for a meat cleaver.
"Oh, bother." as he walked away, shaking his head.
Waving the serving lady over, he attempted a smile that looked as awkward as it felt. When he asked for "One of everything on tap." the girl smiled for a moment until she realized he wasn't joking.
When she returned after her third trip to drop off 15 glasses of ale, beer, and wine, Algrith dutifully paid her and proceeded to begin sampling the various drinks. He failed to notice the girl's jaw nearly drop as she walked away shaking her head.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl walks into a frequent haunt of his, the Matrons Mug. Seeing a man with 15 mugs in front of him, he can't keep to himself. He walks over to the man and smiles. "You expecting company?" he asks with a laugh.

[asdflove]

Maple stops watching Aliavius and starts sniffing around. Wandering off in the park, Maple comes across Venn and Drudge. She tilts her head to the side looking at them. She comes forward, sniffing Venn.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge looks up. "Hello." He says, standing up. "Who might you be?" The fur covered metal man asks. "A friend of Venn's? Venn, have you made friends already? I only left you alone for half an hour. Good for you."

Venn made a coughing sound similar to a chuckle. "No." The winter wolf replied in common. "But I am about to, I think." Tail wagging, Venn sniffed back. Excited, he bounded around a bit.

"Don't scare the poor girl Venn." Drudge scolded the overly hyper wolf. "You're twice her size."

Venn has an Int of 9, and speaks common and giant. Who knew? I didn't realize this until just now.

[INoKnowNames]

"Pardon me." A tall, fair stranger approaches the nearest civilian upon entering Cleveport. "I'm looking for either the nearest police station, the local guild office, or this city's BHA branch. I'm a guest here, and I have some forms I need to have verified before I make myself too comfortable." The man is friendly and polite, arms held behind his head, fingers scratching through his platinum-blond spiky hair as he receives direction. He tours the city for a bit, walking around the busy streets and getting a general bearing of the layout, before ending up at the bounty-hunter's head-quarters. With confidence, he adjusts the blue jacket covering his black and grey body armor, and strides in.

"Excuse me. Tarmikos Silverkin. Hunter Identification Number: 0487343." he responds as he heads to the front desk. "I just stopped in town, and I'd like my certification re-authenticated for a brief stay here. Everything should be in order." he says as he retrieves a small, black booklet from his backpack and hands it over to the receptionist. "If available, I would also appreciate a brief record of any recent incidents that have been reported. Possibly in the last few months or so." As he makes his requests, he taps the floor with the toe of his boot to a rhythm going on in his head. "...additionally, if you happen to know anywhere nice one could stay and eat for a good price, I'd sure appreciate it. I'm somewhat strapped for cash at the moment." he adds with a laugh.

[qwertyu63]

Tarmkos: The man behind the desk says: "Ah, I can do that right now for you." He runs around collecting and writing stuff down. "Alright, we have you noted down." He hands back your papers along with some wanted posters "Things have been rather quiet lately, but there's what we have... Also, for food you'd want the Matrons Mug." He gives directions. "There's a nice cheap inn just across the road from it as well... Don't order the Blaster. Just trust me on that."

[INoKnowNames]

"Excellent. Thank you very much." Tarmikos replies, taking his forms back from the deskman and returning them and the posters to his bag. "Hopefully things will stay quiet for a bit longer; it's much better that way." Tarmikos memorizes the directions before heading off. "Ah, I heard about that in Brunsshire, but I can't drink anything more alcoholic than water; I'm a massive light weight! Thanks for all your help!"

Tarmikos follows the directions to the bar, but instead registers for a decent room at the hotel instead. I shouldn't be here too long, but a roof over my head beats sleeping in the dirt any day! He thinks to himself while he orders a room under his BHA charge.

After making sure all of his affairs are in order, he stands in the middle of the street, looking around for anything else of interest. "I've got until the end of today to enjoy some time off before I need to pick up on some work. Should I go ahead and grab something sweet to cool off, or should I explore a bit, and see what grabs me..." he wonders out loud, hand on his chin.

[asdflove]

Maple barks excitedly, her weight on her front paws, ready to play. The soft music from nearby stops and quiet footsteps approach from behind. "Maple, come." A soft melodic voice calls. Maple immediately bounds towards the voice.

Lucky, my animal companion isn't even allowed to be awakened. :smallannoyed:

[shayanuser]

The currents bring Rhonin to the city of Clevefort. He begins to reduce his altitude and scans the buildings for a good inn to spend the night in. One of the advantages of big trading cities is that no one cares what you are as long as you have gold.
He at last spots a suitable inn with good smells coming out of its chimney. Although he enjoyed the feeling of cool wind in his furs, he is hungry and tired now. The door is on the other side of the building so Rhonin dives through the window and dramatically lands in front of the counter. Ignoring the serving girl's scream, he immediately reaches for his money pouch.
"How much for some raw juicy meat and two large stalls in the stables?", he whispers.

[Zolkabro]

Yragoki, or Yrago as he is normally referred to, is also in a bar. What a surprise.
He's only slightly drunk (which is of course a relative term) as the night is still young. But as usual, by the end of the night he will almost certainly have ingested practically his own volume in alcohol.

After his fourth Tom Collins, Yrago sees a man in a relatively respectable, well-lit part of the bar, well away from the dark shady corner-chair he lounges in, order a pint of absolutely everything. His eyes narrow. A challenge, eh?
"OY!" he yells, and immediately, a waiter appears. She knows only too well what he does when made to wait for his beer.
"Gimme the dirt on that ginger pixie over there? And bring me double of everything he's having."
Yrago is slurring his words already, and he hasn't even been in the bar long.
He chuckles. "Time for a drinking game!" He rumbles, pulling himself up labouriously. The serving girl winces as his hauling cracks the table. Again.

He ambles towards this pointy-eared twerp, grinning. He can feel that this is going to be a good night already.

[darklink_shadow]

Sorry for late post. Slept in. All day.

Drudge watches the dog bound off."There goes your friend. I'm going to stay here, but you can run off if you like. Don't get into any trouble though. Meet me back here when the sun goes down if we haven't met up yet."

"Lazy. Don't you want to meet the person who called Maple?" Venn watched Maple run off, making sure he could follow if she got far away.

"I may. But what are the chances anyone wants to meet me? Besides I'm really quite enamoured with this spot. It's beautiful." Drudge sighed. Being a being from another time period was hard enough, but he was warforged, with four furry arms. He got enough odd looks when he had to be around people. "If they like you though, I guess I could meet them anybody who likes you.... sheesh."

Venn chuckled again, although it still sounded like a coughing fit. "What? Me, more disagreeable than you?" Another fit of laughter. "Well maybe. See you later."

With that, Venn bounded off after Maple. When he got close to Maple and her friend, Venn stopped and barked, wagging his tail to show that he was friendly.

[smasher0404]

Tristan stumbles into the Matron's Mug dazed and confused, walks up to the counter and says "Hello, I'm new to this city, could you tell me about this place?" Tristan then turns around to see what is around him.

Gather Information I think? Taking 10

[asdflove]

Aliavius is standing just a short way behind Drudge, her messy green braid draped over her shoulder and her lute in one hand with her other hand on Maple's head. She smiles warmly at Venn and Maple barks excitedly at Aliavius' side. "Hey there boy." She smiles coming forward scratching behind his ear. Maple bounds around Venn her tail wagging crazily. "Maple's sure has taken a liking to you hasn't she?"

[Vixsor Lumin]

With the crashing of the rear window, Arryl instictively reaches for an arrow before he forgets that his equipment is at home. When it turns out not to be a threat, he relaxes somewhat. With the drunk yelling from across the bar and people shattering windows, this wasn't as relaxing as he had been hoping it would have been. He walks out the front door and walks directly into the spikey haired man. "Oh im sorry." he says quickly.

[darklink_shadow]

Venn barked happily, pretending he couldn't talk; people usually didn't talk it when wolves could suddenly talk. He nuzzled at the woman, then yipped, and pounced at Maple.

Overly excited, he forgot he wasn't going to talk: "Play? Play? Play?!" Bouncing around he nipped at Maple playfully.

[qwertyu63]

Tristan stumbles into the Matron's Mug dazed and confused, walks up to the counter and says "Hello, I'm new to this city, could you tell me about this place?" Tristan then turns around to see what is around him.

Gather Information I think? Taking 10

"What do you want to know?"

[razorback]

As Algrith quaffs down the drink, he sputters a bit as he wipes his face with his forearm.
"No, I wasn't initially expecting company... Is this your establishment? Do you need me to move to a smaller table to fit in a bigger party? Its no trouble, it is just that it wasn't busy when I walked in and this was a comfy looking spot." Noticing that the speakers race, he continues "Although, I must admit, this is the first time I've met a Raptoran... Raptorian? Raptoranese?... One of your species and I was always under the impression that your people prefered freedom and wide open spaces, as opposed to being tide down, so to speak, with owning an establisment. But, then again, the stereotypical doesn't mean there are exceptions. Now that I think about it..."
As he is talking he sees someone talking to a barmaid that causes her to scream, having missed the entire entrance smallish creature. This causes a stir of some variety of the 'owner' of the bar, as he walks away quite rudely towards the exit.
"Must be the draft from that window." he says absently to no one in particular as he begins to drink again and notices that some large, almost draconic creature, stands and walks in a swaying motion in his direction. Quickly finishing the drink in front of him, he mumbles to himself "I really hope this has nothing to do with those dragon eggs I had... procured..."

[asdflove]

Aliavius smiles at Venn and Maple playing and blinks startled when Venn talks. "I should have known something was up when there was a wolf in a city park." She chuckles walking forward. "I take you're a winter wolf then?"

[darklink_shadow]

Venn dodges and lunges at Maple, then bounds back away. "Aye!" Venn yelped with the moment of respite from the mock battle. "And I take it you've heard of my kin then? Some people in the world don't much care for us. Scared, I guess. Drudge saved me from a cage, and eventual death."

Venn looked back a ways to where he knew Drudge was, then back to Maple. For now, Venn would rather play than bring someone to Drudge we already said he wasn't much interested in leaving his tree-friend.

[asdflove]

Aliavius grins, chuckling at them playing. "I know a lot about animals in general. Plants too, but that's besides the point." Maple pounces trying to jump on to Venn's back. "So, who's this Drudge you mentioned?"

[darklink_shadow]

Venn let's Maple jump on his back then flops on the ground and rolls around. "Drudge is..." Jumping back up, Venn moves to lay across Maple and pin her, unless she escapes. "Drudge is my friend. Odd furry metal guy. By that tree over there."

[asdflove]

Aliavius makes her way over to Drudge while Maple and Venn are playing. "Your friend sure has taken a liking to Maple." She smiles at him, completely unfazed by his odd appearance.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge chuckled, a low gravelly sound, and yet some how smooth. He likes anyone who is willing to pet, play or prey with him. Terrible judge of character, that one. Picked me, me, out of everyone, he picked me to follow around and be friends with. Drudge stood and brushed his fur clean of dirt, sighing at the discovery of just how dirty fur gets while laying under a tree.

Likely you already know this, but my designation is Drudge. Once clean enough to feel presentable Drudge offered his hand in greeting.

[Demidos]

The grey-skinned man walks out into the fresh city air, his mail clinking quietly. He looks around and sighs mentally.
"Now where did Algirth get to? Probably the nearest bar. He did say a few nights ago that he was going to get outrageously drunk for some reason or another."
Walking down the steps of the library, he also immediately sees someone walking out of the BHA. Despite his inherent dislike of mercenaries, they invariably knew of the best nearby places to get drunk cheaply, so he approached the man regardless.

"Where is the nearest bar?" Tarmikos hears from behind him as a gold piece is flipped towards the back of his head.

[asdflove]

"Well, since he mentioned that you saved him from being stuck in a cage and eventual death, I'd say he has a pretty good reason for being your friend." She smiles and shakes his hand. "Aliavius Leafsong. Shorten that any way you like. Ali, Lia, Vius, etc. I don't really care."

[darklink_shadow]

Leafsong? I like that. Drudge closed his eyes momentarily then leaned on the tree before reopening them. Being in a cage is horrible. Free someone wrongly imprisoned is simply the right thing to do. Killing large dangerous predators to protect your livestock is logical enough, though. But putting an animal in a cage and expecting him to just wait to die is vile.

Drudge shook his head and sighed. Anyways, Venn could have left at any point since then, but he hasn't. I don't really know why. But I like that one. His humor is... amusing. And he's a free spirit, happy to just be happy. I am envious of him. Do you find you desire traits of your companion?

[asdflove]

She smiles. "Maple is... probably the nicest creature you'd ever meet. She would never hurt a soul unless I asked her to. I wish I could be that way. My go-to reaction always seems to be act first, ask questions later. It's a dreadful habit I wish I could get out of... but alas." Ali glances back at them playing. "You would think she'd be fiercer since I saved her when she was starved half to daeth and fighting for her life, but no... Not in the slightest."

[darklink_shadow]

I think we are of like mind, you and I. It is good to meet someone such as yourself. Tell me, what are you doing in the city? Drudge was again annoyed with his construction. His face was made of metal, not flesh, and so some small things he could not do. Like smile. He wanted to be smiling.

[INoKnowNames]

While contemplating his next move, Tarmikos hardly registers being ran into by another being. Shaking his head, a loose feather from the man makes him sneeze, outright knocking him down. "Heh, no problem, friend." Tarmikos responds to the man, laughing as he gets back up. "I suppose we both need to be more careful, even if it is so peaceful right now."

Tarmikos looks up, staring off absent mindedly, and barely registers the request behind him, and the coin headed for his head. In a feat of incredible skill, he catches the coin a moment from his skull without looking at it.

Turning around with a smile, he juggles the coin for a moment. "It's funny you should ask, fellow; I was contemplating getting a drink myself." He closes his hand around it, and points with his thumb at the building just across the street. "I was recommended the Matron's Mug from those that I work with; good drinks, and right across from a nice place to stay while in town. I assume you're new as well; Want to catch a drink with me?" he responds as he underhand-tosses the coin back to the man. He turns to the one who knocked him down, and smiles at him. "If you've got a bit more room in you for something to drink, I'll treat you, too."

"Bar-tender! I'd appreciate your sweetest drink!" he cheerily cries out as he walks into the pub. After a moment, a sneaky grin crosses his face. "And a pair of Blasters for my new friends here!" he adds. "I'll buy for us.... uh .... I'm sorry, I don't think I actually caught your names." he remarks behind him, not entirely sure if his guests are following him or not.

[asdflove]

"Eh. I'm not really sure why I'm here. I never stay in one place too long, so I guess I just wandered here, though I much prefer the wilderness, everyone has to come to the city once and a while, am I right?" Vius says with her head tilted slightly to the side. "Also, Maple loves cities. Lots of new people to meet." She chuckles. "It's funny how much of my time I give up for her."

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge shook his head slightly. Venn can hunt for himself, and I don't need food or drink. Neither of us really need to be in a city. But wandering around in the wilderness, we decided we had the desire to do something. Problem is, we don't know what it is we want to do.

[asdflove]

"Maple can hunt plenty well, I can well enough to get by usually, simply because I know enough about nature... Sometimes one gets tired of wild berries I suppose." She smiles slightly. "And I've been doing it nearly 15 years now. This is the first time I've been in a city in... 4 years I think."

[darklink_shadow]

Then why say everyone needs to come to the city, if you're just going to agree that you do not need to right after? This is the first time I have been to a city in.... well, if you don't count the factory that made me, I've never been to a city before.

[asdflove]

"I said once and a while. I didn't say often." She scowls annoyed. "I was born and raised in a city."

[qwertyu63]

@Rhonin: After overcoming her shock, the innkeeper says "Um... I think you are mistaken. This is an inn. You might be able to get meat at the bar across the street, but I don't actually know where stables are. Let me check my map." After checking, she gives directions to the nearest stables.

[Demidos]

While contemplating his next move, Tarmikos hardly registers being ran into by another being. Shaking his head, a loose feather from the man makes him sneeze, outright knocking him down. "Heh, no problem, friend." Tarmikos responds to the man, laughing as he gets back up. "I suppose we both need to be more careful, even if it is so peaceful right now."

Tarmikos looks up, staring off absent mindedly, and barely registers the request behind him, and the coin headed for his head. In a feat of incredible skill, he catches the coin a moment from his skull without looking at it.

Turning around with a smile, he juggles the coin for a moment. "It's funny you should ask, fellow; I was contemplating getting a drink myself." He closes his hand around it, and points with his thumb at the building just across the street. "I was recommended the Matron's Mug from those that I work with; good drinks, and right across from a nice place to stay while in town. I assume you're new as well; Want to catch a drink with me?" he responds as he underhand-tosses the coin back to the man. He turns to the one who knocked him down, and smiles at him. "If you've got a bit more room in you for something to drink, I'll treat you, too."

