[Nexus] Trog's Tavern CCXXXVI

[Chaotic Bob]

Karaglen has been napping on Viima!
She seems very nap-requiring, perhaps taking her first lazy break in quite some time.

More dreams, it seems, with little paw movements and tail twitches.

Which abruptly stop, after a moment, when the wyrmling's eyes snap open, and she immediately leaps off of Viima.
A clawed paw, snags the hilt of her sword on the counter, and she shifts back to her girl-form just in time to heave the sword down through a nearby bar-stool, breathing heavily and looking a little panicked.

And then confused.
She looks at the seat she just bisected and pulls the sword up to her chest, blade pointed down, held almost like a comforting toy.
"I...sorry...I thought I...heard something wrong."

[Morty]

Bye, Dipsnig says to Andy and turns back towards the deadtimed Lisor.

Viima, meanwhile, wakes up from her own nap and looks at Kara in confusion. What's going on?

[Rebonack]

Kara probably did hear something wrong.

The Old Ones are stirring in their crypts and tombs. The Dreamlands aren't a safe place to be right now.

Zee eeps slightly when the stool gets sliced in two. She bites her lip and edges forward a bit, reaching out a hand to place on the girl's shoulder. "Sshh, everything's alright. It was just a bad dream."

She's trying to sound as comforting as she can manage.

Though...

Could probably be doing a better job.

Mostly because she knows full well that everything isn't alright.

But she still has to try...

[Chaotic Bob]

Kara's eyes flick down towards Viima nearby, then up to Zee.
Briefly towards that...thing sticking out of her back.

Blinking away a brief mental image of her sword slicing through it.

"Right...nightmare..."
It's been awhile since she had those, but she knows why they started, if not why they continue.
That unfortunate little event a couple days ago.

"Sorry about the stool..."
Busily trying not to think about if someone had happened to be sitting in said stool.

The little girl cleverly misses the overall somber atmosphere in the tavern, from Zee's previous news that her "family" happens to be awakening.
Which might be for the best, or might not.

[Rebonack]

Yes. The back sticking thing.

It extends through the wall behind the counter and off to who-knows-where. Zee would probably try to calmly explain what it is if someone asked. Though at the moment she really doesn't even register that it's there.

Mostly because the thing is always there.

It's just usually restricted to spaces perpendicular to reality where tavern patrons can't gawk at it.

Zee aims to give Kara a little comfort squeeze. "Don't worry about the stool. Broken furniture happens all the time around here. We buy it in bulk."

That's actually a pretty decent idea...

"Are you feeling okay Kara?" the tiny piece of an eldritch terror horror inquires pleasantly. "Can I get you anything?"

[Chaotic Bob]

Karaglen vaguely remembers Zee mentioning the back-tendril thingy, what its purpose is.
It's part of her!
Which is why it concerns her a bit that there was a mental image of slicing it off.

That'd probably hurt Zee and then the little girl would feel awful. Probably more-so than when she painted those buildings with that mugger.

The girl slides into a neighboring stool, by Viima, and places the sword down on the ground, leaned up against the bar.
Meanwhile, her little feet will probably be looking for wolf-fur.
"Maybe just a glass of water? Just have a little headache..."
...............................blood

[Morty]

Kara's feet will most likely find Viima, who is content to let the girl rest her feet against her. Fluffy wolves are great for relieving stress!

[Rebonack]

Fluffy anything is great for stress relief.

Like chinchillas. Or bunnies!

Not so much grumpy cats, though. They're just too grumpy.

Zee nods and turns her back to Kara to fetch the glass of water! Which gives a decent view of where the tendrils attache to her. Yes, plural. The last little bit of the thing branches out into no fewer than twelve smaller tendrils, attaching to Zee at various points. The biggest between her should blades. Though others to her head and arms mostly. Every now and again they twitch and pulse, looking very clearly alive.

And oh so very sliceable.

It wouldn't kill Zee, mind.

But it would probably hurt a lot.

Then Kara's water is delivered! "There you go!"

