In The Eye of the Storm - Part 2 (IC)

[The Glyphstone]

Part 1

Trillian

"Whatever you would like to know, sir. An entry-level storage account is guaranteed for up to ten thousand gold pieces, or equivalent market value for non-liquid assets. Larger deposits can be secured for additional fees, up to a reasonable amount. Our security is impeccable, magically reinforced against anything short of a rampaging dragon, or a local outpouring of the Blood War."

Dozo Li, Surd, Grimrock

As Surd and Dozo's sparring match winds down, Dozo's keen ears hear something large crashing through the bushes and trees. It doesn't sound like an ogre, but it's definitely coming closer.

(And.....cue Tonberry!)

[tonberryking]

It's ... a giant sheep!?

A ram actually, nearly the size of a full grown pony, it is a thuggish brute if you ever saw one. Traipsing about the woods as if it owned the place it looks up with a scowl (and is it just you, or is he pawing at the ground as if about to charge?) before a calming voice echoes through the trees.

"Bobo? Did you wander off again?"

Gliding through the trees and bushes with nary a trace, a young girl approaches the ram without any trace of fear as the lug becomes docile by her side. She looks cut out for the woods, with leather armor and a large shield over her back, but the druid has no visible weapons on her, it would seem. She notices the foursome as if for the first time and waves.

Oh hello... Ah, I say, could any of you direct me to the nearest town?"

[Winged One]

Maddok, alias Chase
"Actually, sir," the human among the two who are informing the captain of the guard says to both him and an exited gnome, "The mage was merely forced to flee. He was also an ogre, from what I could tell. He may run back to wherever he came from, or he may seek revenge, or he may do any number of other things."

[KuH]

Dozoli

Dozo looks up at the noise. As the animal bursts into the clearing he takes up a defensive position, and then reduces the alert slightly as the druid shows up. Bobo? You call big goat ... Bobo? You are herder? Where are other animals? He asks in a puzzled manner.

And then he stops himself. You need not answer questions. I am not from here and know not your strange ways. I ask to learn. If you want town, it is that way. He gestures towards the town.

[tonberryking]

Right off the bat too... The girl turns red with anger over something the shugenja said, and says as much.

Bobo's NOT a goat, he's a sheep!!"-- Ugh, anyway he's all I got at the moment; all I need though. But anyway, sir I heard that the local town was being harraunged by orcs and monsters and I came to see what I could do to help...

[Asmodeus]

Trillian

"Good, good. I'll need to open.. uh... " Trillian counts on his fingers for a moment... "Me, Chuckles, Chase, Dozo, Surd, Grimrock, and a group... seven! I need to open seven accounts. The first should only be accessible by me. The last should be accessible by any of us, and the others should only be accessible by me, or their owner."

Trillian takes off his backpack and starts to unload his treasures. "Split the coin equally among all seven accounts, and put these gems into the group account."

Trillian gives up all of the gems and coins which were taken from the ogres.

[KingRexII]

Surd

Surd mimics Dozo's defensive stance as the sheep crashes through the forest -- like a larger and greener colored shadow. He listens to them talk, and he sports a slight smile as looks at Bobo. Ha... sheep... he thinks idly.

As he hears the girl mention 'orcs' in the same breath as 'monsters', Surd snaps his head toward her with a frown. His jutting lower teeth makes him look accidentally menacing. "No. Ogres attack; not orcs," Surd corrects her.

[tonberryking]

Oh, Ah excuse me...
The girl's cheeks rose up as she realized the unintentional offense she may have given to the large monk and the nods apologetically before brushing at the hemm of her skirt, awkwardly trying to come up with a way to change the subject


Well, I'd better hurry along then, if it's such a threat... Are you heading to the village as well?"

She doesn't seem to realize the attack's allready been dealt with...

[Seffbasilisk]

Hallnsfarth

"Like Chase said, the mage fled, the others we cut down, but the mage managed to escape. He did turn into a type of ogre before he fled, a weird one with blue skin. I don't think he's eager to tangle with us again, and without his ogre goons he'll be hard-pressed to attack the town again. We were planning to stay somewhat in the area for the next few days, keeping an eye out. If we see him, we'll aim to finish him off. If you want however, we can bring you the heads of the one we cut down in the chase, and the two we slew in thier camp. We let one that we'd injured burn to death in it's tent unfortunatly, so we can't bring you that one's head. So aside from the two we slew when they attacked the town, we slew four more. I personally greivously injured the ogre-mage thing. It's hard to injure, if it comes at you again, I'd suggest using some sort of propelled flame. It seems weak verses fire."