"Bar-tender! I'd appreciate your sweetest drink!" he cheerily cries out as he walks into the pub. After a moment, a sneaky grin crosses his face. "And a pair of Blasters for my new friends here!" he adds. "I'll buy for us.... uh .... I'm sorry, I don't think I actually caught your names." he remarks behind him, not entirely sure if his guests are following him or not.

Imaran raises his eyebrows. A bounty hunter turning down free coin? An odd one, this one. Still, he has demonstrated his nose for pubs already, and so Imaran follows him. Algirth must be somewhere nearby.

"Imaran.

Thank you for the offer, but I don't drink. After a brief pause, he nods his head in slight appreciation. "However, I have a friend who is somewhere nearby, and I'm sure he would appreciate this. I'll ensure he knows it was from you."

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge grunted. I see. Well, at sunset I must meet Venn back here. Until then, can you show me this city? And tell me what there is to do here?

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl follows the men back into the tavern he had just come out of. "I'm sorry about that, could i buy your drink to make amends? Its usually quieter in here but we seem busier than normal." He says with a shrug. Then he adds, "I'm Arryl, whats your name?"

[INoKnowNames]

"Tarmikos Silverkin; nice to meet you. And nah, Arryl; I could have not been a road-block; it'll be my treat. Maybe I can get something non-alcoholic for Imaran and myself; while his friend might be able to hold his liquour, I can barely walk straight if I try, which is a bad thing in my line of work. I tend to just prefer fruit-juice; the sweeter the better! May as well just fill up a cup with sugar and put a bit of water in it!" he laughs.

As he walks in, Tarmikos surveys the place. Spying two fellows, each nearly gathering a mountain of mugs around them, he raises his voice while taking a seat nearby. "Look at those two! I'm practically intoxicated just -looking- at how much they're drinking. They've got to have the world's strongest livers! Think your friend can drink like that, Imaran?" he asks his guest, while motioning toward chairs.

[Demidos]

Imaran pauses. Then blinks, slowly, painfully.

"Yes. I think he can."

Walking over with a rather flat stare, he deposits the Blaster at the end of the line of mugs.

In case you run out. You can thank the Bounty Hunter. Imaran nods towards where Tarmikos is sitting. "I'll be over there once you finish your....competition."

Feel free to respond here if you want to :smallbiggrin:

Walking back towards the others, Imaran sits back down next to the two men he ran into outside. "A Bounty Hunter that does not drink, and a Raptoran. What brings you to these parts?"

[razorback]

Algrith, surprised by the sudden and unexpected appearance of his friend, momentarily forgets the draconic creature lumbering towards him. Before he can think of something to say, Imaran wanders off and sits with the owner of the establishment, who has returned, and a tall human.

Shrugging his shoulders, he looks at the drink and ventures a taste. He savors it for a moment before the aftertaste, which feels like steel wool scraping the back of his through with lemon juice thrown on for spite, rolls down towards his stomach, causing him to squint and, tears running down his face, a madmans smile/grimace when the after-aftertaste kicks in, orange with a hint of vanilla, and he sets the drink down, looking at it as if it were a poisons snake with a diamond stuck in its mouth. Sliding it back towards himself, he sniffs it, trying to figure out what gave it the courseness and, shrugging his shoulders again, forces down another swallow.

[asdflove]

"I can't say I know much about this city, but I guess I could try..." Her voice trails off uncertainly.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"Well I live here actually, and until today i worked in a bakery up the road." Arryl says. He looks down the bar and adds, "Did that fellow just take a second gulp of the Blaster?"

[qwertyu63]

"I can't say I know much about this city, but I guess I could try..." Her voice trails off uncertainly.

You eventually find your way to the Matrons Mug.


Algrith, surprised by the sudden and unexpected appearance of his friend, momentarily forgets the draconic creature lumbering towards him. Before he can think of something to say, Imaran wanders off and sits with the owner of the establishment, who has returned, and a tall human.

Shrugging his shoulders, he looks at the drink and ventures a taste. He savors it for a moment before the aftertaste, which feels like steel wool scraping the back of his through with lemon juice thrown on for spite, rolls down towards his stomach, causing him to squint and, tears running down his face, a madmans smile/grimace when the after-aftertaste kicks in, orange with a hint of vanilla, and he sets the drink down, looking at it as if it were a poisons snake with a diamond stuck in its mouth. Sliding it back towards himself, he sniffs it, trying to figure out what gave it the courseness and, shrugging his shoulders again, forces down another swallow.

Can I get a Fort save please?...

[darklink_shadow]

A bar? Drudge asks a bit taken a back. I don't really drink. Or eat for that matter. What is there to do in a bar?

[shayanuser]

Choosing not to waste his time with the oblivious innkeeper, Rhonin mutters something under his breath and disappointedly leaves the inn. The bar across the street seems too crowded but he goes in anyway. The air smells of sweat and ale, the men are big and drunk and the tables are greasy but the background chatter sounds friendly enough.
He approaches the bartender, "A glass of red wine for me please. I'll pay extra if the red tastes the way I like it.", he then stares eerily into the eyes of the innkeeper as if he means more than what he said and puts on a strange smile showing his small sharp fangs.

[asdflove]

"Um... Ask for directions? I'm in all honesty hopelessly lost..." She chuckles awkwardly. "I don't drink at all. I didn't intentionally come here. This is what happens when you ask the person who has never been here before today to show you around."

[INoKnowNames]

"Well well, small world. I wish I had that much luck finding people." Tarmikos muses to himself as Imaran seems to find his friend. As he hears the title his new aquiaintance has branded him, he laughs. "The way you say that, Bounty Hunter almost sounds synonymous with Bottom Feeder!"

Tarmikos listens to the activity whirling around him in the bar before responding to his friends. "I've been traveling for a bit... I can't say I'm really up to much at the moment; I suppose you can I'm on a day of vacation from my normal activities, before I get started working again myself. And while I -am- a registered member of the BHA, it's mostly for benefits; I consider myself more of an Adventurer than a Thug." he adds with a smirk toward Imaran.

Glancing around, he continues. "Still, I'm not too sure about what to make of Clevefort... Fellows that could out-drink an Elephant, Dragonfolk, Raptorans... Sunwalking Vampires, Mechanoids, and figures of unparalleled beauty; I've never encountered such diversity in a city, and I've just arrived here." he adds, throwing his voice in the direction of the three new arrivals. "I can only hope my work tomorrow isn't difficult." He waves toward the two still standing near the entrance, ushering them toward seating with a friendly smile.

Maybe we can bring the party together a bit more. :smalltongue:

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge gives Lady Leafsong an appraising look. The gleam in his eyes indicates he would be smiling if he could. With a short laugh he says: Don't worry, I'm enjoying just looking around. Even if we get totally lost, as long as we can find our way back to the park. Even if you haven't been here before, aren't cities all similar? They all look the same to me, when I see them from afar. Anyways, it doesn't matter really. Shall we go in and investigate what the drunkards of this city are up to? If they get too annoying we can always go look for somewhere more interesting. Maybe a place of art?

[asdflove]

"Well, you just made it incredibly obvious you've never been to a city before. No cities layout is ever the same. I'm sure we could find our way back to the park later. It shouldn't be that hard." She smiles. "We might as well. I just hope they serve something non-alcoholic..." She turns to walk in. "Oh! He seems nice... and sober. Maybe we can talk to him." She smiles and walks to Tarmikos. "Hello, I'm Aliavius Leafsong. Pull whatever nick name you want out of that. I know it's a mouthful." She giggles slightly and glances a Drudge to see if he followed her.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge follows the Lady happily into the den of gluttony and liquid vice. Err, Hello, my designation is Drudge. Lady Leafsong here is showing me the city, and we stopped by this establishment to relax for a short while. Once we are more rested, perhaps you know of anything a tourist might want to see while he visits? Lady Leafsong is not very familiar with this city, so we are just wandering around, for the most part. With a nod to the Lady, Drudge continues: Despite being lost, it is very enjoyable.

Drudge looks around the table. Odd bunch. Maybe someone like me could fit in. Except for the excessive indulgences in mentally degrading liquids. Humanoids are a strange bunch. I'm not sure I know of anything else quite as self destructive as they.

[INoKnowNames]

Tarmikos can't help but laugh a bit himself. "Aliavius... Beautiful name." he responds to her, moments before her companion joins them. He looks upon the figure silently, brow arched in interest. "I suppose the best adventurers are found outside of one's comfort zone, Mr. Drudge. Hopefully I'll be able to personally testify to that tomorrow; I basically just arrived in town myself, taking the day off to rest before I pursue a few ... business opportunities, for lack of a better phrase. After I wet my whistle, maybe we can explore together for a bit before the Sun goes down?"

He casts a worried glance at the two still surrounded by mugs. "Speaking of going down, does anyone know how much they've downed? I think I actually -have- seen Elephants eat less than they seem to drink. I can barely hold my fruit juice, let alone alcohol; those two have to be dwarves in disguise. Maybe multiple dwarves..."

Seeming almost shocked, he turns to his new guests. "Pardon my atrocious manners. My name is Tarmikos Silverkin. Our winged companion is Arryl, and this is Imaran." he gestures toward each, while standing up to pull out chairs for their new guests. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." he bows, before sitting back in his seat.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge pounded his chest with a pair of mirrored right fists, then bowed in place. You honor me with your greeting. Standing back up he nodded to the drunkards. And a greeting to your... uh, friends I assume?

With a heavy sigh Drudge sank into a seat with them. I've never seen an elephant. Are they known for eating a lot.

[asdflove]

Alia blushes slightly at Tarmikos complement, but otherwise doesn't react. Chuckling she glances at Drudge, an eyebrow raised. "So apparently I'm nobility now?" Turning back to Tarmikos. "The more the merrier I suppose for blindly exploring a city." She smiles laughing. "I can honestly say I have never had a drop of alcohol in my life, and I don't certainly plan on starting now." Her eyes flick to the two surrounded by mugs and linger there a moment. "It's good to know I'm not the only one who doesn't drink." When Tarmikos introduces himself Aliavius smiles warmly and curtsies. "It's a pleasure to meet you Tarmikos." She takes her seat.

[darklink_shadow]

Do you not wish to be called by that name? I could easily use any designation you prefer. With a small laugh he added I also do not drink, you know. I drink ever less than you.

When someone else chimed in, Drudge stood. "Oh? Can I see some art of this city?"

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl waves at Aliavius and Drudge, as they walk up. "Well from what ive heard elephants eat a lot, but ive never seen one myself." He looks over to the two with the adamantine livers. "Dwarves? They seem more like ogres to me. That one just drank a Blaster, and he is still concious. Well, at least for now." Turning back to the group, he says "Well your in luck. Ive lived here for a little over a year no, and would happily be your guide."

[Zolkabro]

Retconning a bit here, this post is going to begin where we left off, and finish just before Tarmikos and co come into the pub. Hopefully in a couple of posts we'll be up to where everybody else is. I'm sorry if this rushes things, but I'd like to catch up.

When Yrago reached the table, he leaned forwards suddenly and heavily, as if he was about to fall flat on his face, but his arms slammed onto the table, stopping him. The serving girl winced once more as the furniture groaned in protest.
He was now leaning with his filthy scaled face just inches from his opponent's. Close enough to kiss (or bite!)...
"Who do you think you are?!?" he snarled, his words slurred and his brain addled already by the drink. "Coming to MY bar. Drinking like ME. All THIS!
On the final word, his arm swept across the mugs in the table, scattering half of them. As the contents spillid onto the table, out of his mount snaked a long, forked tongue, and began to lap up the quickly mixing beers, wines and spirits. As the quickly gathering crowd stared in horror, he lifted up his head again violently, his flicking tongue sending a sizable splash directly into his opponents face. He jumped up, leaned his head back, and beat his chest violently as he roard "I CHAALLEEENGE YOOOOUUU!" sending flickers of flame and clouds of enough alcohol vapour to suffocate most mammals up into the air. Most of the pub gagged violently, although the odd heavyweight did sniff up the gas almost affectionately.
Yrago leaned once more right into his nemesis' face. "A straight, honest drinking game. No pausing mid pint, we chug until one of us collapses or forfeits. Vomiting allowed, vomiting on your opponent ENCOURAGED! WHAAAAT SAAAAY YOOOOOOOUUUUU?" his drink addled brain drawled out.

[darklink_shadow]

So this is before I got there?

[razorback]

Algrith, after taking his second drink, blinks a few times as more tears stream down his face. Shaking his head, he looks around the room a bit wide-eyed as he takes in the effects of the drink.


Fortitude save
[roll0]

[qwertyu63]

That save isn't enough. You are now nauseated for 1 minute, and I'll need another save when that time is up.

[razorback]

The pot-bellied mage, already reeling from the horrendous drink, does a double take as the draconic... man issues his challenge.
"Sir, I think you're a little late for that. I do apologize for sending the wrong message..."
With that her retches on the floor, to no one's surprise.

After a few moments collecting himself, he says to Yrago"I would keep away from the Blaster. I doubt if even you can handle it." as his skin turns, if possible, even more pale.

[Zolkabro]

Watching the fastly changing emotions crossing Yrago's is quite a show. He snarls when his challenge is refused, and is about to lash out, when he is told he "cannot handle something."
Today seems to be one of those rare, almost unheard of days, when Yragoki is caught speechless. He is completely silent with sheer shock for a few seconds, before his rage his released. "WHAT did you say?" He roars, odourous alcohol fumes mixed with vile acidic spittle spraying into Algrith's face. A clawed hand shoots out and is held alarming close to Algrith's throat. His loud voice lowers to a barely controlled growl. "Listen, you ginger-haired book-loving brat. You're obviously not a regular to this bar, because if you were, then there is something you would know.
There is NOTHING I cannot handle. Do you hear me, you slimy piece of ****? NOTHING. The last word is roared once more, before Yragoki straightens up, shoving Algrith heavily away. He doesn't even look as he does it, but turns towards the bar. "OY YOU! I'll have the strongest Blaster you can cook up in your biggest tankard. If it's not good enough, I'll ****ing well drown you in it."
The crowd, now shrinking away from this crazed scaly behemoth, holds their breath. Yragoki seems to be the only person in the bar who cannot see just how badly this is going to go...

Please note: All ****s are pre-censored. I ain't swearing, promise.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl's wings flare in surprise. He lets loose a quiet stream of curses in Tuil'vanu before walking over. "Easy friend, he is too far gone to even realize he was insulting you. How about you go sit down, and ill pay for your drink. Sound like a plan?"

[INoKnowNames]

As the Dragonoid becomes more and more rambunctious, Tarmikos becomes slightly more restless in his seat. He's certainly not looking for a fight, especially now of all times, but to underestimate an obviously powerful figure who has partially taken leave of his senses would be even more reckless than being willing to subdue him. Never the less, he runs a hand through his silver hair while committing to being calm and collected.

Tarmikos keeps a bit of his focused locked onto the drunken souls as they partake in the fabled 'Blasters', while still talking to his new friends. "Drudge, I think the issue with your designation for fair Aliavius is that despite her gorgeous appearance, she is not actually a Princess, and the regal title you distinguish her with is unnecessary. Some permutation of her name should suffice, shouldn't it?" he reasons to the robotoid with a hint of amusement in his voice, sneaking a glance at Alia when his explanation is finished.

He leans back in his chair, arms behind his head. "With that said, since I doubt the rest of us are too interested in staying here for much longer, I suppose we've got some plans, then: explore what this city has to offer, and maybe share a few stories along the way. Speaking of plans, have you guys decided on where you're going to stay here? Nice inn across the street if you so desire a roof over your head; that's where I intend to stay for the evening."

As Imaran's friend loses his drinks, and the Dragonoid suspected to follow suit after another uproar, Tarmikos sighs, and smiles at his new friends. "Please pardon me for a moment." he excuses himself, following Arryl. He picks his words carefully as he approaches the Dragonoid, hoping to ensure he can keep this scene from getting any more... exciting.

"Personally, I think that that should be just about enough. You, good sir, may have strength and power unmatched by most mortals I have ever seen, but this store might run out of liquor if you continue at this rate. And the day is still so young; maybe you might save some of your vast stores of strength to continue your dominance another time, since it is obvious to everywhere here how mighty you are. Is that glory not enough?" he attempts to appeal to the figure's ego as he gestures to those around, the civilians still obviously terrified. After a moment, Tarmikos continues. "At the very least, someone of such deep thirst must also have quite a ravenous hunger to match. Rather than continuing to out-drink the entire city, despite that being well within your abilities, maybe you might prefer something a bit more nourishing to enjoy? My treat." His approach is slow and cautious, attempting to maintain a friendly face, despite one or both hands occasionally returning to his sides, or more specifically to the handles of his weapons, as he tries to carefully reason with the being.

