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  1. - Top - End - #271
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Fendrick orders another glass of milk from the bar and takes a different seat, from where he can see all the hustle and bustle of the tavern. Fendrick muses to himself, wondering if there is anyone in great need of a Brave Adventurer such as himself, or indeed in need of friendly chit-chat.

  2. - Top - End - #272
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    Celticbear's Avatar

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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    The bird man known as Kurrack Lai emerges from no where, and sneaks up behind Fendrick.

    A hummie? Ah, well, I'm done arguing with fate's path. Hello descendant-of-monkey-person! I am Kurrack Lai, and your name is Frendrick. If you're wondering how I know, I saw you walk in an hour ago.

    Any-who, you may be wondering why I, a Kroot, have initiated a conversation with you, a human. The answer is that I am what your race at one point called a shaman, and I have seen my future. You're in it. Do you know why you are in it?
    asks the Kroot, waiting for a response.
    Last edited by Celticbear; 2017-05-24 at 10:56 AM.
    "I'M just a guy with a boomerang... I didn't ask for all this flying... and MAGIC!!!" -Sokka

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wuff View Post
    the biggest nerd ever who transforms into BEAR is of course alluring.

  3. - Top - End - #273
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "That's right. Center of the Nexus. If any of your friends come by, I expect they'll turn up here sooner or later. The barmaid would instruct the troll to come by again, but he's already said that he'll be back.

    ((If you look a bit earlier in this thread, you'll see that Fendrick isn't a human. But maybe they all look alike to Kurrack?))
    Last edited by Recaiden; 2017-05-24 at 11:19 AM.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  4. - Top - End - #274
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    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    'H-hi' says Fendrick, taken aback.. He is very clearly a rat-person, a lab rat that was magically enhanced to be human-sized. (His ratty tail kind of gives away the fact that he is not at all 'humie'.) Fendrick slurps at his glass of milk, getting droplets in his whiskers.

    'I have no idea why I'm in your future... Could it be... an adventure?? I am an adventurer you see.' At his last statement, Fendrick puffs out his chest with pride. Although he has only been on about two adventures so far...

    Fendrick is a biscuity brown coloured human-sized rat. He wears a jasper ring and a tweed waistcoat with a green silk lining. It is apparent that his fur is neat and recently-combed; he takes pride in his endearing appearance. His pink tail is long and covered in a fine fuzz of light hair, and swishes in interest as he looks at Kurrack Lai. As a result of the magic that made him human sized from rat sized, his brain grew substantially; he has approximately the intelligence of a human. His voice is not too deep and not too squeaky, and his long whiskers twitch in anticipation of adventure.
    Last edited by Fendrick; 2017-05-24 at 11:49 AM.

  5. - Top - End - #275
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    On closer inspection, Kurrack realizes his mistake, and laughs.

    I don't know if you know this, but I drank like a gallon of dwarven ale a while ago. It's okay though, I ate Ork like a week ago so it should be fine. Alas, I did not see that far into the future, I only saw that we'd have this conversation and then we, or was it only myself, would leave the bar together.
    "I'M just a guy with a boomerang... I didn't ask for all this flying... and MAGIC!!!" -Sokka

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wuff View Post
    the biggest nerd ever who transforms into BEAR is of course alluring.

  6. - Top - End - #276
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "well, see you soon, assorted creatures of various types. jack."
    He concludes with a nod torward the sometimes-human-sometimes-bird person, and heads to the door

  7. - Top - End - #277
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Quote Originally Posted by Reinholdt View Post
    Even when she's not attempting to make double entendres, they're still there. Madness. Or she's just that good. Then again, everything's a double entendre if you look deep enough into the rabbit hole.

    "The way you're treated?" Ilpholin tilts her head a little. "Maybe it's cause of the kids. People dumb down for children. Maybe it bleeds over into interacting with their parents? I dunno. Way out of my field of expertise." She waves the line of thought off with her hand. "Or are we talking straight up racism here? I can't tell you the number of idiots I've met who think fey only understand critters and plants." The last part comes out as something of a growl. Admittedly this problem doesn't seem to be that big an issue in Central Nexus.

    "I haven't met a whole lot of people who were like that, no. I don't think that's it,"
    Adir says, and frowns at the thought. "All the places I've ever gone have had all kinds of different people running around. Like, races. Species." Adir shakes his head. "Maybe I am just dumb." He makes an 'I dunno' sound.

