Trog's Tavern CLIV

[Recaiden]

Adventurer's Trauma

And an eye, don't forget the eye!

The rays of light are part of the tattoo. The monk- a cleric of Meridia, Daedric Prince of Light- is not literally glowing. At least, not yet.

The orc's the one who speaks. "The Delve of the Glowing Prince. Someone slipped me a map last time I was here, led me to it. Wrote on the back the place was an armoury from the last war between Luminarch Prost and the armies of Hell. Bloody well-defended armoury. Drew a map, but it didn't help. Rooms change. Sister Qasnizara lost her feet when we tried crossing a bridge of cogs and wheels. They activated, she slipped, it crushed her foot, and then trying to free one the other got caught. Squirrelfoot got hit by a blast of hellfire, and Lallille used a key and triggered a bear trap in the door." He pauses, thinking. "Hjalti Grotiksson was sucked up a tube into the ceiling. Simone was killed by these... Knives with legs. And Greyanna didn't survive the rockfall. Craggy's unharmed; goats are lucky."

As far as injuries go, the orc has a recently repaired break in his lower leg, as well as severe bruising from the rockfall that dented his armour. Craggy the goat isn't unharmed, but besides mild bruises and a slight scrape on one leg, is fine. Squirrelfoot has a strained ankle, and the side of her face is severely burnt, destroying her eye and burning off one of her ears; that injury was inflicted by hellfire, and won't heal quickly. She also has a stab wound to her rib, that has been magically healed but bled a lot beforehand; she's still a little light on blood. Qasnizara has obviously lost both feet, one just above the ankle and the other nearly at the knee, but she's also got cracked ribs and some minor bruises, mostly from the sled. The Vedalken is missing an arm at the elbow, very cleanly, and has several recently healed arrow-wounds; they're mostly in shock over losing their dominant hand, particularly since they're a craftsman who relied on the dexterity of all twelve digits to make things.

"Sounds like a mess... Sorry about your friends," Zee says as she gets to work helping what she can. Her abilities are, effectively, natural healing greatly accelerated. Since they can't purge curses or count as magical healing she likely won't be able to do anything about the hellfire wounds. Thankfully there's an actual priest nearby who might be able to do something about that. "Did you guys find anything down there besides an awful time?"

Eyes don't count. Definitely not limbs at all.
Meridia is one of the best Princes. But it's too bad the star-cross tattoo isn't literally glowing.
And yep, that sounds like it could be an armory of hell alright.
"That sounds just awful."
The fox sniffs at the orc a few times before going to give him a lick; that should do for all his bruises and any lingering bone damage. Then it hops over to go the same for the goat, and for Qasnizara (won't help with the feet, just the ribs and bruises).
The priestess stretches out a hand over Squirrelfoot, while setting the other on her pendant. "Holy Inari, keeper of the blessed rice, release this brave soul from the flames of hell." She swishes her arm, and the halfling should feel both hot and suddenly cold, and find her skin healing, her eye and ear returning to proper shape and function. Her hair will still be burnt, though. "And she'll also need a plate of cookies, Zee."

She looks nervously at the Vedalken. "I don't suppose you have the rest of the arm with you?"

[Earl of Purple]

Adventurer's Trauma

Zee's abilities are greatly appreciated, as are the priestess's efforts. Though Zee probably can't regenerate their limbs without biomass from somewhere, or splicing their genetics with frogs.

"I found this sword, in one of the rooms." The orc draws it; the blade is translucent, only visible from the soft glow it emits. Any undead nearby probably start feel a little uncomfortable; the light it emits is very diluted sunlight. "We also found some glowing glass orbs. Squirrelfoot thinks they're basically grenades, filled with holy light." He puts his sword away and collapses into one of the chairs, which creaks under his armoured bulk.

Squirrelfoot's burn recedes, though the injury's curse tries to fight back. She doesn't flinch, though it tingles unpleasantly. She unwinds the crude bandage over her head, the regenerated eyeball remains white and milky; she blinks several times, but sight does not return to the orb. Her ear also doesn't regrow; there's not enough left. She's... a little glad she's blind in that eye; her squirrel sat on that side, and she could always see it move in the corner of her vision.

Lallille doesn't react when asked if they picked up the severed limb. Craggy trots over to the sled and pulls out a bloodstained bag and returns with it. There is an arm inside; the blue skin and six fingers match the Vedalken's other hand, and it grips a tarnished silver key. There's a slight issue, however. As the Vedalken pushes up their sleeve, the edge of the amputation is smooth, and has been cauterised. The edge of the severed limb is not smooth at all, and doesn't line up perfectly. Fortunately, the wound wasn't cauterised by hellfire; they hadn't encountered that yet.

