The Alraeican Tavern - Part VIII
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Silverfish was swirling the saltwater with his fingers when the girl entered. When she slid to the floor, he jumped down and started to try to help her into a more comfortable position. But he kept one eye on the door, ready for trouble.
This post has been edited by Jehezekel : 10 January 2007 - 12:40 PM
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Irritably Moonshadow brushed water off her clothes while behind her, Shi grumbled about having to dry her wings now. Then she slid off her chair, walked over to the new arrival and knelt down smoothly beside her.
"Let me see," she murmured softly to Silverfish. He looked at her sceptically, and she added. "I'm a healer."
He nodded, and together they propped the unconscious girl against the counter.
Moonshadow tested her pulse, than brushed her hands across the girl's face, carefully opening an eye and peering into it. "Nothing amiss," she announced, "but we should move her somewhere more comfortable until she wakes up. Brianna, are there any free rooms in the inn?"
Brianna nodded. "Most of them are, actually. Try the second one on the right."
"What about whatever is chasing her?" Silverfish inquired.
"If anything is chasing her..." Moonshadow began, only to be interrupted by Shi.
"Look around you!" She gestured grandly, waving her hands at a couple of the patrons. "We can cope."
Indeed, Moonshadow thought, she'd be surprised if the lich didn't have some tricks up his sleeve. Not to mention some of the other more exotic visitors, like the water elemental.
"Hey, Sideline!" Brianna suddenly called. "Come over and lend a hand."
Sideline resisted the urge to roll his eyes and rose from his seat, walking over and bending down next to the unconscious girl. He lifted her up easily, careful not to jostle her too much. "Second room on the right, right?"
Brianna nodded, and he left the tavern to deposit the girl in a bed.
"She looks like she hasn't eaten in a while," Moonshadow said thoughtfully. "Best to have some food ready when she wakes up." That said she went once more to the kitchen, picking up some food, before following Sideline. -
Sideline put the girl on the bed, and covered her with the blanket. Moonshadow brought in a tray with some cheese and bread, and a bunch of grapes, and placed it carefully on the bedside table. Sideline extinguished the torch, and he and Moonshadow left the room, closing the door behind them. After about half an hour, in which the brawl had gradually died down to a few people still chasing hallucinations, the girl groaned and opened her eyes. Although the room was dark, she could see the room was small and spartan, with a torchbracket on the opposite wall. She could see the corner of a tray next to the bed, and she slowly eased over to investigate. The grapes she ignored completely, but she took a little of the cheese and sniffed it, then tasted it cautiously. It was obviously to her liking, as she quickly ate it as though she hadn't had a meal in days. She regarded the bread suspiciously, then decided to get up and explore the room. Firstly, she opened the curtains a crack, and peered out fearfully, as if she expected to see something dangerous. Then, with a creaking of bedsprings, she put her feet on the floor and got up silently. She padded over to the door, and tested the handle. To her surprise it turned easily, and she opened it slowly and looked around it. She could see into the tavern, and walked around the door and down the hallway. She silently walked over to the bar, and sat down at a stool, next to Alice.
Moonshadow saw her, and came over.
"Are you alright? What was chasing you? Who are you?" she asked quickly.
The girl looked at her with wide amber eyes. Moonshadow noticed they had pupils like a cat's.
"I'm... alive, I think. And the Hrothrim were chasing me. They must have stopped, for some peculiar reason, as I am still alive. But I do not understand your last question." the girl replied.
"What's your name?" Seeing the girl looked even more confused, Moonshadow clarified "I mean, what do people call you? I'm called Moonshadow." she added by way of explanation.
"Using a single word to describe someone? But you are not a shadow!" the girl protested.
"No..." Moonshadow struggled to explain "A name is just... something people call you to show you aren't... I mean... a name is just a label we give to people so we can call them, or ask if people have seen them. It's hard to explain."
"It seems ridiculous! How do you decide what to call people?"
"I don't, their parents decide, then they introduce themselves as that name."
The girl looked sad. "But I don't have a name! My... what did you call them?...parents didn't tell me if I had one." she whispered.
Moonshadow gave up. "Then in Cythera, you shall be known as 'Cat', because of your eyes."
The new Cat smiled. "I like it! But what's wrong with our eyes? You have normal eyes. I thought the others' eyes were wrong!"
It finally hit Moonshadow. "You aren't from Cythera, are you?" she asked, sceptically.