    "So what's this training of yours involve, huh?" Adir smirks at her over the rim of his mug.
    "A lot of squats? Are you going to make me wrestle? Old fashioned, like."
    Last edited by Murkus; 2017-05-28 at 05:21 PM.
    My avatar was done by Gullara. Thanks again!

    "If you meet a spirit walking,
    Incline your head.
    Do not meet their gaze.
    Do not follow after."

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  8. - Top - End - #278
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    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Fendrick looks a little bemused; he's never eaten ork or drunk dwarven ale so has no idea of the effects of either. He slurps at his glass of milk again.

    'Well, we could go find an adventure someplace? Y'see, I'm at a bit of a loose end at the moment...' his voice trails off wistfully. Fendrick loves adventure, having something to give him purpose.


    ((sorry about the confusion earlier... I realise I should have described Fendrick sooner!))

  9. - Top - End - #279
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "Only for thinking people think you're dumb," Ilpholin concludes with an encouraging smile. "Now no more negative talk." Adir is clearly not dumb and that's all there is to it.

    "Well, I mostly do combat exercises, but squats are an important core build up. We might need to do more of the basics like those at first." She considers for a bit. "If by old fashioned wrestling, you mean non-acted wrestling? I could see a little bit of that. Mostly for dealing with how to break out of holds. Or to inflict one if that's what you'd like to focus on. I think there are better methods for subduing an opponent but not everyone can master the whip. So I guess, how much wrestling we do together is entirely up to you..." The nymph had expected it more to be sword and shield for a knight, but the idea of Adir, infamous Wrestling Knight is just amusing.
    Last edited by Reinholdt; 2017-05-31 at 12:00 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Magtok View Post
    Gods, Reinholdt was right, a hundred percent right.
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    Tale as old as thread
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    Reinholdt was the Beast
    Quote Originally Posted by Philistine View Post
    Reinholdt had already told the truth once in that post, and therefore was over his annual quota.

  10. - Top - End - #280
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "No no no!" Adir intervenes, laughing, and looks at her as his drink sloshes in his hand. Or what's left of it. How many is he on, now...? There's at least another tankard on the table, probably. "I was making jokes. Kidding. With squats I have to stick my butt out all obvious-like, and you seem to make such a point of staring..."

    "And wrestling because, uh, old fashioned wrestling where I come from is done in the nude. And wrestling is already kind of like..."
    Adir rolls his hand, blushing hotly. Surely he wouldn't be blushing over such a basic joke if he didn't have a couple drinks in him. "Y'know. Sorry." He grins hazily. "I was trying to do double entendres. Sort of. I guess it was a poor attempt."
    My avatar was done by Gullara. Thanks again!

    "If you meet a spirit walking,
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    Do not meet their gaze.
    Do not follow after."

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  11. - Top - End - #281
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    You know Frendrick, I like how you think. We must go out into the wild blue yonder, and find ourselves a purpose.

    After a moment of pondering, Kurrack's face lights up. He walks over to one of the walls of he bar, and plucks a sheet of paper from it. The paper reads of a place called the "Hunting Grounds".

    How about this place? It has everything we need for some sort of adventure. Its got wild beasts that we must track down in stealth,
    and wild beasts are my favorite thing to hunt. This is entirely beneficial to both of us! I get to eat exotic creatures to expand the Kroot genome, and you get to have your adventure.
    "I'M just a guy with a boomerang... I didn't ask for all this flying... and MAGIC!!!" -Sokka

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wuff View Post
    the biggest nerd ever who transforms into BEAR is of course alluring.

  12. - Top - End - #282
    Peppered
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Subtlety was never Meredith's strong point. Although not much to look at - a little too unkempt and a little too graceless - her jerky attempts to blend in while closely scrutinizing the tavern's patrons are more attention-catching than she would have liked. And then, of course, there's her cloak. Rich light leather, dull one moment, glimmering with runes the next, swirling with magical eddies that changed direction each time she moved; there's no sneaking with that swaying around.

    Despite her long route to the bar, stopping to peer out of the corner of her eye at each woman there, she does eventually make it. Collapsing onto a stool with a heavy sigh, she takes one last look around. Another day, another failed search. She was new here, but she scanned now for someone to talk with. A distraction would be perfect.

