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 Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:58 am
Alex jumped at the sound of the explosion and was already on his feet when Pango came to tug his arm. He glanced between his new companions quickly with a smile at the two drunken ones and told them confidently, “Stay here and don't worry. We'll take care of it.” Then the paladin darted after Rüd to see what was happening outside.
Pango rolled hazel eyes with a huff at the whole situation then tugged at Linda's arm, “Come on, idiot don't know what he's sayin.”
Outside it became quickly apparent just what Alex didn't know and just how futile anything they might try was going to be. The water from the canals had receded and there was panic in the streets as the masses ran from the coastline desperately trying to get inland. The object of their fear was looming in the distance, crashing towards them at an alarming pace. A tidal wave had risen in the bay from whatever impact made the explosion.
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 7:28 pm
The merchant stared at the celebration going on below with dull eyes. Faerin, the only times he had the pleasure of seeing them were when he was making his way up the floating archipelago. Sam had been told they were kind enough if you payed them due respect and did not pry. He did not know if his and his partner's sudden presence would count as an intrusion or be accepted by the crowd. He could only hope they would accept bribes if they were not already hospitable.
Then a sudden thought occurred to him, his partner had no identification of any sort and Sam did not know how the Faerin treated complete outsiders. They did tend to leave those affiliated with a larger group alone, so as not to bring wandering eyes to their territories. At least that was the impression Sam got. He shuffled his pack off his shoulders and called one of his patches that worked as a merchant's mark. It was black and white, and the word on the back meant "Thunder".
He held it out to the other man, "Here, this is my mark, it means you are traveling with me," Sam eyed the relative stranger, "I'd say you could call yourself my retainer, or bodyguard. The rule when dealing with anybody in this land is to not let them know your new." His eyes met the stranger's, still dull, like his voice, "Do not tell them about Nammu, and do not ask about Nammu. I don't know how they react to the old gods, but they need not know."
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 10:39 pm
Rüd, though buzzed, was far from impaired. The monsoon-class wave immediately set off several alarms in his mind. The city was at the lowest point on the island and ringed by canals. All of it would be swamped by the tidal surges. Some people obviously needed no science lesson to know running was the best idea.
The Abwehran looked to the Paladin. "You're the big man on campus. Round 'em up, get 'em out of town. I'll get our little band moving."
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 3:28 am
They were pretty, Quintus could grant them that, but they reminded him of those outland camps, the ones the warlords couldn't pin down in the desert. Sure, they were polite for the most part, but if you showed vulnerability you could expect a knife in the back. His companion's comment confirmed Quintus' attitude. They certainly weren't to be outright trusted. Still, they had food, which meant any risk down there was worth it.
"Right." Don't mention you're new. That made sense. Weakness. It implied weakness, at least unfamiliarity, which was always a weakness. Quintus knew what it was to toughen up artificially. "How'm I supposed to attach this anyway?" he asked, taking the patch and holding it up to his coat. Another thought occurred to him as he did so. "And if I'm your guard, I should probably know yer name. And you mine," he added. "Quintus. Quintus Furius. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier." He calmly extended his free right hand, ignoring for now the mention of Nammu. Her... work could be considered later. Debated, even. Not mentioning her for now was fine by him.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 3:33 am
The sudden shouting in Mishran was of no great help. Skurk spun around and quite promptly swum perpendicular to move around the unknown entity.
Skurk, goblin commando, pulled himself out of the water. Good, dry land. Hate water. WHOA WHOA WAIT. Fireflies? Not THE Forest, then. I hope. Good not to be therOOOOOH BUTTERFLIES. Having "taken in his surroundings," inasmuch as he actually took them in, he turned to his would-be savior.
"Ugust. Stotho..." Wet. Bad. Skurk knew how dangerous frostbite could be. He turned to the now-also-wet mage. "Usnub?" he asked hopefully. He didn't really expect the human(?) to understand. Hell, the humans and elves of the European mainland didn't even speak Goblin, after all.
Linda, like Rüd, was intoxicated.
Linda, unlike Rüd, was quite thoroughly impaired. Her face was bright red, her speech was slurred, and her actions were uncoordinated. "The bollocks ish... ish that thing?" she managed, gesturing in the general direction of the source of the tidal wave. She only missed by about twenty degrees. "Where'a we goin'?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:52 am
"Mad Sam, from Beimini, a city on an island across from Atalan, Lemuria." Sam strung this all together so that the stranger, this Quintus, could hopefully use it to his advantage. The man may talk too much, but Sam had to at least respect Quintus's seeming intelligence. And his lack on the knowledge might very easily get them killed.