OOC:
Zolkabro, I know we can't/shouldn't use Diplomacy on each other, but I'm gonna roll a check anyway, in hopes that Tarmikos can some how convince Yragoki not to SMASH PUNY STICK MAN! I'll leave it up to you to decide how effective it is.

[roll0]

[razorback]

As the hulking dragonoid starts throwing his weight around the Raptorian's bar, Algrith looks as if he turns green as he considers what to do.

With that, he takes a drink of some Nomian wine, hoping it would settle his stomach.

[asdflove]

At Tarmikos calling her gorgeous, her face floods with color and she directs her gaze to the ground. "He would be correct, Drudge." She mutters, her gaze still focused at the ground. At the mention of the inn she looks up. "Would they let my dog stay with me? A lot of places won't and I can't just leave her outside alone."

[darklink_shadow]

The warforged thought over the verbal exchange for a moment then nodded. So, it is only males then that you assume are regal? For even you yourself have just called a drunken lout by the title sir. I am sorry if my naming of you was improper. I was under the belief calling someone Lady was correct. The last woman I saw insisted on that title. Maybe she had been a princess. But that is of no matter. Leafsong, if you would not mind, I would be amiable to watching your pup for you. Venn would keep her safe, and likely warm. We plan on spending the night in the park. Obviously I do not intend to sleep, but Venn gets nervous sleeping without me there to ensure nobody kidnaps him. When he is done speaking, he takes a step back, and pauses.

On an aside, I would like to see some work of art before night shrouds us all, and I would be due at the park.

[Zolkabro]

Yrago determindly downed the entire 2 - pint leviathan of a drink in one go. After what seemed like an age, he slammed down the mug on the table so hard that it finally gave way from the beating Yrago had been giving it. The mug crashed to the floor and smashed, and Yrago turned around to face the expectant crowd. His insides seemed to be melting, but that did not matter. His eyes were streaming, but that did not matter. His forked tongue was practically sizzling, but that did not matter.
The only thing that mattered is that he finished his entire mug, and his opponent barely got throuhg half. He staggered unsteadily towards Algrith.
"You seeee that?" he leered, his words slurred and blurred. "I won. Me. I'm the winner."
Smiling a self satisfied grin, he staggered away again. The whole world was moving in slow motion around him. Everything slooow and smooth, blurry. The world was as soooft as a cuushion, that Yrago just wanted to sleep on. Mmmm...
He turned, though, when he heard a fancy-dressed human twerp daring to address him. But he didn't get angry. He barely heard a word he said, just watched his mouth in drunken fascination. "You... Your treat. Treat." he mumbled deliriously. He leaned a heavy hand on Tarmikos' shoulder for support. "Treeeaat. Treat is a gooood word. Um num numsdfguejncfb..."
And with that, he leaned even more heavily onto Tarmikos' shoulder, seemed to be going for a drunken hug, and with his head leant right up againt Tarmikos in drunken affection, out of nowhere he threw up. Violently.
All. Over. Tarmikos.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"Fething drunks... Matilda? Can we please have some rags and water?" Arryl shouts to the bar. He helps lift Yrago, not flinching away from the filth. "Im sorry, this is usually a quiet place to unwind, I dont know what the hell is going on in here today." He helps flop Yrago back into a chair and begins helping clean the mess. He pulls a bit of coin from his purse and drops it onto a table. "I told him I would pay for his drink." he tells the bar tender. Turning back to Tarmikos he hands him a clean rag and says "If you would still like a guide I could take you to a bath house for a proper wash and a change of clothes."

[INoKnowNames]

Tarmikos has the savy sense to expect what was to happen next, and makes sure to close his eyes and mouth as the man leans on him. He clinches his nose as best as he can, and mentally braces for the inevitable. After the event, Tarmikos stays frozen in place until he is certain it is over. -Dear Gods, what all -did- he consume? The -dead- smell better than what combination he's had in his putrid craw.- Tarmikos thinks, after keeping himself from imitating the drunken beast. He pauses further to keep himself composed as Arryl is kind enough to relieve him of the alcoholic.

"Don't worry about it. It's not the first time I've been covered in muck, and it certainly won't be the last time it happens either, given my luck." he replies to Arryl. Tarmikos then claps his hands together, and they begin to release a pale, yellow glow. He presses them to his face, then to his head, and slowly covers his body, as his magic removes all traces of the vomit. Indeed, after a few moments, his skin, clothing, and hair all appear to be even cleaner than when this day began.

With a smile, he works on taking care of the vomit all over the floor. "At least it's not blood making a mess this time... nor is it my fault this time, either. And this is certainly one of the more peaceful experiences I've had when dealing with drunkards; if only it could always be this easy." he laughs the situation off. "Still, if you choose to continue to offer your services, both for the payment of -his- drink." he points at the beast-man slumped over. "...and for guiding a few tourists around your city, I'd certainly appreciate it, thanks. Maybe a bath house tonight might be a good final stop before turning in." Once he's sure that every inch of himself is pristine, Tarmikos slumps back into his seat.

"All to be expected in my line of business, I suppose..." he remarks with a sigh, running his hand through his hair again, mostly out of habit. "Still, I almost feel intoxicated from that much exposure... yuck. I'm pretty sure I'm through here for the day." Sitting back up right, he focuses again on Drudge and Aliavius. "In answer to your query, from my experiences growing up, Lord and Lady are among the most formal of titles to bestow upon a person, and thus tend to be restricted to use for figures like Lord Kapila, or at least Lord Wieland. Sir or Madam can be used interchangeably for titles for someone you respect or in a position of power or authority, but can additionally stand alone someone whose name you are not aware, as I did." he explains. "And having just arrived this morning myself, I'm not sure if the Inn takes pets, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. And if nothing else, I'm sure our guide can find us somewhere else decent to stay, if you choose not to stay in the Park. We'll figure something our during our travels." he stands as he finishes, stretching his back.

[asdflove]

After recovering from the shock of Yrago suddenly throwing up, Aliavius awkwardly smiles. "The last women you met must have been really prissy then." Turning to Tarmikos she nods at his cleaning of his self up. "Ah. I take it you're at least somewhat skilled in magic as well? Prestidigitation, correct?" Her gaze shifting slightly to Arryl she continues speaking. "Since, as you stated, you've lived in this city a year now, would you know of any inns that would allow my dog to stay with me? She is well trained I assure you..."

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge sighed at the drunk man's actions. What a disgraceful creature. That's too bad. I had heard their kind were respectable. His eyes turned back to the pet owner. Leafsong, please do not assume someone is prissy because they insist on the respect they deserve. She was noble and regal, even when knee deep in mud, and ankle deep in the blood of our enemies. We had been escorting a caravan together, you see. She was definitely not prissy though. And she told me every female is a Lady, and should addressed as one. She may have been a little crazy, now that I think of it.

Anyways, if you need me to watch over your dog, let me know. Venn exudes a lot of body heat, so he can keep Maple warm. And I will be standing nearby reading something anyways. Like I said, Venn can't sleep without Mr there watching over him. Picking up the broken table, Drudge moved the remains to the side.

But first, let's get the drunkard a room with the pigs. I will help clean this place. I dislike seeing others suffer when I can help, and from our friend's reaction, the bile here must be disgusting. That sort of thing doesnt really bother me. I van just rinse off in a riv... there aren't rivers in this city though. No matter, I'm sure the staff would rather wash the little bile I get one me then wash the whole mess. So I guess I will tour the city after that or some other, later time.

[shayanuser]

"I'm just coming from the inn across the street. It's extremely cheap, maybe too cheap, but the innkeeper didn't seem choosy. He didn't have a problem with me having a room so I guess a dog or even a wolf won't be a problem. He would probably let in a drunk elephant with diarrhea if it paid the rent.", Rhonin said in a very low voice, almost too low to hear, from his table at the corner of the bar.
The innkeeper might even let "Mother" in, he thought. He smiled at the thought and took another sip of his wine, untouched by the commotion going on around him.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl looks over at the quiet man in the corner."Hes right. The inn keeper across the way cares more for money than almost anything else." he says with a quiet laugh."Id like to help clean here as well, but as soon as were done I would gladly show you around."

[darklink_shadow]

I'm just going to assume NPC help here

When rags and buckets where brought out, Drudge set about cleaning in silence. When he finished he thanked Arryl for the assistance. If you know this place well enough, do you know where I could acquire some manuals and textbooks, or other difficult material I could study to fill my nights with? Not being able to sleep when the world around you must can Lea e you with a strong need for hobbies; quiet hobbies though. I don't want to wake up Venn, my good friend. So I've taken to reading. However, I have very little to read. Only things I have found or been able to work for while escorting caravans. I've never bothered to enter a city to find more books. But now that I am here, I guess I might as well. But I'd like something that I could read for hours, and multiple times. I have about 7 hours a night or more to fill with nothing but reading. I would still like to see some artwork though.

[INoKnowNames]

"Their kind? You mean those of Dragon desent, or just creatures like him?" Tarmikos mumbles to himself, his personality momentarally taking a 180 as he seems somewhat insulted. Catching himself, he shakes his head. "I made a worse mess the first time I tried alcohol; I certainly can't point fingers." he imitates his own laugh to play off his earlier breath.

As Tarmikos listens to everyone, he once again takes notice of the lone Vampire taking up a spot in the corner of the bar. A frown marks his face for a second, before being replaced with a smile. "I'm surprised someone like you even sleeps at all, actually." Tarmikos replies to him. "But I suppose that settles that affair, doesn't it. Maybe even Drudge might find a room for himself and 'Venn' to 'rest' in, whatever else that might entail. Thanks for the info, friend. If you want, you're free to tag along, too. The more the merrier, right?"

After that, with Drudge and Arryl still concerned about the various messes, Tarmikos decides to assist the crew with his magic. He stops as he gets back to the table, and makes his own cup sparkle with his magic, as he locks his gaze with Alia's. "Pretty good eyes. I was wondering what other talents someone like yourself might possess. I mainly know parlor tricks, though: a few techniques taught by a few people in my life." With a smile he goes on. "And Drudge is right: while one does not always need to be formal, there's certainly nothing wrong with addressing someone special with kindness and respect. Isn't that right, Lady Leafsong?" he winks.

Continuing to clean, he works his way over to the Dragonoid. "And personally, if he's not already passed out, I actually would like to see if this fellow might want to come along, too. I enjoy nothing more than a good story, and I can only wonder what stories he might have to share..." Looking over at Algrith, Tarmikos calls out to Imaran. "Think your friend will be alright enough to come along, too?" he asks.

[darklink_shadow]

By his kind, I meant dragonkin. Drudge replies simply. I have no interest in sacrificing coin for walls. I have little interest in being paid to stand around surrounded by walls for any length of time. I bet Venn feels the same way. I'm sure most people would prefer the outdoors if wet and cold didn't bother them. Especially if they didn't sleep. Wooden or stone walls can only be stared at for so long. The world outside is much more interesting.

Anyways, thanks for the help cleaning. But I have to ask if it is wise to put someone so destructive in a small series of rooms with sleeping people. Won't he either wake someone or hurt someone with his clumsiness? I was under the impression that people like him are usually thrown in with pigs who will both keep him warm and not be bothered by his drunkenness and stench.

Man, magic, doing all the mundane work for us.

[Demidos]

Continuing to clean, he works his way over to the Dragonoid. "And personally, if he's not already passed out, I actually would like to see if this fellow might want to come along, too. I enjoy nothing more than a good story, and I can only wonder what stories he might have to share..." Looking over at Algrith, Tarmikos calls out to Imaran. "Think your friend will be alright enough to come along, too?" he asks.



[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Anyways, thanks for the help cleaning. But I have to ask if it is wise to put someone so destructive in a small series of rooms with sleeping people. Won't he either wake someone or hurt someone with his clumsiness? I was under the impression that people like him are usually thrown in with pigs who will both keep him warm and not be bothered by his drunkenness and stench.


Imaran turns from where he has been silently observing the entire conversation back to his cup of water, taking a slow sip, then looks up at Tarmikos. He hasn't done much more than nod politely at the entrance of Aliavius and Drudge when Tarmikos mentions his name. Now, however, he breaks his silence. "He'll be fine. Its happened once or twice. I'm not sure how long it'll take him to realize that he is not as much of a heavy-weight as he seems to think he is."

As Drudge begins to talk, he first listens, then speaks out once Drudge has finished. "It won't be a problem. Leave him in his own room, and I can room next to him. If he wakes up drunk and destructive..." Imaran's eyes harden a little, seemingly at the thought of someone losing control to the extent that they might injure innocent strangers. "I'll handle it."

[asdflove]

"Whether every female is a lady depends on how you define the word. Personally I think anyone who insists on being called a title is rather silly." She rolls her eyes when Tarmikos addresses her as Lady. "I recognized it, because I'm capable of casting it my self, also please don't address me as Lady. I know you're just making a point, but please." She sighs frustrated. "At least I know that inn will let Maple stay with me. That makes this much simpler. I just need to get her from the park where she's playing with Venn."

[razorback]

Algrith looks around at the assembled group, seeing Imaran amongst them.
"Here have him try this" he suggests as he holds up the cup of Nomian wine. "It has seemed to done wonders with my stomach... I can't imagine our metabolisms are so much different that it might not help."
With that he stands up with a shaky leg before finding his proverbial sea legs.
Looking around he says to no one in particular "maybe we should also get him something to eat, too. I can go for a bite or three myself" and looking at Tarmikos and catching his sent he finishes with "well ... Maybe just some soup for me."

[Zolkabro]

After he threw up, Yrago's world went blurry and faded. He was vaguely concious of being leant on a chair, and heard various phrases...
"Come along..."
"Throw in with the pigs..."
"Drunk and destructive..."
"I'll handle it..."
Even to Yrago's addled brain, it was quite clear what was going on. The city guard was here, and they were coming to take him away. It was time to beat it.

Before anybody could react, Yrago leapt to his feet and raced madly to the exit.
There was a surprised pause in the Inn, before Yrago ran past again, having gone into the kitchens by mistake.
Once out in the street, he immediately unfurled his red scaly wings, releasing a foul stench of dried blood and alcohol. He bent his knees, looked upwards, and leapt into the air. As he jumped upwards, he screamed into the Inn "So long, suckas!"

After a considerably awkward silence in the Inn, the very keen of ear my have noticed a terrified deep wail. In fact, the absolute keenest and observant of listeners would have realised that it was in fact coming from directly above them.
Most, however, only realised that anything unusual was happening when a huge Dragonborn smashed through the ceiling and landed directly ontop of Tarmikos, leaving them both in a groaning heap on the floor.

If we're doing this by the book and Qwerty doesn't want to house anything, this dealt 1d6 damage to Yragoki and 2d6 to Tarmikos. Although, Tarmikos may have been dealt 3d6, depending on whether my armour spikes went into him. Thoughts?

But to back up a bit...

For a heavily drunk take-off, it wasn't bad. He only smashed into a few people as he pin-wheeled at a dangerous two-feet off the ground, but he'd flown worse. He usually did, to be honest. And once he was off, he was off, racing up into the sky. Something possessed him to fly higher and higher, where nobody could reach him. But the vertigo was beginning to get to his already drink addled mind, and as he got above cloud level, the oxygen was noticably thinner, and his already failing lungs just couldn't handle it. They blacked out, his eyes rolled back into his head, and his whole body rolled back down. His wings instinctively stiffened, and his limp body fell in a tight corkscrew down to the Inn, speeding up and up. Once he got further down, he began to come round, and opened his eyes just in time to see the thatch of a familiar Inn get closer, and closer, and closer...

SMASH!

[darklink_shadow]

That was very disgraceful. Perhaps someone should remove the poisonous ichor he was so intent on drinking from his blood stream. He obviously cannot handle as much as he drank.

Drudge looked at the damages. I hope he can pay for these damages. I cannot fix anything like this. I will be outside. This creature irks me. I no longer wish to be around it.

With that Drudge leaves the bar, throwing the rag he still had in his hand on an unoccupied table.