  13. - Top - End - #283
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "You're looking for someone."
    Winds is seated at the end of the bar, covered in a hooded cloak, trying his best (which isn't very good) to look like a Mysterious StrangerTM.
    There's a line of emptied glasses in front of him, and a fourth half full of watered-down ale.
    "But I don't think she's been through here."
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  14. - Top - End - #284
    Peppered
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "Yeah," Meredith said, trying to nonchalantly shrug off how much those words stung, "but as far as I can tell, she hasn't been anywhere recently. May as well start searching in the fun places." But the consequences of her not being anywhere were too pessimistic to consider. Meredith fingered the upper folds of her cloak and gave Winds a strained smile. "What's your name? You know, not many people are that observant after four ales. Hmmm... Barkeep! An ale!"

  15. - Top - End - #285
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "I'm 'Burning Winds'. Just 'Winds' to my friends." He raises an eyebrow. He doesn't remember Meredith, so she's probably a friend.

    A drink is poured for Meredith; she didn't ask for anything in particular, it's a heavier, full-bodied drink compared to what the other guy is drinking.

    "I've got plenty of practice." At observing, that is. At drinking, he's still an amateur. "Nice to meet you, ___?"
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  16. - Top - End - #286
    Peppered
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Meredith hadn't specified her drink because she hadn't known. She'd grown up with strict rules - and one of them, she's pretty sure, had been 'never enter a tavern and speak with a hooded stranger while drinking for roughly the first time ever'. With this rule in mind, she smiled at him again, far more naturally this time.

    "I'm Meredith. Can I count as a friend and call you 'Winds'? I'm not used to such descriptive names. That sounds... what? Druidic? I can't really tell. I've only known mages."

    She takes a sip, and her face crinkles at the taste. But better break the whole rule at once. She took another sip.
    Last edited by Peppered; 2017-05-30 at 03:06 PM.

  17. - Top - End - #287
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "All names are poetry worthy of the druids at first. It's only as they get copied and passed down that they become commonplace."
    He takes a swig of his own drink and returns the smile.
    "But I'm not exactly a druid myself. By all means; everyone can use another friend."

    There's no rule against sharing a drink with a new friend, is there?
    "What do you do when not searching high and low in strange places like this?"
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  18. - Top - End - #288
    Peppered
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    What does she do? Huh, she hadn't thought beyond searching since it had begun three months ago. "Well, train, I suppose. My father taught me control magic. How to trick the mind to make others do your bidding."

    She realized how that sounded a tad too late and choked on her sip, jumbling her words trying to correct it. "I mean, you don't have to worry! I wouldn't- and that was back before I found the Nexus, and I was never very good at it anyways. Now I'm just trying to learn how to heal. I've been around too many people who don crowns and play at being demi-gods."

  19. - Top - End - #289
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Winds laughs aloud.
    "I understand."
    "And someone always gets hurt in those games. Healing is a noble work. Not one I was ever any good at."

    That's a curious answer, and suggests that Meredith is someone very driven, but he doesn't want to pry.
    "Besides, I'd like to think I would notice someone trying tricks of enchantment on me."

    "Myself, I'm mostly, well, call it a family business. Even seems to spill over into my free time." He can't help a glance at the door and a pensive expression. How long was it going to have been, now?
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  20. - Top - End - #290
    Peppered
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Meredith couldn't help but chuckle. "The entire point of enchanting others is to keep them from noticing. It's the stealth of magic. But, well, you've seen my stealth skills already."

    She didn't miss the glance. And she's absolutely fine with prying. "You must expect me to ask. I'm simply too curious to not after vague allusions to 'family business'. Are you waiting for someone?"

  21. - Top - End - #291
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Quote Originally Posted by Murkus View Post
    "No no no!" Adir intervenes, laughing, and looks at her as his drink sloshes in his hand. Or what's left of it. How many is he on, now...? There's at least another tankard on the table, probably. "I was making jokes. Kidding. With squats I have to stick my butt out all obvious-like, and you seem to make such a point of staring..."