Qasnizara rummages in one of the bags she's leaning on and pulls out a delicate glass sphere, filled with a faintly glowing mist. It's something impossible, so I doubt Zee likes it.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dragon Butt Kicking]

Libra frowns back as she suddenly actually appeared sitting on the table. She's dressed in the exact same genie-outfit as she was back when Zee met her in the black dragons den. "The only way you can see? That's dumb. Can't you, like, skip obviously private parts? Or the parts that those eyes can't see?" She gestures at Zee's eyeballs. "I mean, I have great use of those even if I could probably read thoughts. It's super-weird having another voice in your head though. Don't like it all."

[Reinholdt]

[Fruit Bunny]

Vague questions are good because then no matter how the other person interprets it, they can still answer it.
...
...so long as they don't try to answer every interpretation. Then it just gets weird.


Nina, in spite of having something to write on, doesn't actually write down the order. "Yeah, yeah. Got it," she says.
She turns and shouts over to the kitchen: "Hey! Drop some buckshot and pin a rose in it!" she shouts. There's some indistinct talking in response. "Yeah, hashed!" Apparently completely unrelated to what was ordered.

"Oh, I see," Carlie says in this break of time. "You're a witch? Or something like that?"

Then,
Nina turns back to the catgirl. "Anything to drink?" she asks after a few more bubblegum chews. "We got water, Llamonade, Fox Cola, and Root Beer." Plus a bunch of other stuff but you'd have to look at the menu because she's not going to tell you them.

[Fruit Bunny]

The catgirl grimaces. Nina was possibly the worst. Or maybe it was just this tavern. Coming in here was almost certainly a mistake she would never repeat, no matter how hungry she got.

"If I wished for something to drink, I would have ordered it to begin with." Well it makes some sense, though not everyone does this.

She turns her face towards Carlie in an attempt to indicate she's done with Nina for now. "No, of course not. I'm a mortician and cybernetics engineer. Magic is just a low-brow synonym for science they don't understand yet."

[5a Violista]

[Fruit Bunny]

Nina blows a bubble and the pops it.
"Okay. It'll be out soon."
Instead of walking back to the kitchen, she moves on to the next table to take an order.


Carlie nods: "Oh, I see," she says. "Cybernetics engineer? What's that like?" she asks. "I'm not from a world where there's a bunch of small tech and I have only recently gotten used to phones and cars." So all she knows about cybernetics is what she guessed by looking at Magtok.


Moments later, the elf waitress Paige comes out of the kitchen carrying the catgirl's food and puts it on the table in front of her. "Sorry it took so long." She smiles apologetically. "If you need anything more, feel free to ask Nina or me." She goes back to the kitchen to get the next order that Nina ought to have gotten herself.

[Reinholdt]

[Fruit Bunny]

The catgirl visibly shudders as Nina blows another bubble, her tail twitching in agitation. If Nina was publicly murdered, would anyone really consider it a crime?

At least the slightly less rude, but still intrusive Carlie provides a reasonable distraction to keep blood from being shed immediately. "What's it like?" Umm... the catgirl has to think about that for a moment. "Hard to explain to someone who doesn't understand technology. But a lot of wires and programming and wires and understanding how the body functions and how to turn those electrical impulses into results and also wires. So a lot of research and a lot of testing. I suppose."

Oh hey! Someone reasonable. She didn't think it took very long at all, but doesn't clarify that for Paige so they don't start thinking she was satisfied or something. The catgirl takes a slow, dainty bite of her food to first assure its quality.

[5a Violista]

[Fruit Bunny]

Of course, the food is of the highest quality. What kind of tavern wouldn't have high-quality caviar?

Carlie quickly puts more fruit in her mouth because she can smell the caviar even from across the table.

She nods. Wires. Programming. Then, her ears perk up: "Oh! It has to do with how the body functions," she repeats. "I was expecting it to just be robot stuff but that's something I actually know a lot about." If the bunnygirl wants, she can create metal and has previously made wirelike things before...and she wonders if she could copy serious cybernetic stuff with her shapeshifting. She imagines making rocket feet or laser fingers. That would be interesting. Maybe she should actually try to learn about cybernetics? If she manages to get rocket feet, then she'd actually be able to fly instead of just glide and fall. That would be neat; being carried in flight was fun and she wants to be able to do it on her own.

...obviously, trying it out would have to wait several months.

She asks a follow-up question. "So how does somebody start learning how about cybernetics stuff? How did you start doing it?"