He paces back and forth as he tells this, then he stops, faces the captain squarely and says "We should be in the area for a few days, like I said before. You're welcome to engage our services for a time, but afterwards we'll most likely be leaving. Sir Gnome." He continues in Gnommish "I know this town's guards have left much to be desired, but if you like, I can propose to my allies that we accompany your caravan for a fee. Better guards you'll be hard pressed to find."

(OOC: Knew there was a reason I took Gnommish)

[The Glyphstone]

H-Bomb and Chase, at the Guard Post
The captain nods to Hallnsfarth and Maddock.
"We'll be on the lookout for him. And once more, thank you for what you've done...we certainly have not got along very well, but Hapi Town is deeply in your debt.

I would try to find some sort of compensation, but it remains that the time the ogres spent here depleted our supplies dramatically, and time will pass before Hapi is prosperous again. In the meantime, though, consider any tavern or inn charges you or your companions accumulate during the remainder of your stay to be paid for...it's the least I can do."

Tensfiddle jumps again when Hallnsfarth switches into Gnomish, responding in the same language.
"Really? You'd do that? Excellent, so very nice of you, I was going to ask if you would go with us! With grand ogre slayers as guards, nobody will mess with us or steal our silver!"

Trillian, at the First Bank of Anachronism
"Very well, sir. Six individual accounts, one mutual account. Assuming you have the opening fee of twenty-five gold for each account, all I need now is your signature and bloodmark on this form, and that of each of the account beneficiaries you mentioned, plus the above for each of those intended to benefit from the mutual account."

He takes out seven sheets of paper, each filled out with assorted legalise and details on the operation of a bank account, with spaces for signatures at the bottom next to an empty square box shape.



(Rolled randomly, unfortunately, Mr. Captain does not speak Gnome...he got Dwarven instead.:) Pity, that...)

[Seffbasilisk]

Hallnsfarth

"It's a nice start. Chase? Do you think you could run back to camp and let them know about the situation in town? They might appreciate it. I'll be working the details of the other job here. Thanks."

Hallsnfarth then switches back to Gnommish "Well we will have a fee, but we can negotiate that with the entire group. For now, lets stick to the basics. We'd travel along with you, and fight off threats that attack. If attacks can be avoided, we're not under any obligation to tackle them, in that situation it'll be up to us whether or not we wish to clear that out. Payment half up front, and half upon completion. That sound good for you? By the way, I'm keeping this in gnommish because I don't want to insult our dear captain by insinuating that he can't keep the roads around his town clear of bandits and the like."

[Winged One]

"Yes, Mr. Zukuri." Maddok says, leaving for the campsite.

[ooc]I'll have him arive at whatever point in the conversation Glyph tells me to.[/ooc]

[Asmodeus]

Trillian

"Hmm.. We can set up my bloodmark now for all the accounts, and the rest the first time they make a withdrawal. They will just have to have me present when they do it. Take the fees out of the gold for the opening deposit."

Trillian then submits himself to whatever requirements are for the bloodmark thing

[KuH]

Dozoli

Oh, you keep big sheep, not goat. No more trouble here, I think. But I am tired of waiting. We could go to town with you. Good idea, Surd?

[KingRexII]

Surd

"Yes, killed ogres already, but mage ran away," Surd affirms in his broken Common. "Tired of waiting, yes," he agrees, "I go to town too. Town not very far." The hulking half-orc begins to pack up his stuff.

[The Glyphstone]

Maddock
(Up to you when you meet the returning group.)

Trillian
The bloodmark is a surprisingly easy process - Trillian holds out his hand, and the clerk pricks it with a silver needle, touching the blood on the needle to the empty square on the form. Though just a tiny droplet, it spreads to fill the entire square evenly, drying to a reddish-brown. They repeat the process for the other acount, and the clerk nods.

"There, sir. Your treasure will be stored here. If you wish to withdraw an amount, take one, or several, of those slips there, and present it to any of our major branches. Assuming you pass the blood test, your funds will be made available immediately, or within one day of the request."

He gestures towards a pile of smaller papers off to the side - small forms that resemble checks, but bearing only two blank lines for a name and amount, and another empty bloodmark square.

"Your funds, and the gems you have indicated, will be deposited immediately. However, I cannot legally open the other accounts without the presence of their depositors - we take every precaution here to prevent possible fraud."

[Asmodeus]

Trillian

"Pish Posh! Of course you can open the other accounts. Thats why I said to make it so I was part owner on them as well. Open the other accounts in my name, and I'll add the rest of them as beneficiaries at a later point in time."

[The Glyphstone]

"That is acceptable, sir. The remaining accounts will be attributed to you, but you will need to be present for the change of ownership."

He takes several more bloodmark samples from Trillian, then carries the registry forms and the bag of money and gems into the back room.