[Zolkabro]

"Well SOMEBODY got out the bed side of the wrong this morning!" Yrago drunkenly yelled after Drudge. "Stuck-up hunk of rock..." He attempted to pick himself up, before stumbling, and throwing up again, directly onto Tarmikos' stirring body beneath him. He coughed and hacked loudly, of course not bothering to cover his mouth as hot acidic spittle flew across the room and stung everyone they touched. He flumblingly pushed himself up from the ground (in theory, but in reality, he was shoving himself up with his hand on Tarmikos' head, mashing his poor face into the ground) and staggered a few steps, before collapsing onto a nearby chair.

"'Nother BEEER!" he rumbled.

[Demidos]

Imaran sniffs dismissively. Taking advantage of the fact that his opponent is prone, he reaches down to (shudderingly) tap him on the least vomit-covered portion, muttering some words beneath his breath.

Touch Attack
[roll0]

Ygraki feels the movement partially stolen from his limbs.

For those with spellcraft and Ygraki

Shivering Touch
[roll1]
5 dex damage.

[smasher0404]

"What do you want to know?"

Tristan stood stunned by the scene going on around him, he turns back and answer "Is it always like this in here?". He turns back to the scene. He quietly whispers to his wolf asking it to try and restrain the mage who just attacked the fallen man.

Grapple Check [roll0]


"I'm sorry, but wouldn't it be better to help this drunken fellow back to his home rather than attacking him?"

Sorry for not posting for a while, I've been busy with stuff

[Zolkabro]

"HOW DARE YOU EVEN TOUCH ME!?" Yrago roared. He drew his greataxe, and swished it around impressively. "Stay away from me, you little ****. Magic is a cowards weapon, it's no match for MY power!"

I know that there's no way I can win this fight, and I don't want to attack teammates anyway. To be honest, I'm just provoking people against me because I feel guilty about injuring Tarmikos.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge ignored the comments of the stupid, annoying drunk. But just a few moment after he left the room, the drunkard roared with anger. Annoying little gnat. Why do the strong so often resort to being mere brutes? Not wanting combat to ensure, Drudge re-entered the bar.

Drunk one, do you wish to incite malintentions toward yourself? You have caused nothing but damage since I met you. Perhaps you are upset that you cannot hold your liquor better than some elves I know, or maybe you're just upset for another reason, but regardless, you should leave. Drop your weapon, or I will take it from you. Your action are oppressive. You cause others around you to suffer. You're despicable. I'm sure you've committed enough crimes to need to spend a while in the .. uh.. jail thing. You've destroyed a lot of this bar's property, you've injure this innocent man, and now you threaten more harm onto others. You will spend time in jail this night, even if I have to drag your corpse there.

Drudge really doesn't like people who are so... selfish and destructive. He likes peace and nature and other hippie ****. But he's rather violent in protecting peace and nature and other hippie ****. And seriously, this guy has been a jerk. No offense.

[INoKnowNames]

The past few moments are almost a blur, as Tarmikos finds himself suddenly in pain on the ground. He gets up to his feet, and his eyes slowly adjust to the situation befallen him, and he realizes that a fight is about to break out. Demitri, please lend me your authority. Master Quirath, please grant me your wisdom. And Samanantha, please forgive my rudeness. He thinks to himself while cleaning his body yet again from the Dragonborn's vomit. As blood from his wound trickles over his right eye, both of Tarmikos' irises change from human-shaped to reptilian, and the change in his mood from friendly to serious can actually be felt in the air.

Tarmikos sighs, before breathing in. "THAT. IS. ENOUGH!" Tarmikos roars, loud enough that the remaining unbroken glasses nearby nearly shatters at his booming voice. His statement echoes throughout a few blocks nearby, let alone in the bar and in the inn. His arms are crossed over his chest, a commanding glare etched into his face, as he walks between those already readied for battle.

"Drudge." he begins, throwing a sideways glance at the robot. "Please do not get involved further unless it is needed. As of now, it is not." From there, he immediately turns to Tristan, having barely caught sight of his wolf moving to attack Imaran. "You. Pardon me for my rudeness, for I do not know your name. But call off your Companion before this goes any further, if you would be so kind." Not waiting for a response, he turns to Imaran. "And Imaran. Unless further action is needed, your spells can be saved for a more deserving opponent."

With that, Tarmikos marches directly into Yragoki's face, locking eyes with the Dragonborn several times larger than himself without flinching. "And you. Again, I would prefer to know your name, but oh well." He holds up his hand, counting off each of his points. "First of all, if you are so intoxicated you can barely walk straight, you have no business flying, at all. Be so kind as to stay grounded until you recover. Second of all, you have had more than enough Alcohol in your system for the day. I would prefer to not see you drink anything else for the time being. Lastly, You -Will Not- attack civilians. Keep your weapon put away, if you would be so kind."

Looking around at all involved, he continues. "There is no reason the authorities need to be involved right now. Drinks were had. Lunches were lost. Damaged goods can be compensated for, if not repaired. Wounds can be healed. But this fight, right here? It ends, now, before things get any further out of hand. At this point, this is nothing but a funny anecdote for an interesting day off, and I see no reason for things to get any worse than this. So just Calm. Down. Now, if you would please. If you would like, you can help me clean up a bit."

[Zolkabro]

@Darklink: None taken, he's frankly a horrible person. Don't worry, this isn't author insert. :smallsmile:

Anyway, I will now proceed to RP the horrific fumble I just suffered. I think I'll probably just come quietly, but I can't think of a realistic way for Yrago to do that, in keeping with his characterisation so far...
Oh, what am I talking about, yes I can. He's just a great big show off, all talk, and is terrified deep down. And alcohol lets down your inhibitions and lets the inner self out of the façade.
So, I think it's time for you all to meet the real Yrago.

In reply to Drudge's comements, Yrago turns to face her, spinning on his heels. "Yeah yeah yeah, big words, fancy shmansy." Yrago slurred, waving has axe unsteadily. "But... but mah point... mah point is that I am totally awesome and you are totally dead." Yrago is looking exceedingly unsteady on his feet. "Right?" He walks in a slow circle, muttering slowly to himself, gently tapping his head with the flat of his axe. He looks, to be blunt, completely freaking crazy, and hardly threatening at all. In fact, he is so unsteady on his feet he looks as if a mild push could send him keeling over.
It is during this moment of madness that a yell so great the room shakes emits from the twerp with the poofy hair. Yrago staggers back, his eyes wide, no longer so self-confident - or at least, no longer appearing so. One who is understanding could realise that his level of self-confidence is not changing. It is simply being revealed.
He collapses onto a chair and dumps his greataxe onto the table. Slowly, he lowers his head into his hands. Quietly at first, and then loud, deep drunken sobs heave from this quivering wreck that 10 minutes ago would have made the mightiest warriors think twice. Gone was the act, and here, revealed by fear, pressure, and mostly by alcohol, was what Yrago hid inside him day in, day out. The terrified wreck of a beast who has spent his whole life doing anything he wants, just gaining more and more power, but really because he is terrified of ever being the victim.
"You win." he moans. "All of you leave me. I never want to see any of your faces again."
His voice quietens, sounding truly broken.
"Just... just leave me alone!"

A stunned silence surrounds him.

Until, like a child, he stamps his foot furiously. "Leave me aloooone!" he wails, tears running down his face and leaving scorch marks on the ground where they fall. He slips down off the chair and curls up on the floor, before wailing once more as if he is a two-year old who dropped his ice-cream: "LEAVE. ME. ALONE!"

[INoKnowNames]

Tarmikos watches as the beast man falls to the ground, in what must be the most embarrasing spectacle Tarmikos has ever seen of another person in his life. He sighs, running his hand through his hair again, only to realize his skull is still bleeding, and he just covered his hand in his own blood. He sighs again as he uses magic to clean his hand.

Approaching the fallen warrior, Tarmikos puts his newly cleaned hand on the beast-man's shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry I was so hostile. But there's no reason to start a fight here, and no reason to lose your senses so badly. I honestly found your antics amusing, friend. If you stick around, I'll still gladly treat you to a bite to eat after exploring the city for a bit; you're even free to come along, if you'd like. But remember that there is more to honor than competition, and some battles do not actually need to be fought. Behave yourself, and in doing so rebuild the pride you choose to champion. That is my only request of you; surely a request not impossible for someone as powerful as yourself, right? After all, you -are- of Dragon Descent. There is no force more incredible than the furious might of the noble dragon." he smiles at the man.

[razorback]

After the past few moments, even though he is feeling quite a bit better, Algrith looks at the drink wondering if it is some weird kind of after affect of the drink. "Darn magic hooch." he mutters to himself.
Algrith rocks back and forth a few times trying to catch Imaran's attention.
Once he does, he shrugs his shoulder to him like a little kid, hands up, making a face that says 'I didn't do this... don't look at me'.

When no one reacts he says "You know, things seem to be a bit... uhm, tense around here. Why don't we just all go and get something to eat and put things back on the right foot, so to speak?"

[Zolkabro]

Yrago looks uncomfortable. "Chose to champion", yeah... Did it entirely altruistically, yup... he thinks to himself.
But deep down, he is quite shocked. This isn't a kindness he has ever been shown before.
He turns his face away, and mutteres incessently in cave-man like sentences to himself for a short while.
Eventually, he turns back to Tarmikos, tears drying on his face.
"I'll - I'll come with you. But I'm in charge, okay?"

This is actually completely unlike him, Yrago would really skip town and hope this event was never spoken of again. But in the interest of getting the party together, I'm softening his heart slightly. The "I'm in charge" bit is the only thing stopping this being outrageously character breaking.
Annoying, but there's absolutely no benefit to messing up the plot, so I'll just do this and be irratated with myself. :smallannoyed:
By faaaaar the lesser of two evils.

[asdflove]

Quite a first IC day, Huh?
EDIT:
I got Ninja's 3 times!
As the conflict escalated, Alia stood there stunned that this was even happening. The moment Tarmikos took the breath before shouting her hands shot up to cover her ears. After the shock of the resulting scene wears off she rushes forward to Yrago's side crouching down next to him.
"Hey, everything is fine. Like Tarmikos said, why don't you come with us while Arryl shows us around." Her eyes flick to the raptoran hoping he's okay with this.
At his in charge comment she chuckles. "Sure. Whatever"

[darklink_shadow]

A wise man does not always wait until help is requested to lend assistance. Unless you have authority over this blubbering mess of a creature, you have no right to order me to stand down. Unfortunate as it is, I cannot stand idly by while innocents are endangered. Once this... dragon proves to be have enough self control to no longer hurt people, I will not feel the need to protect them. Drudge crosses his arms.

He seems to be better, but one cannot be sure such destructive moods can so quickly be subdued. Well, anyways... I think I would like to explore the city. I would prefer to do so without... drunken screaming and crying to ruin the trip.

[INoKnowNames]

As the Dragnoid becomes responsive, Tarmikos pats him on the shoulder, continuing his smile. And as Alia joins in, Tarmikos' smile becomes slightly wider, though he doesn't quite notice it himself. "Come on, then. If you're in charge, then compose yourself and act like the proud, yet admirable, dragon you are, boss-man." With a bemused smirk, he adds "And if you're going to be in charge, shouldn't we know your name?"

Getting up, he locks stares with Drudge, before approaching him, and bowing before him. "Again, I'm sorry I was so rude. And you're entirely right to be willing to lend your assistance. I'd never stand idle while someone is in danger, either. But everything should be entirely fine, now, and there's no reason to bare resentment, my friend." Leaning in close to Drudge, he continues at a whisper so that mostly the two of them would hear, his hand on Drudge's shoulder. "And despite not preferring to do so, the only reason I asserted my dominance is because I indeed do have the authority, as a ranking BHA Member, to make arrests on behalf of and alongside local law enforcement. I would have joined in subduing him without a second word or thought if needed." He retrieves the black booklet containing his information, and shows the cover to Drudge, as he explains. "I merely feared that for taking part in a battle on city grounds and endangering the public, the lot of us would face more trouble than is needed should the police be involved, so stopping this without violence seemed like a prudent move."

"Besides, there's really no need for this to have gotten violent at all. It was just a series of funny situations and accidents. Which reminds me..." Tarmikos remarks outloud, pulling a card out of the book and handing it to the nearest staff member as he looks on the damage. "Go to the BHA office here, and file a Damage Claim Report with this information. Their members should assist with the repairs at no charge, at least to your establishment. I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience."

Looking around, he sighs. "I guess your friend is right, Imaran: there isn't too much more point in staying much further. Shall we all be off now, if Arryl can still guide us?" he asks the group. "Feel free to come along as well you two, if you'd like." he comments to Rhonin and Tristan, before walking outside. As he steps back into natural light again, Tarmikos instinctively shields his eyes. It felt like we were inside for days... was that just how intoxicating his vomit was? Magic or no magic, I'm taking the longest bath ever tonight. he thinks to himself.

I wonder what the chances are of us meeting Lerian at this point, either before we leave or at our next destination.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge straightens up. I, for my part, am also sorry. I suppose I should drop my resentment. Perhaps there are circumstances I didn't consider. But, I must insist that this man behave better in the future... Perhaps its acceptable behavior in cities, and perhaps I have grown too accustomed to merchant caravans, wild men, the fey and beasts, but none of those people would be tolerant of what I've seen tonight. But I have been rather judgemental. Perhaps.

Drudge hoped that would be enough to smooth things over. He did not actually have plans to drop his resentment so do easily. Trust and respect had to be earned, and Drudge had already plenty of demerits entered on the dragon man's files.

[Demidos]

Imaran's eyes stays narrowed, but when the big man breaks down and starts to cry he finally tightly nods and steps back carefully, although his body stays tensed for action.

At Drudge's words, a small light of respect kindles in his eyes -- someone else who understands. It is not about what he actually did, but about what he might have done in that reckless act while that drunk. With power comes responsibility. Those who do not understand that do not deserve their power.

Imaran's gaze slides over to Algrith and Tarmikos as they begin to talk. When they suggest food and a walk to cool off, he again nods, albeit for a different reason. If he doesn't stay near this drunken idiot, even more of the town will be destroyed. He must stay. After all -- With power comes responsibility.

[Aldurin]

Finally tired from his exploration, Lerian enters the nearest bar and takes a seat in the back to rest and take in the shenanigans. It was an interesting city, but not necessarily his type of place to live.

[razorback]

Taking everyones silence as acquiescence to the idea of food, he looks at the Raptoran and says "It would seem as if your establishment is going to be in repairs for a while and you have offered the others a tour of the city. Maybe we can start with another fine eating establishment?"

[Zolkabro]

"Ex-CUSE me?!" the outraged Dragon-hulk rumbled. "WHO is in charge here? I think I'll be giving the orders, thank you very much!" he sniffed.

"Now then..." he said, turning to the Raptoran, roughly shoving Algrith out of the way.
"It would seem as if your estab- establi- place, is going to be in repairs for a while and you have offered the others a tour of the city. Maybe we can start with another fine eating, um, wotsit?"

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge sighs. Heavy.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl blinks slowly, trying to understand what was going on. Finally he just gives up and runs his fingers through the feathers of his head."I dont actually own the bar, I'm just a regular here. But yes I did offer them a tour, and your welcome to join us. Are we all in agreement that food is what were after?"

[Zolkabro]

"AYE, food!" Yrago booms cheerfully. "You know what they say about drinking on an empty stomach?

...

Neither do I. Gimme mah food, I expect.

SO FOOOOD!"

Yrago is clearly still drunk, but thankfully in the irratatingly-merry stage, rather than the hit-things-with-chairs or the oh-god-why-me stages.

[INoKnowNames]

As his eyes adjust to the bright light outside, his draconian irises regain their normal, humanoid shape. Tarmikos walks back into the bar, taping the latest new-comer on the shoulder. "Sorry, fellow, but it looks like our crew made a bit of a mess here. On a normal day, this might be a good place for a drink, but maybe not so much today. We're going to find somewhere new to eat, and hopefully not butcher; feel free to come along, if you'd like." he mentions to him, before walking past him.

Tarmikos strides beside Drudge, and pats him friendily on the back, imitating his sigh. "Not always easy, even if it's right." Tarmikos breathes to the mechanoid, before standing next to Alia. "I certainly agree that food would be perfect right now, 'Boss Man'." Tarmikos addresses Yragoki, smirking at the title for the dragon-man. "However, If I remember correctly, a few of our number have companions they need to check in on in the park. Maybe a stop there might be in order before we move on? Fresh air and a decent walk should do the nerves some good. I'm sure Arryl can make a brief detour with no problem."

[Vixsor Lumin]

"Of course, I need to grab a few things and my house is right by the park I think your talking about. With that he leads them to the park where the wolves are. He ducks into a small house, and reappears with a decent set of adventurer's gear.

