Dancing Fox Inn XIII- Luck Costs Extra

[Mee]

Cherie smiles and nods at Naku. "Should you need the assistance of a humble mage, do let me know, my good lady. I shall protect you with all of my might."

"Thank you." Naku says with an ever so slightly forced smile. "I will do that."

"Opposing him with allies on your side would be best when considering the army he has behind him, and I do my best work when faced against large numbers. I'd be glad to offer my assistance if it's ever needed," he smiles at Naku.

"He's already killed millions, stopping him would save millions more, and the less lieutenants there are the better," he adds while rolling his shoulder, and stretching his body that still aches from his transformation.

Naku shakes her head just a bit, going back to looking at her glass. "It's true, stopping him will safe millions more. But there's no rush. He can't move on until and unless he has all of his lieutenants. And he wants me
before he'll progress further.
He's been at this tens of thousands of years. What's another decade or so?" She asks, just downing another shot. "And I appreciate your offer as well. I will let you know."

[Reinholdt]

Ashley sighs and stares into her Long Island Iced Tea. "My girlf- someone I really cared about is gone, and I don't think she's coming back this time." She shakes her head. "I don't really wanna talk about it."

Reinholdt looks down and frowns. "If it helps, I know what you're going through." He pauses for a moment and pokes at the ice in his glass using the straw. "So we don't have to talk about it. What shall we discuss instead? Normally when I'm feeling down, I find doing something dangerous and impulsive helps me feel better."

Techniques that work for Rein are not for everyone.

[Devixer]

"All I ask!" For all her pomp, Cherie is able to noticed the momentary freeze in Naku's expression, and she lets go of her hands and backs off with a polite bow.

---
Ashley allows herself a bit of a chuckle. "You mean like drinking?" She's spent more time staring at her drink than actually drinking from it, but she does take another sip.

"I don't suppose you want to talk about learning about magic and the spiritual world with me, do you?" Maybe she should find an apprentice. At least she'd have someone to geek out with.

[Lazorath]

"I see," Devero nods as his body relaxes, "so there's still time," he releases a small smile down at his empty drink before he looks over to Cherie in slight interest, "what of you, Cherie? Where were you before we all met in the forest?"

[Reinholdt]

"Yeaaaah... Drinking." Reinholdt rubs the back of his head. Their scaling might be a little different about what constitutes dangerous and impulsive.

He hmms. "I was taught a fair amount of the terminology and could probably keep up with a conversation about magic, but I doubt I would have much to legitimately contribute. I can handle a few minor tricks and illusions, and some specific shapeshifting. It isn't that I haven't tried to learn in the past. It's just that my species has a rather low propensity for the magical arts."

[Devixer]

Ashley shrugs. "It feels like every new kind of person I meet has a different kind of magic, and a different level of talent for it... It can all get tough to keep straight. Back home, just about everyone is able to commune with the spiritual world. It's just a question of who wants to. You can probably guess, but not a lot of people did back home. Superstitions and all that."

---

"Me?" Cherie considers her response. "Why, I came here on vacation. I had hoped to rest a spell from my adventures in my home realm."

[Reinholdt]

"That just means you have that much more to study, right?" Reinholdt says with a smile. Cataloging the effects of different magic systems on different species at the crossroads of dimensions has to be a magic nerd's wet dream, right?

"Did you commune with the spirit world often? I sure hope you weren't run out of your home for it." When people talk about superstitions like that, it often directly impacted whoever brought them up.

[Devixer]

Ashley manages a smile as well. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll need more ink."

"Hm? Well, I was ran out of my old town, but that was a long time ago. And I found an old tower to study in instead. Just like the stories, right?" She chuckles a little.

[Mee]

"I see," Devero nods as his body relaxes, "so there's still time," he releases a small smile down at his empty drink before he looks over to Cherie in slight interest, "what of you, Cherie? Where were you before we all met in the forest?"

"Yes, indeed." Naku agrees, quite happy at the change of topic. "What were you doing when we met up?"

"Me?" Cherie considers her response. "Why, I came here on vacation. I had hoped to rest a spell from my adventures in my home realm."

