Trog's Tavern CLV

[Recaiden]

"Heehee, maybe. I thought you were doing it for sport."
The demon-gal shakes her head, surprised.
"So what's that creature with you? We've never seen one before."

[5a Violista]

The buff guy shrugs. "Not many people are able to do it, but I've trained long and hard in doing things for multiple reasons at the same time."

He looks down at the plant-wolf creature.
Then, he shrugs.
"It's entirely new. Recently created. That's all I know about it."

[Recaiden]

"Oh my! Can you tell me how you learned such a skill in the first place?" the gal asks. She's not being entirely sincere. Doing multiple things is one thing, but multiple reasons? Why would someone have more than one reason...unless...
Or if they were an individual, of course. How silly she fells, having forgotten that for a second.

She uses one wing to wave at the plant-dog "Hello recently created thing." and at the same time reaches out to it with mental powers. Does it think? It seems like a plant, and plants hardly think at all. But it also seems like a creature she's heard of called a 'dog', and those were pretty promising so what if this is even better than a dog?!?

[5a Violista]

The guy laughs.
"I just decided to start doing it," he answers.

He turns around in his chair, and starts actively watching for Zee. The suspense of doing nothing is killing him, but...he thinks there's no point in starting a fight in this tavern if his target isn't here to receive the message he brought.

(...
Besides.
Isn't there currently another fight scene or something still going on in this thread? Would be pretty rude to draw attention away from their message, he thinks.)

As it turns out, the plant-wolf does think. However, its thoughts are very...strange. After all, it's a brand-new type of creature created by another brand-new creature experimenting with its powers. Its thought-patterns are remarkably similar to the type of communication you'd expect a plant to have. It's very much rooted in smells, chemical signals, mimicry, and so on. Actually, notably, there's evidence that it's using nearby plants to relay information and thoughts to others of its kind. And speaking of mimicry, after the winged-gal's mental powers reach the plant-dog, it starts ramping up production of a defense against mental powers. It's really slow and not-at-all effective yet, but as it builds up it makes it slightly harder to 'read' the plant's mind.

[bc56]

Someone slithers into the bar.
She's a lithe humanoid woman... Except from the waist down, her body is that of a huge, brown snake. She wears a simple black tank top, but more notably, on her face is a white porcelain mask, featureless except for large, dark eye holes through which her yellow, slitted eyes can be seen. A pair of curved blades hang across her back. She slides up to the bar and orders a drink, then uneasily looks around the tavern.

[5a Violista]

A paladin enters the tavern, too. While he is also strong and beefy, he's not at all related to the other beefy guy who came in earlier.

This one, Zophiel, is basically the quintessential knight in shining armor (without the armor, of course), with some pretty big swords, slender hands, and two sets of wings (one feathery and the lower and smaller set, not feathery). Between the swords and the wings, he's pretty conscious of what's behind him because it's extremely easy to knock down things if he doesn't pay attention.

Since sitting on a barstool is much easier than sitting on a chair, he sits at the bar, by the slithery woman.
"Hey," he says. "Nice swords."

[bc56]

Two Sword Folks

The snake lady nods appreciatively. "Thankss. Yourss are quite exquissite themsselvess." She draws her two blades and lays them on the surface of the bar. Each is plated in silver and etched with swirling glyphs, and they glow faintly with power. "They are Harmony and Ssurety and have sserved me well."

[5a Violista]

Zophiel smiles back as a thanks. "Mine are called Justice and Mercy." They are huge. One is a deep blue with silver decorations along the hilt, and the other is a dark red with black. Neither of them glow - with power or otherwise - but they are conscious and capable of thinking. So...that's almost as good, right? (In fact, it might even be accurate to say that they have more of a soul than Zophiel. Maybe. Depends on how you define it, and whether or not you believe what he said nearly a year ago to be accurate.)

"Are you here looking for anything in particular, or just taking a break?" the Paladin asks.

