Shadows Brought to Light - Main Game

[PhoeKun]

At this point, the wonder and novelty of the wintry land had long since worn out. Ansaksie is forced to contend with a very simple truth, a new entry for her list... namely, that she is absolutely, miserably cold. Her exposed left arm feels maybe two steps shy of numb, and hangs limply at her side. Actually, this is a fair bit worse than she'd anticipated. The long chill seemed to bring all of her old injuries slinking out of the past. She can feel each fang, sword, spear, and porcupine needle as if it were sticking out of her frail, abused body again. She turns her gaze longingly to the sky, stopping to wonder why it was that the sun seemed so very far away.

When at last she is shaken from her reverie, she notices that everyone has gone off... er... somewhere. She sniffles. Probably to the inn, then. She heads off in t

Warm thoughts, now, warm thoughts...

What she overhears as she crosses the threshold of the place returns the light to her eyes.

"You'll be singing for our rooms, Sir Tyern? How gallant!"

She smiles warmly in his direction, taking a few steps further in and away from the evil, evil weather outside.

[Taren]

-At the Forge-

The smith nodded at Solaine's comment. "Aye. Tha war down south drew away all've our good men, an' the opportunities fer plundering what's left's got tha bad men out pillagin' and plundering. Most a'me metal supplies 've been used already, an the shipment a'iron I was waiting on got stole before it got here. And it's not just bandits, but stories a'worse creeping out there... and to make matters worse, my accent keeps flickering on and off."

He sat up and turned away from his anvil. "So here's me proposal. Yer both travelers, an' travelers wandering around here in this time's gotta be tough. If either of ye can retake my metal shipment from those brigands, I'll reward ye, ya can be sure of it."

[Insanity_Luc]

Art had followed the girls to the forge, and waited outside the door- he was still being cautious about the people in the village. He;d had some self awareness smacked into him a few times- and as far as he could guess, a paranoid village wasn't going to be happy about a tall, fanged, greenish man with an overgrown axe.

He overheard the discussion, and decided it was time to step inside- a decision that had nothing to do with his F'knar freezing off, honest.

"Just point th' way to the bandits, smith. I have need of some gear... if y' girls dun't mind sharing the task." he rumbled, tilting his head a little. Hunting bandits sounded more fun then heavy work...

[Dhavaer]

Solaine shrugs and smiles. "It's what I'd be doing anyway. I'd be happy to help, so long as I can get something to keep me warm out there."

[The_Snark]

Sometimes Em wondered whether people even noticed her age. Not that she wanted to be treated like a little girl, not in the slightest. But maybe there was some happy medium, some attitude that lay comfortably between "go back inside and play with your dolls, little miss, this is too dangerous for the likes of you" and "welp, here's your sword, off to the front lines with you"? Perhaps people around here grew up unusually fast (and vicious).

Art, now, it made sense to ask him. Em went into tagalong mode without even really thinking about it. "Well, I reckon we could give it a try, Mr. Smith. I'm not much good with a sword myself, but Art here is an' the rest aren't bad. Only thing is, we don't have proper clothes to go out in the snow, and not much money to buy 'em with neither.... I heard your wife runs the general shop next door—I don't s'pose there's any chance you could spare us some?"

[Taren]

-At the Smith's-

"Oh, the poor dears need something to help stay warm in the cold, do they?"

The Smith's wife was standing behind them, just close enough so that someone really should have noticed her before. She'd just somehow gotten right behind them without anyone hearing or sensing her movement.

She was an elderly lady, swaddled in clothing that left her body type indiscriminate. She leaned down and wrapped a heavy fur coat around Em's body. "I'm sure if I poke around in the old store I can find something to suit you and each of your friends... and I have some nice rabbit stew warming up for you, little dear." She smiled at Em as if the girl was 8 years old. "We can provide you with food and warm clothing, and perhaps an old weapon or two if we have one laying around. What would you like?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(The Inn situation will be updated once Tyern posts!)

[Dhavaer]

Solaine is far too content glorying in the heat of the forge to be disturbed by mysteriously appearing old women. "Mmm? Food and clothing will do me fine, thank you. Weapons aren't really my idiom."