"What is Cythera?" asked Cat, clinching it.This post has been edited by CrazyChick : 09 December 2006 - 06:50 AM
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OOC: Welcome to the Tavern BIC:
Talryn finding no conversation with a spaced out Selax, got up and went over to the bar to see what was going on. Finding that it was just another stranger that had entered the tavern, he walked out side and noticed the necro's body. He knelt down, felt a pulse, dragged the body in and set him on a table than went back out side and summoned some forces of nature to amuse himself. Snow began to fall outside and Talryn entered briefly to grab some more food and drink.
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Cat turned her attention towards Brianna.
"Can I have a glass of milk, please?"
Brianna looked at her. Boy, what a job.
"Sure. Do you want to start a tab?" she asked.
"A what?" Cat queried.
"A tab. It means you're going to pay me later."
"Oh. Yes."
Brianna handed her the drink. Cat turned around and started watching the last few people still fighting hallucinations. She started lapping at the milk, like her namesake. -
Seeing the snow through the doorway, Silverfish suddenly remembered something, and dashed out the door as Talryn was re-exiting.
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Moonshadow smiled slightly, watching the new girl that looked surprisingly similar to herself out of the corner of her eyes. She could empathize well with her -- she still remember when she had stumbled onto Cythera, and how long it had taken her to grasp the basics of human life. Well, the least she could do was make the newcomer's transition to Cytheran life more smooth than her own.
Reaching out, she placed a cool hand on Cat's forearm, smiling when the girl turned to look at her inquiringly. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I know much of this -" she gestured around "- must seem confusing at first."
Cat nodded. "Thank you," she said softly.
"You're welcome. Oh, I noticed you didn't touch the bread or grapes -- still hungry?" -
Talryn sat down and played with the wind, causing snow flakes to fall in different ways, and looked over to Sliverfish to see why he had suddenly dashed outside. while waiting for a respones, Talryn pulled out some paper and begun to write.
(Finally updated Talryn's info.)
This post has been edited by Dark Jet : 09 December 2006 - 01:18 PM
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"Yes! I didn't try them because I've never seen anything like them before. Do you have any more of that yellow stuff? That was nice." said Cat eagerly.
"Sure." Moonshadow turned to Brianna and asked her for some more cheese. She handed the cheese to Cat, who tore bits off it and ate it. Once she had finished, she returned to her milk.
"Thank you, that's so much better." she sighed happily.
Then her brow creased as she remembered something.
"Who or what was that silver thing that just ran out? And who is everyone here?" -
OoC
Hello, sorry I'm late, had to go out of town for the weekend. CrazyChick, welcome to the tavern.Moonshadow, checked your PMs lately?
BiC"Well," Brianna responded, "Moonshadow you know. She's a winter elf. I'm Brianna, a half-elf. The boy, here, is Alice. Don't ask, we don't know. The dead guy down the end is Mort."
Cat leaned as far away from Mort as she could without fallng off her stool, staring at him sideways as if doubting her own eyes' reports of his existence.
The creature's going to live, I see. I suppose some people are just naturally luckier than others. Perhaps she shares her namesake's purported nine lives?
"Behave, Bony, or I'll use your ribcage for a xylophone."
Mort's flaming eyes briefly flickered, as if the lich had blinked.
Sure, pick on the dead man. Although, that might actually be rather entertaining.
"Don't mind him, he's just upset at being, um, life impaired."
Oh, hah, hah.
"Right, then. The little woman with the wings is Shi'nayne. She's a Phaery."
"A what?"
"Um, right, that would take a lot of explaining. Speaking of which, you really should meet my grandfather, the Scribe. He collects and tells stories, so he might be able to help you out." She pointed to the ancient elf, still seated at his customary table, along with the mostly concealed Sideline, who'd slipped back to his familiar shadows as soon as his unaccustomed task had been completed.
"Although, perhaps that'd better wait until later," Brianna continued, as she noticed the Scribe begin to wave his hands as if conducting an imaginary orchestra. "He doesn't exactly seem himself, right now."
This post has been edited by cache22 : 10 December 2006 - 05:14 AM
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Silverfish started forming a wheel of snow. He soon finished the wheel and stepped into the middle opening, and rolled the wheel rapidly toward the slums. He returned in a few minutes, his snow-wheel was twice as big, and had arrows sticking into its sides. He made the wheel drop near the door, and left a bag in the middle, while he made a snowpolyp on the other side of the door. When he was done with that he made himself comfortable on top of it.
"Feeling better now?" He queried, as he sat gazing at the falling snow.