[bc56]

"I am here for a drink before my hunt," the serpent says. She raises the glass to her mask and seems to drink without removing it. She picks up her swords with her other hand, sheathing them once more. "Who do I have the pleassure of meeting?"

[5a Violista]

"Zophiel," he says. He's also impressed with the ability to drink while wearing a mask.
"...I'm a paladin." Paladin*. Whatever. Same thing.

"And what are you hunting?" Zophiel's been to the Hunting Grounds relatively recently, and a lot of the things there seem pretty hard to hunt.

[bc56]

"Ophelia. An Inquissitor," Ophelia replies. She tightens her coils and rises up a little. "I am hunting cultisstss. Demon ssummonerss of the worsst ssort." She tenses as if expecting to be pounced on by robed figures with sacrificial knives, but naturally, none come.

[5a Violista]

"Nice to meet you," the paladin says.

He has no robed figures with sacrificial knives around, either, so sadly he can't contribute in that way to hunting cultists. "I met a woman named Ilpholin who was also hunting demons and their summoners," he says, embellishing a little but from his conversation with her, he's pretty sure she wouldn't mind hunting the people who brought the demons here, too.

Zophiel decides to ask a very important question: "Besides summoning demons, what else do they do that's so bad?" he asks.

[bc56]

"Kidnapping, murder, blassphemy againsst godss and creator," Ophelia replies firmly. "It iss good to know there are otherss who carry on our work in thiss land."

[5a Violista]

"Those alone would be enough to warrant stopping them," Zophiel comments. Kidnapping and murder are pretty bad.

He orders a food and a drink.
"Where are you from, anyway?" Since she metnioned 'this land' and all.

[bc56]

"I come from a world called 'Earth.'" Ophelia answers. "I have learned that there are many who come from an Earth, and not all are the same." So it's not much help, is what she's saying.

[Recaiden]

The guy laughs.
"I just decided to start doing it," he answers.

He turns around in his chair, and starts actively watching for Zee. The suspense of doing nothing is killing him, but...he thinks there's no point in starting a fight in this tavern if his target isn't here to receive the message he brought.

(...
Besides.
Isn't there currently another fight scene or something still going on in this thread? Would be pretty rude to draw attention away from their message, he thinks.)

As it turns out, the plant-wolf does think. However, its thoughts are very...strange. After all, it's a brand-new type of creature created by another brand-new creature experimenting with its powers. Its thought-patterns are remarkably similar to the type of communication you'd expect a plant to have. It's very much rooted in smells, chemical signals, mimicry, and so on. Actually, notably, there's evidence that it's using nearby plants to relay information and thoughts to others of its kind. And speaking of mimicry, after the winged-gal's mental powers reach the plant-dog, it starts ramping up production of a defense against mental powers. It's really slow and not-at-all effective yet, but as it builds up it makes it slightly harder to 'read' the plant's mind.

Fighting someone to send a message? Why not just talk to them?
"Well, it sounds like a lot of effort, actually." the demon-girl says, a bit put out.

There's more of these plant-wolves? Being communicated with through nearby plants? That's pretty interesting, isn't it?
Tell them to come here the winged gal commands the plant-wolf, going straight towards 'writing' its mind. Lets be friends.

[5a Violista]

[At the Bar]

If you talk to someone, it sends the entirely wrong message. Even moreso when that person is a barmaid.
The guy-in-a-leather-jacket shrugs. "It is," he says. "But I think it's worth it."

The plant-wolf doesn't even have time to consider the message before it's passed along - as soon as the thoughts from the winged gal write into its mind, the message is already being sent. Basically automatic, without even any delay in it.

That's something they're going to need to work on.
If something can insert itself into their communication network, they just treat it as part of it. These plant-wolves need to come up with some way to counteract this.

Two other of these plants come towards the tavern. One of them fairly distant, but another was actually just down the street. It doesn't take long until it's peeking through the tavern door.


[Also At the Bar]

"Oh, huh," Zophiel says. "I come from a swamp, so I suppose there's earth there, too."

