[Nexus] Trog's Tavern CCXLIV

[McBish]

On-Screen resturants have to suck for tips, they are hardly ever busy and it takes days for people to finish a meal. NPC's make much better costumers.

"They are OK I guess, I am just tired of being a waitress. It seems though that once you start finding a job doing anything else is tough." Plus people always tell her she is good at it, and she has to admit she is. "Cooking has always been something I really like doing. Being able to take all the ingrediants and making a great meal out of them. That is why I want to be a chef. I need to save up my money so someday I can have my own kitchen." She figures she has a long way to go before that happens. She is still very young to be a chef, let alone have her own place.

[Rebonack]

Nax nods slowly. See, this she can understand.

"I know what you mean. But you aren't in a terrible position. Waitressing seems like a reasonable springboard to jump into the position of a professional chef. Maybe once you learn enough you can work preparing meals at a restaurant instead of serving them?"

That seems like a reasonable next step.

"Back home I was fortunate enough to land a job working as an assistant of a Visionary. Which is... eerr... sort of a polite way to say 'mad scientist'. I learned a lot about machines and engineering, though. And that really helped out finding a job once I ended up here in the Nexus."

Woohoo for technology jobs?

[McBish]

"Yeah, for awhile I was working in for a catering company as well, and I got to help with food prep then. Plus anywhere you go you can waitress."

As long as you can speak the language. Astrid has hopped in and out of different jobs for a few years now and being a good waitress has kept her employed.

"So do you like your job?"

[Beans]

A pale, cerulean-haired girl pushes through the door, already undoing her heavy grey overcoat. She doesn't even look to be in her 20s, but her violet eyes hold a tiredness more befitting someone twice that age.

[Hattish Thing]

Zane nods. Aye, I can take the watery depths as long as I can breathe. Oh, how do you feel about fire? As he makes this last remark, a small, black flame appears in Zane's upheld palm.

Thenardier growls and replies unhappily. Stay away from me wit' tha'! I hate th' devilfire! Thanks t' me frien' breathin' will be easy! Yer in. Welcome t' the crew. ' Was t' NO an' tell Dipsnig yer part 'o' Captain Clegg's crew. He nods to Zane and Sticks, before leaving.

[Aric Kale]

Thenardier growls and replies unhappily. Stay away from me wit' tha'! I hate th' devilfire! Thanks t' me frien' breathin' will be easy! Yer in. Welcome t' the crew. ' Was t' NO an' tell Dipsnig yer part 'o' Captain Clegg's crew. He nods to Zane and Sticks, before leaving.

Zane bows, simultaneously putting out the flame. Thank you Clegg.

[Drakeburn]

Thenardier growls and replies unhappily. Stay away from me wit' tha'! I hate th' devilfire! Thanks t' me frien' breathin' will be easy! Yer in. Welcome t' the crew. ' Was t' NO an' tell Dipsnig yer part 'o' Captain Clegg's crew. He nods to Zane and Sticks, before leaving.

"Excuse me Captain...." Forgan Shieldbreaker speaks up.
"If you're going on an expedition, can you take me along as well? I've had experience in battle, and I happen to be a half - giant. So, can I join as well?" Forgan asked with a friendly smile.

[Hattish Thing]

Captain Clegg turns to stare. ...That depends, Mr. Shiel'breaker...wot can ye offer to me crew? Other than bein' a mea' shiel' tha' i'. Wot special abilities can ye offer? This...expedition will test members min', as well as flesh.

[Aric Kale]

Zane retreats back to the shadows, waiting.

[Drakeburn]

"To start with," Forgan said with a grin, "I have the strength of ten men. I once bested a troll with my own bare hands, believe it or not. And I don't just fight for a living. I'm able to do jobs of any sort."
Forgan folded his arms and calmly stared back at Captain Clegg.
Having a half - giant on your side was known to be one of the best things to happen to someone.

[Murkus]

"I find that anyone with 'break' in their last name is a good man to have along," says a strange, vaguely Latin voice. Sticks appears from behind Thenardier. He's a grey elf of some sort, nearly as tall as the half-giant but twice as thin. "Good to meet you, Forgan. I'm Sticks. I'll be your wizard this evening."

[Hattish Thing]

Thenardier nods and growls some more! He does that...He looks over at Sticks. How did he sneak up so quietly on the pirate! Then jumps a bit and speaks again to Forgan with speed. AYE...Perhaps yer righ' Sticks. Lead th' Welcome aboard Forgan. Every pirate needs a half-giant. Alrigh', meet me a' NO.

[Aric Kale]

Zane leaves.

[Halae]

In through the front door, an haired young man in an olive green and black robe strides. On his face, he wears a single large eyepatch made from black leather. it has two straps that go around his other eye and ear the ear that goes with it before meeting at the back and becoming only one for the other side of the eyepatch. I know it sounds complex at a glance, but really, it's simple in practice.

another thing that the patrons of the bar may notice if they're of an eldritch inclination is that he has a big "Notice Me" sign of eldritch power attached to him. It doesn't even have any other effect than to simply draw their attention.