[Rebonack]

[Adventurer's Trauma]

As far as biomass goes, Zee can in fact cannibalize her own to that end. She is way bigger than she looks. But she prefers to avoid doing that since it tends to leave an indelible mark on people. She wouldn't do with without express consent or unless there isn't any other option. That is, after all, how she saved Navanaxinermis' life after all.

"Seems like weird stuff to discover in an armory of hell," Zee muses, eyeing the orbs suspiciously. "Unless there are light-based devils who just felt like bucking stereotypes. Can you feel this?"

At that question she aims to stimulate nerves in limbs, moving toward the torso. She'll ask 'What about now?' shortly there after. She's searching for any nerve damage.

[Dragon Butt Kicking]

"I apologize for the laws of the cosmos and their convoluted nature," Zee replies with a long suffering sigh. "I read things and then I construct a proxy that I can interact with based on what I read. That's all there is to it. I can't decide what I do or don't pick up. I don't have any control over that."

A beat.

"Why are you dressed like a djin?"

[Super Hero Talk]

"Well... since it isn't contagious anymore it might not be an active curse," Zee reasons. "Just a completed transformation. I could take a stab at fixing you. Messing with biology is kind of my thing. Especially when it intersects with who and what you are. Though... if the curse is still running it would just change you again as soon as I'm done. But it might be worth a try."

She's trying to be helpful, at least.

[bc56]

Super Talk

"It's still active," Jason complains. "I got someone more magically inclined to suppress its spread. She looks down at herself and sighs again. "I just really don't know what to do."

[Reinholdt]

[Fruit Bunny]

The catgirl is pleasantly surprised. How could they get it this good? Well they must have good food. Of course, it's so obvious. This establishment clearly doesn't draw in this many customers for the service. "Oh you must simply try this. It's actually edible." The catgirl momentarily slides it closer to Carlie and offers her a bite.

"Learning it? Oh, umm... I guess I just started learning cybernetics at a pretty young age. I learned a lot of it from my father, but he was never willing to use it to its full potential, so I had to learn a lot of what he wouldn't teach me from scratch. Just research the basics from a book or something, then experiment a bunch in your personal lab." She apparently grew up with her own personal lab. That helps. Surely everyone has their own lab to experiment in.

[5a Violista]

[Fruit Bunny]

As the caviar is shoved to Carlie, the bunnygirl shakes her head: "Thanks, but I already ate." Then she shoves another condensed milk-covered fruit into her mouth and hopes the catgirl quickly takes her food back to her side of the table.

...
Anyway, back to normal non-fish-related things: "I see, so books are the best way," she says, since she doesn't have a father who's unwilling to unlock its full potential. "Luckily I know some libraries."

She puts her utensil into the bowl, and it chinks against the ceramic instead of hitting fruit. She looks down: Oh. Because of the smell of the food here, she's gone through her fruit much faster than she had wanted. She only has a couple tiny fruitbits left. She's got to get out of here soon before the smell of caviar overwhelms her. "And it looks like I'm finished. Um...it was nice talking with you."

[Reinholdt]

[Fruit Bunny]

The catgirl gives Carlie a quizzical look when she claims to have already ate, despite clearly eating at this very moment. With a formative pout, she drew back her caviar. If a pregnant peasant didn't want to recognize the amazing boon she just denied, then the catgirl wouldn't push it.

Oh and the bunnygirl was done. Leaving... W-well that was fine. She didn't want the company anyways. "C-certainly. I imagine so." It would be nice talking to her wouldn't it? "Uhh... Have a good day."

[Recaiden]

Zee's abilities are greatly appreciated, as are the priestess's efforts. Though Zee probably can't regenerate their limbs without biomass from somewhere, or splicing their genetics with frogs.

"I found this sword, in one of the rooms." The orc draws it; the blade is translucent, only visible from the soft glow it emits. Any undead nearby probably start feel a little uncomfortable; the light it emits is very diluted sunlight. "We also found some glowing glass orbs. Squirrelfoot thinks they're basically grenades, filled with holy light." He puts his sword away and collapses into one of the chairs, which creaks under his armoured bulk.

Squirrelfoot's burn recedes, though the injury's curse tries to fight back. She doesn't flinch, though it tingles unpleasantly. She unwinds the crude bandage over her head, the regenerated eyeball remains white and milky; she blinks several times, but sight does not return to the orb. Her ear also doesn't regrow; there's not enough left. She's... a little glad she's blind in that eye; her squirrel sat on that side, and she could always see it move in the corner of her vision.

