Trog's Tavern CCLI

[Deathkeeper]

Sam is surprisingly unbothered by the blast of questions, and seems to get them all down in his head.
"It's about three blocks south of the main plaza in the Lotus Gardens. It's meant to be a bit classy, but still casual enough. Uh, the lobster bisque that I had with Dorry was really good. I don't really know what you mean by items. And I'd recommend the brisket. And uh, in terms of wines, it's owned by a dwarf. I feel like that sums it up." and then Sam can finally breathe, since he said all of that in two breaths.

[Mee]

"Anybody can get one of those, it's the Nexus! There's more weapon shops than clothing stores!" Cassidy's well past reasoning with as she leaves the tavern.

"Which is actually kind of frustrating! I would like some actual clothing to wear! Not another stupid sword!" The angel rants, following along behind Cassidy.

[Morty]

"Urgh." he replies. " Close I say. It's still a bit restricted. I mean some people say it is art when an animal manges to put paint on a paper. And that#s not the case here. You can't accidently summon something."

"Restricted how?" Fayyaad asks. "Do you just mean that it has to be done on purpose?"

[Zefir]

"Exactly." he repleis. "Neither a baby or an animal can summon just by copy someone. I have to say I wonder how it is with people here. After all I never saw anything like you."

[Morty]

"While there are people who summon various beings, it's far from universal," Fayyaad says. "I've never met any in person. I do have magic, but it's just for creating and shaping fire."

[Rebonack]

Enter Geneva!

A human of European descent, most likely. She's wearing an outfit that wouldn't be too out of place on your average Atom Age pulp-adventure hero. You know the sort. Nice shirt, leather bombardier jacket, sturdy pants with ample pockets, solid boots, and of course a pair of flight goggles worn like a necklace. On the back of her jacket is the Vault 69 emblem, though for whatever odd reason the middle of the VaultTech logo looks suspiciously like a pokeball. There's a rather advanced looking computational device on her left forearm, appearing for all the world like some sort of cross between a PIPboy and some of the more recent incarnations of PokeGEAR.

Oh.

And she's got hilariously pink anime hair.

No doubt she's from some kind of absurd crossover universe between Fallout and Pokemon.

...that actually sounds pretty awesome, doesn't it?

Deathclaw! I choose you!

Regardless, she steps into Trog's and surveys the present population. The usual crowd appears to be here. Some dwarves getting drunk over there. An arm wrestling match between orcs and orks. Some kind of awful cloud-like edlritch abomination wearing a suit-vest and bow-tie despite not having any discernible anatomy. A mint-colored unicorn levitating a trio of stringed instruments whilst belting out bawdy tavern songs. A small skirmish between dust bunny armies under one of the forgotten tables. And of course no fewer than four spooky cloaked individuals fighting over the shadows of the tavern's Dark Corner(tm).

But no doubt there are other people here, right? Who might they be?

[WarKitty]

A rather fluffy cat is sitting on a table drinking a bowl of what appears to be cream near the entryway. She turns to look at Geneva. Fancy-looking gadget. Who might you be? I'm Xun.

[Rebonack]

Rather fluffy?

Like... really fluffy?

Like one of those absurdly fluffy cats with the flat faces?

Or are we just talking moderately fluffy, here?

Regardless, Geneva smiles down at the feline. "Oh, hi there!"

She isn't terribly surprised by the existence of a talking cat. Frankly, totally mundane animals are more unusual than talking ones in the Nexus. That's just how the weirdness goes.

The woman holds out a hand toward the cat in case she wants to smell it or shake it or bat at it or whatever a cat would do when offered a hand. "I'm Geneva Fischer. Nice to meet you, Xun. Do you stop by the tavern often?"

That's a decent way to start a conversation, surely.

[WarKitty]

Really fluffy, although without the flat face.

Xun politely sniffs the offered hand, then touches her nose to it briefly. Fairly often. They serve a good salmon fillet. Plus I get paid for keeping any trouble down. Can't say I've seen you here before - how long have you been in the Nexus?

[Rebonack]

Noseboop!

Geneva knows all about noseboops. All that mysterious cat body language.

"About... four years now, I think?" she replies thoughtfully. "I'm a castaway. At least I'm pretty sure that's the name I heard for people who get sucked into the Nexus. Though I guess I didn't really get sucked in. More properly, I was messing with a two hundred year old teleporter and, well-"

She makes a little 'poof!' motion with her fingers.