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Ziiiiiiiing -- PMs? Oops... usually I get a popup for PMs. Sorry. ;_;
"I wonder how long it will take for whatever it is to wear off," Moonshadow said, looking around the tavern. Indeed it was mostly quiet again, but there were still a few people who seemed deeply engaged in conversation with imaginary people.
Shi shrugged. "No clue! But say, was it already snowing when we came in?"
"Huh?" Moonshadow looked up at Shi, then out of the tavern door. Snow. "I'm.. really not sure." She slid off her chair. "But what is it the humans say... don't look a gift horse in the snout?"
Mouth.
"Right." Moonshadow smiled at the lich, then strode towards the door, evading a patron who had jumped off and seemed to be chasing after a hallucination. Just outside the doorway she stopped, breathing in deeply. "Ahhhhh, this is nice." She took another few steps forward, now noticing the snow wheel and scylla, and Silverfish. "Ah, hello there." She said, still smiling, and sat down crosslegged in the snow next to the small metahuman, apparently unaffected by the cold. "Thank you for your help back there. My name is Moonshadow." She held out her hand. "Who are you?" -
Meanwhile Cat was gazing around the tavern, checking it out. She saw some of the patrons playing a game with small rectangular pieces of card, and wandered over to have a look. There was a large pile of small silvery coins in the middle of the table, and the pile kept on being added to. Suddenly one of the patrons threw his pieces of card down and accused the person opposite him of cheating. The man in dark green robes, the recipient of the accusation, narrowed his eyes and shot a small fireball at the accuser, who ducked. The fireball flew across the room and down the steps leading to the cellar. Seconds later there was a muffled 'BOOM', and bits of wood were fired from the stairwell. One hit the accuser on the back of the head, and knocked him out. The man in the robes started laughing, but another 'BOOM' followed, and the next bit of wood hit him on the nose.
Cat ran outside to the comparative safety of the snow, followed by another, louder explosion and some more wood. She caught a piece and noticed it was curved. Moonshadow took it from her, sniffed it and said, "Oh dear. Champagne barrel. And it was only three hours since the last fire, too."
"Shouldn't we do something?" asked Cat. "It's in the cellar. It could be dangerous."
Moonshadow sighed. "If you clear a pathway, we might be able to carry some of the snow in and douse the fire."
Cat beamed at her. "Hooray! I know how to clear a way!" She ran back inside and a series of muffled thumps were heard.
Moonshadow peered round the doorway and was surprised to see Cat in the act of kicking a drunken patron across the tavern.
Cat saw her, stopped and said, "Well, he attacked me. What else could I do?" She shrugged. "Anyway, I didn't use my claws, and I didn't kick him as hard as I could."
"How far would he go if you really kicked him?" asked Moonshadow, with morbid fascination.
Cat shrugged again. "Through the wall, maybe." she speculated. "Oh, there's a path now." That was because nearly everyone had seen what she did to the drunk, and were desperately trying to look like various items of furniture.
Moonshadow and Cat started carrying snow towards the stairs, but the fire was too strong to douse with snow. So, they returned outside.
"By the way," asked Moonshadow. "You mentioned your claws. I don't think I heard you properly."
"Oh, you heard me right. Watch." ordered Cat, and proceeded to stare at her fingers. After a few seconds, five long claws grew out of the tips of her fingers. They were silver, and about 5 cms long. "Do you have any scrap metal on you?"
"Only an oboloi. Would that do?"
"An oboloi? What's that?" asked Cat.
"A coin. Here." Moonshadow handed an oboloi to Cat.
Cat smiled, said "I'll pay you back.", then swiftly cut the coin in two.
Moonshadow whistled. "That's some weapon!"
"Yes, but I never carry weapons. They slow me down. I wonder how long this fire will last?"This post has been edited by CrazyChick : 10 December 2006 - 10:08 PM
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OOC ugh too much slobbing to do and not enough posting sorry for the rather late reply Selax. BIC
"An offer? How interesting..."
Satori Slowly strolled over the where Selax stood, who eyed her suspicously.
"Yes an offer"
"I must say I am a bit at loss, what on earth could you possibly want from me?
And you must also understand that I carry nothing but my scythe and my amulet,
and neither of these two objects I will give up for any price at all." -
Talryn got up and grunted due to being interrupted from his entertainment. He ran into the tavern and begun to modify his spell. The snow that was falling started funneling through the door and down the stairs. Outside it also began to rain which followed the snow inside.