[Zolkabro]

Yrago looked slightly nervous, standing by the park. "I'll, um, I'll just wait out here..." He mumbled, hovering awkwardly in the street while the others went in. But, bored of waiting, he went inside the park anyway. But soon, his nose was noticably red, and as the wolves came closer, he began to sniffle. Eventually, he ventured to close to one, and an almighty sneeze that shook the city like an earthquake erupted from his nose. Once the smoke had cleared, those who looked towards him would see the surprised dragonoid in the middle of a circle around 10m accross of flattened and slightly scorched grass. He picked up a deep-fried squirrel and munched on it dejectedly.
"I'm, um..." he started. "I'm a little bit allergic to dogs, so if you could just keep them back a bit..." Clearly very embarrassed, he cleared his throat and marched towards the park exit again. "Onwards!"

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge followed the assembly in silence, and upon reaching the park produced a whistle and blew it. He didn't blow out very loudly, for he knew Venn was neat enough and had hearing good enough to hear it easily.

Venn trotted over to see what Drudge wanted then eyeballed the group. When a dragon man walked near, he watched carefully, but didn't react. When the man sneezed, Venn exhaled a torrent of icy wounds all over the dragon man, in order to put out the fires.

What is this? Venn asked simply.

This one is much like Sir Codsman, of Beldaland. Drudge replied.

Oh? Venn chuckled.

It is not funny, Venn. Drudge said levelly.

With a slight eye roll, Venn snorted at the dragon. see here, you draconian beast! If you are allergic, you stay away from us! You approached me. I don't need to take precautions to help you, you need to do that yourself. Now, where are you all headed?

Drudge prepared to answered, but stopped. He didn't actually know beyond that they were going to find food.

[smasher0404]

Startled by Tarmikos' outburst, Tristan quietly calls of Wolfie and remains rather silent.

[shayanuser]

By the time Rhonin finished his wine, the group had already left the bar. He left a generous tip on the table and departed for the park. He was not sure why he followed but he knew that he belonged with them. There were all these small details about each of them that while didn't mean anything by themselves, when put together pointed to a certain direction.

The drunk brute was the most obvious to attract trouble but there were other things he noticed here and there: a spellbook that was too heavy for a simple mage, an unusually unforgiving determination to protect something, an amulet that was too well crafted for an average traveler or the way they touched their sheathed weapons from time to time.

He knew that soon they would be in danger, that they would need his help... and he would need 'Mother'. He took to the air as soon as he stepped out the door of the bar. In his way to the park he made the call, too high pitched to be heard by any other race.

A considerable distance away an incredibly huge horrid monstrosity of a bat took wing, leaving anyone that saw her in awe and fear.

[INoKnowNames]

Sensing Tristan's discomfort, Tarmikos puts a hand on the man's shoulder while the group travels to the park. "Hey, sorry for getting so mean back there. I'm normally not so loud; just wanted to keep a fight from breaking out, for all our sakes, and to better enjoy my one day off before I have to get back to work. No hard feelings, friend?" Tarmikos politely addresses him.

Once in the park, Tarmikos mainly takes a back-seat to the continual insanity occuring in the mist of Yragoki, including the conversation between Drudge and his companion. He decides to speak up when Drudge does not. "I'm not sure about the rest of you, but between being thrown up on several times, a flying hulking Dragonoid with allergies and a drinking problem, a Day-Walking Vampire, a Harpie, a Robot, and now a Talking Ice-Shooting Wolf... I'm pretty darn close to writing this all off as a bad dream and heading back to where I think was supposed to be a hotel room." he responds, counting each curiosity on his fingers.

After a moment, Tarmikos bows. "Forgive my continual rudeness, please. I'm normally not without manners. It's just... while I know I've been at the whole "adventuring" thing for less time than some of you have been alive, I'd have thought I'd have seen more in the world than I have after 8 years of hard work. And yet in one day, I'm certainly experiencing a lot more than I've ever experienced in most of my career. or in my training."

He straightens himself, and continues, assuming none remain too offended at his ignorant words. "In any case, we were to collect Aliavius and Drudge's Companions, and consider seeing how well they might respond to what hospitality Clevefort offers. Then Arryl here could show us all to an eatery, before finding some entertainment for the day and evening."

[darklink_shadow]

Venn laughed a coughing little wheeze, I was in it, couldn't be that bad of a dream, could it? What's with all these people Drudge? Friends of yours? Or of ... what is that woman's name? Aero...vivus? Something long and confusing for no reason.



Venn. Drudge scolded.

Yes? Venn mocked.

They aren't really either of our friends, or not quite. We just met in the bar. And her name is Alia, or that is the version short enough for you to use. They are going to get food. Hungry?

Venn sniffed the ground then licked his chops. I could eat. I haven't eaten recently.

Well, let's go when they are ready.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"I promise you, this has not been a usual day here. Usually I'm the weirdest thing people see all day." Arryl says with a laugh. "There is a nice little cafe not to far from here, and a theater for later. I remember someone wanted to see some art, would performance art qualify?"

[asdflove]

Alia sighs when Venn calls her Aero-Vivis. "Aliavius, actually. It's fairly standard for an Elven name, but as Drudge said Alia is fine." She then whistles. "Maple come." The husky bounds to Alia's side, her tounge hanging out if her mouth as she looks up at Alia. She gently scratches Maple's ear then looks at Arryl. "A cafe sounds nice."

[INoKnowNames]

"Well well well, a Wolf with a sense of humor, and a wit as or more rapier than his master. The last wolf I met was less jovial, and more trying to eat my face." Tarmikos comments on Venn with a chuckle. "While Drudge here may be a bit more hesitant about it, I certainly see little reason why we can't be friends. And hopefully we'll soon find places to accommodate us all."

On that note, Tarmikos approaches Maple and Alia, while addressing Arryl. "Beauty is beauty, be it of the brush or the body. Drudge is the cultural-enthusiast, but I certainly wouldn't mind a trip to the theatre. Would we all be able to get in is the bigger question: such places might be a bit more selective about their patrons than Taverns or Inns."

As he closes, he makes his approach slow and expected, as not to disturb either the dog or her master. "Does this Maple here have as acute a personality as Venn?" he asks Alia as he sits nearby.

[darklink_shadow]

Venn chuckles again. Sure, we can be friends. I'll be friends with any respectful person who feeds me. Don't mind Drudge, he's just got no people skills. By the way, speaking of eating tour face, now that I've got to thinking about food, I could go for a snack. Venn leaned into a combat ready pose then, wagging his tail, nipped at the air just a few inches from Tarkimos.

Venn... you're probably right actually, never mind. Anyways, the theatre sounds fine to me.

[razorback]

Algrith's stomach roils about a bit as his body struggles to get on the right side of sobriety.
Glad that the brute of a humanoid Yrago is out of slapping range, he leans back and cracks his neck, almost sending the world spinning.
As the rest of the 'group' mills about, he edges away from the animals, knowing what how they usually react to members of his 'race'. Shuffling towards Imaran, he says "What do you make of all them? Seem ok to you?" in a voice that he tries to whisper but utterly fails to do.

[INoKnowNames]

"Aah! Don't eat me! I promise that my face doesn't taste good!" Tarmikos falls flat on his butt before the playful wolf, laughing.

[darklink_shadow]

Aw. Venn whines. I prefer my food to be tasty. I guess you just have bring me a tribute meal. Mmm. Yes! A predator won't eat even the tiniest of prey if he is already full! Venn laughs and rolls on his back then jumps back up. Mmm... yes. Venn signs contently.

Venn, you are strange. You just fell down with you excitement, and now you are calm? Drudge scratched Venn's head briefly. And yet I put up with you.

Venn scoffed. You mean I put up with you?

Yes. And I am grateful.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"Well then," Arryl claps his hands together and rubs them together excitedly. "If were all in agreememt, lets be off!" he says begins walking in the direction of the cafe.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge watches the man walk for a bit, sure that he was being abrupt, but then shrugs and follows. Maybe in this city, being slow was rude. Drudge had no desire to upset the man, so he hurried after him.

Venn, however huffed and stuck his nose into his newly downed victim's chest. I'm not going in any buildings right now. Bring me a snack later. After a short pause Venn title his head to the side. Please?

[Demidos]

Algrith's stomach roils about a bit as his body struggles to get on the right side of sobriety.
Glad that the brute of a humanoid Yrago is out of slapping range, he leans back and cracks his neck, almost sending the world spinning.
As the rest of the 'group' mills about, he edges away from the animals, knowing what how they usually react to members of his 'race'. Shuffling towards Imaran, he says "What do you make of all them? Seem ok to you?" in a voice that he tries to whisper but utterly fails to do.

Imaran represses the urge to hold his nose as his still-drunk friend sidles up to him. Algrith has been a wonderful guide and intelligent companion for most of the time that he has been up here on the surface world. That is indisputable -- but this habit of drinking, Imaran is convinced, will end up finishing him off.

They seem...human. answers Imaran, in a quiet undertone. I don't particularly trust the dragonborn, but the one called Drudge seems to have a good head on his shoulders. The others seem nice enough.

[razorback]

Algrith nods as he continues walking, a bit more oblivous than normal as Imaran makes a face at his near stupor.

He warily eyes the dog (wolf) as he follows the winged fellow as he thinks about how he can help him restor some of his custom for his bar.

[Demidos]

The group proceeds towards the theater in their depressingly roundabout, argument-infested, decrepitally-paced, damage-prone way. We can assume that everyone is at around 1/8th-1/5th health by the time we get there. If nothing impedes their progress, then they arrive normally within an hour and a half or so (or whatever would be a reasonable time frame to make it to the theater, multiplied by three, given this group).

[qwertyu63]

You reach the theater just in time to see tonight's production of "Lina Ildust and the Crystal Star".

As you enter the theater, you see the show has just begun. It seems to be your standard knights, dragons and princesses story, albeit as a comedy.

Any Knowledge (Local) checks out there to know things about the play? DC 20 please.

[Demidos]

Well, if it works untrained,
Knowledge, Local: [roll0]

Otherwise, I'll just use this for an aid another. Someone who trained it want a +2?

[qwertyu63]

Well, if it works untrained,
Knowledge, Local: [roll0]

Otherwise, I'll just use this for an aid another. Someone who trained it want a +2?

The DC is too high for use untrained, but that will give others the aid another +2.

[asdflove]

Rolling for aid another, because why not.
[roll0]

[qwertyu63]

Rolling for aid another, because why not.
[roll0]

That isn't high enough to help, sorry. The bonus waiting for anyone with the skill is +2... Looking over the characters, only Tarmikos has the skill... Unless I missed something...

[qwertyu63]

As the only one of you with the skill has failed... :belkar:

The play plays out normally, up until its climax. Just as the heroes retrieve the titular crystal star from a deep cavern, the prop star they are using shines brightly, casting a strange power over everyone in the theater...

Will saves for everyone please...

[Vixsor Lumin]

Will [roll0]

[darklink_shadow]

Will save to resist foul magiks? [roll0]

[smasher0404]

Will Saves?

Tristan: [roll0]
Wolfie [roll1]

[qwertyu63]

The power that has been cast out settles over a majority of the crowd. Those that have fallen to the spell feel a strong compulsion to follow the instruction given by the leading star. He tells them to "Throw all your money on the stage." The crowd starts doing so...

Congrats, darklink you predicted what I was going do.

Also, I do expect those who made the save to stop those who failed from following instructions...

[darklink_shadow]

Unsure of what to make of this, Drudge places a hand on Tarkimos's shoulder. Is this normal? He whispers to the man. Surprised to see his new companion clearly out of his mind, Drudge pushes on the man's shoulder, not letting him stand and thus not enabling him to get the leverage he would need to hurl money onto the stage.

Foul sorcerers... I'm sure this is illegal. He mutters quietly.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"Ummm no?" Arryl says laughing. When the crowd starts reaching for their money he realizes what's going on. Drudge and Tarmikos only confirm it. Standing up he says "Thats a neat trick but it doesnt seem exactly fair."

[INoKnowNames]

As he watches the bright light, Tarmikos' mind goes blank for a few moments, his sky blue eyes glazed over. When he comes to, he doesn't even remember having reached for his money bag, nor when Drudge moved to hold him down. Looking around, it doesn't take him much to figure out what's up.

Firm yet gently, Tarmikos moves Drudge out of his way. "Thanks for looking out for me, friend. This probably wasn't in the Play Bill," Tarmikos quips, as he puts his money back into his bag and rightens himself. "But it looks like the crowd's going to be in for an Extended Cut of this production. Let's put on a show for these guys, and make sure everyone hangs on to their money."

Tarmikos brandishes both of his weapons, and begins heading forward. "Once everyone else is ship shape, feel free to join in. Be careful; who knows what other tricks they'll have up their sleeves." Tarmikos finishes, rapidly making his way center stage. I suppose I'm about to find out...

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl stands quickly, while making sure to stay behind Tarmikos. Astrange glow begins eminating from his half closed fists. Before things get out of hand, he looks around the theater to get an idea of the lay out.are we going to get a battle grid? If not, how much clearance do i have before i hit the roof or walls?

[Aldurin]

Lerian stops the closest affected person from moving to see how strong the compulsion is, then he looks around and notes the two people having already drawn their weapons. With a sigh he starts moving toward the isle so he can move quickly should the situation escalate.

What a poor plan of the thief, I can only hope that his gross incompetence doesn't snowball for a complete disaster.

[Demidos]

"Might want to duck." Imaran says dryly from just behind them. Despite his comment, they are unaffected as green smoke begins pouring off his body. It consolidates into wave after wave of smoky green rings, which pass out to engulf those on stage.

Waves of Grief (http://dndtools.eu/spells/complete-divine--56/wave-of-grief--689/), DC 17. Basically -3 to rolls.

Note: This is actually a turn (move + standard), or just standard depending on how far away the stage is. Assuming it is within a reasonable range, it could be a surprise round, or not....feel free to delay it a bit if it makes it better. Also initiative [roll0], in case its needed.

[Zolkabro]

Yrago, bored thoroughly, suddenly begins to pay more attention when he spots an extremely sparkly star lift into the air.
Oh, man oh man oh man! Is that a DIAMOND?
He's still transfixed when a voice says "Throw all your money onto the stage."
He starts to reach for his bag, still staring at the star, before his Warblade training kicks in, and he begins to automatically concentrate, going into the slightly trance-like state, and realises what is going on.
"Whuh- buh- the hell do you think you're doing?!" he rumbles "You - you're stealing? That's MY job! You hear?"
He wrenches his greataxe from behind his back. "I'M THE ONE WHO DOES THE STEALING. YOU HEAR?" He roars, before hurling his axe as hard as he can.
"Dibs on the DIAAMOOOOND!" he screams as he does so.

Attacking!
Swift action: Stand in my Absolute Steel Stance.
Move action: Drawing Greataxe
Standard action: Attacking, Sneak attack throwing Greataxe.
Free action: "GRAAAAAAR!"

Just one attack, because move action as well, 1d20+7.
Damage roll is 3d6+6 Greataxe damage, +3d6 Sneak attack damage, ranged 20ft.
[roll0]
[roll1]

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge notices violence has erupted around him. It appears to him that this swindlers are to be executed, and not arrested. Not knowing the ways of the city, Drudge follows the example set for him, and charges at a foe.

Without any form of map, I am going to assume there is no straight line between myself and a foe.

I'm not sure what I can do, if they are close enough to move and attack or if I need to double move to get to one, or what. I will, for now, assume nothing and take no mechanical action until I know for sure.

Initiative though: [roll0]

[asdflove]

Doing her best to ignore the fight Aliavius focuses her attention on the star.
Spellcraft check [roll0]
Curious to know exactly what it is she casts the ever handy spell Detect Magic.

[razorback]

Algrith wonders why everyone isn't reaching in and giving their money to the performers. Obviously, it was a masterful performance and deserves ever last copper he owns.
Seeing everyone come up in arms, he shrugs his shoulders as he marches forward and reaches for his coin pouch.

"Imaran, wasn't that the greatest thing since leavened bread?"

Seeing Tarmikos and Arryl acting odd, he wonders if he is forcing the reluctant ones to cough up so coin.
"Only seems fair." he says to no one in particular.

[qwertyu63]

Yrago, bored thoroughly, suddenly begins to pay more attention when he spots an extremely sparkly star lift into the air.
Oh, man oh man oh man! Is that a DIAMOND?
He's still transfixed when a voice says "Throw all your money onto the stage."
He starts to reach for his bag, still staring at the star, before his Warblade training kicks in, and he begins to automatically concentrate, going into the slightly trance-like state, and realises what is going on.
"Whuh- buh- the hell do you think you're doing?!" he rumbles "You - you're stealing? That's MY job! You hear?"
He wrenches his greataxe from behind his back. "I'M THE ONE WHO DOES THE STEALING. YOU HEAR?" He roars, before hurling his axe as hard as he can.
"Dibs on the DIAAMOOOOND!" he screams as he does so.