She bites her lip, considering whether or not to ask some questions about the sword. Concerns her after all. And what's worse it makes her nervous that it might be connected somehow to everything else that's going wrong at the moment.

"Kara...? Could you please tell me where you got the sword? I mean... really where you got it?"

[Chaotic Bob]

Kara spends most of the view of the tendrils busily staring at the bar-top.
No need to tempt the painful mental images further.

Stare at the bar-top, maybe rub Viima's side a bit with her toes, idly keep one hand near her sword.
Basic distractions.

Once Zee asks her question, Kara is immediately tempted to start lying again, before some form of her moral fiber decides to speak up, pointing at that although Zee is very silly and kind of an air-head, she isn't stupid and clearly already knows she lied.

So instead she slowly grabs that water for a little drink, and remains quiet for a good few long moments.
The currently elven girl really isn't sure why this is hard to talk about.
It's fairly simple...doesn't seem bad, does it?
No, it isn't. Just a sword she found.
"Um...in a barrel?"
There's that guilt again.

[Rebonack]

In a barrel.

With the monkeys.

Zee's busy fixing herself a cup of tea whilst giving Kara a chance to reply. Tea is nice. It smells good and it tastes good and it's very calming. K'rax-Naggath needs lots of calming right now. The terrorhorror is nervous. Fearful that she won't be able to act quickly enough to save her friends.

...and also some humans built several villages on top of her. If she wiggles too much she'll probably destroy them. All sorts of things to worry about!

She's trying her best to limit her perceptions and movements to these teeny little fragments of herself she has spread across the Nexus. Because as soon as she begins taking actions on a large scale all best are off. The others would wake up too and that would be that.

Zee takes a sip of the tea, cupping her hands around the warm mug and enjoying the sensation... mmm...

The earth trembles again.

Zee nearly drops her mug.

...this is going to be hard...

Alright! Focus on Kara. One thing at a time.

"You said before that a wizard gave it to you," Zee mentions. "Why do you think you lied to me? You've never done that before."

[Chaotic Bob]

Zee is nervous about worldy doom!

Kara is nervous about earthquakes and feeling generally like a really terrible person.
She clutches her stool a bit when everything shakes, before proceeding to give a sort of meek glance over at Zee's lower body, as opposed to her face.
"I don't know..."
And she doesn't. Which has confused her for a little while now.

Those cloudy thoughts.
That clock.

[Rebonack]

Seems there are lots of things for people to be worried about today.

Zee gives a small sigh at Kara's response. It was more or less what she was expecting. Bites her lip. Looks away. She could just take the sword. Almost certain the thing is doing this to Kara. Obviously Kara would be upset about it.

But...

Better upset that going insane, right?

"I think I know why, Kara," Zee replies softly. "And I think I know why you hurt some people, too."

Fidgets a bit...

"But I don't think you'll believe me if I tell you. I think whatever is doing this to you won't let you believe me."

[Chaotic Bob]

Karaglen's gaze flicks down to the sword, crutched up against the bar top, within easy grabbing distance.

She was going to say it was that again, wasn't she?
Zee keeps trailing back to the sword, through these conversations, incessantly.
It can't be the sword. It doesn't have the magic for that, or the evil.
Uncle Xeni taught her a little on how to keep people out of her head, and she's never felt anything like something trying to force their way in. That definitely isn't it...

These thoughts...they started before she found the sword. Having it on hand was just a tipping point, finally having a weapon on hand. Right?
It made sense. Finally had the tool to do what she was beginning to suspect was necessary.
Finally had no excuse to avoid the next step in her duties.

Yes. The next step. The paladins do this all the time.
The paragons of justice in the world.
She can't be wrong, following their foot-steps.

Zee won't taketick her means of following her duty.
She won't let that happen.

"It's not the sword."
Her voice is still quiet, but more solid. Nervousness no longer present.

[Rebonack]

Yep.

Back to the sword.

The sword that's obviously diabolical in a fashion which Kara is blinded to. Because of course a cursed weapon would want to make the user believe that it isn't cursed. That's just common sense after all.

