Trog's Tavern CCLI

[WarKitty]

Xun jumps backwards as the floor begins to ripple, landing slightly askew but astride geneva protectively. Why is this thing called a MewTwo when it seems to have no idea of feline capabilities? Or for that matter, to bear any resemblance to a feline? Real felines are much more agile than this...thing. She feels no need to reply to it, however.

[Rebonack]

Mewtwo narrows his eyes, swiftly becoming irritated with this situation. But instead of lashing out, he simply focuses himself, causing a wave of psionic power to cascade over him, mending his wounds.

Oh great.

He can heal himself.

You can not win. Your bravery is foolishness. I can not be defeated by a lesser being such as yourself. This is your last chance. Step aside.

He sounds awfully serious.

[Fenric]

A quieter voice whispers to Xun

That thing you guard is merely a decoy, and we have a plan. Step aside and let him pick it up: it will lead to his undoing. Geneva is safe at the Temple of Inari.

[WarKitty]

Xun steps back warily, letting off one final growl at the mewtwo. She sets up some magic watching to see where it goes though.

[Rebonack]

Mewtwo narrows his eyes at the cat.

Reason at last.

He strides up to the fallen mew, stoops down to pick her up, and immediately scowls. As soon as his hands touch 'Geneva', the insentient form POOF!s into a mundane substitute doll. Written on its belly with a sharpie is the following message.

I snuck through the mirror portal to the astral plane while you were busy gloating. Come get me, stinkhead.
<3 Geneva

Followed by a cartoony drawing of a dopey looking Mewtwo with wavy lines radiating from his head. A helpful arrow with the caption 'offensive odor' points to the lines.

The doll is telekinetically atomized as Mewtwo stalks through the mirror portal.

And to his doom.

[WarKitty]

Xun shrugs and jumps through the portal. Time to find out how this ends!

[Terumitsu]

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.

Nodding as she listened, Riss raised an eyebrow at the 'dwarf' comment. "Actually I don't think I could sum it up just by knowing the person is... Wait, do you mean that they're Khazad or that they're genetically dispositioned to be greatly below average size?" she asked, wanting a bit of clarity. Thankfully there was a proper noun for the metahuman offshoot to differentiate it from what some might consider a slur.

Though, given that any group of peoples had their stereotypes, it was another thing to just assume outright about an individual's taste.. Though, then again, given the way Sam referenced it, perhaps that meant that the owner's tastes were in line with said stereotype? People are just difficult.

Away at the entrance, though, a disheveled animal snuck in behind a patron and gave a cautious glance around before skirting to the wall and slowly slinking around the edge of the room. At a glance, it looked like something that had found it's way here from Inari's but it was quite a ways away from the arctic given it's coloring. Looking more tired than hurt, though, it seemed to just be scampering about and trying to find a place to not be bothered for the moment.

[Deathkeeper]

Sam clears his throat. Bit awkward.
"Oh, just...you ever read a book with like, stereotypical fantasy dwarves? They're always got a think for stonecrafting, metalcrafting, and alcohol. It's like that."
The fox might be able to settle under their table. Sam's sense of smell wouldn't notice the animal with all the smells of the tavern, and he's certainly not looking under the table.

[Terumitsu]

"Can't say that I've read any books like that. Documentaries and history, yes, but not fiction.. Not much fiction, I mean, if you want to count a bit here and there about various mythologies, I mean." Riss replies. Given that her first exposure to dwarves and similar feyfolk was from here in the Nexus, it only made sense to her to see any tales of them from others as having some kind of historical basis than a mythological one.

"At any rate, how'd you describe the drinks beyond what I would presume given the context as 'fortified?'" she reiterated, trying to steer away from what was an increasingly awkward situation as she finished off whatever drink that blue liquid had been. She blinked as if in mild surprise and looked at the glass before setting it back down. "Didn't expect the chaser at the end there.." she said. Mostly to herself.

While Sam's nose might not normally smell a fox, he might be able to smell this one simply from how it strongly reeked of briny water as it zigzagged it's way around the room. It certainly seemed to smell him, though. Being in a kitchen for long periods did lend to one smelling of food after a while. Sniffing at and around him, it's ears perked up and if he were to look under the table, he'd see a pair of bright blue eyes looking back at him.. At least for a moment.

After what might look like a moment's deliberation, though, the fox would leap at the gauntlets at his side in an attempt to steal them... Apparently ignoring the rules in place that a mouth couldn't quite do what two hands could given how adroit it was. It wouldn't run off with them, though. Instead it would try to scurry just a little ways away with it's prize and look back at the Seeq with an impish air, daring him to give chase.