He looks a bit disoriented and a little lost. perhaps he's new to the Nexus? Still, he goes to sit down at the bar and says, "I'd like a Remo Black if you have it."

[Rebonack]

"You just don't like the idea because you didn't think of it," a rather dapper looking fellow with a toothbrush mustache says. He's wearing a bowler hat with a pair of tiny lightning rods affixed to it busy sparking away like a Jacob's Ladder. Aside from that he's clad in a dapper black vest and slacks. Though under the vest is a weird clockwork breastplate that does heaven knows what.

"No. I don't like the idea because it's stupid," retorts his table companion. A young woman of Wild West steampunk persuasion with a large mechanical gauntlet on her right arm. Oh. And she's a pegasatyr. Steampunk Western Greek Myth? Hey, it's the Nexus. Why not?

"Oh come off it, Acacia. It isn't stupid, it's brilliant!" the fellow in the bowler hat objects, tapping at a drawing sitting between them. "The fundamentals are all sound."

"I've told you Wilbert," Acacia says, waggling a finger at him. "Call me Ace. Ace. Like the card? It isn't hard to remember. And the fundamentals are all soundly stupid."

They sure are getting along well!

Oh hey! Is that a pixelated portal forming? That's a sure fire sign that-

Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!

Yeah. That. Someone might have just noticed the summoner.

"Oh bloody hell!" Wilburt swears as he rolls up the schematic and tucks it away somewhere safe. "This is why no one should ever meet in this awful place."

Zee, meanwhile, peers at the young man. Then up at the portal in the ceiling. Then back to the young man again. His drink is already sitting next to him. "You know you're wearing a 'kick-me' sign, right?"

[Halae]

Hadlin just looks up at the roof and takes his drink, looking a bit tired. He grunts in agreement; he knows it's there. He also knows it's likely what's causing this particular disturbance.

Awesome.

[Rebonack]

The portal makes a SPLORT! noise and spits out five huge rainbow colored slinkies. Each of which begin to attach to each other until they create a vaguely humanoid shape.

Ace just balks. "Good god... This is why I stay on Deadwood. We might get some crazy crap but at least it's consistent crazy crap."

And then the slinky lashes out with ones of its garishly colored limbs and smashes the crap out of Ace and Wilbert's table. Now there's booze and splinters everywhere!

The pegasatyr, quick as a flash, had grabbed her conversation partner and flown up into the rafters to avoid the attack!

"Well. Thanks for the save, love. But could you kindly set me down? It's a bit improper to be rescued by a lady," Wilbert comments.

Ace grins sharkishly and plops the man on top of a rafter. "Who said anything about being a proper lady?"

[Halae]

Hadlin frowns, and turns around. His instincts tell him not to summon something; too many people around, and so his first response is to go for the gun The Lost One gave him, a plasma revolver with "School is in Session" etched into the side of the barrel.

And then he unloads towards the slinky; it has unlimited ammo, so it's not like he's wasting anything, and it's a fairly deadly piece of equipment. That said, it's not like he's a good shot.

[Rebonack]

Pew pew!

Shoot bursts of plasma at the slinky golem! The electrically charged particle weapon blasts into the monster, causing its metal springs to glow! If Hadlin had a little better shot placement he could probably melt through the thing. But randomly peppering it with blasts of super heated gas just isn't going to do.

The slinky golem responds by rolling itself into a rough sphere and then comes barreling toward Hadlin like a huge steel bowling ball! Probably a good idea not to get hit by that thing. Thankfully he doesn't have to dodge too quickly, mostly because "HEEEEEEEEEAAAH!"

Ace comes streaking down from the ceiling, grabs a table, and smashes the furniture into the side of the golem. The force of the impact knocks the murder machine neatly off course.

Zee seems to have made herself sparse. Random encounters are entertainment for the guests, not for the waitstaff!

[Halae]

Hadlin moves out of the way, what little way there is left needed to move out of. Alright, that didn't work. In fact, it may have just made it more dangerous due to the heat.

This time, Hadlin takes the gun in both hands and breathes out as he actually aims. This was the stance you're supposed to take right? He certainly hopes it is. He fires a pair of shots that he hopes hit vital points a bit harder.

[Rebonack]

Vital parts?

It is a golem made out of giant slinkies. None of its parts look any more vital than the others. Of course... It must have some sort of magical power source, right? If only Hadlin had some sort of special vision enhancing ability that would allow him to see such things...

Ah well. Too bad he doesn't.

The plasma rounds melt into the machine's limb, causing several links to fuse together and become immobile. Whilst irritating that isn't going to slow it down that much.

A hiss of steam and a screech of tortured metal announces the golem's next assault. This time around it seems to be focused on Ace since the pegasatyr has decide that she's going to get up in the thing's face and show it what for. It sweeps two of its limbs at her, the attack deftly avoided as she drops flat in mid-air and loses only a single primary feather for her trouble. With a snap of her wings Ace rockets forward and plants a heymaker in the golem's center of mass, the force of the blow launching it off its 'feet' and into a nearby wall.

