If I knew of any people who would likely know about that plane, I could charm or steal the information from them... But I guess I'll have to talk to the guy.
__________________
"No friend ever served me,
and no enemy ever wronged me,
whom I have not repaid in full."
-Lucius Cornelius Sulla
A swirling pixelated portal spirals open in the ceiling! But instead of klaxons blaring and bright flashy lights flashing and some weird inexplicable encounter being disgorged through the rift a recliner chair is spat out.
With a very surprised looking young man sitting on top of it.
Clad in modern attire, a green jacket, khaki pants, unremarkable shoes, and a cheap fedora. On the tall side of things, though not overly so. A mess of brown hair sticks out from under his hat here and there. He looks just a weeeee bit out of place. WAY too normal.
Give him about a week before the Nexus blargs strange all over him.
He glances around the tavern.
"Okay, let's see. A goblin. A robot. Some... kind of Lovecraft-style monster?"
Zee waves at him cheerfully.
"Animal person. 'nother animal person. Surly dwarves. Space marine. Knight in shining armor. Sapient talking winged pickle. ...is that a flumph?"
He blinks, takes off his hat, and scratches at his head a bit.
"Welp. Whatever meds they have me on right now must be pretty amazing."
He might also notice the half-drowess in the rather skimpy leather catsuit-esque outfit who happens to be peering at him with bemusedly curious interest!
Interest that is both bemused and curious is a very dangerous kind of interest.
The young man appears to be somewhat distracted at the moment. Mostly because of... well... everything. He's abandoned his chair for the time being and is now prodding experimentally at an animated pepper shaker complete with stick-like arms and legs, a cane, and a little top hat.
What?
It's silly!
"This all seems to be very silly. So long as my teeth don't start falling out I should be good, though."
"Stop prodding at me this instant, ruffian!" the pepper shaker protests, waving its cane at the fellow dramatically.
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
A swirling pixelated portal spirals open in the ceiling! But instead of klaxons blaring and bright flashy lights flashing and some weird inexplicable encounter being disgorged through the rift a recliner chair is spat out.
With a very surprised looking young man sitting on top of it.
Clad in modern attire, a green jacket, khaki pants, unremarkable shoes, and a cheap fedora. On the tall side of things, though not overly so. A mess of brown hair sticks out from under his hat here and there. He looks just a weeeee bit out of place. WAY too normal.
Give him about a week before the Nexus blargs strange all over him.
He glances around the tavern.
"Okay, let's see. A goblin. A robot. Some... kind of Lovecraft-style monster?"
Zee waves at him cheerfully.
"Animal person. 'nother animal person. Surly dwarves. Space marine. Knight in shining armor. Sapient talking winged pickle. ...is that a flumph?"
He blinks, takes off his hat, and scratches at his head a bit.
"Welp. Whatever meds they have me on right now must be pretty amazing."
Through a nearby, garage-sized door of convenient flimsiness, a hot pink Cadillac hurtles, crashing into Trog's with wild abandon before skidding to a halt in front of the bar, leaving the nearby patrons (inexplicably) completely unharmed.
From the driver's side door, a smartly dressed, dark-skinned man steps, vaulting over the door without opening it, revealing his pink sock, which goes well with the pink shirt and handkerchief he wears under his grey vest and slacks.
Dark, round sunglasses and a shiny bald head complete the look, the only incongruous part being his precarious pegged leg, which replaces his right shin and foot.
"And so here I be
Adrift at sea
With cause no longer I bear the shame
Of failing friends and sullying names
But on only me, can be laid the blame.
So wise patrons take some heed
Before you try these spurious deeds
Of murder, vengeance, and blackened need
So barkeep, please, a cup of mead."
The sullen, not entirely stable Rhymelord sits himself down on a nearby stool, casting his head about and taking in those nearby, settling finally on the oddly normal human. He raises a hand and tries waving him over, although it might appear that he's waving at someone off over the man's shoulder.
"So there are a lot of ways to go about this," Ashley says. "I think we should talk to the employer anyway. I'd like to know more about what I'm looking for."
Nobody else has come for the adventure yet... I've got some magic, though mostly I run support for my mage friend. She'll be coming too.
Well, where is the mage?
The little gnome fingers his daggers.
__________________ zimmerwald1915 made my avatar!
Spoiler
Quote:
This is the thief who likes to hoard,
That loves the bard with the puppet Lord
That admires the fighter with the green-hilted sword,
That employs the Wizard, whose bird is ignored,
That has the gender unexplored
That intrigues the Halfling, usually bored,
That slew a mountain of the goblin horde,
That follows the cleric,
That serves the lich,
That seeks the gate,
That guards the snarl,
That lives in the prison the gods built.