Naku chuckles a bit at that. "Well. It's always when you want to rest that random people take you on an adventure, isn't it?"

[Reinholdt]

Ashley manages a smile as well. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll need more ink."

"Hm? Well, I was ran out of my old town, but that was a long time ago. And I found an old tower to study in instead. Just like the stories, right?" She chuckles a little.

"Whaaat? You actually just found an abandoned tower just sitting there?" Reinholdt asks with disbelief. Who would leave a perfectly good tower for anyone to take over and occupy? "Did you fill it to the brim with magical traps and protection wards?"

[Devixer]

"Yeah, I wondered for a while why it was just sitting there. Then I found the last owner. Or at least, I think it was. The forensic sciences aren't nearly as far back home as I've seen here." She hopes that sums it up nicely.

Ashley rotates her hand in an 'eeeehhh' gesture. "I mean, I was able to set up some alarms, but a lot of magic in my home is making terms and bargains with the spirits - or making friends in the spirit world. Or, if you're a gambler, you can use your own energy.

"That last one isn't really a good idea for the mortal wizards. You know, like me."

[Reinholdt]

"Oh I see." All abandoned towers probably suffered under similar circumstances now that Rein thinks about it. "Did you leave the tower coming here to the Nexus or is it a short trip away?"

He rubs his chin in thought. "Bargains with dead spirits huh? Shame. Nice in concept, but not what I'm looking for. I asked cause I have my own place I could use some magical wards on and was hoping for some insight." But if it involves dead spirits and cutting deals, it's too risky for Rein's endeavor.

[Devixer]

"It's in my home world, but I've been able to link it with the warehouse I squat in here in the Nexus." Ashley grins again at the thought of going from her ancient, abandoned wizard's tower to... some warehouse in the Gray Zone.

"Well, they're not 'dead,' not really. Spirits for me are just other creatures, they're not ghosts or anything like that. Just inhabitants of another world that happens to be very close to ours. You can imagine my shock when I came across my first ghost." she chuckles and takes another sip of her drink. "If it's just magical wards you need, you could probably buy something that creates the same effect."

[Lazorath]

Devero smiles at Cherie's response, "it's fortunate that we met when we did. We're quite the force to be reckoned with when we band together.
Did you have a mentor, or did you teach yourself in the ways of spell craft?"

[Devixer]

"It is something of a pattern with me. Normally, I have scarcely sat on a chair before I am called to adventure. Alas," Cherie says in mock despair.

She softly chuckles at Devero's comment. "Why, I have had many mentors, in many methods of combat. The one you witnessed was simply the one that I tend to prefer."

[Reinholdt]

"It's in my home world, but I've been able to link it with the warehouse I squat in here in the Nexus." Ashley grins again at the thought of going from her ancient, abandoned wizard's tower to... some warehouse in the Gray Zone.

"Well, they're not 'dead,' not really. Spirits for me are just other creatures, they're not ghosts or anything like that. Just inhabitants of another world that happens to be very close to ours. You can imagine my shock when I came across my first ghost." she chuckles and takes another sip of her drink. "If it's just magical wards you need, you could probably buy something that creates the same effect."

"Oh, more like nature spirits and elementals?" Spirits is a fairly broad term now that Rein considers it. "Store bought security is ehhh... It doesn't hold the same level and quality of the personal touch. Don't worry about it. I have some other avenues to explore."

"In the meantime however, I believe you owe me a ghost story," Rein says, finishing off his drink while he listens.

[Devixer]

"That's closer, yeah, but they aren't as tied to anything in our physical world as something like an elemental would be."

Ashley rolls her eyes a little. "Okay, but it's not exciting. I mean, the guy choked on frozen pizza. I was looking for a place to rent, and that room was cheap. Three guesses why?"

Another big gulp of her drink. "Wouldn't stop talking about his pet snake. You'd almost think he wasn't dead, if he wasn't all, you know, ghost-y. But I'd never even heard of the dead just sticking around like that."