[Deathkeeper]

Sam opens his mouth to say something to Riss, but his attention is drawn to the sudden pull at his waist. His lower hand snatches down to clamp over one of them but the fox makes away with the left gauntlet. Without ado he stands up.
"Hey now, you get back here with that!" he says, taking a slow step towards the critter.

[Shadowcaller]

Ambrosia will see Wenomir's eyes narrow slightly, as if in surprise. It's a brief and delicate change in expression, though, that's accompanied by a lightning-quick defence bordering on prescient.

His sword at first moves upwards to guard his head, as though he was taken in by Ambrosia's feint. Then, however, it's suddenly lower again, almost as if it simply changed places without moving through the intervening space. He brings it down against the scholar's blade, the impact possibly sending a jolt down her arm. It's an aggressive defence, meant to push Ambrosia's weapon downwards and reverse her momentum.

((Just leaving a note that I will reply to this during the day so i don't forget it. I have been delaying this post for weeks. <.<))

[Terumitsu]

A jump back but still keeping that same distance away, the fox dropped the gauntlet for just a moment to yip at Sam before scooping it back up and backing away yet again, it's tail swishing from side to side like an excited puppy's.

It doesn't look like it was going to let Sam have his stuff back so soon.

Riss, on the other hand, was rather nonplussed about the situation. "...I'll save your seat for you as long as I'm here, I guess?" she said, moving on to a green drink that looked almost more gaseous than liquid... It had that sort of 'TV science project' look that probably wasn't healthy to imbibe in large quantities for normal people.

Then again, 'normal people' described an extremely narrow cross-section of the Nexus.

At any rate, the fox seemed to be trying to lead Sam out into the streets of Inside...

[DoomITP]

3: Having a pleasant conversation with Ethriel
Kamaria nods. "Okay," she says. If it's best not to ask about it, then it's best not to ask about it. "I'll bet it's on the WHO's list of things that cause cancer. Is it?" she asks.

She continues eating.

I don't think it's quite that bad. It's kinda one of those things that tastes good but you'd be grossed out if you knew where it came from.

Ethriel says, finishing up his own food.

[FireFox]

A woman in her mid twenties walks in, the swagger in her hips muted by the heavy utility belt full of pouches she has on her brown short shorts. Her eye-catching tank top is the same light blue color as her irises. Long red hair is pulled into a ponytail, revealing the skin on her neck and shoulders to be completely untanned. Her legs, too, are pale white from the thighs down to the brand new Merrell Moab hiking boots she's sauntering around on. The adventuress orders a scotch at the bar and leans against it while looking around the tavern.

[Rebonack]

"Hello!" come at least a half dozen voices in perfect harmony. Should the adventurer look up, she may notice that someone(s) has apparently built some sort of weird bee hive up in the rafters of the tavern. And populating the hive is a swarm of tiny mouse-sized pixie drakes! The tiny faerie dragons are colored like honey bees, sporting yellowish fur and four little dragon wings with insect membrane stretched between the fingers. In all, they look very much like tiny dragons with insect features rather than insects with dragon features. Probably most notable is the fact that the inside of their mouths in addition to their eyes glow a bright shade of Disney Villain Green.

"Are you an adventurer?" the drake swarm asks, each member of the hive buzzing in unison. "Do you need some healing potions? I've got some honey I made with a healing gossamer in it. You wanna buy some honey? People love honey, it's the best. I've tired making candles before, but candles are weird. Honey is better. Do you wanna buy some? Because I've got a whole bunch. I'm Drake! Who are you? Drake's a great name because that's what I am. People are always having names that they aren't which is strange... Hey! So what's your name? Is it what you are? That would make sense. Did you ever eat a squirrel before? I do that sometimes. Squirrels don't really like honey, but they're always stealing the bird seed I leave out for the birds. Do you like honey? I've got bunches if you want some, it's magic!"

Apparently hanging onto a thought is sometimes difficult when you're a bunch of magical faerie bug lizards.

But Drake is trying!

He really is.

Will the adventurer tell him her name? Or buy some honey? Stay tuned to find out!