    "And wrestling because, uh, old fashioned wrestling where I come from is done in the nude. And wrestling is already kind of like..."
    Adir rolls his hand, blushing hotly. Surely he wouldn't be blushing over such a basic joke if he didn't have a couple drinks in him. "Y'know. Sorry." He grins hazily. "I was trying to do double entendres. Sort of. I guess it was a poor attempt."
    "I suspected as much. That's why I concluded with one of my own." Ilpholin smirks wryly over the lip of her glass as she finishes it off. It's the only one she's had though, so she's substantially behind Adir. "Though I didn't know how intimate your wrestling went. If we're missing each other's meanings so much, perhaps we've had enough to drink?" Another tankard or two and she's uncertain Adir will be able to walk home, even with assistance.

    "Regardless, boy, you are going to have to get used to having your butt looked at and not make such a big deal of it. It just comes with training and exercise and mostly making sure you've got proper posture when you work out. And yes, squats. Though if it makes you feel any better, you'll get to look at mine too." That should make anyone feel better. The nymph has no intention on just standing around while Adir trains after all. Her free time's nowhere near that open.
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Magtok View Post
    Gods, Reinholdt was right, a hundred percent right.
    Spoiler
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    -Nyahahaha~
    Quote Originally Posted by Supagoof View Post
    Tale as old as thread
    And you find yourself dead
    Reinholdt was the Beast
    Quote Originally Posted by Philistine View Post
    Reinholdt had already told the truth once in that post, and therefore was over his annual quota.

  22. - Top - End - #292
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Quote Originally Posted by Peppered View Post
    Meredith couldn't help but chuckle. "The entire point of enchanting others is to keep them from noticing. It's the stealth of magic. But, well, you've seen my stealth skills already."

    She didn't miss the glance. And she's absolutely fine with prying. "You must expect me to ask. I'm simply too curious to not after vague allusions to 'family business'. Are you waiting for someone?"
    ((Quoted on account of not being the most recent post anymore))

    Winds shrugs. So maybe he really wouldn't notice a master of control magic.
    "A man who knows a brother of mine is going to come by, looking to ask the bartender a few questions. There will probably be a fight."
    "Just who were you looking for?"
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  23. - Top - End - #293
    Peppered
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    ((Makes sense. Also, I've noticed that people use colors when their characters talk. Should I be doing that too? If so, then sorry! I didn't know about it.))

    Well, that made his Mysterious Stranger appearance a little more ominous. Meredith didn't care about alignments and she was extremely curious about Winds' reasons, but her hatred for violence won out, and she did not press him further. "While I approve of supporting one's siblings, I feel I should warn you: I don't like getting involved in fights unless directly asked. Get wounded and I will heal what I can. But those who nobly jump in tend to get in too much trouble."

    "As for who I'm looking for, well... what do you think of this horrid cloak?" She held up one corner between two fingers and wrinkled her nose as the runes flashed in response to the movement. "It, uh, may not really be mine. And the person it belongs to may be just a shell without it. If she's even still alive. I'm merely playing the role of a courier."

  24. - Top - End - #294
    Halfling in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    Quote Originally Posted by Reinholdt View Post
    "I suspected as much. That's why I concluded with one of my own." Ilpholin smirks wryly over the lip of her glass as she finishes it off. It's the only one she's had though, so she's substantially behind Adir. "Though I didn't know how intimate your wrestling went. If we're missing each other's meanings so much, perhaps we've had enough to drink?" Another tankard or two and she's uncertain Adir will be able to walk home, even with assistance.

    "Regardless, boy, you are going to have to get used to having your butt looked at and not make such a big deal of it. It just comes with training and exercise and mostly making sure you've got proper posture when you work out. And yes, squats. Though if it makes you feel any better, you'll get to look at mine too." That should make anyone feel better. The nymph has no intention on just standing around while Adir trains after all. Her free time's nowhere near that open.
    Adir finally catches up with Ilpholin, that and the 'subduing opponent' bit. The stag busts out laughing and obliges by putting down his tankard. "Okay. Yeah." He likes his vices, sure, but drinking has never been one of the biggies.

    "Did you just call me a boy?"
    Adir asks, blushing and laughing. He thinks she was probably using it for emphasis, naturally, but... "Just feels weird, having someone check me out after all this time. I guess, uh, I need to get out more. I'm kind of a recluse-dad, at this point. I'm sure I'd be a crazy hill person if it weren't for Sakura."

