Here be Dragons [IC]

[THEChanger]

Madoc

Madoc entered the waiting room. Seeing a person whom he had never met before wave to him, he nodded politely before finding a chair and sitting. He was not one for initiating conversations with strangers, so for the time being, he would allow the man who waved to him and the rather pretty woman talk things over by themselves. For now, Madoc adjusted his hat so it fell just over his eyes, and pretended to sleep.

[Loki_42]

Erinar looks at Nor. "Hmm... yes, I suppose he could be doing that. Still, I hope for the best. Good luck to you."

[Aeryr]

Vlad

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The man nods and leads you to a big room. In there there are several people waiting. You see a young woman who wears fine clothing, a blond man who looks like slightly stressed and another man with shiny bright blue eyes. Other than them an old man waits sleeping by a double door at the end.

Everyone in the room
You see a big bald Goliath entering the room from the hall, and almost at the same time a woman leaving the office. She hasn't been there for long. As she leaves she smiles slightly in Nor's direction and nods happily.

Another man approaches the door of the studio. He is slightly build and moves with the balance of a dancer or a hunting cat. His hair is black as raven's wings and his eyes are deep and blue. He has the fair and pale skin of a noble born but his hands have wrinkles in his fingertips like someone who has been writing documents for years. His mouth holds a lit cigar and he puffs small clouds of smoke from time to time. With a slight movement of his hand he signals at Nor before reentering the studio.

Nor

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In the studio there is a big bookshelf there are certainly a lot of books on it and some trifles old bones and jars. You can see what seems to be the skull of a small dragon in one of the shelves, and as the rest of the bones seem to have the same texture and tone they are probably dragon bones too. Some books are parched in what seems a sturdy scaly hide, there are different colors, red, blue, green... In the desk a large map rests, it is what is explored of the jungle with detailed marks on it, the man looks at it with pride and caresses the leather with affection while looking at his new applicant.

-Well nice to meet you. As you certainly know by now I am funding an expedition to the jungle. So... why should I hire your services? Appearances are deceiving but you certainly don't look like an adventurer to me.

[casualcryptic]

Description of Vlad

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This masculine goliath stands taller than the tallest half-orc at somewhere around seven foot eight and weighs in at around three hundred and sixty pounds with very broad shoulders covered in layers of stone-like chitin. His racial skin grafts, a network of pale hardened flesh that creates designs across the body, seems to blossom out from his stomach and chest, forming an intricate explosion of angular splotches and lithoderms pointed away from his stomach and extending across the entirety of his skin. Vlad has had these patches' visual elements enhanced with blood red tattoowork. His tattoo-work is regularly interwoven with scarring from countless battles. Vlad has a large eyebrow ridge and dark black brows. His eyes fall beneath the shadow of these ridges and disappear beneath their shade under the lighting in the room. He has a perfect set of six small lithoderms relatively evenly placed in two sets across his eye ridges, a strange uniformity for a goliath birthmark. He suffers from standard Goliath baldness. His eyes occasionally shimmer from slight movement, a deep aquamarine color with the same glowing quality often attributed to cat eyes. This goliath dresses peculiarly. He is wearing heavy armor on his shoulders, arms, legs and waste but leaving his exposed chest open as a target and a challenge. He has several silver earrings along the ridges of both of his ears and a large, very painful looking, series of studs along the top of his chest. Two tomahawks hang from straps on his right thigh and an abnormally large broadsword hangs across his back.

Vlad enters the room, makes a single passing gaze over it's occupants, and then silently finds an empty space on the wall to lean against. He folds his arms and closes his eyes.

[PersonMan]

Nor allows the outer reality to fade away, replaced by the more easily controlled inner reality in which her sub-minds had already assembled themselves. Reaction was eager, Truth had a plan and Potential Negative thought of failure. Potential Positive saw the man impressed and amazed, Potential Consequence considered various scenarios with success and failure cropping up seemingly at random. Metacognition had gathered past experiences from other sub-minds and, with a surge of its own power inside the inner reality, sent forth a wave of conclusions.

All this happened essentially instantly. Nor didn't want to use up more time than was necessary with the decision making, so rather than asking each primary sub-mind separately she had simply taken all of their responses at once. It was slightly more work, as she had to simultaneously perceive all of their thought waves at the same time and keep them apart, but it was worth the effort.

In the outer reality once again, Nor smiled and lifted up her right hand, displaying it to the man she presumed was Maron. With a thought she changed the truth of her hand and her fingers were claws. Pure black in color, they extended a bit further than her fingers had before and were clearly sharp enough to cut through flesh with ease. Allowing the man to see for a few moments, and potentially assure himself with a touch that the claws were real, Nor lowered her now-clawed hands and spoke.