Zee fetches the Rhymelord a cup of mead! Yay! She also inquires if he'll be wanting anything else today. Mostly because that's just the sort of thing that she does. She doesn't seem at all bothered about the car that just came crashing into the tavern, however.
The newcomer though?
Yeah. That surprises him.
Sort of.
Though he reacts to it in stride. Sort of like how one takes a whale suddenly flopping out of a garden hose in stride whilst dreaming. Everything and anything makes sense in dream logic. Anywho! The car pulls in his attention enough to spot the waving.
"Sooo..." the young man begins as he walks over. "What are the chances that I can find a flying lawn chair over here? Or bears. Bears always seem to have it out for me when I'm dreaming. What would be the best way to avoid bears?"
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
She's got some work to finish up; til then, I'm just waiting until people come along for the trip.
M'kay. We'll wait with you.
The teenage svirfneblin takes out some wires and begins to fiddle with them.
__________________ zimmerwald1915 made my avatar!
Spoiler
Quote:
This is the thief who likes to hoard,
That loves the bard with the puppet Lord
That admires the fighter with the green-hilted sword,
That employs the Wizard, whose bird is ignored,
That has the gender unexplored
That intrigues the Halfling, usually bored,
That slew a mountain of the goblin horde,
That follows the cleric,
That serves the lich,
That seeks the gate,
That guards the snarl,
That lives in the prison the gods built.
"See, now that," the young man begins. "Wouldn't be avoiding dream-bears. That would be dispatching dream-bears with violence. And if I've learned anything from years of dream-bear attacks it's that the crazy things are uncannily resistant to violence."
Which is really too bad.
Things that resist violence can be troublesome.
"Take this octopus for example," he continues, gesturing to an octopus sitting atop a bicycle that almost certainly wasn't there previously. "An octopus is innocuous and not at all as horrible as a dream-bear. In fact, an octopus is kind of silly and amusing to watch. And also probably won't eat you."
The octopus fails to eat anyone.
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
"Your life has parted at the seams
From what is real, and what is dreams
You cannot tell, but here before
You shall go far, you shall do more
Ere you cross the the shadowed door."
The Rhymelord spouts cryptically before taking a swig of his mead, thanking Zee for the vintage.
"Fortune told and fortune met
But do you know your fortune yet?
Octopi are intelligent though, and that makes them far more dangerous both in dreams and out. That little thing could be plotting your doom at this very moment."
"You're making one rather large assumption," Amist points out! "And that, is, specifically, that you're dreaming.
You're not.
...and you're right," she adds. "I don't trust anything with more tentacles than brains. Not to say they're not fun at times, but they're not trustworthy..."
"Oh ho?" the young man counters to the half-drow. "If I'm not dreaming then how do you explain that palm tree wearing a smock?"
He points at a nearby palm tree wearing a smock. Gotta hand it to him, he makes an excellent case. Palm trees wearing smocks are pretty solid dream-material.
"Or how do you explain the fact that we just transitioned from a bar to a beach?"
...there's a strong chance that those chatting with the young man will find themselves suddenly sitting on large pieces of driftwood on the shore of-
[An Unusual Beach]
The palm tree is totally still here. Along with numerous clumps of beach grass and a shore speckled with almost jewel-like gravel. Waves lap at a two foot tall shelf of clay filled with the jewels, slowly eroding them out. With each breaking wave the level of the water rises gradually.
"Oh. And octopuses have nine brains, actually. So ha! I win again!"
The octopus makes a note on a small pad, keeping track of the current score.
The Rhymelord is then regarded curiously. "I dunno. This all seems pretty unreal to me. I'm pretty good at realizing when I'm dreaming."
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
Of course, the Rhymelord's car came with him, it's part of the package. As did his nearly empty mead.
"The man is right when he is right. If he isn't a dreamer, then let him think he is, for the whimsy he brings is more than welcome." This is cheering up the Rhymelord already, after that unwelcome truth thrust into his face by what he had assumed to be his arch-nemesis. Now what was he going to do with his life, after his revenge was made hollow?
Perhaps take up knitting. He stuffs a hand into his pocket, looking for a set of knitting needles.
To drive home this point a gull aims a gross white projectile at a certain half-drow far below. Eeww...
"You must be stuck in the pre-transition scene then. Dreams are odd like that. Always stuttering around for no reason," the dreamer muses. And then eyes the Rhymelord's new set of knitting needles curiously.