"POOF! I ended up in a field next to a pond. It was the first time I had ever seen so much clean water and so much tall grass not filled with irradiated monsters."

Irradiated monsters are the worst.

Can you imagine wild pokemon mutated by FEV and radiation?

Normal pokemon are bad enough.

"What about you? How long have you been here? And what do you mean by keeping trouble down?" Geneva asks curiously. She has an idea of what the cat might mean. Appearances are often deceptive in the Nexus after all. Something Geneva knows first hand.

[WarKitty]

Xun blinks quickly. About four years, myself. I was an abandoned familiar in my world, before I stepped through a portal and ended up here. Much improvement, I daresay. The cat pauses to lap up a bit of cream. I'm with MERC - paid security. I've got some physical forms, but my best ability is that I can modify magic and magitech. Make it do different things than what the caster wanted.

[Rebonack]

"A familiar..." Geneva echos. She's heard that term before. That's what- "Oh! Like Zebes. I have a friend named Jace, he's a sorcerer. He has a pocket dragon familiar named Zebes. Not to be confused with a pseudo dragon."

That's a very important distinction.

"Do... ah... do you mind if I pet you?" Geneva asks, very familiar with the human impulse to pet furry animals. And likewise with how violating it can feel when people do it without asking for permission. "I'm not sure if I've ever really met anyone from the mercenary organization. I've done a bit of work with the 'Orgs' around the Nexus, but I'm not really a part of any of them. Mostly I work for Teek Enterprises doing... ah... well, work on psionics and technology. I can't go into a lot of detail there because of non-disclosure agreements. Though I DO have a personal project I've been working on for a while," she adds with a wide smile. "I've been trying to figure out how to build a bridge between the Nexus and universes that it has only a transient connection to. That way people who get stranded here would have the ability to return home if they want to."

It's a very benevolent project.

And a very expensive one.

However!

She's been making headway!

"What's it like working for MERC? Do you get dental?"

[WarKitty]

The cat pushes the bowl of cream away a little. Yes, petting is allowed. Behind the ears, please. Oh and tell me more about this project? What sort of base portal are you looking to use? Is it pure arcana-based, or magitech? Runic or energy locus, or both? Are you using plane shift technology or reality-folding types? Her whiskers quiver as she talks.

[Rebonack]

Geneva smiles and pets the cat behind the ears.

That's the best spot, as she well knows. Okay, well, maybe not the BEST spot. But a pretty great spot.

"It's a stable Einstein-Rosen bridge," Geneva replies. "All of the stable bridges between the Nexus and surrounding universes work like that. Or at least all of the one's I've had the opportunity to take data from have been. You never know with science when a new observation might throw everything on its head."

That's what makes science so exciting.

"The bridge itself is running off a hodgepodge of different types of magic and technology," Geneva explains. "I learned early on that any one technology base will always fall short due to the cluttered nature of the Nexus' cosmology. That's probably why it's so hard for people to leave. They can only overcome the barriers for exit from one universe. They have to overcome all of them in a fashion harmonious enough to prevent the whole bridge array from exploding."

It was only a little explosion.

More like a loud pop, followed by the machine catching on fire.

"I've been able to open up a stable bridge large enough to shine a laser beam through that's a few photons wide," Geneva says, sounding quite proud of that accomplishment. "Not nearly enough to send a person through yet, but it's proof-of-concept."

[Zefir]

"While there are people who summon various beings, it's far from universal," Fayyaad says. "I've never met any in person. I do have magic, but it's just for creating and shaping fire."

"So, is that your kind's ability?" he asks. "Maybe you are from a lower fire plane. That would make sense."

[Morty]

"Tieflings are me are descended from humans and devas, who are servants of our god," Fayyaad explains. "Who is the lord of flame, certainly. But pyromancy isn't our power. Anyone can learn it, many of us tieflings just have an aptitude for it."

[WarKitty]

Xun purrs softly at the ear-rubs. How long have these bridges managed to stay stable for? And how long do they stay up? she inquires.

[Rebonack]

"As of right now?" Geneva replies, glancing down at the display on her wrist. "Let's see... as of right now, the traversable bridge has been running for three hundred seventy one hours twelve minutes and forty seven seconds. We're doing a stress test right now to see how long it can stay open. The hope is that we'll eventually be able to open up a bridge that doesn't require an external power source to keep it stable."

That's a pretty long order, yet.

But they'll get it figured out eventually!