Attacking!
Swift action: Stand in my Absolute Steel Stance.
Move action: Drawing Greataxe
Standard action: Attacking, Sneak attack throwing Greataxe.
Free action: "GRAAAAAAR!"

Just one attack, because move action as well, 1d20+7.
Damage roll is 3d6+6 Greataxe damage, +3d6 Sneak attack damage, ranged 20ft.
[roll0]
[roll1]


A magical field shifts your thrown axe, causing it to hit the star... The star shatters into 5 parts, all of which fly out of the building.

[asdflove]

Alia gasps, startled, as the star shatters, and immediately afterwards she dashes to Tarmikos. "That star, whatever it was, had an insanely powerful magic aura! Overwhelming even! It could be very important, with that kind of power." She pauses taking a deep breath, running her fingers through her hair. Now slightly calmer. "I think it would be wise to attempt to find the pieces."

[darklink_shadow]

With OOC intel, I now assume I can charge properly.

I charge. Which is to say, I pounce.

Claws
To hit
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

Damage
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]

Slam
[roll8] to hit
[roll9] damage

After striking a foe, I can skirmish to move 5 ft. I move to end behind him, and thus, hopefully, closer to his friends, assuming I hit at least twice.

I have no idea who I am charging, but hopefully someone who casts spells. If he drops, I won't continue with my attacks, and they are lethal.

[qwertyu63]

With OOC intel, I now assume I can charge properly.

I charge. Which is to say, I pounce.

Claws
To hit
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

Damage
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]

Slam
[roll8] to hit
[roll9] damage

After striking a foe, I can skirmish to move 5 ft. I move to end behind him, and thus, hopefully, closer to his friends, assuming I hit at least twice.

I have no idea who I am charging, but hopefully someone who casts spells. If he drops, I won't continue with my attacks, and they are lethal.


The guy you were attacking when down in one hit.

[INoKnowNames]

As Tarmikos watches the Star explode and scatter, he stops in his tracks. And as Alia shares her information with him, he watches as Drudge effortlessly defeats one of the crooks, Tarmikos' posture relaxing.

"I agree with you; it would be wise to find those shards. But the safety of these people and the capture of these crooks should come first... especially since it seems like that won't take too long." he quietly replies to her, advancing slowly toward the troop.

"Tough break for you fellows." Tarmikos attempts to reason with those that remain, shaking his head. "To go through all this trouble, only to be completely and utterly outclassed... I might not even have to get involved; if you can't tell, several of us are a bit more powerful than the civilians you managed to dupe, and if you continue resisting, this may be your last act, ever." He is entirely casual, looking over each actor carefully as he strolls. "However, if you get on your knees right now, hands behind your head, and surrender to me, I can do my best to see to it that you'll wake up tomorrow, if at least in a prison cell, as opposed to 6 feet underground. Seems like a decent deal to me. What do you say?" he asks, outstretching one hand as if physically offering an object, both his blades in his other hand, held casually by their handle.

"Act fast, this is a limited time offer. Your little toy is a bigger concern than you, and these people will wipe the floor with you if no one gives them reason to pause..."

Diplomacy: [roll0]. I feel like a circumstance bonus could be awarded, given that the Crystal Star that they were using was just shattered, one of their own just got wtfbbqpwncrited, and they're being quickly overwhelmed and outnumbered by others threatening to do the same.

Edit: Dice Roller, what have I done to earn your recent disdain?

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl flaps his wings and moves behind the group. Two glowing green swords appear in his hands as he blocks one of the exits to the backstage area."Listening to him would be a good idea."i actually forgot that Arryl is a soulbow, so he doesnt have a bow and arrow to hold.... ill go retcon that post

[qwertyu63]

They all quickly surrender.

[asdflove]

With their quick surrender Alia nods. "That was easy enough. Now... Um... Where do we take them to be arrested...?" She glances towards Arryl, as he's the only one who actually knows this city, as far as she knows.

[INoKnowNames]

"I know a place. I work there, so to speak." Tarmikos replies, as he pulls out a rope, making it extend. "We can detain these guys here for a bit and investigate those pieces, see what in the world that was." he explains as he begins tying them up. "After that, or if we pass the actual police station along the way, we can drop them off there, otherwise I'll take care of them."

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl kicks at the coins on the ground making a small pile. Obviously Tarmikos was the man for this job.

[smasher0404]

Tristan, shocked at the swiftness of present company, says "I guess I should help find those pieces, should be pretty easy, and I don't think I'd be much help with transporting people" as he morphs into the form of an eagle to look for the star.

Edit: and drops the pearl of speech and then placing it in my beak :smallredface: and wilding clasping Goggles of the Golden Sun

[darklink_shadow]

I can guard the people while someone fetches the police. Flexing all four of his powerful arms at once he snarls. They probably don't want to end up a bloody mess, so they won't try to run from me.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"Ill stay to. To help Drudge keep an eye on them" Arryl says looking at the prisoners.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge nods. You can shoot the one runner who will get away from me if they all bolt at once. He turns his steely gaze back to the criminals. I guess we can pass the time either listening to them tell us more about the crystal, or we can just stand here and think about how angry we are for being tricked.

[Zolkabro]

Yrago eagerly watched the greataxe fly through the air. The whum... whum... whum... it made was without a doubt his favourite sound. But when he star was shattered, his expression changed somewhat. For several seconds, he was completely silent, before giving a scream of frustration and slamming his head onto the back of the nearest seat.
He hears Alia, and scrambles towards her and Tarmikos, scattering wooden splinters and scraps from the seats he is ploughing through. "Hell YES we're finding those shards! Do you have any idea how much they could be WORTH?"
He accompanies them as they go out into the building, helping look. He's sure as hell not leaving something that valuable for somebody else to find. After a few seconds of silence, he walks quietly right up behind Tarmikos, and whispers directly into his ear with no warning whatsoever:
"If they have to kill one of those actors... can I eat the corpse? Pleeeeeeease?"
He is still pretty nervous of him after Tarmikos' outburst, and thinks it's probably better to ask permission for this. After all, people could have some pretty odd reactions to him eating people, for some reason. Like attempting to lynch him. That always ended well...

[Aldurin]

Lerian's attention is held by the star's reaction to the axe, and when he overhears another mage talk about the magical aura he knows his next goal. Even if it's not a power he can harness, it will definitely help him afford power that he can.

And the group was actually not random band of fools that he feared them to be, and with their intention on finding the star he found his next band of temporary allies. He approaches them and speaks with a calm and clear mannerism, "It would also be in my interest to study the pieces of that artifact, though finding them alone would be a pain. I can lend my magic and other abilities in the search, especially if we encounter more hostility on the way." He extends a hand to Drudge, "I'm Lerian Phillip, by the way. And don't worry, I will be far from a liability should actual trouble come our way."

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge took the hand and shook it. Hello to you, Lerian Phillip, I am Drudge Treeborn, and I am glad to make your acquaintance. It's nice to meet someone has the manners to introduce themselves despite having a mission they need to do. But you should hurry to find those shards. No telling where they went, or who might go after them. They might be dangerous, or powerful. A child might think they are stars that fell from the heavens, and try to claim it. Should that happen, and the shards be dangerous, the outcome would be tragic. Similarly, if they were powerful and fell into evil... giving a look to the actors, he added or merely selfish hands, it could similarly be tragic. A learned and respectful man such as yourself is unlikely to be a liability, I think. I look forward to speaking with you more, but for now, make haste.

[razorback]

As Algrith snaps out of his magically induced stupor, he looks very irritated.
With the rest of the group moping up the actors and getting help he walks over to Tarmikos.
"I am of a mind that this is not their first attempt at this. My suggestion is that I convert my form to that of, say... a girallon, a four-armed beast of tremendous strength. Once a couple of them have been brutally savaged, I'm sure the rest will speak. The only question is who to pick first" he says as he turns towards the actors. As the actors watch, Algrith's form morphs into that of the said creature and he lets out a roar.


Metamorphasis into a Girallon.

[shayanuser]

The compulsion was too weak to pass even the outer layers of Rhonin's mental defenses. Nevertheless, he was surprised to have witnessed such a massive enchantment spell. Aliavius's detect magic spell confirmed his hunch. After Yrago's axe shifted towards the star, Rhonin was surprised for a second time.
The instant after the star shattered, Rhonin was already in the air diving after one of the pieces. He gave a high pitched command for Mother to go after another piece.
I've spoken to qwerty about my horrid bat companion, it is flying right above the theater. If it takes 10 it can hear me screaming commands because it has a +12 base listen.

[INoKnowNames]

OocI'll edit color into this post when i can.

As he continues to tie up the actors, Tarmikos takes stock in what he overhears: Lerian's introduction, and continued discussion concerning the Star. While working on the next knots, he adds his thoughts to the conversation.

"Hm... Algrith, I believe we have more than enough muscle here already." he motions toward the giant dragon–man and similarly quad–armed robotic warrior. “Instead, maybe you should use the mobility of your new form to assist in the search. You too, Arryl. You probably know this city better than anyone else does. ...Lerian, was it? Maybe you can join with Imaran, and search from the ground. You both seem more knowledgeable about this kind of thing than myself. Alia, Drudge, Yragoki and I should be able to take care of things here, if there are no objections.“ he politely suggests.

[darklink_shadow]

I do not support this plan in full. We do not need so many to guard so few. I would go on the searching team, but I'm not very good at finding things, and I am not familar with cities. Looking at Tarmikos for a moment he shrugged. Living in the wilds has taught me other skills, but most of them are only helpful when violence is needed. I'm much more attuned to this sort of job, whether or not it gets bloody.

Gesturing at Maple, Drudge continues But Wolves has keen sense. If you plan to go by the park, I can give you Venn's whistle. He'd be happy to assist you with his eyes or nose, depending on the situation. My eyes and nose only find me things to hunt. Not rocks.

[qwertyu63]

The actors make it rather clear how little they know, they know how to use it to boss around people, and that they found it in a ditch on the side of the road.

Those who had a view from outside (i.e. the various animals you left outside) saw 5 quickly fading streaks of color in the sky on the paths the shards took, showing they are going a long way. The streaks fade out far too quickly to directly follow them.

[INoKnowNames]

Tarmikos finishes the last knot, making sure the entire group of "actors" are secured, before preparing to reply to Drudge. As he turns, he catches a glimpse of one of the shards tracing through the sky, headed for parts unknown.

"I don't think any plans matter at this point. It looks like they're already far out of our reach." he sighs, turning back to his temporary comrades. "What do you guys think should be done now? I think we best just explain these fellows to the police, and grab a bite to eat. I doubt we'd find one of the shards tonight, even if we tried to."

He sighs again, looking out the window, talking to himself. "Who knows if anyone would find them at this point. I've got enough to pursue that's barely out of reach..."

[darklink_shadow]

How far did they go? I only saw them leave the room. As for eating, I say we skip that. Forever. Major waste of our time. Are any museums still open? That would be interesting. I've never seen one, but I've heard of them. Drudge says, completely on the level.

[razorback]

The blue, four-armed beast turns towards Drudge with a howl before morphing back into Algrith, who say quite heatedly "Are you mad? I realize that you are some kind of mechanical man but what is the fuel that keeps your fire stoked!?!?! Gods of good, man... Made of metal, I require in the most basic sense to survive but require it, of good and flavorful variety, in order to more than just survive, but to thrive! It is those tasty morsels that keep the mind active and ever hungering for more!". With that, the pot-bellied Mage throws his hands up and stalks away from Drudge mumbling to himself.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge watches him go, and then laughs.

Ha hahahahaha. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dtu7V-YJho)

[Demidos]

"I can watch this...


...Scum." Imaran says coldly. "If you would so kindly fetch the guards, I will ensure that none escape until then."

[shayanuser]

The shards were too fast. Rhonin could only note their directions before they got lost on the horizon. He mentally mapped each direction to the landscape so that he could later remember the directions accurately. He then went back to the theater and commanded Mother to follow. The large beast closed his armored wings only half way and carelessly squeezed through the entrance, causing debris to fall. "Calm down, we will get them later." Rhonin said in a cold voice as he swiftly dodged a bite attempt from the unruly creature.

"As there is no way to know who threw how much money on the scene, the city watch will probably just confiscate the gold. Better in our pocket than their's I'd say.", he said as he approached the scene. Mother followed, walking through the aisles and crushing the seats.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"You my friend, have the right idea." Arryl begins scooping up the pile of coins he had been making at his feet.

[darklink_shadow]

We did stop the actors, and I doubt the guardsmen will reward our efforts. But perhaps some, maybe 25% should be donated to the local ... charity of some... nevermind, I have no idea what I am saying.

Drudge knelt down and helped scoop the gold together. I know. Give an equal share to... what ever you city folk give your charity to.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"I think we should give it to the jobless." Arryl says smiling.

[Aldurin]

"I think we should give it to the jobless." Arryl says smiling.

"The jobless should get jobs, you're just encouraging them by doing that." Lerian replies.

[darklink_shadow]

I tend to agree with... Lerian, right? It is not so hard to survive if you are healthy. Wounds or illness cannot be helped. It should go to the maimed.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"That was a joke since i just recently quit my job, i have no preference about where the money goes." Arryl says digging, as he stuffs his pockets.

[razorback]

Algrith stands back and watches while some of the group takes advantage of the situation. "I guess they are right and, since everyone fled , we couldn't possibly get this back to the proper owners... But, still..." is all he says as he continues to watch with a shocked look on his face.

[Demidos]

Imaran glares loudly and in disgust at the scrabbling members of what, for a moment, he had thought almost worthy of a team.
Why yes, it IS possible to glare LOUDLY. See Imaran's glare above for proof!
"You say that there is no possible way to return this to their owners. It could easily be handed in to the governer of this city, who could doubtless use it to improve the flagstones, the library, improve security for these poor citizens, or any of a myriad of other tasks. What you are doing is flat out robbery, as much as anything these actors did. It seems likely we could collect a bounty on these men. That is legitimate money."

[asdflove]

Alia rolls her eyes. "Does it really matter?" Alia snaps annoyed. "Personally I just say we leave it, and let what happens to it happen to it. This isn't our job." She scowls at them.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl sighs and shuffles his wings to get more comfortable. "If you think what were doing is wrong then dont do it. No one is forcing you. But dont pass judgement over us just because you disagree with our methods. We can take this money and put it to good use." He says looking at Imaran."As for leaving it here, that seems just wasteful. This is an opportunity and by walking away, we would be wasting it. Were not taking all of it, I doubt we could even carry it all, but I'm not going to squander this. " Arryl says as he sinches the leather of his purse.

[INoKnowNames]

"If you really think what you're doing is worth any potential repercussions, then go right on ahead." Tarmikos replies to Arryl, all warmth in his voice cut out entirely. "Those that manage this place have records on who purchased tickets; I certainly left my information when I made my contribution. It shouldn't be too hard for them to find those who came in to this showing of the theatre, and then magically divine their knowledge on the events that transpired to see whom was and wasn't robbed by Thieves." With a sigh, he continues. "I assumed someone as talented as yourself could easily find -other- methods of making money; you are still being paid to help provide a tour of the city for a few strangers, and you seem quite resourceful. But I suppose you're right. No one's making me put stolen coin in my pocket, so I certainly won't. And I'd sooner not sour a perfectly good acquaintance, so I suppose I'm not going to start a fight over this either if so many of you really want to do this; I've no dominion over you. But no one's also making you take things that belongs to someone else, either. You keep that in mind, friend." he finishes, with a disappointed look in his eye, before starting to walk off, rope and bound actors in toe.

"Hopefully your venture here will be entirely profitable for you. I'll take this set of criminals directly to jail myself. They started this entire mess, and on the one day off I've really got, so they can march bound to where they belong. The money for any crimes they've committed, including this one, will be money properly earned. And if any of them attempts to flee, I'll knock them unconscious and tow their body, as simple as that. Anyone willing to help can come along. Afterwards, regardless of Drudge not placing any value in it, I know the rest of us still need to eat, and I'm still more than willing to pay for dinner for us all before I retire to the hotel. And retire I shall, and I would recommend it. Those shards are already long out of the city, maybe even hundreds of miles away at this point, so I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over them when I've got more personal matters to deal with. They can be worried about in the morning."

As he continues to make his way, Tarmikos flashes a smile toward Imaran, Algrith, and Alia. And subconsciously, he throws a curious glance toward the massive monster following Rhonin.