Or at least Quintus killed, and though Sam had no love for Quintus, the traveler had no desire to watch the other man die. Sam's hand met Quintus's arm at that conclusion and with a strong but not aggressive grip, grasped the other's wrist and shook once before letting go.
"As for the patch, just put it in your pocket somewhere. If they ask you if you are with me just flash it, if they press you more tell them you work for the Merchant's Guild as a low-level escort. Low-level implying just started and you know nothing about nothing and they have no reason to expect more from you." As Mad Sam did his spiel he retrieved his journal and wrote this down. Though he had less of a tendency to forget this side of the pole, if it happened their story would not sync up.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 2:04 pm
The people in the streets were already moving to get to higher ground but that didn't stop the paladin from shouting to take command of the situation. Deeper into the city an alarm bell sounded musically and a powerful magic field shot up from the walls creating an iridescent dome around the two inner rings of the city. That still left the outer ring, in which the party was, to the ravages of the wave. A few white robed men pushed through the crowds shouting “Make way. Make way for the Clerics,” as they moved toward the water, some already chanting spells – supposedly to try and stop the wave from decimating the city.
Pango drug Linda out ignoring her drunken slurring and cursed at the imminent wave as the youth slammed the inn's door roughly. In almost the same motion Pango slipped an ornate key into the door's keyhole, turning the lock quickly before jerking the door open again and shoving Linda inside. Not waiting to be sure the woman would stay on her feet, or even inside the door, Pango then snatched one of Rüd's hands to tug him toward the door with a hiss, “Get inside you idiots. There's no time to run.”
If the Abwehran, or Linda for that matter, cared to take the time to look inside the door they did not find the inn that should be behind it. Instead there was a large, round chamber with vaulted columns between identically ornate doors. Sconced torches cast a flickering orange glow along the walls and left the room's interior in a dim shadow but the lines of the starburst pattern on the smooth polished floor could be traced to its golden core in the chamber's center.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2012 2:50 pm
Castor panted as he stomped onto shore. Didn't this person understand Mishran? He said quite clearly that he was trying to help- a reply that he was capable of swimming to shore himself would have been nice. Could have saved me from getting wet, at least. And then the small person... thing, opened its mouth and spoke, and Castor realized that being wet was the least of his worries. The creature/person/whatever-the-hell-he-was spoke in some sort of guttural, brief langauge. Castor halted, his head tilted oddly at the very wet being.
"...... 私は申し訳なく思っている。 私は理解していない。" he said, shaking his head apologetically. I'm sorry, I don't understand. Castor then realized that, given that he was still speaking in Mishran, he was still unlikely to be understood. Hmm. Let's see if he can understand anything else.
"そう、 mishran 話さないでください ..." Castor went through his list of studied langauges. Process of elimination- he has to understand one of these. "Хм. .. ravinian, возможно?" Ravinian? No?
"אז, האם אתה מבין luminaren?" Luminaren... he hoped he wouldn't understand that one, for obvious reasons.
"Espin, talvez? Você entende isso?" Maybe Espin would work...
Ahura Almighty, let him understand something I'm saying!!
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:51 am
While visibly irritated by Pango's demands, Rüd none the less complied; the boy knew this world better than he and while reason dictated inside was bound to be just as dangerous, he followed- and found himself in quite a different place.
"Well..." The Abwehran wasn't quite sure where that sentence was going and started anew. "I have to say, I wasn't all that certain about magic, but that is undeniable proof. ******** magic." He smirked, even chuckled a little. Magic. The concept was simply mind-blowing.
For now though, he concentrated on the immediate surroundings, taking it all in and wondering just where exactly in Aelzwyr it was. Nothing really jumped out at him, so he turned to his companion and asked, "Linda, on a scale of one to s**t-faced, how inebriated are you?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:15 am
"s**t-faced? That'sh... a curioush ekshpression. I didn't... fall in anything while I wasn't paying attention, did I? I don't..." Linda made a valiant effort at straightening her posture (aided by leaning against a wall), then enunciated very precisely: "You see, I cannot sh-... seem to remember the last few minutes very well. Nor, I shushpect, am I fully capable of balansh- balancing."
This, one might judge by her difficulty standing against the wall, was probably accurate. Nonetheless, she managed to avoid imitating Sean Connery to any degree as she continued, "I am not familiar with the precise term 'inebriated,' but the idea the Babel Stone communicated seems to imply... poison? Which I am quite certain what we consumed was not, unless it was."