[Taren]

-At the Smith's-

The woman smiled at Solaine. "Of course, miss! For you? I believe we have an outfit of white fox fur that would be quite... form fitting. I'm sure you'll be very pleased!"

(The general store can provide you all with custom cold weather outfits, although you'll have to return them at the end of your bandit excursion unless you decide to buy them eventually. Or steal them, hypothetically)

[Insanity_Luc]

Art shivered a little, and looked down at his own outfit. He diddn't go in for the fur loincloth style of barbarianism, but it still was hardly appropriate.
"Ach... ah'll need some clothes, to be sure- something in th' fur cape r' coat perusuasions... an; if yeh have some decent pants 'r boots I'd be obliged. I dun need naught more but my Axe..." he said, nodding and hefting it.

"Otherwise, I'd like t' request a' some a' my reward be goin' t' th' littler one. Warrior a' nae, she's still a tich young, an' I'm used t' 'ard travelin'." he said, pointing at Em.

Normally he wouldn't say anything- there were little ones back at home, and young ones- and the kind who'd fight and tumble hated being pointed to any differently then an Adult. But out here...

[Dhavaer]

Solaine smiles back. "That sounds perfect! I'd love to see it."

[Taren]

-At the Smiths-

The woman smiled and nodded and walked off, returning with an armful of various bits of clothing. "Here's the garb I promised for you, miss... White Fox fur, just as I promised. It's just a little bit old..."

She smiled and handed Solaine a large fluffy cloak, a pair of warm pants, and a top. And they DID all seem to be made of white fox fur, but it had grown quite gray with all the dust it had accumulated.

She turned to Art. "And here's some things for the large br- er, the large man. Thick woolen pants and a coat made of leather and racoon fur sewn on the inside. It should keep the wind off of you... she smiled insincerely.

[Bariko]

Tyern

((OOC, actual song lyrics will be up when I'm back at my home. I think I know the song I want, but it's in a book on my shelf))

Tyern started a bit, not having noticed the girl behind him. With a smile, the half-elf nodded. "Hardly gallant," he chuckled, "it's simply how I work." Turning back to the bartender, Tyern shrugged. "It's a fair request, I suppose." Taking a breath, soft tones started to flow like honey. If one closed their eyes, the sound was almost rich enough to feel, with just a hint of something unusual.

As the dulcet tones faded from the air, Tyern smiled again as he looked at the man across the counter. "And of course I'll have a lot of drinking songs," he grinned.

Spoiler

Show

Perform check 25

[Dhavaer]

"Mmm. That looks much warmer." Solaine takes the bundle and promptly sneezes. "I might dust it off a bit first, though." Solaine weaves the spell's pattern again, and the furs are quickly whitened again.

[PhoeKun]

Hearing Tyern play for the first time without being threatened by wolves, Ansaksie allows herself a moment to be swept up in the experience. She closes her eyes and smiles, taking a deep breath and reminding herself that these are exactly the sorts of things that make all the trials and danger worthwhile.

"What could be more gallant than using your talents to help people you've only just met? You're a kind person, don't be modest. Working for our rooms. I can't even repay you for this, and you don't know my... oh my gosh!" Suddenly, she appears mortified.

"I'm so sorry, I should have remembered sooner. You can call me Ansaksie. It's so embarrassing that I forgot to tell you..."

[Taren]

-At the Inn-

The bartender... innkeeper... bar-keeper listened, raising his eyebrows. "Hm. Best singing I've heard since the traveling Aurora Singer group passed through. Alright. I've got three rooms. You've got some people traveling with you, you sing tonight, you can have 'em. An' any tips you can gather. Sound fair?"

[Taren]

(Ok... Scene Transition!)

With the group having negotiated sleeping quarters for the night, as well as use of warm outfits for those willing to go off and fight bandits, the party turns in for the evening, enjoying a performance by Tyern and several amusing yet not-narration-worthy townsfolk NPCs.

That evening, the performance had even earned them each their supper: A hearty bowl of pork-and-potato-with-unidentifiable-Ihopetogodthatgreenstuffisjustdriedcabbage stew. After a good night's meal, the group turned in for the night.

Come morning, they were faced with a new problem... having accepted the task to find bandits, how would they go about doing so?