    "I think I'll be okay on both counts if I pretend everyone's Sakura. I can start to feel good about people looking at me without it being strange,"
    Adir thumbs his tankard and looks at it, then at Ilpholin. Maybe it's wrong to be saying things like he's been, but it isn't really flirting... "And I won't feel so bad if, say, I happen to... I dunno." He coughs into his fist. "If I have to help examine your form."
    My avatar was done by Gullara. Thanks again!

    "If you meet a spirit walking,
    Incline your head.
    Do not meet their gaze.
    Do not follow after."

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  25. - Top - End - #295
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    ((Colors are optional, but many people like them))

    "I won't ask you to fight my battles." Winds shakes his head. He asks people to fight his battles all the time, but not people who specifically warn that they'd rather sit them out.

    He looks over the cloak again, watching it change from moment to moment.
    "It's quite...something. Flashier than I'd like to wear, for sure. But it suits someone with your stealth skills." He wouldn't have called it 'horrid', for one thing.
    "There must be a story behind how it came into your possession." If Meredith wants to tell it. 'May not', 'may be', just other ways to say 'definitely'.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  26. - Top - End - #296
    Peppered
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    ((Oh okay. Thank you. I think I like the colors, but I'm going to stick with consistency.))

    "Thank you. I hope you understand - I don't want to be responsible for hurting anyone. I did ask to count as your friend though, so you do have my aid if things somehow go horribly wrong. Let's hope they don't."

    She laughs, "I guess it does suit me. I can sort of use it as well. Emphasis on 'sort of'. But I kind of stole it. I figure it's okay if I stole it in order to return it to it's proper owner." Meredith paused and studied Winds' face. She's had no experience reading people, so Winds should not have difficulty deceiving her if he wanted to, but she's looking for anything that might look untrustworthy, greedy. Anything that isn't simply curiosity. "And there is a story there. I'll trade you; mine for yours. The one that ends with you sitting in a tavern on your brother's behalf, waiting to confront someone."

  27. - Top - End - #297
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "Stealing from thieves is a slippery slope. How did it get separate from its proper owner in the first place?"
    Winds's face gives no indication that he wants the cloak for himself, or anything like that. He's just enjoying conversation while he waits. He doesn't tend towards strong displays of emotion.

    "It's a long tale, but I can give you the highlights."
    "The world is a wave. Up, and down, and up again, while moving ever onward. But with each cycle, there's the chance the wave comes to shore, or hits interference. To breaks, and be gone forever. I came to be at the crest, the peak of the first world, along my thousands of siblings. Our Father was upset, and He gave each of us a task to help make things...different. I remembered things. People would come to me seeking knowledge, asking most of all why He had set this in motion. It was a vast and complex answer. But if someone understood it, I would go forth with them on their adventures. I would lead them to my brothers and sisters, to gain their teachings and techniques. We never could manage to all meet up again."

    He gives a slight shake of his head: a trace of regret.
    "I carried out my task through many worlds, each with many companions. None of them succeeded; their journeys all ended, but not at their destinations. Until this cycle. My last companion-" and at this there is something in his voice, love or madness "-grew wroth with me and with Our Father. Brought us to a temple, a relic of an old world-wave that somehow had not passed away. The Nexus is strange like that, sometimes. And there we met - you mentioned playing at demi-godhood, but this being, this Malukhar, was the real thing, a god of gods, creator of worlds."
    Winds pauses here, it's a good time to wait for Meredith's response to the story so far, or to start to tell her own history, or to ask, as people occasionally do, for truths mankind was never meant to know.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  28. - Top - End - #298
    Peppered
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    Oh, there was no need to pause. She was enraptured, leaning forwards and listening intently. Meredith had read a great deal of books on gods and creation and the workings of the worlds that met at the Nexus, but Winds had told her he'd actually been at the start of it all, he'd seen it all himself. "What are you? You speak of a god of gods, and of knowledge and the creation of the world? Whoever you are, you work at a much larger scale than I."