"HA! Is that the best you can do!?"

The golem rebounds off said wall and smashes into her.

The pegasatyr is send bouncing across the floor and lands in a disorganized heap a good fifteen feet away.

[Deathkeeper]

Not even a broody Jace could possibly miss a gaudy golem being summoned in the middle of a tavern, and especially not with his familiar sitting about waiting for something to happen. (which he's been doing for several pages, unfortunately)
[Well finally! It's been mighty boring 'round here.]
I'm not always a fan of your definition of "interesting," Zebes.
Spinning around and hopping off his stool with Zebes taking his place at his shoulder, the man in blue sets his sights on the odd thing. Pointing both his pointer fingers at it and with a few arcane syllables, he lobs a fireball at it, avoiding friendly fire with an extra bit of power, which should keep the heat from hitting anyone but the golem unless they're very flammable. He couldn't keep that up all day, but a few times were fine.

[Halae]

Damn you, OoC text! Pointing out things that should have occured to me!

Still, this isn't something Hadlin is aware of; he's assuming it's some sort of strange living creature. He'll need this pointed out to him to understand that it's a deranged construct.

So, for now, he aims for the connection point between its two arms.

[Rebonack]

Plasma and more plasma! Fire is, after all, technically a 'dirty' plasma. But that's neither here nor there. The heat from the attacks is starting to make parts of the golem tacky! And it doesn't seem to be a big fan of this at all. Two limbs launch into the rafters and bind around a wooden beam, lifting most of its body off the floor. Its two legs lash out at the flame-slingers, aiming to clobber them something nasty!

Wilbert, meanwhile, gives a nice little yell of, "Bloody hell!" when the golem latches onto his perch! Out comes his cane and with a little twist the brass outer casing retracts to reveal a cane-saber! He begins to thwack at the golem mightily!

Ace, meanwhile, is rising to her hooves. "Oow... Damn that thing hits like an ox," she mutters as she rubs her head and gives her wings an irritated fluff. The pegasatyr casts her gaze around the room and laments that she doesn't have the space she would like to pick up speed. Her speed is her greatest asset and there just isn't the chance to use it inside a tavern.

[Deathkeeper]

This seems to happen a lot to Jace. It doesn't stop his instinctive response of:
Oh. crap.
before diving away to the side. An evasive roll is the best he can manage, but it might do.
His familiar, however is much more agile, jumping off and flying (hopefully) out of reach with a few lazy flips. One of the best things about dragons as familiars is their own natural magic talents, however small. Zebes will attempt to cast a simple Identify spell in attempt figure out what in the Abyss he's looking at and see any magic in it.

[Halae]

Hadlin fires an unaimed shot towards the golem as he dodges to the side, rolling over the bar. He's getting the sense that if he simply keeps firing at it, the thing will eventually melt. He doesn't know if that'll kill it, since everything's all weird here, but it certainly won't be pleasant for the creature.

[Rebonack]

The golem is identified!

It's a Slinky Golem, a magical construct of steel springs given a semblance of life by binding an elemental spirit to the thing. It is also getting shot quite a bit. One of its limbs is starting to get a little droopy from the heat...

With a resounding *SLANK!* the golem drops back to the floor and yanks its limbs back to itself! And then gets clobbered again when Ace smashes her gauntlet into one of its nearly molten arms. The force of the impact is enough to send the limb flying clean off!

The pegasatyr dips under the counter attack and quickly flits away before shoving her gauntlet into Cosmo's bucket of soapy floor-moping water.

"Godalmighty that thing is hot!" she hisses along with her glove as the metal quickly cools.

[Aric Kale]

Zane returns to the tavern. forgot my ba- what the hell? He interrupts himself and leaps aside as the limb flys towards him. Zane would quickly jump back up, create a ball of black fire and lob it at the golem.

[Halae]

"Less cursing, more fire!" Hadlin says urgently, firing more plasma at the slinky thing as he peeks over the counter, using it for cover. Melt, you giant metal beast! Melt!

[Deathkeeper]

[Boss, remember when I said that we broke the weird scale before?]
[I do. Why? I'm in the middle of not getting killed here.]
One of the many, many good things about telepathy is the speed at which it can be conveyed among experts. Since it's natural for Zebes and Jace has been doing it for years, let's consider them experts.
[Well, now we've shattered it. It's bound to an elemental spirit. It's a toy, Boss. Since when are there elemental spirits of toys?! Oh, also, it's entirely metal and really hot, so make use of that.]
Oh. Tell me that first next time.
Well, time to make use of that job at the forge. Well, the two days at the forge Jace had before he got fired. It's complicated.
With another spell, he summons a large amount of water from various sources (some unseen) and throws all of it at the red-hot golem. If quenched so rapidly, the metal would become very brittle, prompting Jace's call of
It's weak! Hit it again!