[FireFox]

The woman opens her mouth about halfway through the bombardment of words, foolishly assuming Drake was finished. She then closes her mouth, smiles, and keeps track of all the questions while admiring all the cute little faerie dragons. Only when she's absolutely sure she can fit her answers in does she speak up. Hello! I think I'm an adventuress, but I suppose it's true I've only been on a single adventure so far. I don't need any healing potions, but it'd be nice to have some extra stockpiled. How much is your honey? Why don't your candles turn out well? I'll buy magical honey if it's a good deal. A pleasure to meet you, Drake! I'm Tovia Solomon. She does a little half bow at her seat that's just an excuse for her to drink her scotch before continuing down her mental list of responses. In some ways that's what I am, but it's not everything I am. I'd be surprised if Drake was everything you were, as well. I've never ate a squirrel before, but I remember my brother eating many of them throughout the years. I absolutely love honey! I love magic things too, so I bet you that magic honey is something I'm going to have to try. Ummm, did I get everything?

[Rebonack]

"Oh wow, that was pretty good," Drake replies, clearly impressed. "I think that deserves a free sample!"

Another pixie drake climbs out of the hive holding an over-sized wax cell in his little claws, large enough to hold about a teaspoon of honey. She'll be able to smell it even through the wax, rich and sweet. The top of the cell is seal with a little wax cap with a tab of harder, paperish material sticking out for easy opening. The mouse-sized bee drake lands on the counter-top and pushes the 'shot' of honey Tovia. "It's my special red honey! Made from the best rhododendron nectar!" all the Drakes explain in unison. "I make it for people here at the tavern and Trog pays me for it. Which I guess technically makes all the samples free but sometimes people give me tips but since this is a free-free sample you don't have to give me one. It'll make you feel tingly and relaxed and has a nice buzz! People told me it's like absinthe and it really packs a whollop so I don't ever give someone more than one shot unless they promise me they won't drink any booze along with it because otherwise they get sick and throw up everywhere and that smells really bad."

It's true.

Vomit smells really awful.

"I've got other honey too that's actually magical but mostly I just make that on request because weaving a dreaming into my honey takes a lot more effort than just making it normal but there's this really simple glamor I know that makes good things taste better so I use that one on all my honey because then it goes great with pretty much everything and I sell a whole bunch of it to all those ponies over on Carousel Court since they use it in their baking but I think they dry it out a whole lot and granulate it first maybe I'm not really sure."

[FireFox]

A faint memory buzzes at the edges of Tovia's recollection until she gives in. It's not her memory, but as long as it's stuck in her head she might as well repeat the boy's recitation. "... mellis, quod ab insania, quam gignit, maenomenon vocant. Id existimatur contrahi flore rhododendri..." Goddamn Pliny. ******* prep schools with their classical memorization, just to determine who was the most pretentious. No wonder he turned out the way he did, if that was the "education" he got. Okay, so you make your own honey and sell it. But you're magical, so you can make the honey magic. That's actually really cool! You're the smallest entrepreneur I've ever met, Drake. The redheaded adventuress opens the wax cell and takes a shot before she can think about how smug he would be if he knew the quotation was actually useful and even relevant in this specific instance.

[Rebonack]

Taking the shot of red honey will have an almost immediate effect. Aside from being quite sweet (it's honey after all) Tovia should quickly begin to feel, well, buzzed for lack of a better term. As the honey does its work, it should result in a general feeling of relaxation and a pleasantly tingly sensation. Drake watches the whole show expectantly.

"Well? It was good, right? I bet it was good. Of course it was good! Since I make the best honey. Just the best all the time, everyone says so. I've got other honey, too! It won't make you drunk, it'll just taste really good. And help other things taste really good! I can make honey that has other Dreamings woven into it but I only make those when people ask me to since it's a whole lot more work did I already tell you that or was I talking to someone else? Sometimes I get kind of confused who I was telling something to since I'm usually talking to a whole bunch of people all at once all over the place and conversations are really hard to keep track of when you're a zillion pixie lizards."

It's true.

Being a zillion pixie lizards makes it a whole lot more difficult to keep track of certain things.

But, honestly, given how spread out Drake is and the degree to which he's multi-tasking at any given moment his performance is actually pretty admirable.

"SO! What kind of adventuring do you do? You said you had only been on one adventure but it must have been a pretty great one if one adventure is enough to make you an adventurer I've done a few adventures before like saving a kid from a big ugly ogre that had kidnapped him and taken him to the Dreamlands that actually worked out really great because we saved the kid and then closed the ogre's threshold so he couldn't bug the people in that town anymore and they really liked honey there so I left some of me behind to build a hive and make honey for them and we're still pretty good friends I think even though they keep saying I'm really weird and talk to much when they think I'm not listening."