(Take 1 HP worth of damage, Asmo...you've been stabbed 8 times with a needle in about 30 seconds.L))

[Winged One]

Maddok, alias Chase

A tall young man walks into camp. He wears practical clothes, with the seeming exception a dark green hooded cloak with grubby white trim, and the fact that his studded leather armor is very well made. The hood of his cloak is down, showing his unruly mass of brown hair. His slightly tanned face has a scar on the left cheek and an unkempt beard. A worn mace, still with dried ogre blood on it, hangs from his belt, and his blue eyes show perpetual amusement at some secret rather then the deeply rooted cynicism and paranoia that mark his true personality. As he enters, he announces to the three men there "Okay, the captain of the guard back there no longer seems to think that we're going to destroy his city, and he's paying for our rooms at an inn for the rest of our stay in town as gratitude for the ogre job. Mr. Zukuri was talking in Gn-" He stops when he notices the girl, pauses for long enough to think somebody would be hurt by now if she was here to kill us, and says "Hello, ma'am. This is Grimrock, a servant of Moradin; this is Surd, the most trustworthy person I've ever met; and this is Dozo Li, for whom I appologize for every single thing he has ever said to you, unless he hasn't spoken to you yet. They call me Chase," pointing to each as he introduces them and giving a bit of a bow when he gives his alias.

[Asmodeus]

Trillian

Trillian will go looking for Hallnsfarth and Maddock, and assuming he doesn't find them waiting for him at the entrance to town, he'll wait there for them.

[Seffbasilisk]

Hallnsfarth

After talking it out with the gnome (you didn't say anything 'bout that glyph) Hallnsfarth heads back to the entrance to meet up with Trillian, hoping the ankle-biter hasn't gotten them in trouble.

[Asmodeus]

Trillian

Seeing Hallnsfarth, Trillian will say "Hey, chuckles. How did it go on your end? And what happened to Chase?"

[Seffbasilisk]

Hallnsfarth

Resigned to being called chuckles, and still in somewhat of a good mood Hallnsfarth says "We've got free room and board in the town for a while, and i'm negotiating with a merchant about a cushy job as caravan guards. I sent Chase back to get the others from camp. Why? What have you accomplished?"

[Asmodeus]

Trillian

Trillian's face lights up at the news that they won't have to sleep out in the woods. "YES! No Stinkroot sleeping bags! No Poison Ivy underwear! No creepycrawly bugs except for Dozo!

And as for me, I've accomplished exactly what I set out to do. I've successfully led a team of expert monster hunters off into the wilderness to slay a bunch of mean old ogres, and lived to tell about it. Oh, I put the money in the bank too. The gems didn't get sold because the guy at the jewelery shop creeped me out. I wasn't scared mind you. I just got that bad ju-ju feeling, you know?"

[KuH]

Dozoli

Dozo's eyebrows wrinkle at Chase's introduction, as if he's trying to figure out if he's been insulted or this is just the strange barbarian habits in action. He seems to assume it is the latter. Hello, Chase. We were just coming to town. This red-faced girl is Bobo sheepherder ... or, no, I didn't get your name properly. You introduced your sheep but not yourself. Let me introduce myself. I am Li. Dozoli. The blue-robed pilgrim with the staff bows formally to the lady. He then turns and bows to the sheep. Strange barbarians. Naming a sheep. But if it is indeed named then it should be treated with respect. Who knows, perhaps it is inhabited by the soul of her great-grandfather.

[Seffbasilisk]

Hallnsfarth

Looking quizzically at Trillian Hallnsfarth says "You lead a team? Huh. And here I was thinking that I lead the group. Regardless, need me to come along to get the gems sold? It should be a while until Chase returns, so we have some time to kill."

[tonberryking]

Lyrelle's rosey cheeks color for a moment before returning to their nromal palor as she returns Chase's introduction with a bow. "Ahh.. well, I must say you're the polite one, dear. My name is Lyrelle, a druid and shepardess by trade, though Bobo is my flock alltogether at the moment..."

She pats Bobo on the head, who in turn looks at Chase with a withering "Don't you dare" look" as Lyrelle turns to the shugenja.

I must say though I'm a little confused... Wasn't there an issue of ogres or some suich brutes harasing the nearbye village?"

[Winged One]

"Nice to meet you, Lyrelle." Maddok says with a smile. The tracker returns Bobo's look with a stare of his own. Not looking away from the ram's gaze or blinking, he continues "Yes, there was a problem with ogres here. It has been dealt with."

[KingRexII]

Surd

Surd blushes and bows neatly. He smiles his toothy grin and waves sheepishly ((or is that goatly?)).

"Yes, we dealt with ogres," Surd specifies proudly.

[KuH]

Dozoli

And how did you hear about ogres, Lyrele? Perhaps you can tell us that tale as we walk towards the city.