Lallille doesn't react when asked if they picked up the severed limb. Craggy trots over to the sled and pulls out a bloodstained bag and returns with it. There is an arm inside; the blue skin and six fingers match the Vedalken's other hand, and it grips a tarnished silver key. There's a slight issue, however. As the Vedalken pushes up their sleeve, the edge of the amputation is smooth, and has been cauterised. The edge of the severed limb is not smooth at all, and doesn't line up perfectly. Fortunately, the wound wasn't cauterised by hellfire; they hadn't encountered that yet.

Qasnizara rummages in one of the bags she's leaning on and pulls out a delicate glass sphere, filled with a faintly glowing mist. It's something impossible, so I doubt Zee likes it.

As far as biomass goes, Zee can in fact cannibalize her own to that end. She is way bigger than she looks. But she prefers to avoid doing that since it tends to leave an indelible mark on people. She wouldn't do with without express consent or unless there isn't any other option. That is, after all, how she saved Navanaxinermis' life after all.

"Seems like weird stuff to discover in an armory of hell," Zee muses, eyeing the orbs suspiciously. "Unless there are light-based devils who just felt like bucking stereotypes. Can you feel this?"

At that question she aims to stimulate nerves in limbs, moving toward the torso. She'll ask 'What about now?' shortly there after. She's searching for any nerve damage.

Sounds like great things to use against devils, actually.

The priestess takes the bloodstained bag and nods. It's not a serious issue; as long as the majority of the arm is there, regenerating a bit of connecting flesh and bone is no worse than curing any deep wound. It's not like your feet disappearing into the gears of some awful machinery. She then opens a little box tied to her sash and withdraws a magical widget, which she tries to press into Lallille's still-attached hand. It's a little green stone carved in the shape of a flower, nearly vibrating with liveliness. "Hold onto this, okay? You'll feel a little bit of a sting." That is of course a lie; it will hurt a lot.
She lays a hand on the Vedalken's stump, just above the cauterized edge, and (with a bit of hesitation) lifts the severed arm up to where it belongs.
"The spill of blood now stopped, the reach of skin now torn, by the goddess, be made whole!"
If the healing goes well, the Vedalken can expect a moment of terrible pain as the wound splits, crumbles, and reopens, and then a serious itching and pins-and-needles feeling as it grows out to reintegrate with and revitalize the severed arm. If it goes wrong...

[Earl of Purple]

Adventurer's Trauma

All of the adventurers are free of nerve damage (besides the burnt side of Squirrelfoot's face), and the orc answers the first question. "No, it was one of Luminarch Prost's armouries, not a Hellish one. Some imps had gotten trapped inside, and they were tricky. Might be a few left. They're where the hellfire came from." Hence the light-themed weaponry and why it was good against demons- though possibly not the imps within, as they adapt to their surroundings as they get older.

Lallille takes the stone and grips it, squeezing the widget with six fingers, and screams as the arm is reattached, falling to their knees and sobbing. That really, really hurt. But once it's complete, they look at their refreshed hand and squeezes the fingers, before reaching into a pocket and taking out a copper coin and rolling and flipping it between their six fingers to ensure the dexterity has recovered.

[5a Violista]

[Fruit Bunny]

Carlie can see the catgirl's reaction.
"Oh, um, this..." She looks down at the fruit: "this is dessert." Makes sense, right? "I had some rice and stuff earlier." Plus, she can't stand the taste -and, right now, the smell even - of what she was offered, but she doesn't mention that.

She stands...wait, she still has to pay, right? Carlie has always paid after finishing the food. She glances over for a waitress to hand the money to...Paige looks pretty busy and Nina is Nina. She'll have to wait a moment anyway, so might as well wait here and say to the catgirl, "Sorry, I guess I forgot to introduce myself, right? My name's Carlie."

[Reinholdt]

[Fruit Bunny]

The catgirl was offering a small bite to a pregnant woman, not the entire dish! She still looks dubious, but since she isn't openly questioning Carlie, the bunnygirl probably gets away with this attempt at an explanation.

"True. That is usually the foremost thing someone does when sitting with a stranger," The catgirl points out. It's important Carlie knows so she can get it right next time! Still, there's a small smile on the catgirl's face. "You had the honor of sharing a meal with none other than the Raven Ebondark! Learn the name well, for soon it will be on the tongues of everyone you meet!" She laughs diabolically.

"Oh, uhh, it was nice meeting you Carlie." Raven adds when she's finished.

[5a Violista]

[Fruit Bunny]

Yeah, Carlie probably should have come up with a better excuse to turn it down.
Or, at the very least, just tell the truth and say 'hey i have a weird taste and i don't like those sorts of things'.

"Yeah, it was nice meeting you too, Raven," she says. She smiles. 'Raven Ebondark' - that's actually a pretty easy name to remember. It's a good one, she thinks. "Can't wait until everyone knows you, because then I can tell them I shared a meal with you."