[FireFox]

Mmm, it's very good. I think it'd make excellent spell components too. Your wax would as well, if you can figure out the candle thing. I'd be more than happy to order whatever you can make. Although she's starting to catch on that Drake may not be the best at things as time intensive and boring as specific production and price negotiation. The shot of red honey alone was enough of an unexpected bonus for today, really. She wonders why she hasn't visited Trog's before now. Tovia licks her lips and sighs contentedly before sharing her story. I found a tomb in the woods one day, me and a schoolgirl with electric powers. The guy buried down there and turned into a nasty type of undead and it seemed possible he would escape the tomb and go around terrorizing people, so we broke in and fought him. It was a fun little practical application of the magic I've been learning and we got some neat loot from it. Overall a great first adventure, 9/10: would dungeon crawl again.

[Rebonack]

"Making candles takes soooooooooo much wax, though! And I need a whole lot of wax to build my hives! If I'm using wax for storing honey I can make more money selling that than just making candles though I guess I do have ways to make a whole bunch of wax all at once but then there's wax all over the place and it isn't really really really real wax since it's my breath weapon and most of it is made out of gossamer instead of actual matter and I wouldn't want to sell someone a candle that isn't actually real wax because I think that would be false advertising."

So nice of Drake to consider the integrity of his products like that.

"I've made a few candles but that's usually only when one of my hives gets destroyed by some jerk and the honey comb is all ruined and the larvae are all eaten and there are dead mes all over the place so I just have to gather up the pieces and make the best of it I guess? I asked some bee keepers how they get their wax and they said it's when they're harvesting honey they scrape all the caps off the cells and they just use the stuff they scrape off and I guess I could do that but it's a lot easier to just reuse the wax to build something else and I really don't want to waste it."

...wait, 'dead mes'?

Most of the Drakes are still working, busy building new honey combs there on the ceiling, tending to larvae, processing honey, or flying off to attend to business outside. There's just the one down on the table talking with Tovia now. Drake learned pretty quickly that most people find it confusing figuring out who they're supposed to be talking to when twenty of him are all chattering at them at once. With just one Drake doing all the talking, things become so much simpler.

"Oh you beat up an undead thing? That's pretty good a lot of undead are really nasty except the ones that aren't. So you do lots of magic right that's why you're wondering about the candles I had a wizard tell me he would really like to buy some candles made by a dragon even though I'm not really a dragon I'm a drake which is a type of kobold I think but not those kobolds you find in D&D an actual folklore kobold since there are lots of different types of them and most of them really aren't like dragons at all but some of them are like me I think there's one that lives in the fireplace what was her name again oh yeah it was Ember I think let me see if she's awake!"

And with that he begins beating his little wings with a sound akin to a giant humming bird and zips over to the tavern's hearth.

"Hey Ember! Eeeeeeember are you awake! Hey! Hey! Hey! Heeeeeeeey Ember!" Drake chatters for several seconds before suddenly darting to one side as a rather large red coal pops out of the fireplace and goes whizzing through the space he previously occupied. The brand lands directly in the middle of a drunkenly unconscious dwarf's beard and begins to smoulder.

"Shut uuuuuuuuup!" comes a voice that crackles like a campfire. "I'm trying to sleep!"

[Morty]

"Okay." he says with high doubt this really just pass by. "So where could i find someone to help me in this 'nexus?"

Fayyaad rubs the back of his head.

"Hard to say... I haven't really investigated this sort of thing. I believe the Good League of Good is a place of charity, although I have no idea if they help with memory problems."

[Zefir]

"Huh. That name sounds silly" he sais. "I mean Good League of Good? That just sounds like:
'Hey we are totaly good! See? We got Good in our name, two times.'
At least giving it a try won't hurt?"

[Morty]

Fayyaad shrugs.

"I didn't come up with it. Besides, the three major cities in the are are called Inside, Riverside and Skyside. Whoever's responsible for names around here isn't terribly creative."

[Zefir]

"Your right." he sais. "While I really doupt city names have to be creativ. In my Homeworld some of them got named by the river they lay on so there was allays a Under[Rivername], Mid[Rivername] and Upper[Rivername]."
"So, do you just point me to these twice good guys or do you want to come along with me?"

[Morty]

"Apologies, but I'd rather stay here," Fayyaad says. "And I've never actually been there. But it shouldn't be hard to find."

[Zefir]

"Hmm, Okay." he says. "Then maybe I see you next time. Maybe then I will remember my name." He turns to leave but then stops.
"Is there a way I can contact you or do you just hang out here regulary?"