"We've already done tests to see how long they stay open without power given the set-up we have now," Geneva says. Then adds with a frown, "The only thing I can compare the span of time to is the half-life of extremely heavy synthetic elements."

So...

Not very long.

"But that's still something! And we've managed to increase the bridge lifespan by two whole orders of magnitude since we started," Geneva says, her tone proud. Still fractions of a second, but better than nothing, right?

[Zefir]

"Tieflings are me are descended from humans and devas, who are servants of our god," Fayyaad explains. "Who is the lord of flame, certainly. But pyromancy isn't our power. Anyone can learn it, many of us tieflings just have an aptitude for it."

"Never heared of that." the man says. "One of my summonings comes from a high plane of fire, but he never mentioned a god or lord of flames. Must be another thing of this nexus you mentioned."

"Oh and what is a deva?"

[Fenric]

The spitting image of the legendary Fenric walks in... except he's dressed in slightly old-fashioned clothes like he escaped from a Renaissance Faire instead of priest's robes, and he's clearly a lot younger than the 600+ year old werefox.

Since, after all, this is his grandson Frederick going up to the bar and ordering the old classic vodka martini. He peers around briefly as if looking for someone, but does not seem to see whomever it is... and does not seem at all surprised by that.

[Morty]

"Devas are beings of flame, serving our god," Fayyaad says. "They take a great many forms. Some say faithful of the Lord of Flame become devas after death, but I don't know if it's true."

[Rebonack]

Well...

Geneva is petting a cat.

Petting a cat is kind of an unusual thing to be doing at a bar, of course. But not unwelcome. Geneva typically stops by Trog's to see the various interesting people more so than to get sloshed. That, and the tavern is often a point of entry for castaways. Getting readings on transient portals to the Nexus provides her with valuable information for her ongoing project.

Regardless!

She waves at the fox person!

Why?

Well.

Why not.

"Hello! Are you from Inari's?" she asks curiously. She's pretty sure the answer is yes. How many OTHER fox people hang around the Nexus?

[Fenric]

Frederick smiles at the human - they're practically a novelty around here. Little does he know...

Hiya!

And sort of...

Lady Caroline's my aunt. But I'm an Arcane Historian, not a priest, and I have a room at the Dancing Fox Inn rather than staying there... the religious stuff gets a bit tiresome after a while, really.

[Rebonack]

Yeah, those boring old humans. Geneva's anime-pink hair stands out among normal folk, but it would be easy enough to assume that she dyes it. And she identifies as a human! She was raised as one. Didn't know otherwise until the day she got her PIPgear at sixteen. She even spends most of her time as one! Except when Nick is around. Then she goes for griffin. Unless, of course, shes expecting trouble.

"They do tend to be a bit heavy on it, don't they?" Geneva laughs. "But they're a temple, what more can you expect? I'm actually going to be having my wedding there pretty soon and I'm sitting here to try to distract myself from thinking about the fact hat I'm going to be having my wedding there pretty soon but I guess bringing it up right now is sort of the opposite of trying to keep my mind off it isn't it?"

Breeeeeeaaaaath.

"So! Things that aren't weddings. I'm Geneva Fischer, engineer, psionicist, and part-time adventurer. I enjoy exploring unusual landscapes and trying to figure out how to create a stable Einstein-Rosen bridge between the Nexus and other universes in my free time. My home universe was pretty bad and I would love to see people given the chance to migrate somewhere less awful. I'm an advocate for ethical pokemon treatment and I tend to talk way too much when I'm excited about something I hope this isn't too obnoxious because I'm pretty sure I've already started rambling."

Well!

That's quite the mouthful.

Geneva smiles awkwardly.

[Fenric]

(( I need to update his picture: he's not dark-furred anymore. He's back to normal now ))

Frederick smiles and laughs softly

Congratulations, Geneva.

I'm Frederick Elteron, clan NorZilliar. I end up spending a lot of my time just doing basic divinations for people, and I work part time at the Inside Historical Society. That does sound like a noble goal... well, both of those do... though I must admit to my overall ignorance about issues with the treatement of Pokémon - the only ones I know of are at the Temple.

[Rebonack]

"History is a fascinating subject," Geneva replies with a kind smile. "And the temple treats their pokemon very well. It's one of the nicer places I've seen, really. Mostly I object to the use of pokeballs. They have some really sketchy mental effects on pokemon that are caught with them. Not to mention the fact that storing a pokemon in a ball is just awful. Most people aren't very familiar with Silph Co's teleportation technology, but it all works more or less the same way. The subject is digitized, disintegrated, transmitted, and then re-materialized. A pokeball works more or less the same way, but it doesn't send the pokemon anywhere. Just digitizes them and stores them in the ball's memory until they are needed."