    "Fair is fair though, I did offer a trade. I'll warn you, my world is far smaller than yours, it seems. I don't know what interest you'd find it in; I know I always wished for more. I knew no gods, only people who believed themselves to be such. My father is a mage who believes the key to happiness is in controlling others. He built an empire on mind games, enchantments and threats, and keeps a menagerie of magical creatures for components to keep the magic flowing. Since I was born, he tried to train me to maintain it all, but somehow I could never match his spells for power. I had no other teachers, and for a long time I thought I was simply a defective mage, weak and powerless. But rather, he was far stronger than he had any right to be. It was the creatures he kept. And this cloak. Any time he found a way to amplify his power he would weave it here as a rune. I don't even know what most of them do. Protection, spell amplification, who the hell knows? Half of them are his own creation. And he relied on it for everything."

    And now she was wearing it. The irony didn't escape her. "But it's your turn again. Please continue. It's all so different."

  29. - Top - End - #299
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
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    "But the cloak wasn't his to begin with. Intriguing."

    To be precise, Winds said he was there halfway through the start of it all.

    He smiles slightly and shakes his head.
    "The large scale is made up of the small, over and over. My companion, Alex, did not wish to be involved in things of this scale any longer. We had come to the temple seeking only the counsel of a mortal priest, but were answered by something much more. He told Alex that they were already bound up in my task, that the only way out of the affairs of gods and powers was by going deeper through them. But he would help show the way, in exchange for one tiny favor."
    A brief pause in the story here where Winds turns to the bartender to order another round.
    "To me, he spoke about my family. I had thought I knew everything worth knowing, but it was not even half of it. I learned about what had come to pass in the ancient half-a-world before I was born. I heard things about Our Father fit to make one's skin crawl off the bone and hide away. For the first time I questioned my task."

    "But first, Malukhar's favor. Alex was to recover the Hammer of Creation that had been used to forge the stars in the constellation of the fox. One way or another, it had fallen into the hands of the empire of the sun, who thought themselves equal to the gods. And when you looked on their works, it was easy to agree. They were from the youth of this world, and had destroyed themselves some years ago. Some tens, some hundreds, some thousands. "But their machines and spells outlived them."
    "And I went along to lend my aid. It was a difficult journey, through the heart of the desert, past robotic guardians and sevenfold spell-ward, to finally do battle with the sun itself."

    "Maybe I can tell the details another night, but the point of it is, that in all my worlds and lives, this was the first time I had helped someone, not because helping them was the task that Our Father had set me, but because I had decided that it was right to do. That changes a person."

    There's a third part to the story, but he thinks it's Meredith's turn right now.
    ~Inner Circle~
    Quote Originally Posted by Raz_Fox View Post
    He takes normality and reason and turns them UP TO 11!
    Quote Originally Posted by Anarion View Post
    Recaiden, stop using your mastery of the English language to confuse the issue.
    Echidna by Serpentine

  30. - Top - End - #300
    Peppered
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    Default Re: Trog's Tavern CCLII

    "Breaking away from your father's intended path, huh?" Meredith winked at him, "I can't relate at all. Did Alex find his escape?"

    She went to take another drink, then thought better of it. Her glass was still half full, but Meredith wasn't used to drinking and was already feeling a tad light headed. When had she last eaten either? Best to stop. She pushed it away.

    "The cloak wasn't his, no. Nor was it originally even a cloak. It was skin. The creatures known as 'Selkie' live and play in the sea as seals. But sometimes, when the weather is warm and the breeze is cool, they come to land and shed their sealskins, playing on the beach as humans. My father happened upon a young Selkie woman playing with her brothers and sisters on the beach and stole her skin away. I doubt he meant to hurt her. Likely didn't pick her out of the group at all - he simply felt the magic contained in the skins and wanted one for himself. When she found her way to his doorstep the following day, he had already cut it apart and fashioned it into a magical cloak. Not caring to reverse it, he simply kept down that path, wearing it even before her without a thought. Over time, he even changed its appearance, so that it didn't look so... seal-like."

    "About three months ago, the Selkie broke containment and fled. Maybe she was so heartbroken she couldn't stand to see it changed anymore. Father was furious, and in his rage and rant he told me about the cloak. I swear I hadn't known! Now it all seems too late. I don't know where she is; I have only an inkling of what she looks like. The really unnerving thing is that I can use it - I can turn into a seal. It doesn't work very well, I think the skin is too far damaged for that, but if I can use it... well, I think she may have... well."

    She shrugged and then laughed it off, "either way, how is that for a really specific ability? I can turn into a seal, and nothing else."

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