[darklink_shadow]

Perhaps you do it differently in the city, but I'm used to the spoils of conquest going to the victor. We defeated the villians, so their goods, illgotten or not, should be ours. If that is not the way of the city, I will respect that, but fools easily parted from their money do not have much need to keep it. It is not like they were peasants or any such thing. People who have extra money to spend frivolously on events, and carry around this much loose money clearly have an excess. I see no wrongness in taking the fat from pigs. Nor in dead wood from the forest. And I see little difference here.

As for the dinner, it was... a poor attempt at humor, I suppose. I obviously am aware you need to eat. Well, maybe not obvious to all of you. Besides, are you aware I can eat, if I choose? I simply do not require it as badly as you do.

[razorback]

Algrith, shrugs his shoulders towards Imaran a bit then tilts his head towards Tarmikos. He pantomimes a little bit before Imaran shakes his head, so Algrith just walks over to him, to the amusement of anyone watching.
"Are we going to help Tarmikos take these thieves in? I do not feel right about taking these coins, even if others have no qualms about it."

[Zolkabro]

Backtracking to a while ago, timezones again.
Yrago leaps down onto the floor, and penguin-slides across it, his arms outstretched so that they push all the money with them like a snough-plough. He eventually slows to a halt, his head buried in a massive mound of coins countained in his arms. He wrestles his head free, and gathers all the money up into a neat pile. He then nestles in it like a cat, nuzzling the worn gold affectionately. The entire conversation passes over his head: he is far too enveloped in bliss to notice a thing.

[razorback]

Algrith watches with growing disgust, as evident on his face, at the unabashed greed displayed by the others, especially Yrago.

"I wonder if he would like it if all that coin just disappeared, as if vapor? Probably wouldn't due much to his scaly hide, but still."

With that he turns and prepares to help take the actors to the local authorities.

[Zolkabro]

Realising he is being referred to, Yrago opens one eye. "Uh, what's "vapor"? ...Can I still spend it if it's vapor?"

[Demidos]

"Are we going to help Tarmikos take these thieves in? I do not feel right about taking these coins, even if others have no qualms about it."


Algrith watches with growing disgust, as evident on his face, at the unabashed greed displayed by the others, especially Yrago.

"I wonder if he would like it if all that coin just disappeared, as if vapor? Probably wouldn't do much to his scaly hide, but still."

With that he turns and prepares to help take the actors to the local authorities.

Imaran gives one last glance at the idiots on stage, then nods shortly.

"That seems to be our best option."

He turns to one of the actors and pushes them to their feet, not trying to hurt them, but not giving any thought to whether he does either.

"Start walking. The first one to try to run gets to have their mind crushed and gets to crawl the rest of the way on their hands and knees."

[darklink_shadow]

Between Yrago's copious amounts of avarice, and your lack of feeling right to claim spoils of war, I've come to decide that cityfolk are crazy across the whole spectrum. Well, perhaps Yrago is just vulgar and foolish.

Drudge collected a fair amount of the coin, as much as one of his pairs of fists could hold, then followed the actors out. I wonder, what sort of crime is it? Is mind controlling people illegal? It should be. Wouldn't making someone crawl also be illegal then? How is magic regulated in the city?

[Zolkabro]

Once he saw people leaving, Yrago wrenched his bag off his back and panickedly began stuffing as much of the ill-gotten gains into his bag as he could. Haphazardly chucking it all in at lightening speed, he watched with increasing horror as the others left while barely collecting any.
"Whu- is NOBODY going to help me sweep all this up?!" his panicked voice squealed, unusually high-pitched.
"C'mon, get your priorities straight! Don't you fools realise what's at stake here?"

[Demidos]

Between Yrago's copious amounts of avarice, and your lack of feeling right to claim spoils of war, I've come to decide that cityfolk are crazy across the whole spectrum. Well, perhaps Yrago is just vulgar and foolish.

Drudge collected a fair amount of the coin, as much as one of his pairs of fists could hold, then followed the actors out. I wonder, what sort of crime is it? Is mind controlling people illegal? It should be. Wouldn't making someone crawl also be illegal then? How is magic regulated in the city?

"You just called this war, and implied that we had moral justification to the monies of those innocents caught up in it, and yet feel remorse as to a little public humiliation? Decide on one.

I for one see it as a war. A war against crime, against those who would steal from others just to increase their own comfort, against those that would cause harm for joy or compensation. These actors don't even seem to have the excuse that they needed to steal to survive.

If controlling them will keep them in line, why not use it? Would you rather I turn them over to our friend the axe-wielding dragon? It is the most non-lethal option I have at my command. As to the crawling, they wished to steal from the folk of the city, people who had done them no wrong. After being defeated, to merit this, they must additionally have attempted to flee their just punishment. Is it not right that they feel that which they inflicted upon others?"

Imaran looks away.

"Even up here, the world is not what I imagined it."

[Zolkabro]

Would you rather I turn them over to our friend the axe-wielding dragon?

"Um... you could! I- I wouldn't mind. I mean, just saying, but I didn't actually eat lunch today, so I could do with a little something."

[shayanuser]

"I picked up the money merely because I believe that it will benefit the people more being in my hands than the city watch. Whenever an artifact of this power is found, trouble follows and I believe that we will indirectly be doing the people more of a service by going after the star and by ensuring that it doesn't fall into the hands of the forces of evil."
"That being said, I would give up the money in case someone comes up with a reasonably efficient way of returning the money to the rightful owners."
Mother takes an aggressive stance, ready to attack anyone that would argue with his master.
Rhonin moves in to help the prisoner transfer.

[darklink_shadow]

There is no benefit to humiliating them. It is cruelty for cruelty's sake. But that was not what I was referring to. Making people do things against their will with magic is evil. At least, if I were to force people with violence, they could choose to die rather than obey, but with magic you give them no choices what-so-ever. You turn them into slaves, worse even, you turn them into mind-slaves. I am sure slavery has been exiled since my time. I've checked. Drudge pocketed his coin, all except one piece.

If you admit it is a war, then collecting spoils is easily justifiable. If it is not war, the justification becomes less simple, but I still believe in taking the spoils of any combat that is not clearly someone specific's. If those cowards wanted their money back, they would have helped reclaim it, not ran the moment agents of conflict emerged to bring justice. If they are too cowardly to claim their coin, why do they deserve it? Taking it is not hurting them, they've already lost it. Leaving it promotes vulturism, which will lead to the suffering of the vultures, because there will not also be a meaty corpse to pick clean, and then they will starve. And then what will they do? Turn to crime most likely. So really, you're not helping anyone by leaving the gold. I already agree we should give some of our spoils to the city as to not damage the economy of the city. But I see no reason that it is not justifiably ours. With a short look at Yrago, Drudge nodded slowly. But, yes. I would actually prefer you fed them to the disgusting dragon than enslaved them. I would rather be fed to the dragon then enslaved.

[Demidos]

Imaran listens, nodding slightly as he digests what Drudge is saying, although it is clear that he disagrees. At least, Imaran thinks, Drudge seems to have thought this out more than most did.

"The part where they are humiliated was intended to protect them -- if they thought there was no penalty to fleeing, then what is to stop them from attempting it? This ensures they don't try.

Slavery is indeed an abominable practice. Where I come from, many practice it, and we have sacrificed many to try to save their slaves from the depredations of their evil masters. However, there is a difference -- in the same way that there is a difference between using a blade when it must be used and being a mercenary. Just as wearing a shackle can demark you as a prisoner as easily as it can demark you being a slave, the magic is merely a tool. Will you claim that Tarmikos' binding of them in ropes is slavery? Surely not, although we can now do with them as we will, as surely as if I had bound them with magic. If I kept the magic active on them for the rest of their lives then yes, they would be slaves. However, those are not my intentions. How then, is it any more vile than what has already been done to them? However, if I sense they wish to die while under my sway, I will inform the local authorities, who I am sure would be happy to dispose of them simply without the need for prolonged incarceration or trials. Hopefully they can survive their distaste of being controlled for that long. If they can't, perhaps they should rethink escape.

Your point about vultures is irrelevant and faulty. No one proposed leaving the money -- we simply disagreed as to where it should end up. I had assumed that those who were staying at the theater would keep watch over it until the guard could arrive. Besides this fact, you seem to be trying to imply that finding money on the ground will somehow make a person incapable of ever learning a living. This makes little sense.
"

As to your other point." Imaran's face takes on a grim cast. "Do you believe that the only path or worth is that of the warrior, the executioner? If you do not, then how can you justify what you have just said? Surely if they had talents to protect their money, they would have used them to protect it. Perhaps some in this theater were artists, or merchants. What would you have them do? Throw their brushes or scales in the hopes of disrupting the spell? If they had stayed, they would have risked their lives, as well as been a distraction in our own combat. Their place is to create society, as it is the place of the warriors to defend it. If you say that only the strong deserve to have security in their possessions and rights, then you open the way to tyranny. And know that if that is your aim, I will oppose you every step of the way.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge sighed, then pocketed the last coin. Perhaps I misunderstood, but I believe someone said we should just leave the coin behind. So that nullifies that case. If, however, you think we should give it to someone, then we must first take it, yes? Since the bit about vulturism leading to crime is no longer relevant, I won't bother to explain it, but it is valid. I've seen it happen first hand.

Regardless of that, I'll address my issue with domination. Bound as they are by Tarkimos, they have ways of ending it, if they found their abuse too great, or feared what the future would hold to greatly. They could bite off their tongues and bleed. They could run and force us to violence. But dominated people get no options. As long as they are dominated, they have no choices. They are so controlled that they have not even a scrap of freedom, a sort of slavery far worse than the normal kind. Absolute control over another is evil. Vile. Wicked. Even for a short time, it is an aberration and abhorrent. A disgusting sin against freedom, and nature. I don't care how long it lasts, it is wrong. Forcing them to make one single action without any control, without even the chance to refuse and die instead is horrible... Drudge shook his head and looked down. It's unforgivable, to me.

Looked back up, Drudge looked at the prisoners, then back to Imaran. That is how it is more vile. It is absolute control, rather than limited control or coercion. But as for the caste system, I do not believe in that either. One can be a merchant and still know how to defend their self and their property. And if they cannot and they lose some amount of money for it, they are to blame as much as the thief. They have used their affluence to set into place a hired force to protect them, relying on mercenary forces, because do not kid yourself, that is what the authorities are. Sanctioned mercenaries. If their efforts are not enough, and they do not have any martial skills to fall back on, that is their own fault. Tyranny, if you've ever experienced it is a ways better than monarchy. At least each new tyrannt is selected, rather than born. There are worse forms of government. I am from a worse form of government. However, I do not suggest Tyranny. Nor do I suggest the strong are the only of those who deserve possessions. But the strong are those who protect them regardless. They have their mercenaries, and they failed. We succeeded. If they wanted to protect their belongings, they should not have brought them into a position where they could not protect them. If I was weak, I would leave my valuables in a place where others could not find them, rather than on my person to have taken from me so easily. If I were weak, I would struggle to become strong enough to hold onto my valuables. Walking with more money than you can afford to lose is unwise. It is their lack is wisdom I wish to punish. That is a trait the world needs. Wisdom. People without it should suffer so those who have it can flourish. Then, hopefully, the world will one day only have wisemen, as all the fools will have perished.

Sighing again, Drudge dropped his posture into one that made him look more of a construct than a living one. Regardless. Let us end this debate. It serves no purpose. You will never sway me. I will never sway you. Let us continue on our agreed path. Take the prisoners to the town guard. He said, utterly monotone.

[Zolkabro]

Yrago finished stuffing the coin in his bag, did one last sweep of the stage and picked up any leftover coins, grabbed his axe, then ran to catch up with the others.

He arrived just in time to hear Drudge say:

But, yes. I would actually prefer you fed them to the disgusting dragon than enslaved them.
Yrago grinned broadly, revealing his mishapen but deadly teeth. "Awwwwsoooooome."

Then, this happened:

I would rather be fed to the dragon then enslaved.
"Ugh, less awesome. Damn it, why is it always the bloody tin cans who are willing to be eaten? What the hell do you think my guts are made of, diamond? My liver, yes. My guts? No!

Hey, I wonder, is there enouhg diamond in my liver to ressurect me if I died? Nah, screw it. If I died and came back unable to drink entire barrels of whisky, life would not be worth coming back to."

[Demidos]

Spotting the guard, Imaran waves at him to get his attention and tries to wave him over.

"As you wish. This debate is ended."

When the guard gets closer, Imaran nods respectfully and gestures to the tied up actors.

"We subdued these men after they attempted to cast a spell over a crowded theater to force the attendees to give them their pocket cash. They didn't put up much of a fight and as such are unharmed. You can verify our story with any of the other theater-goers. We were just taking them over to the guard post so you could question them yourselves.

We are travelling with a registered Bounty Hunter, who can also verify the story, and you can check with his local guild."

Imaran didn't know much about Tarmikos, but he seemed the type to have a spotless do-gooder record.

[qwertyu63]

Guard: "Very well." He looks over them. "I'll take them off your hands." He takes them away, leaving again.

[Demidos]

Well that was....unexpected. No questioning, thanks, or even any real sort of emotion at all. Perhaps that would be something to look into.

Once the guard is far enough away that hearing Imaran speak is very unlikely, he mutters in an undertone to those with him. "Which of you is good at moving quietly? I don't trust that "guard". He failed to show us an ID, to question us, or to act officially in any way except taking over the charge of the prisoners. Can one of you tail him to make sure he goes back?"

If the streets are crowded enough or the action is casual enough (I believe the guard post was a couple hundred feet/meters away, which isnt unreasonable if we were to be travelling in the same direction that long), Imaran will follow the guard at a fair distance himself.

If nothing interesting happens, he'll stay watching the guard post for about an hour, noting exits and the activity of the guards, then leaves back to the inn.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl shuffles his wings to get more comfortable. i could keep watch from above."

[razorback]

Palms up and with a shrug of his shoulders Algrith says "You know me... a Umber Hulk in a crystal shop."
With a sudden realization, he whispers back to his friendly more in forced tones "Do you think they are working together?"

[qwertyu63]

Guys, the guard is real... So that is what you see.

[Demidos]

Relieved by his findings, Imaran makes his way back to his inn, spending a couple hours in the common room before excusing himself to go to his room.

[Zolkabro]

Yrago follows the others back to the inn. He makes a beeline for the bar, but, when seeing the carnage still left from his earlier visit, he decides to creep upstairs and hope the anger would all have blown over by the morning. He plays with his battleaxe for a while, carving and slicing up the air dramatically, before finally getting some rest.

[darklink_shadow]

Seeing two of his companions head to bed, Drudge assume the dinner plans have been cancelled, and wishes everyone a good night's rest, and indicates that he needs to return to the park and watch over Venn while he rests, else the poor wolf will never get to sleep.

[Aldurin]

Lerian finds himself bored by the others beating the morality horse to death in their debates, and leaves for the main thoroughfares of the city, looking for the best magic item specialist he can find while he thinks over what little he saw of the star.

[roll0] Gather information to find an expert in artifice that's available this late. [roll1] Knowledge: Arcana and [roll2] spellcraft to start rolling up a general sense of the star he saw.

[razorback]

Algrith sits with Imaran and any others who go to the common room, finally getting something to eat, although he is a bit disappointed that they didn't get to try any of the other local fare, which he is a bit vocal about.

After having the crispy duck with asparagus, again, he has a glass of watered down wine before bidding everyone good night and heading to his room.
As he is about to exit the room, he nonchalantly says over his shoulder "Well, if this is our first meeting... imagine how tomorrow is going to be.." as he disappears through the doorway.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl, not wanting to spend another night in his empty house decides to stay at the inn with the others. He tries to find a moment to speak with Tarmikos away from the others.

[INoKnowNames]

'Ugh... demolished and defiled by a drunken dragon, charmed by a camp of charlatans, and entrenched in a debate of moral dilemmas... not quite what I had in mind for my day off....' Tarmikos thinks to himself as the tired group heads back to the Inn. 'I suppose it wasn't all bad' he notes as he sees everyone off to their respective dwellings, offering Alia, Drudge and their companions a reminder that they would be welcome in the Inn under his tab. He also makes sure to have Yragoki sent a complimentary breakfast in the morning, to make up for the lack of dinner plans.

'Still, I'll be more concerned about everything later. That strange item and those shards that flew from it... the bandits that remain nearby... and my own remaining business... can all wait until I've slept some.' Before he can finally rest, though, he is stoped by Aryll. "What's up now? Is something the matter?"

[asdflove]

Alia smiles at Tarmikos when he offers to pay for her inn stay."Thank you very much Tarmikos. I appreciate it." She sighs. "I'll just go and trance now. Today was... Exhausting."