[Mee]

"Well," Naku comments to Mist, seeing as how the rest of the conversation seems to be moving on without her, and she has some time to talk to Mist a bit. "How has your life here been? How's the bartending treating you? Well, I hope?"

[Reinholdt]

Rein frowns. "That is... rather tame. The ghosts I know of all had far and above more traumatic reasons for lingering in the world. Well except the ones that used to haunt GLoG. I'm pretty sure those were just there from some concentration of spirit energy at the camp site."

Still, they usually have more interesting circumstances. Shame. "Was the pet snake still alive or was that six feet under too?"

[Devixer]

Ashley sighs. "I know. You hear about ghosts with tales of vengeance, and then you meet this guy." She shrugs. "They can't all be winners, I guess."

"I remember seeing a snake hanging around that building. Matched the description he gave, it was just way too big to be anyone's pet."

[Reinholdt]

"Maybe it got loose and grew a couple of feet?" Or the ghost was insane. Probably the latter. "It's for the best really. Holding an animal captive like that to be used as a pet is nothing but cruel."

I guess Reinholdt has strong feelings about owning other creatures. He must be one of those.

[Devixer]

Ashley thinks about that for a moment. "I guess it depends on what the animal wants? I've never had a pet, myself. Spirits already congregate to the places I live, add an animal to that mix and it would just get too noisy for me."

[Reinholdt]

"Their drunken antics can get loud at times," Rein admits. Especially bears. Drunk bears are fearsome indeed.

"Are spirits naturally attracted to you wherever you go?" That sounds bothersome at best.

[Lazorath]

"I see," Devero smiles in response, "where I am from, we only had two designated trainers. One to improve our skills in combat and survival, and the other to improve our transformation skills along with sparring while in a transformed state. It was more painful than fun, but once I had the opportunity to travel I took it."

[Devixer]

Ashley rotates her hand again. "Yes and no. Spirits are attracted to magical power, and I happen to have a pretty decent amount of it. If I really didn't want to have spirits around, I could always just mask my magic, and they'd leave eventually. But, well, then I couldn't practice my magic. So I deal with them instead. They mostly just hang around, aggressive spirits are pretty rare."

---

"My, only two? But there are so many methods of combat! Surely you wouldn't learn the ways of white magic from a paladin, would you?" Cherie thinks on what she just said, and shakes her head. "Never mind, never mind, different worlds and such. But do tell, what prompted your travels? A lust for adventure?"

[Reinholdt]

"Well if there has to be a trade off for practicing magic, I guess mild spiritual nuisance is a fairly low cost." Worth putting up with in exchange for ULTIMATE COSMIC POWER.

"What kind of magic do you practice anyways? Do you specialize in anything?" Reinholdt asks. Specialists were often a terrifying breed. Pyromancers were frequently pyromaniacs, necromancers held little qualms about necrophilia, etc, etc. Usually the worst you hear about a generalist was that they were workaholics.

[Devixer]

Ashley shakes her head. "I've tried to specialize before, but it isn't for me. It'd be like trying to specialize in letters of the alphabet. Besides, I'd like to teach what I know some day, and I'd rather give a student a foundation then try to just turn them into... well, another me, I guess. If that makes sense."

[Reinholdt]

"It does in a way," Reinholdt says after pondering it over. If anything, he couldn't understand the mentality of raising someone to be just like them. "So, why just one student? Have you considered teaching a class? Maybe starting a little witch academy or something like that? No implied offense of course." Some people are touchy about the term witch.

[Devixer]

Ashley lets out a chuckle. "None taken, witches are cool. I'd love to meet a coven one day." Ashley isn't technically a witch, but why fret over details? There are as many names for magicians as there are magicians. "I mean, I've thought about it, but I don't have the money to start a school, and honestly, I don't know if I could deal with teaching whole groups."

[WarKitty]

Off in a Corner

Somewhere in the tavern, a guest bard plays a song on a harp. It seems to be a tale of a journey to a magic well, played by a platinum blonde woman in a simple blue dress. Nearby, a red-headed little boy is pushing food around in his bowl and complaining that he wanted mac'n'cheese.