[FireFox]

"Making candles takes soooooooooo much wax, though! And I need a whole lot of wax to build my hives! If I'm using wax for storing honey I can make more money selling that than just making candles though I guess I do have ways to make a whole bunch of wax all at once but then there's wax all over the place and it isn't really really really real wax since it's my breath weapon and most of it is made out of gossamer instead of actual matter and I wouldn't want to sell someone a candle that isn't actually real wax because I think that would be false advertising."

So nice of Drake to consider the integrity of his products like that.

"I've made a few candles but that's usually only when one of my hives gets destroyed by some jerk and the honey comb is all ruined and the larvae are all eaten and there are dead mes all over the place so I just have to gather up the pieces and make the best of it I guess? I asked some bee keepers how they get their wax and they said it's when they're harvesting honey they scrape all the caps off the cells and they just use the stuff they scrape off and I guess I could do that but it's a lot easier to just reuse the wax to build something else and I really don't want to waste it."

...wait, 'dead mes'?

Most of the Drakes are still working, busy building new honey combs there on the ceiling, tending to larvae, processing honey, or flying off to attend to business outside. There's just the one down on the table talking with Tovia now. Drake learned pretty quickly that most people find it confusing figuring out who they're supposed to be talking to when twenty of him are all chattering at them at once. With just one Drake doing all the talking, things become so much simpler.

"Oh you beat up an undead thing? That's pretty good a lot of undead are really nasty except the ones that aren't. So you do lots of magic right that's why you're wondering about the candles I had a wizard tell me he would really like to buy some candles made by a dragon even though I'm not really a dragon I'm a drake which is a type of kobold I think but not those kobolds you find in D&D an actual folklore kobold since there are lots of different types of them and most of them really aren't like dragons at all but some of them are like me I think there's one that lives in the fireplace what was her name again oh yeah it was Ember I think let me see if she's awake!"

And with that he begins beating his little wings with a sound akin to a giant humming bird and zips over to the tavern's hearth.

"Hey Ember! Eeeeeeember are you awake! Hey! Hey! Hey! Heeeeeeeey Ember!" Drake chatters for several seconds before suddenly darting to one side as a rather large red coal pops out of the fireplace and goes whizzing through the space he previously occupied. The brand lands directly in the middle of a drunkenly unconscious dwarf's beard and begins to smoulder.

"Shut uuuuuuuuup!" comes a voice that crackles like a campfire. "I'm trying to sleep!"

This is absolutely fascinating! Wondrous on a level Tovia had only read about! Completely... wait, is that guy's beard about to be set on fire? U-um... Oh damn, I'd better, okay. Safety circle first, energy catch, crap what next, linkage path to the heat sink? One of her hands dips into the glass of scotch and quickly paints a magic circle around the empty red honey cell, then adds runes and symbols around the outside. The other hand points at the smouldering brand and makes a simple series of arcane gestures. Most of the heat is drained from the dwarf's beard, hopefully snuffing out the fire, and the excess energy melts the wax on the bar.

Whew. Uh, hey Drake? Maybe let's not wake up the dragon? I'm sure she'd think letting her sleep would be nice of us.

[Morty]

"Hmm, Okay." he says. "Then maybe I see you next time. Maybe then I will remember my name." He turns to leave but then stops.
"Is there a way I can contact you or do you just hang out here regulary?"

"I have a room here and stay here regularly. A pleasure meeting you," Fayyaad says.

[Rebonack]

The drunken dwarf's beard is extinguished.

Thankfully.

"Hey Ember I'm telling someone about drakes and since you're a drake too I thought she might like to meet you since you're a drake like me and she hasn't ever seen a drake before today and I don't know if she's ever seen a real faerie before either so maybe you could come out and say hello and then I guess you could go back to sleep if you want but maybe you shouldn't because meeting new people is fun and- oop!"

Drake zips to the size, dodging another coal. This one lands in an unguarded Dragon's Liver Buster, which promptly bursts into flames.

A rather cranky looking little creature pokes her head out of the hearth. Her body appears to be made out of cracked, blackened coals of wood, though many of them are presently glowing orange with heat. Her twig-like wings are stretched with a membrane of flame and her eyes burn with the blues and purples and greens of combustion metals. Little sparks pop out of her mouth when she speaks. "Fine. Fine, I'll say hello if you just shut up," the hearth drake hisses. She's about the size of a small cat or maybe a very large rat. "Hi. I'm Ember, your wood-fire for today. You're welcome. Now throw another log in here, the flames are starting to get low and shedding ash makes me itch."

Well!

Isn't she just a bundle of joy?