"Reality as you know it does not exist for me. My thoughts have a great measure of control over the lax so-called laws of this world. Perhaps one could explain my abilities as magic, but in my experience magic is more limited by false restrictions in the environment," Nor says. As she speaks she extends her being into the room, seizing the light in her mental grip and causing it to swell up, resulting in a slow but visible increase in the light of the room.

OOC:

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Spending 1 PP on Control Light.

[Aeryr]

Nor

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The man raises an eyebrow and leaves the cigar at the desk while he puffs some more smoke. He whistles while releasing the smoke in a thin line that retorts to form an spiral that curls contracting on itself like a living snake. For an instant a glitter of gold shines in Maron's mouth.

-Surely, reality as I know doesn't exist for you, but that seems like a nice ability to have.

He smiles slightly, its a lizard smile, he retreats his lips for a moment and shows his teeth, that look slightly golden. It's not a dirty yellow it is in fact a golden tint that shines over his white teeth.

-And why are you interested on going to the temple?

[PersonMan]

Nor doesn't bother to consult her sub-minds. The man's appearance might have been of interest if she weren't certain it was just due to his manipulation of the outer reality.

"I'm interested in going to the temple for multiple reasons. Firstly, I'm interested in the monetary reward, but the knowledge and chance to test the full extent of my abilities are also important motivations," Nor replies.

[Loki_42]

Ripley stands up and approaches the man he waved to earlier, desperate to make the time pass faster.

[Aeryr]

Nor

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The man nods.
-It certainly will be interesting in the jungle. Tell you what. Be here tomorrow at ten in the morning. The rest of the expedition will be selected by then.

He opens one of his desk drawers and picks a piece of parchment and a small purse.

-This is an advancement of your pay, it would be wise to invest it on equipment that might be handy. And here, have this piece of parchment is treated with attraam's oil it won't be spoiled by water nor be stained in the jungle, but it drinks ink eagerly. Could you keep track of what you do while in the jungle? It will make it easier to lead new expeditions.

He raises his hand, tending it to Nor

-Any other question?

[PersonMan]

"Alright. I have no further questions," without more than a nod to Maron, Nor stands, taking the things he had offered, and leaves the room. There was little left to do but wait now. In which case there wasn't much reason to stay here, she could simply induce sleep in the body to let the outer reality's time pass more quickly.

As she leaves the office, Nor glances across the room. If she sees Aivlis she gives her a smile and nod at Reaction's request. Noticing a new occupant of one of the walls, she is almost moved to change her facial expression. It was a bit unusual that two warrior-looking beings, both leaning against the wall and seemingly unconscious, had apparently had the same idea. For a moment the strange appearance of one of the two, the newer one that hadn't been there when she arrived, catches her interest before she shrugs and goes back to where she was sitting before.

"Well, it seems like I'll be seeing you tomorrow morning, if you meet whatever expectations Maron has for you," Nor comments. For now she would stay here and see which occupants of the room she could expect the next morning. She doubted it mattered, but one never knew when more knowledge could come in handy.

[Aeryr]

Maron seems tired he looks at a clepsydra hidden behind the door the time seems to have gone fast while he was distracted with the interviews so he decides to wrap it up a little.

He accompanies Nor to the door of his studio and signals the rest of those gathered to get to the small room. The old man sleeping by the door doesn't seem to move nor pay attention to him, still sleeping, but Maron smiles at Ripley, Madoc and Vlad.

-Come inside.

[Loki_42]

Ripley stands, and looks at the others before entering. "You're seeing all three of us at once? No matter, the names Ripley. Ripley Flamebrand." He extends his hand out to Maron, and adopts a smile.

[casualcryptic]

Vlad pushes himself off of the wall and follows his patron into the room without a sound, ducking to fit in the doorway.

[Aeryr]

-Nice to meet you mr Flamebrand your reputation precedes you. Let's continue the conversation at my office.

His studio is decorated with some other paintings and treasures looted from the jungle. In his desk several colorful feathers lay scattered. There is also a big map there it is decorated with several notes and lines of different colors.

-As you know I am funding an expedition to the jungle. Why are you interested and why should I be interested in hiring you?

[Loki_42]

"Well, I'm interested in going for mainly personal reasons. The money would be nice, but I really think I have a chance of discovering something about myself out there. As for why you should be interested in me, I have many talents. I can inspire people, and my being around will be overall good for group morale. I am a practitioner of magic, and use it to hone my and my allies abilities to their fullest extent. Finally, my skill with a blade is equal to my skill in casting, and I can meld the two into a particularly apt combination. I could demonstrate if you'd like.

[casualcryptic]

Vlad spends some time deciding whether or not he thinks the question is being issued to everyone, or just to the man that Maron has taken an interest in. "I heard the pay is good. I'm strictly mercenary." He glances around the office, taking in the signs of human luxury. "But as mercenaries go, there are few harder or with more experience than I. If your serious about going into the jungle you'll need a strongman anyway for the labor hazards of the trek and I'd be willing to bet I can lift that desk out from under you."