Buuut...

"Okay then."

Zee reaches out with one hand to boop Kara's nose with one finger.

"What do you think is causing it then? 'cuz this is very unlike you Kara. I'm really worried. And I'm especially worried that whatever's happening to you might have something to do with all the other horrible stuff going on right now."

[Chaotic Bob]

Kara squinches her nose a bit in a way that would ordinarily be cute, but...just seems to be missing that quality this time.
For some reason.

Perhaps that faintest tinge of resolutenesstick that has crawled into her has something to do with it.
"It's the city. It resists passive help. Evil is too active. It's everywhere.
I told you...I had these thoughts before. That maybe I had to do something more."
The guilt seems to have vanished too, rather suddenly.
"This...helps. If they're not alive, they can't hurt anyone else."

Beneath the bar-top, one of her hands has wrapped itself around the sword's handle.

[Rebonack]

That would be a reasonable excuse.

Except for one very very important thing.

"But since when does wanting to help the people who live here require lying to your friends?" Zee answers.

Glances back at the mirror.

"Did you tell Mychasi the same thing? That you're just holding the sword for a wizard friend of yours? Are you lying to him, too? Or just me?"

She doesn't sound scolding.

Or even upset.

Just worried.

[Chaotic Bob]

There's a little moment of silence, before Karaglen slowly shakes her head.
"It didn't come up."
She can't lie to Mychasi, still, so she avoided it completely.
Although, technically...was that "see you guys soon!" a lie?

Perhaps an unintentional one...

The little girl frowns a little, forcing some more logic to present to Zee through the tickhaze in her head.
Need something to explain away the lies, to her friend.
And herself.
"I was just...worried. That you'd punish me. That I stole it."
Worried only seconds before, but not now, it seems. Something changed in the intervening time span.

[Rebonack]

This is all very worrying.

Or worrying to Zee at least. Kara really don't have anyone to look after her. And the two wyrmlings tended to spend a lot of time in Trog's. Or... at least they used to. Makes her feel at least somewhat responsible for them.

Two children without parents in this crazy place.

Someone has to worry about them!

It's a rule. Children are supposed to live care-free lives and the grown-ups do the worrying for them.

Zee reaches out to put her hands on Kara's shoulders, offering a kind smile.

"Kara. You know as well as I do that crazy magical objects pop up in the Nexus all the time. I would never think even for a moment that you would steal from someone else."

[Chaotic Bob]

Uncle Xeni had been the closest thing to a parent Karaglen had, at least, until work called him away.
He hadn't wanted to bring her into the kind of danger he would be going into.

And since...he still hasn't come back...maybe that was a wise choice.

She has resolved to look for him, eventually.
Even if it's only to find a body.

But that's neither here nor there.
Kara looks back up to Zee finally, looking almost blank.
"You never thought I would hurt anyone."

[Rebonack]

Understandable that he wouldn't want to put Kara into harms way like that.

But it means she was left alone none the less. Which is still unfortunate. Poor little dragon girl.

At Kara's reply Zee bites her lip, looking away for a few moments. No, she had honestly never imagined that Kara would hurt anyone. It's completely in opposition to her character.

Much like lying.

And stealing.

It's really rather odd. Silver dragons are one of those critters that are inherently good. Doing evil requires a concerted effort on their part. It isn't something that just accidentally happens.

Unless. Of course.

Something is manipulating them.

Like an evil sword.

"No..." Zee replies sadly. "I didn't... Kara. How did it feel when you killed him? Not after. But when you were doing it."

[Chaotic Bob]

Zee's reaction to Kara completely gutting her reassurance justifies some small measure of paranoia in the girl's mind.
Which probably isn't a good thing.

But then Zee jumps right back with a very interesting question, that Karaglen has been wondering herself.
She frowns a little and stares rather intently at the bar-top, trying to remember.

Trying to remember what happened between running towards the mugger and ending up in the alley.
Trying to remember what she felt when Sam led her into that alley.

But all of that is in the clouds and she can't go in there.
Bad things are in the tickhaze.
"I don't remember."