She frowns, obviously bothered by the whole process.

"Pokeballs can be corrupted, too. Just like any reusable storage medium. Back home in the Wasteland, before I was pulled into the Nexus, I ran into a few pokemon that had been corrupted in their balls by ionizing radiation. It... wasn't pleasant."

Her gaze falls and she rubs the cat a little harder. She does her best to forget that horrible, garbled sound they made. That smell like ozone and rot. A twitching, jittering cloud of clashing color in the rough shape of a huge bird.

Hah...

'Water gun'.

That wasn't water the horror spit. It was itself, its partly disintegrated flesh rendered down to liquid. Killing it had been a mercy.

"So... yeah... long story short, pokeballs are bad. If you ever have kids that get interested in pokemon, teach them to make friends with pets the old fashioned way instead of beating them into submission and then brainwashing them when they're half-dead."

[Fenric]

Frederick arches his eyebrows in a mixture of surprise and understanding

Oh! So that's why Aunt Carol banned them. That's pretty dreadful, really...

Then he nods

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't ever let my kids do anything quite that dreadful. And some of those even talk... one's even a priestess, and I think there's an acolyte now, too.

Frederick doesn't understand that those aren't exactly normal...

[Rebonack]

Excellent!

Another convert to the cause!

Or at least someone who won't let their kids use those terrible pokeballs. Honestly, pokemon seem like an awfully dangerous pastime for children to begin with.

"Yes, that's why," Geneva confirms. "Most monsters can't talk. At least not normally. They just don't have the right vocal organs to make the right sounds. Nearly all of them have a relatively complex language, though. The temple uses a translation spell to allow them to be understood by everyone else. Generally speaking, monsters have a level of intelligence about on par with a young humanoid child."

She pauses for a moment to allow that to set in.

"Which means abusing them is like abusing children. They only appear violent to anyone who wanders past because they've developed an instinctual understanding that humans are a threat. Just like most animals," Geneva continues. "There are a few that can match or even exceed average humanoid intelligence. But because they can't talk, they get caught all the same. The pokeballs and the catching process warps their loyalties so that they're zealously obedient to the person who caught them. It's just a terrible practice all around and I'm surprised the Inside government hasn't banned it yet. They're usually strongly opposed to slavery."

Maybe there should be a pokemon emancipation movement?

"And here I am rambling about monster rights. You said you do divination for people?" Geneva asks. "Like what?"

[Fenric]

Frederick nods

Does seem somewhat odd, doesn't it?

then he chuckles.

Let's see... this week I've helped locate eight wallets, six purses, twenty-three cellphones, eight watches, fourteen earrings, and a pair of tennis shoes of all things. Magical lost and found, you know... oh, and one six year old who ended up just being asleep in the basement where he found a pile of blankets and snuggled in - nice to have a happy ending, but I had to scold the parents a bit for coming to me instead of getting the proper authorities.

He rolls his eyes.

Otherwise, I got to tell one happy person that the child really is his, and another less happy person that the man she inquired about really was her father. Why they came to me? No idea.

Then he lights up with a smile, that fades a bit...

I did get to show one lady that her family back home is alive and well! That was nice... but kinda sad, too.

[WarKitty]

Spoiler

Show

"As of right now?" Geneva replies, glancing down at the display on her wrist. "Let's see... as of right now, the traversable bridge has been running for three hundred seventy one hours twelve minutes and forty seven seconds. We're doing a stress test right now to see how long it can stay open. The hope is that we'll eventually be able to open up a bridge that doesn't require an external power source to keep it stable."

That's a pretty long order, yet.

But they'll get it figured out eventually!

"We've already done tests to see how long they stay open without power given the set-up we have now," Geneva says. Then adds with a frown, "The only thing I can compare the span of time to is the half-life of extremely heavy synthetic elements."

So...

Not very long.

"But that's still something! And we've managed to increase the bridge lifespan by two whole orders of magnitude since we started," Geneva says, her tone proud. Still fractions of a second, but better than nothing, right?

Xun settles her chin on her paws, enjoying any and all ear-rubs. How big is the apparatus for this bridge? And where is the entry-way located? What are you using for a power supply?