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:20 am
Rüd laughed again, now comprehending Linda's situation. "We drank mead, a kind of alcohol- and there are many variations. Inebriated is synonymous with intoxicated, both of which are used to express the idea that a person is under the influence of alcohol." He gestured toward Linda rather vaguely. "Which you clearly are. s**t-faced is a term that means 'so drunk you can't walk straight.' You're not quite there yet."
He stepped closer, but maintained a polite space. "Also: don't be surprised if you feel the urge to vomit. Very common after drinking. If you need help, feel free to ask."
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:21 am
Just outside the still open door there was abject panic in the street. People rushed by and Alex shouted at them, “Don't panic, stay calm. Move inland in an orderly fashion. The Clerics will protect you,” as he tried to herd them away. Pango jerked on his arm growling curses for his thick idiot-skull but it wasn't until they could hear the wave crashing on the coastline that the youth managed to convince the paladin that, no, the Clerics in fact would not protect them. Even then he resisted running away but Pango had managed to loop a rope around his neck and was dragging him through the door by that time.
With all the respect of a bouncer tossing out a drunk Pango dumped Alex into the round room of doors then quickly pulled the open door shut. A splash of foaming salt water surged through as she did but the door latched soundly and held against it. Once closed they couldn't even hear the rumble of the destruction outside, certainly not over Pango's cursing as the youth tried to wring some of the water out of wet clothes.
Alex caught his footing from the near fall of Pango's rough handling and grappled with the tangled rope around his throat a moment before turning to scold the squire but he stopped short and blinked at the room around them. A slow awe crept into his expression as he turned a full circle with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape then stopped to stare at Pango again with a rising wariness. “We're not supposed to be here,” the big man whispered like a child to the little squire.
“Yeah, well, it's better'n bein dead,” Pango snapped at him giving up on the wet clothes and just checked the bag always present on the youth's shoulder.
“Dead?” Alex squeaked slightly with a perplexed look to the closed door and puddle of water in front of it then he gasped as if just now realizing the gravity of their former situation. “Why didn't we let in the others?” the man hissed, suddenly upset.
“We're not supposed to be here,” Pango reminded Alex of what he'd just said. “Did enough bringing your freeloaders with us. Not takin the heat for a whole town,” the youth grumbled with a wave at Linda and Rüd.
Alex stared incredulously at the youth a moment then blinked to their companions, suddenly realizing they were there. He looked them over uncertainly then looked around the room with a frown. “Where's the other one?” the paladin asked weakly.
Pango growled a frustrated sound while pulling a large, fluffy towel from the bag, then glared at Alex. “I did damn good to get those two. The stupid mage was passed out drunk. Had my hands full and couldn't carry them all. Now quit yer bitchin and pick a door,” the youth snapped and wrapped the towel around slightly shivering shoulders.
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:15 pm
"The behavior of that door... sheems highly irregular," Linda thoughtfully observed. "We are... we are not in the tavern any more and I'm not sure magic can do that. Though I guess it can. Shince it jusht did. Unless it wasn't magic but shomething elshe...."
Realizing that speaking Goblin was entirely not the way going to help, Skurk decided to try the language of the region around the Forest and the language of the British Empire.
"Vous parlez français? Alternatively, Queen's English?" he asked hopefully. He wasn't sure which was worse, since both the French and British states were enemies of the goblins. His hand was still clutching a handful of boom he'd rather not spend at this distance.
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:35 pm
Castor grew frustrated as each of his languages fell on deaf ears. He was on the verge of giving up when the creature spoke again, and it was here that Castor realized that one of those languages sounded familiar. The accent was a bit subdued, and the name he used was different, but the first one sounded like Erosian. Castor thought about it- it was one of his weaker languages, but he was fluent enough to respond, at least.
"I. .. Si je comprends bien ... cette langue," said Castor, the language stilted slightly by his Mishran accent, but he was able to be understood, at least. I understand this language, he said. Feeling more confident, Castor continued speaking.
"Pardonner, mais ... quelle ... morceau ..." No, no, no... that was the wrong word. What did they say again?
"Sur ce que ..." Castor struggled for a moment, "L'Écharde ... puis-je être trouvé ?" On what Shard may I be found? In other words, where was he? This certainly didn't look like Mishra...
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:23 pm
"Je suis... lutin?" Skurk gave a forced smile, his eyes facing directly at him while he faced his pointed teeth away hoped that word was accurate (it wasn't). "Qu'est-ce que c'est, « L'Écharde »?" the goblin managed What is it, this "shard"?
The sentence was composed by him simply saying a phrase he was fairly confident was "What is it/that" then appending the unknown phrase.
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