[ThirdEmperor]

Prometheus spins around mere fractions of a second after the arrow hits him, not feeling any pain from the wound but sensing the direction of the attack. As he turns he draws his custom-designed pistol, drops to one knee for increased accuracy, and opens fire on the rafters. Thankfully for the Cupid, Prometheus is using suppressive fire and not actualy aiming to kill, mainly because he has yet to spot his hidden assailant.
------------

The tavern door swings open, and in walks a halfling hobbit. The rather short person wears a comfortable leather vest, leather half-greaves, and a red woolen cloak, as well as a backpack slung over one shoulder. The hobbit himself is a cheerful looking fellow, certainly not thin but not fat either, a long scar running across his nose and almost to his right eye, which is a bright blue color as opposed to his brown left eye.

Grinning cheerfully, he grabs a seat at the bar and looks for a waiter.

[Rebonack]

Zee frowns at Kara's simple reply. It's... troubling to say the least. What if she doesn't even remember what she's doing? What if she's just forced to justify it after the fact? Who knows what that thing could drive her to do...

The rather silly barmaid leans forward to put her arms around the girl for a nice comforting hug. "It's going to be okay. We'll figure out what's wrong, alright?"

And then she eeps at the gunfire!

Blamo!

"Hey!" the barmaid snarls, suddenly seeming much bigger than she was a few moments ago. "No firing weapons in the tavern!"

Rawr!

And then just like that she's smiling pleasantly at the hobbet seated in front of her! "Hiya! Welcome to Trog's Tavern, home of the best lousy service in all the Nexus! What can I get you today?"

...she has a weird obsidian-black tendril sticking out of her back and passing through the wall... Zee's acting as if it isn't there.

[Chaotic Bob]

It's a fairly accurate depiction of the siutation with the mugger. She doesn't remember anything she did to him, how his body became...whatever was left, or how she painted those walls.
Just left with the aftermath.
Less true with Sam, where she simply doesn't remember how she felt.

Karaglen hesitates a moment, before compliantly hugging Zee back with a little "okay..." and a touch of emotion again. More like a little girl again.

At least until the gun-fire, where a slight shadow appears across her features and she snaps her head around to look, a foot tipping her sword to fall into her lap.

[Warpfire]

For awhile Jacob holds a seemingly entirely empty small bottle upside down above his mouth, trying to get every last drop of whiskey he can. With a scowl he finally gives up and sets it down.

"Bastard..." he mumbles indistinctly, followed by more completely unintelligible muttering.

He stares down at the bar, lost in despair.

[ThirdEmperor]

"I'll take a plate of ham, hash and eggs, a mug of hot cider, a plate of bacon, a scone or two, maybe a blueberry muffin if blueberries are in season around here, a pint of ale, a half-dozen pancakes, a bowl of leek stew and a slice of toast, please." The hobbit says with a smile, after taking a second to think about it.

[Devixer]

Ashley considers her options for a long while. Eventually, though, she goes to Zee, and tries to get her attention. "Is there anything someone like me can do? I'm not powerful, but I know some magic."

[Rebonack]

The hobbits full ordered meal is already waiting there on the table for him.

Wow!

That's some fast service.

Zee rubs Kara on the head again before turning her attention to Ashley.

"There are a lot of things pretty much anyone can do. The greatest strength the Old Ones have is that everyone thinks they're unstoppable. And that just isn't true," she sounds very certain about this. "There are lots of things that can be done. Things that... might seem strange and kind of pointless at first. But they'll make far more of an impact that you might think."

Mini-quests!

Yay!

[Devixer]

"Okay," Ashley says, suddenly believing that this might not be impossible for her to help with. "What are some of these things? You'll need all the help you can get, right?

[Chaotic Bob]

Karaglen turns her attention back from the now-silent gunfire, the shadow on her face being replaced by her slightly-more-usual curiosity and concern.
It sounded like something big was happening! Not sure what though...
Because she was asleep.

But perhaps it's something she can help with, to keep busy.
"What's happening, Zee?'