She glances over at the waitresses - now's the perfect time to go pay - and waves 'bye' to the catgirl. "Bye," she says.

[Reinholdt]

[Fruit Bunny]

Well if you're going to choose a name for yourself, choose one that's easy to remember. Anything's better than her real name as far as Raven is concerned though. "Yes, yes, you do that! And, uh, make sure to do it again some time." Raven says, turning her head away slightly as she takes a bite of her caviar, as if not admitting sharing a meal with someone is acceptable despite suggesting it should happen again.

"Goodbye."

[Earl of Purple]

Prumathe arrives here! He's a young man with dark skin and green eyes, with curly black hair. He's built like a mason, with muscular arms and a wide chest. He's wearing a red chequered shirt and a pair of denim jeans, with steel-toed boots on his feet. He'll open the door for Sekhmet, letting her go in first and pick the table.

[bc56]

Sekhmet nods in thanks to Prumathe and walks in. It's been some time since she's been here, and she's transformed. Twice. The fiendling is red-skinned, with six horns sprouting from her brow, two large ones in the center and a pair of smaller ones at each temple. Large, batlike wings stretch from her shoulders, and a long, barbed tail extends from her back, moving gently side to side as she walks. Her black hair hangs down loose to her waist, and her eyes are solid black, with no iris or sclera. An orb of bright fire floats above her head, between her horns, and lines of metal wire can be seen beneath her skin. She's wearing a long, flowing white dress.
Sekhmet picks a table next to a window overlooking the street and sits down, beckoning Prumathe to come sit by her.

[Earl of Purple]

Prumathe will sit next to Sekhmet, and smiles at her. "So what do you fancy for lunch? I'll pay." He'll grab a menu and has a look at it, but there's a note that if you ask for something, they'll do their best to provide it.

[bc56]

Sekhmet smiles back. "Uh, I'd like corned beef hash please. And, uh, water to drink." She's happy to just have a little peace and quiet after what's been an eventful morning.

[Earl of Purple]

Prumathe orders a grilled cheese sandwich and a tomato juice.

"You know where you come from now, Sekhmet. But you're still you, you've proven that. I don't think your mother will be bothering us again." Unless the Hive makes a deal with her and betrays Sekhmet, which is always a possibility. But one Prumathe is happy not to think about right now.

[bc56]

Sekhmet doesn't seem so sure about that. "She'll be back. Maybe, uh, not in our lifetimes, but then she'll just go after our descendants." She pauses, then continues, "Prumathe, I'm scared. Not of her. Of me."

[Earl of Purple]

"Okay, um, why? What exactly about you scares you?" That's poorly worded, but Prumathe wants to ask about it and get things clarified. Because he can't give any assistance about why she's scared without knowing of what she's scared.

[bc56]

"When she threatened you, I wanted to kill her. I've never wanted to hurt anyone before. I wanted it so badly, I, uh, drew all that power. I could've died, or hurt you, or, uh, worse " Sekhmet seems very grave about this.

[Earl of Purple]

"Have you ever been in a situation where somebody's threatened someone close to you? Your parents, maybe?" Not Sekhmet herself; somebody else. Was this totally out of the blue, with no similar feelings despite previous occasions with some similarity, or has Sekhmet never witnessed someone threaten her parents, either as a result of protecting her or even for totally unrelated reasons? "It's a difference in how we were raised, I think. I was taught that protecting those you love is very important, and you weren't. Raised instead that violence didn't solve anything, which it doesn't- not in the long term." Violence is a short-term fix, at best, so it's a last resort- but Prumathe was still taught it had its place in defending others.

[bc56]

"No, uh, never." Sekhmet still seems a bit nervous. "They, uh, taught me that if I didn't fight back, people wouldn't see me as a monster as much." Because the assumption would be that she's evil, she needed to avoid giving people extra reason to think so.

[Earl of Purple]

"Now you've met your mother, you can say you've met a real monster. And that's not you. I know you, and... I think you handled yourself really well. And, well. Now you know that you can want to kill someone if I'm threatened, you can... I don't really know. Either work on it, so you can master that desire next time, or figure out how to make that happen without getting more demonic in appearance." Prumathe is thinking, and talking, and maybe he shouldn't have said some of this, given it might sound like an encouragement to learn how to fight.

[bc56]

"I, uh, don't just look more demonic. Uh, I am more demonic. That's why my powers were killing me. What if it starts taking over my mind?" The metaphysical makeup of her body has changed, and not just because of the surgery. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I, uh, should learn to protect myself. But I still don't want to hurt people."