What does needlepoint have to do with beaches?
Ah well.
Several whales are busy breaching off-shore whilst a pair of walrus flop onto the sands in a sufficiently walrus-like fashion.
"Besides, if I'm not dreaming then... well..." he glances in the direction of the unnaturally rising tide. "Then this craaaaaazy dream world seems awfully similar to the sorts of things I dream about normally."
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
"Because you want it to be similar. You want this to be a dream, because it means you haven't been thrust into a world you cannot explain, and so your mind has brought you what is familiar. Live it, love it, and revel in it." the Rhymelord's needlepoint has nothing to do with this man's delusions, but the pink and grey yarn he pulls off the hide of a passing sea-lion in large, stringy spools might.
And then he starts to knit left-footed socks, with little individual toes at the end. Not that they look much like it at first. He's only just started, and he has a lot to learn.
And the waves keep growing higher. There appear to be large colorful jellyfish mattered with clumps of kelp drifting amidst them. The Dreamer grabs a pretty purple rock and points to some tall orangish yellow colored bluffs nearby! A flight of wooden stairs leads up the face to what appears to be a forested area beyond.
"The tide's coming in, we had better hurry before we all get soaked."
And then up the stairs he flees!
Thankfully there's a catapult nearby to hurl the car onto the top of the bluff.
__________________
Warning! Random Encounter™ detected!
Spoiler
Zee is a perfectly normal human female. You suspect nothing!
Winifred 'Freddie' Fredrick
Souls Nommed: 657
Days Since Last Nomming: 0
"There are also portals," Dipsnig says to Ally. "Ordial Plane is an enigma, but portals are something the Nexus is chock-full of."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rotting Baron
"So there are a lot of ways to go about this," Ashley says. "I think we should talk to the employer anyway. I'd like to know more about what I'm looking for."
Say I decide to go skipping through all the portals I can find. How will I know if I find the Ordial Plane? Ally shrugs; pumping the employer for more information is sounding like the best way to begin.
__________________
"No friend ever served me,
and no enemy ever wronged me,
whom I have not repaid in full."
-Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Dipsnig shrugs as well. "I suppose talking to him is the best start. He doesn't seem to know a whole lot about it himself, though. Still, he can explain this to you better than I can." He has little interest in the metaphysical aspects of existence.
__________________
My FFRP characters. Avatar by Kid Kris. Sigatars by Gulaghar, Kid Kris, Zefir and billtodamax, respectively.
Suddenly, the door opens! Entering in a very plain, non-dramatic fashion is a large half-orc. His skin is light, almost sickly, green - but the skin goes almost unnoticed under his armor. This armor is, specifically, mail covering the body and limbs, with a gray gambeson covering him. His hair is black, cut in a mohawk. He taps the bottom of his winged spear to the floor as he clears his throat. He eyes dart across the room, looking for someone. "Excuse me, patrons of this tavern. I seek a woman named...Nycca? Am I saying this right?
Nycca. I seek Nycca."
__________________ Dr, Bath's Dolly!
Avatar by the amazing Teutonic Knight
((THAT IS THE MOST AWESOME PERSON.))
A pale-haired girl in a black long-sleeved top raises a hand, her wings folded loosely and her eyes behind dark lenses. Hi, you here for the Thunderhead Mountain adventure?
The little svirfneblin stops fiddling with wire and looks up at the half-orc.
__________________ zimmerwald1915 made my avatar!
Spoiler
Quote:
This is the thief who likes to hoard,
That loves the bard with the puppet Lord
That admires the fighter with the green-hilted sword,
That employs the Wizard, whose bird is ignored,
That has the gender unexplored
That intrigues the Halfling, usually bored,
That slew a mountain of the goblin horde,
That follows the cleric,
That serves the lich,
That seeks the gate,
That guards the snarl,
That lives in the prison the gods built.
((Dunno if that's directed to me, but if so, thank you!))
The half-orc turns to face the snow-haired woman, giving her a quick once-over. "Yes, I believe so. You wrote about it, I believe. Or someone..." He shakes his head, figuring that he's going on too much about such a trivial piece of information. He removes his gray, woolen glove - revealing a hairy hand. He offers it to shake. "I'm Abraxes Foxwood, professional soldier. And you are Nycca, then?"
__________________ Dr, Bath's Dolly!
Avatar by the amazing Teutonic Knight
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Re: [Nexus] Trog's Tavern CCXLIII
Dr, Bath's Dolly!