[bc56]

"I don't know." Ophelia takes another swig through her mask and sets the empty glass on the bar. "There iss much of thiss placce I do not undersstand yet. I will learn in time."

[5a Violista]

Drinking through the mask is still pretty impressive.

Zophiel gets his food and drink. "Yeah. There's tons of odd and new stuff around here," the paladin says. "You're right, though. It's the kind of stuff you get used to with time."

[bc56]

Ophelia looks uneasy when the topic of time comes up. "Yess, I will." She reluctantly says. It's impossible to read facial expressions through her mask, but it seems she might be afraid of something.

[Recaiden]

"Okay."
Is there something special about talking to barmaids?
If anything, shouldn't he wait until Zee is done working?
"How do you decide what things are worth it?"

Ooh, look at that! There's one now!
The winged gal doesn't understand what the plants might be saying to each other so well, though.
She tries to pat the first plant-wolf on its head. It's not really what her wings are made for, but it should work okay.

[5a Violista]

Wearing a mask may hide facial expressions, but it still lets the tone of voice and attitude come through.

"Why, what's wrong?" Zophiel asks. "You planning on leaving soon?" It's not entirely clear why Ophelia sounded reluctant - he figures the other option is that she thinks she's going to end up dying soon.

---

The first plant-wolf gets patted. There's no thorns on the top of its head, so it works fine. It seems to enjoy this.
Meanwhile, the second one that's hanging out by the door peers in. It's not entirely sure why it was supposed to come here, just that it was supposed to come here. It looks around, choosing to not enter yet.

Mr. Beefcake was not expecting the lighthearted part of the conversation to suddenly turn into a serious conversation, so he needs to actually put some thought into answering.
How does he decide what's worth it? is a very good question that he has honestly never considered before. What made him decide to tear off his scales and turn humanlike? What made him decide to join a cult dedicated to conflict and upsetting the order of things?
"I considered the things that I wanted," he says. "After that, I considered how much I wanted them and what value I would get from it. The ones that were worth it were the ones that my desires and the value together exceeded the downsides and effort." That's about it. Nothing really remarkable, but it's how he decided to do those things.

[bc56]

Ophelia sighs. "It'ss nothing." She seems crestfallen. "I'm fine." She orders another beer and drains it very quickly.

[5a Violista]

The paladin Zophiel starts cutting up his food.

"Really?" he asks, kind-of doubting that Ophelia was telling the truth.
"..."
"If you say so." If someone doesn't want to talk about it, pushing for more info would not be good.

[bc56]

"Really. It'ss nothing. Sstop looking at me like that. Ssstop!" Ophelia suddenly clutches her head and slumps over the bar. "Sstop..."

[5a Violista]

"I'm...I'm not," the paladin says.

He looks over at her.
Something's definitely going on, he thinks.
But what can he do? He's only a paladin*.
"Do you need healing or something? Anything I can do?"

[bc56]

"There'ss nothing you can do. You sshould go." That's probably not the healthiest thing for Ophelia that Zophiel could do. Whatever is up with her seems bad. Maybe actually dangerous to her. But in the meantime, she very slowly reaches up and grasps the hilt of one of her blades, but doesn't draw it. She grips it tightly, her knuckles going white.

[5a Violista]

Well, maybe Ophelia doesn't actually know what Zophiel can do? Before he leaves, she should probably know.

"Are you sure?" he asks, being probably-annoying. "I'm pretty good at healing, or at sealing away things, or cutting away things."
...
That's actually about his skillset, though. Besides being buff, obviously.

[bc56]

"Look at me. It'ss too late for that," Ophelia says glumly. "You mean well, but I can't be ssaved." That may or may not be true, but it's what Ophelia firmly believes. "You sshould leave me, before... Augh!" She clasps her head again with one hand and draws her weapon with the other in a shaky, uneven movement.

[5a Violista]

But he just received his food!

"Okay, if that's what you want..." the paladin says.

He stands and backs up towards the tavern door, lingering a little just to make sure she doesn't suddenly pass out or something.