A few moments later, Talryn returned out side following a couple of barrels and carring the kicked drunk. He jumped downwards as the Tavern errupted into a gigantic ball of flame... Talryn sighed and opened up one of the barrels and brought his mug over for a refill. He then sat on the barrel and glanced over to the others.
This post has been edited by Dark Jet : 10 December 2006 - 10:30 PM
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Cat ran over to him. "Is he ok?" she asked, pointing to the drunk. "I think I might have kicked him a little harder than was absolutely necessary."
"He's still breathing." replied Talryn.
"Good." said Cat. After a short pause she ventured; "Is everyone else ok? That was one big fireball!"
Talryn got off his barrel and looked through the still-smouldering door, through which the sound of coughing could be heard. Talryn got back on his barrel. "They're still breathing too."
"That's good as well." said Cat. She then sat down and started to stare off into space. -
Dammit someone else beat me to a post owell...
This post has been edited by Pippin 3 : 10 December 2006 - 10:45 PM
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Brianna slowly pulled herself up from behind the counter, which was remarkably unscathed. Like much of the floorboards, fixtures and fittings of the tavern, it was made from wood from one of Leandra's magically-grown giant trees dating from the time of the Undead War, and was largely immune to the effects of normal fire. Brianna waved her hand through the smoke in front of her face, and coughed.
Mort was still firmly seated on his barstool, staring dolefully down at the scorched hem of his cloak.
Figures. Only days out of my grave, and already the only clothes I have are burned to a crisp, he exaggerated. He bunched up a handful of the heavy cloth and began to polish the soot from his skull.
Despite his mind-altered state, the Scribe's reflexes had served him well enough. He'd thrown up a magical shield before any concussive or thermal effects had reached him. His table, too appeared unscathed.
Sideline was nowhere to be seen. Not waiting to see if the Scribe had thought to protect him as well, he'd dived straight through the nearest window.
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Talryn carried the barrels back in and quickly used the snow to put out the remaining flames. He then sat down at the bar and sipped his mug. After some coughing, he looked at the bewildered and said "i mixed the Champagne barrel for a barrel of beer, so this is a Champagne-Beer mug." Talryn continued to sip and cough for the next important duration of time
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((Seven Taverns preceded this one, and I never bothered to join in. Time for a change of pace!))
A somewhat harried, middle-aged man walked along the back alleys of Cademia with a slow, drifting gait. After a long day of seemingly endless negotiations with a gang of unsavory ruffians, the man really needed to drown his troubles in good wine, but found that his usual stopovers were unable to satisfy. Dares and Diomede were off vacationing in Catamarca, and the Two-Tailed Rat was closed for renovations. Begrudgingly, the man headed towards the Alraeican Tavern--the one place in town he really didn't want to be.
As he navigated the twisted back-routes, another man came from the direction of the tavern, screaming something incomprehensible about 'flaming undead harpies'. Rather disturbed by the clearly mad patron, the man considered turning back, until the misery of his day's work returned to a conscious level. Driven onward by an unhealthy need for alcohol, he continued his march towards the tavern.
When he arrived at the door, he heard the same chaotic bar-noises that had deprived him of sleep night after night. His need for a drink was rapidly being overpowered by a base desire to run towards the other end of the island in a murderous rampage, and he found himself unable to open the door himself so great were his feeling's ambivalence.
Fortunately, he didn't have too.
Another clearly insane patron tore through the door way, screaming the same sort of undecipherable gibberish, and the man found himself, much to his surprise, face-down on the threshing floor of the tavern. Righting himself, and dusting himself off, the man surveyed the establishment.
Perhaps in an attempt to seek solace, the man moved toward the most depressed person in sight. Although he could clearly tell that the patron he approached was not among the living, nor the dead in particular, and had recently been subject to a blaze, the man simply couldn't find the willpower to care anymore. Blocking out his irritation about the tavern, all that mattered anymore was getting a drink.
Coming up to the bar-counter, the man ordered a bottle of Northshore Red 852, another of Southshore White 786, a tall stein, and a flask of ruffian whiskey. A short while later the bartender returned with the desired items, and the man fronted the cash rather than starting a tab he'd likely never return to pay off. After mixing his beverages, he took a small taste to check for anything harmful to his well-being, then proceeded to down the rest of the concoction.
Feeling somewhat relived, although no less miserable, he turned to the walking corpse sitting beside him. After a few moments of mustering his courage, he introduced himself to the obviously undead being.
"Hello good sir, my name is Shanadar. I take it you had a rough day too?