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl is silent until Alia finishes her piece and begins walking away. "Nothing is wrong. Well... nothing serious... I mean... I wanted to apologize." Arryl shuffles his feathers and sighs."You seem like a good person and I don't want any animosity between us." He scratches the back of his head, obviously uncomfortable. "I know you don't agree with my actions back in the theater, but I don't want you to think I am only motivated by greed. I have my reasons for what I did, and you have yours for why you didn't. I'm not trying to excuse my actions because I don't think I was wrong. I'm also not trying to convince you to act like me." He takes a deep breath and straightens up. "Today was not the first impression I was trying to make, and since were probably going to be going after these shard things together I wanted to start over."

Arryl sticks out his hand and looks Tarmikos in the eyes. "Hello, I am Arryl Swiftwing. May I join you for what is no doubt going to be a an eventful adventure?"

[INoKnowNames]

"Probably not, actually." Tarmikos replies, shaking Arryl's hand with a smile, while putting up his other palm before Arryl can respond. "First, you don't need to apologize to me. What happens happens, and ultimately the fate of those men and that money isn't my problem, nor do I really and truly care beyond making my thoughts on it known. The people that were scammed can deal with it, as can those in charge of running the place, and this city. It's really got nothing to do with any of us. As for now, it's not my job to recover it, either. And if I only had to deal with people who share your ideology, I'd be thrilled. But trust me, I don't really judge most beings I met, beyond what the wanted poster says. And I don't mind strangers having motivations different from mine. It wouldn't be fun if we were similar."

Turning away from him, he stands in the doorway of his room. "And as for this adventure, those men may have been able to hypnotize me with that Crystal Star, but other than that I'm not feeling particularly motivated to chase after those Star Shards. Tonight was an interesting last night off, and this was an interesting group of people, several of which, including you, I wouldn't mind meeting again. But I've got my own quest to complete, one I've been attending to for several years, and one I feel bound to see through until the end. If I cross paths with you or the rest of 'the gang', I'll be happy to offer my services and take any aid you might be willing to give. But otherwise, who knows where the future will lead. Arryl Swiftwing, you take good care of yourself. So wishes Tarmikos Silverkin."

With that, if Arryl has no complaints, he moves into his room and shuts it behind himself, and trains until he falls asleep.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"Have a good night." Arryl says with a smile as he takes off into the night. He arrives at his house and he goes inside to sleep the night away.

[qwertyu63]

Dawn

The sun heralds the new day. A loud noise reveals something is pulling in front of the inn.

[razorback]

Algrith arises the next morning, stomach growling, as he stretches away the previous day's activities.

Sitting in meditation, he focuses his mind as his normally childish look disappears to the dedicated scholar as he is deep in study of his spell book.

After a time, he sits up and wonders about the others. Noting that the sky is still dark, he sits at the window while watching and waiting. As the smell comes wafting up through the door of kitchen preparing breakfast before he sees the food carts of the local merchants, he decides to have breakfast downstairs. Just as he is about to rise he hears loud noise. Walking back from the door to the window too look out, he mutters to himself "I hope it's nothing... or, at least, something that can wait until after I have broken my fast." as he shakes his head and opens the window, looking down at what is creating the noise.

[Zolkabro]

Yrago, sprawled haphazardly on the too-small wooden bed, is woken by a loud clattering from outside. He blearily lifts his head, and sticks it right into a shaft of bright sunlight. He roars in pain, attempts to block the light with his claws, and, in his disorientated state, rolls straight off the bed, and goes through th floor, landing with a sickening crunch in the room below his, where Tarmikos is sleeping.

[asdflove]

Aliavius looks up from Maple, whom she was playing with,startled, but wide awake, since she has been up several hours. She sighs, pausing momentarily when she hears Yrago crash though the floor. She sighs. "I wonder who's room he fell into to..." She leaves her room, to investigate what the noise outside was.

[INoKnowNames]

Despite violating the security of his dwelling, Tarmikos is not the least bit concerned about Yragoki's presence in his room. For as Yragoki finds after picking himself out of the rubble, the room has already been cleaned and put back into order, as if no one had even been there in the first place. A few superfluous supplies next to the bed and some food from the kitchen having been opened are the only obvious clues that Tarmikos was even dwelling in the room in the first place.

The moment that the morning twilight had begun, the man immediately awoke and prepared himself for the day. Tarmikos has already made his way out of the hotel, crossing to the darkest alleyway he could find nearby, and very nearly hiding himself in the shadows. The time for business has begun, and he doesn't waste a second of the end of the night to continue his work and his quest. He starts reading the information he received from the office the day prior, hoping he'll be able to track down the new bounties easily enough, and that one of them will lead him to his true target. *

He does stop to at least see what the second loud noise of the day is, just to be aware.

*ooc

You knew I wasn't going to forget about this, right.

[qwertyu63]

A regal carriage has pulled up outside of the inn. A man in a flowing red cloak steps out of it and into the inn. He speaks in a booming voice, saying "Who here saw the star?" to the entire front room.

[Aldurin]

Inside the Inn, Lerian is annoyed at the man's lack of discretion, and remains silent as he waits for his louder companions that he knows will speak up with the same haphazard directness.

[asdflove]

Alia steps forward towards the man. "Hello Sir. I presume you are referring to the crystal star of tremendous power the actors had yesterday?" She stares at the ground, absentmindedly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I saw it. Obviously, since I just described it and where it was..." She glances up at him, nervously adjusting her cloak on her shoulders.

[qwertyu63]

"The very same." he says, his eyes alight.

[asdflove]

"Well... Uh... It was hit by an axe, and it split into 5 shards, which all flew well out of the city."

[INoKnowNames]

Taking a look from the shadows, Tarmikos spies a rather stately vehicle and one of it's passengers, now communicating with Alia. Hm... I wonder how he knows about that Star... those shards flew pretty far; I don't think anyone would recognize them as they streaked by... Pre-existing knowledge, maybe? But why would someone who knew about it already be here, then? he thinks to himself, thumbing through both the papers he was given and through his memory, to see if he recognizes the individual.

Any chance I can make some type of Knowledge Check to identify this fellow, or happen to know anything about him at all? And if so, what?

Wouldn't it be nice if he already had a record less polished than his appearance claimed, thus presenting a perfect opportunity to question someone who actually knew a thing or two.

[shayanuser]

Rhonin has been awake for a while, hanging upside down from the ceiling of his room, cloaked in his wings that protected his eyes from the morning sun. Mother had departed earlier to hunt and she would be back any moment now with her fangs dipped in blood.
He heard the squeak of the heavy carriage and the sound of its two horses long before it stopped in front of the inn. When the man asked about the star, Rhonin opened his wings and dived through the window, deftly landing besides Aliavius. He kept silent, his presence conveying the unsaid response.

[darklink_shadow]

Drudge was enjoying the serene silence of early morning, waiting for Venn to finish eating whatever animal he had found and was devouring. It had been partially eaten along the way, so it was difficult to tell what, exactly it had been, but Drudge was sure Venn wouldn't hunt the wrong kind of beast, and if he did, Venn was his own person, and allowed to make his own mistakes.

However the fanfare could be heard even at the park. Drudge had already channeled his incarnum just as they faded, marking a new day, so he had nothing to do but investigate anyways. I'm going, so either chomp down another big bite and leave it, or bring it with you, I don't mind, but today you're coming with me. Drudge said.

Venn viciously tore into the remaining meat, and the fallen animal disappeared in seconds before Venn stood and licked his chops. You got to have too much fun without me yesterday, of course I'm staying with you.

And so they ran across the park, and down the street until they spotted the carriage, slowing their speed to be more normal for this time of day, and walked towards the conversing man, and the familiar woman.

[razorback]

Seeing the man exit the carriage and into the inn, Algrith gathers his gear and heads down the stairs. As he reaches the foot of the stairs he can see most of his previous nights companions are already downstairs although it seems only Alia is talking to the man. They are having some discussion about the star.
I must have been pretty drunk last night if that really didn't catch my attention he thinks to himself. Maby Imaran is right, perhaps I do not need to imbibe so much of the alcoholic drinks each sitting. Anyone watching would notices he tetters his head back and forth as if weighing something. Partaking of all these sensual experiences is a joy but missing out on potentially recovering such a valuable item of magic is silly. I will have to think further on this.
With that he proceeds into the room and holds his silence while he lets others pry some useful information from the man.

[Zolkabro]

Yrago picked himself up, oblivious that this is not in fact his own room. He realises, however, once he reaches for his bag and it isn't there. Quite used to this, he sighs, and reaches upwards. He graps a ceiling rafter, brushing away the plaster hanging from it, and hauls himself upwards until his head and shoulders are poking through the splintering hole into his own room. He grabs his pack and axe, then jumps down, and goes feet-first through the next floor down too.

Once he's finally made it to the common area, he hears people discussing the star on the other side of the room. He yells over to them "HEY! That star is MINE! It damn well has mah NAME on it, ya hear?"
He then turns to the bar. "I'll take all the coffee in the place. You would not believe the hangover I have right now. I seriously don't understand how I got it, I didn't drink THAT much..."

[qwertyu63]

Yrago picked himself up, oblivious that this is not in fact his own room. He realises, however, once he reaches for his bag and it isn't there. Quite used to this, he sighs, and reaches upwards. He graps a ceiling rafter, brushing away the plaster hanging from it, and hauls himself upwards until his head and shoulders are poking through the splintering hole into his own room. He grabs his pack and axe, then jumps down, and goes feet-first through the next floor down too.

Once he's finally made it to the common area, he hears people discussing the star on the other side of the room. He yells over to them "HEY! That star is MINE! It damn well has mah NAME on it, ya hear?"
He then turns to the bar. "I'll take all the coffee in the place. You would not believe the hangover I have right now. I seriously don't understand how I got it, I didn't drink THAT much..."

He speaks, "Actually, seeing as I'm the proper owner, it literately has my name on it... Anyway..."


"Well... Uh... It was hit by an axe, and it split into 5 shards, which all flew well out of the city."

He, finally registering what you said, responds in shock "Oh boy, it takes a fair bit of damage to break it..."


Any chance I can make some type of Knowledge Check to identify this fellow, or happen to know anything about him at all? And if so, what?

Wouldn't it be nice if he already had a record less polished than his appearance claimed, thus presenting a perfect opportunity to question someone who actually knew a thing or two.

Knowledge (Nobility and royalty), if you want to.

[asdflove]

Alia sighs at Yrago's antics. "And here I was hoping he'd be saner when he was sober..." She frowns remebering the star shattering. "I do believe it was Yrago's propelled axe, even though it was aimed for the actor, it must have hit the star in just the right spot to break it." Curious on who the man she was talking to even was, Alia thinks back to all the stories she's heard in her travels.

Bardic Knowledge Check
[roll0]

[qwertyu63]

Alia sighs at Yrago's antics. "And here I was hoping he'd be saner when he was sober..." She frowns remebering the star shattering. "I do believe it was Yrago's propelled axe, even though it was aimed for the actor, it must have hit the star in just the right spot to break it." Curious on who the man she was talking to even was, Alia thinks back to all the stories she's heard in her travels.

Bardic Knowledge Check
[roll0]

"Oh no, the star is meant to pull attacks made on the holder to itself, the hit must have been too hard."

The man standing before you is Karlon, the nephew of Kapila III (the king of the kingdom you are in).

[Zolkabro]

He speaks, "Actually, seeing as I'm the proper owner, it literately has my name on it... Anyway..."
Yrago splutters, momentarily beaten.
"Yeah, well, um, but, that's not, wait, but, I SAW IT FIRST, OKAY?"


He, finally registering what you said, responds in shock "Oh boy, it takes a fair bit of damage to break it..."


"Hell YES it does! So don't mess with the Mourrædor, sucker! Could YOU have broken that? Didn't THINK so! And THAT'S why it's MINE! It's MINE because I... broke... it... um...

SHUT UP!"


Alia sighs at Yrago's antics. "And here I was hoping he'd be saner when he was sober..."

"Excuse me lady, but SANE IS MAH MIDDLE NAME, okay? I could not GET any saner. CLEAR?

...

Psst! Tarmi-face! What does "sane" mean?"

[darklink_shadow]

Dragonboy, Yrago, ssshut the hell up. It's too early to listen to yelling. Venn growled, his voice scratching out gravely. What star? If it belong to the man, he can at least tell us about it, describe it, and we can go from there.

Venn, just because he's being r-- Drudge starts, but stops and sighes. No, actually, that's about right. Yrago, go inside and eat your fill. If we're going to find your star, you're going to need to be ready to walk all day. So you should eat and not talk. To himself, he mentally adds Ever again.

Anyways, fancy pants, what's the deal with that star? Made to protect rich people from assassins or something? Venn asked, a little haughty.

[qwertyu63]

"The star has several powers, but I don't know all of them. It can issue commands, draw attacks, launch flames, and several other things I don't know. I was still trying to figure it out. If it has been broken, each shard would have some of these powers..."

[razorback]

Algrith pipes in with "Well, if it has your name on it, it would stand to reason that either you made it or commissioned someone to make it.". Looking the man up and down he continues My guess is on the latter. So, if you had it commissioned, then could you speak to its creator and find out what powers it possesses? Also, maybe said creator has some insight into a means of tracking the shards?". Rubbing his stomach, the paunchy mage sits and signals the waitress.
"I am going to venture a guess that a man of your stature has neither the time nor the inclination to track down the errant shards. While I can't speak for my companions, my guess is that at least some of them, including myself, may be interested in finding these shards for the correct.... motivation."
With that, he turns to the waitress standing at his table and orders breakfast.

[asdflove]

Alia rolls her eyes at Algrith. "I personally wish to help find them, sir. Yesterday, with the assistance of a spell, I personally witnessed how powerful it was. The shards, backed up by what you just said, are likely dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands. They need to be located swiftly, if possible." Alia represses a groan, forcing herself to smile. I really hate this. I feel like I'm sucking up too him, but this is just what I need. A quest like this should keep me on the move for a while...

[qwertyu63]

Algrith pipes in with "Well, if it has your name on it, it would stand to reason that either you made it or commissioned someone to make it.". Looking the man up and down he continues My guess is on the latter. So, if you had it commissioned, then could you speak to its creator and find out what powers it possesses? Also, maybe said creator has some insight into a means of tracking the shards?". Rubbing his stomach, the paunchy mage sits and signals the waitress.
"I am going to venture a guess that a man of your stature has neither the time nor the inclination to track down the errant shards. While I can't speak for my companions, my guess is that at least some of them, including myself, may be interested in finding these shards for the correct.... motivation."
With that, he turns to the waitress standing at his table and orders breakfast.

"Yeah, I had someone make it. I thought it would help protect me."

"Also, he's just outside in the wagon. The creator, that is."

"If it's money you want, I can do that. How much would you need?"


Alia rolls her eyes at Algrith. "I personally wish to help find them, sir. Yesterday, with the assistance of a spell, I personally witnessed how powerful it was. The shards, backed up by what you just said, are likely dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands. They need to be located swiftly, if possible." Alia represses a groan, forcing herself to smile. I really hate this. I feel like I'm sucking up too him, but this is just what I need. A quest like this should keep me on the move for a while...

"Thank you miss."

[Demidos]

Imaran appears in the doorway to the inn, having listened to the conversation so far quietly. He seems approving of the regal man's apparently sweet nature, as he doesn't seem to take the least bit of offense to some of the more...unsightly members of the inn, and goes on to offer a reward. Stepping forward quietly, he waits for a lull in the conversation, then asks "If I may ask, who are you? You say that the stone has your name on it? Could you prove this ownership?"

He asks politely, with a deferential nod of his head with respect to the man's obvious high station.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Arryl had walked into the inn, and had been listening quitely. "Think i could help? I could use another job." He says with a smile.As a local do i know anything about him?

[qwertyu63]

"If I may ask, who are you? You say that the stone has your name on it? Could you prove this ownership?"

"I could if it were here. Without it, best I could do is to have the creator of the star vouch for me."

[darklink_shadow]

It may be best that you do so, to keep some people from suspecting otherwise, and to remove all doubt. Drudge said simply, rather indifferent. All in all, he wouldn't mind finding it, and then deciding whose it should be, but he suspected some might want to have that matter out of the way first. And if you are hiring help, Venn, my canine friend, and I have no prior engagements, or ties to this place.

[Zolkabro]

"If it's money you want, I can do that. How much would you need?"

"Oh, you're asking a price?" Yrago growled sarcastically. "I'll name my price.

The star. I'll give you what you want, but in return? I'm getting that diamond.

Clear?"